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Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī salutations to the cosmic light, adoration and sāṣṭāṅg daṇḍavat to our beloved Gurudev. We are talking about the kośas: Annamaya kośa, Prāṇamaya kośa, Manomaya kośa, Vijñānamaya kośa, and Ānandamaya kośa. For the last few days, you were listening about Annamaya Kośa and the Prāṇa, the Prāṇamaya Kośa. Prāṇa is very hard to understand and describe. What is the prāṇa? Oxygen is not Prāṇa, and there is no translation of Prāṇa in the English language. Just as there is no translation of the nāḍī in English language—you can see nerves, but the nerves are not the nāḍīs. The nāḍīs are what carry the prāṇa. In Devanāgarī, in Hindi, we commonly say prāṇī. What does prāṇī mean? Prāṇī means a living entity. Every living being which has the prāṇa is called a prāṇī. Even the plants and trees have prāṇa. Secondly, we also say, "prāṇ chhod diye," which means died. Indians, do you agree with me? Prāṇa chhod diye—this is a very common phrase. Chhod diye means gave up. Gave up the prāṇa. No more prāṇa inside means died. Now, there is another word you know: jīva. Jīva means the soul, the living entity. When we speak about jīva, it is not precisely the soul. Unfortunately, there is no translation of jīva. In the language of Jīvātmā, there is also Jīv, Bodha, Jīvat. Pānī hī Jīvan hai, Jal hī Jīvan hai. Jal jahan Jagadīś, and Mṛtyu, they also have the word Mṛt. These words are all rooted from the Sanskrit language. The Indo-Germanic languages, the Slavic languages, are rooted from one language, and that is Sanskrit. We also say jīva, which means life. Jīv nikal gayā—the jīva went out of the body. Jīva chala gaya—the Jīva went away. So the Prāṇa, the Nāḍī, and the Jeeva have a very close connection. You cannot say the Jeeva is Prāṇa, and you cannot say the Prāṇa is the Jeeva. But as long as prāṇa is in the body, you are alive. Tulsīdās said, "Dayādharma kā mūla, pāpa mūla abhimāna." Tulsīdās said, "The root of religion is mercy, and the root of sin is ego." Do not give up tolerance or mercy as long as you have prāṇa in the heart. It means the prāṇa goes last out of the heart from the anāhata cakra. When the prāṇa begins to leave the body, you have strong spasms in the maṇipūra cakra. And when the prāṇa leaves the body, each part of the body is so painful, like someone is pulling your skin out. Thanks to God, you didn't experience it. Maybe you experienced, but I hope you didn't. When a heart attack takes place, it's not that within a second you are gone. No. When the heart attack takes place, then in that particular part of the body, there is no supply of blood. There are spasms in the muscles and pain, like someone is pulling out your skin. Around the chest, it is like someone puts a balloon around the body and pumps the air inside, because the blood is going out—meaning the blood is stopped, blocked—meaning the prāṇa is not transferring further. Prāṇa is missing, so the jīva, the life, the soul—jīva, literally we can say soul, though it is not, but how to understand? If there is no word for what is a cow, then you say, "milky animal who gives the milk." Now you understand: cow, buffalo, goat, or whatever. So many words in your language we cannot translate into Hindi. This is the yogic language, the Sanskrit language. If you would like to understand, then you have to study and learn. Otherwise, many things are still missing. It's a culture, a tradition, a habit. Suppose just one example from today. The prasāda came from the Gaṇeśa temple for 20 or 30 people. It came, and they just took it and ate it. They should have first made a prayer, an adoration to Śrī Gaṇeśa, and received the prasāda with great devotion, and before that, they should have offered it to the Gurudev on the altar. Why didn't they? Because they didn't think of it. Why didn't they think of it? Because they have no education about that. They have no idea. They haven't thought. Something eatable came, eat it. That's all. Brahmā arpaṇam brahmā havi brahmā eva tena brahma-karma samādhinam. Yes, anything. This is different. So it is not that it is there, but how to accept, how to utilize, and what does it mean? There is a great difference between two cultures. That's why the Europeans who come to India have a culture shock. What they see, the India that is not India now. The Europeans came to see India, but unfortunately, it is not anymore India. It's a very painful but interesting question. Someone