Aligning Action To Intention

A beautiful incident from the life of enlightened master, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, is described in Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play:

It was 1 January 1886. Ramakrishna was walking on the garden path at Cossipore garden in West Bengal, Bharat. He asked one of the disciples, 'What have you seen and understood about me that makes you say to everyone all these things like I am an incarnation?'

The disciple knelt down to Ramakrishna and replied, 'What more can I say of Him? Even the sages Vyasa and Valmiki could find no words to measure His glory!'

Ramakrishna was so touched by the disciple's sincere faith that he just said, 'What more do I need to tell you? I bless you all. May you all be illumined!' He went into a state of deep ecstasy having uttered these words. He touched each devotee in the state of overwhelming compassion and grace and blessed each with the divine touch. There were many disciples who have recorded their memorable experiences of gifts bestowed by Existence on this day of 'Kalpataru darshan'.

See, the word kalpataru means in the traditional sense, the energy which fulfills your desires. Please understand the word 'fulfilling'. Fulfilling does not mean granting. Granting is different; fulfilling is different. Fulfill means it just takes you beyond. Whatever needs to be changed, it gives you the energy to change. Whatever needs to be accepted, it gives you the intelligence to accept.

Kalpataru – this program is designed to awaken the living enlightenment energy inside you, to initiate you into living enlightenment. Kalpataru is the wish-fulfilling divine tree (kalpa – boon; taru - tree).

Kalpataru is a unique one-day meditation program that leads you to blissful living.

It prepares you through special meditations to receive the touch of a living enlightened being. It empowers you with the energy to align your intentions with your actions so you naturally move with outer success and inner bliss.

Any suffering happens only because of misalignment of intention and action. When our intention is right but our action is not aligned with it, we miss the whole thing. But first, our intention itself needs to be right! Most of the time, we have self-contradictory intentions giving rise to confused actions, and therefore confusing results.

As long as the intention and action are not right and aligned with each other, we will feel continuously dissatisfied in life. This is a deep secret of life. Only when we don't know these secrets, we don't understand why we are dissatisfied.

Take a simple example. Your intention is to be free from worry, is it not? But if you just observe, you will see that you search for the slightest excuse to enter into worry! This is what we call 'self-contradictory'.

Let me tell you a small story:

A man was suddenly found searching for something in front of his house.

A passerby stopped and asked him what he was searching for.

The man replied, 'I lost a gold coin.'

The passerby felt sorry for him and started searching along with him.

Soon, another person came by and asked what they were searching for. Then he too started searching for the gold coin.

Soon, they became a group of people searching for the gold coin.

Suddenly one of them asked the man, 'Are you sure you dropped the coin here?'

The man replied, 'I lost it inside the house, but there was light only here, so I am searching here.'

This is what we too do in life when we don't align our intentions with our actions! The moment we know our intention well, every ounce of energy, intelligence, clarity and devotion, we should spend only to fulfill the intention. Then, there will be no hangover, no stress, no emptiness, no worry. We will integrate as a mature individual. We will be fulfilled.

Take for example what happens at a typical situation at work. Say you have a deadline for a project and your colleague on the same project does not do his part of the work. Now what do you do? You get angry but you know that work has to be done for the project to be completed. So you end up finding some help or finishing it yourself. You find some alternative but with an undercurrent of hatred and vengeance. You may end up finishing the work and the project may meet its deadline comfortably.

But just step back and see the way the whole sequence of actions has materialized. The intention is actually straight: complete the project. The action needed also is straight – aligned with the intention.

But what branches and diversions have we introduced on this straight path? All the emotional disturbances and negativities we spit out in our inner space are like road-blockages that we ourselves introduce on the straight highway. After creating these obstructions ourselves, we then search for diversions to get to our destination.

What happens? We take more time and worse still, we don't enjoy the journey. Even if we reach the destination on time, the whole purpose of the journey - to experience fulfillment – does not happen when we reach the destination.

Having the right intention is the first step.

How do we determine what is really our intention, our true desire? And how do we know it is the right intention?

This deep self-analysis is what Kalpataru guides you through. The very process brings alive from its very roots your latent natural intelligence. The powerful support of the Master's presence is the ultimate assurance – it takes you to the very depths of your being, and brings you face to face with your true self. The intense and focused effort to realize your ultimate desire in life just brings that desire up within you.

Now how can you be sure the desire, intention is 'right'? By right, I don't mean socially right. That 'right' is variable and depends on what culture and background you live in. What I mean by 'right' here is according to the laws of the Cosmos, of Existence. Anything in tune with Existence has to be right because it can only be for the good of everyone.

Understand, anything that comes from your consciousness, out of pure awareness, will by its very nature be in tune with Existence. By very nature, you are bliss. Bliss is intelligence and compassion both merged into one.

Aligning this right intention with action is the next step.

This is the real test of the strength of your intention. Only when the intention is based on the strong foundation of your complete awareness and consciousness can it grow and actualize to action.

Be very clear, if you find yourself saying, 'I want to really do this but I am not able to…I don't feel motivated enough to see it to completion,' then you have not put the light of awareness on your intention. The very lack of intensity shows that somewhere inside, you yourself are not clear, not convinced about the need for that desire to fulfill in your life.

Kalpataru is the fire that burns away all the impurities of your distractions and confusions so that only your ultimate desire remains like dazzling gold. When this happens, a deep integration happens inside you. All the escape routes and diversions which had distracted you, start fading away and you seamlessly enter into the zone of aligned thought, word and action.

Then automatically, intensity and intelligence will happen and your life will transform into deep fulfillment. By its sheer strength, the desire will lead you with full intensity and enthusiasm towards the ultimate goal of fulfillment. Your awareness will be so deep, your sensitivity so high, you can see subtle yet quantum changes in yourself. These 'small' transformations are the real big ones but we don't understand that and want big transformation. These small transformations are actually so powerful they directly open up a huge space for more transformations.

**This integration within yourself will bring about a very important change in your life – you will feel more and more settled and relaxed with yourself.** That relaxation with what you are is such a tremendous freedom!

Naturally, you will be an honest person within yourself and to others in your interactions. You will no more struggle to maintain an image. You will be blissful being honest about yourself, being just the way you are. And you will find people responding to the energizing presence you radiate rather than to the mere words. So just be yourself and you can enjoy the unfolding miracles of aligning your action with your intention.

Kalpataru bestows upon you the energy to imbibe the right intention, and align every action with the intention.

You need to understand a deep secret of this universe. It is a truth, a cosmic law.

Nothing can ever be taken away from you for which you are worthy of. Whatever you are worthy of, whatever responsibility you take, whatever you are able to handle, will never leave you. Even death cannot separate that from you.

Nothing can be enjoyed by you, even if you acquire and legally keep around you, that for which you are not worthy of. Whatever you are not worthy of, even if you have it legally in your name, you will not be living it.

Please understand, you don't even have to believe what I am saying. All I am saying is have little sympathy to what I am saying and experiment with this understanding in your life. I experimented with this truth not only in my life but in the lives of tens of thousands of disciples; I can say this is 100% true in the case of all 100% of them. One more thing, I have no vested interest to convince you about this truth. I don't get any money or there is no company to fund me for every person getting enlightened! So what I am saying is the truth and I have verified it based on my experience.

I have seen people all over the world, they can't enjoy the scene unless it is legally theirs. They will go to lovely hill-stations and beautiful beaches; but they can't enjoy. First thing they will want to know is how to own an apartment or resort in that place. They will go on buying resorts and beach-houses but they are never be able to have vacation – because they are too busy buying another vacation home somewhere! And the watchman at the resort will be enjoying the wealth!

In the Vedic tradition, two types of wealth are described – Kubera's wealth and Lakshmi's wealth. Kubera is a demigod. He goes on accumulating; neither does he enjoy nor does he allow others to enjoy! It will be there for the future. When that future will come, nobody knows! This is Kubera's wealth – accumulated out of insecurity.

Please understand, that wealth will never come of use when you really need it. Because when the need arises, you will think, 'No; worse needs may arise. Worse times may come. For that let this wealth be there.' Lakshmi's wealth is circulating wealth. Kubera's wealth is not wealth; it is sheer load and pressure on your body, mind and system. Lakshmi is wealthy but constantly showering.

Wealth created and maintained out of insecurity brings more and more bondage and fear. Wealth created out of overflowing energy, intelligence, clarity and freedom brings more and more freedom. So the basic attitude with which you function is going to play a major role in whether you are going to be a Kubera or Lakshmi.

Understand, the cosmos runs based on dharma. Whatever you carry – intelligence, energy, relationships, love, wealth, awareness – everything stays with you even if you die. It is like you are a bubble that disappears here and reappears somewhere else. If this one truth you are able to internalize, you will be liberated from the fear of death now itself.

You will be completely liberated from all the insecurities and fears you constantly carry. Now you are carrying your own hell. The constant fear and insecurity we carry with us can be healed this minute.

Be very clear, the cosmos is not an accident. It is an order; it is pure auspiciousness.

If you believe the whole thing is chaos, depression is inevitable. Because at every step, there is fear, there is no order. You don't know what can happen next moment. If you think you are here to be punished, you are in hell. But if you think you are here to be fulfilled, you are in heaven. Hell and heaven are not geographical; they are psychological.

A small story:

A man was driving his car on the highway when he heard an announcement on the local radio station, 'There is a car driving at 180 mph on Highway 205. Please drive carefully while the traffic police are at work to catch the culprit.'

The man exclaimed to himself, 'One car? God, there are hundreds!'

The man was himself driving on the wrong lane but was blaming others for driving on the wrong lane! Understand, if you feel life is a chaos, you are driving on the wrong lane!

Understanding the purpose of cosmos, purpose of your existence and the connection between the two is what I call awakening to the truth, awakening to the enlightenment. Then the cosmos will simply live through you.

Kalpataru means the energy which makes you live enlightenment, which makes you live as jeevan muktas, living enlightened beings.

Please understand, let me describe the word 'living enlightenment'. Living enlightenment does not mean becoming something. It is not a lifestyle change.

If I have to describe the idea of jeevan mukti in one word, it is living a 'conflict-free life' - life without any inner or outer conflicts, living completely at ease with the whole truth, living in tune with the whole truth. Living enlightenment means living a conflict-free life. Whatever you may be doing, wherever you may be living, living a conflict-free life – is living enlightenment**.**

There are two ways to enjoy life: either raise your energy to fulfill all your desires, to change whatever needs to be changed. Or raise your intelligence to accept whatever need not be changed.

If I have to put the whole truth of living enlightenment in few words, it is:

Shakti: energy to change whatever needs to be changed. In your life you can change so many things. But we don't change because we neither have awareness not have the energy or even the will to change. So awakening the energy to change the things which you can change in your life is shakti.

Buddhi: intelligence to accept whatever need not be changed. There are so many things in your life which you need not change. Many things you can't change also like death – death of near and dear ones or your old age and death. Accept the things which you can't change.

Yukti: clarity to understand however much you change, whatever you may do, the whole thing is a changing dream.

Bhakti: strong feeling connection with That which does not change. You may call that as guru or God, or whatever name you may choose to use. The strong feeling connection with that unchanging reality is what I call bhakti.

So living all these four is jeevan mukti.

Let us understand these four truths a little deeper. This whole program is designed to understand and internalize these four truths. This is the essence: understanding, internalizing and having one glimpse of this Truth I am saying, means having at least one initiation. Initiation means beginning to live these Truths.

Listening to these Truths will cleanse the conscious mind. Internalizing will cleanse the subconscious mind, through meditation. The initiation, the Master's touch will make your hardware to hold and radiate these ideas and energy.

See, your software or the mind has two parts: conscious and subconscious. The conscious part will be cleansed when you listen to these ideas and understand these Truths. The subconscious part will be cleansed when you meditate and internalize. Your hardware, the nervous system or your brain, will be cleansed and awakened by the initiation, by the touch of the Master. Then you can continue to digest these ideas and live these ideas, radiate these ideas.

Understand, these truths are from a tradition which is ten thousand years old, from the world's greatest, longest living civilization.

Fortunately, what happened to the Mayan and Egyptian civilizations did not happen to the Vedic civilization. It is because we are open; our inner space is large enough to accommodate, accept and withstand all invasions. In the last 3000 years of recorded history of Bharat, 5000 invasions have happened.

The oldest civilization has withstood all the invasions. And it is still alive just because it is based on living enlightenment, jeevan mukti. The whole civilization is based on jeevan mukti. I can say, that is the greatest contribution our civilization has given to the world.

In Sanskrit, we have a word called Upanishad. It means 'sitting with the Master'. Just sitting with the Master - that itself can do so much. So sit only with the Master now. Usually, you don't create a psychological space where you can straightaway experience something. Now decide to be intense and create a psychological space where you can be just with the Master. Be intense. Decide, 'Today I will put my whole being just to get a glimpse of this Truth.'

Shankara says beautifully about manushyatva, mumukshatva, mahapurusha saanidhya. Humanness, seeking beyond what you see through the five senses, and the enlightened master's company, having all these three and not becoming enlightened, is the ultimate stupidity. Sorry for the strong word, but that is the ultimate stupidity!

Fortunately, you have all these three today. You have human-ness. You have seeking, that is why you want to know about these Truths. And you have mahapurusha saanidhya, the nearness of an enlightened Master. You have all these three now. Don't miss it; catch at least a glimpse. Carry this energy.

Just be completely open and available, be intense. All I can say is, if you become spiritual, you may miss only one thing, the constant irritation and suffering you are carrying inside you, that's all. Nothing else, only that will be taken away from your life. Nothing else will be taken away. You don't need to do anything else.

Please understand, laziness is not spirituality. Spirituality is not a tamasic acceptance of life. Tamas means laziness and laziness is not spirituality. You have the energy to change whatever you can change in your life.

People ask me, 'Swamiji, is life pre-destined or do we have a free will?' Life is like a taperecorder. If you don't intervene it will go on as pre-programmed. But if you have the will, you can intervene and change things at any point with a simple effort.

Many times, we think spirituality means we don't have to change anything. No! The whole Hindu culture is suffering with this one misunderstanding. They think spirituality means nothing needs to be changed. I have seen in Bharat, spirituality means, 'Oh, God will take care of everything!' When it comes to their personal life, they do everything. When it comes to changing what they need to change, they say, 'God will take care of everything!'

The other day, one person came to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and said, 'Swamiji, I am addicted. Please do something and help me.' THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told him, 'Take responsibility, change your mentality. I will guide you. I will support you.'

After one week, he came back again, 'No, no, no. I have surrendered to you. You only have to change me. I can't do anything.' THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told him, 'What do you mean by it? Do you want me to take your car keys and hide? Be intelligent. Be responsible. I can only guide you. You have to stand up.'

Stand up and change whatever needs to be changed. Having the courage, having the energy, having the strength to change whatever needs to be changed, is shakti. Take responsibility. Stand up; it is your life. Be little more intelligent. Be little stronger. Be little more open. Be little more available to the Truth.

How does desire or intention get actualized as action?

The undirected desire or pure and overflowing energy is called iccha shakti or the desire energy.

From the navel, energy comes as pure energy. In the heart region, the energy gets converted to the power of desire. This further gets converted into words in the throat region. The part in the throat which converts energy into words is the vak or the speech energy.

To give an analogy, the energy comes as loose cotton from the navel region. The cotton becomes thread in the throat region. Another analogy is, the energy flows like molten iron till the throat. The throat is like a forge where the product, the words, is formed!

Then the words move up to the brain. In the brain, the energy can stay as the power of knowledge or gnana shakti. Or the energy can get converted to a command. The command moves all over the body and moves you into action. This is the power of action or kriya shakti. For example, the desire energy to know about the head can remain as knowledge of the head. Or the desire energy can express as the power of action like moving the head.

If the energy is not channeled properly, the knowledge and action are disconnected from the power of desire. The knowledge and action should be in tune with the desire. Then it forms

Desires can be self-contradictory. These fall in two categories.

• 1. Conceptually self-contradictory For example, you want to make a lot of money. For this you have to work day and night. On the other hand, you also have a desire to rest on the beach and relax every evening. Now both the desires are contradictory. If you try to fulfill one, the other one cannot be fulfilled. If you want to become rich, you need to work hard to make money. But at the same time, you cannot live a life of luxury because you need money to afford that life.
• 2. Inherently self-contradictory

For example, you have a deep desire to get rid of your smoking habit. You say, 'I want to get rid of smoking.' Or it could be that you have a headache and you keep telling yourself, 'I want to be free of headache.' Now, every time you say 'smoking' or 'headache', the experience of smoking or headache gets engraved deeper and deeper inside you, it gets strengthened. Instead if you say 'I am healthy', that is a straight desire, not self-contradicting.

The words we speak both outside and inside us, the thoughts that we radiate, are all very powerful. We underestimate the influence they have on us and others.

Let me give you a few examples of the power of words.

In his book The Hidden Messages from Water, the author Dr. Masaru Emoto talks about his novel experiments on water. He collected water samples from different sources and exposed them to various kinds of thoughts. Then he froze the water samples and studied their crystalline structure through a microscope with the help of high-speed photography. Thousands of these crystals were studied under tightly regulated conditions of temperature, cooling time and lighting.

