1. At the Feet of the Master

August 8, 2003 was a Friday. I distinctly remember it was a beautiful early summer day. I was just informed by the chairman of the company that he would like me to develop a strategic review of the business and operational strategy for a board presentation in the coming weeks. He said that he wanted me to develop a succinct story that can be articulated to the Board. In a nutshell I was being asked for my opinion, to present my vision and mission for the company. This was a big deal for anyone who is trying to climb up the corporate ladder. So as excited I was to start preparing for this presentation, my mind was racing in 100 directions on how I would like to share my views of the vision for our business unit and more importantly how I can market myself to the senior executives of the company and to the board. So let me tell you, meeting a Swami from Bharat was really farthest from my mind.

I reached home around 7 pm that night. When I reached home there was no one home. Ma Sachitananda left a note for me on the refrigerator indicating that she was invited by one of our friends to meet a Swami from Bharat who was visiting Oklahoma City. Writing notes to each other that we stuck on the refrigerator seemed to be the only way we communicated those days! With my travels and long hours at work, I did not get to see the family on weekdays. It seems quite strange now, but I was what I call a weekend Dad – I would only see and be able to talk to the kids on weekends, since they were asleep when I left home for work and were again asleep when I returned home….

Ma Sachitananda returned home around 9 pm and was quite excited. She said that she met a Swami and that I need to drop everything and attend a weekend meditation camp. I said to her, "What kind of a cruel joke is this?" The only time I meditated in my life was when I was in the second year of college and was initiated into TM – Transcendental Meditation. And besides, I told her that I cannot under any circumstances jeopardize the presentation I was going to make to the Chairman on Monday. I told her in no uncertain terms to leave me alone that weekend.

Ma Sachitananda told me that somehow she was quite drawn to this young Swami she met and received blessings from him. She told me I should not miss such an opportunity. I complained a bit, but luckily for me I felt, if she was so excited and inspired, let me figure out how I can complete the presentation that night. I also thought, if I am not happy with the presentation, I can take some time off from this meditation camp to do the final touches to the presentation! I spent all night that day until about 4 am finishing up the presentation. I was not 100% satisfied with the presentation, but I felt it was almost there.

The following morning, on a bright and beautiful Saturday, all of us got ready quickly and dropped the kids off to spend the weekend at my older daughter Nithyananda Sree's friend's place. There were no complaints from her side because her friend's mother was also attending the course. This meant that both of them could be home alone and have a good time. Nithyanandi, who was only 6 years old, was quite happy to accompany her big sister. She was at an age when she was a constant sidekick to her big sister and loved to hang out with her. So we dropped them off and the three of us - Ma Sachitananda, Ma Jesusananda and myself (Ragini, my mother-in-law Swarnalatha and myself) arrived at the host family's home where THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was staying. It was about 8 am. About 12 people had decided to come and 'check out' this program being offered by this young Swami from Bharat. All of us were waiting for im to start the program.

It was 9 am; there was no sign of this young Swami. Several of us were getting irritated. We had all gotten used to punctuality in America. In America, time meant money at work, and we carried this same mental set up outside work too. We were somehow continuing to behave like well oiled production machines even at our homes. Little did we know that the Master uses every technique and opportunity to break our mental conditioning. I know now that his meditation program had already started, even before seeing us. The Master had already started his surgery – he was already working on us by starting to break our mental conditionings.

At this point several of us were irritable. Someone said, "How can this Swami tell us to come bright and early at 8 am and that too on a weekend and still not show up even at 9 am?" Time passed and we were getting restless. Now I know the reason for this rajas, this restlessness - we cannot live alone with ourselves even for a moment since our minds are racing at 100 miles an hour thinking and worrying of things that we have no control of or things that are irrelevant. It was 9:30 am, still no sign of this Swami from Bharat. Some of us started complaining that people from Bharat never value time and that they need to feel sensitive about valuing our time!

It was 10 am and the restlessness seemed to have peaked by now. Just then, I started seeing from the corner of my eyes, someone in a saffron robe descend from the staircase. It was as if He was waiting for the pot to boil, and timed His arrival into our lives perfectly. He had a radiant face with sparkling eyes and a broad smile. He came down with His hands folded and acknowledged us.

The moment I saw him several noticeable things happened. There was a sudden calmness and stillness in me. It was as if all the frustrations and irritations simply vanished. It was quite incredible to experience this for the very first time in my life. I have never seen a situation where just by the presence of someone, the mind completely stills. Later I have realized all too well that this is the effect of the Master's presence. Thousands feel this presence around the world.

During the early days of being associated with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM we needed to be in His physical presence to feel this calming of the mind. Now, just the awareness of the presence is enough to have a similar effect, wherever we may be. It is fantastic to be physically near the Master, but somehow, with the growing intelligence and maturity, we are able to experience this state even in His physical absence.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM very beautifully described this to us one day. He said, "Do not reduce me to this six-foot Nithyananda. Living enlightened masters are absent in their presence and dead enlightened masters are present in their absence." If you sit back and reflect on this profound truth you will start to appreciate His presence everywhere and in everything. There are so many pearls of wisdom that the master casually tells us. We never know when the next profound truth will be delivered.

The second profound experience (at that time I did not realize this and brushed it off as a stray thought of the mind) was there was a voice, really it was not even an audible voice, it was more of a deep thought that arose from my heart region. This thought or voice or whatever you want to call it simply said, "The Master has arrived." I considered myself a fairly logical person. I was a scientist and researcher and then a person who resorted to facts and figures to come to a conclusion based on data and logical analysis of data. While I consider myself an emotional person by nature, I was also trained to be analytical as it relates to my profession. I wondered, how in the world can one describe the sudden calming of the mind and this voice emanating from the core of my being?

