 is Nagarpanjami or Nagarpanjami as it is known in southern India. This used to be one of the most significant festivals in India at one time. There is a very rich history, mythology, science and human experience all mixed up as to what this day is about. It has receded in its significance. One reason is as we became more logical, more towards dissection of life, not an embrace of life, we tend to drop these things because we… our logic cannot wrap itself around certain aspects or dimensions of life, you know, dimension, dimension, dimension. I want everybody to be happy. So because we can't wrap our heads around it, whatever we cannot wrap our heads around, we drop it. This has been happening ever since that went off European education becoming the standard form of education around the world. Whatever we think is our education today is essentially from… fundamentally from the European systems of education everywhere in the world, today that has become the standard and that has led to one form of development. One sort of consequences, conveniences, comforts. But when you look at the consequences of the comforts and conveniences that have come to us through this approach to life to keep our… the bottom of our body comfortable we're destroying the very planet upon which we live. That is the culture or there was a culture still is living in Isha Yoga Center that we chose to make our bodies in such a way. Our minds and energies in such a way that we could sit on a rock very comfortably. We didn't need a cushion. If cushion came we enjoyed it but we never sought a cushion. That happened because we did not evolve the idea of comfort and convenience through our logical means. We evolved the idea of comfort and convenience from our experiential dimension of life. We know this that when we are feeling absolutely blissed out and wonderful, we can sit on a rock and rock feels tremendously comfortable. When we are feeling miserable and depressed, the best cushion on the planet becomes extremely uncomfortable even if you sit on a cloud because these days most people are living on the cloud, you know, cloud. So the fluff of the cloud also cannot bring comfort to you because you have misunderstood life as a process that you could grasp by dissection. By this call pill of your logic you think you can cut into everything and know everything. For this we have a price, we have paid a price and we are continuing to pay. If you don't set a few things right, well the price will be too big, too big for generations to come, everybody knows that today. I want you to understand the worst kind of things on this planet have been done with good intentions because that is what our logic tells us. All the struggles that the world is facing today in terms of strife, war, hunger and above all ecological degradation and of course the pandemic is simply because our idea of life has become too linear. We are unwilling to look at life the way it is. We want the whole cosmos to pass through the needle hole of our mind. When you do that, you won't have a cosmos, at the most you'll have a thread, you could make a nose out of it. It's happening in many ways. Sadhguru, Nagarpanjmi, why are you saying all this? Because of this only because even now Nagarpanjmi in the lawns that you're sitting, if you… if you don't have to see, if somebody behind you say snake, snake, oh you will be hopping all over the place. Not today if it comes, you must sit there, all right? A snake doesn't have enough venom to bite all of you. Only one. It'll empty itself and we have an ambulance ready for you. You don't have to worry, it's going to come and bite all of us and finish us. Now, if somebody says elephant, you will have to run. Snake, you don't have to run, you can sit and wait who he chooses, who knows. And if you sit still, definitely it's not going to be you, yes, see? So this day was one of the most significant festivals in this culture. When our perception… when our perception of life was more holistic in this direction, the snake particularly the cobra was very significant. Well let me tell you, because you know anything you say, it has to in some way correlate with the little signs that you read in your school textbook. Most of you have not read a sentence about any signs after you left high school probably. Yes, it's a fact. Most of you have not. But still you're a scientist. Anything if you say, we'll say, but that's not scientific, when did you become a scientist? So today science is, you know, trying to get into its full circle where for example, right now this virus is in the news, you know, it doesn't matter, this is Olympics happening. But nobody's talking about the champions, everybody's talking about one single champion, COVID virus. And in how many ways he or she, I don't know, because now it is not a thing, nobody will contest whether COVID is he or she, because there is no gender, but because of our language limitations, we will have to call him or her. What do you prefer? Shall we call it her? No, no, no. Now