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Part 1: The Nature of Prāṇa and the Search for the Self Once more, good evening and welcome. I am happy to see you. It is a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and this evening light is especially nice for yoga. We are all here to gain something according to yoga. Yesterday we spoke about the five different bodies, but because many of you were not here—it was another class—I will not continue that part. Instead, I will begin a completely new topic, which is about prāṇa. Yesterday was also about prāṇa. Please don’t mind if I ask you a question from time to time. Who doesn’t know what prāṇa is? So, everybody knows about prāṇa. Thank you. Prāṇa is divided into ten different aspects: Prāṇa, Apāna, Samāna, Udāna, Vyāna. You all know this because you didn’t answer that you don’t know. So, you know the prāṇa, yes? Then, please, can you tell me, yes or no? Thank you. When I asked you, "Do you know the prāṇa?" nobody said anything. According to European mentality, that means you know everything. When you don’t know, then you would say, "Yes, I hand up, I don’t know, thank you." Otherwise, you are lost in the other cabin, and our train is going in the other direction. Oh God, my God. Okay, prāṇa is the life force. Prāṇa is the source of our life. Prāṇa is that which functions in our eyes, for example, and without prāṇa we are blind. So there is a special prāṇa for our eyes, only for the eyes. Prāṇa means energy. Now it’s clear? Now you understand? Many people will understand prāṇa as oxygen. So that is also a kind of prāṇa, but this is a physical prāṇa. The astral prāṇa is a cosmic energy through which we exist, we live, we are born, and we are in existence. That is a cosmic energy. That cosmic energy, the cosmic mother, supplies us with life. So we have one soul. Did you see your soul? So everyone has seen? Yeah, then please answer something: how can I bring you to the divine consciousness? You didn’t see your soul? How old are you? And still you have not seen the soul. But not only you, I also have not seen it. That is a problem. That is what we are searching for. Who am I? Ko’ham? Katham idaṁ jātaṁ? Kho ve kartasya vidyate? Who am I? From where did I come? Not today, from past life. Who am I? I am not this body, I am not this mind, I am not this intellect. My intellect, my mind, my emotion, my feelings, my body, my thoughts, but who is saying constantly, "My, my, my"? I, I, I. Yesterday, finally, all who were here got realization, and they found where their I, or their self, the jīva, is in the body. So they were enlightened yesterday, that’s why they didn’t come anymore. So I will not give you enlightenment today, so that next time you still come, forgetting this. So who am I? Who am I, and from where do I come? Our inner self knows, but we have now a curtain in front of us, and "From where do I come?" means from past life. You were born in the past, here in New Zealand, or from where you are coming, from Europe, or you were born in America or in Mexico. Because the speed of the soul is very, very quick. It is like our thought. And our thought is so speedy, so you are within no time somewhere. So, for example, your thought is traveling within your consciousness. My thought also exists within my consciousness. Our consciousness is closed or expands very quickly, expanding, contracting, expanding, contracting. Now, within that space, or our consciousness, is our awareness. The difference between consciousness and awareness, and your abilities, your best qualities, your best working capacities, your knowledge, everything is your awareness. So everyone, you are very aware, very alert, and that’s consciousness. So now, we go so quickly somewhere, but we will come back again. So, I will bring you there, not so far in distance, but some millions of kilometers. Now, go on the moon. Think of the moon. You have no time to think; you are already there. Moon, already our consciousness is expanded, our awareness is there. It means your soul is already on the moon. When I say moon, I did not finish my word, but we were already there. That is the speed of your soul. Let’s say we go to a very beautiful temple, and this temple is in, we go quickly there, okay, Japan. We are in Japan. But at the same time, we have another beautiful, beautiful statue, a very famous statue. Do you know where it is? A very famous statue. They transport from one country to another country. Of course you know. The statue in New York, transported from France, which statue? Liberty, yes. So from Japan to Liberty. And now we come from there, here to the beautiful, there’s a beautiful forest and a beautiful walk, and many people come from far, far distances. And that’s called the South Island. Where is that? In New Zealand, here. So, how is our awareness traveling? This is a training to keep your memory and keep your awareness of your working capacities without