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Your Body Should Not Be A Coffin

A spiritual discourse emphasizing the necessity of daily yoga and dietary discipline for health and sattvic purity.

"Practicing means at home, not just here. Here, you are only learning." "Everyone who comes to Yoga in Daily Life must practice seriously at home, first for the sake of your health. Spirituality comes afterward."

The lecturer addresses a gathering, delivering a direct critique of irregular practice. He explains how physical impurities (vikāra) and inertia (tamas guṇa) obstruct spiritual progress, outlining a strict daily and seasonal regimen of cleansing techniques (kriyās), āsanas, and prāṇāyāma. He also discusses diet, the importance of teacher guidance, and frames consistent practice as a moral imperative for teachers and students alike.

Filming location: Strilky, Cz.

DVD 202

I return to a crucial point for our lives, one we must seriously reconsider. This serious reconsideration reveals that we often do not resemble yoga practitioners. Thank you. Yoga is practiced widely across the world, often with great seriousness. Yet, perhaps 30% of you are regular practitioners, while 70% are not. We are the ones suffering from various physical problems and illnesses. We possess a complete, wonderful scientific system; nothing is missing. So why do we have problems? The answer is simple: you do not practice. Practicing means at home, not just here. Here, you are only learning. Practicing for just one week is of no help; it must be a continuous daily process. I could point to one person and say, "Look at his body," because that person is a practitioner. Then I could bring another person here, perhaps even a yoga teacher, and you would see they are not a practitioner. This must change entirely. Everyone who comes to Yoga in Daily Life must practice seriously at home, first for the sake of your health. Spirituality comes afterward; it arises automatically when you are physically well. Our bodies are full of vikāra and tamas guṇa. Where these exist, you are not a yogī. Vikāra means illnesses; it is dead energy, the energies within the body that cause sickness. It is the body's nature to create vikāras and to produce the three guṇas: tāmasic, rājasic, and sāttvic. For tāmasic guṇa, you need not support anything. For rajasic guṇa, you must support something. But for sattvic guṇa, you must work diligently. We must become sāttvic. Where there is a sāttvic body, there is no vikāra. Vikāras exist in the mind as well. When the body is unhealthy and full of vikāras, thoughts become full of vikāras. When thoughts are full of vikāras, the activities of the indriyas (senses) become full of vikāras—negative activities. When the mind is full of vikāra thoughts, buddhi (intellect) becomes dull, meaning vikāra enters the buddhi too. When the intellect is affected by vikāra, your pure knowledge is obscured, like the sun covered by clouds or fog. Your reality is veiled by these vikāras and negative qualities. Therefore, there is no other way than to practice yoga to purify the body in this manner. Do not focus merely on having or not having extra weight; that is a separate issue. Practice daily and seasonally: Śaṅkha Prakṣālana, Kunjal Kriyā, Neti Kriyā, and Prāṇāyāma. You will have no health problems. So, let us begin this year anew. Let us jump into the New Year with full discipline and a healthy program. The food we eat is also full of tamas guṇa and rajas guṇa. The same food can be prepared differently to become sāttvic. We should, of course, avoid all eggs, meat, alcohol, and similar items. But you must also learn how to cook. 85% of you sitting here do not know how. You have lost this knowledge and developed a wrong taste. This means 95% do not know how to eat, and 100% do not know when to eat. This is our problem. I am caught between two sides: thinking commercially or thinking healthily. We have healthy food cooked here, though there may be a queue. There is also a bakery where many people go, but the food there contains a lot of sugar. I know it is good for them to earn money, but I must tell you it is not healthy for you. I am in the middle—I am for you and for others. Whom should I support? I will support both. Supporting you means you should avoid such eating. Supporting them means they should make healthier items: healthy salads, homegrown or sprouted items, methī seeds, and similar things. Therefore, why do we not think of our