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The Sacred Salutation: An Introduction to Khatu Praṇām

An instructional talk introducing the spiritual practice of Khatu Praṇām.

"Khatu is the holy place where Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī lived."

"Khatu Praṇām, automatically when we say Khatu Praṇām, our salutation goes to Mahāprabhujī."

The speaker explains the sacred significance of Khatu, detailing its history as the residence of Mahāprabhujī and other lineage masters like Devapurījī and Holy Gurujī. He describes the spiritual energy of the place and its associated sites before introducing Khatu Praṇām as a ten-movement salutation derived from the Yoga in Daily Life system. He emphasizes its holistic benefits and corrects teachers who incorrectly describe its postures with casual names instead of guiding the proper transitions.

Khatu Praṇām. Khatu is the holy place where Bhagavān Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī lived. In the last century, Mahāprabhujī, who lived for 135 years, stayed mostly in two places. One was in Khatu village, where we have the āshram with the beautiful banyan tree. Many bhaktas have been there. The Śrī Vidyān Dīp Gītā, which will very soon come into your hands, was spoken by Mahāprabhujī under that banyan tree. The bhajans "Pādvāraṇī" and "Siddhī Purī Anubhav Prakāś" were composed under that banyan tree. Numerous satsaṅgs, spiritual lectures, and preachings were given there by Lord Mahāprabhujī, Bhagavān Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī, and many other saints. The village Khatu is located at the roots of the hills, on the top of a hill on the mountain. Our beloved Holy Gurujī, His Holiness Śrī Swāmī Mādhavānandajī, stayed with Mahāprabhujī there from 1940. That place is so holy because Mahāprabhujī lived there, Holy Gurujī lived there, and millions of people came to him for darśan and satsaṅg. People who came there always took the dust, the descent from that place where Mahāprabhujī walked. That place we call Dīpeśwar Śivbāgh, Baḍīkhatu. Every time we go to India with the group of Yoga in Daily Life, we visit Khatu, our āshram. About 150 or 200 meters up on the hill from there, there was a very spiritual family where Lord Devapurījī, the master of Mahāprabhujī, used to come and stay. There is the Dhūnī or Dhūnā, the fireplace of Śrī Devapurījī. What you always hear and read in the holy Līlā Amṛt book that is written about Devapurījī was about that place. For example, how Devapurījī first met Mahāprabhujī is also described in relation to that holy place. Our spiritual energy from our spiritual lineage begins from Mount Kailāsh in the Himalayas, from Lord Śiva. It moves to the Kedārnāth and Badrīnāth hills where Alakhpurījī is living, and from Alakhpurījī to the village Kailāsh, which is named after Mount Kailāsh because the seat of Devapurījī is in Kailāsh. Kailāsh Āshram is very beautiful now. It has beautiful and nice greens and beautiful huts and is a very peaceful place. If you want to do anuṣṭhāna or sādhanā, it is a perfect place there also. From there comes Khatu, and there are three or four places near Khatu. One is the holy place of Mahāprabhujī's incarnation, Harivaśnī, a few kilometers away from Khatu. Then the place where Devapurījī used to stay, the Dhūnī. Then where Mahāprabhujī used to stay in Dīpeśwar Śiv Bāgh under the banyan tree. And then another āshram, which we call Dūnā, and there Mahāprabhujī's samādhi is. So these are a few divine places. They have a very strong radiance of spirituality. When we remember Khatu, this spiritual energy awakens in us. Therefore, that is called Sūrya Namaskāra, the salutation to the sun. While keeping this in mind, I designed one program, and that's called Khatu Praṇām, the salutation to Khatu. When you practice this and you remember, just repeat the name Khatu Praṇām, and automatically you are connected to that spiritual energy of Mahāprabhujī. Khatu Praṇāms are those movements which are taken from the system Yoga in Daily Life. It is composed of certain movements, and that is very important and very good to know. These are ten movements, with repetition become twenty, and this all is in one name called Khatu Praṇām. Many teachers who are teaching Khatu Praṇām are saying, "Now come to the caterpillar, now come to the cobra, now come to the mountain," then this is not Khatu Praṇām. So all teachers should know it is Khatu Praṇām and that's it. You should tell them what to do. Otherwise, you can say do cobra, Bhujaṅgāsana, that's all. It is not Khatu Praṇām. So you have to read, you must learn how to change posture, how to go from one posture to another posture. You should describe that. Do not be lazy and just say, "Now go to the mountain, now go to the satsaṅgāsana." This is a laziness of the teacher and a lack of knowledge of the teachers to explain and guide. Khatu Praṇām, automatically when we say Khatu Praṇām, our salutation goes to Mahāprabhujī. Those hills on which Mahāprabhujī walked, those hills which Mahāprabhujī saw with his own eyes, that beautiful banyan tree under which Mahāprabhujī sat and spoke, Mahāprabhujī saw this tree. Once Holy Gurujī told me, "Mahesh, only this tree knows who Mahāprabhujī was." This tree is a witness of the divine incarnation of Mahāprabhujī. And so it is like that. And also when some people came who saw Mahāprabhujī, Holy Gurujī was very happy and looked into their eyes because these eyes saw Mahāprabhujī. These are the blessed eyes that saw my Master. I adore these eyes, because through these eyes, Mahāprabhujī is living in them. What devotion, what an image, what surrendering, what an offering, what a dedication of a disciple to his Master. Yes, Mahāprabhujī was that. Khatu Praṇām has, first of all, a very positive influence on our whole body, muscles, ligaments, joints, nervous system, circulation, concentration, heart, digestion, and has a spiritual influence, awakening of the chakras. So for the awakening of the Kuṇḍalinī, regulating of the chakras is best if you do the Khatu Praṇām. It has been proved and exercised, and it is said if you do a few rounds of the Khatu Praṇām, your immunity is improving, regenerated, that energy. So the Khatu Praṇām is a very beautiful exercise, and for us has more meaning because it is named after our holy place of Śrī Mahāprabhujī.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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