Then he did various experiments on these water samples – playing different types of music to the water, talking to the water, reading out from ancient spiritual teachings, praying with a certain intention etc. He found that when the water samples were exposed to positive energy like healing music, positive words, positive thoughts, scriptural teachings etc, the water crystals that formed were very beautiful and graceful. The water exposed to negative feelings or thoughts did not form crystals but it formed an irregular structure which reflected the emotions of the person handling them.

Imagine, if words, sounds and thoughts can have this effect on water, what effect they have on the human body which is more than seventy percent water! Planet earth is also covered with over seventy percent water. Just imagine the tremendous effect our thoughts, words and intentions have on the planet and us!

This experiment actually inspired many people around the world to experiment with the power of words in many ways. For example, two containers of cooked rice were taken. To one container loving, positive words were spoken, and to the other container hateful, negative words were spoken. It was found that the container to which negative words were spoken grew mold much more quickly and abundantly than the container to which positive words were spoken.

Another real incident from history:

When Bharat was under British rule, the British soldiers found that when they carried water from the river Thames from England to Bharat in their ships, the water got spoiled even while on the ship. But when they carried water from the river Ganga back from Bharat to England, the water not only stayed fresh through the voyage, but also remained fresh until they consumed all of it back in England! When scientists studied this surprising phenomenon, they found that this fresh water from the sacred river Ganga in Calcutta which was worshipped by millions of people from around the world, had the natural properties of neutralizing harmful bacteria and purifying itself.

When ten minutes of speaking to a glass of water can change its very crystalline structure, imagine what will happen when billions of people stand in the river and sincerely pray, in a tradition that has been continuing unbroken for over thousands of years! Naturally they have left their prayerful thoughts as imprints on this water which is so energizing and self-healing. The whole river Ganga has become energized.

uddhared atmanaatmaanam naatmaanam avasaadayet

aatmaiva hy aatmano bandhur aatmaiva ripur aatmanah

In Bhagavad Gita, there is a beautiful sloka,

One important thing that you need to know is when the cognitive shift happens, when you change your mental setup, the non-mechanical parts of your brain will be awakened. You see, the mechanical parts of your brain will be active from the moment of your birth just because you are a human being.

But when you start to understand the cosmic law, the great truths, the non-mechanical parts of your brain will be awakened. This is what is called the second birth, dvija, the rebirth. That is why, in the Hindu tradition you are called dvija (twice born) when you are initiated into spirituality. It means that now you have begun to understand the law of the cosmos.

Once initiated into the truths, your thinking becomes new. It is not based on fear or greed like animals. Animals don't need to think because all they do is function based on fear and greed. If you act based on fear and greed, the mechanical parts of your brain are more than enough for you. But to go beyond fear and greed, you need the non-mechanical parts of your brain to be awakened. Awakening the non-mechanical parts of your brain is called as the kundalini awakening.

People usually question me as to how the energy can be awakened by merely changing the understanding. You see, in your day to day life if you are trained to feel tired at a particular time, then you will feel tired when the moment arrives. You will feel tired even if you have not worked the whole day!

For example, let us say you usually get depressed at around 9:30 am every morning thinking that you have to go to office. Then, you can see that even on Sundays when you don't need to go to office, you will be in a low mood, you will be depressed. You will tell yourself, 'Oh it is Sunday today! I don't have to go to office, relax.' Even then, the low mood will not pass. You will still remain in a low mood.

Your mental setup is directly related to your kundalini awakening. When you use the shakti to change whatever you can change, to change your understanding, you awaken tremendous energy in you.

You can see the power of shakti when you want to break some long habit. If you fight with a single habit, any habit for that matter, it will release tremendous energy in you. Habit is energy used unnecessarily and in the wrong direction, both.

When you break a habit, even a simple habit like having a cup of coffee in the morning, you release tremendous energy in your system. That is why in our tradition, we had practices like fasting or keeping vigil throughout the night. It was to break our habits and create a new energy flow. Just bring in awareness into your habits.

Bringing awareness is trying to change whatever you can. Expressing the shakti to change whatever you can is what I call the first technique of living enlightenment.

The second thing you need is buddhi, acceptance - to connect and relate, live with the things which can't be changed. There are so many things which need not be changed and which can't be changed, like death. Not only your death, but the death of near and dear ones also. Sometimes, you may lose your loved one or the love from that person.

There are some things which can't be changed and which need not be changed. Start living with them, with the buddhi or intelligence to live with it, to accept it, to connect with it.

People ask me, 'What should I do, Swamiji? Should I start changing things or should I start accepting things?'

Understand, I have an important secret clue. It is a very beautiful technique to find out whether you need to change more things in your life or you need to start accepting more things in your life. There is an important clue; this is from Tantra.

In Tantra, they have dived deep so deep into the mind and consciousness. They have developed so many wonderful techniques. I can say, in Tantra they dived deep into the consciousness and did research and development for 10000 years*.* A big lineage of enlightened scientists, I can say 'saint-ists', did research and development and created techniques.

Understand this technique. Early morning, when you are out of your sleep, suppose you feel fresh, alive, and the waking state is so beautiful, but you felt your sleep was suffocating. Suppose you get up and feel, 'O God, I woke up! The sleep and dream was nightmarish! It was suffocating! I am so happy I am awake.' In this case, you need to express more shakti. It means so much of potential is there inside you which you have not expressed. Please understand, you are living a lazy life.

If you feel the other way, the moment you wake up, say the blood pressure goes up. You say, 'One more day! O God, I don't know why I wake up! Sleeping was such a wonderful space.' The Monday morning blues! I read that in USA, 33% of heart attacks happen on Monday mornings. The very pressure they have to go to their job blows them up!

If your pressure goes up the moment you wake up, and you feel the sleep was peaceful and wonderful, and in the waking state you feel pressured, disturbed, suffocated, suffering, then you need to practice acceptance. Understand, you are changing too many things in your life.

Please understand, if your waking state is more alive and fresh, if the dream state was suffocating, tensed, nightmarish, you need to change things. Your potential energy is not expressed; you are too lazy.

If your waking state is pressured, tensed; and the sleeping state was more peaceful, calm, relaxed, you need to practice acceptance. You are changing too many things. Now you need to relax, rest a bit. You need to accept.

The deep understanding of acceptance can happen when you realize that whatever you see and experience is because of your thought patterns. Whatever you see in the outer world, whether it is your health, body, mind, world, relationships, everything is because of your thought patterns.

A small story to show how experiences are changed through thought patterns:

Once an old man went to a neighboring village for some work. When he came back, from a distance he saw his house on fire. He started shouting and crying. He had three sons. One son rushed to him and said, 'Father, don't worry. Don't you remember yesterday you sold that house?' The old man suddenly stood up, wiped his tears saying, 'Oh yes, yes, yes! I remember'. And he was completely relaxed.

In a few minutes, his second son ran towards him and said, 'Father it is true we sold yesterday, but still we have not got the money'. Then again the old man fell and started crying, 'Oh my house is on fire, please help! There is nobody to save me, is there anybody to help?'

After few minutes, the third son came, 'No, no, don't worry father, just today morning I took the money and deposited in the bank, the other brothers don't know. It is not our house'. Then immediately the old man sat up again, wiped his tears, 'Thank God, everything is okay'.

See, the same situation, same person, one moment he is feeling the deep suffering and agony. The other moment, he is completely relaxed, settled. Thought patterns play a major role in how we experience life.

People ask me 'Swamiji, do you mean to say we should not cry in situations like this? Somebody's house is on fire, how can we be without crying? I can't be that insensitive, especially when it comes to the death of near and dear ones or losing the love of a near and dear one. In these kind of situations I can't be so insensitive'.

Understand, it is a very subtle truth you need to understand. One is accepting the situation. Another one is accepting the response happening in your inner space. There is a beautiful Zen story:

There was a great master. His disciple was also an enlightened master, Suzuki. When Suzuki's master passed away, Suzuki started crying.

All the other disciples came and asked, 'Master, what is this? You are an enlightened being, how can you cry like this? How can you weep? '

Then Suzuki said, 'If an enlightened person should not cry, get lost! I am not interested in your enlightenment. I can't be so insensitive to this situation. I am crying because I miss his physical presence. He can never leave me and I can never leave him because he became me and I became him. That is different. But, physically I miss him. I miss his graceful actions and his beautiful leela, conscious play; that is why I am crying'.

Then another one disciple asked, 'Then what about the teaching which you were giving all these years: accept what is happening, tathaata? What has happened to the teaching? Have you taught us without you experiencing?'

Please understand, it is a very beautiful truth. Just understanding this can give you a very strong click. Suzuki beautifully explains that there are two levels of acceptance. One is accepting whatever is outside, the situation. Accepting the situation, surrendering to what is this moment, surrendering to the now. When surrendering to the now happens, that does not mean you will be insensitive.

For example, this moment, when the master is dead, he is no more in the body, it is not that he will be insensitive. It can create strong emotions in you. Accepting that also, acceptance in the inner level, is the second level.

See, usually what do we do? We try to accept the situation in the outer world. Then immediately we have a scale, 'If I accept, I should be behaving like this in the inner world.' We don't have acceptance in the inner world. We have a scale about the inner world, 'If I accept this situation, I should be peaceful, collective, calm, restful.'

When we accept just the outer world, it means we are very moral. We are conscience-based but not consciousness-based. There is a big difference between just accepting the outer world happening and accepting the outer and inner world happenings.

Acceptance does not mean just accepting the outer world. Usually we have this idea, 'If I accept the situation in the outer world, immediately I should become calm, quiet, relaxed, restful. I should not have any agitation. I should not have any irritation. I should not have any reaction.' That means that we are not accepting the inner world.

Sometimes, people ask me, 'Both are suffocating. What to do, Swamiji? When I am sleeping, it is nightmarish. When I am awake, it is suffocating. What to do?' Now you need clarity, yukti to understand however you change, whatever you change, the whole thing is a dream.

Let me explain little more deeply. Shakti to change whatever can be changed means fighting with the outer world. Buddhi to accept whatever need not be changed means fighting with the inner world. Look inside, all your fight to accept is fight with the inner world. Whether you are going to change the outer world or change the inner world, both are just one more dream.

Please understand, it is a higher level truth. Just look inside your whole life. It is like in the dream, you got a job and you saved money little by little every month and bought a home. You got a new car, you got everything by saving little by little, and you are almost ready to live everything. And suddenly you wake up! What is the value of that house, car, money and everything? No value!

Please understand, your life is the same.

You struggle, and create so many things. In Bharat, these kids will play games with small wooden idols. They will all be of the same size and same height. There will be no difference in any carving. These kids will put a red cloth on that idol and they will call it 'mother'. Then they will put a white cloth like a dhoti on another doll and call it 'father'. They will put a small pair of trousers on a third idol and call it 'brother'. They will put a small skirt on a fourth idol and call it 'sister'. They will then play; they will put the father doll in the car and make the sound of a car driving 'dree..' as if the father is going to office. They will put the mother doll in the kitchen and create sounds like cutting vegetables, 'tak', 'tak'. They will say sister is going to school, put the doll in the small bicycle and they will make the bicycle bell sound, 'tring', 'tring' and then take the doll to school. They will say, brother is crying, and make sound, 'ain, ain'. They will live the whole family life with the dolls.

Please understand, we are doing the same thing. We catch somebody and say 'husband'; we catch somebody and say 'wife'. We catch somebody and say 'son', 'daughter', 'friend', 'cousin', 'niece'; you have your own game.

Sometimes I have seen those kids, if the toy is not cooperating or they are not able to handle the toy, they will say, 'It is a bad toy' and throw it. It is the same thing in your relationships. If your script is not enacted, if you don't get what you are going after, if things don't happen your way, you say, 'bad relationship' and throw it away!

Understand, you come down and catch all these relationships and create a small place for yourself. You create a small fence and slowly, slowly you try to expand that fence. By the time the fence is ready and the relationships are ready, life is over! Again you take birth, you come down and create one more fence. By the time you try to expand your fence, expand your relationships, you are old, life is over. Yama, the lord of death, takes you away. See the same thing again and again and again happening!

However much you try to change things in the outer world and however much you try to accept things and bring peace in the inner world, the whole thing is one more dream. If you awaken from this, the whole thing is of no use, whether it is fighting with the outer world or inner world.

See, trying to accept is also fight with the inner world. People come and tell me, 'I am not able to accept. What to do, Swamiji?' I tell them, accept that you are not able to accept; it is one more acceptance. At least accept that you are not able to accept.

You go through some experiences. By the time you are ready to live with all your experiences, life is over! It is like first you touch the cigarette fire and fear that cigarette fire can burn. Then you experience the matchbox fire and that fire burns. Then you experience the oven fire, 'Oh, oven fire will burn.' By the time they touch every kind of fire and experience that all kinds of fire burn, the body is ready to be burnt! This is what I call learning through experience.

There is another kind of learning. The first time when you touch any one kind of fire and get burnt, you realize that all kinds of fire will burn - this is what I call living enlightenment, jeevan mukti. It is realizing the truths and learning the lessons from one or two experiences.

There is a third kind of people, they don't even need to touch the fire. Just by seeing somebody else touching the fire and getting burnt, they will be awakened, 'O God! All kinds of fire burn for all human beings.' Such a person is called a Paramahamsa - awakened just by seeing the other person.

Many times, people ask me, 'Swamiji, how do you describe all the family fights and struggles so exactly? You never lived a family life! From the young age, you have been a swami. How do you describe so thoroughly?' I tell them, I may not have lived, but I have seen people living. I may not know the exact incident but I know the mental setup from which the incidents are erupting out. I may not know which switch will work for a particular light but I know the whole circuit, how it happens.

So understand, the things which are happening outside you and inside you, things which are happening in the outer world and in the inner world, the WHOLE thing, is a dream. Understand, the whole thing is a dream, including you being here.

There is no scale to say what is happening now is not your dream. People say, 'No, no, no, I am seeing what I see now. The other person next to me is also seeing the same thing. With that I can say it is not a dream.' No.

Understand this example. You may be seeing something, the person next to you may also be seeing the same thing. That does not mean this is not a dream. Because in the dream, sometimes you dream you have gone to Bharat with your wife. In the dream you are there, your wife is there. Both of you will be looking at the same Bharat. Just because the scene which you are seeing in the dream is seen by you and your wife who is also part of a dream, you can't say that scene is reality.

Understand, now just because the person next to you is seeing the same thing, you can't say the scene is reality because the next person also can be part of the same dream. You can feel the next person can also be part of your dream only when you are out of the dream. Only when you wake up, you know it was a dream. In the same way, only when you raise your consciousness from this state, you know it might have been a dream. Not might, it is a dream!

So remembering whatever is happening inside and outside is dream, that clarity is what I call yukti. Please understand, however much you fight, whatever you may do in the outer world or in the inner world, it is nothing but one more long dream.

People ask me, 'If I think everything is a dream, will I not drop all efforts to develop my life? Will I not become lazy? Will I not become dull? Will I not become immoral? I may not not go to work; I may not take care of my family. Who will pay my bills? Who will take care of my car and apartment?' No. Nothing will happen. Relax. Actually when you understand the whole thing is a dream, you will become tremendously energetic, intelligent to handle the dream in the way in which you want, to play the whole game in the way in which you want.

People have this big problem, this big fear. Understand, if you think that this will make you lazy, just simply try to lie down and relax with these ideas. How many days can you just be lying down? How many days do you think you will be sleeping? Not more than few days. Your innate energy will not let you lie down as lazy.

These truths can only remove unnecessary restlessness, they can never make you lazy. When you assimilate these great truths, only the unnecessary restlessness which is now a part of you will be removed. The necessary energy or activeness will never be removed. You will be active and alive. You will continue to take care of your car, your house, your family, your relationships, your bank balance and everything. Only thing, your depression and irritation will be missing.

Understand this one truth that whatever is, is just changing; whatever you think as reality is just changing. This clarity will save you from many sufferings. Tremendous inner healing will happen this moment in you.

For example, say you have some nightmare like a tiger chasing you, snake chasing you, or you being imprisoned, or you losing your near and dear ones. You suddenly wake up and what kind of relief you feel, 'Oh God! It is all a dream!' How relieved you feel! That feeling of intense relief or relaxation or inner healing can happen in you this very moment, from this life.

Understand, in whatever you are going through now, suddenly if somebody tells you, or you realize it is just a dream, what will happen? You will feel, 'Oh God! What tremendous relaxation, what tremendous inner healing!'

You will never become lazy. The idea or truth that everything is an illusion is told to you to show you that you have the power to change anything. It is not so that you can just lie down in your bed!

Lazy people are not that intelligent to understand this whole thing is a dream. They may be using this argument whenever they want to justify their laziness. In Bharat, I have seen in the villages, till 10 o'clock in the morning, people will be sitting in the teashop. They don't have the concept of weekend because the whole life is weekend! Till 10 o'clock they will be sitting. If you ask, 'What are you doing?' they will say, 'Everything is illusion. Everything is maya.' They may use these ideas to justify their laziness. That does not mean they understood.

Actually if you understand everything is one more dream, suddenly you will see so much of energy is awakened inside you. You are out of your negativity. You are living in a different zone, you are raised to a different consciousness. You will know how to handle, manipulate what you call as life.

