Kayika, Vachika, & Manasika Karmas

1. In a previous session we had just commenced with an introduction to vachika kriya — the speechly act.[1] It is important to note our karmas, which are so important for the karma siddhanta to assess, evaluate, probe, etc.

There are three kinds of karmas in the Bhagavad Gita – kayika karma (bodily action), vachika karma (oral action), and manasika karmas (mental action).[2]

We commit to karmas, we perform karmas, we are in karmas by means of three instruments. One is the instrument of the body, the other one is the instrument of speech, and, then, the instrument of the mind. We commit karmas through body, and body organs; through mind and mind organs; and through speech and the speech organ. And, perhaps, speech organs. You’ll know why I am using the plural form here in a short while. So our karmas are kayika, vachika, and manasika.

2. Then the karmas are sattvika, rajasika, tamasika. There are so many classifications of karma which we don’t have to go into it right now.

Nitya (fixed), nai-nitya (compulsory), kamya (desirous of benefit) karma; prarabdha (ripened past to be experienced in this life) karmas; sattvika, rajasika, tamasika karmas; and kaya-vacha-manasa karmas. These classifications come when we look into the karma siddhanta aspect in yoga. But today it is just vachika kriya.

Vachika Kriya +2.16

1. Now, the general [thought] is that the oral organ is just for speaking because man has the faculty of speaking, the organ of speech, and that this speech is just meant for communication. We can identify how most of our work is done by oration…, and we think the oratory organ is only given for that purpose.

But… suppose you are totally isolated, and there is no one around you… to talk with. What are you going to do with this organ? Does it become redundant? Does it mean that the organ is only there for some social interactions? What is the role of the organ of speech within us internally?

Now this is not identified by the common man. He thinks that oratory organ is [used to] talk to someone, to communicate with someone, to speak to someone. That’s why we call it the oratory organ, or… the speech organ.

2. But, what is the role of this organ in adhyatma (pursuit of Self), when you’re not going to be talking, when you’re not going to be using the oratory organ for oration…? We always speak with [audible] decibels, because we produce sound through our mouths. But [if] it’s not going to produce any sound, is there any speech which is soundless?

3. If you probe into it, you’ll realize that when the oratory organ cannot be speaking, we can speak through our eyes…, through our… facial gestures. We make our eyes an organ of speech, and we make our face an organ of speech… [with] body language. The concept of the speech organ is not just restricted to the mouth.

The mouth is important for expressing speech. That is called vaikhari (audible speech). If someone has to hear what you speak, then you have to use the mouth.

If someone wants to understand what you want to speak, you can do that with your eyes, or with your gestures. You know the faces of dancers, and actors, can speak. So the speech has also something beyond language…. And it will communicate. So the speech must be considered from a wider perspective.

Vachika Kriya — Commenting in Asana +5.40

1. In the vachika kriya that we attempted in a [prior] session, I told you… that you must embark upon [Bharadvajasana]. Perhaps today you can also go for Marichyasana, Bharadvajasana, or any position that is comfortable to you. It can be even Trikonasana.

You can take any posture with which you are familiar and with which you want to explore. Different asanas will give you will give you different explorations, so you can settle down to any position such as Trikonasana, Padangusthasana, Bharadvajasana, [or] Marichyasana. I leave the choice to you.

2. And then go for all the preliminaries [of the] posture and try to negotiate it as a posture. Do that while I am talking to you on the subject matter of vachika kriya. You will change sides… on your own.

Get prepared sufficiently, which I have explained in previous sessions, and then go for act of commenting. In a previous lesson I introduced you to the act of commenting.[3] You will have to silently speak, articulate, comment, describe, define, and explain. See how it will open out literacy for you once you start using this oral act of silently speaking, silently describing, silently explaining, silently articulating, and silently commenting.

3. And then identify what is being done, identify the actions…, responses…, resistances…, assistances…, and reactions. So start developing clarity in respect to all this when you are silently commenting. Do not just comment on… what you are doing and what is happening. Start commenting [by] identifying actions, reactions, resistances, assistances, responses, participations, and involvement.