asked me three years ago from Europe—many disciples come from around the world. One man came from Europe, a great bhakta. I was sitting in the chair, and he was massaging my feet. He had tears in his eyes out of happiness that he got a chance to massage Swāmījī, that he could touch. Understand what that means. While weeping, having tears in the heart, he said, "Gurudev, please, can you take me to India?" He was here in India. "Gurudev, can we go to India?" I said, "We are in India." He said, "No, what we read in the śāstras, in the Upaniṣads, Vedas, the Mahābhārata, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Gītā, Rāmāyaṇa, and about Indian ṛṣis, Indian family systems—I don't see here." So I told him, "Yes, my dear, once upon a time, there was India." Why does it happen like this? This is not Indian culture, what we are doing now. In Jodhpur, someone asked a tourist, "How do you like India?" He said, "Very good." "What is everything? Very good?" He said, "Well, you can spit anywhere." If a child is beaten up and he doesn't lie down, and the fly's feet are buried in it, and he gets up and sits on your lap, you won't tell the fly not to come home. But why does it happen that your child sits outside like this? Or you go, and if the child sits, you clean it. This is the difference. Ek śvetā kī bhārat ke andar pavitratā, ācār aur vicār, āhār aur vihār. This is what yoga sādhanā needs, but it is never too late. You can begin any time. Wake up. Jīva, the jīva—jīva nikal gayā. Kyā huā? Aur abhī tak isme jīv hai. Either the soul, life is gone out of it, or still, there is a soul inside. Please, don't do this. The other one is torturing. Jaha tak jīv hain, you know, there is a kośa. There is another meaning of the kośa. Another meaning of the kośa means the meat. That kind of meat which Jewish people eat only. It means, bakrī kā, bakre kā thodā galā kāṭ ke ultā laṭkā do. When all blood goes out of the body, then you can eat. That time, when you cut the half neck of the animal and hang it somewhere, or just let it lying somewhere, and blood is running out of the body, that time the spasms in the body, unbearable pain—that animal doesn't die once; it dies a thousand times, a million times. It experiences that death a million times because it is not easy for the soul to go out of the body or for the prāṇa to go out of the body. Therefore, it is said, "Praṇī mātrā merī ātmā hai." Every entity is myself, my ātmā. Ātmā sohī pramātmā. And the ātmā, that is the God, the light of God. O man, don't be cruel. Now, suppose you take a fish out of the water. Do you know how much fish are suffering? The beautiful pink eye of the fish is looking at you, opening its mouth, and saying, "O man, don't do this to me. Please bring me back to my kingdom, to the water." But man cannot listen to the crying of that innocent animal. Can you imagine a beautiful rabbit having such nice eyes? And you hold the ears and cut the neck? Aur bakra, kitna sundar hai bakra ya bakri. Beautiful eyes hai, kitna achchā bhalā bhalā janvar hai. Aap uskī gardan kāṛte ho. The goat, what a beautiful animal. A very humble animal. Anyone can catch it, anyone can take it, and it gives you milk. How cruel is that? You cut the neck of the goat, or a tiger, or an elephant, or a cow. There is no greater sin than to cut the neck or kill someone, and you can kill in many ways. Therefore, āhār, your diet, depends on what kind of prāṇa will develop in your body. One prāṇa is the cosmic prāṇa that we call the cosmic energy or the light of God. The cosmic mother, when you inhale, you are inhaling the cosmic prāṇa, not oxygen only. This prāṇa goes through the whole body. When you exhale, it means the cosmic mother is constantly nourishing her child with inhalation and exhalation. You are in touch, in relation with the cosmic mother who constantly sees, nourishing you and taking care of you. All creatures on this planet are nourished by God Himself. Who are we that we can tell someone, "I feed you, I give you eating"? Chaach di vohi chuga dega. Who gave the pig? Only that one gives you the food. O man, that is your biggest ignorance, that you think you did and you are doing. That is the biggest ignorance. If so, then be thankful to God that God is so merciful, gave you the chance that you can give something. You are only a channel; we are only the media. We are the channel of the cosmic love, and that love flows through this channel. Oh human, you are the blessed one that you can give. It is not