Yoga Sagar

Author(s): Paramhamsa Satyananda
Publisher: Bihar School of Yoga Munger
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/014011/1

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YOGA SAGAR
COMMEMORATIVE VOLUME
Compiled from the complete proceedings of the
PARAMAHAMSA SATYANANDA TYAG GOLDEN JUBILEE
WORLD YOGA CONVENTION

d KES 30TH
1993
50
BIHAR SCHOOL OF YOGA, MUNGER, BIHAR, INDIA

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YOGA SAGAR COMMEMORATIVE VOLUME

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YOGA SAGAR
COMMEMORATIVE VOLUME
Compiled from the complete
proceedings of the
PARAMAHAMSA SATYANANDA
TYAG GOLDEN JUBILEE WORLD YOGA CONVENTION
1993
BIHAR SCHOOL OF YOGA, MUNGER, BIHAR, INDIA

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© 1994
Bihar School of Yoga Ganga Darshan, Munger (Bihar) India
Compiled by:
Swami Satyadharma Saraswati Swami Vibhooti Saraswati Swami Yogawandana Saraswati
ISBN: 81-85787-91-3
Published by:
Sri G.K. Kejriwal Honorary Secretary Bihar School of Yoga
Type setting :
Sharp Computers, Shahganj, Patna-6
Printed by :
Tarang Press & Publications Shivpuri, Patna - 800 023
All rights for the reproduction of this book are reserved by the Bihar School of Yoga. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, either electronic or mechanical, without prior written permission from the publisher.

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DEDICATION Let us reflect for a moment on which aspect of Paramahamsa Satyananda we salute and commemorate at this event. His accomplishments are many, his attainments too numerous to cite. He has excelled in every field, as disciple, sadhak, guru, administrator, an adept of yoga, tantra, vedanta and the esoteric sciences, a renunciate avadhoota paramahamsa and, most importantly, as a man.
Wherever he went, whatever he touched, shone with a new radiance. Sri (auspiciousness) has been his constant companion. The Bhagavad Gita in its last sloka tells us that where there is Sri Krishna, the Lord of all yogis, and Arjuna, the wielder of the bow, it is there that Sri resides eternally. Yes, Paramahamsaji symbolizes auspiciousness, and that deserves acclaim, but that is not what we have gathered here to honor him for. It is for the spirit of tyaga and sannyasa renunciation and surrender, which has shone so brilliantly in him, that we lower our heads before him today.
Tyaga is that quality which takes one ever so close to the Divine. The atman is propelled from the mundane to the transcendental and the entire being is immersed in the Lord. Sannyasa is samarpan, an offering of oneself to the Divine. Without samarpan, there can be no sannyasa, and rare is the one who is full of tyaga and sannyasa.
Imagine the auspicious day, fifty years ago, when Paramahamsaji received sannyasa diksha on the banks of the river Ganga. Imagine Paramguru Swami Sivananda kindling in him the spiritual fervor of tyaga and sannyasa, these ideals which have remained the distinct hallmark of his life up to the present day.
Away from the glitter and glow of all he has created, he remains forever immersed in the name of the Lord. It is to this man, who has never lost the vision of the Lord in life, that we offer our prayers and love.

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SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
Born on 8th September 1887 in Pattamadai, Tamil Nadu.
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Served as a medical doctor in Malaya.
Renounced his medical practice, hearing a call from the Divine, and came to Rishikesh.
Initiated into the Dashnam Order of Sannyasa in March 1924, by Swami Vishwananda Saraswati.
Established the Satya Sevashram Dispensary at Rishikesh in 1925.
Convened the World Parliament of Religions at the Divine Life Society in 1953.
Established the Sivananda Eye Hospital in 1957.
Formed the Sivananda Literature Research Institute in 1958 and the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee in 1959.
· Attained Mahasamadhi in 1963.
Toured extersively throughout India, inspiring the people to practise yoga and lead a spiritual life.
Founded the Divine Life Society at Rishikesh in 1936. Opened the Sivananda Ayurvedic Pharmacy in 1945. Established the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948 and the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy Press in 1951. Authored over 200 books on yoga, health and spiritual
life.

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PARAMAHAMSA SATYANANDA Foremost authority and inspirer of the modern yogic renaissance. Born in the foothills of the Himalyas in 1923. Left his home at the age of nineteen in search of spiritual truth. Joined his guru, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, and adopted the sannayasa way of life in 1943. Served his guru for twelve years, broadening his own understanding of the spiritual sciences. Travelled the length and breadth of the Indian sub-continent for nine years as a parivrajaka, wandering mendicant, to assess the needs of modern man. Founded the International Yoga Fellowship and the Bihar School of Yoga at Munger in 1963. Conducted numerous programs for training sannyasins and householders alike in the techniques of yoga. Toured internationally, propagating yoga among people of all countries, races, religions and cultures. Authored over eighty books on yoga, health and spirituality. Founded Sivananda Math, a social, charitable institution, and the Yoga Research Foundation, a scientific and medical research orientated institution, in 1987. Renounced all that he had created in 1988, and in the spirit of kshetra sannyasa, visited all the siddha teerthasthanas of India. Founded the Sri Panchdashnam Paramahamsa Alakhbara in 1990, where he now leads the life of a paramahamsa sannyasin, one who does not work for his flock and mission alone, but has a universal vision.
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PARAMAHAMSA NIRANJANANANDA • Born in Rajnandgaon (M. P.) in 1960. • Joined the Bihar School of Yoga at the age of four.
Initiated into the Dashnam Order of Sannyasa at the
age of ten. • Travelled overseas at the age of eleven to help with the
development of ashrams and yoga centers in Ireland, England and other European countries. Toured many continents for the next eleven years, including North and South America and Australia, directing ashrams, conducting yoga programs and investigating the needs of various cultures. Recalled to India in 1983 and appointed the President of Bihar School of Yoga. Guided the development of Bihar School of Yoga, Sivananda Math and the Yoga Research Foundation, for the next eleven years. Initiated into the Paramahamsa tradition at the age of thirty. Authored many classical books on yoga, tantra and the Upanishads. Conducted intensive yoga and sannyasa courses to spread the seeds of yoga in all directions. Organized and conducted a World Yoga Convention of mammoth proportions in honor of his Guru's 50 years of dedication to sannyasa and the upliftment of humanity. Anointed as preceptor in succession to Paramahamsa Satyananda by the leading luminaries of the Sannyasa tradition during the World Yoga Convention in 1993. At present, divides his time between overseas visits, Indian tours and residence at Munger.
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BIHAR SCHOOL OF YOGA
The Bihar School of Yoga was established in 1964 as the headquarters of the International Yoga Fellowship Movement. It aims to impart yogic training to householders and sannyasins alike. Since the first Yoga Teachers Training Course in 1968, the school has grown into an international training center of great
renown.
The yoga school is situated at Ganga Darshan, which is built on a large hill, overlooking the Uttar Vahini Ganga. Here, amidst an atmosphere of natural beauty, surrounded by gardens, and a majestic 270 degree panoramic sweep of the river Ganga, a new vision of yogic life is inspired.
The techniques of integral yoga taught here are a synthesis for personal development. Yoga Teachers Training, Yoga Health Management, Individual Sadhana, Kriya Yoga, Mantra Meditation, and other advanced courses are conducted by trained sannyasins on a group or individual basis for day and residential students.
The Bihar School Yoga has always been known for its excellent sannyasa training and was one of the first institutions to initiate and train female and overseas sannyasins on a large scale.
The institution houses a Yoga Research Library with a large collection of books and data where most of the school's publications on yoga, health techniques and research are compiled. Ashram Graphics prints the BSY publications and is staffed and managed by the sannyasins and disciples of the ashram who do everything from typesetting to despatch.
Conventions, tours, seminars, workshops and lectures help spread the yogic message "from door to door and from shore to shore". In addition trained sannyasins conduct organized conventions, seminars and lecture tours throughout all of India and the world. This provides a solution for the yoga-minded people who find it impossible to undertake a journey to Munger or any of the branch ashrams.

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SIVANANDA MATH
Sivananda Math is a charitable institution founded by Paramahamsa Satyananda in 1984 in memory of his guru, Swami Sivananda Saraswati. It aims to facilitate the growth and development of the underprivileged, weak and deprived sections of society with special emphasis on the rural communities.
So far, Sivananda Math has completed the following projects in Munger and Deoghar districts: Munger-Distribution of scholarships to over five hundred deserving students per year. Free distribution of clothes and medicines to the needy in villages ravaged by natural calamities such as floods and fire. Digging of over forty tubewells in Munger town to facilitate water supply. Fortnightly visits to villages with its mobile hospital to provide free medical assistance. Monthly visits to villages to provide free veterinary services. Construction of the private bus stand in Munger town.
Deoghar - Construction of low cost houses for the weaker sections in Santhal Parganas, Deoghar district. Distribution of cattle and livestock to the needy and deserving in villages. Construction and establishment of a free Medical Care Center at Rikhia.
Future plans include adoption of villages, provision of education, jobs and health care facilities in the backward areas and provision of ponds, wells and handpumps in the drought prone areas. Establishment of orphanages, rest houses, ashrams, hospitals, nursing homes, first aid centers, and homes for the disabled are also in the scheme. All these services are and will be provided without consideration of caste and religion.

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YOGA RESEARCH FOUNDATION
The Yoga Research Foundation was established by Paramahamsa Satyananda in 1984. The aim of this research institute is to provide an accurate assessment of yoga practices within a scientific framework, and to establish yoga as an essential science for the further development and evolution of mankind. These researches also incorporate investigations into the healing aspects of yoga.
The Research Foundation has an up-to-date, fully equipped, modern and computerized research laboratory at Ganga Darshan, Munger. Different examinations are undertaken in this research center before the commencement of yoga research programs.
The first project underway is an international five year study of respiratory disorders. Research findings and published reports have shown that regular practice of yoga is of great benefit to the sufferer.

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SRI PANCHDASHNAM PARAMAHAMSA
ALAKH BARA Sri Panchdashnam Paramahamsa Alakh Bara was established by Paramahamsa Satyananda at Rikhia, Deoghar, Bihar in 1990 to uphold and propagate the highest ideals of sannyasa, namely vairagya (non-attachment), tyaga (renunciation) and tapasya (austerity). It is a registered, charitable, educational and nonprofit making institution.
It propounds a tapowan style of living as adopted by the rishis and munis of the vedic era and is intended only for san
renunciates, tapasvis, ascetics and paramahamsas. The guidelines set down for Alakh Bara are along the vedic tradition of sadhana (spiritual practice), tapas (austerity) and swadhyaya (self study or atma chintan), emphasizing the need for a sannyasin to develop and cultivate spiritual qualities within himself. It does not conduct any activity such as yoga teaching or preaching of any religious precepts.
Paramahamsa Satyananda, who is now residing there permanently, performs the panchagni vidya (meditation on the five fires) and other vedic sadhanas, thus paving the way for future paramahamsas to uphold their tradition. Entry is strictly restricted so the sadhana of serious minded spiritual aspirants is not disturbed.
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CONTENTS
Inauguration-Yoga Keerti Stambha
Swami Chidananda Saraswati
Newspaper Reports
DAY ONE
INAUGURAL SESSION Welcoming Address
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Yoga Institutions Established by Paramahamsa Satyananda
Sri Shasibhushan Verma
Address by the Commissioner
Sri Ashok Kumar
Swami Vivekananda's Message to Modern Man
Swami Rasajananda
The Power of Yoga and Renunciation
Swami Poonyananda Giri
Yoga and Human Values
Srimati Krishna Sahi
The Need for Yoga in the Modern World
Dr. A.R. Kidwai
The Divine Indwelling Presence
Swami Chidananda Saraswati
Abharodgar
Sri Mahavir Prasad
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AFTERNOON SESSION Upgrading the Moral Ethics of India
Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
A Letter of Thanks
Newspaper Reports
DAY TWO MID-MORNING SESSION God's Mercy
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Total Approach to Yoga as derived from the Taittiriya Upanishad and the Yoga Vashishtha
Dr. H.R. Nagendra
Summary
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Yoga Experiment in Thane Central Prison
Dr. S.K. Vyavahare Summary
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Role of Yoga in Heartcare
Dr. H.S. Wasir Summary
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Integrity and Yoga
Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati MID-DAY SESSION
101
Mudras: Analysis, Importance and Practice in Tartra and Hatha Yoga, a Review
i Dr. P. Jha
Summary
106
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati

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Yoga and the Brain
Dr. A.K. Ghosh (Sannyasi Mangalteertham)
Summary
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Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
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AFTERNOON SESSION Yoga and Cardiology in France
Madame Dr. Doussy Yoga and Education
Madame Micheline Flak (Swami Yogabhakti Saraswati)
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Summary
125
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
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Highlights of Antar Mouna Meditation
Swami Janakananda Saraswati
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139
Summary
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Mission for Responsibility to Memory
Prof. Upen Baxi EVENING SESSION Vedic Origins and the Principles of Yoga
Swami Poonyananda Giri
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Ramacharitamanas Discourse
Srimati Krishna Devi
171
Surrender to the Will of God
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Newspaper Reports
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MID-MORNING SESSION
Aim of Yoga
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Compatibility of Homeopathy and Yoga Dr. G.B. Kar
Summary
Yoga in Greece
Summary
Summary
DAY THREE
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Kundalini Research
Summary
Swami Sivamurti Saraswati
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Myth and Reality

Mr. George Tompkins
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
MID-DAY SESSION
Yoga and Mental Health
Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
Dr. Karel Nespor (Sannyasi Swaroopmurti)
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Guiding Principles in Yoga Therapy Prof. M.P. Bhole
The Mind in Hatha Yoga: A Review Dr. R. Bodhe
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Self Control
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati AFTERNOON SESSION Psychodynamics of Yoga
Prof. L.I. Bhushan
226
Process of Attainment
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
233
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Instrument of the Divine
Ramanand Sagar
Summary
244
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
245
Yoga and AIDS-Related Diseases
Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati
250
Disciplined Lifestyle
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
251
Holistic Approach to the Problems of Modern Life
Dr. H.R. Nagendra
260
Summary
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda EVENING SESSION Path of the Conqueror
Swami Vidyananda Giri
262
Summary
274
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
275
Discourse on Ramacharitamanas
Srimati Krishna Devi
Newspaper Reports
279
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DAY FOUR MID-MORNING SESSION Yoga for the Handicapped
Swami Anandananda Saraswati
287
Summary
292
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
293
Yogic Treatment of Mental Illness
Dr. Swami Vivekananda Saraswati (Dr. Brian Thomson)
Summary
299
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
300
Purpose of the Yoga Sammelan
Swami Nischalananda Saraswati
Summary
304
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
305
Integration of Mind and Energy
Dr. Swami Bhikshananda Saraswati (Dr. Harilal Bikha).
309
Summary
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda MID-DAY SESSION Therapeutic Aspects of the Yogic Scriptures
Dr. G.S. Sahay
311
Summary
316
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
317
Science, The Human Being and Yoga
Dr. N. R. Mitra
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Summary
322
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
323
The Ayurveda of Australian Aborigines
Dr. Swami Karmananda Saraswati
Summary
327
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
328
Awareness of Cultural Conditioning
Dr. G. Chattopadhyay
Summary
332
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
333
The Impact of Alternate Nostril Breathing on Patterns of Performance
Dr. Ganesh Shankar
Suinmary
337
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
339
AFTERNOON SESSION The Path of Yoga
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda The Atmic Age
Gajapati Maharaj, Sri Divya Singh Dev, King of Puri
341
344
Return to Munger
Sri Ramananda Brahmachari
347
The Necessity of Renunciation
Swami Parameshwarananda Saraswati
353
Spiritual Wealth
Swami Vidyananda Giri Yoga Charter : Blueprint for the Future
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
363
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A Garland of Thanks
Sri Mahavir Prasad
A Final Vote of Thanks

Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Newspaper Reports Letters of Thanks
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Ty T

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FOREWORD
All the lectures presented in the Commemorative Volume are the beliefs and personal thoughts of the speakers. The Bihar School of Yoga is publishing them with due respect. The opinions presented in the lectures do not necessarily reflect the views of either the institution, nor of Paramahamsa Niranjanananda.
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INAUGURATION OF YOGA KEERTI STAMBHA
Swami Chidananda Saraswati
Radiant souls! Beloved children of the divine, spiritual aspirants, seekers, sadhaks, engaged in spiritual practices, yogis. Be you upon your own self-chosen path, be it the path of kundalini yoga, be it the path of devotion (bhakti), be it the path of nishkama karma yoga combined with remembrance of God, a worshipful attitude and a spirit of dedication. May it be the classical yoga science, yoga shastras of Patanjali, the ashtanga yoga, Patanjali Darshan, the science of meditation, or may it be the path of shrawan nidhidhyaasana, which they call vicharana or jnana yoga. You are all engaged in one or other or a combination of yoga paths. You who are assembled here, yogis and sadhaks, seekers and spiritual aspirants, jigyasus, and all of you, devotees of God, lovers of righteousness, dharma premis. I deem it a great spiritual privilege for me to be present amidst you all in this beautiful center for the spreading of the light of the ancient spiritual science of yoga. A beautiful center of yoga dissemination with the beautiful name 'Ganga Darshan'. 'Ganga' stands for purity, 'Ganga' stands for wisdom, the unceasing flow of wisdom from the high heights of the ever-pure Himalayan snows down to the world of the din and bustle of daily, earthly life. Saamsarik vyavahaarik life stands for the unceasing flow of wisdom coming down to us from ancient vedic times, the old written human history. 'Ganga' stands for purity, nirmal.
She is holy, sacred, because she is ever-pure. She cannot be polluted, she destroys all pollution. 'Ganga' stands for the eternal quest of the spirit of the human heart, the human being, to once again merge and become one with its source: the cosmic spirit divine, the eternal reality, truth. Call it Brahman, call it nirvana, Yaweh; call it God, Allah, Jehovah; whatever it is, Almighty Father, she is indicative, she is a symbol of the eternal spirit of the human being ever going towards the divine, the

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finite moving towards the infinite, man going towards the source of his being, God.
Rising up from the ocean waters and forming as clouds in the high skies, being wafted by the breeze and winds once again over land, and there with condensation of mountains, pouring down as rain once again. The waters that rose from the ocean flow back towards the ocean in trickles, then in droplets, then streams, then small rivers, then great rivers, onwards and onwards, never stopping, overcoming all obstacles, ultimately finding once again the source, the origin, back into the ocean. That is what 'Ganga' symbolizes! The eternal quest of the human heart for communion, merging with the divine. Thus is the beautiful Ganga Darshan.
I am overwhelmed with a sense of unworthiness that God has brought me here into the company of all you beautiful sincere, seeking souls. You are questing after the life divine, questing after a life of self control, questing after a life of spiritual discipline, questing after a life of deep meditation, devotion, adoration, and questing after a life of keen spiritual, philosophical enquiry and investigation, vichara, viveka, investigation. And ever having but one great objective that you should again regain the temporarily forgotten divine perfection which is your true being. Each soul is potentially Divine, being a part and parcel of the cosmic divine spirit. That is the discovery of our ancients.
Your reality is divinity. Your human personality is only a very temporary assumed part, an assumed personality. It did not exist before you were born to your parents. It will cease to exist when you depart from your body. When you leave this little shell aside and go forth, then you are neither male nor female, you are neither name nor form, neither American nor Australian nor Indian nor Hindu nor Christian nor Islam nor Buddhist nor anything. You are not a human being. You are what you were before you assumed this temporary human personality to play your part in this drama of life on the stage of the world, and, therefore, your reality is not this physical or psychological human personality. You are beyond this temporary body-mind complex which is called your human personality. The physical and psychological complex constitutes the ingredients of the temporary human personality. Your shining center is of pure divine consciousness.

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To introduce you to yourself, the great world teacher, Lord Krishna - jagatguru, master of the science of yoga, the fullest manifestation of the supreme divine reality, poorna avataara, as they call him - gave you a self-introduction. It is that wonderful, marvellous, great, little scripture, confined within eighteen chapters and a total of 700 verses, containing the very quintessential teachings of the Jnanakand of the Vedanta, the Upanishads. The quintessence, the essence of the teachings of the Upanishads in that wonderful. teaching gives you an introduction to yourself.
Ajo nityah shaashvato yam puraano na hanyate hanyamaane shareere. (Gita, 2.20) What are you? You are the unborn, eternal, permanent, beyond time entity, imperishable, immortal. If the body is there, if the body is not there, it does not matter, it does not affect you. You are an unborn being, for death is only for that which is born. For the unborn atman, there is no death, because it is never born.
In these stirring, vibrant words, in this great declaration, Lord Krishna wanted you to awaken to your own spiritual reality, the truth of your essential being. Your essential being is pure divinity. Your temporary state of forgetfulness has made you move away from the center of your self awareness and get involved in a state of identification with temporary, added, limiting adjuncts; like the five organs of action, five pranas that operate within the body, certain currents of vital life force, the five inner organs of cognizance and the fourfold inner instrument of cognition.
You have identified yourself with these factors which do not constitute yourself. They constitute non-self. It is to make you aware of this and to teach you how to constantly discriminate between your true self and that which is your nonself, between your essential reality and the limited adjuncts of your bodies, that you have been given these instruments just to function on this earthly plane. The earthly plane is a physical, material, gross plane of life, so you want a physical, material instrument in order to act here; hence the body, with hands and feet and limbs and other things.
You are essentially above and beyond the rest of the other living species of beings. They are not endowed with the power to think, reason or feel. That is your speciality, that is your uniqueness, that is why you are the crowning glory of God's creation; that is why you are superior to all other forms of life,

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precisely because of this endowment, of this unique factor called the psychological dimension of your being, where you can think, feel, reason, enquire, analyze and investigate. This is your uniqueness and this is what makes you the crowning glory, this is what makes you superior to all other living creatures. But this is also an instrument given to you to exercise this unique superior status as a human being; it is not your reality, it is not your essential, true being.
Therefore, the great ones who saw deep, beyond the ordinary appearance, beyond the name and form, and beyond all these values, recognize in you the inner spark of divinity that you are. They wanted to awaken you to this, and hence all the scriptures have grown out of their transcendental experience, where they saw each human being as a center of the divinity, not in any way different from the source of Brahman.
Therefore, the great world teacher, the original Shankaracharya, who lived more than 1200 years ago, declared, "I shall tell you within half a verse that which has been declared in more than hundreds and thousands of scriptures. Here is the truth, in brief Brahma satyam jagat mithya. That eternal, unchanging reality alone is the great reality, and the entire, created, phenomenal universe is only a temporary appearance in time. It is not eternal and it keeps ever changing. It is not the unchanging, eternal, beginingless and endless reality; it is only a temporary ever changing appearance in time and space. Therefore, it is only a temporary reality, vyavahaarik satya.
It is not the true reality. Therefore, true reality is the transcendental reality and the second part of the truth is jeeva brahmaivo naaparah. This individual soul is no other than the great, cosmic, eternal and infinite spirit divine, the eternal infinite principle called Brahman, that is transcendental and absolute. This is the great truth. This is the center of all yoga. To realize this, there are all these various paths and many scientific, practical methods to ultimately bring you to this state of superconscious realization of your eternal true nature. They are all, therefore, part and parcel of the cultural heritage that we have inherited.
The ancients, who realized this, put this truth in a very brief, laconic manner: What are you? You are that which transcends and is quite different to the three bodies: the gross body, the subtle body and the causal body. You are that prin

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ciple that transcends the five sheaths: the food sheath, the sheath of the vital life force, the mental sheath, intellectual sheath, and the fifth sheath, which is called, for soul reasons, the bliss sheath. You are that which is the unchanging, ever silent, witnessing consciousness of the ever-recurring, three states which in each 24 hours each one of you is experiencing. You are experiencing the vedantic truth every day, in each cycle of 24 hours, but you are not trying to grasp its implications. You are not recognizing its meaning, otherwise all of you would become jnanis. Aan traiðn stareera raksha panciakoshatita avasthattrait sakshi kevala shuddha chaitanya swaroopa.
You are atman. That is a great declaration and, therefore, once this truth is gradually cognized, reflected upon, meditated upon deeply, and even during your day, as you wake up in the morning, brush your teeth, take your shower, shave yourself, have your coffee or tea or breakfast, and go down to your work in the busy market place, and when you are having your social talks with other people and in the club, in the playground, whatever it is, even when you watch TV hold onto this truth. There should be a steady, unbroken current of self awareness always, always, always, whether you are alone or in a crowd of a thousand people, whether you are resting or in the middle of activities, whether you are at home, whether you are in the midst of a busy marketplace. At all times, you are what you are, that can never change. Therefore, hold onto this reality in all circumstances, in all situations, in all places and conditions, in all times! "I am the consciousness, bliss, chidananda." This is the great truth. This truth is ever there within you, ever full of bliss, full of the state of chidananda.
That state of pure consciousness and state of awareness of your being and consciousness is so much above and beyond all these lower states of consciousness, in which dimension alone you go through all the experiences of this earthly plane. This higher state of consciousness is beyond the reach of all the entire range of experiences, physical, mental and psychological, of that plane. Therefore, none of these experiences can dare enter into that realm, they cannot penetrate there, they have no access there. So, that plane of absolute peace and bliss is existence, consciousness. It is being, awareness, bliss, satchidananda.
It is there at the very center of your being. It is there in your own self. Therefore, the great master, our beloved and wor

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shipful Swami Sivananda said, "Within you is the hidden God, within you is the immortal soul, within you is the fountain of joy." Ah! we come to the fountain here, you see. "Within you is the hidden God, within you is the immortal soul, within you is the fountain of joy, within you is the ocean of bliss." What is there preventing you from experiencing that fountain of joy and ocean of bliss? It is nothing but your self, this little 'I'. We are so much involved, so entangled with 'I, I, I,' 'so and so' and 'such and such', different from everyone, fighting and squabbling, superior and inferior. It is this which is a problem; there is no problem outside you, it is this 'I'.
Therefore, you may follow this. "Within you is the fountain of joy, within you is the ocean of bliss. Kill this little 'I'. Die to live. Lead the divine life." That is the one thing that is necessary, and if you get rid of this little 'I', whatever is there is the pure fountain of joy, is the pure ocean of bliss. It is the pure light of lights, transcending all darkness. It is light at the center of your being, and it is your true self. If you realize this, then there is no more 'me' to weep and wail, no more 'me' to come back again and again in the ever-recurring births and deaths.
That is the great goal pointed out for you, and all the yoga path ultimately lead you to that goal by averting your attention from this little 'I', either to God, or to Brahman or to purusha. Whatever path you take, you get away from yourself. The first liberation starts when you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking of something else. The most important way to cross 'I' and 'me', to erase it, eradicate it and uproot it, is to enter with vengeance into the field of dedicated, selfless service unto all people. That is the most effective panacea for getting rid of the little 'I', the little, selfish, egoistic self.
Therefore, selfless service is the first entry into yoga. Selfless service, not expecting even thanks, and not even being aware that "I am doing something". It is the will of God. God does everything. What am I? I am nothing. Changing this 'I' into a zero, without selfishness, without any sense of worship, expecting nothing, and dedicating even this selfless, motiveless action at the feet of God. The first liberation starts there. Then the love of your heart can be directed to God. Put all the love you have for things here upon that one supreme being, who is the source, the father, mother, friend, relative, everything, all in all.

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Thirdly, constantly awaken vairagya, separating yourself from the non-self. For this purpose, we have the wonderful boon of that great work called Vivekachudamani, the "Crest Jewel of Discrimination" by the great guru, Adi Shankaracharaya, where he initiated the method of discriminating and separating ourselves, of freeing ourselves from this identification with this limiting identity and attaining an awareness of our true
being.
So, we learn by nquiry, discrimination, analysis, or through directing our love from things here to that supreme being, who is our source, who is our invisible support, who is the ultimate fulfillment of our existence, by vichara marga or by controlling the senses, conquering the desires, thoughts and cravings of the mind, and making it inward, and gathering together the whole of the mind and making it one-pointed. Direct the mind into the unbroken flow of concentrated thought, until ultimately. you reach the state of absolute meditation. Either through meditation, or intense love for the divine, or through enquiry, discrimination and investigation, or though selfless, motiveless action, attain the supreme reality, so that you will be in a position, ultimately, of knowing yourself as the great Self.
Realized sages know you to be such. They said, “You are children of immortality. You are not children of birth and death. You are not merely helpless, little, human creatures in the vortex of this phenomenal world." You should consider your actual position here. We are helpless. We are at the mercy of so many other forces around us. In spite of all that, you should know your divinity and transcend all these things. Then you will realize yourself to be fearless, free, ever pure, perfect, wanting nothing, a transcendental being, completely devoid of all sorrow, pain and suffering. Your mental state is a state of absolute blessedness and bliss, and in that state you are eternal. But you do not give yourself a chance to experience this fountain of joy that is ever-flowing forth, ever-flowing forth, gushing out from the center of your being.
This fountain, this illuminated musical fountain is in order to remind you that within you, you are that very thing you are looking at and seeing outside. You are a fountain of joy! You are a fountain of lights! Because that divinity of your real self is the light of lights beyond all darkness. Therefore, as you look at this fountain, turn the gaze within and tell yourself:

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"Knowledge bliss is absolute, knowledge bliss, knowledge bliss, bliss absolute. In all conditions I am knowledge bliss absolute. Without fear, without sorrow, existence absolute. eternal, pure, perfect knowledge. bliss is absolute!"
Nitya shuddha siddha sacchidaananda hoon Chidaananda chidaananda chidaananda hoon har haal men alamasta sacchidaananda hoon ajaraananda, amaraananda, achalaananda hoon
har haal men alamaste sacchidaananda hoon. This fountain is ever-flowing. Turn the gaze within, look at yourself for a while and shut out the doors of the senses. You will behold that within
hat within you, constantly, non-stop, this akhanda or unbroken fountain of joy is forever building up. It is your own self! You are that fountain of bliss, you are that fountain of light, you are that fountain of beautiful music, you are that which is bliss, full of joy, giving, that which is beautiful, is full of joy, giving. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."
With these words, imparting to you what the ancient selfrealized sages and seers of India gave to all global humanity, this fundamental truth of your real identity, I am very happy to request Niranjanji to proceed. Give the signal for the fountain!
OM OM OM

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Newspaper Reports
Hindustan Times
WORLD YOGA MEET FROM NOV. 1
MUNGER, Oct. 29 (PTI) Against the backdrop of mounting social strife, violence and bloodshed all over the globe, the World Yoga Convention begins here on Monday to throw light on the scientific and healing powers of yoga which would usher in lasting peace and happiness.
Since the convention is held once in 20 years, the entire town of Munger, which is historically connnected with the Munger ruler Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, is being spruced up to play host to the international
event.
The convention which begins on November 1 is expected to be attended by about 10,000 delegates, irrespective of race and religion, from different parts of the country and remote corners of the world.
The theme of the convention is "Integration of Science and Yoga in the 21st century" and erudite scholars in the fields of science, medicine, psychology and social sciences, besides saints and 'fakirs' will attend the international event to be held in the world-renowned Bihar School of
Yoga. The convenors of the convention told a visiting PTI correspondent that the event synchronizes

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with the 50th renunciation anniversary of Paramahamsa Satyanandaji, the founder of the yoga school. Paramahamsa Satyananda is considered one of the greatest saints of recent times, who strongly advocated the integration of yoga with society and encouraged the spiritual evolution of all people regardless of caste, creed or religion.
Twenty years after renouncing the world, Paramahamsa Satyananda established here in 1963 the Bihar School of Yoga which became the focal point of yogic experience for people from all over the world. It was also from here that the saint dedicated himself to disseminating this evolutionary culture to the world.
Paramahamsa Satyananda also embarked on many world tours to fulfill the mandate of his guru, Swami Sivananda, and inspired countless aspirants to tread the yogic path. He also initiated thousands into 'sannyasa' and 'karma sannyasa,' providing them with yogic vision.
Under his inspiration hundreds of small yoga groups and ashrams developed in India and abroad and soon he became one of the first yogic masters to translate the ancient yogic prin

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ciples and techniques into modern scientific language by encouraging research into the scientific healing principles of yoga.
After giving yoga a new dimension, Paramahamsa Satyananda passed on the mantle of the yoga master in 1983 to his ardent disciple, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, under whose guidance the yogic movement has entered into a new era.
The four day convention will include lectures by eminent people from all walks of life, group discussions and mass meetings to discuss yogic principles, techniques and their influence on society.
An exposition of books on related subjects will also be featured. Besides, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda will give detailed exposition of the ancient kriya systems of yoga.
Another attraction will be a practical exposition of nada
yoga
a
MUNGER, Oct. 31.- The scene is serene. The mood just right. Even the swirling waters of the Ganga seem to be aware of the subdued hubbub on its bank. As delegates from all parts of the country and the world have started trickling in at the Ganga Darshan center of the Bihar School of Yoga for the renowned World Yoga Conven

and laya yoga which has never been publicly demonstrated in the past.
The morning sessions will be held for practical demonstrations and instructions on yogasana, pranayama, meditation and mantra while the forenoon session will be meant for the theoretical explanation of the techniques illustrated in the morning sessions.
In the evening, lively debates will be held on the contemporary relevance of yoga and its necessity in the present social and global environment.
Hindustan Times
YOGA MEET GETS OFF TO SERENE START TODAY
The Munger school of yoga is the biggest institution of its kind in the country. The multi-storied edifice, having a beautiful facade, is kept very neat and tidy by the occupants and a serene atmosphere amidst the sylvan surroundings presents a come hither look to visitors coming here for the first time.
tion, the venue has seemingly atattained the status of a global village. Beginning tomorrow, the World Yoga Convention will be attended by over 550 delegates from different countries and another 3,000 from various parts of India. The meet will conclude on November 4. The convention is being held amid tight security
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especially keeping in mind the numbers of foreign delegates.
In stark contrast to the chaos and tension Munger town presents as any other town would, the Ganga Darshan venue of the convention suggests order, harmony and peace. Nestling on top a hill on an area of over 16 acres, the Bihar School of Yoga ashram complex is one of the largest and most modern institutions of its kind in the country. A self-contained unit, the ashram offers yogic training to people regardless of caste, race, religion, sex or age considerations.
Among those who will attend the inaugural session of the convention are the governor, Mr A.R. Kidwai, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, Swami Lokeshwarananda Puri from Calcutta and Swami Chidananda Saraswati from Rishikesh. Besides, many scholars and scientists from the fields of medicine, psychology and social science are expected to attend the conference, held every 20 years.
This year the conference is being held on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the renunciation of Paramahamsa Satyananda, one of the foremost inspirers of the yogic renaissance and founder of the Bihar School of Yoga. Disciples of the swami from over 32 countries will come together on this occasion, according to Swami Shankarananda Saraswati, coordinator of the convention.
Keeping in mind the scientific temperament of yoga and its

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future perspective, the theme of the convention is "Integration of Science and Yoga in the 21st Century". With yoga becoming a proven remedy for various diseases, including heart and lung disorders, several persons from all over the world who have benefited from yoga therapy will speak at the convention.
While thousands of delegates are pouring in from all parts of the country for the convention, the venue evokes interest due to
the presence of the foreign delegates, some of them clad in saffron robes. The major chunk of these delegates have arrived from Australia, Greece, Germany and Italy. Besides other European countries, England and the United States, there are delegates from the African countries and Iran. The delegates from abroad include those who had earlier taken yogic training at the school of yoga for as long as two to five years. However, for many this is their first visit.
Among the 100 odd sannyasins of the ashram, who are managing the arrangements for the conference with the help of local citizens are Swami Satyadharma, Swami Gyanprakash, Swami Muktidharma, Swami Divyananda and Swami Vibhooti. Their names may be misleading for they are from the United States, Colombia, Australia and Ireland. Today, however, most of them are Indian citizens.
The first World Yoga Convention was held here in 1973.

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DAY ONE
November 1, 1993

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DAY ONE
INAUGURAL SESSION Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Sri Shashibhushan Verma
Deputy Secretary Home, (Special) B.A.S., Patna
Sri Ashok Kumar
Commissioner, I.A.S., Bhagalpur and Munger Division Vice-Chancellor, Bhagalpur University Chairman, Reception Committee
Swami Rasajananda
Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta
Swami Poonyananda Giri
Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Niranjani Akhara, Varanasi
Srimati Krishna Sahi
Honorable Minister of State Department of Industrial Development, New Delhi
Dr. A.R. Kidwai
Governor of Bihar
Swami Chidananda Saraswati
President, Divine Life Society, Rishikesh
Sri Mahavir Prasad
I.A.S., District Magistrate and Collector, Munger
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WELCOMING ADDRESS
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
On behalf of the Paramahamsa Satyananda. Tyag Golden Jubilee Convention, our heartiest welcome to all the delegates representing the various cultural traditions of the west, delegates from various parts of this country and guests who we are honored to have on the stage today, in this sanctified land of Munger.
This is the day of honor for Munger in that this momentous yoga assembly is being held in this land in which delegates from 32 countries of the world and 20 states of India have gathered together under the canopy of yoga. Today we are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of tyaga and sannyasa of a great soul who had taken up the responsibility of directing the wave of yoga, the Ganga of yoga, to the common masses and who had resolved to uplift humanity through yoga. That visionary, that genius, the disciple of our respected Paramguru, Swami Sivananda, is no other than Paramahamsa Satyananda, in whose life the ideals of renunciation, sannyasa, are illumining the hearts of spiritual seekers like the rays of the sun.
It is a great honor to have amongst us the Governor of Bihar, His Highness Dr. A.R. Kidwai; Union Minister, respected Mrs. Krishna Sahi; the successor of Paramguru Swami Sivanandaji and President of the Divine Life Society, most respected Swami Sri Chidanandaji Maharaj; and Sri Swami Rasajanandaji of the Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta. This inaugural function will be conducted by these inspiring people. On our behalf, on behalf of the Bihar School of Yoga, and on behalf of the citizens of Munger, we once again extend our heartiest welcome to them all."
We now request our respected guest, Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, to light the eternal flame of yoga on this stage and formally inaugurate this convention. He is the representative of the guru under whose shelter our guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda, dedicated himself. Our most respected Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj receives the honor of
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lighting the flame and formally inaugurating this convention. Therefore, on behalf of everybody present, I humbly request Sri Swami Chidanandaji to light the yoga flame and inaugurate this function, after which Sri Shashibhushan Verma, one of the organizers of the Golden Jubilee Convention, will give a summary of the activities of the International Yoga Fellowship Movement and the institutions started by our guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda.

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SRI SHASHIBHUSHAN VERMA
A brilliant officer of the Bihar Administrative Service, Mr. Verma is a poet and orator by nature. At present he is working as Deputy Secretary Home (Special). He had been suffering from acute asthma for a period of twenty two years and was losing hope in life when, by chance, he came into contact with the Bihar School of Yoga in 1992 and attended a therapy course. His new found faith as a result of this course gave him renewed energy in life, a conviction about yoga and led him to a 90% recovery and a new meaning in life.
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YOGA INSTITUTIONS ESTABLISHED BY PARAMAHAMSA SATYANANDA
Sri Shashibhushan Verma
Paramahamsa Satyananda was born in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1923. His spiritual experiences began at the age of six. At the age of nineteen, he renounced his hearth and home in search of a guru. His spiritual quest led him to Swami Sivananda. For the next twelve years he served his master as a sannyasin disciple. After completing his ashram training, he took to parivrajaka life for nine years and finally settled in Munger where he had the vision of his mission.
This led to the foundation of the International Yoga Fellowship Movement and the Bihar School of Yoga in 1963. Here he began numerous programs for imparting training to sannyasins and householders alike in the techniques of yoga, which he himself had practised and perfected.
He refined the practical sciences of yoga and tantra to meet the needs of modern man and dedicated himself unceasingly to their propagation among the people of all countries, races, religions and cultures. He inspired more than 125 major yoga ashrams in 25 countries of the world with several thousand yoga centers, which are now spread throughout the length and breadth of the globe as the living monuments of Paramahamsaji's dream.
It is heartening to note that over 600 delegates from 30 countries viz. (1) Australia (2) Czechslovakia (3) Ireland (4) Italy (5) Norway (6) South Africa (7) Great Britain (8) Finland (9) France (10) Germany (11) Greece (12) U.S.A. (13) Yugoslavia (14) Russia (15) Mali (Africa) (16) Cuba (17) Austria (18) Bulgaria (19) Colombia (20) Israel (21) Lithuania (22) Nepal (23) Netherlands (24) Norway (25) Tanzania (26) Romania (27) Singapore (28) Slovenia (29) South Korea and (30) Togo, besides delegates from 20 states of India are participating in this convention, which is a great tribute to that legendary seer.
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In 1984, in memory of his guru Swami Sivananda, Paramahamsaji founded Sivananda Math, a charitable institution at Munger. This institution aims at facilitating the growth and development of the under privileged and the deprived sections of the society with special emphasis on rural communities. The main thrust is given on health, hygiene and education. Scholarships are also given to the deserving students. Clothes are distributed to the needy and medical assistance is provided to the under privileged. The Sivananda Math has provided succor to the needy in the following manner still today:
Scholarships have been given to 450 deserving youths, residing in the Munger district. 40 hand pumps were provided in Munger town for the supply of drinking water. A private bus stand was constructed on the request of the District Administration. For the purpose of upgrading health and education facilities, seven villages have been adopted. Clothing and food have been distributed to the destitute. Houses have been constructed for many of the adivasis in Rikhia (Deoghar) and a small hospital has been established there to look after their health
requirements. The second institution that Paramahamsa Satyananda established in 1984 is the Yoga Research Foundation. The aim of this institution is to provide an accurate assessment of yoga within a scientific framework and to establish yoga as a science essential for the further evolution of mankind. The first project was a five year study on respiratory diseases. Yoga research is carried out in a controlled environment in order to provide an accurate assessment of the practices. Brain mapping and documentation of transcendental states is a further aspect of this work.
Countless people throughout the world were inspired by Paramahamsa Satyananda during his many world tours. The result is a staggering number of yoga ashrams and thousands of centers spread all over the globe, the focal point of which is the Bihar School of Yoga. It is praiseworthy to note that over 600 delegates, representing all those centers, are present here in
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this convention, to pay their regards to Paramahamsaji. Many leading cardiologists, physicians and yoga exponents are here to synthesize and find an answer to the problems of modern life through the ancient science of yoga.
Paramahamsa Satyanandaji not only founded these three important institutions, he also gave the world another Paramahamsa in the form of Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, as his successor. He heads the International Yoga Fellowship Movement and is president of the Bihar School of Yoga. At the age of 33, Paramahamsa Niranianananda has already becor an institution. He was born in 1960 and came to the ashram at the age of four. Thus, right from the start, he had his education and training under the guidance of his guru.
In this way he inculcated the best of the gurukul system, besides developing a deep perception of people and situations. At the age of ten, he was sent abroad where he led the life of a parivrajaka and propagated the yogic message throughout the world. He was recalled to India in 1983, and made the successor of his guru. He was initiated into the paramahamsa order by his guru at the stroke of midnight on 31st December 1989.
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda is not only the successor of his great master, but also the guide to thousands of seekers and devotees in India and abroad, whose lives he has transformed, directly or indirectly, over the years. He is an erudite scholar of the scriptures, and it is hard to believe that without having formal schooling, he speaks several languages and possesses a mind that is better than a computer.
For many of those who are not yet aware of the power of yoga, it would come as a surprise that he has imbibed much of this knowledge through the ancient technique of yoga nidra. At a level of consciousness, which he calls mind sight, he is able to visualize many subjects which may have been unknown to him earlier, and to speak on them with authority as if he had known them always. Paramahamsa Satyananda has said many times, in utter humility, "You know, Niranjan is taller than me, not physically only."
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda conceived of and organized this convention in order to celebrate the 50 years of his guru's renunciation. Paramahamsa Satyananda has envisaged yoga as the future culture and the guiding light of mankind in the coming century. The purpose of this world convention, on
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the completion of 50 years of his renunciation is to fulfill the vision of that great yogi.
In 1988, Paramahamsa Satyananda left Munger. At that time he took kshetra sannyasa and started on a pilgrimage through the siddha teerthasthanas (holy places) in India as a wandering mendicant, without any assistance from any of the ashrams and institutions he has founded. He has now entered into the lifestyle of the highest order of the paramahamsa sannyasins who do not work or meditate for their flock and mission alone but who have a vision of universal wellbeing. Longfellow, the great poet and thinker once said:
Lives of great nien all remind us We can make our life sublime, And departing, leave behind us
Foot prints on the sands of time. With these words let us all rededicate ourselves to the fulfillment of the great vision of Paramahamsa Satyananda.
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SRI ASHOK KUMAR
A sober, accommodating and creative personality Sri Kumar is at present the commissioner of the Bhagalpur Division and also vice-chancellor of Bhagalpur University. Although by profession a senior administrator, he is an academic of the highest order and a man of wide experience in life. He first came into contact with the Bihar School of Yoga at the time of the establishment of the Satyananda Aslıram, Bhagalpur, of which he is one of the patrons. By samskara he has a deep love for the ancient traditions and especially the yogic culture.
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ADDRESS BY COMMISSIONER
Sri Ashok Kumar
This is really a day of great honor for Munger and Bihar state. Today we are celebrating the Tyag Golden Jubilee of Paramahamsa Satyananda, a great master of yoga, tantra and kundalini. We are also welcoming the thousands of delegates from India and different parts of the world, who have come to participate in this World Yoga Convention. Paramahamsa Satyananda has said that yoga will emerge as a powerful world culture. Seeing you all present here in such great numbers makes us easily believe in the truth behind his words.
During this four day convention we shall have the benefit of speeches and precious. thoughts by many saints, yoga exponents, and specialists in the field of medicine. On behalf of all the citizens of Munger, we heartily welcome all the dignitaries present here in today's function. We are glad to have His Highness, Governor of the State, who despite his extremely busy schedule, has kindly agreed to inaugurate this convention. He is not only our head of state but a highly qualified thinker and philosopher in himself. His Highness has served for years in Aligarh University and in the Public Services Commission. On behalf of the reception committee we pay our heartiest tribute.
Respected Minister of State, Department of Industrial Development, Government of India, Mrs Krishna Sahi, has also pushed aside all her programs and committments to be present here in this convention and we express our heartiest gratitude for her kindness. We welcome the most respected Swami Chidanandaji Saraswatiji, President of the Divine Life Society, who has been kind enough to bless us by being present here among us. He is not only an ashram colleague of Paramahamsa Satyananda, but also a vedanta exponent of the highest order.
We also welcome and thank you all on this unique occasion for your direct and indirect help in making it a success, the citizens of Munger, intellectuals, principals of schools, all the divisions of district administration, especially the District
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Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police. We also welcome and thank I.T.C., Munger and the officers and cadets of N.C.C. who have indebted us by giving full cooperation and untiring effort to make this occasion a success.
Last but not least, we express our heartiest gratitude to the present president of the Bihar School of Yoga and the International Yoga Fellowship Movement, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda. It is our belief, our wish and our desire that by the unified effort of us all, this convention may be successful in all possible ways in achieving its aims.

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SWAMI RASAJANANDA
Swami Rasajananau was born in 1919 in Madras, and joined the Ramakrishna Math, Madras in 1943. He took mantra diksha from Swami Virajananda Maharaj, the monastic disciple of Swami Vivekananda Maharaj, in 1945, and in 1952 took sannyasa diksha from Swami Shankaranandaji Maharaj. From 1943 to 1971 he was associated with branches of the Ramakrishna Mission in New Delhi, Bombay, Coimbatore, Sarda Peeth Belur, and at the Advaita Ashram, Mayavati, as joint editor of the magazine, 'Prabuddha Baharat.' Fronı 1971 onwards he has been associated with the Ramakrishna Mission in Gol Park, Calcutta, where he is the nssistant secretary. Swami Rasajananda takes weekly classes and edits the articles of the monthly magazine of the institute.
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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S MESSAGE
TO MODERN MAN
Swami Rasajananda
Swami Lokeshwaranandaji was to have come here to bless the proceedings, but as he could not, he sent me here in his place. While coming here, I was told that I should speak about Swami Vivekananda's message to the modern man. Well, I have not come here prepared, therefore, my speech will be totally extempore. That is good in one respect because I can speak what I feel from my heart. I shall give expression to ideas, just as they strike me, within the time allotted to me.
The topic I am to speak on is Swami Vivekananda's message to the modern man. Who is the modern man? We may say we are all modern men, living in 1993. Then, what was Swaini Vivekananda's message to us who are living in this year, 1993, not only to we Indians, but to the whole of humanity? First of all, it may be asked if there is any need for a message from Swami Vivekananda. Certainly, the answer is an emphatic yes! Why? Modern man has not attained peace, harmony or happiness in spite of the fantastic advancement, particularly in science and technology. Science and technology are indeed a great boon for mankind as a whole, but there is also a need for qualification.
With the help of this microphone, my voice is able to reach you all, showing thereby the good side of science. But, what of all the innocent people who had nothing to do with instigating World War II? I am referring to the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were subjected to intensive bombardment from which this generation is still suffering.
Then the question arises, why has science not given man fullness, happiness, harmony and peace? That is because science is not dealing with the whole of man. Science is not dealing with all the aspects of the world. Its domain is limited. By science alone, a man cannot be happy. That is quite clear. No doubt, a lot of happiness has come from its creative, con
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structive side. Then how do we explain this?
Swami Vivekananda, in his introduction to Raja Yoga, which has become very popular in the west as well as in the east, has put the whole of religion in a nutshell. What is that? You are all potentially divine, each soul is potentially divine. It is potential. Therefore, the goal is to manifest that divinity which is within. It is within everyone, even within animals. But, of course, man is different to the animals because of his extraordinary intelligence. A thousand years back, even the tiger or lion lived only in caves. What about man? He has advanced so much that he is able to build skyscrapers, highrise buildings. It is wonderful indeed.
Therefore, man has conquered the external world. Swami Vivekananda says that alone won't do. If man has to attain real peace he has to control his internal world also. That is why he says, “The goal is to manifest the divine which is already within, by controlling nature, external and also internal." Now, we have not done that. The mind, the internal world or the mental world, consists of good things like love, beauty, mercy, philanthropy and unselfishness, on the one hand. But, on the other hand, in this mind, we find the opposite of these qualities, hate. We don't love our fellow man, and today that is the problem. Man is not loving man. That is the tragedy of the modern world, of the modern man.
Now what is the solution? To manifest this divinity. If you can manifest this, then you will feel that you are one with all. Swami Vivekananda's message is but the message of Vedanta. Vedanta proclaims in all its glory, it thunders, Tat twam asi, you are that, you are all Brahman, that is unity. Therefore, when you realize Brahman, you become one with others. You cannot hate others, you cannot but love them. Why? Because, as Brahman, others are not different from you. If you develop this idea, then you will always do good to others. This is how the spiritual message of Vedanta can help modern man. It can help man to really love others.
How to achieve this? That is the question. There are many yogas. Each man is different from another. Yet there are some universal qualities also among mankind. Therefore, you cannot offer the same thing to all. You cannot offer the same food or the same dress to all, because men are constituted differently. Swami Vivekananda says there is no harm in our being dif
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ferent, but we should not forget the unity within this diversity. This is another of his messages: "Unity within diversity." Yes, we are all different. Therefore, we shall proceed each in his own way. Let each man have his own path, his own yoga, his own religious path. But all will surely reach the goal.
How to reach it? The essence of all these yogas is the method. Yoga means both the method as well as the goal. I am now referring to the method. What is the method? The essence of all yogas, of all religions and, for that matter, of all the sciences of the world, is unselfishness. If you become unselfish, if your religion makes you unselfish, you should follow it by all means. But if it makes you more selfish, give it up. You must exercise your own reason there.
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SWAMI POONYANANDA GIRI
Mahamandaleshwar Sri 1008 Swami Poonyananda Giri Maharaj is the Acharya of Niranjani Akhara, Varanasi. He was born in Nepal in 1954 and spent his childhood in Assam until 1960. In 1961 he renounced his home and in 1965 he went to Ayodha.

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THE POWER OF YOGA AND RENUNCIATION
Swami Poonyananda Giri
In this World Yoga Convention, you have listened to many noble thoughts about yoga. In our vedic literature, so many types of yoga have been described. First of all there was discussion on karma yoga for the common people, something of which you have heard in the previous lecture. About karma yoga, Lord Sri Krishna says in the Gita, "Knowest thou karma (right action), akarma (non-action) and also vikarma (wrong action), because the wheel of karma rotates very fast. Gahana Karmanogati. In the end the Lord says that karma is also a type of yoga. The simplest meaning of yoga is relationship, linkage. Linking with whom? With our aim, with our destination, which is not different from ourselves. But because we do not know our destination, because of the veil of ignorance, we consider ourself as a form different from Him. Leaving the false concept of this different form, and attaining the true essence, is known as yoga. The means to attain yoga can be karma; it can be right knowledge, jnana; it can also be love and devotion, bhakti.
In addition to these three, Maharishi Patanjali has made available three more means, for the benediction of humanity. Yogena chittasya padena vacha malam shareerasya vaidyakena, Yoga karottam pravar muneenam Paatanjali pranjaliranatostu.
cha
He created the Yoga Shastra so that by yoga we can purify our consciousness (chitta), Yogena chittasya. You may have seen many times that somebody is very pure in his chitta, but his purified chitta does not find a proper expression to benefit others. The reason is that his speech (vani) is not pure. Yogena chittasya padena vacha. During the process of purification of consciousness, you undergo many experiences. To convey those experiences to others, you need the medium of speech. So for denoting this purification of consciousness and speech,
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Patanjali created a formula (mahavakya), Yogena chittasya padena vacha. Even if you possess these two wealths, chitta and vacha, but your body is sick, in that state of sickness, you again cannot convey your experience to others. Maldm shareerasya cha vaidyakena. So thirdly, Patanjali laid down the foundation of ayurveda and made efforts to purify the three foremost resources of man.
The first means to purify chitta is known as ashtanga yoga. Ashtanga means eight divisions, eight components. These are known as: (i) yama, (ii) niyama, (iii) asana, (iv) pranayama, (v) pratyahara, (vi) dharana, (vii) dhyana, and (viii) samadhi. These are the eight divisions, eight steps of yoga. To climb these steps, firstly you have to place your foot on the first step and even that takes a great effort. But once you become stable in step one, then the rest of the process of advancing will become very easy.
Under the section of yamas, Maharishi Patanjali enumerates: ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha. So, the first of the yamas is ahimsa or non-violence. Most of the time we misinterpret non-violence as vegetarianism in today's language. This dietary restriction is not non-violence, but in the language of Patanjali its range is quite broad. Violence is done at three levels: by speech, by thought and by action. It may be that by your vegetarian diet you have withdrawn your contribution from the act of violence, but you continue violence or himsa by speech or by thought. Himsa by speech is easily recognizable, but himsa by thought is not easily perceived. It is often not even acknowledged and remains stored within one's heart as a deep-rooted samskara which cannot be eliminated.
Let us see how we commit violence by thought. Suppose you fall into some serious argument with somebody and the situation boils up to abuse and curses. Immediately, your mind says, "He has insulted me," and you curse him and think ill of him. Although your curse is not going to make anybody even sneeze, you have still inscribed a samskara of himsa in your deep subconscious, as a chitta vritti. This is also a type of .violence. Until you have purified the deepest samskaras from your subconscious, your speech will not be purified. If the mind and speech are not purified, then non-violence in the physical sense is just a superficial hoax. This type of ahimsa does not last long. To establish yourself in the yama of ahimsa,

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it has to be followed at all three levels.
Our ancient texts have formulated four stages or ashramas in life to establish ahimsa: (i) brahmacharya, (ii) grihastha, (iii) vanaprastha, and (iv) sannyasa. Out of these, the last one is the best; that is sannyasa ashram. The greatest pledge that a sannyasin makes is the raising of his hands and saying, Abhayam sarvabhutebhyo dadamya etat vritam mam. He pledges to make all beings fearless from his side by following the path of ahimsa at all three levels of mind, speech and body. This pledge, the greatest pledge, is called sannyasa. It is also known as tyaga, renunciation.
Today we are celebrating the Tyag Jubilee of the most respected master, Paramahamsa Satyananda Maharaj. To me, tyaga and sannyasa are synonymous. Actually speaking, there is no type of renunciation greater than sannyasa. When a person has taken a pledge to give the assurance of fearlessness to the entirety of existence, there can be no greater renunciation
than this.
These days, we see many people who have just parroted a few shastras, a few principles, and call themselves great speakers and scholars without realizing the truth. They can speak on any topic you give them by using some common generalizations. When you feel their heart, however, it is all empty. The root cause of this hypocrisy is that people have forgotten what renunciation is, what to renounce, how to renounce, and what the experiences after renunciation are.
Due to this lack of experience, all the precious jewels of spiritualism have been confined superficially to the tongue only. If a person today takes the pledge of ahimsa and starts practising it, then sannyasa has begun in its real sense, but it would take at least 30 or 40 years to be established in this practice. Lord Sri Krishna says you must keep this aim in your mind, and go on moving ahead. Aneka janma sansiddhim tato yati paramgatim. This jouney may take not only one lifetime but thousands of lifetimes to reach the final destination. So, even if you master ahimsa at the level of speech only, in this lifetime, then it is no less an achievement. By this alone, you can create a global revolution.
So, only one step of yoga on a superficial level has such great potential that it can bind the whole globe into one unit. If yoga really begins to reach our deeper levels of consciousness,

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then it is possible for one person to rule the world. He can make the whole world fearless. One person can transform the world consciousness. Today we only pray for universal peace in our shanti mantras. It is just a superficial effort, but once this power of yoga and renunciation begins to unfold within our psyche, then this ephemeral existence has no capacity to move away from our resolution.
Therefore, yoga is not an ordinary thing; it is a miraculous science. The great man who has enlightened the spark of desire to understand this science within our hearts has really done a great work. This ancient science of yoga was buried in the womb of the earth, Ratnagarbhaa vasundharan, for the last 2000 to 3000 years. This knowledge was in a seed state, a potential state, not revealing itself. Very rarely such a sage is born, after a gap of centuries, who ignites the spark in the sleeping human consciousness. After seeing this, man begins to search again in the enveloping darkness. Where is that spark that we had seen? Where can we find it? How can we make it a flame? Arousing such enquiries in the minds of men is not a simple achievement. To the sage who evoked such a great curiosity in our minds, most respected Paramahamsa Satyananda, unto his holy feet I dedicate this humble offering of my short speech.
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SRIMATI KRISHNA SAHI
Smt. Krishna Sahi, daughter of the late Mahesh Prasad Sinha, Freedom fighter and Minister, is a gold medallist in Law. She resided in England with her husband from 1961-65 and has since worked as Minister for State in the areas of Human Resource Development, Water Resources, Culture and, more recently, Industrial Development in the Central Cabinet. She has special interests in education and communications. She is also one of the staunch supporters of the propagation of yoga for the welbeing of the nation.

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YOGA AND HUMAN VALUES
Srimati Krishna Sahi
I am very fortunate today to have the chance to address the honorable people of the spiritual world, on this occasion of the World Yoga Convention which we are celebrating in the forth of the Paramahamsa Satyananda Tyag Golden Jubilee. I am delighted to participate in this event. It makes me feel joyous to see a large number of Indian and foreign delegates coming to participate in the convention. I am sure that they will derive full benefit from this opportunity and spread the message of universal brotherhood throughout the entire world.
Yoga is a complete way of living. For centuries, it has made a great contribution to humanity through its methods of physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual development. Yoga has retained its relevance and has proven its usefulness in modern life. It will certainly be very helpful in alleviating the stress related problems prevailing in modern society.
Present amongst us is a highly honored and respected personality, Paramahamsa Satyanandaji. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have him with us. This Bihar School of Yoga is his gift to humanity which is now spreading the teachings of yoga around the globe.
The development of human civilization, mixed with technical advancement and the cultural heritage, has presented a new challenge to mankind. The world is struggling in an effort to establish peace. On this occasion, we have to consider how we can inculcate peace, happiness and a higher level of thinking into modern life. In any society, the sense of pleasure is intimately related to the contemporary social values.
The saints of our ancient Indian culture have been inspiring and giving direction to society by adopting the values of simplicity and high thinking into their lives. Similar kinds of thoughts have also been adopted by the west. But in the last few years, technical and economic advancements have created an upheaval in the whole world, resulting in a progressive shift of attention away from human values. In this wave, stimulated
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by political and social situations, the importance of economic individualism has surfaced, ignoring the rest of the society.
Unfortunately, achievements are valued in terms of accumulated wealth and suppressive power over others. The development and expansion of technology has blocked human interaction. Man cannot match his steps with these technical advancements and social changes, and this is why he is sinking into internal conflict within himself. One section of the society is running greedily after money and power. On the other hand,
section of the society is far below that level. This division is creating turmoil in the society.
Today, the time has come for us to bridge the gaps and remove the discrepancies in the society, and bring the suppressed sectors back into the mainstream of life. In this situation, the role of yoga has further increased. Extensive acceptance and application of yoga can bring stability, purpose and self-contentment into human life. After understanding these facts, many western countries, Russia and other states of the former U.S.S.R. have done extensive research into yoga, whereby the physical, mental and social benefits have been scientifically shown.
Some people still think that yoga is just physical exercise to keep the body fit. Physical fitness is the first advantage of yoga. The second is mental balance, and thirdly, and most importantly, is self-realization. I do not want to go into great depth here, but what I want to say is that acceptance of yoga can bring peace and harmony into individual and social life. In today's turbulent world, the importance of yoga increases day by day.
We are fortunate to have amongst us many leading scholars, doctors and realized yogis. I hope that in the days to come, many useful suggestions and thoughts will be put forward, so that the people of the world may receive the benefit. I am confident that you will also discuss how to carry the revolution of yoga all over the globe in the most efficient and practical way. This convention will bring us new ways of guiding misguided people through yoga to show them how they can lead better lives.
Today, the youth of our country, who are the leaders of tomorrow, also need the proper direction and guidance which is possible through yoga. The role of the Bihar School of Yoga
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in this respect is very important. This convention and this school have the responsibility of shining the torch of yoga onto the dark horizons of today's world.
I am highly impressed by Paramahamsaji's message and I appreciate the efforts made by the Bihar School of Yoga to spread this message. Today is a historical day as we have people of all religions and nations present here in this historical and auspicious land of Munger. I convey to this Paramahamsa Satyananda Tyag Golden Jubilee and World Yoga Convention the very best of my wishes, and pray for its success. Sri Aurobindo has said and Paramahamsa Satyananda has also said that yoga is the culture of tomorrow and of the times to come. Yoga is our tradition and our tradition is our culture.
Yogah karmasu kaushalam, shareeram satva sangyam ca vyaadhih namo sayo matah tatha sukhaanaam yogastu sukhaanaam karanam Ramah.
Jaya Hind, Jaya Bharat

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DR. A. R. KIDWAI
His Excellency, the Governor of Bihar and Chancellor of the ten Bihar universities is a learned statesman who has equal command of both the sciences and the arts. An academic, scientist and administrator, he is now serving his second term as Governor of Bihar. Sincerely interested in the welfare of the state and of its people, he is an out-and-out gentleman whose doors are always open to those in need. All in all, he is a gentle, cultured and serene personality.

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THE NEED FOR YOGA IN THE MODERN WORLD
Dr. A. R. Kidwai
I am delighted to be here, for the reason that I am able to pay my tribute to Paramahamsa Satyananda, who by his sacrifice, hard work, sincere efforts and dedication, has established the Bihar School of Yoga and has taken yoga to such heights that its teachings are now resonating throughout the globe and innumerable people are deriving benefit from it. This achievement is a direct result of his personal involvement in the development and propagation of the yogic science. It is, therefore, only right that we all offer our respects to Paramahamsaji on the eve of the golden jubilee of his renunciation, and pray that the institute further expands and meets with all success in the achievement of its aims and objectives. Therefore, today during this celebration of the golden jubilee of his dedicated life, we pay our tribute, and we wish that the arena of this institution that he has established should be widened further in the future.
As the desire for learning the science of yoga is increasing day by day at great speed, the University Grants Commission has decided to establish an Indian Center of Yogic Studies at Bhagalpur University, primarily due to the fact that the center will be able to receive the inspiration from Paramahamsa Satyananda and the required assistance from the Bihar School of Yoga. This Center of Yogic Studies at Bhagalpur University, Bihar, will propagate the philosophy of yoga in a correct, acceptable and scientific way, so that humanity may derive peace from its essence.
The science of yoga has passed the test of thousands of years of trials and refinement. The great rishis and munis of this land, who renounced the world, studied, meditated and thought upon it in isolation for years together, have developed this science over the milleniums. Therefore, this science is based upon thousands of years of intellectual research by
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many great sages and saints who have actually lived and practised it.
The importance of yoga has further increased in today's world, as life, having become materialistic, has begun to create literally every type of problem. The human being is at a loss to find its real meaning. Life in the fast moving world has created many pitfalls and is denying contentment, the very purpose of a rich and full life. In the competitive world, humans lose their balance, mental peace and harmony. Therefore, in order to give their stressed souls a way out, this yogic science is greatly needed. Yoga gives man sound health and produces a state of physical and mental harmony. The practices of meditation produce a state of mental balance, whereby the practitioner begins to understand himself, his physical and spiritual needs, and the importance of establishing balance between his material and spiritual life.
As a result of yogic practices, including meditation, he gradually develops concentration, one-pointedness and devotion. He can then think more clearly, in order to objectively analyze his problems and needs. He can clearly understand the meaning of life, why we are born, what the aim of our existence is and what we have come to achieve. In this way he achieves objectivity in life which gives him such peace, relaxation and tranquility, that he is able to address the issues in life more rationally.
The chaos in today's changing world, the problems of the space age, the nuclear age, are escalating so rapidly, that people of today's world do not get a chance to relax and experience peace and contentment. Man's soul is. uncared for and unhappy. The importance of yoga is greater now than ever before in solving the problems of the modern world. We hope that people, not only in India but in the entire world, can be prevented from deteriorating due to the materialistic way of life and its allied pressures. If we want to adopt higher objectives and principles in life, better rules and regulations in the society, then we need to recognize that yoga is the way that leads humanity to happiness and progress, whereby people can live together with the feeling of universal brotherhood and mutual understanding.
This has been a great achievement of Paramahamsa Satyananda, and today, when we all gather to celebrate his Tyag Golden Jubilee, we pay our sincere tribute to him. He has
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shown the nation, in fact the whole world, a path which leads to universal peace and happiness.
Although Paramahamsa Satyananda has renounced everything in order to further propagate his philosophy and teachings and to spread his mission, we pray that he will continue to inspire the institution of the Bihar School of Yoga and through it the Indian Center of Yogic Studies at Bhagalpur University, so that the yogic science can come to the forefront of the world. This will not only give us honor and recognition but also help to establish peace and happiness throughout the whole world.
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SWAMI CHIDANANDA SARASWATI
Swami Chidananda Saraswati was born in 1916 and is the President of the Divine Life Society founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati, his guru. Service to the sick is his great joy, and his pioneering work in the field of leprosy relief has earned him the praise of both the government and general public. He is a linguist and author of many books on yoga. Acclaimed by many as a great saint and yogi, Swami Chidananda has been travelling extensively all over the world disseminating the healing message of yoga.
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THE DIVINE INDWELLING PRESENCE
His Holiness Swami Chidananda Saraswati
Let thy presence be everywhere. Thou who art within and without, above and below and all around us. Thou who interpenetrates every cell of our being. Thou who art the eye of our eye, ear of our ear, breath of our breath, heart of our heart, the very life of our life. Bless us God to be aware of thy presence here and now. This is all we ask of thee. All the beings of this world, in the east and west, north and south, may they all be aware of thy presence always. May peace and goodwill abide among individuals, among groups, communities and nations. This is our earnest prayer. Lokoah samastaah sukhino bhavantu. Om shaanti, shaanti, shaanti.
Peace, peace unto all beings in the universe and the radiant immortal souls assembled together here in the presence of God, in his invisible, all-pervading presence. Peace be unto you all. May there be peace of that being who dwells within you. Those who have experienced that being have declared themselves to be prashaantam, calm at all levels. The Lord has revealed his universal, all-pervading, transcendental form within the physical form of all beings. Lord Krishna says in the teachings of divine knowledge in the Gita, Gudakeshah sarva bhootashaya sthitah. In these words he declares this very fact. Our vedic tradition, which is also termed as Hinduism, derives its original source, its base, from the literature of the Vedas. The Vedas are an ocean of knowledge. These ideal teachings and methods of obtaining knowledge are our ancient heritage. The essence of all that knowledge is summarised in the form of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita.
In that Gita, Lord Krishna has clearly preached that divinity is not a heavenly, far-spaced element, that it is nearer than the nearest, imperishable, immortal element present within you. In his blissful, divine speech he tells us, "O Arjuna, you are a special person, a yogi, a victor over Indra, the king of the gods. So, my friend, my beloved disciple, I tell you that I
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live within all beings in the form of their immortal souls." In this manner, he reveals a sacred, spiritual truth, the most secret, most subtle, subtler than the subtlest truth. The permanent, eternal, spiritual fact that God is the indwelling, divine presence in everything that exists is the essence of the great vedantic philosophy. The same truth is revealed on the basis of personal experience by the sages and seers of the vedic, upanishadic era as Sarvam khalvidam brahma or Ekameva adviteeya brahma: Brahma is the only one, there is no di They not only declared it, but also formulated a way to reveal that state of experience, by which we can perceive it ourselves. They make their gift to humanity complete in the sense that everyone of you sitting here can adopt a beautifully systematic philosophy in your life, and that is called yoga shastra. The teachings of yoga as a complete and systematic science are available in our holy land of India as a unique treasure inherited from the past.
Although this philosophy may not be available in such a systematic way elsewhere, all the saints, sages, seekers, renunciates and devotees that ever existed in the human world have all been yogis. There has been a spiritual way of life in every religion and tradition. Seekers, whether they be Buddhist, Jain, Jewish, Zarathustrian, Muslim or Christian, have existed in every religion. Everyone of them has entered deep into the spiritual dimension of his own religion as a seeker of truth and has experienced that divine reality as God, the creator of the universe. They all have followed their own different paths, using different methods to obtain their spiritual experiences, doing chanting, meditation, or following a lifestyle as devotees. Finally, as a result of their efforts, they have experienced liberation from all sufferings, and attained bliss and peace.
However, none of them knew the word 'yoga'. Even without knowing yoga, they have all been blessed. Whether they are Muslim Sufi saints calling that state by the name of Allah, or Zoroastrian saints calling it Ahura Mazda, or from the Hassidic sect of Judaism, everywhere there have been many great spiritual. luminaries. They have allo attained the same experience of great transcendental reality that immediately bestows upon them the experiences of fearlessness, freedom, peace, joy. In Christianity, the religious monasticism
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within the context of Roman Catholicism has produced many mystics of high caliber, for example, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Avila, and many such others. Amongst the saints of the Protestant religions who were also called heretics, there have been people like Emmanuel Swedenborg, Meister Eckhardt and so on. Anyone who lives a life of intense renunciation, intense aspiration to know the supreme reality, great devotion and dedication, intense prayer and inner contemplation, will attain the light. .
If any individual soul, jeevaatmaa, born into this trap of worldliness, by his efforts successfully establishes a link with the transcendental reality, para mantmaa, he shall be called a free man, a yogi. Anyone who thinks, sees, researches or analyzes a little on these visible, worldly illusions will realize the deception behind the mortal objective matter. If he realizes that this world is nothing but an illusion of name, form and object, that this is all vanity of vanities, that everything is a momentarily visible scene, which one day will all vanish, that everthing is perishable with a beginning and an end, that it is all false and incomplete, that none of it can help anyone in attaining realization of truth, then by feeling so, he shifts the focus of his efforts. to the search for truth.
Such people accept the life of renunciation. Throughout history they have started to search for the reality, the imperishable truth, the immortal element behind this illusive deception. In this search for anadi-anant, without any beginning or end, the continuum of consciousness, they strove tirelessly. By intense renunciation and austerity, they reached that state, and after attaining it they turned back to humanity and said, "Look, we have found such and such a state, and after attaining it we have aquired undisturbed tranquility. All the limitations and bonds have ceased to exist; our consciousness has become universal. What we have achieved you can also achieve, because this is the birthright of every human being."
The Bible says, "God created man in His own image." The Koran of the Muslims says, "Man is not God; man is different from God, but man is illuminated by the light of God." The light of Allah, the light of God, the light of the supreme being shines within this body temple. Within the heart shrine of this moving temple, there shines the light of God. As Swami Rasajananda from the Ramakrishna Mission has just quoted in
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Swami Vivekananda's message to the modern man: “Man, you are not just a man: you are divinity incarnate with the unbroken element of consciousness. But that divinity is in its potential form, so awaken ye that potential."
Awakening of the latent potential is the aim, the personal duty of every human being towards himself, towards his God, towards his culture. We must fulfill this duty by not allowing that light to be neglected, or ignored, and by awakening that light and making our life a radiant process of manifesting that light in our every word, thought, sentiment and action. Then our whole life will be filled with divine qualities. This is our problem: we are potentially divine, but we are not making any effort to awaken that divinity. Our only medium is this inferior mind filled with desires, anger, ego, laziness, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and attachment. We are nothing but its slave. These clutches of the mind have made us forget our real nature. We spend our lives expressing those inferior qualities, impurities, shortcomings and weaknesses of the mind. This is our mistake. But once we know the problem, we will know the solution also.
Once you realize that because you are creating a lot of negative emotions within yourself you are unhappy and you are spreading a lot of unhappiness and darkness everywhere, then you will know that because you do this, all this unhappiness is occuring. So if you stop doing it, all this will also stop. Then you will begin to act in another way. You will begin to feel that you no longer wish to make youself a slave and an instrument in the hands of the lower mind and senses. You will no longer allow the mind and its weakness to dominate you, to force you to live a small life, only to manifest and express that. You will know that the mind is not your real nature.
Henceforth, you will think, "My real nature is great, grand, glorious and magnanimous. I am divine, being a child of God, and from now onwards I will not link myself with my mind, its vagaries and mundane activities. Through my divine link, I will open up a channel and make God's divinity flow into me unceasingly. I shall make my life, mentally, verbally and physically, one with the higher reality. By his company I shall clean the dirt of my old karmas and mistakes and become a radiant center of shining divinity, manifesting peace. I will not be a curse but a boon for the world." By such a decision, if we make
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our lives yogic, establish ourselves in the yogic state and spend our lives in the yogic style, then only will the world be benefited.
Through his renunciation and austerities, our beloved, His Holiness Paramahamsa Satyananda, has given his great gift of yoga to the mankind of today's world. You must take up this idea and make your life yogic. Paramahamsa Satyananda says, "Let your life be a yogic life." Similarly, Lord Krishna said, Yogastha kuru karmaani. Do your duty in the field of your work, and let the final state be the state of yogic consciousness. Between you and Allah, between you and God, between you and Ahura Mazda, between you and Jehovah, let there be an unbroken relation. Whichever is the power, by whatever name you call it - Tao, Siddha or the state of an adept, Nirvana, Brahma, God, Parabrahma - let there be an unbroken relation. There is one imponderable, cosmic, all full, all perfect principle. It was existing when nothing else existed. When no creation had been made, there was neither religion nor church nor mosque nor. synagogue. No scriptures, no place of personal administration, no prophet existed. Man himself was not yet created at that time. What was his name? To whom did he belong? There has been this sole power always, even before creation took place. Wherever you may be, in whichever field of duty, work in co-operation with this sole power.
So, Lord Krishna said, Yogastha kuru karmaani sangam tyaktwaa dhananjaya. Immediately reject, the association of whatever stands in the way of your continuously experiencing an unbroken relationship with the God within. Immediately reject the association of anything that comes between you and God, between you and the supreme reality. If you are thus established in yoga, nothing can touch you. In the midst of all changes, you will have supreme peace. This means that yoga will provide you with this situation.
Diten dukhen guruna api na vichaalayati. Sorrow can make the greatest attacks, but you won't be afflicted even a bit. You shall be calm. This is why it is said that this culture of yoga is the culture of tomorrow. Prophetic were these words of Paramahamsa Satyananda, and he has also said, "I see clearly that yoga will become a mighty force in the future and will change the course of world events." These are all prophetic visions and shall be proved true. One who leads a yogic way of
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life and lives in the real world is not affected by anything. This is why the Sufi saints of Islam have said:
Agar dil diya to is qadar parvaredigar dilde. ki ranj kee ghadee ko bhi khooshi se gujaar den.
With the right inner disposition, with happiness and joy, I shall be able to tide over even an hour of sorrow. In the same way, Nanakdeva says, "Who is victorious in the world? He who does not consider human suffering to be a suffering". Even if sorrow comes, laugh, enjoy, because you are established in that tattwa which is anandamaya, full of bliss. That supreme being is of the quintessence of pure bliss: Anandam Brahma iti divyajnanat, and yoga can only enable you to establish yourself in that supreme state.
This internal condition is the gift of yoga. This is why the inspiration has been given to the world, to mankind, by Paramahamsa Satyananda to follow a yogic way of life. By his renunciation, the gift of peace and well being has been given to the world. In the name of this great Paramahamsa, in whose honor this four day World Yoga Convention has been organized, I pray:
May the grace of the Lord give the fullest 100% success to this great International Yoga Convention, held under the auspices of the golden Jubilee of renunciation of Paramahamsa Satyananda, the founder of this great Bihar School of Yoga and the International Yoga Fellowship Movement. May this convention have full success and may God continue to shower his divine grace. May our beloved, holy master, Swami Sivananda Maharaj, continue to keep his protective hands and mercy over us, and may he continue to shower his choicest blessings upon the Bihar School of Yoga, upon all the yogashrams and the yoga mitra mandals, and upon the proceedings of this convention.
Out of this convention and out of the future work of the Bihar School of Yoga and the International Yoga Fellowship Movement, may there come about a new era for the evolution of mankind throughout the world. Through yoga and through knowing oneness of spirit, may there come about a spirit of brotherhood, a spirit of unity and harmony, a spirit of mutual love and goodwill in all people. May the twenty-first century not repeat the mistakes of the twentieth century, which gave us two global wars and so much suffering and disturbance. May
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the twenty-first century be a new era through yoga, the 'culture of tomorrow'. Through the blessings of all the great saints of east and west, ancient as well as modern, may humanity have peace and universal welfare, and may the whole of humanity work together, hand in hand, to bring about a better world of love, peace and God-consciousness. This is my humble prayer at the feet of the Lord at this moment. I thank the organizers for having given me this wonderful privilege which humbly accept as a servant of Swami Sivananda. Having been given the privilege to express myself on this august occasion of the inaugural session of the International Yoga Convention, on the Tyag Mahotsav of Paramahamsa Satyananda, I thank you all very much. May God bless you. Namo Narayan. Namo Narayan. Namo Narayan.

