TV Channel

If you awaken to the desire to know God, to attain Self-realization and spiritual development, then a one-hour yoga class is insufficient; it is negligible. The commitment must be for twenty-four hours. This is why it is called Yoga in Daily Life. It means being aware for twenty-four hours and leading your life according to yogic discipline. This does not mean you sit and meditate for twenty-four hours. Even in an āshram, we do not allow someone to only sit and meditate. After five hours of meditation, we will say, "Please, can you clean the room?" Your parents would not be happy if you only meditated, nor would your wife. She would say, "Oh God, what kind of man did I get?" Therefore, work, practice, and lead life according to yogic principles. Be angry, but according to the yogic principle. How is the anger of a yogī? The anger of a yogī is like beating water with a stick. Ādi Guru Śaṅkarācārya said the master should be strict and also have anger, but the master's anger is like beating water with a stick. What does this mean? It means when the stick hits the water, the water separates, but within no time, it comes together again. You will see no scars there. The anger of a foolish person is like a line scratched on stone; it will not come together again and will remain forever. Therefore, be angry, but like a yogī. Be active, but like a yogī. On the surface of the ocean, there are big waves, but as soon as you dive deep, it is very calm and peaceful. If you go deeper, you will see beautiful patterns on the sand. This pattern is known as palmistry, reading the palm. Palmistry is known as Samudra Śāstra. What is written in the patterns on your inner self? Dive within thyself and you will see your destiny—what it is and how it is moving. Therefore, lucky and awakened are those who utilize every moment, as Gandhijī utilized every second to write something, even while the train was rolling; it will be very useful. So, if you are awakened and have decided on your spiritual path, do not waste your time in games. Do not waste your time and do not blame others: "I got a mantra from Swāmījī and I didn't realize anything." Of course, you didn't realize anything. Why? Because you didn't practice. Now keep practicing, being aware of spirituality for twenty-four hours. Where am I going? What am I doing? Consider Āhār, Vihār, Ācār, and Vicār. Āhār is nourishment; Vihār is where to go and where not to go—go to satsaṅg, not to kuṣaṅg; Ācār is behavior; and Vicār is positive thinking. Even if someone made a mistake, you forgive and make it positive. He made a mistake; why do you also make a mistake by thinking badly of him? He made a mistake, and you are the greatest one to help him and forgive. Then he will be happy again, and you will also be happy again. Rāja Yoga is the king, the king of the self. You are Antaryāmī, the inner God, the Self. Mana (mind) or indriya (senses) are your prajā, your people. You should not be their slave; they should be your slaves or under your control. When the king loses control, the kingdom falls apart, and we have to search for another king. What happens to the present king who fell? He has to go for psychiatric treatment. The king is now in psychiatric treatment; what did he do? He didn't follow the master's words, so he is very nervous, scared, and fearful. The lion is afraid of the goats; when a goat comes, the lion runs away. Your senses are the goats, and you are the ātmā, the lion. When you are afraid of all this, how will you help others and achieve anything? Therefore, Rāja Yoga, as outlined by Patañjali and other great saints, provides steps to reach the final destination. The final destination is ātma-jñāna through samādhi. The first steps are Yama and Niyama, then Āsana and Prāṇāyāma. The fifth and sixth are Dhāraṇā and Dhyāna. The seventh and eighth are Dhyāna and Samādhi: Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna, and Samādhi. These are the eight levels you should achieve. Do not think you will practice Yama for one year, then Niyama the next, then āsanas, then Prāṇāyāma. No, you must practice all eight steps every day. Yama and Niyama are ethical and moral values, such as not lying, not stealing, purity—these are the ten commandments found in the New Testament, given here by Maharṣi Patañjali. Sīmśā is Maharṣi Patañjali speaking and putting it together. Āsana means physical exercises, but its definition is completely different. Āsana means where you can sit or sleep; your chair or the ground is your āsana. Or, āsana means your blanket or grass mat on which you are sitting. That is called āsana. Āsana means the way of sitting or the postures; it means a posture where you can sit for a long time peacefully, comfortably, and relaxed. I have here a glass with water in it. The glass is steady, so the water is also steady—no movement, no waves. If the glass becomes uncomfortable and wants to change posture, the liquid also moves. Similarly, each movement of your body causes thoughts in your brain. When thoughts come, you lose concentration, jumping from your main target to another point. Your instructor will say, "Relax and sit comfortably. Concentrate on your heart chakra." Yet, 90% of people are concentrating on their ankle joint. By God, when he says, "Now we chant Oṃ three times," for many practitioners, chanting Oṃ is a great relief. Sometimes they tell me, "Swāmījī, we don't know what liberation looks like, but when you chant Oṃ three times, it was the biggest liberation from the pain." This means you did not concentrate on your heart, your Āgyā Chakra, or on God. If you then tell God, "Please finish meditation," it shows that āsana means a steady posture—no movements, not even the small finger moves—and then observe your motionlessness. If you can observe your motionlessness, it is the most beautiful meditation. Only one motion remains, very fine: our breath rhythm and heartbeat. God gave us a system in the body that functions constantly, and without it, we cannot exist. This function does not disturb us. God gave the heart, which is one of your best friends and servants. Your