I was confused but somehow felt happy and in an upbeat mood from the moment I saw Him. The next thought even before the meditation camp began was, how can I be around this young Swami? How can I serve Him? It was really my ego working - I am sure that unconsciously I was thinking how this hot shot corporate guy can help this young Swami with spreading His teachings in the United States. Little did I realize that by allowing us to help Him, He was in fact creating a space for us to explore and explode in all directions. Nevertheless thoughts were rising in my mind. I want to jump in and be with Him full time. How can I make this happen? Who will pay my bills? Maybe I should wait till kids grow up?

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted His first meditation camp in USA in Oklahoma City. This was called Ananda Spurana Program (ASP, and now called Life Bliss Program Level 1). The program was based on cleansing and unblocking chakras or energy centers. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spoke beautifully on the seven chakras and their influences on various emotions. His clarity, intellect, sense of humor, ability to connect to anyone and everyone regardless of their cultural or ethnic background, was amazing. I felt, how can this young Swami who had never been to USA, had never studied English (THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's education was in His native mother tongue, Tamil) and just started speaking English, could effortlessly connect with our problems and challenges. How is he able to joke and laugh and relate with all of us so beautifully? Little did I know at that time the infinite nature of super conscious state of mind, or shall we say the mindless state!

As I began to travel with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, I realized that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, whenever he travels to new places or new countries, makes it a point to understand where the general consciousness of the society or people resides. He may occasionally browse through a magazine from that country while on the airplane or take a walk on the beach where He sees the people, their attitudes and demeanor, and gets a complete blueprint of where the people are suffering and stuck in their ways. It is quite amazing to then see how He delivers appropriate discourses or teachings for the specific audience. Even in a particular city you will see that depending on the audience coming to a discourse His message changes.

He shed more light on this process in a recent discourse. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says that all of us emit auras. There is a real science that correlates the aura of a person to the state of his mind and consciousness. Auras have been scientifically proven through techniques such as Kirlean photography. In fact, research in countries such as Russia indicated that diseases such as cancer can be diagnosed through Kirlean photography, even months before clinical diagnosis. Enlightened masters have the ability to get a sense of the collective consciousness of the groups attending the discourse by sensing the collective aura in the group, so they may address the needs of the group of people through their talks. However, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is very clear that the Masters do not intrude into people's private space in any manner through this.

I have now attended well over 200 satsangs where THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM delivered discourses formally. In every satsang, people have invariably come and told me that it felt as if THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM directly spoke to them individually and answered their questions even before they formally raised the question to Him. It is quite amazing to see this happen!

The two days of Ananda Spurana program (ASP or Life Bliss Program - LBP Level 1) went off like a breeze. We participated intensely in the meditations. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM taught us techniques from various traditions – from Zen Buddhism, Tantra, Kashmir Shaivism, Christianity and Sufism. Just as I described above, we found that the message He delivered during the ASP meditation camp was sharp, to the point and He answered all our questions without our asking. During the breaks between the meditation programs all of us would compare notes and one common denominator in these conversations was that He seemed to be directly talking to me.

There were lots of experiences people shared during this ASP. We had the fortune of doing all the meditation programs personally conducted by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. These days due to the size and global nature of the mission, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is only able to conduct advanced level programs and let acharyas (teachers ordained and personally trained by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM) conduct the classes.

There were powerful techniques from various traditions taught in the meditation program. During the first day of the program, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM worked on lower level chakras or energy centers in the body and gave us an incredible clarity as to why these chakras are locked and how we can help unlock these chakras. He also gave us new and fresh insights into emotions, why we have

them and how we can deal with these emotions. Once the intellectual clarity was provided, He gave us the experiential portion in the form of sharp meditation techniques.

During these discourses THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM gave numerous examples of how these emotions result in psychosomatic disorders which then translate into diseases. He explained to us that almost 80% of diseases have their origin in the blockage of chakras. For those who had specific ailments, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM would often prescribe practice of specific techniques for 21 days to relieve and unblock the chakras. Those wanting to gain more insights into these programs can read the book, 'Guaranteed Solutions' written by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM or can attend the LBP level 1 classes that are being held all over the world on a routine basis.

During the third eye (ājña chakra) meditation, the experiences were particularly intense. During this technique I saw the distinct image of an older looking rishi in the place of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAMIn case of my mother-in-law Ma Jesusananda, she had an intense darshan of Jesus during this meditation. After the meditation when THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM asked each of us to narrate their experiences, he told her, "Ma you were a Christian in your last birth and so He revealed himself to you." Again I must say these incidents have to be experienced and to a non-believer, I apologize if these statements have disturbed you. However I would like to state that whatever I am writing here is the truth and it reflects the true experiences with the Master.

At the end of the second day after all the seven-chakra meditations were completed we had the energy darshan. Energy darshans are wonderful opportunities of experiencing the divine energy. The Master is a pure embodiment of super consciousness. It is out of His pure compassion for humanity that He comes down to the human experience level so that He can relate with us, interact with us, with the hope that we will allow Him to help us help ourselves. During energy darshan, touches our third eye so that the transmission of light could happen. We were blessed to have this divine touch. It was as though I had finally come home. The program ended around 6 pm in the evening. We took THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's blessings and quietly drove back home. These two days were like no other experience in all our lives.

