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The Radiance of Supreme Consciousness

A morning satsang on health, prāṇa, and the duties of a yoga teacher.

"The skin is also a jñānendriya... spread throughout the whole body to inform us as a touch."

"Apāna is that power, that force to maintain our body clean inside... when Apāṇa Śakti is not released, then it causes a lot of diseases."

Swami Maheshwarananda leads the morning discourse, focusing on the flow of prāṇa (life energy) and the importance of apāna śakti for eliminating toxins. He offers detailed dietary advice, warning against harmful chilies and artificial supplements while praising turmeric, good water intake, and specific spices. He explains how certain yoga kriyās strengthen apāna, critiques undisciplined yoga teachers, and emphasizes that a teacher's own practice and health are essential for attracting students. The talk concludes with a personal anecdote about a monotonous diet and announcements for later programs.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Parabrahma Dīpam Sarvebhyo Hanam Dīpanam Sajyate Sarvam Sandhyā Dīpam Sarva Satyam Śubham Karoti Kalyāṇam Ārogyam Dhana Sampadā Śatrubhūte Vinaśāya Dīpa Jyotir Namastu Dei Om Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ,... Siddhī Purīśamādevakī, Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavānakī, Satguru Svāmīmādvānandīgurudevakī, Sanātana Dharma. Good morning to everybody. It is a very blessed day today, a very good Brahmamuhūrta, full of the nectar showering from the universe, abhiṣeka. So the entire country received an abhiṣeka initiation with beautiful rain. That is something, especially when water is falling from high up down to the earth. It has two great meanings. First, all the pollution from the air is pulled down and cleaned. Second, the flow of the water creates very fresh prāṇa, that life energy that makes it easy for us to breathe and to live. Our entire body feels comfortable, especially our skin. The skin is also a jñānendriya. So from these five jñānendriyas—they are all located above the shoulder, but one, the skin, called tvacā, is spread throughout the whole body to inform us as a touch. Maybe we don't hear, we are sleeping, we can't listen, we can't see, we can't smell, but we can feel the touch that the mosquito is making. And who tells us? Our skin. So skin is a network throughout the whole body. These are the five jñānendriyas: the ears, the nose, the eyes, the taste, and the touch. And for these five jñānendriyas, there must be the best quality of the prāṇa, which is called the sub-prāṇa, upa-prāṇa. But this should be the main prāṇa. The body has its system. It is built into the system by the computer and is automatically dividing. I think computers are an imitation of the function of the body. Memory is something great. If one loses memory, life is not easy. There are some people who, after a certain age, lose their memory. There is a treatment, but it is a slow treatment. So, for the generations, for the family, who have these problems, they should begin to change the diet and begin to apply prāṇāyāma in daily life. In the diet, it means more spices. Do not understand spices to mean only chili. There are many different spices. And chili, what we call, is very important, very important for the brain. Because it is purifying, it is awakening the dormant centers. So when you bite something which is hot—chili, maybe black pepper, white pepper, hot paprika, hot chili—but the chilies which are very small, like one centimeter, one and a half centimeter, or two, three centimeters, but very thin, it has only fruit skin, no fruit inside, and very many seeds, and the seeds are very hot. Such chilies can damage your intestine. It can cause holes in the intestine, and through that, it can cause stomach cancer. And also, it can cause problems with hemorrhoids. So that kind of chili you should avoid. Because that, when you eat, is like a scorpion's sting on your tongue. That's not good. That should be avoided. But very good is like what we call the paprika. That's called the capsicum. In English, there's a capsicum. And this capsicum, a hot capsicum, there is a paprika. And then there's the chili, what you call pepperoni. They are all healthy. And when you eat that, the circulation begins very well. And circulation is very important. And prāṇāyāma, of course. So parents have to begin in the family system this kind of prāṇāyāma, this kind of food: almonds, shoulder standing, head standing, or all exercises where you bend forward; it will help to keep your memory. If not one hundred percent, then at least seventy to eighty percent, so the next generation will be better, and then the next generation will be better. So, like that, this disease can be eliminated. And very important is the haldi. Consume the haldi every day. Haldi in every aspect is the best. Of course, not too much. You have