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It is good to see you all again. This evening, blessings are flowing from the Śrī Alagpurījī Siddhapīṭa Paramparā in Alachandria. Our subject is the five different bodies, the kośas. We have already spoken of the Annamaya Kośa and the Prāṇamaya Kośa. When we consider prāṇa, it is that which guides and accompanies us all the way to Brahmaloka. It is the pure prāṇa we generate within our body, mind, intellect, and consciousness. What we earn here, that pure quality we discussed before noon, is not easy to attain. The moderator gave the example of honey and the bee—honey has a quality and is preserved with protection by the bees. It is said that among a hundred thousand you may find no one, and in a million perhaps one or two, but even in billions, you will find only a few. Billions of people strive intensely for that Brahma Jñāna, for that self-realization. My dear, it is not like that. It is not merely practicing a little āsana and prāṇāyāma, chanting "Oṃ" three times, and then going about your business, standing somewhere eating what they call a hot dog. With that kind of food, that kind of drink, that kind of society, what do you expect? That you will come to Brahmaloka? It is not easy, my dear. Quality—pure quality. You must purify your physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual energy; you have to clean it all. The Master tries to give the training, but it is said that it is not easy to digest that pure knowledge which the Master teaches. It is not easy to digest that food. You will either vomit it out again or get diarrhea. You cannot digest it. Therefore, pure prāṇa is attained step by step, slowly, slowly, and through renunciation. Renunciation does not mean renouncing your properties and wealth—you will renounce those anyway one day; everything will remain here. To renounce this material, worldly property is neither easy nor difficult. But the qualities that humans should possess, which the great seers, saints, and masters speak about, are qualities. We must concentrate not on quantity, but on quality. And it is not easy to maintain purity in your body, in your thoughts, in your behavior, and in your sādhanā. These five bodies we have are: Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and Ānandamaya Kośa. These are the five different bodies, layer after layer. You cannot see them like pictures on a wall—this is a picture of the Jadan ashram, that of the Jaipur ashram, that of the Khattu ashram, that of the Nepal ashram, and this of the Alexandrian ashram. But all are one. They exist as layers within the body, and we must purify each layer and assimilate its quality. To digest and maintain that quality, very few people will succeed. Though you try, it is difficult. There are three different kinds of aspirants, sādhakas, practitioners, seekers: they are called uttama, madhyama, and kaniṣṭha. Uttama is the best one, who has pure energy and understands Guru Vākya and the master’s teaching. Madhyama is so-so, not always disciplined—like a bow (dhanuṣ) that is only occasionally used, going to some program and then not practicing the whole year. Maintaining quality is very hard. There was a time when people would say, "Oh, that radio or instrument was made in the USA," or "Made in Japan—of course it's quality," or "Made in West Germany." Now, no one talks about this quality. Now there is just "Made in..."—all in one, all in one camp. There is a big camp where everything is produced, and you get it from there. There, quality suffers because they have to produce more. The greed of people is such that if only five pieces are required, they produce five thousand. Why? This is a word we learned; it took time to understand. When five pieces are needed and they make five thousand, they will buy all five thousand. But how? Understand? How? We need only five, but in due time, we will all consume five thousand. This is a great, great technique, and it is called "use and throw." In the last centuries, the beginning of the last century, there was no term "use and throw." It did not exist. This new word developed. Poor people from 150 years ago are still living; they do not know what "use and throw" means. So quality is missing, and greed is there. Let me share a very practical experience. You will laugh or be surprised. Greed comes very quickly, but some people are clever enough to cheat the greedy one too. I tell you a real story from about 25 or maybe 30 years ago, on my third visit to Vancouver. I am telling you my own story, my own greed. It is good to tell that even I had a little greed, you know. From that day I said, if you have greed, you are cheating yourself. From Vancouver, three of us took a boat, a ship, a ferry to an island called Galiano. The ferry ride was about an hour or forty-five minutes. We went to have tea. You pay, and they give you one glass. If you buy cola, the glass is bigger. If you want tea, it is a small cup. So we bought a big glass of cola because it was cheaper, and we took hot tea in that big glass. We were clever. We put two tea bags and sugar inside and moved to another bench to sit. And what happened? Our glasses began to melt. It was leaking and hot because the glass for cola was made of wax, and the glass for tea was of another material. We went back and said, "How did this happen? This is glass, and it's broken." They said, "Yes, it is for cola, not for tea." I said, "Okay, then give me the one for tea." Then you have