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Om Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī, Devādhī Dev, Deveśvar Mahādev Kī, Alak Purījī Mahādev Kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhvanānjī Bhagavān Kī Jai. Om Śānti. Good morning to everybody. I wish you a very nice day. We are sitting in the middle of the rainforest. The Canadian rainforest is different from the Indonesian rainforest, and the Indonesian rainforest is different from the Brazilian rainforest. So, everywhere is a different climate. Similarly, in our body, there are different cakras. The Mūlādhāra Cakra is different than the Viśuddhi Cakra. The Viśuddhi Cakra is different from the Mūlādhāra Cakra and the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. But all are within our self, within our body. Our body is just like a container, a gunny bag. The mystery of human life, the miracles and talents within this body—God has given all kinds of facilities within our self in order to attain self-realization or come to the Brahman. Modern technology imitates a lot of ancient wisdom, science, and knowledge, trying to get it in a nice way. For example, this morning we made an experiment in the middle of the Canadian forest, far from civilization. We asked Google a question verbally: "Who is the author of the Hidden Powers book?" The answer came. Similarly, everything is in the human body, brain, and consciousness. There is a nice poem from a Sufi. God speaks to the seeker, to the disciple: "Mokun kaha tu dhunde bande?" In Sufi language, it means, "Where are you searching for me, oh my friend?" My hut is outside the city, like in this forest. Here is beauty, nature, God—more presence of God here than in the big city. The peace, the hut, our kutīyā is outside. But my residence is in your breath. My heart is in the forest, but I am dwelling in your breath, with the ascending and descending breath. "Khojoge to abhi milunga, pal bhar ki talasme." If you really search for me, I will meet you within a second. But we ask: My God, what are you saying? We have been practicing for how many years? We pray, go to temples, churches, mosques, and you say, "If you remember me in one second, I will come." How to understand this? The master of Swāmī Vivekānanda was Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa, who lived in Calcutta. One day, a devotee came and sat near him. He said, "Gurudev, I practice yoga. I do pūjā for three hours a day, read holy books for one hour, and meditate for two hours. I am a rich man with a big factory, but now I am retired and do only spiritual sādhanā. Still, I cannot see God. Is it really possible to see God?" Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "I will answer you one day." The devotee came every day. One day, Ramakrishna said, "Let's go to the ocean." They went to a big lake. Ramakrishna asked, "Can you swim?" The man said yes. They went into the water up to their chests. Ramakrishna asked, "Can you dive in?" The man said, "Guru, the water is only to my shoulders, but of course I can dip in." He went down into the water. Then, Rāmakṛṣṇa held his neck and pulled him down under the water. The man struggled, thinking, "Gurujī will kill me today." For about fifty seconds, he thought of his factory, family, wife, and house. Then he forgot everything, having only one will: how to come out of the water. Swamījī then took him out. The man said, "Gurujī, you wanted to kill me!" Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "No, I answered your question." The man asked, "What connection does this have?" Rāmakṛṣṇa asked, "What did you think in those fifty seconds? Of your money, family, factories?" The man said, "I was only thinking how to survive, how to come out." Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "You must love if you want to see God. Forget all else and dedicate yourself to God. Immediately, God will come to you." But when we meditate or go to the ashram, temple, or church, we have so many imaginations and wishes. We must touch our relation, our ātmā, our soul, our heart, to God. Between them, there must be nothing. If something comes between, you will not see. So, "khojo, get to abhi milunga pal bhar ki talāś me." If you search, I will meet you immediately. Where are you searching for me? I am within you. My heart is outside the city, but my residence is in your breath. I am with your breath. When you die, I go with you. When you come into life, I am with you. Our śvāsa, prāṇaśvāsa—śvāsa means breath. We should know the value of our breath. As long as you are healthy, you know you are alive, but you do not know what breath is. When we are healthy and comfortable, we do not know what breath is. But suddenly, if you cannot breathe, you become scared: "I will die." At high altitudes in the mountains, above 2,500 meters, we feel the need for oxygen. At 3,000, 4,000 meters, we walk slowly. At 5,000 or 6,000 meters, one step is like a 100-meter walk. That is the breath. We do not know the value of our breath and the oxygen in our body. Everything God has given us is within ourselves, and nothing is unnecessary. What God has given is very important for our life. There