yours. It is someone's. When you begin to think that you are doing and it is yours, then the suffering, the ego will come. Prāṇa, prāṇāyāma. Inhalation and exhalation, that is what we are doing. Prāṇāyāma—this is not that prāṇa. Yes, according to this physical breath, prāṇa, there are only three kinds of prāṇāyāma. According to Rāja Yoga, or in the higher level of yoga, there are only three kinds of prāṇāyāma. That's all. This is called Pūrak, Rechak, and Kumbhak. After that, you can have so many techniques for how to regulate your breath. So you can say Nāḍī Śodhana, Anuloma, Viloma, Bhastrikā, Kapālabhāti, Ujjāyī, Brahmrī, Sūrya Bhedana, Chandra Bhedana, Śītalī, Śītkārī. There are these many names of the prāṇāyāmas. It's how to do that. That's all. But in reality, there are only three prāṇāyāmas: Pūrak, Rechak, and Kumbhak. And there are two kinds of Kumbhak: Bāhya kumbhaka, retention of the breath outside, and Antara kumbhaka, retention of the breath inside. Prāṇa is flowing with these two. But prāṇa is related very closely to your ātmā. And jīvātmā, ātmā, and ātmākāmiśra—that jīvātmā is also a reflection of your ātmā, a pratibhīm of the thyself. Prāṇa is that which keeps all the five kośas together, like cement keeps two bricks together. Annamaya, Manomaya, Vijñānamaya, and Ānandamaya kośas are kept together with the Prāṇamaya kośa, prāṇa, or the physical, mental, and subtle body. These three bodies are united, balanced, and kept together with your prāṇa. Prāṇa can change through your food. Jaisā khāyegā ann, vaisā rahegā man. Your mind will be influenced because energy is influenced. Mind changes your prāṇa. Prāṇa changes your mind. When you drink milk, a different kind of prāṇa is developed in the body. But when you drink whiskey or alcohol, what kind of prāṇa is developed in the body? Then the mind is influenced, and the mind is a mighty elephant. Rare are those who have controlled or mastered their mind, their mental power. There is one story. Someone wanted to play with the mind. In a small village, one businessman—in Hindi they call baniyā, say it sāukar—had a daughter who was married somewhere in South India. Her husband came to take her with him to South India. He stayed a few days with his parents-in-law. After a few days, they had to go to the railway station to catch the train. They had a reservation. The village was about 30 kilometers away. Very early morning, they started, and they hired one ox coach, a bell gadi. The owner was some Thakur Saab, some Rajput. The merchant said, "I will pay you five rupees"—that time, five rupees was a lot—"and bring my kids to the railway station." They gave a lot of food with the parents because the journey would take many days. They came near the railway station, about half a kilometer distance. They decided to rest because there were still a few hours until the train would come. They were hungry. But the husband was a very greedy businessman. He thought, "If we start eating, if Mr. Thakur comes, we will have to offer him. He is a farmer, very strong, and I can't say no. If I invite him, I have to give him." He spoke silently to his wife, "We shall save our food to take with us in the train. We will make him foolish." The young businessman said, "Thākur Sāhib, Dātā, did you have a mental food sometimes?" Thakur Sahib said, "Mental food? What is that? Oh, tasty. What a royal diet." So Thakur Sāhib said, "Then okay, let's have a mental food." He said, "Yes, today you are my guest, Dada. I invite you for the mental food." Thakur Sahib wanted to know what is a mental food. But Thakur Sahib was about 55 years old, a very educated, social, learned, and experienced person. He understood what was going on. The young merchant said, "Please, Dada, come, sit down. Here is your āsana, and imagine here is your dining table." Dada said, "Aha, now I know what's going on: tablecloth, silver thālī." Sapanbhog, Dada said. Fifty-six kinds of different dishes. Dada said, "Is it too much?" He said, "No, no, please. You are my guest. Please eat." He is doing something like this mentally. Then Dada said, "You know something is missing. What is missing? You know we Rajputs have a bad habit. What? While eating, we are drinking something." "It's no problem in mental food, everything is included. Dada, which kind would you like?" He said, "I would like to have French vodka." "Ah, brandy. Okay, here is brandy. Here's a silver glass. Take, please drink, imagining only." He took one glass and drank just symbolically, then