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First, we come to Kriyā. Kriyā Yoga became more widely known after the beautiful book Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahaṁsa Yogānandajī. He spoke extensively about spiritual or Rāja Yoga Kriyās. The word Kriyā means to do something. Whatever you are doing physically or mentally is known as a Kriyā. Automatically, purification takes place in water—whether in a river, lake, or ocean—and that is also called Kriyā. How nature balances itself, how nature grows—everything that happens in nature is called Kriyā. So Kriyā also comes from movements. The word Karma comes from Kriyā, or you could say another form of Kriyā is Karma, and another form of Karma is Kriyā. Cooking is Kriyā, eating is Kriyā, breathing is Kriyā. The function of the heart is Kriyā, the function of the kidneys is Kriyā, blood circulation is Kriyā, thinking is Kriyā, the function of the brain is Kriyā. Each movement is Kriyā. Is it clear to you what Kriyā is? Anything that happens through your being is Kriyā. To go to the bathroom, washing, using the toilet—every single movement is Kriyā. So now you know the word Kriyā. The form of the Krama is Kriyā. The form of the Kriyā is Karma. There is a principle that when Kriyā happens, a result follows. Action has reaction, and reaction has an action. Action, reaction, action, reaction—our life depends on those Kriyās. Whether we are in this world as an action or a reaction is very individual; you should know your own beginning. Good Kriyās have good influence and good reaction, and bad Kriyās have bad reactions. This applies not only on this planet but in the entire universe. On every planet and between the planets, there is constant movement. This means the Kriyās we are born with, or came into existence with. Through Kriyā we live, in Kriyā we exist, and we will merge back into Kriyā, only to begin the Kriyā again. It is a process. In yoga, there are hundreds of Kriyās. Every āsana is Kriyā, every prāṇāyāma is Kriyā, every concentration is Kriyā, every meditation is Kriyā. But when we come to Kriya Yoga, there are two different kinds of Kriyās. One we call Haṭha Yoga Kriyā, Ṣaṭ Karma. Some call it Ṣaṭ Karma, meaning six kinds of Kriyās: Haṭha Yoga or Ṣaṭ Karma. These are the two classical names for the Haṭha Yoga Kriyās. There are six Kriyās in Haṭha Yoga: 1. Netī: cleaning of the nose. 2. Dhautī: cleaning of the alimentary canal. 3. Bastī: cleaning of the whole intestine. 4. Naulī: exercise for the stomach muscles and intestines. 5. Kunjal: which belongs to Dhautī. 6. Trāṭak: concentration on one point, and Kapālabhātī prāṇāyāma. So Netī, Kapālabhātī, Dhautī, Naulī, Trāṭak, and Bastī—these six Kriyās are known as Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha has deeper meanings. The classical definition of Haṭha Yoga is not the ṣaṭ karma itself; the ṣaṭ karma is a way to achieve Haṭha Yoga. Here, connected and symbolized by our left nostril, is the nāḍī Iḍā. Here, connected and indicated by the right nostril, is the nāḍī called Piṅgalā. Iḍā and Piṅgalā. In our body, according to yoga terminology, there are 72,000 nerves, and the main power channel is called Suṣumnā, the central nerve. The Suṣumnā has these two more streams parallel to it, which have great meaning. According to yoga, and I think also according to physiology, they are called Iḍā and Piṅgalā. These are the three main nāḍīs which control all activities in the body, even thinking and emotions. In some classical ways, these three nāḍīs are called the three mighty, holy rivers which we in India know. Iḍā and Piṅgalā are Gaṅgā and Yamunā. Sarasvatī is that river which disappeared, which is underground. They see on maps, when they take pictures from satellites, it is already shown how the Sarasvatī River was flowing. So Suṣumnā is the Sarasvatī, the Iḍā is the Gaṅgā, and Piṅgalā is the Yamunā. The constellation of the planets, once every 12 years, brings about a very big gathering in Allahabad, Prayāgrāj. The actual old Sanskrit name is Prayāgrāj, at the Kumbh Melā. Prayāg means a meeting point, a joining, where three or two come together. It is believed that when you take a bath at that particular constellation time, many of your karmas or sins will be purified. For a yogī, a practitioner of yoga, this saṅgham is at the center of the eyebrow. The center of the eyebrow is where we call the Ājñā Cakra. When Iḍā and Piṅgalā are purified through the practice of Haṭha Yoga—meaning Netī, Kapālabhātī, Dhautī, Bastī, Naulī, and Trāṭak—then your nāḍīs are completely purified. When these Kriyās are done according to a yogī's instructions, you gain perfect health, concentration, meditation, and so many things. It means these three nāḍīs come together in function at one point. That means Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī—Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumnā. So, here is Iḍā and here is Piṅgalā. And union, as we spoke yesterday, is called Yoga. Coming together is a union; the place where union takes place is called Prayāg. So that joining is called Haṭha, and joining to Suṣumnā is called Yoga. Every day, yogīs bathe in that saṅgham. Saṅgham also means Yoga. You may call it Saṅgham or you may call it Yoga. Saṅgham means meeting. Saṅgham