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Yoga is more than asana and pranayama

A discourse on the true aim and cosmic origins of yoga.

"Therefore, God Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, 'Arjuna, from time to time I manifest myself through my yoga māyā, through yoga śakti.' He did not say that He manifests through āsanas and prāṇāyāma."

"Thus, every āsana has its own science, its own psychology behind it. Therefore, āsanas and yoga are not sport, not gymnastics, but holistic, because they influence the body, mind, and intellect."

The speaker presents a mythological narrative for the creation of a balanced world, explaining the necessity of hunger and the principle of "life eats life." He distinguishes humans as beings capable of liberation and describes yoga as the sustaining force of life. The origin of specific āsanas like kuṇḍal kriyā (from the elephant) and bhujaṅgāsana (from the cobra) is explained through observations of animal behavior and their effects on human energy systems.

Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Summer seminar

Therefore, God Kṛṣṇa said to Arjuna, "Arjuna, from time to time I manifest myself through my yoga māyā, through yoga śakti." He did not say that He manifests through āsanas and prāṇāyāma. If yoga were only āsanas and prāṇāyāma, then we would not know what yoga truly is. After long research, the ancient ṛṣis sought to understand how to maintain the balance of body, mind, and soul, and what is beneficial for humans. They created a system. This was a protocol for the creation of this planet. This issue concerns not only human life, but also trees and all other living beings. When the world was created, a kind of parliament was formed where all the devas and devīs sat together. There are no distinctions of little god, semi-god, or big god among them. God is God. Fire is fire, whether it is in a small mesh box or burning in a large building. The heavenly architect, Viśvakarmā, who is also God, was consulted. He designed this world, this planet. This is why we exclaim, "Oh God, how beautiful," when we see the mountains, oceans, fields, and rivers. Naturally grown trees have an automatic shape according to Vāstu Śāstra. But the question was this: What is the aim of this world? How will its survival be maintained? Is this world sustainable or temporary? It is sustainable, but self-sustainable. This very Earth (Bhūmi) is the place of death and birth. Liberation is also found here. So what would happen if everyone is born here and there is no more space? Everyone has a self-sustainable true state with someone. The condition would be that no one would die. All would become lazy. No one would do anything. That would be perfect. Then it was decided to give them jāṭharāgni, the digestive fire. Hunger is the guru of all. A very hungry person will get up and search for food. But what should they eat? They consulted with Yamarāja, the king of death. The principle became: life will eat life. That is cruel; that is not our aim. But if this were not the aim, the planet would not function. The Dharma Rāja, the king of virtue, said this was not good. Who would maintain and look after them? There are also devas and deities. They will eat life, but animals ... animals. So God said to the animals, "Eat whenever you find anything." This is why cows, buffaloes, goats, and sheep are always moving their mouths. But this cannot bring them to liberation. There must be one exception, a being that learns how to live and use something in life—and that is the human. God gave something very special to humans between the two ears: the left and right hemispheres. By using this, you can liberate yourself or bind yourself in the cycle of eighty-four lakh births (chaurāsī). But what about the food for the devas? It is only smell—fragrance. However, there are two powers: Devī Śakti and Asurī Śakti. There are two forces: the Devī and the Asura. The Asuras are rākṣasas. The Asuras say, "We are not satisfied with these agarbattis, flowers, and good smells. We need rākṣasavṛtti, the qualities of tamas and rajas. We have rākṣasavṛtti; we need rajas and tamas." So "kordem" is the smell of spoiled food, meat, alcohol, and so on. They crave the smell of rotten food, meat, and alcohol. That fragrance is their proper nourishment. This is why in sacred places there are always beautiful flowers, the scent of perfumes, or incense. For black magic and tantric rituals, they need blood, meat, and wine. Thus, everyone is satisfied according to their own nature; when they receive according to their nature, everyone is happy. Therefore, the principle that sustains and balances even our body—the circulation, organs, organ functions, glands, nerves, joints, ligaments, tissues, and so on—must be some force, some energy. And that is yoga. So the first consideration was nourishment; that is the first. And then movement. Where there is energy, there is movement. Where there is movement, there is progress, development. And where there is development, there is life. So life is connected to energy, movement, and achieving results. If you stay in bed for a week without getting up, you will become very ill. Thus, in yoga there are such postures. These postures are the positions or stances of various beings—how these beings live, sit happily, or rest. How do they rest? Therefore, the yogis studied certain positions and arrived at the postures of certain animals. Kuṇḍal kriyā: "Kuṇḍa" means elephant. When an elephant does not feel well in its stomach, it puts its trunk toward its mouth and removes all the acid, then spits it out. Exactly this is what a yogi does who drinks water and vomits; this is called kuṇḍal kriyā. Kuṇḍal specifically comes from the elephant. What does the elephant do? When it has eaten something bad, it puts its nose or throat into its stomach and pulls the acid from its stomach, then spits it out. Similarly, in kuṇḍal kriyā we drink water, fill our stomach, and then cleanse it. Mārjāri—the cat. You usually do not see a cobra standing like this always. Why does the cobra raise the front part of its body? When it is frightened, terrified, or angry. And when it is angry, frightened, and rises up, its nervous system around the spinal column calms down, then it descends again and goes away. When you are angry or terrified, the nervous system along the spine, through this posture, calms down during the ascent and then sinks back again. And when angry, furious, frightened, through this posture the nerves along the spine calm down and slowly return downward. According to Kuṇḍalinī science, our anger, fear, jealousy, and passion lie dormant in the svādhiṣṭhāna cakra. And when you go into the bhujaṅgāsana posture, it greatly influences your svādhiṣṭhāna cakra. It releases your anger and fear, and self-confidence develops. We automatically see this most in children; they always like to lie on their stomachs, and this is the first posture because it helps in the development of personality. It helps us come into balance. It is observable in children that one of the first movements is when they lie down and then get up. This helps in the development of their personality. This is what the svādhiṣṭhāna cakra is about. Thus, every āsana has its own science, its own psychology behind it. Therefore, āsanas and yoga are not sport, not gymnastics, but holistic, because they influence the body, mind, and intellect. Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Summer seminar

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.

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