he put one more. "Dada, one more," he said. "No, no, that's enough," he said. "Please, take more, two bottles." Eating was... Dada said, "I can't eat anymore, drink." And he played now as an alcoholic. He was addicted, and then he put his eyes out and caught him and put him under the coach. The girl said, "Dada, what are you doing?" He said, "Come here, stupid girl." Put her down also, and tied her to another wheel of the coach. And Dada opened the tiffin. "I am still hungry, one bottle more," and he ate. After eating, he went to the bulls, the oxen. He said to the oxen, "Eat all, otherwise I have a stick in my hand." And he put all the eating in front of them. The oxen were very happy. He ate, and then Dada slept, resting. After two hours, Dada opened his eyes. "Oh, what are you doing under the coach? Quickly, come." He said, "Dada, you drank too much. I told you, don't give me too much to drink. It was your mistake. I will never offer you mental food, Dada." He said, "I am sorry. You did this course, so mental food can make you completely crazy." The mental problems—therefore it is said, Mano mātra jagata ha. Kyā? Mano mātra jagata. The world is created out of the mind means also the mind is dominating your annamaya kośa and prāṇamaya kośa. As long as you cannot give the instruction to your mind, you will be suffering. One mahātma came to a village, and there was one Ṭhākur Sāhib—you can call him a king. The kings were very cruel. Thanks to God that around the world democracy has come. But in this democracy, they didn't understand. Many people don't understand democracy. So the definition of democracy is changed. Demon crazy. That's it. Arre, kadai mein se nikalne ki koshish ki, to balti mein gir gaye. Try to come out of the frying pan, and you fell into the fire. Democracy is getting more crazy. Anyhow, the Mahārāja went to see the Māṭmājī, to have darśan and satsaṅg. After satsaṅg, Mahārāja asked a question to the Māṭmājī, Swāmījī. "I have one question. Yes. Why do I come to you?" Rājā kaitā hai, Mātājī ko, main āp ke pās kyun ā rahā hoon? You have nothing? I am a king, and I have a lot of money and this and that, everything. The whole kingdom is mine. I am missing nothing, but why do I come to you?" Maatamā said, "It's very clear. What?" "It is clear that you have to come, but why?" "Because you are the slave of my slave. Tumhe ānā hī paḍegā rājan, kyā ki tum mere naukar ke bhī, gulām ke bhī gulām ho." Mahārājā said, "Sorry, Swāmījī, you didn't understand me. I am the king, I am not a slave." "I know, you are a king, you think you are a king. But you are the slave of my slave, that's why you have to come to me." Mahatma ji said this. Raja is saying, "Please tell me, who is your slave, that I am his slave?" Mahatma said, "My mind is my slave, but you are the slave of the mind." Man mera naukar hai, Mahatma kaita hai, lekin tu man kā naukar hai, Rājā, issī liye tumhe ānā paḍtā hai. So as long as you are the slave of your mind, you will be ever and ever suffering. Your meditation will not be successful. Your sādhanā will not be successful. Your saṅkalpa will not be successful. Your life will not be successful because you are the slave. But you can't run away from the mind. If you can run away from the shadow of your body, then you can run away from your mind. We have to take the mind with us. We have to utilize our mind. We have to keep our mind busy. Keep your mind busy and do your sādhanā. One farmer in his farmhouse met a ghost. The ghost came and wanted to fight. The ghost said, "Rājā, king, I will kill you." The farmer said, "Why?" He said, "Well, I'm a ghost, that's all. I have to eat something, I will eat you. I will kill you." The farmer said, "Well, it's not nice of you, but let's do some compromise or some conditions." The ghost said, "Okay." The farmer said, "If you are the winner, I will be your slave. Lifelong, I will do whatever you want. If I win, then, ghost, you will be my slave. For life, you have to do what I tell you." Ghost said, "Well, I never had such a thing, but do it." They were fighting. The farmer was the winner. Ghost was the loser. Ghost said, "Well, promise is promise. Spoken is spoken. Our problem is this: what we speak, we don't keep. Our speaking doesn't come from a balanced heart and brain. Each word, you should measure it before you tell it. Well, the ghost said to the farmer, 'You are the winner. I am your slave now. But you know, if you don't give me work, I will kill you. 24 hours keep me busy. Not