means to be together. Saṅgha. Saṅgham comes from Saṅgha. Śatāsaṅga or Kuśāsaṅga. Śata means truth, good, divine. Saṅga means to be together. Kuśaṅga: Ku means bad, bad society. So the yogī is bathing every morning in Brahmamuhūrta. Brahmamuhūrta is one of the best times of the 24 hours. Brahma is the supreme; Muhūrta is the constellation or the time. Brahmamuhūrta begins when the first light of the dawn breaks through. Immediately at that time, the first bird will sing, or in nature, flowers begin to open their petals. Brahmamuhūrta is the time when the nectar is flowing. Those who can wake up at Brahmamuhūrta and think on God, or on something you would like to achieve, it will come true. The saṅkalpa, the regulation, the wish which you have—you repeat it three times in the morning in Brahmamuhūrta and then pray or meditate with your mantra. Do not lose the time of your life without a mantra. So Brahman is the supreme, the highest, whatever you call it: God, truth, light, love, best, highest, supreme. That Brahman has no form. Sanātana Dharma, the Hindu Dharma, believes there is only one God, and that is Brahman. That Brahman has no form. He has no eyes, but He sees everything. He has no hands, but He can do everything. He has no legs, but He is quicker than we are. He is the omniscient, omnipresent. Not a single atom in the universe is without His presence. That is Brahman, and that is part of your ātmā, yourself. You are that one, pūrṇa. That time, when you begin to practice, your practices will have more meaning. At that time, automatically, these three nāḍīs come together and begin to flow together. Otherwise, there are different times, quarters, where the nāḍīs flow alternately. So, at that time, when a yogī sits and meditates at the center of the eyebrows, it means he or she is bathing in that Gaṅgā, Yamunā, and Sarasvatī—that best constellation of the twenty-four hours. Or it unites because 12 years is a mini-yuga, so 12 hours of the night again, Brahmamuhūrta, and 12 hours of the day is Brahmamuhūrta. So the night of ignorance ends with the Brahmajñāna, and the day of light and salvation begins with that Brahmajñāna. It is great. But that time in the morning when we get up and make meditation, then we are doing like this. That was a demonstration. Why? Because we did not go early to bed. "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." So you are healthy, you are wealthy, and you are also wise. But it is not advised that at that time you sleep again. You can lose much. Holy saints say those who enjoy sweet sleep at the Brahmamuhūrta are destroying their best karmas, and those who can utilize this time are purifying their bad karmas, and the good karmas will get a plus. For good things, every hour is good; there is nothing to say. And for bad things, no hour is good. If you cannot get up at that time because you worked till one o'clock in the night, that is different. People working have different shifts. Of course, those are different things, but generally, it is always spoken about. Generally, if you go back to sleep at one o'clock, two o'clock, and then get up at 3:30, it is natural that you will be sleeping in the meditation. Normally, it is advised to go to bed one hour after sunset and get up a minimum of one and a half hours before sunrise. Here in Holland, summer is here. At the end of June, when will the sun be setting? Around 9:30? So, go to bed at 10:30? I think many restaurants... It is said in some bhajan I read, one saint said, "A sinner has a sweet sleep in those hours who has bad karmas." Anyhow, our modern way of life has changed in so many unnatural ways, so we shall try our best we can do. So, hot yoga. When you said, "I want to practice only hot yoga," then what did you do? This day's practice is not hot yoga. These are Rāja Yoga and Jñāna Yoga. It gave wrong impressions and a name to this program: āsanas and prāṇāyāmas, and relaxation is Haṭha Yoga. It is Rāja Yoga. But people say, "No, I want Haṭha Yoga." Okay. Swami Avatarpuri, a small disciple, he was one and a half or two years old. Swami Premanaji was with him most of the time, and he always used to say to him, "It is yours." And then Premanaji said, "This is mine." He said, "No, it is yours, always." He thinks because we said "it is yours," so he sings, "Himself should also say, 'Yours it is.'" Yours? And when he said to give him, "This is mine." So now you know hot yoga got the same position. When they telephone to our yoga centers and ashrams and they said, "Do you have yoga, hot yoga classes?" we have to lie, "Yes." So the Kriyā Yoga which we do, and will do after a certain time, is through those techniques and being aware of the time. Then there is what is called Śvāri Yoga. Śvāri Yoga is two kinds of yoga. Also, Gandharva Yoga, that is called sound music, Gandharva Vedas. Maharṣi Mahesh Yogi, who lived here in this country and passed away a few months ago, researched a lot. He made a lot of research on the Vedas and about sound, research work on sound, Āyurveda, and healing with sound and light. So sound means the resonance, and different kinds of instruments have different kinds of effects on the human body, mind, and emotion, as well as on vegetation. So it is not a dogma; it is the fact, the truth, the