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To understand the importance of sound, consider the disciple of our Bhagavān Śrī Dīpānanda Mahāprabhujī, Swāmī Śivānandajī—you could say my uncle guru. He was born in a royal family in Khaṭū Choṭī. He received sannyāsa dīkṣā from Mā Prabhujī and was a very great enlightened soul. He composed many, many beautiful bhajans. There is a book called Śivānanda Bhajan Mālā. There were very divine personalities: Swāmī Lālanandajī, Swāmī Śivānandajī, Brahmānandajī, and Maṅgīlālji. Their bhajans are full of wisdom, teachings, and devotion, like the bhajans of Mā Prabhujī and Gurujī too. Swāmī Śivānandajī lived a long, long time with Mā Prabhujī, practicing yoga there, mostly what we call nāda yoga and meditation. If you practice nāda yoga and meditate with that, it automatically becomes kriyā yoga. It automatically purifies your chakras, and very automatically your kuṇḍalinī is awakened. Without nāda, without sound, there is no way. So it is that sound which guides us through the universe. These three principles are very important: the light, energy, and sound. In those techniques where there is content about these three things, it is a perfect technique. Again, these three are residing in the nābhi kamala. Nābhi kamala is the navel, that is the maṇipūra chakra. So, the nābhi chakra is a very, very important chakra in our body. Without this chakra, your body cannot come into existence. Without this chakra, you are not balanced emotionally and intellectually. Without this chakra, you are without any energy, no vitality. Prāṇa and apāna, they both meet at the maṇipūra chakra, and there is a path, a way to enter into the suṣumnā nāḍī. There is only one place where you can enter into suṣumnā nāḍī. It means your consciousness. And when the consciousness enters the suṣumnā nāḍī, that time means all your chakras are completely opened and purified, and the so-called kuṇḍalinī is already awoken. Kuṇḍalinī is just energy, nothing else. And that is sound, light, and energy. These are the three things, and these three are the subject of the three nāḍīs: iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā. The only way we can enter into our suṣumnā nāḍī is through the nābhi cakra, and nābhi is the seed of sound. Through the practicing of prāṇāyāma—you know, there are many different kinds of prāṇāyāmas; all prāṇāyāmas are very good—but to enter into the nābhi cakra, we have to utilize the mahākumbha, mahākumbha, mahābandha. That means Mūlabandha, Jālandharabandha, and Uḍḍīyānabandha. That becomes Mahākumbha or Mahābandha. At that time, if your chakra is purified, if your nāḍīs are clean, then your consciousness automatically enters into the suṣumnā nāḍī. It means that your consciousness has a straight path to the sahasrāra chakra. Where is the seat of Śiva? Where is the seat of the consciousness? Where is the seat of the bliss, the seat of the ānanda, and the door to the Brahman, the door to liberation? That is very, very important, and that completes your yoga path. In time, the jīva becomes Śiva. The jīva is the individual soul, and Śiva is that ātmā. That jīva is a Viṣṇu śakti, which takes care of this body and everything, but that Viṣṇu śakti turns, changes into the Śiva śakti. It is the Śiva, that means the liberation. Śiva means the cosmic consciousness that is Brahman, that is the supreme. So the Śiva principle is residing at the sahasrāra chakra. It's not a person, it's not some simple form. Do not understand Śiva and Śakti as a form. It is beyond our imagination. Do not misunderstand. Don't say your wife is a śakti. Of course, she is a very big śakti, and you have to be very careful. But it is not that śakti, and the consciousness, Śiva and Śakti, is completely different without this attribute of male or female. Those who understand what this is can understand what yoga is. So, try to purify the energy in the body, positive energy, positive way of living, positive way of thinking. Never, and never have in your mind negative words and negative thinking, even if you are angry. Even if you are right, still don't be angry. Though you are right, you say it's good, but your anger, your emotion can harm your spiritual development. It is said, a wise one can forgive. So you know what is right, and that's why you are angry. It means you are not wise. You know that others make a mistake. You know the other one is guilty, but still your heart has a big love and place for that person. That means you are spiritually developing now. Ask your heart, your sweetheart. I never tested if it's sweet or not, but people used to. Blood is a little bit salty, so it can't be sweet. But anyhow, your sweetheart—I mean, not your husband, because every wife used to call their husband "my sweetheart"—heart, so I mean not that one, but your heart. Ask your heart: Is there doubt? Is there anger? Is there jealousy? Is there greediness? Is there some difference? Is there conflict? Or is there some negative thing? You are at the zero point. Are you in the blind street, or are you in the blind street of the circle, going in circle and circle, that's all? Now from Mūlādhāra to Svādhiṣṭhāna, Mūlādhāra to Svādhiṣṭhāna, mistakenly to the Anāhata, and