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SRI MAHAVIR PRASAD
Dynamic and outspoken by temperament, Sri Mahavir Prasad is an engineer turned administrator. At present he is the Collector and District Magistrate of Munger. A talented member of the Indian Adniinistrative Service, he is a man of both ideas and action. With an open heart and mind he has been practising yoga for the last twenty years and is a staunch believer in this ancient science and its efficacy in balancing and elevating the human personality.
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ABHARODGAR
Sri Mahavir Prasad
The ground on which you are all seated is the auspicious, sanctified land of Munger, the beautiful garland of the Ganga which constantly flows resplendently to wash off all our sins. This is the sanctified land where sage Mudgal used to perform austerities with his disciples. This is the divine land where Rama and Lakshman rested after killing the demon Taraka, representing the negative qualities of the lower mind. This is the land of renunciation where Sita had to undergo the severe test of entering the fire, and Lakshman had to pierce the ground with his arrow to bring out water to cool that fire. This is the land of generosity, where the most charitable King Karna, had his seat. To this historical land of Munger, I welcome you all on behalf of the citizens of Munger and the reception committee. You can imagine the magnitude of vibrations here, that even despite such a large gathering, there is so much peace and quietness. How grand, how glorious, how unprecedented, how wonderful, how undefinable is this. Before thanking anybody, I would like to thank Mother Nature, who uninvited, sent us her message and blessed us in the early hours of the morning in the form of beautiful showers of rain.
I am grateful to our chief guest, the respected Governor. He is not only an efficient administrator, but also an eminent scholar of science, in particular, the science of organic chemistry. By his gracious presence this convention has been honored. Respected Mrs. Krishna Sahiji is a compassionate lady politician, an efficient administrator and a very kind person. Despite her busy schedule, she has given her valuable time for which we are all grateful.
The race we are running, which we call our life, starts from zero and ends in a big zero. In the midst of that race, gatherings of this type wherein we experience the company of sages, saints and yogis, give us momentary relaxation, which is blissful and rejuvenating.

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I express my thanks also to the acharya from the Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta, Swami Rasajanandaji. The mission, under the guidance of the head, Swami Lokeshwaranandaji, has done great work in the public interest, especially in the fields of medical aid and spiritual enlightenment. Efforts of this kind show a path not only to society, but also to the nation and to the whole world. For this, I thank them from my heart.
Swami Poonyanandaji has just discussed yoga and dharma. This is very true, that violence does not end by adopting vegetarianism. If you injure somebody physically, he can be treated, but the injuries caused by speech and mind are incurable. Therefore, to follow non-violence, we must transform and purify our speech and mind.
Now I extend my welcome to all the delegates from far-off places who were tolerant and bore the difficult journey. I am sorry for not being able to give you as much comfort as I had wanted to. Our hearts are large but our resources are limited. Despite these limitations, we have tried our very best to serve you. Please excuse us for any deficiencies.
I express my thanks to the citizens of Munger, scholars, intellectuals and the press for supporting us in organizing this grand event. I thank the people who even vacated their houses to accommodate our guests, and principals of schools who vacated their classrooms for us. I thank the engineers of this place who arranged for proper roads, water supply and electricity. I thank the doctors whose team is ever ready to serve you. I also thank all the ministers, members of Parliament, members of the Legislative Assembly and members of the municipal council and celebrities, who encouraged us by their letters and phone calls.
Now I want to thank a special person who was always present everywhere in the organization of this convention, but whenever it comes to taking the credit, he is seen on the last bench. He is none other than the great man, great yogi and saint, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda. Only due to his extraordinary capabilities was this mammoth celebration organized and the credit of its sucess goes only to him.
I also want to thank all the friends and fellows who are associated with the International Yoga Fellowship Movement and who are extending their services voluntarily for days and
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nights without any expectation. Since it is not possible to thank everyone individually, I thank everybody together. Again, I pay my respects to all those who have helped us directly or indirectly in making this convention a grand success. Thank you, victory to India, victory to the world.

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DAY ONE AFTERNOON SESSION Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
President, Yoga Vedanta Society, South America
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SWAMI SIVAPREMANANDA SARASWATI
Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati is a disciple of Paramguru Swami Sivananda, who served in the Guru Ashram when Paramahamsa Satyananda was there. He belongs to the family of the renowned social reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Since the year 1962, at the order of Paramguru, he has been spreading the teachings of yoga in North and South America. He is now based in Uruguay, Chile and Argentina and frequently travels to other South America countries and to Europe.
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UPGRADING THE MORAL ETHICS
OF INDIA Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
First of all I want to wish great success for this World Yoga Convention, because it is a recognition of a lifetime's dedication and hard work of my gurubhai Paramahamsa Satyananda Maharaj, whom I have known in Sivananda Ashram, living with Paramguru Swami Sivananda Maharaj from 1945 to 1957. In 1957 he left on a parivrajaka life for nearly nine years before he came to Munger and organized this institution in 1964, the rudiments of Bihar School of Yoga, as I understand.
I left India. Paramguru Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj's instructions to me were to go to America in 1961. I have propagated yoga in South America in three countries. The Sivananda Yoga Vedanta center has three institutions in South America affiliated with the Divine Life Society. Because I am a senior monk of the Divine Life Society and directly related to the headquarters in Rishikesh, I represent these three institutions which are in Buenos Aires (Argentina) Montevideo (Uruguay) and Santiago (Chile).
My longterm experience of Paramahamsa Satyananda, for twelve years, makes me very close to him. We were very close personally and even now we are as close as ever before. So, I wish him great success with all my heart. His spirit of tyaga (renunciation) and tapasyaa (austerity), is unsurpassed and beyond belief, because at the height of his success he renounced everything which he had created and rededicated himself for the highest spiritual goal. There stands a great school, now known universally as a great center of learning of yogic knowledge, a great institution for medical research through yoga, and a great institution for the service to the poor through the Sivananda Math, which are the fruition of his labor of love for the mission. This was his nature even when I knew him in the 1950's, so it warms my heart.
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In his successor, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, I don't think we can find a better organizer, a more efficient leader of the mission. So, I wish Paramahamsa Niranjanananda and his great institution, in its three aspects of Bihar School of Yoga, Yoga Research Foundation and Sivananda Math, all glory, all success in the decades to come, all through the ages.
Now, I want to share with you a personal feeling. In my childhood I knew a different kind of India, there was definitely more discipline, relatively speaking, more honesty. However, every time I have come back to India over the past 33 years, I find more and more indiscipline, and less and less honesty, responsibility, and cleanliness. Yoga has a great deal to teach in this regard and this should be the primary mission of this institution. Through courses in the Bihar School of Yoga, and through volunteers moving out all over India, it will be possible to teach the people how to live a life which is more hygienic, more responsible and which is filled with a greater sense of duty.
The soul of religion is ethics, although religion is understood to be an emotional thing. Of course, it is a question of faith, but faith is not something which is blind. Faith means commitment, dedication, and spiritual aspiration. If there is no dedication, no commitment to the practice of spiritual ideals, it is merely emotionalism which you cannot call real faith or real belief.
The basis of yoga is Yogah aachaarasukaushalam, which means the highest sense of duty. The real meaning of dharma is not rituals. Rituals are necessary as they form a cohesive bond for society, for the sake of group identity, but that is not necessarily religion. Religion is dharma and dharma is integrity, righteousness and duty. These are the three meanings of dharma. The word dharma comes from the root dri, which means 'to hold'; it is understood as the foundation on which everything is built. This is the meaning of dharma as it is explained in the Bhagavad Gita. The highest sense of duty is religion. If you do not have a very high sense of duty, you may do all kinds of rituals and sing all kinds of kirtans, but these won't help if they are merely a mechanical form of devotion or emotionalism. So the highest form of religion is integrity and
duty.
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The third meaning of religion is, of course, dharma, but as it is emphasized time and again, the highest form of religion is duty and integrity. You must have a basic sense of duty, together with dedication and commitment, and some fundamental ideas that you must be honest first of all to yourself, you must be honest with each other, you must not deceive anyone. There are people who try to take advantage of circumstances in order to cheat other people, and they are totally irreligious. They may do many acts of devotion, but they have no religion whatsoever. It is generally thought that India is a spiritual country, but this is a total myth and a total lie.
Previously India was a spiritual country. Previously India was a tapobhumi, but now India is not a tapo bhumi, now India is not a spiritual country. Until the 11th century of this era, as you see from the writings of foreign travellers, such as the Chinese traveller Huan Sung or the Italian Marco Polo, there were cities where doors were not locked, people left their doors open, there was no stealing. These two travellers were astonished that the people were so honest and so decent. But what do you see today? India is a religious country and that is alright. It was a spiritual country earlier and now it should be a spiritual county again.
This should be the fundamental mission of this instituiton, to develop a sense of duty, responsibility, reliability, a sense of ethics. Ethics or morality is not a mode of conduct at a given period of time in a particular society: Ethics is the heart of religion. If there is no truth, there is no religion.
As I told you, dharma is righteousness, truthfulness, integrity. That is what is called aachaara. Achara is conduct which is based on a great sense of duty, a great sense of responsibility and integrity, tempered with compassion. Remember please, these are fundamental necessities that we need to teach in all our schools, from the primary level, and at a more and profound level, up to the university stage.
I am not speaking of philosophical, abstruse teachings. These are, of course, available in the philosophical courses in Indian colleges. You have western philosophy and eastern philosophy, but philosophy is not so much the need of this country. Right in the primary school, in the secondary school, in the high school and colleges, and in the universities, you will need to know what is truth, what is responsibility, what is
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duty. You will need to know the fundamental conduct. You have, therefore, a basic need, which is a selectively chosen ethical and moral foundation of life. You cannot find a greater source of such knowledge, of such a sense of duty, as in the Bhagavad Gita.
I am not saying that you have to practise all the teachings, but choose the basic morals. You cannot find a greater knowledge of human nature than in the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Pancha Tantras, and the Puranas. In the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas, we have a source, an immense storehouse of knowledge about the complexities of human nature, its weaknesses, its potentialities, its obligations. As a human being, how should we live, what should be our conduct, how should one be a maryadaa purushottama? These things are not taught in our schools, and it is a real shame. In the name of secularization, we have neglected this.
Now, in western countries, in some schools, you have obligatory courses either on religion or ethics. According to the student's religion, there are courses on the Catholic religion, on the Protestant religion, on the Jewish religion, or even on the Islamic religion. If your parents do not want to choose a religion for you, if they do not believe in a particular religion, you have other courses in ethics to choose from.
Where is there in our schools a training in our basic culture, 'our basic Sanatana Dharma? Where do you find knowledge of human nature, knowledge of ethics? The Pancha Tantra is probably the first psychological work ever written. The Pancha Tantra, thousands of years old, describes the complexities of human nature, how human beings are capable of deceiving each other, and how they can redeem themselves from their nature. In the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavatam you have all the complexities of human nature, and yet the greatest spiritual ideals are described side by side.
So, we need to teach true religion, not emotionalism. Religion is not praying and jumping around. Religion tells you how to base your life on an understanding of spiritual ideals and the basis of such an understanding is what should be our aim, our goal. How to live and how to conduct ourselves must first be understood, so Yogah aachaarasukaushalam. Compassion, a sense of duty, integrity, responsibility, reliability, punctuality. If you do not have these, if you do not learn how
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to stop deceiving yourself and each other, there is no hope for this country. This is the basic message of yoga.
Then you have several other teachings, Yogah karmasukaushalam. The greatest duty is done through selfless service, the greatest duty is based on unselfish action. As for your own life, what are your obligations, what are your responsibilities? Then there is Yogah vichaaraasukaushalam an efficient understanding of what life is, discernment, an efficient capacity to sift, to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong.
A violent storm put an end to this lecture.
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Letter of Thanks
Nagpur
19-11-93 Respected Gurudev, My humble obeisance,
With your blessings I had the privilege of attending the World Yoga Convention which I shall always cherish. I never dreamt that I would be a witness to such a sensational and exhilarating experience. Now, when I close my eyes I am overwhelmed by the vision of the spectacle. Upon opening my eyes the world seems so small but when I close my eyes the same world expands, like your heart. Glory to you! All glories to your greatness in which every traveller finds rest.
Swamiji, since childhood I have been hearing the tales of Lord Krishna and how he protected the people of Gokul from Indra, by lifting the Govardhan mountain. I do not know what it must have been like, but certainly I had the opportunity of witnessing a similar situation. The surge of devotees from all corners of the globe, the silent crowd, the echoes of the Hari Om mantra vibrating everywhere, the sanctity of the geru color, and in the midst of all this the raging torrents of the thunderstorm that never seemed to abate. It appeared that the whole scene at the polo ground was saturated with the cleansing power of yoga created by you.
Such a huge convention in a place as small as Munger! And upon it was released such a torrent of rain. But at that time your patience, silence, prayers and unflinching faith kept everybody calm. The canopy over the people was the Govardhan mountain and, by merging everyone in your own color, you surpassed Lord Krishna himself!
In you, I witnessed the power of the guru. Though I thought myself a devotee, yet I tried to measure the potential of the guru. It is in my shallowness that I have underestimated his power. My guru is the god of gods. Therefore, I bow down to you again and again, I who am a fool and yet now knows how to express my sentiments and how to surrender myself unto you.
With humble obeisance, Your disciple, Yogamaya
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Newspaper Reports
The Tribune
WORLD CONVENTION ON YOGA OPENS
MUNGER, Nov. 1 (PTI) four-day world yoga convention began here today with an impassioned appeal to the people to adopt yoga to save mankind from annihilation.
said yoga had immense beneficial potential for today's society beset with innumerable problems and tension.
A
Speakers, including scholars from various walks of life, expressed the view that yoga alone could usher in lasting peace for all-round development of the world.
They were addressing the inaugural session of the convention held after a gap of 20 years by the internationally reputed Bihar School of Yoga here to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the renunciation of Paramahamsa Satyananda.
In his address, the Bihar Governor, Dr. A.R. Kidwai, announced that the University Grants Commission had agreed to start a full-fledged department of yoga in Bhagalpur University. He said the precepts and practices of yoga embodied the wisdom distilled through centuries of humanity's quest for a perfect life with spiritual, mental and physical harmony within oneself and also within the society and nature.

The Union Minister of State for Industries, Mrs. Krishna Sahi,
2.11.93
She said that the commercial and technological progress of the past few decades and the worldwide trend towards a market economy had pushed social and moral values to the background with consumerism becoming the dominant force.
She said the trend had been accentuated by political and social systems which seemed to reward commercialized individualism. She said the increasing concentration on wealth and power led to social disharmony. Yoga could make a significant contribution to ease such a situation as it was a complete way of life.
In his address, which kept 10,000 odd delegates from India and abroad spellbound, Swami Chidananda Saraswati of the Divine Life Society (Rishikesh) said that yoga promoted peace and goodwill among individuals, societies and even nations.
After inaugurating the convention by lighting the traditional lamp, he said yoga taught people to transcend all narrow barriers and achieve the ultimate in life.
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Yoga hinged on that cosmic power which people worshipped as the supreme being through different shades of opinions and religions.
The convention began with the chanting of prayers and struck a sublime note when the participants said "Om" in chorus thrice. Each time the echo died down in the holy Ganges flowing behind the sprawling yoga school atop the hillock.
Earlier, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, head of the Bihar School of Yoga, founded by his guru, Paramahamsa Satyanan- daji, welcomed the participants.
During the four day convention, eminent scholars, spiritual personalities, doctors and scientists, will deliver discourses.
Prominent among them are included the Vice Chancellor of the Delhi University, Professor U. Baxi; Justice Ranganath Mishra of Cuttack; Mme. Micheline Flak from France, Dr. H.S. Wasir, head of the department of cardiology, AIIMS, New Delhi; Dr. H.R. Nagendra, director of Vivekananda Yoga Institute, Bangalore, and yoga experts Dr. Swami Karmananda and Dr. Swami Shankardevananda, both from Australia.
The Hindustan Times Patna
2.11.93
HIGHLIGHT SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF YOGA : KIDWAI
MUNGER, Nov. 1 - Dr. A. R. Kidwai, Governor of Bihar and also the chancellor of the universities of Bihar, announced here toda that a broadbased . yoga center would be established soon under Bhagalpur University to promote the practice of yoga based on research. The scheme, he said, has already been sanctioned by the University Grants Commission.
Inaugurating the world yoga conference at the sprawling Polo Ground, Dr. Kidwai stressed the need to highlight the scientific and philosophical aspects of this oldest and traditional practice in this country which promised to become the new culture of the
world tomorrow. Yoga, he said, did not only help strike a balance between the mind and the body, but was also conducive to the development of a spiritual outlook so as to overcome worldly problems.
Mrs. Krishna Sahi, Union Minister of State for Industries, speaking on this occasion said that delegates drawn from different religions of the world who had congregated under the banner of yoga, had sufficiently proved Paramahamsa Satyananda's prophetic words, "Yoga is the culture of tomorrow”. Yoga, she said, had been handed down to mankind not as a religion, but as a way of life.

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this
Expressing concern over the automation of human conduct in age of technology, she hoped yoga could make a significant contribution towards bringing man to his natural self. This realization had already dawned upon the materialistic west, and the former Soviet Communists who were driven to intensive research confirming the beneficial effects of yoga.
The aroma of saffron is felt all around Munger town today and, especially at the Polo Ground, where a strange serenity prevails even in the presence of thousands of delegates who are seen promoting peace rather than discord. Delegates drawn from 32 foreign countries and from all parts of the country were earlier welcomed by Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, president of the Bihar School of Yoga.
Three spiritual stalwarts graced the inauguration session. They were Swami Chidananda Saraswati, president of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh; Swami Rasajanandaji, Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta, and Swami Poonyanandaji Maharaj, Mahamandaleshwar of Niranjani Akhara, Varanasi.
Swami Chidandananda asked the audience a very direct question as to whose sovereign domain the world was before man existed, what was the place of worship and who were the followers or the followed?
Vedanta, he said, had revealed that some supreme power existed even then and, in

fact, this power remains in everybody in the form of the soul. The science of yoga, he said was the way to realize this eternal truth. For achieving this, there could be so many ways as prescribed by so many religions, and one should not find contradictions in them. Swami Rasajanandaji recalled that Swami Vivekananda had said that every being was potentially divine. Man could realise his potentiality by the measure of yoga, he said.
Swami Poonyanandaji Maharaj of Varanasi, referring to Patanjali's philosophy of rajayoga, said that the modifications of the mind could be scientifically manipulated to attain full mental faculties.
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Intelligence was the only boon which gave man superiority over animals, and it was the goal of yoga to brush up intelligence and make it radiant. He called upon the delegates to explore yoga's 'tremendous powers, to bring unity among men having diverse and different faiths.
Yoga was all encompassing and not repugnant to anyone, he added. The efforts put in by Paramahamsa Satyananda in this direction would be appreciated by the generations to come in making yoga philosophy the basis for scientific pursuit and reprogramming of life.
Mr. Ashok Kumar, Divisional Commissioner and Chairman of the Reception Committee, hoped that the delegates

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would extract the best out of the deliberations which would take place in the scientific sessions during the next three days.
Mr. Mahavir Prasad, District Magistrate, Munger, proposed a vote of thanks. The Polo Ground
has turned into a mini township with facilities like banking, P&T services, canteens, medical clinics and what not. The District Administration has made elaborate arrangements for security, cleanliness and lighting.
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· DAY TWO
November 2, 1993

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DAY TWO
MID-MORNING SESSION Paramahamsa Niranjanananda Dr. N. R. Nagendra
Director of the Yoga Research Foundation
Vivekananda Kendra, Bangalore S. K. Vyavahare
Chairman and Project in Charge
Ghantali Yoga Mitra Mandal, Thane Dr. H. S. Wasir
Head, Department of Cardiology
All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
President Yoga-Vedanta Socity, South America

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GOD'S MERCY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Yesterday, we experienced God's grace in the form of rain. This rain was a special message for our spiritual upliftment. It was the message that humans must know that it is only God's mercy which can make the mind pure, clean and calm.
You must know that God laughs only once in a person's life, and he laughs hilariously. This happens when the person goes to God and tells him about his plans for the future. "O God, I have planned to do this." This is the only occasion when God laughs. He says, "Fine. Let's see how successful it will be!" Then His causeless mercy, His guarding hand is removed.
God's mercy, God's consideration is topmost in a person's life. However, it is possible that under the influence of ego or pride, of his purushartha, a person may forget God for a few moments. When a person does this, God moves further from him.
However, the protecting hand of God is behind this convention. It was God's inspiration that enabled the volunteers and the members of the managing committee to work throughout the night. They arranged for chairs, removed the wet straw and soaked carpets, and reinstated the pandals. We have given a good sign to God that we deserved His mercy, because we showed that we were prepared to go to any extent for it. I bow to such workers who put all their hearts into invoking God's inspiration, blessings and strength, so as to perform purushartha and God's work, Bahujan hittaya bahujan sukhaya, for the benefit of many, for the welfare of many. Now we can tell the world with pride that faith is alive in the hearts of men and women.
This is faith. This is belief. We ourselves were introduced to our own faith within ourselves. You can see that the work is still going on. People are still spreading the dry straw and the carperts. This is a mass yagna. It is a mass sankalpa which certainly will be fulfilled. The prayer and the belief is, "O God, let
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it rain, let it surely rain, do not stop the rain. But, if you rain, rain in the mind, rain in the heart, so that all the impurities within us get washed away. If you wish to rain outside, then rain after the fifth of November, not now."
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DR. H. R. NAGENDRA
Dr. H. R. Nagendra is a pioneer yoga reseacher to whom goes the credit of bringing the scientific aspect of yoga to the attention of the modern world. At present he is the Director of the Yoga Research Foundation at the Vivekananda Center in Bangalore. He was educated as an engineer but is now the editor of a magazine called Yoga Sudha. His research findings are published in well known science magazines throughout the world. As an intellectual and a Research Foundation Principal, Dr. Nagendra is invited to the most prestigious universities around the globe to deliver his honorable speeches.
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TOTAL APPROACH TO YOGA AS DERIVED FROM THE TAITTIRIYA UPANISHAD AND THE YOGA VASHISHTHA
Dr. H. R.Nagendra
Greetings to you all from Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of this land. We are extremely happy that this wonderful conference has been organized by the Bihar School of Yoga, under the guidance of Paramahamsa Niranjanananda.
In this presentation I would like to bring to you the basis of the total approach to yoga that we have been using to make yoga a socially relevant science for modern man. We are all aware of the grand contributions of science and technology in the modern era. The breakthrough in research science during the last four centuries has brought us to the level today where we understand everything about this physical universe. Those students of science may recall that it was four centuries ago that Newton and Descartes started the ball rolling. They said. that this world is so infinite, so sophisticated, that we cannot understand the reality behind it in one stroke.
So, let us start with things that are very, very simple, down to earth, concrete physical things of this universe. Once we complete that, then probably we can advance to more subtle things. It took us four hundred years to reach the state where we understand that this entire physical universe is nothing but energy. Probably thirty years back, we thought that there are two building bricks of this physical universe, energy and matter. Thanks to Einstein we know that it is energy and today we consider matter as bottled up energy. Having understood the structure of this physical universe, we also understand the laws that govern it.
For normal, usual speeds we have the Newtonian mechanics, the three laws of Newton, which all of us have studied at high school. However, when we are dealing with ex

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tremely high speeds, or extremely small dimensions, Newton's laws of motion no longer hold. It is here we come to quantum mechanics, the probabilistic theory. So, with these twin aspects, classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, we can span the entire physical universe from extremely small fundamental particles on the one hand, to extremely large astronomical dimensions on the other hand.
Having completed this search, now science is at a turning point. As Fritjof Capra quotes in his best seller The Turning Point, we are now moving towards an understanding of what is beyond this physical universe. We want to understand the question: What is prana? Is it a part of the mind, different from the brain? Is the intellect different from the mind? Are there emotions? Are there gods and goddesses, devils and pisachas? What is consciousness? It is this realm of subtleties that we are now entering into. So, in this search towards the subtler dimensions, we are in an extremely embryonic state. Probably, it will be many more centuries before we understand through science the subtler dimensions of this total universe.
It is precisely here that our ancient seers in this land have understood the totality of this universe and we find that wisdom contained in the Vedas and in the essence of the Vedas, the upanishadic and the yogic lore. The search began long ago in a similar way when the disciple came to the teacher and asked him to direct him towards reality or Brahman. In the Taittiriya Upanishad, the disciple asks, "Please, let me know where Brahman is? What is Brahman? How do I find it?" The teacher directs him by not just answering in a series of quotations. Instead he says, “Please go ahead and experiment." Tapasaa Brahma vijijnaasasva. Tapo Bralımcti. (3:2:8-9). "Go ahead and do tapas, by tapas you will be able to find that reality, by experimentation."
What is that tapas? How to do the tapas? The teacher gives the hint in this verse. Yato vaa imaani blootaani jaayante yena jaataani jecvanti. Yat prayantyabhisanvishuanti. Tad vijijnaasasva. Tad Brahmeti. (3:1:5-8). "Find out the principle which sustains you, and that principle into which you merge. Find all that and that is Brahman." Srushti stithi layn. So the student does tapas, does the experiments and gets the first glimpse. Sa tapoatapyata. (3:1:9). Suddenly, he gets a flash, the ''Eureka'' of Archimedes. Haavu haavu linavu. What answer did he get? Ahamannam
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ahamannam ahamannam (3:10:5). I am nothing but matter, the atoms, the molecules and the basic energy. He returns to his teacher and says, "Oh sir, I have got the answer. Please let me know." Annaaddhyeva khalvimaani bhootaani jaayante. Annena jaataani jeevanti. Annam prayantyabhisanvishanteeti. Tadvijnaaya punareva Varunam pitaramupasasaara. Adheehi, bhagavo Brahmeti. (3:2:2-6). "Sir, please let me know if I am right. I think this entire universe is nothing but anna and its manifestation, atoms and molecules and its manifestation, energy and its manifestation."
This is precisely the same conclusion which we came to fifteen years back in science. The teacher promptly says, "Yes, wonderful, you have done a beautiful job, but please go ahead. Find out where the anna comes from." So the student goes and continues his tapas. Sa tapoatapyata. Sa tapastaptvaa. (3:2:10-11).
What is the second realization he comes to? There were two bodies. One was a person lying in shavasana; the other was a dead body. What is the difference? Atoms and molecules, anna, everything is the same. But there is an enlivening principle, and that is prana, the life entity. Praano Brahmeti vyajaanaat. (3:3:1). That is what the student learns. He again returns to the teacher and the teacher promptly sends him back. "Fine, wonderful, you have gone one step further, but you have to go still deeper. Find out from where prana comes."
"/
Eight years ago one patient came to us in a state of coma after a very serious accident. He stayed in the hospital and for one month, two months, three months, six months he remained in the state of coma. The people who were taking care of him, felt that he was living, but his life was of no use. The prana was there, the body was there, but there was something missing. That was the thinking process. Mano Brahmeti vyajaanaat. Manaso hyeva khalvimaani bhootaani jaayante. Manasaa jaataani jeevanti. Manah prayantyabhisanvishanteeti. Tadvijnaaya punareva Varunam pitaramupasasaara. Adheehi bhagavo Brahmeti. (3:4:1-6).
Varuna was the teacher, Bhrigu was the student. Bhrigu went to Varuna and said, "Sir, it is the mind that is most important. It is the mind that we are all made of." The teacher said, "Very fine, but please think if it is the mind that is ultimate or if there is something beyond that." A brilliant boy was making good grades, but unfortunately he had a problem,

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neurosis. He came for three weeks of treatment with us and at the end of four weeks he was very well. He could then understand what was happening to his mind. He would say that his mind was running so fast that, “I would speak the first sentence. By the time I would speak the second sentence, my mind would have gone one thousand thoughts ahead and the second sentence would have no relation to the first." His logic had broken. So, it is continuity that is most important. That is vijnana, that is buddhi. There is intelligence which validates us. Vijnaanani Brahmeti vyajaanaat. (3:5:1). This is the secret he found. But still the teacher said, “Probably you have to go a little deeper and find out from where the buddhi itself comes, from where the vijnana itself emerges?"
This time, the student returned, did tapas and got to the very foundation of that buddhi, from where the buddhi, the manas, the prana and the body have all emerged. That is the ananda. Aanando Brahmeti vyajaanaat. (3:6:1). That is the state of bliss. But this time something different happened. The student did not return to the teacher at all. Probably the teacher was searching for him and found out that he was in deep samadhi, in the state of total ananda. Parame vyoman pratishthitaa. (3:6:5). He was established in that total silence, all pervasive, pure consciousness, which is an embodiment of total bliss, total peace, total knowledge, total freedom which he realized to be the truth.
That is the total concept that we get in the Upanishads, which form the foundation for a total approach in yoga. Man is not merely a physical being. We all have the five layers of existence: the annamaya kosha, the gross physical body, the pranamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijnanamaya kosha and anandamaya kosha, and probably other koshas beyond that too. So, in our causal state, in our original state, we are all one, because it goes beyond space, time and causation. That is what Swami Vivekananda told all his brothers and sisters of America. So, basically we are all one. It is that state that we have to reach. The science to realize that is what we call yoga.
Yoga is the science of total living. It is not merely a set of asanas or pranayama or mudras or bandhas and kriyas. It is a way of living by which we start elevating ourselves towards that ultimate source. We begin to raise ourselves from the animal level to become normal human beings, great human
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beings, super and divine human beings, ultimately reaching divinity itself. In that march, we use our conscious faculty, the mind, the buddhi, to grow quickly. If we do not use the conscious faculty, we will probably grow very, very slowly in the natural process of evolution. Swami Vivekananda said that it is a process of accelerating one's evolution to reach the highest heights.
Take the problems of the modern era, such as psychosomatic ailments like asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, epilepsy, migraine, spondylosis and irritable bowel syndrome (30% of people in the U.S.A. suffer from IBS). A very large number of those modern ailments essentially have to be tackled in a multi-dimensional way, and they cannot be tackled in a linear modality as we have been doing, either with infectious and contagious diseases or with the usual surgical operations. That is why most of the specialists today believe that asthma cannot be cured, that hypertension cannot be completely normalized.
Therefore, one has to have a total approach. It is this total approach that we have to use to deal with stress. Unless we have this multi-dimensional approach of the physical, mental, emotional and intellectual levels and at the base, the spiritual level, we will not be able to solve these multi-dimensional problems of the modern era. For that we have a series of techniques available to us. At the physical level we have yoga asanas, kriyas, the loosening practices, the sukshma vyayamas, and many other things to deal with the physical body to bring about the necessary transformation.
At the pranic level we have the breathing practices. There are special breathing kriyas. We have the pranayama techniques. We have the subtler things like the pranic meditation, the pranic energization techniques, the pranic healing techniques, and many others to deal with prana. At the mental level we have two aspects. One is the mind, the other is the emotions. To deal with mind and emotions we have the entire system of raja yoga - dharana, dhyana, samadhi, the three-fold approach. To deal with the science of emotions, we have bhakti yoga – the beautiful bhajans, the devotion sessions, the science of emotion culture. All these things deal with the manomaya kosha. In fact, the manomaya kosha is the base where these imbalances start. From there, they come down to the pranic body,
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and then to the physical body, and show themselves as vyadhi; adhi turns itself into vyadhi. Vijnanamaya kosha is the level that has to be strengthened, and ultimately we have to get glimpses of that ananda, in order to improve the quality of life. We have hatha yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga and karma yoga to deal with this entire set of five layers.
Unless we purify all these layers and set them in balance, we will not be able to deal with all the modern problems. The social problems of drug addiction, alcoholism, social unrest, single parent problems, psychosomatic and psychiatric problems, and other problems which we are facing today in the modern world, are because we are looking at the world in a very physical, linear way only and not in a holistic way. Unless we learn to see the whole in a holistic way, we will not be able to find a solution.
This is where we have been working from over the last fifteen years, conducting yoga research with long-term followup, of which I will give the research findings at the next session. I have just given you the basis of the total integrated approach of yoga that we use while dealing with stress problems or in dealing with medical problems or in developing the total personality of people to improve the quality of life and to solve the various social problems that we are facing today in the modern world.
That is the work of Vivekananda Kendra, with its headquarters in Kanyakumari and branches spreading throughout the country, having research centers all over the world. I once again thank the organizers for giving me this opportunity to present before you the total approach to yoga as derived from the Taittiriya Upanishad and the Yoga Vashishtha in a short and concise way. Thank you all.

Page #103

SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
There are no major differences between God-realization and yoga. Both paths are the same and on this path we have to reach the truth through the body. We differentiate saying the body is separate, the mind is separate, and that chitta and buddhi (intellect) and ahamkara (ego) are separate. We differentiate between annamaya kosha, pranamaya kosha, etc., saying that they are different and that beyond these dimensions lies the state of truth. But it is not so.
From this body to the truth, the technique which can illuminate the path is called yoga. In the end we experience or we get the knowledge that this complete world is a major center of energy and power and that God Himself is the source of this energy and superpower. From this center, this source, God's energy expands as willpower and this invisible, unexpressible energy takes on a form, a name, an expression or thought.
After taking up a name, a form and a thought, the existing manifest world is experienced. When name, form and the thought process are removed from the manifest universe, then this state again becomes invisible and unexpressible. In this unexpressed state God is experienced. Therefore, all the exercises or techniques of yoga through which we balance and control our body, whether they be asanas or shatkarmas, combined with the different methods of concentrating and calming the mind to make our manomaya state more alert and awake, to improve or expand the pranas of vijnanamaya kosha and to experience anandamaya kosha will, in the last stage of yoga, help us reach the truth for which man has been seeking for ages immemorial. Therefore, it is appropriate to say that there is no difference between spirituality and God, and between body, being and God. And the process of knowing the Self is called yoga.
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DR. S. K. VYAVAHARE
Dr. S. K. Vyavaliare is both the Chairinan and Project-in-charge at Gliantali Yoga Mitra Mandal in Thane, Maliarashtra. He is a well known teacher in huis field and has many and varied practical experiences in yoga.
Glantali Yoga Mitra Mandal receives the credit for being the first institution in the country to propagate yoga in tliese most criminally concentrated centers, which are known as prisons or jails. This project was undertaken by Dr. S. K. Vynvaluare in the 1970's and since then many other yogic activities liave taken place under his supervision and guidance. He has been a pioneer in introducing yoga to the various strata of society, mainly for the development of human personality, correction of human behavior and changing the patterns of human thoughts and perceptions.
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YOGA
EXPERIMENT
IN THANE CENTRAL PRISON
Dr. S. K. Vyavahare
Brothers and sisters, at the outset I apologize to all of you for taking you into the Thane Central Prison, thirty kilometers from Bombay, but be mindful that we are entering this prison with honor and dignity. Remember also that you will be coming out of the jail within ten or fifteen minutes. I took Paramahamsa Satyananda to Thane Central Prison some ten years back to witness the transformation which we brought about in the convicts, murderers and cheats. I can tell you that it was my pleasure to have Paramahamsa Satyananda with me in the jail to witness the prisoners in action.
This unique experiment first began in the middle of 1975. We received the permission of the Government of Maharashtra, the Minister concerned, the Inspector General of Prisoners and the Superintendent of the jail. They extended their full co-operation. I delivered the first lecture before 1,500 criminals on Sunday 4th January 1976. The very next day we started a yoga class for the jail inmates. Three to four hundred volunteers came forward but, since the area was limited, only eighty or ninety were admitted. So, how did this transformation take place in the convicts? How did we begin to conduct yoga teachers training courses with them? What was the training they had to undertake to complete this course?
Those who volunteered to become yoga teachers were trained in the science, theory and practice of yoga. After completion of the Yoga Teachers Training Course, the prisoners were subjected to written, practical and viva voce tests in the prison itself. The thirteen convicts passed the yoga teachers examination, eight of them securing first class. The minimum mark obtained was 42.33% and the maximum was 87%. Some of the convict yoga teachers are now teaching yoga practices to the other inmates. Others were sent to the different prisons throughout the state of Maharashtra in order to disseminate the practices of yoga.

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In 1982, we had an All-India Yoga Convention in Thane where Paramahamsa Satyananda was present. He presided over the function for all the four days. With the permission of the Government of Maharashtra, we took the prisoner yogis from the jail and they presented the demonstrations for the delegates. On one slide from that convention you can see, on the dais, Paramahamsa Satyananda, Dr. Gharote, ex-principal of the Yoga College of Lonavala, and myself. At the extreme left of the slide is a prisoner who was undergoing life imprisonment for committing four murders and who stood first in the yoga teachers examination, securing 87% of the marks.
Now, what were the effects of the training? On the physical level they were increased flexibility, many diseases were eradicated, digestion improved and the prisoners started getting sound sleep. On the psychological level, on the mental level, anger decreased, feelings of tranquility and wellbeing were noticed, feelings of revenge were totally eliminated. On the social level, what happened? There was an improvement in interpersonal relationships among their own group and also with the jail authorities. Now, you will ask me, what is the proof of this? These observations are based on: 1. Letters received from the convicts. I have received so
many letters and I am still receiving them. 2. Reports from the press and public. We took the press
people inside the jail. 3. Reports of the jail authorities. 4. Personal accounts of the yoga teachers who taught the
convicts. 5. Television films. We took the television crew inside the
prison. The entire project "Yoga for Jail Inmates" proved extremely useful in converting the prison from a house of punishment into a true reformatory center. We affirm that the motive behind the project was neither to glorify the criminals nor condone their crimes, but to transform their personalities through yogic practices. Because of the transformation which took place in these prisoners, we humbly recommend that all the prisons should become real reformatory centers by training the prisoners in yogic practices. Therefore, we coined the slogan: "No yoga, no peace. Know yoga, know peace.” And one more thing which I want to add is, “Now yoga, now peace.”
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Yoga has proved to be a very effective and useful medium for changing the personality of criminals. In a criminal's personality, in his feelings, thoughts and actions, we can see abnormalities. These internal abnormalities completely influence his life and induce him to commit crimes.
Crime is a trait or tendency. Tendency means a wave arising in the mind. If this tendency is calmed down, the personality regains serenity. When the personality attains peace, then mental stress, emotional stress, agitated thoughts etc. also calm down and the suffering and sorrows end. To reform the personality and to change the criminal tendencies, the best solution is to practise yoga.
We hope that not only in this country but throughout the world prisons will become centers of personality reform rather than continue as centers of punishment. Let me also tell you that in the west attempts are being made to reform prisons. Research is being carried out on yoga and behavioral changes and yoga and personality development. The principal function of some of our yoga centers in America and Australia is to go into the prisons and teach yoga to the prisoners of maximum security cells. The prisoners are prepared as yoga teachers and sent to other centers to teach. This work was first carried out in our country and we Indians are proud of it.
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DR. H.S. WASIR
Dr. H. S. Wasir is the head of the Department of Cardiology, at the All-India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi. He has been guided and inspired by a comprehensive and holistic vision of human health and life. This vision is different from the traditional therapy methods adopted by medical institutions. The approach of Dr. Wasir has not been that of a doctor-patient relationship, but a heart-to-heart relationship between the doctor and the patient.
In the world of holistic health and medicine, he has emerged as a powerful personality, to announce again and again that total health is only possible when there is an integrated vision of body, health, social environment and our interaction with the external world. He has written many books on the subject of cardiac management. The Bihar School of Yoga has had the honor of translating and printing a book of his, under the auspices of Sri M. Goenka Baijnath Charitable Trust, Munger, which deals with the management of the cardiac system. This book is known in Hindi as “Hardik Samvad", and in English as "Heart-to-Heart".
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ROLE OF YOGA IN HEART CARE
Dr. H. S. Wasir
We have all assembled here from different parts of the world and of this country to seek something, to achieve something and to disseminate something. For any achievement, for doing anything in the world, the most necessary medium is health. Sliareera madyam khaludharma sadhanam. To achieve any righteous things in the world, it is the body, the health which is of tremendous importance.
Before I come to the aspects of heart care and the role of yoga in heart care, let me define for you the World Health Organization's definition of health.."Health is the state of plete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not necessarily the absence of disease and infirmity." That is how we define health: the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing. This is precisely where the role of yoga comes in. What is that medicine? What is that modality which can give all three of these to us, physical, mental and social wellbeing? This is where the contribution of yoga comes.
As a cardiologist, my main talk is on the role of yoga and autogenic relaxation in heart care. Practising every day, seeing lots of heart patients, doing angiography, angioplasty and being involved with patients who are going for by-pass surgery, I always feel there are lots of deficiencies in the system, which we cardiologists have to fulfill in order to take better care of our cardiac patients. This is where I have been trying to inculcate, first in myself, next in my colleagues, and then in the patients, a better heart care system.
The treatment of any disease or any patient has two aspects. The first is curing the disease and the second, more important aspect on which practically the whole of the Charaka-Samhita is based, is the preventive and promotive aspect of the diseases.
Now, we often wonder, is it the heart which is responsible for the heart attacks or is it something else? I do not think the
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heart is the master. I think the heart is the slave to the mind. How does it happen? You are sitting down and suddenly your heart-rate goes up from a normal of 70 to 120. You have not done anything, but something has come to your mind. Similarly, the blood-pressure goes up, the heart-rate goes up, the oxygen requirements of the myocardium at the heart muscles goes up tremendously without you having done anything physically. So, this is why the role of mind has been indicated to us in ayurveda again.
Now I come to the role of yoga and the relaxation response in cardiovascular problems. The three main aspects where yoga has helped us is in the management of hypertension (high blood-pressure), the management of angina and anginalike syndromes and to some extent the irregularities of the heart-beat. To my mind the most important role of yoga in heart care is the preventive aspects to keep the heart in a normal state, or in a normal position - the absence of ailments from the heart - and this is where I think yoga has a great role to play.
When we talk of yoga and cardiovascular disease I must say that yoga is a way of life and I do not personally think there is any necessity for validation by the so-called scientific studies of the role or the effect of yoga. We know enough already. The first publication I came across was from New York, published in 1937, stating the role of yoga in human wellbeing.
In our Indian scriptures the word yoga has been defined as union. Yoga means the union of the self, this atma, with the supreme, the paramatma. Now, I often wonder if we as human beings, as mortals, can know the combination or the union of atma with paramatma. How do we manifest when we are living in this world? To my mind the biggest role of yoga is to let me know what I am. Am I what I think I am, the egotistic Dr. Wasir? Or am I what my friends think of me? They may praise or they may hate me. Is that what I am? Or is it the third T' which I really am, which God alone knows, and which yoga helps us to recognize? Yoga helps us to arouse for ourselves the awareness of what 'I am'. Once we know that, I think we can take care of a lot of problems which arise out of our interactions with other human beings.
Now, padmasana and shavasana are the two important asanas to a cardiologist. I have been impressed by these two
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asanas, by certain pranayamas and by several other yoga abhyasa kriyas. I will deal perhaps most of the time with the other aspects of yoga and not the physical aspects. I sometimes wonder about what my patients tell me when I ask them about their exercises. They say, "Yes, the yoga teacher comes and tells us which exercises to do," and that is the end of it. I do not think that is yoga. Yoga is much more than that. I will be dealing with the relaxation response, the autogenic relaxation which we get by the practice of yoga, and the contribution of that in heart care.
The physiological effects of yoga include: (i) reduction of heart rate, (ii) control of respiration, and (iii) control of blood pressure and metabolism or the metabolic rate, thereby reducing the oxygen requirements of the myocardium. This is how yoga helps a person when it is practised. Now there is enough scientific, experimental, epidemiological and clinical proof of the relaxation response helping an individual. The experimental proof is very interesting, as. Dr. Henry Waugh from North Carolina showed us when he separated newly born rats and put them in different cages. The rats which were put in cages where there were adult, hostile, grown rats developed blood pressure much earlier than rats which were moving about free from such pressure.
Then, there is the epidemiological work on the migration of populations, such as the Japanese going to some of the American countries. Similarly, some of the other migrations from the African countries showed that the blood pressure level of those people in their original countries was lower. When they moved to their new environments, the blood pressure became definitely higher, compared to what it had been in the original country.
We have proof that the concept of yoga helps in the management of high blood pressure and heart attacks from the various studies I have quoted. If stressful stimulation leads to high blood pressure and heart attacks, yoga definitely will help.
When some isolated tribes in Australia moved to the mainstream, their pressures were much higher. In the big cities, where you have aerodromes, the blood pressures of the air traffic control staff are much higher compared to the ground staff, because their duties are such that their anxiety

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state is higher than that of the ground staff. There are other studies also showing how the environment can effect the blood pressure,
Kids in some parts of America have to go to school in a bulletproof jacket, due to some environmental problem. What will be the state of affairs, not of these children only, but of the parents who are sending them? So, this is just one example of how stressful situations are affecting our bodies. Let us not look into the textbook of the medical journals for the answers to why there are more heart attacks, why the blood pressures are high. These problems are all around us and we have to understand that. In order to take care of them other than by medicines, we must use helpful procedures or modalities like yoga.
Why yoga in hypertension? This is an accepted method of relaxation. It is simple, inexpensive, and has no side effects. The last commission, the Grant National Commission on Hypertension from America, which gives its reports once in five years, has mentioned this as one of the modalities of non-pharmacological treatments of mild and moderate types of hypertension, because there are convincing reports that the practice of yoga does help in bringing down blood pressure. With meditation and yoga, what happens? The heart rate comes down. The sympathetic activity comes down. The catheostomine levels in the blood come down and all these effects are achieved by many of the drugs which we use. So if we can achieve this by the modality of yoga, why not use it?
The trials with shavasana, starting with Dr. Datey's work in 1969, were some of the first, and subsequently a lot of work has been done in England. Dr. Patel and our colleagues have shown us the role of shavasana in the reduction of blood pressure. I will sum up the various studies for you. There are 23 studies on the effects of yoga on hypertension and the metaanalysis of these shows that the effects of yoga come just next to the effects of various anti-hypertensive medicines. Hence it is now established that yoga has a role in the treatment of hypertension. I accept some of the studies which show no effect and I compare those to the effects of some of the medicines. One single medicine is never effective for all the patients you treat. So, why not look from that angle, instead of saying yoga is ineffective? I look from that angle. If yoga is helpful in seven
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out of ten or even in six out of ten cases, I think it is worth it. Similarly, I know of no anti-hypertensive drug which is uniformly effective in all patients with high blood-pressure. The heart has been compared to the seat of consciousness. More than the heart, it is the mind which is powerful for the regulation and control of the heart.
What about the role of yoga in heart attacks? The studies available on the role of yoga in heart attacks are not as many as there are on patients with high blood pressure. Whatever studies we have, their effects are by modification of the risk factors like diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, weight reduction, changes in behavior. I think this is the most important aspect. We just heard a lecture on the role of yoga in the reformation of criminals. What about the reformation or improvement of the sins which we commit against our own body, starting with anger, restlessness, anxiety states? These things have a tremendous effect on the human system. By increasing the serum catheostomines in the body, by keeping the pulse rate high, they harm the heart. So, I would say that these are really the sins which are self-committed. If we have a concept of yoga, we will be able to take care of them.
I could not give a better example than that of Sir John Hunter who was a famous surgeon. He has described the effect of anger on the heart. Sir John Hunter was a patient with angina and he made a statement that, "My life lies in the hands of that rascal who annoys me." Sir John Hunter had experienced on various occasions that whenever he lost his temper, whenever he was angry, his angina was aggravated. Lo and behold, Sir John Hunter's demise came during one stormy hospital board meeting. Avoid that; your anger can kill you. We have to ask this question of ourselves. Is this situation which I am facing in a particular place, like the office or at home, worth dying for? The answer will come to you within a few seconds. No!
If you can have control of your mind, you will avoid certain spurts of rise of blood pressure, heart rate and increased oxygen requirement by the heart and thereby you will avoid affecting your heart by these emotions which are mostly negative. The Charaka Samhita itself says, "If you wish to protect your heart and the great roots of it, that is the coronary arteries, you must avoid what causes mental affliction."
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So, in the prevention of heart attacks and angina, when we doctors advise against smoking, control of blood pressure, control of blood lipids, I think the most important aspect which we must inculcate or include is behavioral therapy. Because it is true that behavioral therapy helps, that it has been possible in some people to change their personality from A to personality B- and the mechanisms I have already alluded to.
If this is done in normal persons before they have heart problems, one can prevent arteriosclerosis to some extent. If it is done in people who already have arteriosclerotic disease, the thickening of the arteries, there is enough proof that one can reverse it. Dr. Norni's work you are all aware of. What has he done? He has just taken the hint from ayurveda, given the patients a diet which is sattwic and told them to do mental relaxation. By coronary angiography he has shown that arteriosclerosis can be reversed. So, if we talk of food for the heart, then this tripod has three limbs: diet, exercise and mind.
Therefore, by inculcation or incorporation of yoga techniques, in addition to the other risk factors, one will achieve prevention of heart attacks. When we talk of a holistic approach to heart care, this will include: (1) achara, character, (ii) vichaara, thought process, (iii) vyavahaara, interpersonal dealings and (iv) aahaara, food, on which our body depends to some extent. But I feel that we eat most of the time. We eat much more than our body requires. So it resents this. It revolts and that revulsion of the body expresses itself in high blood pressure, ulcers and heart attacks. This is where a combination of achara, vichara, vyavahara and ahara has to be put together in order to aim at what I said at the beginning: Shareera madyam khaludharma sadhanam. For that, yoga should never be considered just as the total alternative.
I would like to end by saying that the role of yoga in human health care in general and in human heart care is adjunctive, additional and not alternative. Where we go wrong is somebody saying, "Well, that is a total replacement." That is not so. I think we should keep in mind that if we keep yoga as adjunctive in our therapeutic approach to our patients, and for keeping normal human beings normal, and normal hearts normal, we will have achieved something for which we have assembled here.

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SUMMARY
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda The scientific aspects of yoga are very mysterious. The more research is done by science, the more science learns about the brain, the mind and the internal organs of the body, and the more we learn of this, the more the fields of knowledge unfold before science and human consciousness. To keep our life healthy and happy there is a very small formula. Do not forget it. This formula is that man has to control his habits, thoughts, behavior and food, and learn to live a balanced life. If we are able to bring about a balance, a co-ordination, in these four aspects, then it is destined that the body will never be sick. One sickness breeds another. One sickness also aggravates another and the whole life becomes a shambles.
There are a few enemies in life. We are very alert to the external enemies. If someone wants to bring harm to us we are very alert. But the internal enemy that is influencing us in a negative manner keeps reducing our life energy. However, we are not alert to this. The enemies are anger, fear, worry, sadness, etc. Even if you accept these as momentary experiences, "Oh, I am affected by anger only for a few minutes, but then I cool down. I am worried for a short time and then I it," it is your personal thinking. But even in this short interval the arrows of these enemies allow you to lose, allow your personality to shed blood. This blood cannot be remanufactured within the personality. For manufacturing blood in the body, we need physical nutrients, grains, etc. Similarly, for keeping the mind healthy and to control the enemies of the mind, those internal enemies, we need to follow the rule that habits, thoughts, behavior and food must be balanced.
Science is broadly looking at other techniques through which man can attain total health, but to awaken this awareness and for it to be complete, we require a lot of time. We need thinkers, scholars and intellectuals who can tell us to follow a path.
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INTEGRITY AND YOGA :
Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati In this convention I have found so much honesty, so much integrity in the approach to yoga. In every aspect of our life, in our thoughts, in our actions and basic goals, the approach of yoga is extremely useful. It is not merely a philosophical speculation. What difference do esoteric abstractions make in our life? It is of no practical use to only go into the philosophical tradition. From time to time, we have fallen into a sort of speculative philosophy with no practical bearing on life. It is very important that we go back to some of the deep, useful truths. In the Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata and Ramayana, we find answers to many of the basic questions in life, such as: What are we? Where are we coming from? Where are we now? Where are we going? However, we need to apply these great truths in our lives, and for that we need integrity. If there is no integrity, we will have more repetitions of past history.
I am speaking especially of India. After a thousand years of invasions by foreign powers, India's spiritual culture is still alive, but is seriously threatened. India is still a very religious nation, but it is ceasing to be a spiritual one. Therefore, we have to revitalize our spiritual roots and that can only be done through investigation into the real meaning of yoga. Yoga means integration; it is concerned with the wholeness of our lives, of our consciousness, of the pancha koshas about which we have heard, and also beyond the pancha koshas.
First of all, however, let us deal with the meaning of the word 'truth'. In some of the texts there are atiprashnas, excess questions, and in some there are no atiprashnas, you can only say that you are too stupid to answer a question. Any question put to us can be sufficiently explained in order to make it useful in real life. It does not mean, of course, that you can explain everything totally because truth is infinite, there is no totality of truth. There is a wholeness of truth and the wholeness is constantly expanding.
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There is a saying of a philosopher, "If God had two gifts in his hands, in one hand 'truth' and in the other hand 'search for truth', I would ask for the gift of the 'search for truth' because it makes life infinitely more interesting and the finding of the realities of life more and more profound." There is no ultimate truth. If there is perfection it is only a relative term. Truth is eternal, and if anything is to be eternal it must be constantly expanding and expanding.
Although you will hear a lot about God having created the human being in his own image, the reality is that the human being has created God in his own image. God is the infinite spirit. I am only speaking of what we can understand of that infinite spirit, that which is manifest in the qualities of life, in qualities such as truth. Now let us understand what truth is.
First of all, you need truth for security. I want you to be truthful to me, I want you to be honest with me. Why? Because I want to be secure in my relationship with you. That is the first reason that truth is necessary. Truth in Latin is veritas, which means to verify, that which can be verified and that which ought to be verified. Therefore, truth is evidence, first of all. If you do not have evidence, you can only say, "I hope it is so". You cannot call it truth. Again, evidence is not the entire truth, because truth is infinite.
It is only after becoming aware of a deficiency, of a lack of knowledge, that we make the first step towards knowledge. Only if you are aware of that lack can you begin the search for knowledge. If you are smug, if you are as spaced-out as a moron, you are not necessarily peaceful, but have a sort of opacity of mind. You are not tolerant but indifferent. It is just tamas, just laziness. It does not mean that you are experiencing great meditation, because meditation is a purifying process, a peace-endowing process and an enlightening process. Therefore, if such evidence is not there, then meditation is just a spaced-out state of mind, a blank state of mind, an uncreative state of mind, a totally useless state of mind. So you should remember the first basic rule: truth is evidence, truth needs to be verified and truth is fact. Then you have many subtleties about fact.
I will give you a very simple example. What is security? You want material security. You work hard to build a house. You call it your house and there is, of course, a truth in security when you can call something your own with the help of a Title
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of Ownership. But within a house there should be a greater truth, a spiritual aspiration which transforms a house into a home. Ask yourself: Is there love? Is there understanding? Is there trust, unity, care, affection, selflessness and support? Is there integration among those who live there, who call themselves my husband, my wife, my children, my parents? This is the sense of home which is the greater truth within the external truth of house ownership. As I told you, truth is evidence, that is the external truth, but the inner truth is spiritual aspiration. Inner truth is an infinite process of spiritual search. So in that way, I want you to understand yoga.
I was saying, Yogah aachaarasukaushalam. Aachaara means 'conduct and ethics', the soul of religion. Yesterday we had a lot of rain which raised consciousness and united you. Instead of creating pandemonium it created a unifying energy through the medium of chanting. Fine, but what has been done with that energy? The practical purpose was to keep the mind concentrated and it was useful until the rain stopped. But afterwards what was done with that concentrated energy? What was done with that collective energy? In what creative way was it used? These are the questions.
As I told you, India has been a great tapobhumi but that has to be rediscovered. We are a very irrational nation, please excuse me for saying so. I know only the people of a few Latin American countries, and also the French who are nearly as irrational as the Indians. Indians have an infinite capacity for wishful thinking. For example, take the word faith or belief. We think we believe in God. Nobody believes in anything in which it is not convenient to believe. Through group identity you behave like sheep, with a superficial sense of group cooperation. The basic fact is conformity, the herd or sheep mentality. That can never give you inner security. It is some sort of social identity. Conformity is not necessarily belief. At best, you can say belief is a hope, because nobody believes in anything in which it is not convenient to believe.
But I want to define belief. Belief is not necessarily a commitment. You can debate about the semantics. I would rather say faith is commitment. For example, if Swami Sivanandaji, in whom I have great trust, or Paramahamsa Satyananda, for whom I have great love and who is deeply close to my heart, were to say to me that Dr. Wasir is a good man, then because

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of my trust in them, I would have to say that I believe that Dr. Wasir is a good man, which actually means that I hope that he is a good man. I hope, because I do not know him yet. It is only when I come to know who he really is, through what he does, that I know that he is a good man. If he keeps his word, if he is responsible, if he is truthful, if he is honest, if he is reliable, if he has a compassionate heart, I will know that he is a decent person. All these things I come to know only through direct practical experience. When I have that adequate practical experience, I do not say, “I believe he is a good man." I do not have to believe, I do not have to hope because I know directly. So belief is a bridge between the known and the unknown. You approach it through hope and through search. Through dedication it becomes deeper and deeper. Semantically you can call it faith.
Faith means commitment and there is no such thing as blind faith. Blind faith ultimately results in blind stupidity or fanaticism. However, any faith starts with a blind acceptance. For example, if you tell me that there is a place called Jamalpur and I do not accept or believe or hope that there is a place called Jamalpur, then I will never take a few steps to go towards the direction where Jamalpur is supposed to be. So at first, belief is acceptance, but if with that, I make no move forward, I am being a total hypocrite or just plain stupid or dishonest. It is only when I go, make a move, make an effort to search and find out whether there really is a place called Jamalpur that belief becomes faith. That is the commitment, that is the search, that is the dedication, that is the reality of belief. That is called faith. So the reality of acceptance is only through the result of the search; until then, you can only say, "'I hope so".
There are many practical things that you should know. We can, for example, look at a statement like "everybody has his own truth". Nobody has his own truth, because truth is universal and eternal. There are different approaches to truth, there are different experiences of truth, there are different opinions about truth.
I will give you a simple example. In this room, let us say that it is 24° C. I feel it is rather hot. Now, to a person who is a bit sick, it will be rather cool. To a person who has come walking rapidly, it is quite hot. But that does not mean that the
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opinion of the person who says that it is quite hot is the truth. It is his personal experience relative to the circumstances. Another example: let us take the distance of one kilometer. Now for a young man it is a short distance, while to an old man it is a long distance. So for an old man, or a sick man, it is a tiring walk, while for a young man it is a very easy walk.
So there may be more than one opinion. But at the common meeting ground, in order to make truth operative, we have to come together. One basic fact, one common agreement, one common understanding, to make truth operative for the moment is the wholeness of yoga. We can all come together with that common point of agreement, and then we can search more and more.
Some say that yoga is an exact science. It has never been an exact science. It is a soft science like medicine. Chemistry is an exact science, but medicine, which is applied chemistry, is a soft science, each body interacting in a different way. It is not an exact science like physics, it is a science like sociology, like philosophy, like politics. It is a flexible science, a soft science and, therefore, it has infinite possibilities of expansion. Yoga is not necessarily a hard truth, but a search for truth, a very practical truth which can be applied in scientific research.
Now, take justice. We cannot call a law a just law unless there is a collective acceptance of its usefulness, of its feeling of welfare, of its benefits. Until then, we cannot call it a just law. It has to have a collective universal experience. Yoga is aachaarasu kaushalam, yoga is karmasu kaushalam, yoga is viveka, vichaara sukaushalam, yoga is sraddhasukaushalam, yoga is samata sukaushalam. Here we use samata in the sense of raja yoga, viveka and vichara in the sense of jnana yoga, sraddha and bhakti in the sense of bhakti yoga, karma in the sense of karma yoga. As I told you, samata in the sense of raja yoga and achara is the basis of all the yogas. Whatever you are doing in the practice of yoga, it ought to be whole.
There is a little story probably attributed to Sri Ramakrishna. There was a guru who had a few disciples in his ashram. Many years passed, and the guru thought that he had taught all that he had to teach to his disciples, and he said, “Now you must go and search for yourselves and find the true meaning of yoga in your lives." So different disciples branched off in different directions and set up their own ashrams. Many years
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passed and the guru wanted to find out how his disciples were faring. So he went to one disciple and he found that the disciple had accepted yoga as merely hatha yoga, asana and pranayama. He found that he had been doing asana and pranayama so much that he had literally sweated God out of his system. There was no real God in his life - there was only perspiration. The guru was very disappointed. He went to another disciple who was a jnanayogi. Then he found that this disciple had analyzed and attenuated God so much that he had figuratively split God into fine, minute parts, and God had completely disappeared from his life. Then he went to another disciple of his who had taken to bhakti yoga. He found that this disciple had shed so many tears for God that he had literally washed God out of his system. Then he went to another disciple who had specialized in raja yoga. He found that this disciple had dabbled in concentration and meditation on, sound and psychic exercise so much that God had manifested merely as a psychedelic experience and there was no God there other than lights, colors and sounds and different kinds of psychic appearances. We must understand that yoga means union. More than union, it means integrity, integration. It means integral, which means to make whole. I think that this is a very important point that you must understand.
Whatever philosophy you want to follow you must understand that there is a basic thing, existence, sat. But if thin air becomes reality and a solid, tangible, material entity becomes an illusion, irresponsibility takes over, indifference takes over, uncreativity takes over, dullness takes over, and that is the ruin of a civilization. You have to understand what reality really is. It is not thin air and what you see is not an illusion or an appearance. The illusion is created by your mind, in your understanding of what you see. There is physical reality, you certainly cannot deny the components of a glass. But if I think that this glass is a fountain of nectar and that the water, which is H20, is the nectar of immortality rather than merely water to quench my thirst, then irrationality sets in. It is in your mind that there is maya, and in the relativity of what you see, not in what you see.
For example, a tablecloth is flat. That is all it is to me, a flat surface. From the point of view of a microbe, it is mountainous territory. But since I am not a microbe, if I say that it is mountainous territory, then I am just lying.
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So in that way, I want you to know that confusion, indulging in many statements, is not necessarily the real approach of yoga. Real understanding comes through a very, very slow process. So please do not indulge in speculations which make no substantial contribution to the improvement of life.
Improvement of life means: What is the state of your peace of mind? What is the state of your relationships with each other? What is the level of your attachment? Attachment is dependence on the external things. If I hold on tight to this glass, for example, I do not know the weight of the glass, I do not know the texture of the metal. I only know the nerve endings of my palm. So, I do not know the glass at all. That is attachment, that is dependence, holding tightly to the external thing rather than wanting to know what it really is.
Now, let us look at human beings. There is a saying, "We love objects and use people, rather than love people and use objects”. It is easy to love objects, but it is difficult to love human beings, because objects cannot talk back to you. So also with pets, it is easier to love pets rather than human beings because the pet cannot talk back to you.
So it is very necessary to experience a relationship profoundly in order that it can be deepened and sublimated, made whole, made integral. That is yoga and that is peace and that is fulfillment. A spiritual ideal well-realized and action well done, responsibly, with dedication, with commitment, that is yoga. A search to which one is dedicated and by which one is inspired, that is yoga.
Again, there is no contradiction in yoga between faith and reason, because reason is the fountain of knowledge. Reason means to evaluate the various aspects of life, but you cannot evaluate unless you have inspiration. Without inspiration, there is no fulfillment in your search, there is only sensation in your intellect. This inspiration is faith. There is a saying, "The intellect is a good servant but never a good master.” So without faith, inspiration and dedicated search, yoga becomes an irrational search which can only be excess questioning, sensation of the intellect rather than the clear fountain of knowledge.
As I told you, there is no atiprashna, excess questioning, you only created atiprashna. Why did God create this world? How do you know who created this world? The concept of God after
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all is your own image of mind. One basic fact that you cannot deny, is the limited experience of God. In Vedanta, there are no atheists, because first of all nobody can deny one's own existence. There is a life principle that keeps one alive and nobody can deny that. Since one cannot deny one's own existence, one cannot deny God.
The word God comes from the Greek theos, which means 'idol'. It does not mean that God has a nose, ears, two eyes, because He comes, as Krishna says, in different forms to the devotee. So, actually what you call God is the shape of one's spiritual aspiration. It is the shape of one's devotion or the devotion of the group. For the Catholics it is Jesus Christ; for Hindus, Rama or Krishna; for Buddhists, Buddha; for Jews, Elohim, Adoni, Father in heaven. So God is an image, an invention or creation of man. However, the purer the koshas, the purer the image. The spiritual light is one and the same, that is what has been said. However, God never created anything equally. That is a myth again, because physically we are not equal, mentally we are not equal, in will we are not equal. We are all unequal, but there is one common ground on which the very recent concept of democracy is based. Democracy is no more than seventy years old. Previously, those who had property had voting rights, as was the case in England. So, in spiritual life, there is only one common ground, which is a shining presence, a spiritual presence, in which we are all equal. If we accept that, then we will be able to be just to each other. Then we will be able to respect each other's rights and to trust each other, with a sense of dignity. That is the highest aim of yoga, to feel the presence of God, to feel a spiritual presence in every one. That is the greatest contribution of Hinduism and all other religions. They have taught us that God is transcendental, but His power is in all. However, in Vedanta God is immanent, He is in all, while yet being transcendental. So I think that is a very unique contribution.
No one can deny that there is a principal life force, which sustains everything. You can call it energy and matter, prana, or the individual soul. Once it disappears, no amount of electrical impulse, no amount of physical energy or of the four kinds of energy in physics - the electromagnetic field, the decohesive'weak' force, the cohesive 'strong' force and the forces of gravity – can sustain life. There definitely is a force which maintains this life force.
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We only know a little bit about this universe in which we live. According to Steve Hawkins, there are one hundred billion stars in this galaxy and one hundred billion similar galaxies. If, in the outer galaxy, one solar system can have a sun with a planetary system and with one planet having life, then I am sure that there will be billions and billions of planes of existence with more evolved and also less evolved manifest life. So you can see that there are infinite possibilities of knowledge. What you call God is a little special God or Brahma, who created one universe in so many billions of years of human lifetime. So the approach to yoga should be more universal, and we should approach this universal science with great humility, with great dedication and with great integrity.
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MID-DAY SESSION
Dr. P. Jha
DAY TWO