to take care. Haldi also creates heat in the body, and therefore it's good for circulation. Haldi requires a lot of liquid water, and there are so many people who don't drink enough water. Do not replace the water with your coffee. Do not replace your water with your tea. Do not replace water with your milk, or with your soft drink, or replace your water with fruit juice. These all are food nourishment, liquid nourishment. But pure water is pure water. And that pure water you should drink, minimum two and a half liters per day, minimum. And if you can drink three liters, you can because you consume the haldi. That will create very good prāṇa in the body, and it will help your apāna prāṇa to clean the body. And turmeric is the best for the liver. It is good for the kidneys. But first of all, it is good for the blood and for the bones. A healthy consumer may fall down, but will not break bones so easily. The bones make and bend a little bit, but they will not break. And who doesn't consume the turmeric and only the meat and this kind of food, their bones break like biscuits, or what we call in India, papadum. Therefore, haldi is a major part of our health and food. And it is tasteful. If you put a little haldi in your rice, it looks like saffron rice. Yes, colorful rice. When you have healthy rice, it looks very full of appetite. You made a nice rice, basmati rice. Basmati rice has a hundred percent thirty-five meter smell, if you cook it here. And in the wind direction, it's maybe 200 meters. And that aroma is not in that rice, but in that soil. You can grow basmati rice somewhere else. If you were to grow that type of basmati rice in different soil, it would not have such a fragrance. Matka Země určila určité věci na konkrétní místa. V Čechách existuje výborná pohanka a tady je to dobré. Rostou tu v Evropě. We cannot have it in the desert in Rajasthan. So this is how nature is functioning. You cook the rice, and nothing is easier than to cook rice. Nothing is easier than that. And if you still can't cook, I don't want to say. Sometimes it takes a lot of energy to swallow down. So when the rice is cooked, where during cooking you put the heat inside, then take this hot rice in one bowl, and put half a lemon on it and one teaspoon of nice ghee. You don't need anything. Rice has such a beautiful taste, and you will be satisfied. Anyhow, prāṇa, we are talking about prāṇa. And this is the prāṇa inside now. And that prāṇa which you consume, and that prāṇa which you consume through the sāttvic food or through the tāmasic food, it remains in the body. And especially, of course, medical doctors have other opinions, and we have other opinions. Now, in this modern time, even very small children, we give them artificial vitamins and minerals. If a child gets a cold or a flu, you give extra vitamin C. According to the yogic point of view and Āyurveda, it is not good. So we all who are sitting in this hall, we unfortunately were not properly educated. Because we thought this new thing is really the best. And we began to take all supplementary things. But the supplementary things, according to yoga and Āyurveda, are prohibited. Or you should know when and how. So make supplementary out of your daily diet. So now it's too late for us, because we were first very surprised. It's all wonderful. You take one tablet, and there is about two kilos of kiwi inside. Second, so easy, just take it and swallow. But our biological system in the body was not designed for two kilos of kiwi at once, or two kilos of lemons at once. And you know that overdoses, the body does not accept. And who is suffering? The body. The kidneys. The gallbladder. Many organs are suffering. Therefore, do not give the children these old supplementary things for little things. So we keep the food quality to gain the prāṇa, that we are healthy. And therefore, now the second is apāna śakti. So apāna is that power, that force to maintain our body clean inside. What we call nature maintains the nature. So in nature, there is also like an apāna, and in our body, we also have apāna śakti. So it is said that mostly apāna śakti is functioning in the lower part of the body, but also, the apāna śakti is coming, also functioning in the upper part of the body. Suddenly, when you are sneezing, that's apāna śakti. Or after good eating, especially the people from the eastern part, some part of ex-Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, India, Turkey, then the Middle East and India. It is a social thing. After good eating, if you do like this, then the host is happy. That you are satisfied? Oh, you enjoy it. This is Apāna Śakti. That means that from inside, a signal came. The plan is completed, and the answer is thank you, and we are content. So after eating, not like this, but it comes automatically, or when you drink some soda water or cola or something, water, soda. So this is also apāna śakti. Or