Seminar on Secrets of healthy life | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Goloka Eco farm, Italy | Aug 15 2025
Devotee : So I wish everyone, for those of you who are here for the first time, I’m very happy to present with us His Holiness Bhanu swami, who is a traveling monk, and a Sannyasi of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and he’s been practicing, studying, publishing many books on Bhakti Yoga, for more than four or five decades now.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj :
Everyone wants to lead a healthy life. Nobody wants to be sick. But the question is how to be healthy. So normally we just think of this body as something healthy, we call it gross body [Laughs]. And it is the subject of investigation by medical science. So we have healthy bones, healthy skin, healthy organs, healthy nervous system. The Vedas tell us we have another body, which is also material, called the Sukshama sarira, or the subtle body. Some people refer to this as your aura [Laughs]. And though it is not accepted by modern medical science, it is accepted within the tradition of yoga. And of course other, maybe Chinese medicine also accepts this. It is called subtle, because we cannot see it with our normal eye. However, some people, like yogis, and people who are accustomed to doing, let’s say, more alternative healing, they can see this subtle body. And though it is not known by modern medical science, it’s just as important for our health as the gross body. And thus we do have lack of sufficient knowledge in modern medical science. Because it is material, medical science can eventually understand and use, or cure, this subtle body. If they achieve this, they will say, ‘Ah now we’ve got perfect, health because we know both bodies’ [Laughs]. However that is not so, there is some more knowledge in it [Laughs].
More subtle than the subtle body is, the atma or the soul. This is completely beyond our material perception, whether gross or subtle. The only way we can perceive is.. we can understand it through scriptures, and we can sense it, perceive it, by realization. So these three bodies are interacting at all times. So if we want health, we have to take care of all these bodies. So, when all these bodies are in their natural state, that means we have good health. And when we have good health, we have satisfaction. This is called Sattva. And we can measure that Sattva. If we can maintain and repair our body and mind in such a nice state, that is Sattva. And mentally, we can measure also. And that is, we become peaceful. And spiritually, we experience by bliss.
So, as I said, we have to work on all three things – gross body, subtle body and spirit. So we have things which influence these three bodies. One is food. Obviously, it affects your gross body. You take fatty food, you get fat [Laughs]. And exercise and breathing, which is also used in yoga. Meditation, particularly good for the mind. Association of other people, very important, for your health, and your mind, etc. Environment, where you live, influences you. And the last one is spiritual practice.
Okay so, food, of course, is easy to understand. Plant food is very nourishing. It is full of natural energy. It gathers energy from the sun and from water and from birds. So by taking plant food, we get energy of life. So this is a very positive influence upon our life. And of course, obviously affects the body. So plant food, in general, is called sattvic food. So it directly affects your body, because we eat that and digest it. We can also modify even that plant food. In other words, when we prepare food, we put our energy into that food. So normally, we just don’t eat the fruits and vegetables of the trees [Laughs]. We take them home, we wash it, clean it, cut it, whatever. And maybe cook, we prepare it in a certain way. So obviously we’re putting energy into it. And along with that energy, we also put our consciousness into it. So we often see, nowadays we have machine food [Laughs]. Things are cut by machines, cooked by machines [Laughs]. It’s quite efficient, it saves time, it saves labor, it saves cost, etc. but ultimately the taste is different [Laughs]. And when a person with great devotion prepares something, it tastes better [Laughs]. So therefore, consciousness is very important, even when preparing food.
Now preparing is good, then after we prepare also, we can do something to increase the energy. And we see that this is customary in other many religions. One would express gratitude for the food. In other words, we don’t just eat and take things from the material world and devour it [Laughs]. We accept that, actually we don’t have a right to take everything from the world, we should very carefully take what we need and be thankful for that. So many Christians before they eat, they have a prayer that they say gratitude. Similarly in the Vedas, they also have a method of offering things before they eat. And in fact, this becomes a more elaborate ceremony. We have deities, we offer everything to a deity. And what the result is that food is not just food, it’s called prasad. Prasad means mercy. So in other words, we recognize that what we eat is the mercy of the Lord. So we do have nature, it produces plants and then we may modify it or grow it by the human being etc. And then we prepare it and then we recognize God’s hand in everything [Laughs]. So in this way, we got a lot of energy in the food. We got the natural energy, the sun, the water, the earth, the human effort and devotion. And we got the blessings of God !!
