TV Channel

Part 1: The Oneness of the Soul Salutations to our masters, lineages, dear sisters, and brothers. I am very happy to see you all. Welcome also to our dear Yamunā. Thank you for being here. Yoga is a science of the human body, mind, and soul. I will not speak today of how creation comes, as many of you know. There are two ways to consider it. One is the beginning of creation, when there was nothing, only empty space. I speak of this often. Perhaps two or three of our brothers or sisters do not know, and they will come to know. The other way is to consider our own new creation: how we come to this living planet, how we come to this body, and what is the cause of the soul's travel from one life to another. Some people do not believe in rebirth, that one is born only once. We cannot say for certain because we cannot see it. We believe through literature, thoughts, and religions. But still, when the soul departs, we do not know where it is going or if it will return. There is another saying by many saints: the soul is one. You will hear this for the first time: there is only one soul. How? For example, there is only one water. The water comes in different ways—down, up, from the ocean—rising as fog and clouds, falling as drops, coming together in creeks and rivers, and flowing back to the ocean. But water is water. We know clearly there are five elements: space, fire, air, water, and earth. We often say the color of blood is only one, whether from animals, flies, or humans; the colour is the same. Similarly, the life within us—how can we speak of it as my soul, your soul, their soul? This is a very new thought for all of us, no? Did you ever think like that? All in one soul? Yes. Water is one, but the quality of pollution is different. This water comes with pollution, but the pollution is not the water. It is only the one water. Perhaps it is salty water, but the salt is different. The water itself is inside, or we think of water as sweet. The sweetness is there, but water is still water. Similarly, understand and know the oneness. We are always talking about oneness. That oneness is one: that life, the soul, the light is a light. We have artificial light, and we have sunlight and moonlight from the Sun. We have all the stars, but light, fire is a fire. We cannot say there is a little fire and a bigger fire. Fire is now happening in Australia, in what we call the forest or the bush. There are periodic fires that can burn for hundreds of kilometers. It happened about five years ago near Melbourne. Australia is a very nice example for many things. There is a small spark of fire we create by striking stone to stone, or iron and stone. It is very small, but it can become a big fire. So there is no small soul and no big soul. If an elephant's soul is perhaps big, and a mosquito's or a little ant's life inside is also like... Fire. Duality is where and how. When that is gone, all is here, one. Another example we all know is this sunshine. Long ago, there were no humans. It was only one bush. Then someone came and occupied a piece of land, calling it "mine." Then that one sells little pieces of the land. Now you have made, for example, this building, a yoga center. But when we look, we have this space, that space, outside space. We divide it. How do we divide it? You say, "This building is nice; it has about 150 square meters." That is the illusion of human thought, that we can divide the earth. Who are we? But we do. We say, "This is my house," "It’s your house," and we give a lot of money. But one day it can disappear, and everything is only the one earth. So, how to know? Is your soul and my soul different or one? We are one. Therefore it is said, "One, I am the one, only one," but the quality is different. Nowadays, everybody carries a water bottle. Long ago in Australia, there was no water bottle at all. Water was good, drinkable everywhere: water fountains, drinking, everything. But now we have bottles. People laughed when I used to go back to India and show pictures, some slides. There were no cameras like now. I was giving a lecture, and sometimes they would put a bottle of water on the table, like I have here. I was showing pictures from Czechoslovakia, with very nice green bottles. People were looking at my pictures of programs in Western countries. They did not take the knowledge that Swāmījī was teaching. They said, "Look, the Western people have spoiled Swamiji also. Even in the lecture, he has alcohol with him to drink." I said, "No, no, it is a bottle with water." They said, "So stupid, we are not Swamiji, please." So, it's really... I said, "Now, no more bottles will be near my..." In Austria also, there were beautiful green bottles with mineral water, a different kind of water. But now we have all different kinds of water. My dear, I wanted to illustrate: what is the difference between you and me? I am one. Eko, Eko Brahma, Dvitīyanāsti. One is this reality, and second is duality. So duality is not that, and oneness is one. God is God. You may call the sunshine God. That is also good: sun shining, sun, shine, God, everything. But we are in reality one. Today we shall think this over. I put in your mind something; I throw one stone in the pond, and now there are so many waves coming. Now you will ask in your other programs, and with other masters: "Did Swamiji Mahishwarandan say there are two souls?" There is only one soul. Yes, my dear, we are only one soul. We are one, and we are one with God. We are one in that space, one in that light, one in that beautiful air. We are all one on this Earth. We can exist in the water, or we can be for a while in an aeroplane, high up. But how long will you fly? You have to come again to the Earth. So, my dear, this soul is one, and that soul you can say is