Deputy Director, Literary Research Unit, Yoga Institute, Lonavala, Pune
Dr. A.K. Ghosh, (Sannyasi Mangalteetham) Professor of Biology, R.D. & D.J. College, Munger
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DR. P. JHA
Dr. Jha is a Deputy Director in the Literary Research Unit of the Yoga Institute in Lonavala, Pune. He has authored several books and has prepared numerous research reports on yoga and allied subjects.
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MUDRAS: ANALYSIS, IMPORTANCE AND PRACTICE IN TANTRA AND HATHA YOGA A REVIEW
Dr. P. Jha
What is mudra? What are the benefits of mudra? Among the various traditions of yoga two of the main ones are the Patanjali system of yoga and the hatha yoga system. Mudra is a part of the hatha yoga tradition and it is used to awaken the kundalini. That is why mudra is so important in hatha yoga.
You have heard of Patanjali's system of yoga, which is also known as the ashtanga tradition of yoga. It consists of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Hatha yoga is a secondary system to Patanjali's yog system. One of the various branches of hatha yoga has seven parts, and is called Gherand's system. Gorakhnath's system of yoga has six parts and is known as shadanga yoga. The most thorough and well known system of hatha yoga has four parts and is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
The author of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is Swatmarama. He considered the four parts to be asana, kumbhaka, mudra and nadanusandhana. So mudra falls into the third part of hatha yoga, after asanas and kumbhaka. We can say that in Patanjali's ashtanga yoga the three steps that follow pranayama - pratyahara, dharana and dhyana, together constitute one of the limbs of hatha yoga. This limb is called mudra. The mental or psychic conditions that are created by the three branches of Patanjali's yoga - pratyahara, dharana and dhyana - are similar to the conditions created by the practice of mudra in hatha yoga.
A few asanas have been named after mudras, for example, yoga mudra and vipareeta karani mudra. While practising these asanas, people developed the incorrect notion that they were practising mudras. However, these are actually asanas, not mudras. This is because mudra can only be practised after having attained mastery through prolonged practice of asanas
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and kumbhaka. In the practice of mudra the internal sensations are heightened, pranic sensations are heightened and, after awakening, the kundalini rises via sushumna to unite at sahasrara. This is also known as awakening of kundalini which culminates in the experience or discovery of inner sound, nadanusandhana.
So if mudra is to be defined, we can say that when asanas, kumbhaka and bandha are perfected, then we come to the practice called mudra. But actually mudra does not occur until, during the practice of these three, the internal, pranic sensations dissolve and become one with the mental traits. This is why we can broadly define mudra as asana, kumbhaka and bandha. But even with this definition, we need to understand that, with the practice of these three, a special pranic awakening occurs at mooladhara chakra. At that time this energy rises up through sushumna. But after this occurs, if the mental traits are not totally focused and united, so that the consciousness enters the state of laya, then this will not be the state of mudra. The etymology of mudra is mudraa aanandam laati iti mudraa, the practice which induces an internal experience of eternal bliss is called mudra. This can happen only when, after the practice of asana, kumbhaka and bandha, we can concentrate the mind and internally focus it on the sensations being experienced.
Firstly, I will speak about the asanas of hatha yoga. Today, whatever is practised or taught as yoga throughout the world, I consider to be the practice of hatha yoga and no other yoga. I told you that there are two orders of yoga, Patanjali and hatha. Although you have heard of various others like bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, samkhya yoga, raja yoga and so on, all these yogas can be classified into one of these two systems. For example bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, raja yoga, samkhya yoga, spiritual yoga, all fall under the Patanjali tradition of yoga. Karma yoga, mantra yoga, laya yoga, sparsh yoga (the yoga of touch), all fall into the category of the hatha yoga tradition.
It should be very clear to the practitioner that the asanas we practise today are part of the hatha yoga tradition and not of the Patanjali yoga tradition. They are very much different from the asanas of Patanjali. The asanas of hatha yoga are many in number, as those of you who practise regularly would know. The two principal asanas are padmasana and sid
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dhasana. It is only in these two asanas that the real practice of mudra can be done. Although various mudras have been given, for example, maha mudra and maha bandha with provision for other asanas to be used, this is only for preliminary practice. For example, for a preliminary practice of maha mudra, uttanpadasana has been given. But ultimately the practice of mudra is in either padmasana or siddhasana.
So, firstly, the practice of padmasana is perfected, then the practice of pranayama, which culminates in a practice of kumbhaka for a prolonged period of time, then the practice of kumbhaka with the three bandhas: moolabandha, jalandhara bandha and finally uddiyana bandha. In the case of uddiyana bandha, the breath should be retained inside the body. Breathing out, then pressing the stomach in, is not actually uddiyana bandha, it is something else. In the real practice of mudra or uddiyana bandha it is not important to pull in the stomach but what is important is the ascent of pranic energy, the uddeen of pranic sensations. This means the 'flying up' of these sensations, and for this reason the practice is called uddiyana. Whether this ascent of energy takes place during external breath retention or internal breath retention is not important.
So, the practice for awakening kundalini, after padmasana and kumbhaka, is the practice of bandhas that are done with internal breath retention. After breathing in completely and after executing moolabandha and jalandhara bandha, the two lower gates are shut with moolabandha and the seven upper gates are closed with jalandhara bandha. Uddiyana bandha is finally practised when all nine gates are closed. The pressure and heat produced by the execution of these bandhas will cause the prana residing at mooladhara to awaken and enter the mouth of the sushumna nadi. Mooladhara is also known as the body center. According to yoga, the height of an individual is 96 times the length of his finger. Thus, the halfway point, the body center, is at the point of 48 fingers. At this point in every person's body, the pranic energy lies, having made three and a half laps or rings in a circular fashion. This is known as kundalini.
There are many illusions regarding kundalini, so I would like to explain further. The subtle pranic sensations, which are permanently situated in everyone's body in three and a half or seven and a half coils, are known as kundalini. This has to be
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awakened and straightened up, via sushumna nadi, and mudra is used for this purpose. So, firstly the asana, padmasana or siddhasana, then internal breath retention, followed by the two bandhas, moolabandha and jalandhara, and finally the third bandha, uddiyana, causes the pranic energy to ascend, to enter sushumna and continue up to sahasrara, to the tenth gate, to the seventh chakra, and enter into cosmic harmony. This is the function of mudra, which should be clear to everyone.
Now, if we understand the real purpose of mudra, we can understand that when we practise yoga mudra, we are not actually practising yoga mudra but yoga mudra asana. If we wish to practise vipareeta karani mudra as a mudra, we can do so, but the technique changes. Breath retention will need to be performed; bandhas will have to be practised sequentially, and after such practice it will have to be seen whether the pranic sensations are ascending or not. If they are, the mind will have to be focused and concentrated and will need to be observed.
Nowadays, people are learning meditation, practising it and gaining benefits from it, as if it were something different from hatha yoga. But I believe that meditation cannot be taught, cannot be learnt. No one can 'meditate' because meditation is a happening, a result, of the preliminary practices of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara and dharana. The meditation that we are learning and practising nowadays is not the meditation of Patanjali yoga but a, mudra of hatha yoga. This meditation of Patanjali is a spontaneous happening; it is not in our hands. We can only practise asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana and the result that is bestowed on us is meditation.
So, hatha yoga has been a great boon for us. Now, in hatha yoga, one can actively practise meditation and mudras. We can concentrate on the practice, it is in our hands. We can raise the kundalini, reach the stage of nadanusandhana, reach the stage of samadhi. Bringing meditation to a level of doing has been the great boon of hatha yoga. So, I request that we please understand what we are doing when we assume that we are meditating. Actually we are practising a mudra of hatha yoga, because it is hatha yoga which has made provision for the practice of mudras. As far as Patanjali yoga is concerned, this is a result.
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SUMMARY Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Most of us, as yoga practitioners, are really only practising asana and pranayama. This is the preliminary stage of yoga. It is just the introduction to a much greater and more wonderful goal. If we want to go further in our lives as yoga practitioners, then we must incorporate into our daily practices the use of bandha and mudra. These sublime techniques can only really be understood when we have purified our physical body, so that the consciousness, the capacity to understand and to feel the body, is changed, transformed. We must first transform the gross, physical structure, so that our consciousness can move through the nadis, so that we can feel our body, so that we can become more embodied, not less embodied.
The awakening of kundalini is to become more embodied, is to enter with consciousness into the heart of matter. As Paramahamsa Satyananda has said many times in his lectures, kundalini is awakened when we pierce the heart of the atom with our consciousness. In the atom resides this nuclear force. Before we can hope to have an understanding of kundalini and to experience the fruit of the awakening of prana, of the subtle pranas in the body and mind, first of all, we must start with asana and pranayama. But to just finish with asana and pranayama, and not go on, is to go only half the way, half the journey. It is like starting a journey from Bombay to Munger, but stopping off at Jabalpur, instead of completing the journey. You won't have the experience of the convention. To carry you on, you must move into the other more subtle and profound practices of bandha and mudra.
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DR. A. K. GHOSH (SANNYASI MANGALTEERTHAM)
Dr. A. K. Ghosh is a professor of biology and yoga researcher from Munger. He has been affiliated with the Bihar School of Yoga and Yoga Research Foundation since 1980. A witty and dynamic lecturer he is interested in bringing about a balance between science and yoga. He has worked abroad with King's College, London, and the Yoga Biomedical Trust, Cambridge. The Bibliography for Yoga was prepared by him along with Robin Monro from Cambridge and Dennis Callis from U.S.A. BEAM, a highly sophisticated instrument which was until now being used for tracing diseases of the brain, has been used by him to record the influence and effects of yoga nidra on the activities of the human brain.
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YOGA NIDRA AND THE BRAIN
Dr. A. K. Ghosh
We all know that stress is the root cause of mental and physical problems, but we do not know the elaborate mechanisms of it. In 1980, I approached Paramahamsa Satyananda with the small question, "Why does the human being suffer?" He answered, "Go and find out for yourself."
Twelve years have passed, and during these twelve years have made observations in various universities of the world. Mainly I worked in England, at Cambridge and London Universities, and I have come to you with these research papers on my subject and the work that I have done. I have it for you on celluloid transparencies from London as a message for the world, for the people of Bihar, and particularly of Munger. I hope that you will all derive benefits from this.
The work that I have carried out in different parts of Europe, especially in Cambridge and the University of London, can be seen on celluloid so that you may understand the effect of yoga on human physiology, the brain, and other aspects of life. This research proves that yoga is a science of body and mind. Between the mind and body there is a close relationship. When your brain is disturbed, when you are in distress, when you are under tension, what is happening in the brain? Nobody has yet come to know in detail by a topographic map. So the credit goes to our group especially, who did this work on BEAM, or the brain electrical activity map, which is the most sophisticated instrument in the world in understanding the working mechanism of the brain.
I will show you how your stress, which first is received by the brain, influences the pattern of brain activity. You can see it on this map of the brain. One side of the brain is red in color with some yellow; that shows the hyperactivity of the brain. It shows that the person is going through a period of excitement and is very busy or perhaps struggling with the problems of life. On the other side, which was taken when he returns home, the colors in the brain have changed to greens and blues. These demonstrate that he is relatively calm.

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When people relax in their houses there is a change in the pattern of brain activity. This has been shown by the BEAM. But when a man gets angry, then you can see the colors on the electrical activity map of the brain show the peak of hyperactivity. This is the reason why all the emotions, anger, envy, jealousy, passion and love, are considered to be a sin in yoga. All these emotions produce stress at the emotional level which disturb the normal pattern of the brain. This irregularity percolates through the brain, through the central nervous system, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems.
When there is an imbalance in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, there is also a change in the endocrine system and hormonal secretions. This hormone which has been produced by irregular behavior or tense situations percolates slowly into the cell which is the structural and functional unit of our body. Cells are the creating and working entities of our body. When there is a change in the emotions, when a person experiences anger, then this feeling reaches the secretory glands through the brain. The hormones that are secreted from these secretory glands reach the cells which are very subtle, and they change the physiology of our body, they change our feelings, our habits and our attitudes.
Apart from this, I have also seen in my research that when the mind is excited, it not only disturbs our physiology, it percolates deeply into the more subtle level of DNA. DNA is the blueprint of life which governs all the physiological and other activities regarded as the template of life. The DNA present in the subtle cells governs the various activities in our own life. Under stress, the blueprint implanted within us by creation, this masterplan, also gets disturbed by the hormones secreted as a result of stress.
When the DNA activity, the life's blueprint, starts getting disturbed, we must ask ourselves, what is the solution? What is the technique that can relax our brain, because during tension and stress, the brain activity is in a highly aggravated and hypertensive state. Some people consume alcohol to get relaxed. But this is not the solution. I have photographed a drunkard's brain and a man who was dreaming before falling asleep. I took the map of a drunkard who was tipsy and of another man who was dreaming an especially hard dream of horror. The picture is very similar. It shows that alcohol never relaxes. It is a wrong notion that alcohol relaxes.
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So, what relaxes human beings? Paramahamsaji has given the message of yoga. He gave the message that yoga is the only technique in the world, the greatest technique in the world, in which relaxation can be obtained in twenty minutes. The changes that result are absolutely wonderful. There is no medicine in the world, there is no drug, there is no other technique in the whole world known to science, known to humanity, which can do this. It is false to claim that anyone can relax on pills or alcohol.
So, I have proved in this experiment what Paramahamsaji preaches, that it is possible to attain mental tranquility through yoga. The relaxation which you get in the brain pattern is called in yoga chitta vritti nirodhan. Books speak of the potential of yoga to change the patterns of the brain, but with Paramahamsaji's blessings, when I worked in London, it was proved for the first time in the world that it is possible to change the tendencies created in the mind and the patterns of the brain activity through yoga. This can be accomplished within twenty minutes. I shall now illustrate this with an experiment that I conducted with yoga nidra in London. I did an experiment on yoga nidra with 39 teachers of yoga, some inexperienced persons and some control persons. The experiment was carried out in Charing Cross Medical School, London. I shall tell you the average results that I obtained, and show you how, through yoga nidra only, it is possible in real terms to attain mental tranquility. It is only yoga that can give you complete and total relaxation, nothing else. I will show you how the sequence of changes takes place during the process of yoga nidra that was revised by our Paramahamsa Satyananda. He modified the tantric kriya called nyasa into the form of yoga nidra which we use today. This is one of the great achievements of Paramahamsa Satyananda. He developed many tantric kriyas into relaxation and meditative processes which anybody can practise, and thereby enjoy all the benefits of yoga and tantra.
In my slides of brain maps generated during yoga nidra you can see how this change can be achieved in the mind. The patterns of brain activity change, the patterns of the brain of an excited person showing red, yellow and green colors start changing as the person calms down. The moment yoga nidra is started, the patterns of the brain's activities start changing. The hyperactive colors start disappearing. This shows that the
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brain is becoming more and more relaxed and we are getting more harmonious activity of the brain pattern. A very marvellous color represents the harmony of brain activity.
The colors of stress, the hyperactive colors which were a result of excitement, change one by one and the sky blue color which goes through more changes in the later state of yoga nidra starts to predominate. The light blue color of the sky which represents peace and tranquility begins to appear in the upper parts of the brain. The light blue color becomes deeper and deeper. This shows that the brain is relaxing and a synchronized activity and initiation of a special type of alpha wave, which is the characteristic feature of meditation, starts dominating in the brain.
Special types of electrical waves emanate from the brain known as alpha waves, a sign of tranquility. This starts happening in the fifth or sixth minute of yoga nidra. The tranquility increases to the right of the brain, and it is the right side of the brain that is responsible for meditational activities. That is why this activity of yoga is also a meditation. Now, slowly this blue color moves into the occipital area, into the most important area of the brain which shows how the alpha wave is moving towards synchronization.
Now, this is very important; the synchronization of alpha waves in the brain lobes is actually achieved in the later of yoga nidra. You can begin to see the blue color and colors too. The colors which appear are just the translation of the brain's electrical activity, and in the brain there is a dominance of alpha waves. The brain is relaxed, alert and awake. There is no other technique in the world that keeps the brain alert and at the same time awake and relaxed, all three at the same time. It is only yoga nidra, discovered by Paramahamsa Satyananda, which keeps the mind alert, awake and relaxed, and gives all the benefits of yoga and meditation. So, yoga nidra is a meditation also, while you are relaxing.
Progressively, the slides show how the blue color has spread out over the whole brain; the whole mind has been engulfed by a very synchronized alpha activity which is the characteristic feature of meditation. A little dot of a deep blue color appears, which denotes that the mind has started sleeping. Sometimes during yoga nidra, one can hear somebody snoring. What changes are there, so that we can see why he sleeps and what the benefits are? It is said that one must stay awake
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during yoga nidra, and if one sleeps, then the spiritual benefits and other effects may not be obtained. But certainly if sleep intervenes, one gets deeply relaxed.
Sleep, which is represented by a deep blue color, originates from the left side of the brain and slowly engulfs the complete brain and mind, providing the deep relaxation that every person requires. Everybody needs deep sleep, and that state can be achieved in yoga nidra, with regular practice. That is why it is very beneficial for those suffering from insomnia. In my slides you can see the REM sleep, as there is a little disturbance in the frontal lobe of the brain. The blue starts to expand more. It will engulf the whole brain slowly. You can see both the lobes when one enjoys the benefit of sleep, which is a representation of delta waves.
When delta waves start emanating, the person falls into a deep sleep, for which people often take pills. If tranquillizers are put on one side of the scales, and all the other medicines are put on the other side, we will find the tranquillizers are heavier than all the other medicines put together. But Paramahamsaji said, " If you practise yoga nidra you can sleep without pills." This is the greatest discovery in the world that he has made. Eventually the brain becomes completely blue. The subject is sleeping. He has gone into a tranquil, pleasant sleep and in this way the yoga nidra ends. Yoga nidra relaxes the mind when it relaxes the body. Eighty per cent of the diseases originate first in the mind, then percolate into the body. If your mind is relaxed, then you can conquer eighty per cent of the psychosomatic diseases. So this is a message, not only that if you practise yoga and yoga nidra you can conquer the diseases that are a problem today, such as asthma, diabetes, heart diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and disorders of the immune system, such as AIDS, as a Swami from London will show you. In all these diseases, yoga and yoga nidra help a lot, because they work at a molecular level. They help at the DNA level, the very subtle level which is the blueprint of life; thereby a desired balance in the physiology of the body and mind can be attained and a self healing process can be initiated. This is how yoga is holistic in its approach.

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SUMMARY Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
It is very difficult to conduct research on yogis, to find people that you can take into a laboratory and experiment on. Dr. Ghosh was in the fortunate position of being at the Yoga Biomedical Trust in Cambridge with Robin Monro and several other researchers to conduct this wonderful research. It is important that yoga now becomes practical. We know about the higher philosophy; we know about kundalini. But it is this type of research that is making yoga accessible to doctors, researchers and scientists so that they can understand that yoga is not just a religion or a mystical philosophy; that it is a practical science which has the capacity to influence the very heart of the cells of your body, to influence the DNA in the genes. It can make your brain change color from red to blue! Instead of having a red brain you can have a blue brain, and the bluer it is the more relaxed you are. The blueness is a map that is developed by a special machine. This machine is placed on the skull, and as you go into the different states of consciousness, it measures what is happening in your brain. Then it goes through a very complex process and this wonderful picture of the inside of your head emerges and we see the changes.
Gradually there is a decrease of tension, excessive activity, thinking and emotion. You can relax and find this is tific representation of shanti. When we say Om Shanti, this is what it looks like in your brain. As your brain becomes more relaxed your heart becomes relaxed. Your blood pressure decreases, your sleep improves. There is not one part of your life that will not improve by this state of relaxation. So we are indebted to Dr. Ghosh and to all the scientists who have spent time trying to assemble this information and to make it available to us. That is why Paramahamsaji, in his wisdom, has given great importance to this research, to the scientific aspect of yoga. It is science that we listen to; it is science that we understand because of our upbringing, our education and because of the direction in which we are going.
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DAY TWO
AFTERNOON SESSION
Madame Dr. Doussy
Cardiologist, Hospital Tenen, France
Madame Micheline Flak (Swami Yogabhakti)
Educationalist, France Founder of R.Y.E. (Research on Yoga in Education)
Swami Janakananda Saraswati
Founder of the Scandinavian Schools of Yoga and Meditation
Prof. Upen Baxi
Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University
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DR. DOUSSY
Madame Dr. Doussy has been an associate of the eminent cardiologist in France, Prof. Dr. Cloreg. She was instrumental in organizing a Doctors' Conference in Paris, when our gtru Paramahamsa Satyananda, went to that country. The outcome of that discussion was the Bihar School of Yoga publication entitled “Yogic Management of Cardiovascular Diseases". Therefore, in our organization, the help of Madame Dr. Doussy has been very important, as it has focused world attention on the role that yoga can play in cardiovascular management.
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YOGA AND CARDIOLOGY IN
FRANCE
Madame Dr. Doussy
Before telling you about the experiences we have had at the Hospital Tenen over the past thirteen years, I would like to say that I am very interested in the work done by the Indian cardiologists of whom I have read in books given to me by Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, as well as by the discussion of Prof. Wasir this morning. But perhaps I should tell you something about my own work first of all. How did yoga enter such a closed area as a hospital in Paris? It was a personal experience that was at the root of this development.
It was in 1969, almost 25 years ago. I was overloaded with medical work, as well as by my family life, with young children. I was living in a permanent situation of stress. What had to happen, happened, and more and more I was attacked by angina pectoris, so repeatedly that I was afraid of a heart attack. It was Prof. Cloreg, who was not yet in charge of the department, who looked after me. I had all the usual therapies, the anti-coagulant, the byproducts of nitre, and I did not feel better at all. It was at that point that yoga crossed my path. That was a true resurrection. I started practising vo
yoga actively. I did not wait long before starting to teach yoga to my patients who suffered from cardiovascular illnesses. Faced with the results I obtained, Prof. Cloreg sent me his personal patients. Later, Prof. Cloreg became Head of the Department and he held the Chair of Medicine. He then told me that we were going to start a yoga consultancy. To do a rigorous study, in view of the rather large demand, we were obliged to limit ourselves and to choose one pathology. We chose to study hypertension, high blood pressure. Then we established in work procedure, preliminary examinations for each patient wie had chosen.
First there were clinical examinations, then biological examinations which were followed by complementary
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electrocardiogram examinations, and if necessary X-ray examinations, because with these patients who were often old, there was an associated pathology, and we wanted to check the patients really well before asking them to practise yoga. We have also set up a group which I have followed up since 1980, for about thirteen years.
What yoga were we going to practise with the people who were there? At the beginning, I taught them the very classic yoga, as taught in Rishikesh. At the beginning of the session, I insisted on a lot of breathing practices. People who are stressed have very shallow breathing. That lasted for fifteen minutes. Then came the usual postures, and I finished with deep relaxation. Before and after each session, the blood pressure was measured.
Then I discovered yoga nidra with Micheline Flak, and it was at that time that Paramahamsa Satyananda came to give some lectures at Hospital Tenen. I appreciated the effects of yoga nidra so muchi in my own life that I was in a hurry to teach it in the hospital. The effects were remarkable. People with high blood pressure are often very stressed, and the effect of yoga nidra on the mind was especially beneficial.
Then appeared a new remarkable examination, the Holten, which gives a recording for either blood pressure or heart function. We used it for both, 24 hours non stop. This made it possible to include our yoga session within the 24 hours. We were able to see how the blood pressure gradually developed during the yoga session and which postures were the most effective to reduce it. We had the pleasant surprise of seeing that the minimal diastolic pressure went down after the yoga session. This was rather unusual as it is easier to lower the systolic pressure than the diastolic.
We continued to check our patients every three months, and then once a year. We found them to be completely transformed, not only on the physical level, concerning their blood pressure and the whole associated pathology, but especially by changes on the mental level. The lives of these people have completely changed, the way they live, the meaning they give their life. Some have even become spiritual seekers. This is, of course, very rewarding for us.
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MICHELINE FLAK
Madame Micheline Flak, alias Swami Yogabhakti Saraswati, came to India, to the Bihar School of Yoga, in 1973. Here she came in contact with Paramahamsa Satyananda who, seeing her devotion and dedication, and recognizing the inherent qualities within her, named her Yogabhakti. It has been her lifelong work to teach children of all ages, from kindergarten to university students. She pioneered the introduction of yoga into the educational system of France and many European countries and is the founder of the R.Y.Ě. (Research on Yoga in Education). She has written a book called "Successful Children - Yoga and Education."
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YOGA AND EDUCATION
Micheline Flak .
It was twenty years ago, as Paramahamsa Niranjanananda has just reminded me, that I met Paramahamsa Satyananda in the Bihar School of Yoga in India. I had known his lifelong interest in education and that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to meet him. A few months before our first meeting in 1973, one day in the classroom, I started the lesson with a short session of relaxation. In fact, I had not decided it. Somehow, it came over me that I had to do it. If I say this to you emphatically, it is because the same process has been enacted a number of times with so many other teachers, my colleagues, who have been practitioners of yoga and one day felt that what they had themselves experienced within their own body and mind could be transfered to the children.
So, one day I realized that there were many points which I wished to have cleared by a master. The first one was that the children had liked it very much, which is a strong point because when parents and authorities have to be convinced, the children are the best ambassadors. The second point I noticed was that the relaxation has excellent effects on their attention, their attentiveness, and that it could, under certain circumstances, lead to better learning and improved mental faculties. It especially enhanced long term memory.
The third point was that yoga could be made to serve as a cognitive science. Instead of just being adjusted to wellbeing it could aid in the development of concentration. In fact this is very close to the teachings of Patanjali, because relaxation comes before dharana, concentration, and this is exactly the need of today's school system. I wish to explain this a little more.
Nowadays, in industrialized countries, teachers complain more of the dispersion of mind and the unruliness of the young generation. It is a fact that, physically, modern children move all the time. It is very difficult in ordinary circumstances
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to keep them in hand. Teachers often become depressed because they cannot handle that type of anarchic energy. Due to those outbursts of what could be termed abnormal agitation, the quality of learning itself is somehow diminished.
We live in a time when children must learn a lot of things at school. I am sure that what we experience in France is the same in many western countries, in India and in other countries all over the world too. The fact is that children have to learn a lot of mathematics, biology and languages, as well as art, music, physical training etc., so their schedule is very full and, of course, they suffer from fatigue and nervousness. School is the mirror of society. It is very porous to all outside influences. Since these influences are sometimes deleterious, we might also expect that some excellent influences could be made to enter the school system as well.
One of these wonderful influences is yoga, no doubt because yoga has such wonderful effects on the body, emotions, intellect and psychological make up of each person. It can also open up channels of creativity which we absolutely need in order to see the emergence of new values. It is a fact that a lot can be obtained through yoga with very small effort. For instance a few breathing exercises at the beginning of a class helps the children recover their balance very quickly. Of course, a short yoga nidra session, meaning that it should not last more than six to seven minutes, at most, will help them become receptive.
There is a funny story by an old sage, Nasruddin. Nasruddin can be a very comic character, but his pranks are done in order to teach. One day Nasruddin is sitting at the fountain of the village and he is holding a pot which is cracked so badly that the water is leaking out and the people around him are laughing. "Nasruddin, are you expecting to fill up your pot when it is leaking so much and you see it?" And he says, "I am not concerned with the leaking, I am just concerned with having the water poured into it." That is exactly the situation of teachers who are pouring tons of knowledge into pots which are leaking. So what yoga exercise could do would be to stop that leaking from the children's brains and make their brains more receptive to what we have to teach them.
Children like yoga very much. But it is so new, so astonishing to have teachers like me and my colleagues who

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are teaching intellectual matters making those children stretch and breathe, that the authorities are taken aback by such a process. We have to convince them with all our might and capacities, that it is possible not to lose time while doing such things.
As I was speaking about yoga in the confines of my school and writing a few articles in certain specialized magazines, it came to the ears of a person who was working in the cabinet of the Minister of Education, that a sort of innovation was taking place in the high school. He took note of it and instead of being overwhelmed by this wild experience, he thought it might be interesting. He had in mind to collect all such innovations in the field of education all over France, and that was in 1983. He summoned me and other people who were doing striking work of this sort and were not yet recognized, and we had a big convention, in Chamarande.
In fact, Chamarande is well known to some of the peop here, because Paramahamsaji had also given lectures and courses there. We had an official conference there and at that time I introduced the R.Y.E. techniques. The people there liked it very much and thought it was interesting. It was very funny to see those big men and women, who were delegates, ready to lie down and do a short session of yoga nidra and then to sit up again and imagine they were in the classroom and being given a lesson of English or mathematics and judge for themse! es, whether or not they understood it better than before. But they really liked it, and since then we have been «sked to train teachers in yogic methods. I would not say that it is common to all the regional boards of education in France, but we are very active in many of them, for example, in Toulouse, Dijon. I am not going to enumerate all the places, but we can say that R.Y.E. has many branches in France, as well as in other parts of the world.
So, one point should be stressed, that this is happening in a context which is non-confessional. The French system is a completely lay system, where no spiritual education is permitted because of the French tradition and also because, nowadays, there are so many multi-racial and confused problems arising in the French society and, of course, in the schools. So, we had to be very attentive to the fact that those exercises should not refer to any spiritual practices which hurt the creeds and the beliefs of the children and the parents
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behind them. Therefore, we explained that the yoga practices were not meant for spiritual purposes, but for better learning. In fact, this is very true. I will allude to it here very quickly and not delve into it, due to lack of time.
Modern research in the field of education has shown very clearly that nowadays training of the mind is coming first. Methodology in learning should be taught not only to teachers and professionals, but also to children, so that they can understand the working of the mind in order to learn better Just as an example, when a teacher gives information to the class, he writes on the blackboard, then the children write it down in their copybooks. Very often it is thought that because of this transcription, this writing down process, the lesson is then learnt. This is a wrong assumption. Learning has to be impressed in the mind before you can say that the lesson or the theory in mathematics is understood. So there is a lot of me work to be done.
A French researcher called Antoine de la Garronie has led very interesting studies, saying that in order to learn well you have to study the mental management of those students who have done very well. Some students are repeating the lesson in their minds, in their heads, others have a way of visualizing the page in their minds, and those who are doing very well, in fact are doing both. This can be studied precisely and taught so that the students can learn more efficiently through certain processes.
To make it short, it can be said that modern research in the field of cognitive science is very close to the discoveries of the sages who have set up the science of yoga. It shows that knowing goes through some inner tracks, inner paths, and that it cannot be escaped nowadays when so much has got to be learnt by the young generation. Since the general theme of this wonderful conference is dealing with yoga in the twenty first century we, as adults, are concerned because we are living at this turn of the century, but it is our children, our grandchildren who absolutely need new ways of education. I think that yoga can bring that to them.
However, as I told you, the spiritual aspect of yoga has to be introduced with great care, in order to be injected into socie tv. For that reason. I think that a few facts should be made very clear to the number of teachers who are trying to introduce yoga. As I told you, the mind has got to be silent, to
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be calmed down. For that reason I have thought of four procedures which can be used by all teachers without attracting the attention of those people who accuse yoga of being a cult, a religion.
The first thing that has to be emphasized in the classroom is to make the children aware of their body and aware of their breathing. This is the first step to self-knowledge. This brings a wonderful element into the classroom, which is silence. A great fact is lying there. Silence can be pedagogical. It has been proved that when the mind is silenced after a lot of information has been presented by the teacher, then some areas in the brain are working hard to fix the information. It is during the stop, during what has been termed the structuring pause, that knowledge is being imbibed. So this is the first procedure, to bring silence into the classroom through self awareness.
The second procedure which I would emphasize is the use of music. A great psychologist named Lozanov has definitely found that music with sixty beats per minute, that is calm music, baroque music, Indian classical music, for instance, can produce wonderful relaxation in the brain. He has evolved a process which cannot be explained in a few minutes because it is quite elaborate. Some of his research is very close to the discoveries of Patanjali.
A third point which I would also emphasize is the telling of myths and stories. One day I was making my students in English read a text on American civilization and a criticism of pollution. There were a lot of technicalities and, of course, the author was advising the generation to pay attention to the protection of Mother Earth. Suddenly I started telling them the beautiful story about Gaia (the earth) who has married Uranus (the sky) and how in Greek mythology it was said that they had many children like animals, plants and human beings. I noticed how the simple telling of that fable made their eyes shine brightly, and they immediately understood how they could be the defenders of Gaia and Uranus. I think also in etymology, the word mythos in Greek is close to echeniuthos (silence). Those two words open up a path for thought.
A fourth element, which I would also emphasize as a very powerful way to open the flow of creativity and spiritual life in the child, is the use of mandala. Mandalas are geometrical
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figures which exist all over the earth. A friend of mine has written a book, containing a collection of mandalas from all countries and it is remarkable how beautiful they are. So I advised all my colleagues to make the children color mandalas. The results are fabulous. The children are soothed. Even disturbed children feel relief from their nervousness through this process, which also has to be taught. Of course, it is more complex than it sounds but it is so very important that a famous psychologist called Edward de Bono has advised scholars and scientists to use mandalas under the name of Euristic patterns. Those of you who are interested in that subject will find a lot of literature on mandalas for adults and children as well.
So I will finally end my lecture by telling you how wonderful it is to teach the new generation and how much I owę to the encouragement I received from Paramahamsa Satyananda, when I told him about my first experience in 1973. Ever since, I always think of what he told me the first time I told him of that little step. He gave me two words, and those two words I hand over to you. He said, "That's it."
Next year on the 11th, 12th and 13th of November, R.Y.E. will organize a convention in Brussels, the capital of Europe, on the theme of "Yoga in Education" and Paramahamsa Niranjanananda will be our guest speaker. The invitation is extended to all of you.

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SUMMARY
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Teaching is a very comprehensive subject. It has generally been accepted as being intellectually creative but in teaching, the personal creativity, the characteristic creativity, can also be felt today. In the name of teaching, we disregard the mental attributes of children. Like a broken earthen pot into which we go on pouring water, we go on pouring knowledge into the children's minds without any awareness of their receptivity. The modern concept of teaching has changed. Teaching is the mirror of society. The mode of teaching in schools is a reflection of our social order and our current way of thinking. But how can children be taught to overcome the distraction and dissipation that disturbs the process of education?
If we follow the instructions of the traditional Yoga Sutras, then it is not just the way of teaching which changes but also the individual's personality. First of all the child has to overcome restlessness and the deep-rooted tension has to be eradicated. To eradicate mental stress in a child is the teacher's duty. In order to obtain a state of mental receptivity, children have to be taught relaxation techniques. It is only when children reach the state of relaxation that their minds can become one-pointed and concentrated, otherwise not.
This is the theme of yogic philosophy that, before onepointedness, before concentration, in the practice of pratyahara, the process of bringing the mind to a state of relaxation has to be taught. When the student reaches the state of relaxation and one-pointedness, he begins to experience self-awareness. Yoga is not just a spiritual science, it is a process of self-development, and this is the proclamation of Maharishi Patanjali's first Sutra, Atha yoga anushaasanam. Yoga is the way to train yourself and discipline your life.
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SWAMI JANAKANANDA SARASWATI
Swami Janakananda is the oldest working sannyasin disciple of Paramahamsa Satyananda in Europe. He is the founder of the Scandinavian Schools of Yoga and Meditation, which have nine branches in the Scandinavian countries. He is also a great scholar and orator, well versed in the literature of tantra and yoga, both an intellectual and a sadhak. In fact he can be considered the star sannyasin of our movement.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF ANTAR MOUNA
MEDITATION
Swami Janakananda Saraswati
I came to the Bihar School of Yoga in 1968, and I came at a very good time when Paramahamsa Satyananda was teaching everything himself. He was teaching yoga asanas, shankaprakshalana, neti and, of course, all the meditations. So, I got a string of pearls, a mala of meditations. One of those meditations, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda has asked me to talk about today, and that is a meditation which starts with your personality the way it is, without having to change it.
Of course, you can change your personality, but maybe it should happen a little bit more by itself, rather than by force and struggle. Maybe you should not change it, but you cannot help it, if you use this meditation. This is a meditation which starts not only from within your personality, habits, thoughts and emotions, but also from outside, listening to the sounds, experiencing your environment as a whole. This is very valuable and I will give you some examples of that. Then the awareness travels all the way in, through the different dimensions of your being to your essence, to your innermost being from where you experience everything. This meditation was found in the ancient Indian tradition.
se, I have also found traces of it in the Scandinavian truuition, but that I will return to a little bit later. The great yogis have taught similar things to what I learned from Paramahamsaji, but he was putting it in such a way that you could not avoid it.
Ramana Maharshi was a great inspiration to me when I read about his life. He talks about the other side of the heart, the right side. You put yourself there, and from there you experience everything. Swami Yogananda talks about going back to the spinal cord, and from the spinal cord experiencing everything
Sri Aurobindo talks about something that has inspired me
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tremendously; it is called the frontal being. I had been thinking about it for some time, but without the knowledge which I have acquired here, I do not think that I would have grasped what he really meant. Then, I made use of that idea in my own meditation. The frontal being, I believe, is the being in front. It is all the emotions, all the impulses, coming and going through the chakras. It is also the tensions, and the mask that you put on your face. When you become aware of these things, you can do something about them. For example, if you have tension, let us say you are sitting with your fists clenched and you are not aware of it, the moment you become aware of it you may be able to release that tension just through awareness. But if you are not aware of it, if you are holding it, then you cannot release it. The same thing applies to the tension in the face, the mask that you put on, the attitude that you have towards yourself and towards the world. It is extremely important to simply be aware of this, but not to change it right away. In fact, when this meditation starts, you will become aware of many things about yourself.
Maybe I should mention one more source before I reveal the name of this meditation, which some of you may have already guessed. In Tibet, they have a tradition, which they consider the highest, most advanced tradition. They call it maha mudra. It is not that maha mudra of hatha yoga and it is not the maha mudra of kriya yoga, but it is the greatest attitude you can have to life. Now this can be misunderstood, because it is not necessary to go around in your daily life and remember this practice all the time. Yes, you could do that, but I would advise you not to. I would advise you to first do it in your meditation, so that you do not become a slave of false ideals. I have seen that when people build up so many demands upon themselves, they forget to meditate.
The meditation I am talking about is called antar mouna, inner silence. I have been teaching three month courses since 1974 and I have seen changes in the European understanding of meditation. You know, a three month course is a very intense period and people go through a lot of things. We have a long silence of 35 days or so during these courses and we learn kriya yoga and many other things. In the early 70's, I saw that there was a fashion, a mode, an attitude that the culture was passing through, where everything was confrontation. In the
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therapies around in Europe, there were people meeting, even fighting and sometimes blood was shed! Of course, that did not happen during the three month course!
There was more confrontation at that time. People did not understand very much and I had to tell them why they had to sit still in meditation and things like that. The idea of meditation was not yet in the subconscious understanding of Europe. It took some time, but some changes took place around 197879. Again, in the early 80's there were more changes. Everybody had to hug each other, the whole thing was about love. It sort of became an outward thing. Then in the last few years in Europe, the interest has been going towards the occult, towards doing yoga, opening the chakras, and things like that.
I was teaching antar mouna on this three month course, sometime in the late 70's. I teach the way that Paramahamsaji was teaching. He never left us alone. You could not get lost in a thought. You have to see the thought. I remember the first few weeks I was here, I tried to send him telepathic messages like, "Can't you shut up so I can meditate!" Of course he is a great man and if he picked it up he did not get offended; he understood. But I do not think he picked up all the thoughts of all the students, because then he would have had a lot to do!
Anyway, later on, I found myself in the same situation. I discovered that when you are with the students all the time and you feel something within yourself, you know that the same something is going on in the group, and you have to guide them accordingly. When you open up to this kind of awareness, you become the medium to the group. You are helpless, you cannot do anything. It is the people in front of you who decide how you have to teach. In this course nothing happened. I mean, of course, the usual things happened, you teach and it works; the individual sits and has a nice little meditation, but the feeling was not there. After some weeks I suddenly stopped the meditation and asked the group, "Say, what are you doing in this course? It is strange, it is different from what other people are doing."
Something has happened here and instead of me having to pull the course along as I did in the early 70's to struggle with them, now people started pulling me, doing more and running ahead of me. In fact, it was so much so that they went too far. So I had to ask them, "Are you trying to meditate all day? Be
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cause I can't feel any change when you sit down and close your eyes?" They said that yes, they were working in the forest, all the time thinking about themselves, about how they felt, and I do not know what else. I said, "This is not meditation, this is introversion. Don't bother about your energy, about how you feel or whether you have digested your food or not."
Actually my definition of a yogi (and I know that it is Gandhi's definition too, he just says it in a slightly different way) is a person who does not care how he or she feels, he has other things to do. It is not that he is lacking awareness. So I told the group, and I was fortunate (as a teacher you know that you are fortunate when your students hear what you say) that they picked it up, and they stopped meditating all day. So the next day when we sat down for meditation, I just felt that everybody was there and we had the most wonderful meditation, because they did it at one time during the day.
Later on, when they have learned the art of meditation and are able to get the full benefit, it will automatically spread outward and they will become witnesses to their daily lives in a marvellous way. As it is said in one of the tantric books, "When you are angry, be angry with great awareness; when you are sad, be sad with great awareness." But this should be learned in meditation, as meditation is different from the ordinary state.
This morning we heard a speaker talking about the 'relaxation response'. This phrase has been publicized by an American, Dr. Benson. He says, "It 's easy to be angry: it's easy to be afraid." We all know that our sympathetic nervous system is very easily agitated. We call it the fight or flight response. However, to sit down and relax, just like that, and to think that you can use your will to relax, that is almost impossible. Dr. Benson gets people into his laboratory and tests their blood pressure. He says that you can ask a person to relax, but if he is stressed his blood pressure will not drop and also his brain will not relax very much. You can say, "Ah, I'm relaxing. I am relaxing." You may try to hypnotize yourself like that, but it does not work.
Therefore, it is very important in understanding all these aspects that we have heard from this platform already in these first few days, that we do not forget that the technique of

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meditation is a great help. But meditation is not only a technique. If your awareness is not there, and you do not have all the other qualities we have heard about, it is difficult. Without a little devotion, it is difficult, and so on. But of course, the technique is very important. We have heard from Swami Yogabhakti how yoga nidra helps people. Yoga nidra is a technique and so is antar mouna. Dr. Benson starts with the technique of mantra meditation and he says that later on you can just say "1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3," instead of the mantra , and that is a technique. I do not believe that you can go deep enough by such a method. I think there should be more to it.
The technique of antar mouna is the most subtle one. It is not like repeating a mantra. It is using your senses, first the outer senses and then the inner senses, but not the eyes. You close the eyes, and then you listen to all the sounds around you. Right now, if you hear all the sounds while I am talking, you can have your eyes open or closed, you will experience that we are all part of a very big totality. A helicopter is flying by just now, people are outside, a car is honking, and so on. If you make it a whole experience, your state and your mood will change, and this is the first step of antar mouna.
At first I thought that maybe this stage is not so important. Maybe it is more important to watch the breath, feel the body, and things like that, but the people came back to me. A student who joined me here at the last conference twenty years ago, in 1973, came to me later on and said, “Now I have got to know you, and I know that you are a teacher, but I haven't learnt anything yet really. I want to; I am curious. I want to learn a meditation. Can you teach me one?" He was actually lying to me, because he had a problem, but he would not say that, he just said that he was curious. I said, “Yes, I am just starting an antar mouna course and you can join that. It is conducted at noon for eight sessions over three weeks.
So, he started and learnt the first step. At that time I did not use yoga nidra in that course; I only taught antar mouna. Later on, I added yoga nidra, because it is a little easier if people have released their tension before they sit up and meditate. Anyway, he went home and came back for the next class. He was a little excited and he said, "I must talk to you afterwards, because I simply can't understand what is happening." So I said, "OK. Let's talk."
After the class he came and said "You know, I was lying to
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you. I have been suffering from sleeplessness for as long as I can remember and I was hoping that when I learnt meditation it would help me. I expected to have to learn a lot of things, but this can't be true can it? I mean, Monday night, Tuesday night, I have slept like a child." I said, "But what else have you done? Have you taken some pills?" (which I really knew would not have helped him sleep like a child) ''Or have you worked more than usual?'' But he said he had done nothing.
So, I said, "Then maybe it is because you have learnt this meditation. Let me tell you a little story. About half a year ago I visited you together with a good friend who has now passed away." That friend was Ajit Mookerji, an Indian writer of books about tantric art, kundalini and many things. I thought that these two people should meet because they have a common interest in tantric art. Then I told him, "I walked behind you while you showed us your wonderful house."
The house was built in the 50's when Danish architecture was very fine, and it was a wonderful villa, "You had a wonderful workshop and so on. As I was walking behind you, I heard you talking about these wonderful paintings, about the kitchen, about how the house was built, and all that. But that was only half of what you said." Then he looked at me, a little astonished, and he asked, "What do you mean by that?"
: "Well," I replied, "the other half was – and then there is that damned road out there, and all these cars driving on that road. Over there is a neighbor who has a big dog and it is barking all the time. Over there the children are a nuisance!" "Did I say all that?" he asked. “Yes," I replied, “you said all that. Now maybe, for the first time, you can understand that you moved out of the city twenty years ago, but you just did not realize that the city moved along with you". "No," he said, "maybe not. But how can that be?"
"Well", I replied, "you sat in your garden didn't you, and meditated yesterday and the day before yesterday. For the first time in your life, you heard all the sounds as a whole. You realized that the traffic is not there because of you, the children are not there because of you and neither is the dog. The children are children, and after all the play of children is not a menace and you have told your subconscious mind that, through this meditation. Therefore, your subconscious mind has withdrawn the guards, so you can sleep. For the first time in maybe fifteen
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years you have been sleeping soundly."
So, there must be something important about the first step of antar mouna.
The second step is about many things, maybe the most important things. I would like to quote Sri Aurobindo again. He says that in your mind there are hooks and when a thought comes that first hook will catch it. So all you have to do is straighten out the hooks, and the thoughts will not hang on anymore; they will just pass by. In the Tibetan tradition of maha mudra, the greatest attitude is not to identify with any concepts, not to hang on to any thoughts, but to let things flow by. To not interfere at all.
Here, I come to the name antar mouna. It dawned on me only a few years ago that the names of many of the yoga exercises do not mean the result of the exercise. For instance, sirshasana does not mean what you get out of sirshasana. Paramahamsaji once told me about the research being done in Poland on sirshasana. It is not that, it is not the effect, but how you do it. Sirshasana: "Stand on your head." Nadi Shodhan: "Clear your nadis." Bhastrika: “Blow like a bellow." You can think about it. Maybe there are exceptions, but generally, the name means what to do and not the effect.
So, the name antar mouna is not a commercial for this meditation, but it is what you have to do. You have to be the silence, and behind that silence you have to experience life, experience the world, experience your own thoughts. John Gage, an American composer, once put it this way, "Music is composed on the background of silence."
An Indian painter, who lives in Denmark, says the same thing, "I have the empty canvas and on the background of the empty canvas the painting comes."
Well, if we transfer this concept to life, then we must say life comes forth from silence. When we understand that, we return to the silence and identify with the silence only. From the silence, you experience life, your inner life, your outer life, your relationships. As Sri Aurobindo said, "When you become a little more advanced, you experience the vibrations at the chakras and how you react." Then, through observing these things you can unbend the hooks, so you do not get entangled in these vibrations and are able to let go and remain yourself.
I tell my students, "Don't be silly idealists. Don't try to
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change yourself when you sit down to meditate. Don't take on a holy face, but sit down the way you are. Whether you are happy, unhappy, tired or full of energy, it doesn't matter. Whether you feel restless or dull, sit down and allow the meditation to start with where you are and how you are. If you want something out of the meditation, don't put any fancy pictures between you and what you have to experience! I don't say that you should think in a negative way about yourself. Just practise maha mudra, the greatest attitude, withdraw and don't interfere at all."
I must state this because I have had rather disturbing experiences with people who have mixed this with a therapy called gestalt, where you identify with your thoughts, where you try to awaken the emotions, and it is not good to mix these two. Antar mouna means be the silence, do not interfere at all. It is not a therapy, you are there and you experience life; let life be. You cannot do that in daily life. That is why we need that thing we talked about earlier, the relaxation response.
When you trigger relaxation through a meditation method, and you start with the sounds going around, suddenly your mind relaxes. Then when you allow the thoughts, your mind relaxes a little more. If you cannot relax enough, you can also watch your brcath a little in between. But usually it is enough to just watch the thoughts. Then your state changes, you get into a different state. I like to call it the open state, because it is a state full of possibilities. It is open to creativity, it is open to insights, starting with things that have to do with your daily life.
Many idealistic people think, "Oh, I have to go into the deepest meditation. I can't deal with all these small things." No, don't do that. Let the meditation take its own time, if you want the real meditation experience. Antar mouna is based upon a natural process of the mind. If you allow yourself first to experience the sounds around you, you become secure and then as soon as you are secure, the mind drops its interest and goes in by itself. Then it is in there, and there is enough to do in there.
Notice when you forget the sounds, what makes you forget them? The inner things, you are suddenly engrossed in a thought, or you are having a little emotional drama because of something that happened to you this morning. So, the first
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thing that happens is that you get into those thoughts that are on the surface. Allow yourself to do that: it is very important. Do not say, "No, I only have to go deep and have deep wonderful thoughts. Thoughts about money, emotional problems, what I have to do tomorrow, what I did yesterday, food or whatever, have nothing to do with my meditation." Avoid that, let those thoughts.come first.
When you talk about creativity, for instance, there is something called brainstorming. Brainstorming means that you allow all ideas to come into the mind. I once read an interview in an American magazine with a man who was famous for getting good ideas and giving them to industrialists and other people. The interviewer said to him, "How come you get so many good ideas that other people don't get? What is that special capacity?" He said, "The capacity is that I don't get any more good ideas than anyone else, but I allow all the bad ideas to express themselves also and I even note them down, and when I have had one hundred ideas, I pick out three of them, and they are highly useful."
I can give you an example of such a good idea from a similar person living in Denmark. You may laugh but this is serious. There was a ship that sank in the harbor and it was very important to get it up again for some reason. They could not do it with cranes, and this man was asked, "Can't you come up with an idea as to how we can get that ship up again?" I do not know if you know here in India, but there is a very famous cartoon character in the west called Donald Duck and he has a cousin or an uncle who is an inventor, and suddenly this man remembered what they did in the Donald Duck cartoon. Donald Duck took ping-pong balls and put them into a ship and then the ship came up. So the man bought millions of ping-pong balls, so many that he filled the whole ship. Then the ship came up. Crazy idea and, if it came into your mind, you might have refused it. But it worked, the ship came up and of course, he got great respect for it.
So allow the mind to be active, let it have silly thoughts, stupid thoughts, genius thoughts. Some people cannot bear to be a genius: they are too modest. But please, if you get a stroke of genius, allow that too. Allow spiritual thoughts if they come, and allow evil thoughts also. Some people get afraid when I say that I cannot distinguish between good and bad when I meditate.

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I was interviewed on the state radio of Denmark just before I came here. The priest who interviewed me said, “How can you allow just any thoughts? "And the best answer' I could give him was, "I am not a slave to my thoughts anymore. When I am a witness to my thoughts, I am not those thoughts. I am the one who is experiencing them."
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SUMMARY
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Dhyana (meditation) is a subject about which nothing can be said in a summarized manner, since meditation is related to inner consciousness and the awakening of the power within. We normally assume meditation to be a method of concentration, but the aim of meditation is awareness and realization of inner consciousness, through awakening the powers within. This is why it is taught in the various practices of meditation to control the thoughts, desires, obsessions and emotions arising within, because unless and until these are controlled, there can be no advancement in meditation.
Meditation is not merely a process of closing the eyes and thinking of God, which results in self-realization. Meditation encompasses three stages. The first stage in meditation is trait, the second stage in meditation is dvait, the third stage in meditation is advait. These three stages have been explained by Maharishi Patanjali as pratyahara, dharana and dhyana.
Pratyahara is the stage of trait where I, my ishta and the medium being used by me to approach the ishta, are known. In the state of dharana only the knowledge of me and my ishta remains: I have centered myself and begun to experience my ishta. In the state of dhyana, only the ishta is known, experienced and seen. So these are the three stages of meditation.
Now we have to see how far our personality traits allow us to go. Closing the eyes, chanting mantras, thinking of God while struggling with the mind and also accommodating various thoughts, is not the process of meditation. We can call this the first step towards awakening of self-consciousness, because in meditation there is no state of distraction, there is no agitation.
Meditation is a peaceful state when all the agitations and distractions come to an end. To move forward into meditation, there are certain methods or techniques which can be adopted.

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One of these techniques is antar mouna, to silence the inner personality. When our inner personality is silenced, it is without words, without thoughts. It reaches the state of void, and then the state of darshan is reached in meditation.
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PROFESSOR UPEN BAXI
In the galaxy of intellectuals one of the shining stars in the skies of India is Prof. Upen Baxi, Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University. He has investigated and researched the various principles of social, economic and global factors in relation to the individual and his growth in society. His association with the Bihar School of Yoga is not recent. He was Paramahamsa Satyananda's original secretary and one of the architects of the International Fellowship Movement whose branches are now spread all over the world.
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MISSION FOR RESPONSIBILITY
TO MEMORY Prof. Upen Baxi
I wish to say how greatly I am honored by this yoga uttsava, this festival of yoga, this carnival of consciousness. When it rained yesterday afternoon I thought of the Beatles, and the famous Woodstock concert. I thought we had a yogic Woodstock here! As a representative of Delhi University, home of a great biodiversity of 62 colleges, 70 departments, 200,000 students and 15,000 faculty members, I have the honor to bring greetings to the entire International Yoga Fellowship fraternity on behalf of my colleagues and karmachari students. I also hope that no matter where I may be in the stream of time, Delhi University and other Indian universities will cooperate with you to realize the great vision that underlies the foundation of the International Yoga Fellowship - to create an international open gurukul or yogic university. I hope that this vision which is on the way to being less than nirakaara (formless) will become sakaara (with form) under the able leadership of Paramahamsa Niranjanananda.
As an individual I do not deserve the honor of being here. The real honor must go to my wife as it was she who brought me to your Swamiji, Paramahamsa Satyananda. She was amongst his first few disciples. Her purvashram name was Vishwaprem. I am not a disciple of Satyam, as I still call him. I think he would acknowledge that he is not my guru either; but I love him, I adore him, I play with him, I am impertinent with him. I claim an equality with him which I know does not belong to me but which I know he used to acknowledge. It is a relationship of unequal equals, of friends. It is a relationship which in my experience has no parallel. Therefore, before I begin, I say pranam to him.
This occasion is marked by a presence which is also an absence, an absence which is also a presence. I refer, of course, to Satyam, who is both here and not here. I believe his presence in
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absence and his absence in presence is the very meaning of what you people, more learned than I am, would call transcendence. But Satyam, I believe, stands for more than transcendence. As I know him he stands for transgression, that is, the crossing of limits and even the negation of all limits.
I am reminded of the great mystic thinker, devotee and poet, Kabir. He wrote a doha (couplet), as follows:
Had tape so auliya Behad tape so peer
Had anhad dono tape uska naain fakeer Rendered into poor English this means: "Transgressing a limit makes you a spiritual novice, transgressing the frontier makes you a more accomplished spiritual being, but transgressing the very idea of limits and frontiers makes you an authentic spiritual being."
Transgression of that order is embodied by Satyam. In ordinary people like me, bourgeois manners require exclusion of other company. In ordinary people transgression would be viveka (intellect) or even yoga bhrashta (yoga blasphemy), but not for the mahatma. There is only one rule for the mahatma. That one rule is that there are no rules. In the past few days we have heard reference to the righteous Purushashuktam, a mahatma, or his spirit, is not limited, it is broad and envelops everything. And, in being so, mahatmas may be righteous, but not necessarily according to the standards of worldly men.
I believe that Satyam's contribution to yoga theory and practice has been a remarkable saga of change within continuity: not change for the sake of change, nor continuity for the sake of continuity. I do not believe that he has broken the tradition, but rather that within the tradition he has inaugurated a large number of new elements. How else can I understand the notion of karma sannyasa? How else can I understand the notion of a second renunciation? How else can I understand his contemporary infatuation with the reform of the akhara concept?
I want to raise a question with you wnich leads me to my main theme. Can there ever be a Goiden Jubilee of Tyag? What is a jubilee? A jubilee is a landmark of linear and worldly time. The time, the temporality of a renunciate, is cosmic time, not calendar time and certainly not Greenwich Mean Time, which is very mean indeed as we Indians know it. So, in these four
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days, by what measure of time, by what signpost of history, and by whose and which history do we acknowledge the greatness of his renunciation or tapasya? I do not think that we acknowledge the greatness of his tyaga for him, for Satyam. I think we acknowledge its greatness because we want a touch of grace to fall upon us. We want to remind ourselves of our arrested spirituality, or our potential spirituality. We want to remind ourselves of our perfectibility in the midst of our many imperfections.
When we recall Satyam we must remember and we must face up to a very difficult situation, a very difficult question. It is that question which I want to address this afternoon. The question, and it is going to be difficult, is the question of a responsibility towards memory.
Satyam ordains a new mission for us now and for decades to come. With all humility I would like to call this a mission of responsibility to memory. Of course we all think that memory is something which is opposed to forgetfulness - smriti or vismriti. The great Czechoslovakian novelist Milan Kundera began his novel The Joke with the following great observation: "The struggle of men (and, I add, women) against power is the struggle of memory over forgetfulness; memory over oblivion." Public memory is short. However, if we follow Milan Kundera it is very clear that public memory is not short rather it is made short. It is made short by the processes of power and domination in our society and our state.
To my mind, and this is a new thesis, yoga is a reconfiguration of memory in our eternal fight against oblivion. I wish to share with you now six types of memory to which yoga responds. The first is the memory of origin; the second is the memory of purpose; the third is the memory of body; the fourth is the memury of evil; the fifth is the memory of mission; and finally the memory of the future. I hope you will forgive me if I take a little time on each of these aspects of my presentation.
Memory of origin is the first problem of memory. I have already acknowledged Vishwaprem and my relation to Satyam through her, but origin is accidental. It is the origin of origin which is not accidental. It is causal and perhaps it is cosmic. If you ask the simple question, "What makes us all human?"; we will have many answers. Scientists will have one, philosophers
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another, social theorists and creative authors still another. And religion will provide a whole array of different answers. However, I believe that one very important answer lies in yoga: an answer not to accidental origin but an answer to the origin of origins, and that goes by the names of purusha and prakriti. Yoga to my mind is an active memory of viyoga. It is the cosmic memory of a great chain of being which has to be recalled here and now in our terrestrial boundaries.
Let me come to the second kind of memory which yoga summons us to revive; the memory of purpose, of what the Greeks call the telos. In the Hindu version of it there are four aims in life. These are dharma, artha, kama and moksha. In pursuit of these aims, dilemmas can arise. As the great figure of the Mahabharata, Duryodhana, often used to say, Jaanaami dharmam nacchame pravritti. Jaanaami adharmam nacchaame nivritti. "I know the dharma but I cannot act upon it or act by it. I know the adharma but I cannot desist from it".
The existence or dilemma is a different order of reality to the prescription of the four aims of life. Purposes are notorious because they conflict. Purposes conflict even in the guru. Everywhere purposes conflict and to my mind yoga is the active memory of the conflict of dharmic and adharmic purposes. It is also the means of resolving this order of conflicts. In other words, I would like to say, with the courage of my confusion, that yoga is the memory of this great purushartha, this great praxis.
With your indulgence let me now come to the third kind of memory. This is the memory of the body, the body as the temple of the spirit, the body as a path, as a medium not as an obstacle or a terminus to emancipation. For a true yogi the body must be a mirror of the soul. The memory of the body stands celebrated in hatha yoga and to some extent in raja yoga. Care of the body, responsibility towards the body is, I think, the basis of yoga.
When I go to Deoghar I am going to ask Satyam what kind of yoga he is currently practising by the daman, the repression of his body. But I must say, Swamiji made me conscious of my body. He introduced me to my toe. I knew I had a toe but I never realized that it was part of my body until one fine morning, he said, "Upen, I want to instruct you in chidakasha dharana." I said, "I don't want to be instructed in chidakasha dharana or any other kind of dharana for that matter." But he

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always wins because he is more obstinate than I am. That is why I am going to Deoghar tomorrow. I talked with him yesterday and I said, "You should have been here. I am not coming to you," and he said, "Of course you have to come to me, I want to talk with you." I said, "I don't want to come to you. I'm coming tomorrow."
Ah, that's a relationship of love. I do not know whether you have the same thing when you are a guru and a shishya but I hope that with Swami Niranjan I shall have the same measure and order of friendship as I have with Swami Satyananda. Satyanandaji taught me much. He introduced me to my toe. In chidakasha dharana the first thing you do is to bring all your consciousness to this silly toe of yours. This toe is very much a part of your body, a part of your being. I learned from this practice how important it is for the spirit not to be alienated from matter, and that there cannot be spirit without matter and vice versa. Therefore, to me the memory of the body is among the most important memories that yoga cultivates, more than any other code or philosophy or metaphysics that I know.
Let me quickly come to the fourth kind of memory, the memory of evil: the evil within us and the evil outside us. Yoga, or yogic consciousness, educates us about the link between the internal and external evil. A true yogi does not shun, does not erase, does not obliterate and does not exorcize the memory of evil in the self nor evil in the world. A yogi who does so is by my worldly standards a fraud and an impostor. A true yogi lives with the memory of evil, lives with the memory of the structure of mega evil which the modern world embodies in the form of torture and tyranny throughout the world, in the form of the war machine, in the form of violence and vicious kinds of cruelty throughout the world.
The great German thinker, Walter Benjamin, once said that the history of every civilization is at the very same time the history of barbarism. This is as true for Hinduism as it is for all other major religious traditions of the world. It seems to me that yoga, in the best of its tradition, enables us not merely to preserve and understand this memory of evil but also to confront it with the development of collective spirituality.
The fifth type of memory is the memory of mission. The Bihar School of Yoga and the International Yoga Fellowship, in the foundation of which I was a medium and no more than

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a medium, were not established to reinterpret yoga for the contemporary world. Satyam will bear witness to it just as your activities bear witness to it now. A man called Marx said in his Theses on Feuerbach, "Philosophers have interpreted the world; the task however is to change the world." Maha yogis have interpreted the world. The task today, however, is to use this ancient wisdom so as to confront the contemporary world challenges.
These challenges can be summed up in two simple words, 'infancy' and 'stupidity'. Firstly, let's look at 'infancy'. While human beings have become scientific and technological giants, they still remain ethical infants. Their politics is the art and science of perpetuating this human ethical infancy. Albert Einstein said towards the end of his life that he now understood why politics is harder than physics. To this I add a footnote: that the politics of justice, the politics of the good, the politics of right and the politics of human emancipation are even more difficult than the politics of power.
Now let us consider the second word, 'stupidity'. Again, I go to Milan Kundera who said that human stupidity does not decrease with expertise in science, technology, with modernity or progress, but rather it increases. I believe that deliberate infancy, well nurtured beyond its time, together with deliberate stupidity are themselves forms of human evil. Therefore, I think that for the whole world there is a great historic importance in the memory of a yogic mission.
Let me now begin to conclude by looking at the final kind of memory that I promised to deal with, the memory of the future. I believe it is a great mistake to think that memory is only possible in relation to the past. We carry the future within ourselves. If, as Satyam says, yoga is the culture of tomorrow, the culture of the future, then we have to ask what kind of memory of the future should we promote and protect in the here and now. Please remember that today's reality is the memory of tomorrow. We are the creators of tomorrow. We are the Vishwakarmas of tomorrow. In whose memory should we create the future? That's the problem of future memory. Yoga, I believe, can only become the culture of tomorrow-and-the-dayafter when we fashion memory with fellowship.
What is fellowship? Fellowship as we all know is fraternity. This convention is a shining, glowing example of fraternity.
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The glow I am referring to is the glow on your faces, in your hearts and in your spirits. But if fellowship implies fraternity, when is fraternity possible? It is possible only when we are capable of suffering for those who are actually suffering. In my conception of yoga there cannot be fraternity without the capacity for altruistic suffering, suffering for others. We in India are specialists in self-centered suffering and because of this, barring this present company, we cannot produce a culture of yoga. Yoga, or fraternity, requires the capability for altruistic suffering. I also believe that fellowship, fraternity and co-suffering in turn involve active compassion. Active compassion I would define not by the Hindu concept of daya (kindness) but by the Buddhist concept of karuna (care of the suffering one). I think that all these elements of fellowship were built in the sixties and in Satyam's mission of the International Yoga Fellowship they continue to blossom.
The path of individual salvation is deeply unethical. If yoga is going to be the culture of tomorrow, then it has to follow the path of collective liberation. Again I refer to the thinker Karl Marx, who wrote in 1850, “The classical saint of Christianity mortified his own body for the sake of the salvation of the souls of the masses. In contrast, the modern educated saint mortifies the bodies of the masses for the sake of the salvation of his own soul." Whatever your view of Marx may be, let me suggest, that when it comes to choosing a model of saintliness we should make him our unerring guide. I preside over a system which produces educated saints and I know this is precisely what education in universities means.
We all know that educated saints, unlike Jesus, seek their own salvation by tormenting the bodies of the masses. But what about the real saints? That is the question which every sadhaka, every guru and every paramahamsa must constantly ask, including a mahatma, if he is to remain a mahatma.
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EVENING SESSION
Swami Poonyananda Giri
Srimati Krishna Devi Bhagalpur

DAY TWO
Acharya Mahamandaleshwar, Niranjani Akhara, Varanasi
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VEDIC ORIGINS AND PRINCIPLES
OF YOGA
Swami Poonyananda Giri
You have been listening to some very inspiring talks at this august occasion. It is in the tradition of vedic Sanatan Dharma that we do not speak from our own intellect, we just expose what the scriptures have said. The ancient sages have said a beautiful thing: Dharme vivad maanaanaam pramaanam param shruthi" meaning. "Whenever there is a debate on dharma, we should not depend on our own intellect, to give any clarification. We consider shruthi only as the final authority." Whatever be the caliber of a man, there is one shortcoming, he cannot be free from personal prejudices.
The Vedas and the Upanishads were not inspired or created by man and this is what is unique about them. The shruti itself says, Tasya nishwasitan vedah, which means, "The Vedas are this breath." The Vedas were there in the first kalpa after creation. Before creation the Almighty first of all exposed the Vedas through His breath. But although Ishwara, or God, is absolute, meaning that He is not controlled by any other agency, still there is the unique principle that God himself, abiding by the discipline of the Vedas, exposes the mantras.
Therefore, if the mantra reads, Agni midhe purohitam, in the previous kalpa, while exposing the mantra in the next kalpa, God cannot say, Vahni midhe purohitam, although Agni and Vahni conote the same thing, i.e. fire. The mantra cannot be uttered as, Vahni midhe purohitam. He has got to utter the mantra as it was in the previous kalpa, letter by letter, because God is not free in respect of the Vedas. If there is anything which disciplines even God, it is the divine Vedas.
The Vedas were..not created by God. You sit to recite the Gita, but that does not make you the author of the Gita. You can only be the chanter or reader of the Gita. Bhagawan Veda Vyasa was the author of the Gita. Similarly, in the beginning of creation, God exposed the vedic mantras through his breath.
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He did not become the author, rather, he exposed the Vedas for the good of living beings. The Vedas are considered as divine because they were not written or created by a man, a purusha. When they are divine, how can they contain any human prejudice? Therefore, whenever there is any debate about dharma, we quote the Vedas as the only authority. We quote the mantras from the shrutis in support of our arguments.
God has drawn a straight line, so that we may not deviate or sway from our principles, but in order to reach that stage, we have to follow the path of Sanatan Dharma which is the outcome of the Vedas. There are about one hundred and twenty-five thousand mantras in the Vedas. Out of these, eighty thousand deal with karma, action. It is natural that such a large number of mantras deal with karma. You will find that most of the men in the world are work orientated. If you talk about jnana, the first question that will arise in the mind is what is the use of this jnana? Suppose we know that Brahman is eternal, pure, absolute knowledge and bliss. What do we get out of this understanding? What should we do with this knowledge?
We need something with which we can do something. Due to this, the Vedas have devoted eighty thousand mantras related to karma for most of us. There are very few mantras which deal with worship, and even fewer which are devoted to atma tattwa. In the Yajurveda, thirty nine complete chapters are devoted to karma. The illustrious commentator says that all the karmas which you have adored are in these thirty nine chapters. After offering them all to the feet of the Lord, you will qualify for jnana. So Ishavasya comes only after this stage. Even Lord Krishna has said in the eighteenth chapter of the Gita: Swakarmanaatamibhyarcha siddhim vindati maanavah, (Gita Ch. 18 v. 16) which means that by worshipping God by one's natural action, karma, one achieves siddhi, mastery.
It points out that until there is purification in karma, action, you cannot qualify for jnana. Karma has been accumulating in our inner self for many, many births. Now, to discriminate between the pure karma and impure karma, we need mental concentration most of all. So, Patanjali has exposed yoga as a means of achieving mental concentration. It is a fact that these principles of yoga were contained in the Vedas. Maharishi Patanjali has just collected, arranged and classified them from different Upanishads. He was not the original expounder, nor
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did he create them, rather he just formulated them systematically. This yogic philosophy is eternal, and vedic. It was in the Vedas from the very beginning.
Maharishi Patanjali has said one thing: all your sadhana or spiritual practices are on one side and surrender to the Lord is on the other. However, not understanding the secrets of the scriptures, we consider Ishwara bhakti, devotion to God, as a special emotion. However, if we purify our inner self, in the end we become a devotee of the Lord. We cannot achieve jnana without being the devotee of the Lord. We cannot follow that path. We have seen many great saints who in the beginning are very strict, disciplined and industrious. They move with a resolve to put the whole world on the right path, to reform mankind. However, as they proceed in this direction and their karmas are purified, they become more and more compassionate and full of love for mankind. What is realized by yoga, upasana, jnana and karma? I would like to inform you of one small thing which appears in the beginning of Samvediya Chandogya Upanishad:
Eshaam bhutaanaam prithivee rasah, prithivya aapo rasah. Apaam aushadhayo rasah, aushadhinaam purusho rasah, purushasya vag rasah, vacha rigrasah, richah saama rasah, saamna udgitha rasah.
What does bhuta mean here? It does not mean evil spirit or ghost. Bhutas are what is created, what is produced: earth, water, fire, air and ether. In ether, you will find the attribute of shabdha, or sound. In air, along with sound, you will find the second attribute, sparsha, or touch. When you reach fire, you find, in addition to the two above, one more attribute of form, or roopa. In water you will get four attributes, i.e. sound, touch, form and taste, or rasah. In earth there are five attributes: sound, touch, form, taste and smell. As earth has all the five attributes, Chandogya Upanishad eulogized earth with the mantra, Bhutaanaam prithivee rasah. In all the elements that you can see in the space, in essence the earth is present in each of them.
You might be worrying that the rain is not going to stop, but there is no reason to worry. In Amarkosh the bhuvan (earth) and jivan (life) have been written of as equivalents of water. Water is the life of all, and this whole world has been created out of water. In the Puranas it has been said that prakriti and purusha were manifested from the sadguru Brahman. When
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Lord Shiva moved due to divine worship, the element which was produced was water. So, water is the form or image of Lord Shiva and also the life of all living beings. This rain might appear to be disturbing our program, but if we see beyond this dimension, we realize that it is not a disturbance but an indication of a new life force, a vital energy arising
In the second mantra of Chandogya Upanishad, it has been said about water: Bhutaanaam prithivee rasah prithivya aapo rasah. If there is any essence of earth, it is water. So, you should understand these two elements. Water was subtle, the forerunner of the unmixed fire elements in the beginning of creation. There were no attributes of touch, of sound, or of coolness. But after water mixed with the fire element, it became the flowing fluid which you see as rain. Water is the essence of elements subtler than earth. You will find all the other attributes along with the living beings, who after exhausting their past karma, come down from the lunar loka to earth to perform new karma.
You and I and all beings came to the earth like this. Earlier we were in the clouds. Prior to that we were in the loka of the moon. Wherever we might have been prior to this, we would not have been subject to these karmas of death and birth. From whichever lokas we have come, the route of our journey was through water. So, wherever there are rains, people feel happy as there will ultimately be good crops. More food will be produced; people will be getting a sufficient amount to eat, and so they will flourish. It means that the total process of growth, of life, depends on food. Innumerable life forms are in every particle of water which is the essence of earth. Bhutaanaam prithivee rasah, prithivya aapo rasah. Water is the essence of the totality of creation, the ocean of nectar. If you get a drop of it and touch it with your lips, you have acquired the means of your wellbeing, but if you submerge a man in the ocean of nectar, he will die. So if the water element is in excess, it can become the cause of death and devastation, instead of life.
However, God, by His will, has transformed water into another form. What is that? The essence of water was separated, and it became aushadhi, herbs. Whatever we eat is called aushadhi. The illustrious commentator, Acharya Shankara, says, Bhiksho satam bhujyataam. The hunger that you
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feel everyday is a disease, and for the cure you eat food. Thus, the food that you eat is a medicine for this disease. If you ask who transforms the food into medicine, the answer will be, the water element. Food is the essence of water and everything is there in it. Bhutaanaam prithivee rasah, prithivya aapo rasah, apam oshadhayo rasah, aushadhinaam purusho rasah. Whatever quantity of food you store, it will not last long. The rice that you store decays after three years, but all those who are sitting here are the result of that rice which has been eaten.
So, what is the essence of food? It is purusha. Do not take purusha as meaning some male or female. Purusha means one who sleeps in the city, Puri shayanarte purushah. Puramekadasham dwaram ajsya vaktra chestah. Our body is just like a complete city. One who has acquired the skill of remaining well in this city is a yogi. So the jeeva (soul) that resides in this body is called purusha. The physical body may be masculine or feminine, but the jeeva residing in it is the purusha. This purusha obtained the opportunity from food to express itself fully.
So, the desire to eat food has not come due to our destiny or luck. There are other reasons also. It is I who am present in the form of food. "Eat me and transform me into purusha", is the desire of someone else hidden in us. This is the reason that the greed, sexual desire and anger are all in us. All of them car be neglected in certain conditions, but they are essential for the evolution of the jeevas. We are not living for ourselves only, but for others also. We are not eating only for ourselves but for others also. Eating food is not limited to our life only, but the creation of other lives is initiated through our eating. So what is the essence of food? It is said to be purusha. All energy is the essence of food.
So many people are sitting here and one person is speaking. You are listening through your ears and I feel that you are following each and every word. But if my voice is disturbed and a single word is repeated many times, if one irrelevant word which is incomprehensible to you is spoken many times, you will be annoyed to hear it and just ask me to stop, as you are not interested in listening. But if I present my thoughts in the most systematic and comprehensive manner, then one speaker can communicate his total thoughts and ideas to thousands of listeners. What is the tool of this communication? This tool is speech.
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The experts of speech have divided it into four forms: (i) vaikhari, (ii) madhyama, (iii) pashyanti, and (iv) para. The most subtle form of sound, para, the yogis call kundalini. But the phoneticians call this kundalini 'para'. The speech which is diffused in the air after coming out of the mouth is called vaikhari. The sound which appears in the throat in the form of a vibration before speaking is madhyama. Before pronouncing a thought, the idea as to what should be spoken, what is its meaning, the total planning which is done in the mind is pashyanti. You see the thought in your mind and then utter it.
What is the source of pashyanti? Kundalini is the source, para is the source, which has no form, no nature, which does not decay, which is inexhaustible, limitless energy. It is lying dormant in your mooladhara, but the flow that is coming out is unending. It is a perpetual flow, but it can become weak. We grow old, we become sick, we leave this body, but while leaving the body, we cannot leave this. This will go with us. You do not carry this with you, rather, this leads you and establishes you in another body.
Para is transformed into pashyanti, and from pashyanti to madhyama, then from madhyama to vaikhari. Speech has got so much power that this alone can be the cause of your transformation from jeevatma to paramatma. Vedanta has disclosed a great secret that if one has reached the state of competence, one is sure to get liberation just by once hearing the mantra Tat Twam Asi, Brahman from jeeva. The articulated sound has such enormous power. So, the Chandogya Upanishad says, Purushasya vagrasah the essence of man is speech. There is nothing in the world which is not contained in vani, in word. When words can reach the domain of spirit, the experience of paramatma begins.
So, the essence of purusha is in vak (speech) but that is not all. We have got this power of speech, but do not think that you have it all. I shall tell you one small story. There was a potter and he had twelve donkeys to carry the earth which he used for making pots. One of them was healthy, strong and good looking. So, the potter started caring more for this smart donkey. One day while he was digging the earth, he found a piece of bright, beautiful stone with a hole in it. He put a thick thread through the stone and hung it around the neck of this beloved donkey, then went back to his house.
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On the way he met a businessman, who was a jeweller. He saw that the stone hanging around the neck of the donkey was a diamond. He knew that he could sell it at the market for twelve lacs (1,200,000 rupees) that very day. He thought that if he told the potter this, he would never give up the stone without twelve lacs remuneration. So he said, cunningly, "Your donkey is very good looking and the stone hanging on his neck is also beautiful." The jeweller spoke in the potter's own language. He told the potter that he had just been to his astrologer, who had told him that his Mars was unfavorable, and had advised him to wear a stone like the one on the donkey.
The potter replied, “Yes, you are right; now I understand. This donkey of mine appears very happy.now, but before tying this stone on him, he was very sad and depressed. Maybe his Mars is also adverse". The jeweller said, “But friend, this donkey is only an animal. Whether its Mars is adverse or favorable makes no difference. He will eat what you give him and carry the earth which you put on his back. But I am a human being. If my mind is not peaceful, I can't work. Why don't you take some money and kindly give this stone to me?"
The potter decided to sell it and said, "Hear me, I am telling you the price, and I will not take any less or any more than two rupees." But the jeweller thought that if he could do some haggling the potter might reduce the price. Why pay more? This is the temperament of a businessman. They are very miserly. They will not spend a single paise unless they are forced to. So he offered to pay one rupee, and then one and one quarter. In the end, he agreed to pay one and a half rupees. The potter, being vexed, then refused to sell. The jeweller did not lose heart. He thought the potter would agree after some time, so he moved on.
In the meantime, another businessman happened to pass by. He saw the stone and used the same trick. The first businessman, the jeweller, remained watching from a distance. The second businessman said to the potter, "Brother, the stone hanging around the neck of your donkey is very beneficial for people who are afflicted by adverse Mars." (Although, it was a diamond, and actually beneficial for some other star.) The potter replied in annoyance, “I have seen many others also afflicted by Mars. So would you also like to purchase the stone?" The businessman replied, "Yes, I would." The potter said bitterly, "I have just met a person like you, who was worthless. I
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decided to sell the stone to him for two rupees, but he started haggling. Finally, he said he would give me one and a half rupees. I refused him. I don't have time to bargain. I am going to do my work. Kindly leave me in peace." As soon as the businessman heard the price, and that the first man had been haggling for fifty paise, he immediately took out three rupees and gave them to the potter. The potter gave him the stone and proceeded on his way to work.
The jeweller, who had been watching the whole thing, became despondent. He went to the potter and said, "You have just sold your stone for three rupees. It is worth twelve lacs of rupees." The potter replied, "I don't mind. I got it while digging the earth. Three rupees are more than enough for me. It is not less than what I had asked, and I did not expect more." The jeweller said, "Then you are a fool!" The potter stopped and said very calmly, "You knew it was worth twelve lacs and yet you lost it for just fifty paise. Who is the greater fool, me or you?"
.
What would you do if you were in the position of that jeweller? All your cheers would turn into tears. The diamond hanging round the neck is nothing but your power of speech. The shruti says, Purushasya vag rahsa, speech is more valuable than yourself. But we are missing this incomprehensible power of speech in our life. God has bestowed it without price; we did not have to pay anything for it. Even so, we have misused it until today. If any person has used it properly, he must have become a great man.
Now, you may ask, what is the meaning of misusing, or using properly, this power of speech? How can we use it properly; how is it misused? The scriptures have shown many methods, but the Vedas say it in straightforward language, vacho rigrasah. Rig means 'mantra'. Mananaat traayate iti mantrah. "The one which liberates you from worldly bondage by reflecting over it, is mantra". Mantra is the essence of speech. If you have chanted the vedic mantras in your life, the speech has been well utilized. If you have used it in worldly affairs instead of in chanting vedic mantras, then it is lost. Vritha gatam tasya narasya jeevitah. "The life of that man has gone in vain."
Let us now take the Rig mantras. You will come across certain people who have learnt all the mantras by heart, but if you ask them the meaning of those mantras, they cannot tell you.

