TV Channel

Part 1: On Detachment and the True Self Our subject is Kuṇḍalinī and Cakra. We will begin today with a very nice song which should be connected with our Kuṇḍalinī and Cakra, our body, our mind, and our soul. We will explore where and how the soul will merge into something, what we call unity. Who is that? The Supreme. Who is that? Finally, it melts away; there is no duality. It is like space. In this space there are many things—earth, vegetation, mountains, rivers, the ocean, clouds, the moon and sun, all the other planets, the stars, and beyond—but still, the oneness is that space. We would like to become one. And when there is one, it is not easy to arrive there and not easy to become one, because then nothing belongs to you, and no one belongs to you. Yet, everything belongs to you. Everything is yours, but there is nothing. That is the eternal unity, oneness. This is not easy. It is also not easy for us to give up something. We are already in the last days of our life, but still, if your bank statement comes and somebody says, "What to do with your money? Can you give it to us?" you say, "No, no, I’m not going to. You put my money in my bank, but you..." You will die; it is not your problem. "It is my wealth, my money." So attachment is so hard. It is not easy to become detached. As long as we are not detached, we will be attached. When attachment is there, then we will have all conditions. And what are these conditions? Many things: our body, our ease, our problems, our health, our illness, our money, etc., etc. We are at test or detest. In detest we came. There is one story about this chakra, the subject I am talking about. It is very hard to rise above. Yesterday, I told one story about crocodiles. Was it here? This morning. Oh, that was a very good story. Should I tell you who was not here this morning? Yes? Quickly, I will tell, okay? And this chakra is a crocodile. That is the governing principle. The crocodile is here. There was a very big ferry, with nearly 1,000 people. It had many nice floats and lifts and everything. They were going from Oakland to America. There were swimming pools inside, and a walking area where you go for a walk. There were two water tanks, like little swimming pools. On one side, there were about 30 crocodiles, and in another corner, another pond or tank with about 20 or 30 crocodiles. One tank, which had crocodiles, had a heavy iron net, and the other one had nothing. People were coming, walking, going, and coming. One day, someone asked in the court, "Why are these crocodiles taken care of? Why do these crocodiles have a net, and the others have no net?" On the one which has a net, it is written "Australian crocodiles." The others are Indian crocodiles. Indian crocodiles have no net over them, and Australian crocodiles have the iron net. Is it that Indian crocodiles have ahiṃsā? You know what is ahiṃsā? Non-violence. And the other ones have ahiṃsā or hiṃsā? They said, no, no, it’s not like that. Then, please, can you tell why Indian crocodiles have no cover? He said the Indian crocodiles have very special behaviors or special techniques. He said, "Please, what is this?" It is like this: those Australian crocodiles will come out quickly and attack our people, and the Indian ones will not. They said, "No, how? Why?" Because when one crocodile tries to climb up, five will come and pull him down. So you cannot be a president forever; they will pull you out. So this is a crocodile. If we do not know exactly, then which of our crocodiles will be? Taking all there, you see. So, careful with Indians, okay? A crocodile, sir. No, not a crocodile, but anyhow. So, in our body, we have attachment. I try very much to be detached, very much. I have no attachment to anyone. And I have attachment to everyone. I have someone traveling with me, so I have to be attached to her, as she is taking care of everything for us. She is carrying my luggage and this and that. And the other one going with me is also, but not responsible. Okay, that is a different thing. So attach and detest. This is very, very bad. There are some yogīs who never touch money and do not take money. There are some yogīs who have no house. Today here, tomorrow under some other tree, in the caves, in some other social building, or this. But nothing at all belonging. If they give you more cloth, they say, "No, no... I have this, I have still, I don’t want." That is called being completely renounced, and it is very difficult to renounce. Now, when you cross the country, then of course they ask you many questions. They will ask you how much money you have in your bank, or this and that. Do you know someone? This passport, etc. So we are very much attached. But he said, "I need not go anywhere. I am here, that’s all. And if you don’t like me, I will walk under the other tree. You don’t like that, I will go beyond other villages." I have no attachment, so that is great. Someone will say, "He’s a person, he’s mad." He is not mad. He said, "I respect, I belong, I love you all, but I don’t have attachment with anybody." You can come, sit down, and if you go, you can go. If you want to give me money, please, no. What will I do with the money? When