Immediately after the meditation camp, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted two satsangs at the Hindu Temple in Oklahoma City. The discourses were held from 7 pm to 10 pm in the evenings. Word of this young Swami spread very quickly in this closely knit community. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spoke on energy centers to a packed audience at the Hindu temple. On Tuesday afternoon, we requested THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to visit our home for paada puja (a custom in Bharat to respectfully receive the Master into one's home). We very much wanted Him to step into our house. All of us at home, including the children felt deeply connected to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came home along with Ayya (Sri Nithya Sadhananda, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's personal secretary and his 2nd disciple), Amma (Ma Nithya Sadhananda, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's first disciple), Sri Nithya Sevananda (Palaniappan, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's Public Relations Officer) and Ma Nithyananda Priyamayi (Chitra Narang, a very early devotee of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM from Bangalore) all of whom were part of the group that accompanied THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. That afternoon I left work early and picked them up at the host family's home and brought THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to our home. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM before stepping into our home told me in the car, "Shiv, you will be my ambassador spreading my mission in the west."

We felt extremely happy that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM stepped into our lives and into our home. We performed paada puja to honor and respect the Master. As it is customary in Bharat, we wanted to offer a small monitory contribution to the divine mission. When Sevananda approached to ask THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM if he could accept the small gift, He smiled and said, "Why are you asking this question? They are my people and they will be with us." We felt truly blessed that all of us, including the children felt very connected to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM the moment they saw Him.

After the two days of discourses, it was time for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to leave Oklahoma City and travel to the west coast. Discourses and satsangs were scheduled in San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego. These discourses were organized by relatives of devotees who were involved with the mission in Bharat. We went to see off THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM at the organizer's home on a Wednesday morning. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was very happy to see us. We took His blessings and He told us to start spreading His teachings. He assured us that He will come back to Oklahoma soon, and left for the west coast of USA.

Right after THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM left, a group of 20 to 25 people started a 21-day daily meditation program. A group of us got together and did the Dukkha Harana technique (technique for the mooladhara chakra). This is an incredibly powerful technique and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told us that doing this for 21 days will really help heal a lot of physical ailments. In my case it did wonders. I lost almost 6 kg by practicing this technique. All participants found a lot of relief not only in their physical health but started seeing a positive impact in their overall well being. We felt that meditation in a group environment was quite synergistic.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told us that if a meditator meditating by himself creates one volt of energy, 100 people meditating together would collectively create 100 volts of energy and all 100 volts will be available to all. This was the power of group meditation. In fact He narrated to us several findings where large group of meditators practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) meditated in various cities in USA. The documented evidence time and time again was that during this time there was a statistically significant drop in key crime indicators. This is a very well documented study conducted by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's organization in the 70s and 80s.

Early days after meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM were quite interesting. All of us at home meditated regularly. All of us who participated in THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's program or those who attended His discourses at the Hindu Temple spoke of nothing but THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM when we met at social events. I am sure those who have experienced the master and his teachings for the first time will understand what I am writing here. Sometimes, unfortunately as in our case we may have taken this to the extreme and scared people away! But there was so much of self-discovery that was going on and so many experiences people had, we behaved like kids in a candy store!

The Master came, opened up this whole new world in us that we never knew existed and left. Every time we met in parties there was this infamous group of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's devotees who would sit together and talk of nothing but their experiences with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. As THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM jokingly talks about this, we fit His description to the dot – this group of people would wear malas, always talk about Swami this, Swami that... We would almost scare people away. So for the reader out there, please do not repeat this performance. Instead, allow some breathing room for the other. Let them not be scared and miss the master altogether. While there is a humorous dimension to this, missing the Master is something too precious and too expensive.

Along with our meditation, Ma Jesusananda was having wonderful experiences which she was chronicling in her memoirs. Ma Sachitananda too was experiencing similar things. All of us felt that while we missed Master's physical form we always felt his presence. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAMi (Rithi then), our six year old who was very close to her grandmother (she was raised from birth by her grandmother while both of us were very busy with our careers!) would often get up in the middle of the night and run to her grandmom's room and say, "Ammamma (thats how we call grandmom in Telugu) you know I just saw Swamiji in the house." There was a time when she woke up at 2 am and ran to her grandmom and shouted, "You know ammamma, Swamiji suddenly disappeared from His photo that is hanging on the wall."

Later we asked Swamiji what all of this meant and He said that this was the different expressions of the truth. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAMi was not sent to day-care centers and was luckily not exposed to societal conditionings and met the Master too right away. He said that she is so pure that her being is just seeing the Master as a formless all pervading energy. He told us, after all I am just not this six-foot form and her purity allowed her to have my darshans and also see me and she feels me without a form.

Then there were occasions when we sat for hours together and Ma Jesusananda would describe all her experiences to us. She is a very introspective person who would spend hours together reading books or keep to herself. Even though she spent over 15 years with us, she would always give us space and room and made it a point not to be intrusive. She told us that there were times when she said she clearly heard footsteps of someone walking towards our puja room (worship room) and she had intensely felt Swamiji's presence then. She had several experiences of leaving her body and feeling her presence everywhere.

There was one occasion when she was reading the section about Mahavatar Babaji in the book, Autobiography of a Yogi, she suddenly felt His form appear right in front of her eyes. She chronicled several such events in her dairy and later, when Swamiji came back to Oklahoma asked Him about these incidents. Swamiji normally never answers such questions, but if it helps a sincere seeker or disciple, He will tell them the truth about their experience. He held her hand looked intensely for a moment and said, "Ma, let me tell you the truth. These experiences really happened to you. Don't ever think they are imaginations. Also, don't bother Ma, I will take care. Just relax and enjoy your life. Your job is over. You will not have any more births. So just relax and have fun!"

