" The King of Pithapuram came to our house. My father put a cloth on the floor and requested him to sit down. The KinG asked my father 'what will happen to the work on which I am leaving?' 'You will narrowly escape death and return within 3 days.' That's exactly what happened! The king went for hunting on his horse. On the way, they saw a male and female tigers playing. The horse was terrified and shaken. Luckily, the king could hold the branch of a tree. He slowly climbed up and stayed there the whole night. The tiger saw the horse, pounced on it and killed it. Had the king remained on the horse, he would also die! He narrowly escaped death. How could my father see this in advance? Two days later the king returned with his soldiers. 'I will return to my kingdom. I will go near that great man who predicted my future. He is in such a state that he laid only a cloth for me to sit on the floor.' The king wept and gave 5 villages to us. Though my father protested, he provided financial assistance for our education. Such is the state attained by yoga. My father strived to make us have implicit faith in yoga. By his efforts, we were able to study and practice yoga. That how we all have some experience in yoga when we grew up. I am not against knowledge of yoga. Don't forget what you learnt. Keep your wealth, but do not forget the lessons of yoga. It is a very rare knowledge. When somebody asked 'what does yoga give?', he got the reply 'what doesn't yoga give?' So yoga gives everything. It gives gooseberries, army or sweets! All these incidents are mentioned in the scriptures. Such yoga skills can be attained only by dhyana. You will have God's darshan by dhyana. But it is not by your efforts only; you must have God's grace. These are the final words uttered by Krishna to Arjuna. "

" Yoga has three stages. In the Gita, Krishna gave the first and lowest stage to the children and inexperienced persons. He showed the second stage to the middle aged people and the third stage to the aged and deserving people. In the first stage, he said 'Yagyanam japa yagyosmi.' Do japa. That is also a great yagya. You will approach a Guru and he will grant you mantra; you recite the mantra; that is japa. This is superior; it is an ordinary skill. It is the first stage for beginners. Krishna intensified the efforts for the middle aged people. 'Ananyaschintayantho mam ye janah paryupasathe thesham nityabhi yuktanam yoga kshemam vahamyaham'. (Nanna was weeping). 'I will become your servant. I will serve you.' You must have ananyachintana, one pointed thoughts of God. Then he will come down, clear your obstacles and help you. 'Arjuna, you can do like this. 'This is not enough. I need to go higher. I am not satisfied. I am your friend. I don't want these small desires.' 'Then what do you want?' 'I want God. Why do I need these small things? I want you only. Tell me a direct way to attain you.' 'Listen carefully. Dhyanena athmani pasyanthi.' That is how Krishna introduced dhyana yoga. Arjuna wants dhyana. There are all kinds, big and small in dhyana. Arjuna asked 'which is the highest among all the dhyanas? That dhyana must give me God himself. Is there such a dhyana? I am valiant; I will begin dhyana right now. Tell me what to do. Krishna, you are my close companion, my friend. If you simply say dhyana, it is not enough. You must explain what that dhyana is and how to do it.' "

" Krishna explained what dhyana to follow. This is the highest dhyana. There is nothing above this. A dhyana higher than this one cannot be found in all the 14 worlds. This is Krishna's challenge. We must learn this dhyana. Sometime in our life, we must practice yoga through this dhyana. This dhyana must be practiced stage by stage in sequence. Then you will gain control. There is only one pre-requisite for our dhyana; complete faith. You must have complete faith in yoga. Next you must have the will power and determination. You must not practice for two days and give up. If you have determination, you will continue. Yoga is not so easy. It is supreme and prominent. Practice such yoga. Krishna said that 'you will be my equal if you accept and practice this supreme yoga.' "

" Now I will tell you the importance of that yoga and how can you attain it. "

" The Gods were taking Hiranyakasapa's wife away when she was pregnant because they thought that the child in her womb would also be wicked like his father. They planned to kill her and the child. Then God sent Narada to that place. He said "She may be a rakshasa's (demon) wife but the child in her womb is not a demon's child. Don't kill the little child. I will take him to my ashram and teach him all the yogic secrets. Through him, we shall gain yogic powers and use them for the welfare of the world. Don't touch her. Leave her near me.' Narada took Hirayankasapa's wife with respect and looked after her in his ashram. She expressed her gratitude 'they dragged me by my hir and taking me away to kill me. You are great. You saved me.' "