All of you want to do yoga with involvement. However, technically, you are just dealing with actions: “What should I do? What should I do? Have I done? Have I… not done? What needs to be done?” But in the ultimate analysis, you want to participate. Now, if you create a clamor by doing and doing and doing, then that will not facilitate participation.

So asana implies that it’s not only that you should be doing your asana if you are doing in Bharadvajasana or Marichyasana or Sirsasana or Trikonasana. You should not just be doing because you are getting so prepared, that you are also soliciting responses.

4. The body, mind, and breath respond to each other…. As a commentator you must identify the responses [and], the responders. You must identify the activities, usages, applications, addressals, participations, involvement, assistances, resistances, reactions. This will improve your literacy about your dynamics. You’ll start reading the dynamics with clarity, and, perhaps, if I may say so, in a classified manner. You will start understanding the dynamics and you will realize asanas are not merely done, and are not merely to be done, and are not merely meant to be done.

Participation in Asana +10.25

1. There must be responses, there must be assistances, there must be participation. Start understanding the meaning of these words in the internal realm. You might know the literal meaning of these words, but how do body, mind, and breath participate?

What is meant by participation? You know the meaning of the word, but now you have to identify what is meant by participation, involvement. When you are in act of commenting, you will see that there is lot of encouragement for you to get better involved, because you have to describe, define, and explain. So when you have to do all these things, you must have… better involvement.

2. Like for examinations. You know that you are not just learning the subject… to know it, but you are preparing to answer certain questions which are going to appear. You study with greater involvement because you must be able to write answers to the questions on the subject matter that you are reading and… knowing.

So it’s a different involvement for examination by an examinee. I won’t say ‘student.’ He’s an examinee. There is a different involvement. You need involvement. It’s one kind of involvement to be studying for understanding, another kind of involvement to be an examinee, [who must] appear for examination.

3. The act of commenting will improve involvement. Otherwise you have a naive idea that if the mind is involved, everything is involved. This is not true. If the mind is involved, it does not mean that everything is involved. Try to decipher this, and understand how there is some sort of substance in this statement.

4. If you want better involvement, your body, mind, breath, senses, and organ of speech should be involved. So that will give room for better involvement. This speechly act also improves involvement which is sought after in your endeavor, in your practices. It will greatly facilitate that, and it will also give you clarity. Moreover, you will get a very major revelation that asanas are not done, are not meant to be done, are not by doing, are not actions…, [but] are negotiations.

Negotiating —Not Doing — Asana +13.30

1. You will be negotiating to be in… getting…, and improving an asana. It’s a negotiation, it’s not just an action. [When] this kind of [mistaken] indoctrination [that it is an action] comes to you, you think you must have some… better points that [allow you to] do a better posture. But that is not true, [if] you will understand it is a negotiation. This will facilitate the negotiation aspect of asana…. Your verb will change for the practice of asana. You will never say asanas are done, but asanas are negotiated.

2. You drive a car with your… two upper limbs, and two lower limbs…. But suppose you are blindfolded. Why is it that you stop driving? Your legs work, your feet work, your arms work. You can use your arms on the steering wheel, or [to reach] whatever gadgets [are on] the dashboard, etc. But, then, why don’t you drive when you are blindfolded? Because it is not car driving. You are negotiating. Car driving is negotiating traffic. So [just as] a car is driven, [so are] asanas driven, not… done.

3. If you still feel that asanas are done…, you are illiterate. So asanas are driven, not done. During asana you negotiate different conditions, like when you… remedy resistance, and you overcome the resistance. So you are negotiating that condition. If the participation is inferior, you will try to improve the participation. So you negotiate.

Skill in Speaking Overcomes Resistance in Asana +15.35

1. The speechly act is so important. I will give you a little stranger example here. Suppose you come to me and you want to borrow Rs.100. You can’t just say, “Please give me a hundred rupees,” [else] I may not give it to you. I might kick you out.

But what is the way to get Rs 100? You come and ask, “Oh, how are you? How are you doing? What are you doing? How is your family, your wife, mother, and parents, etc.?” So you go roundabout and roundabout…. And I say, “OK. Why have you come?”