Now this is important, because everybody has to eat to live [Laughs]. So it is a constant influence on our life and our mind and our spirit. So taking sattvic food, will give health to the body and the mind. And then offering that sattvic food gives us influence on the spirit. So in Bhagavad Gita, in chapter 3 Krishna recognizes that we have to offer everything to the Lord. If we don’t recognize the Lord then we lead a life of sin [Laughs]. And this leads to suffering. So in other words, if we have a sense of gratitude even for preparing and eating food, this helps us get rid of suffering.
Ok so now we can do exercises. Of course in ancient times, people naturally got to work very hard and in their farms and fields, doing exercises. In the modern world, most people don’t do exercises, they sit in an office some day, all day. It’s not natural. So obviously, exercise influences the growth spot. You can’t be healthy, if you sit all day. But then exercise also influences the subtle body, i.e the mind, intelligence etc. So we have to take care of all of our organs, the skeleton, heart, immune system, nervous system, endocrine system, digestive system, respiratory system, they have to be in good health, in order to be happy and content. Simple exercise can help that. This has become more of a method in yoga. So by particular exercises, we can strengthen the bones, the muscles, they influence the nerves, and the heart, etc.
And along with that, in yoga, they have meditation. Meditation means concentration of the mind. And this will cure the imbalances in the subtle body. Here we have a body with the chakras kind of all helter-skelter [Laughs]. So this is an unhealthy state. This means your mental body is very upset [Laughs]. So these are the chakras and if they are out of balance that means the organs in these different places where they are out of balance are going to be sick. So here we see the stomach and the throat and even the head one are out of balance. That means, your stomach and your throat and your head may have problems [Laughs]. And after some meditation practice, then the chakras start aligning and consequently your health improves. Of course we can also get higher results, spiritual results. We can meditate on atma, the soul and on the Supreme Lord. This gives us spiritual results.
Okay now association with people influences us. As I said, we are not just a gross body, we have the subtle body or aura. And just as the gross body, can get a little cut or something and get an infection, so the subtle body also can get infected. The gross body gets infected by viruses and germs. The subtle body gets infected by negative emotions. So if you associate with people with all this negativity in their aura, you start picking up that negativity in your aura [Laughs]. Sometimes we associate with people and after we go away from them, we feel very terrible [Laughs], we feel very upset or agitated or depressed or whatever. So that means, we have been influenced by their negative energy. So the aura in its negative state can take many forms [Laughs]. Some can be very quickly [Laughs]. Some can be very aggressive and attack people [Laughs]. So we have all sorts of people isolated, they don’t even want to contact you. So we have to be very careful with whom we associate with. Our subtle body is very subject to the emotions of other people. And just as when we are with other people we start talking, we converse. So that’s say external communication. But simultaneously the subtle bodies are communicating [Laughs]. So a person that speaks with you, subtle body is doing something completely aggressive and attacking you in some way. So we have to be very careful and choose our association. So we have to choose good association [Laughs]. This is often emphasized in the scriptures. You should have ‘satsanga’ – good association. So if you associate with wicked people, you also become wicked[Laughs]. If you associate with moral people or righteous people, you also become righteous. But even better than that is the spiritual level. If you associate at spiritual level you also become spiritual [Laughs]. So the scriptures say that, this is the main cause of developing spiritually, association with spiritual people.
