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Part 1: The Nāḍīs, Chakras, and the Journey of Consciousness Out of the 72,000 nāḍīs, or subtle energy channels, in the body, three are the most powerful, dominant, and important. These are known as Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā. They are the primary pathways through which energy flows, connected to the main chakras. When energy is dormant in these centers, it indicates problems in the physical, astral, subtle, mental, or causal bodies, depending on the specific chakra. The remaining energy flows through our Maṇipūra Cakra, located at the navel. This center is crucial. In Indian mythology, the god Viṣṇu resides in the ocean, lying upon the thousand-headed serpent, Śeṣanāga. This imagery is a symbolic representation of our own reality. Viṣṇu represents Ātmā, your true Divine Self, the cosmic consciousness of which you are an immortal part. You are holy and divine, but this truth must be realized. As the Bhagavad Gītā states: "Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it." We know this theoretically but have not realized it experientially. That Self is within us, completely covered, like fire obscured by smoke or the sun hidden by clouds. When the soul, the ātmā, first descends and enters the mother's womb, it is in the form of a minute, round point, like an atom. Development begins there, at the Maṇipūra Cakra, and the body's limbs form in time. We are connected to the mother's body through this chakra, which is water. That embryonic cell is water, and the ātmā within it is Viṣṇu. The Suṣumṇā Nāḍī ascends from here to the crown of the head, the Sahasrāra Cakra, which has a thousand petals. This is the stick, the axis. Thus, Śeṣanāga and Viṣṇu residing in the ocean is a real picture of the Self (Viṣṇu) resting upon the serpentine energy (Śeṣanāga) within the watery medium of the body. These chakras are the locations where energy concentrates. This center, the Hara or Prāṇa Śakti, is vital. When the Kuṇḍalinī awakens, the Prāṇa and Apāna energies merge here, and the cycle ascends to the Divine Cakra. The Kuṇḍalinī Śakti resides below, while consciousness, Śiva, resides above. Liberation occurs only when this Śakti reaches Śiva; until then, one is not enlightened. The Śakti searches for the path upward, facing many obstacles and difficulties, crossing borders where the qualities of the chakras—emotion, jealousy, hatred, greed, and attachment—pull us back down. The three main nāḍīs are connected to the nostrils. Iḍā is the left nāḍī, representing the moon, which symbolizes emotion and the ever-changing mind. Just as the moon waxes and wanes, our emotions—anger, jealousy, sadness, happiness—are constantly changing. The right nostril is connected to Piṅgalā, the sun system, which governs activity and creativity. Harmonizing both the Iḍā and Piṅgalā systems and bringing them into the central Suṣumṇā Nāḍī is the true meaning of Haṭha Yoga. Haṭha Yoga is not merely āsanas and prāṇāyāma; it is the perfect balancing of these energies. To achieve this, Haṭha Yoga prescribes Ṣaṭ Karma, the six cleansing techniques: Netī, Dhautī, Bastī, Naulī, Trāṭaka, and Kapālabhāti. These purify the nasal passages, alimentary canal, stomach, intestines, sinuses, and develop concentration. When you sit straight in meditation, the primary chakras are: Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipūra, Anāhata, Viśuddhi, Ājñā, and then Bindu and Sahasrāra at the crown—eight in total. There are many other chakras like Soma, Jñāna, Amṛta, and Candra, but these are the most powerful. The Iḍā and Piṅgalā nāḍīs begin at the Ājñā Cakra, the powerful seat of consciousness. They descend, crossing each other at various points along the Suṣumṇā, creating powerful junctions—these are the chakras, each with its own quality and function. Their pathway is serpentine, which is why this power is called the serpent power, Kuṇḍalinī. There is no literal snake inside. When Kuṇḍalinī awakens, it is a subtle, soft movement. As described by Swami Śivānanda of Ṛṣikeśa, it is like a swan swimming on a peaceful lake. My master said it is like the smooth flow of oil. The awakening of Kuṇḍalinī is the awakening of wisdom and knowledge. You become the master of yourself, clear and unconfused. People think it is dangerous, but that is only because they do not know how to awaken it properly. It is like the fox who said the grapes were sour. Kuṇḍalinī is a divine science; there is no harm if practiced with the right techniques and kriyās. According to modern