Call it something else!

The yogis are turning in their graves Editorial by Swami Janakananda

“What I teach isn’t yoga. I just call
it yoga, because then more people will
come,” said a gymnastics teacher in a
Danish town.
On a larger scale something similar
has happened first in fitness centres
in the USA, and now also in Europe,
where a few so called “yoga” trends
have cropped up.
Common to these movements is that
they limit themselves to a few physical
exercises, which are performed in an
extremely fast or strenuous manner - a
manner which was never a part of the
yogic tradition. Through use of proper
yoga, you keep the body healthy and
supple, and the mind sound - without
letting yourself be dominated by the
physical or the mental.
The exercises, or the way you perform
the exercises in these new movements,
may give a brief kick. But this is a case
of an amputated yoga, where the deep-
going effects are lacking. Nor do you
find the finer breathing exercises here,
or the deep relaxation - not to mention
meditation - and therefore you do not
get the benefits of these methods either,
such as balance and a general view. Through the use of genuine yoga, apart of performing the postures, the breathing
One participant relates that relaxation from the feeling of well being you go exercises, the concentration techniques,
is avoided between the exercises during home with, you get an ongoing effect, the relaxations or the meditations.
the hectic “yoga” session - “so as not to which builds up over time through practice. When we discover that weeds have
lose concentration!” But then you miss crept in, we consider it in relation to
training an essential ability. It is not only Gene-manipulated yoga what we have learnt from the tradition,
while doing the exercises that concen- In our school we have something we call especially from Swami Sivananda and
tration should be present and also grow. weeds in our teaching. This is when the Swami Satyananda. A yoga that by oral
And if you get “cold” between the exer- instructions we give as teachers suddenly, tradition goes back thousands of years,
cises, or “bored”, then you should find or gradually, depart from the original. This and which is also expressed in the clas-
a school with better facilities and teach- can happen consciously or unconsciously. sical scriptures Gheranda Samhita,
ers with a thorough training. You get ideas, you start changing the way Hatha Yoga Pradipika (both between

2
500 and 600 years old) and Yoga Sutra
(probably 2300 years old). It is this tra-
dition of yoga that is the basis of a large
part of the medical research done on
yoga in the 20th century. As regards the
Yoga Sutras, one of the “yoga” move-
ments makes use of this scripture in a
totally distorted manner, among other
ways with their name.
If we happen to tamper with yoga’s
“genes”, structure or design, we ask
ourselves whether we are improving
on thousands of years of experience.
A material that we as individuals
and teachers have tested thoroughly in
every way, thereby achieving the effects
intended from yoga.
Can yoga be made easier? Hardly. If you
follow a harmonious course of teaching,
without haste, then the exercises are
always easy enough, because you move
forward by degrees. Yoga has a style of
its own, a mood and a rhythm of its own
which aims at giving both energy and a
greater ability to go deep, and it is this
that makes it effective.
A culture without roots...
Contemporary Western culture is to a
great extent without wisdom. It suffers
from a foolishness, which brings the
individual up to be dependent, and does
everything to seduce in particular chil-
dren and young people, turning them
into consumers.
Every culture ends in disintegration
sooner or later, history shows us this, but
our so-called civilisation runs the risk of
destroying itself before its time. Restless-
ness, superficiality and the search for
slick or oversimplified methods dominate
the spirit of today - and that is not exactly
what you are looking for in yoga.
The culture, or rather the lack of
cultural tradition which often expresses
itself, for instance in the USA, unfortu-
nately breeds a we-know-better attitude
and a lack of respect for the knowledge
achieved over generations. That we
have a common human heritage here on
this earth is unknown.
Time is not taken to go deep and dis-
cover what yoga really is and what it
can do. Ignorance combined with an ex-
aggerated fascination with acrobatics and
manic “fitness” exercises, make people
believe that they can improve yoga. Is
there no understanding that self-know-
ledge, peace, and resting in yourself is
timeless, that it has been attained by those
gone before, and that you can learn from
them? You may pretend to know every-
thing, but all you do is change yoga
according to your limited knowledge. Well,
then you end up going round in the circles
of your own illusions and expectations.
“Thousand year old experience!?”
- “So what!” “It’s become a bit old
fashioned and dusty, let’s pep it up a bit
and sell it under the same name!”
What is happening to yoga now, hap-
pened fifteen or twenty years ago to the
term Chakra. It was also taken out of
the original yoga with its experience,
exercises, and guidance, and broad-
casted by people who claimed to pos-
sess a deeper knowledge. The main part
of this “knowledge” is based mostly on
their own fantasy and imagination.
About breathing
The precise effect of each exercise in yoga
is so well established, that you may well
marvel at the knowledge that those who
“invented” yoga possessed of humankind.
This is true especially of the breathing
during the exercises. Still, some people
have tried to “improve” yoga in this area
Contents
I stand on my head for health 5
Chris has not had a day sick for 36 years.
Why hold your breath? 6
The yogic breathing exercises have a
thorough and precise effect.
Plenty of oxygen 8
The doctor was nervous: Is there a
lack of oxygen when I do breathing
exercises and hold the breath? So he
investigated the matter.
Breathe through your nose! 9
This provides more oxygen to the blood,
strengthens the immune system, and is
also beneficial for the heart.
An EEG study of the brain during
Nadi Shodana 11
An improved balance in the brain makes
you clear, optimistic and extrovert.
On the path to a greater 14
awareness by Swami Janakananda
How does the yogi handle an expanded
awareness - a discussion with the
residents of Håå Course Center - based
on a text by Swami Satyananda.
Swami Janakananda 32
30 years as Swami - 60 years in life.
Han-shan 36
- poems from Cold Mountain.
Swami Janakananda 38
in Europe and Australia
Yoga shop 42
Intensive courses 43
in the south of Sweden
Håå Course Center provides ideal con-
ditions for you to get to know yourself
- an opportunity to explore your potential
through our unique way of teaching.
3
also. By suggesting, for example, that you
should breathe through the mouth instead
of through the nose during certain exer-
cises. This should be sufficiently refuted
by the studies done at the Karolinska
Hospital in Stockholm (see p. 9). Also with
regard to the breathing exercises in yoga,
it is best to keep to the original guidance,
to ensure a stable cleansing, distribution
and strengthening of the energy. In this
issue of Bindu we have chosen to relate
some of the more fundamental effects
of the breathing exercises in yoga, seen
through the eyes of science and of the yogi.
Yoga is catching
From time to time our culture has let itself
be influenced by yoga, and its exercises
have been used also in other contexts.
This is of course positive. One example
of this is shoulderstand, which is used, or
at least was used when I went to school,
in the gymnastics classes. In this instance
it is good that the exercise be performed
in a fairly brief manner together with
other gymnastic exercises, not as in
yoga where you stand quite still in it for
a lengthy period of time. It is actually
one of the few yoga poses that children
should not do (in a “yogic” manner)
before their glands are fully developed.
A recent, not so successful example
is so-called stretching, where you cer-
tainly stretch some muscles, but in
comparison to yoga, in a superficial
and hasty manner. This therefore gives
quite different, and even in some cases
unwanted effects, if certain recent stud-
ies are to be taken into account.
A positive example of how to use
an exercise, even though it’s not quite
the way it “should” be done, we find in
the article about headstand, which we
have been permitted to publish from the
4
Danish weekly magazine Familie Jour-
nalen (see next page).
Of course you can stand on your head,
even if you don’t call it yoga - it is said
that the French comedy writer Molière
did, “because it did him good”. It may
be assumed that the yoga tradition was
not known in France in those days, but
maybe he learned it from the theatre,
from Comedia del’ Arte. Who knows?
Not everybody wants to practise yoga,
but those who are looking for what yoga
has to offer, shouldn’t be conned by a
false trade description.
Those of us who know the effects of
yoga may not need to read the growing
amount of data from scientific research
now available on yoga and meditation.
However, it might be good to have a
mirror so as to see yoga from the out-
side, and here science is a great help.
But if science is to be credible in the
future, it should not only describe the
effects of a yoga exercise, but also
exactly how it is performed, and what
background both the teacher and the
person doing the exercise have.
“If you do yoga only for the sake of
outer beauty, maybe you should go to a
beauty parlour instead. Yoga gives you
more than this.” (Swami Satyananda,
some time in the seventies)
I wonder whether Swami Satyananda
could have imagined the following advert
from somewhere in Sweden 1999.
Anita Parlour
Hairdresser Body Therapy Courses in
Meditation
When it comes down to it, the physical
yoga, when used correctly so the
desired effects are achieved, is only a
stepping stone towards a higher yoga -
and what is meant by this, see the article
beginning on page 14.q
I stand on my head for my health
Chris has not had a day sick for 36 years
For some it is a case of what you lack in your head, you must have in your
legs. This does not apply to Hundested’s Chris Sylvest. He is supposedly
Denmark’s best 92 year old at standing on the head. And Chris does not do
it to boast of his gymnastic abilities, but to keep himself healthy!
- In the middle of the fifties I emigrated,
together with my wife and two sons, to
the USA. My wealthy sister had a place
to live and work for us in California.
And by and large it went very well. But
in 1958 I was affected by something in
my head. I still don’t know what it was.
It was incredibly unpleasant though.
My brain was affected and I got worse
and worse - I was actually about to
die. We were at our wit’s end. But then
something happened that I would call a
miracle.
We were in the USA for 14 years.
During that time we read neither Danish
newspapers nor magazines. But when
I became ill in 1958, an old edition of
Familie Journalen (The Family Journal)
fell into our laps. I still don’t know
where it came from. In the magazine
there was an article about a watchmaker
from Ålborg (a town in the north of
Denmark), who had cured a violent
migraine by standing on his head for
10 minutes every day. I took to the idea
at once. A month and a half later I was
completely cured. Since then I have
stood on my head for 10 minutes every
morning – and I haven’t had a day sick
for 36 years. Isn’t that incredible?
Chris Sylvest gesticulates with the
whole of his slender body, while telling
about his health and his long, long, life.
Photo: © Karl Ravn
Healthy as a 25 year old
- A few months ago I was examined
from top to toe by two doctors – quite
independent of each other. And they
both reached the same conclusion:
“Your body functions completely
normally – for a man of 25!”
My own doctor, after having
examined me, declared:
- Tomorrow I will begin standing
on my head for 10 minutes. And I will
continue to do so for the rest of my life.
- I don’t know what happens. But it
obviously has something to do with a
lot of blood and oxygen reaching the
brain.
Chris Sylvest was left a widower 14
years ago when his wife died, after a
long and beautiful life:
- My two sons, who have both been
residents of the USA for many years,
invited me to live with them. So I sold
our large house here in Hundested and
travelled over there. But it wasn’t a
success. I was regarded as an old man
by those around me. They wanted me
to sit down and relax all the time with
a rug over my legs. After 14 months I
went back home to Hundested again.
With only two suitcases as baggage.
Everything else I left with my sons and
their families.
by Benny Pedersen
Chris Sylvest was born on a large
farm near Frederikssund in 1902, under
quite dramatic circumstances:
I shouldn’t even be here. The orifice
of my stomach wouldn’t open, and
the doctor gave me eight days to live.
But my mother wanted it otherwise.
She poured some buttermilk inside
me, and I got better. As an adult I
earned my living as a trader in fruit and
vegetables. I had a wholesale business
delivering goods to military barracks
and hospitals. We made a living from
this till we emigrated in 1954.
It seemed inevitable that my life
was going to end in 1958. But luckily
Familie Journalen landed in our laps,
with a recipe for a long and healthy
life. Come rain or shine, Christmas or
Easter, I start the day by standing on
my head. Hopefully for many years
to come, says Hundested’s Chris
Sylvest.q
(From Familie Journalen no. 6 1995.
Thank you for letting us print the article.)
5
Why hold your breath?
- a report from a yoga teacher class, edited by Mira
“When the breath is irregular, the mind is unsteady, but when the breath is
still, so is the mind still and the Yogin obtains the power of stillness. There-
fore the breath should be restrained.”
They did not block in the brain
In the beginning of the eighties, the
school’s yoga teachers took part in a
research project, led by the German
doctor Dr. Thomas Schmidt at the Uni-
versity of Cologne. They studied the
effects of the yogic breathing exercises;
among other things, the pulse, the blood
pressure and the activity of the brain
(EEG) were measured.
While the yoga teachers did the Psy-
chic Breath (Ujjayi Pranayama, read
Bindu no.4) their EEG showed alpha
waves, which signifies a relaxed state.
But the researchers also wanted to
examine how they reacted to distur-
bances.
Hamsananda, who took part in the
experiment, recounts: “I sat in the lotus
pose and did Ujjayi, when, without
warning, one of the researchers struck
the metal table hard. It made a loud
crash. But it didn’t affect me.” The
researchers were accustomed to the sub-
jects easily reacting and coming out of
the relaxed state, but to their surprise
the yoga teachers’ EEG did not change.
While measuring another teacher, the
researchers sounded very excited. They
discussed among themselves that there
was something wrong with the subject’s
EEG, but even then the alpha activity
was not broken.
The researchers concluded, “when the
yoga teachers held their breath, the
alpha activity could not be blocked.”
6
(Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
The nervous system and the
breathing
“Professor Dr. Thomas Schmidt has
conducted research into the different
relationships between thinking and
emotional activity of the mind and the
way the body reacts to this activity
(psychosomatic medicine). He has
confirmed to me that every change in the
breathing, its rhythm and speed has a
direct influence on the nervous system.
Before learning of the breathing
exercises in yoga, Professor Schmidt
concluded that, if one could influence the
breath consciously, one could create a
very efficient therapeutic system. Today
he knows that such a system already
exists, and that it has been tested for
thousands of years in yoga. It has evolved
into a set of different breathing exercises,
each one with specific effects.” (From
Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily
Life by Swami Janakananda)
Habits in the nervous system
When we are in the normal waking state,
we react to a large extent automatically
to what we experience around us. Our
habitual picture of the environment
dominates, and we expect that everything
will remain the way we already know it.
On the other hand, when we are in the
meditative or relaxed state, character-
ised by alpha waves in the EEG, then
this picture of reality is much weaker.
Now we no longer react automatically
to thoughts and impressions. We can
observe it all with new eyes and see
through the filters, through which life
is normally experienced. You could call
this a direct experience.
When you do breathing exercises
or meditate regularly, these automatic
reactions and habits in the nervous
system are weakened. The mind
becomes more creative and flexible –
it becomes easier to see things from
a new perspective. You communicate
clearer and you are better at co-operat-
ing with others. We call the alpha state
“the open state.”
Holding the breath
The breathing exercises in yoga are
called Pranayama in Sanskrit. Prana
means the body’s vital or psychic
energy, and yama to control or master
it. What is unique about the breathing
exercises in yoga, whether you breathe
slowly and deeply or fast and force-
fully, is that you also hold the breath.
In the yoga scriptures, Pranayama is
described as various ways of holding
the breath. In one of the most well-
known scriptures, Yoga Sutra by Patan-
jali, it says: “Pranayama is cessation of
the movement of inhalation and exhala-
tion” and “thus the covering of the light
is dissolved and the mind is fit for con-
centration.”
In certain exercises you inhale com-
pletely and hold the breath and in
others you exhale completely and hold
the breath.
Spontaneous
In deep meditation or relaxation, the
breath can become gradually fainter
and eventually stop by itself – for a
while. This is described as the highest
form of pranayama.
Yoga or not, it works
In England a Russian doctor has recently
aroused some attention. He has discovered
that it is possible to help asthma patients
by instructing them to hold the breath
after exhaling for prolonged periods of
time, and otherwise to breathe through the
nose as much as possible. Unfortunately
he hastens to add that it is not yoga he
is doing. How else could he exploit his
fellow human beings in need of help
with the prices he asks for a method that
he tried to keep secret at first, but which
is an old well-known yoga method?
Also, in yoga there is an experience
that does not just rely upon fast effects.
Importance is placed on the long-term
effects on the nervous system. There-
fore the conditions to be observed
before, during and after the exercises
are described exactly.
On page ten we have chosen one
example of many that gives this effect
just by holding the breath after inhala-
tion. The example should be seen in
connection with the article on nitric
oxide (page 9).
Furthermore, yoga contains various
other exercises that can be used against
asthma.
Sri Yukteswar
Quite another contribution to why one
should hold ones breath comes from the
yogi Swami Sri Yukteswar (1855-1936).
He had his ashram in Puri, India. The
first time he was mentioned in the West
was by the author Evans Wentz - and later
by his disciple Swami Yogananda, who
at the request of Sri Yukteswar travelled
to the USA in the thirties. Yogananda
became particularly well known there
for his book “An Autobiography of a
Yogi”, which among other things is
about Kriya Yoga.
Here we will quote from another book,
“The Holy Science” which Sri Yukteswar
wrote towards the end of his life. What
is interesting is that he maintains that
holding the breath creates such a calm
in the autonomic nervous system that
the inner organs get a rest, which they
otherwise never do, neither during sleep
nor during the waking state!
“Value of Pranayama
Man can put the voluntary nerves into
action whenever he likes, and can give
them rest when fatigued. When all of
these voluntary nerves require rest he
sleeps naturally, and by this sleep the
voluntary nerves, being refreshed, can
work again with full vigour. Man’s
involuntary nerves, however, irrespec-
tive of his will, are working continu-
ously of themselves from his birth. As
he has no control over them, he cannot
interfere with their action in the least.
When these nerves become fatigued they
also want rest and naturally fall asleep.
This sleep of the involuntary nerves is
called Mahanidra, the great sleep, or
death. When this takes place, the circu-
lation, respiration, and other vital func-
tions being stopped, the material body
naturally begins to decay. After a while,
when this great sleep Mahanidra is
over, man awakes, with all his desires,
and is reborn in a new physical body
for the accomplishment of his various
yearnings. In this way man binds him-
self to life and death and fails to achieve
final salvation.
Control over death. But if man can
control these involuntary nerves by the
aforesaid Pranayama, he can stop the
natural decay of the material body and
put the involuntary nerves (of the heart,
lungs and other vital organs) to rest
periodically, as he does with his vol-
untary nerves in sleep. After such rest
by Pranayama the involuntary nerves
become refreshed and work with newly
replenished life.
As after sleep, when rest has been
taken by the voluntary nerves, man
requires no help to awaken naturally; so
after death also, when man has enjoyed
a full rest, he awakens naturally to life in
a new body on earth. If man can “die”,
that is, consciously put his entire nervous
system, voluntary and involuntary, to
rest each day by practice of Pranayama,
his whole physical system works with
great vigour.” (Sri Yukteswar)
Alternate nostril breathing
The following articles in this issue of
Bindu concern the breathing exercise
Nadi Shodana Pranayama, also called
the alternate nostril breathing. We will
look at some of its effects, which we
can benefit from, in our daily life.
In the tradition, Nadi Shodana
is described as the exercise which
cleanses the energy current (Nadi
means current, Prana vital energy and
Shodana to cleanse), so that it can flow
without blockages. By a regular prac-
tise of this the yogi is able to master
and control his energy, and waken and
raise it at will.
When the dormant energy is awoken,
all human potentials are expressed.
Symbolically it is said in Tantra that
Shakti or Kundalini rises up through
all the chakras of the spine, which are
roused on the way, to unite with Siva
at Sahasrara Chakra at the top of the
head.
“By this, mind becomes full of bliss;
verily the practitioner of Pranayama
is happy.” (Gheranda Samhita)q
7
Plenty of oxygen during Nadi Shodana
a pilot study - by Per Lange, Doctor Spec. Internal Medicine
Occasionally when we do Nadi Shodana (alternate nostril breathing) or other and for a while afterwards. Before
exercises where you hold the breath, it feels as though the need to breathe the breathing exercise the percentage
disappears. It’s as if you could continue holding the breath indefinitely. of oxygen in the blood was 97%
When this happens to me, I usually get a disturbing thought as to how long which is normal at rest. During the
experiment the lowest percentage of
it is possible to hold the breath without a harmful lack of oxygen arising.
oxygen measured was 88%, which is a
The only sure way of answering this question is to measure the content reassuring oxygen content.
of oxygen in the arteries while holding the breath, and that is what we The oxygen percentage returned in a
have done. few seconds to 97% after the exercise
was completed.
During the autumn of 1998, I carried The subject was a male of normal
out a series of interesting tests at the build in his forties, with twenty
Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. years experience of yoga’s breathing
One of these was done on the alternate exercises. During the test he did five during after
nostril breathing Nadi Shodana and is rounds of Nadi Shodana, where you Nadi Shodana Nadi Shodana
described in this article. inhale, hold the breath, and exhale,
to the ratio of 1:4:2. That is to say10
breaths in 15 minutes, which is
relatively slow (a person at rest has
approximately 16 breaths per minute).