reality. So the second ṣaṭ yoga is concentrating on, controlling this nāḍī system: Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumnā. Which nāḍī should flow when you are drinking water or liquid, and which nāḍī should flow when you eat? Which nāḍī should flow at sunrise, and which nāḍī should flow at sunset? Morning, when you wake up, every day is different. The law of the planets, which nāḍīs should flow when you get up from your bed—this we learn in summer seminars peacefully. It is very complicated. On the first day, I think you will not be able to sleep. So, first we have to learn how to understand the flow of the nāḍīs, then to learn how to change their flow. And like this, the other Kriyās, which are mental Kriyās in yoga, are done through guidance, under the guidance of the Master, and many years of practicing your mantra and purification of the antaḥkaraṇa. Antaḥkaraṇa means the inner Kriyās, the inner functions. These are the four antaḥkaraṇa. Antaḥkaraṇa is known as Manas, Buddhi, Citta, Ahaṁkāra. Manas means mind: to purify the mind, control the mind, and be friendly with your mind. Buddhi is intellect: develop positive intellect. Develop your intellect in such a way that every Kriyā, meaning any actions, any work, anything you do with your intellect, should be in favor of or for the well-being of this planet and other planets. Our actions should be good for nature, good for all creatures, good for humans, and good for the entire universe. That is why in the Vedas, when the peace prayers are said: "Peace be on this earth. Peace be in the water, in the air, in the space. Peace be in the vegetation, and peace be on all the planets. And peace be in that universal one, Brahman. And also, that peace should be within me." If you think that you have peace in your house, but the neighbors have no peace, then your peace will not last long. Your peace depends on the neighbors, your society, your city or town or village, your country, and then the whole world. That is where it begins. If you have real peace within you, but your neighbors are suffering and crying, and you say, "Oh, I am peacefully sitting, and I am eating my ice cream. I don't mind," that means something is wrong with you. The screws are loose. It is also said in Christianity, "Love your neighbor." That's it. So your consciousness should be pure. Your consciousness should be clean. Do not let wrong impressions enter your consciousness. Do not let hate, jealousy, greed, anger, or selfishness into your consciousness. Do not let into your consciousness those black waves that make you think negatively towards others. Who am I to say that, and that person is wrong, and that and that person should do this and this? If you are the knower of everything—past, present, and future—then of course your words are correct. Otherwise, what I think is right for another is not right. You are facing me, and I am facing you, correct? But for me, the right side is this side, and you say, "No, no, the right side is for you that side." Now, is that side? So, from this side's point of view, I am talking. So then, I am the guilty one. First, I have to act. I should turn myself completely—how many degrees?—and then I can say, "Yes, this is the right side," and you will say, "Yes, this is right." So, who am I to advise someone that you should do this, you should do that, this is not good, that is not good? First you have to become that one. And that's what Mahātmā Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see." But we do not like to give up our comfort. We do not like to give up our opinion, and that is the problem. So Citta, the consciousness, and then Ahaṁkāra. Ahaṁkāra is ego; Ahaṁkāra is proudness. Again, it is said also in Christianity: if someone gives a slap on your cheek, then offer the other cheek. Any Christians here? No, there are no Christians. Sleep is very far, if you could say someone is just stupid. Oh God, what will be the reaction? Horrible. So, reality and theory are different. Ahaṁkāra. Many, many Ahaṁkāras are there which make us blind, stupid. Ahaṁkāra of the age, Ahaṁkāra of your physical strength, Ahaṁkāra of your education, Ahaṁkāra of your wealth, Ahaṁkāra of your position—many, many things. And finally, alcohol. When you drink alcohol, then everything is loose, expanding like rubber. You want to go this side, but it makes you go completely on that side. So Manas, Buddhi, Citta, Ahaṁkāra—these are the four antaḥkaraṇa which we should purify in our self. Manas is mind, Buddhi is intellect, Citta is consciousness, Ahaṁkāra is ego. Then your meditation and your Kriyās will have some effect. Otherwise, the pot is broken, has a hole, and you put something inside, and it is never full because everything drips down. From the top it is filling, down it is dripping. What should Gurudev do for you? With you, that's it. So first we should come to this point to realize these things. Then each Kriyā will have a divine result for you. So that Nāda, that sound, is that original one from śūnyākāś. Śūnyākāś: śūnyam is completely empty, no movements, nothing there. All elements are in form. You are sitting now, very peaceful, very happy, very calm, very kind, very lovely person. Very divine, you are completely, but you do not know how