" Narada thought , 'once he is born, the body will have external vision. Then he will see many objects in the world. He will not have the inclination towards yoga. Therefore, I must teach him that yoga even before he is born. Once he is born, he will not be in my control; he will change.' At 4 a.m., he made her sit down and spoke to the child within her. 'My son, Are you awake?' 'Yes'. ' I will teach you yoga skills. Will you learn them?' 'Yes. I came only for that purpose. O Great Mahatma, please begin. I shall listen.' That's how Narada taught yoga skills to the child in his mother's womb. Now, I am about to tell you about that yoga. It is difficult for you, for us to learn this yoga because we have external vision; we are extroverts. We see only arguments around us. That's why something else has to be added to yoga skills for extroverts. I will tell you about it later. To start with, Narada explained the yogic secrets to that little boy; I will tell you about them. "

" 'Bahunam Janmanamanthe'. This is the yoga lesson which I shall teach you. He who practices this yoga is a real maharshi. He is a real mahatma. Nobody else is referred as a Mahatma in the Bhagwata. Only he who practices this yoga is a Mahatma. We lack the sense of discrimination. We cannot discern what yoga is! That why Krishna said 'Bahunam janmanamanthe'. Unless you take several births, you will not get faith in this lesson. You all have come here. I know you are great persons. Having faith in this yoga skill is the fruit of several births. At the end of many lives, you will gain knowledge, the realisation. Then you will be ready for this dhyana. He who gains this knowledge is a real Mahatma. Sa Mahatma sudurlabhaha. Such Mahatmas are rarely found in this world; you can hardly see them! Krishna has explained in so many ways. Nobody has done so earlier and nobody will do so later. "

" Prahlada is a Mahatma, a real Mahatma. Though he is a small boy, he is a Mahatma. Even the foetus in the mother's womb learnt this yoga which is so extra ordinary. Krishna stresses that this is the fruit of several lives. Several lives! Knowledge will fructify at the end of several thousands of births. We don't want yoga for menial and perishable things like money or wealth which are here today and vanish tomorrow. Even this body which is present now will not be there later. When you don't have the body, what will happen to your house and car? They all will perish. Yoga is not like that. The fruit of that yoga will remain for several thousands of births. "

" That is why the link between us and Mother attained by such yoga will remain for innumerable ages. This link is eternal. Whether this body remains or not, the yogic lesson remains. It is not linked to this body. It is beyond nature and this body. You cannot gain this anywhere in this nature. That is why this yoga is so important. Prahlada followed this yoga. He learnt this while he had inner vision, when he was in a foetus stage, within his mother's womb. His father asked the 10 year old Prahlada 'You are always chanting 'Hari' 'Hari' every moment. Who is that Hari? I will kill him today. The war between us is now inevitable. Today is final. Tell me who that Hari is.' 'My Hari cannot be obtained by you; you cannot see him. You cannot catch him. Your weapons will have no effect on him. You wanted to know about my Hari. Indu galadandu ledani sandhehamu valadu chakri sarvopagathundai endendu vedaki joochina andande kaladu danavagrani vinte.' He is my Hari. How beautifully he expressed the truth! Pothana translated the Sanskrit verse into Telugu. 'My Hari is not present in dolls, idols, rivers, forests or mountains. It is not possible to point out and say he is here because he is everywhere. One who is present everywhere, who is all pervading is my Hari. Otherwise, he is not Hari. He must be all pervading to be called as Hari. What can this all pervading Hari do? Prahlada said 'My Hari is in your heart. He is in everybody's hands. He is near you. He is present in this iron pillar. I can see him. It is unfortunate that you cannot see him. I am able to see him.' Wherever you go and call out for him, he will answer there. Hari has no limitations of direction or time. There are no worldly fetters that can bind him. He is beyond all worldly bonds. If you want to reach him, you must move away from these worldly senses. The boy is speaking to his father. 'Father, you cannot do anything to me. You possess wealth and weapons which belong to nature. They can't do anything to me. I will not die. I am protected by my Hari. Wherever I go, he is always with me.' The king was annoyed and ordered his son to be thrown into boiling oil. The soldiers said 'My Lord, we cannot do such a cruel deed. He is such a sweet boy. How can we throw him into this hot oil? We also have children. We cannot do this.' The king threatened to kill them. They reluctantly threw the boy into the oil but his body was not burnt. He was happy and doing dhyana 'Hari' 'Hari'. How strange! So Hari has all the elements. "

" You will receive one principle of yoga-all pervading nature of God. It is a little difficult to practice this. If you want to pursue higher education, you must spend more money. You must do more sacrifice. You must gain control over your senses. The Rishis had this control. When you reach a certain stage, you will conquer your senses. You must use the help of such powers in later stages. I will explain in detail later. No senses can control you. Even Manmatha, the God of desires cannot affect you. Even if you see a naked woman before you, you will not react..see how great this dhyana yoga is. It is a great science specially granted by Krishna. Some people feel that he handed this yoga to Arjuna only because he is dear to him. Krishna granted this yoga to everybody. Arjuna and we are not different to him; everybody is equal. If we have the determination, we will get his grace. I will make the people who are virtuous by birth to do this yoga. I can do it. The fruit of this hyoga will remain for several ages. Neither will he die nor will he lose this yoga. This is not like any other knowledge. Brahma vidya is different from any other vidya. Dhyana yoga is related to Brahma vidya. This is the highest science known to Krishna. "