burning in Maṇipūra. You know your own conditions. I need not tell. Are you a good person? It's your benefit. Are you not a good person? It's your loss. Can you understand someone, though someone made a mistake? If you can, then don't be angry. The ignorant person is angry. The ignorant person is jealous. An ignorant person is greedy. Like we spoke this morning about enlightenment. What is enlightenment? That we spoke. Therefore, ask your heart, and you know how many barriers you created against thyself. Yes, you are your own obstacle. You can practice and practice, pray and pray, and nothing will happen. Therefore, what is the use of doing all this? There is no use in it. What did you learn last in so many years you were practicing yoga and dead life? I hardly see someone who could be an example for the Ugandan life, unfortunately, because I know you. And as close as I know, I know more about you. You are offended, you are jealous, you are selfish, you have ego. What did you learn in so many years? Preaching was like an oil in the sand. Did you try to correct yourself? No, no, I don't see anyone. Did you forgive someone, really, with your sweetheart? No. Then what to do? Remain there, wait and see. Time will bring in which direction. Practicing yoga in their life means 24 hours guarding yourself, 24 hours with your knowledge, with your clear vivekā, consciousness, intellect. You are guarding your indriyas, which we spoke this morning about karma indriyas and jñāna indriyas, and which energy is influencing which indriya? We spoke this morning, everything we spoke, and ten indriyas are governed and have one supervisor, and which one was that? We forgot that. Anyhow, I know when you go out of the hall you forget all that. That's it, very nice. I'm happy that you forget, because then you will come again to my seminar, and if you don't forget, then you know everything, that is a good thing. So the energy, the light, and resonance, these three are active throughout the whole body, and they are keeping our senses very active. Thanks to God that our senses are active, and when the senses are not active, then there must be some defect. Our jñāna-indriya, our eyes: when you can't see properly, then you need glasses. Still, you don't see. So something is wrong. So thanks to God that we have sound, light, and energy in our eyes. Each sense supports the other senses. What you see, eyes are not only enjoying for themselves. When you see God, when you see beautiful flowers, when you see your good friends, a photo of someone, a beautiful sky, beautiful animals, you see that. It's not only that your eyes are happy and enjoying, but they share with the entire body. They share with the mind. They share with our soul, and immediately you become happy. A picture can make you so happy, and it can make you very unhappy. Similarly, our jñānendriya, our hearing system, whatever you hear, it is shared by the whole body. The entire body gets the benefit of what you hear. Therefore, whatever you learn, whatever you have, it is in your favor. So the mind is governing the ten senses and also your intellect, that directs the senses, the light of wisdom. It can be wrong; it can be right. When the wrong direction, then the selfishness—all of us here sitting, 99%—we make a positive decision for ourselves, though we are guilty ones, we know that, but we don't accept it. Did you ever give a judgment against yourself? No. On the day when you will give the judgment correctly, then your maṇipūra cakra will blossom, your soul will be happy, because your soul is getting released from the tension, the lifelong tension you have from that mistake you did. But if you accept it, tension is gone. Like this morning's example about the corn, the young boy, and grandmother. That's it. So when we practice our Mūlabandha, I do hope that you know, all listeners, what is a Mūlabandha, Jālandhara Bandha, which we spoke about when there was a talk about Viśuddhi Cakra, and Uḍḍīyāna Bandha. Uḍḍīyāna means flying. Mūlabandha is to contract the perineal muscles or anal muscles. But hardly you can manage two seconds. If you can make two seconds, you have made very big progress, because it is not the physical contraction that you can do for a long time, maybe, but at the time when you contract and hold the anus muscle, that time a kind of sensation goes through the spinal column, and it releases mental tension immediately. A lot of tension from the body, that energy is something very great for us. But what happens with most of all? After one second or two seconds, that sensation disappears, and what you are doing is only holding the muscles. The snake is gone, and you are beating on the line, the trap of the snake. The snake is gone, so that energy is gone. Now you are only holding the muscles. Therefore, all practitioners of yoga, the spiritual seekers, the aspirants practicing yoga in their life, practitioners of the kriyās, you have to learn systematically to master the mūlabandha. It's a years and years process. It is not the contraction of the muscle, but that sensation which awakes during the contraction, and to keep that. It is called a master work, and when you can keep it, then I can see on your