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There are many kinds of yoga: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Kriyā Yoga, and so on. One part is called Haṭha Yoga. Many of you know of it, and many do not. The definition of Haṭha Yoga is presented in different ways. First of all, haṭha means willpower. It is the will that you possess to achieve something in any case. It is the power to endure thirst, cold, heat, and hunger. Like a mountain climber—it does not matter how hard it is, they have made it their aim to reach the peak. So, haṭha means the will. Generally, they speak of four kinds of haṭha. The first is called Bāla Haṭha—the haṭha of a child. When a child wants to get something, it has its own technique. If they want ice cream, sweets, or a toy, they will either cry or do something until the parents say, "Okay, you can have this." When they cry, you don't give it to them. But when they become nice, friendly, and smiling, then you say, "Okay, you can have this." So, the child's technique to get what they want is called Bāla Haṭha. The second is called Strī Haṭha. Strī means a woman. When a woman decides to get something, she will achieve it. A man has no chance; they have their own technique, their own way. Strī Haṭha is well known from many histories. The third is called Rāja Haṭha—the haṭha of a king. Whatever the king wanted, he achieved. Who dared to say "no" to the king? And now, all the wars going on in the world are also a kind of haṭha of the politicians. Now the politicians are the king, but thanks to God, only temporarily, not generation after generation. The fourth is called Yogi Haṭha—the haṭha of a yogī. What a yogī decides, he will achieve. A yogī does not depend on someone. There was a yogī walking in the forest, and he had long hair. The wind was blowing from behind, so his hair kept falling over his face. He would put his hair back, and again it would fall forward. He was always saying to his hair, "Remain at the backside." But it always came over his face. So, he turned in the other direction and walked that way. He said, "Here you are." So, a yogī decides his own way through willpower. These four examples clearly show that there is a willpower to achieve. And as soon as you depend on someone or something, your will is lost—in a good way, of course. The second definition of haṭha yoga, according to the Yoga Śāstras, is based in our body. We have 72,000 nerves, and out of these, three are the most important: Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā. Iḍā is the left nostril, and it controls and represents our emotion. It is the lunar principle. The right is called Piṅgalā, which represents our intellect, activities, and temperament; it represents the sun. The third is called Suṣumṇā, the central nerve, which represents consciousness. These are the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and central nerves. The left nostril is Gaṅgā, the right is Yamunā, and the center is Sarasvatī. These are the three holy rivers. The meeting point of these three nerves is the Ājñā Cakra, at the center of the eyebrows. That is called Prayāg. Prayāg Rāj. Prayāg means meeting point. Or it is called Triveṇī. Tri is three and veṇī is river: Triveṇī. Triveṇī Tāṭ—the bank of three rivers. It has different names. It is said that if you bathe in these holy rivers, you get liberation; your karmas will be washed away. For a yogī, it means to purify and awaken these three nerves, and you have a bath in the Divine Consciousness in the Ājñā Cakra. So, the "Ha" is the Iḍā, the left nostril, and the "Ṭha" is the Piṅgalā, the right nostril. So it becomes Haṭha. And Yoga means union—uniting, balancing, harmonizing. So when these two nerves get balanced, harmonized, and unite, that union is known as yoga. Hence, Haṭha Yoga. So, Haṭha Yoga comes from these three rivers. That is the real yoga, and this is achieved through Kriyā Yoga: through the Guru Mantra, practicing it systematically through the five steps. They are called Likhit, Bekrī, Upāṁśu, Mānasik, and Ajapā. These are the five levels. If you have not succeeded in these five levels of mantra practice, you will have no perfection in the mantras, and that mantra will not work for you as you were expecting. Therefore, these five different techniques of the mantras have to be practiced systematically. And then comes Prāṇāyāma: Sūrya Bhedana and Chandra Bhedana. Bhedana means purifying. Bhedana means going through, like boring through, making a hole through. So it means you are purifying your nervous system. So, Sūrya Bhedana