MORRIS KROK ON HATHA YOGA
An extract of material written by Morris Krok

Note: the material below was written by Morris Krok, and is extracted from
a long article released on Internet. This article was edited by Tom Billings.

        Let us discover what all the world is seeking. Seeking for an
 unobstructed body where everything flows with frictionless ease - blood
 circulation, nerve energy and a mind that has been transformed and fully
 aware. The yogis talk of the mind as the thousand petalled lotus that when
 awakened shines like burnished brass.

        Every invention, science and discovery has its simple principle or set
 of simple principles. The mind of man has not been constructed to understand
 the impossible or the web of complexity that civilization has woven. If
 there is a solution it must be simple or there is no solution. As far as
 health and clarity of thought is concerned, the key is found in the Nature
 Cure philosophy and embedded in the science of Hatha Yoga. When you strip
 these two of their unessentials, it amounts almost to doing nothing, but
 intelligently. The search for the simple key is more fascinating than all
 the mysteries that can be ever written as it deals with life's most
 important teachings, that directly and intimately affects each and every one
 of us. Its ending, unfortunately for those who love drama, is an anticlimax
 because of its simplicity, making most of the claims in books and
 laboratory produced elixirs irrelevant and redundant; for the simple way
 needs none of these because it extracts all of life's goodness without
 pageantry and ceremony.

        Early on in my studies I stumbled on the book that opened the door to
 this simple way. It is "Heaven Lies Within Us" which I republished under the
 title "Yoga Gave me Superior Health". On page 40 of this book, the key is
 given.  For the author, Theos Bernard, to make the desired progress in some
 advanced yoga techniques, he had to internally purify himself. His teacher did
 not tell him that he had to eat a special food or take a laboratory produced
 substance. Before he applied these purifying measures his attempts were
 foiled by aches and pains in many parts of the body. The need to internally
 purify the body is found in a concise way in the yoga texts. Although the
 ancient yogis did not mince words, those sutras, as they are called, are
 the greatest legacy that the ancient world has bestowed on modern man. In a
 later chapter of "Heaven Lies Within Us", we are told how some yogis
 abstained from the eating of grains so that their breathing could become so
 silent that it would not cause a feather to move.

        In "Hatha Yoga" another book written by Theos Bernard, on page 68 he
 tells how his saliva was thick, heavy and slimy but became thin and
 transparent as he continued with the internal purification.

        It is interesting to note that he [Tony Officer] discovered
 independently what the yogis taught and also what some Bantu tribes of Africa
 did a few times a week: to regurgitate the contents of the stomach by drinking
 large amounts of water.  Cleansing the stomach in this manner is one of the
 methods the yogis used to cleanse the system. Tony Officer incidentally made
 it clear in his writings that germs and viruses cannot live or propagate in a
 purified body. He also mentioned an interesting anatomical fact - the role of
 the ileo-caecal valve. This valve between the small intestine and the colon is
 a unique device that only allows solids to pass into the colon but no
 liquids. So if you drink one glass of water or ten, this valve prevents it
 from passing into the colon and the water has to be absorbed by the villi
 into the bloodstream.

        At this very moment you are the product of everything that you have
 eaten drunk, thought, experienced through the five senses from infancy to the
 present state. This is the baggage that we take with us every moment of our

MORRIS KROK ON HATHA YOGA (continued)

life. We take it on our journeys and we take it through mountain trails and
 on marathons. All you know is what you are thinking and feeling at the
 present moment. So what I am telling you today is based on what I have
 experienced.

        The basis of what I know came early on in my life, perhaps too early
 for me to appreciate or give it the respect it deserves. I learned without the
 help of societies and networks just by trying to tie two and two together and
 the wonderful tool I learned from Hindu Philosophy - "neti-neti" which means
 "not this, not that". It is a tool of discernment that aims at extracting
 the truth from a mass of conflicting information. Because this knowledge
 came relatively easy, I made many mistakes and had to learn through the
 hard-taskmaster of experience. It is for this reason I say that a wise man
 learns from the mistakes of others, but a fool does not even learn from his
 own.

