I am a doorkeeper. We call it chaukidar in Hindi. Chauki means wooden bed, and I am like the one who sits on it. What else can I do by myself? There is not enough time to talk about the grace and the graciousness of Swamiji. Whatever I have is through that.
Where is the disciple and what is the guru in the life of the disciple and for the disciple?
As far as my experience goes, as far as I can think, as far as I can analyse, the guru is final for the disciple; I cannot say anything else. Why final? Because we are limited. We are so much engrossed in and impressed by material life that we need a guru as a master, as a human being who contains a lot of energy. For instance, if I have, let us say, energy of two horsepower and the human being I have accepted as my final, my guru, has twenty horsepower, the energy in me can become 2,000 horsepower.
How will this come about? That is a question for everyone. First, there is hatha yoga. Second, there is karma yoga. Third, there is bhakti yoga. I am not going to talk about raja yoga, jnana yoga, dhyana yoga, because I am sure that if you practice hatha, karma or bhakti yoga, you can reach the state where you obtain that energy.
How? Of course faith is important, faith is necessary. Why? Because of the ego which always stands between you and your guru, you and your mother, you and your enemy, you and your friend. Faith unites you with the guru, with the mother, with the friend, and faith brings success or failure with the enemy. If you believe that the master who contains only twenty horsepower of energy can supply you, as a transformer, with 2,000 horsepower of energy, then you will be supplied with this energy.
I was telling you this morning about the spiritual vibration in the universe. Through this spiritual vibration we can receive energy. How? In order to listen to the radio you have to turn it on, and tune into the desired channel. In the same way, in order to see the guru and make your faith steady, you need to collect this spiritual vibration within you so as to open up the faculties of turning on and tuning in.
How? Yoga nidra is one of the greatest techniques in raja yoga through which we can awaken certain divine faculties; through which we can understand you and me - me about you, and you about me - what you are feeling and what I am feeling. I can understand why you are abusing me, loving me, and so on and so forth. I won't abuse you, hate you, nor will I react against you in any way if I understand what you are feeling and why. If you abuse those who abuse you, or hate those who hate you, then you don't understand the condition of the mind, you don't understand what another may be thinking.
Before thinking, think! Before deciding, 'he is bad and my enemy', or 'he is jealous of me', think and observe, 'this is a process of my mind'. Think, 'these thoughts also come to me, and I am also sometimes jealous. I also sometimes abuse, or react with anger at being abused'. This thinking is awareness of your feelings. This awareness makes you realize that you have the same feelings as others. The same feelings are with you also. So now you will not hate; you will not get angry; you will not abuse. And with this awakened awareness the energy will come.
When this energy is being received, it is not because you sit down and practice meditation or some yoga or tantra. Of course you may practice But it is through inner silence, from antar mouna, while practicing yoga nidra that you will have the most success. You will learn this higher antar mouna, this higher state of chidakash.
So far you have only learned how to visualize, which is not enough. You still have a lot to learn, and more than learning, you have to practice Through the visualization in the chidakash, you will know that others are the same as you and that they are you. You will know that you have to respect and see your master in them. Then there will be no hatred and no jealousy, only higher thinking and higher feeling. This is real brahmacharya.
People all over the world have misunderstandings and misconceptions about brahmacharya. Celibacy or separation of husband and wife, and not having any sexual relationships is a misinterpretation of brahmacharya. Brahma means 'highest, subtle' and charya means 'one who remains in it, one who maintains this state of awareness, this state of feeling'. That is brahmacharya. If you want to practice brahmacharya, you must try to collect and retain this spiritual vibration which is everywhere, in everyone, in everything.
In Hindi or Sanskrit, any being, whether human, animal, insect or whatever, we call prana. It is really jivatma, but actually we usually call it prana, because one lives on account of prana or vital energy. It is too subtle to see with these eyes, but the scientists have seen it. Am I right?
The prana which we inhale has life-giving power, energy, but our process of thinking and visualization is not able to retain it. When you eat too much or eat the wrong food, you will have indigestion or diarrhoea. In the same way we have trouble with the spiritual vibration coming from prana. The spiritual power is there, but we are not able to retain what is coming. The prana is not only entering through the nostrils, not only through the breath, but through every pore and hole in the body. We must retain the spiritual power within us. How?
Now I come to the point Swamiji made when he was talking about mediation. Swamiji told us that this is the era of meditation. Through meditation we can digest, we can retain this spiritual power. Before you will be able to maintain this spiritual power through meditation, you must do many other things which Swamiji has not mentioned yet, but he will teach you, I am sure.
The power can be maintained through asanas: trikonasana, pawanmuktasana, paschimottanasana, not for the beauty of the body but for meditation. Everything must be done for a higher purpose, the purpose for which you were born. Why were you born? Swamiji told you the answer. You were born to realize and know yourself. That realization will come only through higher awareness. These asanas, pranayamas, mudras, bandhas and all the techniques are meant for the awakening of that awareness. Why must you practice each asana? It is taught that in halasana you must concentrate on your swadhisthana chakra. That means you must first awaken your awareness, your consciousness, and all the faculties which are there. By amplifying your awareness you will broaden yourself and become bigger and bigger. This is how you will obtain the higher consciousness, and this is how you can feel unity with others.
This morning I remembered that, when I was accompanying Swamiji in South America, he was often asked how one can unite with the guru, with the master. How can one feel the unity, how can one know that the guru and oneself are the same? That is the state, that is the awareness. That consciousness, that feeling that you and the guru are the same is what you must try to obtain through the practices.