If you know this whole thing is a dream, you can easily alter the dreams. You can play with the dreams. You can dream what you want. You can create what you want. You can express what you want. You can live as you want. Only one thing, if you realize this whole thing is a dream, you will not carry the stress and constant irritation which you are carrying continuously now.

See your life, from morning till night, from the moment you are out of bed till you fall asleep, the constant irritation which you are carrying. You are just waiting to jump on people. People don't have to do any mistake in front of you. Even if they keep a simple glass on the table a little loudly, just that tap sound is enough. Sometimes they don't even have to do that. If they just appear in front of you, they will have your blessing! You start shouting for no reason. You are just waiting, you are like a loaded gun just waiting to be triggered.

All you need to understand is, if you remember this whole thing is one more dream, the tremendous inner healing starts happening inside you. A tremendous coolness starts happening inside you. A peace, a deep rest happens inside you; it will awaken so much of energy and joy you will see you will be just overflowing, bubbling.

I can say, the chronic fatigue will disappear. One of the biggest enemies you carry in your life is the chronic fatigue. Whether you want to change something in the outer world or you want to change something in the inner world, that chronic fatigue always holds you.

If you want to change some habit in the outer world, you face the tiredness, 'O, who will change? It is ok.' If you want to change something in the inner world, again a deep fatigue, 'No, no. Who will change it? It is ok, leave it. What can be done? This is life.' That chronic fatigue is the ultimate enemy of your life. I can say, that is the worst conspiracy done to your being by your own being.

See, the truth is paradox. If you remember the whole thing is dream, suddenly you will be awakened to the energy to change the whole thing, to play with the whole thing. If you think the whole thing is real, you will be constantly carrying the laziness, the fatigue. That chronic fatigue is the worst thing you do to yourself. You come out of that chronic fatigue by remembering that this whole thing is a dream.

Try just for the next 11 days. Whenever you can, remember that this whole thing is a dream. You going to the office, eating, sleeping, talking, your relationships, your bank balance, your house, whole thing. Don't have any fear, nothing wrong will happen. Just remember this one truth constantly, this whole thing is a dream. Suddenly you will see the transformation starts happening inside you.

Please understand, when I tell you something, I am responsible for it. I am responsible for what I am teaching. I worked with this idea not only inside me, but also with millions of my disciples who are from various backgrounds in wealth or health or education, all kinds of backgrounds. It does only good, this one concept of remembering this whole thing is one more dream. Suddenly the way in which you decide things, your mental setup, your ideas about pleasure, your ideas about pain, your ideas about fear, your ideas about life, your ideas about relationships, your ideas about money, your ideas about wealth, your ideas about health, everything will change.

Living with this one truth constantly in your inner space is what I call living enlightenment. Whatever may happen inside you, outside you, remember the whole thing is a dream. We will internalize this truth through meditation and through initiation.

If you are suffering in dream and in waking state, this is the ultimate solution. You can see in your life, you don't feel inspired to move your body, to do something creative, to be alive. Not only at the physical level, this is true even at the mental level. Within five minutes of doing something, you are tuned off. It means your mind doesn't want to do the cognition process.

The cognition, receiving the ideas, digesting them, internalizing them, classifying them, and keeping them for the future - you are tired to do that cognition process.

Please understand, the truth that the whole thing is a dream will be like a sun, it will take away all the clouds inside your being. Tiredness to do the cognition, and tiredness to be alive is like a cloud covering your being.

I tell you, even your physical health will become so sharp, so alive, if you remember the whole thing is a dream.

It may look paradoxical, 'How can it be? If I am supposed to remember the whole thing is a dream, I am only supposed to become more and more lazy, more and more tired, more and more not interested in things.' It will not be. I tell you, because I have practiced. It is my experience.

When you remember the whole thing is a dream, suddenly you will see the negative points which are protruding in your inner space, will suddenly start getting healed. Those things will start dropping. The negative ideas you have about you and about life, all those things will start getting healed. It will all get dissolved inside your inner space. Your idea about you and the world, the whole thing will melt down.

You exist not as a body or as a mind or as somebody. You exist as you. You carry identities of yourself with which you connect. In Sanskrit they are called upaadhis. Upaadhi has two meanings: one is the identification and the second is disease.

In Sanskrit, the word has two meanings: identification and disease. The very language is designed for enlightenment. The very language is designed to express enlightenment. You cannot translate many of the words. I can only express the concepts.

See the idea, any identity is disease! With this one word upaadhi, they tell you very clearly any identity you have is a disease. By giving the same word for both the meanings, they say try to get rid of it.

You have two identities. One is the identity which you show to the outer world as you. It will always be more than what you are. Your visiting card will be always more than what you are. You will be constantly going around, 'Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?' This is ahankaar. It will be always more than what you are.

Second identity is what you believe as you inside your mind. That is mamakaar. It will always be lower than what you are; it is inferiority complex. That is why constantly you are torturing yourself; you are trying to develop yourself.

The identity which you show to the outer world is always more than what you are. The identity which you show to the inner world, what you believe as you, is always less than what you are. You are constantly trying to chisel and develop your identity. The fight between these two identities is life.

Your whole life is nothing but the fight between these two identities. The fight between the identity which you believe as you in the inner world and the identity which you project to the outer world, is what your life is.

If you remember the whole thing is one more dream, suddenly the whole conflict disappears. The identity which you show to the outer world is also a dream, illusion. The identity which you believe as you in the inner world is also a dream, illusion. Suddenly you are out of the dream. You wake up, you are out!

The fight is not there anymore. Constantly you trying to chisel yourself, torturing yourself, that is the main reason for all the sufferings and struggles and stress and conflicts you carry inside you. See the difference between what you show as you in the outer world, what you carry as you in the inner world!

The moment you close your eyes and sit in a room alone, the tears are just waiting, suffering is just waiting inside to come up. But when you come out, you wipe everything with a tissue paper, put a little makeup, put on a smiling face.

Sometimes in the developed civilization it becomes too much. The other day one of our devotees who is an elderly person, was telling me, 'Swamiji, in this country we have to use all the makeup and look young because we have to compete with the youngsters.' I can say that is the worst thing.

Fortunately that is not the case in the villages of Bharat. The cities of Bharat of course are no more the true Bharat. They may be geographically Bharat, but they don't carry the spirit of Bharat. In the Hindu villages, the more you are aged, the more you are respected. They don't have to compete with youngsters. But unfortunately in some civilizations, they have to constantly show an identity which is not themselves. They have to create that strong identity which is not them.

Remember, this whole thing is one more dream. Suddenly you will see you will have the tremendous relaxation inside you. The fight between these two identities stops. The war comes to an end instantly. Stop the war which is happening inside. That is the first thing you need to do for global peace.

Everybody is shouting about stopping the wars outside. But a big war is going on inside each of us. Look inside. We are afraid to look inside. That is why we look outside. We don't sit with ourselves. Even if you get the time to sit with yourself, you sit with the television. Just yesterday I saw an article which says a middle class man in the USA sits an average of five and half hours in front of the television. I was shocked, five and half hours! More than 20% of his day!

It is because you can't sit with yourself! I am not saying, don't watch television. All I am saying is, do not sit with television because you can't sit with yourself. Learn that art of just sitting with yourself. Learn how to sit with yourself. You can't sit with yourself because the moment you sit with yourself, so much comes out from inside. So you want some entertainment, you want to sit with somebody.

If you remember the whole thing is a dream, what goes on inside you and outside you is a dream, this clarity will suddenly bring tremendous inner healing. The fight between you and you will stop. The fight between ahankaar and mamakaar, the identity which you show to the outer world and inner world, will stop. You will suddenly relax and rest. A new energy will be awakened inside you. The whole thing will relax, settle into your being, it will melt down and rest in your consciousness. This is what I call yukti, clarity.

Now, the fourth truth. Actually when you understand the whole thing is a dream, suddenly you will feel strongly connected to something which does not change. When you understand this whole thing that you think as reality is changing, you will feel connected to something which is not changing – the Master or God. Suddenly you will feel such a strong connection, it will be a pure romance!

Please understand the word 'pure romance'. It is not ordinary romance. In ordinary romance, always you will feel bored. It is like you have an idea and you try to project that idea on the other person and he or she tries to project his ideas on you.

In some points, you meet and match. In some points, you don't meet and match. When you have lived and exhausted the points where you meet and match, and when the points where you don't meet and match come up, then you know what happens! That is where your honeymoon ends.

When the points where you don't meet and match start coming up, life starts! That is why the word 'honeymoon'. What is the life of the moon? Fourteen days! You don't use the word 'honeysun'! Because in fourteen days the dream disappears!

Pure romance means a strong feeling connection. Just by remembrance, your eyes pour. Just by remembrance, you are in ecstasy. Just by remembrance, you are in a different zone. That is what I call bhakti, the pure feeling connection.

Shankara sings beautifully in the Guru Ashtakam:

शरीरी सुरुपं तथा वा कलत्रं यशश्चारू चित्रं धनंमेरुतुल्यमे । मेनंश्चेन्न लग्नंगुरी रीचि!पंद्मे ततः किं ततः किं ततः किं ततः किमे ॥ 1 ॥

shareeram suroopam tathaa vaa kalatram yashashchaaru chitram dhanam merutulyam

manashchenna lagnam guroranghri padme tatah kim tatah kim tatah kim tatah kim

One's body may be good-looking, his wife may be beautiful, fame high and varied, wealth enormous like Mount Meru; but if the mind is not at the lotus feet of the Master, what then is the use?

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is one of the greatest enlightened masters. I can say, he is one of the architects of modern day Hinduism. All the Hindu masters, religious leaders, spiritual heads after Ramakrishna are directly or indirectly influenced by him. He gives beautifully in his book, 'The Gospel of Ramakrishna' the first teaching: the moment you remember your guru or God or their names, not even the form, just their name, if your eyes have become watery, this is the last birth for you.

I can say the essence of bhakti he has given in this one idea. That strong feeling connection is what he is saying. See, sometimes when you fall in love, even with ordinary human beings, suddenly you know the different dimensions which were there inside you. The dimensions of which you were not aware will be awakened.

Take for example, sacrifice. When you are in love with somebody, suddenly you start sacrificing so many things which you never imagined you can sacrifice. The sense of beauty, sense of grace awakens. You would have never stood in front of the mirror! Suddenly you find yourself sitting the whole day in front of the mirror, combing your hair, straightening your clothes. And your house would have been like a pigsty! Suddenly you start cleaning the whole house. Suddenly you have the sense of beauty and grace.

So when the pure romance, when the strong feeling connection happens, suddenly you know you are Him, and He is you.

That is what the Bhagavatam describes: in the peak of ecstasy, the gopikas felt that they are Krishna. There was no difference between Krishna and them. Just they were Krishna. Understand, when that energy is awakened in you, the whole life feels like romance. Things are greener than they are. A rose looks rosier than it is. The whole thing becomes poetry. You are awakened to the many dimensions of you which are unknown to you. If you experienced that feeling connection to the Master, you will understand what I am talking about.

In South Bharat, there was a great lady saint. Her name was Andal. Just like the saint Meera is very popular in North Bharat, in South Bharat Andal is very popular. You should hear her songs, her words! Any art, whether it is painting or sculpture or poetry, has an ability to take you to the same plane from which it came out. That is why if you listen to the songs which came out of lust, you will feel the same lust. If you see a painting which came out of suffering, sadness, pain, you will experience the same pain.

If you listen to Andal's songs, you will experience that same pure romance from which they come out, from which they are expressed. She was in such an ecstatic feeling, that pure feeling connected, pure romance, pure bhakti, just her words can put you back into that space. When you read, you know she is talking from experience, she is not talking as an outsider. She is an insider; she is talking from her being. Strong feeling connection with something is bhakti.

Understand, it is not even important to whom you feel connected. Sometimes you may feel connected to just an idol. It is ok, nothing wrong. Sometimes you may feel connected to Master; perfectly alright. Even if he is not enlightened, don't bother. Because of your feeling connection, you will become enlightened!

Sometimes, people ask me, 'Swamiji, how to find out whether my master is enlightened or not?' I tell them, don't bother at all. If you strongly feel connected, by the very feeling connection, very trust, very surrender, you will become enlightened even if he is not.

And if you don't feel connected, even if he is enlightened, you won't be helped, you can't be helped. If you are feeling connected, he is your master, go with him, even if he is not enlightened. If you don't feel connected, even if he is enlightened, forget about him. You won't be helped, nothing can be done. That feeling connection is the scale.

Suddenly you know you can't forget him, he is in your dreams, he is in your waking state, he is in your inner space. You can't stop talking about him. You can't do anything else, he has become the juice inside you. He has become part of your inner space. That is what I call that strong feeling connection, pure romance, bhakti.

Internalizing all these four and living is what I call jeevan mukti, living enlightenment. When you understand and experience this yukti, you are enlightened. I always tell people that the experience of enlightenment is ultimate, but not final. There is a big difference the two.

Enlightenment is ultimate, because all your ideas about enlightenment, body and mind will disappear. That does not mean everything is over. No! It will be constantly exploding into a different space. You may think, 'Oh, God! This is the ultimate experience I can bear*,* not more than this.' But understand it does not mean it ends there. Every moment you will be having the same feeling. That is what I call enlightenment.

Enlightenment is a limitless continuum. It will be continuously and constantly exploding. What you think as the ultimate will be happening in you now. After few minutes, what you think as the ultimate at that moment will be happening in you. Limitless continuum - the whole thing is changing continuously. It means that your idea about enlightenment, your idea about desire, your idea about greed, your idea about yourself changes continuously. Your idea about jeeva (self), ishwara (God), jagat (world), all the three will change. Constantly. it will be changing. That is what I call enlightenment.

Q: Shakti, buddhi, yukti, bhakti, are these in an order or is it a combination?

There is no order. It is not that first shakti will happen, then buddhi will happen, then yukti will happen, then bhakti will happen. No! All four can start happening simultaneously. Usually all four start growing simultaneously.

Sometimes, suddenly you will have bhakti for no reason. I have seen, one sight and people have a strong feeling connection, bhakti. Bhakti makes all these other three to happen. Sometimes, the clarity, yukti, makes all the other three to happen. Sometimes, you feel shakti for no reason; you feel you can just change what you want. With that all the other three will happen.

Anything may click at any time. From any corner, anything may happen. There is no such thing as one by one, there is no order.

Q: Swamiji, when we are used to considering it reality when it is a dream, how do we break away from that and live with the clarity that it is a dream?

No. Don't try to break it immediately, don't be too greedy. All I am saying is just constantly remember it is a dream, that's enough. Just constantly try to remember that it is a dream. That's enough, nothing else is required. It will sink in by itself. Don't be greedy, 'How will I realize the whole thing is a dream now itself?' It will go inside by itself. There is no need to ask for a technique, just remembering this is enough.

See, anything you constantly remember for 11 days in the waking state will go into your dream state. And if you remember for 21 days, it will go into your deep sleep state. It will completely purify your subconscious and unconscious mind. So just remember it is all a dream. Constant remembrance is enough. It will sink into your system. It will become a part of you.

Q: We all know that when we dream, it seems so real. It is very hard to realize it is a dream when you are dreaming. It is the same problem in our life. We are so intensely involved we cannot realize it is a dream.

Why do you start hypothesizing now itself, 'I can't realize it is a dream'? See, you say you are so involved that you can't realize it is a dream. What do you mean? It is like saying, 'I am sick, so I can't take medicine.' Understand, because you are so involved only you have to remember it is a dream. Because you are sick, just remember it is a dream. That will work like a medicine.

Q: All this is a dream is an intellectual idea for me. I have no concrete experience. How can I make this a concrete actualization that does not fade or is temporarily forgotten?

See, any truth can never land on you as a concrete experience. It can land on you only as an idea. All I am saying is, just go on arguing with it, that's enough. Go on fighting with it, that's enough. Suddenly you will see you have become friendly with it. See, anything you find friendly, you will start fighting with it. Anything you fight with, you start getting friendly with it.

Whether you start in a friendly way or as a fight with the truth, there is no problem. See, even when you are fighting constantly, you will start getting friendly, because it is giving you a kind of company. In Bharat the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will have a constant fight, constantly nagging. But they will miss each other if they are not together. When they are together, messing! When they are not together, missing! But you will see a constant fight.

So even if you fight with the truth, it is okay. Just fight. Don't be just unattentive. See, sometimes you ignore. Don't ignore. Even fight, no problem. You will see it sinks inside you. Truth is so powerful, even if you fight with it, it will become part of you.

Q: Shakti is the energy to change whatever we can change. Buddhi is the intelligence to accept what we cannot change. There are obvious things which we can't change. However, even in things we can change, we feel with right energy we can change everything with effort. How to priortize, or even understand what to let go and what to change?

This is something you can decide only based on the situation. I don't have a readymade map. I can only give a torch. Please understand, I can only give you a torch. When you walk in the forest, you can use that and pass through the forest. I can't give a readymade map for the forest like 'Go right and on the seventh mile you will see a lion, go left and on eighth mile you will see a snake.' I can't give a roadmap for a forest. Life is a forest. I can only give you a torch. Please use the torch.