anatomy, the nerves reach only so far, but yogis say the nāḍīs extend to the end of the spinal column, where a very fine note holds the entire dormant energy. What is most important for us is consciousness (citta) and mind (manas). Consciousness evolves from the mineral level up to cosmic consciousness, to God. Our current consciousness operates in the states of sleep (suṣupti), dream (svapna), and waking (jāgrat). The unconscious level resides in the Mūlādhāra Cakra, where all our past deeds—our destiny—lie dormant. If we purify this, we become free. Here also lie qualities like jealousy, passion, anger, and hatred. In the waking state, our five senses constantly receive information from external objects, recording everything like a video camera or tape recorder. This constant influx of information is what modern civilization calls stress. This bombardment of the conscious mind is then transferred further into the subconscious. Everything from the first second of your embryonic life, including impressions from your mother's experiences, forms your saṃskāras. These impressions go into the subconscious and become desires—wishes that can be good or bad. Unfulfilled desires can surface in dreams, which are a reality of the subconscious mind. Desires that cannot be fulfilled even in dreams may one day manifest as psychic problems. For instance, a child who lacked parental love may feel a lifelong longing. The treatment is to awaken the Kuṇḍalinī, awaken discrimination (viveka), and realize, "Whatever was, is past. Now I am free." We must not live in fear of past wars but pray they do not recur. Then there is the mighty power called the mind. We say, "I want to control my mind," but we cannot because it is so restless. The mind is a principle, a system—it is the tap that is constantly turning. In the conscious state, it records impressions. It then transfers these to the subconscious. If the subconscious is overloaded, we experience burnout, as happens with workaholics. Whenever we sleep or sit peacefully, the mind becomes active, emptying the subconscious by bringing its contents back to the conscious level in the form of thoughts. These formless desires rise to the intellect (buddhi), whose duty is to judge and decide what is right or wrong, to identify objects. The intellect judges what kind of desires these thoughts represent. These judged thoughts then transfer to the heart as a sensitive wish to act. The intellect determines which chakra a particular desire belongs to. This constant process—taking impressions down and bringing desires up—is why the mind cannot be steady. It has to work double. There is a story: A strong farmer fought a ghost and won. As the victor, he had to give the ghost constant work, or the ghost would kill him. The ghost completed every massive task instantly—building a fence around thousands of acres, clearing stones—and demanded more work, planning to kill the farmer by sunset. In desperation, the farmer sought a master at an āśram. The master advised him to tell the ghost to bring the biggest tree from the forest. The ghost did so immediately. The master then said to tell the ghost to replant the tree perfectly back into the earth. The ghost did this, too. Finally, the master said, "Now tell him, 'Do not stop working, otherwise I will kill you.'" The ghost, with no more work to do and unable to stop, was thus defeated and vanished. The restless, demanding mind is like that ghost; it must be given the right, continuous task of focusing on the Divine, or it will destroy our peace. Part 2: The Field, the Farmer, and the Ghost: On Mind, Chakras, and Liberation Tell him his duties: climb up and down this tree. When he is down, his duty is to go up. And when he is up, his duty is to go down. And when you have some other work, tell him, "Come here, clean the fields." And when he is finished, tell him to go and climb up and down. This human body is a field, a karmabhūmi. And you, who are here, the jīvātmā, are the farmer. And the mind is a ghost. One day the mind will kill you. But your intellect, your buddhi, your viveka, is your master. Through meditation, with your mantras like so’haṁ, always lead your mind up and down through the cakras. All the thoughts will disappear, and the subconsciousness will be purified. So that is the mind. The duty of the mind is to bring the information from the five jñāna indriyas, the senses, to the subconsciousness. All information, desires, and impressions are brought back to the consciousness. And the consciousness is connected with the intellect, and