Now with all of these experiences happening around me, I for one never had any such experiences right away. However I felt good, I knew I was truly blessed to meet my Master and felt very connected to Him. I felt this is the greatest gift He has showered on me.

While I was continuing to work intensely in my job, there was a sense of peace and calmness. I was not shaken by events and incidents at work that would have normally caused stress. In fact one of the people who worked closely with me came up to me one day and he said, "Siva, you seemed to be very peaceful and not shaken up by anything these days. What is happening?" I told him about the Master and what we have experienced and of course introduced him to the Master.

Despite all this I felt that maybe I am missing some dimension by not being able to have the experiences like the others were having. So when Swamiji came back the next time I asked him why I am not able to have these experiences. I asked Swamiji whether this 'buffalo skin' was too thick to experience. He laughed and said, "Shiv, there are two ways to go by train from Bangalore to Mysore. One way is to open the windows and sit by the window seat and see all the beautiful fields, rivers and life surrounding you and happily make it to Mysore. The other way is to close the window and make the journey to Mysore. In either case you are going to Mysore. In both the travels you are going to reach Mysore. Believe me this is the truth. And one more thing, in the first journey, you run the risk of getting off at Ramnagara before reaching Mysore, thinking you have reached Mysore. But in the second path there is absolutely no way of missing reaching Mysore when you are on the train. As an individual, you are experiencing the later type of journey. Don't bother, you are on the train and I will take care."

Honestly, when Swamiji said this I intellectually understood what he was saying but I was yearning for experiences. Only later on, after living around the Master I began to feel the incredible experiences of being liberated from so many conditionings, inner fears, worries, attachments and living in an unclutched state. I could realize and experience what Swamiji said is the truth. I now know that, if He gave me the experience of traveling to Mysore with the window open may be I would have gotten off in Ramnagara thinking it was Mysore. I know the Master knows what is best for the being.

Often I see people seeking immediate gratification both in their spiritual journey or even when they come to Swamiji for healing or counseling. A lot of times when someone feels that their situation has not immediately changed, they simply leave Him and say, "Oh this Swami is not powerful," or "This healing thing does not work." I know for sure it always does and I have been witness to many miracles. However in this world of instant messaging and internet, we are looking for instant results.

A lot of times, as Swamiji told us, the being is intelligent enough to decide if and when it wants to be healed. There is time when the being wants to continue to experience a particular problem or condition for its own growth. In my own case when I was going through the journey of personal tragedies in life, sometimes I wondered, "Why me God?" But luckily His grace showered on me even before I met Him physically. Whenever these thoughts came there would be counteracting self healing thoughts which would say, "Look at so many others who do not even have food to eat. Aren't you more fortunate?" Now as I look back at every incident, Swamiji was there preparing me for this path right from my childhood. I know for those who are new to this, it may sound too mystical and hard to believe. But if one is patient and willing to understand the truth, it can be a very beautiful experience.

When Swamiji left Oklahoma He told us, 'Spread this mission everywhere and I will come back to Oklahoma very soon". The moment He left we sprang into action. Somehow, somewhere the spark was lit and we felt the deep desire to spread this message and experience to everyone we knew. In our case we are very lucky – the complete family was totally in sync with the Master. So there was no resistance or push back. All we felt was we now need to dedicate all of our time and energy to spread the message.

We needed to first strengthen and solidify the mission in Oklahoma. We started meeting every weekend in one of our homes. Soon we realized that meeting in someone's home had the risk of turning into a social gathering and also people wanted to hang on for several hours after the satsang. In Oklahoma City, Bala Vikas, the childrens' weekend programs took place in the Hindu Temple every Sunday morning and the programs ended at 2:30 pm. Oklahoma City Hindu temple allowed us to conduct satsangs in the temple between 4 pm and 6 pm so that parents attending Bala Vikas could stay back and attend Swamiji's satsang.

Word of the satsangs spread across Oklahoma city and we were steadily seeing increased audience. We started satsangs with a video discourse of Swamiji. In those days we did not have many recorded discourses. The topics He spoke during His first tour of the United States were recorded and the video files were processed. In addition we had some tapes and CDs from Swamiji's discourses given in Bangalore in 2003. After 30 minutes of Swamiji's discourse we then had a 30-minute meditation session. In the early days we practiced the Mahamantra technique. This was followed by arati, a devotional ceremony of waving lit lamps to the divine accompanied by kirtan – devotional music.

Swamiji's satsangs now happen in 1000s of centers all over the world and have the same format. Discourse for the intellect, meditation for digesting and experiencing the teachings and finally arati for the bhakti or devotion dimension, which I now know is one of the very important techniques/paths for spiritual growth. Swamiji knows the human need and the essence of our being. This is why whoever comes to our satsangs or programs, leave completely fulfilled in all dimensions of experience – intellect, experience and devotion.

Soon, news of Swamiji's satsangs spread to other communities of seekers in Oklahoma City, and adjoining towns of Norman and Stillwater. We started seeing an influx of American devotees/seekers who have been practicing their spiritual path. Several of them quickly jumped in, for they realized the true value of being connected with the rarest of rare beings – a living, enlightened Master.

We now started preparing for spreading the mission outside Oklahoma. We got in touch with devotees who were managing satsangs in the west coast. There were active satsang centers forming in San Jose and Los Angeles. With Swamiji's blessings, we took on the responsibility of coordinating mission activities all over USA. All of us got on periodic conference calls to start the process of planning for the next visit of our beloved Master.