to pay more. That was "use and throw." So, where is the quality? Otherwise, we have a cup like this that can hold hot or cold and survive a long, long time. Similarly, the quality of a sādhaka, a practitioner... A disciple should develop solid quality. That means purifying all negative energy, because otherwise the prāṇic energy is damaged. After you leave the physical body, you come to the astral body, and there you have black clouds in front of you. You enter the black cloud and do not know where to go. For ages and ages you are lost in the black clouds because you carry that energy—selfish, emotional, desire-filled energy, etc. Therefore, the Prāṇamaya Kośa, the prāṇa, that spiritual energy—you can attain spiritual energy. In this world, there is no lack of that pure energy. You can have everything, you can enjoy everything, but consider from whom, from where, or from what you can receive the pure energy. There is one very nice example, a little poem Holy Gurujī used to say. It paints a very good picture. I will show you this picture verbally. Gurujī spoke about a little fly. Someone was making a sandalwood paste for applying tilaka. A sādhaka, a yoga practitioner, was doing this because sandalwood has a beautiful effect on the body and its fragrance, and it helps concentration and memory. It gives the whole brain a kind of energy; it goes through this part. Here is our bhāgya—our destiny, our good or bad luck. When you make a mistake, people all over the world say, "Oh, God." Why do they say, "Oh, God"? Here, why do you say, "Oh God, no?" or "Oh, my luck"—good luck or bad luck. So here is our destiny. And when we apply pure sandalwood paste here—pure, without any additive, though some like to put a little pure kesar (saffron) leaf in it—you make the paste fresh and apply it here. You will not have the kind of headache people complain of. Many ladies say, "Oh, I have a headache," but it does not cause that. People do not want to make it anymore, but you know, the aborigines in Australia, whose roots are in South India, do exactly this—here and here—like South Indians do with vibhūti. They make it from stone or wooden ash. It is very good. So, chandanamakhi... There was a bhakta, like you, making chandan paste, and a fly came and sat on the sandalwood paste. It smells good. The fly came and sat there. The fly cannot resist the pure fragrance of the sandal. For the fly... The person making the chandan paste on the stone had a little child about two or three years old sitting five to ten meters away, who had made a toilet there. The fly sitting on the sandalwood paste smelled it and said, "Oh, thanks to God," and flew from the sandal to the dirt. And there it enjoyed with its wings and life. So, chandan makhi parhare. Parhare means goes away, flies away. Chandan makhi parhare, durgandhī vahan ut jāye. Where there is a stink, there flies that fly; it flies there. Aise agyānī satsaṅg nahīṁ sune. Like that, agyānī means a foolish person who has no knowledge. Either that person will sleep in the satsaṅg or in meditation. The master says, "Now concentrate on the Maṇipūra cakra," and "Feel your breath," but he is sleeping. So, aise ajñānī satsaṅg nahī sune, yāto unge yā ut jāye. Either he or she will sleep, or will stand up and go away. Because that knowledge, that truth, that energy, that purity, that nectar, that immortality—that person cannot digest it. If you stay for a while and cannot digest it, you will go to that stink where the fly from the sandal goes, and you will go to some bhoga. Bhoga means desires, enjoying desires. So, that prāṇa has a lower quality, and other prāṇa has a higher quality. Lower quality leads to those energies and desires which take you to naraka loka. And that divine quality, knowledge, Brahma Jñāna, takes us to the higher lokas, to Brahman. Energy. Prāṇa. Prāṇa-nāth. O my Prāṇa-nāth. Nāth means God, and Prāṇa means Prāṇa. "O my Lord, you are my Prāṇa. Lead me there. O my Lord, you are my ocean of nectar." If your beloved dies, your spiritual friend dies, then you will say, "Oh, my ocean of nectar is dried. Oh, my sun went away and sat down in this darkness. We want to have the dawn again." We want that ocean always to be like this. But energy goes into your mind, into your body, into your touch, and you do not recognize it. Because you think the stink is the best quality and the best thing—how can it happen? That is why you have disappointment. That is why you have pain, that is why you are sorry and angry and hateful and jealous—all these kinds of qualities. That prāṇa is like the air here. If you put a very nice agarbattī (incense), it has a nice smell. If you put some different kind, it smells bad. But there are some people who like that kind of smell. If you put incense, agarbattī, they do not like it in the hotel, but if there is alcohol and fish and such, oh, they are dancing there and they are happy. This is the difference. So, you should learn this point: Quality. Prāṇa, prāṇa, prāṇa. Prāṇa is in the heart, and when the prāṇa is gone, the body is finished. It is very hard to know what is prāṇa and what is the soul. Either the soul is prāṇa, or prāṇa is the soul. They are like equals. That is why yogīs speak of five different bodies: Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, and then Manomaya Kośa. Manas is the mind, which I have spoken of many, many times. The mind is that principle which dwells between the unconscious, subconscious, and conscious—coming, going, bringing