Prana and spirituality
The human form is a rare opportunity among countless creatures, created from the five elements and endowed with special abilities. Prāṇa is the vital energy that binds the five bodies—physical, energetic, mental, intellectual, and causal—into a single being. This causal body is born from desire, perpetuating the wheel of action and reaction. Prāṇa and Apāna are opposing forces; Prāṇa draws energy in, while Apāna expels waste. Their meeting point is the navel at the Maṇipūra Cakra. Impure Apāna, caused by consuming foods like meat, garlic, and beans, creates imbalance and disease, blocking spiritual ascent. Purity of body and thought is essential. Quality attracts quality; an impure mind is repelled by spiritual company. The essence of life is to realize its temporary nature and focus on the divine name.
"Prāṇa is that energy which keeps together all the five bodies."
"The joy is in the name of God. All your other works and business, everything is unreal."
Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic
DVD 221
Up next
Practicing of the system 'Yoga in Daily Life', Level 2 - Part 1
The practice advances to the second level of āsanas and prāṇāyāma. Level two introduces seventeen postures, beginning and ending on the floor with standing poses in between. This level engages the real practice of āsana. Each posture follows a sequence: start from a position of concentration, move into the form, then either hold with normal breath or return. The effect is felt upon returning. Practice begins with OṂ, breathing, and relaxation. Full yoga breath combines abdominal, thoracic, and clavicular parts into a wave. Movement is then added to this breath. Āsanas include Śaśāṅkāsana, Meru Ākaraṇa Āsana, Bhūnamanā Āsana, Aśva Sanchalāsana, Utthāna Prastha Āsana, and standing poses like Hasta Uttānāsana and Akaraṇa Dhanur Āsana. Each has specific benefits and some contraindications. Practice concludes with systematic relaxation, alternate-nostril prāṇāyāma to balance energy and brain hemispheres, and OṂ chanting.
"Every āsana has its starting position, in which you concentrate on the movement and the āsana you will perform."
"The breathing can guide you very deep inside towards your inner self."
Filming location: Jadan, Rajasthan, India
How to find peace
The path to peace, memory, and fearlessness is found through yogic health. Peace begins within the heart and cannot be gained from outside. A primary cause of disease and nervousness is stress from an imbalanced nervous system. Health requires disciplined nourishment. Practice Alpāhāra, eating little. After a meal, eat nothing for six hours, only water. This gives the digestive system rest. A healthy body sleeps well, a sign of peace. Memory is connected to the Mūlādhāra cakra. Practice Aśvinī Mudrā to strengthen the nervous system and develop memory. Practice Kapālabhāti Prāṇāyāma to activate the brain. Perform Śaṅkhaprakṣālana for internal purification. Health is primarily in your hands through practice. Control the diet, reduce quantity, and peace will follow.
"Śānti is within your heart. Peace begins from our heart."
"Eat as much as you can. But then, for six hours, nothing to eat."
Causes of our tensions
Every evening should be dedicated to beauty and goodness, free from sorrow and negativity.
Our topic is anti-stress through Yoga in Daily Life, a holistic system for wisdom, joy, and bliss. In this age, negative energies like hatred arise from dualism based on culture or religion, creating fear and conflict within families and society. These negative thoughts can manifest as disease. Stress comes from craving and overwork without boundaries. Material gains are left behind; only our good or negative thoughts and deeds accompany the soul, leading it upward or into darkness. These are our mental impressions, purified through mantra, prayer, and divine grace. Be fully human; let the first morning thought be "I am a human being," dissolving stress and awakening love. Live with constant vigilance in all actions and associations. Let positive thoughts flow like pure water, cleansing illness and allowing bliss. Be like a tree, giving freely without anger. Be free like a bird, moving in joy. Unite with the divine in peace.
"Yoga in Daily Life is a system of wholeness. It touches our heart. It gives us a wisdom filled with joy, harmony, and bliss."
"Only good thoughts, good deeds or negatives... lead our consciousness to the higher levels... or goes towards the darkness."
Filming locations: Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Hanumanji
The divine play between God and devotee involves tests to purify ego.
God and devotee are ultimately one, appearing in two forms to enact a divine play. Hanuman, an incarnation of Shiva, is the perfect devotee of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu. After Rama's victory, he tasked Hanuman with remaining on Earth to protect devotees. One day, while Hanuman chanted Rama's name, he reflected on his own indispensable deeds in Rama's mission. Sensing this rising ego, Rama devised a lesson. He praised Hanuman extensively and then gave him a simple duty: to deliver a ring to a sage in the Himalayas. Hanuman journeyed there and found the sage, who instructed him to throw the ring into a water pond. When Hanuman hesitated, the sage told him to retrieve it. Hanuman found the pond filled with identical rings. The sage explained that each ring represented a past divine incarnation, and Vishnu performed similar heroic deeds through each. Hanuman's great feats were not unique but part of the eternal divine play, accomplished through divine grace. The lesson was to dissolve the devotee's ego.
"Hanuman, whenever Vishnu incarnates on this earth, he has to pay the tax."
"Go and say to Rāma that... 'Your duty is finished, now you can go back.'"
Filming location: Wellington, New Zealand