If you want to take measurements of the

during after
Nadi Shodana Nadi Shodana
SPO2: The percentage of oxygen in the
blood is normally 90-98%. The subjects
oxygen percent fell during the exercise
to 88% at its lowest, a value which is
similar to those measured in sportsmen at
maximum performance.
blood that supplies the brain and other
organs, an ordinary blood sample from
a vein isn’t good enough. You must
have access to the blood of an artery,
an artery that leads the blood out to the
organs of the body – the blood that has
just been oxidised by passing through
the lungs. An anaesthetist placed a thin
plastic catheter in the subject’s left
radial artery, and repeated blood samples
were taken from it during the time the
subject was doing Nadi Shodana.
Result
Blood samples were taken regularly
during the whole of Nadi Shodana
CO2: There was a clear increase of
P
carbon dioxide in the blood during the
exercise, which quickly normalised
afterwards. It is the increase in carbon
dioxide that gives the feeling of wanting
more air.
As a comparison it can be mentioned
that in quite different medical trials, the
percentage of oxygen in the blood of
healthy subjects has been lowered to
75% without negative side effects.
During the test carbon dioxide and
pH values were measured and these
showed the same pronounced changes
and rapid return to normal.

8
 during
Nadi Shodana
after
Nadi Shodana
Breathe through the nose!
Modern research confirms the wisdom of the yoga tradition
by Eddie Weitzberg, M.D. Ph.D., Karolinska Institute
Nitric Oxide (NO) is a gas previously regarded as an environmental pollutant.
The gas is formed by combustion and is present in high concentrations in, among
other things, cigarette smoke and car exhaust fumes. It was therefore quite
sensational when it became apparent that NO is also generated in the human body.

P
H: The pH value fell during the exercise
from an average 7.4 to slightly below
average, 7.26 at its lowest. It quickly
returned to normal again after the
exercise.
Conclusion
Even a fairly slow Nadi Shodana
does not cause any lack of oxygen, or
even come close to alarming values
concerning oxygen percentage, carbon
dioxide content or pH value.
The physiological reason for the effect
of increased clarity and energy that we
feel after breathing exercises is not yet
known.
Other tests with holding the breath
where we have taken a quick series
of pictures of the brain with an
MRC (magnetic resonance camera)
during breath retention, indicates that
considerable activation of the brain
takes place. First in those areas of the
brain that are working with a certain
task, and after that, when the breath
is held repeatedly, it seems as if the
activation spreads over the entire brain.
I hope to be able to return to this in a
future article when we have performed
more tests.q
In 1998 the Nobel Prize for medicine
went to three American researchers for
this discovery. They were able to show
that NO is important in the regulation of
the tone of the blood vessels. A continuous
generation of NO takes place in the walls
of the blood vessels and this tiny gas
molecule dilates the blood vessels, facili-
tating the flow of blood. Recent studies
have also shown that NO is involved in
the function of the nervous system, and
is able to kill bacteria and virus.
Our research group at the Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm has studied the
significance of NO in the respiratory
system. We have shown that a lot of
NO is normally formed in the sinuses
of humans. It is worth mentioning, that
in many people the concentration of
NO in the sinuses exceeds the safety
limit established by the authorities. The
sinuses are in contact with the nostrils
via small openings and this means that
the level of NO in the air of the nose is
relatively high.
What is the significance of this? On
inhalation, NO follows the air into the
lungs, that is, when breathing through
the nose. As NO is a blood-vessel dila-
tor, the blood vessels coming in contact
with the pulmonary vesicles (alveoli)
are expanded. This means that a greater
amount of the blood that passes through
the vesicles can be oxidised.
More oxygen in the blood
We compared breathing through the nose
with breathing through the mouth to see
if it was possible to show whether there
was a difference in the oxidation of
the blood. Quite rightly it revealed that
breathing through the nose led to a 10
- 15% higher oxidation of the blood.
As a verification, breathing through the
mouth with added NO from a gas bottle
gave a similar effect, which corroborates
that the NO in the nasal air has these
positive effects.
We have also looked at the importance
of the nasal air for patients lying in a
respirator. These patients are intubated,
that is to say they have a tube from the
respirator directly into the respiratory
passage. This means that their nasal air
is never part of the breathing. We con-
nected a simple pump system, which
sucked nasal air from one of the nostrils,
and this air was given as a supplement
in the respirator. This relatively simple
procedure increased the patient’s oxi-
dation of the blood by 10 - 20 %.
These findings demonstrate a new
principle where an effective substance
from the body itself, NO, is gener-
ated in the sinuses and carried with

9
the inhaling air to produce an effect in
another part of the body, the lungs. In
this way, NO works as an airborne medi-
ator in the human respiratory passages.
If one looks at the animal kingdom,
then only monkeys and possibly ele-
phants have NO in their nose. The other
species seem to be lacking this system.
One might imagine that monkeys and
humans require this system to optimise
oxidation because we have risen up
from walking on all fours.

Known in many places

The knowledge that it can be advantage-
ous to breathe through the nose is
widely known, but there has been no
scientific explanation for why it should
be good. It is obvious that the air is
cleansed more effectively when breath-
ing through the nose, but that does not
explain the positive effects of oxidation.
On maternity wards the expectant moth-
ers are encouraged to breathe in through
the nose and out through the mouth
during contractions. Physiotherapists
often point out that patients with respira-
tory problems should breath in through
the nose and out through the mouth. Cer-
tain elite athletes use nasal expanding
plasters. Within Yoga there are a wide
variety of techniques for nasal breathing.
Even in the Bible a reference is found
that can be interpreted as that nasal
breathing can be important: “And the
Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a
living soul” [Gen. 2:7].
Consequently there is a many thousand-
year-old knowledge of the importance of
the nose for the breathing. The current
research into this tiny gas molecule NO
may have contributed with a scientific
explanation.q
Nadi Shodana - to counter
asthma
A colleague of the author of the above
article, has been a student of our school
in Stockholm for many years. He has
had asthma since childhood. When he
learnt the first step of Nadi Shodana,
where one breathes slowly through
alternate nostrils, but without holding
the breath, it caused him great difficulty.
He nevertheless continued and went
on to the next step where one holds the
breath after each inhalation. He allowed
the air to gently press up in the nose
against the sinus and frontal sinus. It
was then very easy to do the exercise
and helped his asthma immediately. Now
he is almost free from his medicine.
He emphasises the importance of
closing the nose with the fingers and
holding the breath so that the air cre-
ates a slight pressure upward in the
nose. This raises the air supply to the
sinuses, where Nitric Oxide is gener-
.ated. In this way one can benefit from
the threefold effect NO has - relax-
ing and dilating the blood vessels,
increasing the oxygen absorption in
the lungs, and killing bacteria. He
believes that all this is contributing to
help him be free from asthma.
Nose cleansing
Is it relevant for the absorption of NO
that the nose is clean? Perhaps this
is the real reason that nose cleansing
(Neti) is such an important part of yoga.
If you are inspired by this, then use a
pot which is large and with a long spout.
This gives a satisfactory effect and en-
courages one to cleanse the nose regularly.
Found in heart medicine
Nitric Oxide (NO) is also the most
important constituent in Nitro-glycerine,
which is an important heart medicine.q

10
Nadi Shodanas influence on the brain
Astonishing results achieved after 10 minutes – EEG measurements of the balance between the
brain halves before and after Nadi Shodana By psychologist mag. art. Erik Hoffmann
Greater clarity and calm, but also more energy and inspiration, is what during meditation, and there is a lot to
people often say they achieve by using Nadi Shodana (alternate nostril suggest that people who meditate have
breathing). But can this be measured scientifically? more alpha waves than normal.

EEG and brain waves
In the brain a continual rhythmic
electrical activity is taking place, the
so-called brain waves. Taking
measurements from electrodes, which
are placed on the scalp, is called
electroencephalography (EEG).
There are four types of brain waves.
During deep sleep delta waves are
predominant (1-4 oscillations per
second), and in a dozy, dreamy state
theta waves (4-8 oscillations per sec.)
dominate.
The brain waves that interest us
the most are the alpha waves (8-13
oscillations per sec.). They are mostly
to be found when the person has closed
eyes, is mentally relaxed, but still awake
and able to experience. When the eyes
are opened, or the person is distracted
in some other way, the alpha waves are
weakened, and there is an increase of
the faster beta waves (13-40 oscillations
per sec.), that is the brain is activated.
The amount of alpha waves therefore
shows to what degree the brain is in a
state of relaxed awareness. When the
beta waves are predominant, we to a
great extent think and act habitually.
Alpha waves, on the other hand, show
that the brain is in a more open and
creative state, with a better contact with
the emotions and the subconscious.
Scientific studies have shown that
the amount of alpha waves increases
The two brain halves
The left brain half is verbal, analytical
and logical in its functioning, while
the right is musical, emotional and
spatially perceptive. The left brain
hemisphere thinks in words and
concepts, and the right thinks in
pictures, feelings and perceptions. In
a normal brain, a spontaneous shift in
balance occurs between left and right,
depending on what one is doing. When
one is reading, writing and speaking,
the left half will be more active than
the right. On the other hand, when one
is listening to music or is engaged in
visual spatial perception, then the right
half is most active.

Fig. 1 R/L ratio before and after Nadi Shodana (alternate nostril breathing) A. Five persons in the advanced group, who
A. Advanced B. Inexperienced initially had a R/L ratio below 1.00, after
group group before Nadi Shodana Nadi Shodana exhibited values over 1.00. And
after Nadi Shodana conversely, five persons who before the exercise
optimal balance had a high R/L ratio achieved lower values
after the exercise. So all persons in this group
approached the best possible relation between
the brain halves.
After Nadi Shodana everybody in the
advanced group came very close to the average
Wilcoxon test: * p<.001, value, which means it is statistically significant.
ns= not signifikant, N=10
* these changes are statisti- B. In the inexperienced group the values
cally significant and cannot after Nadi Shodana showed greater variance,
be ascribed to coincidence. which entails that this result is not statistically
significant (even though their average for the
Temporal Post-Temporal Temporal Post-Temporal temporal area is the same as the optimal value).