It is better [if you] say, “I am a little hesitant to say this, but I have really come to say something…, but I am a little hesitant.” Then I will say, “Don’t hesitate, go ahead.” Then you can say, “I need a hundred rupees,” [and] I will yield to you. That’s a skill in speech.

But, if you come and directly say, “I want a hundred rupees,” I will not oblige. If you have skill and a knack, you will be a little roundabout. Then you will make me yield to your request…, and I will say, “OK.” You’ll say, “Please give me a hundred rupees.” I will return…, as soon as possible…, [to] give you the hundred rupees. Rather than knocking on the door, and when [I answer], you just ask, “Please give me a hundred rupees.” I will not do that.

2. So speech also has certain skills. You have to learn the skill of speech and then things become wieldy; they will yield to you. If the body is not yielding you should know how to talk to your body.

Like when your child is not yielding, how you speak to your child [allows] the child to yield. Similarly, suppose the body is resisting — the body resists, the mind resists. [If] the oratory act… has the skill to talk to the body and… the mind, the body will yield, and the mind will yield to benefit you.

So it’s not just speaking. How to speak is so important. Just… speaking is not sufficient. How to say something, what should be the precursor to your major purpose, and how to be a little roundabout, [makes] your speech fruitful. So the speech organ will also work better….

3. If the teacher compliments you, and says you are doing wonderfully well, you start doing much better. You do more than well, you do [much] better. Why? Because the teacher has complimented you. The teacher… stimulates you. If I may say so, perhaps entices you, and you do better.

Why not use your oral organ? If you have resistance in your own system, find out whether the organ of speech can talk to it effectively, and then make it yield to your requirement…. Develop the skill to speak, then you can also get the benefit.

Four Speeches of Adhyatma +19.40

1. Apart from literacy…, if you recall in the previous session, I said how will you turn out thought matter in asana.[4] Vachika kriya is so important because you… have ideas, crystallizations, perceptions, cognitions, experiences, and articulated experiences. When you articulate experiences , it is a matter for thought. That’s why we commence with vachika kriya. So here I am showing you additional dimensions of vachika kriya.

2. The vachika kriya has its own backup of intelligence and memory, etc. That has to be understood here. Vachika kriya, and the speech organ, are not just confined to the mouth and aspects of speech, such as lips, teeth, tongue, palate, and jaw, etc. It has great depth. And vacha (speech) has been probed by adhyatma.

3. Deep study has taken place, and it speaks about four speeches. There are four speeches according to adhyatma…, and even Panini’s system [of grammar], where Patanjali is a commentator. Patanjali commented in his Mahabhashya [ca. 2nd c. BCE] on the Panini sutras. So Patanjali has deep insights into the oratory system, not just the oratory organ.

4. This oratory organ has its own memory backup or memory resources. That is why a good orator is not necessarily a good [writer]…. Although all that creativity, etc., is in his mind, it flows when he speaks. It does not flow when he embarks on writing.

A [writer] has good memory, good creativity, good articulation when there is a paper and pen. He cannot venture to be an orator. So good [writers] are not necessarily good orators, good orators are not necessarily good [writers] because for [writers], the organ of writing has its own team work of memory, creativity, imagination, intelligence, and clarity…. The oratory organ also has its own team, a different team.

5. You will develop that backup as well by the oratory act. Otherwise your mind has its backup. The mind has imagination, the mind has memory, so you will recall all these things in your mind. The mind has teamwork behind it, the body has teamwork behind it.

In asana you use your body, so the body has its own memory…, own intelligence. You have heard about cellular memory. Guruji often referred to memory of the cells, intelligence of the cells. They have their own teams. The body has its own team, and the mind has its own team. When you use the oratory act you get an… additional team to assist you for your proficiency, the team behind the speech organ.

6. In adhyatma, or in Panini’s system, or even in the yogashastra, and the Vedanta shastra, speech has been classified into four classes — para, pashyanti, madhyama, vaikhari.

Vaikhari (audible speech) is the speech with which I am working now — something that… you’re able to hear through your audition. It will go into your system of brain, mind, intelligence, emotions, etc., and it will work. So I am taking recourse to language with some visible / audible speech which has a sound form. That is called vaikhari. The sound produced by mouth during your speech, for your speech, and through your speech, is called vaikhari.