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After learning them, they perform the rites and rituals without ever knowing their meaning. For most of us that is enough. We have not thought about the meaning of these mantras. But mantras are not only this much. When they are chanted with full understanding and knowledge of the deity of the mantra, then they become effective. Mantra should be used properly, in the prescribed way, then it is powerful.
So this tool, the power of speech, is Rig mantra. What is the essence of this Rig mantra? It is the saama. Rig atyaudham saama geeyate. When musical compositions of mantras are sung, it is called saama. When saama is practised, one feels bliss even without knowing the meaning of the words. In bhajans the words have their meaning, but when the singer pronounces “Ni, dha, pa, dha, pa, ma", or any vocal vibration that has neither words nor meaning, even then you still start swinging your head like a snake before the charmer's flute. You may not follow the meaning of the song, but you are swayed by the music. The music leads you to a state of trance. What is this state? This is saama. Saama is the essence of the Rig mantras.
This saama can give you worldly pleasure, but this worldly pleasure is transitory, momentary. You hear music sung by someone, and you are pleased, you are charmed. But you cannot make this pleasure permanent because the singer is somebody other than you. You, the enjoyer, are separated from the singer after some time. You are dependent on another. You are not self-dependent for that pleasure. You have to become selfdependent. In order to express the bliss which is your basic nature, you have to look towards.saama.
A few moments earlier you were chanting the Pranava, the Omkaara mantra. This is the essence of the Udgitha. The shastras say that what can be reflected upon in the mind, uttered by the speech and heard by the ears, that is whatever comes in their range, is the 'word'. That is the reality in the form of word. So, whenever the word is used, the mantra is used, before some auspicious work is begun, we first of all chant the Pranava, the Omkaara. It is not only you and I who chant Pranava or Omkaara.
Omkaara atha shabdashcha dwaavetau brahmanah purahaah Kaantham vitwa vinurayaatau tasmaat maangaliksha vumau.
In the initial stage of creation, before the elements were created, Brahma first of all uttered the mantra Aum and Ath, so these are very auspicious. It is the sound form of the Lord, but
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we have covered it with so many false images that the real meaning of the Pranava has been lost.
Yesterday, I told you one thing. Most of you might remember that. You are participating in a yoga convention. What is the aim of our participation? Sage Patanjali has stated the purpose of yoga as being Atha yogaanushasaanam. (Ch. 1, v. 1) If you move towards dharma, then you will have inquisitiveness, Athato dharma jigyaasaa. In the quest of dharma, if you have the urge to know about Brahma, then you will get the first thing, Athato dharma jigyasa. If you turn towards bhakti (devotion), you will find Bhakti vyaakhyaasyam. We shall explain about bhakti, but in yoga you find atha yogaanushaasanam. This is a discipline of yoga.
In yoga, guru is a must, and if you practise yoga under the guidance and discipline of the guru, you will reach perfection. But if you do as you like, then success in yoga cannot be achieved. Somebody enquired of the sage Patanjali, "You talk of discipline; whom is this yoga going to discipline? What is yoga?" He says, Yogah chitta vritti nirodhah. (Ch. 1. v. 2) “Yoga is the elimination of the modifications of the mind.” Such modifications have come to cover that real element. These modifications have not come into existence as yet which is related to the real element within yourself. But so many modifications have come to cover that real element. These modifications work as covers of your real self. Yoga aims to eliminate these modifications of the mind.
Suppose a spark of fire is there under a heap of ash. Even if it is covered under ash, fire is fire. Similarly, there are many unwanted modifications, samskaras, there which have covered your real form. When you allow the real form to remain covered, it will have its effect. If you put your palm on the ash under which is the fire, your palm will not be burned. The fire cannot burn your palm because its power has been obstructed. In a similar manner, the Almighty is within you and is fully effulgent. It tells you every moment, "I am lying within you." But because it is covered by these limitless, unwanted modifications, it is not being utilized.
We do not make the effort to become blissful. We are ourselves bliss. This bliss, happiness, does not come from outside. If you collect huge wealth, it is still not possible to get happiness from it. Ravana, the king of Lanka, was most powerful, wealthy and strong. He used to order the sun not to give off so
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much heat at midday, so that the people should not sweat. The sun had to obey his orders and adjust his heat and speed. He ordered the moon, “Elsewhere you may wax and wane, but in my Lanka, you should always be full." So, the moon had to change her path. He ordered the wind to clean the roads of Lanka if it wanted to survive. He would not engage any man to clean the roads and the wind god had to do the job. If Ravana had been here, he would have asked Lord Indra not to rain.
So, the forces like Ravana do not abide by the divine discipline. Ravana could be very brave and dynamic. He could have the desired control over the whole world, but if you ask about his internal feelings, you can find his answer in his prayer to Lord Shiva:
Drishad vichitra talpyorbhujanga mouktika srajo garishtha ratna loshthayoh suhrid vipaksha pakshyoh trinaarauinda chakshushoh prajaa mahee mahendrayoh samapravrittikah kadaa sadaashivam bhajamyaham. (Taandav Nrityam)
He prays, "Oh Lord, I have got everything but I am not satisfied." The Lord Shiva asked, "Why? What remains to gain? You rule over the sun, and Yama, the lord of death. The moon and the wind god obey your orders, rather, all of them are afraid of you. You have got this Lanka made of gold to rule over. What else do you want?" .
Ravana said, "When I see a snake, I want to kill it, but when I see a garland of pearls as beautiful as a snake I wish to keep it in my treasury. So this discrimination is in my mind - to grab the garland of pearls and to kill the snake when I see one. When I see my subjects, I think that they are worthless creatures, but when I look at myself as their king, I am filled with pride! These are my contradictions. I cannot be peaceful and happy until I can equalize this mental state." He further said, "When shall I reach that moment when I can treat the rocky naked earth and the cushioned velvet bed as the same, the lotus eyed damsels and a dry blade of grass lying on the road as the same? When will this mental approach of equality dawn on me?" He also asked, “When shall I be able to see the same Almighty in all, big and small, and so become happy? That will be my happiest moment, when this mental state is achieved."
In order to achieve this peace, the learned sages say that you have to be oriented towards that. Practically, the word
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"equality" has no meaning. It is not possible. You can bring equality to small and big, but the difference will remain. Lord Krishna has said in the Gita, Nirdosham hi saman brahma, tasmaat brahmanesthita. The Almighty remains equally in all, be it Brahma, Indra, Varuna, Kubera, Ravana, a man or even a donkey. They see as you see, they eat as you eat, they enjoy as you enjoy. As you feel happy to have your young ones on your lap, so does the she-ass. You find the same brightness in her eye, which comes to your eyes in the same situation. This is the power of the 'Almighty. Really, the stainless, pure Brahma resides in each and every living being. One who has eliminated all the external vrittis, modifications, will be established in the stainless and pure Brahma.
Yoga, which is essential for the elimination of modifications, was propagated throughout the whole world by Paramahamsa Satyananda. He started the movement of yoga. This great work will have its effect today, tomorrow, or even after a few generations. Once the aspiration has arisen in your heart to know that truth, then it will come. To have this aspiration is not an ordinary matter. Harshmistra writes that this aspiration to reach the state of the Almighty arises in one person out of one thousand, and if it comes to one's mind, one is sure to reach the goal. Let me close with these words as my offering to one who has inspired you to take up this path.
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SRIMATI KRISHNA DEVI
Krishna Devi is famous throughout India for her chanting of, and commentary on, the Ramayana of Tulsidas. Truly, she has the sweet, gentle and flowing voice of a bird which instantly soothes and relaxes the listener. By nature she is peaceful, calm and serious with a temperament as steady and even as her speech. She first gave her song to the Bihar School of Yoga in 1973 during the Golden Jubilee which took place in the old Sivananda Ashram and we hope that she will continue to add the beauty and depth of the Ramayana to this hill for many years to come.

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RAMACHARITAMANAS DISCOURSE
Srimati Krishna Devi
The accumulation of virtuous actions of many births brings about a moment in our life when everything is covered, enveloped in the thoughts of God. That is why today is a very auspiscious day. The Vaishnava acharyas and the saints have said, “Do not relate the ups and downs of life as good luck and bad luck." We have created a way of social thinking such that when things move the way we want them to, it is good luck and when things happen against our wishes it is considered bad luck. But the saints have said, "No Sir. It is not so." The favorable and unfavorable aspects of life are the two hands which may look different, but are certainly appendages of the same body.
These are the parts of Narayan's (the supreme God) Chariot. So, why call them good luck and ill luck? There is a nice verse:
Vipado naiv vipadah sampado naiv sampadah
Vipado vismaranam vishnu sampadah narayan smritti. The greatest catastrophe of life is to forget God and the greatest prosperity lies in remembering him. And in whose life has there been a misfortune or calamity greater than Mother Janaki's? When Lord Hanuman returned from Lanka and Lord Rama said, “How great is the misfortune that has befallen Mother Janaki. Tell me one thing, is Janaki crestfallen due to this adversity?" "No", Lord Hanuman said, "O Lord I really am not sure because there is only one thing that comes to mind.
Kaha Hanumant vipadh prabhu soi, jab jap sumiran bhajan na hoi. I really am not sure because wherever your name is being chanted continuously how can calamity abide? Mother Janaki remembers you continually. She is totally immersed in thoughts of you. She is continually repeating your name."
This celebration of our Gurudev's renunciation is a very auspicious moment in our life. When I arrived yesterday I was
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not clear about my speech but I had the privilege of meeting my dear brother Paramahamsa Niranjananandaji and he told me of a letter sent to him from Paramahamsaji regarding the World Yoga Convention. The letter is in English but I understand its message to be that nothing happens according to personal desires or will. Instantly, I felt as though I had received my aphorisrn. The letter was in its own way tempered with austerity, like Ramayana or Gita. Paramahamsaji writes, "You call it Tyag Jubilee and I call it an auspicious moment of samarpan (surrender). This was the spiritual and sublime moment which I had experienced in the presence of my guru and I live through that glorious moment even today." In the last part of the letter he has blessed Paramahamsa Niranjananandaji saying that he will be able to help mankind to re-establish this state of surrender which has been lost. We bow to our dear brother Paramahamsa Swami Sri Niranjanananda and his every action. I am often dumbfounded by the patience, the potential and the forebearance he displays.
I felt as if I had received the hint from the letter that two things are very necessary in life, renunciation and surrender. To surrender is very necessary because without this nothing can be done. Yet, one has to both surrender and renounce. We do not like to renounce or give and are so confused by these two things that we got into a dilemma. We like to expand; we do not like to fold up, to wrap up, to let go. We know how to take but we do not know how to give. We do not know how much we can receive through giving. In truth all our problems in life are due to this. Dadu has sung a nice couplet about this. He says give up all to God. But how to give? You are not able to just pick it up and give. He says, “It appears as if it is non-profitable to give, but actually it is a very profitable venture." This couplet is very straightforward but listen carefully.
Tan bhi teraa, man bhi teraa teraa pind paraan Sab kuch teraa, tu hai meraa, yeh Dadu kaa gyan
“Everything has been given to him and he has been accepted as our own. We shall have to give all. We will not get anything by saving something for ourselves. It cannot be a quarter or a half. All is required. Everything has to be given up for him.".You can call him guru, Ram or Krishna. Call him nirakaar, call him sakaar, but whomsoever he is he wants all of you.
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We have become so insincere that when in the temple we say, "O Lord I am yours”. Then back at home we tell our wife and children, "I belong to you." We leave God to figure out what we meant by our pledge in the temple and back at home. It cannot happen until we learn to give completely. Until then the confusion will not go. Let us talk of a couplet from the Manas. Goswami Maharaj says that if you surrender once, only once, all the problems of all your births shall be taken care of, shall be solved. The question arises of how much time it will take. Goswami Maharaj says, "Now, in this very moment everything shall be fixed, there shall be no waiting. Your problems can come to an end today itself!"
Bigri janam anek ki ab hi sudhare aaj hohi Ram ko kaam taji tulsi taji kusaamaj.
Is this not our biggest problem? We are always under the stress of problems. There is no one in this world who can be held up as an example of a happy and peaceful person. Here I do not refer to saints and virtuous souls but to the worldly people. There is no one who can claim total happiness and say that he has no problems to make him restless. There are none who can claim this. Everyone has piercing thorns within him. Someone has rightly said,
Betabian samet kar sare jahaan ki, kuch bhi na ban saka to mera dil bana diya. We have so many problems, we are so much disturbed and sometimes this disturbance knows no limits.
Many years back I met a gentleman in Bareilly whose words I still remember. He told me, "I have a feeling". I asked him, "What do you feel?" He said, "I am so much disturbed that I feel like commiting suicide. I have a feeling to die". I said, "Fine, what better solution can there be if you think death can help you to get rid of your problems. Why not try taking your life? Why delay?" He said, "No, this is the dilemma". I was surprised. His whole life is being spent in a dilemma and what dilemma can there be after death? He said, ''The dilemma is that if I do not find peace even after death then what shall I do? If I face the same restlessness and stress even after death then what shall I do?" I said, “This is true, because even after death where else could you go?" One saint has said,
Jaate nahin hain koi duniyaa se door chal ke Milte hain sab yahin para kapde badal badal ke.
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"We have nowhere else to go so stay here. It is here, here itself that we must find the solutions to our problems."
Baba says that if a being becomes a being of God, if he can surrender everything just once to the Lord, then his life will be a success. All the problems will be solved and all the tensions relieved. The thirst for getting some pleasure out of everything has become a craving. It is very peculiar that we desire only pleasure and happiness. Goswami writes,
Ananda sindhu ke hun basa
binu jane kaa marasi pyasa. "O Being, the ocean of happiness lies within you so why then are you roving about thirsty? Why does not your thirst get quenched when the pot of nectar (of happiness) lies within you?" He says,
Ishivar ansh jeeva avinaashi chetan amal sahaj sukh raasi. "This being is a part of God. He is conscious, he is immortal and can ésily be happy.” Despite this, look at his condition today!
So maayaa bas, bhayau gosai bandhyo keer markat ki naai.
Even when there is no bondage a being considers himself to be in bondage. He suffers, he is in sorrow, he is torn. He is thirsty and disturbed because he is searching for the nectar of happiness and is not able to find it anywhere. All the juices, all the nectars of the world at some stage or other become tasteless. There shall come a moment in your life wheñ even if you do not feel like letting go of anything, all shall leave you. Even if you do not feel like leaving people, people shall leave
you and they will do so in such a way that they won't let you . spend even a night in their house. They shall say,
Ghar se kahihen veg nikaaro naahin to bhoot hoike khaihen. You shall be kicked out. So better leave while there is still time. This will be better. Goswami says you shall have to leave your outside search because the nectar you are wandering here and there for lies within.
According to Shruti Bhagavati,
Taddejati tanne jati taddoore tadvanti ke. "The nectar you are wandering here and there for lies within. Within you is the source.” Although we wonder where and how it is possible to find enough nectar to satisfy all, God has enough nectar to please all. Sruti Bhagavati also says Raso vaisaha, the quantity of nectar that lies within him cannot be found elsewhere,
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Jo ananda sindhu sukh raasi scekar se trailok supasi. "He satisfies according to the desires of the devotee. He fills all with the nectar of happiness."
Have you tasted the juice of a mango? How sweet it is! Who has filled it with this sweet juice? And, how beautiful are the peacock's feathers. Have you ever noticed? Mavaraschitrata yen. Who colors them with such beauty? So, he is both colorful and juicy (nectar). There is a beautiful story in the tales by Thakur Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Let me tell you the story of a dyer.
The dyer sat in the middle of the market with a pot of dye. One person came and asked for his cloth to be dyed red. The dyer took the cloth, dipped it into the dye and when he brought it out it was dyed red. Another person came with a cloth to be dyed green and he was given a green cloth. He who wanted blue was given blue. He who asked for yellow received it dyed yellow. The dyeing continued the whole day as the dyer sat there with his pot.
When evening came and it was time to close, the dyer saw a gentleman there with a cloth for dyeing. This man stood watching but he did not speak. The dyer called him and said, "Brother, you have been here since morning and now the shops are about to close. Why did you not ask? What color do you want?" He smiled and said, "I want my cloth dyed with the color of the dye in your pot. I do not want any other color. What color is it that enables you to dye cloth according to people's desires? How is it that from the same pot you are able to dye with the colors red, green, blue, yellow etc.? I want the color of the dye in your pot." When the dyer showed the man the pot there was no dye in it, it was empty.
Goswami says in the Manas that God is the same as this. Yadyapi sam nahin raag na rosu gahahin na paap punya guna doshu. Tadapi karhin sam visham achaaraa bhagat abhagat hridaya
anusaaraa.
It does not take much for the God of form to become formless if the devotee desires it. Babaji says, when Bhagavati Parvati asked Lord Shiva how to introduce Lord Ram who resides in the heart, the Indian philosophy flowed out of his lips,
Jhoothahun satya jahin binu jaane Jimi bhujang binu raju pahichaane Jehi jane jag jai herai

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Jage jatha sapan bhram jai
Who is this Ram? Without knowing him this illusionary world seems real. After knowing him everything there is lost. The pure Indian philosophy is being spoken by Lord Shiva. But how does this element of knowledge descend when Lord Shankar says he is formless?
Vandoun baal roop soi Ramu sab siddhi sulabh japat jisunaaun. "The cheese balls of knowledge and the syrup of sugar are the two ingredients which are mixed into the manas of Goswami Baba. Only then can the juicy balls be prepared. Here there is knowledge, devotion and renunciation. These three make the triveni flow. Then Babaji says to let go once. Completely surrender just once. No bargaining. Absolutely. Completely. Just once put up your hands and say that you cannot make it. Surrender all the auspicious and non auspicious, all the real and unreal into the hands of the Lord. And, just now brother Niranjan was saying that it is very important, absolutely necessary to empty yourself. Without emptying nothing can be done and no surrender can be. complete. You cannot save even a little bit for yourself.
Thakur Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to say that a small knot in the thread would hinder its passage though the eye of the needle. So unknot completely and empty yourself. Be just like the flute, absolutely hollow. The gopis of Braj asked the flute, "What is it O flute, what good deeds have you done that Kanhaiya (Lord Krishna) loves you so much?" Nandanandan had great reverence for the flute. How considerate and loving he was to it.
Braj jivan othan ko takiya nit pholan sej sajaavati hai.
Using Shyam Sunder's lips as a pillow the flute lies on them and the beloved's dark curly hairs fan it,
Suchi sheetal mand sugandh bhari
Alkaavaali pawan dulaavati hai Ki pag chaapat shyam dou karte.
Beloved Shyam Sunder massages the body of this flute with both his hands. How many comforts have been provided for the flute! When the gopis asked her why she is so adored the flute replied, "Only because I am hollow. I never sing myself. I sing when he sings and when he is tacit so am I. I do not know how to sing myself." That was the reason why the flute was so much loved by Kanhaiya. She was so very dear to

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him that once Radharani also turned into a flute. Let me tell you a small, lovely story about Kanhaiya, when Radharani turned into a flute. Surdas has written this wonderful story.
When Kanhaiya went to graze cattle for the first time it was the month of Kartik and the day of Bhratri dwitiya. It was slightly cold in the morning so his mother covered Lalla with a black shawl so that her loving child would not catch a chill. Lalla went away. When he returned home his mother was waiting for him. He had lost his shawl and had returned home without it. Vyaaji writes,
Tangururajaschurit kuntal vadhavrah vanya prasoon ruchirek
chana charu haasam.
Her son returned completely covered with dust from the cows' feet. The mother picked up the child and wiped his face with the border of her cloth. Suddenly she noticed and asked, "Lalla, where is your shawl?" Kanhaiya pondered, "If I say it is lost then she won't ever allow me to go again. She will say that if I cannot take care of my clothes then how shall I tend the cows?" So he said, "Mother, what can I say? Actually, it has been stolen!" His mother said, "Come on, you are the bejewelled crown of the raiders. Who can steal your shawl? You are lying!" Kanhaiya said, "Mother, I am really not lying. Why do you not listen to the complete story?" Seeing that his mother did not believe him he made another excuse, "When I saw that the shawl had gone I thought someone had stolen it but when I enquired around I came to know something else, which had really happened." He says,
Main kamari ki khoj karan hit sabko poochh lai
maiya mori sabkho poochh lai
ek kahat kaahha tori kamari Yamunaa mein jaat bahee
maiyaa moree Yamunaa mein jaat bahee.
"When I enquired around someone said my shawl was washed away in the river Yamuna."
His mother said, "What! For a small ball you jumped into the Kalidah (the lake in the Yamuna where the hooded serpent Kalia lived)? How am I supposed to believe that the shawl got swept away and you could not get it back?" Kanhaiya said, "Mother, why do you not listen to the complete story? That is what I am telling you. I learned that my shawl was being swept away and was going towards the Yamuna when I came to know that that was just a rumour, and nothing of this kind had happened!""Then what happened?" She asked,
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Main kamari ki khoj karan hit Yamunaa ki gail gahi Are ek kahat kanha tori kamari Surabhi ne khaaya gai Main mori, gaiya chabaya gai.
"I went towards the Yamuna to look for my shawl and one of the boys told me that Surabhi, the cow, had gobbled it up!" His mother said, "Hey son! All the cows know you! Fine, let me ask at once in the cowshed. There must be some bits and shreds left, the cow would not have gobbled all of it." As his mother walked to the cowshed, Kanhaiya caught hold of her hand again and said, "Why do you bother unnecessarily? I was in fact going to the cowshed but on my way I came to know that even this was not true." "Then what happened?" she enquired.
Main kamari ki khoj karan hit khirkaa ki gail gahi, are maiya mori ek kahat kaanha teri kamari Raadhaa ne chorlayi.
“Mother, the truth is that Radha had taken the shawl." Kanhaiya thought, “Now certainly mother would not say anything." But his mother now realized that the child was speaking too many lies in one day and she certainly needed to reform him. So, she caught hold of his hand and Kanhaiya thought, "Mother is going to overlook this incident and it is now closed. For one shawl she is not going to enquire!" But as his mother caught hold of his hand she said, “That's it! That innocent looking girl has turned so imprudent within! Come, we shall collect it right now!"
Chali poochati hun main Radha son maiya ne baanh gahi.
As his mother caught hold of his hand, Kanhaiya started sweating. Now what was he to do? "I shall be beaten by my mother and a quarrel shall be created between Radha and me because the shawl is not really with her. They will say that I unnecessarily created a bad reputation for her." But Kanhaiya was not all that innocent either. He was really crooked. Our Rama is very innnocent but taking the name of Krishna itself twists the tongue thrice. So, what did Kanhaiya resort to? All children keep arms, they keep effective weapons for such instances. All are Kanhaiyas when they are small. As his mother said, "Come let us ask Radha." What he resorted to was,
Chali poochat hoon main Radha son maiya ne baanh gahi to Surdaas yah sunat Krishna ke tap-tap neer bahi.
Kanhaiya started weeping and as his mother saw him weep she turned and drew him to her breasts and said, “To
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hell with the shawl. I won't go as my child cries so much! Hey my son, what do you lack? Many shawls shall come and go." But the incident was not yet closed because someone had gone to Radharani and told her that her parrot Krishna was defaming her in front of his mother. His beloved Radha thought, "Now that I have been branded a thief I will steal something". So when Kanhaiya was napping in the forest she stole his flute. When he awoke he found the flute was missing. So, when his beloved was frolicking in the water he went and stole her garland hanging on the branch of a tree. Radharani blew into his flute; Shyam Sunder adorned himself with her garland. Now the beloved was in a fix and went and told him, "Look if someone sees this, what will they say? Why are you wearing my garland? Return it!" Kanhaiya said, ''But it is you who have stolen my flute!"
So, the beloved returned the flute and he returned the garland. After this Radharani was overcome with emotions and in the state of reverie went to her friend and said, “Lalita, a transcendental incident has occured." "What was it?" Lalita asked.
Main Muralidhar ki Murali lai, meri lai Muralidhar maalaa.
"Oh, so you took his flute and he your garland. Oh, it is alright this happens everyday. What happened then?" She said,
Main Murali adharaan dhari, gar maanjh dhari Muralidhar maalaa “I brought the flute to my lips as Muralidhar placed the garland around his neck." "So, what happened next? she asks,
Main Muralidhar ki Murali dayi, meri dayi Muralidhar maalaa. “I gave his flute back and he gave back my garland.”
Lalita was irritated. She said, “What is so transcendental about it? You took the flute, he took the garland. You played the flute, he wore the garland. You returned the flute, he gave back the garland. There is nothing exceptional about it. What a stupid incident you narrate!" Radharani said, "Oh, nothing happened until then. What happened, happened after this." Lalita said, "Oh, so what occurred, occurred later. What was it?" She said, "Something happened during that moment when he returned the garland and I returned the flute." "What was that?"
Main Muralidhar ki Murali dayi Meri dayi Muralidhar mala.
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Main Muralidhar ki Murali bhayi
Mere bhaye Muralidhar maalaa.
"I became the flute of my beloved and he became the garland of my heart."
This is the greatest relationship between a devotee and God, when the devotee becomes the flute of the Lord and God becomes the garland of the devotee's heart. But when is this possible? When the surrender is complete. What is the process of that surrender? We shall discuss this some other time but remember this couplet.
Bigri janam anek ki, abhi sudhare aaj
Hohin Ram ko kaam taji, Tulasi taji kusamaj.
"We all pray to God from the bottom of our heart knowing that he is omnipotent. He can make unfavorable things favorable. It is all in his hands."
Kahar Mahar dou haath tumhare, jo sahav wahi sehane. "I am always prepared to accept what you feel like offering me. All hands for the wise, all hands for him. But let God be merciful that my resolution be fulfilled." Come, let us sing the name of the Lord.
Sri Ram jai Ram jai jai Ram Jai jai jai Hanuman Gosain Sri Ram jai Ram jai jai Ram kripa karo Gurudev ki nai Sri Ram jai Ram jai Ram
Lokabhiram
Ranrangdhiram Rajeev Netram Raghuvansh
Natham, Kaarunya Rupam Karuna Karantam, Sri Ram Chandram Sharanam Prapadye.
Apne Apne gharan ki sab kaahu ko peer
Tumhe peer sab gharan ki dhanya dhanya Ragubeer, Tulasi Sitaram kahu hita rakhahu, biswas
Kabahun bigarat na sune Sri Ramchandraji ke das.
Call out all, victory for the Lord of devotees!

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SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
We express gratitude and thanks to His Holiness Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Sri Swami Poonyananda Giriji that he has in such simple language given us simple teachings and messages for practising in our daily life. We are inspired with his blessed words. To know ourself, to examine ourself, and then to trade the jewel within us for a paltry sum is not profitable in spiritual life. If you want to do business, better to do business with God. There is no point trading with another ordinary man. In order to make a transaction with God, we must first say that I surrender all I have to you. I only ask in return that you, at your whim, steer my life in any direction that you wish. I have no selfish motives, no desires for personal gain.
Naham karta harih karta, harih karta hi kevalam.
In order to let the spirit flare up, we first need to purify our personality. Then we must welcome God and offer him a place. Generally, what happens is that the desire for worshipping God is there, but it is riddled with lower mental tendencies, with sensual desires. Within this personality, there is never a place vacant where God can come and go as He wills. If someone wants to join the audience here, he shall have to be offered a place. If we think that without preparation, without effort, we can receive the grace of God, then this is wishful thinking. As a result of selfish motives, under the influence of cravings, this thought arises. Finally, however, all cravings, thoughts, selfishness and desires have to be renounced. ..
This is the teaching of our philosophy. This is what our tradition teaches. Even a parrot can repeat, Ram Ram, but to make our lives Rama maya (overwhelmed with Godliness) is another matter. This is what we need to learn through satsang, and association with the wise, through the teachings of the sages and through elementary self-endeavour. I have spoken
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of self-endeavour because it is we who must strive to vacate ourselves.
Once, when I was travelling from here to Patna, I was very thirsty on the way. I saw a well, so I stopped the car and walked up to the well. There was a bucket lying nearby and a rope. I tied the rope to the bucket and lowered the bucket into the well. When the bucket was filled I pulled it up, but by the time the bucket reached the top, I found that it was empty. Why? Because there were innumerable tiny holes in it and the water had all leaked out.
Similarly, our mind and personality are also full of holes. If we try to receive the water of Godliness in our perforated mind and personality, it will not be possible. Therefore, selfendeavour is needed in order to seal the perforations. Through sadhana, association with the wise, austerities, the process of learning and discipline, when all the holes are sealed, then this water of life can be retained. The bliss, the reality is ever-existing.
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Newspaper Reports
Hindustan Times
3.11.93
SILENCE, DISCIPLINE MARK YOGA CONFERENCE
BHAGALPUR, Nov. 2 (HTC) - The four-day World Yoga Convention which got off to a serene start yesterday at the sprawling
Ground at Munger has uni- que features. Though about 5,000 delegates from 32 countries and guests are attending this spiritual congregation, there is pin-drop silence all around the Yoga School hosting the conference and discipline rules the roost. Cleanliness is superb which together recapitulates the principle points of the science of yoga. The early morning kirtan and chorus singing of Om pervade the atmosphere with divinity.
Saffron-clad women are attending in good number. Whether the volunteers, the inmates of the School, delegates or guests, all are seen working in a spirit of oneness to make this convention, being held after 20 years and which also synchronizes with the Tyag Golden Jubilee celebration of Paramahamsa Satyananda, a success.
Incidentally the foreign guests have liked the Indian dishes very much, according to Mr. Amar Shankar Sahay, who
has been maintaining constant vigil over the catering service running round the clock. About 200 cooks including their helpers are running the kitchen in shifts to maintain time schedule because breakfast has to be served at 6 am fast.
Particularly among the foreigners, there were many who preferred black tea, others wanted tea without sugar and some without milk but they had great fancy for Indian vegetables, salad and sweets, Mr. Sahay says. Though yesterday's smart rain damaged three kitchen pandals but Mr. Sahay himself drenched in rain water with his army of cooks and helpers was determined to maintain the timeschedule.
Yoga is not a religion but a way to full life and this is what the spiritual stalwarts are trying to drive home in their own ways. The speeches are neither lengthy nor cumbersome but quite thought-provoking. Mr. Ashok Kumar, Divisional Commissioner, rightly observed that lively discussions would follow on the subject during the next two days and set a trend.
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Hindustan Times
YOGA CAN REFORM CRIMINALS
MUNGER, Nov 4 (PTI) – Yoga, the ancient Indian system of meditation and self-control can do wonders for hardened criminals and help tremendously in their total assimilation in the .society, modern research shows.
If every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. Yoga can work as a catalytic agent and expedite the reformation process among the criminals, Mr. S. V. Vyavahare, project in-charge and head of the Yoga Research Center, Thane, said in his research paper at the World Yoga Conference here on Tuesday.
His paper on "Jail Reforms Through Yogic Methods" said regular and proper yogic exercises brought about complete transformation among criminals and prepared them to go into the society as useful citizens.
Mr. Vyavahare's project, launched at the Thane prison, was aimed at totally changing the personality of the inmates by removing inner imbalances and outer tensions through yoga.
Mr. Vyavahare said it was unfortunate that though jail reforms world over aimed at doing things that would keep alive optimism in the minds of prisoners, worthwhile efforts were still to be made in that direction.
In spite of reforms, sadly enough, the attitude of the society towards the outlaws and vice versa remains unchanged. The feeling that once a criminal,

5.11.93
always a criminal is wrong. Yoga can unfold for them as well as the society a new atmosphere conducive to absorption of the criminals as active and useful members of the society, he said.
He said 80 inmates of the Thane prison joined the project voluntarily to undergo yogic training which was imparted to them for three months with extremely encouraging results.
Yoga, Mr Vyavahare said, helped in removing the knots in the minds of prisoners which facilitated a change in their entire outlook towards life without causing any side effects.
Mr. Vyavahare said the jail inmates practised 'trataka'.
He said, the prisoners, even after completion of three months training continued it and 13 out of 80 volunteered to become yoga teachers and they were imparted further training.
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Mr. Vyavahare said the prisoners who took a written examination and viva voce after
training obtained very good
marks with some of them securing as high as 87 per cent. Interestingly, no one failed in the
tests.
The training while improving their physical strength also brought about positive psychological changes. Their anger decreased, a feeling of tranquillity was noticed and there was tremendous improvement in their inter-personal relationships, he said.

Page #200

DAY THREE
November 3, 1993

Page #201

DAY THREE
MID-MORNING SESSION Dr. G.B. Kar
Vivekananda Yoga Therapy Research Institute,
Bhubaneshwar Swami Sivamurti Saraswati
Satyananda Ashram, Greece Mr. George Tompkins
Kundalini Research Association, Bangalore Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
Divine Life Society, South America
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AIM OF YOGA Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
On the eve of self surrender a person should have only one desire in his consciousness and in his thought process, and that is, "Let Thy will be done. Let me move the way you want me to move. Let me live the way you want me to live." Keeping these feelings in the heart, if one surrenders then great bliss is derived. During this convention we all must take this solemn oath because this is what yoga strives for. This is the aim of yoga.
How long are you going to consider yourself to be the doer? How long are you going to consider results to be in your control? It has been mentioned in vedic philosophies, Lord Krishna has repeatedly said it in the Gita, and time and again seers have declared, that you are to do the work but to give up the desire for the fruits of action. Where there is a giving up of expectation of the fruits of action, where there is a sacrifice of the results of action, there awakens a feeling of surrender, and this sentiment of surrender is called yoga.
We are trying to personify surrender through the Paramahamsa Satyananda Tyag Golden Jubilee Convention where we can forget our physical, material and internal, mental problems and obstacles and surrender ourselves to the wish of God. The day we feel qualified to do so we shall find our life has become full of happiness.

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DR. G.B. KAR
Dr. G. B. Kar is Chairman of the Vivekananda Yoga Therapy Research Institute, Bhubaneshwar. He is a person with a multifarious personality, a researcher, thinker and practitioner of a great healing tradition, homeopathy. He is also a yogi in his own right.

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COMPATIBILITY OF HOMEOPATHY
AND YOGA
Dr. G. B. Kar
At one time, the treatment of disease was in the hands of the priests, but later on, man was divided by theologians and thinkers into three entities, body, mind and spirit. To each part of man a different variety of specialist was allotted. The physician took charge of man's body, and the mind and spirit remained as before in the hands of the saints. Gradually, treatment was based on the physical level only, and the mental and spiritual aspects were neglected. The homeopathic system of treatment gives prime importance to the vital energy or prana, and the yogic method is reflected in its entire extent. Now I am going to narrate the yogic methods in the homeopathic principle as stated by our great master, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of the science. When Dr. Hahnemann started writing the principles of homeopathy he said that the duty of the physician is a mission. It is not the ordinary duty, the routine work. It is missionary work as was told by our great yogis, from a holistic point of view. It is a dedicated sacrificing work. Every doctor should bear that in mind.
Therefore, he has said that we have to deal with an art whose aim is the saving of human life; any neglect in making ourselves the master of it is a crime. Here Dr. Hahnemann warned all the homeopathic doctors not to be negligent in their practice. If one makes any mistake in dealing with the life of a person, it will become a crime and the doctor himself will be a criminal.
It is well understood that the homeopathic science starts with the yogic path, in relation to the duty of the physician. As saints, without considering caste, creed, sex, age nor position, actually worked with the missionary spirit for human beings, so doctors should follow the same path. It is a religious, yogic path that grew in Dr. Hahnemann's mind.
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Secondly, the great master has given importance in the second part of the Organon of Medicine to the treatment. He has written, "The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles." Here, Dr. Hahnemann emphasizes that the treatment should be gentle, soothing and painless. When a person is suffering from pain he should not be given additional pain by way of injections or strong oral medicines. For this reason he developed the idea of giving medicines in sweet drop form. These thoughts give us an impression about the kindness of Dr. Hahnemann in his homeopathic system, like. that of our saints in the yogic system.
The third point is that homeopathy is a natural science as is the yogic science. Before the discovery of this homeopathic science, Dr. Hahnemann, being an allopathic doctor, was not satisfied with the allopathic method of treatment. Once, while translating Cullen's Materia Medica he found out about the ague-curing properties of cinchona bark. He experimented with the cinchona on himself and developed the symptoms of marsh ague. This gave him the clue as to the natural healing power present in all plants. Then he continued experimenting with the effects of various plants on himself and noted down the symptoms.
From this, he came to the conclusion that the 'curative power of the plant or chemical is the creative power of the same plant or chemical. In other words the plant can cure that symptom which it creates when taken in excess by a healthy person. This is the basic natural phenomenon from which Dr. Hahnemann proved all the homeopathic medicines used in this science. The medicines are all tested on healthy human beings and the symptoms produced are recorded. Thus it is said that this treatment is a natural treatment based on natural principles. The yogic science is also a natural method based on natural principles to calm down the mind and to awaken super consciousness.
Fourthly, homeopathic science does not look at man at the physical level. It believes that the subtle force cures, like the yogic science. According to Dr. Hahnemann, the vital force is the most important aspect of a human being. Homeopathic
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principles are based totally on the vital force which is responsible for life, disease and death. In sections 9 to 12 and 16 of the Organon Dr. Hahnemann has written:
"In the healthy condition of man the spiritual, vital force (autocracy), the dynamism that animates the material body (organism) rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason-gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purpose of our existence. The material organism, without the vital force, is capable of no sensation, no function, no self-preservation." (s.9)
"When a person falls ill, it is only this spiritual, self-acting, vital force, everywhere present in his organism, that is primarily deranged by the dynamic influences upon it of a morbific agent, inimical to life. It is only the vital force, deranged to such an abnormal state, that can furnish the organism with its disagreeable sensation, and incline it to the irregular processes which we call disease. For, as a power invisible in itself, and only recognizable by its effects on the organism, its morbid derangement only makes itself known by the manifestation of disease in the sensations and functions of those parts of the organism exposed to the senses of the observer and physician, that is, by morbid symptoms, and in no other way can it make itself known." (s. 10-12)
"It is the morbidity-affected vital force alone that produces disease. Our vital force, as a spirit-like dynamism, cannot be attacked and affected by injurious influences in the healthy organism caused by the external, inimical forces that disturb the harmonious play of life, other than in a spirit-like way. In like manner, all such morbid derangements (diseases) cannot be removed from it by the physician in any other way than by the spirit-like alternative power of the serviceable medicines acting upon our spirit-like vital force, which perceives them through the medium of the sentient faculty of the nerves everywhere present in the organism." (s. 16)
From this statement it can be seen that homeopathy believes thoroughly in the vital force theory. This vital force or life force is similar to the style of a song. It is the individual. If the individual is a song, the vital force is the style. The words and sentences are like the visible, material organs of the body.
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The particular style which marvellously accommodates the whole song can be compared with the vital force which accommodates the whole living organism. Likewise the vital force supplies all its goodness to all the parts and organs and even to the atoms of the living organism for the proper function, sensation and preservation of the living human being. But the body without vital force is just like a song without style.
So, it is understood that our vital force is similar to the prana in the yogic science. Dr. Hahnemann has clearly said that no organ, no tissue, no cell, no molecules, are ever independent, but the life of one of these things is merged with the life of the whole. The unity of human life can never be the organs, the tissues, and the cells alone, but the organism as a whole, the whole of man. He clearly states that the human body is capable of no sensation, no function, no selfpreservation, without the vital force that animates the whole body as the autocratic, supreme administrator. Although Dr. Hahnemann was a German scientist, his thought was similar to Indian yogic philosophy which developed hundreds of years back. Therefore, basing his thought solely on this vital force theory, he discovered the homeopathic science.
In the yogic science, the aspect of prana is very important. This ancient knowledge was given by the munis, yogis and saints of India. Many references about pranic energy are found especially in the Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Prashnopanishad, Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad, Taittiriya Upanishad, and at the beginning of the Vedanta Darshan. In the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad, prana has been so-called because of its vibration which is due to intelligence. It is the ruler of all living beings. The entire dimension of living beings is under the control of prana.
The whole Atharva Veda sings the greatness of prana. It says that the chief function of prana is to impart motion to living beings. Their movement is controlled by pranic energy. The air first entered the body in form of prana and became instrumental in all its functions and activities. Prana is the basis of life. It is the cause of action, activity and movement. The gross and subtle experiences are governed by prana. They act according to the directives of prana. Prana is the general, and others are the soldiers. From this, I am convinced that the

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homeopathic science is based purely on the vedic and pranic tracts and hence is similar to yogic principles.
According to homeopathy, it is the derangement of this vital force by the dynamic influence of the disease-producing agent manifesting externally as altered sensations and functions, that is, the symptoms. First, the vital force is affected, then this imbalance is manifested in the body in the form of deviated sensation and function.
In yoga it is said that when the mind is agitated during the interaction with the world at large the physical body also follows in its wake. This agitation causes violent fluctuation in the flow of prana in the nadis. The prana flows in the wrong parts following from one to another without rhythm or harmony. The nadis can no longer maintain stability and steadiness. Due to these disturbances in the prana and unsteadiness in the nadis, the food does not get properly digested. There is non-digestion, wrong digestion and overdigestion. When this improperly digested food circulates in the body, it results in ailments of the psychosomatic type. Here, according to homeopathy, by the restoration of this debilitated vital force in the physical, mental and spiritual aspect, the health can be regained. In yoga also, by the restoration of the prana in the proper way, total health is attained. The only difference in the yogic cure and homeopathy is that, in the case of yoga, no medicinal force is applied, whereas in homeopathy, medicinal force is applied.
From my own experience, I must say that if a psychosomatic patient is taught some pure, selected asanas, yoga nidra, pranayama and after a week is given the homeopathic medicine, it will act like a wonder. I have verified this in a few cases in my own practice. The same medicine which did not act before, when taken after practising a few asanas, yoga nidra and pranayama, acted very miraculously and the patient became alright within a short period. This is because, after practising the yogic principles, the mind becomes calm and the prana becomes stable, so the nerves are able to draw more medicinal power. When the body becomes relaxed, the receptive capacity of the nervous system is greater. So, if any homeopathic medicine is given at this time, the action will be quicker than taking the same medicine when one is imbalanced and tense.
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I am of the opinion that the yogic system should be spread among all the doctors in general and homeopathic doctors in particular, so that they can benefit from it. Yoga will be beneficial for the doctor himself. If the doctor practises yoga, his mind will be calm and his intuition will come into play, ensuring that the prescription he gives will be more correct and the patient receives more benefit. I, therefore, request Paramahamsa Niranjanananda to prepare a short course of yogic training for homeopathic doctors and insist that one and all should follow this as it will be beneficial to them. I think that all the yogic institutions should keep one homeopathic doctor to prescribe homeopathic medicines for the patients practising yoga, for quicker results without side effects. Lastly, I request all yoga practitioners to depend on homeopathic medicines, if it be required in case of actual and chronic illnesses.
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
It is true that in order to influence the capacity of the various organs of the body and to generate more energy, the pranic force is responsible because it influences the chemical balance in the body. The changes that take place within the atom, the chemical changes that take place within the cells of the body, play a very important role in keeping the body, brain and mind healthy. It has also been experienced that, to a certain extent, we can attain good health with any method, we can cure a problem or disease, but for absolute health it is often necessary to apply different methods.
The conventional methods deal with the symptoms of diseases but are not able to cure the diseases themselves. If there is a headache, a tablet helps us to get rid of the ache. If we are affected by asthma, then with inhalers, medicines and bronchial dilators, we can expand the respiratory mechanism to make it easier to breathe. However, these are only symptomatic remedies. Whether it be for headache, asthma or any other problem, the cause lies in our personality, in the subconscious.
Whether we say that stress is the cause of a disease or give any other reason for it, if the remedial process is to be broadened, if the methods are to be expanded, then all curative methods need to be given a unified format. Within this format, in order to affect a cure, it becomes necessary to find methods to bring about an increase in the life-force of the organs and to control the chemical changes and the symptoms of the disease that affect the body externally.
So, as Dr. Kar said just now, we must make a curriculum where different methods are included. In this regard, the most powerful method of treatment may be holistic therapy or polypathy. Keeping this in mind, we could frame a course so that every form of treatment can follow the methods of holistic therapy
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SWAMI SIVAMURTI SARASWATI
Swami Sivamurti Saraswati was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in Melbourne. Paramolums Satyananda sent her to Greece in 1977 where she noily liends the Satyananda Ashram, which lus its headquarters at Paianin, a short distance from Athens. Throughout Greece, nine Satyananda Aslırams function er hier direction. In the last few years she luas been responsible for introducing yoga to the other Balkan countries such as Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romanin.
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YOGA IN GREECE
Swami Sivamurti Saraswati
I first visited the old Bihar School of Yoga in 1976. When I left, Paramahamsa Satyananda gave me some words of advice which have since helped me in my life. He told me that the Greeks were bhaktas and that yoga would spread like wild fire in Greece. He said that whatever happened in my life would be for my own good, and that nothing would be negative. It was these words that I kept with me throughout the years and throughout the difficulties which I had to face at different times in Greece. He also told me that he was never going to come to Greece.
Today my talk is going to be on how I was instrumental in bringing yoga to Greece, and how it has been spreading in Greece as well as in the Balkan countries. As Paramahamsa Niranjanananda said before, everything in Greece is topsyturvy and the mentality in Greece is completely different from the mentality with which I grew up as a child. I did not speak a word of Greek in the beginning. found a lady from Alexandria, who spoke English and Greek well. I gave her all my class notes written down in English which she translated and wrote down for me in Greek. In this way, I was able to hold my first classes in Greek.
Paramahamsaji had told me right from the beginning that we evolve through difficulties, and there were difficulties. Difficulties arose with the church because they thought this was another religion. Difficulties arose with the parents, because their sons and daughters came to learn yoga not only as a practice but also as a way of life. But the greatest difficulty of all was the statement Paramahamsaji had made, that he was never going to come to Greece.
It was in 1977 that I started teaching yoga in Greece. Towards the end of that year Paramahamsaji was in Spain. When I went there to meet him, I decided to take courage and ask him again "Are you coming to Greece, Swamiji?" He told me, "But naturally, I'm going to come to Greece." And the next
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year, in 1978, he came. After that, in 1979, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda came, and after that Paramahamsa Satyananda came almost every year.
So, with the inspiration of Paramahamsa Satyananda and Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, it was a natural course of events that yoga would spread like wild fire in Greece as he had told me before I left Bihar School of Yoga. More and more Greek people came forward to take poorna sannyasa and karma sannyasa. It was not long before there was a large number of people around to help me with the work there. From a small flat, we moved to a slightly larger flat, then to a larger one and finally, after seven moves, we settled in the area where the ashram is now, in Paiania.
At the time when we found the property in Paiania, Paramahamsaji was in Spain. So, I called him on the telephone and he wanted to know every single detail. Our conversation lasted about three to four hours. After hearing all the details about the new-found place, he said, “Yes, okay, you can get it." Gradually people from Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia also started coming to learn yoga and then they invited me over there. Today, they are teaching yoga there themselves, and the system which they use is that of Bihar School of Yoga.
On closing I would like to share some thoughts of mine with you. Paramahamsa Niranjanananda is moving according to the sign of Aquarius, the water-bearer. We have seen this quality manifested with the pouring rain on the first day. Also when I saw the musical fountain that he has built in honor of his guru in Ganga Darshan for this jubilee, and when I saw the display of lights, I thought this represents Paramahamsa Niranjanananda's spirit and compassion.
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
It is human nature to expect miracles, and how do we expect miracles? We expect miracles by making God our servant, our slave. When the time comes, in times of need, in times of difficulty, we pray to God and we say, “Please, allow this to happen." That means we are imposing our will on God's will, and when something does happen we say, "A miracle has happened." In fact, what we have done is to make God do our dirty work, and that dirty work we call a miracle. But a real miracle is when a person moves according to God's wishes and does not make God move according to his wishes.
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MR. GEORGE TOMPKINS
Mr. George Tompkins is originally from the United States of America and is now having to stand with one leg in one boat and one leg in the other. America is one boat and India is the other. He is the head of the Indian chapter of the Kundalini Research Association, which was inspired by the late Pandit Gopi Krishna from Kashmir. Mr. Tompkins has been involved in research into the phenomenon of kundalini and the changes that can happen in the human consciousness with the awakening of this force.
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KUNDALINI RESEARCH
Mr. George Tompkins
This is an extraordinary privilege for me, not only to speak about the subject of kundalini, but to address myself to this group. In all of my travels, I have never come across a gathering of people who are more seriously dedicated, who are truly earnest about their aspirations to become better messengers of spirituality. I sincerely wish to offer my pranams to you. I intend to talk to this group a little differently than I have spoken to many groups in India, primarily because of the authenticity involved in this search that I have discovered among you people.
The other reason that I consider it a privilege to be speaking about kundalini is because we are actually talking about the prana shakti as the creative power of the absolute. We are talking about prana shakti as the architect of all existence, who basically has two forms, one of a cosmic nature where she is spread everywhere and the other where she has her roots deep in our biological structure. This is the root of life and it is the subject of our research to discover what happens when this sleeping prana shakti, who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, awakens.
I have heard people refer to her as our higher intelligence. It would be like saying Einstein is just above average in terms of intelligence. We are dealing with an omniscient factor, that knows every aspect of our life, that has powers beyond our wildest imagination. So I always feel it an honor to be able to discuss this basic concept of life that has to do with the awakening of this energy. And I might add, the sovereign aspect of kundalini is something that is not too recognizable in the west. There are many people now totally aware of kundalini aspects, but they do not treat it as a sovereigh energy.
I would like to just give you a little background. I was a friend of the late Pandit Gopi Krishna. I met him in 1971, in Zurich, at a definite crossroad in my life. I had just sold my business, where I had been a hypnotic businessman. I am the
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father of five children. I had the task of raising them and working a business at the same time. In 1970 I left the business and, through the grace of God, I met Gopi Krishna in 1971. He was not a guru, he did not have disciples or students. During the course of the thirteen years that I knew him, he became a close friend, and I became a co-worker with him, along with many other people, in the dissemination of his disclosures about the evolution of the brain.
He has written seventeen books about kundalini, explaining the future of kundalini. He said in a letter, once, "All of my ambitions, all of my desires, truly my only aim, is to leave a legacy of authentic material about the transcendent plane of consciousness, so that posterity can lay the foundation of a new science." It was strange when I started to read Sri Aurobindo following that, because Aurobindo used the same phrase. He said it was India's role to lay the foundation of a new science for the world. I am absolutely convinced that this science is based on the awakening of kundalini and the metamorphosis that is possible following this awakening.
It was Gopi Krishna's disclosure that the human brain is still in an organic state of evolution, and that this evolution is occurring through the instrumentality of a psychophysiological, or in other words, a psychosomatic mechanism in the body, known in India as kundalini. He disclosed that this kundalini is responsible for all forms of genius, all extraordinary talents, all psychic gifts as well as certain forms of insanity and that the brain is currently in an accelerated rate of evolution.
Now science cannot recognize that the brain is still evolving because we do not have the instrumentation for it. So it cannot realize that we are currently in an accelerated rate of evolution. All one has to do is look at the children of today to see how far more advanced they are at a very early age even among a few generations. This is incredible! It has been said that we are advancing at 30 or 40 years from generation to generation because of our highly accelerated nervous system.
The nervous system is basically the key to the distribution of this energy when it awakens. The reason that the brain is in such a state of acceleration has to do with the cumulative use of concentration from generation to generation. It is heredity that determines the capacity of the nervous system to distribute this energy once it awakens. Concentration, whether it

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be on a secular object or on a spiritual object, is the key that releases the energy. When yoga was designed, we were agrarians. We had the old nervous system. It was a Herculean task to awaken the energy.
Today it is not easy but again, due to our ripe nervous system, it is not the monumental task that it was in the past. In fact, Paramahamsa Satyananda refers to kundalini as a gland, and he said that this gland is now ripe to explode. There is a certain section of the race that has a very advanced nervous system and there is a very thin veil between our current state of consciousness and the next plateau, the next development in human evolution. We have only to focus our attention in that direction.
The last part of his disclosure was that this evolution towards higher dimensions of consciousness is ruled by spiritual law still unknown to mankind at this time. It is the violation of the law, that is behind the present critical situation in the world today. Time does not permit me to expand upon this, but I will say that we are on the precipice of a massive change, because the current social order, the current way of life, is inimical to the inner process that is taking place in every brain in the world. As nature has done in the past, when we have come into a period where we are not cooperating with our own evolution, she makes sweeping changes. We are about to enter the vortex of this change in the very, very near future.
As I mentioned, Gopi Krishna died in 1984. I mustered enough courage to come to India to explore the research that he wanted to do, and which he outlined in great detail. The only reason I did it was because I looked around and there. wasn't anyone else to do it. It was not something I wanted to do. I was never built as a professional do-gooder, in fact, I am always a little suspicious of people who are professional dogooders. But I reluctantly came with an open mind and a willingness to follow the consciousness guiding this project, and my life has been a series of miracles since I arrived here.
I arrived in September of 1991, and we immediately started formulating the Kundalini Research Association International, registering it with the Delhi courts. Doctor Karen Singh, the eminent scholar, philosopher, author and diplomat, here in India became our worldwide chairman. He was invited here today but due to a conflict, he had to be in Japan, and he asked me to extend his best wishes and his regrets that he is not here.
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Early in 1992, I was immediately led to the Bihar School of Yoga. I had never heard of it before. Even though I had been to India four or five times with Gopi Krishna when he was alive and several times after he passed away, I had led a sort of cloistered life and I did not really look into many of the institutions in India. Upon my arrival here at the Bihar School of Yoga, I sat with Paramahamsa Niranjanananda and outlined the intentions of our research.
I was amazed that Paramahamsa Niranjanananda absolutely accepted everything I had to say. He was the first person that I had met in India who did so totally. He not only accepted it, he comprehended it, complimented it and immediately indicated that this was why the Bihar School of Yoga was formed. This was the highest intention of the School, to basically, scientifically, validate the purpose of life, the purpose of existence, which I did not know.
Paramahamsa Satyananda həd talked about and written about this in great detail, but I had never studied any of his books at that time. So Paramahamsa Niranjanananda invited me to make my home here, to do the research here. I had explained to him that we were looking for a climate that was neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter to conduct these experiments. Then I said to him, "Now if you can change the weather, I would really be interested." And obviously he is still working on that!
I immediately went from here to the Vivekananda Kendra Research Foundation in Bangalore, and Dr. Nagendra gave me the same invitation. He was equally receptive to the hypothesis that we were postulating about the awakening of kundalini. So I took up residence in Bangalore about six months later, and I have been operating out of there.
We formed an organizing committee of the Bihar School of Yoga, the Vivekananda Kendra Research Foundation and our Kundalini Research Association International, for the purpose of formulating plans for this research. To date we have not done much about it, mainly because I have been on a public relations tour of India, speaking and promoting the concept to many many people and I rarely stop travelling. Early next year I plan to be here in January for several weeks when the intention is to formulate an organizational plan for the research that will take place in 1995. That is our target date.
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Now I will explain something about our concept of the research. It is our proposal to select or screen 150 subjects from all over the world, who will take residence in some place in India, which is yet to be determined, and undergo spiritual disciplines to awaken kundalini. The subjects will be monitored by the latest scientific equipment available, by psychologists, parapsychologists, and even psychiatrists. The purpose of this investigation is to document the process of spiritual metamorphosis. The goal of the research is to demonstrate the next level, the next plateau of human evolution.
We are moving from a state of human, to transhuman consciousness. As Paramahamsa Satyananda says, we are about to become junior gods, embracing all of our divinity. We have high hopes, and convictions that we can demonstrate this process and monitor all of the biological changes that take place in the course of this transformation. The objective, the goal is to have a certain number of aspirants raise this energy to the seventh center. Although the task used to be Herculean it is still quite difficult, but we expect that a handful of five or ten out of the 150 will reach ultimate states of transcendence, and we want to monitor that.
The problem is, science cannot validate transcendence. We are at a point where we can only build a data base of people who claim transcendence. Then what can we monitor? The true aim of yoga is to open up silent chambers in the brain. Gopi Krishna wrote about that extensively. I did not realize that at the time Swami Satyananda has laid great emphasis on the fact that when the energy awakens, a riot occurs in the brain. It starts to flower, to blossom. With today's medical or scientific instrumentation this is measurable.
Now, what happens when dormant centers of the brain open? A new mode of cognition, of perception is developed. This is what has been known as the opening of the third eye, the eye of Siva, the opening of the tenth door. This has been known through all of recorded history. We are going to validate that, but our validation will take its most striking form in the fact that mental transformation is a byproduct of this evolution towards transcendent states of consciousness. We are going to validate the fact that genius can be cultivated.
The theory is that all the great saints, the prophets of all times, the extraordinary souls who took the form of Christ,

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Buddha, Mohammed, Shankaracharya, Guru Nanak, Vyasa, St. Theresa, Annie Besant, Madame Blavatsky, were all advanced souls of the human race. We are moving irresistibly towards the same goal. That is only the next plateau in human evolution, on an infinite ladder of evolution. The absolute will always send advanced souls to guide the race. In time, it has been said, we are meant to become gods on other planets. This is through the millennia.
Right now, the difference between moving from human to transhuman consciousness has been equated to the difference between what we are today and an animal, let's say a dog; that is the difference between what we are now and what we will become. This difference is measurable, and our focus is to prove that genius can be cultivated. I am going to quote from Swami Satyananda on this point. I have many of his quotes here. He says, "With the awakening of kundalini, the greater intelligence is aroused from its sleep, and you can give birth to a new range of creativity. With this experience, you could become a prophet, a saint, an inspired artist or musician, a brilliant writer, poet, a clairvoyant, a messiah. Or you could become an outstanding leader, a prime minister, a governor or president. The awakening of kundalini affects the whole area of the human mind and behavior."
In
my darshan earlier this year with Swami Satyananda, he was very enthusiastic about this research. He gave me his blessings and he said, "You know, once you awaken the energy and you live with it for a while, you can learn to direct it to anything. You can direct it to music, you can direct it to language, you can direct it to any form of activity." This is what we hope to evidence in this research. We hope to demonstrate that genius can be cultivated and that there will be a few of these aspirants in this environment for five years, who will develop multiple forms of genius that will eventually change scientific concepts about mind and matter.
Right now, scientists say that the genes determine the breadth and the scope of our intelligence, and they are correct. But when the kundalini awakens, even the genes are transformed. Then there are no rules, then we can blossom into all forms of prodigies and expressions. That is our future, and our destiny. We are all on the same ship, heading for destination unknown. We are all moving towards the same port, only we

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have to start cooperating with the process. That is what yoga is all about.
There are many forms of research taking place in yoga today, having to do with yoga therapies, with healing. They are marvellous work, but they just represent the branches of the tree of kundalini. This research that we are talking about focuses on the roots of the tree. It focuses on its highest expression, which is genius and transcendence. There is no doubt in my mind, that this is the appointed hour for this sacred knowledge to be revealed.
Once spiritual laws are known, materialistic science will have to act as a unifying principle among all mankind, to bring the goal of evolution before humanity, in a context that it will comprehend. This is very profound yet very simple; it is only man's arrogance that stands in the way. We believe that we have already reached the pinnacle, but we have not even scratched the surface of our potential that Swami Vivekananda spoke about constantly.
This kundalini research is designed to represent the spiritual heritage of India. It is not going to be dominated by any one school, philosophy, or teacher. It is open to all to participate. It is an experiment. We refer to it as the Kundalini Project, but this is to represent the great spiritual heritage of India. When this research is proven, Indians will wake up to the great glory and grandeur of their land. Right now there is decay and decadence here, like there is in any other place in the world. But someone said recently at another conference, "You scratch the skin of an Indian, and there is a yogi underneath".
The spiritual heritage is here, and India is the soul of this project. The reason that we are not pursuing it in the west at this time is that India has scientists equivalent to any in the world. There may not be as many, but they are as good. You have a priceless documentary treasure of authentic material about this experience here, much of which has not been translated, and you have yogis unparallelled by any in the world. Western science is still not ready to accept that prana is the agent behind every chemical and biochemical change that takes place in the body. It is too far removed from their heritage. But in India a number of the most eminent scientists are receptive to the concept that prana is the agent that creates

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every chemical and biochemical change in the body, and that when kundalini awakens it becomes a higher form of prana, according to Swami Satyananda, it is a higher voltage of prana that opens up dormant centers of the brain.
In conclusion, I have just a quote from Sri Aurobindo and then I would like to make a simple request. Sri Aurobindo says, “India of the ages is not dead, nor has she spoken her last creative word. She lives and still has something to do for herself and the human people. That which we must seek now to awake, is not an anglicized oriental people, docile pupils of the west, doomed to repeat the cycle of the occidental success and failure, but the ancient, immemorial shakti, recovering her deeper self, lifting her head higher towards the supreme source of light and strength, and turning to discover the complete meaning and a vaster form of her dharma."
We are interested in speaking to anyone who would like to assist or participate in any level of this work, or know anything about this work. Also if there is somebody, or some people here in the audience who have been bestowed with excess wealth and have been praying for guidance as to what to do with this wealth, I want to inform you that your prayers have just been answered!
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
When Paramahamsaji was living at the Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, during his meditation he saw a scene of a metropolis. There were buildings and mansions. The houses were equipped with all types of gadgets, light bulbs and everything. There were marvellous roads and thousands of gardens, but the whole area was enveloped in total darkness. When he saw this, he went to his compassionate guru, Swami Sri Sivanandaji Maharaj and asked him what this vision was about. Paramguru Swami Sivanandaji said that this was the vision of his own brain, because everything has been set up inside the brain in the same way. Paramahamsaji asked v there was no light or electricity. Paramguruji said, "There shall be no electricity until you connect the transformer to the main source of the electricity supply." Paramahamsaji asked, “How will that be done?" Paramguruji replied, "Awaken your kundalini, and when your kundalini awakens your city shall be illumiined with light."
Even science says that modern man uses only one tenth of his brain; the remaining 90% is lying dormant. According to psychology, too, man has uncovered only a very small portion of his consciousness; the subconscious, unconscious and superconscious remain unknown. Even in such a limited state, man considers himself to be super-endowed with innumerable qualities and capabilities. But think, what would happen when all the parts of the brain start working together? When the knowledge of all the faculties and states of consciousness of man is unravelled, there shall be no limit to his potential. With this increased and expanded potential, he will be able to illumine the world. This is the philosophy of kundalini. This potential lies within each of us, but we are not aware of it. Yoga is the means to awaken that potential. Yoga has this aim. The completion of yoga is tħe awakening and the ascending of kundalini. This is the message of yoga.
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MYTH AND REALITY Swami Sivapremananda Saraswati
On this occasion, I wish you all the success and future progress in the great mission originally started by our Paramguru Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, with whom I had the good fortune to live froin 1945 until 1961. During that period, I lived with my gurubhai Paramahamsa Sri Swami Satyanandaji until 1957, the year he left Sivananda Ashram for a parivrajaka life.
I want to urge you, especially those of you who are teachers of yoga, not to confuse wishful thinking with reality. You must face reality. Be truthful to yourself and to each other. Do not make a myth out of what you are doing. There are two kinds of myth. One is spiritual myth which is created for spiritual progress, representing spiritual aspirations; the other is to promote self interest by deceiving yourself and others.
There is a saying which I was telling you about yesterday, that there is a greater reality behind the spiritual reality, that God created man in his own image. This is a biblical saying, not a vedantic saying because in Vedanta, the human being is potentially divine. But this biblical saying contains a great truth, the image of God is yet to be realized. The atman is there, shining within, but it is covered by the opacity of many veils of ignorance, by the veils of the panchakosha.
According to the transparency, the purity of our heart and mind, that light of pure atman shines through, but because of the opacity of our vehicles, what we say to be God, the image of God, is not able to shine through. The greater truth is that the human being made God in his own image rather than God making the human being in his own image. This should be understood in the sense that the deficiencies of human nature express themselves through this process of relating to God first of all for protection and self-preservation, then for a spiritual sense of belonging. The first need in human existence is to survive. The second need is to have a sense of spiritual belonging, which one does not obtain through human love or through spiritual love. One needs to belong to someone, to something,
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which is deep within him, all around him, beyond him, and that he calls God.
The deeper the transparency is experienced within, the greater the light. What I am saying is that the image of God is very dark indeed, in all traditions, due to ideological reasons, ideological necessities. In the Old Testament, for example, it says that, “Thou shalt not worship any other God before me. If thou worshippeth idols, I shall not only bring down my wrath upon you, but generation after generation, after your children." That is not the real God, but that concept of God was necessary because the Jewish people had just come into a region where there was a confluence of the Egyptian, Syrian, Palestinian and Hittite cultures. So they needed to have an identity, a special exigence by God that, “I am thy only Lord, one above all, and thou shalt not worship any other God before me", for the sheer reason of survival. So, let us not confuse ideological reasons for spiritual truth. The same principle also applies for myth.
The World Parliament of Religions was not really a "World Parliament". It was a trade fair in Chicago, celebrating the 400 years after the discovery of the New World, America, on Columbus Day. When Swami Vivekananda spoke there, it was simply that event. The Parliament of World Religions does not have any statutory or legislative power. But the English word is parliament, so in India it was understood to be a great Parliament of Religion, when actually it was a simply a trade fair. At this trade fair, there was parley of religious teachers sharing their ideas. Of course, Vivekananda did make an impact in that parley of religious exchange of ideas, and he really shone there, but that has been exaggerated in India.
As a matter of fact, yoga in the west is yet another great myth. No one is coming to beat on your door in western countries to learn yoga. It is still a very fringe movement, hardly a ripple. For example, for the past quarter of a century during which I have been coming to England, yoga has been practised there by hardly one fifth of one percent of the population. So, it is not a great movement, it is a fringe movement.
If there are 57 million people in Britain, let us say that one percent is 570,000. So, there are maybe 170,000 people practising yoga today in England, and there are three main groups
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which are teaching yoga. One group, the British Wheel of Yoga, with which I am associated, has a registered membership of 4,000. The Iyengar group claims another 4,000 and the third group is Swami Satyananda's disciples who are teaching yoga. However, it is not yet a great movement, it is just a ripple. There are no public schools that are teaching yoga. There are some schools which offer voluntary yoga programs conducted by yoga teachers, where 10,12,15, children register, but it is not a large number.
An important thing that is just beginning to develop is the scientific investigation of yoga. It has a great scope here in this country and also in the western countries. I am aware that Paramahamsa Satyananda's disciples are doing much work in this field.
I have been to Eastern Europe during the Communist rule, and even then, I felt a deep vein of spirituality there. Eastern Europe is a new field opening up, and it will be very receptive to yoga, because eastern Christianity is nothing but pure bhakti yoga. A deep emotional need which has been suppressed by two generations of Communism needs to be fulfilled, and I think there is great feeling for yoga in those countries.
So, what is needed is spiritual idealism, behind the physical aspect of yoga, behind medical research, behind kundalini research. However, I am sorry to say that in western societies, the spiritual idealism is lacking very much. There is a lot to be desired among the yoga teachers in the west today, even few as they are. Both in the United States and in South America, the ethical basis is lacking. A high level of ethical conduct, moral awareness and spiritual understanding is missing.
What is yoga today in the west? It is a profession or a means of side income among the spiritual teachers, and this is a fact which is not very well known. The majority of people who teach yoga do it for pin money, a little bit of pocket income. Among them there are many sincere souls who are dedicated to yoga, but basically yoga teaching is a means for earning side income, and that is also the case in South America.
In Buenos Aires which is my present base and head office, our Sivananda Yoga-Vedanta Center has 900 members in a city of 5 million There are about 40 yoga groups there teaching mostly in their own residences, giving private classes. A few rent separate places. In Montevideo, the Sivananda YogaVedanta Center has 800 members in a city of one million.
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(Interruption from the audience by Swami Janakananda from Scandinavia: “I just want to say that in Denmark, between ten and fifteen percent of the population know something of yoga.")
I am very glad to hear that information. However, what I have told you is my direct experience. Please do not confuse the assumption that yoga is spreading like wild fire with the facts. Of course, we all hope that it will be so. The basic seeds have been laid down for this by our Paramguru Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj and my gurubhai Paramahamsa Satyananda. Through this great institution, the Bihar School of Yoga, I think that seed will grow into a world wide harvest. The world needs yoga, not only the spreading of the physical culture, the scientific explanation of yoga, the psycho-social welfare, but for spiritual welfare. Humanity needs yoga as the world needs rain.
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DAY THREE MID-DAY SESSION Dr. K. Nespor (Sannyasi Swaroopmurti)
Psychiatrist, Prague, Czechoslovakia Professor M. D. Bhole
Director, Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, Pune Dr. R. N. Bodhe
Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, Pune Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Sydney Yoga Therapy Research and Education Center, Australia
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DR. K. NESPOR
(SANNYASI SWAROOPMURTI)
Dr. Sannyasi Swaroopmurti is a psychiatrist and researcher from Czechoslovakia. He has been doing yoga research in Eastern Europe for the last fifteen years and has been closely affiliated with Bihar School of Yoga and the Yoga Research Foundation throughout this period. He uses yoga to help the alcoholics and drug addicts who are struggling to conquer their addiction. Presently he is the psychotherapist at the National Center for Health Promotion in Czechoslovakia and a consultant doctor to the psychiatric hospital. He also runs a Satyananda Yoga center in Prague.

