I BREATHE BECAUSE I LOVE LIFE

Guru Makaja`s Meditation

On the occasion of Komaja`s Winter School 2024/25

The Path to One's True Self in a Spiritual Community

Ližnjan, December 2024

Guru Makaja

Let us relax and follow the breath!

Do not try to breathe in a particular way; simply observe your breath! To the extent that your health and age allow, try to sit as upright as I am sitting. This is how small children naturally sit; it is the body's natural posture. The lower part of the spine, in particular, should be vertical, as much as your health permits.

Many people tend to slouch in the upper chest area. If you look at pictures of Nikola Tesla, you will see how he naturally holds his head and neck in Jalandhara Bandha. When people hunch their upper spine, we say they have poor posture. Some people push only their head and neck forward. During puberty, young girls often feel self-conscious about their developing breasts and tend to pull their chests inward. Later in life, as people become overly egocentric, greedy for food and sensual pleasures, their lower spine starts to curve, and their belly expands. The opposite of this is what we strive for: standing tall, like a cobra, like a model, like a marionette suspended from a string. These are preparatory yoga exercises for awakening Kundalini energy.

Kundalini cannot awaken in a body with excessive fat tissue. Even if it does, it will not be able to rise to the higher chakras. Therefore, we aim to maintain a posture as if suspended from a string. The chest is open, the shoulders are relaxed, but like Nikola Tesla, the chin is slightly tucked in. This gives a person a dignified presence. It is not good if your head juts forward, and even worse if you hunch forward like a predator ready to grab something.

Everything is interconnected. The fact that some people resemble certain animals is not a coincidence. You can read more about this in my book Komaja.

Now, let us close our eyes, relax, and breathe—without controlling the breath! Observe how the breath affects your abdomen, your chest…! Notice whether your breath flows evenly through both nostrils or whether, at this moment, you are breathing more through the left or right nostril. Is it more natural for you to inhale through the lower part of the nostrils or through the upper part? Or do your nostrils expand, drawing most of the air through the outer, middle sections? Each breathing pattern influences the psyche and health differently. Russian scientists have discovered that the nostrils contain numerous nerve endings connected to all the internal organs. This means that by keeping our nostrils clean and breathing correctly, in a natural way, we stimulate all our internal organs. They will function better, become stronger, and we will live longer and accomplish more. This is one of the fundamental ideals of yoga.

Drunkards say, "I don't care; I will enjoy whatever I want, even if I die at forty or fifty." Later, they change their minds—if they are still alive. Yogis say: "Yes, we too are passionate and full of desires, but we believe that through diet, yogic breathing, discipline, and the cultivation of virtues, we can achieve far more of our desires—and over many more decades." The difference between drunkards and yogis is simply in the technology and, of course, in discipline!

So once again, let us follow the breath without attempting to change it. The only thing we continuously attempt—within the limits of our health—is to lengthen the spine, as if we were marionettes on a string.

Then, recall someone or something—an idea, a vision, your child, your spouse—someone for whom you deeply wish to remain healthy and mentally sharp for a long time. Or a vision you want to realize as much as possible before you leave this world. Achieving this requires great strength, effort, and love.

Krishnamurti lived to around 95 years old. Maharishi to 95. Jeffrey Hudson, perhaps 94. A decade ago, in Zagreb, at an alternative medicine gathering, we had an Indian yogi as our guest who was over 100 years old. Science tells us that if we did not engage in foolish behaviors—physically, emotionally, and mentally—it would be natural for us to live around 200 years. This is inseparably linked to how we breathe. The moment you remember whom or what you live for, your breathing changes immediately. You need more energy, more vitality.

So, let us breathe our desires into life!

They say that in disasters and wars, people’s first and only thought is to save the one they love most. In such moments, their breathing changes instantly. Suddenly, they breathe like Babaji, Jesus, or Buddha. Suddenly, hidden knowledge surfaces within them—when the moment is critical, when there is no other choice.

Yogis are wiser. They ask: "Why wait for critical moments to breathe with great strength or feel great love? We can do this every day in meditation, in prayer, in our spiritual practices—as if this moment were the most critical in our lives."