Ok, so now we have environmental influences [Laughs]. Our body is very sensitive. Some scientists and medical people have understood that our body actually is like a little electrical generator [Laughs]. And we know that your whole nervous system and your brain are operating as plus and minus charts going through your signals to your nerves [Laughs]. And very quickly your cells communicate negative and positive charts like this. So you can have instant reactions to things. And this also controls your breathing, your heart rate, your digestion, your blood flow, etc. So our body is like a little micro electric generator [Laughs]. And it’s also very sensitive. Now particularly in the modern world, we have a problem [Laughs]. And that is we have a lot of electrical contamination in the air [Laughs]. We have electrical currents, we have all these cell phone [Laughs] communication things going through the air, WiFi, and all this. And actually, the voltage in your body is insufficient, we get all sorts of chronic diseases [Laughs]. The voltage in your body acts too low. So our body gets influenced by all these outer electrical charges. And we know that people who live near these towers [Laughs] with all these electrical wires, they become very unhealthy. Particularly these currents let of magnetic fields. And they influence our electrical currents in the body. And thus, they can cause a lot of disturbance to our nerves, to our muscles, etc.
Of course people investigate all of this. And the World Health Organization (WHO), they say it’s not so harmful [Laughs]. But then independent scientists say NO, that’s wrong [Laughs]. These things do cause problems. So some scientists have investigated WiFi. And they find that it does cause stress, your sperms are damaged, you get nervous or psychological effects [Laughs]. You can get damage to your DNA, your hormones can change. So cell phones and wireless exposure is like microwave radiation, that’s quite dangerous actually. And of course as we advance in the world, we want to have quicker and quicker communication. So we start increasing the power of all these electromagnetic waves. First we had 2G, then we had 3G, now we have 5G [Laughs]. And we think the higher it is, the better it is, because it’s quicker. But some scientists are also a little bit worried. Because they do know that 2G or 3G has some damage, so that if you have 5G it’s going to give more damage to the human body. So therefore, we get more efficiency in terms of communication, but at the same time more danger to our health [Laughs]. Unfortunately, though some scientists are giving warnings like that, still it goes on without much restrictions [Laughs]. So it can affect your nervous system, your immune system and your cardiovascular system. This is a kind of photograph before you use your cellphone and after you use your cellphone, your whole brain is kind of fried out [Laughs]. Okay so anyway, some people gave the warning, but nevertheless it’s going on [Laughs]. So this is of course is one aspect of the environment, the electrical environment.
And of course we have things like pollution, etc. We have to be careful as well. Chemicals contaminating our foods. Some of it has physical effects, some of it has hormonal effects, some of it has mental effects.
Another influence is, as I said with the spiritual practices [Laughs]. Ok, so of course, spiritual practice means, mainly you are interested in the atma / spirit, rather than the body or the mind. And of all spiritual practices, the scriptures tell us that Nama-Sankirtan is the most powerful. Now we cannot scientifically investigate the spiritual effect of Nama-Sankirtan or any spiritual process [Laughs]. Nevertheless, scientists, because they are scientists, like to analyze spiritual processes also and see what the effects are. And they do find at least it has physical and mental positive effects [Laughs]. Normally we think that you can get physical or mental effects by material things. Like medicines, pills, vaccines, etc [Laughs]. But somehow these spiritual things also influence your life for some reason [Laughs].
So we know that, living beings have many influences on us, which are unexplainable. For instance, music can influence plants. Of course, plants do not have ears, they don’t have brains, they don’t have nervous systems. But nevertheless, they can detect music. So if you play nice classical music and soft music and relaxing music, plants grow nicely. And if you play discordant music or heavy rhythmic music or heavy rock music, they don’t grow [Laughs]. So there have been many studies like that and plants are affected by music [Laughs]. And of course, obviously, they tried experiments on animals [Laughs]. So they found classical music was good for the dogs [Laughs]. They were able to sleep better, they barked less [Laughs]. And with heavy rock music, they started agitating and barking and get restless and became violent. Now you can find in YouTube, nice relaxing music for your dogs [Laughs] and your cats [Laughs]. They also did experiments with cows and if the cows hear classical music, they produce more milk [Laughs]. And if they get this fast music, more than 120 beats per minute, then they don’t give milk.
So again, music has the same effect on human beings. Then they tried mantras. Well, mantras affect a person. So they just tried the chanting “OM”, which is a famous Vedic mantra [Laughs]. Surprisingly, they found that actually it stabilizes your brain. And we get more energy. We get reduced stress. We get improved memory [Laughs]. So it’s just a simple sound, and more than other just random sounds, it somehow works. It has a positive effect [Laughs]. So therefore, they even look at your brain and they see that what your glands in your brain get stimulated positively [Laughs]. They also found that singing, not just hearing music, but singing also is very good for your health [Laughs]. And they found that group singing was very good for improving your health [Laughs]. And actually, what happens is that, it reduces the amount of cortisol, which causes stress. And of course, in Sankirtan, this is very important, to have groups of people singing together.