7. Madhyama (“Ma”) underlies vaikhari. This is the locus of vaikhari [pointing to the mouth]. The oratory organ, which is here, is vaikhari.

Then this [pointing to the throat] is the locus for madhyama, the throat region.

Pashyanti, the heart region.

Para, lower belly region, navel and below. So these are the loci in the body.

8. Anatomy will not tell you about it. Body science will not tell you about it. Adhyatma tells you… that there are four speeches, one underling the other speech.

Vaikhari is the gross one, which is expressed.

Madhyama, located at the throat region, underlies it. Interestingly, see why the throat is so important. The plexus there, which is called vishuddhi chakra, is so important. If you look into the chakras, the vishuddhi chakra there, is all vowels. No speech is possible without a vowel. Try back home, can you have speech without vowels? All consonants, no vowels, you can’t utter any word.

9. These vowels, that are so important, are ‘a, aa, ee, ay, oo, ai, o, au, um, aha.’ So these vowels are important for you to be able to speak. No speech is possible without these vowels. All the petals of the vishuddhi chakra are with those vowels. That is why that is the locus of madhyama. So the thought behind speech is significantly there, in the cerebral parts….

10. Guruji used to have his own diagnostics: he would identify the stress of a person by looking at the throat.

A stressful person has a commotion of thoughts, a crowd of thoughts, a chaos of thoughts, conflicting thoughts, a battle of thoughts. All these thoughts are in words, and all these words must have vowels. There can be no word without a vowel. At least there must be one vowel in every word. That’s why the vishuddhi chakra is the locus of madhyama.

11. And then comes the pashyanti. The pashyanti comes in the heart region. The heart is the locus of chitta, consciousness. The heart contributes to [those] thoughts. This pashyanti… literally means to be seeing, or having seen. Having seen means having experienced.

If you have no experience about something at all, can you speak about it? You must have seen something beforehand. When I say seeing, it’s not just by the eyes because blind people also can see something. I’m using the word in the figurative sense, not the literal sense. You must have “seen something” [means] you must have experienced something. So that’s an aspect of psyche, where all your experiences are registered, and experiences are saved. That comes in handy. Unless you have an experience, you can’t have a thought. Unless you have a thought you can’t be speaking on that thought. That’s why it’s called pashyanti.

12. And then the para is the final one, which is in the navel region, that is the source. So there are the four speeches.

If you are in music, and if you are a vocalist, you will understand what… sound comes from belly, which… comes from the thoracic… chest, which… comes from throat, and which sound comes from the brain. If you are trained in… vocal music, then you will be conversant with this. Some sounds will come from the belly. The vocalist sings certain aspects… from the belly, from the chest, from the throat, from the oral organ, and some aspects from the brain.

Like if you [are a] soprano, the brain is involved. If you [are a] bass, the navel is involved. So to give you a little clue, for those who are not familiar with music, singing, and vocal music…. Soprano means that [when] you go to a higher pitch, the brain vibrations become the source for your sound. The more you go to bass, the lower you go…, the vocalist brings the head down to go to a lower octave. The vocalist takes the head up to go to soprano, the higher octave. These are all nuances in singing. So you get better inducted to this aspect of speech if you are in singing, or vocal music.

Silent Speech is Under Your Control +31.15

1. In the oratory act, it’s a different kind of thing when it is… a silent oratory act. You don’t get to use the oratory parts, such as lips and teeth and tongue, etc. It’s a silent speech. [Don’t] confuse silent speech with the mind. The mind is not under your control. Any… untoward thought can come to your mind, thought that you don’t want will come to your mind. The thought you want will not come to mind. So we know that the mind is not in our hands.

2. But silent speech is not mind because it is in your hands. When you say, “I have resolved to do this now,” as you are in asana…, “to do my asana more intensely,” you have [stated] resolve. You think it is mind that has resolved, [but] it’s not. If you probe into it, it is your speech — silent speech. Because you have a right to resolve, or not to resolve…, it is your right, “I will resolve or not resolve.” So it is in your control. It is silent speech [that] seems to be mind.