        To find the truth we have to apply simple logic - the neti-neti (not
 this, not that) tool based on Hindu philosophy. Throughout history there have
 been persons who lived long, healthy and productive lives without any of
 these items. They lived through epidemics and plagues. You cannot trap
 sunlight, vitality and good sense in a bottle. Logic again should tell us
 the futility of these substances when daily sometimes as much as five times
 we are eating toxic and slime producing foods. These remedies do not touch
 the periphery of the problem. Do not go through life thinking that whatever
 is sold in the health shop is beyond reproach and has the approval of the
 almighty. They may even sell some precooked products made with organically
 grown items but how valuable can something organic be if it has been
 pulverized by cooking. Therefore when going to a health shop it is
 necessary to be very selective. On every label of packaged commercially
 produced food it should include this statement "Surgeon's Warning" - Eating
 this food is dangerous to your health.

        Great truths and wonderful discoveries have often been stumbled upon.
 On many occasions, one finds something that he did not know existed, and found
 it in the process of looking for something else. Often I have obtained
 important information from an unsolicited remark, or from a book that had
 nothing to do with my basic research. One such event was when I read a book
 called "Icarus". It was about a Scandanavian who lived for a while in North
 Africa. He met there a French hermit who believed that he could live for
 ever if he practised a special yoga breathing method and lived only on
 goats milk. In the end the Bedouins supplying the milk killed the goats and
 moved away. This hermit, together with the Scandanavian and a few other
 persons had to traverse a few hundred miles of desert to the next town. The
 hermit because of his diet of rich goat milk was the only one who did not
 survive the journey, much of which had to be made on foot. He was constantly
 dribbling thick slimy mucous, and eventually his digestive tract
 regurgitated so much that he was figuratively smothered and died of
 suffocation.

        A dairy farmer whose cows were stall fed i.e. fed on grains and very
 little green stuff as he only farmed on a small plot close to the town,
 found that the milk had to be filtered so as to remove the slime from it.
 Here again the starch was the culprit. In Josiah Oldfield's book "Eat
 Nature's Food and Live Long", he mentions how cows and horses fed on grains
 developed dry skin and hair but when left out to the pasturage and fed some
 linseed oil, their hair and skin became healthy and moist.

        In a sense nature cure rediscovered independently what the yogis learned
 three thousand years ago: that for higher health, the body must be
 thoroughly purified of all toxic and unwanted substances.

        In spite of what the yogis and naturopaths discovered, mankind today is
 trying to establish good health by drugs, exotic substances, food

MORRIS KROK ON HATHA YOGA (continued)

 supplements and many other complicated, suppressive methods. It is
 ironic to think that the truth was known by these wise ancients
 thousands of years ago, but generally ignored by modern man. Hatha Yoga is
 very popular today in the form of stretching and breathing exercises but
 what is generally not known is that the more important aspect of this science
 is one's conditioning behind the scenes where no physical exertions are
 involved. This conditioning consists of two main elements, purifying
 measures and persevering with a diet that no longer leaves toxic and
 stifling byproducts behind in the system. The yogis rightly say
 unintelligent efforts are futile. What good therefore is it if, after a long
 prolonged exercise programme, one neutralises the time spent by putting
 back the rubbish that he/she has sweated out. The yogic poses release some of
 the unwanted accumulations in the joints and muscles, and make you feel
 better for a while, but if the diet is not altogether right, the digestive
 tract will just re-feed a new quantity of obstruction within a short time
 after exercising. Water treatments, cold and hot packs and the cleansing of
 the skin will also achieve beneficial results but again it will only be
 temporary.