So they also tried meditation techniques. So they had people meditate on unconditional love. So they tried this for seven weeks. And as a result, they got very positive effects. So they got better emotions, better physical effects. And they reduced depression.
Now, about ten years ago I think it was, one scientist who got a Nobel Prize discovered telomeres on your chromosomes [Laughs]. So your cells constantly have to repair it. So if you have these long little caps [Laughs], that means you can repair your chromosomes and DNA nicely. And then you can feel young and healthy [Laughs]. So generally people who are young have big telomeres, but as they get older they get smaller and smaller and smaller [Laughs] and unhealthy as they get older. And consequently, because the telomeres are not so long, your DNA and your cells do not repair. So you don’t have good health. So, and then this is a black woman, she is the one who discovered these. Then she was thinking, well, how can we reverse the process? People get older and the telomeres get smaller. How can we increase the telomeres, so you don’t get old and you don’t get sick? Human beings don’t like sickness and don’t like old age [Laughs]. So if somehow we can measure something so that your telomeres increase, then we can solve our aging problem. So this provides a very convenient measure of, is this treatment successful or not?
So they gave a group of people plant-based food, that is vegetarian foods, and they had good results. Yeah. They gave them moderate exercise, 30 minutes a day [Laughs]. They did some yoga stretches, breathing, meditation [Laughs]. And they had a weekly group where they talked together [Laughs]. And they found that this group was quite successful. They got 10% increase in their telomere length, which means 10% increase in their health [Laughs]. Okay, so other studies were also done. These people had dementia and depression. They tried relaxing music and they got a 3% increase in their telomeres. They tried meditation, they got a 17% increase. And they tried kirtan and they got a 43% increase !!! [Laughs]. So, of course, kirtan is a little bit special. First, because it’s got a mantra in it, which is very special [Laughs]. Also, it’s people singing in a group, which is very positive. Also, they’re expressing unconditional love. And they’re taking vegetarian food. So it’s got a good combination of things, plus the mantra, so therefore you get very positive effects. Of course, this is a gross physical effect, but nevertheless, somehow, kirtan mantra affects.
So this is mentioned in the scripture, but it was popularized by Caitanya Mahaprabhu 500 years ago. So it’s a combination of music, mantra, yoga, unconditional love. Of course, it’s not just any mantra. We also have a special mantra, the Hare Krishna mantra. And though this kirtan has physical effects, mental effects, we’re interested in spiritual effects. These cannot be measured by science. We can measure the physical effects, mental effects, but not the spiritual effects [Not clear]. So we can go to the scripture and see what is the effect.
So, in the scriptures, it says that the mantra actually is non different from the spiritual form. So, if we have the sound Krishna, it’s non different from the form of Krishna. So by chanting the name Krishna, we can realize the form of Krishna. Of course, we don’t just chant Krishna, we say Hare [Laughs]. And Hare is a reference to Radha. So when we say Hare Krishna, we’re calling out to Radha and Krishna. And thus we can realize Radha and Krishna. So when we ask the question, well, why do we have to concentrate on Radha and Krishna? So the answer is that, we all want the highest bliss. And we want eternal wealth. So, Krishna means the source of everything and the source of bliss. So you realize Krishna, you realize eternal bliss. We also chant Hare Rama, so Rama also means Krishna who gives bliss. So we realize Krishna, he will give us bliss. We chant Hare, which is Radha, and who is Radha? She is the embodiment of bliss. And of course, what is the relationship between Radha and Krishna? It is unconditional love. So we realize Radha and Krishna, we realize unconditional love and eternal bliss [Laughs].
So the mantra can act on all three levels. We saw how it had the effects on the body. It also has effects on the mind. And scripture tells us it affects the spirit soul. Or on another level, we can say it affects your DNA, your telomeres and whatever. And on the subtle body and the mind, it affects your chakras. But the mantra also affects atma and causes the manifestation of bliss.