health today? Those who have not done Śaṅkha Prakṣālana before this winter arrives, please do it. Thank you. Who here is not a practitioner of Yoga in Daily Life? Please raise your hand. How can you be a practitioner if you have not completed the fourth Śaṅkha Prakṣālana this year? There are still 35 days. Those who have not practiced it should do so before the year ends. Instead of eating Christmas bakery, eat nice Śaṅkhaprakṣālana khichḍī. Hurry and do it before Christmas. You can eat Christmas bakery—there is nothing wrong—but can you keep the limitation? And may I kindly ask parents to remove three- to four-year-old children from the lecture hall? I should not have to repeat this every time. Thank you. Now, regarding Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. We had one last weekend in Klagenfurt where a complication occurred due to a participant's mistake, not the leader's. The person was hospitalized for a few hours. The case was this: the person took hormonal tablets for the thyroid gland but forgot to take them. You know, Europeans often think, "Don't eat salt." But I tell you, avoiding salt completely is not good. You should eat salt. Many are so fanatic they eat none, leading to a lack of potassium. Do not be fanatic. Salt is good; you need a little. Not 100 grams daily, but 10 grams is fine if you eat a lot. For those doing Śaktī Prakṣālana who take medicine—for hormones, blood pressure, diabetes, or other conditions—you must take your medicine two hours before the prakṣālana. Then no complication will arise. Therefore, always practice Samprakṣālana under the guidance of an expert I have nominated, or within Yoga in Daily Life. Doing it two or three times with a teacher and then thinking, "Now I know," and doing it at home is not advisable. Four times a year, every third month, you should do śaṅkha prakṣālana. Every week, on Saturday or Monday morning, do kunjal kriyā, because on weekends we tend to eat a bit more, and controlling eating is difficult. Mahāprabhujī said that eating little and forgiving little is difficult for many. Therefore, Kunḍalī Kriyā on Monday is very good. Do Neti almost every day, only in the morning. Do Agnisāra Kriyā every day. Do Uddīyāna Bandha every day. Do five minutes of kapālbhāti or bastrika prāṇāyāma every day. This program is essential. Then add your regular āsanas and prāṇāyāmas. So, to summarize: five minutes of bastrika daily; 2-3 minutes of Agni Sākṣīkriyā daily; Neti daily; Kunjal Kriyā every Monday; Śaṅkha Prakṣālana every third month; and a minimum of one and a half hours of āsana and prāṇāyāma daily. By the end of next November or early December, I expect to see faces in this hall radiating immense, active, positive, sāttvic energy. Eat what you like, except meat, eggs, fish, etc., but ensure you can digest it 100%. Digestion here means not feeling hungry again after a few hours, but that your body absorbs all necessary nutrients from the food. I suggest you begin practicing Yoga in Daily Life seriously again. You must become an example. Most here are teachers. What is the condition of the teachers? I do not wish to offend. If I asked a teacher to stand, the picture might not be good, so better you remain seated. Yoga teachers, you must become an example again. When you first came to yoga, you did not come because of Swāmījī. Upon first seeing me, you likely thought, "My God, who is this?" Then slowly you thought, "Oh, not bad." Ask yourself: what was your initial motivation for coming to yoga? How fulfilled do you feel in that regard? The first happiness is a healthy body. We are not physically immortal; we know we will die one day. Thanks to God we do not know when, where, or how. We hope for a quick death without suffering. But those who are lazy, full of tamas guṇa and illnesses, are like a black car transporting a dead body in a wooden box—a coffin. If you live in a lazy body, you live lifelong in a coffin. A lazy, undisciplined, angry body is a dead body, and you are inside it. Therefore, wash out tamas guṇa, wash out vikāra. We do not want vikāra; we want ācāra and vicāra. Ācāra means behavior. I have given you four points constantly over the last four years. Are you thinking about what I tell you? Do you change your life accordingly? If you had, you would look different and not write such long letters of complaint. I am used to listening to complaints. When I do not receive one, I feel bored and wonder what happened. The sun never sets without some