God. Now, some people say something different: this is a jīvātmā, and the other is ātmā. As long as there is duality, there are two, but when it is one, it comes together as the one. We have to come to the oneness. Our salt and your salt are the same, but this salt is in this bottle, and the other is in another bottle. This is only temporary. We try to separate, but for how long? Sooner or later, the water will come into the ocean. It will definitely go from the water to the ocean. The ocean is salty, and from the salty, the same water is sweet water. The quality is different, but the soul—your soul—when you are practicing, meditating, praying, having good thoughts, you are very pure, so you will come earlier to that oneness, one with God. We all say, "One with God." Do we say this? So this is a clarity: the soul is one. That quality comes from this earth, from the universe, from space, coming together, becoming a different quality inside. So we are one. We have five elements; we are created from them. God, whatever called God or no God, but we have this one: five elements. Another problem comes for many people. I will ask the question, including of myself: have you seen God? You are a very religious person, a very meditative person, a yoga practitioner. You go to the temple, the yoga center, the church, the mosque, but did you see God? This is not anything new. Nearly all of us, maybe some of you, but otherwise, many times we are flying in an aeroplane. I fly for up to 14 hours from Australia to San Francisco. It is very good. There is only water, dark, down and up. Sometimes I think, is God really not here? No, God. We say we believe, we know, we have, but still we didn't see. If you have seen someone like a god, there is a stupid man. Where is God? So, God is you, in you. Now, how? We are all water of that one ocean, but that water has different qualities. Similarly, your ātmā—we call in Sanskrit ātmā, ātmā so’i param ātmā. Ātmā means param ātmā; param means the highest of the highest, the soul or God, that is God. So, ātmā soi paramātmā. Now, there is no duality, my dear; it is understood. Otherwise, it will take time. Your kuṇḍalinī is that which will lead you to realize, but in such a way you will realize that you will not think, "Oh, I see God." When you say, "I see God," you are still confused. Where is God? Now, another thinking, a little bit. Somebody is knocking on the door, and you say, "Who is there?" Then you will say, "It is the Dharmarāja." Okay, where are you, Dharmarāja? Your name and your body are already divided. Come, Dharmarāja, what is this? One way he said, "I am, but you are not. I am, you are not." Yes, of course, he is my shoulder. Wherever we touch you, we will see that part of the body, but not my self. That definition, not that I am myself. Then we suck your blood out. Is this you? Are you saying, "No, it is my blood, my thought, my feelings"? So my, my, then where is that "my"? This is what we have: dualities, and in this duality we are suffering. So, Paramatmā, that supreme, is just like a formless. We then call it nādarūpa parabrahma. Often, I speak about this: nāda is a sound. The sound is that supreme because sound you cannot hold, you cannot touch. There is one big, long piece of wood. If you ask me to play it, I will make "boom, boom." I said this wood is not good; it is empty. That’s all. And the second one, she will take this and play. Oh, everybody begins to meditate. That same sound can be wrong or bad. So that is called the master. How did you practice your mastery? That master means I give you one sitar, and if you say, "Swamiji, play," I will do "tum tum..." like a little child, and you will say, "Swamiji, it’s beautiful, thank you." But there comes the master, and just with one finger touching, it is awakening. Like what? The snake. The snake can’t hear anything. Yes, the snake has no ears. Did you see? But the snake is receiving the vibration. This vibration is when you are touching the earth, the snake will become alert; otherwise, not. Your highway is very big here, from Brisbane to Sunshine Coast, and what is this other coast? Gold Coast, yeah? I didn’t find gold there yesterday, so I came here. There are different walls on the highway. Why do you have these walls? Because of the sound of the cars. But how is it possible that this cannot go higher? No. The vibration comes, and if there is some wall, if it is soft, it will go further. If you make a little wall like this, there will be no sound. If there is a very big echo, and if there are some obstacles, little by little, then there is no sound. Similarly, this is going on in our inner techniques: we can become that master which can bring the sound out of it. Now, sound appears. From where does the sound appear? I am talking about kuṇḍalinī. You will say, "Oh, my Swamiji will bring the kuṇḍalinī, the snake goes up," and I say, "Oh, oh,... oh." There are some people doing like this, you know. Yes, there are many. And after some time, there is something which is not anymore in balance. So, from sound, from where did it come? From where you came, and how you were listening or enjoying, and where it goes again? This is your soul. This is your life. From where do you come? How did you understand? And where is God? There is a story—this is a poem, not a story, sorry. There were two examples, and that is called a fire example. Everyone is on the side towards all being strong. Also, countries like America think they are very strong. What does America think? Australia is also very big. Is Australia bigger than America? North America, yes, of course. And then Karnataka is bigger than America. So, anyhow, they are strong. Now, how? Sabhe sahej sabal ke. Everyone is supporting. How? A very tiny spark of fire has such