they don't want it. See, the ladies, all right, but let's say him, all the bad things men will take. So in how many ways he is manifesting around the world, how many gold medals, easy winning, that is a conversation. Poor athletes are running and doing so many things, nobody's talking about them, everybody's talking about the virus. But it is a fact that in our body, how many cells we have in this body, from our genetic lineage, we have ten times more microbes in the system. That is, if you have one hundred cells in this body, you have one thousand microbes, that is a proportion. So you're only ten percent human, rest you're also a microbe, ninety percent. Well when this is the case, why a microorganism has become such a big thing is, because we have dealt with our lives in a certain way, we have lived in such a certain way, we have made our systems to arrive at a place where the very things which are supporting our life can take our life. Maybe a few thousand years ago human body was not like this, it's become like this because the way we conduct our minds, the way we experience life, in many ways shapes the kind of system that we have. I'm not saying if it's two thousand years ago you wouldn't have gotten the virus, no that's not the point. It wouldn't be what it is today, that's all. So essentially I'm talking about if you go with your logic, you will naturally dissect everything, try to understand everything logically. If you intuitively perceive life, then you're trying to grasp life in the fullness of what it is. In the evolutionary scale of things, we recognize the yogic system recognizes three levels of development as very important. Within you these three for instead of calling them aspects, let's call them these three stages of development or these three animals or lives which still are. From an amoeba to who you are right now, the three animals still live within you in different ways and represent different aspect. This is called a swana, kaka and naga. Swana means a dog, it is a mammal, a mammal which is very good with its survival process. For a long time people said that dog is the man's best friend. These days you cannot say that because of various gender issues that why is a dog coming into our life. But a dog is the best friend of a woman right now in large parts of the world. Yes, I'm just being nasty, but dogs have acquired a different level of significance because a man used to pet a dog because it was good for his survival when he was outdoors. But a dog is being petted by a woman right now because it is a non-stop love affair, at least for twelve years, twelve years is a good term. So dogs have moved from survival to providing emotional comfort. If you had a dog, if you're a hunter, if you're living somewhere outdoors, a dog is very perceptive in terms of smell and hearing. These are his qualities. Anything somewhere around he smells it out, gets alert, even the smallest noise his ears will go up like that and he hears. So he was always a very good support for a man and he was his best friend. But now the ladies discovered he is the best love affair, most enduring and unfailing love affair. Yes. It doesn't matter what you did in the morning and then went to office, even if you kicked him around, by the time you come in the evening he is waiting for you. So the quality of the dog is of breath and brain, as far as yoga is concerned. Swana is connected with your breath and your brain. It stimulates certain dimensions of your brain that your survival process is greatly enhanced. You become smart. No, no. Do not misunderstand intelligence as smart. You become smart means to be smart, you must have somebody a little dimmer than you next to you, only then you feel smart. Otherwise, if you're by yourself there is no chance of feeling smart. Intelligence is a different aspect. Intelligence is a very inclusive process. Being smart is always in competition with something else, being better than somebody. So a dog is smart. So this dimension exists within us and by handling our breath in a certain way, the swana aspect of you can be activated. Your brain, the survival instincts in your brain can be honed, can be sharpened that you will become smart in a given society. So this is the swana or the dog within you. I know I'm not… don't connect this to, you know, the social usage of these words. In some societies if they say you are a dog, that is supposed to be putting you down, even so in India unfortunately. In some societies, oh, he's a dog, is like a great thing. In some societies, oh, dog, very tasty, different things. I'm not talking about the social context, how it's evolved. But in yoga, we recognize these three stages of evolution as significant landmarks within you even today. So if you want to become survival smart, you do aspects of yoga which will activate the swana in you, your breath and your brain are very connected with this aspect. The next is the kaka, kaka does not mean just a crow, because crow is… you know, because if it's a