        The secret amounts to putting yourself into a deep elimination mode.
 The body can do one of two things - either its energy is directed at
 assimilation or at elimination. Therefore to be healthier, more at ease,
 calmer and in better control of all our faculties, it is not necessarily a
 question of a new food, supplement etc., but of assisting the body to
 eliminate the accumulation of toxic substances that is interfering with the
 finer workings of the body. Stretching, deep breathing, hydrotherapy, and
 rest assist the body to do just this. But to achieve this without doing
 anything special, miss as many meals as possible until the body has been
 given the opportunity to eliminate toxic substances from the deeper tissues
 and you feel comfortable in body and mind. In fact one should only eat when
 copious saliva is flowing in the mouth and digestive juices are rumbling in
 the stomach and the previous meal has made a complete journey through the
 body and its residues have been evacuated through the bowels.

        "Outwardly you will become silent but within your master will speak
 in the voice of a roaring rapid and resounding waterfall."
        "Cleanse the stomach so that the purified mind can be forever inspired."

        Yoga, that remarkable science, tells us that the brain is the thousand
 petalled lotus which is merely the billions of pieces of information that
 life has recorded and engraved in it. The purpose of Hatha Yoga is Raja
 Yoga which means the perfect development of the powers of the mind. The
 postures, purification, breathing methods of Hatha Yoga are merely tools to
 prepare the body for Raja. But the biggest stumbling block for civilized
 man is food. The wrong food or should it rather be called substances,
 saturates our tissues, organs and ducts with wastes that detract from
 efficiency - the silent breath and the calm mind.

        In the musical play Oliver, perhaps the orphanage keeper was right in
 not heeding Oliver's request "Sir, may I have more. He would have only given
 him another bowl of foodless soup. Although raw living food is alive, contains
 usable nutrients, and is better processed and utilized by the body it is
 still not a magical substance. However, when we eat our natural food when
 actual hunger is present we become more dietetically satisfied and less
 food conscious. These foods do not leave toxic substances behind that
 produce allergies and disturb our mental composure. One obtains better
 results from our natural food when our body is completely purified of every
 drop of unwanted substance that has accumulated in our body since infancy.
 It is for this reason that the body must be put into the elimination mode.
 You can eat the best food and if bedridden for months, you will not even be
 able to walk as the lack of movement will have resulted in atrophy of the
 muscles of the legs. Life is movement and movement is life. We can also
 truly say that life is breath and breath is life. Therefore make room for

MORRIS KROK ON HATHA YOGA (continued)

 the breath of life. Food can do so much and no more.

        Developed over thousands of years of careful observation and meditation,
 truth handed down from master to disciple over the centuries, and tested
 and retested every step of the way, the ancient yogis understood far better
 than the professors and doctors of our time that health is the balance
 between assimilation and elimination. Is it not ironic and strange that
 this great truth is taught to us in primary school but forgotten or totally
 ignored in our universities? The medical world of today speaks a language
 that nature does not understand. The yogis did not make outlandish claims
 that any specific food is endowed with remarkable virtues or elixirs but
 they did say that we should eat those foods that nature supplies to us.
 They did not talk in terms of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and
 vitamins. Hovannesian, and Iranian wrote a book on raw foods wherein he
 states that any one complete whole food will supply the needs of the body.
 So one fruit is not better than another fruit, or one nut better than
 another. Therefore on the raw diet we do not need in the same day, every
 possible fruit. But they knew the importance of a purified intestinal and
 colonic tract.

