2. SA76- 17 which means everywhere is there just for our asking, just for our taking. Now this is one of the specialties of our system. Now this can only be done, this can only be done successfully if a person has a individual technique like in your radiogram again, if you want to pick up a radio station, you got to tune the dial properly on the proper meter or wavelength, you got to turn your dial so that the needle is properly on the wavelength so that clear reception could be received. So when individual techniques are given, which are based upon th e person’s evolutionary status, when individual techniques are given from the time of the person's individualisation, from that divine source and when techniques are given that would give the full range of the person's future development. Then with these three factors being assessed and evaluated, a personal technique is prescribed for the person so that when he meditates on his personal techniques, what he is doing is tuning in on the right metre and the reception is clear. In other words, by meditating you are making yourself more and more conducive as you keep on meditating more and more, you become more and more conducive in receiving these divine energies. Now when you receive these divine energies, when you activate, those energies are within you all the time and I've said this over and over again that the job of the external guru is to awaken the internal guru in you. Once the internal guru is awakened in you, then the external guru can be discarded. This is a system which day by day creates greater and greater independency and not dependency because as one becomes more aware, as the mind expands more and more, greater and greater perceptions are received. But this is not the only thing that happens, is the awareness of the mind, the expansion of the mind is there just for appreciating the experience and experience comes from the feeling level which we in common parlance call the heart. So having a proper practice given to a person, it simultaneously develops the mind and the heart and simultaneously developing the mind and the heart, they work together. They work as a team and that is the other reason why maximum benefit is gained through our systems and this is now being recognised worldwide. As you would all know, we are now in about 15 different countries and as I pointed out last week that England alone has 35 centres going now and perhaps in a few months more, another 20 are due to open. So we always know the old saying that the proof of the pudding lies in the eating and that is a very true saying because with our systems, what happens is this that we experience – we experience first and then we believe that this experience is true. I have pointed this out before that the times are gone when we tell a person to believe or to have faith. The mind of the world today is at a stage whereby it will not accept anything on blind faith. It will only accept if experientially and experimentally the experience is gained, a certain benefit is gained. And by gaining this benefit, the person automatically pursues this path. So here with the individualised technique that is given, individualisation is so important, it is important because it is through that means that one can be in contact with universal forces. If a person is in Standard VI, you cannot put the

3. SA76- 17 Standard VI person in contact with lessons of MA. You cannot, because that person will not receive any benefit whatsoever. Every lecture of MA the person would hear would fall on deaf ears. So therefore individualisation – individualisation is absolutely necessary and its necessity lies in a person's personal evolution which is helped by this universal force which we know as gurushakti. Now this universal force being abstract in nature, cannot be conceived off by the mind because the human mind is finite while this universal force is infinite. Good. So who can best deal with a finite mind is another finite mind. So we approach the abstract through the concrete and when there is a true guru, he is able to communicate directly with the person concerned, with the meditator. Give him the proper needs and the proper explanations why this is so and why that is so. We just don’t sit down with the mantra or any other technique and accept it as this is doing good, no, It must also have logic and with the logic that's involved, one also experiences the power of gurushakti. So what a meditator actually does is just a small percentage of the work. When you tune on your radio, it is just turning the kn ob , the meditator only turns the knob, but who does the greater part of the work is the transmitting station. There the big elaborate machine is require which could fill a few rooms like these. There all the technicians are required. Right to broadcast. Your radio is a small transistor radio, you only turn the knob. So in meditation, what you do is a small fraction and the rest is done for you. Another popular analogy which I used is this that you fly to Johannesburg, good. Only thing you do is buy a ticket, go to the airport, sit in the plane, that’s all you do and the plane takes you to Johannesburg. So the gurushakti is the universal force, is the universal power that takes you to where you want to be, to the deepest levels of the mind whose extent is the entire universe and even beyond the levels of the mind which encompasses, which empowers, which permeates all forms of existence and in that way, in that way all separation ceases. Then there is no you and me or me or mine. There is just oneness and that is the aim and goal of life, that is the aim and goal of every human being consciously or unconsciously for every man or woman seeks one thing only, and the thing which that person, which every person seeks is happiness. Good. Now happiness can be found though our methods of meditation because when we meditate, there is an activ e force of gurushakti working which brings together and harmonises the three aspect of man and – and the three aspects as you would know is mind, body and spirit. All troubles in life begin because the three aspects, mind, body and spirit are not working harmoniously. They are imbalanced. So through our meditation which is based upon individual technique and gurushakti, the two main pillars of our system. One brings about that harmony, one brings about the balance between the three aspects of man and having that balance, we have developed greater awareness and we expand the heart. When the heart is expanded, greater love flows. Greater love flows to one and all and when we can do that, then – then we become, as I've said before, when we can love, then only do we become lovable. Then only do we become lovable. So our meditation systems are designed for this very scientific, very scientific because various levels of energy can be