I’m hungry, I will go somewhere and people will give me food. If not, two or three days, it doesn’t matter. I know that I’m hungry. My stomach tells me that I’m hungry, but I said, "There’s nothing, you can’t be hungry, you can’t be empty stomach." "It’s your problem," he said. "I can give you only prāṇa." I get energy, get energy. So that is called detest. That’s called vairāgya. That means you are completely on the other hand. Some people will say the animals are also free. He said, "No." They have their nest, and they have attachment to their eggs. They have attachment to their babies, etc., etc. So, my dear, what is detest? And what is attached? Until we understand this, we can’t cross the border. We cannot go further. O human, now you have everything, that you have freedom. Definitely, you will come to nirākāra. Nirākāra means nothing belongs to you. In this space, I have within my body my bones, by this, my—this I have my stars, moon, planets, etc., but I’m not this. I am like a space, oneness. And that is the last, the final, that your ātmā, your soul, is forever and forever you are. But, of course, it is not easy, and we all cannot do it. Though we know that this country will be only for us. For how long? How long? You love your country. The neighbor country you don’t like, fighting. Fighting, like between some other countries. Why? I said, "Go far away." I can say, near the fighting between Pakistan and India. Why? Why? And what is that? One day, let’s say, we don’t like other countries, we like our New Zealand. And you hate other countries or other islands, which you don’t like. And in that, when you died, you came to that country and were born. Now you are born there. You didn’t like it very much at all that the neighboring country, or the neighbor, this, my country, my everything. And now you are Saul. He arrived in the other country. And there he said, "This is my country, I don’t like that country." So where is our oneness? And we have to come to the oneness, my dear. So detest and attest. So one master in the Himalayas, my master, my Gurujī, everything taught me, my master. I learned writing, etc., for my social work. But that knowledge which is given is different. So there is one sādhu, one swāmī, one yogī, whatever you call, in the high Himalayas, and there is one man sitting, a yogī, and people are coming. And every few months he had one hut, a wooden and grass hut, on another hill. They go there, and in three months he is there. So they say, "Swamiji, what are you doing?" He said, "My work is this." And this, it is said, cut, break, and join it. Break it and join it. So, what does this mean? It is a break from the attachment and a joining with God. So don’t have attachment to your hut. I make it very beautiful, nice and this. When it’s completed, one week I’m resting. And then I again dismantle and carry everything and go somewhere. It is such a work, so I have no attachment, and I am not lazy. I am doing, so I am doing something. So attachment: now we have attachment to our parents, we have attachment to our children, we have attachment to our partners, we have attachment to our friends, okay, but we should not get that kind of attachment, talking. Negative, and it’s only mine. Nothing is mine. My body is not mine. My thoughts are not mine. My intellect is not mine. Everything is temporarily given to me. O men, only your soul, Ātmā, will go again. And when the soul is gone out of the body, you never know where it will go. Nobody will go with us. Nobody will go with us. Your dearest one will not go with you. You will cry. We will be sad because we cannot eat. Sometimes we become mad because our dearest one passed away. But that soul does not have attachment. Others have attachment. So we are detached, but this detached one has to come to unity. That’s it. So unity is one. We have to come. So let’s sing one nice song. What will you sing? I don’t know. Oh yeah, that’s very good. Oh my God, it’s not easy, it’s not easy, but it was, and it is. Give the mic, the mic. Āpām na saukyam na dukkam aman aham ujanām aiva bodhyam na bhoktā ha citānanda rūpa. Śivo’haṁ Śivo’haṁ Cidānandarūpo’haṁ Śivo’haṁ. Na me śaṅkhā na me cakrā na me gada na padmakam. Na me jāti Na me mātā na me pitā na me bandhur na me mitra. Na me gurur na me śiṣya Cidānandarūpaḥ Śivo’haṁ Cidānandarūpaḥ Śivo’haṁ. Śivo’haṁ nirvikalpo nirākārarūpī vyāpya sarvatra sarvendriyāṇāṁ sādhanam amuktiṁ na badhnāti. In this bhajan from Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, he is using one yogic technique that our Gurujī is also teaching us, which is called Ātmā Cintan, how to think about who we are. There are different ways to do that. One of these ways is to say what we are not. There is another bhajan which says what ātmā is, but in this one Śaṅkarācārya is saying what I am not. So first he says, "manu buddhi ahaṅkāra citta ni nāham," the aspects of the mind: mana, buddhi, ahaṅkāra, and citta. The mind, the intellect, the consciousness. I am neither of those. He says, "I am also none of the organs, like speech and so on." I am none of the elements, of the five basic elements, like air and fire and so on. So what am I? Cidānanda rūpa śivo’ham. I am that