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The Roots of Dharma and the Nature of Prāṇa

A spiritual discourse on the nature of prāṇa (life force) and the foundational virtue of Dayā (mercy).

"Dayā dharam kā mūla hai. The roots of the dharma is dayā." "And the root of sin is the ego. Your pride and your ego."

The lecturer leads a satsang in a garden, exploring the profound, indefinable concept of prāṇa as the vital energy within all life. He teaches that Dayā (mercy) is the very root of Dharma, while ego is the root of sin, drawing on the poetry of Tulsīdās. The talk connects these principles to spiritual practice, mantra, and concludes with a practical introduction to yogic breathing, inviting a demonstration from a disciple.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Good morning and blessings to all our friends around the world. I wish you a very nice weekend. Our new program is beginning at Mahāprabhū Deep Ashram in Strelka, Czech Republic. We are currently in the garden of the park. It is a multi-star hall called Kailāś Deep Purījī Āśram and Alak Purījī Āśram. We are in the park. It is like Kailāśa, Devpurījī Ashram and Alakpurījī Ashram. It is not a hotel; it is a park, a garden. You are most welcome. Last week we had a nice subject: practical advice about yoga teachers and also some physical problems like neck, back, hip joints, and knees. Since we are here in this beautiful nature, a proper subject is prāṇa. Prāṇa is very difficult to translate. There is a lot of theory about prāṇa. Prāṇa is not oxygen. Prāṇa is not air. Prāṇa is not breath. Prāṇa is something different. Many things are written about prāṇa, but still there is no concrete definition. Some people compare prāṇa to the soul. Prāṇa is life, and life is prāṇa. If you see a dead body, maybe a human or an animal, or a dry tree, we would say there is no prāṇa inside. Tak říkáme, že v tom těle už není prāṇa. Už to tělo se vzdalo prány. It means that person or being has died. As long as there is prāṇa in the body, you are alive. It is said that a great saint, Tulsīdāsjī, who wrote the holy book, Rāmāyaṇa, at the bank of the holy river Gaṅgā in Benares—a book mostly read in India—says a beautiful poem about love, mercy, or tolerance. He is writing about Dayā. The word Dayā has a very high meaning. If you talk about Dayā, you can write a thousand pieces. Dayā, you can see mercy. Dayā, you can see kindness. Dayā, you can see forgiveness. Dayā can describe the feelings towards others. So Dayā is a very beautiful word. God is Dayā, and Dayā is God. God is the incarnation of Dayā, meaning God is merciful. Merciful means He is complete mercy. His being here is His mercy. His look to us is His mercy, His word is mercy. So mercy is something great, dayā. It is said, "Lord, I will be successful if it is your dayā." It is said, "Lord, I cannot be successful without it." Jsem to já, kdo byl úspěšný, byla to tvoje daja. Aha, nesložila jsem tu zkoušku, protože jsem neměla tvou daju. Narodilo se mi zdravé dítě, díky tvé daḷā. I am healthy, and in my family there is harmony, thanks to your Dayā, my Lord. So Dayā is great. Therefore, in many bhajans, Mahāprabhujī's bhajans, Gurujī's bhajans, Gurujī is always having bhajans, Dayāl. Deep Dayāl, Vodha Prasīm. So Mahāprabhujī is Dayāl, Dayā. So Mahāprabhujī is Dayāl. Deep Dayāl Kripāl Mahāprabhu. Now, Dayā and Kṛpā. They are very close to each other. Dayā is mercy, and Kṛpā is that form of the Dayā that you are merciful to me. There is a Kṛpā. And that dayā is in our heart also, in our body also. So Tulsīdāsji said, Tulsīdāsji, he tells to himself: Don't give up mercy. Nevzdávej se milosti. Don't give up, dayā. Tulsī, dayā na chhoḍī. Don't give up, dayā. O Tulsīdās, o Tulsīdās, nevzdávej se dayā. And before, he said, "Dayā dharam kā mūla hai." The roots of the dharma is dayā. A předtím ještě říká, že kořenem dharmy. It is the mercy of Mother Nature that a beautiful tree is there. It is the mercy of God that a beautiful river is flowing. It is a mercy of God that a new life is beginning. Dharma, human dharma, nature's dharma, seasons' dharma, all these dharmas. Dharma means right-house-ness, right-house-ness. So, Dayā. Dayā is the root of Dharma. So, the root of Dharma is Dayā, the mercy. Daya dharam ka mūl hai, ar pāp mūl abhimān. And the root of sin is the ego. Your pride and your ego. So where there's ego, there's blindness. Where there's ego, there is ignorance. Where there is ego, there is darkness. Where there is ego, a person cannot achieve the goal. Sooner or later, that person will fail. Where there is ego, there is selfishness. Where there is ego, there is no mercy, no understanding for others. Pro druhé a žádná milost. Kde je ego, tak to znamená, že kritizujete druhé. Kde je ego, tak nedokážete přijmout svoje vlastní chyby. And if someone tells you your mistake, you are like the corn on the hot fan. And if someone points out your own mistake and you have an ego, it immediately becomes popcorn. It means it pops up. And when ego pops up, it explodes. So the development of the