3. You can’t resolve in the mind. Make a resolution in the mind, and see how quickly you will mess with it. Mind cannot resolve; it is silent speech that resolves. That is in your hands. You may resolve, or you may not resolve, but the mind can’t say, “I will think or I will not think.” That is not in your hands. Thought may come on its own, thought may depart on its own. You don’t want a thought to go, [but] it will go. You want a thought to come, [but] it will not come. So the thinking in the mind is not in your hands. But speech is in your hands.

4. Speech is so important, particularly for those who are orators. If you are going to give a talk on yoga, you do something in your green room. You prepare. Don’t think you silently speak what you want to speak; don’t think you silently speak how you want to commence. You do it with your silent oration, because that is more articulate. It is in your hands. You can invoke it, you can revoke it.

5. You can’t  invoke the thought, and revoke the thought. You don’t have a right to that. But you have [that right] for your speech. So do not to confuse silent speech and mind. This is the major factor why there is distinction between the two.

If you want to work with resolution, understand the oratory organ is important, [even if] we naively think it is mind which resolves. It is not true. Because you resolve with words, you use some words for your resolution. There is an expression for your resolution. Expression is language. There are words in your resolution. Language is in the realm of speech, not in the realm of thought, of the mind.

6. So, there is much to explore about the speech organ. In adhyatma they go far ahead in exploring those four speeches. However, today is not the place for us to dive into that depth to understand para, pashyanti, madhyama, and vaikhari.

We’ll have to start exploring this speech organ. I have given some clues that there is expression… in speech. Underlying the speech is the madhyama. There is something that underlies madhyama, which is pashyanti. There is something that underlies pashyanti, which is para. So that’s the structure of speech — para, pashyanti, madhyama vaikhari. That is the speech organ that we investigate during our studies.

Prana Kriya Based on Vachika Kriya +35.45

1. Today, I want to open out another dimension of this speechly act. What we saw so far was commenting… to improve literacy, understanding, crystallization, etc. That is… to turn out material for thought. I said the oratory act is a very important act; you turn out the material for thought.[5] Unless you crystallize something, unless you have ideation, an idea, notion, concept, precept, or crystallization, you can’t  have material for thought. So that was one dimension in which the oratory organ will give you that material…. It will turn out that material, which is required for the thought process…, for meditativity.

2. But now I’m showing you another dimension of this organ of speech. There are certain kriyas for the essential asanas… [that lead] towards the core aspects of [meditativity]. The speech organ is indispensable there. We are all used to doing asanas skeleto-muscularly. Have I done my sternum, shoulder, deltoid, trapezium, spine, back, hip joint, knee joint, ankle joint, toe joint, foot, arms, and elbows? That has made you so corporeal.

3. Asanas are not corporeal renditions. They have greater depth, enormous depth. There are certain kriyas, which are coming up later in asana, such as prana kriyas, tattva kriyas, and chakra kriyas. Now these kriyas are all based on the oratory act, the vachika kriya.

Vowels Cast a Spell on Pranic System +37.55

1. I will give you a last illustration here, with which we will be ending the session today.

Now…, settle down to either a straight sitting position, Trikonasana, or Tadasana.[6] I told you how the breath can work in earlier sessions – normal inhalation to deeper inhalation, normal exhalation to deeper exhalation, thinner inhalation to thicker inhalation, thinner exhalation to thicker exhalation.[7]

[Each] works differently on body matter. You can mobilize the body differently, you can carry out different addressals, and actualize different processes by volume, velocity, density, confinement of the breath.

2. Now let us see how the prana kriya works. In your position… work on opening the chest in Tadasana, Trikonasana, or Swastikasana. Open your chest. You are all familiar with the bio-mechanical instructions, and bio-mechanical techniques, to open the chest.

Perhaps you will also open the chest with your breath. Inhalation will open the chest in one way, exhalation will open the chest in another way, post exhalative retention will open the chest in another way. So by [using] body, mind, and breath, open it out in different ways.

3. Try to understand… how the speech organ will open the chest differently. Now in the following part in your delineation of your asana, inhale with the sound form of ‘a’ as in uncle.[8] Inhale a, a, a, a, and try to understand how the configuration of the breath… opens your chest.