4. SA76- 17 examined, finest levels, subtlest levels of energy can be examined and by the mind and those levels of energy which are not perceptible by the mind can be experienced by the heart. So there is your combination. The logic lies – the intellect lies in approaching the subject upto a certain stage which will give you the confidence, which will show you that the finer energies are there and how to find those finer energies would be to experience them and those finer energies are gurushakti. Now this is a report we get from all our meditators. Meditators that are only meditating for a few months that they just feel – they just feel, they cannot explain it, it's inexplicable, they feel, they experience. They experience daily and day by day the growth of bliss. So when man’s quest is for happiness. It means why is man's quest for happiness is because the divinity that resides in man is essentially blissful by nature. So consciously or unconsciously man tries to experience that bliss. The search in a materialistic world had always been external, but we know that in the external search, there are limitations and the limitations are such that we want to search more and more in the external field and as we search more in the external field, more is required because that is not the answer. That is why man today all over the world, after being tired of his external search, has now proceeded to search internally. I always say the kingdom of heaven lies within, the quotation from the bible and once we find that kingdom of heaven within, all else is added unto thee. That’s what the bible says. So through our meditational practices we open the doors of that kingdom of heaven within. Right. And once we open those doors and draw those energies from it into our daily living, into practical life, when we put that into practical life, then all others is added unto thee. So that is the secret. Before we proceeded from externality, to externality all the time, but now we have started on the right path to find that kingdom of heaven within and finding internality, find the beauty of that and then the externality comes automatically. All will be added unto thee. People used these analogies, most teachers have used the analogies of the flower – of the flower, good. If we really want to know the basis of the flower, we have to know the sap and once the sap is known, the external yellow and orange and green would be known and appreciated better. Shankaracharya, Ramanouja, Vivekananda, they all used this analogy. It’ s a beautiful analogy and in modern times they are teachers that used this analogy. So therefore – therefore we do our meditations to find the internal self, to find the real self which is resident in all. It is divine in nature and the nature of divinity is bliss. So that is why man is spurred on to find happiness. Man is spurred on to find happiness. The difference in our system is basically this, as I would repeat again, firstly into the visualised technique for the individual person and then because of the individualised techniques, a greater opening up to receive that gurushakti, to receive that subtle of the subtlest indescribable energy that can be experienced and demonstrated in practical daily living. Now if we sit and meditate 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night and the quality of our

