Spiritual practitioners are just in a different kind of school that is higher than worldly universities. The learning of worldly knowledge ends in the university. If we want to know about the greater or more mystical things in the universe, we have to walk on the spiritual path. You are also in a kind of school with me, a spiritual Master, but here, you learn different knowledge that is higher than what we learn in a university. Worldly knowledge cannot compare with spiritual knowledge, because there are many mystical things that cannot be explained in a worldly way. Of course, universities offer some benefits. They teach numerous subjects. But, everything is taught here in our group; it is taught inwardly. No worldly language is necessary. Therefore, our school is a transcendental school.

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If we wholeheartedly want to practice spiritually, we will definitely find a true Master. But if we are just curious, or we have the wish to practice but do not understand what spiritual practice is; we observe other people doing it and so we also follow; we hear that it is good to meditate and so we also follow and meditate; in this case, of course, it is very unlikely that we will find a true Master. However, if we are really determined to pursue spiritual practice and yearn for liberation, sooner or later we will find the Master.

No doubt, when you practice Pranayama you will have many benefits. You might have health, maybe a little bit longer life, you might have some magical powers, or maybe you will feel calmer. There is nothing without benefits. But Pranayama alone brings you nowhere because we live eternally without breath. What we call life must not mean the body. If you mean life is the body, then you practice and the breath is important for the body, for the ordinary people only. Many people don't need it. Did you read "The Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda? When his Master was in samadhi, he didn't even breathe. Do you think he had no wisdom at that time when he had no breath? Where had his wisdom gone? How does he attain wisdom then, when he has no breath to practice Pranayama with?

I know many people who practice with the breathing method, not Pranayama, but they count the breath. There are many practices concerning the breath and using the breath as a concentration method. And so far as concentration is concerned, it helps. It helps some people, but I would not advise anyone to use it. There are many better ways than relying on the ephemeral breath. You must train your mind to concentrate by itself, by the soul force, and not by relying on external aids. Otherwise, when you are in an accident, when you faint, when you die, or when you are sick or asleep and not aware of your breathing, how would you practice? We cannot practice just when we are awake or when we are aware of the breath. We must train to practice all the time, 24 hours, and that can be done only by the soul.

I know many people who practice the breath up to the level that they can go without breathing and that is the highest by these methods. If someone can stop breathing, they would congratulate him because that is the highest they can go. But when they stop breathing, that means breathing is, after all, not that important. You can live without it.

Actually, the breath, if I may tell you the truth, is not to be touched. There are two currents in the body: one is what we call life force or "shabd" current and the other one is called the "motor" current or life current. The shabd current is the one from God, vibrating in all kinds of life, with or without breath, animate or inanimate. The shabd is the one we hear. And the other current is the motor current, which takes care of the heat, the cold, the digestive and respiratory systems, and all kinds of things, including the breath. That is regulated already, and we should not bother about it. We should not make it short or long, or stop it or control it by any means because it is arranged by the Most Intelligent. If we mess about with this machine, it might go wrong. When it is having trouble, then we should fix it or take care of it; otherwise, we should not bother or we might touch the wrong button and it will go wrong altogether.

The pyramids were not built to be used as tombs. They found out later that this was not the purpose. I think they built the pyramids for spiritual practice. Just now I told you it was very difficult to get the ‘Instruction Manual of Wisdom’ in ancient times. This is one of the reasons why they built the pyramids. It was because spiritual practice was very difficult in olden times for fear of being discovered by others. Where can you sit when holding a group meditation in the desert? [Laughter] Even with the guards around, everyone can still see you.

In the empty desert, you roast to death by sitting there in the daytime, and freeze to death at night. The temperature in the desert is extremely hot in the daytime and extremely cold at night. Two extremes — that is why they built the pyramids. They are very, very quiet inside. It was very difficult for people to locate the entrance later.

The entrance was known only to their own people. They were very spacious inside, and completely empty. Of course there was nothing; they were built for people to meditate inside, for initiation, etc., without being seen by outsiders.

A real place of spiritual practice is only for people to meditate. There won’t be anything inside, or at the most a Buddha statue or the Buddha’s photograph. They used the Buddha’s statue before, but now perhaps it is faster to take photographs or use a portrait. It was empty because people needed to sit in there, about the same as our place here.