Our weekday routine at home was something along these lines. The previous evening we agreed and developed a plan of action for the day ahead. I must say I was able to spend only part of my time spreading the mission. It was only after-work hours. But Ma Sachitananda was relentless. She spent all day and evenings working on the mission. She literally picked up the phone and called every one we knew and also those we did not. She made thousands of phone calls talking to people who were associated with Hindu Temples. We started calling people in Seattle, New Jersey, St Louis, New York, Dallas, and Houston. Some people were interested, and some said no thank you, we do not believe in these Swamis! And in some cases, one phone call lead to another and this in turn lead to another contact who finally expressed interest. All we had to share was our excitement and conviction.

My work with the mission started at 6 pm every evening. During my days as 'Mr. Corporate', I would typically leave for home well after 7 pm. Now with the new found understanding, I realised that I really did not require working so many hours to get the job done. I found I was

able to complete all my work ahead of time and ahead of schedule by spending lesser time at work. I found that I no longer procrastinated. Decisions that I made in the company were quicker and sharper. Another strange phenomenon was happening – I did not need so much of analysis and modeling of business plans to get to the same end point. It almost seemed that there was a significant shift in my intuitive skills and efficiency.

For all my corporate friends reading this book, I have taken so many feel-good courses, courses on negotiation, team building, productivity, etc. However I found that the output I am now able to deliver as a result of my own spiritual journey and personal transformation was far higher than any of these courses. Please do not take this comment as an arrogant remark or as a remark to put down the wonderful programs of human development that exist today. However, for me, as a corporate executive, I found that the journey of my own personal transformation through understanding of various emotions gave me a step change improvement in my productivity. Please refer to the Appendix 1 where I shed light on Swamiji's teachings and rationale behind my own experience of enhanced productivity.

We desperately needed materials in terms of books and video discourses in order to spread Swamiji's mission. We had a few books that Swamiji's crew brought with them and left in our home. The most popular book those days was 'Six Days to Total Transformation'.

In the early days of the mission, Swamiji conducted the ASP program over a period of six days in Bharat. Swamiji conducts meditation camps over a more extended period in Bharat. This provides an ambience for people to settle down, chill out and allow the experience happen. However, in USA, Swamiji jokingly tells us that even if god were to come down, people would say, "Please come on a weekend!" These days Swamiji encourages devotees to come to the Bidadi ashram, our spiritual headquarters, for advanced level courses such as Nithyanandam and Living Enlightenment, so they may stay for over an extended period and receive the full benefit.

In order to produce more products for our Ananda Galleria store, I would grab a quick dinner at home by 6 pm and drive to Stillwater, a University town, 80 miles away. There we set up a small DVD production facility at a devotee's store in the backroom. Here we would process video files of the discourses, produce audio CDs, DVDs and start managing shipments to various satsang centers and new centers that had started coming up. There was not much time left. We wanted Him to come to USA in early 2004. But this required us to work feverishly and identify places where we can start spreading awareness of this young enlightened master.

Most evenings when I was in Oklahoma and not traveling on business, I would drive the 80 odd miles to Stillwater, reach there around 8 pm and we would work for another 4 hours preparing video content, printing audio CD and DVD labels, producing stocks and packing books, CDs, and malas for shipment to various locations. I would then drive back to Oklahoma City around midnight and reach home by 2 pm. The next day, I would be up by about 5 am so that I could

leave for work by 6 am – the same old routine – eat a bagel and coffee in the car to save time so that I could start work bright and early by 6:30 am! The reason I would reach work by 6:30 am is, it would give me a good hour and a half to reflect on the day ahead and this always tended to be the most productive part of the day. Once it was 8 am, it almost seemed that I moved from one meeting to another or some of the members of my group would barge into my office for guidance or clarification.

I often wondered if this so-called musical chairs of moving from one meeting to another that most senior managers do in all corporations is required. There are a lot of times I felt that I was not required in certain meetings, but was invited. I was especially aware of this when I started traveling with the Master and saw how effortlessly He was managing a diverse mission globally from the most intricate detail of decorating a deity at one of our temples to solving problems of a devotee to working with the publications group to healing to managing construction projects at the ashram and the most important work of all, the work of a Master to his disciples. His multi-tasking capabilities are truly mind boggling. He is an epitome of hyper-efficiency, but seeing Him in action, you see all of these aspects are being done effortlessly, in a playful manner with no stress or anxiety. I realized that this is the true state of an enlightened master.

When He talks to close disciples, Swamiji tells us about 'karma phala tyaga'. He tells us to work intensely in the most efficient manner to generate the fruit of your activity. But then once the fruits of your actions are delivered, it simply needs to be given back to the society. He goes on to tell us not to be so fixated on the goal. He teaches us to live the path with utter intensity and passion, and not to continuously worry about the goal. Set the goal aside and enjoy the path, is His message. This is also after all, Krishna's teachings to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has beautifully shown us how to live these teachings and this has inspired so many of us to also start to explore this world. Unfortunately for people like me, it has taken longer than others due to the deep (corporate) conditionings. Now I see it is truly liberating to be able to work intensely without any stress about the final result, not to constantly worry about the result. The result of not worrying has actually improved the bottom-line result. This was a difficult concept for me to fully appreciate and grasp. As a senior executive it is quite fulfilling to the ego to be working extremely hard and long hours, constantly thinking and worrying about the next quarter results. You start to believe you are delivering the results just by thinking about it. Instead, I can assure you that if you create an atmosphere based on intensity in a corporation where people are enjoying the journey and living intensely in the present moment, we will see a step change in the organization's performance. We have seen this in action in the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission, where, with a few hands and a few huts in the middle of a forest (the ashram is really a forest), this young enlightened master is running a global mission spread over many centers in many countries.