strength inside, it can burn everything, make it very big, strong. A small, small spark. Sabhe sahej sabal ke. Everybody is supporting that. One after another, a bunch of grass will get bigger and bigger. Sabhe saheṅ sabal ke. Kohan nirbal sai? And nobody is supporting the other weak one. How? There is a flame on the altar, and there is a wind. The spark will burn the bush, but the same wind will blow off this flame because this flame is not as strong as that one. So, sabhe sahayak sabalake kohun nirbal sahay, aag jagavat sabiko, dipay deta budhay, and dipak can be budhay. This is like our energy, our strength in the Kuṇḍalinī Śakti, how we can develop ourselves. God is sitting in you in the form of that, your soul. We are only taking care of our body, but for how long? One day this body will fall somewhere. It doesn’t matter if animals will eat it or this and that. You are gone. So the Shakti, there is the Shakti in our body, and that is called Kuṇḍalinī. In the Kuṇḍalinī, Śakti, that will help us in a great way. But it is not that what we are thinking, this or that. We are one. We are one, about the Kuṇḍalinī, about the self. So, one thing is clear for me; I don’t know if you accept it or not. If you accept, then it is okay. If you don’t accept, then please tell me and bring your God here. So I will also say, "Hey God, hey dear God, okay, for me is that God, for you is that God." But others will say, "Okay, but still we don’t know where God is." And when God himself comes and sits there, he will also say, "Where is your God?" So you are God. You have that all in this body. It is a case, and inside is a divine, beautiful swan. When we have no more negative qualities, then our soul goes like a very pure white swan that takes off and travels a long, far distance, or like a beautiful dark crow. The crow will go up and down, and he is tired, sits down. So our soul should not be that black. Your soul is very white, and white means not all these colors. That’s called only purity. Now, how will you tell purity? Which color will you have? The color cannot—you cannot make something that color is that one. Dark, completely dark, is that color which... It is everywhere, but that color is different, what I am saying. So this color, now this color again, it will happen to you. We will do tomorrow, perhaps. Are we still here tomorrow? Thank you. Oh, very nice. Now, how can we take the color? Let’s say there is a beautiful rose flower. One is red, one is yellow, and one is white, and all have the same smell. If we don’t show the color of the rose, and we said, "This man said, ’Oh yes, can you tell which color of the rose is that?’" Similarly, you are all like a beautiful rose, but your quality, your inner... Part 2: The Divine Light Within: Chakras, Prāṇa, and the Human Journey Your soul, the part of the Divine involved within you, is the supreme quality. It is not to be described by any color or attribute; it is that divine God’s light within us, and it is connected to the chakras. Now, regarding chakras. In this creation, on our living planet—a planet that is living because life is evolving here—there are 8.4 million different life forms. These 8.4 million creatures are divided into three categories: those in the water, those on the earth, and those in the space. How does the soul descend from space to the earth and into the water? The soul has a vehicle to come down, and that is through the medium of water. Space is there, air is there, but it is through water in its various forms that this descent occurs. Even an apple contains water. If we squeeze it, we get half a cup of something that is essentially water. So, how does this water descend to our planet? This process involves a kind of fortune, be it good or bad. One drop of water may descend with beauty and purity, while another falls into darkness. That is a separate matter. Out of these 8.4 million life forms, one is the human being. In the very beginning, if souls kept coming and coming, there would be no space. Imagine if we all sat here for a thousand years, with our children and our children's children—we could not all sit or stand indefinitely. When there is no more room, something has to give; it has to die or move on. This is the principle of the first creation. But how, on this earth? What would these beings do? Initially, they were like rocks. Life had to be instilled within them. It is said that Viśvakarmā, God, declared, "I will give a fire in your body." What is this fire? It is hunger. When you are hungry, you feel heat in your body, in your stomach. But what will you eat? Then it is said: jīva jīva bhakṣate—life feeds on life. One being eats another. This is a sin. Yes, it is a sin. Because of this, they must take birth again. In this cycle, water circulates from the ocean to our homes, from our bathrooms to drainage systems, then is purified and returns. Yet, among all life, only one being evolves to become human. Humans are not meant to eat life to live. Other creatures follow jīva jīva bhakṣate—one animal eats another, a bird eats others, and so on. But one being is destined to manifest the best quality of God, and that is the human being. Now, we are human, but our qualities and actions often fall short. We are in a process of descending and then trying to ascend, to understand our body and true nature. It is a long journey. In our body, as in animals, there are many miracles. We possess different qualities, different energies. All of this is connected to our soul, or what we call the Kuṇḍalinī. You might say the soul resides in the heart or elsewhere. But where are you? Whatever I touch, you say, "Yes, that is me." My head, my shoulder, my arm, my fingers—everything is "my, my..." But where is the "I"? That "I" is present everywhere, completely. Oh