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YOGA AND MENTAL HEALTH Dr. Karel Nespor
My first encounter with yoga took place when I was eleven. At that time, an American yoga teacher visited Czechoslovakia. She was over seventy years of age but, despite this, was able to perform yogasanas which were too difficult for many young people to do, including me. During my medical studies I encountered the publications of Bihar School of Yoga and, in 1977, I started correspondence with this organization. We have exchanged many yoga related papers and publications since then. Much later I was able to visit the headquarters of Bihar School of Yoga in North India, and to receive training there. Yoga interested me so much that I decided to take part in its medical research.
In the late 1970's I worked for one and a half years with a team of researchers in Czechoslovakia which investigated the neurophysiological aspects of various yogic practices. I had the privilege to meet Professor Dr. Bhovadar and to publish one paper with him. Since 1979, when I started work at the Psychiatric Hospital in Prague, I have used yogic techniques on many mental patients together with more conventional mental health approaches. I hope that my experience will increase the interest in yoga research and the use of yoga in the field of mental health. There are many different yogic techniques which may or may not be suitable for people with different mental health problems. I will try to summarize shortly which techniques and approaches have proved useful to me and to my colleagues.
It is not uncommon to find that psychosomatic patients are unwilling to accept the mental aspect of their problems, but they emphasize its physical causes. That is why intervention both on a physical and mental level is more likely to be accepted by them than psychotherapy alone or treatment with psychotropic medication. Correctly and gently practised, hatha yoga, yogic physical exercises, are useful. These physical exercises also have these mental health components: global and
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partial relaxation, a supportive group or teacher, and improved awareness of one's own body and mind.
At a later stage some simple mantra meditation and questions of lifestyle and values may be introduced. I had positive experience with this approach in people with back pain without sufficient somatic cause. I believe that such an approach can also help psychosomatic patients to be more open and sensitive to their emotions. It can enhance psychotherapy and increase the control of their problems.
It is said that those who benefit most from relaxation training are slightly compulsive with above average but not too high anxiety levels. These people are rewarded for their regular practices with a reduction in anxiety and will continue to practise as a result. There is a similar experience with yoga in these persons.
Another group for which yoga can be recommended is people lacking meaningfulness in their lives, e.g. women over forty whose children have left home and whose husbands are busy with their careers often benefit from yoga. Many of them are able to find new aims and self-confidence and establish supportive relationships among fellow trainees. On the other hand, one can hardly expect that a person with hysterical neurosis or an attention-seeking personality will practise yoga regularly and quietly at home. This factor may limit the use of yoga for them.
Now I would like to mention the role of yoga in depression. The Czech psychiatrist, Dr. Drozinovar, reported good effects with yoga in patients with depressive psychoses in remission, in preventing further relapse. Only a minority of patients with acute, more severe depression are willing to practise any physical exercise which could be beneficial. Light and moderate depression do not respond too well to psychotropic medication. Physically more demanding yoga practices, according to a patient's fitness and relaxation, work well in them. One very good Indian study reported positive effects of yogic physical exercises in mood disorders.
Lack of suitable physical activity and stimulation are common problems in elderly patients. Gentle exercises for joints like pawanmuktasana part one and relaxation are usually well accepted and helpful. According to the Indian tradition, old age is the part of life when one is expected to transcend the
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material world. Yoga can enrich one's spiritual life regardless of one's particular religion. In this way the perspective beyond this physical life can be enhanced.
According to a Czech author, Samankovar, yoga can be very useful in children with attention deficit, hyperactivity disorders. She used yoga in a playful manner. Yogic practices and relaxation were presented in a way that children could easily understand and accept.
A considerable number of papers have been written about the effects of meditation in reducing the abuse of alcohol and other drugs. Even so most of these papers are retrospective rather than prospective and uncontrolled rather than control
led. It is safe to consider yoga as a good preventive practice in Idealing with alcohol and drug related problems in most people.
The reasons why, probably include the following factors: 1. Stress, anxiety and depression relieving effects of
various voga techniques including relaxation and meditation. It is important, especially for people who would abuse alcohol and drugs because of mental distress. Safer socially and at work. Most of the people practising yoga refuse alcohol and drugs and their company is
beneficial because of that. 3. Increased self-awareness, both on mental and physical
levels, and improved self-control. The feeling of control is opposite to learned helplessness which often accom
panies alcohol and drug-related problems. 4. Safe management of minor psychosomatic problems
like insomnia, headaches, some painful problems, enab
ling avoidance of addictive analgesic drugs. 5. This is more esoteric: the condition of addictive people
is sometimes described as amplified. It is restlessness associated with depletion of energy/prana. The logical solution of these problems is yogic practice enabling
both recharging with energy and relaxation. I was able to include basic information about yoga in preventative publications for teenagers as one of the positive alterratives to alcohol and drugs. A chapter about yoga was also included in my recently published handbook for problem drinkers and in the book for parents about prevention of al
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cohol and drug-related problems in families. We have also used yoga in an in-patient setting both for male and female patients for many years. Female patients especially have accepted yoga very well. It helped them to overcome the stress of early experiences after withdrawal syndrome. We also offered the addresses of yoga classes in Prague to our patients, so that they could continue after discharge from hospital. We have used yoga extensively but can't provide any hard data about its specific effects because it is integrated in a complex therapeutic scheme, including therapeutic community living, group and family therapy, therapeutic group, art therapy and so on.
Medicine, and maybe even more so psychiatry, is a stressful profession. That is why mental health problems including substance abuse are, according to yarious authors, more common among doctors in comparison with the general population. The use of yoga has proven effective in the prevention of professional stress amongst those doctors who are willing to spare the time to learn and practise it.
I will conclude with the use of yoga in rehabilitatio i medicine in the Czech Republic, which has about three hundred professionals as its members. To provide at least some data I asked at the meeting of this body how many members present practised yoga themselves to keep their own fitness. Most members answered positively, only two of them negatively. I am sure that yoga is as important for their own health as for the health of their patients. They benefit from the medicine which they prescribe to others. We certainly should be grateful to those who have preserved and developed the heritage of yoga.
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SUMMARY Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Dr. Sannyasi Swaroopmurti has given us a very wonderful overview of his experience in using yoga in psychiatric conditions. He is a field worker. He is a man who is experiencing the problems of trying to implement yoga not just in the eastern block, which is undergoing so many changes, but into the psychiatric world, the world of mental illness. Over the years, through his dedicated work, he has covered so many fields, compulsion, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, emotional disorders, hyperactive children, alcoholism and drug abuse, insomnia. Most important of all, he tells us that the doctors need yoga more than the patients. Some doctors suffer as much stress as their patients. I think for us, as doctors, the line between being a doctor and a patient is often very blurred. Sometimes I am not sure if I am a doctor or a patient!
We need to see yoga integrated much more into the environment of mental illness, because of its capacity to purify, to make sattwic, our manas, buddhi, ahamkara and the whole of our chittashakti, to purify the underlying force which powers our mental processes. How this can be done in a practical way in different countries, in different conditions, we will find out slowly, especially with the help of people such as Dr. Sannyasi Swaroopmurti.
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PROF. M.P. BHOLE
Prof. M.P. Bhole is the Director of Kaivalyadhama Lonavala, Pune. He has worked very hard to amalgamate the two sciences of yoga and medicine.
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GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN YOGIC
THERAPY Prof. M.P. Bhole
The most recent work carried out and published by Dr. Din Ornish and his colleagues has opened up new vistas of research and application of yoga in therapeutics. These research workers belong to the modern medical profession. I am, however, limiting myself to those yoga therapists or aspirants who are basically non-medical people but who know and understand a good deal of yoga through personal practice and have a sufficient exposure to the philosophical concepts.
The scope and limitations of yogic therapy are therefore as follows: 1. Conditions where yogic therapy cannot be used as the
first line of action: all life threatening medical, surgical emergencies like accidents, burns etc.; psychiatric conditions just now mentioned by Dr. Nespor; acute infections and hypersensitive inflammatory conditions; acute exacerbations of pranic conditions, such as acute attack of asthma, hypertension, or diabetic/blood
sugar, and certain genetic disorders. 2. The conditions where yogic therapy can be given along
with other treatment procedures: many chronic psychoneuro-endocrine-immunological type disorders; distress or tension disorders which are amenable to yogic treatment. The conditions where yogic therapy can be given as the first line of action without any inedication: purely functional disorders or imbalance at the neuro-muscular level, e.g. spinal disorders, constipation, borderline hypertension, diabetes, hyper-acidity, anxiety, migraine,
depression etc. When we find that there are limitations for yoga therapy, similarly we will have to find out indications and contra-indications for different yoga techniques.
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Yogic literature broadly classifies human suffering under two headings:
1. Agantuka vyaadhis, suffering due to extraneous factors. 2. Neeja vyaadhis, suffering because of intrinsic factors.
It has been clearly mentioned that yoga is the best way to tackle the latter under the guidance of a guru. Help of a physician and medicines are required to deal with the former. Because of the psychophysiological nature of many of the yoga techniques, they can be easily employed in the management of psychosomatic diseases and stress disorders. It should be remembered that originally yoga was not developed as a system of therapy in the strict sense of the term as it is understood today. Ayurveda was dealing with this aspect. Ayurveda and yoga have developed hand in hand for years, which only goes to show their complementary, rather than competitive nature. Yoga claims to be the best form of treatment for bhawataapas, that is suffering of the being because of becoming. These have been further classified under three headings, namely:
1. Adhidaivic vyaadhis, sufferings because of one's destiny. 2. Adhibhautic vyaadhis, sufferings because of the disturbances in body constituents, the vayu mahaa bhutas. 3. Adhyaatmik, sufferings because of disturbances in the consciousness itself.
Stress disorders or maladaptation syndromes can be understood as a kind of bhawatapas.
Even though there are many different diseases on record they could be broadly classified as follows, for the purpose of understanding the rationale of yogic therapy:
1. Those predominantly related with hyper-functioning or hypo-functioning of the nervous system which is responsible for neuromuscular and neuro-glandular activities in the body. In yogic language this can be called a suffering caused because of the vitiated prana vayu, the disturbed vital force.
2. Those predominantly related with the emotions, intellect and ego of the individual, which are again based on the functioning of the neuro-endocrinal system. In yogic language this kind of suffering could be looked upon as chitta vikshepa, i.e. disturbed consciousness. 3. Certain types of endocrinal and metabolic disorders. In yogic language this could be looked upon as the suffering of the physical body, i.e. the kaaya avyaadhis.
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It must be noted that disorders due to nutritional, infectional, accidental, organic, structural and ecological factors, as well as life-threatening emergencies and psychiatric factors, are out of reach for yoga techniques.
Some common factors come to light after referring to books on yogic therapy recommended for different conditions. It is intended to refer to these guiding principles involved in yogic therapy instead of giving a disease-wise prescription list of yoga techniques, even though presenting such a list might be more appealing for many of us present here. These principles can be summarized as follows:
1. Diagnosing the case on yogic lines. Here one can think in terms of blocked nadis or pranic channels, restricted working of pranas, apana and other vayus, disturbed c chakras and mahabhutas etc. This is with a view to formulating the yogic diagnosis, which in turn will help us to have a yogic prescription.
2. Individualization of instructions. Therapy is an art which requires individualization and it differs from individual to individual. In many respects it differs from other therapeutic approaches and also from games, sports and pilot programs where instructions are streamlined for execution without the least concern for its practitioners. In yoga, however, the individual has to learn and practise for himself. Thus it really becomes the education-cum-treatment of the individual. 3. Relaxation based on the concept of the panchakoshas. You are already familiar with yoga nidra, therefore, I will not go into this in much detail. But every psychosomatic and functional disorder is an outcome of some stress based on raga, i.e. clinging which leads to cravings and attachment because of pleasant feelings; or dwesha, i.e. aversion leading to hatred and rejection because of painful sensations and feelings. This results in mental tension, excessive stimulation or inhibition of the nervous system affecting tone, motion and equilibrium connected with skeletal and neuromuscular systems. This is accompanied by disturbances in visceral and endocrinal functions, value systems and attitudes of the patient towards his life situation. Therefore, training in physical and mental relaxation is a must for all psychosomatic disorders amenable to yogic therapy.

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In advanced stages of relaxation, patients should be made to bring back to memory various associations related to different parts of the body and to work out the causes of those associations. This should be done cautiously, even by an experienced therapist, knowing the repercussions of activating associated suppressed memories and thoughts, and that too, only after dealing with oneself with some success.
Most of the cultural asanas described in different books can be used to tackle and correct the postural substrata of the individual and thus bring about a change at the psychological level through propioceptive feedback. The ideal conditions are given in yoga: a balanced, straight spine, especially the neck and head, but usually we'll find a person in either traction attitude of extension attitude. Then we can think of a suitable group of asanas to bring about the correction in the total personality so that it can come back to that balanced condition.
If the muscles are hypotonic then it is better to ask the patient to practise asanas after deep inhalation and holding the breath inside during the maintenance of asanas. On the other hand if the muscles are hypertonic then it is advantageous to exhale and hold the breath out during the practice of asanas. As one cannot hold the breath for a long time one could have a number of breaths, with breath holding either after inspiration or expiration as the case may be.
Sequential practices like surya namaskara and pawanmuktasana have been found to be very useful for those patients who have obsessions and fixations. Changing body positions one after the other helps to break the tendency of the mind to remain fixed at one place. This works effectively if the individual can remain aware of what one is doing and what is happening inside the body and the mind during any sequential technique.
If the patient shows a tendency to go inside, then keeping the eyes open during the whole session of yoga practices proves useful. On the other hand, if one feels that the mind of the patient wanders outside the body, then eeping the eyes closed and feeling the touch of air within the nostrils has proved beneficial.
Cleansing processes are important in the treatment of many functional disorders. It should be remembered that these kriyas have a direct influence on the autonomic nervous system, internal organs, attitude and value system of the patient.
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The effect of these techniques could be slow in onset in many cases, but when it starts the results are marvelous.
Nadi shodan pranayama is very useful too in yogic therapy provided one can really work at the level of pranic and upapranic activity in the body. Otherwise most of us remain on the level of learning to manipulate breathing, as a muscular exercise only. Even this has tremendous benefits as the function of the brain, both voluntary and involuntary, is modified.
Dietary moderation and modification in other inputs, i.e. aahaar shuddhi, are useful and essential in most of the conditions.
Through pranayama, kumbhaka and asana one is expected to become aware of some kind of inner experiences while the tensions manifesting at the gross level are contracted and released. At this stage one can become aware of the mental tensions and conflicts etc. This can create a turbulence in the individual because something like confrontation starts taking place, and the individual can become hypersensitive for some period. We can call this the most critical phase in yogic therapy of psychosomatic disorders, where proper guidance from the yoga teacher is very important. Very often people do not reach this state, as they remain on the physical aspects of asana and some breathing manipulation under the name of pranayama. But if an individual could come up to this level and if one has a competent yoga teacher-cum-therapist-cum-guide then the possibility of getting a permanent cure of one's suffering is in the foreground.
Going into a meditative or reflective mood will unfold the cause or causative factors of one's suffering and one may then get inspired to change one's lifestyle, value system and attitude to one's life situation in order to remain contented, healthy, happy, satisfied and to remain in a balanced state. At this stage one realizes the importance of yama and niyama, as advocated for yoga practitioners, in comparison to the similar precepts and practices emphasized for good social and moral behavior in the educational system. It is expected that an individual will be able to realize and understand the impact of raaga, that is craving, and dwesha, aversion, on one's existence, and learn to deal with them properly. Then only will yogic therapy be completed in its real sense.

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DR. R. BODHE
a
Dr. Ravindranath Bodhe is research officer at Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, Pune. He has worked on numerous research projects and has been a spokesman at many yoga conventions. He has also authored several books on the principles and application of yoga.

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THE MIND IN HATHA YOGA
A REVIEW
Dr. R. Bodhe
The topic which I have chosen to present is a research thesis, and a literary study. Yoga, like any science, basically depends on a study of the scriptures. I would like to present to you my conclusion from the scriptures of hatha yoga on the subject of mind. One of the most important texts is Swami Swatmarama's book, Hatha Yoga Pradipika a thorough study of which gave me some opinions about mind.
I have observed during my research at Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, and here, that whenever we discuss the mind in yoga or in hatha yoga, we either end up talking about the views on mind as expressed in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras or we take up the views expressed in Vedanta and relate them with the practice of hatha yoga.
So, I thought, why not look into the literature available on hatha yoga to see if there is any review on "mind". The practitioners of hatha yoga believe that it is a science dealing basically with the body and Patanjali's yoga deals with the mind. So it is not possible to find anything that would be of much use on the subject of mind in hatha yoga or in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
Yet you will be surprised to know that the views expressed in Swatmarama's Hatha Yoga Pradipika, concerning mind are able to provide a foundation for psychology, the modern science of mind. Furthermore, we call yoga an experiential science but it is difficult to prove it from the researcher's point of view. Then, if yoga or hatha yoga is to be presented as an experiential science the views on mind that have been given in Swatmarama's Hatha Yoga Pradipika can show us the way to do it. Secondly, Swatmarama gives hatha yoga an empirical basis, an experiential concept.
So, though it is said that yoga, especially hatha yoga, is a science of the body, we must not start speculating that hatha
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yoga is a science of the body. We should consider yoga to be an empirical science, an experiential science, with the final aim of attaining samadhi through awakening the kundalini. But the practices start right from the ground level. I obtained these views from the study of Swatmarama's opinions.
This subject of mind is dealt with in Swatmarama's Hatha Yoga Pradipika in a very simple, systematic way for hatha yoga practitioners. We shall see this from his views, and that is why I collected all the terms related with mind in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. I divided these terms into different sections on the basis of their usage.
My first study was on the various terms manas, chitta, buddhi, antahkarana. All these terms have been dabbled in by philosophers who have explained the differences between them. But Swatmarama says that for a yoga aspirant or a hatha yoga practitioner, there is no need to differentiate between them because we have to harmonize this mind basically with the total inner consciousness. This is a very practical reason for not differentiating these terms.
Secondly, we all know that, if there is anything negative in a man, the culprit is the mind. This is why it is said that mind is not only man's enemy but also his friend, because it is the mind that is the cause of all attachment and also of enlightenment. If we can organize the mind in a controlled way, then it can become the instrument for enlightenment. Swatmarama also says in this regard, that he has viewed the application of the mind for the practitioner of yoga or hatha yoga in three parts. The first is the role of the mind before taking up yoga or hatha yoga, the second is the role of the mind during the practice of hatha yoga, the third is the experience that results from the practices. This is the reason why hatha yoga is called an experiential science because these experiences arise on the mental plane. In this way Swatmarama has viewed the role of the mind at three levels in a very scientific way.
I will give one example each for these three applications of mind. The first condition that is required in order to take up hatha yoga is desire. The will to reach the pinnacle of hatha yoga or of raja yoga has to be formidable and unyielding. This will or desire is a mental state of psychic strength or energy. If this will is there, then all these things explained later on in hatha yoga such as determination, courage and patience will
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manifest automatically from within. If a practitioner of yoga is not aware of, or is lacking these things then he won't be able to get into the advanced practices.
Not only this, even if one has the requisites and takes up hatha yoga, the results may not be attained. If there is an excessive application of mind during the four stages of asana, kumbhaka, nadanusandhana and samadhi, then the correct result will not be experienced. Also, even in asana, whether it be a meditative posture or a physical posture, if you are not focusing your mind where you are supposed to while accomplishing the posture, the posture will not be considered accomplished. It will not be called an asana, certainly not a hatha yoga asana, so strong is the role of the mind in hatha yoga.
During the course of these practices or as a result of these practices, we go into psychic experiences, such as during the practice of moorcha pranayama, or the fainting pranayama. On the other hand, one does not experience fainting on the psychic level during the practice of bhramari pranayama or the humming bee pranayama. So, Swatmarama is of the opinion that it is the specific hatha yoga force and not the hatha abhyasa or practice of hatha yoga that causes the psychic experience that makes hatha yoga an experiential science.
He has also observed mind in its third form and he explains it very beautifully. What is mind? It is knowledge. If the knowing is renounced, knowledge is lost; since knowledge and mind are one, both are lost. Then mind also ceases to .exist. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika shows the way to renounce the known through nadanusandhana which is not music of the MTV or any audio visual music, but subtle inner sound or nada. For harmonizing the mind through nadanusandhana, different states of mind have been explained. The first state is the vishayasakta mian, mind addicted to sensual pleasures. The second state is nadasakt mind, mind addicted to sound, and the third state is manolaya, dissolution of mind. Hatha yoga is a journey which takes the practitioner from vishayasakt via nadasakt to manolaya. In other words hatha yoga turns the mind that was addicted to pleasure into a mind addicted to sound, or the sound within, before it finally dissolves it.
In this way, through the analysis of mind, Swatmarama provides us with a doctrinal basis for hatha yoga. So we can also say that yoga is nothing but disciplining the mind through
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and through. Finally, the mind and senses, mind and the other intermediaries we come across in hatha yoga like prana, mind and pinda must all come under our control. If we look at the opinions of Swatmarama regarding mind, specially concerning mind and prana, then we can say with a great conviction that Swatmarama gives hatha yoga an empirical base. How?
Mind is controlled by prana and if mind is controlled, then we move to a more subtle matter which is prana, because mind cannot be controlled by mind. In this way the hatha yogic principles have a scientific base, an empirical base. It is said that when mind calms down, then chitta also calms down. This way we get the scientific justification for prana.
Now we will discuss two more things, mind and body. Body is based on bindu and bindu depends on mind. All these verses are there in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. I am merely explaining the meaning. The stability of the body or the steadiness of pinda, which it is called, depends on the steadiness of bindu. Bindu is based on mind, so if we control the mind through pranayama then steadiness is achieved. Body steadiness as well as pinda steadiness and the secret of long life lies in this bindu steadiness.
Finally, the relation between the mind and senses, indriya nigraha as it is called, is nothing but subjugation of mind. So, if we look at the studies of Swatmarama on mind we can see that unless there is a proper understanding of the application of mind whether it be in hatha yoga or in raja yoga, our sadhana won't be successful.
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SELF CONTROL
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Control of mind is the biggest problem that we face today; humanity has to find a way to face mental turmoil. How do we deal with our fear? How do we deal with our anger? How do we deal with our desires when they are not fulfilled and also when they are fulfilled? How do we deal with the worry of what might happen tomorrow or the insecurity when we face having to look after families and friends or when we suffer from illness? Until today this problem has not been fully dealt with.
Medical science has opened the doors to a logical, concrete approach and we, as doctors and scientists, realize our limitations. Therefore, having studied for six or seven or ten or even twenty years as doctors and scientists, we have recognized that we will never find the answer completely in medicine, and that is why we are sitting on the stage here together. We have realized that, for us as human beings, as people with minds that we need to look after, or as people who are in the role of helpers, it is necessary to try somehow to give guidance to our patients or to people who ask us for advice.
The best advice comes from the practice of yoga because yoga provides us with self help. It allows us to help ourselves and it gives us a concrete way of balancing body and mind. If we think that we can deal with the mind alone and ignore the physical body, we are mistaken. If we think the mind is an entity separate from the body, we will never find the answer and this has been the great mistake of modern science, of the materialists who say the mind is an extension of the brain, or is an organ on its own.
We have not as scientists, fully understood the connection of mind and consciousness. We have not understood that consciousness is the root, consciousness is the capacity to know, the capacity to awaken, to directly experience the mind as a function of ourselves, as an integral part of our body. We as scientists have not seen this. We have not been able to
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measure it. But in yoga texts and especially in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the sublime text on hatha yoga by Swatmarama, it is clearly stated that if you want to affect the mind, you must work on the body, you must work on your prana, because when your prana is stabilized, then only can you start to deal with the mind.
That is why, as yoga practitioners, we begin with asana to tone down, to control the major fluctuations of the gross physical structure, because it is this structure that is the most noisy. This is the gross part that we have to deal with first. If you don't get rid of the outside noise, then you can't hear the subtle noise. You can't hear your mind, because you are distracted. You cannot practise mental techniques if you have a toothache, if you have a stomach ache.or if you are hungry.
Only when you have dealt with the physical body can you go into the more subtle realm of pranayama. Pranayama is designed to calm your nervous system, to allow your nerves to find a rhythm. A fast rhythm is necessary if you want to think or if you want to cross the street. But a slow rhythm is necessary when you have reached your destination and you want to relax.
Pranayama allows you to develop a broad range of experience, not always relaxed. Relaxation is only one half. Sometimes you must be tense, you must be alert. But that tension must be in balance with your need, with your relationship with yourself and with your environment. Pranayama allows you to move between a fast rhythm and a slow rhythm and to keep the brain under conscious control, to use the switches in the brain. You can speed your mind up if you want to. You can slow your mind down if you want to. You can slow your breath. Your breath is linked directly to the center of your brain. As you breathe slowly in ujjayi or bhramari, your brain waves become calm.
If you want to increase your force, bhastrika or bandhas increase the energy. First there is relaxation and on top of the relaxation we add this strength, this energy. A relaxed base and a strong mind comes from the practice of pranayama. Pranayama gives you dynamic peace. Only when your physical prana is within your control do you enter into the subtle realms of mudra and dhyana (meditation).
In this way you allow the mind to evolve towards a onepointed state, a state that is free from fear, not in the sense that
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you will never be frightened again, but you will not be frightened of your fear. So that you can become angry when it is appropriate and not become enraged to the point of violence. So that you can use your anger in a productive way. So that you can channel your emotions towards your goal.
You can develop your iccha shakti and your prana, so that whatever you decide to achieve in your life, you can do it. Just as Paramahamsa Satyananada made a sankalpa to build a seven storey yoga headquarters here and he has done that, so we too in our own lives can build whatever we want, if we can channel our energy in a constructive way.
The hatha yoga text provides probably the most widely known, most useful, simple and efficacious way to calm your body and to calm your mind by integrating and cleaning your prana, by making your prana sattwic; then by cleaning the antah karana, the inner organ composed of manas (thought and counter-thought), buddhi (discrimination), ahamkara (egoic process), and chitta (substratum, memory) and by harmonizing these two forces, prana and mind, you awaken this third force called consciousness. You become more conscious of your life, you become conscious of who you are, where you have come from and where you are going.
So today we have had a wonderful survey of the scientific aspect of yoga from three eminent speakers who have graced us with their presence and we thank them heartily.
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DAY THREE
AFTERNOON SESSION Prof. L. I. Bhushan
Head, Dept, of Psychology; Bhagalpur University Ramanand Sagar
Film maker, Bombay Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati
Satyananda Yoga Center, London, England Dr. M. R. Nagendra
Director, Vivekananda Kendra, Bangalore
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PROF. L.I. BHUSHAN
Prof. L. I. Bhushan is Head of the Department of Psychology, and Ex-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Bhagalpur University. He has been instrumental in bringing the ancient knowledge of yoga into the fold of the modern educational system. Due to Prof. Bhushan's efforts, yoga psychology is being taught at Bhagalpur University for the first time in the history of Bihar. It is an achievement for the university to be able to study the system of yoga psychology under his capable direction and guidance.
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PSYCHODYNAMICS IN YOGA
Prof. L.I. Bhushan
This is an age of renaissance for the ancient science of yoga. Yesterday you heard the talk of Swami Poonyanandaji about the discussion on yoga in the Vedas, and over 2000 years ago Maharishi Patanjali made useful the principles of ancient yogic literature in Sanskrit verses in his famous book the Yoga Sutras. Since then, many further studies have been conducted and we notice more progress, the dawn of a yogic renaissance.
There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the effectiveness and applicability of yoga, and secondly, the scientific base that yoga has. As far as effectiveness is concerned, most of the people attending this conference bear testimony to the fact that their presence and participation are on account of the benefits that they have derived or observed from the yogic practices. Today the effectiveness of yoga is well known and well accepted for physical diseases as well as mental problems. Yoga has provided a simple and complete cure for many problems (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, asthma etc.) earlier considered to be incurable or chronic.
Modern medicine accepts that the cause of 90% of diseases is psychosomatic. The cause lies in the mind and the symptoms appear in the body. Most of the diseases are due to mental stress. Yoga teaches us how to live a peaceful life amidst tribulations and many yogic practices enable us to do this.
People with physical diseases, especially those of a chronic nature, and with disturbed mental tranquility, come to yoga for relief. Yoga emphasized centuries ago, science accepts today, that the psychosomatic problems are results of imbalance in the individual. Yogic practices restore lost balance in the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of human personality and thus provide the desired relief from many psychosomatic problems. This is why the suffering people all over the world who deviated from spiritual values are not only accepting yoga as a powerful curative medium, but are moving towards spirituality which is the heritage of India.
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ULPID
Thirdly, how can yoga be used to create a healthy social structure? Yoga has not been properly and widely used for such a purpose. But we can look forward to its application for a desired social change, a revolution which is very much needed today. The whole of society is breaking up and going topsy-turvy, so much so that only disintegration is visible everywhere. I do not speak specifically of Bihar: or of India. This phenomenon is present all over the world. A ripple of violence has been unleashed. What is the solution?
Unbalanced, broken personalities are incapable of checking this disintegration of society. If we desire a peaceful, prosperous and happy society, we need to instigate a transformation in the human personality. We need to develop a proper attitude to life, to obtain some integration, some balance that we have lost. How can this balance be brought about? How can our negative thinking and attitudes be made positive? There are many simple and scientific techniques in yoga which work at a very subtle level. This I can say today on the basis of my own experience and applications
The greatest benefit of yoga is that when its techniques are practised one cannot even figure out how the personality and attitudes are being affected. Changes are brought into effect through the autonomic nervous system through the secretions of endocrine glands, through changes in blood chemistry and brainwaves and many other changes that take place within the body whether we will them or not. As we start the practices, changes start taking place, our thought patterns change, attitudes change and a positive outlook develops. This is the gift of yoga. The transformations within our personality through the sequential reformation manifest in improved interpersonal. behavior and social order.
Thus, when we change our thoughts, subsequent changes can be noticed in society. There can be no better way to transform society. If we wish to transform society we shall need to transform ourselves first. If we bring the desired change in our personality we shall be able to change society. We will be able to create the goodness that we desire all around us. If we enter into lengthy debate on the positive and negative things within our society nothing can happen, no concrete results can be achieved. An unbalanced personality can do nothing constructive for or within society. If we wish to bring about a transformation, we shall have to start from ourselves.
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Psychology which is taught and studied in universities today is not as comprehensive as the yoga psychology. Psychoanalysis which is an important part of it was unfortunately born in the clinics of Vienna for the purpose of treating mental patients, for making them normal and balanced. This is why all the techniques invented, all the postulates framed, all the concepts involved, are good only for bringing a diseased, subnormal personality up to normal level. But they could not conceive that a person can transform his personality from a normal to an above normál state. This has been well explained in Indian psychology and yogic techniques have been prescribed.
The pioneers of psychoanalysis postulated and explained two aspects of mind: (i) the topographical aspect, and (ii) the dynamic aspect. In the topographical aspect they propounded that mind is comprised of three parts or levels, i.e. conscious, subconscious and unconscious. Only one tenth of our mind is conscious, through which we acquire knowledge and perform all conscious activities. The remaining vast area of our mind is unconscious and the contents are not known to us. In between the two is a thin layer of subconscious mind, the contents of which are not readily known, but one can be aware of them or recall them with some effort.
What Freud described about the nature of the unconscious and the topology of mind towards the end of the nineteenth century was well conceived in yogic literature over two thousand years ago. Not only this, yoga asserts that by yogic practices the small area of consciousness can be expanded, and ultimately the mind can be evolved into what they call the superconscious mind. With expansion of consciousness, barriers between the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious mind are broken. Ultimately the whole mind becomes the conscious mind and that mind is called the superconscious mind. In that state of mind, the experiences become extrasensorial, i.e., they do not depend upon the sense organs and the sensory processes.
A person with a superconscious mind does not need the help of eyes to see, ears to hear and so on. For common people knowledge depends upon cognitions acquired through the sense organs. But when we attain intuitive knowledge, when we start looking beyond the sensory organs, then the sense

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organs are not required anymore, and this happens through attaining the superconscious state of mind. Thus, the topographical aspect of mind as described in yoga is more comprehensive than that explained in psychoanalysis.
Today, when Dr. Tompkins was talking about kundalini yoga, he explained how genius could be made or produced. This is a challenging assertion. Until now psychology holds that a genius is a genius by birth. But the experiments being conducted by applying the techniques of kundalini yoga have given encouraging results and we are hopeful that they will, in the near future, refute the genetic theory of genius. Similarly, in the dynamic aspect of mind, psychologists talk about the id, ego and superego.
Psychoanalysis says that when the id is strong, desires dominate and a person becomes impulsive and even criminal or socially of a pathological character. Similarly, when the superego becomes very strong, the person becomes highly repressive, nervous and neurotic. He lacks self-confidence and idealizes his weaknesses through projective mechanisms. This is why the optimum strength of ego is said to be a must. But yoga aims at attaining egolessness of mind. How can we achieve this?
Psychoanalysis overlooked one aspect. It did not elaborate what happens when the ego becomes very strong. In that condition the person becomes egoistic and the ego expresses itself in many perverse ways. This results in a clash within the personality and develops a perverted thinking and personality. For example, a person may develop an ambition to dominate over others, seek obedience from them and even display coercive power. Such a person will be unacceptable to society because he hurts society through his actions.
In yoga, the dominant ego is called ahamkaar which has been considered as the greatest enemy of man. So, we must reduce its strength and yoga provides techniques to do so and achieve the state of egolessness. This does not imply a lack of self-confidence. On the other hand, the state of egolessness increases self-confidence, ends arrogance and creates a strong will.
What would be the most comprehensive and broad theory which can explain mental health and personality transformation? I would like to mention one such model the attachment

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detachment (aasakti-anaasakti) model of mental health. Every person carries feelings of attachment for things and persons. There is individual difference in respect of the magnitude or degree of attachment. Attachment and detachment are the two extreme points on the same continuum. Someone may be very high in attachment and someone else may have a greater feeling of detachment. The first type of person will be high in ego involvement, possessiveness, anxiety and fear. They are likely to suffer psychophysical imbalances. So if we wish to reduce stress, neuroticism and aggression and get rid of psychophysical ailments, we must reduce the degree of attachment (asakti) and this we can achieve through the practice of yoga. Kriya yoga practices help to reduce attachment and promote a feeling of detachment resulting in mental peace, tranquility, equipoise, compassion, and ultimately egolessness.
Another equivalent term for asakti is moha which means narrowing the area of consciousness. Involvement in one's own self and near relations is moha or asakti and this is the root cause of our many botherations and worries. Yoga psychology provides a method to widen the area of love and consciousness and to enjoy a life of happiness. When our consciousness expands, when our sense of belonging encompasses a wider area, we stop thinking in terms of our own personal possessions and relationships and we gradually develop a universal perspective. We stop thinking in terms of 'give and take' and start enjoying the process of giving to others without carrying an expectation of return.
Finally, I would like to conclude with a small narrative. Recently, on 27 September 1993, I had the good luck and privilege of meeting His Holiness Paramahamsa Satyananda, at Rikhia, where I received counsel from him. He said, "My family astrologer had made a few predictions which were absolutely true. One of the things he had said was that I would be · the destroyer of the family line. This came out true, since I didn't marry. But I met my great guru, and with his inspiration and grace the family (of disciples) that came about has become so big!"
This is a living example of what detachment is. We tie ourselves within narrow limits. We love our own child, and hate, other children. If this hate is transformed, then it is true love. All other love is purely business-like, to satisfy some selfish
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end. "If I do this for 'X' I will get such and such return," this is the spirit of business, this is not love. True love lies in serving people without caring for and expecting a return. This love manifests from a real feeling of detachment.
Paramahamsa Satyananda's renunciation is in itself an example of detachment. With the spirit of detachment, he transcended all obstacles and broke all bonds that could have tied him down. He left his family, and when he was asked, "When will you return?" he said, "Never again." He did not return. He stayed for twelve years with his guru in his ashram at Rishikesh. Then he left to spread scientific yoga around the world. His colleagues in the ashram asked, "When will you return?" He gave the same reply, “Never again," and he did not return. During his travels, people asked him to remain, but he continued on his journey of propagating yoga. He established the Bihar School of Yoga in Munger, and left it after 25 years just the same way he had come, with only two dhotis. People asked him “When will you come back?" and he said "Never again." So breaking narrow barriers, and embracing the infinite dimensions is true love. I bow to that great guru, I bow respectfully to that supreme swami.
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PROCESS OF ATTAINMENT
Parmahamsa Niranjanananda
It seems that people are afraid of many things in life because of their psychological make up. What people crave in life can be defined in one word, 'security', whether it be physical, intellectual, emotional, social or any other kind. But security is linked with happiness, security is linked with the feeling of pleasure, security is linked with the desire for attainment. This forms the main thrust and the main form of our psychological nature. In the expression of our psychological nature our pattern of behavior changes dramatically, depending on the circumstances and events. Sometimes we express the feeling of detachment, sometimes we express inhibitions, fears, euphoria, frustration, anxiety, and all these become part of our psychological nature.
Modern psychology tries to understand such expressions in life. In fact, we can even say that it aims at understanding the rationale behind the feelings of security and insecurity in an individual. This feeling of security and insecurity arises from the depths of our consciousness. When we are unable to understand what is coming from the depth of our consciousness due to prakriti, due to the nature of our personality, then we say, "Oh, it is coming from the unconscious nature, the unconscious mind, the achetan man," and what we are able to comprehend through our intellect is generally described as emanating from the chetan man, from the conscious mind.
It is this area of research in psychology which needs a clear direction today and that can be provided by yoga. This is because yoga attempts to go one step further by saying that what we experience in the form of securities and insecurities, attachment and detachment and dislikes, inhibit the expression of the faculties inherent in our personality. Therefore, the thrust of human endeavor is towards the discovery of new horizons and dimensions within the human personality.
We are afraid of losing many things. We are afraid to leave behind many things. We get paranoid if we have to leave
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something to which we are attached. Yoga views the process of leaving, the process of becoming detached, in the form of an attainment. It says that when you are climbing a ladder, then you are concentrating on the effort of attaining the next step, because if you miss that step there is a tendency to lose your balance and fall.
So, the entire awareness, the entire concentration is directed to the process of attainment, and the process of leaving happens naturally, unconsciously. You do not have to think about it consciously. When climbing the staircase we focus on the next step we are going to take and forget about the step we had taken before. It is the paranoia of an individual which makes him aware of leaving that which is already behind. Yoga emphasizes the process of attainment because it is through attainment that you can naturally and spontaneously overcome many of the insecurities which restrict your vision. This is the aim of yogic psychology.
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RAMANAND SAGAR
Ramanand Sagar is the modern seer of ancient India. He has taken upon himself the stupendous task of making each and every individual of this country aware of the spiritual herituge of India, through the modern mediuin of film.
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AN INSTRUMENT OF THE DIVINE
Ramanand Sagar
This historical city of Munger has given birth to a huge movement. I believe that the fragrance emanating from here is enveloping the country and the entire international environment and will continue to do so. When Paramahamsa Niranjanananda asked me to come here he was very insistent. The Commissioner of this city also sent a message. Then the whole night I was wondering where I would fit in a place where such great yogis, great adepts and great intellectuals would be speaking. What is my ability? Then I thought that Mother Bhagavati and Gurudev have given me an opportunity to come here, and the scriptures say that merely by being in the presence of adepts, one's life becomes a success, one's birth becomes a success.
Professor Bhushan was talking of yoga and concluded by speaking of love. Then I understood. I said to myself, “This is true." I do not know yoga but I do know love. I understood that love is the supreme yoga. And the rest are techniques. I feel yoga is such a science that it is not a topic for comprehension. Sentiment is a result of comprehension. When a person comprehends, there is no scope for tests and trials. Yoga is like arithmetic. Two plus two can only equal four, not three or three and three quarters. So when experts of yoga talk of love, I get the feeling that in fact the culmination of yoga is in bhakti because the final stage of love is bhakti and bhakti is the supreme yoga. I feel every path, every yoga converges there like all the rivers converge at the sea. In the same way all knowledge, science and scriptures ultimately converge at the feet of the Lord. I get this feeling also since I have been treading the path of karma yoga. (I have concluded the Ramayana and presently my services are being utilized for the Bhagawat Maluran for the life story of Lord Sri Krishna.) I get an intuitive feeling that ultimately, all our philosophies and all knowledge converges here, where you reach bhakti. Nothing lies beyond bhakti, beyond bhakti is only the supreme per
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sonality of God, and when you reach the final extreme of bhakti you are rendered unto him, you merge with him.
I have been asked from where I received the inspiration to make the series Ramayana and Sri Krishna. I was pondering that I had never really had any inspiration as such, I only got instructions to work. I am saying this today, but had I been asked the same question a few years ago, I would have narrated long tales – that I was inspired in such and such a manner, I read so many books, I conducted so much research, I met such and such a person - but I cannot say the same today. Now, I am in a situation similar to a mute eating sugar candy. If he eats a candy, he cannot explain the taste, neither can he deny that he has eaten it.
In my half century of producing commercial films - many were very successful, some flopped - I won, I lost, fans exalted me, bestowed stardom upon me. I was made famous, I had a large following of fans. Now, when I look back upon those days, I have the impression that there is some kind of Planning Commission up there, like a boss who sees an office boy and is overwhelmed with compassion. Tulsiji says, and so do many saints, that God also turns merciful without cause. He does not bestow his grace after going through your resumes or qualifications, but it just happens that he becomes ceaselessly merciful. So if he becomes merciful, do not consider yourself an exceptional person because the boss is kind and overcome with compassion! It is as though the boss says to the office boy, "You go and learn to type," and gives him some money for the tuition fees. When the office boy has learned to type he is promoted to a typist and after some time, having worked as a typist, the boss again feels like promoting him to the position of manager, and later still, the same office boy is nominated for the position of the director of the company. This is as a result of the boss's causeless mercy. I have a feeling that my fifty years in film making were the result of a planning body in the heavens who decided to narrate the thoughts of great saints and wise predecessors of modern man in the language of the present day.
This is what has always happened. The truth is one, the eternal truth, as it was on the day of creation. But different workers are sent as messengers in different periods of time who explain the same thing in the prevalent language, and it seems as if a young lotus has blossomed. Just as Tulsidasji
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narrated the Ramayana in Avadhi, his language, so the language today is that of film. To express Ramayana through the medium of film, a man was trained for fifty years. (I consider my fifty years of producing films as my training periods.) When the opportunity arose - well, I cannot deliver discourses because I have neither the knowledge nor am I an adept who can tell you the techniques. I am an insignificant person walking on the pavement. Whatever I met with on the way, I shall narrate as one does to his fellow companions. I will tell you what I am doing; how useful it is, is for you to decide.
Once a professor from Allahabad came and gathered a few of my friends and started giving lectures on the Ramayana every Sunday. In the beginning, I attended more out of fashion, but then I started getting the taste for it, and for twenty years I listened to his lectures every Sunday. The Ramayana would be finished in six months, and he would start again. This went on and on. What I think was happening was that the messengers of the Lord above were drenching me in this, immersing me completely because my field of work is an art which requires a lot of charisma, and unless one is himself overflowing with and relishing the sentiments, how can he communicate them to others? So, I was being immersed in the Ramayana again and again.
One day I was struck with an idea: Ramayana is such a nice tale, why not make it a movie? But I felt that if I tried to express the story within three hours, it would be something like what Valmiki said:
Ram janmam, Sita kalyanam, van gamanam Sita haranam, sindhu setu bandhanam Lankaadahnam
Ravana marnam iti Ramayanam “Rama was born, Sita is blessed, they go into exile, Sita is abducted, the bridge is fixed, Lanka is destroyed, Ravana is killed, so ends Ramayana."
So, this is basically what Ramayana is. When our great ancestors wrote down these epics, they had a purpose. This purpose was to impart the knowledge, the science, to make people aware of their spiritual heritage. The Vedas were diluted a bit and the Shastras were created, which were again explained as Srutis or Smritis. Then came the Puranas, so that common people read them and through them understand the real truth.
When Ramayana was being played on television, I remember that a lot of pressure was exerted on me by Doordarshan
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(the Indian television network). I was told, It seems that you are stretching too much, delaying a lot." Questions arose in parliament. "When is Sita going to be married?" "When shall the bow be broken?" I remember that there was one particular member of parliament who was very humorous. He said, "I have told Sagar Saheb that if the bow doesn't break by next week I shall break it." So, when the matter was brought before me and I was told to move things faster, I said, "I am a film producer. I know how to present the films, how to write the scripts, how to attract the audience. But I am not making a film now. Had I wanted to make a film I would have done so years ago. I wouldn't have tried to produce this one hundred episode classic. Through this I am trying to convey what the great saints have said. I am merely a postman."
They asked me to cut out a few sections. I said, "Look, I do not know what can be removed from this, which part of it can go and what must remain. I am like an honest postman simply trying to deliver honestly. An honest postman does not tear letters up, he delivers all of them." And this is how things rolled
on.
I am narrating my experiences, so I shall tell two descriptive long tales. In the beginning, as Swamiji said, my work was greatly publicized. I had many fans in my half century in film production, but now the expression varied, the behavior was different. The fans were different altogether, touching my feet and all, and I was disturbed that a simple person of my caliber should receive such adoration.
Everyday as I sat for my prayers and worship, I begged the Divine Mother and Gurudev to tell me what situation they had put me in. I was doing things on their guidance, but I begged not to be judged or in trouble, because the ego was growing fast.
Once in Canada I went to a prosperous household. All the Indian citizens came over, and we had a long discussion in their temple. One of the prominent citizens took me to his house, and there the people started prostrating on the floor. I bore all of it silently. Then I was taken to a room on the top floor. I saw that the mother of the person in whose house I was staying had come up with her daughter-in-law. She was crying, and said, "O Lord, she is not able to beget a son. Please give her a benediction. Please bless her." I trembled all over be

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cause I knew that I was not fit for that. I am not a yogi, nor an adept, nor do I have psychic abilities. This sentiment had become so deeply ingrained in her head, and I was deeply touched..
That day and in the evening and the following days, I kept praying to the Almighty. "There is nothing that I can do, O Lord, but a lady has come to me with such great faith. I have told her that I don't know anything, that I am a commoner but she doesn't accept it." I kept praying, there was nothing else that I could do. But I was very much disturbed about the incident and I began to think, what am I doing? I had the feeling that I should be doing this thing and I should be doing that thing.
One day as I was on my terrace where I have my meals and do my regular worship, prayers and meditation, my servant came up, and said, “There is a sadhu at the door." I asked him for what purpose and the answer came, ''It's just a young boy sadhu, nothing special." I asked my wife to go down as I do not go down before my regular worship. (These sadhus keep coming and saying that they are going to Benares or Rameshwaram, and some want a donation of a blanket or some such thing and we have devised a policy as to who is who and who is to be given what.) So, I sent her, but suddenly I had a peculiar feeling that I should go myself. I said, “Wait, I am
going."
When I came down I saw an innocent looking, gerudonned being in the hall below. I said, "Oh welcome, please take a seat." He said, “I haven't come to sit." I said, "What would you like to have? Some milk? Fruit?" He replied, "I won't accept anything either”. I said, "Please command. May I know where you have come from?" He answered, “My guru sent me." I said, "From where have you been sent by Gurudev?" He said, "From the Himalaya." asked, "What are the instructions for me?" He replied, "My guru says, What are you?" Such a straight forward question, and he talked in such an implicating way that I was flabbergasted and surprised. He asked me, "What are you? Who do you consider yourself to be? What are these head trips that you are having? 'I am doing this. I must show this. Let me do some research there. What was being implied in that Ramayana which was produced in Afghanistan. What shall be the implication here? What should
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be investigated?' From where are you getting all these ideas?" He asked me why I was so disturbed and what sort of work did I expect to be able to do whilst in such a state of mind. I specifically remember that he said, "Look in this world."
I do not know what his realization was, but the young sadhu told me that it has been decided by the powers and divine energies that the time for spiritual renaissance in this world has come, and that India was to play a leading role. He informed me that some people have been given specific responsibilities, specific duties to perform and had been posted at a gate to guard the gate. He said, "So you guard the gate and forget the rest, do not consider yourself to be the door!" And saying so, he left without looking back. I was left standing like
a statue.
After that day, I realized something. I started having experiences, and I was now very relaxed. Previously I had been having sleepless nights spent worrying, "Such and such a word does not go with that shot. What will the response of the people be? How shall Shankaracharya react if I project this in this manner? What will the response of the rickshaw puller be? How should I take care of this?" I used to feel very responsible and do all the work. Believe me, since that incident the feeling of responsibility has gone. I am calm, relaxed and not having sleepless nights.
My assistant would rush up in the early hours saying that a scene has yet to be written or prepared and asking what we were going to do the next day. I would say, "Look, it is not ready and I am exhausted. We shall look into this tomorrow." He would say, "But sir, the shooting is to take place tomorrow." I would reply, 'It shall be taken care of." I was full of conviction and faith. This has continued till today. Divine Mother Bhagavati is taking care that the scene is written. Who writes it, no one knows. I have realized that I am merely a pen; everything written shall be written with the pen but nothing shall be written by the pen. Some hand has to hold the pen and write! So the pen is moving around, stuffed with pride, "I have written and I am the doer"
How can I tell you from where the inspiration germinated. I am not even capable of doing that. Once in New York a youngster from the audience asked, "Do you believe in miracles?" I replied, "Yes," He said, "Have you seen any miracles?" I replied, "Yes" He became anxious, and asked,
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“What was that?" I answered, “A common film producer, like me, could do this work that has shaken the whole world. Is it not a miracle?" So, this is the miracle, that this work is not the handwork of a common person. The celestial entities are working behind the scenes and getting the work accomplished. Nowadays, I am in ecstasy when I sit for meditation, like an instrument with no personal ambitions. What is the point? Hoyeehen soyi jo Ram, rachi raakha?
I like the smile of the postman. In our villages the postman brings a money order of ten rupees which a son has sent from his earnings for his mother. Money has been sent by the son, the mother has a right to the money, but she calls in the postman, gives him a nice seat and serves him delicious jaggery tea and sweets, and says, “It's so nice of you to have brought me my son's money," although the postman has not really contributed anything in any way.
I have realized one thing: become an instrument. This is the greatest yoga. I have an intense desire to learn yoga. I feel like attaining some psychic powers and only for accomplishing some good deed for the benefit of others. Whenever I go before an adept, I open my bag and ask for something. I feel that I do not know how much longer I am going to live on this earth. I am already seventy five years old. I have no idea how many more years I have.
A lot of work is to be done as a service to Divine Mother Bhagavati. I am working on the life of Lord Sri Krishna, and sometimes she creates a resolution within me that the third thing I will work upon should be of the Divine Mother. I do not know if I have the time to accomplish it or if it shall be accomplished by someone else. This passes down from generation to generation.
A resolution comes to my mind that, since I have been talking of bhakti, I must talk of shakti too, the aspects of Durga. This mysticism is greatly misunderstood and very much misquoted. There are a lot of things that people cannot really understand. These yantras have been copied wrongly and even misused. So, I get an intuitive feeling, a resolution that the Divine Mother wants me to allay such misconceptions. I do not know how, only that the great yogis and adepts can guide me on the right path. If I have time, first I would like to finish the work on the life of Lord Krishna which is going to take a lot of time.
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It is my present feeling and realization that the greatest yoga is bhakti yoga, and bhakti is the zenith of love. Bhakti is the name for Radha, the climax of love, the glory of love. As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to say, “Radha is the height of love, the greatest example of love". That is why it is said of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that he had the body of Krishna and the heart of Radha. Within him was Radha, because he wanted to bear the pangs and see how Radha was anxious for him and was agonized by the separation. This is the greatest yoga.
Consider yourself to be an instrument of the divine celestial energies of the Almighty. Bę without any personal ambitions and desires, just keep doing what is asked. I request all of you to pray for me that I may continue with this duty which I have been given by the Almighty. Let no thought cross my mind of which the Almighty may say, "He has gone crazy, get rid of him.” So, all of you are requested to pray for me, and all the adept yogis and devotees are also requested to give me the benediction that I be allowed to continue to serve.
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
There is a saying by our guru, Paramahamsa Satyanandaji, that material life and spiritual life are the two wings of the same bird, without which the bird cannot fly up in the heavens. We experience conflict when we differentiate between material life and spiritual life because then it becomes hard to reach a balance in our thoughts and in our actions. How to reach this balance has been taught in the ancient traditions which have now become the heritage of India. We pray and we wish from the depths of our hearts that the divine spirit infuses you and inspires you to bring about a balance in the material and spiritual life of society, so that once again our life can become an aadarshmaya jeevan, an ideal life. We begin to tread the path of dharma under the luminosity of the light of dharma, and this prayer is for Sri Ramanandaji Sagar.
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SWAMI PRAGYAMURTI SARASWATI
Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati, the director of Satyananda Yoga Center, London, has been in contact with Paramahamsa Satyananda since 1969 and has been inspired by him to become a medium through which the eternal message of yoga flows throughout England. Her contribution to the field of yoga has been in its practical application to the management of various problems and disorders, particularly teaching yoga to people suffering from AIDS, and to prisoners in England.
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YOGA AND AIDS-RELATED DISEASES
Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati
AIDS is not a trickling stream. It is spreading like fire all over the world. Although I have absolutely no medical training and even less medical knowledge, I would like to share with you my experience of the last three years working with people who are HIV positive and/or living with the various manifestations of AIDS.
It is an honor and a privilege to work with this particular group of people, and I can assure you that I am learning quite as much as I am teaching. When young men, who could be my sons, can look me in the eyes and tell me that they are glad that they have AIDS because without it they would not have started to look within, they would not have started to look at the deeper aspects of life, I can only feel humble and privileged to be with them and to be close to them.
About three years ago I was asked by a support group in London for people living with AIDS to start a yoga class. As I said, I have no medical knowledge, I rely entirely on the inner guidance of my beloved guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda. So, the class started and I have taught them nothing other than I teach everybody else, starting with our wonderful techniques of pawanmuktasana, shaktibandha and yoga nidra. The students in the classes vary from being HIV positive and healthy, to people in the later stages of AIDS-related diseases. I would say that nearly 90% of my students are homosexual males. There are some women and one or two drug addicts, but the latter do not usually complete the course.
All of these three groups of people are in some way marginalized and alienated from the main society. So the first thing we have to think about is bringing about a balance. Of course, this happens through the various yoga practices. Through pawanmuktasana the body is made stronger and more supple. But fairly quickly I have moved onto some of the major asanas, particularly those which work directly on the thymus gland, which plays an important role in the immune system. So, we
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have been spending a particular amount of time on asanas such as matsyasana, halasana, sarvangasana and kandharasana. We are also working on a number of other postures which stimulate the adrenals and, therefore, have a secondary, knock-on effect on the thymus. These include such practices as paschimottanasana, ushtrasana and many others.
In addition to the practices of asana, pranayama is also very important. Of all the students with whom I have worked in the last 23 years or so, these HIV positive people seem to have more intuitive understanding of the importance of the breath. So, from the very beginning, we have been integrating breath awareness into our various practices. Learning the various stages of breathing has brought relief to the students in terms of helping them to sleep better, and to generally deal with the tensions associated with AIDS.
I have learnt that oxygenation is an important factor for HIV positive bodies. Therefore, we have spent a lot of time on dynamic breathing - abdominal breathing, complete breathing, bhastrika and kapalbhati. I am encouraging the students to build up these powerful pranayamas according to their capacities, and it is proving to be most effective for them.
We are also practising the hatha yoga cleansing practices, specifically kunjal and both the short and the long forms of shankaprakshalana. Many of the students have completed these practices and are coming back session after session in order to de-toxify the body. So this has been most encouraging.
The practices oa meditation, starting with yoga nidra, are absolutely crucial in helping to bring about balance, calmnes peace of mind and clarity of thought. In yoga nidra we are using the sankalpa, the positive resolution, and certain visualizations which are constructive and encouraging to the students. We are practising the wonderful meditation which Swami Janakananda spoke about yesterday, antar mouna, the value of which can never be over-estimated. We are also using the practices of ajapa japa, particularly concentration in the rontal psychic passage between manipura and vishuddhi chakras. I have also introduced the practice of trataka to help to improve concentration and bring about a balance between the activities of the two hemispheres of the brain. Concentration helps to develop willpower which is something that you definitely need if you are HIV pösitive and you wish to con
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tinue to lead a normal, healthy life for three score years and ten at least. We have also been practising kirtan and quite a lot of chanting of the mantra Aum.
All of these techniques help to bring about balance and harmony. It must be said that many of the people who are HIV positive, particularly in the west, have not hitherto been leading very balanced and harmonious lives, so this has been one focus of our attention. I have also introduced rather sooner than I would with many classes, the idea and understanding of the chakras, so that people can learn to understand how and why they have got themselves into this state, and how they may begin to improve the situation. It gives them a chance, through the symbolism of the chakras, to understand themselves better, to learn to accept themselves and to love themselves. So; discussion of and meditation on the chakra system have proved to be of great value.
In addition to these classical practices taught to me by Paramahamsaji, we are also having very interesting results with the use of amaroli (urine therapy). Before I introdu practice of amaroli to the students, I had a meeting with Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls, who has written a book on the subject. I was a little bit concerned because in all the amaroli books they say that you must not be taking any drugs, you must have a pure vegetarian diet and so forth. In addition to not necessarily being vegetarian, I know that many of my students are taking very strong drugs, AZT, DD1 and massive quantities of antibiotics, none of which, incidentally, have yet cured one single case of AIDS. So, I went to see Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls and I explained the problem. He said, “Let them take the first urine of the day. This is enough in order to avoid recycling of the drugs."
So, I would just like to tell you briefly the extraordinary and very encouraging results we are having from amaroli. Applied externally, it is helping to completely clear a number of skin afflictions from which HÌV positive people suffer, such as candida, thrush, molloscums, and even Kaposi's Sarcomoi. In addition, many of the students ate now taking amaroli internally on their own, starting with one session in the morning. Gradually, some of them build up until they are recycling their entire day's supply. Results are very encouraging. Their energy levels are improving and their T-cell counts are going up.
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One of my students who has been HIV positive for nine years and who has been practising yoga, meditation and amaroli since October last year, is now testing negative! But, of course, this kind of information is only being circulated amongst us, because nobody is going to make any money from somebody who practises pawanmuktasana, yoga nidra, and drinks his own urine.
So, any of you who are HIV positive or who work with this group of people – take courage, open your heart and trust. Perhaps we can start to work some miracles in this area also.
Having said that, I must tell you that several of these dear people have in fact died in the last year. I have been lucky enough to be with them throughout this process and they have assured me that yoga and meditation helped them in their last hours to face death with calmness, clarity and awareness. I have spent time with dying people, chanting the mantra Aum together, and they have been allowing themselves to leave this body calmly, quietly and consciously.
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DISCIPLINED LIFESTYLE Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
It is certainly true that in the modern lifestyle, man has not been able to bring about control in his mind, intellect, emotions, food, beliefs, etc., and when stress is created in the different stages of life, disorder results. Then, within the body, diseases arise. If, through any method, we could stay controlled, if we could keep our body and our mind in a balanced state, then diseases would not have any place in our life.
The philosophy of yoga is very simple. If we face any problem within our physical self due to our disorders, if a disease is born within us because of our erratic schedules of the day, then the solution lies within us too. For this no external support is required. What are the solutions? Make yourself self-controlled again. Bring a balance into our daily schedules and the result will be that the disease will leave by itself; disease will not have any place in your life. The modern medicinal practices show that medicine can suppress the symptoms of diseases but it cannot bring about a disciplined life.