also pāna-śakti, and there is something we call it's not good to do in some countries. And this is when you eat soup. Then you are eating, though it's very hot, your lips are burning, but you do like this. And in those countries, beginning from half of ex-Yugoslavia, it makes a nice sound. Thank you. Like this. This means all are enjoying. And here we sip. And when we drink the tea, we do like this. Then, everyone gets an appetite. So there are certain habits, certain things you should not suppress. It is not good because of the apāna prāṇa. And therefore, it is said, when you eat garlic, onions, beans, cauliflower, and broccoli, then it creates gases in the body. What does it mean? That is Apāna Śakti. And when Apāṇa Śakti is not released, then it causes a lot of diseases. Because all these gases and all these dead cells and tissues remain in the body. Tissues remain in the body, so this disease, which is now very common, is called cancer, and also many skin diseases and so on, because the Apāna Prāṇa is suffering. Why? Our food habit is not good. We like garlic. Garlic is very good, and garlic makes your blood thin. It is good for your heart. We like the onions, that's also very good for the heart, and very good for the Vyāna Prāṇa, which will come afterwards. But on the other hand, it creates a lot of gases, and so apāna prāṇa has to function, work more. Therefore, if our apāna prāṇa is strong, then we can keep our body healthy. And for that, in our yoga and daily life books, in many other yoga books, and many yogīs, they recommend, they suggest us to do certain Haṭha Yoga or yoga kriyās, abychom dělali určité yogové nebo Haṭha-yogové kriye, které posilují apāna prāṇa. Aby ten náš systém se nepřekyseloval a nevytvářel tolik plynu, a k tomu slouží ṣaṭkarma kriyā: netī, dhautī, bastī, naulī. Kapālabhāti, and of course tratāk. Because doing tratak also reduces the tamas guṇa. That's very important. So when you see these six kriyas of Haṭha Yoga, they are for gaining good prāṇa, strengthening our apāna prāṇa, and supporting the apāna prāṇa to reduce the toxins from the body, and therefore śaṅkaprakṣālana, and these kriyas are very important. Hatha yoga kriyas. Then it is also advised, the prāṇāyāma. In the prāṇāyāma, kapālabhāti and bastrika, agnisāra kriyā and nauli and aśvinī mudrā. These techniques are especially advised to those who have problems with apāna prāṇa, with gases in the body. And our laziness comes from gases. Why do we feel tired? And after eating, especially, we would like to rest. Because the gas is coming, the blood runs more towards the stomach. And we feel tired. So those who do these kriyās—Kapālabhāti, Bhastrikā Prāṇāyām, Agnisāra Kriyā, and Nauli and Aśvinī Mudrā—this will support our body to reduce all the toxins from the body, so that your Apāna Prāṇa will be strong and will keep up to date your body cleaned. Then you do not have a problem about over kilos. Every yoga teacher must have proper kilos. Then you will have your classroom full. Otherwise, not. When you sit in one vehicle or a bus, and you see that the bus is 25 years old, then you think, "Should I sit in this bus or not? If this bus will bring me to my destination." So when you go to the yoga class, and the yoga teacher is not even capable of sitting in Siddhāsana, the lotus āsana is far away, then you are thinking. So the first motivation for people to practice yoga is the well-being of their body. Flexible body, good condition of the body, good color of the skin without makeup, a very good shape, and relaxed. A uvolněné. Je tady někdo, kdo by nechtěl vypadat hezky? Ne, všichni bychom chtěli být krásní. A Bůh nás krásné stvořil. Ale někdy bychom chtěli být ještě krásnější. What does it mean for me to be more beautiful? It means God made us so beautiful, but we were not capable of keeping that beauty. Through our bad habits, we destroyed that beauty of our body. Where there is not good eating, too much eating, no movement, so many things. So that body changed, and when it changed, the original God-given beauty changed. So again, we have to come to the natural way. If we are not able to keep our apāna prāṇa properly functioning and healthy, then we are victims of many, many diseases. And so the inner world, our inner world, how it is, that depends on apāna, as well as our way of thinking. And our way of thinking, again, is according to those prāṇas. Therefore, the tamo-guṇa and rājas-guṇa, rājas-guṇa activates our apāna, but tamo-guṇa dampens our apāna. It's like on the fire you put a lot of green grass. So neither fire goes off, nor does it burn properly. It produces a lot of smoke, and that is the Tamas Guṇa. So Tamas Guṇa is because of this kind of food. Je právě půl tomuto stravování, o kterém jsem mluvil předtím. Ale když budete cvičit tyto techniky, neti, time to time, dhauti, nauli, every yoga practitioner should know how to do nauli. That is it. Yes, thank