was a Turkish man in India called Bahādur Shāh, an emperor. He had a very good secretary named Birbal. If you have a good secretary, your company, business, politics, and work go well. If you have a stupid secretary, it destroys everything. Your advisors should be perfect. The king was sitting happily when his secretary came. The king asked, "Birbal, what is the best joy in life? We have done and enjoyed so many things. Tell me, which is the best joy?" Birbal said, "Hazur, sir, the best joy is to go to the toilet." The king said, "Get out from here, stupid! I ask you how to enjoy something very good, and you say 'go to the toilet'!" Birbal left. After one year, the king called his secretary back. Birbal thought, "Today I should prove what is the best joy." He suggested, "Lord, why not have a very nice party? Call all the kings and your best friends. There will be dancing, the harem, drinking, singing, and music." The king agreed. Before the party, Birbal prepared some finger food like pakodas and kachoris with many spices and chutneys. In these, he put an Ayurvedic herb called Sonāmukhī, a powerful cleansing medicine. The king ate a lot. They went to the party where there was music from tabla and sitar, and girls began to dance. At the peak of the enjoyment, the king asked Birbal, "Where is the toilet here?" Birbal said, "What? You can go after. Look, this is the joy—everyone is singing and dancing. Enjoy!" The king said, "I can't. Show me the toilet quickly!" Birbal said, "The toilet is not a joy." The king insisted, "Bring me!" He went to the toilet and upon returning said to his secretary, "I'm sorry I was angry with you. The best joy is to go where you need." What your body needs urgently is an emergency. We need to clean or feel our bodies. Eating or dancing is external. In our body, illness, happiness, joy, or the desire for a child begins days, months, or years before. We spoke yesterday about Pañcakośa: Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and Ānandamaya Kośa. These are the five different bodies. Ānandamaya Kośa is the body of desire. Who feels desires and enjoys experiences? That is a separate body. That body influences Vijñānamaya Kośa, the body of knowledge and intellect. The desires influence the intellect, and the intellect inspires the mind. The mind searches, and then the mind goes to the energy of the senses. From this energy, it touches the physical body. For example, you may get the flu after ten days, but the flu attacked you a few months ago. It comes from another body to this physical body. Something we can get rid of, something we cannot—like the monkey yesterday that had desires and got the cobra hanging the basket on its neck. How to get rid of it? Similarly, these five bodies have five elements (tattvas), and after these are the five prāṇa and five upa-prāṇa—the energies. Prāṇa is divided; the breath. So prāṇa, apāna, samāna, vyāna, udāna are the five different prāṇas. What we inhale and exhale is called prāṇa. It is not oxygen, but oxygen comes with our prāṇa because it is important for our body. All this is the subject of the kuṇḍalinī. When the kuṇḍalinī awakens in you and you do not know how to control it, how will you feed it? When kuṇḍalinī wakes up, it is very hungry. With what will you feed her? Understand? You have to feed it, so better let it not awake. It is a hungry snake—a big python that can kill an elephant. It coils around and breaks all the bones. When such power awakens in you, how will you control it? Prāṇa is normally understood as oxygen. You come into this beautiful forest, and the air is good. Indians say, "Good prāṇa." Others say, "Good energy, good breath." This is something our body needs; it prolongs our life and reduces toxins. In the śāstras, it is written that when you are born, there is a writing in the book of destiny given to you as credit—that is your breath. Śvāsa par śvāsa means inhalation and exhalation. In destiny, it is written: inhalation and exhalation are one, inhalation and exhalation are two. Normally, we inhale and exhale 15 times per minute. In 24 hours, that is 2,021 breaths. There is a return. How many breaths will you have in your life? Then you have no more credit; it is finished. It does not matter who you are. God has given validity to your life. Now, save the breath. In different activities, you lose breath. According to yogic science, jogging is not healthy because you breathe too quickly, and that is accounted for from your total. Your life is getting shorter. Your muscles may be good, and you may feel healthy, but you have lost your breath. Who lives long on this earth? The tortoise, because it has a long breath and uses very little. Who has a short life? The rabbit, mouse, and dog, which breathe quickly. In the science of Kuṇḍalinī awakening, you must preserve, save your prāṇa, your life. Therefore, there is the science of prāṇāyāma, breath technique, to prolong the breath. When you practice bhastrikā or kapālabhāti, that is not counted as a breath; it is purification. Afterwards, when you do prāṇāyāma, you feel your brain relax, there is resonance, and you feel relaxed. At that time, we breathe slowly. Our lungs