beautiful it is, and you think, "Oh, you are completely clean and divine," but at the same time, you do not know which devils, Satans, are resting very deep in you, and they can wake up within, like this. That's it. So it is said, "You have to die to live." Someone told me that is written in the Bible also. "You have to die to live." Further, "die" means this ego, "my." That is a problem: "my, my." And die. When I say "my," then there must be also "yours." And when you say "yours," there must also be "theirs." And when they are there, and "our" is there, then our "so my thy there" has created a duality. So how has it divided us? When I was here, he was not here. Now he is here, but I am not there. Why? Because the street of love is so narrow. Two cannot walk together. Two have to become one. So duality: where there is duality, there is no reality. And where there is reality, there is no duality. And so, Holī Gurujī said, "One in all, all in one." That one in all, and all in that one. So there is that beauty of that one Brahman, the Supreme. So my ātmā and your ātmā are no different. Also, the ātmā of a small ant and the ātmā of the tiger and the ātmā of the elephant are no different. Space is space; it does not matter if it is inside the room or outside. Duality is created by the walls. Walls, they are not immortal. With how much concentration and hard work, how many workers, how much time and money they spent to build this house, this hall—perfect, very nice design, everything. But the time will come. How many workers will be involved to dismantle this hall again? And what will be next? We do not know. So, this is our body. Nine months took Mother Nature to construct this beautiful body. No engineer in the world, and no science developed till now, can allow you to buy all these materials and then make a body like this one. Yes, we can make some model, that is all, or some statue, okay, but to give it all these functions? Inside, different nerves—only physically, where we think, how many things are there? And where is the place of emotion, and love, and hate, and jealousy, and complexes, and greediness, and my-ness, and your-ness, and their-ness, and craziness, and holiness? Many days, where? How did He put in that? Only that one. But one day this will also be dismantled. This will one day be dismantled, and we do not know which is that one day, and who will be the first from us all who are sitting? We do not know. Do not think that I am old and very soon I will die, and you are all young kids and young people. We do not know; maybe they will be the first dying, and thanks to God that we do not know. If we know, then we would already die before, with a heart attack. So these are the Kriyās. These are the Kriyās on this planet and in the universe and on other planets. But the ātmā is unchangeable. The ātmā is not born, and the ātmā will not die. A house is built, a house will be dismantled, and everything—this space—is there. Space is always there. You can explode many bombs here; the space will not be destroyed. You can move a knife a million times, or an electric saw, and after, look: there is no dust and no scars on this space. This is: śāstra kāṭe, which the weapons cannot cut. na agni jalawe, na fire can burn. bujhave na pani, this water also cannot make wet. na mirtiu mitave, nor death can destroy or take away. vahī ātmā mehu. That ātmā I am. Amara ātmā mehu, immortal ātmā mehu. That is called ātmā jñāna, and that is the final aim or destination of practicing yoga. Not that you want to have one good muscle, or you have a good figure and this and that. How many times have you tried to figure that out? How would you have your good figure? All your figures were wrong. Whatever you try to figure out, that's it. How many years, how many days, will you try to keep your body? You cannot, till today, since this planet was created. No one has figured out how they would like to be, coming and going, coming and going. So do not waste your time for those things which are not reality and will not ever be with you. Know thy inner beauty, and know thy inner self, immortal one. So that through Kriyā Yoga practice, through practicing of your mantra, and through prayer, you will awake that Anāhata Nāda, everlasting sound, resonance, which will unite your consciousness again to the cosmic consciousness. It is with that, but there is a duality between. To remove three things: Mala, Vikṣepa, and Āvaraṇa. Mala is impurity: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual impurities. Vikṣepa is the disturbances. Āvaraṇa is a curtain, the curtain of ignorance. There is a swimming pool, and you lost your ring inside. The water is very dirty, so you cannot see where the ring is lying. Or the water is very clean, but there are so many waves, so you cannot see where that ring is exactly lying. Or there is a cover on the swimming pool, so you cannot see what is there. So these are the impurities in our actions, words, deeds—whatever we call mental, physical, emotional, intellectual, many, many. And Vikṣepa: jealousy, greediness, anger, hate. These so many Vikṣepas are the thick curtain. You cannot see out of the window what is happening. That curtain is the curtain of ignorance. And these three you can purify in the satsaṅg.