egoistic person is like bubbles on the water. So there are the sins: dayā dharma kā mūla hai, pāpa mūla abhimāna, and the roots of the sin and all mistakes is your ego and your pride. And the roots of sin and all mistakes rest in your ego and in your writing. Therefore, Tulsīdās says to himself and to us also: Don't give up your dayā. As long as you have prāṇa in your heart, it will happen through our body. That, we cannot say anymore. And this word prāṇa, that is, the verse: "As long as you have prāṇa in your heart, in the body." Jinými slovy bychom mohli říct, dokud je tvé tělo naživu. Nebo dokud máš duši v těle. And so, is the soul prāṇa? Or is prāṇa the soul? What connection do they have? It's difficult to make a definition. So the prāṇa is not oxygen, prāṇa is not a breath, but oxygen has got a prāṇa. Breath has got prāṇa. Breath is functioning only because of the prāṇa. The oxygen is there because of the prāṇa. And this tree needs equal light, prāṇa, and water. And space, and the earth, and the fire, and fire. All five elements this tree needs. And if one of the elements is missing, this tree will die. Similarly, when one of the elements is missing, or is disparaged from our body, we will die. Nám chybí nějaký prvek nebo je v nerovnováze, tak pak můžeme umřít. Tak není takový rozdíl mezi vaším fyzickým tělem a tělem toho stromu. I nás ovlivňují roční doby, i my máme žízeň a hlad, a stejně na tom je i strom, také má žízeň a hlad. Every entity on this planet, and every blade of grass, is made out of five elements and lives through five elements. And they are full of the prāṇa. Now, there is one word, it says prāṇa-ādhāra. There is one bhajan, and there is this bhajan: Dhan Dhan... means glory, glory. To thee, O my Satguru Dev. The word "sahib" means the Lord. Great. So glory, glory to thee, O my Lord. Jau balihara, I surrender my life to you. Why do I do this? Because you are the source of my prāṇa. God is the source of our prāṇa. Without His kṛpā, His dayā, nothing can exist. God Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, "Without my will, or my energy, or my kṛpā, not even a single leaf of the tree can move." Everything will be paralyzed. It is me who is in everything. Only those who can understand, who have realized God consciousness. For others, it's just like stories, fairy tales. Because to a blind person who is blind by birth, you can tell the name "green color," but they cannot imagine what green is, or cannot imagine the difference between green and yellow. Only we tell the name, that's all. Similarly, a person who is full of ego, of pride, cannot know what God is. We hear the name of God. We hear the different incarnations' names. But still, you don't know what God is. On the day when we will know what God is exactly, there will be no more fighting, no more wars, no more conflict between cultures, religions, traditions, and nations. Even we don't understand our life. For what are you fighting? You know where we are sitting, in this country, the Czech Republic? How many times were the wars? Every king was fighting. How many were killed? My land, my kingdom. And where is that one? And now who is ruling? So this is only ignorance. And the boundary, the border is created in the human brain. God did not create the borders. And why is this border there? Because of the ego, ignorance, and really not knowing what God is. So he is the prāṇa ādhāra, prāṇa. Prāṇa. So, dayā is the root or the foundation of dharma. And as long as Dharma exists, this planet will exist. That there is no more power in this world which can stop, or which can take, our dharma from this beautiful mother earth. And when the time will come that it has to be like that, humans cannot stop. It will have to be; people will not be prevented from that. Dayā dharm kā mūl, pāp kā mūl abhimān. Abhimān, selfishness. That is, selfishness. I told yesterday, people with great request, don't sit in the front. But some faces are still there. Because that is ego. And where ego is, there is selfishness. Beautiful rose. Divya Jyoti, I didn't mean you, but sit in the front. And that ego is like a thorn on a beautiful rose. That's it. Anyhow, Tulsī Dayānāchodī, don't give up your mercy. As long as you have prāṇa in your body. And so, prāṇāyāma. Now, words come: prāṇāyāma. So, prāṇa is that prāṇa which I told you. And ayam prānāyām, like yam, exercise. Controlling the prāṇa, and I am that prāṇa, prāṇāyāma. I am that Self. Now you identify yourself with your prāṇa, the ātmā. So exercise of the prāṇāyāma is mainly meant for the physical health and concentration. But prāṇa is that through this exercise we will come to know what prāṇa is. Ale díky tomu cvičení nakonec zjistíme, co to ta prāṇā je. It is explained in Patañjali, that prāṇa is like a cement between two bricks. So prāṇa is that energy between five elements. I would like that you overthink about prāṇa and look in your books, maybe, and try to understand prāṇa. Generally, we say in the body there are ten prāṇas. Ten indriyas: five jñānendriyas and five karmendriyas. Some books and some scholars call the mind also as an indriya. But mind is not indriya. Mind is a driver of the indriyas. So mind is a controller of indriyas. As H.G. Bhajan said, "As it is said in Holī Gurujī's bhajan, there are ten horses that pull this coach. It is a very wonderful movement, and it is a beautiful movement. And thanks to the Buddha, you control these horses." And an alert mind is riding them. So mind is not indriya, but mind is the rider or the driver of the indriyas. Therefore, five indriyas, karmendriya, five jñānendriya, mana, buddhi, mind, buddhi intellect, viveka, intelligence, and then comes citta, the vṛttis, and so on. In this all, the prāṇa is five prāṇas and five upa-prāṇas, five main prāṇas and five sub-prāṇas. These five prāṇas are like what we call, we had before this petrol, which was without, unleaded, catholic. We have before with mid-bligh. Okay, that we will tell the next time. Up prāṇa, sub prāṇa, is a very fine quality. Now, these prāṇas, ten prāṇas, we get through the air, through nourishment, through the environment, and from persons also. You know, sometimes you say, "Oh my God, that person comes and brings such a prāṇa." Or that person sucks my prāṇa. He doesn't have this strong heart that he can suck the prāṇa. But there are some people who have no prāṇa. And you are that person giving the prāṇa. It's good to give. But you should know how to recharge at the same time. Now, there is no technique. Only kṛpā. And that kṛpā is kṛpā in your mantra. There are many mantras. You can practice it. But that mantra is valid, and that mantra has a kripa inside. That is a mantra from the Satguru. A Brahmanist Śrotriya, that is Satguru, one who knows Brahman and who can inspire us. When that Satguru gives the mantra initiation, he is planting in you kṛpā, that this kṛpā will always be with you, and when you need more, you will repeat your mantra, and things will be okay. What is that science? How can we explain this? There is nothing but that's a blessing. So blessing is also a form of the kṛpā, and kṛpā is a form of the dayā. And that Dayā is in your heart, through the creation, through God. But our Dayā, that light, is covered. Malā, bhikṣepa, and āvaraṇa are three negative qualities. Mala is impurity. Vikṣepa is disturbances. And āvaraṇa is the curtain of ignorance. Therefore, you cannot be dayālū. But from time to time, you are dayālū, and that means great. So if you are an enemy, even if they have a half minute of dayā for you, that's something. So without that dayā, you cannot come through. And as soon as you lose the confidence, you lose that faith. Your dayā will go out. Then, even if you have a mantra, that prāṇa is not inside; it is a dead body. And suddenly you feel in your body something is lost, in your brain something is gone. Again, you are that lonely one. Therefore, understand the prāṇa, understand the dayā, understand the kṛpā, understand the life, understand the soul and your ātmā. So this, systematically, you can study and develop in you. Again, it is you who can do it. It depends on you. And therefore, following the instructions of Guruvākya, all holy books are Guruvākya. All these yogic literatures are the guru-vākya. Guru-vākya means not only your master, but all holy masters. May they are not in this world. Because their vākya and your guru's vākya are the same. But we misunderstand, and that's the problem. Therefore, Mahāprabhujī said, that's it. So that Vachan, Guru Vakya, is a Vachan. Vachan means the Vakya, what is spoken. I know how dear it is to me. Even if he is angry, then they are more dear. That one is angry on you who loves you. There are two kinds of anger. One anger is a line on the stone forever. And that anger is the anger of the ego and jealousy. Ignore the person who doesn't love you. Anger of the holy saint, or who loves you really. Anger of your mother, your father, your sister, your brother. Maybe your wife, your husband, and your master. So, who loves you? Their anger is like beating a stick on the water. What happens? When you beat water with a stick, it will go apart. But within no time, it will come together again. It will not remain forever lying there. Similarly, who loves you and who means good for you, even their hard work is a remedy for you. That will not hurt you, and if you feel it's hurting, then you don't understand. Then God also can do nothing. God said, "All right, whole life fight. That's it." Therefore, those words, how dear to me, only I know. How much you love someone, only you know. Even that person doesn't know how much you love that one. Even that dog doesn't know how much you loved it. And that tree doesn't know how much you love it, but someone told me yesterday, Swamiji, trees, dogs, and animals, they know how much they love you. So please talk only about humans. So I said, "Okay, tomorrow I will mention this." So yes, your dog knows how much you love it. So about humans, many times they don't know how much you love them, and the problem is that they don't know you would like them to know, and even they are sorry that they don't know. There are a lot of misunderstandings because the right prāṇa is missing. The right waves are missing. There are some conflicts. And again, that dayā in your mantra can solve the conflict. Wait. Just practice. Just practice. I hope you were on the website last week. And I think it was in Slovenia, weekend, I told a story about a horse, a wild horse. How one could become a good friend of that horse. So take time. And they have a love, and they feel your love. So prāṇa is very important. And now, practicing prāṇāyāma. Also, yogic breath. This is very important. So I think some of our yoga demonstrators will show us the prāṇāyāma, how to breathe. Is there any boy here who knows how to do yoga breathing? Or a yoga teacher? Hand up. Come. No one there, you know. I don't know. So, Satrapurī, please, Satrapurī. So, he has to stand up because people will not see him. Or we have to put a high podium. So, if you don't mind, take your shirt off. Thank you. Now, yes, looking this side. Very good. Come closer. More, more,... more. OK. So I can also control, you know. Come this side. Not there. Here. Good. And a little more this side. A little more. Very good. Yeah. OK. So, normally we breathe normally. But sometimes we breathe wrong, and that can create many problems. Physical problems, mental problems. So, yogic breath keeps our body healthy and gives a long life. So, if you breathe yogic breath, that will be the best. Now, we are talking about abdominal breath, yogic breath, below the navel. But we know that the diaphragm doesn't go to the abdomen. But still, we have to work with this muscle below the navel. So when you try to expand or blow your stomach down part, then it's like that you are pulling or giving a space to your lungs, so the more air can be absorbed. We don't know how much oxygen or the breath air we have in our lungs. I think those who are sitting here, 80% of people have only 70% capacity. Rare are those who practice prāṇāyāms every day; they may have 95%. And who is consciously breathing has 100%. Again, that can only be if you go to the test where you have to blow all the breath out. The truth comes there. Before we can say, "I have much breath," and this everything, but when you have to blow, then they can see. So, one blowing is a test: how much air you have, the capacity of your lungs. And the second blow is called a "blue blow," when you drive and the police stops you. Because your car goes like this sometimes. Then the police says, "Please, sir, can you blow here?" Everything is blue. You can see the sky is blue, Mr. Policeman. I am Nira Akar. That's it. So, the first breath from the upper part of the chest, a short breath. That makes rabbits, dogs, those who have short breath. Short life, but they do quickly a little bit, no? When you practice the right thing, then it is difficult to practice the wrong. So your collarbones are raising up. So this is not good, and this is doing us when you are running on the staircase. Secondly, normally what we are breathing here, the whole ribs, chest breath, and mostly people have nowadays very tight jeans, or very tight dress. And men have a tie. They are ready to be hanged any time, and then they make a tie like this. And the ladies have a tight dress, and they breathe here on the chest. And men also saw how strong they are. That's not good. That's why our ancestors around the whole world suggested we have loose dress. It's very friendly to your body, then you can expand. Your body can breathe, so yogic breath first in the stomach, abdomen. Feel in the stomach, and then in. Inhale into the chest, and then exhale from the chest and then from the stomach. We will practice after. Everyone will come up. I mean, lie down, and we'll try. Now time is over. Thank you. Thank you. Satrapurī. His name is Thomas, so I say, "No, Thomas, guṇa." My name is Tomáš, I said no tamas, it will be sattva purī. Thank you. This evening, 5 o'clock, 5:30 to 6:30, we will all do this prāṇāyāma. How to inhale and exhale? Or everybody will try. Then we will continue: what is prāṇa, apāna, samāna, vyāna, udāna. These five prāṇa, and these five prāṇa, which we have: prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna, vyāna. And then there is a sub-prāṇa. We call them upa prāṇa: nāga, kūrma, devadatta, kṛkara, and dhananjaya. These are the five upa prāṇas. What is the difference between them all? And what kind of effect does it have on different parts of the body? All these five together, they function from one source of energy; that's called prāṇa. So, afternoon, 5:30. Till then, have a good rest. It's lunchtime. Wish you a good appetite. Deepnayan Bhagwan Kī Devīśvar Mahādev Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Sanātana Dharma Kī. Oṁ Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ Sarve Santu Nirmayāḥ Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu. Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ Rabhavato.

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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