even one minute do I want to be without work.'" The farmer thought, "Oh, I am a very happy man. I have a very big farm and much work to do in my farmhouse, in my fields for the crops." The ghost said, "Okay, give me work." He said, "Make a fence round the property," which was about 1,000 biga. "No problem?" In one minute everything was done. The ghost has extraordinary powers. "Give me more work. Clean the old field from the stones." He made it like air; the stones were already there. "Give me work." "Pull all the thorny bushes out." He made some kind of miracle; all thorny bushes came out and were put somewhere. "Give me work." The ghost was thinking, "Siyam, I will finish him off." He thinks, "Lifelong, I will be a slave." The farmer had one Gurujī. So he ran to his gurujī's hut. The ghost was running behind. As soon as he saw the Gurujī's hut, the ghost couldn't go there. Jaha sant mātmā reytāhe, vahā par mailī ghost had no power to enter the territory. The radiance, your energy, you don't see that, but it is coming, connecting. But if the negative energy, that doesn't go in. So the light, the energy of the saint is a light, and the energy of the negative person is like a black darkness. Darkness can never come near to the light. A ghost is sitting somewhere far away, and a devotee went to Swāmījī, made a praṇām, and said, "Swāmījī, I am the most unhappy person in the world." Swāmījī said, "Why?" He told the whole story. Swamiji said, "Don't worry, have a cup of milk." At that time, there was no tea, rabri, and milk. "Eat something," he said. "But the ghost will kill me, Mā." Swamiji said, "Ghosts have no power to come near. Relax." "But I have to go home," he said. "You will do." After one hour, the ghost is waiting. "I need your work, I need work." Swāmījī said, "Go and tell the ghost to bring a big tree, the biggest tree from this world." So he went, and the ghost said, "Give me work." He said, "Yes, bring me the biggest tree from this world, the largest." And he went to the Himalayas and pulled out one tree, big, thick and high, about 300 feet high. "Here it is. Work." Swamiji, he's already with the tree here. "Tell him to put it in the earth again. Put it in the earth." He goes, takes the tree, and makes it like this. It was in the earth. "Work." "Swamiji, what to do? He is asking again for the work." He said, "Yes. Go and tell, your work is to climb up and down. First, go up to the top. When you are on the top, your work is to come down. When you are down, your work is to go up. Up and down. If you stop, I will kill you." Ghost said, "Oh my God, this clever Swami did my life sleep." So, this human body is a field, karmabhūmi, and your self is that farmer, and your mind is the ghost. That ghost mind will kill you, nobody else. Man marā na mamatā marī, mar mar gayā śarīr, asā tṛṣṇā na marī, kahage daśā Kabīr. Man mara na mamata mari—why is your mind not killed? Because your expectation is still there. Man mara na mamata mari, mar mar gaya sareer—the body died many times. Asa trishna nahi mari—because your hope and your longing were not purified. Your doubts remain within you, and therefore Kabīr Dājī said, "You have to die and again be born and die and suffer." The spinal column in the body, that is the biggest tree, the biggest bone in the body, the discs. And the breath is going up and down, the ārāha urad. O so'ham, that I am. Bring your mind, your attention from mūlādhāra cakra till sahasrāra cakra with each and every breath. Ajapa japa ko kyā japāya bin japyā jāya hoī? Hot jibyā alaya nahīṁ bin japyā jāya hoī. When you sit in meditation, for a few minutes, concentrate on the spinal column. Imagine your Iḍā, Piṅgalā and Suṣumnā. Then Arā, Urad—inhalation, exhalation. When you inhale, your attention or your consciousness is ascending from the Mūlādhāra till the Sahasrāra Chakra. And when you exhale, descending from Sahasrāra to Mūlādhāra—it's opposite. When you pull the water in the glass, the level of the water will rise. If you take the water out of the glass, the level of the water will go down. Ascending and descending consciousness of the breath during the meditation from the mūlādhāra till sahasrāra, then all the tensions, all the stress, and all the thoughts will disappear or merge into the oneness. That Patañjali said, "Yogaḥ citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ." This is the technique through which your Citta Vṛtti can be controlled, the thoughts. If you are not alert, then the ghost will stop climbing up