Don't bother about making mistakes. All these days, you have not had a torch. Have you not lived? You made blunders! Now at least let's make mistakes, nothing wrong. You don't have to be 100% foolproof from the day one.

Vivekananda, disciple of enlightened master Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, was the first master who brought the Vedic tradition to the West. He is the first person who brought respect for the Vedic tradition in the West. He expresses beautifully the amazing truth, 'Freedom is the basic condition for growth.' This one idea can completely work inside you. Whenever readymade solutions are given, they only hinder your growth.

He says one more beautiful thing, 'Without a goal, if you are making 5000 mistakes, with goal you may make 50 mistakes. But go with the goal.' So when you start with this idea of constantly remembering that the whole life is a dream, I am not saying you will be foolproof. I can say you can reduce the number of mistakes by at least 90%. So have the courage to commit one or two mistakes, there is nothing wrong. Have that much of freedom. After all, freedom to commit mistakes is energy.

Q: How can one avoid letting the ego get in the way of knowing the truth?

Don't bother too much about ego and all those things. See, with ego, you can't handle any situation. Stand in front of your situation with openness. Understand, every situation that comes in front of you is not against you; it is trying to understand you.

Just let me tell this incident, then you will understand.

One small girl came to Kalpataru program. She might have been eight or nine years old. She came with her mother who is a widow. So the child didn't have a father. Somehow this girl felt very strongly connected with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. In the house, they have my photograph in the puja (worship) room.

Whenever the power went off, the first thing she used to tell her mother was, 'Mom, Swamiji is there. I have to fan Him, He may feel hot.' She would take the fan and run to the puja room and start fanning the photograph. If she got a new dress, she would wear that dress and the first thing she would do is stand in front of my photograph and show this side and that side and ask, 'Swamiji, how does it look? Am I looking fine?' She just felt I am there in her puja room.

She came for Kalpataru program. Her mother asked for my blessing. I blessed her; it was a very complicated problem. I said, 'You will have it. Don't worry; it will happen.' Then that small girl came. She said, 'You told my mother it will happen. Do you mean to say that you will give whatever I ask?' I was in that high ecstasy and joy. I said, 'Ask what you want in these three worlds.'

She looked up and around. There was candy in a cup. She said, 'I want that chocolate.' I gave the whole thing to her. Then she said, 'I want everyday.' I was in that high ecstasy, that mood. I said, 'Alright; you will have it everyday.' She just felt completely satisfied and started moving.

I called her and asked, 'How will you get everyday?' She said, 'You are in my house. I will take it from you.'

Please understand, I am telling the honest truth, it has been forty days since that program. Till now, she is getting chocolates from the photograph everyday! Everyday out of that photograph, chocolate falls.

The mother thought, this girl is stealing from somewhere and putting the blame on me! She cleaned the puja room and locked it. For two days, she did not open. On the third day, when they opened, they saw two chocolates. Everyday she is getting different varieties of chocolates!

I want you to know an important thing, when they brought this to me, I told very clearly I am in no way involved. See, I have certain power or knowledge of what is happening. But I don't have control over the incident. When she came and told me, at the most I can say on which day what chocolate came out at what time. I can download after the incident happens but I don't have direct control over the incident.

In the same way, after a few days, the mother came and asked me, 'You are giving chocolate for my daughter. Why can't you give one for me?' I said, 'Alright; you will have it.' The next question she asked is, 'How will you give?' The moment she asked, 'How will you give?' I said 'Over! For your child, I did not explain how I will give. Just she knows I am there, I will give.'

The moment you ask, 'How will you give?' it means still you need to work. Still we need to hold hands. Either I am not stretching my hand too much or you are not stretching your hand too much. Somewhere the gap is there.

In the same way, another small girl of maybe five or six years age came and asked in Kalpataru, 'I want earrings.' I said, 'You will have it.' Her mother took her to the shop and she told her mother, 'I want this type of earring.' Then the mother said, 'You ask your Swamiji. He said he will give you, right?' Then she came back and she was praying and the same earring fell out of the photograph.

The mother came and showed me the earring. I said, 'Go and check in the shop who bought it.' They went and checked in the shop; in the bill my autograph is there! I am sitting in Bangalore; this happened in Salem, which is at least a four hour drive from Bangalore. They brought at least seventeen or eighteen objects like this which came out from the photograph. In no way am I physically involved. It is a science. All I can do is I can be available.

When I made the statement, when I said, 'Whatever Brahma writes the guru can wipe with the left leg,' if it just clicks with you, it is for you. Otherwise, forget about it. It is not for you. When it just clicks and you just know what he said is true, it is for you. The moment you feel he is bragging or he is giving statement out of ego or if you think it is too big a promise, even if some thought comes, it is not for you; relax. Something will happen; suddenly you will know it is for you, he is talking to you. If that happens, this science is for you.

One man, about thirty five years, came for Kalpataru in Bangalore. Our headquarters are in Bangalore. We have a huge, beautiful banyan tree. It is an ancient sacred healing banyan tree. This man asked me, 'Swamiji, whenever I want to have darshan of you or the banyan tree darshan, I should be able to have.' I asked, 'What is the obstruction? Who is going to stop you?'

He said, 'No, no. My wife doesn't allow me. And all my money is under her control. She doesn't give me money.' I just laughed and said, 'Alright; don't worry. You won't have any problem. You will be able to come.' After ten or fifteen days, he wanted to come. It seems he went and asked his wife. She said, 'Not only no money, if you go don't come back. Get lost!' This man went and stood in front of my photograph and started praying. You will be shocked, a reserved train ticket with his name and age fell out of the photograph!

This man came to the ashram and showed me the ticket. Then I told him to go and just check who booked the ticket at the reservation counter. This man went and checked; the person at the reservation counter said, 'Somebody with saffron dress came and booked.' And he saw my autograph was there. At the time this incident happened, I was sitting in Bangalore, conducting a program!

The moment it is not connecting with you, it is not for you. Relax! The moment it is connecting with you, it is for you. That is why I never allow this kind of news to publicize. You will never see in our books or website or fronting material this kind of news. And we always take care that this doesn't spread. Because of two-three reasons. One is I want to be remembered by people as a person who gives enlightenment, not candy. It is ok as a play to give candy. But that is not my profession. When kids come, I can give candy and play with them. But I don't want to be remembered in that way.

Secondly, it is only for the people who feel connected. The moment you have a question, it is not for you; relax. That dimension is not for you. You will not be able to receive that channel. It is like a channel. If you have a strong feeling connection, only then this channel can open inside you. Otherwise the channel waves may be there everywhere but you won't be able to see.

I don't want to be known as a person who does miracles. I want to be known as a person who gives enlightenment. I want enlightenment to be the branding, not anything else.

The other problem is if this thing becomes popular, people will keep my photograph and keep sitting in front of it, waiting what will fall when! For this kind of people, only photograph will fall on their head! So understand, this all can be a side-drama, but not the main thing.

When you feel connected, suddenly you will see a different channel, different feeling, different experience. Whatever I am talking is the same. But what you are all hearing is not the same. Each one is hearing from a different angle. I can say, when the face lights up, I know the click has happened. The eyes will become big and wide open, I know the click has happened. Beyond their logic, their heart is falling in tune. I can say not 'falling in tune', 'rising in tune'!

Q: Can I do Nithya Dhyaan while practicing other types of Kriya Yoga?

You can do, no problem. There won't be any contradiction. They will only complement each other.

Q: What is the difference between God and Master?

This again depends on your feeling connection. All the Gods you worship were at some time Masters in the planet Earth. They walked on planet Earth, whether it was Shiva or Krishna or Buddha or Jesus or Mahavira, all the Gods. And all the Masters in course of time will be worshipped as God, that's all.

You can see the example of Shirdi Baba. Hundred years before, he walked in the planet Earth. Now they have about 70000 temples. They don't have a common organization. But you can register your name if you have a Shirdi Baba mandir or temple. They have 70000 registered mandirs around the world.

So it is like when they are with the body, they are respected as Masters. When they are without body, they are looked at as Gods. Actually without body it is easier to connect because you don't have to give up your ego. You can bend the Master as you want. That is why it is very easy to play with the Masters who left the body. You can talk for yourself, and you can talk for them, both.

With me, I won't let that game happen! So following a Master without the body is very easy. That is why all over the world, thousands of people go to temples but very few come to Masters. Because here changing your life is an immediate pre-requisite. Transformation is a pre-requisite. But with the deities and photos and idols, you can always play the game.

If you feel very strongly connected, then only will they land and help you. If you feel that strong connection, you don't need the Master. You will directly feel connected with the whole cosmos.

So I always tell people, connecting with the living Master, even though little difficult, will be the best thing. That is the best thing that can happen to a human being.

Now I am going to talk about the exact technique through which you can go that fourth state. It is a very powerful technique. Let me introduce this technique.

At the age of three, I was handpicked by my yoga teacher and he started teaching me yoga techniques, Yoga Sutras etc. I remember only one thing, at the end of the session he would give me candy. Except that, I don't remember anything! In the first two to three years, I can't remember anything of what he taught. After the age of five or six, I can remember a few things.

He would make me do all kinds of things. In the temple in my hometown, there are stone pillars. I would have to climb them using one hand. I used to curse him, 'Why is he making me do this?' And he is very close to my family; so I can't say no either. My parents would insist I should learn. But now I really feel, because of his preparing this body, I am able to do so much work now.

From the age of three, he started teaching me techniques. Till the age of twelve, I worked with yoga, Tantra and a bit of Vedanta. At twelve, I myself had a strong experience, you may call it enlightenment or satori or turiya or nithyananda state. After that, I started experimenting with various techniques to find out whether they would lead to the same state.

First the master was teaching me till twelve years. After twelve, I started experimenting with myself. Till twenty two, I was experimenting with myself. I experimented with thousands of techniques during my nine years of wandering the length and breadth of the country. I used to go to different masters and learn different techniques and methods.

After twenty two when a deeper experience, opening happened, I started working with disciples and experimenting with them. I have been doing that for the last six or seven years. All these experiences: experimenting with me, experimenting on disciples, the whole experience if I put in a nutshell, it is 'Nithya Dhyaan'. This is what I stand for. This is what I prescribe, whatever may be your problem, whether physical health or wealth or mental peace or enlightenment.

This is like a master medicine. Please understand, I have designed hundreds of techniques and they are all published in books. But the essence is this technique. And if I have to say the essence of this technique in one word, it is 'unclutching'.

Let me give you the mahavaakya, means the words which lead you to wordlessness, the words which lead you to the higher consciousness. In Sanskrit we have a word mahavaakya means the ultimate truth, the word that puts you into the zone where there are no words.

In our tradition, we have many mahavaakyas like 'You are That,' 'I am That,' 'Consciousness is That'. Now I want to give you a mahavaakya which is my experience.

'Be unclutched' is the mahavaakya**. It means this one word is a technique; it can lead you to the complete fulfillment. It is an individual, self-fulfilling technique. Nothing else needs to be done.** Just with this one technique, any hurdle can be crossed; you can reach the Ultimate. You can reach the fourth state just by this one technique.

It is self-effulgent, self-illumined and self-guiding. It will lead you to itself and it will lead you to the Ultimate by itself, both.

Let me exactly describe what is unclutching. When you sit with closed eyes, naturally some thoughts will be coming up like 'When will I open my eyes?', 'What am I doing?' When a thought comes up, do not give any meaning to it. Do not connect with the next thoughts and give meaning to it. Just decide, 'Let me unclutch.'

Please understand, when a thought comes from inside, do not give meaning to it. Do not have greed or fear towards the thought. If you have greed, you will continue to be behind that thought. If you are afraid, you will try to suppress the thought. Neither giving meaning to it and running behind it nor trying to suppress it, just try to remember, 'Let me unclutch.' It means not supporting the thought with vital force, with your identity.

Just remember, 'let me unclutch'. The moment you use the word 'unclutch', the thought will disappear; it will not be there. In two seconds, again some other thought will come or the same thought will come. Again, say 'let me unclutch'. So there will be another two or three seconds gap. Then you may remember, 'I am unclutching.' Then unclutch from that idea.

Understand, when you start, the 'unclutching' will be like a word. After ten minutes, you will see it is not like a word, it will be just like an idea. First, you may have to move your tongue, then throat, then there will be no need to move anything. Just the idea will rise by itself.

Please understand, it will go to the subtler and subtler levels. Then there will be neither the need for a word nor will there be any movement in the tongue. It will be just like an idea. Suddenly you will see the gap between one thought and the other thought starts increasing.

You realize you are there. When you remember you are there silently, it becomes one more thought. Then unclutch from that. It is a very beautiful subtle process to bring you to the depth of your awareness.

Please understand, when something else comes up, say 'unclutch'. Slowly, slowly, you will settle down. The gap between one thought and the other thought will increase. The space will become more and more. The silence will become more and more. Just relax into that silence without even knowing that you are silent. You will experience the fourth state. Anything you become aware, unclutch from it. You will see you are relaxing into the silence without even the idea that you are in silence.

I will describe the Nithya Dhyaan technique itself now. But in Nithya Dhyaan also, unclutching is the essence. Nithya Dhyaan has five steps.

The first step is sitting in vajrasana, means sitting on your knees. The vajrasana posture tremendously helps digestion and helps the lungs and heart. Sitting on your knees, keep the hands on the hips. Do intense chaotic breathing. The navel has to go inside and up. The whole

body should breathe. This is what is called hyperventilation. Please understand, breathe with the whole body.

Do chaotic breathing. It is better not to have any tight clothing. Feel your whole body is a single unit. When you have tight clothing, your body becomes two units. Try to wear a single piece of clothing if you can.

Sitting in vajrasana, keeping the hands on the hips, do intense chaotic breathing. Melt your whole body by breathing. If you are a blood pressure patient, if you have any heart conditions, if you recently went through any surgery or any other serious illness, if you are pregnant, please don't do the technique. You can do the last three parts which are related to visualization or you can do just unclutching. But don't do the first two parts which are related to physical activity.

The next step: sitting in the same vajrasana, keep your hands in chin mudra on the knees. Do intense humming, chanting the mahamantra. Mahamantra means creating the sound which leads you to the omkaara, the ultimate sound. No mantra is mahamantra. The sound which leads you to the ultimate sound is mahamantra.

People come and ask me, 'Is chanting 'Shiva' not mahamantra? Is chanting 'Krishna' not mahamantra?' They are all mantras, wonderful. But this sound which leads you to the ultimate sound, ultimate energy is mahamantra. Intensely chant this humming as loud as possible, as intensely as possible. This is the second step.

Third step: If you want, you can continue to sit in vajrasana or you can sit cross-legged. Bring your awareness to each chakra, each energy center. We have a guided meditation CD to guide you.

The energy center at the root of the spinal cord is muladhara chakra. Two inches above is the swadhishtana chakra. The energy center on the navel is the manipuraka chakra. The heart center is the anahata chakra. The throat center is the vishuddhi chakra. The brow center is the ajna chakra. The crown center is the sahasrara chakra.

You can concentrate your energy on each chakra. It will awaken the deeper inner potential energies. You will put your awareness for a minute on each chakra. When you come to an energy center, exclude everything else. When you are at the root center at the start, exclude everything else. Just remember that one part. When you come to the next chakra, forget the root center. When you come to the navel center, forget all other centers; just remember the navel. When you come to the heart center, exclude everything else. When you come to the throat center, exclude everything else. Raise your awareness thus step by step.

The fourth step is the main part, unclutching. Sit silently, completely unclutched, in the deep restful awareness.

Fifth step: just feel connected to the whole Existence. If you feel connected to the Master, feel connected to Him. If you feel connected to God, feel connected to Him. Or if you feel connected to Nature, just feel connected.

In this last part, there will be few mantras chanted. If you know, please chant. Otherwise you can just relax and listen; nothing else is needed. It is not a ritual; they are beautiful vibrations to suit your being.

First truth: whatever you may be seeking in your life, you are seeking fulfillment. Please understand, you may be thinking you are seeking money, you are seeking love, you are seeking relationships, you are seeking wealth, you are seeking health. Whatever you may be thinking, you are seeking fulfillment.

Whenever you want something, some outer world object like a sweet or some gadget, your mind is constantly running towards that object. The moment you put that sweet into your mouth or that object comes in contact with your senses, immediately the running stops. You come back to the present moment. You falling back into the present moment is what radiates joy and satisfaction.

But you start thinking that the joy is coming from that object. No! If the joy was coming from that sweet, then after ten sweets the joy should be more. But it is not! As you believe, if the joy is from that sweet, the more the number of sweets the joy should be more. But it is not. Why? It is because the joy is not from that sweet. The joy is because your mind falls back to yourself.

Ramana Maharishi gives a beautiful example:

A dog which got a dry bone kept biting it. The dry bone started poking its own gums and blood started flowing. The dog started enjoying that blood thinking that the blood was coming from the bone! How the dog was mistaking the blood from its own mouth as the blood from the bone and it was enjoying it, in the same way you attribute the joy you experience through the sense pleasures to the object when actually that joy comes out of your own self.