" Originally, we possessed a thoughtless mind before we came down to earth. We saw these objects from above. Each object created a certain thought and made an impression on the mind. Gradually, these impressions increased. When impressions are formed on the mirror, we cannot see the mirror. God is present over the mirror. The divine rays of God's yogic power are travelling in the form of waves and touching the mind. Because the thoughts formed impressions on the mind, the waves cannot reach the mind. We must reduce our thoughts. We have many useless thoughts. We look down and find all small objects. The thought created by each object is our enemy. That's why we stress on thoughtless minds. You must develop a thoughtless nature. The worldly person has many thoughts. Buts one who wants spiritual power has only one thought. 'I want my Hari, my God. I don't want anything else.' Prahlada said 'I want only my Hari. I don't want this world or this wealth. I am not afraid even if you throw me into boiling oil or anywhere else. If my Hari is with me, I don't need anybody else. He can feed me and give me strength. He will give me everything.' Mother is also like that. She will give us everything. There is nothing that She cannot give. This yoga is not perishable; it remains for several ages. It is a great, divine knowledge. "

" 'Vasudeva Sarvamithi'. I see Vasudeva everywhere. He is all pervading. He is present everywhere. We need a room to live and a locker to store our money. Such small rooms are not enough for God. He is present all over the Universe. A little space is not enough for him. See how unique the first condition is! He is so large, so infinite! Anora neetan mahatho maheeyan'. He is larger than the magnificent Unvierse and sky also. He occupies that much space. If somebody asks what you have, you will show idols of God...That is not enough. These small idols will not suffice to satisfy our desires. Name and form are not advisable. But we are used to name and form since birth. We must go beyond name and form. I will explain about this. Think about it carefully. "

" You must not bind this great art with name and form. Name and form are born from nature; small nature. The five senses and five elements belong to nature. God is supernatural. He has no trace of this nature. If you take this nature along with you, he can never be attained. We must leave nature behind us. Our Guru gave us mantra; we respect it. But mantra has words which is again associated with nature. Nobody grants mantra which has no name and form. Once name and form come into the picture, it becomes limited and binds man. Name and form is a big obstacle in our spiritual path. Our God is nameless and formless. That's why he is all pervading. We are restricted by limiting ourselves to small name and form. We must expand. Then our God will also expand. Name and form will not permit this expansion; infact they will subdue it. Only nameless and formless can enable this expansion. This is the first principle. We want nameless and formless consciousness. That consciousness related to name and form is limited. If you want small things, you can worship smaller Gods. However, you must move beyond the small Gods towards the all pervading Mother. Then this world must expand like the Universe! So the first important thing is to understand that name and form imply nature. We will contemplate only on nature. Maharshi Saubhari became attached to a deer; he contemplated on nature in the little form of the deer. He died and was born as a deer. When we die, we will reborn as a living being in this world, animal or human being. "

" I don't want this nature I must go beyond nature. Many divine powers are present beyond nature. He who is in this world is not a yogi. This dhyana yoga is a great art. That is why it is above nature. There are no elements here to pull you down. We must discard name and form. You may feel it is very difficult. But it is very easy. Silence is the only way to do this. Silence is beyond name and form; it has known as muni; one who does penance in silence is a muneeswara. The sages reached God through silence. Atri, Vasishta and Jamadagni are a few great muneeswaras. Their powers are infinite. The Vedas said 'mounam tapas'. Silence is the greatest penance because it is not linked to nature; it has no traces of the five senses. In this divine art, one must give up the senses and maintain silence. Narada granted this yoga lessons to Prahlada as a foetus in his mother's womb because he was afraid that the boy would be influenced by nature when he is born. That is why Prahlada attained silence so easily. Sage Narada, Vasishta, Atri, Jamadagni-all maintained silence. One can attain unlimited powers through silence. Nobody can defeat him. Once Sage Vasishta put a stick firmly in the ground and asked if anybody could uproot it. Even Rama could not touch it! Complete yoga is even beyond Gods incarnations! It is equal to God! That is divine complete yoga. That is why Rama respects Bharadwaja. That is the greatness of this path which is not associated with sound and nature. We will gradually describe how the smaller Gods expanded into greatest power; how it expanded; how are its branches, leaves and fruit. "