A devotee asks: We’ve had some extreme temperatures, what will the effects be?
Swami answers: Sunstroke. You leave an air-conditioned room and go outside. The body cannot adjust so quickly. Why do you get jetlag? You are going into year cool office at sixteen degrees, then going outside to forty-one degrees. You need to do Surya Bhidana Pranayama to overcome this. Surya means heat. Block your left nostril and breathe only through your right nostril. You will be able to handle the temperatures. Your guru used to do it on the quiet. It is not part of your kriya but it is good. To awaken your kundalini you need nadi sadhana - clearing of the vessels - and you will have great joy with your muladhara kundalini chakra movement.
A devotee asks: How do you take a positive situation from a negative situation?
Swami answers: A journey begins in the mind. If you want to go to the shop you have to think about it first. Think of going to the shop before going there. Think positively and you will get positive results. Think negatively you will go lower. Positive is higher. It’s the same on the spiritual journey. We need to think it first. The mind can lead you to destruction or to construction. Have you seen your mother clean a cabbage before she cooks it? She cuts off the top. You skin a banana and come to a soft spot so you break it off and eat the rest. Like that, pull it out. We cannot forgive and forget. We do not have the faculty to do both. The inflictor, once seen, will bring back the pain. We cannot do this as long as there is garbage in the back of our minds. It is not in our nature. Attitude is gratitude. A good attitude will get you gratitude. A bad attitude will get you no gratitude.
A devotee asks: What’s the secret to a happy marriage?
Swami answers: The secret to a happy marriage is a stupid husband. Ask Warren. He will tell you. Or else teach your wife to chew a nice gum. As long as there is conversation in the marriage, there is always one-upmanship. There are always two achievers.
A devotee asks: What is the cure for ladies going through menopause?
Swami answers: Annaloma viloma pranayama combined with the Boat pose and Vittel asana. If you do those two poses during menopause you'll have less pain and stress. Tablets are not good for your system. If you have a small headache you're in the medicine cabinet, yet the body will heal itself. You have Panadol everywhere - pop, pop, pop. In the end you'll pop out of here. Menopause is not a sickness or a disease. It is a process. Sometimes men go thru it too and they're very irritable.
A devotee asks: How can we lose weight?
Swami answers: Soak four roots. One from a lemon tree, one from a beil tree, from a pepul tree and a neem tree. Put them all into one container. Boil it and when it’s cool drink it every day if you can. You’ve never tasted anything so terrible in your whole life, but in seven days you’ll lose weight. You’re not conscious of plant life, but you are conscious that you’re overweight. The disaster won't excuse you because you’re overweight so why worry about it?
A devotee asks: How can we aid Christians? What mantra can we offer them?
Swami answers: They suffer from system rejection. As soon as you talk about this, their system rejects it. It is good to take someone else on your journey, but if they're going to slow you down it’s not worth it. There's a reason Mother Gayathri chose you. You don't try and convert anyone. Sanatan dharma has no act that teaches we must convert. Recite your mantra and they will follow if they want. Somebody was part of this organisation for many years. He was walking in the street one day and was asked for directions to the temple, and he said, “…down there by the robot is where the chappie is…” Not Guru, ‘chappie’. Your Guru has learned a lot. What makes you think that someone you value is not going to hurt you? All individuals on this planet have the potential to hurt. You might think that you’re gentle and peaceful, but when you walk, you tramp on the ants.
A devotee asks: We talk about unconditional love, but how do we get rid of the pain when someone hurts us?
Swami answers: It all depends on our definition of pain. You might forgive and not forget or vice versa, but you don't have the ability to do that. When you see the person who caused you pain, the pain comes back. If you remember the abuse, you'll walk in the opposite direction. If you're excited you'll go towards them. We have this garbage that we carry around. As long as it’s there, you're going nowhere. Attitude is gratitude. If you don't have a good attitude, nobody will show you gratitude. What is human nature? ‘I must be above him…’ That is how you live. You always have to be better than everyone else. When we visited Swami Murugesu, Nereen and Jane took a walk from the ashram to a waterfall up the road. Swami asked where they were and he sent everyone to find them. Eventually they came back and Swami let them have it for going without telling him.
A devotee asks: In which country will the natural disaster be?
Swami answers: Not in the east. You will have an earthquake in South Africa. You can't run to the bank and make a quick withdrawal. There's also going to be a volcano that hasn’t erupted in five hundred years, in the ocean. There will be big problems in the next eighteen months. When you go from here, you'll think ‘this strange fellow comes and takes my Guru’s nice body and talks all this nonsense…’ Let’s close our eyes and recite the Gayathri Mantra seven times.
Swami answers: Sunstroke. You leave an air-conditioned room and go outside. The body cannot adjust so quickly. Why do you get jetlag? You are going into year cool office at sixteen degrees, then going outside to forty-one degrees. You need to do Surya Bhidana Pranayama to overcome this. Surya means heat. Block your left nostril and breathe only through your right nostril. You will be able to handle the temperatures. Your guru used to do it on the quiet. It is not part of your kriya but it is good. To awaken your kundalini you need nadi sadhana - clearing of the vessels - and you will have great joy with your muladhara kundalini chakra movement.
A devotee asks: How do you take a positive situation from a negative situation?
Swami answers: A journey begins in the mind. If you want to go to the shop you have to think about it first. Think of going to the shop before going there. Think positively and you will get positive results. Think negatively you will go lower. Positive is higher. It’s the same on the spiritual journey. We need to think it first. The mind can lead you to destruction or to construction. Have you seen your mother clean a cabbage before she cooks it? She cuts off the top. You skin a banana and come to a soft spot so you break it off and eat the rest. Like that, pull it out. We cannot forgive and forget. We do not have the faculty to do both. The inflictor, once seen, will bring back the pain. We cannot do this as long as there is garbage in the back of our minds. It is not in our nature. Attitude is gratitude. A good attitude will get you gratitude. A bad attitude will get you no gratitude.
A devotee asks: What’s the secret to a happy marriage?
Swami answers: The secret to a happy marriage is a stupid husband. Ask Warren. He will tell you. Or else teach your wife to chew a nice gum. As long as there is conversation in the marriage, there is always one-upmanship. There are always two achievers.
A devotee asks: What is the cure for ladies going through menopause?
Swami answers: Annaloma viloma pranayama combined with the Boat pose and Vittel asana. If you do those two poses during menopause you'll have less pain and stress. Tablets are not good for your system. If you have a small headache you're in the medicine cabinet, yet the body will heal itself. You have Panadol everywhere - pop, pop, pop. In the end you'll pop out of here. Menopause is not a sickness or a disease. It is a process. Sometimes men go thru it too and they're very irritable.
A devotee asks: How can we lose weight?
Swami answers: Soak four roots. One from a lemon tree, one from a beil tree, from a pepul tree and a neem tree. Put them all into one container. Boil it and when it’s cool drink it every day if you can. You’ve never tasted anything so terrible in your whole life, but in seven days you’ll lose weight. You’re not conscious of plant life, but you are conscious that you’re overweight. The disaster won't excuse you because you’re overweight so why worry about it?
A devotee asks: How can we aid Christians? What mantra can we offer them?
Swami answers: They suffer from system rejection. As soon as you talk about this, their system rejects it. It is good to take someone else on your journey, but if they're going to slow you down it’s not worth it. There's a reason Mother Gayathri chose you. You don't try and convert anyone. Sanatan dharma has no act that teaches we must convert. Recite your mantra and they will follow if they want. Somebody was part of this organisation for many years. He was walking in the street one day and was asked for directions to the temple, and he said, “…down there by the robot is where the chappie is…” Not Guru, ‘chappie’. Your Guru has learned a lot. What makes you think that someone you value is not going to hurt you? All individuals on this planet have the potential to hurt. You might think that you’re gentle and peaceful, but when you walk, you tramp on the ants.
A devotee asks: We talk about unconditional love, but how do we get rid of the pain when someone hurts us?
Swami answers: It all depends on our definition of pain. You might forgive and not forget or vice versa, but you don't have the ability to do that. When you see the person who caused you pain, the pain comes back. If you remember the abuse, you'll walk in the opposite direction. If you're excited you'll go towards them. We have this garbage that we carry around. As long as it’s there, you're going nowhere. Attitude is gratitude. If you don't have a good attitude, nobody will show you gratitude. What is human nature? ‘I must be above him…’ That is how you live. You always have to be better than everyone else. When we visited Swami Murugesu, Nereen and Jane took a walk from the ashram to a waterfall up the road. Swami asked where they were and he sent everyone to find them. Eventually they came back and Swami let them have it for going without telling him.
A devotee asks: In which country will the natural disaster be?
Swami answers: Not in the east. You will have an earthquake in South Africa. You can't run to the bank and make a quick withdrawal. There's also going to be a volcano that hasn’t erupted in five hundred years, in the ocean. There will be big problems in the next eighteen months. When you go from here, you'll think ‘this strange fellow comes and takes my Guru’s nice body and talks all this nonsense…’ Let’s close our eyes and recite the Gayathri Mantra seven times.
(encounter)