If the dog starts thinking the blood is coming from the bone, it will just bite the bone more strongly. In the same way when you think that the joy comes from sense objects, you catch that sense object more strongly. When you put the sweet in your tongue, it is not ready to rest. You don't experience any more joy because your mind is now accustomed to the sweet. Suddenly you will see the emptiness after say ten sweets. The mind continuously asks, 'What next? What next? What next?'

The mind does not relax, rest, into that satisfaction. One part of your mind says, 'There is no joy in the object; the same joy is not there in that sweet.' But another part of your mind says, 'No, no, no, you are wrong! Try once more, try a little more. You may get little more joy…'

You are not ready to believe there is no joy in the object because that is the only thing you have in your hand. In that also if there is no hope, what will happen? You will become completely hopeless. That is too much. So you try to hold on. You try to add juice to the object from your own being and you try to enjoy. You are not ready to believe that there is no joy from the sense, from the object. You are not ready to accept that the joy is from your inner space, that the peace is because you are relaxing, resting.

Let you be very clear: For any enjoyment, for any joy, your inner space needs to be completely relaxed. If your inner space is tensed, you may be doing the activity that brought joy to you sometime, but you will not be experiencing the same excitement this time.

The excitement or the joy depends on two things: one is your senses coming in contact with the objects that give pleasure. Second thing: a deep relaxed inner space which can internalize this joy and experience it.

Your inner space needs to have some empty space to internalize the experience. For example, this moment, say you are enjoying a sweet, or a beautiful touch, or some melodious music. At this moment if you are relaxed, you can use the sense object to create joy in you, because you have enough space to receive the experience, internalize it, cherish it and relax into it.

If you don't have an inner space to internalize the joy which is experienced by the senses, your senses will lose their sensitivity. Please understand, if your senses come in contact with sense objects or the things which give you pleasure, but your inner space is not relaxed, you don't have enough of inner space to internalize that joy and cherish it, experience it. Then your senses will become dull and insensitive.

If your inner space is tensed, restless, disturbed, there is an urge, a pressure to squeeze the maximum joy out of that object. With that pressure and tension when you approach the object, even when you come in contact with that object, your senses will only become insensitive, dull and disturbed.

The things which give you pleasure, the objects which gives you pleasure can be used in three ways. First, the sense objects can be used to give you joy if your inner space has got enough space to internalize that experience. Second, if your inner space is tensed and doesn't have enough space to internalize this experience of the senses coming in contact with the object, your senses will become dull, disturbed and insensitive. Third, if your inner space is completely empty and your senses come in contact with the sense objects, even before you start enjoying them, the same sense objects will open a new door to reality, to enlightenment.

Let us first understand: what is sense? What are our five senses?

If a stone is polished nicely it will shine and you will be able to see your face in it. The same stone might have been previously lying in a quarry. Not only can't you see your face, but it is also may not be useful. If you take that stone and nicely polish it, it starts reflecting your whole face.

In the same way at five points in your body, the matter has been polished so nicely, it can reflect consciousness. The senses are those parts of your body which are polished intensely and hence which can reflect consciousness.

Physiologically the cells in your body are fundamentally the same. But through the special cells in the region of the eyes, you are able to see. Through the skin and special cells in the region of the ears, you are able to hear. Through the region of the nose, you are able to feel the smell. The cells in that space, in that area, have a different quality.

So you can use the senses in different ways. You can use them with a lot of pressure, to extract enjoyment and make them dull, dead and insensitive. Second, you can be relaxed this very moment, come in contact with the sense objects and enjoy pleasure or joy this moment. Third, if you are completely relaxed from the engrams, the very coming in contact with the sense objects itself will open a new door and liberate you to enlightenment.

So understand, fulfillment cannot be directly achieved through the senses. It is the inner core of bliss that enables even the senses to be a means of enjoyment and fulfillment. If fulfillment can be achieved through objects, at least some people should have achieved by now.

You can see around you, so many people have achieved whatever money can give but they are still not fulfilled. There are so many people who have achieved the peaks of name and fame, but they are not fulfilled within themselves. In the same way, have you seen any person who is completely fulfilled through his relationships, whose fulfillment is untouched by the ups and downs of emotions?

Be very clear, as long as you believe you are your senses, you abuse your senses. Your body and your senses have got tremendous intelligence to update, heal, rejuvenate and replace themselves. When you connect yourself only with the senses, you stop that natural updating process.

Your ego is such, whenever you feel some enjoyment, you go the extreme, till that sense is tired. Till that sense gets tired you do not stop. Till we feel we are overflowing, we don't stop eating. Till our eyes are begging us, 'Please relax, please relax,' we do not switch off the television!

The same is the case with food. If we feel something is tasty, till our senses are abused we don't stop. If you have the intelligence that you are not the senses but you are using the senses, you will never abuse them. When you are able to create the gap between you and the senses, you will not abuse your senses, you will not misuse your senses.

In the same way, the moment you decide the touch is a pleasure, you go to the extreme. You use all your energy to feel that pleasure through touch. You do not let the body rejuvenate itself. You do give enough gap for the senses to rejuvenate themselves.

There is an automatic intelligence which is constantly rejuvenating and even replacing: if some part is damaged you have enough intelligence to replace that also. But if your ego or the mind interferes, you do not allow that natural process to happen.

If you bring tremendous awareness, suddenly you realize you are not just the senses, you are beyond the senses. You are using your senses. Through the senses, you are relating with the world.

When you realize you are beyond your senses, whatever you use your senses for, they have the power to rejuvenate and they don't get tired. Not only do the senses not get tired, but they also bring tremendous energy. It is like they refill themselves.

If you can center yourself, in your center, beyond the five senses, not only will you experience the bliss within, even the senses become very energetic and active. You experience a different level of existence. Altogether your very existence will be in a different level.

Understand, this whole existence, the whole cosmos is you. But when you identify yourself just with the five senses, you lose the illimitable space, your expanded consciousness, the expanded ecstasy and the bliss which is your very nature. Do not think you are just this six feet body. You cannot be just the six feet form of the body. Be very clear, you are only using this six feet. You are using the body. You are not the body itself.

Fall into the center, move yourself away from the five senses. Fall into the center and suddenly you will realize, this center is directly connected to the illimitable space. As long as you are running driven by the five senses, constantly behind one sense or the other, you can never realize who you truly are.

Why do you seek money? Because money expands your freedom. See, without money you have only one suffering. With money, you have a choice of sufferings! You can choose from many sufferings. Even having a choice of sufferings is a big freedom!

See, without money you don't have a choice. You have to lie down on your couch and suffer and be depressed. With money, you can choose. You can be lying down in Hawaii and suffering. You can be lying down in Honolulu and be depressed. You can be lying down in Machu Picchu and be depressed. You have a wide range of suffering. Your boundary is expanded; that is why you ask for money. You don't ask for money just for the sake of it; it expands your boundary.

In the same way, it is with love. When you feel somebody loves you deeply, it makes you feel better. It just gives you a complete feeling, a wholeness. That is the reason you ask for love and attention.

Especially in the developed civilizations only I see sending a card, giving a flower, saying, 'I love you'. Once in half an hour you have to ring up and say, 'I love you dear,' 'I love you darling.' I can't understand this idea! Somehow I am not able to relate with some of these things. If you love, love, that's all! Why should you be constantly telling? Maybe telling makes the other person feel better! It is like remembering and reminding the other person. Love gives you that kind of a feeling of completeness.

In the same way, it is with health. Why do you seek health? Because you know being healthy is your nature. For example, if you have headache, you know being healthy without headache is your nature. That is why you take medicine and you just want to come out of it.

If you had had headache forever, if you had never tasted a moment without headache, then you would never think of coming out of your headache! You know it is your nature. See, not having headache and being healthy is your nature. So you want to come back to your nature.

Whatever you may be seeking, you are seeking fulfillment. Please understand, these are the few truths you need to internalize.

Between the ages of 7 and 14, you experience your individual identity. From that moment you feel a kind of emptiness, the unrest inside. It is a kind of hollow, shallow emptiness. From that moment you start seeking fulfillment. If you believe money will give you fulfillment or if somebody makes you believe money will give you fulfillment, you start seeking that. If you believe love will give you fulfillment or if somebody makes you believe love will give you fulfillment, you start seeking through love.

Whatever path you may choose, you are seeking fulfillment. Whether it is health or love or relationships or luxury, whatever you may be seeking, directly or indirectly you are seeking fulfillment. Your whole life is a long chain of events performed in moving towards the one goal of fulfillment. Whatever you may do, whether it is eating or drinking or having relationships, gaining wealth or joy – it is all to experience the fulfillment. Through different directions you seek fulfillment instead of seeking it directly.

The emptiness which you started feeling the moment you felt the individual identity, you start seeking fulfillment from that emptiness. You want to escape from that emptiness. It happens between the age of 7 and 14, it depends on the culture. I can say if the culture is not corrupting you too much, if it is not putting too much of fantasy inside you, it may be upto 14. But if the culture is forcing too much of fantasy inside you, putting too many ideas inside you, then it will be 7. But it will be between 7 and 14.

When you are physically mature, that is the time a strong individual identity is felt by you. The moment you start feeling the strong individual identity, you start feeling a kind of deep emptiness, shallowness.

Look little deep. From the day you started feeling the individual identity, you have that emptiness. From that day, you started seeking fulfillment. If you believe or you are convinced to believe that through something that fulfillment will be achieved, you start going behind it, you start working towards it.

You start seeking what you are missing - in so many things, in so many places.

If somebody convinces you making money will take you out of the emptiness, it will give you fulfillment, you start making money. If somebody convinces you having love only will give you fulfillment, you start running behind love. If somebody convinces you good relationships and family will only give you fulfillment, you start running behind that. If somebody convinces you that having a car and house and all the basic needs only will give you fulfillment, you run behind that.

But from the beginning, whatever you may be seeking, you are working for fulfillment. The day you started feeling the individual identity, the emptiness started.

Somebody tells you, 'First get educated, then life will be settled.' So you start studying. Then you think, 'If I get a job, life is settled.' Then, 'If I find my love, life is settled.' Then, 'If I am married and settled, life is settled.' After marriage, 'If I have my house and car, life is settled.' After car and house, 'If I have kids and family, life is settled.' After kids, 'If they study well and grow up little bit, life is settled.' After the children grow up, study well, 'If they find the right college, life is settled.' After they find the right college and study, 'If they get married, life is settled.' Then after they get married, 'If I have grandkids, life is settled.' Till you go and settle in the graveyard, life is never settled!

Maya is that which is not there but which makes you run as if it is there. It creates the responses of fear and greed in you as if it is there.

Second truth, please understand, just through objects fulfillment can never be achieved. Just through objects fulfillment can never be achieved. A fridge is useful to refrigerate your food, a cot is useful for you to rest, a home is useful to stay, a car is useful to drive, but through these objects you can't achieve fulfillment.

Please understand, just through the objects fulfillment is never achieved. Those objects are useful for that purpose, that's all. But the fulfillment itself can never be achieved just through the objects.

If fulfillment could be achieved just through objects, then at least few thousand people should have achieved it because we have billionaires. At least few hundred billionaires we have in planet Earth who can buy anything which can be bought by money. At least they should have had fulfillment. No! Even they are not able to have. It means, just through the objects fulfillment is never achieved.

There is an important phrase that needs to be understood: 'depression of success' or the depression induced by success.

If through objects, fulfillment can be achieved what is the need for spirituality? But always I have seen, around the age of forty or forty five, everybody faces the depression of success. If you are not facing, something is wrong with you! Depression of success means you achieve what you want to achieve but you have not achieved what for you want to achieve. And suddenly that emptiness erupts.

There are three ways to face this depression of success. The first option is addiction. Addiction does not only mean alcohol or drugs. Even addiction to television, addiction to food, these things are all also addiction. Some people pour and fill their emptiness, some people dump and fill, that's all!

The other path is suicide. Not only straightaway dying, but living as 'living dead'. Just dragging, living dry, dull, dead, even that is a kind of suicide.

The third path is very intelligent that very few people take: meditation, seeking. Majority of the people take up addiction, few people take up suicide or just dragging. Very few people take up the intelligent path of seeking and meditation. So please understand, just through objects fulfillment can never be achieved.

I am not saying, objects are wrong. No! Objects are fine. Have your car, have your house, have your fridge, but understand their limitations. Don't expect them to give you fulfillment. Have your house, have your wife, have your husband, have your family, but don't expect that they themselves can give you fulfillment.

All our problem is we expect too much. If it is an object, at least you can't fight with it. If it is a person, you start fighting. Just through outer world objects or persons, fulfillment can never be achieved.

The third important truth, very important truth, is from my own experience. I tell you from my own experience. The moment you start seeking fulfillment directly**, not through any objects, suddenly tremendous energy is awakened inside your system. All the objects and persons behind whom you were running start getting attracted towards you.**

Please understand, I am responsible for what I am talking. I am not giving you false promise. I am not giving you hope. I am not giving you theories. I am not giving you theologies. I am not giving you philosophy. I am straightaway giving you my experience.

I tell you, bliss attracts fortune. It may seem illogical at first, but it is the truth. You may wonder, 'I can understand fortune can bring us bliss. But how can bliss bring us fortune?'

In Bharat, when any new thing is started, be it a business or a construction or something to do with education, the first thing that we do is, sit down for a few moments, close our eyes and be in a meditative mood. We try to bring about some kind of an energy play or transformation inside us. Of course, over the years, this has become a prayer and a ritual; that is a different issue. But the first thing that we try to do is, sit down and try to kindle the energy flow in us.

When the energy flow in us becomes fulfilling, it has the property of influencing the outer world incidents. We saw how our thoughts and emotions can simply radiate and influence even a glass of water. Our thoughts affect plants, animals and every single element of Existence.

Whether you believe it or not, accept it or not, like it or not, want it or not, you are deeply connected to Existence. You are an integral part of Existence, not an independent island as you think. Every subtle movement or subtle thought in one part of the universe causes a countereffect at that same moment elsewhere in the universe. Our thoughts have the capacity to affect the seas. Be very clear, all the so-called natural calamities are nothing but the effects of global negative thoughts.

From a young age, we have been trained in 'the logic of mathematics and science', never in 'the logic of Existence'. Mathematics logic is very straightforward and should be applied only to things where it is appropriate. In matters concerning life and relationships, mathematics logic will cause only chaos. With it, we will always look to conclude with a 'good' or 'bad' judgment. There is something beyond and deeper than this and that is Existential logic.

Your thoughts and energy directly affect your body, your cell structure, your decisions, your capacity to fulfill your decisions, the outer world incidents, even accidents. When you are centered in greed and fear, every action that you do is out of either desire or fear. It becomes very easy for others to exploit you because of this; you become very vulnerable. You create a mental setup that creates and attracts similar incidents to you. If you are filled with sympathy and self-pity, suddenly you start attracting people who abuse and disrespect you.

If instead your mental setup is one of bliss, then your energy flow will start brimming and your thoughts will be much clearer and more in the present. When you do this, you have every power to control the outer world incidents because you and Existence have a very deep connection at the energy level. This is the thread that you need to catch in order to understand that bliss attracts fortune. When you are blissful, when your mental setup is not one of worry, fear and greed but one that is in the present, always joyful, you will automatically attract all good things to yourself.

When you start seeking the truth directly, not through any object, suddenly you release a tremendous energy.

Please understand, I am telling you the straight simple truth. When you start seeking the truth directly, suddenly you are awakened to a new consciousness and energy.

I am not saying after enlightenment, these objects will be attracted towards you. I am saying even in your seeking, if you are seeking fulfillment directly, the energy which is released in your system, the awakening which happens in your system, attracts all auspiciousness and all the objects behind which you were running. It attracts everything towards you.

What you are seeking in your life directly plays a role in your consciousness. If the object of your seeking is deepened, your very consciousness changes. When you are clear about your seeking, goal, your personality becomes deep. Anything you see or experience becomes deep. In my experience, seeking transforms the seeker.

You may think, now it looks little paradoxical. Please understand, when you start working towards fulfillment, you raise yourself to a different frequency.

Let me describe this seeking.

Sometimes, early morning, you will be out of your sleep, out of your dream. But you wouldn't have been completely awakened. You will try to move your body but you won't be able to move your body. How many of you have felt that experience at least once?

In that gap, how suffocated you feel that you have to enter the body and possess the body, take control of your body! That moment only when people are not able to describe what was going on, they start saying, 'A ghost was sitting on my chest, I was being possessed.' No ghost possesses you; relax!

I want you to understand an important truth, ghosts are actually less powerful than you. They are actually afraid of you. When you are little frightened of them, then they start ruling you, that's all. These are nothing but extensions of your subconscious beliefs. They are your own suppressed fantasies coming out.

Please understand this suffocation when you feel as if a ghost has possessed you. You are out of your dream state but you have not completely entered the waking state. Either you are in the dream state and you are comfortable. Or if you are completely in the waking state, you are comfortable, just doing what you want. In between, you are neither here nor there.

You feel a strong suffocation. That suffocation actually makes you wake up, and you jump to the waking state. In the same way, when you are not comfortable with this waking state, you feel the suffocation and you wake up to the samadhi state. That is what I call seeking.