heart is never tired. You go on holidays, but your heart does not go even for one minute. On the day your heart says, "Can I relax a little?" you will call the ambulance, and they will come and press the heart again with a heart massage. Poor heart—constantly beating for you, constantly loyal. How loyal are you to your heart? Did you ever say, "Thank you, my heart, you are the source of my life"? Do you know what a heart attack means? Finished. Therefore, we must take care of the heart, and yogīs have been doing many things for the heart. Similarly, for the kidneys, liver, intestines, respiratory system, glands, brain, and nerve systems. My God, there are thousands or millions of functions in this body we do not even know. When all are in perfect condition and level, that is called health. The best meditation is if you can sit for 10 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours. But remember, without suffering. The posture will not give you liberation. Liberation comes through your knowledge and Gurū-kṛpā. Mokṣa-mūlaṁ Gurū-kṛpā. If you cannot sit in lotus for three hours, it does not matter; you will still get liberation. If liberation depended on postures, then people working in the circus, who can sit longer like this, would get liberation. But they do not. A posture where you feel comfortable and relaxed allows meditation to come. Meditation cannot be practiced; it comes by itself, like when you lie down to sleep. You need not do anything; sleep comes itself. If you try, "Now I will sleep immediately, I will sleep, tomorrow I have to get up and go to the airport, I will sleep now," what happens? You turn left, then right, then itch here, then a thought comes: "Did I put the alarm on or not? I must sleep quickly. Oh God, it is a little warm. I must open the window. I must sleep quickly. Oh God, it is too loud. I must close the window." So you cannot sleep anymore. It is self. Therefore, what should you do? Nothing. Just lie down and take a deep breath. Oh, the alarm is ringing. Do you know how the transmission from your conscious level to sleep occurs? How do you go? Did you ever realize or follow how you go from conscious to sleep? It is a process of seconds, but you are not aware. And third, second, how do you go from deep sleep into a dream? Do you know this process? And how do you come back, how quickly do you wake up? This transformation in consciousness that causes sleep, dream, and awake—these three states of consciousness—if you have not mastered them, you cannot enter into samādhi or meditation. So, unconscious, subconscious, and conscious: first you must purify and know what is happening there, what is going on, then you can proceed further. Therefore, āsana means a comfortable posture, whether sitting or lying. But if you lie down, you should not sleep; you should meditate. So, when you lie down straight and say, "I will meditate, I know, I inhale, and I repeat my mantra, 'Oṃ Śoham Saguṇa Brahma, Śrīdhi Paripūraṁ Nārāyaṇa Namaḥ,' inhale, 'Oṃ Śoham, Oṃ Prabhudīp Nirañjana,' exhale, 'Śabdha Bhañjana,'" after five or ten breaths, oh God. That is why yogīs do not suggest meditating in a lying position. Sit straight. There are chakras in our spine, parallel to the spine, and these chakras need to be awakened. The spine should be straight for easier concentration and for the astral body to separate more easily. The astral body mostly goes from the shoulder area. If your astral body goes out and in, you have very strong shoulder muscles. If your astral body is stuck and cannot go, then you constantly have shoulder pain. So, those who have shoulder and neck pain mean your astral body is suffering. Either allow the astral body to go from here, or you open the door from this side. When you open the door from this side, then you are snoring. So the astral body is disturbed anyhow. Dhyāna. So, āsana, prāṇāyāma—as I told you in the beginning, "I am the Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, I am Brahmā, I am Ātmā, I am the Supreme"—that is a Jñāna Yogī and a Rāja Yogī's thought. It means it is me who exhales. This whole creation is my exhalation, and you will realize that. You are the middle point of the universe. You are the vibration of the universe. You are the beginning point. Only you will get this knowledge when you have ātma-jñāna; otherwise, forget it. I hold the breath outside, retain the breath outside; this is called bāhya kumbhaka. Everything is maintained through me, as Viṣṇu is the protector. Brahmā created, exhaled, and Viṣṇu is now holding all. Then comes pralaya, mahāpralaya. I inhale again; in pralaya, everything will be inhaled, and I. Hold the breath within me; that is called antara kumbhaka. For how many manvantaras the breath will be held by that Brahman, and then everything exists in this, then formless, nothing more is there—Haṭha Yoga. Again, once in that endless universe, through that nāda, yoga, the sound, the resonance, it will again awake, and then again he will exhale, and everything manifested, multiplied, everything in his divinity. That consciousness, that awareness, that unity, that knowledge, that kriyā. That will happen to you when you come to samādhi, to super-consciousness, higher consciousness: Savikalpa samādhi and Nirvikalpa samādhi. Savikalpa samādhi means you are still aware of yourself. There is bīja samādhi, sabīja samādhi. Bīja means the seed. There is still self-awareness that "I am," and as long as you say "I," you are separated from oneness. But Nirvikalpa samādhi or Nirbīja samādhi is samādhi where there is no existence of individuality. I am one without second, Brahmāṇḍarśipa; that is the aim of Rāja Yoga. Prāṇāyāma, āsana, prāṇāyāma. Pratyāhāra means to withdraw your senses from external objects. A yogī should be such a person that at any time can become extrovert and at any time can again become introvert. As God Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, a yogī should be like a turtle. The turtle can at any time bring its limbs out of its body, and at any time it can again withdraw its limbs. Recording location: Australia, Brisbane, World Peace Tour