mistake, alert, aware, and conscious. And so, this is a yogic training, how we train our brain to keep updated. Now, prāṇa. So, I’m talking about prāṇa in our life. Without prāṇa, that energy, we cannot move even our eyelid, which is one of the quickest organs in the body, active and reacting. So there are ten different kinds of energy qualities, one of which is only for our eyes and our vision, and one is for the heart. For our heartbeat, everything, so these prāṇas are divided. Best quality, best for this part of our body. So, there are two prāṇas. One is a physical prāṇa. The physical prāṇa is also accounted as oxygen. Without oxygen, we can’t exist. And within the oxygen, that fine quality is a cosmic energy. And cosmic energy is given by that cosmic mother, or whatever we call it. So when we are tired, we need to relax or sleep. During sleep, our oxygen functions to rid our body of many tensions and toxins, so that our brain is more relaxed, not more tired. And therefore, sleep is very important. Don’t quit your sleep. There is nothing more beautiful, joyful, and best for our body than sleep. So if you can sleep enough, then your concentration, your awareness, your consciousness, and your intellect will function very, very well. So sleep, please sleep, sleep. Don’t say, "Oh no, I need only two hours," no. And for that we have Yoga Nidrā. You are coming to this yoga center. Did you practice yoga nidrā? How nice it is, no? I also like to practice yoga nidrā, but I do it alone. Because sometimes when I do the yoga nidrā, then everybody remains awake. You know what that means? I will not tell; it’s very secret. Everybody is awakened. So, prāṇa is our life, and now I am asking the question to myself, to thyself. Ko’ham, who am I? This is my shoulder, this is my knee, this is my head, these are my fingers, this is my body. Oh good, it’s your body, but who are you? So, this is my feeling, your feeling, but who are you? So, who am I? Ko’ham, Katham, Idam, Jātam. And from where did I come? For what did I come here? What is the purpose of my soul entering this mortal world in such a beautiful body, with a comfortable life, a beautiful mother, a beautiful father, sisters, brothers, friends, everything? Nice, but why did you come here in this beautiful? So who am I? From where do I come? And why did I come here? Do I fulfill my obligation for what I came here? Am I doing what I came for? Why I came to New Zealand, here in the city of Auckland, to give a yoga lecture and teach something about yoga. So, for what purpose did we come into this life? And, finally, my dear, I hope that you know or you have your very clear, written address. Where will you go after this life? Do you know the address? Do you know the place? Do you know the way? Where will you go? And this is the aim of practicing yoga, spirituality, prayers in the church, in the mosque, in the temples, in the āśram, at home, anywhere, in whatever way you believe, in whichever God you believe, that is what we are praying for. Now, okay, forgotten from where we came is already past. For what duty we came, we are doing, perhaps. You are a mother, you are doing a mother’s duty. You are a father, you are doing a father’s duty. You are a wife, you are doing a wife’s duties. Husband is doing his husband’s duties, etc., etc. We are doing what we can. We all hope that we do good things. Mistakes can happen anytime. And the problem is that we do not know if what we do is a mistake or good. This is this. We think we are doing good, but maybe it’s not good. So one master and one disciple. So one master and one disciple were walking to the forest. And there was one road; from time to time, some cars were coming. And so, Master and disciple were walking along the forest road. Sorry. And there, Master was giving instruction to the disciple. My dear, the best thing in life is to be nice to all and help all as much as you can. Help is the best. Helping hands have more value than just folded hands. And the Master is walking, the disciple is behind, three meters, four meters, or five meters distance, a little slowly, slowly. And there was one on the road, what you call a snail? Yeah, the naked snail was walking. The Master was going, and the disciple stopped. He took this snail and put it on the other side of the road, in the field. Then he came back. The master said, "Where are you?" Where are you? I don’t see you. He said, "Yes, yes, Master, I am coming here. What are you doing?" So he tells the Master, "Nothing? Then what did you say?" He said, "What did I say? To help everyone," so I was helping. Oh, whom did you help? Now, he said, "I helped this one beautiful snail, because otherwise it would stay or die." Master was angry. Why have you done this? Sir, you tell me to constantly help someone, help someone. So, I helped. He said, "Yes, that is okay." But do you know in which direction he wanted to go? Now he wanted to go in this direction. You put him again