5. SA76- 17 life does not improve, then the meditations are not necessary. What we want to do basically is to improve the quality of daily living so that everything around us becomes more and more smoother and smoother. Now this can become more and more smother if we have gained the harmony within ourselves. Gaining harmony within ourselves means self integration. Self integration of what? Of the mind, body and the spirit working together as a whole, that is self integration. Good. And a self integrated man is naturally a happy man. See how simple it is, so – so simple. A s elf integrated man is a happy man because with self-integration he also automatically gets a bonus and that bonus is that he becomes integrated with everything around him. That is how a wife can love a husband more. That is how the husband can love a wife more. That is how, because of self integration, our work conditions improve. Everything we do assumes a far more deeper and happier nature because with the widened awareness, the greater perception, everything we see will shine – shine with a light of its own. Good. So that is gurushakti, the indescribable gurushakti which cannot be explained in a test tube, but which can definitely be experienced and not only experienced during the 20 minutes, half an hour of meditation, but during our waking life where we automatically and spontaneously flow with the currents of nature and life becomes more smoother, more joyous, more happy, more whatever you want it to be. It is just there. Okay? Fine. Who else? Public: May I ask please? Gururaj: Yes. Public: Can you explain to us < 0:21:55.4 > Gururaj: Yeah, true. Public: Now what is the technique and what the effect of each kind and do you do a different one for meditation <0:22:17.2>? Gururaj: Beautiful – beautiful. Now, there are in this world, at least 500 different pranayama techniques. Good. And to go into the description of all of them would be impossible at this moment, but let me give you a generalised idea of it. Fine. Now pranayama essentially is there to bring a rhythm within our system. A rhythm within our system so that from the grosser breath, when a rhythm is produced in the grosser part of the body, the physiology, then a greater rhythm is

6. SA76- 17 produced in the mental body. Now the mental body, manomaya kosha, also become rhythmic and experiences the rhythm in the subtler levels of pranayama, subtler levels of prana, rather. So prana with his various stages, from grosser to subtler to subtler to subtler, all these can be experienced. What people normally do is to start with the grosser level and there is one system where a count is given which is the most popular one, to create a physical rhythm and once the physical rhythm is created, the mind follows suit because, as I’ve always said, there is no difference between the mind and the body. The body is a grosser form of matter while the mind is a subtler form of matter. So with the creation of this rhythm in the physiology, one also starts creating a rhythm in the psychology in the mind of man, in the mental self of man and as that rhythm in the mental self is created, one comes nearer and nearer to the subtlest level, the spiritual levels. Right. Now the reason for all these various systems of pranayama is also for individuals because of certain systems of individuality that must be propagated. Upto now all vedic teachers, all sages, all ancient sages have never ever brought out a system which can be called a mess system. This is a gross misinterpretation. In ancient India for example and this happened in Egypt as well and in the various cultures of Babylon too where the guru in his ashram will care for and look after the spiritual needs of each and everyone of his chelas on the basis of what is needed for them. So a guru might give one person a certain kind of pranayam practice, and another person another kind of pranayam practice according to need. Right. For example if anyone writes to a pharmaceutical firm for a list of drugs, right. The catalogue will come and any child can memorise all the names of all those drugs. Good. But it is only the doctor that knows which medicine to give to who and for what purpose. Pranayam is a science, a science grossly expressed as the physical breath, but subtly expressed as the vital force within man. Now this is a deep philosophy whereby that prana, that vital force is equated with the jeeva or the sukshma sharira, the subtler sheath that is within one and hereto a rhythm, a coordination is formed in the purification of the subtler body and therefore these various pranayams are used. They could become dangerous to people who might want to practice them through a book because the book will give you many systems, but only the teacher will tell you which system you should use and that is very very important. In pranayam, for example, we have the retention which in Sanskrit is called kumbhaka. Now this assumes two natures, one is retention with a breath within and the other is retention with the breath without. That means exhaling and not breathing. Now if this is not done properly and according to prescription and according to a ce rtain kind of timing which might be necessary for that person, a lot of physiological disorders can be produced. So being a speciality, I would suggest that a person who wants to do pranayam and if it is needed for the person, it should be properly prescribed by a person who knows and not just any form of pranayam taken from a book. Now the teachers that know which to give are necessarily people with very deep insight. Example, we have a person here in the name of <0:28:21.6> our leader in Victoria who is