eternal blissful consciousness. I’m Śiva consciousness, the highest consciousness. What Guruji said, it’s the highest consciousness, which is called Śiva. Also, we were listening about the five prāṇas. So he’s also saying, "Yes, there are five prāṇas, but I’m not that." I am neither of those five prāṇas, nor also the five airs. I am not any of the seven elements, and I am neither of the five kośas. Also, the five kośas we were listening about today, like Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, and so on, Gurujī has explained that in detail. And I am also none of the karma-indriyas, like legs and hands, and so on. What am I? Cidānanda-rūpa-śivo’ham. I am that blissful consciousness, I am Śiva, I am Śiva. I am none of the five crocodiles also. Dveṣa, rāga, lobha, moha, and mada. The hatred, the attachment, the greed, the anger also, none of this is what I am, or jealousy, much rather. I am not Dharma, I am not any of the Caturpuruṣārthas: Dharma, Artha, Kāma, Mokṣa. Also, that’s not who I am. I am not the virtue or the sin. I am not the pleasure or the suffering. I am not mantra. I am not pilgrimage. I am not the Vedas, and I am not the Yajña ceremony. I am not one who enjoys, and I am not that which is enjoyed. I am Chidānanda Rūpa, Śivo’ham, Śivo’ham, the blissful consciousness of Śiva. I don’t have fear of death, and I don’t differentiate between the different castes and different races. I have no attachment to the families, mother, father, and others, and my birth. I have no friends, and guru and disciple. What I am, I am that blissful consciousness. I am Śiva. I am Shiva. I am that boundless one without any limits, like the air, completely free, completely unbound. And I am not limited, neither by death nor by any kind of boundaries. What I am, Cidānanda Rūpa, Śivo’ham, Śivo’ham. I am that blissful consciousness. I am that Śiva. Not easy to translate this. Very good, what he said about what he translated. It was good. It is said that people came, and one person came to read some holy books or something, chanting and giving explanation. People slowly, slowly went. But the person who is reading this book, his principle is that he shall read completely from beginning to end. People went away, but one buffalo was there, a milky buffalo. Like, you don’t hear of buffaloes—we have in India, and in some countries also, the milky buffaloes. So the buffalo was whole night standing and sitting and looking at this person who was speaking, and he thought, "People went, doesn’t matter, but at least the buffalo is listening with wisdom." Early morning, when he finished, he asked the buffaloes, "Did you understand?" He said, "Wow, I’m hungry." That’s all. I don’t. So you didn’t listen to what I mean. I don’t know what you said and what you speak. So if we cannot understand certain wisdom or something, we have to come. We have to come slowly, slowly, slowly. So a hint is enough. A hint is enough. As I said, where the president’s office is, the protocol is told, one door has to open. And it means automatically, now it’s five minutes, you have to go. In Europe, in some countries like Austria, in Germany, in this, now these traditions, they have forgotten the people. But our elderly people, they are well educated. They have a different kind of education. There is school and university education, but there is also social education. And where there is no social education, then it is not a proper society, we will call it. So, you invite the guest. You invite the guest at home, saying, "This evening we invite you, please come, and we will have dinner together." So, two or three people. And so they are eating, they came and drinking juice or water or whatever. They were eating, and then again they had a coffee, and then they were sitting, and then again they got something, and like this sitting. The host, the man was talking, he had nothing to work, working, doing the woman’s, and they are, they have a great heart, the woman’s, they said, she respect her husband, that he should sit, I will do everything. But she did hire. Now what they do? They just open the window, just open the window, nothing else. Means the air goes out and good air comes inside. But the guest who is well-educated, they said, when the window is going open, after two, three minutes, they said, "I think now we should go, it is time we have." So you don’t tell them to go, but there’s a hint: now you should go. Similarly, no, so we don’t tell them that you should go. They didn’t really stay a little bit, said, "Yes, thank you, it’s nice, but it’s very late now and we have children at home," etc. We have to give some other kind of words to tell. So, who understands? Who understands? Who does not understand, will not understand. And again and again we tell, again and again it will tell, but we will not understand. Chidānanda rūpa śivo’haṁ śivo’haṁ. Sat cit ānanda. Sat means the truth. Chit means the consciousness. Sat chit and ānanda, the bliss. So, I am sat chit ānanda, bliss. So, I am the truth. My body is nothing. My self is the truth. Chitta, my consciousness, is pure. Pure consciousness. There is nothing, and ānanda. Ānanda means the glory, the happiness, the joy. There is no attachment. Sat Chit Ānanda Śivo’ham. Then who am I? Yesterday we spoke, I said, "What is that? This is my shoulder. What is this? My head. What is this? My hand, my fingers." So who are you? Where are you? Whatever I will indicate, you will say, "Yes, this is my stomach, this is my liver, this is my kidney." So then, who are you? I am no one, but I am Śivo’ham. Śivo’ham. Śiva. And Śiva means only the space. Only the space. Everywhere. In everything and nowhere. So, that far we have to work a lot. We are thinking about God. Every religion is there. And one said, "My religion is the best." The other said, "My religion is best." But at the end, this religion, what we are saying is, God does not accept this. Because God said, "This is not that." So either you are this religion, or you are that religion. You don’t like the prayer of this religion. You don’t like the prayer of that religion. This is a language problem. It has only the language problem. The words about holy God, any, Mohammed, Allah, Christians, the Jewish, the Parsis, the Hindus, etc. Etc. So, that is only for people to make themselves think, "I am the best," and that. So, my prayer, I don’t want others to listen, others should not listen to my prayer. Or others’ prayer, I’ll say, "I don’t want to hear prayer because my religion is that, my prayer is different." No. There is only one God. There is only one God. There is nothing else. And if we have that incarnation, or someone came, then we have only one word. And this word, it is said that my God does not have diplomas. My God is from the universities. My God is a professor. My God is a doctor. My God, no God tells. Do you say the professor, Mr. Professor Jesus? Do you say Dr. Rama? No, there is only one God. It is said, though, that God must have given us only what God said: "I have nothing." Even my name you gave. I have no name. I am you, and you are me, and I have no doubt. It’s your language problem, and your social life is a problem. Part 2: The Power of Words and the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra When you ascend to a higher state, you will affirm, "Yes, this is God." Gandhijī, for instance, had his prayers. He would say, "Raghu, Pati, Ragh, Gava, Rāja, Rām." This invokes God as Rāma, who was born in the Raghu lineage. It means the Lord, the King of the Raghus. "Rāma Rāma, O Rāma. Patti Tappāvan Sītā Rāma." You are, O God, Rāma and Sītā. Hindus and Muslims are fundamentally the same. Is this not so? They say, "Īśvar Allāh terā nām." Īśvara means God, and Allāh is the name of God. "Īśvar Allāh terā nām" means "O Lord, Your name is both Īśvara and Allāh." The duality we perceive is a human creation. We have constructed numerous caste systems based on white skin, brown skin, black skin, distinctions of country, and notions of "my country" versus "yours." Oh human, if you engage in such dualities, consider the animals. Among tigers, for example, they do not say, "This is a New Zealand tiger, we will not allow it here." Humans are the ones creating problems and troubles. This is ignorance—the interplay of knowledge and ignorance. We possess vast knowledge in many areas, yet when it comes to spirituality, that knowledge suddenly vanishes. We question: Is this my God? My name? My prayers? I do not like them. This is duality. This is why Śaṅkarācārya consolidated everything into one. Our Gurujī, Swāmī Madhavānandjī Gurudev, always used to say: "One in all and all in one. We are all in one and one." Now, let us turn to the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra. Do you have a song? No? Yes? Please sing. First, translate so they can understand at least a little of what we are singing. Swami Sivanandaji is saying, "I am talking to you." The essence, which Omapurījī has already translated, is about the power of the word—what one can accomplish throughout the world. Through words we give, through words we take action, and through words we proceed. We are understanding the power of words. With words we give, with words we act, and through words we move. We attain knowledge and wisdom through words. Through words, we can become yogīs and attain various skills. Through words, we worship God in Saguṇa form, and through words, we also approach the Nirguṇa. Through words, we receive the darśana of our Lord Mahāprabhujī. Thus, through words we can ascend towards the Creator, Brahmā, but through words we can also fall into Māyā. Swami Sivananda says, "With the help of my Guru’s words, I have now crossed to the other side." This, my friends, is the power of words. Swami Sivanandajī was a disciple of Mahāprabhujī and wrote this bhajan while living in Kathā Āśram. When his family came to take him home, unwilling for him to remain there, he tried to explain but they did not understand. While writing his bhajans, he said, "My real relatives are those who understand my words, those who understand me. These are my relatives, these are the relatives of the soul." Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrī Śrī Raviśvaram Mahādeva Kī Jai. Information is very important. Information is a form of knowledge, and when knowledge comes, it brings clarity. When everything is clear, it is easier to proceed. These bhajans and stories—"stories" meaning storing knowledge one after another for many ages—are how we learn sequentially. A story makes any subject clear and memorable for life. I, too, am learning. If I do not give a lecture for two or three months, my stories gather dust in the library, and worms may eat the pages. Therefore, we must continually revive and share knowledge. If you do not pass your knowledge on, it is lost forever. Share it with those who will understand; even if only one person in five thousand comprehends, give your knowledge, and it will propagate. Consider angiography—what a miraculous knowledge! I have had catheters in my heart five or six times. A doctor from Switzerland developed this knowledge, experimenting on himself in secrecy. Now it is practiced worldwide, saving countless lives. He gave that knowledge forward. Similarly, we should understand and purify all knowledge we possess and share it further through poems, stories, or practical means. Negative things, however, should not be propagated; let them end. Now, returning to the chakras. The wisdom within our body is immense. Everything exists on the surface and in the depths, like an ocean. At the bottom of our heart or soul lies that knowledge; every cell is full of it. But ignorance prevails, and we make mistakes, thinking we are best and engaging in conflict. Through yoga and prāṇāyāma, we work with the body's energy. There are eight major chakras, which are major stations in our life. They are power junctions within the body. I have also identified chakras on the soles of the feet, connected to the earth. Every day, walk barefoot on the earth for 10-15 minutes. If you have no garden, use a pot of earth, moisten it, and play with it with your hands. The earth is directly connected to the sun; this practice, called earthing, channels that energy to your body. Try this for a month and observe the benefits for your health and happiness. It is a miracle of sunlight and earth. The element of earth is powerful. Start with the hands and soles. From the ankles to the knees are the vegetation chakras, connected to herbs and plants. This is why sitting under a tree or walking in a park feels good; it balances our śakti and chakras. From the knees to the hips are the animal chakras. Animals possess raw, wild power and strong desires. Humans exist on the border, mixed with these energies. In the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna chakras lies the border between human and animal. Śiva is the Lord who balances the devas and rākṣasas, purity and impurity, ensuring they do not overwhelm humanity. This śakti, however, is something humans have largely lost. Desires have become too strong, whereas animals still follow their natural principles. This is a significant problem. The Mūlādhāra chakra has been discussed at length. Above it is the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra, a site of potent energy and the struggle between animal and human natures, symbolized by a crocodile and human life coexisting in water. In the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra, there is a coiled serpent (kuṇḍalinī), facing downward, which we aim to raise upward. The symbol of an elephant with seven trunks represents the seven minerals essential for health, drawn from earth, vegetation, animal, and human realms. Gaṇeśa presides here as the gatekeeper, with Brahmā and Lakṣmī also present. The Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra is located at the base of the spine and is the desire chakra. Its symbol is a crocodile in water. Water represents desire and emotion. Yesterday we spoke of the moon and the nāḍīs, Iḍā and Piṅgalā, from prāṇāyāma. The left nostril (Iḍā) is the moon system, governing water. The moon, lord of water, changes constantly, causing tides in the ocean. Similarly, our bodily energies and emotions ebb and flow like waves over 24 hours; we are not constantly at the same level. The crocodile in water symbolizes being in an ocean of emotional waves—happiness that suddenly shifts. This area is also particularly significant for female cycles and pain. Balancing the Iḍā (moon, water) and Piṅgalā (sun) nāḍīs is crucial. The mind's principle is linked to the moon and water, and emotion is motion. Emotional and mental issues can be observed in relation to the lunar cycle. In Indian yoga tradition, one should view the new moon. On the second day, look at the moon while holding a silver object, such as a coin or ring. The moon's silver energy transmits to us, just as the sun's rays do. The moon's energy waxes and wanes. The Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra is associated with the menstrual cycle and emotional fluctuations in women, requiring careful balance. This chakra has six petals. These represent stages of human development and contain Kriyā Śakti, a vital power for action. The crocodile also symbolizes anger, jealousy, hatred, and conflict. Tomorrow we will explore the crocodile symbol further, the meaning of the six petals, the bīja mantra "vām," and the deities Brahmā and Sarasvatī (the goddess of wisdom). It is a long journey. All the best, and I wish you a good evening. Adiós.