the duty of the intellect is to give judgment. Therefore, the mind has no responsibility. Don’t trust your mind. Manas Dharma, the principle of the mind, is Saṅkalpa and Vikalpa. Saṅkalpa means to bring the thoughts, vikalpa means to give them up. So, he brings the thoughts and gives them up here; he goes up. And then he brings these desires from here up, and then he is not anymore responsible. So, what we do, the mistakes that we suddenly make, are what we think. But we don’t overthink. We shall take time and overthink and analyze this, or ask some wise persons. Ask the parents. Ask the elderly persons. Ask some wise persons for advice. The wise can give advice. Then, we will be free from certain difficulties in life which we create ourselves out of our mind. And so, this is how we can create clarity and dissolve everything here. The kuṇḍalinī śakti, the dormant power of your consciousness from the past, and everything is hidden, dormant here. Kund means a deep place, and Kāla means the time, the past time. Bhūta Kāla, the past time. So all depends on, all problems are hidden in this place. If we master these two, then we can come here, and then emotion will come forth, and then here. So, every cakra has its own. We have today a very beautiful subject, kuṇḍalinī and cakras. I don’t know how many of you know about that; many of you know, and many of you don’t know. Kuṇḍalinī is a dormant power in the human body. When the Kuṇḍalinī Śakti, or the power, awakens, it means the enlightenment of the consciousness, crossing all the borders of karmas and destinies, and that individual becomes one with the cosmic Self. There are many beautiful books by great masters written in your country, also in English language, and this evening I would like to contribute a little bit more about the Kuṇḍalinī and Cakras. Yesterday we spoke about yoga. What is yoga? How old is yoga, and what are the principles of yoga? So yoga is one of the most ancient, even older than the sun and this planet on which we are living. It’s divine science, the science of body, mind, consciousness, and soul. Yes, it has to be understood and then practiced properly. So, in order to be successful in our life, to fulfill the human aims or goals, we have to develop our consciousness, and that means awakening the dormant Śakti, the powers in our body. We spoke yesterday about the creation, also how the elements were created. Four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. The ether was, is, and will be. The definition of the self and the soul is different. Ātmā is not the soul. We will speak about that either today, if we will have time, otherwise in the next session. You remember from yesterday that the creator has created 8.4 million kinds of creatures on this planet. One of them is human. Every creature has their abilities and meanings in their life, but humans are far more developed because of the buddhi, the intellect, and the śakti, the power, the abilities, the kuṇḍalinī. All creatures here on this planet are manifested out of these five elements. Ether, fire, air, water, and earth. All of them have their abilities, and humans have some more and different ones. What we know about human life, what we know about human consciousness... Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī, Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā, He Kevalam. We call them kośas, quarters, or you may call them layers, one after the other. Annamaya Kośa, the body of nourishment. Prāṇamaya Kośa, the body of the prāṇa, energy, vitality. Manomaya Kośa, mental body. Vijñānamaya Kośa, the intellect, intellectual body. Ānandamaya Kośa, the causal body. These are five different bodies. Within these five bodies exists the individual soul, and the soul is different from the self or the ātmā. The soul, the jīvā, is made out of our karma and our qualities. The difference between the two of us is that we have different qualities. The difference between God and ourselves is that we have different qualities. As long as our karma, our deeds, will exist, the soul will exist in this universe as an individual and will have its destiny to go through. Like this, there is one glass with the water, cold. It should be warm water, but okay. Please, if someone can organize for my throat warm water, thank you. It is very clean water. The glass is very clean and transparent. I don’t see anything inside except clean water, and I suppose you don’t see anything either. But someone who brought water here inside, before that, the person put two spoons of salt