are our life. Do you take care of your lungs? A person who ignores them loses the lungs. It is said the lungs are like paper; if spread out, they cover a whole football field. This is inside—a miracle by God: expanding and contracting. When there are toxins inside, we become ill with asthma, etc. But the lungs cleanse themselves through mucous. The lungs are very important and become good through prāṇāyāma yoga technique. Scientifically, to learn one prāṇāyāma course takes three years. After three years of daily practice, your lungs become strong, clean, and good, and then you should always do the techniques. In prāṇāyāma, in rāja yoga, there are only three prāṇāyāmas: pūrak, rechak, and kumbhak. Pūrak means inhale, rechak means exhale, and kumbhak means to hold the breath. The rest are techniques. There are two kinds of kumbhaka: antar kumbhaka and bāhir kumbhaka. That gives us the prāṇa. Prāṇa is the energy, the strength to receive, to inhale. Not only through the nostrils or mouth, but the whole body breathes. When we are very old and near death, we have difficulty breathing; the whole body struggles to take energy. The second is apāna. Apāna means to reduce all toxins from the body. That apāna śakti is very strong. You should keep healthy these two prāṇas: prāṇa and apāna. Prāṇa is to inhale, so your diaphragm expands and your lungs get more air inside. Apāna is to exhale. Whatever comes into your body through muscles, movements, nose, or mouth is incoming. Outgoing is, for example, when you cannot pass urine and need a catheter, because the apāna, the outgoing force, is weak. Some people get constipation due to nourishment, tension, or psychic problems—holding back. Even little children sometimes cannot pass urine. Apāna is in every creature; even trees have prāṇa and apāna. Trees exhale and inhale. God gave the same system to all creatures. Breath is incoming energy, and apāna is outgoing energy. Both we must train for a healthy life. Many cannot purify the body, so toxins remain somewhere, collecting and storing. They do not go out. Slowly, these dead energy, dead cells collect and become a disease, mostly cancer nowadays. If we purify the body through certain things, we will not have this problem. So: prāṇāyāma, healthy organic food, movements, cleaning, saṅkhaprakṣālana, netī, dhautī, bastī, naulī, tratā, kapālabhātī, haṭha yoga practice—netī (nose cleaning), dhautī (alimentary channels), bastī (artificial diarrhea to clean), kapālbhāti prāṇāyāmas, nauli, and tratak. This is inner purification. Then it influences all our body's nerve systems. This is the prāṇa, physical body, and prāṇa body. The nerves in our body: in the human body, there are 72,000 nerves. We have 216 bones. How did God manage to put 216 bones? Every bone is exactly measured. So, 72,000 nerves—this is like a network. These nerves transfer energy, consciousness, and blood. There are different kinds of nerves, arteries. So, 72,000 nāḍīs in our body. Now, prāṇa—I am talking about kuṇḍalinī yoga. You want to learn Kundalini Yoga? Then the Kuṇḍalinī will awaken. You do not know it is awakened—that is the best way. Or you want to become crazy? That we can also do. No problem. Then it is like someone who cannot swim thrown into deep water. They say, "Swāmījī, please give me your hand." But if Swamiji also cannot swim, I will jump in. You will hold me, and we will both go down. We should know all the systems. There are 72,000 bodies? Prāṇa and apāna come in and go out. This is only two systems: prāṇa and apāna. Then come samāna, udāna, and vyāna. These are five prāṇa and five subtle sub-prāṇa. First, we must understand and do pranayama techniques, clean the body, and then we talk about the kundalini further. So, ādi om. In prāṇa and kuṇḍalinī, the nāḍīs—72,000 nāḍīs in the body. There are major nāḍīs: we count four—the suṣumnā, the piṅgalā, iḍā, and vajra nāḍī. This nāḍī helps to transfer our consciousness or awareness through the whole body. That body always gets information immediately and is ready to bring all information immediately. We asked Google, "Who is the author of the book Hidden Powers?" Immediately, the answer came. This technology comes from our brain, from human memory. When you give satsaṅg or a lecture, often you do not think which words to use; suddenly, an example or story comes spontaneously. It is written and hidden in our brain. There is a joke: a man gives something into the hand of a young student and says, "If you learn or not, it does matter. If you do not have any brain, you have it in your hand." What? He said, "Everything is in your hand." What you have in the brain is here. So, memories are stored in our body. In formation, there are certain nerve systems, and awareness is very important: concentration, awareness, intellect, emotion, mind, and consciousness. These are connected through the nerves. To which nerve is which subject given? Every one of the 72,000 nerves has its duty. For example, the indriyas: jñānendriyas and karmendriyas—five senses of perception and five senses of action. Certain nerve functions are connected only to hearing, another only to the nose. Are they also connected to the eyes or