Thus, even a beginner yogi can "catch" the most powerful yogic breath—like in catastrophic or wartime conditions, when saving those they love.

Whoever breathes like this every day, for at least an hour or two, is already an advanced yogi.

I breathe because I love.

I breathe because I love life.

And at a higher level of development—I breathe because I love the higher life, the life that transforms all those who come near me, not just my loved ones!

I breathe because I love life!

Sat, Chit, Ananda

Let us not move abruptly. We have two or three more minutes. Feel your limbs, your spine, your fingers, your feet. Evaluate your meditation as if you were your own guru or psychotherapist. One is the lowest score, five is the highest, three is average. Who felt their meditation was at a five? Raise your hand. One, two… five people…

That means our average is around four, maybe slightly above. Let’s hear some insights, phenomena—perhaps psycho-energetic or physiological? Feel free to share; I will not call on anyone. Any realizations regarding what I have taught? Or do you already know all of this?

COMMENTARY:

You have probably experienced a family member falling seriously ill, someone needing surgery, having to get a tooth extracted, or your child needing a tonsillectomy. Or perhaps you have witnessed a traffic accident... In short, you have surely faced difficult situations in life. Or, for example, your parents might have divorced, and you felt as if the world was ending.

This is why everyone must find their own anchor points for meditation—points that will help you see how much life force is within you. Because yoga—one of the definitions of yoga, or of any spiritual path, really—is about becoming a being of immense energy, immense intelligence, and immense love.

Sat Chit Ananda—these are the three words used in Hindu philosophy to describe God. They say, just like Christians and Muslims do, that God is indescribable, ineffable, beyond all attributes. But if we had to define God using attributes, it would be Sat Chit Ananda.

Sat is existence—the power and ability to exist and to be throughout all eternity.

Chit is knowledge, the highest knowledge, omniscience—the knowledge through which God manifests all worlds, all levels of existence. God possesses the ultimate wisdom, the knowledge of everything.

Ananda is divine bliss, divine love—the force through which God sustains the created worlds.

So, God is existence, knowledge, and bliss.

When applied to the human microcosm, these correspond to will, intelligence, and love.

God wants me to become an evolved human being. God wants me to become a divine human. Because if that were not the case, He would not have sent us Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Babaji, Teresa of Avila, Mahatma Gandhi... Why would He send us such people? Clearly, He wants all of us to become yogis, to grow into the image and likeness of God—a little more than we already are.

That means you must find your anchor points—those that will help you realize: Look, even within me, the immense force of life can flow. This could be the fear of the most terrifying thing you've ever experienced. Fear is something yogis work with—it’s not something they sweep under the rug. “Fear is good for those to whom God has given it.”

And the pain we have experienced in life—it is incredibly valuable. Even Patanjali affirms this in the Yoga Sutras when he says: Only future pain can be avoided.

When you remember how awful it was when your tooth swelled up because you didn’t brush it regularly… The moment you recall that pain, you rush to brush your teeth. That’s why a yogi uses past pain.

Similarly, we can use the images of those we love and everything we still want to experience with them.

Or, for those who already live more on the causal plane, in the realm of ideals—like Nikola Tesla, Mother Teresa, and others who wish well for all beings—this becomes a tremendous source of motivation. They wish to bring joy to the whole world. Yes, Tesla worked to provide free electricity and light to all cities on Earth. He wasn’t calculating how much he would earn from it.

So, if you belong to this kind of person, then you live for your vision—and, naturally, that is a far greater driving force than living solely for a spouse or child.

The greater the goal a yogi sets—truly sets it, commits to it, and lives for it every single day—the more they will grow into the image and likeness of God. Over time, they will resemble that divine-human ideal. Like Jesus, Buddha, Babaji.

That is the work of a yogi—every single day!

In this sense, the path of yoga is a journey of constant, lifelong, daily refinement—refinement of thought, emotion, will, and even the physical body.

So, in principle, this meditation and these explanations are all you really need. You can go home now... You just need to actually apply all of this. 😊

Below, you can watch the meditation video "Breathe Your Desires" and the lecture following the meditation, "Starting Points for Meditation."

Meditation for Beginners: "Breathe Into Your Desires"

Lecture: "Starting Points for Meditation"