and down. He will kill you. And so, if a certain thought appears in your mind, be alert. Immediately give the answer, clear up, and be free. Otherwise, mind will destroy you, mind will kill you, and mind will torture you. And it is that mind which one day you will laugh about—for such little things I was thinking like this. Time of the 90 years, when you will be all these. Things which disturb you in this world will be finished. That time, only one thing: "My God, what will be with me?" Before dying, the question will come to your mind: where will I go? Why should I go? How should I go? Where will I be? What will happen to me? What will be with me? This constant suffering, when the signal comes from death, you know that your body is now not anymore capable of keeping the prāṇa and the jīva inside. You inhaled, and now you have no more power. You will exhale, and you can't inhale anymore. That time the question will come. You will not think of my money, my house, my wife, my husband, my children, my position. Only one question will come, Lord: what will be with me? I wasted my time on many nonsense things. Anger, jealousy, hate, complexes, ignorance, greediness—these were my activities in life. But hey, Lord, what will be now? Kānt Kāle Tum Sāmne Ho, Bānsī Bajāte Man Ko Lubhāte, Gāte Yahī Nām Tananāth Tyāgoon... Kaunsa Nām? Govinda dhāmo dharmadhāveti. Lord, help me, bless me. Now, only one request: at the time of my death, or when I leave this body, Thy divine form, O Gurudev, should be in front of me. I give up my body while singing this name. In that minute, second, you are in front of me, oh Kṛṣṇa. You play this, your sweet flute, and my attention, my mind—means to attract. When you see a very nice cake with the cream on it, stomach is full, but still your mind says, "I would like to eat the cake." That's it. Or you see a nice samosa or a very nice mīrchī vaḍā. Doctors say don't eat, but the jīva is chatokarī, the mind gets enticed. So, how is your mind attracted to these things? Similarly, our mind should be, at that time, attracted to God, Gurudev. Attracting your mind, at that time all your indriyas, karmendriyas and jñānendriyas are concentrated in one direction, and your prāṇa is concentrated in one direction. Your mind, which is the destructive factor, is also directed to one direction, to God. Then you are in His hands. That time, you don't think about your money and who, what have done to you. You are thinking only the last, what will be there, He, Prabhu. What will happen to us? That is why Śrī Mahāpuruṣa has said, O Lord, now have such a mercy that my life doesn't go without any sense. And sense is only in Your name, my Lord. Rest all is the paraphernalia of the saṃsāra. Therefore, prāṇamaya kośa is very hard to understand. You have to overcome this level. Prāṇa is like an ocean. You are standing on the beach, and now you have to cross the ocean to come to some mainland or somewhere else. With your bhujbal, with your arms' strength, you cannot cross the Atlantic Ocean. You need the boat. Satguru nām jahāj hai. Chādeśa utāre par. Jo śraddhākār sevā de guru par utāran har. And therefore, "Satguru nāmah jahājāy," said Nānak Dājī, the name of the Gurudev is that boat. Chadesa utāre par. Those who will step in will be crossing the ocean. Śraddhākār seve. If someone will remain seated with confidence, guru par utāran har. The Gurudev can bring you to the other shore. Otherwise, there are many high fish, what they call sharks. And the shark has teeth that are very sharp. And when they bite your one leg, for them it's only just a little, like a chocolate biscuit. That's it. So, ab to aisi dayā ho jīvan nirārtak jānan pāye. For the prāṇa, we have to purify our energy and our mind. The mind is a great enemy and a great friend. Man lobhī, man lālcī, man cañcal man cor. Man ke mātena cāliye, gaḍī pālak man aur. Man lobhī—should I translate this? Yes. Man lobhī, the mind is a greedy one. Man lobhī, man lalāchī. And man is full of desires. Man lobhī, man lalacī, greedy one. Man is chanchal, and mind is very restless. Man chanchal, man chor. What is a chor? Thief. Man ke mate, kya? Na chaliye. Don't walk or don't act according to your mind. Why? Why? Every second and every hour, the mind is different, changing. That's why you said, "I change my mind." It's very easy to change your mind, my dear. Change your body first. First change the body, and then change the mind. That's... Therefore, Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti.