TV Channel

Victory to the World Teacher, the Great Maṇḍaleśvara, Svāmī Maheśvarānandjī Mahārāj. Victory to the Eternal Truth of Dharma. Obeisance to Śrī Gurudevajī. The all-pervading Lord within and without, the Supreme Doer, the God of gods, is the Supreme Deva. Without Your grace, O Śiva, even the Ṛṣis and Munis cannot attain spiritual feeling. By repeating Your name, Self-knowledge arises within, and by the grace of the Satguru, the Forty Verses are recited, the inner Guru's knowledge is ignited, and one is freed from the sorrows of birth and death, no longer consumed by time. The Satguru recites the Chalīsā, bestowing the perfection of contentment and happiness, making one's life fruitful. O Deva, You are the compassionate refuge of devotees, the embodiment of Brahman, the ideal in the world, the King of the mind... Upon countless disciples, Your grace rains down. Victory to the Universal Conqueror, the Yajña of Nagur... Thus, the thirst of Vasiṣṭha, the essence of all scriptures, the restless mind, finds joy. O Hari, You are seated in bliss. The year is two thousand, the month of Āṣāḍha. Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa... Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa... Good evening, and in some other countries, good morning. All my dear devotees, practitioners of Yoga in Daily Life, and also practitioners of other various yogas—all that we call the four main yogas: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, and Rāja Yoga. But it is not only these four. It is the great sage Patañjali who systematized it all. According to the Bhagavad Gītā, there are eighteen chapters on yoga, beginning and ending with yoga. Furthermore, many other great yogīs and saints have found their own paths. So, we are all running here and there, searching. We do not know where we are, yet we think we know everything. What we search for is good: yoga for the body. But the body is only temporary; afterwards, we are gone. The body is not everything, yet without the body, everything is nothing. In this way, the first step is our physical body. If we think only of the body, we are lost. Yet, with just this one body, we cannot do everything. So, it is a yogic search. We speak of different kinds of prāṇāyāma. Prāṇa is like the life force, the soul. When someone is dying, we say there is still prāṇa inside a person or any animal. When a doctor comes and checks the pulse and says, "Yes, there is still life," what is that life? It is prāṇa. The heartbeat may be very slow, but it is still there. We say there is a jīvā, the soul. But no doctor will speak of the soul. To this day, no doctor has stated that the soul is in the body or has left the body. Doctors research and do great things, but they search only within the body—organs, glands, nerves, heartbeat, etc. Beyond that, they cannot tell us about the soul. When we examine the heart, we perform procedures like bypass surgery or stenting. What is it called? Angiography. There are NGOs, like the Yoga in Daily Life NGO. One doctor from Zurich, a professor, went himself for an angiography in a clinic. He was strong and went through with it. They examined everything. Nowadays, doctors can even change our heart. Once, I was also taken for angiography. They put sand on the spot and I had to lie still for 24 hours. It was the most painful night of my life, not moving at all. Now, techniques are better; you can see everything on a monitor, the wires going in and out. Gurujī asked me, "Did you see any soul inside?" I said, "I don't know, Gurujī." Similarly, there are many such things. The mechanism of doctors will not say the soul is gone; they will say life is gone. But we speak of the soul. Where is that soul? It is not visible, not physical. The energy with us is also energy beyond the body—that is prāṇa. This prāṇa is a kind of sphere, and its main seats are the heart or the navel. The brain, of course, contains many things as well. Now they are even trying head transplants—it will come. There is a nice story. Would you like to hear it? Yes. Because, what is prāṇa? What is the soul? What is life? There was a young married woman. According to tradition, she stayed at her husband's home for a few days or a week or two. Then her brother or sister would bring her back home for a visit, and later take her back. This is a kind of ceremony. On one such journey, her brother and her husband were walking ahead, and she was walking a little behind. They came upon a beautiful tree with nice shade and decided to sit and have a picnic. The girl needed to go behind a bush, which was about 100 meters away. While she was gone, a cruel man came and cut off the heads of both men. He ran away. The girl returned, saw the scene, and started crying for her brother and her husband. She cried, "God, please! God, please!" God appeared. Seeing the two heads and two bodies, God was in a hurry. She pleaded, "Please give them life!" God said, "Okay. Bring one man's head." In haste, she gave one head and then another. God placed the brother's head on the husband's body and the husband's head on the brother's body. It was done perfectly. Life returned to them, and they got up, unaware of the switch. The woman was confused. "God, please!" But God had already left after bestowing life three times. Now, the husband was speaking from one body, but that body belonged to the brother. The brother was speaking from the other body, which belonged to the husband. She cried, "What do I do now?" Here is the question: What will she do? What will God do? How will she relate to her brother or her husband? Who is who? Who can answer this? We will see something like this. Now she is going home, pulling one this way and the other that way. She is completely confused. Prāṇa is there, the soul is there, but which soul is where? Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa... Prāṇa, jīva, and body—these are the three. Now, of course, we will give the answer. But do you think it is so easy that I give you only chocolate? I don't like your chocolate. Give me something more, then I will do it. The whole world is listening to this, and I cannot make this happen. Because if someone were to do this with a husband and brother again, they might quickly cut and switch them! No, no. So, like that, it exists. Answers sometimes come in a day. When we practice yoga in our physical body, we are also working with the prāṇic body. We have the five kośas: annamaya kośa, prāṇamaya kośa, manomaya kośa, vijñānamaya kośa, and ānandamaya kośa. These are five sheaths or bodies. Yet, even within these, the soul itself is not there. Prāṇa is there—there are two kinds of prāṇa. If prāṇa is there, life is there. If no prāṇa is there, there is no body. Where is the soul, and where can it go? It is said that sometimes the jīvā remains for some hours. For example, consider reptiles like the gecko. You see nice geckos often. Sometimes, if it gets caught in a window, its tail may fall off, and the gecko's body runs away. There is no blood. For half an hour, an hour, or fifteen minutes, that tail is still moving. That tail of the gecko has life. Did you know that? This means you were the killer! Oh, my God. Yes. So, life is still there. For how long? Similarly, when a body dies—a husband, father, mother, child—if we bury it in the earth, prāṇa can come back. When prāṇa returns, the soul is already there. Many times we hear of a sādhu who died and was placed in samādhi in a small temple. Centuries later, during construction, he is found still sitting there, with prāṇa, the whole body intact. Have you heard? Maybe not in India, but somewhere else, like Singapore or that side. So, prāṇa was still there. There is another story: a worker was carving a statue from a beautiful rock. For many days he worked, and there was no hole or opening. One day, as he was tapping with his hammer, the rock split in two. He said, "Oh my God, it's broken." Inside a small cavity, he saw something like rice—not rice, but a grain. The man saw there was no way for anything to have entered that sealed rock. He took his tools, stood up, and said, "God, I don't want to work anymore. I don't want anything. If you want to give to me, give it at my home. You gave this grain inside the rock where there was no path. How did you give it? If you give to me, I will take it. Otherwise, I will die." At midday, he went home. His wife was surprised. "You came so early today?" "Yes." "Are you going to work?" "I don't work anymore. I will not work. Why should I work?" He lay down on the bed, doing nothing, not eating. He said, "You are confused, not me." She pleaded with him, put a towel on his head, but he said, "I am perfect." He explained, "I was working on a beautiful white marble rock. There was no hole or crack. It broke, and inside was an ant with a nice grain in its mouth. God, if you want to give to me, give; otherwise, not." She said, "I think you have lost your brain." He replied, "My brain is the best. What we have at home, we eat like this." She urged, "Please go to work." He refused: "No, God will give. God will give me, then I will take it; otherwise, not." After two or three months, they lived in a simple grass hut with a small kitchen. One morning, he went for his toilet about 50 or 100 meters away. Sitting there, he played with a stick in the sand, muttering, "God, I don't want you anymore." While moving the stick, he suddenly saw something—a pot buried in the sand. He dug about one or one and a half feet deep and found a large pot. He opened the lid and saw it was full of treasures: gold and many precious stones. He sat looking at it and said, "God, don't play with me. I don't need it here. I will cover it. If you want to give, give it in my house, not in my toilet place." He covered it with earth and returned home. His wife said, "You came late today." "Today, yes. He always confuses me." "Who? Please tell me." "Okay, I will tell you tonight around ten o'clock." They usually slept by seven or eight because it was dark. Meanwhile, three thieves were circling their hut, planning to steal. They whispered, "We can't steal while they are sleeping." But they were listening. The wife said, "I want to sleep, but please tell me." He said, "It's very simple. This morning near the toilet, with my stick, I was playing in the sand and found a huge treasure. It's too heavy to bring. I opened the lid, and there was so much. I told God, 'I don't want it. I don't want to work, I don't want to carry it. If you want to give, give it at my house.'" She said, "Are you crazy? Why didn't you bring it?" He replied, "Why should I go and bring it? If God wants to give, He will give." She asked, "Where was it?" He said, "About 50 or 100 meters away, near the Khejri tree, where I go to the toilet." The three thieves heard this and thought, "Let's go. There may be a few rupees there." They went with a torchlight. The toilet area was a bit messy, but they saw a spot where the earth had been disturbed. They found the large pot with a lid. They opened it and saw many cobras moving in every direction! "Oh God!" they exclaimed, quickly putting the lid back. "This man is tricky. He saw us listening. We will put it in his bed; he will get the shock." They carried the heavy pot slowly. One thief climbed up quietly, another helped. They opened the door slightly. The wife heard a sound. "What is that sound? Is God working very hard?" The husband said, "Let him work. God has to work. I am relaxed. Give me my seat; I will sleep. Let God work." The thieves thought, "We will show him soft cobras!" They gestured with their hands and eyes. But when they looked again, there were no cobras—only precious stones and gold! They ran away, leaving the treasure. The wife asked, "What happened, my dear?" "That is what happened. God has given here now. But I don't want to gather it. If you are God, why are you throwing it like this? Gather it neatly and put it near my bed. I will respect you, God. Otherwise, I will take a broom and throw it out. God will do it." There is a beautiful bhajan about this, written by Koi Matma, but unfortunately, I have forgotten it. Perhaps someone knows it—'Mukti Muktarai'? You don't have that bhajan? No... This story I told you long ago. So, the ātmā is different, but prāṇa and ātmā are very close. Therefore, prāṇa is there. Some burn the whole body, and the soul quickly goes to Brahma Loka or somewhere to rest. Others are buried in the earth; I don't know how long they will suffer. What will happen to the jīvā? Great saints go within and proceed to Brahma Loka. So, my dear yogī, which kind of yoga are you practicing? Annamaya, prāṇamaya, manomaya, vijñānamaya, ānandamaya? On which path will you go? Will you go through the prāṇa or the kośas? How long will the prāṇa last? One does prāṇāyāma, another does āsanas. This is also prāṇa. One yogī says, "Through this, I will cleanse the entire body." Another sits still in postures without movement. There are many, many things. Which kind of yoga are you doing? Some speak of Kuṇḍalinī Yoga. What is Kuṇḍalinī? There is no Kuṇḍalinī. Whoever thinks they have Kuṇḍalinī will one day go mad—definitely mad. If someone says, "Oh, I have a burning here," then why burning? Go to a doctor. The doctor is the best, not a yogī. There was a man from Germany who said, "Oh, someone gave me Kuṇḍalinī," and for five, eight, ten years it tortured him. He could not work or do anything. He kept saying, "Swamijī, you can fix it." Then he would go away, saying, "No, Swamijī will not do it. I did something to him." And again he would come, pleading. That is not Kuṇḍalinī. If Kuṇḍalinī were like that, no yogī would call it yogic Kuṇḍalinī. There are prāṇa śaktis. Therefore, which yoga are you going to do? Many Ṛṣis, many Gurus—each Guru has his own path. And the path is not only pūjā; this is only a path. Your sūtra—which direction will it go? Therefore, there is one bhajan. Mahāprabhujī said it is very nice: "I was blind, I used to wander in the dark." Lakavadiyā Deva Purīṣāṇe, Lakavadiyā Deva Purīṣāṇe, Chetan kā Chilakā Swāmī ne dikhlādiya, Deva Pīsā nih, Chetan kā Chilakā Swāmī ne dikhlādiya, Deva Pīsā nih. Aja Jalla Bheetara Kanchandata, Jaja Jalla Bheetara Chandata, Lade Kananda Patesha bhajan ka dekar ke chetan, Chetan ka chilka swarine.