and Chandra Bhedana Prāṇāyāma, or you can say Nāḍī Śodhana Prāṇāyāma. But Nāḍī Śodhana is different from Bhedana. Śodhana is purification, and Bhedana is penetrating through. You penetrate, or you push your consciousness—pure consciousness—through these two nerves into the third one, that’s called Suṣumṇā. Then, Prāṇa and Apāna unite in the Maṇipūra Cakra. The central point of the universe is the viśvamātṛkā śakti. Nāda means sound, and Bindu is the dot. That is Brahma, the Supreme. That is called Śiva. Śiva means consciousness. Śiva means Mokṣa. Śiva means the truth. Śiva means the light. And Śiva means liberation. So, the center point of the universe is that Nāda-Bindu. Yathā brahmāṇḍe tathā piṇḍe: what is in the universe, that is in this body. So, the center point in this body is the navel. Our life began from the navel, and the life force will end from the navel. So that is called the Bindu. That Śakti. Hara Śakti. Prāṇa Śakti. And that is a Sūrya Śakti, the solar energy. So, in our solar system, the sun is the center point, and in our body, the navel is the center point. So, awakening takes place in the Maṇipūra. That supreme consciousness, higher consciousness, begins to be realized from the navel. So, Nāḍī Śodhana, Sūrya Bhedana, Chandra Bhedana, and Anuloma Viloma—these are different techniques. There are different states of consciousness during practice. Nāḍī Śodhana is done without Kumbhaka, and Chandra Bhedana and Sūrya Bhedana are done with Kumbhaka. You see, yoga is a science. It is a science of body, a science of mind, a science of consciousness, and the science of the soul. So when these two nāḍīs of Iḍā and Piṅgalā—that’s called Ha and Ṭha—when they purify, then they unite, and that union is called Yoga. So this is Haṭha Yoga. Now, the concept of Haṭha Yoga in the modern and Western world is completely misunderstood. You think āsanas and prāṇāyāma are Haṭha Yoga, but it is not Haṭha Yoga. It is a part of Rāja Yoga: Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna, and Samādhi. This is Rāja Yoga. So, none of you are doing Haṭha Yoga every day; you are doing Rāja Yoga. You are sitting on a train which is departing for Budapest, but on the train was written "Prague-Budapest," and you are thinking you are going to Prague. But when the train reaches Budapest, you will be surprised: "Why am I in Budapest? Where is Prague?" So you are practicing Rāja Yoga and thinking it is Haṭha Yoga because you have no knowledge. One man read articles that it is good to have your own cow for milk. He had a big garden and enough space, so he wanted to buy a cow. He sent his son to some villages to buy a cow. The son asked the father, "What is a cow, father?" The father said, "It has four legs. It has two ears, little horns, and it gives milk." So, okay. He went to the village and wanted to buy a cow. He came to some persons and said, "I want to have an animal which gives milk, has four legs, two ears, two horns." They realized he was a rich man but had no knowledge. So they took the money for the cow and gave him a small goat. He came home with a goat instead of a cow. So you think that you are practicing Haṭha Yoga, but you are doing Rāja Yoga. Therefore, you should correct yourself and read properly: what is Haṭha Yoga? What is Rāja Yoga? Of course, Rāja Yoga is not a goat; Rāja Yoga is another cow also. And a goat is not bad. You can milk a cow anytime; you cannot milk a lion anytime. Therefore, Haṭha Yoga means the union of the three nerves: that Iḍā and Piṅgalā unite with Suṣumṇā. Then comes the practical part of Haṭha Yoga, that’s called Ṣaṭkarma, the six kriyās. The six kriyās are for the purification of the body and the awakening of the Triṇāḍīs. You know them all: Netī, Dhautī, Bastī, Naulī, Trāṭaka, and Kapālabhāti. These six kriyās are very powerful. They give you the challenge. Though there is no challenge in yoga and no competition, the six kriyās challenge you to cure any disease—except for some very bad infections, or anatomical mistakes, defects, or malformations. So, these Haṭha Yoga kriyās—Netī, Dhautī, Bastī, Naulī, Trāṭaka, and Kapālabhāti—if you do them every day, in one month you will see yourself as a completely different person. Your body will become your own doctor. The immunity in your body will improve very much. And in one year, if you are 70 years old, you will look like 40 years old. But you have to stay in one place. You have to have organic food, and you should also know what to eat. Haṭha Yoga is a blessing. Haṭha Yoga is something which is great. So, take time to repair your body.