inside, the solid form of the salt. Meanwhile, the salt is dissolved. The physical form of the salt is dissolved into the water, changed into the liquid form. My eyes cannot say if it is sweet water or salty water. But we have karmendriyas and jñānendriyas; about that I will speak after. They have their duties to inform us. So my eyes tell me it is very clean, good water you can drink. And I take a sip of water, and I tell you there is salt inside. What does this mean? It means that salt has changed the form, the physical form, into the solid form, into the liquid form, but it didn’t change the quality. Guṇa kept its quality, saltiness. So my tongue, or my svādha indriya, the tasting indriya, tells me salt is inside. So, if we think that after the death of this body, I will come to mokṣa, liberation, nirvāṇa, or whatever you call it—free, or all my problems will be finished—that is not right. All problems will follow you throughout the entire universe, like the shadow of your body. Even if you fly with an aeroplane to leave your shadow here in Africa, as soon as you get out in another country and walk, you will be surprised, the shadow is there. Yesterday we spoke about two principles: karma, and karma doesn’t let anyone through. And time doesn’t wait for anyone. Even God himself will incarnate. He cannot hold the time. If salt were to change its guṇa, its saltiness, then I would not be able to tell that there is salt inside. Quality unites gold in gold, silver in silver, salt in salt, sweet in sweet, positive in positive, negative in negative. So, through the practices, there are many practices, there are many masters, there are many different ways. Choose that path which you like. This is your own feelings, your own decisions, because ultimately every path will lead us there. Thank you to Johannesburg, in this hall where we are sitting. So when the individual karma is purified, then nothing remains. Then the soul, what we call the soul, becomes thinner and thinner and thinner. And light comes in, and the light becomes one with that light. And that light is God, light is knowledge, light is love, light is wisdom, the light. That light is different from this physical light that we see. That’s called indescribable, everlasting, immortal, nityam, niranjanam. Nityam, everlasting; niranjanam, pure, spotless. That means that this person, or that individual consciousness, has merged into the cosmic consciousness. Yes, as long as that consciousness is still residing in the physical body, we will have to go through those karmas of the body. But we are not victims of death. It is samādhi, it is freedom, it is divine consciousness. For others, it is death. So, guṇa, the quality. Quality decides, and we are looking for that quality. Be good. What does that mean? Be good. Quality. Good quality. Jaisā karegā, vaisā bharegā. How you will do, like that you will suffer. Prārabdhu pehle rachā, piseh rasā śarīr. First, our destiny is created, and then life is given. So, in this body, this body which we have, we have ten indriyas. Indriyas means senses, the five senses of knowledge, receiving knowledge, jñāna indriya. Whatever you put in your computer of the brain, there are only five keys. From the external world, to receive knowledge and information, there are only five keys. Through the visions, through the eyes, my eyes will inform me of form and color, what’s happening. The ears, if my eyes are closed, my ears will inform me of the sound. When someone telephones and says, "Hello, mother," or "Hello, father," or "Hello, friend, how are you?" Immediately, you will recognize who this person is, because you have heard them once, and you can identify them by their voice. Through this smell, what kind of smell is in this room? What kind of ripe fruits are there, or which flower is here, or is there some bad smell? The nose can inform us, not the ears. And the tongue, which can inform us through the taste, and the skin, through the touch. Through these five jñānendriyas, the senses of knowledge, we receive knowledge and work accordingly. And five Karmendriyas through which we do the actions. Whatever we do, there are Karmendriyas. And these Karmendriyas, the first is the words, the speech. Whatever you speak, you have done it. In some cases, we say, even when you think you did it already, and then you speak. So, Vāk Indriya, the speaking. If someone is injured by a knife, the wound will grow and then will heal. But if someone is injured by some words, it will remain lifelong. Hands and legs. Legs do for us something