information from jāgrat (waking), suṣupti (deep sleep), and svapna (dream). It is always connected to the senses. The mind is the master of the senses. The mind can control, or the mind can destroy. The mind is an elephant, and the senses are the horses. These are the ten horses, controlled by one elephant. Or, these are ten horses, and the mind is the chariot controlling the horses, meaning the ten senses. The intellect is that which supports the mind to hold the reins in hand. So the mind has the power; the intellect is in the hands of the mind. Very often our intellect becomes very weak very easily because the senses want to do something and the intellect does not. The mind is in between; the mind says, "Why not?" and the mind says, "Yeah, it's okay." So the mind can be very soft; the intellect, but vivekā (discrimination) not. Intellect is milk, and viveka is butter, the cream. And that cream is the quality of our intellect. So, the senses (indriya), the mind, and the intellect—these three have an understanding among themselves. But then, at the end, after death, when you go into the darkness, your jīvātmā says, "Now where should I go? You told me this is a good thing." "Yes, but the senses you were enjoying, not me." The mind says, "Intellect, you gave the judgment. Yes, I am sorry." So the mind is not responsible, the senses can do nothing anymore, and the intellect—the light is blown out. So you are in the darkness. Therefore, collect the energy in the body: purity, happiness, joy, kindness, humbleness, compassion, mercy, ahiṃsā, etc. We have so many good qualities. We have so many jewels at the bottom of our consciousness, pure—so many jewels, so many pearls are there. But on the surface are the impurities: kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, ahaṅkāra, etc. Kāma (passion), krodha (anger), moha (attachment), ahaṅkāra (pride, ego). These are all negative on the surface. You cannot see down to the bottom because it is so polluted; the water is murky. That is polluted energy. Therefore, tyāga (renunciation). Holy Gurujī said, "Enter the kingdom of God through the gate of sacrifice. Enter the kingdom of God through the gate of sacrifice. Renounce, renounce,... renounce." If you do not renounce and do not go to one part, we are lost. So the mind can liberate us, or the mind can kill us, destroy us. Mind—always observe your mind. The mind is not responsible, but see that it does not bring wrong information to feed your intellect. And your intellect will say, "Yes, dear, this is good. I'm sure I want to do like this. It doesn't matter." But it does matter, my dear. Afterwards you will know, "Oh God, I made such a big mistake." So, sādhanā, sādhanā, sādhanā. No thinking of cheating. It is better to be cheated, but not good to cheat. That's it. If someone cheated you, someone will say, "Oh, you are stupid, really. That's why I cheated you. Did you think?" He said, "Yes, what should I do?" But that one will not get punishment. You are cheated; even the police will not punish you. But if you cheat someone, there is punishment. That is the way. Thagne se to thage jānā hī acchā hai. This is the way. So think it over, and still it is not too late. Still not too late. Begin. Renounce, and also accept. On one side you put the good things, and on the other side you take them away. So, slowly, slowly, positive energy, positive light, positive feelings, positive everything will lead human consciousness to a higher level. The mind, which is a messenger, brings information from the conscious level to the subconscious, and from the subconscious, what it brought before, it brings to the awareness or the conscious level. Then again, if you cannot manage to realize it, the mind will take you back again. A few times it will come and go, come and go, and then the mind will throw it into the unconscious level—into a dark room. Maybe after some centuries something will come out. That is one source of psychic problems, and many illnesses come from this. When your mind is very weak, when your mind is confused, then you are lost. But if the mind is still alert and your intellect gives right instructions, that gives only viveka. So Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says in the Karma-Yoga chapter, the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā: Yoga-karma-śukauśalam. Your yoga-sādhanā will be perfected through doing your sādhanā. Yoga-karma-śukauśalam—through performing good Karma-Yoga. And yogāgniḥ karmadaghni—the fire of yoga will burn all your karmas away. So, "Hey Arjuna, before you do karma, you should know the form of the karma. What kind are you going to do now?" When you know the form of your karma, what you are doing, become a little aware. Then you will know what fruits you will get. Then Viveka will come. Viveka will tell you, "These fruits you will get. Now, do you want this or that?" Viveka will not decide anything. Viveka will say, "Do you want this, or do you want this?" That is all, very clearly. "Do you want to have a knife in your heart, or do you want to have ice cream in your hands?" Viveka says this, that's all. Then again your intellect will say, "No, I want to have ice cream, not a knife." And so karma is overthought. That is again that pure energy, the knowledge. Then the knowledge becomes that energy. That pure energy is that knowledge. Then, what we always call—as I often say—knowledge, knower, and object, these three merge into oneness; that is mokṣa. Then our jīvātmā tells us...