Yogi Bhajan Los Angeles, February 14, 2000
Sit straight in a cross-legged p
osition. Extend the arms forward at shoulder level parallel to the floor, with elbows slightly bent. Palms are face down, with fingers spread, tough and tight like nails—these are your five antennae. Eyes are closed. Move the arms rhythmically straight back and forward about 5 inches. Reach from the shoulders, affect your chest and spine. Chant the Prosperity Mantra Har Har Har Har Gobinday by Niranjan Kaur. Continue for 11 minutes.
To end, inhale deep, straighten and tighten your fingers as much as you can so your hands automatically shake from the force of it. Cannon Fire Exhale. Repeat 2 more times. Relax.
Regular practice of this exercise will totally change the psychic flow of your body. You will be different. Your body will receive energy from the universal energy, which is called Prakirti. And as a Purusha and Purkha you will just blossom. Body is given to you as a gift for you to emit and remit the light of your soul. And when it emits and remits the soul, the universe brings to you what you need. Otherwise you are a hustler—“I want this. I’m working for this.” You have only one thing—your breath. You will only know who you are if you know the length and strength of your breath. When your mind does not stop and you go crazy, just hold the breath. In one second you forget why you are doing it. Because when you breathe in and hold it in, the mind comes into the balance center. When you breathe out and hold it out, your mind becomes intuitive. Life is very simple. Pave the way for your own knowledge.
Lecture
You build your body, mind, soul and personality according to your conception. You do not allow yourself to be free. To Be. Your design, make-up, conception, thinking, imagination—are made to be something, and you die that way. It is not natural. You do not know it. The majority of us live in denial. We do not care if we are real or not. We want to be what suits us. Yoga is not making postures. Yoga is when you within you is united; not outside with any god, not with your spiritual teacher. A teacher just teaches you and guides you to the light. You have to practice so that you within you can understand you. You within you can know you. You within you can see you. You must see what you are doing to yourself. Because you do not know yourself—you do not see yourself, you do not hear yourself—you need friends. Trusted friends kill you faster than enemies. With enemies your senses become alert. With friends, no. You have only one guardian—your intuition. You have only one friend— your caliber. You have only one super message from your consciousness—become great. In the coming age those who are doing yoga will be most useful. There are two most powerful things: Mantra and meditation. Mantra will extend your ecstasy. Meditation will purify your mind. You need both. What good are make-up, clothes, money and glamour if you do not know who you are? You must die and live with reverence for yourself. Without reverence for yourself and by yourself, this life is useless. You can shave your head, be abusive, walk naked or wear antique clothes, be good or bad. With all that you are, do you have reverence for yourself? Are you independent? Are you free? Do you understand your values and your virtues? Yoga is not what people tell you, what you read in books, or the practice that you do. Yoga is the conception of self-realization of respect, dignity, divinity and grace. It is all you. And it is all you within you. It is not outside. So tonight I am asking you to develop self-reliance. I am giving you a mantra and an exercise to do that.