you for reminding me. In the next examination, they have to perform Nauli before they get their yoga teacher certificate. See that? Good. Yeah. Example: I am a driving teacher. So, at the driving school, I am employed as a teacher to teach students how to drive. But I tell the students how to drive, but I can't drive. Now, how will your students feel with you? That is what I mean, that when the yoga teacher is not expert enough, when you are struggling, there are no classes, no people coming, or coming so lazy, like you are, that's it. So there are many of our Yoga in Daily Life teachers, and they have so many classes that people are on waiting lists. They say, "Sorry, next season, next month." After three months. If someone will go to the next class, why? That person has so many people, and the other one is waiting, has a big hall, and sitting three people. So the hall has four corners, and only three corners are occupied. And you know the fourth corner is occupied by whom? By the teacher. And what is between? The gap. That is the condition. So it depends on you, how you will practice. You should be the perfect example, and you should be able to make the best model out of your student. That will become the best teacher. And people will say, "Can I have that teacher?" And teacher means that you always send your student to the other teacher. Ale cvičitel dělá i to, že posílá své studenty k jiným cvičitelům. Ale v některých zemích, a já dneska nechci být adresným, když navrhnu některým cvičitelům, aby své cvičence poslali k někomu dalšímu, and they are talking about detachment. But when the student goes to the other class, to another teacher, then they show the reality. They are not detested, they are attested. And that cannot last long. There is an unhealthy system. Therefore, within your yoga and daily life, you should send your students to other classes, to other centers. And every student should know, around the world, where yoga and the dead life is taught. A smaller, bigger, individual teaching with a small group around the world is more than 35,000 locations. Na světě je skoro 35 tisíc míst, kde se cvičí yoga v denním životě. Máte příležitost cvičit kdekoliv, ale jde o komunikaci. A vy nechcete, aby vám odcházeli lidé jinam. So there is no thinking of positive thinking. So you have to become a good teacher, capable of performing all the techniques. Yes. How many teachers are there who pass the eighth level of yoga in their life? That is only in our book. Only on our book? Can you stand on your hands? And you have some exercise with that, so try that, learn that. So people will come from far countries to your classes to be trained. A lidé pak budou jezdit i z cizích zemí, aby je vy cvičili. So similarly, in this way, a yoga teacher has to practice all these kriyās. A podobně by cvičitel měl být schopen zacvičit všechny ty krije, aby se zbavil všech plynů a posílil apāna prāṇu, and fasting, phalahārī, discipline. Today is Guruvār, my fasting day, and what does that mean? Those who are fasting, I see them constantly eating almonds. There was one rich man, and they said that he should drink, he had some disease, so he should drink goat milk. And the goat should have good nourishment. So he used to feed his goats with almonds, kesus, all these dry fruits, what you call, or nuts. Holi Guru writes in his Līlā Amṛt that Holi Guru had the first flight in an aeroplane in Gujarat, and that man was flying also in the aeroplane with his goat. And that man, he had three to four kilos of dry fruit for that goat. The flight was only 35 minutes or 25 minutes, but the goat was constantly eating. And whenever I see yoga teachers, that even teachers can't follow the discipline of fasting and this, they are like that goat. It means no discipline. I am 100,000% sure if you quit two meals once a week on one day, you will not die. Quit breakfast and lunch, that's all, once a week. And still, if you are afraid that you will die, I guarantee you, in the next life, mokṣa. So develop the discipline that the prāṇa, prāṇa, when you sit in your class, energy is radiating. So don't make your yoga classes like a fanatic. Don't make there too many candles and agarbathis and these, and then sitting with meditation shawl like great gurus from the Himalayas, and then lie down, and now you practice, and students look what you are doing. I am a teacher. Okay. Next day you will not see that student. So this depends on inner prāṇa. That prāṇa gives Satbuddhi, good intellect. You know, Gajanan told me before yesterday evening about one book called Cosmic Play. It is called Līlā, written by Hariś Joharī. And there are two arrows, so there is negative intellect and positive intellect. Negative intellect will lead you again down completely to the lower qualities, and positive intellect will lead you directly to your destination, mokṣa. So that's called śraddhā buddhi. Lord, give me good