Ma Sachitananda was continuing her calls to various friends and families all over United States. In fact she had a very large extended family in the United States. Often it was quite amazing for me to see that in her family, they kept in touch with their 3rd or 4th cousins! With all the enthusiasm and zeal, we opened our rolodex and started calling all the members of the family. Little did we realize that friends and family were the hardest to convince about exploring the spiritual path. Invariably they gave us the standard answer, "This spirituality thing is not for us," or "We are not that old yet to think of meditation," or some who would say, "We do not believe in Swamis." So after making hundreds of phone calls, we came out with a big zero in terms of who we could inspire. In fact there are some of my friends who have taken 5 years to finally come to attend Swamiji's programs! Nowadays, thanks to You Tube on the internet, we are able to give them a link so they can view the discourses in the comfort of their homes!

Ma Sachitananda then got a list of all Hindu Temples in USA and started calling them one by one. The responses she received were a mixed bag. In some cases some people expressed interest to work with us to introduce Swamiji to their community. Sometime individuals got right down to business – if we were to host Swamiji's events in the temple we need 50% of the proceeds from your meditation camps. Invariably when people proceeded on a business relationship path we dropped them, since Swamiji's mission was really based on volunteerism and not any particular business arrangement. After all, whatever funds we generated went towards serving and giving back to the society. In fact right from day one, Swamiji believed in volunteerism. Those that have been touched and transformed by the master put in their time, energy and intelligence to help spread the mission. Even to this day we do not have a paid employee in the mission worldwide.

We had a couple of breakthroughs. In Seattle we were able to reach out to a devotee who worked with a major software company and was also member of the temple board. In New Jersey another family started showing interest in spreading the message and awareness of Swamiji. Then there was Columbus, St Louis and Dallas where we started seeing openings and potential support. In Columbus, Ohio we had a contact through a relative of Priyamayi. In the west coast, in Los Angeles and San Jose, we already had a devotee base.

It is only when I started writing these reminiscences that I looked back at what all happened in the early days of the mission. The seeds of the mission were being sown all over the world by the master. It was quite interesting to see the amount of planning and meticulous attention to detail that had to be done for this tour. When it comes to organization, Swamiji is a stickler for details. He expects nothing short of perfection. At the same time He is the ultimate 80/20 CEO (80/20 is a common word used in organizations. In many situations we find 80% of the work gets done with 20% of the effort. It is the last 20% that tends to take 80% of the time. 80/20 manager therefore means someone who quickly executes with 20% of the effort and does not strive for perfection). The interesting thing is, when it comes to matters such as producing a book or releasing a DVD, He is an 80/20 person, but when it comes to administration or matters relating to the temple, He will be a stickler for details.

I can tell you, Ma Sachitananda worked relentlessly those days, day and night and ensured every small detail was taken care of, from ensuring we had the appropriate microphone/PA system to making sure Swamiji's detailed itinerary from morning till evening everyday was planned for the 100 or so days He was traveling during this first tour. She developed a tour guide and made sure someone cooked a good satvic meal (Satvic food is a style of cooking from Ayurveda. In this cooking, onions, green chilies and garlic are avoided. According to Ayurveda, these substances have a medicinal value, but are not good as a food).

Ma Sachitananda would go into intricate details of what curry to cook, how to cook, what to avoid feeding Swamiji, etc. She also made sure that all the cities had fliers to advertise Swamiji's programs. We developed a Tour Information Guide for the first time, since everyone, including us needed a roadmap of how to receive an enlightened master, how to plan for the various programs, how to publicize, etc. While Swamiji was quite simple in His needs, we wanted to make sure His programs and calendar went off smoothly.

Ma Sachitananda would organize weekly conference calls with all the centers and make sure the various venues were booked, flyers were distributed, appropriate pre-trip announcements were made in local radios, and flyers were mailed through various mailing lists. I personally did not dedicate as much time during this first trip. It was only during weekends and after-work hours I was able to work on the mission. I have attached Swamiji's itineraries during his world tours in 2004 and 2005 in Appendices 2, 3 and 4 to give you a sense of the untiring schedule. This only covers His USA schedule. When He was in Bharat, His schedule was even more hectic since organizers were trying to utilize every minute of His time. While we took a break when we got back to Bharat, the Master's schedule was always 24 x 7 x 365!

Swamiji started the second tour to the United States in January 2004 and it lasted until April 2004. Swamiji started from Bangalore on January 10, 2004. During this tour, He was accompanied by Sri Nithyatma Maneeshananda (then Shailendra Tiwari who was taking care of e-Mails and video taping) and Sri Nithya Sevananda (Public Relations Officer – PRO, and then

named Palaniappan. He took care of Swamiji's itinerary and running the Ananda Galleria mobile store). Swamiji first toured Singapore, Malaysia (Penang and Kuala Lumpur).

During this tour, He delivered discourses and this was followed by a weekend meditation camp on Saturday and Sunday. Swamiji himself conducted the Ananda Spurana Program. Swamiji completed His tour of Singapore and Malaysia and arrived in Los Angeles on January 22, 2004.