11
 It is important for the creative
activity of the individual to have a
“correct” balance and communication
between the brain halves.
Alpha R/L ratio
By calculating the ratio between the
amount of alpha waves in the right and
left brain hemispheres, an expression
for the balance between the brain halves
is obtained, the so-called R/L ratio. If
there is exactly the same amount of
alpha waves in the right and left brain
hemispheres, the R/L ratio will be 1.00.
If there is more alpha in the right brain
half, the R/L ratio will be more than
1.00, and vice versa, the R/L ratio will
be less than 1.00 if there is more alpha
in the left brain half.
In most people during rest with
closed eyes, the R/L ratio is normally
slightly above 1.00. This is probably
due to our culture’s emphasis on the
functions of the left brain half.
During deep relaxation, however,
a balance of 1.00 between the brain
halves is approached.
Previous studies (see, amongst others,
the articles in Bindu no. 5 and 12)
point towards that the ideal temporal
Fig. 3 Brainmaps
The central figures on the pictures
(see arrows) show the alpha activity
before and after Nadi Shodana. If you
compare these you see that after Nadi
Shodana the amount of alpha waves in
the right brain half has increased (more
red), and that the balance between the
brain halves has improved. (For more
information about brainmaps see Bindu
no. 12.)
Before Nadi Shodana
12
R/L ratio should be around 1.10, and
the post temporal around 1.15.
The American Richard Davidson has
in recent comprehensive studies found
that depressive patients had a R/L ratio
in the temporal lobes permanently under
1.00, whereas out-going, optimistic
people had a R/L ratio over 1.00.
With children of the age of 2-3 he
discovered a R/L ratio under 1.00 in
a group of shy and inhibited children,
while another group of outgoing,
uninhibited children displayed a R/L
ratio over 1.00.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to test
the hypothesis, that the breathing
exercise Nadi Shodana improves the
balance between the two brain halves
as reflected by the alpha R/L ratio.
Nadi Shodana
The alternate nostril breathing (Nadi
Shodana) is a classical yogic breathing
exercise. It is performed in the
following manner: One inhales through
the left nostril (while closing the right),
the breath is held (closing both nostrils),
ð ð
After Nadi Shodana
Fig. 2 The position of the electrodes on
the head during EEG-measurement
Frontal
Temporal (frontal temporal lobe)
Post-Temporal (rear temp. lobe)
Occipital
In this study we have used the four points of
measurement (T3-T6) on the temporal lobes.
thereafter exhaling through the right
nostril (closing the left). Then one
inhales through the right nostril, the
breath is held, and exhales through the
left nostril. This constitutes one round.
For a detailed description of the
various steps of Nadi Shodana, see
the book Yoga, Tantra and Meditation
in Daily Life by Swami Janakananda
(Weiser).
Method
Two groups, of 12 subjects each, had
their EEG measured before and after
Nadi Shodana. Group A consisted
of teachers and students of the
Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation
School in Copenhagen with many years
experience of Nadi Shodana. Group
B consisted of students of the school
who had just learnt Nadi Shodana.
All subjects were right-handed. We
avoided left-handed people, who can
have a different balance between the
brain hemispheres.
All subjects performed five rounds of
Nadi Shodana as described previously.
This took 10 to 15 minutes. The EEG
measurement was taken from four
electrodes on the left and four on the
right side, placed on the head with the aid
of an elastic band (see fig. 2). The signals
from the electrodes were relayed through
an amplifier to a computer, where the
eight channels of EEG was displayed
on screen. They were simultaneously
stored on the hard disk for future
analysis. Periods of about 60 seconds
EEG recording, one before and one
following Nadi Shodana, were analysed
for the temporal and post-temporal
lobes, which are considered the most
important sites to measure this balance.
Result
With all subjects in the experienced
group, changes occur towards an optimal
balance (fig. 1). Five people, who
previously exhibited a R/L ratio below
1.00, had a value over 1.00 following
Nadi Shodana. And vice versa, five
people who had a high R/L ratio before
the exercise achieved lower values
towards the optimal after the exercise.
The mean temporal ratio fell from
1.19 to 1.11, while the post temporal
ratio fell from 1.43 to 1.19. These
changes are statistically significant and
cannot be due to coincidences.
Even though most of the changes
in the inexperienced group are in the
direction towards balance they are not,
however, statistically significant.
Discussion and conclusion permanent long-term effect (see
For several of the advanced Bindu no. 5).
participators, apart from more alpha
waves, there was also an increase of These positive changes were found in
the amount of beta waves after Nadi all instances in regions of the brain that
Shodana. This might seem paradoxical, are closely linked to the limbic system,
as such an activation of the brain which is the seat of our emotions.
normally involves a decrease in the On the basis of our results we
amount of alpha waves. This could be therefore conclude that Nadi Shodana,
interpreted as that you become more if it is done regularly over a longer
active and at the same time remain period of time, has a favourable
calm and clear in the head. influence on the balance between the
We found a similar “paradox” during brain halves and thereby an emotionally
a previous study where we measured stabilising effect on the individual.q
EEG during the deep relaxation Yoga
Nidra. Normally when the amount of
theta waves increases, the alpha waves
decrease and you fall asleep. During
Yoga Nidra, however, the theta waves
increased, but the decrease of alpha
waves was minimal. This means that
you don’t fall asleep, but remain aware
and awake also in the deeper state.
In figure 3 you can see how the amount
of alpha waves has increased in the
right brain half after Nadi Shodana,
and there is an optimal R/L ratio.
Previous measurements before and
after Kriya Yoga show the same
favourable changes as after Nadi
Shodana. The average temporal
R/L ratio after Kriya Yoga was 1.12
together with a significant rise of alpha
waves (see Bindu no. 12).
EEG-measurements of participants
on the three month courses (1986-
91) showed the same improvement
of the R/L ratio. The measurements
then, however, were not done in
connection to any meditation practice,
but during ordinary rest, before and
after the course. This result indicated a
13
On the path to a greater Awareness
- about a text by Swami Satyananda: “Chronology of a yogi”
Written and edited by Swami Janakananda
Wisdom teaches us, that
we are more capable of
meeting the spiritual if we
have no expectations - that
it is far more desirable to
experience what is really
happening, rather than the
ideas we, with our limited
awareness, are capable of
forming in advance.
It is in such a light the subject
of this article should be seen. In
advanced yoga we aim at keeping
awareness open and expanding.
This can be compared with the
state we are in when we identify
ourselves with what we have
learned by heart - habitual views
and expectations.
Living with a greater
awareness demands a body that
does not give way to different
states. The same applies to the
relation you have to your mind
- you must be prepared and
trained in experiencing your
mind as an observer, so that you
don’t get carried away so easily
by all the things that occupy it.
This does not come just by
itself.

Still, a person may spontaneously

have an experience of expanded
awareness, of an undisguised

14
presence; words fail to describe this
extraordinarily strong experience of
being, of existence. The causes can
be many, for instance a shock, a great
sorrow, a sudden change in your life
situation...
If you are not prepared and suddenly
perceive yourself as naked - if the
state is so strong that it is impossible
to deceive yourself, impossible to hide
behind roles, masks and justifications
- then it is of course overwhelming and
can create fear in some people. On the
other hand, others find such a sudden
change of awareness very positive, even
though they are unprepared. Often the
experience leaves a void when it is over.
Ordinary yoga and meditation provide
a good foundation for meeting such an
experience in a beneficial way. Whether
it is wished for or not, you will manage
it better if you have experience of yoga.
Also people who have been subject to
unwanted states can benefit from yoga.
The teacher - student
co-operation
The tantric yoga tradition, however,
also contains methods and ways of
using yoga, which aim at opening
consciousness and keeping it open, in
a stable and harmonious way. The real
yogis (whose equals are seldom found
among western yoga teachers or among
leaders of modern movements in India)
have exactly this expanded awareness
as a goal on their path.
Nobody is persuaded to become a yogi
in the original tradition based on the
teachings of Matsyendra and Gorakhnath.
Rather, attempts are made to dissuade
the would-be aspirants from becoming
yogis, or else they are scared off. It is up
to the individual to show determination,
single-mindedness and courage. When
the aspirants begin their preparation,
it is without fear of heightening the
awareness or strengthening the level of
energy. Obviously this is not like the
relatively small and short-lived increase
in energy that you can get, for example,
after ordinary physical training.
The co-operation with the teacher,
from whom the aspirant receives the
secrets of the living tradition, happens
in an artistic, a systematically scientific
and a quite natural everyday way.
The training proceeds gradually and
with great precision, both in daily life,
while learning the methods, and during
initiation into higher states. Everything
plays a part, the living conditions, the
diet and the student’s ability to face
him- or herself.
The teacher must also be able to guide
the aspirant away from narcissism and
self-indulgence. The aspirant should not
lose him/herself in such involved and
introvert states, or confuse them with
the experience of and the identification
with oneself as consciousness. That is
to say, the aspirant should not identify
with that which is experienced, but with
the one who is experiencing.
Nothing could be more wrong than to
consider the learning or the use of yoga
methods as ‘mechanical’.
Postures, breathing exercises and
meditations can of course be described
and observed from outside - you can
have a certain knowledge of them. But
the learning of, for example, the various
kriyas in Kriya Yoga is accompanied
by an experience and a state so
fundamentally free, that it can only be
known by those who have sought Kriya
Yoga themselves, and really used it.
Normally you imagine telepathy to
be transference of thoughts and feelings.
But in the relationship between teacher
and student, during the period of
learning, it is about channelling the
energy, so tensions, inhibitions and
blocks can be released and flow onwards,
or be ‘burned’ as soon as they arise.
The learning process is above all
something that is experienced. In this
way insight is achieved. But behind
this process something else is going
on - a purification of the energy flows,
which is deeper than what is normally
achieved with the ordinary yoga and
breathing exercises.
Now the student receives help to
harmonise and channel the energy further
- and - guidance in both being able to
confront and let go of the experiences
which will come in the course of the
purification process. This applies not
only to potentially unpleasant experiences,
but also to those which fascinate.
You don’t need to hide yourself
behind a reserved attitude or forget
yourself in a reaction. Reactions
are something that most people
experience when they start discovering
themselves, but here the guidance helps
you get out of them quickly again.
There are various meditation methods
in the tantric tradition. I am referring
here to “real” meditations. What some
people today call meditation manipulates
with positive and negative values
instead of having a liberating effect,
or plays on your expectations and
ideas, creating fantasies on the basis
of them. Incidentally, the same applies
nowadays to what certain “counsellors”
call tantra sex. It hasn’t got much to do
with the expansion of awareness and
increase in energy that is the purpose
of the original tantric rituals.
15

“Ignorance” and conceptions
Both within spirituality and science
– yes, also within yoga, when it appears
as a movement or is connected to a
religion – people often attempt to give a
complete view of the world, of life. But
to explain everything with descriptions
and mythologies, does that keep the
fear away? At any rate it doesn’t give
any first-hand or direct experience of
reality. It doesn’t teach us to see things
anew or open our consciousness, so that
we experience in a deeper way.
Science isn’t just about confirmation
and new discoveries. I would like to
question, for example, the size of the
time frame used when describing the
history of mankind. At present there
are constant new discoveries, which
are slowly but surely dating human
settlement and the rise of civilisation on
the various continents far earlier than
the information given in the history
books or encyclopedias. The idea that
everyone living at present stems from
an ancestral mother and father in Africa
about 200.000 years ago, I do not think
will be valid for many more decades.
We will gradually realise that the time
scale of our history, or our prehistory,
is much bigger than what is maintained
today.
Until this opinion is definitely
changed the attitude is: It’s scientifically
proved! So there’s an end to it. We
don’t need to discuss it any further.
Unfortunately the evidence in science is
often based on excluding facts that don’t
agree with the theory one is creating.
When “the Iceman” or “Ötzi” was
found in the Alps some years ago, a
professor in Munich found it irritating
16
that it would now be necessary to place
the beginning of the bronze age further
back in time. Instead he should have
been glad that the picture of the world
was questioned a little, so things could
be seen afresh.
As regards medical research we
can’t complain, nowadays there is a
great interest in yoga and meditation.
I know, however, that effective
medical methods are directly hindered
by misinformation and inadequately
performed studies. One example is the
Chelation therapy (EDTA) for heart
diseases and hardening of the arteries.
With my knowledge of many cases of
improvement, not to say direct cure,
I am convinced that EDTA is more
effective than most medicines on the
market - and with minimal side effects.
But then this treatment is in full use in
most countries. So why is it opposed?
Well, what would happen to the
shareholders in the big pill factories, if
it came into use in the larger hospitals
and not just the private clinics? The
EDTA substance, which cleanses the
body from heavy metals and gradually
breaks down the calcification, is so
commonly available, that you can’t
obtain a patent for it!
It is a shame that the effects of this
substance are not more commonly
known. It could save the lives of many,
prevent amputations and by-pass
operations and cut expenses for the
health service by millions.
The problem with the truth is that it
cannot be determined once and for all.
If both the scientist and the spiritual
seeker really want to gain insight, they
must first of all be able to not know - to
let themselves be surprised. But this is
dangerous; it touches what is safe and
established. It touches the view of the
world or the way you perceive yourself.
Which one of the priests or
scientists in the day of Galileo dared
look into his telescope? Not one.
They already knew that the earth is
the centre of the universe, and that the
planets and the sun and everything else
orbit the earth.
Why was Socrates proclaimed an
enemy of the state in his old age?
Because he taught the youth in the
streets of Athens about “ignorance”,
the ability to wonder, and not to
defend ready-made explanations! He
also said, ‘Know thyself.’
A crisis like the one both Socrates
and Galileo apparently caused in their
day, can be compared with the one
you might run into when you meet
yourself. What you meet when you get
to know yourself isn’t worse than the
ideas you have about yourself, quite
the opposite. Not much unconscious
fear remains, when you have lived
through the meeting with yourself.
Awareness training
To keep an open consciousness,
training in being awake and aware is
needed. In meditation you learn to find
your way in to, and get accustomed
to, your true identity - yourself as the
experiencing awareness. It is about
you who experiences, and not what
you experience, whether inwardly or
outwardly.
Also you must have knowledge of
how to raise the energy level in body
and mind - in order to change the state
and remove the inhibitions, which bind
body and mind.

Scope - and that which covers - the light at the crown of the head
The ability to experience and the
ability to strengthen your psychic
energy are two principles that support
each other. When consciousness and
energy merge into a unity in this way,
we can speak of a heightened awareness.
To put it briefly, one of these abilities
we can train with the 7 steps in the
meditation Inner Silence, Antar Mauna,
and the other with the many methods in
Kriya Yoga. But there is more that plays
a part and must be taken into consideration.
The concept of evolution is one of the
greatest and most destructive illusions
a human being, or a society, can live
in. Those who “strive” on the spiritual
path, seem only too often to want to be
elsewhere than where they are.
As if insight is to find other places
than where you are already.
That which is here is elsewhere.
that which is not here is nowhere.
(Vishvasara Tantra)
At times the term evolution is used
in a misleading way about cyclical
occurrences. For man, you could in a
spiritual sense speak of a “pupa phase”
and a “butterfly phase” or of maturing,
but it has nothing to do with “growth”
or “development”.
As guide and trainer for those living in
an ashram I must concern myself both
with inner and outer matters - and they
seem to be connected. If you can’t find
what you’re looking for inside yourself,
you certainly won’t find the things you
need externally. And vice versa, if you
live here and now outwardly, there
is a good chance that you’re also in
accordance with yourself inwardly.
One example is a young aspirant
being given a Karma Yoga task, for
instance to mend something in one
of the houses. The house is a few
kilometres from the main buildings of
the school. Suddenly I see the person
in question, on a bike or with a tractor,
driving off at full speed to fetch a tool
or some material at the school. When I
stop him or her and ask if these things
weren’t available on the spot, I get the
answer that they are probably not. In
most cases, together we are able to find
at once what we need right where he or
she was to begin with.
There are different degrees of expanded
awareness. It begins with a presence
and sensitivity so strong, that it cannot
be distinguished from intuition. You see
what you need to see.
It shows itself quite simply in
practical matters in daily life: In class,
the student who doesn’t do the exercise
properly, is the one you see directly. A
fault in the administration shows up in
front of your eyes, without you having
looked for it.
And the inner life: When you
momentarily react or try to hide an
emotion or a thought from yourself.
When you are about to let yourself
be overwhelmed or about to forget
yourself...
The opposite is to be unaware,
inattentive and insensitive towards the
needs of other people, and to submit to
influences, inhibitions and the moods
both of others and yourself.
You know when you can let go - and
when it’s a matter of endurance. Around
you things fall into place by themselves.
17
An expanded awareness
“That is of course a good question.
I have several students who practise
advanced yoga at home, as a support in
(Exerpts from an evening’s discussion about, among other things, a text by Swami their daily or creative work.
Satyananda, with the people who live and work at Håå Course Centre. Some are yoga But let me use the Kundalini
teachers with a long full time yoga teacher training behind them, others have arrived experience as an example. In her
recently, and one is a student from India staying at the course centre with a scholarship book: ‘Kundalini - Psychosis or
for one year. Transcendence?’ doctor Lee Sannella
The way you live and work, at the same time doing yoga and meditation in company writes that an ashram seems the right
and alone, and where most people are also training to become yoga teachers, is what I place to be if you want to get the
call a ‘spiritual workshop’, a so-called ashram.) full benefit of ‘kundalini as an inner
therapy.’ She bases this statement on
Swami Janakananda: “Why do people The Seer quite a number of examples, so-called
live in an ashram?
“What are we talking about?” ‘case histories’. Some people were for
Why do you live in an ashram?”
example cured from manic-depression
“Working with yourself and with after going through a kundalini rising.
One of the aspirants: “Because it’s
others.” This was done under skilful guidance,
interesting!”
“Yes, but what is that really? There in the setting of Swami Muktananda’s
“Interesting! You can say that again!”
must be some motivation for living in ashram in South Fallsburg in New York
“Nice training!” an ashram. Does anybody else want to State, USA. Swami Muktananda was
tell me what yoga is?” among those who know how to channel
“Nice training for what? Nice - is it
and harmonise the energy.
really ‘nice’? Now you have to be “I see it as a help to get to know
Lee Sannella also asks the question
honest!” yourself, and at the same time to learn
whether it is possible to handle such
“No, not ‘nice’ - I would say ‘good’. to observe your personality and your
experiences outside an ashram, when
You experience what is good for you.” life and to become one with it.”
they come unexpectedly. When you
“It’s said strongly in one of the old are not prepared with yoga and if
“OK. But why Yoga? Can anybody tell
scriptures: ‘Looking at the eyebrow you’re alone, or in the hands of a
me - what is Yoga?”
centre is not yoga. Yoga is only to society which has no knowledge or
Another aspirant: “Somebody said become one with the seer - nothing understanding of what it’s about.
to me the other day that the contents else.’ That’s what you’re saying -
of your mind are pretty tangled - and ‘learn to observe’ - can you learn that?” Let’s look at our subject from another
then you do yoga and meditation and it point of view. When you live alone,
“I’ve become better at it.”
untangles the threads.” you’re not kept at it by the ashram
“Yes - it grows. You learn it through routine. You’re not inspired to remain
A third: “OK, it untangles it... But can awake and it can be difficult to keep to
training, don’t you!”
everybody do it? What about those a discipline.
who cling to their intellect and their so- “An ashram must be a place where
Carrying out a regular yoga practice
called intelligence? Can everyone open you’re kept at it all the time - otherwise
in such a way that you’re always in
themselves to such an experience?” you shouldn’t call it an ashram.”
contact with yourself and can maintain
“What was it Woody Allen said: an expanded awareness can be very
‘Intellectuals can be absolutely Kundalini much supported by life in an ashram.
brilliant, without having the faintest “Can’t you achieve this - or try to - When you’re on your own it’s
idea about what’s going on.’ ” outside an ashram?” difficult to let go of wishful thinking

18
and other illusions. There’s no help
to see through them at once, when
you’re lacking the ‘mirror’ and
the understanding of the ashram
environment. Unfortunately the
courage, the ability and the knowledge
that is necessary you do not find in all
ashrams.
Outside the ashram the circumstances
and the attitudes that dominate society
as a whole, can make you forget both
wisdom and training.
The fundamental effects
of yoga
Let us return to the question, what is
yoga?”
“For me - I mean - I feel better when
I do yoga. When I don’t do it, I can
easily fall into a pretty dull state. So I
do yoga again and get out of it.”
“So what would you say that you
experience? What is it you achieve?”
“A sort of clarity, energy and even
happiness! When I experience this in
myself, I want to share it with others.
Sometimes it’s frustrating, because
some people don’t have such an
outlook on life that you can convey this
to them.”
“Yes, very likely. But when you’re
teaching in an evening class, even
though some of the people present
may not be where your ideals would
like them to be - or that’s what you
think anyway - does that really matter?
When they go home from the class
they feel much better.
Isn’t that enough? You can’t expect
everyone to take the same direction as
you.
On the other hand you should have
the ability to keep the door open, and
be there for those who want you to
teach them how to go further. So your
teaching must contain this possibility.
A higher state of
consciousness
“Unfortunately, there are some yoga
teachers and other ‘spiritual’ teachers,
who claim all sorts of things, but who
haven’t experienced the heightened
state of awareness themselves. The fact
is that you can’t figure it out in your
mind. Nor can you get it out of a book.
The day you experience breaking
through to a greater awareness, you
might very well feel shaken for a
long time afterwards. I was, anyway.
When I drove through the streets of
Copenhagen in the sixties, for instance,
and I saw people waiting for the bus
or walking along the street, I said to
myself: ‘Where are these people?’ I got
scared. To me it looked as if they were
nowhere - what I mean is, I noticed the
unawareness - and it scared me!
These ideas also turned out to be
partly built on illusions. I had to learn
to see through such concepts. Just
because I experienced things stronger -
that didn’t mean that I knew what kind
of states other people were in. That was
probably why I said to myself: ‘I’m
going to my teacher’s ashram, not so
much for greater awareness, as to learn
to build a bridge to the normal state of
consciousness.’ My awareness was so
great that I felt that I could disappear
in the collective consciousness at
any moment, and forget all about
my individual little thread I was also
holding on to.
Of course I hadn’t received any
training yet in being a witness.
Living in an ashram can be part of the
work of self-realisation. That is if you
use the place and the conditions, and
wish to receive the guidance and help
you can get.”
You must be able to let go
“What you call spiritual awakening, or
self realisation - can it be done step by
step?”
“When I was younger, I expected it to
come suddenly, like a miracle - and to
a certain extent it was like that for me.
That is, part of it happened suddenly,
but still, it wasn’t that easy. The work
was there and had to be done gradually.
With the help of the tantric meditations
and the ashram training I learnt to
stabilise the whole thing.
Swami Satyananda taught me this.
Luckily he isn’t just a learned person.
Yes, he is learned, no doubt about
it, but he didn’t base his training on
the learning. He didn’t try to give me
any form of intellectual information
- he didn’t use books, lectures and
so forth. Of course I’ve read books,
but he taught me to count on my own
experiences. He said: ‘Why read when
you’re together with the ones who
write the books?’ In other words, let
us communicate directly since we’re
together anyway.
So, I made a decision: ‘OK, I’m here
– I surrender; no matter what tasks
he gives me, I’ll go at it hammer and
tongs.’
Some people didn’t dare to just
give in and be there. They questioned
all sorts of things - the way people
behaved, the roles they played, the
food that was served, the frequent
power cuts, and every time the water
19
supply failed... They could leave any
time they wanted to, of course. But
they needed an excuse to rewrite their
own story, inside their head. They
couldn’t face the fact that they were
incapable of carrying through their
original decision. It’s amazing how
many excuses people use to avoid
their habits being upset, and to avoid
themselves being touched. But life
touches you, you can’t avoid it - until
the day you start counting on yourself.
Until then, is what happens in your life
other people’s fault?
What we have talked about here, is an
introduction to what I really want to
say...
One day Swami Satyananda gave me
a short article to copy-type.
He called it Chronology of the yogi.
In the following text it is written in
italics.
Chronology of the yogi
‘The practice of yoga will not bring
about realisation. Because the purpose
is not that.’
It’s obvious: you don’t struggle to
achieve this with the help of an exercise,
so that those who do the most exercises
get there first. It’s not that simple.
‘The experience of truth or whatever
you want to call it is not an event
to become, but it is a state of being.
What you wish to realise through yoga
is already in you, in the same purity
in which you will realise it, after the
removal of a kind of avidya [ignorance].
Frankly speaking, all the practices are
only aids for developing individual
awareness to such an intensity and
20
height - of course very slowly - that
the practitioner becomes almost a
seer of himself. Not only a seer of
himself in vague terms, but a seer of
everything he does, feels, thinks etc.
Therefore, this awareness should not
be allowed to be developed by those
people who have not achieved a
certain knowledge of themselves.’
Why not? I talked about it on the
Christmas course - it was Yogeswar
who asked me about the psychic
symbol. The psychic symbol
appears when you have reached a
state where you have given up effort
completely - it’s a kind of feedback,
but on a deeper level than for
instance biofeedback.
With biofeedback, when you have
the electrodes on your scalp and ear
phones on, you hear a sound. It’s
only when the brain relaxes that the
sound disappears. The first time it
happens by chance, then gradually
you learn to make the sound
disappear and to keep the brain
somewhat relaxed.
The psychic symbol brings about
something similar, but in a deeper
and more comprehensive way.
When you give up control in your
meditation, give up your ideas and
will power - when you become
receptive and start to experience
- at that point the psychic symbol
appears.
When you are so ambitious in your the critical attitude for a moment, to
meditation, that you sit there and just experience and receive. In this way
strive, it never appears. Whereas, when you can compare it to biofeedback. The
you let go and abandon yourself to the psychic symbol shows you that ‘now
process, the symbol shows itself. It can you are there’.
also turn up in other contexts, when This, however, is just the first phase
you dare let go of the struggling and in the visualisation of the psychic
symbol. The fact is that it can keep
you awake in areas that are normally
‘unconscious’.
The second phase starts, when
you hold the symbol in your mind.
Now you go further than when you
experience the symbol as the end of
your meditation. If you remain in
contact with the symbol for a long
time, the next phase sets in, with an
expansion of awareness.
What you first learnt about the
psychic symbol, as the ninth step in
the Ajapa Japa meditation, is that it
signifies the end of the meditation and
a focusing of awareness.
In advanced yoga the symbol means
the following: Now the expansion of
awareness starts - if you continue for a
longer time - beyond the habitual limits
of the mind.
21
Seeing yourself
The psychic symbol tells you, among
other things, that if you go on you will
be able to ‘read’ or ‘see’ your personality
as it is. Not just the ideas you have
about yourself, all the nice things that
justify your actions and thoughts - like
‘oh, I’m so good’ - or the complexes
and neuroses you pity yourself for. You
won’t just experience things that you
already know about. There’s more to
discover and become aware of than that.
Let me give you an example. The other
day I heard someone say, that it would
be nice if criminals also had criminal
minds, or rather a criminal picture of
themselves. But they haven’t. They have
all these illusions about how nice they
are, how charming they are, how good
they are (corrupt politicians for example)
and how just their actions are - at the
same time as their acts are criminal.
Therefore there’s no hope for them.
It’s the same as with some alcoholics.
They say: ‘No, alcohol isn’t a problem
for me.’ And they keep on saying it!
Until the day they drink and drive, and
run someone over in the street and kill
them. The only way you can start a cure
for these people is, if they realise that
they have a problem, and that so far
they’ve been lying to themselves. Then
the cure can begin.
Imagine if the criminals, the corrupt
politicians, could do the same - have
criminal thoughts about themselves, then
they would know that they were criminals.
Their acts are criminal. They subject
other people to a criminal behaviour,
which causes pain and suffering. They
treat others, and speak about others, in
a criminal way. But in their own minds,
in the ideas they have about themselves,
everything is right and proper, and fits
the picture they have of reality.
22
Everyone who suffers from what
is called avidya (ignorance) doesn’t
see himself or herself as they are. I
don’t mean to say, though, that their
personalities are necessarily evil.
Self-insight does not result in you
realising that you are a bad person, on
the contrary - but still you’re in for a
surprise. Suddenly you see yourself as
naked! There you are, without all the
pretty manners and smiles, the roles,
the pride... Maybe you realise that you
habitually use other people. Do you
want examples? Men who use women,
and the other way around. Men who
use other men, for money, emotions, a
position or whatever.
One day you stand there naked in
front of all this, and you don’t really
know what to do. At the same time you
understand, that far from everyone has
arrived at such an insight. The apparent
unawareness that you experience
around you frightens you, and you
realise that you need guidance.
I’m telling you now about my own
experience. You realise that you really
are responsible and a creator of your
own future.
“But how do you get there? It’s difficult
to be honest with yourself...”
“You can’t do it just through the
intellect. You have to be thrown into a
state of greater sensitivity and greater
ability to experience - an expanded
awareness. And as Swami Satyananda
says in the beginning of the text I’m
reading here: ‘gradually and slowly’.
If we are to meet the demands that
Swami Satyananda makes here, we
must train the mind. This is done with
the various methods of yoga. It is done
through meditation and it can be done
with the psychic symbol. Of course
fundamentally this is based on personal
guidance.
Using the psychic symbol you can
make conscious areas in the mind that
are normally unconscious. When the
symbol has appeared at the end of the
meditation, you hold on to it longer
than you have done so far. Hopefully
there’s nobody around to disturb you.
You don’t need to do it forever - just,
say, uninterruptedly for half an hour.
Nakedness
In the course of this process you gradu-
ally start to realise who you really are -
and when you have established yourself
in this, you also see what your personality
is like, that it consists of a bunch of
programmes. Until this is experienced,
nobody really knows that this is the
case - well, maybe in theory, but they
haven’t met it in themselves. They
would rather remain in the illusion, that
what I think, the opinions and habits,
tastes and interests that I have, are “me”.
Your personality consists of a
collection of values that someone has
influenced you to have - or that your
clever intellect has picked up from
books you’ve read. Ideas you wish to
follow, or roles you play for yourself
and others. This is not nakedness.
A great deal of these programmes
are definitely good and necessary, they
are what we call culture. It would be
good, though, if we could use them
consciously and change them when it
is suitable - and not to be under their
sway, as slaves of the mind.
So awareness in this context is a kind
of nakedness. And when Swamiji talks
of awareness, of attention, this is what
he means. The text was written while I
was living with Swamiji. Those of us
who were there at that time understood
each other. We all came with a more or
less expanded awareness. I mean those
who were living permanently in the
ashram - there were of course many who
just passed through - but those of us
who lived there weren’t a large group.
We knew what he was talking
about, when he spoke of an expanded
awareness. And he knew that we knew.
‘What you wish to realise through yoga
is already in you, in the same purity
in which you will realise it, after the
removal of a kind of avidya.’
The veil of ignorance
This kind of avidya stems from what
we have been told, where we’ve come
from - influences we were subjected
to by the environment and from the
people around us, where we grew up.
That is why originally, in the tradition I
was initiated into, you didn’t go home
to your family or your old friends, to
‘where things happen’ for 12 years.
No matter how weak or invisible the
conceptions seem in your original
background, they will keep you in
a state of mind, where you identify
yourself with an illusion, which makes
it impossible to see through ignorance.
“Yes, I remember what it was like when
I came home after living in a monastery
in Thailand. My mother collected me at
the airport. It was a shock. I’d trained my
awareness for over a year. And there I
was - it seemed to me that she was asleep.”
“I had a similar experience with my
parents when I had been to visit them. “Yes! At other times it’s just the opposite.
The first year I was here, I chose to visit As if everybody else has self insight.”
them just once - and that went well, of
“Yes. But that’s not true. Maybe what
course. In the years after that I’ve visited
happens is that you see behind their
them more often. But last year my father
illusions, maybe you see the essence
came to visit me here - and I realised
of their being - but it’s far from certain
that I was in a completely different state
that the person you see is in contact
than when I was with him normally.”
with this essence.
“Yes. That must have surprised him
Some people claim that everything is
too? Or didn’t he see it? Maybe he just
yoga; I’ve written it in my book myself,
saw the picture he normally has of you?”
‘there is nothing called yoga - it’s
“I couldn’t see him at all. I just saw called life’. But that depends on how
a mist all week. It made me realise you’re seeing it. It’s not true in every
something. It also made me care more connection. Of course not - you must
for the children in the family.” be able to see what’s what. Otherwise
you’re doing yoga a bad favour.
“Yes, if you really see it - and if you,
If you want to help someone you say:
as I did, get over the initial fear and
‘Now I’ll show you what you can do
start living with an expanded awareness
about your problem. This is yoga. Do it
- you love your fellow beings. Not as
and you’ll feel better.’ Something like
children, you don’t have to patronise
that. That’s as much as you can do for
them. Respect them and love them,
most people, and that’s what we do,
wherever they are - as you would feel
isn’t it?
for yourself, wherever you are.
But there are some people who go
Sometimes I’ve sat out here in the
further than that, they have achieved a
countryside with an expanded awareness
certain insight. When they’ve let go of
and worked with other people, during
some of the coarser tensions and inhi-
the pretty wild seventies for instance.
bitions, they see things in a new light.
Then I went into town and talked to the
They want a more advanced guidance.
elderly man who owned the local timber
Here it’s important not to put them off
yard; he retired a long time ago. I just
with something they can sit and dream
stood there and talked to him, while we
about, enough people do that anyway.
pulled some lists out from the shelf,
Other people need to have what
which I was going to use at the school.
happens confirmed. A woman in
During the few minutes we talked I
Småland had an experience the very
realised: Just look at me, how arrogant
first time she participated in a class.
can you get! This man is so wise. Who
Afterwards she came very discreetly
do I think I am, just because I teach
and asked: ‘Is it OK if I leave my body
yoga? I don’t know if he’s ‘realised’, but
during the relaxation?’ The teacher
he’s definitely wise. He has my respect.”
could confirm this: ‘There are people
“Sometimes it’s as if you know that try to achieve such an experience
everything and other people know for years, without attaining it.’ And she
nothing - and other times, it’s...” appreciated this experience.”
23
Experience and “experiences”
“But can’t too many experiences dis-
tract people from what is essential?”
“Yes, unfortunately. Here you need your
intelligence, not for arguing, or liking
and disliking - but for getting to the
essential.
If you want to go all the way, it’s
important not to hang on to all kinds of
experiences or ‘abilities’. Some people,
for instance, get carried away when
they discover that they can see another
person’s aura. Others begin doing so
called ‘healing’. People get fascinated
by the experiences and lose sight of the
aim. But we can go further than that.
Let us get back to the subject.
Without a gradual training it can be
pretty overwhelming to meet yourself
and to feel at the same time in an
unusually intense way that other people
exist in this moment, together with you
- the direct experience of everything
and everyone’s being.
Before you have achieved this you
are too proud, too insensitive. You
consider everything you do and think
to be right and true, but you don’t
experience the connection with others.
That’s avidya - you mislead yourself.
“So all you need is a shock?”
“Yes, it’s tempting to say, that if nothing
else helps, then a shock might be able
to wake you. But there are other ways
and one of them is yoga used in the
proper way. Let me read it again:
‘Frankly speaking, all the exercises and
practises are only aids for developing
individual awareness to such an inten-
sity and height, of course fairly slowly,
that the aspirant can become a seer in
relation to himself. Not only a seer in
24
vague terms, but a seer of everything he
does, sees, feels, thinks, etc.’
If you want to go
out of your depth,
learn to swim first
‘Therefore, this awareness should not be
allowed to be developed by those people
who have not purified themselves.’ ”
“What does that mean?”
“I have a problem with such a statement,
it could sound a bit too “holy”- yes even
judgmental - that is if it’s misunderstood.
And there are plenty of possibilities for
that. It can also be used as an excuse
by teachers who are cowards and who
don’t dare do anything for others at all,
but put them off with a lot of talk of
understanding and of conduct.”
“But it means something else. It means
you have to do some yoga - above all
Karma Yoga. How can you consider
yourself purified, if you can’t do some-
thing for others? If you react against
things, as soon as it’s not just about you.
Your subconscious is sure to react with
a bad conscience, but you don’t notice
it. And if you suddenly open your mind,
you see that and get scared.”
“Swamiji, what if you do what you do
because of feelings of guilt? I mean, if
you do Karma Yoga because you have a
bad conscience and you feel that...?”
“If you continue with your Karma
Yoga, and I’m not just talking about the
Karma Yoga training you’re given in
an ashram, but also the initiatives and
responsibility you take yourself, you’ll
gradually free yourself from this feeling
of guilt.
That’s what Swamiji means by
slowly and gradually. You will easily
manage what you meet in your mind,
if you’re active and “purify” yourself
through actions that aren’t just about
you, and the result of which you’re not
too dependant on. Yes of course you do
your best, and with great awareness,
but if something doesn’t succeed, you
just continue and try again.
“So even if your motives appear to
you to be a bit suspect when you do
Karma Yoga, it doesn’t mean anything,
the Karma Yoga will have a cleansing
effect anyway?”
“Yes! When it comes to the spiritual
path, we sometimes overdo it. We
sit there getting all tense out of pure
ambition! “I want self-realisation only
for myself”. On the other hand it would
be stupid to think that you should only
help others. How can you help others
to be happy, for instance, if you don’t
know happiness yourself - that would
be a serious illusion. There must be
a balance between helping yourself
and helping others, and this applies
especially to teaching. If you do things
just for yourself, it’s not certain you’ll
get anywhere at all.
But it’s also about energy. The energy
you purify and get access to through
the yoga exercises, is channelled and
harmonised during the Karma Yoga
activity. It isn’t just tensions in the
muscles and bodily organs and inhibi-
tions and limitations in the mind that
you cleanse, but also your energy, your
energy channels. Mind over matter
they say, meaning that your thinking
can influence the body. But it’s my
experience that energy is over mind.
 meet life face to been in cultures where it was not at
face, and let go of as all possible to teach any confrontation
many complexes and exercises, or similar spiritual dances.
inhibitions as pos- They simply couldn’t look another
sible. The latter has person straight in the eyes - let alone
been the case here touch somebody else’s body.”
in the Nordic coun- “It reminds me of the film ‘The Rocky
tries the last three Horror Picture Show.’ Two nice young
or four generations. people suddenly land in a situation,
Certainly we have where they are confronted with a lot of
a spiritual life here, inhibitions and bizarre peculiarities in
but we don’t wish to the American culture. I wonder why it
live under religious was so popular?”
suppression and
“Yes, there will be
a reason for that.
There’s also a film
So if you master your with Michael Douglas,
energy, at the same time ‘The Game’, which in
you master your mind and a nerve-racking way
your body. Therefore not describes how a person
only the physical exer- reaches an insight
cises are important, but about himself and how
also the breathing exer- he treats his fellow
cises, Pranayama. beings.”
But let us go on with the “Lars von Trier’s ‘The
text. So Swamiji thinks idiots’ touches a few
that people who wish to raw spots too, I think
go further must go through - if you dare to involve
a cleansing. ‘Otherwise, yourself in it.”
as I know from my per-
sonal experience, they will
become conscious of their
own inabilities, hypocrisies, pains, pas- manipulation. Therefore many
sions, and so to say lower instincts.’ of us aren’t particularly over-
whelmed when we see some-
What Swami Satyananda says here, thing in our mind that some
should to a certain degree be seen priest or other says shouldn’t
from the point of view of the culture be there.
you live in. Some cultures and some When we read what
ages are more suppressive or more Swamiji writes in this part of
opposed to freedom than others. They the text, we must also take
encourage guilt and a bad conscience. our cultural background into
In other cultures many people try to consideration. After all, I’ve

25
“If you can see what it is you’re carrying
around with you, you can also let it go.
You don’t need to follow all the ideas
and tendencies that pop up in your mind.
You have the freedom to choose. So
it’s important that you learn to experience
your mind as an observer - without
identifying with whatever is there.
‘Therefore yogasadhana should be
practised step by step. You should
finish one thing at a time, so that the
subconscious mind is not confused. It
would not be out of place to tell how I,
for a couple of months, as a result of an
intense sadhana, became so aware of
myself - excessively self conscious - that
many a time I feared I would go mad.
Because I saw myself (and I do not know
in which state) as two. But of course, I
was saved in time by Swami Sivananda,
who was an expert in this matter.
My purpose here is to put before you
the Chronology of Yoga with reference to
your own consciousness. This awareness
develops from subjective pratyaya [the
contents of the mind] to subjectless and
objectless consciousness. And you who
have already freed yourself from the
mental errors or its causes can safely
develop this awareness to such an extent
that you see yourself; you become a
witness of yourself, and see in yourself
something grand and glorious, and
something worth appreciating. This
is an important point, which the yoga
practitioner mustn’t forget.
But it is not realistic that a man
with all his frailties and circumstances
should wait for such a purified state
of mind, and then only take to the
practices of yoga. If he thinks like this,
he will never achieve yoga. Both are
interrelated. Therefore it is safest in
26
yoga to practise Karma, Bhakti and
Jnana and their allied aspects.’
Swamiji is now talking about yoga as
a higher consciousness. What most
people call yoga, in the East as well as
in the West, he in the following calls
preparatory methods. Personally I
would prefer to call them fundamental
and necessary methods. They remove
many hindrances on the way. They
make the meditation easier - not to say
possible. They make it easier to do what
you want - for example realise yourself.
‘Asana, [physical exercises] Pranayama
[breathing exercises] and Hatha Yoga
[cleansing processes like nose cleansing
etc] are absolutely preliminary methods,
and as such they should not be confused
with the word ‘yoga’.
Realisation can come, Samadhi can
be achieved, health can be maintained,
psychic errors can be removed without
asana and pranayama.’
That’s easy for him to say. He’s used
these exercises to a very high degree and
so have I. I wouldn’t have got anywhere
without them. I certainly wouldn’t have
met him. So what is it he means?
Actually, what we’re talking about
this evening is the experience you want,
and what you need to know, when you
want to go further than the well being,
concentration and vigour that ordinary
yoga can give.
Karma, Jnana and Bhakti
‘What is more important in this
connection is that yoga cannot be
achieved - can never be achieved
without the practice of Karma, Bhakti
and Jnana Yoga.’
“That Swami Satyananda has this
view of Yoga is interesting - Karma,
Bhakti and Jnana Yoga. Think of our
three-month courses for example. I
couldn’t run the three-month courses
without Karma Yoga. It would be
impossible.
Kriya Yoga gives you depth, energy
and freedom from limitations - both those
you have inherited from society as well
as those, which are self-inflicted - but it
must be learnt together with a certain
amount of Karma Yoga. What is the
use of doing Kriya Yoga, if you don’t
know how to make use of it in the daily
actions you do in the form of Karma
Yoga? The energy must be transformed
into action, so it doesn’t block.
Jnana Yoga is something you do
in practice. You achieve it through
awareness training and certain
meditations, especially Antar Mauna
(Inner Stillness), and through Satsang
(being with the teacher). The essential
guidance, however, is received in
daily life, through living and working
together with your teacher. In this way
you achieve insight about yourself,
about your reactions and tendencies,
and you gradually get to know the
influences in your subconscious, which
have an unnoticed influence on your
life.
Bhakti Yoga for me is something very
special. Buddha asked his disciples
not to worship. ‘Make no images of
me.’ But did they hear what he said?
It would be difficult today to find a
religion with more statues and pictures
than Buddhism. Muhammed said the
same, make no images of god, and the
Jews also have such instructions.
What Swamiji says here about Bhakti
Yoga, I personally feel can be expressed
in this attitude: Devoting yourself
entirely to everything you do.
If you have this ability, you can
let go in the face of life, and towards
yourself - you don’t need to struggle or
be on your guard all the time. You dare
believe in life, you dare live it.
What you carry in your heart should
remain a secret. If it becomes concepts
and pictures, it will stand in the way of
your self-insight!
In some of the more advanced stages
of Jnana Yoga, you are asked to give up
all concepts, all ideas. Maybe you have
been living with a certain conviction
or had fixed ideas all your life, but you
must be able to let go of them, so that
you can experience directly and without
hindrance. This yoga you will find
expressed in a few particular books or
scriptures; Yoga Vasishta (the esoteric
Ramayan): ‘For the seeker both actions
(karma) and knowledge (jnana or gyana)
are necessary, as two wings are for the
bird’. This is a knowledge that isn’t just
about the limited individual self, but
about the connection between every-
thing, about the absolute, the whole.
And from Tibetan Tantra we have the
meditation or discipline Maha Mudra as
expressed in for example Evans Wentz:
The Tibetan book of the great Liberation.
Books by themselves, however, are
worthless. Without knowledge of the
real methods and without guidance
you would just form new ideas and
expectations, to put it mildly.
Insight is something else, direct
experience is something else. Getting
to know yourself removes fear - and
I’m not talking about understanding
yourself - but about an experience,
about firsthand knowledge.
Basically Jnana Yoga is what we’ve
been talking about today. It is about
attaining an expanded awareness,
and about how you manage the self-
knowledge you gain from it.
(See also Bindu no 8, Harmony between
the experiencer and the experienced).
‘Finally: the important
landmarks in the life of a yogi
are:
1. Desire to attain insight and
knowledge.
2. A process where you achieve
understanding through satsang [where
you communicate] with the teacher.
3. Preparatory exercises performed in
accordance with the given conditions.’
This is in reference to Hatha Yoga,
Asana and Pranayama.
In 1994 I visited Swami Satyananda
in Rikhia, where he is now living after
his retirement. During our conversation
he said, Bhakti is not possible without
Pranayama.
Of course, I thought - Bhakti is a
feeling, a state. It’s like a stream you
tune in to when you let go. I myself
achieved becoming part of this current
of energy when I gave myself up to
it and let it happen. I discovered this
stream of prana, which feels as if it’s
connected to a source high above me,
during the years when I did intense
breathing exercises on a daily basis. So
I could appreciate what he said.
You can’t tell this to just anyone,
though. How could they understand what
you mean, when it’s not a question of
worship, but still a matter of devotion?
That you become part of a vibrating
current, which you get in contact with
by using the breathing exercises in
yoga - and which you remain in contact
with during meditation.
You can use this current to get rid
of even the worst states and tensions,
it is in the highest degree purifying.
It opens you, and a connection
is established where the energy
vibrates and flows both upwards and
downwards. You feel what Bhakti is,
when it’s not based on ideas. Without
this feeling you can’t get a proper flow
of prana to arise. The feeling of devotion
gives the current power - just like when
you discover what it really means to let
go. First Bhastrika (the blacksmith’s
bellows), and then Nadi Shodana. The
breathing exercise Nadi Shodana is
most effective in this way, when you
hold the breath by closing the nostrils
27
with the fingers and not, which some
people claim is more advanced, by
using the chin lock (see also page 10).
When people don’t know of this
experience, they may well sit there
with their high ambitions and struggle
frustratedly with their breathing
exercises. They don’t know how you
literally feel upwards during Nadi
Shodana. Without the experience of the
‘flame’ or the ‘flow’, it is not so easy
to hold the breath and get more out of
it. Everyone gets balance and clarity in
the brain and inspiration afterwards of
course, when they use Nadi Shodana -
but this is barrier-breaking.
4. ‘Initiation from the guru.’
5. ‘Return to Karma.’
At some point you must turn back to
Karma Yoga! Why? Because you should
maintain contact with life around you,
and because you shouldn’t become
self-centred and oversensitive. Through
Karma Yoga you remain grounded,
while you can expand the mind with
other methods. If you are not grounded,
you can’t live with an expanded
awareness, and things start to drift. On
the other hand, if you’re outgoing and
active with the Karma Yoga, you can go
far in a short time.
Swamiji once said to a person
who asked him: ‘How much should
I meditate?’ You could see that this
person wasn’t particularly active in his
life. He probably had all sorts of dreams
in his head, and supplied them with fuel
from ‘spiritual’ books and magazines.
So Swami Satyananda said to him:
‘Well, it depends on what you do
otherwise. If you’re not active or doing
something with your life - you shouldn’t
meditate at all. But if you’re just a little
28
active - you can meditate 5 minutes a
day. Of course if you work, let’s say 4
or 5 hours every day, you can meditate
for quarter of an hour. If you have an
ordinary job of 8 hours a day, you can
meditate for half an hour or an hour
every day without a problem. And if
you do Karma Yoga the whole day into
the evening, let’s say 16 hours a day
- then you’re on the safe side. Then you
don’t need to sleep, you can meditate
the rest of the night.’
That’s why we do Karma Yoga
alongside the other methods.
6. ‘Experiment with intense Sadhana.’
... in the beginning when I did that, yoga
exercises for many hours every day and
breathing exercises four times a day,
the result was of course a very great
sensitivity – that’s why I had to turn to
Karma Yoga. Therefore Swamiji says:
7. ‘Return to Karma Yoga.’
You can also say that you do Karma
Yoga alongside your intensive sadhana.
But you could of course, as Swami
Sivananda, do Karma Yoga 16 hours a
day. He did this before he established
his ashram - he also used the hours
when we others are asleep. Apart
from his sadhana he helped people in
Rishikesh curing leprosy, eye diseases
etc. Swami Sivananda had enormous
energy - which he got through being
active, in combination with yoga and
meditation!
8. ‘Checking up the mind through
negative methods.’
Usually life ensures that you find
yourself in situations where you
get ‘tested’. But you can also take
the initiative yourself and create a
confrontation with states and situations
which would normally ‘disturb’ you.
You expose yourself to influences, so
that you see if you can manage them
without forgetting yourself.
9. ‘Intense Japa, (Bhakti) Anushthan.’
Ordinary mantra meditation with
devotion practised over a longer period
of time, for example during a winter.
This doesn’t suit everyone in the West,
though. Other methods can be used,
like meditation on the breath with or
without mantra.
10. ‘Checking up the mind through
strong stimuli.’
Are you open and receptive to
anything? Can you really experience
influences and states without losing
yourself? Here Swamiji suggests that
you check that, before you continue to
awaken the awareness.
There are sure to be different things
that normally would disturb your calm
or your state. Do you forget yourself
under their influence? Then back to
Karma Yoga!
11. ‘Initiation into an expanded
awareness, if everything is found OK.’
What is ‘awareness’ as Swamiji calls
it? This initiation doesn’t come until
under point 11. So far he has just
talked about the preparation: Sadhana,
yoga, all these things. So awareness
in this connection is when you’re
suddenly there, when you see! When
you experience everything in and
around you, in a very strong state of
being present. Can you take that? If
you can, everything’s fine, you can just
continue. But to be on the safe side,
check it again - here in the ashram
it’s easy of course, this is what we do.
You find support in the meditations,
where you’re constantly learning to
experience in this way and to let go.
12. ‘Checking up the mind with
adverse stimuli or negative
circumstances.’
I can recognise all the points, which
Swamiji talks about here, in my life. At
certain times life has seen to it that I’ve
encountered them, at other times Swamiji
probably had a finger in the pie, like
when you got teased in the ashram and
your patience was put to the test.
When you meet with different
things that touch you, it doesn’t come
as something you’ve agreed upon
in advance. In this way you’re not
prepared for what happens. It comes
when you least expect it. In your
attitude, however, there’s no question
of running away from life; you face and
accept whatever comes. You don’t try
to avoid the sensitivity either. No, when
you’re ready you go further and deeper
with your Sadhana.
All people go through upheavals.
What we’re talking about here, though,
is to do it with a heightened awareness.
It happens all the time - for example
being involved in a court case, even
if you’ve started it yourself; that is
‘adverse circumstances’ without a
doubt. Or if somebody’s jealous of you
and tries to hurt you via the press - I got
a taste of that earlier on in my ‘yogic’
life.
But I must say that ‘negative
circumstances’ - when I look back over
the years and see what I was subjected
to, and how I was carried away by
strong feelings, or just managed to keep
my balance - it definitely deserves the
name negative circumstances.
13. ‘If everything is alright go further
with the awareness.’ So you can live
in this heightened state. ‘If not, then
turn back to an ordinary meditation or
relaxation - your practice is directed by
the purity of your mind.
14. If the mind is found impure, so
that it disturbs your ability to rest in
yourself in such a way that it brings
forth agony and repentance, turn back
to Karma and Bhakti. But if you’re
capable of remaining in an unaffected
state of awareness, as an observer
of the activity of your mind and its
contents, then continue with the
expanded awareness.’
This means that you are the witness,
you are the seer or the experiencer of
your mental state. You experience the
mind without identifying with it. But
without keeping it at arm’s length,
you allow your feelings and thoughts
to manifest and exhaust themselves
within.
How do you identify with a mental
state? It’s easy enough to demonstrate.
I know a way to tease anybody here,
and the person concerned would react
at once and throw something back in
my face. In that situation you’re not
capable of witnessing anything at all.
You’re involved. And you have to learn
to realise this, so that you can work
with it, use yoga, meditation and solve
Karma Yoga tasks.
‘But the moment you find that the
expanded awareness becomes the
cause of repentance, agony etc., then
it is always better for the spiritual
aspirant to take a break and develop
Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga, and in
this way to cleanse the mind.
This is the chronology of a yogi.’”
“I have a question about the last part.”
“Yes?”
“Swami Satyananda says in the
text, ‘that when your awareness is
expanded, and when you experience
that this creates remorse and pain...’
Does that mean that when the
awareness starts to expand, then you
see more and more of yourself and
your own emotions?”
“It doesn’t really mean at all that
you experience more and more in
an intellectual way, where you can
criticise or analyse yourself or other
people - it’s not that kind of awareness.
No, here you experience directly.
You don’t sit and think about it or
philosophise. It’s like when we use
the meditation Antar Mauna (Inner
Stillness). I have taught you how
to relate to the mind through Antar
Mauna. But to trigger off a greater
awareness is another story.”
“Is it that you experience your feelings
stronger and stronger?”
“Now you can see them as they are,
that is as emotions - and not as you.
So, if you get a reaction, you can stand
beside yourself and look at it, whether
it’s strong or weak. You’re no longer
driven to actions where you throw
things at other people. You are truly
unaffected. Still you allow yourself to
feel. It hasn’t got anything to do with
controlling yourself, no, you’re resting
in yourself, in the eye of the storm.
It’s different if you’re a teacher, then
you have to react, strongly and clearly,
so the student wakes up.
However, we can’t live with intolerant
ideals and expect ourselves always to
be oh, so nice to each other. Of course
we should maintain a certain standard
so that we can live together and
29
preserve this unique situation which we
call ashram. In this respect living in an
ashram isn’t much different from other
places.
For example, you can see people
who get carried away by a situation,
and who cling to the involved state
because they identify with it.
On the other hand, people who have
the capacity to experience the thoughts
and the emotions are not bound
by them. They can change quickly
between various expressions. Maybe
you’re angry about something, but
30
next minute you turn around and crack
a joke. In other words, the state itself
wasn’t important, it was just used
to communicate with, after that you
move on.
Then again, you might have a
student who doesn’t want to let go
of his/her states. Then you feel like
saying: ‘I’m sorry I can’t help you, go
somewhere else to get help.’ But to be
involved in an emotional state or an
intellectual attitude isn’t so bad. Most
people are involved almost all the time.
In the daily life in the ashram, I
notice when I get caught and carried
away by something. With the help of
the meditation and the people in my
surroundings, I learn to see it and let it
go. But if you’re in a higher state and
unable to let go - then you need extra
help.
The ashram has a safety net, which
consists of the understanding that
exists here around these subjects, and
of Karma Yoga.
Thank you for the talk! You inspire
me.”q
 Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily Life
Swami Janakananda’s book in a revised and extended edition
(Weiser, USA ISBN: 0877287686). (Yoga, Tantra et Méditation dans la Vie
Quotodienne, Editions Satyanandashram, France ISBN: 2.905892-06-04).

“In my opinion this is one of the best

yoga books available at the moment.

Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in Daily

Life is an inspiring and, above all, a
refreshingly practical book. It has been
written by a man who understands his
trade and knows what he is talking
about, you feel this when reading it.
Swami Janakananda has had a
lifetime of practice and more than 20
years experience in teaching yoga
and meditation. He imparts this
yoga consistently, as he himself has
learned it from his teacher Swami
Satyananda Saraswati - without any
superfluous religious or philosophical
interpretations, and equally without
any fashionable New Age dilutions.
Simply and clearly formulated
one finds all necessary instructions
for inquiring independently into the
original methods of Tantric yoga and
meditation.
The entire book is generously
illustrated and there are photographs
of all the various yoga programmes,
which facilitate practising the exercises
by oneself. Breathing exercises and
deep relaxation (Yoga Nidra) are also
carefully and thoroughly introduced.
Even people who already know
something about yoga will be surprised
at how much this book offers.
Many yoga books today
unfortunately lack a usable description
of real meditation, but here we find
both a theoretical introduction as well
as concrete instructions. The last four
chapters exclusively treat the theme of
meditation and belong to the best of
what I have read on this theme up to
now.
One of the chapters is devoted to
the sexual rituals. Here the reader
finds original Tantric instructions
for approaching sexual energy and
experiencing it as it is: one of the
fundamental forces in Mankind. The
Tantric attitude to sexual energy is,
however, often falsely inflated and
overestimated; this is a pity, for the
sexual rituals are only a small part of
the manifold Tantric tradition.
In a total of 13 chapters Swami
Janakananda gives an excellent survey
of the various aspects of yoga and
meditation, including chapters on
concentration, on Kundalini Yoga and
the Chakras, and a Sanskrit glossary.
But, as I have said, Yoga, Tantra and
Meditation in Daily Life is above all a
manual to use.”
(Swami Pragyamurti - from a review
in Spectrum, the journal of the British
Wheel of Yoga)
The book has obtained five stars
(out of five possible) at the Customer
rating at Amazon. Read reviews
online at www.amazon.co.uk.