A
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HOLISTIC APPROACH TO THE PROBLEMS OF MODERN LIFE
Dr. H.R. Nagendra
Unless we have a total approach, we cannot solve the problems of modern life which are multi-dimensional. The linear physical model which we have been using will not do. We must deal with man as a totality: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and, at the base of a 'l, spiritual. Yoga provides the approach to deal with man in his totality. You have heard the brilliant lecture of Swami Pragyamurti in which she has described the use of this total approach of practices on the physical, emotional, mental and intellectual levels. That is what we have been doing for the last 14 years in dealing with a large number of modern problems, particularly medical problems.
Among the highlights of the decade of research in the Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Research Foundation, stress has become the real challenge to modern man, which again is multidimensional, and yoga has been the answer. The Maandukyn Upanishad Karikaa gives the essence of all sadhana, yoga practices, in this beautiful verse:
Laye sambodhayat chittam vikshiptam shamayet punalın, sakashayum vijaniyat sama praptani na chanlayet. (MK-44.)
When the mind gets into a state of laziness, lethargy or sleep, we have to stimulate it, address it and bring it into a state of wakefulness. Once we do that, the whole mind becomes disturbed and has to be calmed down. We must recognize the deeper, inner stagnations and stresses. Once we remove these we find bliss and remain in that state. This is the essence of the sloka.
In this way we started tackling problems of stress and, with a course called 'Self-Management of Executive Tension', we have been handling the corporate sector. When a person goes ir:to deep sleep for six hours, his basal metabolic rate is reduced by about 9%. If the program of total relaxation, which consists of some asanas, breathing practices, sound vibrations,
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and all that we call asmit is used, the basal metabolic rate can be reduced by 24% to 27% in just 30-45 minutes. So, three times more rest in just 45 minutes! That is the method which releases stress at a deep level and the problem of stress is tackled very effectively.
Then there is a series of modern ailments which have stress as their basis. I call them stress-induced disorders, stress aggravated, stress-triggered or stress-maintained. These are cardiovascular ailments like arteriosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, and hypertension, and the main auto immune disorders like diabetes, thyrotoxicosis and rheumatoid diseases. Other disorders include many of the psychiatric problems such as anxiety neurosis, phobias, obsessions, hypochondria, drug addiction, migraine, epilepsy and tension headache, just to mention a few. What is the approach to these problems? Most of these are stress-induced, and stress is multi-dimensional. It is not only manifest at the physical level where it causes all these modern ailments, but the root cause for stress could be mental restlessness, emotional urges and psychological conflicts. Unless we remove the root cause of these we will not able to give a total solution to the problem. Therefore, we must handle the problems of man holistically. Once we do that with the integrated approach of yoga we find very fulfilling and satisfying results
One of the most important factors in yoga research is the follow-up. People get immediate relief after one to two weeks but what happens to them in the long term? A German doctor worked with us for six months and he measured the galvanic skin resistance, the pulse rate and the VMA levels, in a group of patients, which showed very clear, significant improvements. The improvement in the GSR which began after two to four weeks of practice continued on. The pulse rate is reduced, showing deep relaxation. The VMA levels show that the stress hormones in the urine had started decreasing considerably with two to four weeks of practice. Psychological questionnaires such as the General Health questionnaire and the Max Hamilton rating were administered to measure anxiety levels and neuroticism. Again, significant improvements in all these factors were indicated.
The German doctor submitted his dissertation back in Germany for which he not only got a degree, but also a special
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award. The paper has been published in the Cambridge University proceedings. All these patients have now been completely normalized, after three to six months of practice. We have just completed an eight year follow-up of these anxiety neurotics. Since then hundreds of such people have come to us and have been almost rehabilitated, in the sense that they take no medicine and they have no symptoms of anxiety neurosis.
We have carried out extensive research into respiratory ailments. So far, we have treated nearly 50,000 asthmatics, people suffering from nasal allergy, emphysema, bronchitis, etc. In modern medical science the basic hyper non-specific reactivity of the bronchus is the root cause of bronchial asthma. It is this over-sensitivity which we have to handle with the total approach of yoga.
The first paper that we published was a 54 month followup, a control study, 'Yoga for Bronchial Asthma', in the British. Medical Journal in 1985. Here we showed that medication was reduced considerably, an 80% reduction in the 'yoga group', compared to a 20% increase in medication in the 'non-yoga group'. In a randomized control matched group study, two groups were studied. The first group was given yoga, the second group continued with its normal medication. We found that the yoga group reduced their medication and improved their status, which further is shown by the peak flow rates which improved by 25%, showing that the person has started becoming normalized. Now hundreds and thousands of people who have come to us have been completely normalized in their own place after the regular practice of yoga.
A detailed paper on asthma was published in The Journal of Asthma, United States, in which the data of 565 asthmatics was given in detail. So far eight papers have been published in various forms. Today we can claim after thirteen years of follow-up on 600 asthmatic patients that yes, yoga can cure bronchial asthma, because in the very same place the persons go without any symptoms for ten years. Only after ten years follow-up can we say, yes, a person can be cured. Until then we cannot say that yoga can cure, or that any other medicine can cure. That is the strict definition in the medical world.
We cannot say that yoga can cure heart attacks or hypertension, but the research has been really overwhelming and very significant. We know that ischemia is due to insufficient blood supply to heart muscles and, therefore, the heart starts

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crying with anginal pain. Deep yogic relaxation techniques can bring about great rehabilitation. We have had scores of people with angina and post-myocardial infarction cases who have been beautifully rehabilitated. Medication has been reduced by 70% in just a few weeks of yoga practice, while the systolic and
tolic pressures also have been reduced considerably. In hypertension as well, we see similar results. We had not only mild hypertensives, but also moderate and very severe hypertensives, with long histories of hypertension. There has been a very drastic improvement. After a month or two they start reducing their medication, which is reflected here in the four weeks practice of yoga, with about three percent reduction in the drug score. But gradually after six to eight months of practice, they have been able to improve greatly. So today it is well known that yoga can be very effective with such problems as arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular ailments.
For a long time people believed that diabetes was essentially an organic disorder. However, today it is well known that the stress hormones that are produced in a demanding situation, like glucagon, adrenalin, cortisone, thyroxine, the growth hormones, will all increase the sugar metabolism, and insulin becomes a lone fighter to reduce the sugar metabolism. As we go on stressing ourselves more and more and continue in the state of stress, then naturally there is going to be a sugar increase and you are declared a diabetic. Once a diabetic, ever a diabetic has been the belief of many people, but with yoga the short term results have shown there is a decrease in medication of nearly 20% in just four weeks and later on when they continue, there has been nearly an 85% reduction in medication. Today of all these diabetics, nearly 80% of them who came to us have been completely normalized. They take no medicines today, they practice yoga and, not only that, they even take normal food. They go to the festivals, they take even sweets, but the next day they know how to reduce their sugar level by the use of practices such as sarvangasana, matsyasana, vaman dhauti, shankaprakshalana and deep relaxation.
Next we have a detailed study of the mechanisms carried out in the Royal Free Hospital with Dr. Bandona. The pilot study was in 1988. He measured. the glycosylated hemoglobin which has improved considerably in just two weeks of yoga practice. Later on, being very surprised at such research, he
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came forward and in 1989 we carried out a matched control study for one year. The results have been published in the British Journal of Complementary Medicine.
Problems such as short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism, squint, initial stages of cataract and even glaucoma can be handled very effectively by deep relaxation techniques after trataka. Trataka and palming work wonders with people suffering from eye problems. Our experience with thousands and thousands of people who had minus two, minus four, minus six, shows that even people with high myopia of minus nine and eighteen have been able to reduce the strength of their glasses within two weeks, four weeks and eight weeks. In Bangalore we have a maths teacher with minus eighteen who has been able to reduce to minus eight. She challenged her opthalmic surgeon: "Look here, I am going to make my eyes completely normal and shatter all of your theories!" And that's what we see here. In just two to four weeks the astigmatism has been reduced by 30% and 44.4% in the right and the left eyes.
You may wonder as to how yoga can be used to help mentally retarded children, especially when they cannot learn yoga. We do it in three phases. Firstly, the teacher literally lifts the children into an inverted posture to increase the blood circulation and to bring about awareness in the head region. Gradually, in the second phase the child stays there. In the third phase, the children do it by themselves. A mongoloid girl came to us at the age of ten with a mental age of four years. Within one year she had learnt the technique of doing halasana and other asanas. At the end of one year her mental age increased to eight. At the annual celebration of her school she gave a beautiful demonstration. We found she was very interested in music and also dance, so we channeled her energies and at the annual celebration she danced to music in front of 400 people. Everybody was surprised to hear that this girl is mentally retarded.
We carried out control studies for one complete year. We measured the IQ levels using the Binet-Simon test and the yoga group scored a lot higher than the control group. So, the IQ levels in the yoga groups and the attention span of the children increased, as measured by the Wiener Social Maturity test. The social maturity also improved in all the children. Today, the

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seriously mentally retarded children have become moderate and the moderate children have become mild and the mild children will start becoming normal. From our school, already eight children have gone back to normal schools. We run regular non-residential schools in Bangalore.
The latest area we have taken up is very akin to what Swami Pragyamurti was speaking of, cancer, the most dreaded disease. It is here that we started examining some terminal cancer patients seven years ago. Most of these patients were declared as having three to six months to live. We started with relaxation, with shavasana and yoga nidra, with meditation and breathing practices, and they began to improve. After seven years, all of them are living and working eight hours a day. After looking at this research, our Director of the Kidwai Institute of Oncology, gave us a group of one hundred people on whom to test the efficacy of yoga. We began pilot studies, and found improvement in the wellbeing of the patients. All the patients gave very positive feedback to the Director. Then we started our control studies on breast cancer. Recently we have started studies on cancer of the cervix.
What exactly do we do here? Firstly, we have tried to improve the immune defence. This happens by relaxation. It is well known that when a person is stressed out, then immune suppression takes place. Once we start releasing the stress the immune strength starts increasing. Secondly, to increase the immune strength we use pranic energy and mental energy. We have developed very subtle techniques which we call Pranic Energization Techniques, Mind and Memory Technique, Mind Sound Resonance Technique, Mastering The Emotions Technique, a series of eight techniques to deal with these cancer patients. Once they start learning, their immune defence starts increasing which starts gobbling up the cancer cells, and the tumors start reducing.
We had a person with throat cancer who could not eat anything. He had been suffering for three years and the doctor said he could not help, even with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Then he started with us. He had a tremendous faith in the Bhagavad Gita and the atman. He said, "I am not the body, I am the atman". He began relaxing and amazingly, within ten days his tumor started reducing. On the fourteenth day, when Dr. Krishna Bhagava, the Director of the Institute of
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Oncology in Kidwai, Bangalore, came, he found that the tumor had started regressing, and the man was able to eat. He is continuing his improvement. Although we cannot claim today that yoga can cure cancer, probably after another three or four years of detailed follow-up we will be able to reach this conclusion. At this present stage we can say that it can improve the effectiveness of the drugs, reduce the secondary effects of the drugs, bring about a feeling of wellbeing, and develop confidence in the patients.
The latest innovation in yoga in cancer research is the wonderful discovery or innovation of Dr. Chauhan from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER). He has been using Kirlian photography, which he calls bio-electrography, to catch the pranic field. The pranamaya kosha can be photographed and through analysis of this we will be able to know whether the disease has already started in the pranamaya kosha long before it starts manifesting in the body. Dr. Chauhan used that Kirlian machine to complete his PhD thesis and today he has developed it into a beautiful computerized model, which is being further tested for final standardization. You just place your hand on the correct part of that machine, and within ten minutes you will know whether you have cancer or not, or whether you are going to get cancer or not in the next nine months. That is the beautiful innovation of Dr. Chauhan. The machine is going for a safety test to London, then it will be on the market. That is an innovation in the field of yoga to demonstrate that yoga can bring about a change in the various dimensions.
So, we can see that yoga is not only preventive, not only corrective but that it also can deal with acute cases. For example, we have developed a special technique, called yoga chair breathing for use in bronchial attacks through which the breathing starts to reduce, the wheezing starts to reduce and the person is able to overcome the attack. One of our papers on this subject has been published recently in Israel and Dr. Vedanta's work in Fort Collins in the United States, and at our various research centers in the United States and in U.K. have shown very encouraging results. As Dr. Bhole has mentioned, yoga is a not a therapeutic system, yoga is the science of total living, as most of us know today. Therefore, to make yoga a socially relevant science we have resorted to scientific research with long-term follow-up.

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Furthermore, yoga can be applied to make a person a better man, a better human being, to develop an all-round personality. That is what we have been trying to achieve in using yoga education in schools. Over the last twenty years in our work with students, particularly in the residential schools with the Andhra Pradesh hill tribes, we have found that yoga techniques have worked wonders. Such people have become beautiful blossoming flowers of this country. What do we do there? We address the total personality development and fourfold consciousness, physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual, as well as civic sense, patriotism, and service (seva).
Paramahamsaji has said of this total approach, "Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man." Now the schools have started carrying out their own research. The government, the central government and the state government, have started requesting us to train teachers. The Delhi corporation has trained nearly forty teachers, Madhya Pradesh, seventy teachers, Goa, eight hundred teachers and in Karnataka last year we trained nine hundred teachers. We have developed a syllabus to develop personality, eyesight improvement, voice culture, hearing development, memory development, IQ development, creativity development and emotional culture. The most vital thing is to develop emotions. Ultimately it is bhakti that the person should develop into the state that Ramanand Sagar was mentioning. Similarly, for the corporate world we have the stress management program and for those people who want to go deeper into spirituality we have a program of advanced spiritual retreat.
Currently, we are trying to devise ways to measure prana and kundalini shakti properly as discussed this morning by Dr. Tompkins. If we can do that, then it is going to be one of the greatest achievements for yoga. This is how yoga is being used for the total development of human beings; validation through long term scientific research, using all the equipment and instruments available today in the modern world. You are most welcome to come to Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Research Foundation, twenty miles from Bangalore. We have a nice campus called Prashanti Katerum with a physiology laboratory, neurophysiology laboratory, biochemical laboratory, psychology laboratory and a bioelectrography labor
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atory and it is here that we are conducting our research. We have a team of doctors and experts who have been trying to examine with open minds, not with blind faith, whether yoga really works and, if it works, how it works, and then examine whether it has a long term or short term effect.

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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
In his address yesterday, Dr. H.R. Nagendra enlightened us on the upanishadic view of the science of creation, and today he has expressed his broad outlook on all aspects of yogic science.
It seems that most ailments arise due to the malfunctioning of the immune system. What is the cause of infections such as the common cold? The protective immune system loses strength and the body thus loses its ability to fight off the viruses, resulting in infections like the common cold. When resistance falls further it results in fever or gastro intestinal upsets. A further decline leads to more chronic, complex disorders, and when this downhill trend continues and becomes extreme, it results in dreaded diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
AIDS, that terrifying word which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the condition of being HIV positive, is a disease of the immune system. The acquired state of deficiency of the immune system that results in this illness is present in other diseases too. Therefore, we may conclude that all diseases, from the common cold to being HIV positive are different grades of AIDS. Some viruses are more virulent than others, but the weakness of the immune system is always the cause of the disease manifesting. So I think you will agree that all ailments can be called AIDS.
Tension within the mind is one of the causes of disorder within the physical body. But tension is a symptom of something else, of a different state that we commonly call 'stress'. When we are under stress, tension is born. All the diseases and the results that have been proven after the practice of yoga, point to one fact. If we can manage the stress caused in our lives, we shall acquire health. If we cannot manage this stress we shall face diseases ranging from the common cold to being HIV positive. For fighting stress, the one solution is yoga.
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EVENING SESSION
Swami Vidyananda Giri
DAY THREE
Srimati Krishna Devi

Acharya Mahamandaleshwar, Kailash ashram, Rishikesh
Bhagalpur
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SWAMI VIDYANANDA GIRI
Sri Sri 1008, Brahmanistha, Brahmakshotriya, Mahamandaleshwar, Acharya Pravar, Sri Swami Vidyananda Giriji Maharaj is the Reverend Acharya of Brahmavidyapeetha, Kailash Peethadhishwara.' The peetha (school), of which he is acharya, guru, saint and ascetic, has had a deep relation with us right from the time of our paramguru Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. This peetha is the vidyapeetha, school of learning for us. He is the vidyaguru, teacher of our tradition. The presence of Swami Vidyananda Giriji Maharaj among us has filled our hearts with the belief that, the purpose for which this World Yoga Convention in commemoration of Paramahamsa Satyananda's Tyag Golden Jubilee is convened, will be achieved and fulfilled.
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PATH OF THE WORLD CONQUEROR
Swami Vidyananda Giri Cheer with love: Satchidaananda bhagvaan kee - jai Sanatan dharma kee - jai Jagadguru Adi Shankaraachaarya kee – jai Shivoham shivoham satchidaanandoham Poornoham poornoham prem swaroopoham Poornoham poornoham prem swaroopoham Dhanyoham dhanyoham prem swaroopoham Dhanyoham dhanyoham prem swaroopoham Shivoham shivoham satchidaanandoham Dharma kee- jai ho Adharma kaa - nash ho Praniyo mena sadbhaavana ho Vishva kaa kalyaan ho Bharat maata kee- jai Go maata kee - jai, Gangaa maata kee - jai Geeta maata kee - jai, Bhaarat ke rishion kee - jai Bhaarat ke santon kee – jai Bhaarat ke bhakton kee - jai Ram janmabhoomi kee - jai Krishna janma bhoomi kee - jai Kashivishwanath kee - jai
Hara hara mahadev Om poornamadah poornaniidam poornaat poornamudachyate poornasya poornanandnaya poornamevaavashishyate. Om shaantih, shaantih, shaantih.
(Ishavasya shanti mantra) Shankaram shankaraachaaryam keshavam baadaraayanam, sutra bhaashya kritau vande bhagavantau punah punah. Ishwaro gururaatmeti moorti bheda vibhangine vyonivat vyaapta dehaaya shri daakshinaa moortaye namah. Oni shaanti, shaanti, shaanti.
(Shantipath)
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In the spiritual tradition of India, Bihar has been the birthplace and penance place of avatars, rishis, yogis, siddhas and ascetics. The historical town of Munger, where Mugdal Rishi once lived, is shining on the map of the world today. Munger district had its extension both in north and south Bihar. On one side the Tirhuta people of Mithila claimed to be the inhabitants of Munger district and on the other, the people of the southern bank of the Ganges took pride in being the citizens of Munger district. Now Paramahamsa Satyanandaji Maharaj, who is an incarnation of renunciation, has reserved a shining place on the map of the world.
The message of yoga has penetrated the whole world, and sadhaks from all over the world have come to attend the World Yoga Convention. Not only has yoga been popularized throughout the world, but at the same time, Munger has been made famous and the credit for this goes to Paramahamsa Satyananda. He is praised and worshipped, not just by Indians, but by the people of the whole world. I offer my prayer at his feet.
According to both scripture and science, yoga is able to meet the total requirements of mankind. Everybody wants to enjoy good health, to be free from all strain, stress and tension and to have a feeling of pleasure within. This is not the desire of a particular person, but the desire of mankind in general. Science is doing something in this direction, but today, even science has to take shelter in yoga for this purpose. This thesis is supported by our scriptures, for example:
Te dhyaan yogan gataanupashyan devaatma shaktim swagataan nigoodham.
The rishis have visualized the secret powers of the gods and have seen God. We find many references to this in the Upanishads. Thus, I am full of praise for yoga which is supported by the vedic Upanishads, and for science which fulfills the aspirations of mankind. This World Yoga Convention makes me believe that yoga will attract people and people will accept it. Children, youth, the aged, and people from all walks of life will accept yoga as a means of freeing themselves from worldly worries, after the inspiration of this convention. It is my firm conviction that Pararnahamsa Niranjanananda is ready and able to further this task.
It is a matter of great pleasure that this young sannyasin is efficiently furthering the mission of his satguru and transmit
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ting the message of yoga to the world. I had a vision which came to mind and this vision has come true. In this vision, the god Indra is scared of the revolution which will be the outcome of this conference. Indra fears that the sadhaks attending this conference may acquire such attainments and siddhis that they will throw him from the throne. This is why he tried to obstruct the convention by sending a downpour of rain. However, our sadhaks and workers from all over the world showed exemplary courage, dedication and determination to continue on, which is most praiseworthy.
Yesterday I was ready to come on to this dais, but the condition of the dais was such that Paramahamsa Niranjanananda sent me a message that it was better not to bless the occasion on that day, but to rest after the long journey. There was heavy rain pouring down on the audience, on the speakers and on the musical instruments alike, but both speakers and audience remained firm. Today, I feel great pleasure in being here. I hope and I am confident that, after this convention, yoga will find a proper place in everybody's life.
After all, what do you want? If this question is put before mankind, the answer will be: a healthy body, a tension-free mind, and a heart full of bliss, a continuous flow of the spring of peace. When the citizens of affluent countries get fed up
consumerism, they come to the Indian yogis, philosophers, scholars and siddha ascetics with the hope that they know the way to peace. That way is vedic karma, vedic upasana, vedic knowledge, and nothing else.
We can definitely say that the Bihar School of Yoga is unparallelled among all the ashrams and places for sadhana in this country. Not only is meditation practised by sadhaks here, but the special feature of this ashram is karma yoga. Students are given training and teaching for the service of the nation and of humanity. The readiness with which the sadhaks, sannyasins and bhaktas of this ashram rise to meet the need of the occasion is exemplary in itself, and is worthy of imitation. The government of India spends crores and crores of rupees on relief work, but the service which is rendered by the sadhaks and sannyasins of this school of yoga exceeds all the government efforts.
The reason lies in the fact that all the ashramites are ascetics, 'trained to sacrifice, to achieve selflessness and desire
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lessness and to rise above the feelings of praise and condemnation. Here every sadhak is trained thoroughly and regards the simple act of general cleanliness with the same seriousness as the complex work of ashram management. Such training is not seen in other places.
I really want to speak on yoga in the light of vedic karma, but when I behold these sadháks, I cannot help appreciating their worth. I am compelled to utter these words of appreciation. This is relevant in the context of truth, and it is an all time truth. Paramahamsa Satyananda has taken revolutionary strides in the field of yoga, and the efficiency with which Paramahamsa Niranjanananda is furthering this mission is an example which should be followed by others. Though many thinkers, yogis and preachers undertake foreign tours, they seem at times to deviate from their purpose. This is the only mission whose sole purpose is the propagation and extension of vedic Sanatan Dharma.
Often people feel they need peace. What kind of peace? You should examine your inner heart. Will it serve your purpose if you are peaceful from morning till evening and then loaded with stress and tension throughout the evening and night? The answer will be 'no'. You want peace during the day and at night also. You want peace for all time, regular peace, permanent and eternal peace. We all want peace, unlimited by time and place. Do we want peace within our houses and trouble outside the gate? No. We want peace everywhere, all the time and with everyone. If you are in harmony with your son and at war with your daughter-in-law, that is not the peace that you are longing for. You want complete peace. That is to say, you want peace which is unlimited by time, place, people or situations. This peace is not possible through the fulfillment of physical desires. This peace is possible only after darshan, the vision of God.
America is a rich and resourceful country where there is no limitation of consumption for the fulfillment of physical desires. In India we have to observe restrictions and abide by limitations in certain matters but there is no restriction like that in America. When the people there become restless even after fulfilling all their physical desires without restriction, they come to the shelter of yoga. Our scriptures say that the person who is in search of peace, which is unlimited by time, place of person, has to go to the shelter of paramatma, God.
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Ekovasi sarva bhootandevaatma ekam roopa bahudha yah karot. Tanaatmastham yenapashyanti dheerah teshaam shaantih shaashwati netareshaam.
Only such persons can get peace, not others. God is One, whether He is known by this name or that, whether He is worshipped in this form or that. Whether He is visualized through this philosophy or that, matters little. There is no need to fight over these points. Have the firm belief that He is present in the entire human race. Right from an ant up to Brahma, He is present in every creature.
The inner soul is one and that is sat (truth), chit (consciousness), and aananda (bliss). The sun, moon and their creator, the entire universe is under Him. This is why He is called vasi, which means independent or self-governed. The entire world, the entire universe is under Him, but He is under none. He is self-born and He alone has expressed Himself in various forms.
Ekam sad viprah bahudaa badanti.
The truth is one, the learned people have expressed it in many ways. The one God has been expressed and epicted in many forms, therefore, He is the inner soul of all beings.
Ekam roopam bahudhaa yah karot! He who visualizes God as such gets permanent peace, not others.
Teshaam shaanti shaashwati netareshaam. This is not my viewpoint but the proclamation of the Veda.
Not only we, but also those who disagree with this philosophy of the Veda, accept the Veda as the oldest scripture. Western philosophers conjecture that the Veda was written 4000 years before Christ or 5000 years before Christ or 6000 years before Christ. This guess is not correct, however, we thank them for accepting the truth that the Veda is the oldest among the scriptures.
The Veda is not man-made. In the beginning of creation, God filled the inner souls of the ascetics with the inspiration of vedic knowledge, and then the ascetics started speaking spontaneously in the Sanskrit language. That is the Veda. The same Veda has descended to us. This is not new. This is the same Veda as it was in the beginning of creation. Just as a tape goes on reproducing the voice of the speaker whose lecture has been recorded, so the rishis reproduced the voice of God in the
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Veda. God or Paramatma has produced the Veda through the mouths of rishis and ascetics and no change has been made in it, not in any tract, in any couplet, sentence, in any word or in its punctuation. This is my firm conviction, that the Veda has descended from God and has been reproduced in this kalpa without missing even a comma or a full stop.
The Veda has three parts: (i) karma, (ii) upaasanaa, (iii) jnaana, knowledge. The chapter on knowledge is called the Upan- ishads. The spirit of sannyaasa (the fourth ashrama or stage of life) is the vedantic Upanishad, and the way to the vedantic knowledge is yoga.
Dharma te virati yogate gyana, gyana te mokshprad ved bakhaana.
We prescribe vedic karma, upasana and knowledge. Here, in this ashram, after the practice of yoga in the early morning, the sadhak must do karma yoga. I have seen with my own eyes these sannyasins from foreign countries cleaning roads with brooms, picking up cowdung, chopping wood. They have no desire except to serve the guru. Their only desire is to obey the command of the guru which is like a vedic mantra.
Kurvanneveh karmaani jijeevishachhatam samaa,
Evam twayi nanyathe tosti na karmo lipyate nare.
So long as you are aware of the ego, the human body will go on doing karma. Those karmas will stick to your inner soul in the shape of good or bad samskaras which will spring into vaasanaa (desire).
Your works thus become the maker of your nature, you get the results according to your deeds. Thus you are the maker of your fortune. Do not blame others. Even God has no option. He too has to reward or punish men according to their deeds. We cannot say that God acts according to His wishes. There is no random distribution of pleasure or pain, of heaven or hell. The criteria of this distribution are the actions of the human being himself. As the action is, so is the fruit or result. You want to be free from the restraints of bad actions.
This is our fortune, that God has given us a beautiful body armed with sense organs, prana, mind, intellect, heart and other divine mechanisms. We should make good use of these tools as Tulsi Das suggests to us in his prayer. He says, "Oh God! You have put me greatly in your debt by giving me a good human body which is the storehouse of means. You have given me a mind to think with, eyes to see with, hands to work

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with, a nose to smell fragrances, and many boons like that. Hundreds of mouths cannot describe our obligation to God. Eyes, ears, nose, throat, hands, feet, and other organs are highly useful for us. If even one is lost, how can we compensate for it? Oh benevolent God, I still beg something more."
If you want to learn the art of begging, for what should be begged for, you can learn it from Tulsi Das. Do not ask for worldly pleasure, because it is not permanent. Tulsi Das has explained the art of begging with a fine example. You might have witnessed a fisherman luring a freely moving fish to come into his clutches from unfathomable waters. How does he accomplish this? A string is tied to a small piece of bamboo at the end of which a hook is attached. Covering this hook is some delicious food for the fish. As soon as the fish starts eating the bait, it gets hooked and the fisherman simply draws it very easily into his hand.
The worldly pleasures which we enjoy with the help of the sensory organs are like unfathomable water and our mind is like a fish roaming in the deep oceans of desire. The fish jumps restlessly when it is drawn out of the water and it is the same when we pull ourselves out of the depths of desire. We cannot live even for a moment without worldly desire.
Here, in this school of yoga, you are taught self control. You have to practise silence from six pm until six am, you have to contemplate yourself and the teachings of your guru. The worldly desires are spread far and wide like a vast ocean. "Oh God! Your lotus feet are just like the hook which is tied to the string, and singular devotion to you is like the bait. Please pull me out from the ocean of desire and bring me to your shelter. You are the fisherman and I am attracted towards your lotus feet to eat the bait of absolute devotion. For you, it will be just fun, but for us it will be salvation." Tulsi Das thus prays to God for relief from mental restlessness and anxiety.
You should pray to God like Tulsi Das. You should have just the one aim of pulling your mind away from worldly desire and concentrating it on God, who is sitting in the inner soul of everybody. Yoga teaches the method for this.
When asked what is yoga, Maharishi Patanjali replied, "It is the restraint of mental modifications."
litta vritti nirodhah
(Yogasutras 1:2)
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However, the restraint of chitta vritti is not simple. The Yoga Vashistha, the Gita and the Upanishads explain that the restraint of chitta vritti is a very difficult task. If you have conquered your mind, your chitta vritti, you are the conqueror of the world. The conqueror of one country or two or more than that can be known as the conqueror of those nations, but not as a world conqueror. When asked, Shankaracharya proclaimed that he who conquers his mind conquers the world.
Bhagawan Sri Ram conquered all the evil forces of this country, but he left one task to be done by his subjects, that is, the task of conquering the mind. Conquer the mind, was the only slogan of Ram Rajya. Sri Ram proclaimed that he had conquered all the evil forces, all the enemies of the state, and then he advised his subjects to conquer the mind. One of the disciples of Shankaracharya asked, "Who has conquered the world?" "He who has conquered the mind," answered Shankaracharya.
This World Yoga Conference gives you the message of conquering the world. The day you conquer the mind, you will conquer the world. Shankaracharya conferred the title of world conqueror on his sadhaks 1200 years ago. The art and training of conquering the world is imparted here. Maharishi Vashistha says, "Oh Ram! Where does the world, which looks dreadful, exist? Control your mind. Make it void of all vibrations, spandan shoonya, then that world will cease to exist."
Do you see the world in deep slumber? Do you feel attraction to friends and repulsion towards enemies in sleep? No, during sleep the mind becomes vibrationless. But this does not happen due to our effort, it is natural and automatic. This vibrationless state of mind that we experience in sleep can be preserved by sadhaks through practising yoga. Remember one thing: the mind is clouded by ignorance during sleep. Ignorance acts as a hindrance during the inner soul's introspection. Yoga means restraint of mind, forgetting the world yet maintaining the self awareness which is not possible during sleep. This is the restraint of the chitta vritti: Chitta vritti nirodhah.
Continuing within the context of restraint of mind, Maharishi Patanjali suggests that if a sadhak attains the same vibrationless state of mind as is there during sleep, but with self awareness, then he is able to restrain his chitta vritti. The
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sadhak asks, "Can we see God after our success in restraint of chitta vritti?" Patanjali says, "No, you will be able to see yourself, not paramatma, God." We should be thankful for the sincerity of Patanjali, for he accepted the fact that by practising yoga we can see atma (soul), not paramatma (God).
He accepts the separate existence of paramatma (God) from atma (soul), and denies the possibility of visualizing God through yogic practices. Yogic practice leads us to the visualization of the sadhak's inner self, atma.
The Shruti proclaim that there is no end of pain and anxieties without knowledge of God. Earth, water, fire and air are elements in the sphere of philosophy. Akasha (ether) is also an element. That which is created has to perish. Akasha was born out of atma and from akasha, air was born. From air, fire was born, and from fire, water, and from water, earth. You can make a ball of wet soil and use it as a pillow, but you cannot fold the air. This is impossible. Then the end of suffering is not possible without realization of God, without visualizing God. This is the proclamation of the Shruti, the Veda and the Upanishads. We can conquer death only by knowing God. There is no other way. Realization and visualization of yourself is not enough to end suffering.
An appealing depiction of this message is found in Ramcharitamanas by Tulsi Das. He lists the impossibilities, like growing hair on the back of a tortoise, a barren woman bearing a warrior son, flowers of various kinds blooming in the sky. He says all these may become possible, but still man may not have a chance of attaining bliss without absolute devotion to God. There may be a chance of darkness drowning the sun and ice emitting fire, but man cannot get bliss without devotion to God. You may get ghee by churning water, you may get oil out of sand, but you cannot be free from worldly pains without visualizing God, without praying to God, without devotion to God. Goswami Tulsi Das has preached the message of the Upanishads in very simple and lucid language, using many examples.
So, if you are anxious to enjoy perpetual peace and end all the worries, tensions, pains and troubles, then you have to follow this path. The path is the practice of restraint, chitta vritti nirodhah. For chitta vritti nirodhah, you have to follow the teachings and lessons from your guru, Abide by those lessons
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and practices. Accept them with all your mind and heart. I have already told you that your mission is not small. Do not go after petty achievements. You have to conquer the mind. To be crowned with the title of 'World Conqueror', you must follow this path of restraint. You will then be able to see your inner soul, but there is no other way to see God than the one described above. You may not accept it today, but you will realize this, if you go ahead on the path of yoga and achieve restraint of the chitta vritti.
There is a description of three kinds of knowledge in the 18th chapter of the Gita: sattvic knowledge, rajasic knowledge and tamasic knowledge. Almighty God, who is truth, consciousness and bliss, is present in all beings right from an ant up to Brahma. The knowledge which leads you to God is sattvic knowledge. Your penance and sadhana is for that knowledge. Only that knowledge can put an end to all sufferings.
From the platform of the World Yoga Convention, I summon not only the sadhaks and this audience, but the whole world. If you want peace, if you wish to conquer the world, if you want to be free from desire and suffering, practise restraint of mind. This is the cure for all diseases and this has been preached by Shankaracharya and practised by Paramahamsa Satyananda. You can be free from the bondage of birth and death by coming close to God. The literature published here shows you the path. Start practising yoga and you will obtain the result. Your face will be glowing with bliss. The face is the mirror of inner actions and reactions. Any kind of pain and strain makes the face dull and faded, and any kind of satisfaction and pleasure makes the face bright. If your face brightens after eating 200 grams of food, then no doubt your face will be blooming and beaming with eternal pleasure after practising yoga, after achieving self-realization and God-realization.
The sadhaks should keep smiling all the time. Swami Vivekananda once advised one of his disciples to keep himself locked in his room if he was irritated and sad. He said he had no right to spread this infectious disease of sadness and irritation and make others mournful, sorry and tense. Always keep smiling, even on the death bed.
See how much glory, grandeur and wealth Paramahamsa Satyananda has earned. But leaving all aside in a moment, he
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has taken to the shelter of the burial ground, where he is feeling immense pleasure. Imagine his bliss. This is the culmination of renunciation. This ideal is worthy of imitation. He has no lust for the riches of Ganga Darshan. He has no lust for name and fame, reputation or glory, or else he would not have refrained from coming here and listening to the praise of his glory. Once again I say this is the culmination of renunciation.
His mission is to fill the heart of humanity with bliss. You are fortunate and praiseworthy. You are glorified with the status of being the servants and sadhaks of this mission. This is the grace and benevolence of the guru, that you have surrendered your whole life for this purpose. With all praise for him, I extend my good wishes to you. May you further this mission with sincere faith and belief, and place an example before the world. Let humanity know that if one wishes to conquer the world, one will have to first conquer the mind, and to conquer the mind one has to follow the path of self restraint, service, upasana, penance and knowledge. This is the way to peace, none other. This is what the guru has taught. This is the preaching of the Upanishads. May you achieve eternal peace by following this path. These are my good wishes.

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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
Being inspired by your auspicious words of blessing, the servants of yoga, representing twenty states of India and thirty two nations of the globe, will spread like the Monkey Army of Rama in all directions after the convention and move along the path shown by you. It is my firm belief that if such a convention is organized here again, and you happen to bless the occasion, we will bathe under the showers of your benedictions and blessings. This is my solemn promise: to wave and fly high the flag of Sanatan philosophy in the world.
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DISCOURSE ON RAMCHARITAMANAS
Srimati Krishna Devi
Just now, as we were listening to the enlightening speech of Sri Vidyananda Giriji, I was reminded of a story from the Bhagwat. Princess Rukmini wrote a letter to Bhagwan Shyama Sunder, saying that his splendid picture had been engraved in her heart. After having read the letter, Shyama Sunder was mystified. She had never seen him, so how could she give him a place in her heart? In the next sloka, Rukmini offers the solution: "Of course I have not seen you with my eyes, and you have not entered my heart through my eyes. You entered my heart through my ears. I heard a lot about you from the saints, so you came into my heart in the form of words."
Thus, stories are the medium to take you to God. If you meet a saint, you will feel that you have met God, because when God blesses you with His Grace, you are given a chance to meet a saint
Aba mohi bhav bharosa Hanumantaa,
Binu hari kripaa milahi nahi santaa. "O Hanuman, now I am confident that I have God's blessing, · because without the grace of God one cannot meet a saint."
Yesterday we were talking about the blessings which my most venerable brother, Paramahamsa Niranjanji received from Paramahamsaji. The blessing carried a message. Swamiji has called the Tyag Jayanti the moment of samarpan, dedication, renunciation. This samarpan should be the only goal in the life of a man. Have you ever wondered why we are so restless? Why we are so thirsty? Why our souls and hearts are wandering? Where will all this lead us to? Have you ever thought:
Hum foola chunne aye the baage-hayata men,
Daamana ko khaar-jaar men uljhaa ke raha gaye. "'I had come to pick up flowers in Paradise, but was caught in the thorns,"
O my dears, think it over. You came here with a purpose but you are engaged in something else. So without leaving
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everything behind, without dedication, without renunciation, you can't attain anything. Yesterday I entreated you to remember that twenty five percent or fifty percent dedication will not do. You have to renounce and dedicate one hundred percent.
Paramahamsa Satyananda used to tell us that when someone asked him, "If you say that paramatma, cosmic spirit, is present in every one's heart, then what is the difference between a saint and a rogue? If God dwells in everyone's heart, then surely all are equal? "He replied," No. There is a slight difference. Lord Krishna dances in the hearts of those who love God and are completely dedicated to Him, wearing his yellow ochre raiment and with anklets on His feet. And in the hearts of those who are not dedicated, the Lord sleeps covered under a black blanket, in the darkness, and cannot be found there." So, we have to drive away the darkness first. Kabir says,
Isa nagari men timir samanaa. Darkness has permeated through the city. Bheda bharama andhiyaaraa. The darkness is discrimination and illusions. Khoja karo antra ujiyaraa. Try to search for the inner light.
It is very dark. We have to eliminate the darkness. Only then can we have tranquility and will our thirst be quenched. Yesterday, I mentioned a couplet of Goswami Tulsidas which says that everything can be clarified and settled, but you will have to do one thing:
Bigari janama aneka ki. The loss of many lives Abahin sudhare jaat. You rectify it today, right now. Hohin Rama ko kaam, kari Tulsi taji ku samaaja.
For this, Tulsidas suggests to renounce the worldly life and do the duties towards Rama.
Past lives have been spoiled but can be rectified if our dedication is complete, if we totally surrender to Sri Rama. How can this be done? Sri Hanumanji was an ascetic. He gives a very beautiful aphorism in the Ramcharitamanas. It has been mentioned in the Sunderkand. Let us see a line from the Manas.
Sri Hanuman asks Ravana whether he wants happiness in his life now and forever. Ravana answers, "Yes, I wish for my
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royal throne to continue forever and for my happiness to be never ending."
Hanumanji says, “I suggest one thing to you, and if you can do that you will be happy forever." ''What will I have to do?" asks Ravana.
Ramacharan pankaja ura dhareu. Keep the lotus feet of Sri Rama in your heart. Lankaa raaja achala tuma karaeu.
Your kingdom of Lanka will remain forever. If you place Sri Rama's feet in your heart, that is, if you become the devotee of Sri Rama, you will never lose your happiness, because it is not people to whom you are attached that hurt you, it is your mind which hurts you. If you attach yourself to a thing which is sure to be left behind, you will certainly be hurt. If you attach yourself to something which is full of bliss and only bliss, how will you have any sorrow ever? Now, is God not full of bliss?
Vaishnavacharyas have compared God with the toys made only of sugar, that are sold on the eve of Deepawali. The Lord is just like that. The toys of sugar have hands, feet, nose, ears, eyes, face, everything of sugar; all is sweet. Likewise, the Lord is made only of bliss.
I feel myself privileged for having had innumerable opportunities of the darshan and satsanga of Param Pujya Swami Satyananda in the last twenty years. When I start speaking about him, my heart starts melting. I do not know what to say about him, because I have never found another like him and I cannot compare him with anyone. I have seen people renouncing, but he is the only one that I have seen renouncing his renunciation.
I have been seeing our honorable Paramahamsa Niranjanji since his childhood. He has imbibed all the qualities of Swamiji as a Paramahamsa. With his maturity he has become more soft-hearted. I do not know who should be thanked, because here, I feel as if I am in my home, and with family. I want to thank my fortune for having had the opportunity to be here.
In Sri Ramcharitamanas, Goddess Parvati says: Dhanya dhanya main dhanya purari.
Hey! Purari (Shiva) I am fortunate. The audience may also thank their fortune, like KakaBhushundi in Sri Ramcharitamanas:
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Aaja dhanya main dhanya ati, yadyapi saba vidi heena, Nija jana jaani Raama mohi santa samaagama deenha. "Although I am destitute, I am fortunate because Shri Ram has accepted me as His own and given me an opportunity to be in the company of the saints". Here every moment has been fortunate for me by giving me the opportunity to meet so many saints together. Here, I would like to mention an incident of Sri Hanuman from Sri Ramcharitamanas :
Prabhu kara pankaja kapi ke seesaa, sumiri so dasaa magana Gaurisaa
Sri Gaurisaa (Shiva) is overwhelmed to hear that when Sri Hanuman (Kapi) fell at the feet of Sri Rama, he put his lotus hands on Sri Hanuman's head.
We should feel the same way, overwhelmed by the blessings of God and the saints. I thank you all with my pranam. Now all of us will chant together:
Sri Raama jaya Raama jaya jaya Raama; Boliye bhakta aur bhagwaan kee jaya.

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Newspaper Reports
Indian Express
YOGA CURES AIDS, HEART TROUBLE
MUNGER Nov. 6 Eminent medical experts from India and abroad share the view that the practice of yoga IS the ultimate for maintaining good health and for the prevention and cure of several diseases, including heart ailments and AIDS. The doctors, mostly senior specialists in various branches, were ticipating in the just-concluded. World Yoga Convention organized here by the Bihar School of Yoga.
par
Harbans Singh Wasir, head
-
He described the former as the protector of the geographical boundaries of the nation and acclaimed the latter as the promoter of cultural heritage of India.

Hindustan Times
GEN. JOSHI, SAGAR ATTEND YOGA CONFERENCE
MUNGER, Nov. 4 Yoga convention convenor, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda yesterday introduced to the audience two illustrious vanguards of the nation. They were General B.C. Joshi, Chief of the Army Staff and Mr. Ramanand Sagar, noted film director of Ramayana and Sri Krishna fame.
General Joshi, on a purely personal visit as a devotee of the
6.11.93
of the Department of Cardiology, AIMS, New Delhi, said through the practice of yoga the mind got trained for good health and prevention of disease, including disorders of the heart. Referring to AIDS, the director of the Yoga Center at London, Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati, claimed that yoga had proved to be a boon for people suffering from it. She said she had worked on a number of cases and that her claim was based on her experience.
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founder guru, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, arrived here yesterday and drove straight to Rikhia in Deoghar district, the present abode of Swami Satyananda Paramahamsa, who has since taken chatra sannyas confining himself within the four walls in dedication of his spiritual pursuit. General Joshi garlanded the portrait of Satyanandaji at the convention venue and took part as one of the visiting delegates.
Mr. Ramanand Sagar, the celebrity of the electronic media engaged the audience with the lucid one hour extempore in which he traced the fact that

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that miracles did occur in life as in his own life. He was still an or- dinary film-maker, not a researcher, who could have made such a magnificent serial as Raniayana and Sri Krishna. The work entailed great research and its script required meticulous care and he did not do anything for these. All he did was to com- pletely surrender to the wishes of
the divine power which took hold of him and he became something like a pen used by a competent scribe. He said that he perceived some cosmic energy whom some described as Bhagwati or Shakti which is now inspiring him to take up another project on Bhagvati after completing Krishna.
9.11.93
Indian Express
YOGA CAN REMEDY MENTAL ILLS
MUNGER, Nov. 7 (PTI) —- Yoga can play a major role in the treat- ment of psychiatric cases and can help psychosomatic patients to be more open and sensitive to their emotions, according to Dr. Karel Nespor of the Psychiatric Hospital in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Recalling his 12 years of experience with yoga in psychiatry at the just-concluded World Yoga Convention here, Dr Nespor said that neurophysiological aspects of various yogic practices could be used in the treatment of such patients. The noted psychiatrist said that there were many different yogic techniques whichcould be suitable for people with different mental health problems.
Stating that most of the psychosomatic patients were unwilling to accept the mental aspect of their problems, Nespor said intervention at a physical and mental level was more likely
to be accepted by them rather than psychotherapy alone or treatment with psychotropic medication. Nespor said that yoga could be recommended t people with existential neuroses - patients lacking meaningfulness in their lives. Citing an example, the visiting psychiatrist said that women above forty years whose children had left home and whose husband were too busy with their careers often benefited from yoga. Many of them were able to find new aims and selfconfidence, and established supportive relationships among fellow trainees.
Referring to cases of schizophrenia, Nespor said that simple yogic techniques and short relaxation in a supportive environment freed patients from over involvement with psychotic thought material. This might add a new dimension to the occupa tional therapy used in Western
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countries. Quoting Dolezalova, another Czech psychiatrist, Nespor said that yoga had a good effect on patients with depressive psychoses. Yoga could be helpful in removing sexual problems and could also be useful in children with attention-deficit and hyper-activity disorder, Nespor said.
The noted psychiatrist said that a considerable number of papers had been written on the effects that meditation had in reducing the abuses, of alcohol and other drugs as yoga could relieve stress, anxiety and depression and ensure increased self-awareness both on mental and physical levels, besides improving self control.
The practice of yoga could also effectively deal with safe management of minor psychosomatic problems like insomnia
and headaches, Nespor said, and added that the psychiatric hospital at Prague had published basic information about yoga for teenagers as one of the positive alternatives to alcohol and drugs.
About the problems with the use of yoga in psychiatry, Nespor said that patients often discontinued the practice of yoga after they were discharged from hospital. Besides, competitiveness and too much effort in some patients might lead to the overdoing of the practice to the point of discomfort which decreased their compliance in the long run. Nespor said that it should be emphasized that yoga was non-competitive and its goals were internal to the individual rather than an external demonstration to win the approval of others.
The Hindustan Times, Patna
4.11.93
SCIENTIFIC PROBE INTO MAN'S POTENTIAL URGED
MUNGER, Nov. 3 - Mr. George Tompkins, a researcher from USA who is conducting research into the mysteries of cosmic energy which is lying dormant in man's biological system, said that scientific studies into man's potential and how to awaken it, is the need of the hour.
Addressing the World Yoga Convention on the third day today, the researcher said that ac- cording to his observations, this
energy awakens even in the usual evolutionary process and produces geniuses in the fields of science, culture and politics etc. But when it awakens without proper channelization, it causes various mental disorders he said, and added that he would set up an institution in India where about 150 persons would be identified for being initiated into a Kundalini awakening programme. Kundalini, he said, is the
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cosmic energy within the biologi- cal system of man which could be awakened and converted into creative intelligence which geniuses possessed. He announced that the Bihar School of Yoga had assured to coordinate this ambitious prog-ramme.
Dr. G.D. Kar, a homeopath from Bhubaneshwar, said that the principles of homeopathy were very close to yogic theories because both were based on the power which man could draw from riature. He strongly advocated homeopathic treatment, which he himself had found very effective so far. Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, president of the Bihar School of Yoga, supported Dr. Kar by saying that it was time to promote what he termed as polypathy, incorporating the beneficial aspects of natural healing with all healing sciences, be they allopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda or yoga. The session concluded with the forthright advice which came from Swami Sivapremananda (USA), who warned spiritual aspirants and yoga teachers against promoting myths. Spiritual awakening would be a far cry unless man conformed to basic standards of morality, integrity, truthfulness and intellectual clarity, he said.
He asked the people not to have an illusion that India was a spiritual country though it might have been one once upon a time. Today the country could at best claim to be religious, he said, adding that religion and spirituality were two different things, more so when religion was based on blind faith and blind faith stemmed from personal conveniences
He regretted that man was now loving the material and using man, rather than loving man and using the material. He mourned that civilizations had been ruined in the past, after man attained the pinnacle of glory and man was now confronted with the same crisis. Spirituality and not religion could save humanity, he added. Referring to India, Swami Sivapremananda said, he had a bitter experience in the sense that each time he returned to his country, he found the situation even more confounded. Intermittent rains over the last three days have failed to dampen the enthusiasm of thousands of delegates. The organizers w trying hard to surmount the vagaries of nature by erecting pandals each time it gave way, mostly during the night.
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The Times of India
04.11.93 YOGA COMES TO AID OF AIDS VICTIMS MUNGER, November 3 - The this disease. four-day World Yoga Conven- She claimed that one of her tion which began here on Mon
students who joined her Centre day had some good news for
in October last year was HIV those suffering from the AIDS
positive. Now after nine months virus. Swami Pragyamurti Saras
he had started showing signs of wati, the director of Yoga Center in London, in a spell-binding
improvement. Such is the power speech today claimed that yoga
of yoga, she claimed. According had proved a boon for people to her, 90 percent of the AIDS suffering from this dreaded dis- patients attending her Center are ease. She has worked on a num- male homosexuals, besides three ber of cases and said her claim or four drug addicts. was based on her experience.
The present World Yoga As a matter of fact, the meet has been organized to comsociety does not accept those memorate the Golden Jubilee of people and they ultimately get tyag (renunciation) by Parama alienated, she said Such isolation hamsa Satyananda. The convendevelops a sense of self-hate tion is hosted by the Bihar School among them. Yoga changes this of Yoga which was formed by attitude and they begin to love
him in 1964. Prominent among themselves. Besides, some par
those who attended today were
the chief of the army staff, ticular kinds of asanas help them in revitalizing their immune sys
General B. C. Joshi, and noted
film maker, Ramanand Sagar. tems. Thus there is a possibility. of treating those suffering from
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DAY FOUR November 4, 1993

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DAY FOUR
MID-MORNING SESSION
Swami Anandananda Saraswati
Satyananda Ashram, Italy
Dr. Swami Vivekananda Saraswati (Dr. Brian Thomson) Consultant Psychiatrist, Sydney, Australia
Swami Nischalananda Saraswati
Satyananda Ashram, Wales, U.K.
Swami Bhikshananda Saraswati (Dr. Harilal Bikha) Durban, South Africa

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SWAMI ANANDANANDA SARASWATI
Swami Anandananda Saraswati heads the movement of yoga in his own country, Italy. He has dedicated himself to the yogic mission of his guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda, and has been a tireless worker in propagating this message in the Italian society. He niet Paramahamsaji in 1979 in Australia, and since then has been inspired to work for the rehabilitation of plıysically handicapped and mentally retarded people through the practices of yoga.
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YOGA FOR THE HANDICAPPED
Swami Anandananda Saraswati
It is really a great joy to be here and to see in a solid, tangible form the inspiration of our guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda, over the past twenty years. I am sure that this convention is generating a tremendous amount of inspiration among many more people from every nook and corner of India and the world.
The inspiration which I received from Paramahamsaji was to bring yoga to people who are suffering. In 1981, I went for the first time to a social center where physically and mentally handicapped persons were gathered, to try an experiment with yoga. I was shocked by the tremendous number of physically and mentally handicapped people who are living in Italy and in Europe today; some statistics say nearly 14% of the population. There is very little awareness of such people, because they are not seen, they are hidden.
I discovered that the social center was only a parking ground for sick, handicapped and disabled persons, who were not kept in their homes because their parents and relatives did not know what to do with them and could not handle them. We have discovered that these relatives are also handicapped, because they do not know how to cope with a son, with a father, with a sister, with an uncle or an aunt who has to live in a different way.
I did not have any experience of teaching yoga to physically and mentally retarded and disabled persons, but nevertheless, I immediately decided to teach them regularly for a three month trial period. There were people from twelve years of age up to fifty or sixty years, with different kinds of handicaps, all mixed up together. Definitely, my first meeting with them and their first introduction to yoga was not a typical yoga class! I had to become like a child and speak to them in their language. I gradually introduced a few physical techniques to them from the pawanmuktasana and shakti bandha series.
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It has now been proved, after nine years of experience, that the pawanmuktasana practices allow physically and mentally handicapped people to begin discovering their physical bodies and to acquire knowledge about their physical existence. They become aware of legs and arms and head. We have seen that when a person is mentally or physically handicapped, there are many more pranic blockages in the system. That is where the techniques of shakti bandha have proved to be extremely useful, because they help to unblock the system and redistribute the energies.
Teaching these people was for me a tangible experience of what we have learned through yoga about the relation between body, prana and mind. A mentally retarded person has severe physical problems, and a physically handicapped person has also a lot of mental tensions, mental weaknesses, and a lack of awareness. It was all there in front of me during the classes, and I could see how each practice, each technique that was gradually introduced, was working
The second area of work has been in the breathing process. I have noticed that almost every person who is mentally retarded or physically handicapped breathes only through the mouth, so that the nostrils are completely disconnected from the breathing process. I have learned, and we have experienced through yoga, that this breathing through the nose is directly linked to stimulation of the brain, while breathing through the mouth means that this brain connection is almost nil.
So the technique of jala neti was taught in order to clear mucus from the sinus passages. Then I taught them how to breathe through the nose and at the end of the three month course, the eighteen persons who were there could practise nadi shodhan. They could sit for five minutes, keeping one nostril closed and breathing through the other nostril and then change nostrils. Of course, I had to put a lot of effort into this. I had to play a lot. I had to joke a lot. I had to invent songs and games to be able to reach this stage.
When I began to teach the technique of neti, the staff of the social center were shocked, and they almost did not allow me to go ahead. Luckily, one of the boys started crying and said, "I want to do it." He got into a temper. So, to keep him quiet, one of the attendants said, "Okay, okay, you can do it." So then everybody had to do it. Afterwards we asked one of the
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educators to practise it as well and he admitted, "Yes, I'm breathing better". So I said, "If you are breathing better, these people will also."
The third stage was when we began slow and brief practices of relaxation, just iwo to five minutes of yoga nidra. Relaxation in such situations is not like an ordinary class; everybody is moving, everybody is jumping! It takes twenty minutes just to get everybody lying down for two minutes. During these two minutes, on the basis of the technique of yoga nidra, with some extra innovations and with some imagination, we devised a way to practise. So I used to say, "Right arm" and I used to ask them to move the arm, not just think of the arm, but move the arm. I would say, "Right arm. Raise the arm." Over a period of two months, they were able to recognize their right arm and right hand. Not all of them, of course, but the majority.
Then we moved into mental relaxation, where they did not have to move the part of the body, but just think of and create a mental picture of it. At that stage I discovered that they had a very good capacity for imagination and visualization. I have met many yoga practitioners who have ten, fifteen, twenty years of yoga practice and yet cannot visualize, but I have met many people whom we call 'retarded' or 'disabled', who can immediately visualize anything that you tell them to.
Tradually, yoga nidra was extended from two minutes to five and even ten minutes.
After this three month course, I decided to carry on in the same neighborhood. But due to local administration and political games, these poor people were not permitted to receive yoga classes there. We tried to move into other areas but we found that it was the same. When administrations change, then the activities designed to cure and heal suffer. So, at that time, together with the people who were helping us in Torino, we decided to open our center to groups who could bring handicapped persons to us in buses and cars.
We have two of our teachers plus two assistants for classes of one or one and a half hours. We practise and play a little bit, then, in a quiet yogic environment, we can very easily introduce all the other techniques of yoga, a few more asanas, static asanas, all the asymmetric asanas, balancing asanas, and then carry on with explanations of breathing, using charts and posters for deeper understanding.
tes.
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We began to introduce the practices of nada yoga, singing and music, which have an incredibly beneficial effect on such people. They love music. When we take out the harmonium, they all come. They all want to play the harmonium and everybody wants to sing. Then we begin chanting of the mantra Om and even practise a little trataka. Only in the last two years have we begun to practise trataka for just thirty or forty seconds to one minute.
We found that the reports which we get from the psychologists, the psychiatrists, the psychotherapists and the people who are in charge of their institutions, note that there have been positive changes in behavior, in perception and in understanding. It was at the beginning of this year that we proposed that a few of these handicapped persons should come and join the classes with all the other so-called normal people, who are attending the general courses. This was so they could start moving from their isolated, confined environment and mix in society with healthy and normal people. Definitely, it has been accepted, and this year about four of them are joining normal yoga classes of asanas, pranayamas, relaxation, yoga nidra and so on.
I have not continued to teach these classes for mentally and physically disabled persons myself. However, I have encouraged a lot of yoga teachers in Torino, throughout Italy and wherever I can, to make themselves ready with proper training so they can go and teach yoga in every area, whether it is a social center, or a private venture or a national association. We are collecting reports from psychologists at each institution and center and making these reports available to anyone who is interested in such fields, as evidence of the effects of yoga on mentally and physically retarded persons. This is great testimony to the deep effects of yoga. We know that yoga works for the psychosomatic diseases that one acquires in life, but now we are proving that positive changes are also experienced by people who have been born with physical and mental defects. It has been a marvellous experience to see these changes and also to share them with all of you.
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
In his work of preaching and spreading yoga, Swami Anandananda's most important efforts have been to help and cure physically handicapped and mentally retarded children. It has been his experience that children who are physically handicapped or mentally retarded, suffer from an inadequate connection between the physical organs and limbs and the brain. The state of becoming handicapped and retarded begins when there is a disconnection between the brain and function of the various organs of the body. It is equally true that if this connection is re-established, then the state of being handicapped can be corrected to some extent. Swami Anandananda has made some efforts in this direction through the practices of asana, the shakti bandha series, the practices of pranayama and met with success. A lot of work is yet to be done, but what has been accomplished by him so far inspires the teachers and lovers of yoga. Positive developments can be seen. Therefore, yoga is the method for awakening the complete potential of the physically handicapped and mentally retarded.
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DR. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA SARASWATI
(BRIAN THOMSON)
Dr. Swami Vivekananda (Brian Thomson) is an eminent personality from Australia. He is a brilliant psychiatrist, yoga teacher and intellectual. He has been in the role of a doctor for the past thirty years and in the role of a sannyasin for the past seventeen years.
When Paramahamsaji first went to Australia, Dr. Swami Vivekananda was his most vocal critic because his wife was a yoga teacher. She used to teach yoga to the patients whom he had tried to treat over a period of many years with valium and tranquilizers. These patients used to get more benefits by joining the classes of his wife within one week, ten days or fifteen days. So, he used to feel threatened.
However, the grace of guru and the attraction of yoga was such that he became a messenger for the integration of science and yoga in his own right. Looking at his inherent ability to integrate the principles of yoga with the principles of science, at the time of his initiation into sannyasa, Paramahamsaji named him Swami Vivekananda Saraswati and told him just one thing, "Just as in the past Swami Vivekananda carried the message of yoga and spirituality to the far corners of the world, in the same way, in this present age, you have to carry the message of yoga and science to every nook and corner of this world."

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YOGIC TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS

Dr. Swami Vivekananda Saraswati
I am supposed to be speaking about the treatment of mental illness, but I think there is more to it than that. However, I will start off with the approved theme.
The learned doctor yesterday said that in days gone by, it was the priests who treated the illnesses of the body as well as the mind and the spirit. But when the scientific age came along, another group of people took over the treatment of the body and these were called medical practitioners or doctors. In later years the medical practitioners and doctors have branched into the area of the mind as well, taking with them the tools that they used for treating the body, and in the beginning these tools were mainly physical ones. From there they moved to psychological tools, and I want to start by describing some of these to you.
First of all there are certain illnesses of the emotions and the mental state which are caused by physical factors. These may respond to many treatments such as ayurveda, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic and other physical treatment. My training is just in allopathy, so I use these treatments in a limited number of cases. The people I am referring to come into four groups.
The first group are people who have some form of epilepsy and they require anti-convulsants. The second group are people with a condition called schizophrenia, v'ich is a physical, chemical condition of the central nervous system, and they respond to what we call anti-psychotic medication. The third group are people with a condition that you might call manic depression or bi-polar affective disorder, up and down over long periods of time, and these people respond to a very simple chemical called lithium. The fourth group are people with a condition which we call endogenous depression, a type of depression that is chemically caused and is a physiological fact.
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It is my experience that these people still respond well to yoga practices but, because of the state of mind that they have when they are in the acute phase of illness, they need the chemicals to stablize them. When they are stablized, they have the motivation and the presence of mind to do the yoga practices which then ensure that they will get off the drugs quickly, and that is important. There are other physical treatments such as convulsive therapy which is used very little nowadays. In my opinion these are the four conditions in which it is still valid to use physical treatments for a certain period of time. However, yoga should be used in conjunction with them, and patients will accept the yoga practices and go through them very conscientiously.
In the second group we treat the emotions. Here we find one of the biggest traps in psychiatry, because if we just treat the emotions with drugs, it is symptomatic treatment rather than therapeutic treatment. In symptomatic treatment, we have the problem of addiction and habituation to those drugs for the following reason. If I am feeling very tense, anxious or depressed, and you come along and pop a pill in my mouth and after about ten minutes I start feeling better and after twenty minutes I am feeling absolutely wonderful, then the next time I am feeling bad, I want you to pop another pill into me.
You have heard of Pavlov's dogs? Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who worked on conditioning and experimented with dogs. He would ring a little bell and give the dogs something to eat, ring the little bell again, and give the dogs something to eat again. After a while when he rang the little bell, the dogs would salivate because they thought a meal was coming. He had conditioned the dogs to salivate and from then on, every time he rang the little bell, the dogs would salivate. So this idea of swallowing a pill to feel better is a conditioning process and it is habit forming.
The second point about symptomatic treatments is withdrawal. Any substance that is taken into the body which has any effect on the central nervous system will have the opposite effect when it is wearing off. If I feel anxious and I take valium (diazepam), in four or five hours when it is wearing off I will be more anxious than I was before I started. So what do I do? Of course, I go and take another diazepam.
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However, then the third problem comes in, which is tolerance. As I take these substances into the body, the enzymes that break them down increase, so that, as I take in the next one, it is broken down quicker and so I have to take in the next one a bit sooner. So, treating emotional symptoms with drugs is an insidious process, in which addiction is very common. We are beginning to find that a lot of people, especially in the western world, are really addicted to diazepam and various other drugs that are used for the symptomatic treatment of emotional problems.
For the management of emotional problems, in my mind, yoga practices are number one. They work. Some of my patients do yoga nidra when they are acutely anxious, ten or fifteen times a day. Every time they feel like popping a diazepam, they put the tape on, lie down, and after a while, they gradually get down to needing it only twice a day. The same applies to the physical balancing practices, especially the pranayamas. Of course, for anxiety, brahmari pranayama is very effective and for depression, bhastrika pranayama with moolabandha is very powerful.
In Australia where I practise, and in the USA and South America where I have practised, the people whom we call patients are quite amenable to these practices because they are looking for something. What they are looking for is self mastery. They want to be the masters of their own therapy. They do not want me to give them a pill, but to give them the power to defeat their own emotional problems and emotional pain. Once they get that power, then it has a positive effect. It gives them confidence, it gives them self esteem. If you have confidence you are not anxious. If you have self esteem, you are not depressed. So this is where the power comes for the person.
The third group are those with thinking problems. Here all we need is common sense, because patients need to be able to intercept negative thought processes. such as, "I have never been able to do so and so, therefore, I will never be able to do it." Many people have a continuous line of negative thinking going on inside their heads." "I can't do it; he is better than I am; no wonder he can do it but I can't."
These thoughts need to be interrupted. Another negative thought that needs to be interrupted is, "I am an idiót." For
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example, I might push this cup of water over. (I hope I don't, but if I do, you'll understand.) If they push a cup of water over, some people will say in their minds, "Oh, I'm an idiot, there I go again." This is brain washing, this is a negative samskara that they are giving to themselves. We have to teach them to analyze and realize that thinking process and to disrupt it. You know, if I knock that glass of water over I won't think, "I am an idiot," I'll think, "Paramahamsa Niranjanananda knocked that glass of water over again!" That is the interruption of the thoughts.
What remains is meaning in life and this is the spiritual journey. If you open a psychiatric textbook and look for the word God, you will not find it. Some textbooks are inches thick. You look in the back, 'God' isn't there, the word 'spiritual' isn't there, the word 'grace' isn't there. As a matter of fact, all of the things that I hold dearest in my life are not there. Back in 1968, I had reached a crossroads in my life. I had spent many years studying psychiatry, thinking I would find the answers. I realized that they were not there. That was a dead end, depression, suicidal ideas in my mind, a crisis of major proportions in my life. At that one moment, I prayed. I had never done it before, I did not believe in it, but the prayer just came popping into my mind.
Two weeks later a yogi came to our country and my wife went along to see him. She came back and she said. "I've found him." I said, “Who did you find?" She said, “My guru," and I said, "Oh don't be silly." She said, "'You know, you must meet him, he is wonderful," and I said, “Look, I don't want to meet him, just forget about it." She said, “No, you must meet him, he is going back to India on Tuesday." I said, “He is Indian, is he? You watch out for those fellows." Anyway, I won't tell you who that was, but after I met him, my life took a completely different direction and it ultimately headed over here, so something must have been happening!
The people who come along to see me are looking for spiritual guidance. They are looking for relief of their symptoms too, but most of them come along when they are in that same crisis period of their life that I was in when Paramahamsaji came along. How do we give them the solution if we don't have it? It is not in psychiatry. There are very good things in psychiatry and I am not putting it down, but do not
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expect too much from it. The spiritual side is not there, unless the psychiatrist or the therapist himself actually has it.
If the therapist does have it, how does he or she convey it to the person who needs it? There are two ways that I am going to speak about. First, verbally, the same sort of things you would get on a piece of paper, exactly the same but spoken by a human being. I am stressing this point because here the second way comes in. There is power in words and there is energy that comes out from the person and, according to the degree of energy and power that person has, the recipient of the words will improve. It's called 'good vibes' in America. So, imagine if the therapists of the world, the psychiatrists, and indeed the yoga teachers, the psychologists, the social workers and all of those people whose job it is to help other people in their distress, imagine if they had that spiritual quality. How curative they could be. How well the people would become.
There is just one more point before I finish. The alchemists of the Middle Ages in Europe were said to be able to turn lead into gold. It is said that they used what was called the philosopher's stone, and that it had something to do with sulfur and was very complicated. We know now of course, that was not true. You would need an atomic reaction such as we do not even have nowadays to turn lead into gold. It was only symbolic. It meant that the guru or the spiritual master was turning the gross quality of the aspirant's soul and consciousness into a higher consciousness.
The point is that the guru turns lead not only into gold but also into philosophers' stones, and these then turn more lead into philosophers' stones. What if the therapists of the world, because of what they have received from their guru, also developed the guru quality, which is the quality to channel the energy of God to those persons to produce another guru?
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
It is true that in ancient times it was the seers who used to provide solutions and guidance in physical, mental and spiritual problems. But with the passage of time, people began research into the science of medicine dealing with the physical body, and became skilled. These were the modern doctors. Some became interested in psychological problems and endeavored to find solutions. They became known as psychotherapists. In this way, man began to pursue different systems in the field of medicine, and specialized accordingly in that particular field.
However, in the medical treatment or therapy of today, there is one major drawback, a problem for which no solution is available. Suppose we are sick and take some medicine and start feeling better after ten to twenty minutes. A psychological impression is created, so that whenever we are in this state we must swallow this pill. After some time we feel better and this becomes a habit. Then whenever we have a headache, even a light headache, immediately our thoughts are centered on the habit of aspirin. Knowledge has been received that ten, fifteen to twenty minutes after swallowing the pill, we shall feel better. But when the effect of the pill finishes, withdrawal symptoms can be noticed. The person becomes deeply affected by the withdrawal symptoms and this becomes a vicious cycle. One of the reasons is that we do not recognize our innate spirituality and the state of equilibrium within us. If we acknowledge spirituality and self-control in our lives, then we will not have psychological problems. This was the message of Dr. Swami Vivekananda.
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SWAMI NISCHALANANDA SARASWATI
Swami Nischalananda Saraswati is the director of the Satyananda ashram i:1 Wales which has centers and teachers spread throughout France and other European countries. He is one of the stars of the International Yogn Fellowship Movement and is known as the pandit of the Bihar School of Yoga. About fifteen years of his life have been spent in India. He has made a thorough study of sanıkhya, tantra, vedanta, of all the prominent traditions of yoga in this country, and has a very deep esoteric knowledge of the traditions of other countries as well. Swami Nischalananda was requested to speak in Hindi.
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PURPOSE OF THE YOGA SAMMELAN
Swami Nischalananda Saraswati
It is a long time since I spoke in Hindi, so please forgive me for any mistakes. I have been thinking about the word sammelan. What happens at a sarmelan? Sam means 'together', melan mean 'meeting'. We are all here to get to know each other. We talk to others. We listen to others. We have our own little world here which is a spiritual world.
This sammelan gives us a spiritual glimpse into human life. Here we get an inspiration. We learn how to speak, how to behave, how to listen, how to convey words charged with love. We are people from various walks of life, from various countries, of various colors, followers of various religions. We sit together with mutual love. This is something extraordinary in today's world. But it should not be extraordinary, it should be natural, because we have all descended from a common root. This convention sets an example. We shall return home with inspiration and this inspiration has to be given to others as well, and we also have to teach them yoga.
There is another word that comes from the word sammelan and that is mela, which means 'fair'. This is a spiritual fair. This world is also a fair. From mela comes the word lila, 'play'. We are enacting a play here, just like we are enacting a role in the world. Why have we come to this convention? We have come to learn. Why have we come into this world? We have come to learn. Therefore, this convention is a representative body of the universe; this convention is a bindu, a focal point of the universe and also of this world. Just like there is a spark in our heart, so there is also a spark within the heart of the world.
What do we need to learn? Our karmas and the karmas of others have no difference, in fact, it is a joint ventur
xpression when we say this is our karma and that is his karma. It is not true. Our karma is the karma of all, it is a collective affair. We need to be taught constantly in this modern world the lesson of learning to respect others. Without this, the world is moving towards destruction. Why is it so?
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Because we are living a materialistic life. There is no spirituality in our actions or thoughts, that is why everything is going topsy-turvy in the world, and that is why yoga is necessary in this world. Yoga sows the seeds of respect for others within us.
This present world is very peculiar. We have preferred to enjoy the worldly pleasures and now we are becoming tired of them. There is no problem in enjoyment and leading a worldly life, without that this world would not exist. Enjoyment is necessary, but this act must not cause inconvenience to others. We have to enjoy with harmony. If we enjoy the pleasures of life, we must do it spiritually. In the Ishavasya Upanishad, it is mentioned, "Live up to the age of one hundred years and in your life enjoy, but let it not be the cause of others' envy." I hope you understand that. This is why we have come to learn for our spiritual evolution. This morning we heard the shantipath of the Ishavasya Upanishad.
Om poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornamudachyate poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaa vashishyate.
What does it mean? In every microcosm there is a macrocosm. A body is certainly within the universe, but within every body a universe is also present. This is what the shantipath of the Ishavasya Upanishad means. So we are here to learn yoga, and not only to learn yoga but also to teach yoga. With all due respect to Swami Sivapremananda, what he said yesterday was not true. When I left England no one knew of yoga and when I returned in 1985, everyone knew of yoga. There were not many practitioners but everyone knew of yoga. What does this mean? If a person has heard the word 'yoga' he knows that by practising yoga he will benefit. What does this mean? That a person who knows yoga to be beneficial will certainly practise at some point in time in the future. Books talk of yoga, newspapers talk of yoga. That means that if someone hears of yoga today maybe in the next twenty or fifty years he will practise it. Therefore, I think it is spreading quite fast. Without yoga we cannot evolve further. The whole world is bound for destruction if it continues on the same path.
Each one of us is a microcosm and modern science has begun to understand this peculiarity. People who are making deep studies on matter were surprised because the deeper they went into material things, the more they discovered their innate spirituality. That is consciousness. People who are

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known as atomic physicists are becoming saints nowadays. They are becoming seers because they are discovering spiritual roots within the matter and by understanding this we can change our lives. The more we reform ourselves, the more effectively we can influence the lives of others.
On the one hand, this is our responsibility yet, on the other hand, it is not our responsibility, which is a paradox. It is a peculiar thing, just like our world. It is not something to be understood, it is to be lived. Within each and every type of medicine, within each and every pill, there is a spiritual root. When we hold yoga classes it also becomes a microcosm, a part of the universe. The more broadminded we are the more we can transmit the knowledge and wisdom of yoga. We are the ones who can make this world hell or who can turn it into heaven.
If we practise yoga, if we preach yoga, we can make this world a paradise. It shall become heaven. In Hindi there is a saying, aag lage basti men, mast raho masti men, which means that even if the whole village is on fire, thou rejoice in ecstacy. This is how we are living today due to our ignorance and if we continue this way the lives of future generations will be ruined. We have an opportunity to change ourselves and then to reform the whole world. Are we going to do it? This is the question.
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SUMMARY
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
That was a very beautiful, poetic and inspiring presentation from our respected guru brother, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati. Why have we come to this convention? We have come to learn something. Why have we come into this world? We have come to learn something. Learning is the purpose of life. Those who claim to have learnt everything are duping themselves and others because the process of learning never stops. The learning process is a spiritual process, a continuous process of self-evolution with spirituality at its base. When we become aware that spirituality is at the basis of learning then we can understand the saying, Eeshwara ansha jeeva avinaashi, the spark of divinity is still shining bright within us. We tend to forget that spark of divinity and we tend to forget that we are learning. We tend to involve ourselves in our own egos, and this is the cause of human downfall. Yoga is a process of learning, of attaining and progressing. Once we are able to realize this, the entire world will become heaven. That was the message of Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.