to go somewhere. Hands, through hands we can do good or bad. Helping hands have more value than folded hands. Hands are given to do something and to give something. And the Indriyas, the senses. These are the five Indriyas, the Karma Indriyas. And the eleventh indriya is the mighty one, which is the master of these ten senses, and is called the mind. We will come to the mind a little later. So these are the ten senses through which we work, and we need healthy senses. Of course, the whole body should be healthy. Some people say a healthy body has a healthy mind; that’s not correct. Some people have no healthy body, unfortunately, but their mind is very healthy. This body, which has a lot of different functions—the memory, the consciousness, the mind, the speech, the emotion, the anger, the jealousy, the hate, the greediness, the attachment, and so on—all depends on our cakras in the body. 72,000 nāḍīs. These are the 72,000 different functions in the body. These are the channels. And every centimeter or millimeter, the quality of the energy is changing. So the science of prāṇāyāma, the breath technique, includes one technique called nāḍī śodhana. Nāḍī is nerves and śodhana is purification. Purification of the nerve systems means to purify the consciousness, the channels through which the consciousness is flowing. At the end of the nāḍīs, or at the branch where the branch is separating and departing, that you may call the junction. That place is called granthi, the knot, and that is the cakra, the energy point. One of the oldest systems in Chinese medicine, acupuncture, when they do electroacupuncture and when they search one of the reflex zones, if they touch on the sideward somewhere on the monitor, the needle will not move. But if we touch the right point, then immediately the needle will move. And that means there is a junction, there is a cakra, there is an energy, and this energy should not be blocked. If anywhere in the body something is not functioning properly, then some cakras are blocked. And through this kind of massage, or the pressure of the needles, you can free the blockages. Then the energy will flow freely. And that’s what the kuṇḍalinī, which is dormant, which is blocked, that kuṇḍalinī should flow; the energy should flow. Now, these are the names of the cakras, so you can read it. I told you a little bit, but somehow... So this is the symbol, or, given methodologically, some explanation, some pictures of what it means. And all these pictures have their meanings. All the symbols, like I explained before, what means the Lord Viṣṇu, what means the water... Mahāprabhujī... Friends, today, those who traveled with me came from different countries. They went today to visit some parks, and they were visiting some elephants, feeding them, and it was very nice. Then we visited here, Africa, one kind of village where they introduced different lives. It was very, very nice. And someone presented me this African stick, you know, for walking. So, I will take it with me, so they will know that I am coming from Africa now. Elephant, in Indian mythology, has very great meaning. An elephant brings luck. It is one of the oldest creatures, the very oldest creatures. And everything from his body, everything is very, very useful and prosperous. So when you see the elephant in the dream, wisdom, prosperity, and luck are crossing your path. Seven trunks symbolize the seven main minerals, which are very important for our life and for our progress in the body. Śabda Dhātu, these are Śabda Dhātu, divine nectar. Without this, we will die. This is development from where our body and our self are developing. Always, we call lotus petals, and the lotus symbolizes in Indian culture, in Indian mythology, that the lotus always remains on the top. The lotus always grows better and good in muddy water, not in a very clean lake, but in a lake which has more mud, and like this, dirty. But still, the blossoms are so beautiful and on the top. When the lotus closes, this blossom is so beautiful. God Viṣṇu, we call Kamala Nāyana, is like an eye of the Lord. Vishnu is like a closed lotus. This world is the māyā, illusion, troubles. Not clean. It’s muddy. It’s tacky everywhere. But you should live in this world like a lotus above the water. Water is a temptation, water is a māyā, and there are many things, impurity and all, but a pure, beautiful flower is there. So remain untouched by this māyā, keep your mind free from this, stay above, no criticism, no negative thinking. Try to see the good things in everyone. Try to be