face a different expression, not like this. When someone tells you, "You are a stupid one," you will not say like this. You will say, "Thank you for reminding me. I will do my best not to be stupid." Anyone who tells you something negative has some sense in it, because for that person, really, you are stupid, and therefore accept it. For that person, you are a jealous one, an angry one. We are good to them whom we like. We don't wish to be near that person whom we don't like. Like and dislike is a problem. Study, please, what I tell you. Self-analyzing: when you are angry, check your anus muscles. What's happening there? Contraction. When you are jealous, check your anus muscles, there is sensation of burning like a chili inside, yes. So we call the chili is burning, a jealousy person. When you are greedy, check what is happening, nearly you will get diarrhea. So all these negative feelings attack our three centers very strong: Mūlādhāra, Maṇipūra, and our Anāhata. These three chakras are very, very important for our body, but unfortunately, we have not mastered the negative part of our life. Therefore, our own energy will kill us. We are our own enemy, and we are our own friend. We are our own obstacles, and we are our own liberator. Time is given equally to us. If you utilize it, it's yours. And if you ignore it, it's lost. Therefore, learn to make mūlabandha. Then comes the uḍḍīyānabandha. That we exhale and have bāhir kumbhaka, retention of the breath outside. At that time, for just a second or two, it opens the space in the Maṇipūra Cakra, where our Suṣumnā Nāḍī is coming, where this energy, which awakens from Mūlādhāra, Mūlabandha, without any obstacles of the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra, will enter into the navel. Result? Happiness. Result? The light. The result? A resonance. Then, the time of making the Jālandhara Bandha, to close the chin towards the chest, helps us to lead this energy towards our Sahasrāra Chakra and head. When you can master this, immediately the tension releases. All your sleepless problems and all your anxiety disappear, like you press one button and the whole body is relaxed. So there are two buttons; the whole body can be relaxed when you press one button like this, and the whole body is relaxed. Hari Om. No more tension. Or a yogic button from the Maṇipūra Cakra, then you are completely relaxed. Joy. Then you will realize what joy is. Then this beautiful feeling, indescribable feeling, begins to flow through the whole body. Each nerve, each blood cell is filled with that joy that we call the Nāḍī Yoga, that we call the Kriyā Yoga, that we call the Light Yoga. And that is how we come to our aim. Definitely, our health is the first. But it is said when this energy awakes and becomes active in our body, then automatically the health will improve. But be sure that health cannot be forever steady; it's a nature is changing. Adhibhautik, ādhidaivik, and adhyātmik—these three tapas, and time to time, we are victim of some tapas, it can happen, and so you are involved in it. So, Swāmī Śivānandajī, disciple of Mahāprabhujī, Bādī Khāṭū, Rājasthān, someone asks him, "Who's your relatives? Your parents, brothers, sisters?" Swāmī Śivānandajī said, "Yes, I have my relatives," and he sang one bhajan, "My Relatives." Those who love. Snehi. Snehi means your beloved. Snehi means your relatives. Snehi means your friends. Sneya means yours. Śabda Sanehi. Who understands that resonance, cosmic resonance? They are my relatives. Dujane Āve Dāī, Dāī Marī Helī. Others, I don't like. Oh, my friend. Others are only disturbing, gossiping whole days. You know, so who is gossiping? What will be in the next life? What? And who is listening? By refraining from gossiping, what will be? Snake. And what will happen? That snake will swallow the frog. So you would like to be the gossiper? Will you be gossiping anymore? No. Or will you listen to the negative talks? You want to be a snake. How poor is a snake? No legs, no hands. Everything has to be done through the mouth. There is a beautiful bhajan about a frog. Very beautiful bhajan. Perhaps tomorrow morning I will translate that bhajan for you. We have a beautiful DVD from that bhajan. It is a very nice bhajan. I must translate that very nicely, word by word. Dederīyā chhod silyārī asā. O my dear frog, give up the hope of a little pond. Go and live in the endless oceans. It's a beautiful bhajan. It's not a joke. That's why I told you. So those who understand my words, the divine sound, they are my relatives. Because through the words, through the sound, we give. And through the words, we receive. You know, thanks to God who gave us this speech, the words. Every creature has a language. Even the plants have a language. But we don't understand. We should be like Devpurījī or Mahāprabhujī, who understands the language of all creatures, or what they call, like Saint Francis of Assisi, because they developed universal love. And when you have a universal love, then you understand. We understand only those whom we love. And when we don't love anymore, then we hide like a snake. Mahā Holī Gurujī said, all sinners like to hide in darkness. When darkness appears, then they are active. When