See, you have experienced the border between dream and waking state. The border between the waking state and the superconscious or enlightenment state is what I call seeking. See when you are out of dream, before entering into the waking state how you feel you have to wake up, that same pressure if you feel to wake up from this dream, you will wake up. That is what I call seeking.

Please understand the definition of seeking. Many times, we have a wrong understanding about seeking. If you start seeking the truth directly, not through any object, you release a tremendous energy inside your system. The inner potential energy is awakened; that is what we call kundalini shakti. The potential energy is awakened. Suddenly you will see, whatever objects you were running behind, all those objects are attracted towards you. Physical health, mental health, even wealth. Please understand, even wealth.

You may think, 'How can wealth be attracted if my kundalini is awakened?'

Understand, even your poverty is your choice. You have a blueprint of your life inside your consciousness. You just project that blueprint and live.

If that blueprint can be altered, erased and a new blueprint can be created, you can change your life. Changing the inner blueprint is what I call living enlightenment.

If you can change the blueprint to the correct one, you can attract all the right things to yourself in this life. And even in the next life, you will constantly attract right things. Altering the blueprint is what I call spiritual practice or meditation.

Many times, some experiences will make you understand the truths which you read about. You would have read some truth in some book, some experience suddenly will make that into reality. One of my experiences helped me to realize one such truth: I had read in many books we are responsible for our birth. But I could never understand how a child can be responsible for his cancer, how a child can be responsible for his autism.

A four year old autistic boy was brought to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for healing. He was born and brought up in a Telugu family. I put my hand on the child and started healing. The moment I connected, the child started speaking in Tamil. He said, 'Remove your hand, I don't want you to heal me.' In a very colloquial style of Tamil, he told me to remove my hand in a very rough way. The first thing: I was shocked as to how this child was speaking and that too in Tamil.

I asked his parents whether the child knew Tamil by any chance. They said, 'No chance Swamiji! None of us knows even a single word in Tamil. How he is speaking in Tamil, we don't know!'

I asked the child, 'Why are you saying not to heal you? Why are you asking me to take my hands?' He again replied in very colloquial Tamil, 'Just remove your hands!' He said, 'I don't want you to heal me. I purposely took this body and mind!'

I asked him, 'Why did you take birth as an autistic child?

He said, 'I was tired or working and making money and running my life. This life I decided I will not take any responsibility. I want somebody to take care of me. So I took this kind of body and mind!'

I told him, 'Ok, but your parents are such nice people! You are giving suffering to them. Why did you take birth to them?' He said, 'I took birth to them, because they are good people. They will take care of me.'

Then I had to take my hands off out of respect for the individual's freedom, and the boy said, 'Thank you for respecting my intentions.'

This incident may be very shocking and mystical but it is true. It is the case of a stressed soul that wants to retire but doesn't know how to retire eternally. The being can actually relax by reducing engrams but he doesn't know how to do that. So he suppresses the expression part by taking a handicapped body, so that he has less choices to face in life. By reducing the number of choices, he tries to force himself out of the game of life.

This incident gave a clarity, click that directly or indirectly we are responsible for our life. If we can awaken the energy which can heal, which can clear the negative blueprint we are carrying about our life, I can be sure our whole life will take a big turn.

I am not teaching you positive thinking. I don't believe in positive thinking. I don't believe in thinking first of all! So whether it is positive thinking or negative thinking, it is junk. So understand I am not promoting positive thinking. I am just stating few simple facts, few simple truths.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says beautifully,

ananyaas chintayanto maam ye janaaha paryupaasate

teshaam nithyabhiyuktaanaam yogakshemam vahaamyaham

When you surrender, relax into Me, remember only Me and nothing else, Krishna says beautifully, your yoga and kshema will happen, means taking care of your needs, and taking care that all those things stay with you. Yoga means bringing them; kshema means taking care that they stay with you. He says, 'I take care of both.' This is a beautiful statement and assurance by the Divine. It is not only an assurance but it is also a promise.

Because when you are remembering Him and relaxing in Him, your whole blueprint will be different. Your whole inner energy will be different. And you start attracting the right things in your life.

The strange thing is that He says we will have everything and nothing will be lost. It is difficult to believe! 'How can I have what I want by meditating?' This will be the immediate question. Please be very clear, now in the modern day, especially after the breakthrough with the principles of quantum physics, science clearly proves our thoughts create the whole universe.

In The Biology of Belief, reputed cell biologist Bruce Lipton explains how the latest research into the way cells receive and process information shows that our behavior is not controlled by our genes but how our behavior decides the very structure of our DNA, one of the fundamental building blocks of the body. Our very thoughts and emotions and the physical environment all influence not only our mental structure, but our very physical structure also.

Research shows that cells respond not only based on the genes but also based on the environmental factors. The genes make up only half the chromosomes. But the regulatory proteins make up the other half. Genes do not totally decide a cell's or an organism's life, because the survival of the cell depends on its ability to dynamically adjust to an ever-changing environment.

Let me tell you an amazing incident from my own life.

During the days of my spiritual journey, I was staying in Hardwar at a place called Kankhal. I was doing tapasya (spiritual practice). Everyday morning, I used to go for alms to places where they feed monks. In Bharat, in so many ashrams, they give alms to monks. I used to get my food, eat two or three rotis (Hindu bread) and then start meditating.

One day, I fell very sick. I had a high temperature and diarrhea. I was unable to even walk. I was thinking, 'What can be done? Alright! Let it be.' Suddenly, a young sannyasi came and gave me food. Not only for one day but continuously for three to four days, he came and brought food for me. Not only food, he brought medicine also. I asked him, 'Who are you? Where have you come from?' He said, 'Oh, my name is Shankar. They call me Shankar Maharaj. I stay at an ashram called Sadhana Sadan, a nearby ashram.' He pointed towards a distant place and said that is where he stayed.

He came and brought me food and medicine everyday till I recovered. He came for at least four days. Since he was coming everyday, I started talking with him and we became acquainted. I saw that he was wearing a beautiful pen with a diamond in it. I was surprised as to how a monk got a diamond pen.

I asked him, 'What is this, Swami?' He said, 'This is a diamond pen. Some devotee gave it to me. It looks nice, so I wear it.' After several days, when my health was back to normal, he stopped coming. Then I thought, 'I must go and see him. Now I can walk and move, so I should go and see him.' I felt a little connected to him because he served me. I felt I should meet him and thank him. After about a week, I became completely alright and was able to walk.

I went searching for the ashram Shankar Maharaj had told me he was staying in. When I found the place, I asked an elderly person sitting there, 'Swamiji, I want to see Shankar Maharaj.' The swami said, 'Shankar? Who are you talking about?' I said, 'I want to see Shankar, a young swami. I met him two to three days ago. He used to come everyday and bring me food when I was not well for the past few days. Is this Sadhana Sadan?'

The swami replied, 'Yes, this is Sadhana Sadan. But in our ashram, there is only one Shankar. Go to the temple and see. He is the only Shankar Maharaj we have!' He pointed towards a particular area.

I tell you, this is the truth. When I entered the temple, I saw Shiva as a white marble statue with the same pen on the cloth draped on his upper body! The same pen was on Shiva's clothes! The same diamond pen!

Of course, tears rolled down from my eyes. So much gratitude overflowed. Later, I asked the swami, 'How did this pen come to Shiva? Who put a pen on Shiva's statue?' He said, 'One week ago, a devotee came and offered the pen. It looked nice and they said it was a diamond. We just wanted to decorate Shiva with diamond jewelry. So we put the pen on him!'

I again asked, 'Who put a pen on Shiva?' Because at least if it is some other regular kind of jewelry, we can believe it. But who would put a diamond pen on the deity?

The swami replied, 'I don't know. A devotee came and offered this pen. I said, why should a sannyasi have a diamond? I will give it to god.' So I put it on Shiva.

He then continued, 'For the last few days all the food offering, prasad that we place in front of Him, disappears. I suspect that rats have been eating the food. So now I am careful. I sit for a while after placing the food for Shankar Maharaj.'

I did not want to tell him that I was the rat who ate Shankar Maharaj's food!

During the 2006 Himalayan yatra, we searched for this ashram and Shankar Maharaj's temple. After many years, it was still the same, the same temple and the same Shankar Maharaj, but no diamond pen now!

You may say, 'This is your experience. How can this be a truth for us, Swamiji?' An ordinary mind doubts. I say, you can experiment with this truth in your life.

Let me tell you that your consciousness, your inner space has the quality to create miracles in your lives. Miracles can happen in your life. What you need, you will receive. Continuously, miracles are happening. Just trust that our consciousness is connected to the universe. Continuously, the universe cares for us. The Divine waits for us. It responds to our thoughts.

We create what we want. Just as we create the whole world in our dream, similarly we have the power to create the world when we are conscious, when we are in the waking state. When we can create a world in the dream state, can't we create that in the waking state? We can do it.

You can see in your life: if you carry that self-pity, you will always attract people who abuse and disrespect you. You will always attract situations which abuse you. Actually you are happy when you are abused. You can go on brooding over it; you can constantly remember, 'See what happens to me!' We start enjoying unconsciously. It is a kind of a mental setup which enjoys all this kind of things, which doesn't want to take the responsibility and stand up.

You start blaming, 'This is how life is. This is Kali Yuga; it will be like this only. God is punishing me.' God is not a sadist; He doesn't need to punish you!

The whole problem why we are not able to relate with these mystical truths is our way of thinking. See, there are three types of logic as explained by the enlightened master Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras: tarka or simple logic, kutarka or negative reasoning and vitarka or the right reasoning beyond the simple logic or negative reasoning.

To explain all these three, I can give an incident from my own life.

As a young boy, I used to have a small idol of lord Ganesha with me and I would do puja (worship) everyday to that Ganesha. I would pour water, put little food in front of Ganesha and wave the lights, wave the camphor. It was like really I was living with Him. I was not just doing some puja, I was living with Him. There was a strong feeling of connection.

The whole day I would be sitting, fanning Him, or doing whatever I can. Anything given to me I would bring it and put it in front of Him. I used to go to satsangs (spiritual gatherings) as a small boy*.* One day at a satsang, the teacher was narrating an incident from the life of the saint Nambiyandar Nambi. He was a great saint born and brought up in South Bharat. The teacher was describing an incident from his life as a young boy.

The boy's father used to worship Ganesha in a temple every day. One day the father fell sick and he asked the son to go and do the worship. The son went with the food and all the worship articles. He did the worship and put the food in front of Ganesha. He thought Ganesha used to really eat every day. He was doing puja for the first time, so he thought Ganesha was supposed to eat. And he was sitting, waiting for Ganesha to eat.

Half an hour, one hour, two hours, the food was there untouched. The boy started worrying, 'What happened? Did I do anything wrong? Ganesha is not eating.' And he started talking to the deity but there was no response. Then he started telling, 'If you don't eat and if I go back, my father may fire me. He may shout at me, please do something. If I have done some mistakes, forgive me. Please eat.' Of course, Ganesha did not eat.

Suddenly, the boy felt deep trust or shraddha towards Ganesha. He felt Ganesha had to eat. He started weeping, 'Till you eat, I am not going to leave this place.' Five to six hours were over, but the food was there, Ganesha was sitting. Then the boy went to the extreme, he gave a suicidal threat. He said, 'I will hit my head on these steps and die if you don't eat,' and he started hitting his head.

Understand, even the doubt did not exist, he just knew that Ganesha was going to eat. He started hitting his head and the story says suddenly Ganesha appeared and ate the food and blessed him. When the boy went back to his father, the father asked what happened, where the food was. He said, 'Ganesha ate!' The father could not believe this! He questioned the boy, 'Did Ganesha eat or did you eat?'

The surprised boy innocently said, 'No, Ganesha ate! If you want to see, please come, I will show you.' Then he took his father and there the father saw the mouth of Ganesha smeared with the remains of the food. The story says the father fell at the feet of the son saying, 'All these years, what I was only doing as a ritual, you made it as reality, you made it as Truth.'

When I heard this story, suddenly I decided, I will also feed my Ganesha. I was possessed by a strong shraddha. See, when you are possessed by shraddha, you will not have kutarka or negative reasoning at all. I decided I will also make Ganesha eat. This is tarka, simple logic. When he made Ganesha eat, why not me?

I was brought up in a joint family. In the family, there was an old lady who was one of my relations like my grandmother. If the kids did not eat, she would always threaten them, 'Hey, I will put you inside the well.' There was a huge well in the center of the house. She would shout, 'I will put you inside the well.' So I had heard only that logic. So naturally what will I do? I went and put little food in front of Ganesha and told Him to eat.

When I saw that after half an hour He did not eat, I started using the same technique, 'I will put you in the well!' This is what is kutarka. Please understand, I had heard only that. The old lady had taught me kutarka. So just like her, I started shouting threats to Ganesha. I started using the same words she was using, 'Better eat now or you are going to be in the well...' But Ganesha was there silently. I decided I am going to put Him in the well.

What the old lady used to do was, she would hold the kid, and take little food in the other hand and show the well, 'See, see! I will drop you!' These kids would open their mouth and cry, 'Aaaah', and she would put the food inside. That was the way she would feed the kids. I decided I would also do the same thing with my Ganesha.

I took the Ganesha in one hand and food in the other hand, and I showed Ganesha the well, 'Eh, see the well, I will throw you inside!' But He did not open His mouth. I tried two or three times, then I decided to change my way of getting Him to eat. There used to be a vessel in which they would take water from the well. I put Ganesha in the vessel. I started lowering, threatening Him, 'See, I will really drown you, I will really drown you…'

When the vessel was about to touch the water level, suddenly I realized, maybe now He would have changed his mind and He wanted to eat, but there was no food in the vessel. So I brought Him out, put the food also in the vessel and started lowering Him again. The vessel was almost close to the water level but nothing happened.

I did not have the mind to really put Ganesha into the water also. It was too much. He really meant a lot for me. And it was a very strong relationship. So I could only threaten, I could not put Him in the well actually.

Finally, I took Him out. I said, 'Alright, maybe He did not like the cooking, maybe He did not like the food.' See how the kutarka works! Kutarka says everything is wrong, except you!

Then I started thinking the food is not right. Maybe my mother was not cooking properly. I went to the temple where they offer food to the deities. I thought that the food at the temple was eaten by deities every day. So I went to the temple cook. I used to do lot of voluntary work at the temple as a young boy, like washing the vessels and cleaning the floor.

So I asked the cook, 'Will you give me little food for my Ganesha?' He said, 'Why little food? Have more.' He gave lots of food. I brought it to the house and said to Ganesha, 'See, I brought the same diet which you eat at the temple every day. Now there is no reason, no excuse. Come on, eat! I was continuously sitting for maybe three or four hours but He was still not eating. I said, 'I brought the food you eat everyday at the temple. Why are You not eating? I am not going to let you off today!' So again I put Him in that bucket and started lowering Him into the well.

By then I had actually memorized all the abusive words my grandmother used to say to make a child eat! All those words, like a sloka (chant) I memorized and started repeating. I really thought those words were very powerful, they would make Him eat. And all the techniques I had tried with my old diet, I tried everything step by step with this new diet. I put Him in the bucket and as the bucket was about to touch the water, I even started shouting, 'Are you listening to what I am saying?' Of course He was not eating. But I could not drown Him because it was a very strong relationship, very loving relationship. So what to do? I took Him out. I can say I was really depressed, very worried.

I was sitting in a completely low mood, not knowing what to do! See, if my grandmother did all these things to any child, the child ate. And I knew only those techniques. I didn't know any other technique. I had not read any book on how to feed Ganesha or how to feed kids! Whatever manual was there in front of me, that whole thing I had tried. Nothing worked. So I was sitting. And the Ganesha was lying there.

One nice thing with shraddha or trust is, even if you start with kutarka, the power of trust is such, the power of shraddha is such, it turns the whole thing to vitarka. Please understand, the power of trust is such even if you start with the wrong logic it turns the whole thing to right logic. Because the trust is not just energy or logic, it is intelligence.

Intensity is the deep yearning, the seeking for the Ultimate, enlightenment. The next question comes, 'How to start seeking?' You don't need any technique. Please understand, you don't need any technique. Just the intense feeling, 'I should be awakened,' 'I should be fulfilled,' 'I should achieve that fourth state,' that intense feeling is more than enough.

With that intense feeling, whatever you do, even your walking, talking, sitting, eating, everything will become a meditation technique. Without that intensity, whatever you do, even if you do meditation, it will be a ritual.

See, without that intensity, seeking, even if you do meditation, it will be a ritual. With intensity, even your walking, talking, sitting, eating, everything will become a technique. Really feeling that it is your life, without it you cannot live, is seeking.

The intensity of seeking is what is most important in realizing the Ultimate. To realize enlightenment, it needs to be your first priority. It cannot be another nice-to-have thing that you can showcase!

Ramakrishna says very beautifully, 'If your head is on fire, will you think, "O this TV serial I never missed. Let me see this serial and then I will go and put off the fire"?'

Just as putting out the fire will be your topmost priority, so also to be a true and sincere seeker, enlightenment needs to be your topmost priority. The curious questions need to transform into a burning quest. Only then all your energies, all your faculties, all your energies will integrate to single-pointedly focus on the single aim of realizing the Ultimate.