I received a message from Sevananda from Malaysia that Swamiji wanted us to meet Him in Los Angeles to discuss mission activities. Since Ma Sachitananda was busy organizing various programs, I promptly boarded a flight on Friday morning from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles. During the first trip Swamiji stayed at the Mayfair Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The hotel was owned by a couple of Hindu businessmen who now are Swamiji's devotees. I caught a taxi from LAX airport and proceeded to the Mayfair Hotel. Swamiji was very happy to see me and wanted to know about all that went on since His last visit.

We unpacked the luggage and started organizing books, malas, discourse CDs, DVDs, kirtans for the Ananda Galleria store. I spent several hours with Swamiji and enjoyed spending time with Him that evening.

Since we did not have any way to record Swamiji's discourses, I purchased a basic mini DV camcorder unit that did nothing but tape the discourses. We did not have proper equipment or a proper way to capture His voice clearly into the video. So you will see that discourses recorded during this tour were of a lower quality. All of us were amateurs and really did not know the ABC of video capturing and processing to make DVDs.

The following morning, Swamiji visited one of the devotee's home. The evening discourse was held in one of our early devotees' home. They had invited several of their friends and family for it. Swamiji spoke on a beautiful topic, 'From Place to Space'. The deep truths revealed here is the basis of Vaastu Shaastra, the science of creating and designing homes. This science is also the basis for Feng Shui, the Chinese system of home design. In this discourse Swamiji talked about how our thoughts can impact the space we live in. He described to us why our thoughts affect the immediate space around us. The essence of this discourse was later published in one of the Hindu newspapers where Swamiji writes a weekly spiritual column.

It is also interesting to note that all of Swamiji's discourses are never prepared, they are impromptu. It is only when you realize how so much wisdom can emanate from a young, unassuming Swami, you will realize that this is something very special, very spectacular and something beyond logic. You will realize and appreciate that He does not need preparation since all His discourses are expressions of His own personal Experience. I will describe more on this topic a little later.

Here is the summary of what Swamiji spoke in the discourse:

One man was telling me, "Swamiji, I am alright as long as I am outside my house. The moment I enter my house, I start feeling irritated."

Not just this one man; many people tell me the same thing. They say they are alright till the moment they enter their house.

You see, the space inside our house is filled with ether, which is a subtle form of the Existential Energy. Ether is one of the five elements that are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These five elements are all forms of the Existential Energy.

The space inside your body is called chittakasha, the space in which you are living is called ghatakasha and the space of the Universe is called mahakasha. The third that is mahakasha always remains pure. The other two get impure by our thoughts.

So understand: The space in which you are living is not just matter, it is Energy and it becomes impure by your thoughts. Every single thought of yours settles down in the energy level of your house like a cobweb. Once the energy is contaminated with these thoughts, the energy that is in the house radiates these thoughts back on us. Because of this, we feel irritated the moment we enter our house.

If you analyze our thought patterns, you will observe that the same set or the same pattern of thoughts keep getting repeated in our mind. These thoughts are our mental make-up. They are what you call our worries. They are nothing but collective negativity that we keep repeating to ourselves. But this negativity settles in the space of our house; that is the thing. We are totally unaware that this is happening.

Our irritation when we enter our house is nothing but our own thoughts being reflected on us. Instead of understanding the root cause of an unhealthy atmosphere in the house, we call experts in Vaastu Shaastra or read books in Feng Shui and try to restructure our house, or we perform fire rituals to cleanse our homes. All that is alright, but the fundamental science behind the space in our homes has to be understood.

We work so hard in maintaining our homes in a neat and clean fashion. We scrub the floors and walls and keep the best of furniture in our house and what not? We keep the 'place' clean, but what about the 'space'?

The space has to be kept cleansed. By doing regular meditation in our house, we can cleanse the energy that is circulating in it. The energy created during meditation will cleanse the space. Secondly, we should imbibe a clear and positive mental setup and stop airing repeated negative thought patterns in our house.

After Los Angeles, Swamiji visited San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Dallas, New York, New Jersey and Columbus. Thus the divine mission of a young enlightened Master THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM started in USA. We feel especially blessed that He allowed us to work on this mission during the early days. It is only when I am seeing the itinerary summarized, everything is coming back to me. I can now recollect every day in this calendar and I tell you, every day was a special day, every moment was a special moment, that we spent with the Maser.

Both Ma Sachitananda and us had the fortune of serving Him and accompanying Him on various tours around the world from 2004 to 2007. After this period, as the children were growing up in the Hindu Gurukul, Swamiji wanted Ma Sachitananda to focus on the children's education. So starting from May 2007, she has stayed back in the Bidadi ashram.

I began to realize that WHATEVER the master says and does has a much deeper meaning and it is always for our own good, although it is not always obvious at that moment. I began to see that once the disciple was ready to take the jump and ready to undergo the 'surgery' (i.e., surgery to remove the ego) a whole new dimension of the master can be experienced.

In each city, Swamiji talked on various life solutions. He spoke on topics from lust, love, sex and life style to deeper truths about enlightenment, aloneness, surrender and the super conscious state. Everyday His schedule was quite hectic. In the mornings several devotees would invite Swamiji to visit their homes and bless their place and family. In those days He had the time to visit devotees' place. When I speak to devotees, they consider this a true blessing, since, due to the exponential growth of the mission, Swamiji's schedule has become very hectic and He is therefore not able to visit devotees' homes. After lunch and a few visits, we would return to the host family's home by late afternoon, a few hours before the evening's discourse. If time permitted we would go along with the organizer for sightseeing.