light comes, they go back into the darkness. The thief, the tiger, the lions, the snakes, all, all this. So when you are hiding, there are some people who don't want to look at Swāmījī. They are sitting like this because Swāmījī will look like this. It's very hard to be with the master, no? But it's your karma that you got such a master. I am not guilty. One's karma. Neem Karolī Bābā, a very great saint, he said, "I'm like air, no one can hold me. I'm like a sky, no one can own me. Ah, yes, and I belong to no one. No one can hold me. I belong to no one. But still, I will be with thee. I will not leave you alone." That's it. Through the words, we communicate. And through the words, we take the language of the heart, the language of your eyes, the language of your body. And though your eyes are closed and your body is peaceful, still, there's energy coming, talking to you. Love, even if you try to hide it, it cannot be hidden. Love cannot be hidden. That love makes the light. You want to hide, and someone puts on the light, so love is a light. There's one, it's called like a Pāñcālī, Pāñcālī... Or the mosh mosh... Moses, it's so much good smelling, you can't hide it. Even if you close it in your suitcase, the smell will come. So the love cannot be hidden, but hate cannot be hidden too. Jealous cannot be hidden too. Offending cannot be hidden too. When you are offended, you don't say any word, but your face tells everything immediately. Your face is different, and Mūlādhāra is burning like a coal and getting cramps. Energy, healthy energy, is lost. So, śabda se dena—through this language, through this sound, we can give. Śabda se lenā. And through the same sound resonance, you receive. Those who understand this, they are my relatives. Through the words we speak, yes, and through the words we understand, through the words we get knowledge, and through the words we understand we receive everything through the words, through that resonance. Things go with you, yes, my friends. It is that resonance which goes with you. One man told you while boarding in the airplane, "Bloody stupid, one man is gone." You are in an aeroplane, aeroplanes flying towards India or any other country. Now this word is going with you constantly, that one told me, "Bloody stupid one," you know how things go with you. So make a saṅkalpa, you will never tell anyone negative, even if someone is guilty, even if someone is stupid. Don't destroy your energy to tell someone; your beautiful energy should help someone to understand. You know what we said in India, when someone tells you bloody one, we said, "Don't worry, don't take any reaction." You know, when a dog bites you, will you run behind and bite it back? You cannot bite the dog back. That's it. You will say, "Only a naughty dog. Next time, be careful. Don't come near." Avoid the situation. That's it. Through that sound, through the words, through the resonance, we are together. And it is that resonance which brings us together. And through those words, you can get the knowledge. Through those words, you become a yogī. Through that sound, and it is that sound which teaches you the techniques. Through that sound, śabda, you get automatic liberation. Śabda says saguṇa Rāma, śabda says nirguṇa. The knowledge of sāguṇa and nirguṇa, the formless and form, omniscient and omnipresent, only we can understand and make a difference through words. And so, through those words, we can also see the divine face of Mahāprabhujī. And through that resonance, we can see the radiance of the Master's energy. Śabdī Brahma, but we call it Brahman. Śabda Brahman, Nādarūpa Parabrahma. So sound is Brahman, the Supreme, and Śabda is Māyā. Also, the words are a māyā. Śabda says, Śivānanda par, par mari heli. Śivānandajī said, through that vākya, through that word, through that sound, I came, crossed the ocean, meaning liberated. So understand that inner language and try to listen to your inner voice. Use your inner energy and the light of your viveka, the light of your wisdom. Light, sound, and energy—these three are very important for our physical being, for our family life, social life, as well as for our spiritual development and liberation. And that is located at the navel, nābhi kamala, always we say kamala. Kamala means the lotus. The unfoldment of the lotus, one petal after another. And each petal opens to an immense beauty. Early morning in Brahma Muhūrta, you must wake up and sit near the pond. As the dawn begins to rise, the lotus opens. So gentle. No one came and said to the lotus, "Get up." And when the lotus opens, it's completely fresh. It's not like we do a lot of drinking coffee. You know, we are still like this, hanging. But lotus flowers, nature is very fresh. So each petal, when it's opening, a dimension is opening as the dawn rises. So, the dawn of the knowledge, the light of wisdom, and with the dawn, a beautiful resonance is there. And that resonance awakens that energy, which opens the flowers. It's beautiful to see. Similarly, when the clearness comes, the darkness of the night, which means negative energy and negative feeling, is dispelled. All which is damaging us is gone. Love, happiness, light, and you are, blasphemy, beautiful.