like a honey bee, which takes the nectar from every blossom. Maybe some are poisonous plants, but the bee will take nectar out of that. So, a wise person, a good person, takes the good things from everyone with respect. And persons whose mind is polluted, whose heart is polluted, full of desires and disappointments, will criticize, speak negatively, and have negative thoughts. To think negative means to poison yourself, and to think positive means to enlighten yourself. Depends on you. You are the one who can liberate yourself. You are the one who can bring it to perfection. It is very important that you do something. Yes, there is someone who can help you, but in reality, you have to do it. We have to do it. God has given us everything. So the lotus has many great meanings. Lotus is used for the puja, for celebration, for some kind of ritual, and offered to God. Yesterday we spoke about creation and nourishment. It was too long, and I have forgotten to tell you. The nourishment for the divine, for God. Nourishment for the devils, for humans, and for animals. So for God, for the divine, the nourishment is something which is beautiful, smells good, and has a fragrance. And that’s why we use the incense and give the flowers. And for the devils, it is alcohol, meat, blood, spoiled food, and this. For humans, sāttvik food is balanced nourishment. And for animals, whatever they find. Likewise, I think you are very tired. I see people are doing like this. I was bombarding your consciousness; it is too much. I think I will stop now, very soon. And here, within this lotus, there is one Śiva Liṅgam. Śiva Liṅgam is the attribute of the consciousness. And this is the Śakti, the cosmic mother. Śakti and Śiva, Śiva means the consciousness, Śiva means the liberation, Śiva means the truth, Śiva means the light, Śiva means the beauty, Satyam Śivam Sundaram, that is Śiva, and Śiva means the first person, the Swayambhū, he who has manifested himself, no one has created him. So, Creator, Brahmā, Protector, Sustainer, Viṣṇu, and Liberator is Śiva. He is the destructor of the negative qualities and the liberator of your consciousness. He is liberating you from all the negative qualities. Satyam Śivam Sundaram. So, this is the Śiva Liṅgam and Kuṇḍalinī. If this here is a snake, He is like a snake, a three-and-a-half-coiled snake coming up here, but His head is down. This means the power, the energy, is going down. It is like an earthing system from a building when we make some earthing. It goes into the earth. If we can put this earthing system up, then enlightenment will come up. So, there is a Brahmā and a Sarasvatī. Sarasvatī is the wisdom, knowledge. Brahma is the creator. Everything begins from this. There is a lot to speak about this. And there is a mantra. I cannot tell you everything today. Sub-mantras and the bīja-mantra are lam. Mantras mean a vibration, a resonance of the particular cakras. So likewise, there are the different cakras. Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra, that is the second form down, the crocodile is making one strong. Antelope here, or this is Manipūra Cakra, and this is, yes, here is antelope. And Anāhata Cakra, and Viśuddhi Cakra, the throat cakra, these all have their meaning. Purījī, Purījī... The Shiva eye, the third eye, so this is how to see the future. This is the inner eye. Yesterday we spoke about Trikāla Darśī, knower of the three: past, present, and future. Next, please. That’s all, yes. This is the Bindu Cakra, oh, the ambrosia, the nectar. This is on the top of the head. Nectar is dripping from here. Mahāprabhujī, dīp karatā, Mahāprabhujī, dīp karatā... Mahāprabhujī. So you have to obey this cakra. Finally, oh my God, there we are, Ṣaḍaśiva. Śadāśiva means ever blissful, ever. Tāṇḍava Nitya. Then, when you are ever blissful, you are free, dancing. That is a free dancing Śiva in the Sahasrāra cakra, with thousands of petals. And the residence of Śiva is on the Kailāśa mountain, which is now in Tibet. One of the holiest places, the holiest mountain in the world, is this. And there is the residence of the Lord Śiva. The science of yoga, all the sciences in the long language, the wisdom, whatever humans have developed, is coming from Śiva and is originated from here. So this is literally about Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. Is there someone more? Thank you. So this is literally about Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. I hope it was not too much. If you have any questions, you can ask afterward. Thank you. God bless you.