There should be some entertainment in life. Otherwise, life will become too boring.
Q: This is interesting, because what you said in some respects contradicts to the internal idea that the whole life must be practice, practice and only practice and all entertainments must be forgotten and everything should be concentrated on practice and also spreading knowledge to those who will use the truth.
Sh: But then when you begin to appreciate the work of the mind, then every entertainment comes from the mind.
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Lokananda Samadhi Sudham. It means the worldly pleasures and the pleasure of Samadhi. Finally, they are one and the same. Whatever worldly thing you are doing, you are experiencing it with your mind. Samadhi — you are experiencing it with your mind. They are almost the same. After you have experienced Samadhi, everything will be same.
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I keep on saying that all the entertainment is here. You just need to realize that. In the old times when people began to talk about liberation there was so much misery around, they were sad, they were suffering. So everybody was hoping that one day they would be liberated from this. Now we are enjoying more. So we are becoming liberated from misery. We can see the humor in life now. So what is the point of attaining liberation if it comes to that philosophical thing? Actually we don’t want to be liberated. We just want to develop ourselves to our full potential.
And if it is liberation from limitations then we call it liberation. So it is better to be here. And also we should see that god has created this world for a certain purpose. So let’s find out that purpose by living here instead of crying for heaven.
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Q: But isn’t that the aim of yoga to try not to come here again?
Sh: Well, yoga has different variations. It can grant you, it can make you immortal and it can give you liberation with no need to take your other birth.
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There are two achievements. I have described them in my ‘Flowers and Thorns’. One is to establish the identity of the spirit so that it continues to take on different bodies but the identity remains the same. And the other one is to achieve that individual identity while retaining the same physical body permanently. That is the difference.
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The only thing which we Yogis recognized is that the body has enough potential to become immortal. Everybody has a chance to attain immortality if he will go through the yogic path successfully. And also I will say that Babaji is immortal and He has given us His techniques, so there might be the secret of immortality hidden in this also. It’s open to everybody with whom it may click.
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‘Yoga’ means union. So maybe some secret is hidden in the technique to form the permanent union of the spirit and the body.
What is separation of the spirit from the physical body? If you are able to somehow form the union, the permanent union between the spirit and the body you are immortal then. Maybe yoga is the only science which describes this. And it is an open field to anybody whoever is successful.
It will lead to the direct connection with the spirit and then you begin to understand the true nature of your spirit and the nature of body, it will be easy for you to form the union.
Q: Does the spirit shapes the body in a way that it becomes immortal?
Sh: Here I can just say that the spirit also badly needs a body that’s why they keep on taking new bodies. So the trick is to develop your body to a level that the spirit is not ready to leave it.
It is very rare to see a young healthy person die — death is not associated with youth: it should be some disease or an accident otherwise naturally it is impossible for a young man or a young girl to die. That’s why so many techniques, so many schools came up to preserve the youth. Preserving youth means preserving life. And I have never seen a person who likes to grow old. To want to grow old is not healthy. If somehow you are able to make it permanently suitable for the spirit to live inside, why will it go?
Actually the spirit is already mature that is why it leaves. Leaving is the sign of the immaturity of the body. But we need our body to remain young looking with a mature spirit inside. There should be a proper combination of youthfulness and maturity only then you will meet a wise person. Otherwise simply being old is not a sign of wisdom.
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To live disease-free without the worry of aging — it will give you a very great chance to explore the nature. Because nature is enough new. Every moment it’s new.
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Q: But you also said that immortality is only given for some purpose by Shiva or Dattatreya.
Sh: When you practice to a certain level, surely you will draw their attention to yourself and they might help.
Q: Would it be the immortality in this physical body?
Sh: Yes, your spirit is already immortal. When somebody is talking about immortality that means the immortality of the physical body.
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Lahiri Mahasaya describes that every hundred years for 21 days Babaji does a ritual, and with the help of certain herbs and something he just revives and illuminates his body. This is what I have read in Lahiri Mahasaya’s diary. And about Matsyendranath it is already written that he has attained it permanently and he needs no other practice to maintain his body. The same way Ganganath is described.
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Q: Well, they also speak about the first level of immortality which begins if the person doesn’t lose the self identification during the death experience.
Sh: It is establishing your identity permanently. With every body, every birth you keep on changing your identity. So once you establish it no matter how many bodies you take, the identity will remain the same.
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Q: Is the identity destroyed as a mental construction during death?
Sh: Only the physical body is destroyed there the ego goes on. And you see when they take another birth a new identity will be created for them. So he will forget about his past identities they will create а new one as his only identity. But if your identity is strong no matter how many births you take you will remember everything. There will be no break in between.
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The main problem is with every incarnation you change your identity. The major thing is the identity crisis. So if you are able to establish your identity then no matter how many bodies you take — your identity will remain the same. No matter becoming immortal or getting liberation.
Q: So once reached, once overcome this identity crisis never comes back?
Sh: No way.
Q: Even for a little child still remembers all his previous births.
Sh: His identity he has come with — then he will remember everything.
Q: So is it so that then going through once established identity and taking a new birth, still a person commits certain acts and go with certain karma to face the results or that?
Sh: Not possible after that.
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I will remind you of one shloka in Gita and I think in 7th chapter in the end. Krishna is saying that if you will try to ward off old age and death you will know me essentially. Essentially you will get real wisdom. So that means that to know time and to know Krishna as time you must first try to ward off old age and death then only you will discover the real secret of Krishna or time. He is simply giving us a way.
Immortality means you are able to stop old age and successfully stopping death also. So may be it is one kind of liberation which they are writing so much in different books. If you try to stop old age you will learn and discover so many things about yourself, it will help in your self realization. It will make you study your system more deeply.
And to stop death you will have to study what is death first. And by discovering what is death you will at the same time discover what is life also. You will become a wise man.
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With continuous pranayama the oxygen begins to store in your blood. But after it is stored the requirement for oxygen is no more there so you can hold your breath for a longer period.
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When a normal person is breathing, his force of the breath will go out and then it disperses. And if it is longer than that then you will age quickly and your life will end very quickly. And the less it will be the longer you will live, the more strengthened your mind will be. Аnd when you reach a certain level in yoga the breath will not go out of your nostrils, it will keep on moving inside the nostrils only. That’s a additional sign of perfect tranquility and also attaining longevity.
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Whosoever sits here and talks to me or who has received initiation their normal breath will be six to nine in one minute. And the medical science tells us that every man breathes seventeen to twenty four times in one minute. So, breath will slow down automatically. And the doctors tell me that if breath goes down to four they will put you on ventilator in hospital. And with very good practice you will notice your breath must be three-four in on minute.
That is a very interesting thing from medial point of view. Less breath means less oxidation inside the body; it means you will live long and you will remain younger looking. And also it means that your thoughts are very calm.
That makes me a very happy person when I see most of my disciples look younger than their contemporaries. I myself like to think that I don’t look fifty two.
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What is subconscious mind? Where the heart is failing to supply with oxygen or say with prana vayu. So when you are doing yoga and practicing the high level of pranayam and also practicing holding of the breath, the most refined oxygen or say the prana vayu reaches to the unreachable spots inside your brain. And slowly, slowly here only the whole brain comes back to life and gets activated.
And I remember reading somewhere that the normal man hardly uses 18 percent of his total lung capacity. That’s why deep breathing is taught first so that you will begin to use 100 percent of your lung capacity and your brain will start moving up. There might be a connection between living long and how much brain you use. When hardly 2 percent of the brain is activating a man can expect to live up to a 100 years. Suppose 100 percent comes to life — you can live up to 1000 some years or more than that. It is all extent of the brain.