far away in that direction. Did you know that? He said, "No, that I did not." Then how can you help someone? So what other needs, what kind of help one needs, according to that, how should we know what one needs? That is the best part of our life, that we can understand someone’s feelings, someone’s needs, and that someone needs help. So, in a similar way, from where we did come, what we are doing, we try our best what we can. Sorry, Master, I had a good intention. But yes, your good intention—you think you have good intention, and you crash another car. You say, "Yes, Master, that is terrible." So then, you should wait there, stay there for one or two hours. And observe where he is bound to go, help him, let him go, and protect him. Sit there. You say, but then you will be angry. You are gone, and I am here. Say, well, help him. I will stop, and you will tell me, and I will say, "Yes, what to do?" We relax and let him go in that direction. Maybe his family is there. So where we go, we don’t know. We want to come to God, but which God? What is God? We have not seen God. We have only seen some pictures, which are not that God. That time when the real God was incarnated, and the twenty-four goddess incarnations, that time there was no camera, no one painted at that time. So anyone can paint it. They painted Jesus in Japan like he looks Japanese. In China, they are making nice cards of Jesus like a Chinese. In Africa, like Africans. So this is our imagination. God is different. But we do believe that God is like that, and we love him like that. Otherwise, God is completely different. We don’t know. And we want to go to that God who liberates us forever after this life. So prāṇa, prāṇa is a life energy which survives; every creature survives from this cosmic energy, and that energy remains in our life. So there are energies, both kinds of energy: physical energy and astral energy. Physical energy is getting lower and lower and lower. That means we become older and older and older. But that cosmic energy is never old; it is always equal. So protect our cosmic energy. And cosmic energy to protect means there are three principles which we should do. One is to eat less and pure food, sattvic food. In Ayurveda, they said sattvic food, not this junk food that we have now. Junk food has killed humans, and so many cancers, and cancers, and cancers—what are they thinking? So this is not good. New Zealand is a beautiful country. There is no harm for animals. It is very nice. Part 2: The Four Nourishments: Āhār, Vihār, Ācār, and Vicār It is a nice island to live on, but now there is so much pollution here as well. This pollution, the pesticides, is harming us very, very much. Therefore, try to get organic food: organic milk, organic vegetables, organic grains, butter, bread, etc.—whatever you are eating. And eat less. When we eat less, and in the case of some disease developing in our body, if we reduce our diet, our body's immunity will destroy that kind of illness. Cancer, or some other kind, which is a foreign body though developed in our body, is a foreign energy. It is not my energy; it is energy from someone else. You can try this yourself. I wish that you will always be healthy, and may God bless you so that you will have no illnesses. But if you control your diet, you are already taking a prevention, a prevention for all these diseases. So this is the prāṇa. Āhār means diet. There are different kinds of diet. There is physical nourishment, what we call the solid and liquid. Then thinking is also a diet, so we should think positively. If you think negatively, then you create negative feelings in your body, and that will create some kind of physical or psychic illnesses or difficulties. So even if you think there is some problem in your body, take it positively and say, "Now I will get rid of this; I will fast." So, fasting? Fasting for one week, drinking water or orange juice or milk or liquid things—that will make the problem disappear. This is the best way. And when you feel that you have some kind of little tumor or something, take all kinds of root vegetables and make a juice, then put in lemon and some cold-pressed oil, like sesame oil or mustard oil—a little—or olive oil, not very much, just some drops. Drink only this for one week, and you will feel very, very good. If there is something you are concerned about, it will disappear in one week. And if there is nothing, it is good also. Once a year, we should do this when the best season comes, when all kinds of organic roots are available from vegetables—not from other countries, but from neighboring countries, an area of about 40, 50, or 100 kilometers distance. That is good for the environment where we are living just now. So, āhār. (Sorry, I have a cold also. That is why I am drinking only liquid.) Vihār is another nourishment. Where are you going? With whom are you spending your time? What kind of habits do those people have, etc., etc.? The