human, you are the divine. Everyone has this essence, and thus we have different energies in the body: the chakras. These chakras are energy centers. For example, in Chinese medicine or kinesiology, there is acupressure. When you touch certain points, energy is awakened. In our body, according to yogic anatomy, there are 72,000 subtle channels or nerves (nāḍīs), finer than a hair, running from the brain to the soles of the feet. Our foot soles contain beautiful and strong chakras. This is called the earth chakra. To be truly healthy—and experiments have shown this—people who walk barefoot on the earth for half an hour to an hour have a reduced risk of diseases like cancer. Similarly, working with your hands in the soil of a vegetable or flower garden for 10, 20, or 30 minutes is beneficial. This is called earthing. When you construct a building, you ground it with the earth; otherwise, it could be damaged by lightning. This energy from the earth, combined with direct sunlight, fills our body with immense vitality and health. If you have no garden, you can do this with potted plants—grow not just flowers, but some vegetables as well. You don't need to handle vast amounts of earth; simply touching and feeling it is enough. This energy enters our body. The first awakening of your chakras and Kuṇḍalinī begins from the foot soles, by touching the mother earth which supports and balances us. These chakras run from the foot sole to the ankle joint, containing strong, powerful nerves like the Vajranāḍī. From the ankle to the knee relates to the vegetative quality. From the knee to the hips relates to animal qualities. From the base of the spine to the top of the head are the human chakras. Here we have all human qualities, everything we do, good or bad. Only these five primary human chakras can be refined to their highest state. The earth chakra connects to the vegetative, the vegetative to the animal, and the animal qualities evolve into the human. From the Ājñā (Agnya) Chakra, we ascend to the spiritual, the highest quality of our thoughts. This is how our knowledge, thoughts, and qualities develop. The Kuṇḍalinī lies dormant at the base of the spine. We work to awaken it. Now, let us discuss the Mūlādhāra Chakra. Mūla means root, cause, or foundation. This chakra is like the root of a tree; the whole tree stands on the strength of its roots. The trunk is next, then the branches. The roots go down, and the branches go up. However, the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā states that for humans, it is inverted: the roots are above (in the head) and the branches extend downward (through the limbs). So this Mūlādhāra Chakra is a profound subject. We often depict chakras as lotus flowers. You could call it a mango flower; the symbol is what matters. The important thing is the purification of the nāḍīs through practices like prāṇāyāma. Do you know prāṇāyāma? It cleanses our nervous system and purifies our blood through breath training via the left and right nostrils. These are prāṇāyāma techniques. Many yogis say that practices like these can help resolve diseases, including cancer. Our nostrils alternate dominance over time—one associated with the moon (Idā) and the other with the sun (Piṅgalā). Now I come to the Kuṇḍalinī. Even as I speak, my attention is directed to the base of your spine. This is very important. Many people suffer from severe headaches, even to the point of vomiting. Yogic techniques can address this. You must practice prāṇāyāma daily: Bhasṭrikā, Kapālabhāti, Anuloma-Viloma—these are specific techniques. Practice them for about 10 minutes, three times a day. The movement should be smooth and controlled, not jerky. For example, place your hand on your navel and perform 25 rounds of deep, steady inhalation and exhalation. Then rest for a minute or two. If you do this for ten minutes, three times a day, and also drink at least two and a half liters of water daily, you will not have headaches. But if you do not practice, you will suffer. The primary channels are the Idā (left), Piṅgalā (right), and Suṣumṇā (central). Let me tell you a technique. Use two fingers: place your index and middle fingers between your eyebrows. To balance the brain hemispheres, keep your head and neck straight. Close your left nostril with your ring finger, and inhale and exhale deeply only through the right nostril. Then, close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale and exhale deeply only through the left. The two fingers remain in place. Do not close the nostrils forcefully; be gentle. Do this for a minimum of three weeks: 25 breaths through one nostril, then 25 through the other, then rest with normal breath for two minutes. You can use a prāṇāyāma stick for support to keep your posture straight and comfortable. After about a month, move to a second technique: inhale through the left, exhale through the right. Then, after another period, practice: inhale left, exhale right; inhale right, exhale left. This completes one round. Do five such rounds. This practice is called Candravedanā and Sūryavedanā. Later, you can incorporate breath retention. This is how we work with the Kuṇḍalinī through prāṇāyāma. So, the first chakra of the human being is the Mūlādhāra, located at the base of the spine. You cannot see it in an operation; you would only see blood. Its symbols represent the network of nāḍīs. It is depicted as a lotus with four petals. I will not explain all the symbols now, but there is an elephant with seven trunks, a Śiva Liṅgam, and a snake coiled around the Liṅga three and a half times. If the coil goes downward, our consciousness falls. If it rises, awakening occurs. Each petal has a bīja mantra. Also present are Brahmā and Lakṣmī. I will explain the bīja mantras more clearly tomorrow.