So we may wonder why is mantra so effective? So we have the three bodies. We have our gross body, which is the subject of modern medical science. We have the subtle body, which has the mind, intelligence, ego, pranas, chakras, etc. And then we have your soul or atma. So as I said, these are all related to each other. And this is of course your subtle body with the chakras on it [Laughs]. And the mantra can affect all levels. Physical, intellectual, mental and spiritual. Why? Because actually the mantra is spiritual. It’s very source is spiritual world. But somehow it enters into the material world and it comes out as sound that we can hear.
So it is explained in the scripture that yes, it is spiritual, but gradually it takes a form that is accessible to the mind, to the intellect, and finally we can say it and hear it with our senses. So these are called ‘para’ in its pure spiritual form. When we can detect it a little bit better, it is called ‘pasyanti’. When we can think about it more and analyze it intellectually, it is called ‘madhyma’. And we can actually say and hear it, it is called ‘vaikari’. It is also associated with your chakras [Laughs]. So from the muladhara chakra, it rises up and then comes to your throat chakra and then you can say it and then you can hear it [Laughs]. But though we can hear it and say it and we may think it is material, actually it remains spiritual [Laughs].
So that we absorb it with our ear, we chant it with our voice, the spiritual influence is there and it can affect our atma. So in other words, the mantra comes from the spiritual world and gradually manifests through our voice and we pick it up with the ear and then it starts influencing it. It influences your atma and this gets you to the spiritual realm. So kirtan is said to be the easiest method to give us influence on all levels, body, mind and spirit. So if we want to be healthy, we do kirtan !!! [Laughs]. So this was the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Hare Krishna !
Q & A
1) Thank you very much for this wonderful lecture. I was wondering, would the power of the mantra counteract the negative influences of the environment like the food, energy, electric energy, etc. Will it counteract it?
So yes, the mantra and kirtan is the most powerful influence. But it is just like medicine, material medicine. So the doctor may give you some medicine to cure your heart disease or whatever. But in order to have the medicine be very effective, then he will give you some rules to follow.
So let’s say daily you have to do some exercise. You have to take low salt diet. You have to stop sugar intake. So if you follow those extra rules, besides taking your pills, then you get quick improvement. So the same with chanting. It gives physical effects. But as much as possible we do have to follow certain rules. So we have a choice. We try to avoid too much internet exposure or living under electrical wires or things like that.
From scripture.. Bhagavatham, we know that chanting the holy name protects you from Yamaraja and death, which is the biggest threat. But nevertheless, because it does that, we can’t go out and walk on the street blind and go across the traffic. We try to take preventative measures also. So in practice of spiritual life, we should make choices which are favourable physically, mentally and spiritually to all beings.
2) So I would like to hear more about this of what this mantra is originally born. Yes, and in a spiritual realm, like I said, myself, I know it’s a sound, it’s a good sound that purifies me and enchants me, so I don’t even understand what it is exactly, or what is the original form of it, and the power of it.
So, yes, the original spiritual sound is called ‘Hara’, and so it exists like that in the spiritual world, and the sound ‘Krishna’ is Krishna [Laughs] , so maybe we hear the word Krishna in the spiritual world, there is Krishna there, and of course, how do we hear it, we have a spiritual ear, not a material ear.
So Krishna appears in the material world, and of course, technically, we should not be able to see Krishna, because we have material eyes. Yes, we can see Him, even if we don’t have spiritual eyes. Sishupala, all demons can see Krishna, so Krishna becomes visible in the material world.
The same.. spiritual sound, the word Krishna, which is spiritual, also can manifest in the material world, and everybody can hear it, so how is that possible? So this is the explanation, it remains spiritual, but it takes on some covering, so that it’s accessible to our senses, now in the spiritual world that’s not necessary, because we don’t have the material mind, intelligence, and senses, and ear, and voice, so we don’t need all these things to be accessible. So these coverings are there, so that it’s accessible to us, but at the same time, it carries with it the spiritual portion. And the spiritual portion can influence the atma or the soul. In other words, the covering is like a medium in the material world for spiritual sound to access the Jivatma, the atma.