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DR. SWAMI BHIKSHANANDA
(DR. HARILAL BIKHA)
Dr. Harilal Bikha is from Durban, South Africa. Although he renounced that identity a long time ago when he became Swami Bhikshananda Saraswati, he still maintains a partial identity in the form of a therapist and doctor. Every swami is a doctor and every doctor is a swami at heart. There is no difference between the two. The main thrust of Dr. Swami Bhikshananda's propagation of yoga has been the integration of mind and energy -- the shakti principle.
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INTEGRATION OF MIND
AND ENERGY
Dr. Swami Bhikshananda Saraswati
Life is meant for enjoyment. No one can deny it. No one takes advice on how to enjoy life, it comes naturally to everyone. By enjoying life and enjoying life, you begin to get some aches and pains. You begin to feel unhappy. You begin to feel dissipated within.
The remedy formula is to introduce the practice of yoga with a little philosophy into your life. Gradually add more practice, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, three to four days a week. In this way you will find that you are able to enjoy life with fewer aches and pains and that you are slowly stabilizing and enriching your enjoyment. In fact, you will have more enjoyment because you will be more sensitive and a little more in harmony with yourself. This is the main secret of life which I would like to share with everyone. So, the body is a means to enjoy life, to give one pleasure, and to earn money. At the same time the body is also a means for bringing about a direct change in your pranic body. In my experience, yoga is a science of biological engineering because it can bring about changes in your personality and can even change your genes. This is the other use of the body.
The tools of yoga are not directly relevant to the physical body. They are more related to your pranic body, your energy body, to your chakras, to your nadis. For example, every breath is related to some movement of energy. However, no one, or very few of us, can feel the happenings in our pranic body and thus science has not accepted this claim of yoga. The average individual believes more in external enjoyment and the philosophy of money rather than in the science of feeling, of experiencing and of knowing the great power, the great subtle body, the great prana and its latent potential.
We have looked at the main principles of yoga and we have also discussed love, prem. Now I ask myself, "Did Mirabai do any asanas or pranayama or neti? Did Bhagwan
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Ramakrishna practise hatha yoga? Did he do trataka?" Well, they may have done it in their previous lives, they must have done it. Love and prem are the results of several lives of asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, mantra, trataka practice, etc. The love and prem of Mirabai was the high state, the sublime state of emotion. Therefore, she did not have to practise the other aspects of yoga. How many of us have that quality of love and prem? It is rare to find this type of love. Therefore, as a doctor and also as an enjoyer of life, I would say that almost all the people on this planet should practise asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, mantra, trataka and some yogic kriyas so as to become individuals who enjoy life and earn money with better health, with better states of mind, with harmony and with more sensitive feelings. Life is full of problems and short periods of enjoyment, so you need something to cope better with life's problems. This something is yoga.
Let us examine the practice of asanas. I look upon asana practice as a physical meditation. Asanas have an effect on your body, on your mind, on your emotions, bhaavanaa, and they go further than that although you can't feel it. They have an effect on your deeper subtle bodies. These multiple effects give you spiritual benefits. People tend to underestimate asanas. Even the simple practices of pawanmuktasana, which are designed to remove energy blocks and generate energy, have an effect on your ajna chakra. When you do them and if you can feel them, then you will think like me, that asana practice is a physical meditation. Asanas are usually done with pranayama. You inhale and you move the body from the base position into the posture and hold the breath for three seconds, five seconds, eight seconds. Next you slowly breathe out and return the body to the base position. Then you repeat this process, this cycle. This is the physical process.
But what is happening at the pranic level? When you breathe in, there is a movement of prana. When you hold the breath, there is something very powerful taking place in the chakras, in the kundalini. What is this powerful process? A reaction is taking place whereby dormant energy is being activated, ignited and inflamed, and being released into the body, into the organs. It is similar to a generator producing electricity. Now this reaction is more important than the bending of your body. You cannot feel it but it is taking place. It is this energy that is going to improve the functions of your
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body. It is this energy generated through asana practice which is also going to sensitize your feelings. So asanas affect not only your body but your mind and emotions as well. I also regard pranayama practice as breathing meditation because if you do regular pranayama, effects are felt in your head and you feel like closing your eyes. If you do some asanas, pranayamas, some mudras and bandhas and trataka in sequence, they will prepare you for meditation.
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SUMMARY Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
The first mantra of the fortieth Samhita of the Rig Veda is,
Om e: havaasya idam sarvam yatkinchajagatyaam jagat
tenatyaktena bhunjethaa maa gridhah kasyasviddhanam: God resides in everything in this manifest world. God resides within every material benediction, bhoga. Therefore, you keep enjoying all the pleasures that are created by God. But we accept the benedictions and gratifications and forget God. Having accepted the bhoga, we make money the ultimate aim of our lives. As long as we have bank notes in our pockets, we go to hotels, buy bottles and empty them totally. This is the lifestyle of today.
But we need to transform this lifestyle because if we adopt the principles of yoga in our lifestyle, then life begins to blossom like a flower. To make life beautiful, to enable it to blossom like a flower, we need to adopt yoga which is a path of biological engineering. And this biological engineering awakens a different awareness, a different energy within us which gives birth to a spiritual principle in the place of principles based on money. That is how, in the end, life is made worthwhile. This was the message of Bhikshananda, the swami from South Africa.
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MID-DAY SESSION
Dr. Gyan Shankar Sahay
Dr. N. R. Mitra
Research Officer of the Literary Unit, Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, Pune
DAY FOUR
Head of the Science Dept. T. N. B. College, Bhagalpur
Dr. Swami Karmananda Saraswati

Aboriginal Community Health Service, Alice Springs, Australia
Dr. Gaurang Chattopadhyay
Dr. Ganesh Shankar
Business Consultant
Head of the Dept. of Yogic Studies, Hari Singh Gore University, Sagar
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DR. GYAN SHANKAR SAHAY
Dr. G.S. Sahay is the Research Officer of the Literary Research Unit of Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala, Pune, Maharashtra. He has been the author of many research reports and books and has been a spokesman in many seminars.
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THERAPEUTIC ASPECTS OF THE YOGIC SCRIPTURES
Dr. G.S. Sahay
Whenever there is a discussion on yoga, it is mandatory to discuss Patanjali. Without Maharishi Patanjali, any discussion on yoga would be incomplete. Yet as I will be discussing the therapeutic aspects of the science of yoga, it may seem to many that Maharishi Patanjali has nothing to do with my subject. However, today I will discuss the therapeutic aspects of the yogic scriptures.
There are many yoga therapists and they have treated many diseases. Many have claimed the ability to cure a list of various ailments. I was inspired to search the ancient authoritative literatures of yoga and to enumerate the instances which actually discuss ailments and cures. When I began my research, I came across startling revelations which I would like to unveil before you.
First, let us talk of Patanjali. If we look closely we shall find that he has discussed the disintegrated personality and the fact that this disintegrated personality occurs for two main reasons. One is inborn and the second is acquired. The inborn causes are avidyaa ignorance, asmitaa the sense of I-ness, raaga, attachment, dvesha, aversion and abhiniveshaa, fear of death. These five sufferings, particularly avidya, are the main cause of a child's birth. The intense desire to live, plus these factors, break up his personality.
When a child is born, he is very pure and simple, but as he grows up and becomes conditioned by the environment, various faults and imperfections are acquired by him. These we call acquired faults. What the child picks up from the environment around him are obstacles of which there are nine types: vyaadhi (disease), styaana (dullness), samsaya (doubt), pramaada (procrastination), aalasya (laziness), avirati (craving for enjoyment), bhraantidarshana (erroneous perception), alabdha- bhuinikatra (inability to achieve a finer state), and anavasthitatvaa (instability).
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Patanjali has also listed the subtle forms, which are duhka, daurmanasya, angamejayatva and shvaasaprashvaasa (pain, depression, tremors in the body and irregular respiration). Pain and depression work at the mental level, but the tremors in the body and irregular respiration are on the physical plane. This shows that mental problems later convert to physical ones. Both result in mental disturbance. Considering this, we have to admit that Patanjali must have been the first therapist who accepted all diseases as psychosomatic. Nowadays, everyone is accepting illnesses as psychosomatic, but let me tell you that Patanjali advocated this two thousand years ago!
Were any references made later to Patanjali's yoga? Were there any guidelines laid down regarding the yogic cures for diseases? We began searching in Hatha Yoga Pradipika which is an important literature on hatha yoga, and we found several references which acted as guiding factors. On the basis of these, we can say that hatha yoga has discussed cures for diseases fairly clearly. There is a verse,
Yuvaa vriddo' tivriddho vaa vyaadhito durbalo' pi vaa Abhyaasaatsiddhimaapnoti sarvayogeshvantadritah. (Ch 64.)
Anybody, whether young, old, very old, diseased or weak can attain accomplishment in yoga through practice. If a diseased or ill person can attain perfection through yoga, then the practice has to hold a lot of potential for cure. Based on this we started to search deeper and we came across another verse:
Astu vaa maastu vaa muktiratraivakhanditam sukham
Whether there is liberation or not, an uninterrupted healthy life in this world can be provided by hatha yoga. Unless one is physically fit and without disease one cannot enjoy a healthy life. Therefore, this indicates that yoga has the potential to treat diseases very effectively.
Keeping this in view, I went through forty texts that we have in our Kaivalyadhama library and found that twenty-five of these discussed examples of diseases, which I classified into three parts. Some examples discussed specific diseases and provided cures for them through yoga practices. The second group spoke of cures strictly in ayurvedic technical terms, for example, Vaat dosha niyanti, pitt niyanti, and vaat pitt kaphodbhava kapharogascha visanti.
Those references that I could not classsify under the first two groups made up the third group. These references note the
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physiological benefits and curative aspects directly attributable to yoga, that is, Jatharaagni vardhate rathvriddhi prajaayate.
On the basis of these three classifications I have presented my study. In the first I have placed forty-two specific diseases. I subdivided these forty-two into ten subdivisions according to various criteria. One of the subdivisions deals with jatrurdhvajat, meaning dieases above shoulder level, and includes diseases of the eyes, nose, neck and head. In such a manner, ten classifications were made.
It was very interesting to note that, although in modern days the curative power of asana is being given importa all the yoga teachers, while going through the text I could find only nine asanas referred to as having therapeutic value, of which four are meditative.
Actually, if you take into account the number of asanas described in yogic texts, then undoubtedly the meditative asanas stand supreme because there are only four meditative asanas referred to in all the yogic texts. All four meditative asanas have been given importance, and that is why we can conclude that meditative asanas have deeper healing value in comparision to the other asanas.
Next, we come to the shatkriyas. We find that kriyas have immense value and that all of them, except perhaps nauli, have therapeutic value. Such is the case with pranayama also. Out of the eight common pranayamas: suryabheda, sheetkari, ujjayi, sheetali, bhastrika, bhramari, moorcha and plavini, there are four which are very important. These are ujjayi, bhastrika, suryabheda and sheetali. Without going into the deeper, difficult aspects of the yogic practices of pranayama, such as kevala kumbhaka, we can say that these particular practices have therapeutic value. Mudras, which are the combination of asana and and pranayama with an inbuilt mental aspect, also have a very good therapeutic value.
I next compiled a different list consisting of the types of diseases that the different groups of practices can cure. In such a way, I found that asanas have a curative effect on only six diseases, whereas the shatkriyas have a curative effect on twenty-six diseases. Also, pranayama is very important, positively affecting nineteen diseases, as is the practice of mudra. I found that asanas, in comparison with pranayama, the shatkriyas or mudras, are too ineffective as far as the curative value is concerned.
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There is another list which I have tried to prepare very meticulously in order to develop a pharmacopoeia which will enable the person who is practising yogic therapy to accurately prescribe the yogic practices for the individual person, depending on the different references available in the yogic texts. Through this, I found that dhauti can cure, or can be effectively utilized in the cure of ten diseases. Basti also is very effective in the treatment of eight diseases.
In conclusion, I have to say that the yogic texts are very important to those who are involved in yogic therapy, and equally, we must not forget to consult our medical texts to verify their claims.
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SUMMARY
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Dr. Sahay has given us a wonderful view of yoga therapy from the point of view of the scientist and of the practitioner. Both of these groups need to examine the yogic texts not just as old yogic texts and not just from an inspirational point of view, but from the point of view of discovering which practices do what, and how they work. Dr. Sahay is the third speaker we have heard from Kaivalyadhama and it is obvious that the quality of the research that comes from this institution is of the highest caliber.

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DR. N.R. MITRA
Dr. N.R. Mitra is the professor in T.N.B. College in Bhagalpur and the head of the Science Department. He has carried out research on the subject of "Human Brain Consciousness and Behavior" in which he has explained human behavior in the light of physics' formulae or theories. He has been in close contact with Paramahamsa Satyananda for a long time.
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SCIENCE, THE HUMAN BEING AND
YOGA
Dr. N.R. Mitra:
There are research works which show the relationship between human beings and yoga from a scientific point of view. Yoga, as you know, is a very ancient science, and previously was also a secret science. Now the science is not secret, but is found in many books and thus today you can learn many things about the science of yoga if you so desire. But some parts of the science are secret, and in this case you need a guru to deliver the real secrets of yoga.
Yoga, as we know, helps to maintain spiritual, mental and physical balance. Ultimately, this results in the best possible management of one's bio-energy. So, if we practise yoga, we do not waste bio-energy. If every individual was a yoga practitioner, I am sure that the present problems of society would be minimized.
Returning to my topic, we have to understand who is practising yoga. The human being is practising yoga, so we have to know what 'human being' means. From a scientific point of view, the human being is composed of two things. One is the physical entity. We exist physically, all our actions are physical in nature and we can measure them physically. But we should know what else the human being is made of. He is composed of a body, which emerges from matter, plus something else which scientists do not know of yet. This is an unknown X. However, the common people know what this is; they call it 'life' or 'vital' force. But in yoga, it is called 'consciousness'.
So, if we accept this definition of consciousness, we could say that the human being is composed of matter and consciousness. The aim of the study of matter is to understand force, but force is everywhere and cannot be realized through the five senses, it can only be defined in terms of its impact. Therefore, force can be understood as that which causes change or tends to change a state of a body.
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Similarly, consciousness cannot be perceived through the five senses, and it can be defined as that which distinguishes an animate being from an inanimate object, and which creates self-motivation, awareness and desire within the body system. That means that the consciousness has the property of self-awareness, thus wherever there is consciousness there will be self-awareness. So awareness should be practised constantly and that is possible only in the case of human beings. Also, to engage in the healthy act of work with self-awareness is possible only for human beings.
As with any system, there are governing laws. Therefore, this system has five laws :
First law: This is similar to Newton's first law which is the definition of the effect of force. Similarly, according to this first law, consciousness creates self-motivation or awareness or desire in the system.
Second law: This is that the consciousness controls the internal workings of the body. Just like a computer, it is very fast and very efficient, but has to be switched on externally. Similarly, when we desire to do any action, we turn on the internal switching system. This is due to consciousness.
Third law: The presence of consciousness, which defines Newton's first law, is that consciousness enables us to act without applying external force. Newton's inertia law says that, "the body will continue its state until and unless it is impressed by some external force." Yet, if I desire to raise my hand, I raise it, there is no external force. That is desire to use the internal force, and that desire is consciousness.
Fourth law: This is the energy law, which states that the moment consciousness is present in the system and the body, perpetual motion starts; for example, the beating of the heart starts. The moment it starts it becomes a bio-machine, and converts the environmental energy into bio-energy and then into the energy necessary to animate activities. This does not defy the second law of thermodynamics, relating to the replacement of the substance being used. Take, for example, the steam engine. The steam is used and it is expelled when its work is done. Similarly, the working substance from our food and oxygen is converted into carbon dioxide and is given out. This process continues in conjunction with the second and third laws of thermodynamics, but only if consciousness is there. If it is not, the second law of thermodynamics will not operate.
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Fifth law: This states that consciousness maintains 'biobalance', that is, the balance between anabolism and catabolism, the total cellular metabolism. If there is no consciousness, there will be decay of the cells.
Now let us understand the energy equation. The whole energy derived from food and oxygen is converted into bio-energy for human activities. This bio-energy is used mainly for three purposes. Firstly, it is required for physical work, secondly, for mental or psychic activity and thirdly, for maintaining bio-balance. The amount of total bio-energy remains constant.
So, if there is a deficiency of energy, you feel weak and breathless and so you will increase the rate of respiration to take in more oxygen and generate more energy. Thus, the constant energy balance is maintained. This means that bio-balance consumes a stable amount of energy which changes very slowly. The other two activities, external work and mental or psychic work, both use larger amounts of total energy.
The external activity can be equated with material values; and internal or psychic activities can be equated with spiritual values. The sum of the two accounts can be equated to total human values. If the larger proportion of total energy is expended externally, the materialistic values will predominate. But if a larger proportion is spent psychically the spiritual values will predominate. Psychic values contribute immensely to internal awareness, and yogic practices are responsible for improving psychic values. .
We have seen how the laws of physics are applicable to living human beings. These laws operate in all individuals, but behave differently in every individual because these laws are controlled by the mind which varies from person to person.
The next subject is the brain, which has been divided into three parts, subconscious, conscious and unconscious. If the portion of the brain which is connected with consciousness gets polarized, it emits brainwaves which are initially beta waves and then alpha waves when relaxed. The moment all the cortical regions are polarized together we lose consciousness; in such a state only one tenth of the neurons (brain cells) are active, and this is in the lower brain centers. If this residual neuron activity becomes linked to the frontal lobes, it
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precipitates the subconscious mind, which is the state between conscious and unconscious. In this middle state, subconscious mainfests itself in the form of previous memory and visions. These are termed either as dreams or psychic experiences.
Now, you can correlate that everything that you perceive in the external world is nothing but the projection of the subconscious mind. These pictures have been gathered by trial and error over the years, in the form of bio-energy. This bio-energy is stored in your psyche or the frontal lobe neurons. The proof of manifestation of this bio-energy is seen as brainwaves. When this bio-energy mainfests predominantly in the analytical portions of the mind, it produces intellectuals, and when it bombards the inner portion, one gets extra-sensory perception.
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SUMMARY Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
We thank Dr. Mitra, who is a retired physicist from Bhagalpur University, for this informative introduction to the interaction of energy at various levels in the universe, and to the fact that we, as human beings, are a part of nature, we are all a part of these forces. He has also told us about how the brain is the measuring unit with which we can measure the physical properties of nature, just as we would use a thermometer or any kind of measuring instrument. This lecture has shown us that his subject is very deep and profound, and it has awakened our thirst for more knowledge.
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DR. SWAMI KARMANANDA SARASWATI
Dr. Swami Karmananda Saraswati stayed with Paramahamsa Satyananda at the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, from 1975 until 1985. His initiation took place in 1976. Presently he is working in the Aboriginal Community Health Service in Australia. Swami Karmananda lives and works with the Australian Aborigines and has observed their problems from a yogic point of view. He believes that the life force should not be diverted from the original source, and works with the Aboriginals to find happiness and tranquility in their time-honored lifestyle.
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THE AYURVEDA OF AUSTRALIAN
ABORIGINES Dr. Swami Karmananda Saraswati
About a year ago, I moved on from my work at the Melbourne Yoga Therapy Center into the rural areas of Australia because I wanted, first of all, to move away from the hustle and bustle of city life, and secondly, I wanted to conduct some research. I wanted to understand more about the original people of the Australian continent about whom very little is really known, and when an opportunity came, I took it.
According to geologists, millions of years ago in pre-history there was a great southern land, which has been called Gondwana, at the southern pole of our planet. At that time, what is now India and what is now Australia were joined together. The eastern coast of India was joined to the north-western coast of Australia and with changing conditions the land masses moved apart. What is now India moved upwards and, in colliding with other land masses, caused the Himalayas to rise up.
On returning to India, I went up to Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinath which was a beautiful experience. How you have deified the powers of nature! Seeing the Ganga and the mountains is so stimulating, it is a rebirth. It reminds me of Uluru, which is a huge monolith right in the center, in the heart of Australia. In fact, I am sure that if the land masses were still joined together, every night from Madras there would be lots of buses heading southwest to go and see the beauty of Uluru. This massive rock has become a symbol of the indigenous people of Australia. It has many moods. In fact, I think up to 10,000 people come to view this monument every day, many fly in from all over the world. All around it are sites sacred to the original people of Australia.
As you know, the European history of Australia is very young, only going back two hundred years to when Captain Cook sailed from England to Australia. However, long before
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that the Aboriginal people had established their culture which has been traced back at least 40,000 years. It developed in isolation on that land mass known as Australia. Now it has virtually disappeared from all the choice parts of the country. The history and beliefs of that culture have continued until the present time, but only right out in the very hard desert areas where people do not really want to live. The Aboriginal culture still survives, but twenty or thirty years ago, it was doubtful as to whether their culture would survive at all. Fortunately, there have been definite improvements in the last two or three decades, and I want to tell you briefly something about this interesting culture and these interesting people.
Their spirituality is very much belonging to the earth. In the European culture, people save up their money and they go and buy a block of land. They have a piece of land surveyed, pay thousands of dollars and say, "That's mine now. I'll build my house." The Aboriginal people feel that they belong to the land, not that the land belongs to them. This explains why the government policies were so destructive of their culture, for whole tribes, en masse, were moved to different areas altogether from the places with which their culture identified. These nomadic people were expected to give up their whole lifestyle and stay in government housing. For 40,000 years they had been nomadic hunters, but they were put in houses beside people of opposing tribes, with whom, for the past 40,000 years, their rituals had forbidden contact. Then an alcohol shop was opened next door and the tensions and alienation resulted in social dissolution.
As the land is returned to the traditional owners, the traditional law is coming back. Initiation is continuing and the culture is becoming strong again. About thirty years ago, the infant mortality rate in some areas was up to fifty percent, one in two babies were dying, but now the situation is much better.
The Aboriginal people believe in a dreamtime. In an ancient time, every person belonged to a race which was half-animal and half-human; it might have been a kangaroo, emu, lizard or such animal, and their spirituality consists of living in their country in relation to that dreamtime two factors are there, the people will be alright, they do not need very much from the Europeans at all. But if the land and the dreaming are broken then no amount of anything is going to fix up their spirit or soul.
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When I went there, I found a book by A. P. Elkin, an anthropologist, Aboriginal Men of High Degree. I thought, "I wonder if I can meet any of these people, if they really exist." They are called Nankari, or shamanistic healers. I have been fortunate enough to have learned a lot from a man who is a Nankari. He says that he thinks that I am a happy man, and he takes me out on different expeditions after plants. I have also seen him working in a shamanistic way on his patients. It is very interesting for me to learn about some of the bush medicines which are still used and are extracted in the traditional way. They are crushed so that the essential essences of the plants give medicines for healing purposes. This is the ayurveda of Australia.
I have been inspired by these people and their culture, and this talk was just to give you some awareness of the situation of these people in Australia. I hope that in an appropriate place you can give your support for their struggle.
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SUMMARY
Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
So here we have an inspirational example of what Paramahamsa Satyananda is now talking about. When we visit Paramahamsaji in his akhara his message is to find compassion, to try to develop atmaabhaava, an understanding of how the other person feels, what the other person is like and what his needs are: Dr. Swami Karmananda has shown how we can extend our yoga practice from our own individual quest for spiritual salvation or knowledge or truth and extend it, so we can recognize the spiritual path of others and see others as ourselves. I am sure you will all agree that the work Dr. Swami Karmananda has now undertaken as his sankalpa, as his heart's path, is inspirational and all of us can learn something from it.
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DR. G. CHATTOPADHYAY
Dr. G. Chattopadhyay first came to the Bihar School of Yoga in December 1989. Earlier that year he met Paramahamsa Niranjanananda in Calcutta where, at a yogic gathering, he was introduced to methods of cure through yoga. Dr. Chattopadhyay has been a professor and independent consultant in business management for a long time. On the role of ego in his profession, he said he used to give a lot of importance to the external attitude and outer appearance. Now, however, having become aware of the principles of yoga, he teaches the opposite, namely how to achieve inner poise and how to discover the inner personality. Though he explains he is a novice in this path, there is a yogi by birth within him, waiting for a guru and the right opportunity.

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AWARENESS OF CULTURAL CONDITIONING
Dr. G. Chattopadhyay
I will focus on some of the aspects of modern society, of modern man, which create problems of which we seem to be totally unaware and for which we do not seem to be equipped to do anything through modern education or science. For these problems, yoga seems to be the only answer. Other speakers have focused on the various ways in which yoga can be utilized, so I will avoid that area altogether and focus on the problems which we do not seem to be quite aware of.
I would like to begin by talking about culture because I began my career as a social anthropologist, an area from which I later moved away. We are all creatures of culture, in the way that we are brought up at home by our parents. In a sense the parents are the culture bearers. The whole idea is that, by handing down culture from one generation to another, the children of the next generation are helped to survive and to grow. But we seem to be quite ignorant of some of the things that happen to us in the process of becoming sophisticated, cultured and civilized. First and foremost, our potential is severely curtailed, because culture puts a boundary on the behavioral repertoire. "This is what is done. This is what is not done." So, we may have a tremendous amount of behavioral potential in us, but right from the beginning we learn to survive by forgetting what we knew earlier. It is a peculiar kind of paradox in which we grow up. That is the first problem of culture, any culture.
The second problem is that we endow various aspects of our culture with positive feelings; for example, this is my religion, this is my language, this is how we eat, this is how we cook, this is how we build, this is how we greet, and so on. All these things are good. But what we are not aware of, and what comes out whenever there is a crisis, is that somehow there is an implication that that which is not within this cultural
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boundary is bad. So, about those who do not belong to my culture, about the way they greet, the way they cook, the way they speak, etc. we say, "It's not as good as mine."
So, in growing up as a modern human being we are, in an insidious way, learning to be discriminative. We discriminate between human beings. Intellectually, we say that we do not believe in caste, creed, religion or color. What we do not realize is that over the years, through the process of growing up, we have this built-in sense of discrimination and a feeling of negativity towards people who do not belong to our culture. It is as if there is something bad about them. If we have power then we also punish them, because of whatever we think is bad in them and we do this most of the time without realizing it.
I was very happy to learn from Swami Karmananda a little while ago that the Australian government is trying to re-emphasize its priorities and to help the Aboriginal people to develop in their own way. I shudder every time I hear the word mainstream in India. It seems that all other streams would have to lose their color and their separateness and be part of a mainstream. Who knows what the mainstream is? But we believe that whatever we have created is good and everything else is bad. That is part of growing up culturally.
The third point is the irrationality of culture. We seldom realize that the great percentage of the things that we learn in a culture are irrational rather than rational. There was an experiment conducted by, of all people, the physicist Fred Hoyle F.R.S., and some behavioral scientists, with four-year old children. The assumption behind the experiment was that these four-year olds have not been sufficiently corrupted by the irrationality of culture, that they retain a lot of the original rationality of the human mind. The experiment showed that four-year olds could pick up four languages without much trouble because they quickly saw the rationality of the grammar, and they also picked up calculus! At the age of twelve or fourteen we are almost crying, trying to learn calculus. So, you can see how gradually we lose touch with our rationality. Therefore, all of us are in need of some kind of treatment to rise above the culture and I see yoga as a wonderful tool for that.
The other aspect that I want to bring into focus, which I learnt about as a management consultant, is the function of transference. We carry in our heads ideas about how we

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should relate to people. Some of it we are aware of, some of it we are not aware of. We take it to our work places so that the relationships, the necessary task-based relationships that ought to develop to a lesser or greater extent at work, or any place outside the family, are not there. Some kind of garbled version of family relationships is imposed.
The last thing that I will refer to is one experiment which we have done bringing organizational behavior and yoga together. I am not the architect of that program, I am a consultant to it. The architect is Dr. Jaydhusend Ganji of I.T.C. This is a retirement program for retiring managers. The retiring managers are crossing one more boundary and going back to their families, so all retiring managers with their spouses come to this program. Apart from other things, we have a module of yoga and that aspect of behavioral science which is based on psychoanalytic insights. So, yoga and a psychoanalytic-based module come together, and people are helped to look at how they have formed their identity so that they can do something with it. You know, it is funny, we believe that unless we have a strong identity (at least I used to believe until very recently) our lives will be a mess. And having built up a strong identity, I also realize what a mess I have made and what a mess everyone is making with their very strong identity. So let us understand how we build up this strong identity, so that at last we can begin to do something about it and merge with that which is beyond identity.
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SUMMARY Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Dr. Chattopadhyay has presented us with a very informative talk from a different angle. We are often saturated by research into physiology and psychology, so it is refreshing to have this cultural perspective. Unless yoga can transcend cultural barriers, any 'l' yoga, any division will create suffering and limitation in knowledge and understanding. The more barriers we create between cultures, between races, between societies and religions, the less we know about each other and the more alienated we become. This is the path to destruction. Only by breaking down these barriers in ourselves through critical selfexamination, through looking at what is going on, can we understand our society. So thank you very much for your enlightened perspective.
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DR. GANESH SHANKAR
Dr. Ganesh Shankar is the head of the Department of Yogic Studies, Hari Singh Gore University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. The Department, which is the first of its type in India, started in 1958. It imparts training along traditional lines and has provision for the further degree of Ph.D. in yoga.
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THE IMPACT OF ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATHING ON PATTERNS
OF PERFORMANCE
Dr. Ganesh Shankar
The facilitation of muscular performance has been of great interest to investigators concerned with the military, industry and athletics, as well as to sportsmen themselves. Present century scientists of biological rhythmometry have produced evidence to the effect that most forces in the body work in diurnal cycles, peaking and ebbing at certain hours indicating the hyper and hypo-functional periodicity of the front organs of the body. Many aspects of such long and short rhythms and their alternations have also been studied to discover their correlations with higher potential for error, injury, impairment of reflexes and co-ordination.
Ancient Indian exponents of the science of yoga seem to have put forth a similar theory of physiological rhythm related to the breathing. The text books of swara yoga mention that man does not breathe evenly through both nostrils. One nostril is active for about one and a half hours while the tissues of the other are slightly engorged. Then for one and half hours it changes and one breathes predominantly through the other nostril. During the period of crossing over, the breath flows equally through both nostrils for a few seconds. The phases of the predominance of left and right nostril breathing are called ida and pingala swaras respectively, while the phase of equal breath flow through flow through both nostrils is known as sushumna.
In the texts, definite indications are given pertaining to the performance of daily regime. Activities like taking of solid and liquid food, attending to jobs requiring mental concentration, engaging oneself in sexual activity, attending to natural calls for urination and bowel movements, undertaking vigorous activities, going to sleep, taking of bath, etc. should be
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completed during the different predominant phases of breathing. The violation of such observances has been claimed to adversely affect health performance and the outcome of the task. These fluctuations in the working of the organism seem to have a definite bearing upon our state of health and fitness, thereby affecting the physical and mental performance of a person. This may be because of the qualitative and quantitative modifications in the activities of our vegetative system during the period of the above mentioned different phases of breathing, which has been said to be very closely related to mental functions.
The present study was undertaken to investigate the impact of phases of alternate nostril breathing patterns upon performance using adolescent school boys as the subjects. The main purpose of the study was to find out if there were any differences between the performance scores on the factors of power, strength and endurance under two different experimental conditions; that is, the right nostril-dominated phase and the left nostril-dominated phase of breathing.
The performance of subjects on the factors of speed, power, strength and endurance was tested through field items of:
1. 60 meter dash in seconds, 2. standing broadjump in meters, 3. grip strength with hand dynamometers in kilograms,
and 4. endurance through cash step test.
The tests of speed, power and strength were administered under the dominance of left and right nostril breathing phases separately, with the help of trained assistants for the 60 meter dash on the track and the standing broadjump of the field. The grip strength, with standardized method, was tested under the direct supervision of the investigator himself. Data for the first three items only was ready for this paper, and hence the results for endurance are still awaited.
The outcome of the analysis of the data indicates that the subjects gave better performance in the areas of power and strength during the dominance of the right nostril breathing phase. The difference between the two means of the right nostril-dominated and the left nostril-dominated performance was very highly significant at 0.01 level. These results have in a way confirmed those of Moorthy, et al (1982). They stated that
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in the case of physical education students' performance on grip strength, there was a positive correlation between more grip strength and right nostril dominance. Therefore, the concept put forward by Paramahamsa Satyananda, that the right nostril-dominated phase represented sympathetic nervous system activity and, as such, the motor organs then had their active phase, seemed to be tenable.
However, better performance on the speed factor under the dominance of the left nostril phase is an unexpected finding. Maybe the left nostril-dominated phase, which is characterized by mentality wherein the sense organs like ears, eyes, etc. are said to be in their active phase, is favorable for better performance in sprints or fast activities. In such activities, other things. being equal, perceptual awareness seems likely to have helped a quick and correct start on getting the signal. In the case of sprints, it is a matter of only milliseconds for one to emerge as a champion.
The results of the present study need further verification through quantitative data collection on better lines, in case it is found that there exists a true relationship between either of the two phases and performance factors. A new dimension would be likely to emerge which would have greater implications, not only for sportsmen, but for normal and ill persons as well.
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SUMMARY Dr. Swami Shankardevananda Saraswati
Here we have a wonderful example of yoga research into nadi shodhan, which we know is one of the most useful and powerful of pranayamas, the basis for a life-long sadhana. It is valuable to know that if we practise pranayama we can increase our endurance, our will and harmonize and channel our energy. In a sense we know this already. It is also very inspiring to know that science is already proving it. So we thank Dr. Ganesh Shankar from Sagar University, which has the only government-sponsored yoga department in India. We hope to see this kind of research inspiring other universities and institutions to open such departments also.
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AFTERNOON SESSION
Gajapati Maharaj, Sri Divya Singh Dev King of Puri
Ramananda Brahmachari
DAY FOUR
Agni Akhara, Varanasi
Swami Parameshwarananda Saraswati
Swami Vidyananda Giri
President, Silver Jubilee celebrations of Acharya Swami Vidyananada Giri Kailash Ashram, Rishikesh

Acharya Mahamandaleshwar, Kailash Ashram, Rishikesh
Paramhamsa Niranjanananda
Mahavir Prasad
District Magistrate, Munger
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THE PATH OF YOGA Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
In the last four days the environment of this town and the land of Munger has been vibrant with yoga. This land has already been sanctified by the pious goddess, Ganga, who constantly washes away our sins and purifies our minds. It is the pride of Munger to have the northward flowing mother Ganga as its deity. In the form of her blessings, the "Ganga of yoga," has been flowing here for the last four days and will continue to flow in the future, to contribute continuously to the welfare of the masses. This is the aim of yoga because everybody wants peace, spiritual peace, internal peace. Man always searches for peace, but that search is externally oriented towards the attractions, to objects of sensory pleasure.
As our most respected Swami Vidyanandaji Giri Maharaj, Acharya of Brahma Vidya Peeth, put it yesterday, "If you want real peace and internal bliss in your life, then first of all conquer the mind." This sentence of his can in fact become a guide for us all. Also our respected master Paramahamsa Satyananda used to say, "There is no peace in the caves of the Himalayas and no chaos in the main Munger market." If you cannot control your mind, you will find no peace in those caves and forests of the Himalayas, and if you can keep your mind still, then you will maintain and feel peace even in the middle of the chaotic main market. The message of yoga is the same.
In the last few days so many saints, thinkers, intellectuals and scientists have come here to deliver only one message, which is that the objects of sensory pleasure will continue to exert their attraction in the world, that can never be eradicated. As long as we fail to develop control over the mental faculties, we shall continue to experience duality and as long as we experience duality we will have to face pleasure and pain, peace and chaos.
Engrossment in worldliness ultimately leads a man to physical sickness and makes him diseased. It also makes his
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mind sick and his thoughts shallow. As a result his behavior is directed towards the fulfillment of selfish motives and not towards evolution. As long as he is desiring the fulfillment of selfish interests, he can never be healthy, contented, balanced and at peace, physically, mentally and spiritually. Therefore, for the alleviation of all kinds of sufferings, whether they are psychosomatic, physical, heaven-sent dooms or even spiri- tual sufferings, we will have to adopt a singular path. That path is of awareness, of endeavor, purushartha and karma, the path of yoga.
If you study the Narad Bhakti Sutra then you will find that bhakti has been mentioned as a part of yoga and yoga is mentioned as part of bhakti. If you study the Gita, you will discover that karma is mentioned as a part of yoga and yoga is mentioned as a part of karma. If you study the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, there also you will find meditation and sadhana as a part of yoga, and yoga as a part of meditation and sadhana. This all denotes that yoga is not a practice which is separate from our life stream. It is intimately related to the human lifestyle.
This path is what is being taught throughout the whole world, and humanity will never forget the services of those dedicated to such a mission. This is a unique gift to humanity. This is an unparalleled system of thought, unmatched endeavor of purushartha and karma. These were the goals and teachings towards which our paramguru, most respected Swami Sivanandaji, pointed, when he instructed Paramahamsa Satyananda to spread the message of yoga from shore to shore and from door to door. He told him, "Remember, do not involve yourself in the job that you do and expect the fruits of your actions like worldly people do. Perform your actions, but renounce their fruits. Do the actions but renounce the actions also. Do not keep an attachment with them. "This message glowed brightly like a flame in the entire life of respected gurudev. The fruits of actions have to be renounced but also renounce any attachment to action itself. That is why, to remember this great resolution of renunciation, we are celebrating this Tyag Golden Jubilee Convention.
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GAJAPATI MAHARAJ, SRI DIVYA SINGH DEV
The King of Puri, Gajapati Maharaj Sri Divya Singh Dev, is the first devotee of Lord Jagannath. Without him, Lord Jagannath would not step out of the temple to shower his auspicious blessings upon us.
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THE ATMIC AGE
Gajapati Maharaj, Sri Divya Singh Dev
This humble servant bows down to you all, since I am only a servant and have come to contribute to this great celebration in the capacity of a student, only because of Paramahamsa Niranjanananda's grace. The experiences that I have gathered over the span of the last few days cannot be described in words. The feelings generated in the last four days can never be erased from my life. The preachings and blessings showered upon us by the sages and saints were not only for this occasion, but have formulated a program for reshaping our lives, our personalities and our characters.
If we do not think seriously over these teachings, do not take them to our hearts and implement them in our daily life then they will not benefit us. So let us take a pledge in this auspicious moment of the Paramahamsa Satyananda Tyag Golden Jubilee celebration that we may all walk with full determination on the path of yoga and sadhana, so that our lives may be filled with yoga and saturated with sadhana. Our commitment to this resolution shall be a true offering from the innermost core of our beings to that great personality.
To our devotees coming from different corners of the world, I would like to say that, brothers and sisters, with the divine grace of Param Poojya Swami Satyananda Maharaj, we have been knitted together into one great spiritual family. He has brought us together with this golden invisible thread of spiritual love. And that is our true relationship, that is our only relationship, that is the lasting relationship. That is the relationship which will give us peace, eternal peace. The differences that exist are only at the level of body, at the level of mind, at the level of intellect. They are very secondary. Our real relationship is one of the soul.
So from the atomic age we have to now progress to the 'Atmic age', the 'O' being deleted. That will be the beginning of a new era, the dawn of a new era and the light has been shown to us by Param Poojya Swamiji Maharaj. As his devotees, as his
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disciples, let us at this sacred moment take this firm and sincere vow, to follow the path shown by him. We will follow the light that he has shown and transform ourselves into better human beings. With these words, I pray at the lotus feet o! Param Poojya Swami Satyanandaji Maharaj and Lorc. Jagannath Mahaprabhu, that they will shower their divin? blessing upon all sincere aspirants.
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SRI RAMANANDABRAHAMACHARI
Sri Ramananda Brahmachari is the 'sthanapati' of Agni Akhara, Varanasi.
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RETURN TO MUNGER
Sri Ramananda Brahmachari
Today's date shall be written in golden letters in the history of Munger. I was sent here from a distant place called Fatehpur by our Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanandaji. On my arrival at Munger, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda guided me to Baijnath Dham to meet Paramahamsa Satyanandaji. At his gates he very energetically welcomed me saying, "Ramananda how have you come? I am happy to see you." I told him that I had come for his darshan and I saw in him not a man of seventy years, but the warmth and energy of a young man of twenty. He told me, "Now I have renounced Munger, I have no attachment to it and I am not going to go back there. I have given my whole property, my whole ashram to Paramahamsa Niranjananandaji." I was astonished by his sense of non-attachment. Nobody in the world today can be a greater renunciate than him. His voice still rings in my ears.
I met Paramahamsa Niranjananandaji accidentally. Once I was standing on my terrace, supervising some construction work. He was travelling in a boat on the Ganges. From the boat he greeted me and I greeted him back, simultaneously extending an invitation to come to our Agni Akhara. He then came to our Agni Akhara and since then we have been friends. He requested me to organize Swami Vidyanandaji's visit to Munger for this convention. I feel myself honored to be instrumental in this effort. I personally want to congratulate Paramahamsa Niranjanananda for his simplicity and for the organization and arrangements which are so tidy and meticulous.
I was in Munger a long time back in 1942 when I was jailed here. I was barely ten years old when I hung to the British Collector's neck, abusing him and telling him to leave our country. "India is ours, you go back." I was pulled away and jailed for two years. Today I have come back with the great honor of being along with Swami Vidyanandaji. I congratulate
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all the participants, especially Paramahamsa Niranjanananda for organizing such a great celebration and for not being disturbed, despite rainy showers. This is all Paramahamsa Satyananadaji's grace and blessings, who despite being so far away physically, listens to each and every word of ours and blesses us.

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SWAMI PARAMESHWARANANDA SARASWATI
Swami Parameshwarananda Saraswati is President of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Acharya Sri Swami Vidyananda Giri Maharaj, Kailash Ashram, Rishikesh.

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THE NECESSITY OF RENUNCIATION
Swami Parameshwarananda Saraswati
This year Swami Vidyanandaji Giri Maharaj has completed twenty-five years as acharya of Kailash Ashram and, therefore, we are celebrating it in the form of a Silver Jubilee Celebration in India and abroad. This celebration has begun now and will continue for one year. It gives me great pleasure to see two celebrations simultaneously going on, one a Golden Jubilee and the other a Silver Jubilee, just like the two rivers Ganga and Jamuna flowing into each other at Prayag. This is a most wonderful moment. You can very well ask why are we celebrating these personalities? What is so special about them? The answer is that these great personalities have given so much to humanity which nobody else in this world can give. They have given life and momentum to a unique science. We are so much obliged and indebted to these sages that we can never repay them. For the time being by just thanking them every morning and celebrating conventions like this we can show our gratitude to some extent.
If you look at Shankaracharya's story - the great man left home at the age of eight years and travelled from the southernmost corner of India (Kanyakumari) to the mighty Himalayas, and that too, barefooted the glory of his renunciation was such that it made the whole country a holy land. It happens to be a divine coincidence that when Swami Satyananda left his home, in the very same year Swami Vidyananda also left home. Though he was initiated into sannyasa much later, the time of their renouncing worldly attachments to home and family was the same. You ask me the importance of renunciation. Scriptures have said, "If anybody has really been happy in this universe, it is only by renunciation."
Tyagena ekena amritattwa manashu
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Only renunciation can lead to the attainment of immortal bliss which the great saints have achieved. Time stands in testimony to the fact that the person who has renounced something has gained a greater thing. The world has always
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revolved around a renunciate, never around a man who himself is running after possessions. And why be a renunciate?
Eeshaavaasyamidam sarvam yatkinchajagatyaam jagat, tena tyaktena bhunjeethaa maa gridhaha kasyasvid dhanam.
(Ishavasya Upanishad Sl. 1) "All this, whatsoever moves in this universe is indwelled - by Isha, therefore, through renunciation do thou enjoy and do not covet anybody's wealth."
When we talk about yoga then it is already assumed to include renunciation. A materialistic accumulation can never lead to yoga. This is a fact. What is this renunciation? What is this yoga then? When you unveil this outer covering of name, form and object and look deeper within, you will discover an inner consciousness. That realization of the relationship between yourself and the inner being is yoga. Reaching that poi is the very aim of your existence. Today scientists are engaged in so much research, but to discover what? If you give a little thought to this you will clearly know that all their efforts and their sight is focused externally, whereas our rishis and saints, who were scientists of equal or even higher caliber, made their discoveries inside, within the inner world and, therefore, their contribution is unmatched in this world.
Once a guru with some disciples was preaching. Suddenly there was an earthquake. The whole ground and the building where they were staying began to shake. All the disciples rushed out in chaos. But the guru kept sitting inside in a deep meditation. When the earthquake subsided the disciples came and asked, "Gurudev, why did you not run away?" He replied, “I also ran but our race was in opposite directions. You ran outside whereas I ran inside. I went to the innermost real Self where no death could touch me." A realized Indian saint can claim this with true perfection.
A similar incident happened when King Pareekshit was threatened by the deadliest cobra Taskshak. He went to his guru Sukhadeva and after attaining that state he confidently claimed that no death could kill him.
Namam takshati takshakaha "Takshak can never kill me with his bite". He renounced his mortal attachments, crossed the boundaries of death and realized the inner Self, the eternal flame existing within. Acharya Shankara had said:
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Ya
Brahmadi pipeelikan tanu shuprota jagat sakshanees haivaham nacha drishyavat suchi dvidha pragyanti yashyashite chandalostu chatuhryostu gurorityeha maneesha maa.
One who has realized that which is within an ant, within an elephant, and also within the Brahma, that is my real nature, "I am That", that person is our guru, regardless of whether he appears a pious man or an untouchable externally. This is my view.
These great saints and gurus have only one aim, which is to make us reach that point where the fear of death is abolished and one realizes,
Mrityunaam mrityumishwaraam
"I am the death god of all death." At the holy feet of these saints the constant fear of death is transcended. It is their gift. For one who has realized this hastamalakwat state, meaning that reality is seen by them as clearly as is fruit on the palm, their life becomes,
Padam Patramivambhasmaam
That is, just like a lotus leaf which remains in water but never gets wet, similarly, they remain in this world yet are uninvolved.
Just now, Swami Niranjananandaji quoted his gurudev and said, "There is no peace in the Himalayas and there is no noise in the world, it is all within you." You have to realize it and these great people will help you to do so. That realization is possible anywhere, not only here but also in your own countries and homes. Go and awaken this faculty and let everyone know that in your life, pain and suffering have no place.
I met an American who told me that so many people have died due to stress and anxiety. The materialistic pleasures are abundant but still the mind is in chaos and disturbed to such an extent that a man can poison himself and leave a letter saying, "It is nobody's fault, I am dying for my own peace."
Nobody in this holy land has died out of frustration if he has followed the path shown by these saints. And look at their greatness, they are attracting you, inviting you by organizing such big conventions and seminars. Come and join us once and get rid of your anxieties and frustrations.
Congratulations to such great persons and really great is their guru who can even renounce renunciation itself. Such are true gurus who show us the worthlessness of worldly objects.
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By performing such severe austerity he wants us to realize that there is nothing in life greater than tapas, not only external austerity, but also an inner one. Such great saints are served even by kings, but they value the inner feeling not the external status.
I am very happy to come here and to meet the deserving successor of Paramahamsa Satyanandaji. When I came here he told me a serious thing. He said, “I also want to follow the same path that gurudev has undertaken." I said, "Not now, not now, be patient." You see it is all so clean, so sacred. These great people have no attachment, nothing can touch them. Once a Gopi devotee said to Lord Krishna, “O Krishna, come to my house daily and have your butter, do not go to anybody else's house." Lord Krishna replied, "Look, I am not a bee who keeps sticking to jaggery until death. I am a honey bee who never sticks to one place." In this example, the Lord is preaching to His devotees and seekers, "O yogis! O renunciates! Do not keep attachment to any particular object. Your life is untainted, not sticky. One whose life is free from attachments becomes the master of the entire universe."
Aasha eshaam dasi
The people who are slaves of attachment become slaves of the world and the people who are masters of the attachments become masters of the whole world, and are, therefore, called universal masters or gurus. Their hearts are pure and filled with love and whensoever one meets them, one feels oneself to be the most beloved one.
Whenever Swami Niranjananandaji meets anybody, whether a saint or a devotee, that person feels that he loves him the most. But he is not involved, it is the divine love being showered through him. He is just giving it away to you so that you are filled and saturated with it, and can in turn begin to distribute it to others when you depart, carrying that divine love away with you, just like a cloud carrying away the water from an ocean, and pouring that rainfall of nectar wherever you go. This is my only request to you all, that you all be angels of the divine message and tell others of the nectar that you have brought from Munger.
Here my offering of flowers in the form of a speech thus concludes at the holy feet of Swami Satyanandaji Maharaj, a great man, a superman whose renunciation, yoga and austerity
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may inspire you all. You must all learn to adopt the teachings, love, knowledge and simplicity of Swami Niranjan in your own lives. Today we also have another great man whose literary works have astonished all the great scholars, Mahamandaleshwar Acharya Swami Vidyanandaji. What a fortunate and auspicious moment this is. You all deserve thanks and divine grace and I pray to God, "O Lord, may everybody be blessed by your holy feet and graced by your own form so that their lives become perfect."
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SPIRITUAL WEALTH
Swami Vidyananda Giri
Our most respected Swami Satyananda Saraswatiji, whose name is worthy of remembrance every morning, was born in the hilly town of Almora in this holy land of India. He chose this place called Munger in the state of Bihar as the focal point from which he spread his teachings and conducted his personal austerities. There must be some special mystery behind this. Only he can tell us exactly what it is, but I would like to speak a few words on whatever I have understood.
This region of Bihar has been a playground of avatars, yogis, realized saints and siddhas. There was a time when any scholar who finished his basic studies, would travel, not abroad, like the modern student, nor to any big institution, but to Mithila, to King Janaka, This region in ancient times was called Mithila, and King Janaka used to rule here. He was not only an emperor, but also a saint and a donor of wealth and knowledge. This fact has been well known since the time of the Vedas until the last few centuries.
This area had another name, Tirahuta. The people who lived on the north and northeastern side of the Ganges used to call themselves Tirahutiyas, or residents of Tirahuta. Even King Janaka is named Tirahuta Nivasi, or resident of Tirahuta, in the Ramacharitamanas. The reason for this name is that teer means the banks of the Ganga.
Tere teera jo hoti tirahutaha
Everywhere along the northern banks of the Ganga, religious rituals were taking place and that pious land was Tirahuta. At every place, there were fire ceremonies, homas and yajnas, singing and chanting of the Lord's name, and vedic mantras were being sung constantly. This reputation has been held since the time of the Vedas. The vedic mantras quote the name of Janaka in some places. Even the Gita quotes his name,
Karmanaiv hee sansiddhimasthista janakadayaha, Lok sangrahameapi sampashyankartumarhasi
(Gita, 3-20)
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Even the seers and sages were astonished by the intellectual wealth of this king. Let me tell you a story from the initial section of the Vedas.
There was once a meeting of intellectuals at King Janaka's palace. The discussion was on the Karmakanda section of the Vedas. Very minute points were being discussed relating to vedic rituals. All the sages were expressing their opinions and none of them could agree with each other. At that moment King Janaka spoke on a very minute point regarding karma, which resolved the knot of confusion. The great sage Yagyavalkya was highly surprised at the king's deep understanding. A person who was always engrossed in sorting out the problems of his kingdom and his people, living amongst the worldly pleasures, how did he come to know such a fine point in the area of esoteric knowledge?
Being impressed by his genius, the great sage Yagyavalkya gave him a boon of kaama prashna. That means that one is allowed to ask Yagyavalkya any question at any time. If you want to ask a question to any sage, you usually have to wait until the sage can give you some of his time. Swami Niranjanananda can be seen so easily on the stage today. But after the convention you will have to wait for hours to see him. And you can ask questions only when he is in a mood to answer.
Tadviddhi pranipatene pariprashnena sevaya,
upade kshanti te gyanam gyaninah tattwadarshinih
Lord Krishna in this sloka has ordered that we should request repeatedly, do service at his feet, and then ask questions; only then will the realized and learned people give knowledge. A question is preceded by a big preparation. However, with this boon, the one who asks questions has nothing to worry about. He does not have to think whether the teacher is hungry or thirsty or is in any other state or mood.
Receiving such a boon overwhelmed King Janaka. He went on asking a series of questions, one after the other. This is mentioned in the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad. Looking at the interest displayed by King Janaka and the minuteness of his questions, sage Yagyavalkya was baffled for a moment and thought, "This king wants to soak up all my knowledge with this boon." Even such a great sage, of such a high caliber, was surprized by the king's genius. So that is Janaka, who was the emperor of the Mithila region, and any scholar of that time would come travelling to Mithila saying, “Janaka, Janaka”.
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This secret was realized by the seer Paramahamsa Satyananda. Therefore, he made the town of Munger the center of his teaching, despite its economic backwardness. Great sages have kept coming here over the span of centuries. This town is named after the great seer Mudgalrishi. And as you all know, the most kind-hearted king Karna used to worship goddess Kali here, and would donate all the gold received from her blessings. Such are the rich antecedents of this place, a
and this was realized by the seer Paramahamsa Satyananda. The town is surrounded by the goddess Bhagirathi Ganga on all three sides, just like a mother cuddles her precious child. The decision of that seer and saint has made the name of Munger known to the entire world. The name of Patna is not known to as large a number of people as is the name of Munger. All the credit goes to Paramahamsa Satyananda, whose Golden Jubilee we are celebrating. We pay our homage with all reverence at his holy feet.
At one place in the Neeti-shastras, it has been said, Aapdam kathitah pantha indriyaanam asamyamat samyamah sampada margo yeneshta tena gamyatam.
"Without control over the senses, allowing them to behave erratically, is the objectionable path. The path of control over the senses leads to happiness, prosperity and peace. You have a choice to go the way you choose, we will not stop you."
In this sutra, the shastra leaves the choice of life up to you. We just inform you which path leads to suffering and which to happiness, you are free to make you own choice. If you want to push yourself into the fire of a never-ending chain of comp tions, go ahead, it is your pleasure. The same was declared ages ago by the shrutis. They say,
Paraanchkhaani vitarana swayambhooh Tasmaat paraan pashyati naantaraatman Kashit dheerat pratyek aatman Prekshataapeksha chakshu tvat mati kshamah.
God has been very generous, giving us so many things. If we did not have legs, how could we have come here? If we did not have a mouth and the power of speech, then how could we express the feelings of our heart? Without ears you could not hear me, without the power of logic, buddhi, you could not understand me, without eyes you could not walk on the streets. The senses are not of small importance. They are a very important, divine gift to us. But there remains a problem. This is the
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common problem of all human beings, that he has made all these senses uncontrolled and oriented towards the objects of the external world. As a result, human beings do not look within and do not see the inner self. This is why the whole world is blinded by the glaring attraction of materialism, especially the so-called rich nations, for example America, Japan, etc. But this country, the holy land of rishis, is rich with the knowledge of sense control. Maybe it is economically poor, but even the richest of nations aspire for its wealth.
We are not the only people who claim so, you can ask any great son of India. Leave aside the sannyasins of the Bihar School of Yoga, ask any layman from the public. He will say the west is rich, we are poor, but our ancient knowledge is our treasure, and that treasure is the technique of self-control. India and Indian saints can impart this higher knowledge to the whole world.
Ages ago Manu, the first man on earth, said, Etaddesham prasootasya sagaasyaasad janmanah Swam swam charitram shikshena prithivyam sarve manavaah (Manu Smriti 2-20)
"A man who is born in this holy land and is a brahmin was surely a sannyasin in his previous births. Come, oh people of the world, sit at his holy feet and learn the lesson of how to live."
This was an invocation by Manu in his Smriti Granthas. Therefore, we have something to give. Everybody else does business. If they give something, whether weapons or any other commodity, they expect something in return. But the yogi of this nation just gives without wanting anything in return. He just wishes for universal well-being.
So, one who gives all his wealth completely and unconditionally, and still thinks himself to be the richest of all, can be nobody else but a saint, a sage residing in this holy land. Thus, from the spiritual point of view, this is undoubtedly the richest nation and nobody can forget that. It goes without saying then, that the cause of everybody turning their eyes in the direction of these saints, sannyasins and geniuses is just to find a way to peace.
We all complain to God regarding the extroverted orientation of our senses. But it is very rare that a real seeker of truth emerges amongst us, somebody who really is desiring immor

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tality. Let this body die if it has to, but let there be no such future possibility of being born and dying again. It is rare indeed to see a man desiring to control his senses and to evolve spiritually. It is not so easy; it happens very slowly, and you are fortunate to be one of those exceptions.
Once upon a time somebody asked Shankaracharaya, "O! Lord, great people condemn both birth and death. It is bad to be born and even worse to die, but is there a birth which can be appreciated and is there a death deserving applause?" Lord Shankaracharya answered,
Jato hi ko yasya punarnajanma kova mrityo yasya punarnamrityuh.
"The birth of one who will never be born again is commendable. The death of one who will never die again is also commendable." Once you leave this body, let there be no question of coming back into another body; abandon the possibility of repeating the cycle of birth and death.
Today we are celebrating such a great saint, who has transcended life and death. He is a jeevanmukta, free in this life, and he shows the path of freedom to all. There have been many people attaining self-realization, but they kept themselves secret. If Paramahamsa Satyananda, after his realization, had retired to a secluded cave in the Himalayas and enjoyed his blissful state there, then we would never be celebrating his Tyag Golden Jubilee. He was unlike the selfish people. He did not choose a secluded place for his austerities because he does not live only for himself. He made his knowledge available to all from this town of Munger, located in the poor and materially backward state of Bihar. That is why we are celebrating his Golden Jubilee.
The shastras mention that there are mountains not only of mud and stone, but also of silver and gold. The trees that grow on these mountains of silver and gold, however, remain just trees. They are neither soil nor stone, neither silver nor gold. Why should we appreciate the mountains of silver and gold if the trees growing on them remain just trees? We will applaud that mountain of malayagiri on which even the bitter neem trees become sandalwood.
Similarly, why would we appreciate a realized saint enjoying his blissful state in a solitary Himalayan cave? We will appreciate the great master whose mission is now providing
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guidance to thousands of people, showing them the correct path. He has planted this Bihar School of Yoga like a kalpataru, a wish-fulfilling tree. And we shall appreciate Paramahamsa Niranjanananda who is running this mission with his sweat and blood, and who has dedicated his life to the purpose of showing every man the right path to acquire real peace.
Once Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said to his beloved disciple Swami Vivekananda, "Son, I don't consider one to be a saint who is striving only for his own peace and liberation. One who says, 'Let the world go to hell' is not to be considered a saint. A real saint is one who liberates himself and while walking on the path of liberation guides others also on the same way. We consider him to be a sadhu." After receiving this blessing from his master, Swami Vivekananda devoted his whole life to the mission of his guru. He did not enclose himself in samadhi, but continued to show the right path to the masses. The same spirit is in Paramahamsa Niranjanananda. He is also committed to his guru's orders. This is the life of a saint.
Once there were two sages. They were roaming in a deserted forest. They had been hungry and thirsty for many days. They could not find any drinking water nor edible fruits. They came across a tall boundary wall on the way. Both of them climbed the wall with great effort, and when they crossed to the other side, they saw a beautiful lake filled with crystal clear, blue water and surrounded by trees laden with fruits. They happily took a bath, drank the water, ate the fruit and satisfied themselves.
One of them decided to stay there permanently, but the other again crossed the wall, came to the other side and walked back to his village, where thousands and thousands of people were hungry, thirsty and suffering. He showed them the path, helped them, even carried them on his shoulders up to that lake garden and satisfied everybody's thirst and hunger. In this situation, whom would you consider great? Whom would you worship? The first, who retired forever into that garden, or the second, who helped others? "Obviously the second", comes the answer. "He is worthy of adoration. We will chant hymns in praise of the one who sacrifices his comfort for others." The great bhakta, Prahlad, has sung a prayer to Lord Narasimha in the Shrimad Bhagawatan and in it, he
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has said, "He is a businessman who prays to the Lord for the fulfilment of some desire. We do not pray to you for a boon in return. We worship your holy feet because it is natural to us, in the same way' as you love us naturally and unconditionally."
So the work of showing the right path to people is the greatest work and this the rishis, saints and sages have done for ages. Paramahamsa Satyananda has done the same for many years and still now, by his austerities, he is inspiring people to leave their attachment to material possessions and begin the inward journey. Such is his greatness, that we are holding this celebration. You all have been fortunate to listen to so many great people. But do not think that this is all, that we have been blessed for ever. Instead, consider that the sun of sadhana has just risen in your life. We must return with a pledge to walk on the path which our gurudev has shown us.
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda told us yesterday that after this convention, all sannyasins and devotees will receive training from here and will travel all over the country to spread the message of yoga from door to door, just like Lord Ramchandra's monkey army, vaanar senaa. Please do not forget the inspiration of that invocation. After all, who is the real saint? The one who shaves his head or wears geru clothes or similar uniform? Although we respect anybody in that dress, that is not the identification mark of a saint.
În Ramacharitamanas, Goswami Tulsidas has said in the Ramayana, "The axe cuts the sandalwood tree, but the sandalwood leaves its fragrance even in that axe. The very destroyer of the tree's existence is also blessed with perfume." Similar is the greatness of saints and real gurus. They do not judge, the deeds will harvest their appropriate results in the natural course of time. Just as sandalwood is put on the forehead of gods, and the axe is heated in a fire and beaten with a heavy hammer, so great saints are just like gods or even greater. Goswami Tulsidas further says, “The sandalwood tree is feared by all, because of the deadly poisonous snakes wrapped around it. Nobody can go near it. But the air picks up the sweet fragrance and carries it to everybody." Similarly the ultimate reality is unperceivable by all, but these great saints bring its fragrance to our doors.
Divinity is truth, consciousness, bliss, sitting right inside everybody's heart. But what is the significance of this if people
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are still unhappy, roaming around with long faces? It is not until the guru makes us aware of his presence and shows the path that we realize him, until then we know him not. Therefore, the status of guru is considered even higher than God. It is asked if guru and God are both standing together, whom will you worship first? The answer comes to worship the guru first because he is the one who has introduced you to God. Somebody has said, if one looks for an object or an example which is equivalent to a sadguru it is really hard to find one. There is a rare stone called paras mani or the philosopher's stone which has the capacity to turn iron into gold just by mere contact. But the sadguru is even one step ahead as he turns iron (the disciple) not only into gold but into another philosopher's stone.
You can see how Swami Satyananda has converted Swami Niranjanananda into another satguru and left all his mission on his shoulders. The real guru does not want the disciple to serve his feet life long, but makes him universally respected. You are also invoked to dedicate your lives to the discovery of the inner self and universal welfare. First, realize yourself, then spread the message to everyone and guide them. Therefore, guru is greater than God, greater than the philosopher's stone. Remember, if you have devotion for God but not for the guru, then his teaching will bear no fruits.
Yasya deve paraabhaktih yathaa deve tathaa gurau, tasyaite kathitaa hyarthaa prakaashante mahaatmanah.
If one has intense devotion for God and a similar intensity of devotion for the guru, then one will go on realizing, whatever guidance is given. One will achieve the fruits very quickly. The esoteric meanings of the Upanishads will be as clear as child's play. But the one who does not have that intensity of devotion for the guru's holy feet, no matter how much instruction is given, it will all flow down the drain. The meanings will not be illuminated.
I have closely observed the sannyasins of this place. I have found that the devotion to guru in their hearts is unparallelled, and from that everybody should receive inspiration. May your bhakti remain forever of the same intensity, may you be dedicated to guru more than to God and walk on the path illumined by him, this is my heartiest blessing and auspicious greeting to you all. It is my wish that Bihar School of Yoga will become the most wonderful school in the whole world. No, I

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should call it a university, not a school. No other university attracts people from so many different parts of the world as does this one. Its significance will shine more brightly when each and every genius student trained and qualified here spreads the light of vedic Sanatan Dharma to each and every corner of the world, just like the students of Gautama Buddha did.
Remember one thing, by yoga only will you unlock the deep patterns of mind, yogaschittavritti nirodhah (Yogasutras Ch. 1, v. 2), and also know the form of the inner self. But God realization will not be possible. For that the gurus teach a higher truth. Tattwamasi, Ayamatma Brahma, Aham Brahmasmi and Pragyanam Brahma. These are the four mahavakyas of the four Vedas, and without their realization, the final realization is not possible. The secret behind this I will not disclose now. The desire to know the truth will arise in your mind and the question will stir in your heart, "By yoga I have realized my inner Self, Yadadrishii swaroopevasthaanaam, but where is God realization?" Without it there is no eternal peace. This is the bold announcement of the Upanishads in the initial part of the Vedas and nobody can deny it. Only by God realization can you be released from the clutches of death, not otherwise.
Somebody asked Lord Shankaracharya, "'There are many diseases in this world, and the treatments and doctors are many. There are diseases which originate in this body and subside with proper treatment. There are also diseases which persist life long. As long as you live you will suffer. After the death of the body, the suffering of the body is finished, it does not continue into the next lifetime. But there is a disease which follows again and again into each and every birth." Lord Shankaracharya was asked this question, Ko deergha rogaha? “What is the most prolonged suffering? What is that disease that follows us into every life and is troubling every being and keeps on sticking to us in each and every birth? It is not curable by any doctor. What is it?" Lord Shankaracharya answered, Bhaveva sadhah. "O sage the birth and death is that suffering which follows everybody forever." So the disciple asks again:
Tasya rogasya kim aushadham?
The answer is, Vicharevah. Contemplation. Contemplation on the world, being and God. What is this world? What is the real being? What is God? Contemplation on these ideas in the end leads to self-realization and then the suffering ends."
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This very medicine is being distributed to you all by the Bihar School of Yoga. After consuming the medicine you not only become cured and free yourself from the clutches of birth and death, but also show the path of freedom to others so that they can also find medicine. So, we expect you and we wait for that auspicious moment when all the students present here be they in any dress, or in any geru, yellow or white uniform, be they speaking any language, will free themselves from this prolonged suffering and experience the true bliss within their hearts. These are my hearty and auspicious blessings.
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YOGA CHARTER BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
We have come here on the eve of the Tyag Golden Jubilee of our guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda. It has been an honor for the organizers to welcome the six hundred delegates from thirty two countries of the world, and the six thousand delegates from the twenty states of the Republic of India, under the canopy of this yogic environment, the yogic vision, the yogic mission.
What is yoga? How did it begin? And where does it end? The answers to these questions are important to understand. The origin of yoga is lost in the mists of time, but we can just infer that it began when the first man to walk on this planet earth looked around and started asking himself the questions: What is all this? Who am I? How does my body function and work? How am I motivated to search for shelter, happiness, and food? Is there something greater than me which has created all the stars and the moon and the sun which I. perceive. It was at that time that the seed of yoga was planted in the personality of an individual. That seed, in the form of samskara, has been handed down from the first person to walk on this planet, to all of us who are present here today. In this process he went through many changes in life, changes which inspired him to discover new things about himseif, new things about the universe, new things about the relationship that an individual has with the entire cosmos. That was the beginning of yoga.
This world is a very peculiar place, because life as we know it is guided by our ambitions, aspirations, desires and other things which have to be fulfilled. It is the fulfillment of those ambitions and aspirations which makes us a wordly person. The moment we are able to recognize that these aspirations and ambitions are just ways and means to keep our consciousness and awareness restricted to the manifest world, to the
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manifest dimension, and that there is a higher awareness beyond the material world, then that is the beginning of the discovery of the Self.
Yoga is not something which is different and distinct from human life, it is part and parcel of human life. It is the process of spontaneous and natural evolution which we call yoga. But as we become more involved in the manifest world, in the world of the senses, in the world of ego, in the world of manas and buddhi and chitta, we subject ourselves to the pains that the manifest world throws at us. These different pains manifest in our body in the form of imbalance, illness, disease. The world 'disease' is a very important word. 'Ease' means to be comfortable. When there is disturbance in the natural ease of the human personality, then that disturbance is known as disease. So disease is nothing, whether it be physical, emotional or psychological or even spiritual, but a state of disharmony within the human personality, within the human physical and psychological structure, and this state of disease has to be eradicated.
How to eradicate it? The only way to eradicate disease and to again obtain total harmony of the personality, to develop an integrated personality, is to adopt a method of self-observation and self-purification, a method which rebalances and reharmonizes the physiological structure, the psychological structure, and the spiritual aspirations. Therefore, the practices of yoga, such as ashtanga yoga, raja yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga and many other yogas, were developed by the seers who
knew that future generations would have to face this intricate problem. It is this tradition of yoga which has been preserved as an integral part of the Indian culture, and, therefore, today the credit goes to India for again bringing the light of yoga to the world.
Yoga is a world culture. The whole world has inherited it, but the credit goes to the Indian culture for preserving this great knowledge against the test of time. Gradually, as human life became more and more disorganized and unbalanced, the great Indian saints had to come out from their caves in the Himalayas and spread this knowledge of yoga across the oceans and continents for the welfare and upliftment of mankind. India gets the credit, but the knowledge of yoga is universal. Please do not forget this, because this is a process of self-discovery.

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Just as the knowledge of science is not limited to a country, a culture or a religion, in exactly the same way, knowledge of yoga does not belong to a particular race, religion or culture. It incorporates a universal all-inclusive philosophy. The common people here thought that yoga was a way of self-realization designed only for ascetics. But when the great masters said, "No, yoga is not only a way of self-realization", then the people said, "O.K. we accept it as a physiological science." This definition is also wrong. When Saint Patanjali was asked, "What is yoga?", he replied, "Atha yogaanushaasanam." It is a way of disciplining oneself. This discipline and balance is not only external, restricted to the physical body or intellect alone, but is a restructuring of the whole personality. This personality in turn inspires and motivates our actions, thoughts, samskaras and emotions.
Yoga is a discipline which encompasses all the dimensions of the human personality. It is not just a form of physical discipline, it is not just a form of mental discipline, nor is it spiritual discipline. If we have to call it anything, we should call it the discipline of life. However, due to our distorted mentality, due to our limited perception, due to our limited vision, we consider it to be a physical culture, we consider it to be just a process of attaining mental relaxation and concentration. However, it is not that, because the main roots of yoga lie in tantra, and tantra is composed of two words, tanoti and traayati. 'Tanoti' meansa to enlarge, to expand. 'Traayati' means to liberate. Expansion of what? Liberation of what? It is expansion of consciousness and liberation of the energy principle (shakti). The aim of tantra and yoga is to liberate this inherent energy principle or shakti. To repeat, it is the expansion of consciousness, it is developing an integrated, broad vision of life and liberation of the dormant potentials of human personality which is the meaning of tantra and which is the meaning of yoga.
With our distorted views of life, with our distorted personality, we have considered yoga to be something else. This idea has to change. The whole of life is yoga. This idea has to evolve. The whole of life is a process of yoga. In this day and age, we need to create a yogic revolution in order to integrate human beings, in order to integrate human societies, in order to bring about a harmony in nations, in philosophies, in thoughts.