31
Swami Janakananda
Thirty years ago, in February 1969, Swami Janakananda was initiated as a Swami,
and sixty years ago he was born. We - friends and yoga teachers - thought that we
would surprise him with a celebration. This we did on his birthday, June 13th.
We were given permission to print some of the texts he received in this issue of
Bindu.
With Great Joy, Regards and
Appreciation.
What a great Joy it is to have
this opportunity to express the
great appreciation, the love and
the special regards felt for Swami
Janakananda. So many years of
support and guidance have been
showered upon my life through
his great compassion.
From the moment I came into
his sphere of influence, a great
care and great love was felt right
at the very first moment. As I
reflect back on my life, I can
see that he was there for me at
the times when I needed him
the most. He has been a major
influence on my life.
Strong memories come up, as
I contemplate this. For example,
when an old country school at
Håå in Sweden became available
as a course site and work began
to make it useable - I remember
many incidents from that time.
At one point the floor to the
shower in the main building was
being installed. Since funds were
in short supply for all the materials
needed, Swami Janakananda directed us
to take small sections of the vinyl floor
covering that were leftover, and - like a
jigsaw puzzle – put them together so as
to be able to complete the floor. Every-
32
30 years as Swami - 60 years in life
Picture from Ann Mari Brenckert, Sweden
thing was used, nothing was wasted.
The same was true with all the card-
board packing materials – instead of
just burning them up or throwing them
away, we had the karma yoga of tearing
them into small pieces. I remember
my mind wondering what in the world
I was doing. For days, I stood there
and tore cardboard into small pieces.
Looking back, of course, one can see
what a wonderful exercise it
was for watching the mind,
and also for utilising all mate-
rials carefully (and this was
just when the movement for
environmental consciousness
was beginning). The cardboard
came to good use for starting
many fires in the egg-shaped
fireplace that was being built in
the main room.
And then there was the
opportunity to participate in
one of the first three-months’
courses. It was tough and it
was so great. What a gift it
was to concentrate so totally
on the practices. What a joy
to have silence for an entire
month. Finally, one’s own
mind became silent and one
could go deep within. Finally,
the inner experiences came to
the surface of the mind and
revealed – the entire subtle
body – all the chakras – energy
glowing in the most beautiful
vivid colours. With it came the
realisation that this was real,
this was true. And then a most
beautiful blue sphere filling
the mind’s experience – so still, so
complete Supreme Peace. Tears welled
up out of the eyes spontaneously.
Great Joy was experienced. Later,
Swami Janakananda came into the
room. He looked at me. He knew. It
was not until much later that I fully
understood the depth of what had been
revealed to me.
This is the greatest gift that a human
being can receive. Swami Janakananda,
by his compassion and his love, has
always pointed the way towards the
supreme treasure within one’s own self.
This is the most valuable gift that any
human being can give to another. And
for that never-ending support and love,
I am ever grateful and ever in debt. This
support and guidance is always mani-
festing. ”No greater friend hath any man.”
So, it is with Great Regards, Great
Respect and Great Love that this
offering of salutations can be made in
honour of Swami Janakananda for all
the great gifts he has given. Not only to
me – but to everyone that has had the
good fortune to come into his company
and receive what he has to give.
Ronald Nameth OM TAT SAT!
...............................................................
Even though I’ll probably give a speech
on your sixtieth birthday, I think that
1) I might say something else and
2) it isn’t easy for anyone to remember
the different speeches.
My dear friend! We’ve accompanied
each other for nearly 30 years. Here I
almost start to sing “The first time I saw
you…”
It was when you were translating
a lecture by Swami Satyananda. At
that particular time I didn’t want to do
yoga anymore, after having tried two
different “yoga ladies”, which gave me
a certain physical routine, but there was
something missing.
I was together with a yoga teacher.
Afterwards I said to her, “if the like of
the young man who was translating was
around, I’d very much like to do more
Renovation of Håå Course Center 1972
yoga”. Anyway, as we both remember
I turned up at your humble and very
nicely set up premises in Viborggade.
From the first time with you, there were
a lot of things that touched something
inside me; especially Antar Mauna and
Yoga Nidra, but all the other exercises
you taught me were so inspiring that
I started to use all the little free time I
had on yoga.
We also quickly started a practical
co-operation, and Nordkrog, Hellerup,
was acquired (it’s lucky my job was,
and still is, estate agent). We were
alone in this new old house, and what
I remember best is the joy with which
we threw ourselves at the cleaning, the
sanding of the floors, and all sorts of
other things.
Your creativity in the practical and
artistic field really came to advantage.
It became a lovely place and very
quickly many more people arrived, and
the first ashram came into being.
Well, there is and always will be a
lot of go about you, so, if I remember
rightly, in about two years only that
place was too small. You heard of
premises on Købmagergade, in the
very heart of Copenhagen, and off we
went again. The contract was obtained
with great trouble (strange lawyer).
After about two years you found out
that the house was to be sold on an
executive auction. So that really got us
going. I remember that when the house
was bought and taken over we were in
the aeroplane on the way to the yoga
congress in Bogotà, Colombia.
Then you found the school at Håå.
But when you asked for my advice
about purchase etc., I couldn’t help you.
There was too great a difference between
the Danish and the Swedish rules. That
didn’t stop us from getting going again
with scrubbing, cleaning, sanding floors,
painting windows etc., but now there
were a lot more of us to help. Once
again, we had such fun, and the outcome
of this is what you with joy can look at
today. It’s wonderful to age in years,
and to call forth memories. I know that
you, as I do, “observe it”, and luckily
we’re still working on together. No one
knows how many people one inspires,
whether it is with yoga or with something
else, but you have done so for countless
people and you’re still going strong.
I’ll finish my little “biography” here
and wish you happiness and success in
the future. I’m quite sure that the two of
us will always work and be together,
as long as we are “visiting performers”
on this earth. With the very warmest
of greetings and a very, very BIG OM
from Maha Laxmi.
33
Dear Swami Janakananda
One day, when the drums were convers-
ing with each other, somebody mentioned
that Swami Janakananda was about to
have a birthday, and that there was to
be a big party. The drums discussed the
matter back and forth and decided that
Táman should be the one to go, because
it was known, also among humans, as
“the one who speaks”. Therefore, it
could both say “happy birthday” in a
clear language, and whisper its secrets
when the time was ripe. For the fact
is with magic, they said, that both the
drum and Swami Janakananda have a
part in it. Happy birthday! Sakti Rupini
...............................................................
Happy birthday...
many returns of the day
(samsara)
till the Eternal Time
comes to stay...
nirvana, nirvana
The doer does...
and sees the things done,
apt with conviction
equally apt to go beyond...
that is Swami Janakananda
Sohan Qadri
...............................................................
Dear Swami Ji
A few words for the incredible journey
you undertook - under what inspiration
or plan - divine or human, I don’t know.
You have joined your precious life energy
with the people who have carried the light
of yoga through countless millenniums.
Your life and work speak about the
same light which existed long ago
and which exists today and is helping
thousands of seekers around the world.
Knowing you as a friend, a brother
and co-traveller on the path of yoga
34
for the past 23 years, it has been my
distinct privilege, which I cherish very
much. Thank you for your being. I look
forward to many many more years of
enjoying your presence and friendship,
and learning from your example.
All the best for your body, mind &
soul. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! -from
Roop, Tracy, Arjun and Uma Verma
...............................................................
Congratulations and Gratitude
Throughout life, one is blessed by
encounters with others. My life has
been very blessed through my contact
with Swami Janakananda.
After starting yoga classes in Bergen
with Bjarke, I attended the three months
course at Håå in 1985. The first time I
briefly saw Swami Janakananda (and at
that time not knowing who he was), I
was struck by that short, silent but very
significant encounter. As the course pro-
gressed, it became obvious to me that he
was my teacher. Wonderful things then
started to happen. I would be thinking
about a particular topic throughout the
day and that night Swami Janakananda
would arrive in the yoga room and
immediately start talking about the very
same topic. At first, I thought it was a
series of coincidences. I soon changed
my mind. On one particular day during
the silent period, thoughts about Joan of
Arc had entered my mind for the first time
in years. To my surprise, that evening and
for the first time in the course, Swamiji
made several references to St. Joan.
After that incident, I felt Swami Jana-
kananda had a direct telephone line into
my mind. I would mentally ask him a
question during the day and that night
he would simply provide the answer.
A few years before the three months
course, I had been diagnosed with Mul-
tiple Sclerosis. For me, the physical
aspects of the course were very demand-
ing. There were many poses, which
seemed to be completely beyond my
capabilities. My back had also sustained
some injuries in a car accident some years
prior to this. As a result, I experienced a
great deal of pain, particularly between
the shoulder blades, when sitting in a
meditation pose. In one mid morning
class during the teaching of the Kriyas, I
was experiencing some severe back pain.
Swamiji was checking our poses and,
as he passed me, he lightly touched my
back, saying: “That’s good”. The pain
stopped instantaneously and I have
never experienced its severity again.
I left Håå at the end of the three
months course in fine health, able to
do all the yoga programs. Since then,
I have continued to enjoy better health
than most other people do.
I have been blessed because my con-
tact with Swami Janakananda has been
constant and frequent since that first
three months course in 1985. Yes, he is
my teacher. He is also a cherished friend.
As my teacher, Swami Janakananda
has allowed me the freedom to grow
and develop. He has encouraged me
to become a yoga teacher much to
my gratitude and the gratitude of my
many students in Mackay (Queensland
Australia). Whenever I have sought his
advice, he has provided guidance and
support. But he has never given me
instructions on how I should live my
life. He has left those decisions to me.
His teaching has shown me how to
sustain periods of harmony, energy and
drive in my personal and business life.
Whilst living in Scandinavia and as a
direct result of the inspiration received on
the 1985 three months course, I was able
to secure the IKEA franchise for the state congratulating you on reaching this were, in all directions… As the king
of Queensland. I am no longer in that important point of your life. and queen gazed on the bridegroom
business but whenever I drive past the With love and gratitude who was the very fountain of joy,
8,000 sq. metres of IKEA store on the Robyn Taylor, Mackay, Queensland, their heart was filled with rapture…
South East Freeway in Brisbane, I look Australia. 13 June 1999. And having gone through all the rites
at the place and say: “That’s the store that ............................................................... sanctioned by the Vedas and the family
yoga built”. And I experience gratitude. Blessed Self, Swami Janakananda usage, the glorious king Janaka gave
For the last nine years, I have been Saraswati - Hari OM his daughter to the bridegroom and
operating my own training business in On the occasion of your birthday thereby earned fair renown of an
regional Queensland. I am committed and also the jubilee of your initiation unprecedented character.”
to introduce Swami Janakananda’s to sannyas some 30 years ago, what This is for you Janakananda! May
teachings into the workplace using the better incentive for my good wishes your health, work and love improve
management courses that I conduct as and congratulations than some chanting and grow through many more years
the vehicle. In the business sector today, from the Ramayana, expressing the joy to come. I wish to join these words of
many people are asking questions about of Sita Kalyanam, union of the soul mine to those of the French public who
purpose and meaning. Yoga provides with the Supreme? so much appreciated your vibrant talks
the opportunity to discover one’s own ”The sounds of singing and kettle on yoga and meditation. And we hope
answers to these questions. drums and shouts of victory in heaven to see you again in Paris!
Like all of us on this wonderful as well as in the city overflowed as it Swami Yogabhakti Saraswati
voyage through life, there have been
times when life has appeared pretty
tough. On one such occasion, I was sit-
ting on the beach in front of my house,
feeling very alone and experiencing
intense grief. I can recall crying out a
question into the dark of that night and
asking for an answer. I felt very heavy as
I climbed up the path from the beach and
entered my home. As I walked in, the
telephone rang. There was Swami Jana-
kananda on the line from Sweden, pro-
viding me with the answer to the ques-
tion which, only a few moments ago, I
had just asked on the beach in Australia.
Thank you, Swami Janakananda, for
being my teacher; for showing me how
to access my own wisdom; for being
my friend; for being there in times of
need; for teaching me how to use the
energy to live a full and purposeful
life. May your 60th birthday celebra- May I take this opportunity here to thank everybody who
tion be a happy, joyful occasion. All of has contacted me, visited me, wrote to me or thought of me,
the people in Australia who have been and to Síta who has gathered these texts and been the prime
touched by your teachings join me in mover behind the celebration. Swami Janakananda

35
Han-shan - Poems from Cold Mountain
Thirty years ago I was born into the world,
A thousand, ten thousand miles I’ve roamed,
by rivers where the green grass lies thick,
beyond the border where the red sands fly.
I brewed potions in vain search for life everlasting,
I read books, I sang songs of history.
Today I’ve come home to Cold Mountain.
I sleep by the creek
and purify my ears.
The first time I read the poems of
Han-shan was in the beginning of the
seventies. During this period of my
life I lived for a couple of years in the
Himalayas. I often went trekking high
up in the mountains, sometimes for
months. The poems evoked pictures
I could relate to immediately. They
were in tune not only with the outer
world in the mountains but also with
the inner. In a sense the poems build a
bridge between the outer and the inner,
making the two worlds merge and
become one.
The poems have been with me ever
since and are still the clearest and most
inspiring poetry I know of.
Not much is known of Han-shan other
than what you can read in his poems.
Therefore nobody knows where he
came from, except that he was a
poor eccentric scholar who retired
to the mountains. The only existing
description of Han-shan comes from
the late 9th century, from an official in
the T’ang Dynasty by the name of Lü-
ch’iu Yin. He describes his meeting
with Han-shan and his friend Shih-te.
36
Shih-te, who was also a poet, worked
in the kitchen of a Buddhist monastery.
He often gave Han-shan food when
he came down from his cave on Cold
Mountain. The monks in the monastery
regarded the two friends as more or
less mad. The story goes that Han-
shan could roam the corridors of the
monastery for hours, laughing and
singing to himself all the while. If the
monks wanted to give him something
to do or tried to chase him away,
he stood still, laughed out loud and
clapped his hands, and disappeared.
The official who had heard that the
two impoverished friends were really
incarnations of boddhisattvas brought
gifts for them. He even bowed to them,
which greatly surprised the monks of
the monastery. When Han-shan saw
Lü-ch’iu and his retinue approaching
with the gifts, which consisted of
medicine and clothing, he shouted:
“Thieves! Thieves”! He then ran into a
cave in the mountain that closed after
him and they never saw him again. Lü-
ch’iu then ordered his men to collect
Han-shans poems which were written
on the walls of the cave he lived in. They
by Stig Andersen
also found poems scribbled on pieces
of bark and on the trees near the cave.
In that way the poems have been
preserved for posterity and today
they are part of the literary treasure
of China. In Japan the poems are also
greatly appreciated. There the great
poet is called Kanzan.
The poems cover many subjects. From
poems that show a deep spiritual insight
to poems of a more secular nature. From
satire on society and the vanity of human
nature, to sorrow at the transience of
life and the sufferings it causes.
Man, living in the dust
is like a bug trapped in a bowl.
All day he scrabbles round and round,
but never escapes the bowl that holds
him.
The immortals are beyond his reach,
his craving has no end,
while months and years flow by like a
river
until in an instant he has grown old.
The real masterpieces you find in the
poems from and about Cold Mountain.
According to the poems Han-
shan retired to a cave high up in the
mountains after living an ordinary life
for approximately thirty years.
At first glance the poems describe
nature and the mountains, but they are
as much parables of meditative states
and spiritual awakening.
The name Han-shan is often translated
as “the master of Cold Mountain” or
simply as Cold Mountain. In that sense
Cold Mountain is Han-shan himself.
However when I read the poems I
don’t experience Cold Mountain as
being only Han-shan but as a metaphor
for the Self. That is the strength of
the poems - they give you a direct
experience when you read them.
Han-shan often describes how he
returns to Cold Mountain – returns
to himself. The poems in many cases
resemble the meditative process
where you are also in search of the
self.
I climb the road to Cold Mountain,
the road to Cold Mountain that never
ends.
The valleys are long and strewn with
stones,
the streams broad and banked with
thick grass.
Moss is slippery, though no rain has
fallen;
pines sigh, but it isn’t the wind.
Who can break from the snares of the
world
and sit with me among white clouds?
Occasionally Han-shan is referred
to as a Zen poet, though there are so
many references to the classical taoist
text Tao Te Ching in his poems that it
would probably be more correct to call
him a taoist poet.
The kinship with Tantra is also
apparent in many of the poems:
All my life I’ve been lazy,
hating anything solemn,
finding light matters more congenial.
Others may study how to make a profit,
I have my single roll of scripture.
I don’t bother to fit it with a roller or
case,
or trouble to carry it here or there.
Like a doctor prescribing a medicine
for each disease,
I use what remedy is at hand to save
the world.
Only when the mind is free of care
can the light of understanding shine in
every corner.
I use what remedy is at hand to save
the world. This is exactly the Tantric
approach. You use what is here and
now. In the Yoga poses you work with
the body. The body as it is - soft or
rigid, young or old.
In meditation you make use of
that which is happening in the mind
during the meditation. You don’t try to
avoid it. In this way you transform the
energy. You have, like Han-shan, saved
your world. You have done that with
the remedies at hand in the meditation.
In the next meditation you repeat the
process, with the means you have at
your disposal then. You return to Cold
Mountain.
The birds and their chatter overwhelm
me with feeling;
At times like this I lie down in my hut.
Cherries shine with crimson fire;
willows trail their slender boughs.
The morning sun pops from the jaws of
blue peaks;
bright clouds are washed in green
pond.
Who ever thought I would leave the
dusty world
and come bounding up the southern
slope of Cold Mountain.q
37
Swami Janakananda in Europe...
Swami Janakananda will be giving a Satsang in Hannover, Germany on May 23rd. In June he has been
invited to teach at a retreat with the Scottish Yoga Teachers’ Association, and with the Finnish Yoga Teach-
ers’ Association in July. After the one-month Kriya Yoga course and a 14-day yoga teacher seminar
at Håå Course Center he will be in Australia for three months.

...and in Australia Retreats, Courses and Satsangs

September - November 2000

10 day retreat at Tannum Sands in Queensland: 11-21 Oct.

“It is now two days ago since we left the course in Acre and I still have
an elated and self-contradictory feeling of supercharged energy and
deep inner calm.” (Student after a 10 day retreat)

In a quiet atmosphere, we will live You get suppleness and well-being

mainly without phones, mail, media,
cars and shops. Such a setting provides
you with a unique opportunity to gain
perspective and benefit the most from
the yoga and meditation you are going
to learn and experience.
The course begins with easy yoga and
simple relaxation and meditation.
One of the first days is set aside for
intestinal cleansing. In the morning
we drink warm saline water that is in
balance with the body’s own salt level.
A few exercises help the water through
the alimentary canal in a gentle and
harmonious way. The afternoon is spent
resting or enjoying the surrounding
countryside. A mild vegan diet follows
the cleansing-day. Altogether this helps
to detoxify your body, removing coarse
tensions and making you feel light.
from the various yoga poses. The
purpose of the breathing exercises is to
cleanse your energy flows and create a
foundation for concentration and health.
This aids in learning:
Inner Silence (Antar Mauna), a
meditation in seven steps through which
you can come to terms with your mind
and learn to accept your personality
in a constructive way. You develop
your capacity to think creatively and
thus realize your visions. But first and
foremost, you get closer to your self
and experience your true identity.
Ajapa Japa is a preliminary form of
Kriya Yoga. In nine steps you go from
the coarse to the finer levels of your
being, from using a special way of
breathing to contacting the chakras, the
inner space and your psychic symbol.

For updates on the Australian tour see our website: www.scand-yoga.org

38
 Yoga Nidra, a unique deep relaxation.
Karma Yoga, an activity that interacts with the rest of the
course where you have a chance to make use of the energy
you get from your yoga and meditation classes. Every day
there is 1-2 hours of preparing food, cleaning, garden work...
Silence (Mauna), a valuable
and integrated part of yoga.
Two and a half days of silence
raises your awareness further -
thus increasing your capacity to Swami Janakananda
experience. It makes you better was born in Denmark. He founded the Scandinavian
able to experience the finer stages of Yoga and Meditation School in 1970, one of the
the meditations that we practise at most advanced and well-established schools in the
this point.
West. His book Yoga, Tantra and Meditation in
Lectures. Swami Janakananda
and Sita will give lectures on Daily Life (available from Samuel Weiser, USA) has
tantric yoga and meditation and been translated into nine languages.
how it can be used and integrated Swami Janakananda is a master of Kriya Yoga
in daily life. and other tantric meditations - and a great source
Meditative song and dance of inspiration, giving modern man the opportunity
from around the world, especially to practise deep reaching yoga in his every day
Sufi dance and Indian kirtan, life. He is a popular lecturer at international yoga
plays a small but important part in the course. conventions and has been in Australia several times.
In his teaching Swami Janakananda makes use of
Venue, dates and fee the situation here and now - of you, just the way
The retreat is held at Tanyalla Recreation and Conference
Centre, located in a quiet environment at the attractive
you are, not demanding that something first must be
seaside town of Tannum Sands, some 20 km south-east of different. From here the meditation grows, the room
Gladstone, Queensland, just 300 metres from the beach. you are sitting in, your body and senses...
Between Centre and the Boyne River is a large area of
natural woodland which is ideal for bush walks and nature
study. The retreat begins Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 7.00 pm and
ends Saturday, Oct. 21 at noon.
The course fee is $ 800, all inclusive for 10 days tuition,
accomodation and meals. Before enrolling on this retreat ask
for the Håå Course brochure and read it carefully, or read it
on internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/haa.
Arrival Síta
Accomodation will be in single rooms with good communal is from Iceland. She has been teaching at the
toilet and shower facilities. Please bring your own bedding Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School for 16
or sleeping bag, including pillows. Please also bring years, working closely with Swami Janakananda.
comfortable shoes, towel and toiletries - as well as a mat for On the retreats she will guide the yoga classes and
yoga and a thin blanket. lead sessions with meditative song and dance.
continued on next page

39
Retreats, weekend courses and satsangs
in Australia 2000
10 day Retreat
at Tannum Sands in
Queensland: 11-21 Oct.
Booking & info: Concept Training,
tel 0749 549 490, fax 0749 549 330.
e-mail: concept@mackay.net.au
5 day Retreat
on the West Coast 2 - 7 Nov.
Venue: At Lower Chittering, 45
minutes drive from Perth
Bookings: Judy Allan, tel 0895 718 338
Fee: $ 400
10 - 12 November in Adelaide, South
Australia
Booking & info: Amritananda,
tel 08 8391 6228.
e-mail: sara0025@flinders.edu.au
17 - 19 November in Sydney
Open to all, aimed at experienced yoga
practitioners. On this course, friday
evening will be 6.00 - 9.30 pm.
Booking & info: Swami Shabdavani
and Swami Priyaratna
tel 02 9879 5240
e-mail: yoga@spiritofyoga.com.au
Info Evenings
and Satsangs
Meet Swami Janakananda and find
out what the courses are about. The
evening ends with a guided meditation.
• On the Sunshine Coast: 28 Sept.
• In Mackay: 3 Oct. 7.00 -
9.00 pm Slade Point Hall, Wren
Street, Slade Point.
• On the West Coast: 1 Nov.
• In Adelaide: 9 Nov.
• In Sydney: 16 Nov.
Free entrance.

Still being planned: 22 - 24 Sept in

Weekend Courses
Non-residential. Friday 6.30 - 10.00
pm. Saturday 9.00 am - 9.00 pm. with
approx. two hours lunch-break and one
hour dinner-break. Sunday 9.00 am -
5.00 pm. with approx. two hours lunch-
break. Fee: $ 250.
Toowoomba, Queensland
Booking & info: Toowoomba School
of Yoga, tel & fax 0746 392 486,
mobile phone 015621134, email:
d7694121@mail.connect.usq.edu.au

29 Sept - 1 October on the Sunshine

Coast, Queensland
Booking & info: Edelweiss Symons,
mobile phone 0408109844.

6 - 8 October in Mackay, Queensland

Booking & info: Concept Training,
tel 0749 549 490, fax 0749 549 330.
e-mail: concept@mackay.net.au

For updates on the Australian tour see our website: www.scand-yoga.org

40
Experience Yoga Nidra - Inspiration for a richer life
The deep relaxation Yoga Nidra from the Nyasa Tantra is guided by
Swami Janakananda. You can get the deep relaxation on CD or on tape.
All you have to do is to lie down, close your eyes and follow the instructions!
“I remain very impressed with the CD. Roop Verma. Sound symbols for the
I get a lot of solicitations and often do various chakras are also played, from
not respond to them because the quality the music tradition called Nada Yoga.
is not always that good. Naturally, this practice is an
This CD is more than the exception individual experience. Personally,
to the rule, hence my enthusiasm. I enjoy I find it utterly fascinating. I feel
it not only because it was produced refreshed and revitalised after the
with quality, but because I can tell from practice, and I know I will continue
the instructions and the voice guiding it with it.” With the CD there is a 20-page booklet about
Yoga Nidra, and how to get the full benefits
that wisdom and experience, combined Nils-Olof Jacobsen in the magazine
from the two relaxations.
with a gentle strength and power, are Sökaren, Sweden Content of the CD:
leading the deep relaxation methods, “The Wholeness of Your Nature”
through Swami Janakananda.” short deep-relaxation (21:03).
Lisa McColley Anderson, Spirit “Yoga Nidra is much more than “Travel through the Space of
Links, USA a deep relaxation; it is a total Experience”, music (7:06).
“Discover Your Self”, the deep Yoga
experience that touches and Nidra (45:17).
“Yoga Nidra is different from anything I awakens all parts of your being.” Soon available in stores in USA, UK, Canada
have heard before. It is accompanied by Swami Janakananda & Australia. CD: ISBN 9163094886.
nature sounds, and the Indian musician Tape: ISBN 9163094924. Contact us for info.

Read Bindu
- Back issues are still available
No. 3: The ability to experience.
Headstand. Nose Cleansing...
No. 4: Kriya Yoga I. The effect of yoga on the
finer energy. The Source of Energy - a Tantric
meditation...
No. 5: Kriya Yoga II. Psychic energy. Six
years of scientific research on the 3-Months
Courses. The Pyramid.
No. 6: The twilight hour - did we have a living
meditation tradition in the North? About
R.Y.E. (Research on Yoga in Education).
Shoulderstand...
Read more about Bindu on the internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/bindu
No. 7: Silver Jubilee issue! Read about Kriya
Yoga III. Yoga for pregnant women. Savasana.
No. 8: Harmony between the experiencer and
the experienced. On the Tantric meditation
Antar Mauna (Inner Silence). The Lotus Pose.
Intestinal cleansing.
No. 9: Instructor or Guide? Yoga for the Back.
Experience and Knowledge - about the yoga
teacher education at the Scandinavian Yoga
and Meditation School.
No. 10: Nada Yoga, meditation on the inner
sounds. Vibrations create forms. Song and
dance. The Bumble bee.
No. 11: The relaxed state and science.
Pictures of the brains’s activity during Yoga
Nidra. Tantra and Yoga Nidra.
No. 12: On the yogateacher education. Yoga
for “mouse arms”. Mapping the brains activity
after Kriya Yoga. On Sadhana, cycles in
healing and learning and what it means to be
silent during the initiation into Kriya Yoga.
41
Yoga shop
The book: Yoga, Tantra and Medi-
tation in Daily Life (Weiser, USA)
by Swami Janakananda
235 SEK (postage included)
Also available in other languages.
New French translation of the book!
See also page 31.
The CD: Experience Yoga Nidra
200 SEK (postage included). See p. 41.
The tape: Experience Yoga Nidra
155 SEK (postage included)
Hopi Ear Candles: made of 100%
bees wax and cotton; cleanses the ears.
80 SEK (postage included)
We accept payment in Swedish Crowns (SEK) by international money order or to our postal giro account 73 86 03 - 0 in Sweden.
Or an international bank cheque (free of charge at our end). NB Euro-cheques are not accepted any more in Swedish Banks!
Please send money and order to: Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School, Håå Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden.
SKANDINAVIAN YOGA AND MEDITATION SCHOOL
Håå Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden • Tel. +46 372 55063
Fax. +46 372 55036 • Email: haa@scand-yoga.org • www.scand-yoga.org
Sweden
• Västmannagatan 62, 113 25 Stockholm
tel. +46 8 321218, fax. +46 8 314406
email: stockholm@yoga.se
• Olsegården 21 • 442 42 Kungälv,
Göteborg, tlf. +46 7020 57343
email: goteborg@yoga.se
• Grynbodgatan 17, 211 33 Malmö
tlf. +46 40 - 481008
email: malmo@yoga.se
Norway
• Georgernes Verft 3, 5011 Bergen
tel. +47 5614 3310 fax. +47 5614 9738
email: bergen@scand-yoga.org
Finland
• Sukula, 30100 Forssa
tel. +358 3 4350599
email: sukula@scand-yoga.org
42
Nose cleansing pot
with instruction brochure:
Joghus, (short spout) blue or red.
250 SEK (postage included)
Krutis, (long spout) blue, sand, white
or green, 370 SEK (postage included)
The periodical: Bindu
Backissues: no. 3-7, 9-12,
45 SEK each (postage included).
Five issues or more: 30 SEK each
(postage included). See also p. 39.
The brochure (free):
about the retreats at Håå International
Course Center. See next page.
Denmark
• Købmagergade 65, 1150 Copenhagen
tel. +45 3314 1140, fax. +45 3314 1434
email: kbh@yoga.dk
• Vestergade 45, 8000 Århus
tel. +45 8619 4033, fax. +45 8619 4013
email: aarhus@yoga.dk
• Kongensgade 12 B, 3000 Elsinore
tel. +45 4921 2068
Germany
• Sextrostrasse 3, 30169 Hannover
tel. +49 511 803 9941 fax. 803 9942
email: hannover@scand-yoga.org
Contact in Australia
Robyn Taylor, Concept Training
PO Box 89, Mackay Q4740
tel. +61 749 531 594
e-mail: concept@mackay.net.au
Subscription
You are welcome to support us, so we
can continue to publish Bindu. Pay 45
SEK for one issue or 80 SEK for 2
issues + 40 SEK postage (payment,
see below). Further contributions are
also welcome.
Publisher: Bindu,
Håå Course Center, 340 13 Hamneda, Sweden.
Circulation: 7,000 in English (Also printed
in German, Swedish and Danish)
Printed: Håå Course Center, by Erling
Christiansen & Mark Richards
Layout: Robert Nilsson & Swami Janakananda
Translation: Jnana Shakti & Mark Richards
Pictures: Back, p. 2, 14, 17, 20, 21, 27,
30 Swami Janakananda (from his autodidactic
period before he met his teacher and went
to India); frontpage, p. 10, 13, Omkarananda,
Danmark; p. 4, 5 Karl Ravn, Denmark; p. 25
Ingela Hageman, Sweden; p.33 Maha Laxmi,
Denmark; p. 35 Thomas Schmidt, Germany; p.37
Corel PhotoCD.
Copyright © 2000 Bindu and Scandinavian
Yoga and Meditation School. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced
in any form without written permission from the
publishers.
 The Three Months Course 2001
24 Jan. - 21 April 21.000/17.900 SEK
Swami Janakananda, Síta et.al.
The Kriya Yoga Course 2000
22 July - 20 August 8950 SEK
Swami Janakananda and Yoga Shakti

10- and 14-days retreats 2000

May 28- June 10 5250/4000 SEK
Síta and Omkarananda
June 11 - 24 (German) 5250/4000 SEK
Hamsananda and Sirpa Kuosmanen
June 25 - July 8 5650/4600 SEK
Ananda Murti and Robert Nilsson
July 9 - 22 5650 SEK
Franz Jervidalo and Adam
Sept. 3 - 16 5250/4000 SEK
Intensive courses in the south of Sweden Robert Nilsson and Tuula
October 12 - 22 4950/3700 SEK
The courses at Håå Course Center in southern Sweden, are more than Mira and Mark
just holiday courses with a little yoga and meditation. Dec. 19 - Jan. 1 5650 SEK
Here you go through a process, which, with the aid of methods of Swami Janakananda and Tuula
genius from the tradition of yoga and tantra raises you to a level where Jan. 2 - 12 4950/3700 SEK
Síta and Erling Christiansen
you experience greater presence and increased energy - which you
can afterwards maintain with a regular practice at home.
The aim of the courses at Håå is for you to go deep and become
one with yourself - they give you the strength to go in the direction
you want.
Håå Course Center is about a two hours drive north from
Copenhagen, Denmark, and one hour from the airport of
Kristianstad in Sweden, for Ryan Air from Great Britain and
Ireland.
Get the brochure about Håå Course Center. It describes our
unique courses - where you for a period of time can withdraw to
gain perspective in surroundings of natural beauty.

Read more about Håå Course Center on internet: www.scand-yoga.org/english/haa 43

44