complaint—toward themselves, others, or even me. Do not think I sit here as a holy one, or that others are not doing things. They behave well in front of Swamiji, then differently when alone. This is a mental vikāra. Jesus was crucified by this. Kṛṣṇa was shot by this. Rāma suffered from this—all due to people's mental vichāras. You think everything is okay with those around you? No. How often do you change your vichāras? "Why is Swāmījī doing this? Why doesn't he do that? Why does he speak like that? Why does he support that person and not me? Why does he eat like that? Why can't I sit near him like Arjun Purī?" Of course, only one Arjuna was for Kṛṣṇa. You can also try. Learn the language, then sit here and translate. I would be happy if you could sit here, but you must become worthy. Every day, complaints... and for every answer, I must think 51 times whether to say yes or no. Even when I wish to say no, I often say yes as a form of self-protection. Can you imagine? I am not lying. At Christmas and Dīvālī, it is holy time, so I speak plainly. Many of you... this is the condition of the Master. As I have said for years, there are four things: Āhār, Vihār, Ācāra, and Vicāra. Āhār is diet. Vihār is where to go and where not to go. Vicāra is what to think. Ācāra is behavior. It is a hard life. To be human is beautiful but hard. We are in this school to become perfect; it is a school of perfection. Therefore, you must purify and begin practicing again. Finally, wake up. We are stuck in tāmasic guṇas: coffee, jam, biscuits, chocolate—constantly putting them in. Your body becomes an endless garbage bin. In the morning, you wash, look in the mirror, and say, "My God, I have so many kilos." Do not blame the scale or your clothes. Blame yourself. The overweight problem is that you are not forced to have extra kilos. Check what and how much you eat daily. Please eat healthily. Bread is good, butter is good, cheese is good, cake is good, chocolate is good—but in limitation. Eat fruits, make sprouts at home, have salads and healthy items. I suggest you make Śaṅkha Prakṣālana a priority. If there is an individual health problem, consult a doctor—preferably a yoga doctor. For instance, we can ask our Dr. Martin who should absolutely not do Śaṅkha Prakṣālana and what alternatives exist. There are many. In Āyurveda, there is Sonāmukhī; taking it every fourth night functions like śaṅkha prakṣālana. In allopathic medicine, there is bitter salt (Epsom salt). Taking half or a teaspoon every fourth night (ask a doctor for dosage) can have a similar cleansing effect. These are only for those who cannot do śaṅkha prakṣālana due to physical complications. You can do Neti and avoid nasal problems, sniffing, and flu. You are a yogī. How do you look? I am surprised you do not look like one. After 33 years in Czechoslovakia, I saw one yogī: Turīyānanda. Come here. Do you know why he is a good yogī? Thanks to his wife. If she were not a very good, careful cook, and if she did not make many compromises, he would not be like this. I wish all men such a wife—full of tolerance, compromise, and understanding. It is not easy for her, but she is like Aṅka. Look now: many of you sit inside with caps and jackets, going "tsk, tsk," while he wears little. He is nearly 75—or 65, 75?—because he practices seriously. He is an example. His body has no vikāras. When the body has no vikāra, the mind has no vikāra. Merely thinking, "I am the supreme," what will you do with that? Go home and sit. Tell your wife you are supreme; she will say, "OK, go and work." My main concern is your perfect health. Especially in the Czech Republic, certain insurance companies support practitioners; you pay less for life insurance. In America, some companies charge only half if you are a yoga practitioner. In America, if a spouse is aggressive, the court may order one year of yoga classes, with attendance records required. This is not a joke; it was in Austrian newspapers three times. In Germany, practicing under trained teachers can lead to insurance discounts. You gain doubly: financial benefit and good health. So why not practice yourself before teaching others? Let us make a saṅkalpa: in six months, by summer, my body will look yogic and be perfectly healthy. You can do it; it depends on you. You must throw away the coffin of your dead body—that is, laziness and tamas guṇa.

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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