You can repeat a second cycle, and third cycle. Take a deeper inhalation, silently utter ‘a’ as in uncle and find out how it is the  ‘a’-mode of opening the chest.

4. Now in the following cycles do the same inhalation opening the chest by silently uttering the second vowel ‘aa’ as in father, ‘aa’ as in father. Can you see a significant difference between the ‘a’ mode and ‘aa’ mode?

Or, uncle mode and father mode. You know uncle and father are two different persons. But the very vowel which is in that word is creating significant changes for your chest to open. So your uncle opens the chest in one way by uttering ‘a.’ Your father opens the chest in another way by uttering ‘aa.’

5. Now open the chest along with a vowel such as ‘eee’ as in eagle, or ‘eee’ as in sweet, sweep, eagle. ‘Eee’ eee, eee. How does the chest open? So your silent speech can be an agent to work on opening the chest in variegated manners.

6. Back home you can try this. You can use the ten vowels, long vowels which are mentioned — a, aa, eee, oo, ay, ai, o, ou, um, aha. Each vowel will negotiate a different chest opening. The chest opening will be driven differently by each sound form. And see how significant it is.

7. Bio-mechanics will never tell you. If you try to give a bio-mechanical instruction to your chest to open that way, it will not open. This is a magic. This is a system in our embodiment. Just utter the sound, and it will actualize different bio-mechanics to open out the chest in variegated ways.

Otherwise, you as student of posture, know only one way of opening your chest in Tadasana or Swastikasana. You do not know so many ways, but when you take recourse to this speech organ, silent speech, see the significant magical changes.

8. We have a pranic system within us…, and the pranic system works with sound forms. It can cast a spell on the pranic system. So, a, aa, eee were casting a spell on the pranic system. That’s why the pranic system was mobilized differently, and you opened you chest differently. Perhaps for some of you this is an eureka experience. So, with that eureka experience, let me end the session today.

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[1]         In a previous session we had just commenced with an introduction to vachika kriya — the speechly act: See “Vachika Kriya — Verbal Acts,” Lesson 11: Mind—External Part of Chitta 5-9-20.

[2]         There are three kinds of karmas in the Bhagavad Gita – kayika karma (bodily action), vachika karma (oral action), and manasika karmas (mental action): BG V.11 cites body (kaya), mind (manas), senses (indriya), intelligence (buddhi) actions (karma); BG XVII.14-16 cites body (sharira), speech (vacha), mind (manas) zeal (tapas).

[4]         in the previous session, I said how will you turn out thought matter in asana: This probably refers to Lesson 11, but there also was significant discussion about this in Lesson 9. It was introduced in Lessons 5 and 7. Lesson 9: “Head & Brain Paradigm +8.00,” “Thought, Thinking, Thinker +22.05,” “Doing, Learning, Getting Settled in Asana +25.45,” Adhyatmika Sadhana 5-3-20; Lesson 11: “Vachika Kriya — Verbal Acts,” “Vachika Kriya — Address Body, Mind, Breath in Bharadvajasana +13.45,” “External Vs. Internal Vrttis +29.46,” Mind—External Part of Chitta 5-9-20.

[5]         I said the oratory act is a very important act; you turn out the material for thought: The topic of verbal commentary began in “Vachika Kriya in Bharadvajasana +5.40,” Lesson 11: Mind—External Part of Chitta 5-9-20.

[6]         Now…, settle down to either a straight sitting position, Trikonasana, or Tadasana: Straight signifies the omission of twisting poses.

[7]         told you how the breath can work in earlier sessions – normal inhalation to deeper inhalation…: See “Address the Body with the Breath +7.05,” Lesson 1: Body, Mind, & Breath in Yogic Immunity 4-8-20.

[8]         inhale with the sound form of ‘a’ as in uncle: The ten transliterated Sanskrit vowels do not accurately reflect English-language sounds. A single a sounds like a short u sound in English, enunciated as in but. A long a (ã), which is written as aa without diacritical marks, is similiar to a short a in English, but with an extended duration, as in father. It does not sound like the ay sound of face, which is transliterated as an e (as in Spanish). The ‘eee’ as in sweet is actually transliterated as a long i (î), as in police. Prashant will use these vowel mantras in the next lesson as well.