democracy, if all the birds vote, crows will win because their numbers used to be more, not anymore. They used to be more before the cell phone towers came, now their numbers have become very limited. I don't think we have seen a crow anywhere around here in the last few years. We have not seen a crow. I have not seen a crow in the yoga center at all. So a crow used to be big in number in population, so we represented all the bird life as a crow. Kaka does not necessarily mean a crow, it means a bird. A bird is of a certain nature. Here it's… you know the sense of smell and hearing is dominant in the swana or the dog. In the bird, the sense of seeing and sensations are very significant. Sense of seeing is significant, you know that the eagle that is flying up there, very high up there, nearly two thousand feet sometimes. But he's looking down, a little mouse moves in the land here, he just knows when he comes straight down for his dinner or his lunch. So in terms of sight, they're very sharp. You know you want to have a bird's eye view if you want to get a grasp of the place. So he has a vision which gives him a sense of what is what very clearly because he has a distance because of flight, he has a distance. Because of the distance, he gets to see things in a certain way which leads to certain wisdom. So in many societies, birds are recognized as wise, maybe specific birds. In India, crows are recognized as wise, crows are recognized as birds which are having ancestral wisdom. In certain other cultures, owls are recognized as wise. In India, owl is considered to be stupid, this is all cultural stuff. Different people perceive different ways but anyway, once you have a bird's eye view of something, you naturally become wise because you have a bigger picture which others who are crawling on the earth do not have. So a bird is considered wise if one is seeking wisdom, a larger wisdom of things of the world, then you need to activate the caca within you. And in terms of sensations, well this is something probably most people have not paid attention to. A bird is covered with feather unless it's a dressed, you know. So let's say a little breeze comes this way, gentle, today is strong, but let's say a gentle breeze comes this way, the feathers are not really live, not really live. It is alive but not the way the rest of the body is, it's like your hair. But through these feathers, through this hair of the feather, the feather is rooted in the body in such a way that it gives a very deep sense of sensation to the bird. A bird is sleeping like this in the nights. If a snake starts moving up the tree, just that moment will give him sensations. And many times I have watched this because I have slept on the trees many days. So I have seen this, with eyes closed they'll just jump a little bit like this. This they go to the edge of the branch. With eyes closed they're still sleeping. Those of you who sleepwalking, you know what I'm talking about. Because their sensation is very deep, the feather is rooted into the body, small things that are happening around, physical things, it notices. It's because of this, on certain trees it will not sit in the night. Tamarind tree is one of them as you know, birds don't settle in the night on a tamarind tree for certain reasons because their sensation is very, very sensitive and vision is very sharp. So wisdom and sensitivity to physical things, physical sensations are very strong. The third is naga or the serpent. Well this is in your physiology, this is connected to the visceral aspects of who you are. The cellular activity and the movement of the blood are related to naga. Your ability to grasp something which cannot be grasped by the five senses. Rather to the swana and kaka represent sharpening of your senses in terms of hearing and smelling, seeing and feeling. But the naga represents that dimension which cannot be perceived by the senses. It is because of that in the yogic culture, maximum attention was given to naga. Well Adiyogi is carrying a naga around his throat because this represents that aspect of you where you are able to perceive something which your senses cannot perceive. Where the five senses fail, there the work of the naga begins. Well as a part of building this Isaiyoga center as a powerful teetha or as a powerful energy space, one process which is still not fully done is, I'm sorry, I promised you we will make the naga in the surya couldn't grow. Now he is growing but not at the pace I want because he is demanding certain things which hopefully by the beginning of next year, 2022, we will provide him what he wants and he will grow, he will grow right up till there and beyond. The intention is in some way this energy that we refer to as naga which is perceptive beyond five senses envelopes the planet itself. Been working on this for quite some time. Well, with various other activities not paid enough attention but I think that is going to happen at least significantly through 2022 and maybe by 2024 we should have done something which really brings this quality to all those who are willing in the world. Let's see, it's a lot of work and it means in some way you are meddling with your own cellular activity, the basic pulsations of life in the cells. So it will take some effort, some energy, some support, various things. Let's see how far we will get but I'm sure we'll get there because the basics have been done. Question is only how quickly we will do it or how much time it takes. There is no more question about whether we will do it or not, we definitely will. So among the naga, there are twelve dimensions of naga which are worshipped in India. These are called Ananta, Vasuki, Sesha, Padma, Kambala, Karkotaka, Ashvatara, Dhritarashtra, Sankapala, Kaliya, Thaksaka and Pingala. These are the twelve aspects. These twelve aspects also relate to the twelve aspects of the calendar, the twelve aspects of the, you know, the stars and stuff that people read in various cultures, literally across the world. You see symbolisms, proof, symbolic proof. From twenty-thousand years onwards, you will see various artifacts around the world showing how snake played an important part in their mystical journey of those tribes in variety of places from Russia to China, of course India, Africa, Egypt, Greece, South America, North America. Everywhere you have serpent symbolism representing this and in North America when we were on this tour, we discovered there is a four hundred meter long serpent mound in Ohio, four hundred meters long, overlooking a very big crater which could have happened either because of an asteroid hit or maybe a gas burst there saying, we do not know how it happened. But a four hundred meter long serpent built with mud, a mound, it's a serpent mound. So various people across the world have come to this not by transportation of cultures, that also has happened, but that is not the reason why it's happened. Wherever people perceived something beyond five senses, wherever people spent time more as closed, pratyahara essentially. If you do swana and kaka, there is no pratyahara, you are out and open to the world. Pratyahara means you withdrew your senses. Wherever pratyahara happened, wherever withdrawal of sense happened, there Naga lived. There they recognized the significance of this dimension of evolutionary residue which remains within us and how we can activate that and how it can become a process of one's evolution beyond the limitations of one's senses. In the snake which is around Shiva's throat is referred to as Vasuki, but the Vishnu's snake is referred to as Shesha. If you do not know this, those of you who learnt early part of your school, you did in local languages in southern India, if you did, either… I do not know what's the word in Tamil, but in Telugu and Canada, if you're learning mathematics, Shesha means remainder. In mathematics it's a common thing, Shesha. So that is the word that is used for this, because this snake or this serpent represents the Shesha or what is always a remainder of when a certain creation ends, certain things remain, a certain core aspect remains, which once again germinates into another creation. So it is upon this Shesha that Vishnu rests. That means when he is resting, when there is no creation to maintain, he is resting and Shesha, what is remainder. So that is a common term in Indian mathematics that we use the word Shesha to represent remainder. So this is a far deeper thing, but the problem right now is I have to speak in English language and I have to sound logical because I'm on… what… what all I'm on right now, Facebook, YouTube and whatever. What to do? Logic is a powerful means for us to live well here, but logic is not powerful enough to penetrate through every aspect of life. Logic is not powerful enough to take you beyond your present dimension of existence. Are you missed? The audio people must create a… like a… you know, like an echo for me. Whenever I say I dimension three times, it must happen. I don't have to say it again and again. Adi Shesha uncoils and time moves forward. This is the mythology about it. This means the… the remainder that is left from the previous creation stays and when it begins to uncoil, it is called as Adi Shesha because it's the first reminder, reminder which is there and it uncoils means another creation begins to happen. So this is a very profound aspect of life expressed in symbolic ways. So this Nagarapanchami or Nagopanchami today represents all this one. In the month of Sravana on the day of fifth day, this is the day which is very significant for those who want to penetrate on no life beyond their physicality, beyond their senses. This is not just about experiencing or realization or liberation, this is about knowing. If you want to know, maybe not everybody wishes to know, that is okay. Some people just want to be free, they don't care to know, it's all right. But those who want to know for them, this aspect of evolutionary reminder within you is very, very important, otherwise it