intellect. Positive thinking and renunciation, are you capable to give? You know, every day we are giving prasād. That is giving. Like this, you should give. And that will make your life beautiful. So practice every day. A yoga teacher should practice every day for four hours. Do you understand? Yes. This is the life of a yoga teacher in daily life. Yes. And who are the students here? Do you agree with me? Yes. Your teacher should be like that. So, you write me a letter, a photo of the teacher. Because there are now thousands of teachers of yoga in life, and there are so many Maria. So, which Maria? Then they say, "Name is Yoga, name is Gaṅgā or Mukti." Now I have 300 Gaṅgās and so many Muktis. So, picture. Anyone who writes me a letter with a problem also must not have a very clear picture; you can just photocopy something. So that I can direct energy more quickly. Now, in modern technology, the gurus are also working with the techniques. Otherwise, it takes a long time to sit in meditation, a few months to find out who that one is. And which guru has a few months to find out one disciple? So be merciful to your master. Okay? Make it clear. That's why Apāna Prāṇa, when Apāna Prāṇa is flowing nicely, all the organs of the body are very healthy, relaxed, and happy. So eat that kind of food. Now I must tell you one little story. Because we have five minutes, a real story. The story is from '74, '75, '76, and so on. These countries were united, two countries together, Czechoslovakia. And from here, about 80 kilometers away, or 70 kilometers away, a city called Gotvaldov, but now they rename it again; it's called Zlín. Yes, the Gotwaldov was my favorite place for shopping. Two things: the winter coat and good shoes from Batia. In America, I was searching for three days, and they didn't find shoes for me. Always, they sent me to the kid's store, the children's store, because my feet are small. So they looked at me and they said, "Sorry, sir, but you have to go to the kid's store." And in kids' stores, all these shoes, which are, of course, kids are not bad, kids are very good. But Swamiji with the children's shoes in the house. So after all this, I was looking forward to coming to Czechoslovakia, and of course, to Vienna also. And in Europe, of course, very good shopping, but expensive. So here, one nice pair of suits cost twenty-five Czech crowns, which was about one and a half or two dollars. And in other parts of Europe, it was costing about 300 or 400 shillings, or 50 or 150 DM. You know, the DMV, or millions in Italy. When they said to me, "Mister, it costs so many millions," I said, "Oh God, thank you." So anyone who wanted to become a millionaire went to Italy, and they changed a few forints to become millionaires. Near the Gotwaldov Zlín, there is a retreat place, a seminar place, called Kopna. And a very, very nice hut, capacity about 40 people. Many were sleeping in the tents. Very nice nature. Why am I telling this story? We eat every day. What? They put the wheat in the water, they soak the wheat in the water for five, six hours, or eight hours. Then they boiled it, and a little salt inside. That's all. For breakfast there was wheat, for lunch there was wheat, for dinner there was wheat, and Ludek and Hanka said, "God, God." Everyone had a stomach like a gas tank, a propane gas tank. And for me, they tried to cook something, which I quit, and I took also the wheat. So luckily Ludiek is sitting here, and I can ask him if it is true or not. Ludiek, is it true? Yeah, so wheat and wheat. So don't eat like this every day. Wheat is very good, but not good for gases, too much. So learn cooking, eat at home. That's it. So I wish you very good appetite, and luckily in Strelka, our kitchen, we have a very good cook always. They take care of the food very well, and they give you properly cooked food. So I wish you a good appetite, and this afternoon we will talk about Vyāna Prāṇa, Prāṇa, Apāna, and Vyāna. Until then, Hari Om. And this evening at 8 o'clock, you will have a very nice lecture from Dr. Śānti, Śāḍvī Śānti. And you know that Shanti is also a very good poet, and she is very good at telling stories, and she is a good writer, and she is a very, very good dentist. It doesn't take time to take it all out. What? All bacteria and everything. Only one thing remains inside: the healthy teeth. So in India, people are wondering, "Swamiji, why do you have such nice, white, good, strong teeth?" So, looking forward, 8 o'clock, Sādhvī Śāntī, and all the best. Thank you for your attention. Deep Nayan Bhagavān Kī Caitanya Devīcitra Mahādeva Kī Caitanya Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Caitanya Satya Sanātana Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Viśva Guru Maṃḍaleśvara Paramahaṃsvārī Mā Ānandānanda Gurudeva Kī Caitanya.

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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