Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1996

by Swami Krishnananda

51. Prana Agnihotra

(Darshan given in December 1996)

An ashramite: If all our limbs are normal and healthy, we don't remember God. But if we catch cold, we start remembering.

Swamiji: You will not even know that the body exists.

Ashramite: Like that, Swamiji, when we are in harmony with God, but if we don't remember, are we in harmony with God or in remembrance of God?

Swamiji: You are in harmony with something else. That you must be careful about. Even harmony with your own personality also may bring you satisfaction, but that is not cosmic identity.

Ashramite: But no problems are there.

Swamiji: That is because by some freak you are feeling comfortable. Therefore, no problem comes. But some problem can come any time when the body is put out of order because of the disbalance between yourself and the cosmos. That the cosmos is tolerating you does not mean that it is always your friend. It can let you off for your mistakes, but it can give a kick also. So why do you wait for that occasion? Are you cosmically conscious always?

Ashramite: Not always.

Swamiji: Always you must be cosmically conscious. Why should you think that you are in one place? Again and again comes the same point: You are thinking that you are in one place. If everything is in one place only, then what is the situation of each one? If each one is in one place only, there is no connection of one thing with the other thing. That will be an impossible situation. Everything is connected to everything else.

Ashramite: Then even though we are in a normal condition…

Swamiji: How will you exist independently like that, without having connection with anybody else? You cannot even breathe without air from outside. You have not paid for it. You want water, you want air, you want heat. If the sun does not give heat, see what happens. So why not be in harmony with it? Why do you consider it as an object? It requires a change of the thinking process. Things will flow into you. Otherwise, they will get repelled if you assert yourself.

Ashramite: Then, Swamiji, with volition we must remember God somehow or other, in all conditions.

Swamiji: You have to remember always your union with everybody and everything. Yas tv etam evaṃ prādeśamātram abhivimānam ātmānaṃ vaiśvānaram upāste, sa sarveṣu lokeṣu sarveṣu bhūteṣu sarveṣv ātmasv annam atti: If this Vaishvanara has entered you and you are thinking like the universal Vaishvanara, when you eat, the whole universe eats and every being eats, and every self anywhere eats. Yatheha kshudhita balah mataram paryupasate; evam sarvani bhutani agnihotram upasate: The food that you eat is an Agnihotra sacrifice. The whole world will be looking at you – When will he eat? – because when you eat, others are satisfied due to your union with them. Just as every limb of the body is happy because you eat through the stomach, everything else in the world will be happy if your existence is in union with the existence of everybody else. Your eating is a cosmic action. That is what is called Prana Agnihotra. The food is going into the prana agni. It requires a great alertness of mind. If for one minute you miss the point, you will slip down.

The building bricks of this body are the same as the building bricks of this cosmos. You are made up of the same substance as the substance which constitutes the whole universe. The earth principal, the water principle, the fire principal, or heat, the air that we breathe and the space inside are the same earth, water, fire, air and ether outside. Due to an egoistic assertion, an affirmation of unwarranted independence of our personality, the universal forces get segregated, and we cut ourselves off from the healing and the helping forces of the universe. We reject everything because of the egoism of our sense of independence. “I am independent; therefore, I don't care for anybody.” If you tell this to the whole universe, it will tell the same thing to you.

Asserting one's own individuality is the worst evil. We cannot exist even for a minute without the cooperation of the five elements. Where does air come from? Are we purchasing air from the market? From where does light come? From the sun. From where water comes? See, they are all free. The water is free, heat from the sun is free, the air that we breathe is free. Suppose we have to pay tax for these things. Will we survive? And we don't care for them.

We require sunlight. We live in rooms which are closed from all sides, and use artificial lights, these fluorescent tubes. They are not good. I have seen in Delhi all people use fluorescent tubes. Even midday when the sun is blazing, the light will not enter the room. Inside it is chilly. Outside the sun is burning. The buildings are not built properly. They are not open to sunlight. So many confusions we create. We eat when we should not eat, and we do not sleep when we are supposed to sleep.

There are some old sayings: A person who eats the midday meal after twelve noon and keeps awake after twelve midnight, he will not be maintaining good health. You should not keep yourself awake after twelve midnight, and you should not eat after twelve noon. Because the sun's power goes on rising from morning till midday, you feel energetic in the forenoon and your energy declines in the afternoon. You feel like resting; you feel tired, and so on, but in the morning you won't feel like that. You feel fresh and energetic, and turn out more work from morning to midday. After noon you want to cut off all the work. So it is with food also. When the sun is up with energy pouring forth everywhere, at that time you eat food, not when the sun is going down. Your food also will go down, and it will not give energy. When the cells of the body require a rest after midnight, you should not go on working after midnight. So these are normal things.

And prejudice, hatred, evil, selfishness, a grabbing habit, condemning – these are the certain traits of the human being. We can never be all right with these traits. Why don't you be friendly with all people? Speak sweetly: “How are you? Can I be of any service to you?” If you utter these words, what do you lose? This is the greatest charity. People don't want money from you; they don't want anything from you. They want a good word: “Hello, how are you? Can I be of some service to you?” He will be highly pleased to hear these words. Though he doesn't want anything from you, these good words will sooth the whole system.

But people are so very miserable that they can't even use a good word. It is poverty of your speech; what about other things? Selfishness has gone to the core of human nature. You don't like anybody. You like only this little frame. It cannot stand like that.