        Theos Bernard wrote a remarkable book which I read in 1955 or 1956,
 "Heaven Lies Within Us". When it went out of print I republished it as
 "Yoga Gave Me Superior Health" but I may have made a mistake in changing its
 title because to many "yoga" is another dirty four letter word. However on
 page 40 of this book is found the true health secret. Theos Bernard, when
 initiated into the science of yoga - "Infinite energy is at the disposal of
 any man if he knows how to get it; and this is part of the science of Yoga" -
 was told that he had to learn to stand on his head for three hours, he had to
 sit in the lotus pose for the same amount of time. With all his efforts,
 even though he had mastered the yoga poses and special exercises involving
 the abdomen, it was only with difficulty that he could stand on his head
 for one hour. When he tried to go beyond this period he suffered every
 possible ache and pain - stomach ache, back pain, leg pains and headaches.
 His teacher then told him that if he wanted to reach the desired goal, he
 must purify himself internally by using water vomits, swallowing of a cloth
 to soak up slimy wastes, and enemas. His teacher told him that the residues
 which accumulate along the length of the entire membraneous tract is
 responsible for his aches and pain and it must be removed if he wants to
 make progress. Theos Bernard followed his teacher's advice and achieved his
 goal which was to stand on his head for three hours every day for a month.
 He was not told that the solution is in a special food, drug or supplement
 but in the need of inner purification and avoiding those foods which
 produce large quantities of mucous in the system such as the starches, fried
 food and dairy products. He also had to eat very sparingly.

        In "Heaven Lies Within Us", on page 17, Theos Bernard writes:
        "All the philosophical and religious books I had read stressed the fact
 that if I could hold the Right Thought anything that I desired would be
 mine. The trouble was that it was impossible to hold the right thought long
 enough. I had learned from all previous training that it was one thing to
 be instructed, another to follow the instructions."

        Yes, the answer is certainly to keep the right thought uppermost in
 the mind - something that is not easy when there are so many divergent and
 distracting things in this technical world to disturb us. In order to
 achieve this, I go back to books that have given me insight which I re-read
 from time to time or meditate on certain passages. But I also do another
 thing. It is somewhat childish but I give it a tag of respectability and
 justify it by believing that it enables me not to forget life's cherished
 teachings. I always visit second hand book shops and whenever I find my
 favorite books I buy them. They include the writings of Theos Bernard and
 one written by Vithaldas - "Yoga Health System". I am also pleased to say
 that I have been able to buy copies of my out-of-print published in 1958 -

MORRIS KROK ON HATHA YOGA (continued)

 "Hatha Yoga in its Moods Multivarious" - from a number of second hand book
 shops. For this reason I can list the cities and towns where I have found
 my favorites: Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, New York, Hay-on Wye near
 the Welsh border, and in California, Fremont, Palo Alto, San Francisco,
 Santa Cruz, Alameda, Oakland, Mountain View, San Jose, Davis and Menlo
 Park. But of course the best way to keep the truth uppermost in the mind is
 to apply it on a daily basis. But I have an affirmation to achieve this.

        Start the day right if you want to end it right; and end it right if
 you want to start it right.  Consequently by never eating breakfast and doing
 what I do in the morning I am starting the day right. But the best way, of
 course, is to end it right, by eating sparingly at night or omitting the
 evening meal altogether.

        It is interesting to note that in Theos Bernard's book on Hatha Yoga on
 page 68 he states that his saliva was thick, heavy and slimy at the
 beginning but became thin, clear and smooth as he continued with the
 purification.

        That book also contains this quotation from Hatha Yoga Pradipika:
        "By removing the impurities of the nadis (nerves), the air can be
 restrained, according to one's wish, and the appetite is increased, the
 divine sound is awakened, and the body becomes healthy."


Notes by the article editor (Tom Billings):

Special thanks to Morris Krok for writing the above, and for authorizing its
distribution!

See my note on the headstand, in the previous article in this series,
"Morris Krok on Excessive Fruit Consumption".

Comment: the purification practices of hatha yoga are not limited to
the kriyas (special cleansing practices, some of which are discussed
above). Most yoga postures have some cleansing effects; in particular
the practice of nadi shuddhi, alternate nostril breathing, helps purify
the nervous system.

Those in the U.S. can order the books by Morris Krok from his daughter,
contact:

Susan Krok
21 Coquito Ct.
Portola Valley, CA 94028

I suggest using her instead of alternate suppliers, as his family here
will benefit.