taste? Similarly, the whole body has its feelings and information. Where do thoughts, feelings, impressions, and visions go? There is a story. Sometimes a story makes it very clear, and we do not forget. A lecture you will forget, but a story or poem, like this: In a rainforest, there was a small hut and a yogī meditating. He lived there with one cow for milk and a little garden growing spinach, vegetables, potatoes, and carrots. For one person, what is needed? A handful of corn comes to a lot. He was meditating, very happy. One day, he sat on his terrace, nice sun shining, doing his mālā. A deer came running quickly and passed by. He said, "Oh, nice deer." After five minutes, a hunter came and asked the yogī, "Did you see the deer? Which direction did he run?" This is called dharma-saṅkaṭ—a dilemma. You cannot say yes or no. The hunter asked, "Can you tell me in which direction did he run?" The yogī thought: "If I tell him this side, he will kill the deer. I will be guilty, a sinner. If I say I do not know, I lie. Then I am also guilty." You must have answers within no time; they should be ready. He did not know he would come into such a situation. The yogī said to the hunter, "Friend, what can I tell you?" The hunter said, "Tell me where the deer ran." The yogī said, "That is my problem." The hunter said, "What? Just tell me which direction." The yogī said, "That is what I wanted. I am thinking." The hunter said, "It does not matter if it is yes or no; say one thing." The yogī said, "That is my problem." The hunter thought he was crazy. The yogī said, "You know, who has seen cannot speak, and who speaks cannot see." The hunter said, "Who sees cannot speak, and who speaks cannot see? Are you crazy?" The yogī said, "No, but you make me crazy." The hunter said, "What do you mean?" The yogī said, "Those who have seen cannot speak. The eyes cannot speak, and the mouth can speak, but the mouth cannot see. So, both my senses make me guilty." The hunter said, "You are crazy. Go ahead, make your meditation." So he went in the other direction. The eyes cannot see, and the mouth cannot speak. Sometimes such a situation arises that we must avoid it in such a way, and this should already be ready. Not, "Let me think. Come tomorrow, I will tell you." So, done is done. Hari Om. All these 72,000 nerves, senses, and prāṇa together take care of our inner world. That is called the inner mechanism. You are your own engineer—the inner engineer, the inner mechanism to make all corrections, repair what is not functioning, and keep it updated. That is our awareness. Awareness is that supervising, alert concentration. That goes through the nerve systems. Nerves connect to hormones. There is another miracle of God: for every tissue, every atom in the body needs different hormones. God made one factory where many hormones are produced: our liver. Then, through the nerves, it transfers to another factory to produce different products: our glands. Every gland is for particular organs. Many glands—we should keep them updated and see that no enemy can damage them. Certain glands: the pituitary gland, pineal gland, thoracic gland, pancreas—many major glands with big responsibility. It goes through the nerve systems. In medical science, when we have a problem with the thyroid or hormones (mostly women have problems), yogic science says you cannot solve the problem here by operating or cutting something. The cause is somewhere else, and the treatment is somewhere else. For that, it goes along the spinal column with the Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā, and Vajranāḍī. They supply energy from different cakras: from the Manipūra cakra, Svādhiṣṭhāna cakra, Mūlādhāra cakra, and Viśuddhi cakra. Exercise gently, like Śalabhāsana. Śalabhā is a locust. In śalabhāsana, you raise both legs up. The locust folds its two legs and makes a sound between the thighs—a harmonious sound. This posture, śalabhāsana, gives strength from our knees to our hip joints. Hip joints—this posture activates the mūlādhāra cakra. That means our anus muscles gain strength. Otherwise, you cannot do Svādhiṣṭhāna or Mūlabandha. Second, when you do Śalabhāsana, it gives tension to your neck. So, Mūlādhāra and Viśuddhi Cakra are connected there. Our thyroid gland automatically gets treatment. Similarly, Bhujaṅgāsana, and every posture should have a counter pose. When you do Śalabhāsana, then you should do Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā. Viparītakaraṇī mudrā lets the hormones flow from the mūlādhāra to the navel, and from the nābhi, it filters that energy and lets it flow to our thyroid gland. When people say, "Do sarvāṅgāsana; it is very good for the thyroid," but when the thyroid is already affected negatively, do not do sarvāṅgāsana because you are blocking it. Viparītakaraṇī mudrā is like this, so the whole throat remains relaxed, and energy flows through the thyroid gland. Those with hormonal problems should do this posture. After seven or eight days, you will feel a difference. It is a two- to three-month program: every day, two to three minutes, four times a day. Then you will see your thyroid gland functioning properly. In our Yoga and Daylight