Swamiji TV

Other links



Video details

Practising Khatu pranam with mantras

A guided session on the Vajrāsana posture and the Kāṭupranām salutation with mantras.

"This Vajrāsana is a prayer posture as well... this posture has a very beneficial influence on our entire body, as well as for calming the mind, emotions, nervousness, and anxieties."

"Lead me from unreality to reality... from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom."

Swami Avatarpuri instructs a group in the physical and spiritual practice of Vajrāsana and a sequence of sacred mantras and mudrās. He explains the benefits of the posture and guides participants through chanting, connecting each mantra and movement to a spiritual aim—from seeking light and wisdom to praying for health, peace, harmony, and purity for all elements of the cosmos. The practice concludes with reflections on peace and completeness.

Filming location: Vép, Hu.

DVD 273

We have spoken extensively about Vajrāsana. I have also discussed it in many seminars. This Vajrāsana is a prayer posture as well. Many in mosques adopt this posture when they begin their prayers. In my opinion, and according to the effects of the āsanas, this posture has a very beneficial influence on our entire body, as well as for calming the mind, emotions, nervousness, and anxieties. In this posture, we concentrate on Mahāprabhujī and His holy seat in Khattu. Our ashram is called Śivbāgh, with a beautiful banyan tree, a beautiful shrine, and Mahāprabhujī—Mahādev Śivbhag—who is seated in the beautiful Bhajan Dervetā, the place where He is sitting, the place of Mahāprabhujī's samādhi. Mentally or aloud, we then chant "Oṁ Śrī Gurū Dīpāya Namaḥ." We should sing the mantra either mentally or aloud. So, once together in a beautiful melody: first I will chant, and then you: "Oṁ Śrī Guru Gurujī, Gurujī... Gurujī." Very nice. You are the best group. When we chant this mantra, the hands can be on the thighs, or let us all do it uniformly; we can also fold the hands. "Oṁ Śrī Gurū Dīpāya Namaḥ." And again, hands on the thighs. So, once all together with me. Perfect. Now you see, the mantra, as well as the sound, creates a feeling of protection. It removes anxiety and uncertainty. It calms our vṛttis and develops concentration. For this spiritual purpose, it awakens our Anāhata Chakra, which means it develops devotion. It is as if we surrender our worries, anxieties, and our egos. Beautiful. When we become aware, what do we wish? Spiritual development, to achieve our aims and goals, wisdom, liberation. Therefore: asato mā sad gamaya—lead me from unreality to reality. Here, "truth" means God. Here, "truth" means the light of wisdom. To remove tamas means to remove darkness. This Jīvātmā has been wandering throughout the universe for millions of years, through darkness and light, experiencing pleasure and unpleasantness, sorrows, miseries, pain, and happiness, presented by the darkness of ignorance. Tamas means darkness, ignorance. After saluting the cosmic light—"Oṁ Śrī Gurū Dīpāya Namaḥ"—being a cosmic light, it leads us from unreality to reality. At the same time, we are performing a mudrā. That is called a flame, the cosmic flame. So, from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom. Next mantra: with this first movement of the Kāṭupranām, first, Avatārapurījī is chanting, and then you will chant. Very good. Everybody, first chant once more, hands down. He will chant once, and then you will chant. Hands down, beautiful. I see so much light that I must change my legs because my seat is too soft. So, you see, upliftment. This mudrā has many meanings: rising up from darkness to light, like morning dawn, and building a beautiful flame—Gyān Jyoti, the flame of wisdom—and moving towards the cosmic self. You see, every mudrā, every movement, every sound has its meaning, and if we know this and do it consciously, it helps us more. So, get ready. "Oṁ asato mā sad gamaya." Straight up. Very good. Again, hands down. Rehearsal. Again, all together. Hands should go at the same time. Oṁ. Number two: "Oṁ tamaso mā jyotir gamaya." Merciful Lord, I bow down to Thee. My salutation to that cosmic light that leads us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom—from tamo guṇa to sattva guṇa, from negative vṛttis to positive vṛttis. And next will come: "Oṁ mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya." There you are proceeding towards the Amṛt Tattva, which leads us towards immortality. May our movements, deeds, thoughts—everything—lead us to immortality, from the mortal world to the immortal world. "Oṁ sarveṣāṁ svastir bhavatu." May all my paths remain happy and healthy. May my body, mind, thoughts, relations—everything—be healthy. Therefore, lead us from unreality to reality, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality. And now, health: "Oṁ sarveṣāṁ svastir bhavatu." Beautiful. But once more, repeat again. I was not satisfied. Legs slightly together, hands near the chest. Chin on the ground. It means you are rising up into the healthy world. Wherever you see, may I see health. Good health also means truth. I want to see good health everywhere. Perfect. Thank God. Bless the entire world with good health and balance. When body, mind, intellect, and emotions are healthy, then no one will fight. And when no one fights, then we build a mountain of peace, a visible peace. Śānti, everywhere