Seminar on Yoga, Science & Power of mind | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Prabhupad Desh, Italy | Aug 8, 2025
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, the subject is yoga, and in the modern world, of course, yoga has many different connotations. So, of course, all of those interpretations have some correctness in them. But, if you look at it in a more general way, why people would be interested in yoga? And this interest in yoga is very ancient. In fact, we can say, since the beginning of time, when human beings began to look up at the sky and wonder, what is the universe, then they began to think about yoga.
In the modern world, again, astronomers are being interested in the sky. And they have instruments more sophisticated than people had thousands of years ago, they have telescopes. And every year they invent newer and newer and more powerful telescopes. So, they had some idea about the universe and the stars, etc. In the 1990s they sent up Hubble telescopes. So, this telescope was beyond the atmosphere of Earth. That was very clear. And most of the telescopes we have on Earth are in places where the air is very fine and clear on top of a mountain somewhere where the air is thinner. So, if we go beyond the atmosphere, they’re completely looking at very, very clear images. So, they focused the telescope on a small area of the sky. There’s few stars there. But they were shocked, because what they saw was not stars, but galaxies. And a galaxy has millions of stars in it. So, within a small space, they had hundreds and hundreds of galaxies, which had millions and millions of stars each [Laughs]. And thus, they understood that the universe is bigger than we thought it was. So, this goes to illustrate that we don’t know everything about the universe. We don’t even know the size of the universe. We don’t know how many stars are in the universe. So, it is very vast, and this is astonishing even for scientists. We can theorize some diameter of the universe, but it’s all speculation. We don’t know what it is. It’s a huge number. And we are just one little spot in all of this. It is our galaxy. And our sun is one little star in this huge galaxy, among millions of galaxies. And we are one planet going around the sun. So, we are actually very, very tiny [Laughs].
So, since the beginning of time, people have been wondering, what is this universe? Why are we here? And it’s only natural, because human beings are very curious [Laughs]. So, we see in ancient times, even people were so-called primitive, stone-age people, they were looking at the sky and determining eclipses, solstices, and everything. And in fact, we see that many civilizations, like Egyptians, Assyrians, and ancient Indians, etc., they were very fascinated with the sky. And they tried to make diagrams of the universe [Laughs]. And we have this also discussed in Srimad-Bhagavatam, the fifth canto, discuss the structure of the universe. And if we look at these diagrams and the explanations, we find that what they conclude is the universe has some arrangement, some plan behind it. And of course, even in the modern world, they conclude that it doesn’t look like everything is random in the universe, that everything is ordered. And this is of course represented by the mandalas of Buddhism and the yantras in India. They represent the universe, but the universe is very structured.
And the more that scientists investigate the universe and investigate even the cells of the body and the DNA, they understand that there is a very complex but very significant order. This is an aerial view of Angkor Wat, which is a huge Vishnu temple in Cambodia [Laughs]. It actually represents the universe. And we see it’s all very structured in terms of rectangles and squares. And of course we see in the material nature itself, that everything is very harmoniously constructed [Laughs] . And everything follows very mathematical principles. DaVinci also is trying to get order within the universe and order in the human body. So, in other words, here he has the circle and the square as units for the human body. So, human beings have been searching for unity and order in the universe from the beginning of time. So, of course, scientists are very, very expert in doing this [Laughs].
But then there’s another method of doing that. That’s not going outside, but going inside. So, this is the method of yoga. Yoga actually means to come together, to unite. So, yoga seeks to bring about a unity between the universe, the body, the mind and the soul. It is not based on scientific proof. It’s based on going inside [Laughs]. So, of course, as I said, yoga in the modern world has many connotations. Many connotations, many meanings to yoga. So, some people say, ah, yoga means gymnastics. They have yoga competitions [Laughs]. So, the person that can do a very complicated yoga pose with 23 stars has difficulty when they get the prize [Laughs]. Of course, most gyms in the modern world have a yoga studio, so people are there doing yoga as a physical exercise [Laughs]. Some people are interested in yoga because they think they get some supernatural abilities [Laughs]. Even the yogis are doing great austerities. If you go to Kumbh Mela, then you’ll see the yogis in Himalaya. They are standing on their toes for 50 years [Laughs], or hand in the air for 50 years, or whatever, austerities.
So, in the modern world, of course, yoga is something anybody can do. But according to scripture, there’s a more exact definition of yoga, and a definition of who is qualified. So, in the modern world, we have yoga for dogs, not only for human beings, or for cats also [Laughs]. But we should go to the authorities. So, the authority in yoga is Patanjali. So, he wrote in Yoga Sutras, which is the basic book on yoga. Other people wrote things after that. This was written sometime before Christ, but actually before Patanjali also, the system was there, but he codified it into sutras. So that system is famous for eight limbs, or Astanga. Asta means eight. Anga means limbs. So, we have different stages. The first is called Yama. That means restraints. You restrain yourself [Laughs]. So, no violence, no lying, no theft, no sex life, no hoarding. Then we have Niyama, very similar, is another observance, we have Cleanliness, satisfaction, austerity, study, worship of God.
So, these two Angas, or steps, ensure that a person has very good conduct, and because he has good conduct, mind will be somewhat steady. So, the next step is called Asana, or postures. Literally, Asan means sitting. So, the sitting posture is very important to meditate. And we have all sorts of yoga asanas, also ultimately leading to proper sitting [Laughs]. So, after that, there is controlling the breath. The yogis discover that by controlling the breath, you can control the mind. Actually, they also understand that even in modern medical science. So, they say that people who have high blood pressure, which means the heart beat and whatever, they can lower the blood pressure very easily by regulated breathing. So, when one practices controlling the breath, it becomes easy to withdraw the mind from external thoughts. Then we’re beginning to concentrate internally. When the concentration becomes continuous, it’s called meditation. The final stage is called samadhi. In that stage, you stop the mind, intelligence, ego completely. So, what happens then? If you can stop all the mental functions, the Atma reveals itself as pure consciousness. So, in this system, the first rules are more or less physical to the body. Then we get controlling the mind. And finally we get no mind at all, only Atma [Laughs].
So, in this process of yoga, though most people nowadays emphasize the physical yoga, the important part is to get to the mind. So, the mind is very important in two ways. One, it leads us into maya, the material world. The other, it can be used for elevating us. So, the second sutra of yoga is stopping all actions of material consciousness. That is yoga. If we go to the last sutra, it talks about liberation, when you control your mind, etc., you get liberation. It means freedom from all material qualities and material goals. One becomes established in the self or the atma. So, in other words, the goal of astanga yoga is to realize atma on itself. One becomes peaceful, one can be free from the cycle of birth and death.
So, normally we think of ourselves as the material body. And up to this point in time, those scientists said, yes, you’re a material body with heart and lungs and intestines and muscles and nerves, etc [Laughs]. The Vedic scriptures explain that not only you have this gross body, you have a subtle body. This means we have a body that we cannot really see. It’s also material, but we can’t see it. And in that body we have the mind, intelligence, ego, prana, chakras, etc. It’s also very important. We cannot exist as a material body without the subtle body, they have to go together [Laughs]. Both are material. But we also have within the body the atma, or the soul. So, this is the most important part of us. This gives us consciousness. If the soul leaves the body, we’re dead. Unfortunately, the soul is covered by the mind, intelligence, ego, and the gross body, and we don’t even understand we are the soul [Laughs].
So, we should understand that we do have this body, which is that material, but it’s made of mind, substance, etc. And it is very important for us. And it’s useful even for physical curings. So, in that subtle body we have the chakras, which are very thin in the yoga system. Chakra means a wheel. So, these subtle energy centers are circuit-like wheels. And they also turn like wheels. And they’re located at important parts of the body. So, we see the locations mentioned here. And they’re responsible for health of our body. So, if the chakras are in a healthy state, then that part of the body is healthy [Laughs]. And if the chakra is unhealthy, then that part of the body is unhealthy. So, if we cure the subtle body with the chakra, then we can cure the gross body. This is different from modern medicine, which you just do the gross body, ignore the subtle body completely [Laughs]. So, these centers apart from the organs, they’re also important, they represent different stages of consciousness. And they are located from the base of the spine to the top of the head. And when you get to the top of the head, that means you get some spiritual realization. So, the bottom chakras are very material consciousness.
So, though these are mentioned in the yoga scriptures, most people cannot see the chakras. So, scientists may think it’s all imaginary. However, some people who do yoga, or even if they’re not doing yoga, but they’re doing some sort of therapy with subtle energy, they can begin to see the chakras. So, this subtle body actually is quite complex. It has many layers. And there are layers, each layer has the chakras on it. But they’re vibrating at higher and higher frequencies. Or we could say higher levels of consciousness [Laughs]. So, when one does yoga, then these chakras tend to become harmonized. That means our body is operating favorably, so we can get our realization of Atma.
So, in the Vedic scriptures, mind and the subtle body are considered to be material elements. At the same time, as we know from Bhagavad Gita, mind is very powerful. But even in the normal world, if we look at history and culture and civilization, we see the mind is very important. It’s a source of creation, source of science, source of many things. Unfortunately, the human being also uses the mind and intelligence for destruction [Laughs]. Consequently, the scriptures gave us many rules to control the mind, so we don’t cause destruction [Laughs]. So, in modern world, of course, most philosophers and scientists thought mind is only some abstract thing [Laughs]. However, some scientists have investigated mind and they come to the opposite conclusion.
In the 1960s and 70s, the Stanford research institute in America carried out some study on clairvoyance [Laughs]. Which we could say by mystical siddhis [Laughs]. So, the military, the American army [Laughs], was interested, is this clairvoyance, these mental powers, is it real or is it fake? The reason why they started this investigation because there were, the Russians was also investigating this [Laughs]. There was some famous people in Russia who could move objects with the mind etc [Laughs] which was studied by the Russian scientist. Of course, the goal of the military is not so humanitarian, it also has military uses [Laughs]. So, Harold Puthoff was the scientist, physicist in charge of the investigation and he used Ingo Swann, who was a clairvoyant [Laughs]. So, their main subject was, can a person understand and know, in one place, something at a distance. So, the scientists did many different experiments for Ingo Swann and the conclusion was, yes, he can actually perceive, 3,000 miles away, 5,000 miles away, 10,000 miles away, he can perceive things. With about 80% accuracy. So, then they understood that somehow the mind can operate beyond space and also beyond time. Ingo Swann could go into the past, 200 years ago, or he could go into the future, 50 years in the future, and look at it. So, then Harold Puthoff concluded that the mind is, we don’t know what it is, but it’s real, it has force behind it, it can do things [Laughs].
So, if we want to discuss the real world, which science is supposed to discuss, we also have to discuss mind [Laughs]. This is just one [Laughs] experiment that was carried out. So, Ingo Swann was given a series of numbers. The numbers represented latitude, longitude number at a certain spot. And then from that, he had to conclude, what do the numbers represent? So, the numbers represented some latitude, longitude of a certain place out here. So, they said, OK, tell us what’s there. So, then he sat down, did his meditation, whatever, then he drew these pictures. He drew this map on the top, on the left hand side. And he drew this machine on wheels on the right hand side. So, the actual object there was a photograph of a secret military installation in Siberia, in Russia [Laughs]. And the Americans, a few days previously, had gone over with their spy satellite and got a photograph of that place [Laughs]. So, there was no way he could see that photograph because nobody knew about it [Laughs]. But he was able to draw a map of the military installation and that main machine that was there on those rails.
So, they did many experiments like that, including telling him what’s on the other side of the moon, what’s on Jupiter, and he got accurate information. So, in Princeton University, Professor Robert John was trying to figure out if people can move objects with their minds [Laughs]. So, the machine like this was, you press a button and one of these balls would fall down. It can go left or right. So, it’s completely level, so half should go left, half should go right by law of chance. But then the test was, you press the button and with your mind, you said, make it go to the left, make it go to the left, make it go to the left and just see if you can make the ball go to the left [Laughs]. So, they found out that if you do it a thousand times in your head, left, left, left, left, left, then significantly the ball will go to the left. And they found even if the person who was thinking about the ball going to the left was 3,000 miles away, he could affect the ball [Laughs]. And if he thought a week ahead of time, before the experiment took place, still he could do it. So, the conclusion was that the consciousness of the mind can influence matter over space and time [Laughs]. So, these are conclusions of scientists about the reality of the mind.
In China also, there are many Qigong, like yogis, chinese yogis who have great powers also [Laughs]. Okay, so one of the persons was, this Zhang Baosheng and he had such powers that the Chinese government was investigating him. He was able to move a 45 kilo sack of sugar through a wall with his mind. Another experiment with him was they put a little bug, like a beetle bug, in a glass sealed container. So, the object was, using his mind, get the bug out of the jar. So, at a distance, he looked at the jar with the bug in it, meditated, I guess, and whoop, the bug came out [Laughs]. So, they were wondering, what did he do, did he decompose the bug and put it together outside or did he pull the bug through the glass, what did he do [Laughs]? So, they got a camera that goes something like 100 frames per second, very, very fast. I think a normal movie is 25 frames per second, I guess. So, this is like 100 frames per second, the camera, and they focused on the bug inside there, and then he did his thing, and they found the bug going through the glass in three photographs [Laughs]. So, of course, by modern science, we cannot explain how it happens [Laughs]. But, we can also conclude that somehow the mind is very powerful.