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The feeling of vasudhaiva kutumbakam, universal brotherhood, was the resolution and dream of our saints. They envisaged the whole world as one big family, and if we are members of a family then who is higher and who is lower? Is there such a differentiation of status in a family? No, in a family everybody is equal, all bear the feeling of belonging to one family.
It is now high time that we developed a global vision. In order to do this, we have prepared a charter of yoga which will unify and coordinate the different activities that have been happening in different parts of the globe and create a silent, yogic revolution. After having received the blessings of the saints, and inspiration from the intellectuals, scientists and well wishers of society, it is an auspicious moment for us to inform you all of the Yoga Charter which will come into force from today.
The mission statement of the Yoga Charter is: "We, the sannyasin disciples of Paramahamsa Satyananda who are spread all over the globe, on the eve of the fiftieth year of sannyasa celebration of our guru and master, hereby dedicate ourselves to work with determination, sincerity, love and compassion to spread the message of the ancient yogic tradition, to uplift the global and individual consciousness for a better tomorrow. In order to work harmoniously for a spiritual tomorrow we hereby adopt this charter, which will provide us with a direction for the fulfillment of our guru's yogic and humanitarian mission. Imbibed with love for our guru and compassion for mankind, we pledge to carry the light of yoga from door to door and shore to shore."
This Yoga Charter aims to unite the efforts of all those sincere seekers, teachers and aspirants who wish to see a better tomorrow for humanity. This is a tremendous responsibility, but in order to do this, there is a small plan. Of course, implementation of the plan is going to be different on national and international levels.
For the implementation I just want one thousand people. Those people who are selected will have to devote only fifteen days of their lives, and become the messengers of peace and the ambassadors of yoga. Those who want to be a part of this movement are welcome to apply, but let me assure you that you may not be selected. We do not want a crowd, we just want a limited number of dedicated and sincere people who
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silently do the work without any aspirations, without any ambitions, without any hopes.
It is a tremendous responsibility for which I need to share my burden with somebody. There are many people who have given blood and sweat to work for the cause of yoga, for the mission of yoga and for Paramahamsaji. I find the most outstanding among them is just one person. One person has taken personal care, has given personal attention to each and every aspect of the convention and I find that person to be the right one to share my burden in looking after the management of the ashram. That person is Swami Gyanprakash Saraswati.
You are the witnesses that today Swami Gyanprakash becomes the acharya of the Bihar School of Yoga. I can concentrate more and more in serving humanity. I can concentrate on serving our guru, without the limitations that an institution can have on an individual. Although we will be sharing the burden of the management of the institution together, Swami Gyanprakash has more responsibility than me.
Our aim is just to dedicate ourselves, not to chase after achievements, because our inspiration is our guru, Paramahamsa Satyananda, who has given an example and guidance to us. When he knew that we were going to celebrate his Tyag Jayanti he sent this message: "Niranjan, Namo Narayan. I send my good wishes for the Convention, you call it Tyag Jayanti. I call it samarpan muhurat, the moment of dedication. It was that time, an auspicious moment in my life, which I experienced fifty years ago in the presence of my guru, Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. To this day, I have always remembered it as a great moment of dedication."
It is that message which we are bringing into our lives today, here and now, and it is that moment of dedication that we remember with reverence and happiness and joy as we bow our heads before our guru who has always said that dedication is everything. Once you dedicate yourself, all achievements are just results of that dedication. So do not look towards achievements as something great. If we find some achievement in our life, we consider it to be a very great thing for us. We say, "Oh, I have achieved this, I have done that." Even in the state of realization there is a euphoria, there is an ego, "'I have become realized."
But that has not happened here. Paramahamsaji says that the only thing worth carrying in your heart is the remembrance
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of the moment when you dedicated yourself, because that was the start of your journey. That was the highlight of your journey, and not the scenes that you have passed and seen on the way. And it is to that great master of yoga, who has brought the light of yoga and truth and bliss into our lives, that we bow our heads and to whose memory of dedication this convention is dedicated. We offer our prayers, our love, our dedication, and we surrender ourselves to that divine will which has guided him throughout his life.
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A GARLAND OF THANKS
Sri Mahavir Prasad
The Tyag Golden Jubilee celebration and the World Yoga Convention started in the lunar month of Kartik and will end in the same month. This lunar constellation is very auspicious and its vibrations are said to be more powerful than the bright rays of the sun and the cooling light of the moon. In our ancient text, the Skanda Purana, it is said that this is a very pious month in which all the 330 million gods and goddesses descend to the level of the earth, very close to mortal human beings. Other texts even discuss the idea that there is no millennium greater that Satya yuga, there is no text greater than the Vedas, there is no month greater than Kartik and there is no land holier than that traversed by the Ganges.
So this convention is very important for four reasons. Firstly, it celebrates the renunciation of the great sage, Paramahamsa Satyananda, secondly, it is being celebrated on the banks of the Ganges, thirdly, it is organized in the month of Kartik and fourthly, it is happening in the land of Munger, which has been sanctified by many ascetics, heroes, renunciates and generous people.
So in the process of delivering thanks, again I would like to begin by thanking Mother Nature. The first reason for thanking nature is that when, on the inaugural day, I thanked her for her showers, she thought, "If I send such a light shower and the District Magistrate of this district sends me so many thanks, why don't I pour down some more showers?'' She did it with spirit for three days continuously, and therefore, I thank her again.
Secondly, the boundaries and capacities of nature are infinite. It is such a great power that even the chance of resisting its efforts is in itself a matter for great honor and respect. In such a great struggle, even losing is prestigious, and our victory is obviously prestigious. It is just like a weak, thin man fighting courageously against the mighty world champion.
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Thirdly, nature tested us by her tough attitude and found that we did not give up. We were given the opportunity to prove ourselves tough, stable and unmoved by showing that we are disciplined and do not compromise in keeping up our values.
During these heavy rains, everybody who has been present here deserves compliments for their patience and concentration. It signifies their full dedication. When there is full dedication and surrender, there begins devotion and when devotion begins, then comes the role of guruji. Without this full surrender, people are just lost in the confusion of where, why and when. Just like a child asks his mother who his father is, and believes the one his mother points out to be his father, without asking why and when, so a disciple does not ask for any proof. Without surrender you cannot find a guru and without guru you cannot have the ultimate realization of divinity.
I also thank from my heart all the saints and gurus who have arrived here to bless us. Please note the the difference between a teacher and a guru. A teacher is one who adds something to your preconditioned knowledge; whether you have true knowledge or false knowledge does not matter. They just fill up your store. But a guru first empties out your conditioned knowledge, and fills you up gradually with new things. So a student of a teacher just has a mixture of true knowledge (jnana) and false knowledge (ajnana). But the disciple of a guru expresses himself in a totally fresh and new manner.
There is another difference between a teacher and a guru. The teacher just talks of a way, but the guru takes you along with him, he walks with you until you reach the final goal. For example, if you ask a traffic policeman the way to a railway station, he will just point it out, but a gentleman who happens to pass by will guide you till you reach the station. Another difference between a teacher and a guru is that a teacher always charges you fees before giving you something, but a guru does not know how to take, he just knows how to give. His hand is always raised in the position of giving.
There is a short story that I want to tell you. Once a student went to his teacher about his Ph.D. thesis. The teacher asked, "By which path do you want to get your Ph.D., by the path of knowledge or the path of devotion?" The student said, "By the path of knowledge." "Okay,” said the teacher, and gave him a big mathematical problem and told him to return when he had
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solved it. The student scratched his head for six months, and came back with folded hands saying, "I want to do my thesis by the path of devotion." The teacher said, "Okay, pick up this gunny bag and fetch some grass for the cow. Take this bag and get some vegetables from the market. My children want to go to a movie so get the tickets.” So his service started and he got his Ph.D. degree.
These methods may apply to a guru, but one thing is sure, with one hand he holds the hand of the disciple and his other hand is in contact with God. He understands the language of the disciple and also that of God, so he tells your problems to Him and conveys His orders to you. When he feels that the gap between the disciple and God has been bridged so that they can communicate with each other independently, he removes himself. This is the state of bliss. The disciple is blessed because he has attained his ultimate aim, and the guru is happy because his job is finished, and God is happy because he has found the right receptacle.
This was the reason why, when Paramahamsa Satyanandaji realized that Paramahamsa Niranjanananda needed no guru, that he himself could communicate with divinity, he removed himself from the scene. That is his renunciation. A second example was seen when Ramakrishna Paramahamsa made Swami Vivekananda experience a vision of Mother Kali. He realized that his disciple had reached the ultimate goal and he vanished from between them. The disease of cancer was just an excuse. If he had not died of cancer, he would have removed himself by some other means. You can see a third example in Mahatma Gandhi. The aim of all his disciples was the attainment of independence, and the day India became independent he removed himself from the scene, renouncing everything. Nathuram Godse who shot him dead was just an excuse. If he had not shot him, Gandhi would have gone by some other means. So in this way, I thank all the gurus and express my gratitude towards them.
After this I would like to thank God himself. Whether or not God exists has been a topic of never-ending debate between atheists and believers. In my view the reality is a topic for research, but in my limited brain I interpret that God is nothing but time. If you understand the importance of time, you have realized God. In our bureaucratic system of physical and mental organization the senses are the officers of lowest
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rank, who are always ready to follow the commands of the mind. The mind controls the behavior of all the senses. But the mind itself is very flickery.
The mind is comparable to a monkey who has drunk alcohol and is riding a wild horse. Now you can imagine the state of its activity. But this mind is controlled by intellect (buddhi). If the mind thinks of murdering someone, the intellect reasons: no, this is wrong, you will be jailed or even hung. If the intellect also agrees: okay, let us murder him, then your soul controls it by considering the rights and wrongs of the situation. But, when even your soul agrees that there is no harm in killing, then our basic nature comes into it. If the mind, intellect and soul all agree to kill, but it is not in our nature to do so, then how could we do it? The nature of a cow is to eat grass, it won't eat meat, however hungry it is. Similarly, a lion won't eat grass, however hungry it may be, because it is not its nature. In this way our basic nature rules over our other faculties.
However, even this basic nature is under the control of one thing: time. You are seeing this chair and its nature now. Think, what was its form fifteen years ago? It might have been a tree. If you went back a further twenty years ahead from now, probably this chair will have been burnt to ashes, so nature also changes with time. It is controlled by time. Therefore, it is time which is the ultimate reality. If we recognize time and its importance and work accordingly, that is real worship.
I thank from my heart all the delegates who have come to Munger from India and abroad. They have been very cooperative in maintaining peace and a pleasant atmosphere despite all the discomforts. I express my gratitude towards the Bihar School of Yoga and the members of the International Yoga Fellowship Movement, many of whom may not be present here physically, but whose good wishes contributed to the success of the program. I also express my hearty gratitude towards all the citizens of Munger for being patient, listening with discipline to this great program and making it a success. Even when they had difficulty with the language of the speakers, great enthusiasm could be seen on their faces.
I express my heartfelt thanks to all the doctors, engineers, educationists, lawyers, members of the Chamber of Commerce and members of the Society of Communal Unity who have given me, personally, a lot of support and courage, in organiz
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ing this convention. I also express my gratitude towards the journalists, photographers and representatives who have compiled beautifully the great teachings delivered from this stage. I thank all the officers, post bearers, police officers and homeguards for their constant vigilance, and for being on duty, despite being drenched by the rain. They have contributed greatly towards the smooth running of this program.
Last but not least, I thank Paramahamsa Niranjanananda who himself is a guru, but still bows down to everyone and allows everyone to bow down to him. He is 'l' and 'we' both together. I request him to give a helping hand in transforming the hearts of everyone who has drifted away from their paths. I also request the acharya of Bihar School of Yoga, Swami Gyanprakash Saraswati, and all the other sannyasins to adopt a few nearby villages after this convention and begin, on an experimental basis, to try to see what yoga can bring to the hearts of hardened criminals. If this experimental effort is successful, then it will be a miracle for the world to look at and the principle of vasudhaiva kutumbakam shall become applicable automatically. Again, on behalf of the district administration and Munger district, I thank everybody with all of my heart.
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A FINAL VOTE OF THANKS
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda
In conclusion, I wish to thank personally the people who have been behind the organization of this event. First of all, the citizens of Munger, who extended their full cooperation for the successful organization of this convention. On behalf of myself and the institution, I convey my heartiest thanks to the district administration and town authorities for their cooperation. I also thank the volunteers who worked day and night and withstood with firm resolution all the tribulations and obstacles that came in the way, and enabled this World Yoga Convention to be a grand success. My hearty thanks to all the saints who took such pains to undergo the rigors of travelling to Munger. It is not a simple, smooth, straightforward journey, but they overlooked their own inconveniences and with kind hearts, showered their blessings on us. And also to the intellectual, seers, thinkers and researchers who expressed their views in this convention, we thank them all.
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Newspaper Reports
The Times of India
5.11.93 WORLD YOGA CONVENTION ENDS MUNGER, November 4: The the contention. The Swami, who second World Yoga Convention is an Englishman and the director concluded here today with the of the Satyananda Yoga Center in adoption of a yogic charter under Wales, had gone back to England which it was resolved that during in 1985 after a fifteen year stint at the next eleven years, every vil- the Bihar School of Yoga. At that lage and town of this country time nobody in England, he would be covered by yoga expo- claimed, knew much abut yoga, nents trained for the purpose. but now 95 percent of the people The present director of the Bihar knew about yoga and 20 percent School of Yoga, which hosted the actually practised it in England, convention, would himself he added. undertake an all-India tour from
Today, Swami Anandananda next year which will take him to from Italy described his exevery nook and corner of the perience of using yoga for curing country.
physically and mentally retarded The convention also resolved persons. Dr. Brian Thomson from that one thousand volunteers Australia, a psychiatrist, said that would be drafted for the pur- he turned into a sannyasin 17 pose. The 33 year old director of years ago. A psychiatrist with the school, who had been thirty years experience, he said adopted by Swami Satyananda his entire family had taken to Saraswati, founder of the school, yoga and had found it to be an when he was only four years old, exhilarating experience. A doctor told TOINS that in his absence from South Africa described yoga the school would be looked after as biological engineering. by Swami Gyanprakash Saras- Acharya Mahamandaleshwati, a sannyasin from Colombia, war Swami Vidyananda Giri who is now 29 years old and has from Rishikesh lauded the role of already spent twelve years in the the Bihar School of Yoga and school.
demanded that it be given The penultimate day of the university status. Literally it was convention yesterday was stirred a convention of gargantuan up by a delegate who lamented proportions. Thousands of that in no country had even one people, including delegates from percent of the population been 32 countries, a galaxy of made conscious of yoga. How- celebrities, besides so many sanever, Swami Nischalananda from nyasins, attended the four day England today strongly refuted long World Yoga Convention
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which concluded here today. But it was the venue itself that was most significant, a remote place in eastern Bihar, Munger. Satyananda was instrumental in attracting people from all over the world to this place. He founded the Bihar School of Yoga in 1964, in this historic, albeit backward place.
The Golden Jubilee celebration of Swamiji's tyag (renunciation) also coincided with this convention which proved a platform for knowing, rather, feeling the yoga. The scene was enough to get fascinated about this. On the decorated dais, many yoga experts, both from within the country as well as from foreign countries appeared during the four days to enlighten the people about many scientific and spiritual feats achieved through it. the gathering was all ears to them.
Of course, the convention also provided a chance to show the rich heritage of the country which compelled the people living even in most advanced countries to realize the depth in India's ancient scientific advancement, including yoga. It was becoming very popular in Europe, said Mr Jordan Ganesh, an engineer, who came all the way from Bulgaria to attend the meet. According to him he learnt yoga through books 23 years ago but
could not find any guru there. He came with an intention to meet a guru.
Swami Satyananda, who took tyag (renunciation) 50 years ago and is currently living in Rikhia at Deoghar, did not attend the meet. However, his young disciple Swami Niranjanananda, who heads the school now, handled the convention effortlessly since discipline, the basic instinct of yoga, was prevailing everywhere.
Each session stressed the scientific aspect of yoga. The most significant lecture was delivered by Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati, the director of the Satyananda Yoga Center in London, who claimed yoga could help AIDS patients. Likewise, many chronic diseases could be treated through yoga, claimed various experts.
The chief of the army, General B. C. Joshi; the famous film-maker, Ramanand Sagar; Dr. H. S. Wasir, a renowned cardiologist from Delhi; Dr. G. B.. Kar, Bhubaneshwar; Mr. George Tompkins, USA; Dr. Brian Thomson, Australia; Swami Chidananda Saraswati, Rishikesh; besides the Governor of Bihar, Dr. A. R. Kidwai, were prominent among those who attended. This world convention is organized every 20 years and it was first held in 1973.
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6.11.93
The Hindustan Times SILENT BLESSINGS TO YOGA
ASPIRANTS
RIKHIA (Deoghar), Nov 5 - This office as the acharya of Bihar small hamlet, barely seven km School of Yoga and paved the from Baidyanathdham Shiva way for Swami Gyanprakash to temple, inhabitated mostly by take over subsequently. Relintribals, has suddenly become quishing the acharya's office will vibrant with hundreds of yoga also enable him to take up more aspirants pouring in by whatever tours to spread the precepts and mode of transport they could practices of yoga. He also gave a manage at Munger, where the call to the yoga volunteers to confour-day World Yoga Conven- tribute 15 days in a year so that tion has just concluded. These the goal to take yoga from door visitors are mostly illustrious re- to door and shore to shore may searchers and spiritual seekers be achieved. drawn from 32 countries and
Dr. Brian Thomson, an from different parts of India. Australian psychiatrist of 30 They queued up and moved
years standing, appeared as a silently into the four walls of a speaker at the morning session newly built ashram, the new on the concluding day. Before he abode of Swami Satyananda commenced his adddress, he narSaraswati, who has taken kshetra rated the story as to how and sannyasa and taken strictly to the why, having a roaring practice of life of recluse.
7,000 per day, he became inThe disciples received the itiated by Swami Satyananda silent blessings of the Parama- Saraswati 17 years ago. The hamsa who did not speak a word delegates were emotionally about yoga and advised that they moved when they came to know should rely wholly on the system that it was not the doctor alone of yoga and the institution who took to diksha but it was his which could cater to their needs. whole family which continues to Earlier the spiritual congregation be dedicated to the cause of yoga, concluded late last evening at spreading it in Australia. Munger with a resolve to rededi- He later learnt the techniques cate to the cause of humanity and and in time Dr. Thomson, now upliftment of human conscious- Dr. Swami Vivekananda, is healness by promoting healthy physi- ing all his patients by yogic techcal, mental and spiritual growth niques successfully and has his of oneself and the surroundings whole family pursuing the cause on specific lines and not on of yoga as sannyasins. In his admyths. Swami Niranjanananda, dress he gave the scientific basis on this occasion, renounced his and efficacy of yogic techniques
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on mentally retarded or sick people.
Another swami from Italy, namely Swami Anandananda Saraswati, gave his experience as to why he took up the cause of mentally retarded people in his country, where the mental hospitals had virtually become dumping grounds for the mentally sick members of families who are alienated from the patients. He explained his own handicap, saying that his patients were such that they would refuse to lie down or sit down even for a moment to learn yogic meditation. But the techniques he employed were simply pawanmuktasana or body rotation techniques with breathing and Om chanting. These yielded wonderful results in a fortnight and the first goal he achieved was that his patients become responsive. Gradually, he observed that he could induce physical awareness which further developed into deeper awareness of the mind. Swami Nischalananda from Wales, U.K. expressed his firm belief that yoga and spiritualism had a definite answer to the ongoing chaos caused by the automation of mankind. Himself an engineering graduate, the Swami found all his answers at the feet of his guru, Swami Satyananda, who taught him the science of yoga which conforms to all scientific principles and has no room for blind faith or myths.
Swami Vidyananda Giri of Kailash Peeth complimented the Bihar School of Yoga for taking
yoga from door to door and from shore to shore. According to him, yoga practices guaranteed stillness of mind which though it sounded small had great significance. On the concluding day, the polo ground had turned into a mini kumbh as people from remote rural areas had thronged the pandal to have darshan of the spiritual luminaries and hear the deliberations.
Incidentally the day was bright yesterday after intermittent rains during the past three days, and delegates were seen charged with renewed spiritual inspiration.
Thousands of enthusiastic delegates listened with rapt attention to the four speakers, each stalwarts in their own fields. They were Dr. H. R. Nagendra of Vivekananda Kendra, Bangalore; Mr. S. K. Vyavahare, President of Ghantali Yoga Mitra Mandal; Dr H. S. Wasir, head of the Department of Cardiology of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Swami Sivapremanandaji Maharaj from USA. Dr. Nagendra explained the scientific aspects of nature with which human beings interacted unconsciously and said at times contradictions occured in one's personality for want of proper knowledge about these automatic processes. The various schools of thought known as raja yoga, karma yoga, gyana yoga and bhakti yoga, he said helped in harmonizing the various shades of the human personality.
Mr. Vyavahare presented his
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research data of the last 20 years which he conducted at Thane Central Prison, according to which even hardened criminals had turned into civilized human beings. He recommended intensive yoga teaching of prisoners if prisons were to be turned into
reformatory centers. Dr. Wasir opined that yoga practices had wonderful effects on blood pressure and heart diseases. He gave details of the mechanism of heart and brain and said that yoga greatly helped their functions to remain normal.
The Sunday Times of India
7.11.93
IN QUEST OF THE DIVINE
If the purpose of life is to find the divine, then the Bihar School of Yoga at Munger provides the right ambience. Lo- cated on a large hill overlooking the Ganga, it is a veritable seat for spiritual learning and practice.
Paramahamsa Satyananda, the founder of this school, was supposed to have attained his enlightenment at a God-forsaken place in Munger, supposedly the citadel of daanvira Karna of the epic Mahabharata. Having had his spiritual education under the tutelage of Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh for over twelve years, Paramhamsa Satyananda, who had taken to a parivrajak life and travelled extensively in different parts of the Indian sub-continent, came to Munger in 1956, "not with the idea of founding an ashram, of creating a tradition or of teaching and preaching, but to live by myself and understand myself more. During this period from 1956 to 1963 I came to understand
the vibrations that seemed to have remained in the place even after five thousand years. On the desolate, deserted and barren hillock of Karna Chowra, I sat for days, weeks and months but did not know exactly what it was that I was assimilating.
All that I knew was that Maharaja Karna was a man who used to give gold in charity. I thought that this seat that I occupy is not really for me. If Karna gave gold, I cannot give even a morsel of food, because I have nothing but two dhotis which are all my wealth.”
In 1963, his mission seemed to unfold before him that he must be the instrument in heralding the dawn of the psychic age, that he could achieve it by spreading the message of yoga, i.e. the message of peace. "If Karna's age demanded gold, this age demands peace - shanti inside, shanti outside and shanti everywhere --- The one who can distribute shanti, the way of peace, is the Karna of today, and I think I should not be modest
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but say openly that I now sit on this throne and that to offer peace had been my desire."
Fired by this desire to spread the message of peace "from door to door and shore to shore", Swami Satyananda Saraswati founded the International Yoga Fellowship Movement with a view of creating a global frater- nity of yoga. The Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) came into existence the same year, though on a modest scale. Apparently, Swamiji built the original institution singlehanded.
But as Swamiji began to spread within and outside the country, and more and more devotees began to flock to Munger, it became a pressing necessity to create a larger in stitution. A lot of his disciples pooled the resources and made a bid to acquire the hilly terrain which had supposedly housed Mir Qusim, whose value and stiff resistance to the British forces is part of the folklore in the region.
No wonder some people, instigated by the then Member of Parliament from the area, strongly opposed the move. Their apparent contention was that the historical monument must not be allowed to be tampered with. Many also made insinuations that the foreigners might be Christian missionaries on the sly. Some even pointed accusing fingers at them as spies and drug peddlars.
It was not surprising that such accusations were hurled; after all, it was a cultural shock
for the people of the crime-infested town of Munger, where the modern civilization was yet to find a toe hold, to witness scores of white-skinned men and women descending on the place and living in a blissful world of their own. The vested interests had their axe to grind by whipping up a frenzy against a pardeshisanyasi.
But Swami Satyananda Saraswati, visionary that he was, did not fall for the bait. He not only desisted from criticizing those opposing his efforts, but also refused to say anything in defence of his own position. The press tried its best to draw him out to explain his side of the story, but was met with a stoic silence.
As the years rolled by and Swamiji's social and spiritual message began to make a visible impact in the neighboring villages, popular resistance turned into popular approbation. That paved the way for the building of new premises for the yoga. school, known as Ganga Darshan.
The Ganga river is supposed to have distinct identity in the Munger region because it is Uttara Vahini (northward fiowing) whereas in other stretches, the Ganga' tends to flow from north to south. One can have the privilege of a panoramic view of the sacred Ganga, which abuts the Munger town from three sides, from any part of the Ganga Darshan building.
But what adds to the scenic
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beauty of the place are the gar- dens and green paddy fields that dot the entire complex. Apparently Swami Satyananda Saraswati had worked on the minute details of the architectural details and that included the precise placement of hundreds of thousands of plants at various locations.
Swamiji's real achievements, however, lay in initiating the training in the techniques of integral yoga, which is the hallmark of the institution that he founded. He, in fact, carried forward his mission by setting up the Yoga Research Foundation (YRF) in 1984 (also located at Ganga Darshan) which is sponsoring pioneering research to establish yoga as an essential science for the further develop ment and evolution of mankind.
The major research programmes sponsored by the Bihar School of Yoga are related to the effect of hatha yoga and meditation on the endocrine and nerv-
ous systems - on diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular problems and hypertension. Under the auspices of the YRF, the Bihar School of Yoga is assisting the internationally reputed health professionals to conduct systematic and documented research for furthering the 'knowledge of how yoga can correct and improve malfunctions in the human body and mind'.
The positive outcome of this research is borne out by hundreds of people undergoing specialized yoga practices within the country as well as outside. The fact that the Bihar School of Yoga is now represented by more than a thousand branches all over the country as well as 500 branches in countries as diverse as Australia, Greece, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, the USA and South Africa is an eloquent testimony to the success of Swami Satyananda's dream project.
The Sunday Times of India
7.11.93 LOTUS BLOOMS ONLY IN A CESSPOOL
PATNA, NOV.7 — Paramaham- sa Niranjanananda, the Presi- dent of Bihar School of Yoga, was initiated into the paramahamsa order, the highest honor for a sannyasin, at the age of 30. Swami Satyananda Saraswati, his guru, had a divine inspiration about his successor and had asked Niranjan- ananda's parents, his disciples, to
give up claim on their child as soon as he was ready for being admitted into the ashram.
Apparently, Niranjanananda stayed put at the ashram at the age of four, having firmly turned down his parents' plea to spend some more years with them. And thus began his life as a sannyasin under the personal supervision
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of Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
It is said that Niranjanananda received scriptural knowledge from his guru in the state of yoga nidra. When he was barely eleven years old, the guru found him competent enough to help spread the message of yoga and establish ashrams abroad. During his twelve year stay overseas, the young swami visited all the continents and attained proficiency in several foreign languages. The handsome swami, now 33, gave ample demonstration of his scriptural profundity, oratorical skills and above all, his organizational acumen during the recent World Yoga Convention at Munger.
Talking to the Times of India News Service about his future plans, Swami Niranjanananda
said that he had earmarked the next decade for travelling in the countryside all over India. "Our purpose is not merely to get to know the village realities. By and large, we are familiar with the conditions existing there. What we intend to do is to create opportunities to ameliorate the condition. A group of volunteers will spend 15 days in each village and will try to generate local initiative for spreading education, health care awareness and job opportunities by imparting skilled
labour.
"This apart, we will try to inculcate the significance of Indian culture in the minds of the people. Today, culture has been reduced to cultural programmes, to castes and sub-castes. What we need is to remind one and all of

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the greatness of our sanskriti.
"We are aware that we may not get a favorable response at all places. But wherever we go, we will get back every second month to lend a helping hand to the local people. Thereby we will help create a constructive movement all over the country."
Swami Niranjanananda said that though he may not be in a position to spend fifteen days in each village due to multifarious responsibilities, he would be away from the headquarters at Munger for a considerable time. He had, therefore, earlier in the day designated Swami Gyanprakash Saraswati as acharya to look after the Ashram affairs during his absence. "It is a question of sharing responsibilities, and we need an able and responsible person. We have found one in Swami Gyanprakash Saraswati. You can say that she will look after the home portfolio in our government."
Responding to a question as to why he raised Ramanand Sagar to the status of "a modern seer of ancient India" and "the pride of India", Swami Niranjanananda said that the latter had helped raise the spiritual consciousness of the people of this country by his Ramayana serial. "Earlier, most of the people used to be ashamed of carrying a scriptural book with them due to the fear of being ridiculed by their peer groups, but they had no hesitation in flaunting a novel, as it was perceived to be a token of modernity. All this changed

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after the Ramayana serial. People shed their inhibitions and the discussions on scriptures began to acquire respectability. What is more important, the serial sharply focused on the duties and principles embodied in the epic. By propagating the immanent values of our cultural heritage, Ramanand Sagar performed a role compared to any great seer."
How does the swami see the relevance of the Bihar School of Yoga in a state where crime is at a premium, and especially in a
district which is notorious for its crime statistics? Pat came the reply that 'a lotus blossoms only in a cesspool'.
But does it not behove on the part of the yogis to try and change the criminal mindset? Swamiji's reply was a loaded one: "I will give you the names of a few villages where our sannyasins are working. First go on your own and see things for yourself. You will get the answer to your question".
7.11.93
The Sunday Times of India
THE RIGHT AMBIENCE
PATNA, Nov. 7 – The four-day World Yoga Convention, organized under the auspices of the Bihar School of Yoga to commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebration of Paramahamsa Satyananda's renunciation, was indeed a grand spectacle. The very fact that as many as 600 delegates from 32 countries and 6000 delegates from 20 states of India descend ed on the remote, sleepy town of Munger, with no air links and very poor rail and road transport facilities to participate in the deliberations was itself a measure of the success of the convention.
The, scientists, doctors and other professionals from India and abroad spoke eloquently about the bright prospect of the "Integration of Yoga and Science
in the 21st Century", the theme of the convention. Many seers and scriptural pandits from all over the country also spoke highly of India's spiritual mission and the positive impact of yoga in the creation of a spiritual order.
But despite their invocations and brouhaha over the onset of a yogic revolution, the convention had its share of misgivings as well. Of all those who introduced the discordant notes, four stood out: first, a divine force, the god Indra; second, a spiritual leader, Swami Sivapremananda; third, an intellectual, Prof. Upendra Baxi; and fourth, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, the suave young president of the Bihar School of Yoga.
God Indra was truly unkind to the congregation. An unseasonal rain had lashed the
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town in the early morning on the country of the world." first day of the convention itself These words hurt the Indian rendering the sprawling polo seers and scholars who were ground, where the convention waxing eloquent about India's was held, damp. But as the in- pre-eminent role in the spiritual augural session got underway, regeneration of the world. In fact, the sun shone bright and speaker an engineer from Italy attending after speaker referred to it as a the convention joked with this good omen, as the god's way of correspondent that the Indian showering blessings for the suc- spiritual leaders must have incess of the convention.
voked the rain god to spoil But just as the afternoon ses- Swamiji's show. sion commenced and Swami Swami Sivapremananda did Sivapremananda, a learned not spare the foreign delegates scholar, began his discourse, a too. "These oversea
too. “These overseas delegates downpour started, the intensity have began to believe that they of which was to be seen to be have caused a yogic wave in their believed. The welcome arches respective countries. Nothing is were uprooted, the beautifully further from the truth. What they decorated pandal was torn apart have caused is a ripple. They in the strong gushing winds, must realize that not even ten compelling the organizers to percent of people in these suspend the programmes for the countries have heard of yoga and day.
less than one percent actually Among the galaxy of the practise it. This cannot be called a spiritual leaders assembled at the wave." World Yoga Convention, Swami Just as the septugenarian Sivapremananda, president of spiritual leader spoke these Sivananda Yoga-Vedanta Centers words, Swami Janakananda of in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, Sweden rushed to the dais to inwas clearly the odd man out. A form the speaker that more than well-known disciple of Swami 20 percent of people had taken to Sivananda, this vedanta scholar yoga in the Scandinavian countook the entire congregation by tries. surprise by joining issue with That was not all. Swami Nisthose who claimed that India chalananda of U.K., who having continued to be a spiritual spent 15 years in the Munger ashcountry.
ram, has now gone back to Wales "That India is a spiritual as the director of the Satyananda country is a myth. India was a Ashram there, presented a strong spiritual country till the 11th cen- rebuttal of the elder swami's contury -- the India that Hsien Tsang tention in his presentation. and Fa Hsien had described in But possibly the greatest fluttheir travelogues. Today it is aster of the convention was created spiritually bankrupt as any other by Prof. Upendra Baxi, the Vice
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Chancellor of Delhi University, who caused a sacrilege of sorts by describing Paramahamsa Satyananda, who is now engrossed in meditation at Deoghar (Bihar), as a friend and repeatedly referring to him as 'Satyam', his nickname. After all, most of the intellectuals, scholars, professionals and spiritual leaders there had known Swamiji intimately but still spoke of him with reverence.
General B.C. Joshi, the chief of the army staff, came all the way to Munger to offer floral tributes to the spiritual leader. But Prof. Baxi was obstinately defiant. "I am a friend of Satyam, not a disciple. I wrote to him telling that if you are not coming to the convention, then I won't go to see you at Deoghar." Many delegates felt that such an expression of familiarity detracted from the sanctity of such occasions.
7.11.93
The Sunday Times of India
'I ADORE THIS PLACE'
In the concluding session of its spiritual foundation in India. the four-day World Yoga Con- He used to tell me that if I ever vention, Paramahamsa Niranjan
wanted spiritual bliss, then I ananda bestowed the title of
must go to India. But I was very 'Acharya' on Swami Gyanprakash
young then, I didn't understand Saraswati, describing her as an
much of what he was saying. My outstanding organizer and a
father died when I was barely 10 devoted sannyasin. Swami
years old. With the passage of Gyanprakash, 30. who originally time, I began to realize a spiritual belonged to Medellin city in mission for myself. The meeting Colombia, South America is now with Swamiji, once and for all, an Indian citizen. She joined the solved the puzzle as to where I Bihar School of Yoga in 1978 and belonged, though it took me since then; she has never moved three years before I could sumout of Munger.
mon the courage to take sanThough usually reluctant to
nyasa." speak to the press, she agreed to
How does she feel after being speak to the Times of India News
christened as 'acharya' and being
told that she would share the Service. According to her, she
responsibility with Paramahamsa met Swami Satyananda Saras
Niranjanananda in looking after wati in Colombia in 1975 and
the Bihar School of Yoga? She was instantly drawn towards the
dismisses the query as of no spiritual message propagated by relevance. “It is all a question of him. "My father belonged to the performing duty. The titles don't Theosophical Society which had matter to us. We are all here to
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carry out guru's instructions." Has she stayed put in the Munger ashram all these years because of guru's wishes? "It is not that I am living here against my wishes. I adore this place,
and if I have my way I would like to spend my whole life here. But I am at the disposal of the guru to send me to any place at any time."
The Hindustan Times
7.11.93
A VISION REALIZED
Munger, a small congested town in North Bihar, has its history and legends. A wandering sadhu on arriving here experienced a divine vision. It is said he was resting on a hillock on the banks of the Ganga when the river goddess appeared to him in a dream. He woke to find himself completely drenched with the river water. The wandering sadhu was Paramahamsa Satyananda, one of the foremost inspirers of the yogic renaissance. It was he who founded the Bihar School of Yoga on the same hillock where he received the vision. Mythology has it also that the Mahabharata's Karna used to donate 50 maunds of gold each day sitting on top of the same hillock. The hillock stands even today as a place of sanctity and decorum. Sprawling across it on an area of over 16 acres is the Bihar School of Yoga, founded in 1963. Since its inception it has attracted world-wide attention. In the early days the yoga school was a small institution on the side of the hill, but with the rapid increase in the number of people coming for yogic training, more
land was acquired on the hill in 1987. The new ashram and yoga school that came up was appropriately named Ganga Darshan. The legend of the divine vision of its founder apart, the site offers a magnificent vision of the mighty Ganga. Ganga Darshan is one of the largest and most modern institutions of its kind in the entire country. There are over 160 rooms to accommodate individual students as well as their families. A spacious kitchen with dining halls provides simple vegetarian food. The seven storey main building houses offices, classrooms, a research library and research center. The school also has its own printing press.
Ganga Darshan has beeen organized along traditional ashram-gurukul lines. There are no servants, and as each inmate has to participate in karma yoga, they themselves cook, wash dishes, clean their rooms and look after the garden. The sanctity of the place is so well maintained that the entire ashram is spotlessly clean and everything appears in perfect order.
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Yogic training is available here to all people regardless of race, religion, sex, age or social status. The techniques taught are based on the ancient disciplines of yoga, samkhya and tantra, revised to fit the modern way of thinking and lifestyle.
The Yoga Research Foundation under the Bihar School of Yoga was founded by Paramahamsa Satyananda in 1984. The foundation aims to provide an accurate assessment of yoga within a scientific framework in order to establish it as a science. Initial research programmes planned by the foundation are to develop the health promoting aspects of yoga.
Swami Shankarananda of the ashram says, "Yoga has the only remedy for heart disease and other major ailments”. He says that keeping in mind the theraputic aspects of yoga, the Bihar School of Yoga conducted stress management courses for the employees of Indian Oil Corporation refineries at Barauni, Baroda and Mathura and for the staff of BCCL. The research revealed that through yogic tech-
niques, discipline, production and one-to-one relationships improved, he says.
The Bihar School of Yoga also has a charitable institution under it, namely Sivananda Math, working for the uplift of the downtrodden, especially in rural areas. The yoga school offers several courses which include health management courses, Sannyasa introduction courses, meditation courses and even a children's gurukul course.
Paramahamsa Satyananda, who founded the yoga school, left Munger in 1988 with the spirit of kshetra sannyasa (renunciation of the establishment). Today he is in meditation at Rikhia near Deoghar. Paramahamsa Niranjanananda is in his early thirties, but he was made the president of the Bihar School of Yoga by Paramahamsa Satyananda on his renunciation. Initiated into sannyasa at the tender age of four, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda guides all the activities of the ashram, including yoga courses and training. Today he is guru to thousands of devotes and yogic trainees in India and abroad.
The Hindustan Times
7.11.93 SOUL SEARCHING India, no doubt, is a strange
visualize it as the land of beggars land of snakes and snake
or as a vast slum. Cheryl Osborne charmers, elephants and mahouts,
from Australia faced opposition old temples and fortresses to
fromfriends and relatives about many a westerner. Some even her decision to make a trip to
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India. "They were shocked when I revealed my plans to visit India. Some of them feared that I wouldn't return alive", she said. In spite of the opposition, Cheryl decided to go ahead with her plans. Bubbling with enthusiam, she was one of the hundreds of delegates from all over the world to arrive in Munger recently for the world yoga meet.
Dressed in a T-shirt and white dhoti, Martin from Holland is quite clear about why India is still backward. "Casteridden society and corruption. Yes, the whole world knows about the role of caste in every sphere of an Indians life. And as for corruption, the less said the better," he says. Despite such a grim picture of the country, Martin loves India. He has been living in Trivandrum for the last couple of years, where he is studying a BA course in Sanskrit. He admires India's rich culture and "spiritual atmosphere", and together with his wife has seriously taken up yoga.
The World Yoga Convention organized by the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, every 20 years attracts much attention from abroad. Ironically, not many Indians are aware of this event or about the existence of the premier yoga institute in Bihar. What is more, most Indians remain ignorant about the multipotent benefits of yoga itself.
But ask any one of the nearly 600 foreign delegates at the yoga convention and they will give a detailed analysis of what would

388
seem to be a subject of their very own land. "Yoga may be alien to most Indians but not to most aliens", says one of the delegates.
And this is hardly surprising, for while yoga is a discipline that is too ancient for many Indians, it is a subject of interest and serious devotion for many Europeans and other foreigners.
In Australia, for instance, there is a yoga school in almost every suburb, and despite their cosmopolitan upbringing, most Australians are taking to yoga seriously. Even former Communist countries like Bulgaria and Romania have yoga centers in every town.
Malinov Plamen from Bulgaria is just 14 years old. But he is immensely interested in yoga and India. He says, "Five years ago yoga was banned in our country yet people took to it with enthusiasm. Today, it is a rage. Slovenia has on average six yoga schools in each city and town."
Richard from Australia says, "India may not be as developed as the west but it certainly is superior in spiritual terms." Christina from Switzerland says, "Sprituality is in the air here. In the west one may be looked down upon if he were to sit and meditate. After all, the west is so materialistic."
"It is so nice to see pictures of gods and goddesses on every autorickshaw and bus in India. Indians are so spiritual," says Stephen Cole from England.
The spiritual India is what attracts them all, and therefore,

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parel.
their enthusiastic visit to a yoga
But not everybody came convention is understandable. across such benevolence. "Being Several of them came with their aware that we are foreigners, entire family, babies and prams most cab drivers try to cheat us," et al. Most of them were draped said one of the delegates to in saffron robes or saffron saris Munger. In fact one of them was and seemed to enjoy a sort of charged a fare of Rs 500 in place spiritual contentment in their ap- of a nominal Rs 50. Such ex
periences did disappoint many, For many foreigners India is but they are ready to forget them in fact a glorious land of rich and are eager to avail of the best traditions and a great culture. In- that India has to offer them. dian culture, they feel, is the Martin, who has a thorough cornerstone of world culture. Ac
knowledge of India's history, is cording to Jean Deirgente from unhappy about its present Australia, "Each culture is like a
maladies. "The Indus Valley flower, and only by coming near
civilization was so advanced. The the flower can one smell its
Indian ayurvedic treatment was fragrance.” He added that he
so developed. But then India wanted to know India better by
tripped somewhere, and today it experiencing it.
has no shanti," he says. "India is so different. Its
Martin, however, has found peoples are so beautiful," says
shanti in India. He is a new perPeter from England. Gillian from
son altogether after his tryst with Australia feels Indians are open
Indian culture and its great conand frank, "They talk to you on
tribution, yoga. From a very trains and are always ready to
young age he suffered from a help you," she says.
psychosomatic disease, as a Several of the visitors know
result of which he could not sit of Bihar as the "most backward
straight or bend his legs properstate" in the country. But they
ly. "Now I can sit any way I like, found the people of the state to
see," he demonstrates.
He is thankful to have come be very friendly. Manjula Hiti and her husband, Janez Hiti,
across yoga and is quite vocal from Slovenia arrived in Kiul
about it. “I am not only fit physifrom Calcutta by train early in
cally but also a quieter and more
tolerant person now," he says. the morning, on their way to the yoga conference. At that early
Christina, his wife, who has been hour they could not find a
acquainted with the discipline for vehicle to the conference venue.
three years says she feels light To their surprise, some local
and full of a kind of contentment. people came to their rescue,
Holland has several yoga schools
and transcendental meditation is "They arranged a private vehicle for us". Manjula recalls with
quite popular there. gratitude.
Most of the delegates to the yoga convention had come from 389

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Australia, Italy and Greece. Swami Vivekgyanam (earlier Pathros Yanakiens) is one of the 108 Greeks on a visit to India in connection with the yoga meet. He had been in close contact with Swami Satyananda's ashram in Greece for the last 20 years.
"Greeks have accepted yoga with great enthusiasm. After all, there is so much similarity between the Greek and Indian cultures," he says with a smile. Vivekgyanam says most Greeks love India and are always eager for a visit to this “Wonderful land”. After a long stint of yoga, Vivekgyanam feels, "good and lighter. I have developed an inner awareness through regular yoga practice," he says.
The Hitis have started their own yoga school in Slovenia.
Manjula Hiti is a doctor and her husband Janez is an electronic enginer. Their Tara Yoga Center has 90 students. Manjula is of Indian origin and she has been practising yoga for 30 years. Through yoga she has overcome several health problems, including headaches and stomach disorders.
Convinced that yoga is the best remedy for all diseases, Manjula is now trying to treat her patients, combining yogic techniques with ayurveda and acupuncture along with allopathy. She says, “Regular practice of yoga means freedom from ailments and medicines."
She is proud to trace her origin to India.
The Times of India
4.11.93
YOGA FULFILLS SPIRITUAL NEEDS THE WORLD OVER
MUNGER, Nov. 4 (PTI) - The World Yoga Convention, which concluded here today, gave a lie to the saying that the east and west shall never meet.
A large number or foreign delegates from various corners of the globe were seen moving in groups sharing a new cultural experience with Indian yogis. The sprawling venue presented the look of a fair ground with shops and stalls selling soft drinks, snacks, books and beads while the Departments of Post and Telecom set up a communi
cation center and a post office for the visiting delegates. This correspondent, who spoke to a cross section of the foreign delegates, found that yoga was very popular abroad particularly in Australia, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom. Australia sent about 300 participants, about 80 delegates were from Italy, and the largest European contingent of 106 was from Greece. When asked why yoga was so popular in their respective countries, the delegates said that due to social tension and mental
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stress, people were increasingly turning towards yoga for peace of mind, good health and social harmony.
Ms. Evelyn Gwinner of Italy said yoga was very popular in her country as it can fulfill the spiritual aspirations of the youth. There is a yoga ashram at Florence in Italy where teaching of yoga is imparted by experienced teachers.
Mrs. R. A. Puccinelli, also from Italy, has come here with her Indian husband, Mr. Roberto Biswas, who originally belonged to Faridpur district in erstwhile East Bengal. Biswas, who is with Al-italia airlines married Puccinelli in 1976 and since then has been visiting India off and on.
When asked about the food here in India, the members of the Italian delegation said they liked it very much. "Our teacher has told us that Italian food is quite similar to Indian food," they said. Asked how they came to know about the convention, Mr. Luigi Fumagalli and Ms. P. Bertec said they learnt about it from their teacher in Italy. "It is our first visit to India. The experience is just fantastic," they exclaimed.
Most of the delegates from Australia were "press shy", although one of them, Ms. Marianne le Fevre, said that
about 300 delegates from Australia were participating. Marianne, a yoga teacher in Sydney, said that yoga was very popular in her country as people experienced the benefits from practising various asanas and meditation. "For instance, I am 52 years old and even now I do vigorous horse riding and swimming to substantiate my physical fitness," she said. An X-ray technician by profession, Marianne said this was her first visit to India and since she was a vegetarian she had no difficulty in adjusting to the Indian food.
Mr. Alexander Bernd of Germany and Mr. Richard Davenport from England said yoga is very scientific. While practising yoga for the past four months, Alexander said during this period he was enjoying better health and relaxation. Extremely enthusiastic about the convention was a 20 year old petite girl from Athens in Greece, Ms. T. Sakorafa, who has come here for the first time.
Preferring to be introduced as Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati, a Greek lady said she had an ashram in her country which is run along the lines of the Bihar School of Yoga here. "We have come here in the past too", adding that yoga was very popular in Greece.
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The Hindustan Times
24.11.93
B.S.Y.- A UNIQUE SPIRITUAL INSTITUTION
MUNGER, Nov. 23 (PTI) - Far
rivalled. The convention drew from the madding crowd,
thousands of delegates from
various parts of the country and situated atop a hillock, is the
even remote corners of the globe. internationally reputed Bihar
Erudite scholars from various School of Yoga (BSY), training
walks of life, scientists and people to be healthier, happier,
doctors, besides spiritual leaders self-confident and creative. Loca
from India and abroad, dwelt at ted amidst sylvan surroundings with the holy Ganges skirting the
length on the use of yoga to
usher in peace, health and magnificent multi-storey edifice
happiness among individuals from three sides, the hillock has a significance of its own for it is
and the society they live in.
Delegates from believed that Karna used to
Australia,
Greece, Italy, Ireland and many distribute 50 maunds of gold
other western countries who everyday sitting there on a stone
evinced keen interest in the four slab.
day spectacular event in fact Founded in 1963 by
gave a lie to the saying that "East Paramahamsa Satyananda, the
is east and west is west and never torch bearer of yogic renaissance,
the twain shall meet." The the BSY has become internationally known and is respected
foreign delegates exchanged their as a teaching institu tion of the
views on various yogic become internationally known
experiences and even the
children accompanying them highest standard. Paramahamsa
mixed freely with each other Satya- nanda, with his profound
irrespective of religion knowledge of the practical and
and
language barriers. scientific aspects of yoga, himself
The BSY, which is rightly taught this sublime science from
named Ganga Darshan, is one of his own deep understanding of
the most modern and well every facet of yoga and human
equipped institutions of its kind nature.
in India and even abroad. There The BSY recently organized
are over 160 self-contained rooms the World Yoga Convention, which is held once in 20 years, to
to accommodate individual
students as well as families. In commemorate the 50 years of
the large hall the entire ashram renunciation of Paramahamsa
community gathers in Satyananda, whose vision of the
an
atmosphere of spiritual unity. yogic philosophy and its
The BSY also has on its relevance to modern life is un
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Important among the books are: A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya; Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha; Kundalini Tantra; Meditations from the Tantras; and Yogic Management of Common Diseases.
Ganga Darshan is a unique spiritual community organized along traditional, gurukul lines. Here yogic training is available to people regardless of race, religion, sex, age or social status. According to Paramhamsa Niranjanananda, the president of the BSY, the method of teaching is scientific, experimental and systematic and the techniques taught are based on the ancient sciences of yoga, samkhya and tantra which have been refined to suit the modern mind and lifestyle.
Initiated into the Paramahamsa order by Paramahamsa Satyananda, Paramahamsa Niranjan-
ananda has become the spiritual successor of his guru and is fulfilling the role of guru and acharya to thousands of seekers and devotees in India and abroad.
It was in 1983 that Paramahamsa Satyananda handed over all the responsibility and obligations of a yoga master to Paramahamsa Niranjanananda before leaving the ashram once and for all "never to return". He now lives in Rikhia, Deoghar in seclusion.
Sivananda Math is a charitable institution to facilitate the growth and development of the underprivileged and deprived sections of the society with special emphasis on rural communities. The main thrust is on health and education. Also, the Yoga Research Foundation provides an accurate assessment of yoga within a scientific framework and establishes yoga as a science essential for the evolution of mankind.
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Letters of Thanks
Bombay Hari Om,
"When the flowers bloom, it is not necessary to beckon the bees." (Paramahamsa Niranjanananda)
Perched on top of a hill in the city of Munger in Bihar sits the finest yoga center in the world. Carrying the traditional torch from Swami Sivananda, combining a scientific and a deep spiritual dimension, Bihar School of Yoga has been growing in strength.
Situated as it is, between an electrical sub-station and a gun-manufacturing workshop, I always thought the idea was to arouse the inner source of energy, to channelize it and to fire people's imagination to begin to view their lives in a different fashion.
Even though this is my third visit, to hear of Munger referred to as the city of dacoits causes enough tension before undertaking the journey, but once in Munger surrounded by goats, donkeys and cycle-drawn rickshaws you forget all about this and fill yourself with its fresh air, gorgeous sunsets and amazing slowness of life.
While October 1973 was celebrated as the 50th year of the renunciation of Paramahamsa Satyananda's guru, Swami Sivananda, in the form of an International Yoga Convention, November 1993 was the Tyag Golden Jubilee of Paramahamsa Satyananda himself. The year's convention drew people from all over the world, from more than 30 countries, and more than 4000 people came from all parts of India.
When such a large number of people come together, enormous pressure is put on the use of amenities, dormitories etc., demanding a different kind of living. Collective living becomes the norm, individual differences get blurred, distinctiveness and special privileges are withheld. Community living pressure began to manifest itself even in the line for drying clothes. Progressively one would find one's clothes thrown here and there and in their place a sari or lunghi hung! Sleeping in the same room with others, the snoring in different musical keys, and buzzing and droning of the oversize Bihari mosquitoes are part of the austerities and
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elements that test all one's patience. This convention, I mentioned to a friend, was not meant for the weak-hearted.
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda's talks and satsangs for various groups prior to the commencement of the convention were of great help in setting the tone and helping the travel-troubled souls to get into the right frame of mind. What was amazing, though, was how calmly he would sit in the midst of a situation that was filled with hectic activity and demanded great coordination and phenomenal managerial and leadership skills, answering letters and at the same time responding to a question about a certain aspect of yoga. Paramahamsa Niranjanananda later revealed to us that mental and muscular tension is natural in organizing so big a function, but one should keep that inside and not allow it to show on the outside.
November 1. The convention begins with chanting and the inaugural address. The weather is pleasant and sunny, we go for lunch and come back to resume the programme, which is held at the polo grounds under a massive shamiana of bamboo poles covered with thick canvas.
Half way through the programme, as if a zip is opened through the sky and you are placed under a waterfall, it begins to pour and the wind blows from all sides. Water soon collects on the cloth ceiling of our temporary structure. We, more than 4000 people, are caught and my fear that the structure could collapse grows by the minute. Another possibility, probably worse than the first, is that a rush to get out may lead to a stampede. The speaker, oblivious to the environment, continues, as people rush this way or that to avoid the water coming down. Soon it is clear that the proceedings cannot go on. Paramahamsa Niranjanananda and other swamis leap to the front of the dais and with a stroke of genius turn to singing. Some devotees begin to dance, and soon disaster turns to a euphoria of joyousness and togetherness. The convention takes a new turn.
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda's words on the second day were, "We were so preoccupied with making the arrangements, looking after each and every detail, that we almost forget that without God's blessing and grace nothing can go on. So we were reminded."
Giving the whole event a cosmo-spritual twist, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda went on to talk of imposing one's will
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upon God's. The real miracle is when a person moves according to God's wishes and not otherwise.
This rains dampened some spirits, left some in a state of now-what-next-ness, and energized others. The whole schedule went topsy-turvy, several presentations were cancelled.
Several doctors spoke at the convention and the trend increasingly indicates a move towards polypathy, a multi-disciplinary approach to health that does not reject any system, but rather, incorporates all. The teaching of yoga to prison inmates; yoga cure for cancer and AIDS; yoga and stress; yoga in education, and other topics as well as the invitation to spiritual life through several traditions and not by one road only, were areas of some of the presentations. Then too, the idea of non violence in not only the food aspect (aahaara), by adoption of vegetarianism, but in thought (vichaara), conduct (achaara) and in relation to others (vyavahaara) was touched upon.
We lived in the midst of what a friend called a 'tyranny of coupons' requesting a pass or badge for each entrance and meal. But another friend responded, "Why not look at its positive side, the need to be alert and aware and remember to carry your various coupons that allow you to enter this gate, that space, or get your food." . I had never eaten food with so many people. Under the colorful shamiana, this one raised near the school, with plates in hand, heading towards a corner and spreading out on the grass evoked a great sense of togetherness.
As usual a lot happens at the periphery of any convention, new alliances are made, people with similar interests find each other, the otherness seems less odd; by proximity and inspired listening new evocations happen.
Every day one noticed someone's pretty hair being sacrificed to the blade of the barber, and the shaven heads under the sun, the brick-colored (geru) kurtas and the recently introduced yellow attire created a new collage of images.
The following questions occurred to me. Can an event like this touch people's lives? Can it help them to adopt a new way of living, a different mode of looking at themselves? What are the post-convention resolves going to be like?
When he heard the expectations of the degree of comfort of the citified people, Paramahamsa Niranjanananda said
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"Everyone wants attached 'this' and attached 'that', but given the situation in Munger few understand how difficult that would be." Someone in the audience broke in, "But Swamji, I sure want an attached Swamiji." We all burst into laughter.
Paramahamsa Niranjanananda's command over several languages was great to see, but what put us all to shame (notable to Delhi folk) was his command over Hindi; not one person spoke it so well, not even anyone of the accomplished speakers. Paramahamsa Niranjanananda's graciousness, smiling lips and laughing eyes, great sense of humanizing, 'humorizing' every situation and honoring every person is something remarkable.
Om Tat Sat Homayun Tabes
A.I.I.M.S., New Delhi
Respected Swami Niranjananandaji, Hari Om,
Our visit to the Bihar School of Yoga at Munger was a unique experience for my wife and I. Never before had I attended a meeting of this magnitude: several thousand delegates attending the discourses, arrangements for their stay and their meals and yet all going on smoothly. Everyone appeared to me to be going in a direction, following a system, some unwritten code, as if the whole of Munger was busy in the achievement of a great mission. And so it was.
In the sea of so much darkness and ignorance all around us, I found your ashram at the Bihar School of Yoga like a lighthouse giving direction to the seekers, an oasis in a vast desert, a jyoti mandir of a wider radius outside your small inner jyoti mandir of the BSY complex. May God make the flame of both these jyoti mandirs shine on and on for eternity.
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Kaivalyadhama, Lonavala
Respected Swamiji, Hari Om,
We take the pleasure of extending our heartiest congratulations to you, all the inmates of the ashram and all the volunteers of the World Yoga. Convention for making every effort to make the whole function a GRAND SUCCESS even after some involuntary setbacks on the part of Mother Nature.
We also wish to extend our grateful thanks to all of you for the hospitality and treatment rendered to us during our stay at Munger. We wish to extend our special thanks to the Souvenir Committee, the Delegates Committee, the Programme Committee and the Accommodation Committee whose efforts served as pillars behind the success of the convention. Last, but perhaps foremost, we will remember for a very long period the delicious dishes prepared by the kitchen workers. We wish to give them full marks for their work..
We thank you for providing us with an occasion to listen to eminent personalities in and outside the field of yoga. Each and every lecture paper was highly enlightening and of great value.
Om Tat Sat GS. Sahay
Israel
Hari Om,
It was an average Sunday morning when I ran into Swami Yogaratna in the Patna Railway Station. As usual, it was easy for me to identify her in a crowd by her orange clothes. Little did I know that for the next week, I would be surrounded by geru-clad sannyasins and that finding Swami Yogaratna among them would be no easy task!
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This was my first impression of Paramahamsa Satyananda's Tyag Golden Jubilee Convention at the Bihar School of Yoga in Munger.
Overwhelmed by orange! During the week of the convention, I never stopped feeling overwhelmed, but by things much deeper than clothes, by the sincerity and integrity of the delegates, by the high quality of the lectures, by the down to earth accessibility, gentleness and humor of Swami Niranjan and by the darshan of Paramahamsa Satyananda.
The convention was attended by approximately 6,000 Indian delegates, and some 600 from overseas. Lectures were presented by Swamis who run BSY ashrams in such diverse countries as Greece, England, Sweden, Italy and Australia. Particularly moving was the speech of Swami Pragyamurti from London, recounting her experiences teaching yoga to AIDS patients, helping them to know themselves, to improve the physical health and also to die with clarity and calmness. It was clear that yoga is a vital and active force throughout the world, and that those affiliated with BSY are sincere and dedicated in their work, spiritual search and conviction that yoga is what the world needs now.
Many of the speeches focused on the importance of non-attachment and surrender. One of my favorite quotes from the conference was Swami Niranjan's statement that, "We expect miracles by trying to make God our slave and servant. In times of need we pray and try to impose our will on God's and when we get what we want we call it a miracle. The real miracle is when a person moves totally according to God's will." And everyone had an opportunity to see theory in practice when unexpected heavy rains on the first day virtually destroyed the convention tent, Swami Niranjan immediately began leading the crowd in kirtans, and calmly adapted the rest of the conference schedule to the circumstances, accepting the rains, the cancelled speeches and the soaking carpets as part of the divine will. (The following day he said, "Yesterday was a day of examination, and today is the day of accommodation and adjustment. Man proposes, God disposes".)
The day after the conference we travelled to Deoghar to have Paramahamsa Satyananda's darshan. For me it was an opportunity to experience a real Indian style pilgrimage with all the craziness that came with the journey itself, and the awe of seeing a holy man.
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I am certain that the impressions, the learning and the energy of the conference will be with me for a long time to come. But it is not the conference alone. For me, it was the conclusion of an intense period of yoga study here in India, which effectively began at Atma Darshan Yogashram. When I listened to the speeches at Munger, it became clear to me that I had learned a new language, a new world of concepts, practices and truth.
The macrocosm is a reflection of the microcosm, and the environmentally and ethically disastrous state of our world is a reflection of man's inner chaos. We all have a responsibility, to ourselves and to humanity to create light and love out of that chaos, and manifest our divinity now. I believe that this is the true purpose of yoga.
During my time in India, I have been blessed with wonderful teachers. I only hope that I will be able to live up to their examples and the examples of those I have met in Munger, in helping to spread yoga as a unifying and healing force in a divided and wounded world. Hari Om Tat Sat.
Most Respected Swamiji.
Hari Om,
Om Tat Sat
Ruthi Soudack

I am writing this letter to express my heartfelt feelings. First of all I would like to congratulate you on the complete success of the recently concluded International Yoga Convention. I witnessed your presence at every moment, in every place, be it the reception of delegates, guests, devotees, saints or their accommodation, the canopy or stage management or kitchen arrangements, and in the precarious situation arising due to the torrential rains. Everything went off very well and was organized with such clarity, love and friendship that it could have concluded thus only by the of your divine energy.
grace
Patna
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I also attended and witnessed the convention of 1973, (not as carefully as I did this time) and listened to the speeches of eminent scholars. Most respected Guruji Maharaj was present and managing the program himself. I cannot describe with what exceptional power he was doing everything. This time I did witness that Paramahamsa Niranjanananda, despite remaining busy with other works, and perhaps not being able to listen to the entire speeches of each speaker, nevertheless put across to the general audience a summary in simple and unadorned language and in a short time. Only a person blessed with supernatural power can do such a thing.
Om Tat Sat Sannyasi Anandamurti Saryu Prasad)
Munger
Swami Niranjanananda Maharaj, Hari Om,
Thank you very much for the pass extended to me on the occasion of the International Yoga Conference '93. This was a unique conference of its kind and I congratulate you on a grand success.
Om Tat Sat Abdullah Bokhari
Goa
Hari Om,
The World Yoga Convention is over, but the sweet memories still linger. In retrospect one can only admire the daring and the grit of the inmates of BSY under your able
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leadership, and the residents of Munger for hosting and looking after the mammoth group of 7000 delegates from India and abroad.
I would like to place on record my praise for the rare act of courage and the presence of mind displayed by you during the critical moments when the heavens opened up to shower their blessings on the convention. Had you not broken out in song and efficiently pacified the panic-stricken crowd, over 100 lives would have been lost and many more would have been injured. It is evidence of God's protective hand being over the assembly of the convention while putting the delegates to the acid test.
Om Tat Sat
Yoga Center, Goa
Dear Swami Niranjananandaji
Hari Om,

I congratulate you for the excellent management of the World Yoga Convention which I was privileged to attend from 1st November 1993. The response by a large number of participants from abroad, from different parts of the country and also from the local population was indicative of the success, and the extent of the personal regard and respect for you and for the Bihar School of Yoga and the International Yoga Movement that prevails.
After the heavy rains on the opening day of the convention, to commence the session on the following morning exactly at 9 a.m. was something that had to be seen to be believed. Even in a large organization with substantial resources, such a phenomenon doesn't occur.
At all the sessions, which were in mixed languages, some in Hindi but largely in English, the silence was total, even though'I am sure many in the audience did not follow what was said in English and depended on the Hindi summing up. The quality of the experience and the data presented by different speakers was very high. I hope in due course that
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these presentations will be compiled and published. They will form a very useful bench mark for all sadhaks of yoga who at one time or another have to relate the science and practice to many practitioners.
While the support of large numbers of swamis and devotees, and the blessings of Swami Satyanandaji were there in no less a measure, the conference was indicative of your commitment and ability to organize. It had the clear stamp of your vision. I hope BSY and the International Yoga Fellowship Movement continue to flourish and envelop those segments of humanity who are still groping to find the meaning of life and are not even aware of its potential.
Om Tat Sat Ram Nath Sharma
Bombay
Beloved Swami Niranjanananda, Hari Om,
On behalf of Dady Billimoria's group from Bombay, I send you deep, warm and sincere thanks and gratitude for the most inspiring experience we have all had at Munger and at the convention. We were so fortunate to have had darshan of our most revered and beloved Guruji Paramahamsa Satyananda on both the 5th and 6th of November and this was a very precious and special moment in our lives.
It was such a wonderful surprise to see all the impressive buildings in and around Ganga Darshan in this short span of time, with the magnificent gardens and beautiful new musical fountain. We felt such great peace in the Jyoti Mandir. Everything at the convention was so well organized, considering the very large number of delegates attending from all parts of the world and from India and Munger itself. I recalled the heavy storm during the 1973 convention, and this time you took charge of the situation magnificently, as you did for every contingency that arose, maintaining throughout the smile on our lips and the laughter in our eyes.
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The choice of speakers at the convention was excellent and the papers read were most interesting and illuminating. The most inspiring of all was your closing speech and the “Charter." May it be fulfilled!
Om Tat Sat Scylla R.Vatcha
Hari Om,
It was my first experience of Ganga Darshan and of a yoga convention. I liked it very much. If there are any more I would like to attend. Spiritually also I felt attracted and will become more involved. I had the opportunity of hearing the opinions of people from all over the world. Also I saw Paramahamsa Satyanandaji which was my greatest desire, to see him personally. I felt very thrilled from my heart to see both Paramahamsa Satyanandaji and Swami Niranjanji. Swami Satyananda was talking, joking and recognizing people as if in ordinary daily life, very simply. Swami Niranjanji had a lot of humor and a lot of impact on us.
Om Tat Sat M.Z.
Hari Om,
I had a unique experience. I liked the laya yoga meditation in the morning and I would like to learn more about it. I was very interested how in spite of all the adverse circumstances like the heavy downpour, with a firm will, with cooperation from all, and good leadership it was easily handled and this is highly appreciated. I didn't get a chance to interact with many at the convention as I was running a stall of Vivekananda Kendra books. But Swami Niranjan impressed me nevertheless. The recital of Ramacharitamanas given by Smt. Krishna Devi was excellent as were the satsangs. Also making arrangements on such a large scale for such a large number of
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people shows the organization of months of dedicated work and a good team of workers.
I wanted darshan of Paramahamsa Satyananda. I feel very fortunate to have had darshan and seeing a saint is itself good fortune. I was very happy with the personal care, welcome and cordiality given to all, especially by Swami Kriyananda. It is something we all can learn from.
Om Tat Sat K.
Hari Om,
The convention gave me a positive energy. Every swami was doing something positive in a negative world. So it gave me a kick as if to say, "Hey, get up and do something positive, something active to help people and to share your own energy with others!" It was more the energy than the talks that impressed me.
It was also a spiritual inspiration. For me the only way to evolve is through yoga, not wasting time with worldly nonsense like the material rat race, etc.
I think that the convention introduced a lot of people. For example, Swami Niranjanji was not so well known, but now he has been introduced to everyone and everyone knows about him.
It's good to know that saints still exist. In Europe I don't know any saints but here they are still around and it's good to meet them for their good energy inspires you.

Om tat sat C.
Hari Om,
I have learned about the practice of laya yoga. We learned only a part of laya yoga, not the full technique. Swami Niranjan was saying very clearly that we should keep the
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practice to ourselves and not make it known to others. This is for the good of humanity, because some people may not be ready to cope with the effects of this powerful practice. In laya yoga only two chakras are involved and we directly move from mooladhara to ajna chakra. Another important thing he mentioned was that we should not underestimate the value of mooladhara. Mooladhara is attached to the material world. It is useful and we should not feel bad about it. This technique slowly detaches from the material world and attaches to the spiritual world. Mooladhara has the characteristics of all the five chakras up to vishuddhi and, in some respects, it is more than ajna chakra. Although ajna is higher, to reach it you have to go through mooladhara just as to get to God you go through guru. This is very similar to the idea of the inverted tree with the roots above and the fruits below. I felt that it was a wonderful practice for the balancing of pranic energies and it also created and increased energy.
My stay in Bihar School of Yoga, Munger for six days was an opportunity for me to be with saintly persons. I was eager to meet Swami Nischalananda who gave yoga classes to me in Bangalore in January 1979. He is an English swami. He served Swamiji for 14 years in India and speaks perfect Hindi. He was in Bangalore from August 1978 till February 1979 and was the first BSY, swami to give classes in South India which paved the way for the establishment of the Bangalore branch of BSY along with Swami Muktananda and Swami Buddhananda. He also participated in the 1982 South Regional Conference of BSY, and gave satsang and I learned my favorite kirtan from him. No doubt I'm very attached to him and when I told him that I remember him every day he replied, "It's not me in this form, it is the divine which is in every body". At that time, in 1979, he asked me to meet Swami Satyananda who was to come to Bangalore in March 1979. He also asked me to participate in Bangalore Ashram activities. When I met him at the convention I was overjoyed to see him again. He immediately inquired. "Are you helping with ashram activities?" I said, "Yes". I felt very, very fortunate that. I had a chance to participate in the homa, which was for world peace. It carried on for three days continuously under a shelter outside the main building.
I really felt that the homa helped to remove negative energies from me and my family. The poornaahuti (culmination) was offered by Swami Niranjan on the third
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day. Swami Niranjan even rejuvenated my mala by blessing it for me. I also visited the Chandi Temple where Karna (Radheya) of the Mahabharata worshipped Chandi every morning. Then he would go back to Karna Chowra (where he was staying) and distribute the daana (charity). The Karna Chowra is the spot on which Swami Satyananda meditated many years ago and had a darshan to build Ganga Darshan there at that very spot, and now the jyoti is there. I meditated in the Jyoti Mandir. It was another blessing.
It was also a great opportunity for me to go to Deoghar, Rikhia where Paramahamsa Satyanandaji now lives, and to have his darshan, satsang and blessing. I was even able to do pada namaskar (touch his feet) and he blessed me by putting his hand on my head.
Om Tat Sat G.S.B.
Hari Om,
What I learned from the convention was 'Patience!" When the storm came, I saw Swami Niranjan being so patient. When something comes to us in life, we forget that, “Man proposes and God disposes' and we get worried about it. We can learn a lot about patience from how Swami Niranjan handled the storm and the aftermath for two days. We should think that we cannot control our day to day life, it is in God's hands. If we have this kind of attitude, we won't be suffering from stress and tensions. All our diseases, high B.P., asthma, diabetes etc. originate from stress and tension. I saw that even when it was raining heavily, people were not moving out of the pandal because Swami Niranjan, the leader, was being patient and his patience was influencing others. Because they saw him as the leader, people also became patient by his example. So, we should all have a leader in our life (not only in the convention) and that leader is guru.
I also learned "shraddha" (faith, devotion). I saw shraddha in people from abroad, who didn't understand English. I saw that they had spent a lot of money and time and
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effort to come to the convention even though they didn't understand English or Hindi.
They came for each and every program and sat there because they had shraddha in their guru. Nobody said, “We have spent so much time and money and we did not learn anything. We couldn't understand English and Hindi." On the contrary, they all came and sat close to the stage and looked happy and satisfied and expressed this at other times too.
Om Tat Sat Sw.G
Hari Om,
Actually I am a chronic paranoid schizophrenic patient. Even though I am taking medicine, as soon as I leave my house I feel a fear of people and psychic paralysis. When I travel, within 10-15 minutes I feel terrified that something will happen. But as soon as I started travelling to Munger I did not feel any fear whatsoever. I felt perfectly alright, like a normal person. I felt that some cosmic source was protecting me on this journey. I'm very sensitive to psychic and cosmic energies and vibrations and I immediately feel sensations in my body and head when I come across intense positive energies.
As soon as I entered Jyoti Mandir, the meditation hall, so much cosmic energy started entering my system that I felt highly charged and giddy. Something happened on the first meeting in the evening when Swami Chidananda and Swami Niranjan and great saints gave satsang. I also felt at the polo ground, where the satsangs were held, so much energy flowing into my body from the different people and swamis there. I have such a strong impression and attraction to the images of the gurus, Swami Satyananda and Swami Niranjanananda.
In the Deoghar Akhara, where Paramahamsa Satyananda lives, as soon as I went in, I got a severe stomach ache on the right side. After 5 minutes it disappeared and I felt that Swamiji had given me inspiration (pranava) to continue my sadhana. Waves of heat were coming from Swamiji. I've been told this is because of the tapasya he has been doing and I
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threw out all my fears, pr.obias, suspicions and doubts. I felt so giddy that I had to go out of the akhara. It was a very pious and cleansing experience for me.
Om Tat Sat CS.R
Hari Om,
The power of Swami Niranjan's presence is such that I came to the convention with a lot of questions and they got answeredby themselves without my even asking. I think his whole attitude impresses me, I'm sure he is a perfect human being, just like his name Niranjan (stainless). He is a saint. I can imagine that an angel would be like that, like he is. The best thing is to see him because everyone feels differently. And if you can't see him, you should listen to a talk by him. When I stand in front of him I feel like a drop of water in a big ocean, that's my experience. He has humor, a combination of humor and childlikeness, simplicity and straightforwardness.
Swami Niranjanji has an incredibly clear mind. Even with a thousand things going on around him, if you ask him a question he is totally with you, understands you clearly. He is like a child, playful, innocent. He is humorous. He is very real, very powerful. I'm never on the lookout for a guru. I have met so many great saints and holy people in India, but I never experienced a sparkle from them. Then I came to Munger for the convention and I saw Swami Niranjananandaji. I was taken aback by his personality, his appearance, his voice, what he symbolizes for me, perfection. His name also means untainted. He is someone who has something to say, to show, but with a sense of humor. The others are all sitting there being holy, but here is someone who does something. I like his slogan of Yoga the need of today and the culture of tomorrow." And he is serious about these things. So, for me, he is like a remover of ignorance, a real guru.
Om Tat Sat
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oho SANA VOCA FE ON