doesn't really function whether you actually relate to the symbolism or not, but you have to invigorate that dimension. Your Adi Shesha has to begin to uncoil and move if you want to know aspects beyond five senses, aspects beyond physical nature. Well, it's a… you're all sitting in the dock, in the grass, maybe, maybe. I'm not talking about your Kundalini uncoiling. That happens great, but maybe the local snake thought, okay, at least all the stupid yogis are gone. We can wander around in front of Adi Yogi if they're thinking of taking their nightly walk. Don't disturb them, just sit there still, let them go, okay? This is something that you must learn. This is something that this culture has always valued that people never killed snake in this culture till recently. In case accidentally they killed, they gave the snake a funeral, a proper funeral, like how it is done for a human being, because they recognized certain aspects of what a serpent is. So here we are and I think I just scribbled a small poem to the afternoon. Let me read this to you, not much. It's called Nagapanchami. If it was… if it was not for the serpent, Adi Yogi would be without a moving ornament. If it was not for the serpent, Adi Yogi would be without a moving ornament. The first dumb couple would be twiddling their thumbs denied even of their basic physical purpose. The first dumb couple would be twiddling their thumbs denied even of their basic physical purpose. I would not have a speed, the ways of the creation and the creator. I would not have a speed, the ways of the creation and the creator. Nor would I know when to shift gears for accelerated and smooth function of Shiva's will. Nor would I know when to shift gears for accelerated and smooth function of Shiva's will. If it is not for the serpent, there are innumerable legends and mythological and symbolic representations of a serpent across all cultures, without exception really. It is only in the last probably twelve hundred, thirteen hundred or maybe fifteen hundred years we've been trying to eliminate the snake or the serpent from our cultures because we've not been able to wrap our heads around it. You should not wrap yourself around a serpent, it should wrap around you. When you don't get this point, then it's difficult. This is the whole thing. You're trying to grasp life. That's a foolish thing to do. You must become available for the life to grasp you. This is happening with me also. People are trying to get the guru. No, you must allow him to get you. So the significance of the snake can be seen this way. When you're logical, you're trying to grasp life. When you become very intuitive and perceptive, you are willing to allow life to grasp you because you have seen the limitations of who you are. You have seen how small a life you are. So you allow life to happen to you. Even now, life is happening to you, don't think you're doing it. Fortunately, you are not doing it because otherwise many times you will forget to do it. It's happening just to sit here and enjoy. The greatest thing that's happening, which is life, how much fuss, how much fuss. The greatest thing that's happening here right now is life. There's no question about it. When it's happening free, all you have to do is find some rubbish and put it in your stomach to keep the body going. Rubbish is very nutritious. For that, how much fuss. So this has happened because we have given up the way of the serpent. We are not allowing life to coil around us. We are trying to get it. This we trying to get it if you relax it a little bit. Life is always wrapped around you. See, in a very simple way, in a very physical way if you have to see it, there that you breathe is life. In southern India we call it usir. Usir and vir are not two different things. Breath and life, breath and being are not considered at two different things. Here in this part of the world, breath is being. Because if there is no breath, you are not going to be. Maybe you are, some of you are carrying your own oxygen tank post-COVID, I don't know. But otherwise, life is wrapping you, isn't it? You're wrapped in life. Well, if you're foolish, you will contaminate that also and suffer. Otherwise, free, free of cost. It is wrapping around every life what is needed. Sustainance is always on. But we have made it so complicated and miserable, simply this one thing. We are trying to eliminate one dimension of life and try to live on one leg. This is all. There is perception and there is intellect. If you empower the intellect, you will be very smart. But you need fools around you. Otherwise, how will you be smart? If there are no fools around you, how the hell will you be smart? But if you allow life to happen to you in its full glory, maybe you will not be considered smart in the society. People are telling me that I'm stupid. Because I am. People are telling me, Sadhguru, with the knowledge that you have, you could have done this, you could have earned a billion dollars, you could be a billionaire. I said, isn't it stupid to have a billion dollars? Hello? There's somebody was floating this around in the WhatsApp groups sometime ago. This is about, suppose there was a ape or a monkey which gathered all the bananas in the forest and kept it for itself. Not though many other monkeys were hungry and dying, it kept all the bananas for itself, though it cannot eat all those bananas. If such a thing happened to a monkey, all the human scientists would think there is some psychological derangement and want to study that monkey, sick monkey. But if such a thing happens to a human being, they appear in the Forbes magazine. In my understanding of life, accumulating a billion dollars is the dumbest thing you can do. Because I know there is no banking services elsewhere other than this planet. And I know my time is limited here. Why would I acquire billions of dollars? For what? But people think that is smart. That's why I said to feel smart, you need idiots around you. If you close your eyes and sit here, you're neither smart nor stupid. You're just life and that's all that matters. How vibrant, how exuberant, how joyful, how wonderful a life you are, that's all that matters. In this pursuit, naga is very important to be like him. Look at him. Ah! To just be like this. Exuberant, intoxicated and still. If you're exuberant, you think you must dance. You must do something else. If you're intoxicated, you think you must do this. No. Stillness, exuberance and intoxication all in one. Life happens to you in the highest possible way. This is what naga panchami represents in a certain way, certain aspect of it. In the process of evolution, these three seshas within us or remainders within us of swana, kaka and naga, those who seek these qualities, those who seek to be smart in the world, swana, those who want to have an overview and feel wise within themselves, kaka, those who want to bury themselves into life because the source of life is the very soil that you're sitting upon right now, those who want to immerse themselves in life, naga. Here we are. Naga panchami. All of you, wherever you are in the world, we can… we can… one second, just hold on, just please… please be there. We'll do a simple little process, wherever you are, if you're online, wherever you are in the world, whatever time of the day it is, if we do it at certain times, it would be better. But you just do this, sit with your right nostril blocked and your… your face seriously turned upward, not slightly upward, okay? Seriously upward, like this. And right now, close your eyes, sit like this. Now inhale, wait, wait, wait, don't do it, just listen to me. Inhale in such a way that you visualize that you are inhaling the entire bubble of atmosphere around this planet. Hold it for just two seconds and let it back and visualize that all life on the planet is getting a fresh breath of air because of your exhalation. Just inhale the entire atmosphere and let go, let life come back upon this planet. Once again, inhale the entire bubble of atmosphere and let go, let the plants and animals breathe once again. Inhale, hold, let it go, let every life on this planet breathe again. Inhale, let it go, let all life be nourished by this breath. Inhale, let it go, let your breath become the basis of nourishment on this planet. Inhale, let it go, may you become the basis of nourishment on this planet. Inhale, let it go, just relax your hands and sit still. The pandemic is on, it's not over. Consciously how responsibly we behave will determine how much it's going to affect our lives. For those of you who find responsible behavior is painful because you are a jungly. Word jungly comes from the word jungle, which means forest dwellers are supposed to be wild. Do one thing, go and visit the tribes who are forest dwellers, they're very quiet, well-behaved, very quiet. It's only the city folk who are wild, hello? The real junglies come from the city. So if you have escaped from the concrete jungle and you're here, you're most welcome. But very important, there is conscious and responsible behavior for your own well-being, the well-being of the yoga center and above all, to fulfill the purpose for which you are here. It becomes very important and wherever else you are, all of you in different cities across the world, wherever you are, make this happen. I've been saying this again and again, I say it once again because it's very important right now that you must take this vow that you will not get infected. That means you will be that careful, always conscious and responsible how you behave. Suppose it happened that you did get infected, you ensure from you one more person should not get this in this world. You are not the spreader, you are never the source of problem. If you can be a source of solution, fantastic. If you cannot be, at least you are not the source of problem. Will you make this happen all of you? Good then, then what's the problem? There is Divya Darshanam today after the long break. That's for you. Let's do that, how do we turn it on?