environment in which you are living affects our body, our mind, and our intellect. So if you are all the time with someone who is alcoholic, it will make you alcoholic. If you are spending more time with somebody who is taking some drug, then you will also begin to be addicted to something. Or you will go with somebody who is like a yogī. It will make you a yogī. So it is your choice what you want to choose for your life. A comfortable, harmonious, and healthy habit is where you want to go. This is your life. You should choose that your life should be healthy, happy, relaxed, and you can... We are not a working machine. All the time, we are working, working. So we are all workaholics, and this workaholism will kill us quickly; it will make us old quickly. So, limitation. Do not make any kind of, what you call, challenge—that "I would be the richest person in the world, I will be the richest person in the world, or this, or I will get more money." Do not worry, do not worry. You will get only the money that you have, what you have in your destiny. More than destiny, you will get nothing. So, you will get what? Then comes ācāra. Ācāra means our behavior. Our behavior means—sorry, that is going to the social education—what? Social education. If you are well socialized, you have good parents, good teachers in school, and good friends from whom you learn. It is called kindness, humbleness, understanding, forgiveness, giving something, not taking. Think over that your words do not harm others, because we have two kinds of weapons. One is a physical weapon, and the second is a verbal weapon. Our one word can kill others and us, or it can save others and us. If you tell somebody, "You are stupid," then you know what kind of atmosphere is there. Just you said, "You are stupid." Who are you to say someone is stupid? "Oh, you are great. Thank you. Excuse me. I will try my best to do better." So your parents, your mother, your teacher, your friends, your environment, and your education go through social education. In New York, I had an interview with a newspaper, and they asked me the question, "Swāmījī, nowadays people say, 'Why should I say thank you?' What do you mean by this? Can you give the answer?" And they said, "Why should I be nice to others?" There are already people thinking like that because there are no social feelings. And that makes our life unpleasant. We should live happy, relaxed, and pleasant. We are pleasant, and we make others pleasant. So, these are the three kinds of nourishment: āhār, vihār, ācār, and vicār. This is the fourth one. Vichāra means thinking. But if you think, you will be like that. Slowly, slowly, our thinking will develop. If you think, "I am ill, I am ill, I am ill," or "I can’t sleep, a ghost will come, a ghost will come." In every hotel you go—sorry—many people cannot sleep in a hotel because there are other people who are sleeping. "Oh God, a ghost will come." For the last 45 years, I have been sleeping more in hotels than at home or in the āśram. Let us say, for 11 months I am in other beds. But I did not see a ghost anywhere. So I can tell you that you can sleep anywhere peacefully; there is no ghost. And poor ghost, he does not want to come to you and give you trouble, because he already has trouble himself or herself. That is another problem, the ancestors' problem. Those ancestors, our ancestors died, and they are in some astral world. There, we have to give them some ceremonies that we can talk about next time. So, my dear, energy. So this āhār, vihār, ācār, vichār—these four principles can save our life. And we can nicely heal our body, and we can help others very well. So one prāṇa is a physical prāṇa, physical energy. When a weak person cannot lift his suitcase to put on an airplane and you are strong, you can give your hand, say, "One moment, please, can I help you?" This is your prāṇa you are utilizing for good things. And a person who is not socially organized will say, "Why are you carrying such heavy things? It will fall down on my head or this." You say, "Sorry, excuse me," but I will try to bring it up. This is a person who is not socialized. So there are many people who talk in such a way, and they are so unhappy. They are so sad, but they cannot keep their negative energy from coming out. Other prāṇa is God’s prāṇa, from where we will go. We do not know where we will go, but we know that we will go to the light, to God, our prāṇa. Now, I will give you one technique so that you can do the prāṇa. Get your physical prāṇa, and in the physical prāṇa, I will put a spiritual prāṇa in you. You may not see, but you will feel it. Okay? So, this is a normal way—I mean, I told you a very simple way to live happily. How to live happy? So, protection is in protection. So, if you protect, then you will be protected. So, Hari Om, and now we do the Prāṇāyāma, okay? So, place your hands either on the thighs or on your lap like this. Touch your