Be very clear, there cannot be a 'balance' between desire and seeking. Both desire and seeking cannot coexist. Living with desire is working to satisfy the senses, enjoying the sense pleasures, which can never lead to fulfillment. Living with seeking is working to go beyond desire to realize the ultimate eternal bliss, which is beyond the temporary happiness provided by desire and the senses.

With intensity, the whole body gets tuned to a different energy. You will then be able to use the senses and body in a much better way. You can do more things than what you were previously doing through your body.

Whatever you do will become meditation. Whatever you do will become fulfillment. Whatever you do will lead you to that intense awareness or the ultimate enlightenment.

The urge should become urgent. The question should become quest.

All you need is intense seeking. Understand, I can say the essence of human life is enlightenment. Till you achieve it, you need intense seeking, that's all. Feeling strongly suffocated with what you are and feeling strongly to be awakened, is seeking.

Why do we always remember the painful incidents in life? Do you remember joyful incidents with the same intensity as you remember the painful ones? You too experience moments of bliss. The big problem is you forget.

See, when man walks on the sand, he leaves footprints. But when the bird flies over the earth, it doesn't leave footprints. All your sufferings leave their footprints in your mind; you can remember and recall.

So understand, decide that intensely you will awaken the yearning, seeking. Nothing else needs to be done. All you need to do is just feel, 'I should become enlightened. I should have that fulfillment. I should go beyond this state. I should go to the ultimate state. I should achieve my peak. I should see the fulfillment in me.'

And once upon a time, you had. That is why you even think of fulfillment. If you never had, why will you think about it? Like in the case of health, because you had health, if you have a headache you want to come out of it. In the same way, the moment you want to come out of this situation, it means at some time you experienced fulfillment.

So be very clear, you can't say, 'I never had fulfillment.' The very knowing about unfulfillment proves that there is fulfillment. Sometimes, you do see the glimpse. So the strong feeling connection to achieve fulfillment, to experience fulfillment is what I call the ultimate technique.

People again and again ask, 'How to create that seeking?' Nothing, just create a strong will, 'I should become fulfilled.' Actually if you don't believe any higher force like guru or God, create a strong will. If you believe a higher force, create a strong prayer.

Strong will always becomes a strong prayer. Strong prayer always creates a strong will. 'Let me become fulfilled' if it is towards your being, it is a will. If it is towards a higher being, it is a prayer. Understand, 'Let me become fulfilled', if you are telling to yourself, it is a will. Sometimes you feel telling to yourself is not working. Then you tell higher beings like guru or God. That is called prayer.

You can see in the life of enlightened master Buddha as to how he became enlightened. Buddha had been trying various kinds of spiritual practices for over twelve years but he had not been able to realize the Ultimate. One day, he decided, even if the body dries up here, I will not move out of this place unless I become enlightened. The moment he made this strong sankalpa or vow to wait eternally for enlightenment, within three seconds, he became enlightened!

By nature, whenever you take up anything, whenever you try to exert your will or strong decision, the mind will tease you saying, 'Eh! How are you going to be successful in this? How many times you have tried…! Do you think you will succeed this time? Do you think you are capable…?' The mind is like a dog talking at an elephant walking!

It starts as a will, 'Let me achieve fulfillment.' At this time, you have to hold on to the will because your own mind doesn't believe in your sankalpa or will. As the will grows stronger, slowly you realize that there is a life force much bigger than you that is running you as well as the whole universe. The deep feeling of connection or bhakti starts happening towards this powerful and compassionate Existence. And slowly the will becomes prayer.

If the will is between you and you, it is called sankalpa. If the will is between you and the divine, it is called prayer. It should start as sankalpa and end as prayer. If the end is not as prayer*,* it means the fulfillment has not happened. If it does not start as sankalpa, it means you have no confidence that you can achieve. So decide this moment, that the fulfillment has to happen in you.

A real incident from my life:

I was at Manikarnika Ghat during my wandering days. Manikarnika Ghat is a cremation place in Varanasi where continuously the funeral pyre has been lit for hundreds of years. Day and night, dead bodies are burnt there.

I was watching the cremation of so many bodies when I felt, everyday I am seeing death, then why am I not able to experience the internal psychological death? Understand, I am not talking about the physical death; I am talking about the psychological death. If you experience psychological death, suddenly you will see you are enlightened.

Then I decided, either this body should die and I should experience death or I should have the death experience by meditation. I decided I will sit and meditate on death till I have the death experience.

Be very clear, your mind knows all your games. It knows how many times you cheated by breaking your own will. It knows how many times you changed, altered, found the fine print! For your own will, you have a fine print below! After two to three hours, when you are tired, you read the fine print and say, 'It is ok. I can relax.'

I did not believe myself. But somehow the will was very strong. One day was over. Second day also was gone. I had no food, no sleep. I did not get up at all. On the third day, the whole body was practically frozen because of pain. The body wanted to move but I said, no, there is no question of moving. If you sit continuously without moving, the whole body will be frozen with pain.

Suddenly my whole being realized I am really serious about my will. Suddenly my whole being realized I am going to do it. I myself got convinced about my will power. I myself realized I am going to sit. First time when I sat, my mind did not agree, 'Alright! Let's see. Struggle how much you can. After all you are a good person struggling for the last ten years. Try once more, nothing wrong in trying!' Next day morning, it felt little sympathetic, 'He is really trying, struggling.' Third day noon, it got completely convinced that I am going to do it.

The power which was resisting lost its hold on the consciousness. The constant doubt which was saying, 'No, no, no, once he is tired he will get up. Once he is hungry he will get up and go for food; relax,' that part died. Suddenly my own being got so strongly convinced that I am going to sit.

Still I remember very clearly, one thought came, 'I am going to sit eternally, forever.' The moment I decided forever, the mind stopped moving in a linear way. See, if you say you will do something 'for a long time', your mind will say, 'What do you mean by long time? How many years, come on tell me.' The moment I say, 'Alright, let me sit for ten years,' then it will be waiting, 'Ok, ten years let us sit.' After ten years it can come out. Just because that hope is there, it will not fall into unconsciousness.

It will continue to retain its identity because it knows after ten years, it can come back and play its game. The hope is there because the idea of time is created by the mind. It is like you create a track of steel and a train of steel. The steel train moves on the steel track. So, since the mind created time, the mind can be alive for however long time. It knows, 'It is my own track. Let me travel. Let me move.'

But the moment I decided to sit eternally, the mind lost its grip over time. And it knew, 'I think he really means what he is thinking.' The moment you give that confidence to the mind that you are going to do it eternally, suddenly it gets shaken, it gets frightened and it comes back to the present moment. Because it knows you are going to do this forever.

See, your mind exists only with this one idea, it tolerates anything if it knows that is going to end. It has the ability to tolerate anything and survive anything if it knows that action is going to end. It can be any action, any idea. Any meditation, any technique, if it knows it is going to end, it will survive, it will live through.

Only when you give the clarity it is going to be forever, it can end. That is why in the Hindu tradition, whether it is marriage or sannyas, it is eternal, forever. Once you marry, it is forever. Once you take sannyas, it is forever. Then the mind will stop playing its games.

See, the moment you have the freedom, 'Anyhow, I am going to divorce. Why tomorrow? Why not today?' Always you will think why postpone. But if you know this is going to be your life forever, then you know anyhow you have to live. You will see how you can work it out.

So your idea about the future plays a major role on your life in the present, on your action in the present. If you know that this is your life, your mind starts getting settled and adjusted with this mental setup. Even if there is something wrong, you feel, you have to start healing and respecting.

The idea you carry about yourself in your mind is very important. That is going to decide about your action. The idea which you have about your body and mind is the best friend or worst enemy for you. If you have the right idea about your body and mind, that is the best friend for you. If you have the wrong idea about your body and mind, that is the worst enemy for you. I have seen various types of cultures and civilizations. The kids who are given the right understanding about the body and mind, not only live long, but they also live happily.

Your idea about the future creates miracles inside the physical body. The yogi from whom I learnt yoga, I have seen him display all kinds of miraculous powers. Because he was very clear, till he achieved those powers, he would practice.

So what does the mind do? Your mind is intelligent, it can express all powers. It immediately decides, 'O, this person is going to torture me with the practice till I reveal the powers to him. Better let me give now itself!' It tries to play with you without giving the power and tries to break the practice. If you give the strong idea to your mind, you are going to practice till it gives you the power, suddenly it gives in.

The moment I was able to convince myself I am going to sit, my whole being was completely convinced. I could see very clearly, from the root of the spine, the pain spreading all over the body. Excruciating pain, requesting me, 'Please move the body little bit and adjust.' I was sitting for two and half days. And I did not even know that two and half days had passed. Only later on I calculated. I just decided, who cares about time? I am going to sit, that's all. My backbone was requesting, 'Please adjust the legs a bit, please move the hands a bit so the blood flow can happen. At least let me see if I am alive or not!' But I could see my will, 'I am going to sit.'

The moment that strong will said I am going to sit, internally when the conviction landed on my being, I could see very clearly that pain which was there all over the body in every joint and in every nerve and in the whole body slowly started disappearing. The moment it learnt the practice is going to be eternal, the mind started withdrawing. It decided, 'Now I cannot survive, now I cannot stand.' It came to the present moment, 'Alright, I will cooperate with you' and it dissolved.

See, the mind thrives on change or hope for change. So any technique, any practice you want to do, decide you are going to do forever. For example, take the technique of unclutching. Decide, whatever may happen, I am going to unclutch forever. You will unclutch now. That moment is what I call enlightenment.

Somebody once asked me, 'How do I get enlightenment? I want to…real bad and urgently.'

I tell you, just this very feeling is enough to make you get enlightened. Don't bother about anything else. Only thing needed is that it is true and not just a word. Just look into yourself: the way you feel, it should not be just a question. It should be a quest.

Understand question is word. Quest is a feeling. These lines, 'How do I get enlightenment? I want to: real bad and urgently,' If they are a quest in you, if this question has come out as a deep quest, then you don't need anything. Just boil. Let the whole being burn with this quest. That's enough. Nothing else needs to be done. Let this boiling be intense.

Allow this boiling. Allow this burning. Allow this intensity. Allow this urgency. Let the urge become urgent. Let the question become a quest. Let it just eat your ego. So the quest happens to you by divine grace.

People ask me, 'Swamiji, have you been enlightened by the divine grace or by your effort or by your quest?' I tell them, you having the quest is the first sign that you are having the divine grace. Unless you have the divine grace, you will not have the quest.

Understand, this quest or seeking is like a seed. It is like a seed feeling suffocated inside the shell. See, the life which is inside the seed, unless it feels suffocated inside the shell, won't open up and become a tree. The moment the seed starts feeling that it should open up, the seeking, feeling the urgency and quest to open up to become a tree, it means already the tree inside the seed has started expressing itself.

If you are feeling that you should get enlightened, the Buddha in you has opened his eyes. The Buddha in you has started waking up. All you need to do is open your eyes. Allow this seeking. From morning till night let it boil, let it create a deep dissatisfaction in you, let it swallow all your depressions. In life you may have so many other depressions and sufferings; all those sufferings will be swallowed by this one suffering.

The great master Ramana Maharishi, who lived in South Bharat, used to say that the first seeking is like the stick used to burn the dead bodies. In Bharat, dead bodies are burnt with a stick. They use only stick to burn the dead bodies properly. So after burning, they throw this stick also in the same fire. In the same way, your seeking should be like this stick. It should burn all the other desires of you in this world and along with this, the seeking desire also will be put in the same fire and it will be burnt.

A beautiful Zen story:

A Zen student was intensely studying under her master but she was not able to experience true meditation for a very long time.

One full moon night, she was carrying a bucket of water suspended on a bamboo stick. She saw the reflection of the moon in the bucket. Suddenly, the bamboo broke.

The water fell out of the bucket. The reflection of the moon disappeared and so did her ego.

When the seeking is intense, it will remove the juice from your ego. The green grass becomes like a haystack. Just a match is enough to burn the whole haystack down. The Ultimate can happen in a split second through a simple happening.

So understand, let this seeking, let this quest, let this seeking burn all your other sufferings, all your other depressions, all your other desires, all your other concerns about life. Let it happen and suddenly you will see that this seeking disappears. When the seeking disappears, you are enlightened. You have achieved what you are seeking.

The physical body is that which you are carrying now, you can feel now, which is made out of flesh and bone. Mental body or the dream body is the body made of all your imaginations put together. The boundary of the physical body ends at your skin. But the boundary of the mental body ends at the limit where you can imagine. Please understand, where the mental body ends you don't even know because there is no end to the imagination.

Bring awareness to the extent you can imagine. It is a very subtle technical truth. When you bring awareness to the physical body, it gets healed. When you bring awareness to the mental body, it gets healed.

How will we bring our awareness to the mental boundary? Slowly, slowly, slowly, expand your visualization. For example, first visualize you inside your body. Then visualize this whole area is inside your body. It means your imagination is expanding. Then slowly expand and feel this whole city is inside your body. Expand your imagination to the next level; feel this whole country is inside you. Expand the imagination; feel this whole earth is inside you. Expand the imagination, bringing more and more awareness to your imagination part, bringing more and more awareness to your dreaming part.

See, inside you there are different parts. One is this physical body. The other one is the dream body which you experience in the dream state. The third is the deep sleep. I am trying to expand you step by step. Bring more awareness to your dream body, to your mental body.

Mental body is the one which you experience during the dream state. Try to make the mental body sharper, clearer, more aware, more expanded. Awakening the ability to imagine, bringing more awareness to your imagination, that is what we are trying to achieve through this technique or process.

In the last process, we tried to bring more awareness to the waking state, more energy to the waking state, by awakening the kundalini shakti which is in the physical body. Now we are trying to bring more awareness to the dream body. To bring more awareness to the deep sleep body, you need initiation. Only Master can initiate or the Energy Darshan can work on the deep sleep body.

Now we will work on the dream body by expanding our imagination beyond our imagination.

It is a wonderful process. First it will be easy for you to imagine this whole room in your inner space. Then visualize this whole street is inside your inner space. Then visualize the city; whatever you know about the city is part of you. Then expand, visualize whatever you know as this country, as part of you. Then expand; whatever you know as this planet is part of you. Then expand; whatever you know as the solar system is part of you. Then expand; whatever you know as the universe is part of you. Literally I am asking you to experience 'Aham Brahmasmi – I am the Whole.'

See, in between, your imagination may just drop and you will be there in the deep silence, it is ok. As long as the imagination goes, expand, expand and expand. So your whole dream state is flooded with awareness. Your whole dream state is filled with your restful awareness. It is a very powerful technique. Even though you may not be able to logically connect with this technique, go through this. You will not have nightmares; your dreams will become dreams with awareness. Even though you are dreaming, you will be very clear you are dreaming. You will not have nightmares; you will not be disturbed; you will not be overpowered by your dreams.

Your mental body will become very powerful; your visualizations will become very powerful. It will sharpen your visualization. That is the result we will try to achieve through this.

This is a very powerful technique from the Shiva Sutras*.

The aphorism or sutra says,

Die into the infinite void where you are no more

Moving beyond the senses into Shiva Consciousness.

This technique is called the Shanmukhi Mudra*. As it will be difficult to maintain this posture for a long time, you may sit on the ground and support your hands on a chair to maintain comfort. You can put a chair in front of you and turn it facing towards your side to support your hand. Alternatively, you may sit in a chair and support your hands using the chair in front of you. By supporting your hands on a chair, you will avoid shoulder ache.

This technique closes the doorways to your senses. This should only be practised by people who have some experience in meditation. As in all meditations sit comfortably cross legged or in a chair with back, neck and head in one vertical line.

When you are in Shanmukhi Mudra, described below, the energy flow to the outside world through the seven openings of the face (two ears, two eyes, two nostrils and one mouth) is blocked and turned inwards. Your hands are very powerful. The energy centers in the hands are so powerful that it can stop the energy flow, turn it into a concentrated beam of energy and direct it towards the ajna chakra or third eye.

Normally our breath goes in and out chaotically. By closing the nostrils partially with your fingers, you can reduce the air flow and balance it.

The Shanmukhi Mudra firstly stops the energy flow towards outside.

Secondly, we are turning the senses inwards.

Thirdly, we concentrate them towards the third eye.

If you wear spectacles, remove them. Place your fingers as follows:

Thumbs pressing down on the short ear lobes till you hear a humming sound.

Index fingers lightly on both the eyes.

Middle fingers on the bridge of the nose.

Ring fingers lightly under nostrils.

Little fingers on lips.

For the next 21 minutes, follow the steps given below.

Close the nose partially. Just reduce the prana flow. When your mind settles down by itself, the prana flow will reduce. Be in the Shanmukhi Mudra and inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible. Keep your mouth shut tightly. Visualize that both your eyeballs have become stones and let them not move.

Intensify your awareness. Do not create stress. Try to penetrate with deep awareness. Don't create pressure, create only awareness. Visualize intensely as if you are penetrating your third eye. Visualize deeply as if you are penetrating your third eye with a drill bit.

Relax. Open your eyes slowly.

It is important to make yourself comfortable by supporting yourself properly to be in Shanmukhi Mudra. You will see tremendous energy created in your third eye, to awaken your intuition. When you are comfortable, you will see that you are entering into deeper energies or higher consciousness.