book, there are postures described for the thyroid gland. If your thyroid is getting swollen or bigger, they give the posture Sarvāṅgāsana. Sarvāṅgāsana slowly squeezes, and a whole system of glands becomes active. Then you do the complete Bhujaṅgāsana. One time you are contracting, other times expanding and stretching. Contracting, expanding, contracting, stretching—this is the best exercise for our neck and thyroid gland. But the liver is the center company, the faculty where all kinds of hormones are produced. For this, there is another exercise because the liver needs a lot of exercise. Trikoṇāsana, where you stretch to one side and the other, is good. Gau mukhasana or matrasya asana is very good for the liver. Also, pavan muktasana: bend your knee, press it towards the body, and release. Therefore, yoga is not for showing acrobatics—"I can do this and that"—no. We do it as therapy, for good health. That is how we can supply and gain self-therapy through practicing āsanas, getting the help of the prāṇas and nerve systems. The chakra is very important. These chakras, physically formed, are a glance. The astral form is a chakra that you cannot influence through movements or postures; that is through concentration. The nāḍīs are a network, like this net round, everyone monitoring sound in balanced sound. In the whole body, when some oppression takes place, some subtle nerves may be cut, but others take over. So, it is like this: prāṇa, annamaya kośa, and prāṇamaya kośa—we spoke yesterday. Annamaya kośa is the physical body, and prāṇamaya kośa is the energy body. About four or five decades ago, a Russian was making photos using the Kirlian technique. You cut leaves in the form of a V, then take a photo with a particular lens, and you see there is no missing leaf. Energy from here and here transfers, making it appear uncut—the same energy. So, if some little energy or nerves are cut, other nerves take over. But major nodules we must be very careful with, otherwise they can damage our health greatly. These nāḍīs—one is very strong: the Vajra Nāḍī. Vajra Nāḍī awakens in the body and makes a strong immunity. The Khatu Pranam, what we have as postures and exercises, is something we call improving our immunity system. Improving the immunity system means affecting the glands. It is the glands that make this energy, taking away from the body what we call the foreign body, which is harmless to our body. You cannot purify the body completely. If you try to kill all germs, you will become ill—get the flu and many things. So, there is an enemy in the body that is very important because it can harm our body. Yoga, prāṇāyāma, concentration—according to your yoga and daily life—keeps your body and life nicely balanced and happy. The Yogananda life: harmony of body, mind, and soul. Now, the nāḍīs: left nadi, right nadi, and suṣumnā. The left nadi is called the mind principle. In English, principle; in Hindi, we call the goddess, the devatā of the mind, is the moon. The moon never rises equally, changing every day. The moon balances the whole earth. This balance of the moon is to our mind. Our mind balances our whole functions and body, though the mind is restless. Moon means water; water means emotion; emotion means mind; and mind affects our nerves. So, the left nostril belongs to the moon—the moon system. The right one is suṣumnā? That is the lunar, and this is the solar—two systems. That is more connected to our awareness, alertness, activities, and clearness. So, this is the suṣumnā, piṅgalā, and that is connected to the sun. So, this is the moon, and this is the sun. Moon is "ha," and sun is "ṭha." So, "ha" and "ṭha" together come in the eyebrow center, and here is the third eye. When they come here together, Iḍā and Piṅgalā, "ha" and "ṭha," balance—that time is called union. So, it is called union, which means yoga. Yoga means oneness. So, "ha" and "ṭha" become haṭha yoga. When we say we want to practice haṭha yoga, this is it. What you are practicing is not haṭha yoga; you are practicing rāja yoga or kriyā yoga or different ones. Haṭha yoga is here, and here is a balance of everything. The moon is balancing, the sun is alertness, and suṣumṇā is the central power balancing all. Similarly, the Vajranāḍī begins from the big toe and second toes. From there, it is like earthing in a building, managing and taking care of our immune system. Then it comes. These two nāḍīs from the small of the brain reflect here. The moon goes in that direction, the sun in that direction, and Suṣumnā goes directly. This is a power crossing junction, and the first chakra is Viśuddhi. The moon comes from the left and goes to the right, and the sun goes from the right to the left. Here is a cross, and that is the first chakra from our head side, on the Viśuddhi chakra. The rest we will do this evening: how many different kinds of chakras and a little about their function. Wish you all the best. Relax a little, settle all thoughts and words inside. Then, when you call next time, "Swamiji, how is the Piṅgalā Nāḍī?" immediately you will know. The Pingala Nadi is on the right side. Sūrya immediately comes. Thank you. Good appetite. Om Śānti Śānti...