index finger and thumb together, and place your palm on your thigh or slightly upward. Keep your elbows relaxed, not like this—relaxed. Keep your foot soles on the ground and keep your legs relaxed. If you are sitting on the chair, then push yourself a little bit on the chair backside so that you can sit straight. You may lean on the chair, but you can. When we do prāṇāyāma, then these two fingers—the index finger and the middle finger—are together touching at the eyebrow center. This is to keep our neck straight and relaxed, so there is no tension in the neck. Secondly, first we do prāṇāyāma with the left nostril. The left nostril represents our emotions, our thoughts, and our restlessness. So first, we calm down this sympathetic nervous system. And then, at that time when we are doing—first always with the left nostril—so with the thumb, slightly from the side of our nostril, slightly press it. Not too much, okay? And do not put your thumb in the nostril. Just slightly like this. If you do like this, press more, then you block this nostril also, and you cannot mind anymore. So it is just slightly like this, like this. These two fingers, they are like when we close the fist. Good, and the elbows are coming to the middle of the chest. In the future, when you will practice, can I have a yoga prāṇāyāma stick? You can have it at home, or when you come here to the āśram, you can have this. This is supporting our elbow, so it is very comfortable. Otherwise, it will be holding like this, and then again, and then it will be tired. So this is the supporting. It is so comfortable, and you feel very good. After ten breaths through the left nostril, we will place the hand down on the knee and feel our breath relax. And then, after—I will again tell—we take the same position. This time, with the ring finger, we slightly close the left nostril, and the right nostril is open, and our thumb is parallel to these two fingers. Clear? Okay. So please place your two fingers at the eyebrow center and close your left nostril—or I am sorry, your right nostril—with the thumb, and slowly, deeply inhale and slowly, longly exhale. But not so long and deep that you are having difficulty keeping your breath. After ten inhalations and exhalations, place your hand on your knee. Remain with closed eyes and feel your nostrils, the breath. Again, place your two fingers at the center of the eyebrows. And this time, close your nostril with the ring finger. Breathe in and out deeply through the right nostril. Keep your body relaxed. When the tenth round is over, you can place your hand on the knee, keep your eyes closed, relax, and feel the breath. Life is breath, breath is life. When we were born, first we inhaled, and the exhale will be the end of life. We will not be able to inhale again. Between, from birth until death, is only like the waves on the ocean, coming and going. Similarly, we are inhaling and exhaling, prāṇa supplying the oxygen, the energy, to the whole body. Once more, place your right hand’s two fingers at the center of the eyebrows, close your right nostril with the thumb, inhale and exhale through the left nostril. This time you feel that your life is depending, your life source is your breath. All the spiritual energy, the spiritual thoughts, everything goes through the prāṇa. This leads you to your very pure consciousness. It will develop positive thoughts. After your ten rounds, place your hands on your knees and relax your elbows. And once more, place both your fingers at the center of the eyebrows, the index and middle finger. And close your left nostril with the left ring finger. Ten times, deep inhale and exhale through the right nostril. After, you can place your hand on the knee again. After your ten rounds, place your hands on your knees and relax your whole body. With closed eyes, feel your breath, knowing that you are inhaling and knowing that you are exhaling. Relax, relax. Now, a few times, deep inhale and exhale with both nostrils. Deep inhale, we will chant OM. OM. Deep inhale. Hold your hands, śānti, rub your palms and place the hands on the knees, on your eyes, and on the face. Open your eyes and move the hands, adho. So for prāṇāyāma practice, we need this prāṇāyāma stick. It makes it easier and more comfortable when you practice at home. When you are tired, you can sit like this and talk. If it is itching, then you can make it like this. And if your knees, then you can go a little down so it supports your knees. So, when you practice the tratāk, you know what is tratāk? You put it here, and you put a small tea candle here, and you practice your tratak. So, this stick is very valuable. Okay, now the last part of our lecture today is, do you have any questions? No? You can take the roots, juice, vegetable juice, spinach, lokī, the pumpkin, that juice. Karata Mahāprabhujī Karata He Kevalam Karata He Kevalam. All the best, good health, and a happy, healthy, harmonious life. God bless you.