And, as Bhagavad Gita also says, yes, the mind is very powerful. So, he says, you deliver yourself with the help of the mind and don’t degrade yourself. The mind is the friend, it’s also the enemy. So, the mind is a very powerful tool. The yogis, by their power, they’re controlling the mind, and they have more powers than we have [Laughs]. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, whatever you think of as using your mind when you die, you become that [Laughs]. So, Maharaj Bharat thought of a deer in his mind that produced a deer body called the next life. So, that is the power of the mind. It produces your body. So, this, of course, is a little difficult to prove, but interestingly enough, he has some proof in the modern world.
Dr. Ian Stevenson was an American psychiatrist. And he became interested in children who had memories of past lives. After studying 2,400 cases, he came to the conclusion that children are telling the truth, they’re not lying. Looks like consciousness goes from body to body [Laughs]. But then he found another very strange phenomenon. Some of these people had a rather violent death previously. And the marks of that death got imprinted in their next body. So, here we have one man, he remembers his previous life in a village a hundred miles away, and he died by shot gun bullet in his chest. So, they found the police report, they found the drawing, the autopsy with all the bullet holes, pattern of bullet holes in his chest. So, in the present life, this small boy was remembering all of this, on his chest was the same pattern of bullet holes marked on his chest. So that memory of the death somehow imprinted his next body. So, Dr. Ian Stevenson found many, many examples of this in his research.
So, these impressions are carried over from one body to the next. So, if we don’t control the mind, it can cause a great limitation for us. So, Bhagavad Gita says, even one of the roaming senses in which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence. So, Krishna emphasizes, you have to control the mind [Laughs]. It is difficult, but if you want to elevate yourself, you have to control the mind. And thus, the yogis are doing this with Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Of course, in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also says, working senses and spirit is all matter, mind is higher than senses, intelligence is higher than mind, soul is higher than intelligence. So, Krishna actually gives a good method for controlling the mind. Of course, he could say, well, intelligence, you control the mind. But then, soul has to control intelligence. So, like that, soul has to control everything [Laughs].
So, therefore, he says, embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though taste for sense objects remains. But ceasing such engagement by experiencing higher taste, you can elevate the consciousness. So, if we have a taste for Atma, that can help to control the mind and the senses. So, somehow or other we have to develop spiritual taste. So, that may be a little abstract for most people [Laughs].
So, we have some practical ways in which you can use the mind and make it productive rather than destructive. So, one uses the mind is choice. We can change the habits of the mind, we can create goals. These are our choices. And then the mind can be used to actualize those choices or goals. Of course, for most people, it’s very difficult to change the habits. But as Krishna says, you have to control the mind, otherwise you’re lost [Laughs]. So, of course, the secret is that the mind is operating so we have stimuli coming in and then we have response. So, habit means between the stimulus and response, there’s no thought [Laughs]. So, if we want to stop a habit, then we have to separate the stimulus from the response. So, in other words, after the stimulus comes in, we have to pause and we have to carefully consider our choice. Then we can respond. So, if we become responsible for our choices, then we can change our lives. Yeah, so of course most people will blame their conditions. Because of this, I cannot do this [Laughs]. Our behavior, such as anger or fear or whatever, becomes dependent on our conditions. But we have to change that. Our behavior should be a function of our decisions and our choices instead. We should subordinate feelings like anger and hatred and fear to values. So, people who are driven by habit are reactive. Stimuli come in, they immediately react [Laughs]. The circumstances produce immediate feelings and then they act. People who are stuck in this cycle, cannot change and cannot establish rules. Ok, so, a proactive person carefully considers and bases his actions upon very internal values. So, the values that we base our choices on aren’t things that are imposed upon us, these are superficial. They must come from inside. They must be part of ourselves.
We talked about choices, now we talk about goals [Laughs]. We have these goals in our mind, this becomes how we act in our life. Our goal may be happy family life [Laughs]. It may be money. It may be work [Laughs]. It may be collections. It could be pleasure [Laughs]. Or friends and enemies [Laughs]. So, these of course are common goals that people have often imposed by society and parents [Laughs]. But what about the soul? This should be the goal. Nobody thinks about the soul. So, actually human beings should think about this. Who am I? What are my real needs and desires? What is real satisfaction? Wats my real nature? What is pure tolerance ? What are the principles by which I live? So, ultimately, if we really want to change, we have to base our principles upon the soul.
Of course, in this condition now, we don’t know what the soul is, nor do we know the qualities of the soul, the goals of the soul [Laughs]. So, we can learn about the qualities of the soul from scripture. But more than that, we have to have a practice to actually get a taste for the Atma, and we can begin to understand the qualities of the soul. And if we can establish that, the principles of the Atma, then we have a solution to a lot of problems in our life. Then we get internal guidance. We don’t have to look outside. We have security, no more fear, because we’re eternal Atma. We have power, because we make our own decisions. And we have wisdom, because we don’t have a distorted view of the world from material influences. If we have a low sense of security, we feel very helpless in all situations. If we have a high sense of security, we will be confident in any situation in the world. If we have a low sense of guidance, we depend on others to make decisions. If we have a high sense of guidance, we can make our own decisions. If we have a low sense of wisdom, we have a very distorted vision of the world. If we have a high sense of wisdom, we have a very accurate vision of how the world is operating. If we have a low sense of power, we say, let somebody else do everything [Laughs]. If we have a high sense of power, then we create our future. So, in achieving the goal, then the mind is very important. The principle is, first we mentally create the goal, then it manifests. We have to concentrate on it and then it will appear in the real world.
As we saw [Laughs] from the Bhagavad Gita and the example of Bharat, what you think of, what the mind manifests in the world. So, unfortunately most people like the principle, but they cannot apply the principle properly. Mind is too distracted, so they cannot concentrate enough on the goal. Of course, in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, well mind is difficult to control, but practice [Laughs].
Ok, to summarize, the change begins by understanding that we are not the body, we are the soul [Laughs]. Change is possible, but it has to make effort. Practice will produce results. Daily we have to drill the mind to accept a new paradigm, a new view of the world, new habits, new goals. That’s why we do Sadhana bakthi daily [Laughs]. And we want to change ourselves. It’s easier to change ourselves than to try to change somebody else. Usually we think, well that person has a problem they should change, but actually it’s easier to change ourselves than to try to change somebody else. So, we can change ourselves, but we can be responsible for our decisions and actions, and then we create our future. Okay, so we can choose our goals, but we have to choose our goals with intelligence, imagination, and focus on that as much as possible. Of course, in spiritual life we have a little help, because we’ve got scripture to help us [Laughs]. So, the goals, we could have material goals, whatever, they have to include acting according to the eternal principles. Something we cannot change. We simply accept that as mercy of the Lord. And if we change ourselves, then we can influence others. In choosing our goals, we try to choose something which is beneficial for everybody. We don’t want to gain at others’ expense.
Okay, so we can summarize it in a little bit different way [Laughs]. We have the law of attraction, whatever your mind is thinking about, will produce your reality. The law of karma, actions, produce results, if you choose violent actions, you will get suffering on yourself. If we become responsible for our choices and don’t commit violence, we get free from the law of karma. And the law of change, everybody wants change, if we change ourselves, we can change the world. And the law of choice, we have an inner guide to choose actions. We can simply ask some questions, most basic is good for the health [Laughs], if it’s harmful, don’t do it. That’s a very simple choice, it’s very reasonable, but a lot of people cannot follow that [Laughs]. Would that create happiness, that is, we get some mental satisfaction and peace. If our choice is going to make us completely disturbed, don’t do it. Is this choice truthful, if not full of deceit? Will our choice produce beauty in the world? And will it produce unconditional love? So, any choice to say yes, yes, yes, all five should be yes, if one of them is no, don’t do it. So, in any case, we do have to train ourselves to choose properly and make responsible choices. And ultimately, of course, everything is centered upon Atma, Supreme Lord. And of course, what this means is, we do bhakti yoga [Laughs]. This is the perfect yoga for getting that unconditional love.
Hare Krishna!! Any questions?
Q & A
1) Maharaj, for example, if we look at the patients, many people have got several diseases, sickness, etc they create this also because of their mind ?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So the question is, do we create sickness from the mind?
So surprisingly, actually, some doctors say that also [Laughs]. And these are doctors trained up in Western medicine. They say a lot of it is actually mind. Of course, doctors also know that stress is a major cause of disease. So, stress causes imbalance in your hormones, etc. Then that causes problems in your metabolism, starts affecting your organs, etc.
Of course, there are other factors as well. So, the food you eat is going to affect you. The environment is going to affect you. We have a lot of pollution in the modern world, a lot of that is going to affect our health. So of course, we can also help by making proper choices of environment, food, etc. So, some of the problems come from karma. But where did the karma come from [Laughs] ? It came from previous life, where our minds were such that we did activities that caused the suffering.
So remarkably enough, some doctors also say that if you use your mind, you can cure your disease. And there are examples of hopeless diseases people have. But if they practice meditation in a regular way, suddenly the disease goes away. And it cannot be explained [Laughs]. So, one doctor explains that through the process of meditation, you actually begin to change your DNA. Of course, how is that possible? Modern science cannot really explain it [Laughs]. But of course, there are many things that are still unexplainable in our human body and in the mind.
Okay, Hare Krishna!!
Devotees: Hare Krishna !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!