According to Hindu mythology, Kalpataru is the name of the wishfulfilling tree. In the Kalpataru

Program, the living enlightened master showers his compassion on devotees and fulfills their deep wishes. He blesses every individual with the energy to fulfill their wishes in any aspect be it health, wealth, progeny, relationships, career, education or spirituality. It is a life time opportunity to be in the presence of an enlightened master and get rid of our karmic baggage, to be liberated from it. I feel there is nothing more that one needs.

In deep gratitude and love to the master,

-Annapurani Chidambaram, Bengaluru, Bharat

My name is Saravanan. I am 33 years old. I stay in Vizhupuram, Tamilnadu. Around three years back, I developed a pain in my left cheek. I could not even open my mouth. I visited a dentist and took the medicines he prescribed for a few months. The pain did not get better. The doctors named it post-herpetic neuralgia. They said that for some people this pain will stay for even a whole lifetime. I heard about THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and went to him for healing. I participated in THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's Kalpataru meditation program. At the time of darshan, I told THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM that my pain was still persisting. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM immediately tapped my cheek and told me that it will become alright! To my amazement and joy, the pain soon disappeared completely. I stopped all my medicines. I am eternally grateful to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for healing me.

• M. Saravanan, Vizhupuram, Bharat

I attended the Houston Kalpataru darshan program on Saturday, March 21, 2009 without any personal expectations of divine experiences or anything else happening, except to enjoy being in the presence of an enlightened master that day.

As it turned out, the Houston Kalpataru program with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was a very powerful inner experience and transformative spiritual process for me when he blessed the group with the Cosmic Energy throughout the intense meditations.

During the morning meditation session, to assist me in awakening the energy of enlightenment, he suddenly appeared in front of me not physically but on a subtle level in my inner space and directly activated the third eye chakra by repeatedly touching it many times in succession and gently touching the crown chakra area with his hand as well. Immediately, I personally felt intense bliss energy radiating throughout my being and body as an explosion of Cosmic Energy within me. This blissful energy filled me with sweetness and ecstasy that continued to bubble inside throughout the day during the various meditation sessions. I felt intense inner peace and happiness that is difficult to express through words.

By the time the energy darshan session with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM began on early Saturday evening, I felt so much inner contentment and immense fulfillment from the intensive meditation programs with him during the day that it was not possible for me to ask him for anything else! There was nothing left to receive, except once again to be open to whatever he blessed me with in my consciousness to 'Be blissful'.

It is such a divine gift to receive his instruction and to be simply in his energy field. The Kalpataru program was a fantastic inner experience. It was also a great joy to hear that so many others were being spiritually transformed as a result of the process THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted in Houston.

• Neil Carman, Austin, Texas, USA

I attended my first Nithya Dhyaan meditation session at a local yoga studio having learned of the program by word of mouth from one of the asana teachers there. Captured with the sounds of vedic chanting I experienced a restful joy that banished any trace of the homesickness I had felt until that morning. I gazed at the photo of a radiant man sitting under a banyan tree, whose infinite smile announced to my heart that I had at last found my teacher.

I have explored various spiritual traditions, including Judaism, the Anglican Church, Santeria and most recently, Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism. My parents both have Jewish ancestry and were brought up in Christian environments but neither of them instilled in me the values or rituals of any one particular religion. Though I learned a great deal from reading many books, chanting beautiful chants, and singing as a professional church musician, I had all but given up hope of finding a master who is as realized or boundless as Swamiji.

For the past year and a half, I have been recovering from a back injury and have done a great deal of self-inquiry to try to figure out what memories and psychological patterns could be keeping me from recovering fully, on a physical level, from a state of discomfort and suffering.

I attended the Kalpataru program on March 21 with a strong hunger for relief, and a deep curiosity about myself. I began to sink into a space of deep gratitude for Swamiji's presence, and more profoundly, for the connection it was awakening within me. By the time I went up for darshan, I was nearly speechless. Here was a man who radiated energy like the very sun itself, and I had been looking at him all day!

The next morning I woke up to find that my vision had indeed changed! The world looked brighter, more kinetic. I felt lighter, more fluid, more as though I was a part of everything around me rather than some separate executive entity trying to control it all.

Since then, I have practiced Swamiji's meditations daily. I am beginning to experience a sense of wholeness in my body that I don't remember ever feeling in my adult life. My mood is more even, lighter, and there is a lot less struggle in my life with tasks that I used to dread. I am able to live with more grace and surrender with each passing day.

I have tried many remedies and healing modalities for my back injury. After just two weeks with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's meditations and teachings, I feel my body healing to a state of wellness that is beyond recognition. I feel as though I am being given a second chance at life.

Since I began to assimilate Swamiji's teachings, the colors of my life have become more vivid; my actions are more effective, and my mind less mysterious. I am on a path of inner peace and awareness that can only serve to benefit everyone around me.

Since childhood I have felt that something of profound importance is missing in my life. Parmahamsa Nithyananda is revealing to me in a way no one else has, that it is I who have been missing. I am the one I've been waiting for!

• Elisabeth Swim, Houston, USA,

My father, M.Srinivas Murthy (63yrs), was diagnosed with Gall bladder stone on 12.07.2008. My family members were shattered and lost our peace of mind. The report said the stone size was almost 12mm & had blocked the bile duct; due to this he was affected by jaundice. My father underwent a lot of treatment for a span of one month. The doctors told us he needed to undergo surgery and the gall bladder needed to be removed. One of the top surgeons told us there is indication of the problem turning out be to be cancer.

I decided to send my elder brother to Swamiji's Vaazhum Varalaru program and he briefed about dad's problem in energy darshan with tears rolling down his cheeks non-stop. The tears and his hope did not fritter away because Swamiji gave him a motherly hug and said 'Don't bother, I will take care.'

The magical words turned our problem into solution. My brother had a super vision exactly on 4 th August about father being healed by Swamiji and getting completely cured. My father then attended ASP after which he was feeling relaxed internally and blessed by the sacred japa mala and bracelet.

Swamiji was giving Kalpaturu in Bidadi ashram held on Sep 7 2008. My parents rushed to get His blessing and in the evening father was touched by Swamiji and Swamiji gave a slap exactly on my father's right side upper belly (the location of gall bladder) and said 'Nothing to worry; you are healed.' Exactly seven days after this Kalpaturu darshan my father had a very strong feeling in his gall bladder of something moving out with lot of force and was relaxed after a couple of minutes.

In between, my brother and I had visited the ashram to place a request of distance healing. After few days, we even received the prasad from ashram. When we went to the hospital for the regular check-up, the surgeon told us that we needed to do ERCP with stenting. We prayed to Swamiji to take care all and proceeded for the process. Swamiji's blessing was very much with all of us and father was safeguarded during the whole process.

Since we did not want my father to undergo surgery, all my family members thought of getting him treated by homeopathy medicine. Finally, one of our well-wishers insisted on us visiting a homeopathy doctor and we visited him. We had a surprise of our lives! I found the photo of Anandeshwara and Anandeshwari kept in the clinic! I was thrilled, no words to express, I was in supreme bliss. I recalled Swamiji's words uttered to my brother, 'Don't worry; I will take care.' It was just not words but a promise and blessing.

After all these miracles happening to my father and family the day came for Kalpataru Darshan at Bidadi ashram on Oct 4th. My family members along with my father went to get His Divine blessing in energy darshan. Swamiji touched, healed and blessed my father.

Since then dad is regularly chanting the MahaMantra 'Om hreem nithyanandaya namaha' he has been very, very relaxed these days and in bliss.

Finally, the day came for removing the stenting that was scheduled on 22.01.09. A week before we did an ultrasound scan to check the health position. Then raised a new problem, the surgeon told us they can't remove the stent just like that and once placed they will remove it only by surgery and if anything went wrong they would place additional stent.

We all prayed to Swamiji for safeguarding my father from this gigantic problem and we kept fasting on this day (22.01.09). Then one more ultimate miracle happened…the surgeon himself was shocked to see the stent missing and declared it had been moved out of his body! So there was no need of surgery or additional stunting.

Since then until this moment, my father is perfect and living without any sufferings. It is all because of one and only The SPH THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's grace and blessing.

NOTE: For further verification am enclosing here with the scan reports for your references.

Deep from our heart and soul, my family members and I thank once again Swamiji for His nonstop, continuous, unremitting blessing…..

• Brother of Srinivas Murthy, Bangalore

The Kalpataru experience is not describable in mere words but I will give it my best shot. It was almost as though I was in direct communion with the universe and could tell it my most private thoughts. Almost as though I was a small child again with my parents and I just had to tell them my issues and be confident that they would solve all my problems. Before leaving Singapore, I had a laundry list of wishes; but with the various meditation sessions, I realized that I had only one strong desire that my mind, body and soul was screaming out for, and all others melted away into nothingness.

When I told Swami about my desire, I could not even articulate well, I just burst into tears and faltered out my problem. He hugged me and said, 'Don't worry, I will take care.' When I looked at him in amazement, He said, 'I am responsible for what I say. You will see the difference.' I came away from the darshan feeling that a huge load had been lifted off my shoulder. I felt truly blessed to be able to experience the unconditional love of Swamiji who readily took on my burden with a smile. It was moving to see him touch every person at the darshan, to show love and compassion for every one of us – an unforgettable and truly touching experience.

• Trupti Wagh, Singapore

I was first introduced to watch Life Bliss Youtube and tag along to participate in a one day seminar held in Singapore in August 2008. I set eyes on the Master when he walked gracefully into the auditorium and I sort of felt an 'instant connection, instant liking' watching him and enjoying his lectures and guided meditations.

I read about the Kuala Lumpur Kalpataru Darshan. Deep down in my heart i wanted to go along with my friends, but due to our financial constraints I just brushed the trip aside. Meanwhile for weeks, my friends constantly kept encouraging me to join them and I kept telling them I can't afford it. Sensing my eagerness, my husband managed to provide the means less than a week just before departure!

Reaching the hall, I just sat in the hall with open mind, open heart. During the second half of the session when Master was conducting the guided meditations, I had tears, I felt calm and light also, like I was transported into another realm.

I melted just seeing him as it was a tremendous consolation like he was telling me 'Don't worry; all is fine. Just trust'. When he finally blessed me he said, 'I am always with you', I melted even more with more tears. I totally didn't expect to feel so blissful and such calmness within me!

• Molly Wee, Singapore

As a coordinator for the mission, I am so grateful and happy that 40 blessed souls from Singapore got to attend the powerful Kalpataru program in Malaysia. I know many from our group who started off from Singapore with a wishlist to ask Him, but when they went up there, they said they did not feel the need to ask anything, because they just felt so blissful and fullfilled at the end of the day!

A stunning definition of prayer that He gave us - prayer is uniting all our energies into seeking fulfillment directly rather than dissipating it by seeking various things which we believe will give us fulfillment.

• Ma Nithyananda Arpana, Mission Coordinator (----)

I am an eye specialist working as a Deputy Director in Government Medical Service. I am able to see this world today because of The SPH THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's blessings.

Two and a half years back, my left eye was affected by Intraocular tension-glaucoma and this affected my vision very badly. My field of vision was affected and my sense of vision was weakening and was going towards nerve degeneration. I was experiencing unbearable pain in the left eye.

At this moment, I happened to receive Swami's blessings and his divine healing touch. Standing in front of him, I totally lost myself and experienced joyful tears rolling down my eyes. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's compassionate hands embraced me and with his flowery hands he touched my left eye.

The diminished vision came back to normal and I was relieved from pain. From the moment Swamiji's look fell on me, miraculous changes took place in my life. I pay my humble gratitude to The SPH THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM with joyful tears for curing me completely and giving me my vision.

Lucy's mother Madam Juliet Lazar was diagnosed with end-stage colo-rectal cancer. She was steadfast in refusing surgery as she had been the major care-giver for Lucy's late father who underwent the same surgery 20 years before. She however consented to go for the Kalpataru program which was conducted in October in Swamiji's Ashram in Banglore.

Having been a Roman Catholic all her life and also being a descendant of one of the oldest Catholic families in Kerala, it was a huge decision for her. Her condition was so bad that she had to go to the washroom every 15 minutes or so and she bled each time she went. After Swamiji's darshan, she felt physically and mentally very much better. Now there is no evidence of any tumor in the scans that have been performed.

Motehr also looks amazingly well by Swamiji's grace. She is just one of the innumerable examples of people healed by Swamiji's grace. There is also a transformation in her general outlook and attitude and she appears so blissful at all times. Our daughters have also experienced many miracles in their lives since Kalpataru.

-K. Pillai, Malaysia

My name is R. Rajendran. I am working as a shift in-charge at a cement factory. In the year 2008, my blood sugar was 300 mg. I did not take any medicine. I attented Swamiji's NSP and regularly did meditiation. I later attended kalpatharu on 24.1.2009. Now my blood sugar is 110 mg. I am hale and healthy now.

• Rajendran

My left eye had been affected by glaucoma and was going towards nerve degeneration with partial dimness of vision. Swamiji touched my left eye; I didn't ask him anything. My hands were trembling, my whole body was shaking. It is a miracle of the healing touch that my eyes are now normal.

• Dr. Jayakannan, Tamil Nadu

My mother Jalaja Kumar was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for 18 years. She was suffering severely and was asked to consume medicine for the rest of her life. By the grace of Swami, now my mother has stopped all her medicines and she is keeping good health.

I am myself a widow and have a daughter and dependent parents. I need to support my family. I was working for a company for the past 4 years as a contract employee and my job was not secured at all. By Swami's blessing, my job was made permanent within a week.

• Mini Ashok Kumar, Bengaluru

I was detected with a tumor in my breast. I went to the doctor who gave me some tablets to be taken for a month, after which they would test me to see if it was cleared or it needed an operation. By Swami's healing, in two days the tumor disappeared.

My sister also had a miracle. She was pregnant but there was no movement of the child for upto six months. Swami blessed her and gave her an apple to eat. On that day itself after eating the apple, she sensed movement of the child.

• Ma Nithya Sarvikananda, Hosur, Bharat

I and my husband were introduced to Swamiji by someone providing me with his Mahabharata discourse on dvd. I couldn't quite understand the numbers he was talking about in the discourse. We then came to the temple and bought the sculpture of Saraswati. I couldn't understand why? We then started to listen to his discourses for 6 months. The knowledge grew. However, when we took Kalpataru program, that's when knowledge and experience were bonded together to create a glimpse of what Swamiji is always talking about. The Yoga Spurana program followed by Kalpataru has literally created a space within me where I am always drawn to. I now always operate from the being level. I now know what Swamiji means by Bliss. And I am sure I have a long path ahead of me. I can surely say that my search is over. Now its all about growing inward for me. I truly appreciate Swamiji's encounter. I have no more regrets, guilt, fear or greed. I am truly blessed with all that I have ever had and that I will have. I am now understanding what living in the moment is.

• Shoba Shah, USA

I was registered for Kalpataru program in Brampton, Canada on March 8, 09. This program was conducted by Swamiji exclusively. During the Kalpataru meditation I just had to make one strong wish and I knew Swamiji would fulfill it by giving his presence. I strongly felt his presence. In this second part of meditation I felt my spine was feeling a strong flow of energy. It was a very blissful moment.

The final climax was during Kalpataru Darshan. When my turn came for energy darshan I forgot the words and was totally speechless. I felt a very strong connection with Swamiji. The tears came continuously. Swamiji blessed me and told me 'I am always with you.' This statement was like a jolt to my system. I was in complete bliss.

My life changed a lot after Kalpataru program. My worries suddenly disappeared. My mind has become very calm. My decisions are getting sharper. I feel strong presence of Swamiji always with me

• Bijal Kantawala, Anaheim, CA

Sitting cross-legged with closed eyes

perhaps I would have waited

minutes, hours, days, weeks months, years, or lives not knowing how long not knowing what for

On the day of Kalpataru I can honestly say that a tremendous shift happened within me.

I seem to have dropped a few 'bad' habits. My sugar cravings were off the chart. I no longer crave for sweets with the kind of intensity I used to. That dropped by about 90%. My daily TV watching habits for hours was not healthy and I can say that since I have met Master, in the past month I may have turned the TV on no more than 3 times. That daily bad habit seems to have dropped also. During the Kalpataru, an attendee from the previous year's Inner Awakening was talking about her experience and she said, 'If you can go, you must go. If you can't go, you still must go.'

After the program was over I got into my car to go home and I instantly remembered about the program in Bharat. Right then and there I made up my mind that I was going to attend the Inner Awakening in June. I didn't know how it would be possible, but I knew I didn't need to know how. I had Master with me, guiding me. All of a sudden I felt that Master was telling me, 'You don't even have to ask, just let it happen.' I trusted that feeling and drove home with a smile on my face!

The next day I was telling a very dear patient of mine who is also spiritual, about meeting Master and she got so interested and started asking me a lot of questions which brought us to the subject of Inner Awakening. Before I could even finish telling her about the program she offered to send me to Bharat. It is still very overwhelming for me that someone not even related to me would give me this gift! The way my life has already shifted in so many ways since meeting Master and it all happened within a week of meeting him!