śānti. "Oṁ sarveṣāṁ śāntir bhavatu." Everywhere endless peace, peace, peace. Lead us from unreality to reality, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality. Bless us all with good health. May that peace be everywhere, endless. Then harmony will come. We may live in harmony. May harmony be within me and outside of me. Lord, let me make the first step towards it; it is my first step to create harmony. That way, we enter into completeness, pūrṇa. The Pūrṇa is the Cosmic Self. Therefore, "Oṁ sarveṣāṁ pūrṇam bhavatu." And like this, "Oṁ sarveṣāṁ pūrṇa"—once more, hands down. It was beautiful, as if you are making an entire cosmos, pūrṇa, and you are entering into the pūrṇa. "Oṁ sarveṣāṁ pūrṇa," beautiful. While thinking: all in this world and on all other planets may be happy, healthy, harmonious, balanced, peaceful, and so on. May every country be happy. May every country be harmonious. May the whole world be full of wishes. And therefore, we touch this Mother Earth, this globe. All who live on this planet should be happy. Dukkha is trouble, and sukha is happiness. Therefore, "Oṁ lokaḥ samasthaḥ sukhino bhavantu." Beautiful. I think those who come into this hall today will feel elevated. And then we come to the peace mantra, peace for the whole universe. Again, for that Lord, I bow down to you. Beautiful. My second step towards peace in the atmosphere, in the universe. The entire universe, the entire atmosphere, in different weathers. "Oṁ antarikṣa śānti." You have reached the antarikṣa, the space, the atmosphere. You are all like spiritual satellites. Send the message from the antarikṣa, from heaven, back to earth. Bring this message of the peace that is in the atmosphere; it should be back also on our Pṛthivī. So you bring the cosmic light, you bring the cosmic peace back to earth. Feel the Mother Earth and send your positive energy. You are the peace messenger on this planet. This is a living planet. Water is most important: clean, pure water with pūrṇā inside. All the minerals, part of our body's needs, are part of a planet's needs. "Oṁ āpaḥ śānti. Oṁ āpaḥ śānti." That is our another step, to pray for the water. Water is holy. When we do the abhiṣeka, then the water drops, initiation—what you call in Christianity, it's called baptizing. Water is pure; water gives us purity. It is the holy water. May there be peace in the water. Always may we have very clean, pure, holy water to drink. And merciful Lord, what all grows on this planet as our nourishment, the herbs should also have peace, light, harmony, and energy. The plants also need to have peace, light, harmony, and energy. "Oṁ oṣadhayaḥ śānti." Again, once back, we take pūrṇa, we go like this. All that is growing—not only like this, but everything that is growing. From sidewards, your side muscles get exercise. So move first a little forward like this, and then embrace everything. Beautiful. Perfect! So, beautiful herbs are in my garden here. Beautiful herbs, without jealousy, without anger, without tamoguṇa—but those herbs still have tamoguṇa and jealousy; they are moving like this. Now, entire vanaspati, entire vegetation, trees, big trees, all. All the fruits, all the vegetables, and the oxygen we get from this—all the trees, from vegetation—we need harmony, a balanced ecology, inner and outer. This is our mental power, which will definitely help. It will help improve your body, your mind, your mental strength, your health, your spirituality—everything. It's a matter of thinking. Then, different elements in this universe are different heavenly forces; may we call them God? Are the elements Viśvadeva, the Lord of the entire world? "Oṁ viśvadeva śānti." Endless peace. And Lord of the Universe. And Brahman, the entire universe, is the ultimate truth. Only one God, which has no forms—nirguṇa, nirākāra, without any guṇas and without any forms. That Brahma, that is the Lord, one Lord, Lord of all. "Oṁ brahma śānti. Oṁ brahma śānti." But you have to think and understand, Lord, once more. Everywhere peace. Some say "sarvam" and some say "sarve." Both are okay. "Oṁ śānti reva śānti." Peace only, peace. "Oṁ śānti reva śānti." Mīr samō mīr. "Oṁ śānti reva śānti." Feel your entire body. Feel your breath. Feel your thoughts. Peace may be in my body, in my heart, in my thoughts. Lord, once more. And let me rise into your rising light and rising dawn. And let them rise up in your rising light, in the light of the dawn. Lord, peace only, peace, peace, peace. Lord, peace, peace, only peace. Śānti, śānti... All three lokas. Sve tri loke. Mind a harom loka bom. O, sa, sa... Nudīpā, namaha, um śānti. Deepenā, bhagavāne, kise. So, of course, you can sit in other postures if you want. So, how did you like the Kāṭupranām mantras and praṇām? And how do you feel? Very good. It's good that we have to learn the mantra by heart. And don't be in a hurry. Feel your movements, feel the breath, feel the muscles and the joints, the stretching, the contrapostures, the energy centers—chakras—and with your bhakti, your emotion and intellect, open the horizon into positiveness, peace, health, light, love, harmony, completeness, unity. What a beautiful thing. With your heart and intellect, open up the horizon to love, harmony, understanding, and peace. How beautiful is this!

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:

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel