Interview with Bhau

Dr Kulkarni (Bhau) is 91 years old. He has done his PhD in Bhagavad Gita and Yoga. He was blessed by his yoga masters and received knowledge from many scholars on Yoga. He has written almost a hundred books on yoga philosophy and has given more then 100000 lectures on various aspects of eastern philosophy, hinduism, ashtanga yoga, hatha yoga, Jnana yoga, karma yoga. He is one of the main lecturers for the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Psychology courses. He has an immense knowledge and understanding of the Gita.

What makes him special is he has experienced yoga life and has lived yoga in every moment.

What is the secret to a healthy and long life?
Yoga and the mental state as yoga leads to a balanced state of mind

When did you start practicing yoga and what is yoga to you?
I started practicing yoga and yogasanas at the age of 12.  From that age I have been reading and studying the text Jnaneshwari. It is written by a great yogi, Jnaneshwar. I am following his teachings since this time and I am still studying his text.
To me yoga is a healthy and pure mind. I don’t hate anyone or expect anything from anybody. I don’t get hurt because I don’t have any expectations from anybody.

What is your daily schedule?
My daily lifestyle and daily schedule is my yoga Sadhana. Apart from practicing asanas, pranayam, meditation and food in moderation, my focus is to control my desires and anger. If we keep remembering the negative events and memories it is like rubbing the charcoal which will only cause blackness. Instead one should burn the charcoal so there is only light. That is the secret of yoga and yoga psychology and this is my practice.
At this age I perform 18 to 20 asanas daily including padmasan, sarvangasan, bhujangasan, shalabhasan and viparit karni. I chant my guru mantra daily from Swami Swarupananda who is a direct disciple of Jnaneshwar.
My main pranayams are bhastrika and anulom vilom with bandhas. I also practice a special asana known as Vajrasan as per Jnaneshwar with bandhas practice. This asana was given by Jnaneshwar and it is different to the normal vajrasan and a little difficult to practice. He says that the kundalini can arise in this asana and I have had that experience.
Kundalini cannot be awakened without discipline and control of anger, desire, food, daily routine and state of mind. Patanjali has given the yamas and niyamas for this purpose. Some people claim they can teach how to awaken kundalini in a class. It is not true and not simple. It is also not for everybody. The person must also be well prepared for the experience.

What was your experience of kundalini?
When it rises you feel terrible fear. You feel like everything is vanishing and out of control. The energy makes one rotate in a circle, though one does not realise it and after some time kundalini is awakened. I saw fire in the meditation and a female cobra which was made of fire, moving around and also eating the fire. After these experiences it changed my state of mind. I had experience of meeting some sages in meditation and some difficult spiritual texts were explained to me. These explanations were never given in any book and had a very different meaning. In particular my understanding of the Bhagavad Gita changed. After that I had a higher level of experiences and my perspective and outlook changed.

How important is yoga in daily life?
The balanced state of mind is samadhi. Samadhi is not sitting silently but the whole routine of life is in samadhi, that is a balanced state of mind. The whole of life becomes yoga.

What type of yoga do you practice?
I am from the Nath tradition which is mostly hatha yoga but I practice a combination of hatha, raja, jnana, bhakti and karma as per the teachings of Jnaneshwar.

Which ancient teachings are most important in the modern day?
Bhagavad Gita is the most important and for me the commentary, personal experience and understanding on the Gita by Jnaneshwar.

How do you stay balanced when obstacles arise in life?  
I have trust in god/universe and whatever I get in my life is just like prasad (blessings) from god/universe, so I feel that everything is for my progress. Everything that happens makes me a better person and helps me to understand a little more. When one has a diamond, the more cuts made to the diamond the more precious and valuable it becomes. In life, the more obstacles one faces, the more work for you, the more experience and the more understanding.

What about the loss of your wife?
I feel she is still with me. It is about the quality not the quantity. We did everything together that should be done, we had the best times together. I asked myself if I did anything incomplete or wrong in our relationship and life together. I did not so I was satisfied.

Is the Bhagavad Gita still as important now as it was years back?
Yes because it is not only a spiritual but a scientific approach to life. The Gita considers every life as an important part of the universe and all aspects of our life should be decided based on this identification with nature.

How can yoga improve society?
Progress of society is based on education. Spiritual psychology is vast and needs to be taught to society. Swami Vivekananda said that education is the manifestation of the divinity that is already in man and therefore this should be the basis of education. Present education is not based in this way so society is going down and down. The development of the personality is not a spiritual one, it is only materialistic and that is not enough. An educated family these days may have divorce, major disturbances, unhappiness, addictions and so on. This is because the spiritual psychology is not the basis of present education. God realisation and moksha was the ultimate aims of life but in education the ultimate aim of life is not given at all.   Yoga helps us to overcome obstacles and live a balanced life which ultimately will help create a happy and balanced society.

How can one find his purpose in life?
When you understand the ultimate value of life then you will understand and value your life. One must work on themselves more and more to understand what is right for them and naturally they will know their purpose.

---Interview by Kate Mandlik