Karma, Dharma, and the Purification of the Inner Being
Karma and dharma govern the purification of the inner being.
Śubh karma, good deeds, purifies the antaḥkaraṇa—the inner instrument of manas (mind), buddhi (intellect), citta (consciousness), and ahaṁkāra (ego). Aśubh karma, negative deeds, pollutes it. Our actions through the senses and mind create karma, judged by their quality. Destiny unfolds from this behavior. Before facing great trouble, one's good intellect is taken away, leading to poor decisions. Therefore, purify the antaḥkaraṇa through śubh karma. This awakens divine tendencies like compassion and love. When afraid or lost, pray with a heart full of love; God hears such prayers. Dharma is righteousness and discipline. Losing it awakens negative tendencies like desire and anger. Attachment is powerful and sticky. Even great sages struggle with it. Your spiritual practice requires immense patience, like a careful climber. Do not hurry. Look only to your own karma and purify your inner mirror through good thoughts, speech, and action.
"Śubh karma, the good karmas, good deeds, purifies our antaḥkaraṇa."
"Whenever you feel scared, you should pray... Your mind should be full of love."
Filming location: Vienna, Austria
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Purify your prana
The nature of prāṇa is difficult to explain. Prāṇa is life, distinct from oxygen. When the soul leaves the body, the prāṇa departs as well; the body is declared dead. These two are very close, perhaps one within the other. Once prāṇa leaves, it cannot return—like water in a flowing river. That specific presence is gone. The departed soul travels at high speed; connection remains only through memory and feeling. Prāṇa is omnipresent like space, while the soul moves within it. Through practices like prāṇāyāma, resonance moves from the navel to the crown. This resonance is prāṇa. Our prayers and energy, sent through prāṇa, cannot change a soul's destiny but can grant freedom and affect its astral path. Prāṇa is the miracle. Some beings demonstrate total control over it, like a sādhu unharmed in fire. Ultimately, prāṇa is Ātmā—omnipresent. The goal is to purify personal prāṇa and connect it to the Cosmic Prāṇa. This is Yoga. Surrender is essential.
"Prāṇa is life. But oxygen is also life. No oxygen, no life. Yet, oxygen is different and prāṇa is different."
"Prāṇa is ātmā. Ātmā is everywhere, omnipresent."
Filming location: Vép, Hungary
Practicing Asanas 2
A gentle yoga practice integrates postures, breath, and focused awareness to calm the mind and strengthen the body. Begin by relaxing in a comfortable position, observing the natural breath. Practice postures like Pavanamuktāsana and Vyāghrāsana with smooth, controlled movements and coordinated breathing. Maintain awareness of alignment, such as keeping the pelvis level. Vīrāsana is highlighted for its benefits to the feet and mental state, despite potential discomfort from inflexibility. The practice emphasizes eliminating unnecessary movements to settle mental restlessness. Postures like Skandharāsana and Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā are detailed for their physical and energetic effects, including strengthening muscles and balancing prāṇa. Always breathe consciously and maintain control, concluding with relaxation and observation of the body and mind.
"When we have many vṛttis... you are restless inside. That is why we practice āsanas: to ensure we do not have extra movements. By eliminating extra movements, we calm our mind."
"Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā is excellent for your circulation... It influences your Bindu cakra. You will regenerate energy very quickly."
Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic
There is no end of learning
The ashram is heaven on earth, a place of immense energy where the Guru is always present in essence. A journey unfolds through divine guidance, not personal will. A trip to India for Guru Pūrṇimā was redirected by unseen forces, leading one back to the ashram family. Later, guidance came through a spoken sentence about Romania, which led to the establishment of an ashram there through inner instruction, not conversation. A pilgrimage to holy sites in the Himalayas was similarly guided, with paths clearing miraculously to allow darśan. In all endeavors, the Guru's direction is for self-learning. Yoga is a path to discover who one is. Scientific research into modified prāṇāyāma, inspired by the Guru's words, later fostered a university collaboration and a successful public yoga event, where a protective cloud appeared as a sign.
"With our yoga in daily life, it is not just āsana. It is a way to learn about ourselves and to look at ourselves."
"One sentence from Gurudev can change and influence so many things."
Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic
Balancing Heart and Intellect
The human being is a balance of heart and intellect. Emotion and intelligence are both essential. Ego is necessary for survival, but it must be refined into self-respect, which means respecting others through our actions and cleanliness. Uncontrolled emotions like anger are destructive. The Upaniṣads teach that within the physical heart is a cave holding the blue light of the soul, the seat of the jīvātmā. The brain connects the chakras, but when this soul departs, bodily functions cease. Fire, Agni, is a divine element present in many forms: as digestive fire creating hunger, as the fire of desire and anger, and as the sacred fire of love and longing for God. Modern life severs our connection to ancestors and the natural elements, leading to suffering and a loss of roots. Our intellect can be polluted by selfish senses, but viveka, the discerning intelligence between truth and falsehood, remains pure. Practice develops viveka and vairāgya, renunciation. The five elements support the body, and through spiritual practice like Kuṇḍalinī Yoga, prāṇa nourishes the soul. True love is surrender and coordination between heart and intellect, creating better humans and a better world.
"Brahmārpaṇaṃ brahmahavir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam."
"Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā."
Filming location: Alexandria, Virginia, USA