8. SA76- 17 needs a teacher to study the alphabet and the various formation of words, but once the child has mastered that, then the child can start reading on its own way. Good. Now various teachers have various methods of teaching. Good. One teacher might start with A,B,C,D,E,F,G, X, Y,Z. Good. And other teacher will start with showing the child the actual formation of words and thereby get the words registered in its mind. So – so if methods could be called paths, then paths are necessary to the learners. How many enlightened people do we have in this world? So the teacher that says that no path is necessary is talking of himself, but how did he become enlightened? Did he perhaps choose a path? It might not be a recognised path, it might be something that he himself has formulated by himself. He might have been born on to this world, into this life again at a very high stage of evolution and just needed a few lessons and life is a school I always say, a few lessons t o bring him to self integration, which is enlightenment. So – so even he too, if he had the ability to go back into his past lives, he will find that he too used a path. Fine. Good. A person can draw perfect circles free hand. Free hand you can draw perfect circles but to reach the stage of drawing perfect circles, you first had used a disc or a compass. So instruments are necessary and these instruments or methods could be called paths. So there has to be a path. Now what I always say and you’ve heard me say this over and over again that if there are 4,000 million people on earth, there should be 4,000 million religions because everyone has to formulate his own way in life, no one can evolve you, you have to evolve yourself. Now you want to evolve yourself a nd you choose the teaching of the teacher who – whose teaching appeals to you most. So when a person goes to one teacher and gets the maximum from the teacher which he needs, then that person is at full liberty and should always be at full liberty to go to a higher teacher. Right. Up to matric you have your high school teacher, after matric, you go to university and you have your university lecturers and professors. So even in teachers, there are grades. Even in teachers there are grades and a person approaches a teacher according to his own level of understanding. But the best teacher in the world is he that those are the teachers we are trying to produce. The best teacher in the world is he who will teach according to the particular need of the person and just two steps ahead at a time. Doesn’t that beautiful hymn say lead thou me on kindly light one step enough for me? That is the proper method of education or spiritual education too? That is the proper way. So when a person says no path is necessary, then we could reply to that that is a radar not necessary on a boat. Without having the radar, the boat will drift on the water. Now the teacher is the radar with his teaching that would take you to a certain distance. Now, smaller the boat, smaller the radar, bigger the boat, greater the propeller or radar, whichever way you look at it. So these things are necessary for the enlightened man is a law unto himself, he needs no path because he is all paths. He is all paths himself. Good.

9. SA76- 17 Now the greatness of the teacher lies in the teaching to show a pathless path. What does that mean? A pathless path? It means that an individual path, not one set dogmatic path. For you it’s different – for you it’s different – for you it’s different. There lies the greatness of the teacher. Now a primary school teacher cannot do that, but a university professor can do that. The university professor if he is good. Say, for example, professor of English, university professor of English , he would have the ability to teach the child in Standard I and the child in Standard X and the PhD. So there you have categories of teachers and wherever there is method, wherever there is method we have a path. Wherever there is no method, we drift.. So for 99.999% of people in the world, a method is necessary. A method is necessary and this we see in everything in life, everything shows us this. The whole universe functions on such beautiful precision. There is a method, a system to everything in life. Even this tape recorder is working on a particular electronic system. Even every cell in our bodies are working on a particular system, a particular organism. It is there – it is there all the time. Who can say that he hears with his eyes and not with his ears? System. Systems are there and they are inbuilt in human beings and in the whole universe. So for the enlightened man, no path is necessary but for the unenlightened, a path is necessary and the path must be found by himself through a teacher whose ideas could be conducive to that person. If a pe rson is not an intellectual person, he does not require gnan yoga. Intellect -- yoga of the intellect. Good. That does not require gnan yoga, but is a very devotional person. Now the teacher must recognise what to bring out in him and what temperament of mind he has, if he has a temperament of a devotee, then devotion is brought out in him. Good. If the person wants to have no devotion or – or any intellect scaling, any intellectual height, but just wants to live good – goodly, honestly, sincerely in life, karma yoga is taught to him. And likewise all these paths, do must be started off from the standpoint where the person is standing. Therefore even in this too, individual teaching is necessary so that you start off a student from where he is and then later on all these various paths they start merging. And when they merge within you in self integration, you are an enlightened man. Then there are no paths left for you because you have <0:41:57.0>at the path. To come from Sea Point to Cape Town we have to take a road. We had to take a road to come from Sea Point to Cape Town. System – path, they are necessary. Okay? Fine. Public: Gururaj, question < 0:42:18.8 > Gururaj: Yes, I know because when Kiran mentioned that some person does not propagate any past, I knew exactly who he was talking about. Public: < 0:42:38.5 >

10. SA76- 17 Gururaj: He has a teacher, yes – yes, because every time -- Public: < 0:42:45.9 > he writes books. Gururaj: He writes books, yes. Public: < 0:42:50.9 > Gururaj: Yeah – yeah, yes – oh yes. Public: Bapuji, how is it possible that somebody highly evolved could not know how to communicate that to other people? Gururaj: That you must ask Krishna Murthy. Public: Ah, yes. Gururaj: (Laughs). Public: Is it – is it possible that for example somebody who has that state of integration would not be able to recognise their own path? Perhaps in this life, say he’d be very <0:43:36.3> what about the others if he had to stumble around in ignorance? Surely he is – has <0:43:42.6> Gururaj: The greatest message of Krishna Murthy is this, as I interpret it to be, good. That the world is so consumed in dogma. I have not read Krishna Murthy extensively but what I assume from the man's mind is this that the world is so immersed in dogma and he is against dogma. Le t us rather put it that way and drew justice to Krishna Murthy, yes. Fine. In other words, have an open mind, do not be biased. Know dogmatic dreams but find your way which he might call, if he was a poet, he’d call it a pathless path, but he was not a poet (laughs). Public: < 0:44:36.3 >

11. SA76- 17 Gururaj: Yes. Public: Gururaj, < 0:44:45.7 > meaning of that? Gururaj: Beautiful question! Very beautiful question, Patsy! That a person going cosmic consciousness out of the blue. Public: Yeah, just – just for a few mi nutes and something very wonderful happens < 0:45:15.4 > Gururaj: I know that happened to you in your meditations. Public: No, not in my meditation Gururaj. Gururaj: But after meditations? Public: No, once when I was like 23 or 24 and < 0:45:36.0 > Gurura j: Yes, I’d be interesting to know your story. Public: Well, < 0:45:42.5 > Gururaj: Beautiful! Public: And we put the horses away and my friends live in a little cottage we had to walk across the fields and this was at night it happened and yeah I was just going ahead and something definitely happened <0:46:11.2> you know but I didn’t know what it was then and I < 0:46:14.5> Gururaj: Great. Public: You know you can't describe < 0:46:18.7 > Gururaj: True.

13. SA76- 17 Nevertheless cosmic consciousness, according to some teachers present a teachers, Patsy, it is this where you can, even being an individual recognise the universal, even being individual, you recognise the universal. Up to now, the individual’s capacity is very limited. It can only recognise up to a certain range. Fine. But in cosmic consciousness, the entirety of the universe is recognised but one difference remains that there is no identification. In other words, you stand apart and you say, here am I and there is the universe. So from that one proceeds further and finds an identification which at its level, highest level is called unity consciousness. So for the purpose of teaching, many teachers have used or there’s only one consciousness and that’s pure consciousness in the subtle realms. These various phrases have been used for the purpose of teaching. that is all. There is no state higher than the turia state which is the thought state and all these various subsections have been created by teachers to appease certain intellectual inquires. So when some teachers use cosmic consciousness in the sense of unity consciousness, it is also true and when some teachers use the word – term cosmic consciousness in the - -in the sense of the individual’s recognition of universal, that too is true. Good. Okay, fine. Lovely. Public: < 0:52:34.8 > (laughs) Gururaj: Can anybody become a guru? Of course. Public: Do you wan t to become a guru? < 0:52:43.1 > Gururaj: Oh yes – oh yes, anyone can become a guru, yes. I’ d like you to become one. Public: 6 million years (laughs) Gururaj: Oh, who doesn’t – you can – you can do it in one lifetime, you can do it in another thousand lifetimes, but everyone can, because the – the divinity is inherent in every person. Divinity is there and the greater you express the divinity, the greater your <0:53:12.7>. so you progress from primary school teacher to high school teacher to university teacher. It is there – it is there, oh yes, anyone can, but the only thing, you don’t get a diploma for it (laughs). The diploma is the living proof of the people around you. That is the diploma. Okay? (laughs) Lovely, lovely. Public: < 0:53:43.4 >

14. SA76- 17 Gururaj: Yes, yes true. Good. Anyone else? Public: < 0:53:53.9 > Gururaj: Yes, the waking, sleeping \, dreaming and the turia state, the transcendent state and – and the transcendent state encompasses everything and certain people, certain teachers to be able to teach in a certain manner which for example if I want to answer that, I've answered your whole question in one paragraph, but if I want to extend it into a series of lectures, I could introduce various stages or supposed stages of that cosmic consciousness. Cosmic means the cosmos, all – all embracing. It is everything. Public: < 0:54:48.8 > Gururaj: There are different – there are different levels of awareness as far as the waking mind is concerned. In the waking state, the mind becomes more and more aware from – from where it is, but when one reaches the stage of pure awareness or cosmic awareness, then there’s only one. Pure is pure, good, unadulterated, oh yes -- oh yes, pure milk, oh yes. Mind is the one drop of sour milk in it, then it won’t remain pure . That’s the difference. No difference at all. These are just various terminologies – terminologies. There is only one state beyond the three that we know, dreaming, sleeping, waking – waking, beyond that there is only turia and this is very beautifully described in the Gita, the speech of the turia state, it speaks of no other state whatsoever but teachers have taken the one word and made a 100 words or subsections of it. <0:56:09.2> is not necessary because once you experience purity of the turia state, once you experience it, you know all purity there is you need to know no more. Yes. Public: I read somewhere or < 0:56:24.7 > spiritual arena? Gururaj: Yes, yes there is a book being published by someone, call it the Seven states of consciousness. Yes, which sort of goes into the definition of these various stage. Do read it – do read it, it's worth reading, always have an open mind. But all the seven states of consciousness it is just there for definition purposes, it is only one state, pure is pure and that state beyond the sleeping, waking and dreaming is the pure state of consciousness. So in that purity, you can introduce categories such as cosmic consciousness, god consciousness, unity <0:57:05.9> consciousness, Krishna consciousness, all kinds of consciousnesses, yes and perhaps it might be necessary for some people that if I want you to stay in my

15. SA76- 17 school for four years, I have four states of consciousness, one year for this state, one year for that state, one year for that state and then if I still want to longer, I can create more states and keep you for seven years. Good. Meanwhile all that can be given to you in one nutshell, in half an hour (laughs). Public: Gururaj, < 0:57:48.4 > Gururaj: There are other – your question is there are – there are other states or plains of existences beyond man? Public: Yes. Gururaj: Which is very true –which is very true. We are supposedly in the middle state. Good. Below us there are seven states that – of existences and above us there are seven states of existences. Good, fine! Now this is supposedly so, but the whole idea is to experience everything here and now in this plain and man has the ability to be able to experience this. Good. These states, these existences are not necessarily on other planets. Good. There are other planets in the universe which has perhaps more highly evolved people, highly evolved people, but they all are within the framework of that one consciousness. Good. But all those states of consciousness, if you want to put it that way, can be experienced here and now because the totality called turia can be experienced here. Okay? Public: < 0:59:31.8 > Gururaj : Good – good, fine. Yeah, yeah basically your question is what is kundalini yoga? Basically your question is that. Good fine. Now I think it is lectured 10 or 11, where’s Kiran? That we did here on kundalini yoga and you're very welcome to listen to the tape, but basically seeing that you’ve asked the question, I’ll tell you briefly that the most recognised ones are seven chakras and there are many more and these chakras represent the subtler part of the grosser human physical frame. In other words, these chakras are existent as subtle nervous complexes in the sukshma sharira which is the subtle body of man. Good. And these complexes ha ve their physiological correlations. For example, the manipura chakra is situated at the naval area, the solar complex. This we know – this we know is – is a centre of – of a bunch of very very powerful and necessary and important nerves. Now whatever exists in the gross form also has its counterpart in the subtle form. Good. So now, to purify the grosser form, you can use certain methods of hatha yoga. But now that there are systems which combine methods in the framework to purify the nerve centres in the subtle body. Good. Now these chakras are definitely existing and they can definitely be perceived, but they might not be able to be perceived with the –

16. SA76- 17 with the human eyes, but they can be perceived by the subtle eye which everyone possesses. Good. Everyo ne possesses the - -the subtl e eye, the third eye as someone would call it, everyone possesses that and through certain practices, that eye can be opened and it is through that eye that all these various subtle nervous complexes known as chakras can be seen. Good. Now in tantric literature, you’d find that each chakra is represented – this is very symbolic, it’s represented by a lotus and the lotus have so many petals. This chakra has so many petals while the other chakra has so many petals that also symbolises that there are certain, for example, if one chakra has 16 petals, then that symbolises that there are 16 major nerves connected to that chakra. Now there can be a blockage in a few of those nerves. Now, through certain sound values, through certain practices based on sound, these blockages in these chakras can be removed – can be removed and when removing those blockages and the power is energised, then symbolically speaking again, the flower, the lotus <1:04:14.4> will turn up its head. Now turn up its – turning up its head is also symbolic, it is only when you have energy that you can stand up. So all these things are a matter of symbolism. The most important thing is this to know that we have a subtle body and that subtle body also has nervous complexes of a subtle nature which corresponds to the grosser complexes. Right. And the – as there could be blockages or impurities in the grosser nerves, so also could there be impurities in the subtle <1:05:02.3> and these practices are given to purify of cleanse or reenergise those subtle nervous <1:05:12.7>. Okay? Fine. So shall we break for tea? Yes? Good idea, lovely.

7. SA76- 17 an expert on – on various methods of yoga and pranayama. So this is a science that requires very deep study, very deep study. It also has to do with the linga sharira and also the various chakras or psychic centres in the human body. Now when one knows, when one knows of the imbalances that exists within a person’s system, then a certain kind of pranayama – pranayama can be given to still a certain chakric centre or to stimulate. Now the person does not know, might be, instead of stealing it, would be stimulating it and lot of harm in that way can be done. Good. So from the grosser body to the subtler body and through the various sheaths of the bodies that we are composed of, we approach, through the prana to its finer level, the vital force which is also equated with the life force within us. So through pranayama, we reach the life force within man and through pranayama exercises, through certain breathing methods, one can control the life force within man and it is said by sages that – it is said by sages that life can be indefinitely prolonged because you have gained control of the vital force of the life force. Now in India this is quite a common thing where you see a person for example, he gets buried for a whole month six feet under the ground. Good. He gets buried for six feet under and after he is exhumed, taken out of the ground, he’s still healthy as ever. Normally people stop their breaths for five minutes and then they would suffocate. Now this means that the person has controlled the external breathing and in that 30 days of being buried under the ground, he is existing on the vital, the subtle force of prana. He is existing on the subtle form of prana. So in that way with this example, you can see that the life can be prolonged indefinitely with the use of proper pranayama. Okay? Anyone else? Public: Bapuji, < 0:31:26.6 > this before -- Gururaj: < 0:31:29.9 > again from a different aspect. Okay? Public: While we are in England, we came across various people who are following different paths and one which I find a little puzzling is one where there somebody who is enlightened but who says that there is no path towards that. Now if the experience of someone who has become enlightened is that he has progressed and progressed. What could be the reason if someone supposedly the enlightened saying there is no way into that state? Gururaj: that is a very true statement, but there is no way to that state. Fine. But that enlightened person is talking from a standpoint of enlightenment. He is not talking of t he masses. You don’t need to teach him a lessons to an MA. That MA has her diploma or his diploma already. Fine. 99.999% of the people in the world require guidance. They require a certain method, right. And method means path. When a teacher teaches a child, that little child goes to school and the child

1. SA76- 17 Satsang 17, 11 th of December 1976, Satsang 17 Public: Bapuji, < 0:00:07.8 > we are constantly receiving shakti or energy from you and I often wondered at the mechanics behind this because you described yourself as a channel and at times you consciously focu s energy on various people and then all times energy comes through you to everyone who follows you. Gururaj: True. Public: Could you give us some further insight onto this crisis < 0:00:35.0 > Gururaj: Yes, firstly to put the question very briefly, you want to know what gurushakti is and I've said before, true guru is no thing but a channel and who has, who’s very – very ordinary but has acquired one ability only and that is to draw universal forces to him and through him, he would impart it to others. Now this is very – very necessary. It is very necessary because it is only the human that could impart a human impulse to another human. Right. This becomes more and more necessary because the core of a human being is the heart and what could stimulate or alleviate or uplift the heart more than another human? Now when we talk of gurushakti or that energy, you can call it divine energy, universal energy, that is existent everywhere. For example as we are sitting here, we might not be aware of the air around us, but air is there although it is not perceptible by seeing or hearing, but air is definitely there and we are breathing it and we are doing this very very automatically, very spontaneously and unconsciously. So in this way too when a person starts meditation in our system, a bond is established. A psychic bond or a spiritual bond is established between the meditator and the guru and because of this bond being established, there is always a constant flow of spiritual energies to the meditator. Constant flow is there via this bond or this link or this channel that has been established. Yesterday I explained to someone that in the air here now, there are so many sound waves, radio waves from various radio transmitters throughout the world and they are here. What we do is just to have a radio and to be able to tune in to America, England, Germany or whichever country we want to tune in to. So now what happens in meditation is that while you are meditating and with our system as you go deeper down into the subtler and subtler and subtler levels of the mind, you make yourself conducive to receiving those subtle energies. So spiritual energies are very subtle energies and being subtle energies they are very powerful energies and because of its intense power that it could permeate every living cell of our bodies and also every living cell of our minds. So here, by meditating, one automatically draws from that universal source, that universal energy which is all existent, omnipresent,

12. SA76- 17 Public: Unless you probably try to write it down at the time, but I knew something < 0:46:24.4 > happened. Gururaj: Beautiful! Public: And then – and then < 0:46:32.0 > then I read a book later on about < 0:46:38.2 > my own mind and he didn’t know what it was, he wasn’t < 0:46:50.9 > I don’t think and he said, < 0:46:57.0 > but I've always known in the back of my mind when I have low faith, cause I was an atheist for – for years and < 0:47:14.7 >. I was always an atheist but I knew -- Gururaj: Why didn’t I meet you when you were 23? (Laughs) Public: < 0:47:29.5 > a nd there was nothing < 0:47:41.6 > Gururaj: Beautiful – beautiful! That's very profound Patsy. Now what struck – what struck me very much about your question was this that out of the blue -- Public: Yeah. Gururaj: Cosmic consciousness. Right. Now, blue is a colour. Blue is a colour that is described to be an infinite colour. You see, I'm punning on the word. Good. Now for example in Hindu mythology you’d have Krishna and Vishnu all of them in the colour blue, and of course the blue signifies here infinity because they are vast. Now what is the vastest thing that we can see with human eyes is the sky and the sky is blue. So blue, the blue colour is very symbolic in describing infinity. Fine, symbolic, but now out of the blue, from the infinity, you glimpse infinity, cosmic consciousness. Very beautiful, very profound – very profound. Now cosmic consciousness – cosmic consciousness is a term very loosely used. Good. Now there are certain teachers when they used the word cosmic consciousness, they mean the totality of everything. Good. Now this you would find in teachers like Vivekananda, right. Or Ramanouja when he says cosmic consciousness, then he means that our small consciousness to be identified with the universal consciousness. Good. Other teachers again, have used the term cosmic consciousness in different ways. Good. That they say from cosmic consciousness you still proceed to god consciousness and unity consciousness and various kinds of consciousnesses. Good. And even to Krishna consciousness which is supposed to be a blue consciousness. Right. Nevertheless that was a very subtle joke (laughs).