3) Maharaj, is Krishna’s name is His form… What does it mean? What is its form? Like how it looks?
Yeah, yeah, form means something like the form of Krishna, somewhere in there. So, when we say the word Krishna in the spiritual world, it is Krishna in His form.
But, if we chant Hare Krishna, we realize Krishna, if we’re more advanced, we realize not only His form, but also His qualities. And, if we’re more advanced, we realize also His activities, or pastimes. And, if we’re more advanced, we kind of enter into the pastime, we interact with Krishna.
So, in other words, the name of Krishna includes Krishna completely, and our relationship with Krishna. So, in the spiritual world, if one is separated from Krishna, when the chant is made, then one can still have pastimes with Krishna. And we see that that’s what happens to the gopis, when they’re separating the chant, Krishna’s name, and then they’re satisfied because Krishna appears.
4) You talked about meditation and the harmonization of the chakras. And it was looking like silent meditation. It’s also a case of Hare Krishna meditation ?
So, these particular diagrams were taken from the experience of one Dr. Gilda Spencer. So, he, of course, shows through meditation, that it can actually affect your cells, your DNA, and cure incurable diseases. So, his main method is meditation. So, they meditate on the different chakras. They do about six or seven types of meditation. So, that’s just one example from one doctor. But, as I said, we have this kirtan, and the kirtan had effects on your mental and physical being as well. So, similar effects.
Devotee: So, if you answer the question, will hare Krishna maha mantra possible to solve the problem of the chakras. So, if you do a lot of Krishna meditations, you don’t have to do silent meditation ?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay. So, our meditation is Japa. And then we also have smaran, which means remembering or meditating on the four qualities of the pastimes of Krishna.
So, just as the yogis go through, you know, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, so, the devotee, by chanting, will see similar vices. He’s just using kirtan until he goes into Samadhi, and then passes on to Krishna.
5) I’m curious to know if you have any suggestions on how to counteract the negative influences of the electromagnetic waves. Because we live in an artificial world, unfortunately, where we are bound to use these devices. And I want to make you practice some of these measures?
One is don’t live near those towers. The other is, when you’re using your cell phone, don’t use it for more than a few seconds at a time. Don’t hold it there in your ear for an hour, because that’s what inflames your brain. And don’t sleep with your cell phone by your head at night. And if you can, you can turn your Wi-Fi off at night. And of course, we do have to be disciplined not to use our Wi-Fi and all that too much. They also have little devices, which they sell. I don’t know how effective they are, which kind of counteract all these electromagnetic waves. They are rather simple devices. Some are made in Japan, some in America, or whatever. And they kind of somehow counteract those effects of the electromagnetic waves.
6) So, since we live in a world where there’s a lot of magnetic pollution and other kinds of pollution, even food, because it’s over-processed and it comes out of machines and stuff. So… a lot of people have a lot of knowledge about this. So, what are the actions you take to counteract this?
Yes. So, of course, we avoid fast foods, which are all highly processed and got all sorts of weird chemicals in them. And any food which is highly processed. And of course, we try to avoid genetically modified foods. And we try to get organic rather than, you know, chemically fertilized and insecticided foods. Of course, ideally, we should grow our own food and then we’re very sure that it’s natural.
Yes. So then, we try, as much as possible, try to avoid everything which is artificial. Nevertheless, we can never be perfect. But as much as possible, we try to avoid these things.
7) And also, for the people, they look for solutions that are not negative. The only solutions that are not… For example, we have to work with… What they did was… We have to ask them?
So, if we just momentarily or casually associate with a person, the effect is not so firm. If we casually and temporarily associate with a negative person, the effect is not so damaging.
If we more constantly associate with them, the more likely we get some negative effects. And we’ll get more serious effects, if we start having a very close emotional connection with them. If we develop friendly relationships, and encourage dating, food, and ideas with each other, then we can really… So, if we do realize that someone has kind of got those negative effects on them, we keep our relationships on a distance.
And we can also mentally create a wall around us. A mental wall. It’s like we create a covering on our subtle body so that they can’t get in. So that subtle body is flexible. That subtle body is very flexible. And according to our mind, we can change the shape and whatever. Yeah. So we can just put a big eggshell around us and then stop all the influence from coming in.
Devotee: How do we do that?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Mentally make a nice shield. In the Bhagavatam, of course, we have the Narayana Kavcham, you start putting mantras all over your body so that you’re protected.
Yeah. Of course, we also have every day we put on Tilak, and we’re saying the names of Vishnu all over our bodies. We’re protecting ourselves from Vishnu to prevent outside influences. So in other words, we’re putting a shield of the names of Vishnu all around us every morning.
8) Ofcourse the environment where you are meditating has big influence because your meditation is happening at a big scale. So, of course, also meditating in the temple is very powerful, but also meditating in the nature, maybe in the water of the river, maybe on the tree, maybe at the top of the mountain can be also very powerful. What’s the difference of if I’m meditating in the temple and in the nature, which one is most powerful or what’s the difference?
He said that it is very important to have where to meditate because there is always a change of energy. What’s the difference between meditating in a temple in the water of the river, in the tree, at the top of the mountain?
So, the forest, the nature may be given a sattvik influence. So, of course, Sattva means peaceful mind.
Temple is Suddha Sattva, spiritual. So that influences the Atma. And, of course, because it influences the Atma, it’s going to also influence the subtle body and gross body, so we get material sattva also.
9) I was wondering about the 16 chakra you said about luck. Do they have like a specific meaning? Let’s say here, for example, this one. What is the relationship between luck and others? How many are there in total?
Actually, of course, it doesn’t mention that in our scriptures, but if we analyze, and we have one here. So, obviously, it’s the chakras, upper chakras. Plus we have here and here, so we’re kind of, and here, so we’re kind of surrounding our whole neck chakra.
And then we also have here, and then we have here, here, and here, so we’re surrounding this area, our navel chakra. And then we have one on the top of the hip, so we’re covering all the chakras and surrounding our body as well. So what that does, of course, it stimulates the chakras, also protects them, both things.
But not just stimulating the chakras, because its name officially gives us spiritual stimulation of our chakras as well.
10) I have a question about association. So why happens that negative people influence more good people than vice versa? Why the negativity influences you more than, for example, why these people should be afraid of me? I will influence them in a very good way, but why should I protect myself from them and not all the way around? I don’t know.
So actually, yeah, influence can be both ways. We can have two negative people and if you’re more negative, you can influence the more negative people. It all depends on who’s stronger and who’s weaker.
On the other hand, if we have someone who’s more completely positive than negative, we can be a little bit guarded against those negative people. And if they’re not too negative, then we can actually influence them positively.
So that’s why, we say if we are devotee, we can associate with people who are not devotees and we can start influencing them. But at the same time, there’s certain people we don’t associate with, but they’re also called asatsanga, because they’re so negative that they can start influencing us. However, if you’re very spiritually powerful, then you could also not be affected by the most negative people and you can also influence them. He doesn’t care where he goes. He goes to the liquor shop or the prostitute’s house and he starts giving out mercy to those people even though generally we avoid them.
Devotee: What gives that spiritual power?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So the more we advance, the more spiritual power we have. So those who are on the highest level are completely in prema and then it’s all spiritual shakti and no anartha. So they have power to upraise anybody in the material world. Those who are on the bhava are a little bit anartha, so they can also influence strongly but a little bit they can’t influence the most of all and a little bit higher people they can influence.
And those who do sadhana, the madhyama adhikaris, they can influence people by their preaching and their conduct. But they avoid the gross materialists, they don’t.. they don’t reach to the materialists. So those people who have influence are also those who have faith. They can influence those who have some faith
11) It’s not from what we discussed, today but this morning. In chapter 9.15 of Bhagavad Gita we read that we read the verses “others who engage in sacrifice by the cultivation of knowledge worship the supreme God as the one without second as diverse in many and in the universal form.” And Prabhupada then explains that the lowest one are those who are looking themselves to one God. Then a little better is the one who worships the universal form Vishvarupa. And a little better is those who accept it oh no sorry a little better is the one who concocts some form of the Supreme Lord and worships that and better again is the one who accepts the universal form Vishvarupa of the Supreme Personality of God. So what is so the lowest one the one who worships himself worships himself as one with the Supreme Lord is that Mayavad?
It could be any impersonalist. Because any impersonalist doesn’t believe in the form of God… only in Atma, so Atma kind of merges with Brahman.
Devotee: Okay but when you say impersonalist, you don’t mean you don’t mean Brahmavadi?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah also a mayavadi body is a special type of impersonalist who says only Brahman exists and Jiva doesn’t exist at all. A Brahmavadi can believe in Jiva, but Jiva realizes this impersonal form. So the mayavadi body actually says no Jiva no God no form of God so he’s an offender. The Brahmavadi doesn’t care about that, but he says he wants to… he likes that impersonal form.
Devotee: So better than the Brahmavadi is universal form
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Because at least he accepts some form but of course that’s an inferior form because it’s the form of the universe.. but at least he understands that you know God has at least a form in the universe.
Devotee: And better than that is also the one who concocts some form of the Supreme Lord again because again
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: He’s got at least the accepted form. Okay but of course better than that is one who accepts a spiritual form.
12) For impersonal, you’re saying they say there is no person who creates?
Yeah. For the impersonal of course they say that there’s two types. One is the Mayavadi, who says ultimately there is no creation at all, everything is maya. We’re maya, the world is maya, so there’s no creation and such and we don’t exist either ultimately only Brahman exists so we just realize Brahman and that’s it.
The other type of impersonal is, they will accept that I exist, this world as real and this impersonal form of God exists and then their goal is to free themselves from ignorance and then they kind of in their material conceptions reject the world and then they kind of merge with that impersonal. So at that stage they don’t care whether God is greater because that impersonal form has no action, no form, no purpose.
13) Is this Buddhism? Is this concept of Buddhism?
Buddhism is a little different.
14) I’m going to ask some questions. So Buddhism in its extreme form says no God, no Jiva, no material world nothing. So everything is illusion So Buddhism in its extreme form says no God, no Jiva, everything is illusion.
So of course the difference from Shankara’s impersonalism. Shankara believes, there is one entity called Brahman, who is formless, but Buddhism that doesn’t even exist nothing exists. So in my life the goal is to realize that you are this impersonal, one impersonal Brahman that’s it. This is Shankara. And in Buddhism realization is nothing. Of course that’s the extreme form of Buddhism.
So then there is other forms of Buddhism, that are not so extreme. And then of course we have the more common type of Buddhism, where they do worship a form a Buddha and things like that. And we even have a devotional Buddhism. And they chant the name of Buddha. And the goal is to realize Buddha in the golden land. So they have a Buddhaloka
15) Hare Krishna.This is from yesterday’s class, about near death experience, lots of people experience different entity, some experience Krishna, some experience Buddha, some experience Lord Shiva. Why their experiences aren’t similar?
So the Lord responds to the needs and desires of the worshipper. And of course, the Lord has many forms. So whatever form the Lord can communicate to that person then He’ll use that form. So if you’re a Christian and suddenly in your near-death experience you see Krishna, you freak out. Yes… but if you see an angel or Christ then okay you accept whatever they say. [Laughs]
Devotee: Also there was this case, that I read about where this girl she had a near-death experience and her child passed away. And she didn’t have any like she never saw Shiva or any gods like she was born into a Christian family, but she like saw like images of like human deities and then when she grew up she realized that he was a Christian. So I kind of didn’t understand how she could remember.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Maybe in the previous life …she is not freaked out… later on she gets inspired by it.
There was one Christian, he had a near death experience. He had some brain infection and he had some near death experience he was dead five hours. So he went to the father heavenly place where there were like angel like beings but then he observed the sky was resounding with this strange sound it was very spiritual, very beautiful, very pure and it was “Om.. Om.. Om.. Om” [Laughs]…so he didn’t know about anything, because he was a Christian, he just reported this that the “om” sound coming from the atmosphere.
Devotees: Thank you very much. HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!