Swamiji barely had time to prepare for any discourse. In the car when one of us was driving to the discourse venue, he would ask Ma Sachitananda or me, "What am I supposed to speak on?" Then we would give Him the title and he would simply say 'OK' and close His eyes. Swamiji does not allow me to drive Him because I once slept on the wheel and almost steered off the road when driving Him in Oklahoma! Even now Swamiji makes sure and asks me, "Shiv, are you OK? Not sleepy?!"

I can tell you a couple of more amazing facts about these discourses. After the first tour, a few of us got together in the Bidadi ashram and brainstormed and came up with a list of about 100 titles which formed the basis of the upcoming discourse titles for His 2004 and 2005 world tours. We showed the list to Swamiji and He really did not even look at the list. He said, that's fine. Then, just before the tour planning started, we would ask Ma Nithya Bhaktikananda to come up with abstracts. She would come up with these abstracts say 2-3 months before the discourse.

Swamiji was quite disinterested in seeing the abstracts. Months later, when we compared the abstract with what Swamiji actually spoke, it would invariably feel as though the abstract was written for the discourse. When we would ask Bhaktika about it, she would say, "I really do not know how the abstract would flow, but I would think of Swamiji and get into a meditative state into my Ananda Gandha chakra and the words would simply come!" This is another one of the many mystical, illogical happenings that one can only experience firsthand to believe.

Swamiji visited Seattle in the Pacific Northwest for the first time and I was not present during this incident. Ma Sachitananda called me one day and narrated another incident which defied logic. In the early days we would all call each other and discuss these experiences with great excitement and enthusiasm. We heard about all the experiences around a living enlightened master that one can read from the reminiscences from disciples of Ramakrishna, Ramana or Yogananda. Now seeing these events and incidents unfold in front of our very eyes was quite exciting. Swamiji would never encourage discussing these aspects and would often say, "If I start doing miracles such as materialization or teleporting, I will have a very big following, but I will be surrounded by idiots! If you want to see magic, you can go to P C Sarkar, the magician, why are you coming to me?" He would often tell us, "The greatest magic is your own personal transformation, the making of a diamond from a stone."

It was the first trip to Seattle. Swamiji, just before landing in Seattle said, "Hmmm…I am somehow feeling the presence of Narada Muni (the Hindu Rishi and enlightened master who lived in Bharat thousands of years ago) here…" Two or three days later, Ma Sachitananda along with a couple of devotees took Swamiji to Mt. Ranier near Seattle. Just when they stopped near a highway rest stop, Swamiji quickly got out of the car and walked fast towards a very insignificant area. We suddenly saw that there was a waterfall there and when we turned around and looked, there was a plaque which said the falls was called 'Narada Falls', named after the Hindu ascetic Narada! The plaque mentioned that American Hindus had seen this ascetic here and hence these falls were named after him.

After Swamiji completed touring the west coast, the tour moved to the central part of the United States. Swamiji conducted programs in Oklahoma, Dallas, Columbus and New York. In Oklahoma we had a large gathering of people and conducted the ASP at a hotel owned by a Hindu family.

We now started seeing several people city hopping – they would attend programs in San Jose or Seattle and then follow Swamiji around to other cities! From San Jose we had Ma Nithya Dayananda Mayi (LA Ashramite, Sanyasini and then named Jyothi Sheelum), Ma Nithya Nischalananda (LA Ashramite, Sanyasini and then named Usha Subbarayalu), Ma Nithyananda Prabha (LA Ashramite and then named Sharmila) follow Swamiji around from weekend to

weekend! From Seattle there was John Thomson who attended six ASP programs and followed Swamiji around. Swamiji would jokingly tell them, "You guys did not do all the meditations intensely so you have to come back to me and follow me around. At least do it intensely this time!" Actually there was always a group of people who would follow Swamiji around wherever He went, and attend all the programs!

In all the cities, the ASP programs concluded late nights on Sundays. On Monday mornings Swamiji initiated people to become healers through a technique to open the ananda gandha chakra - the point within, where pure blissful awareness permeates matter. The ananda gandha chakra is located where energy and matter meet, where gross matter and atma shakti (energy of the soul) meet. It truly emanates an aroma of happiness or bliss, both within and without. The technique of ananda gandha chakra meditation allows one to perennially experience inner bliss and be in a deep meditative state all the time. In fact the side effect of such a state is healing. This is the basis of Nithya Spiritual Healing.

By initiating healers, Swamiji is now able to reach people far and wide in all corners of the world. Today this service of free healing is provided by healers in 35 countries across the globe. Nithya spiritual healers offer free healing services. In subsequent trips, Swamiji initiated medical research on Nithya healing system. There have been people who have benefited from Nithya Spiritual healing and now we are in the process of initiating more scientific research in this arena.

After completing a very successful tour of Oklahoma City, Swamiji and I traveled to St Louis for a day. Here he went specifically to heal a devotee's husband, cancelling one day of the discourses in Dallas. After healing him, Swamiji delivered a discourse that evening at the Hindu Temple in St Louis. He told me later that the person's cancer was advanced and wished He saw him earlier. He passed away a few months later.

We completed the week in Dallas, visited New Jersey for a week and then flew to Columbus. When Swamiji was in Columbus we came to know that our daughter, then 13 years of age, Nithyananda Sree, had attained physical maturity. In Bharat this is celebrated since it symbolizes the transition of a child to a woman, someone who could become a mother. In Bharat, in the small ceremony conducted for this, the child wears a sari, the traditional Hindu costume for women, and all the elders of the family come and bless the child. Swamiji wanted to make sure that Sree would not miss out on this very important tradition. However He wanted to surprise Sree. He asked Sree to come along with a group of Oklahoma people who also started making the rounds from weekend to weekend following Swamiji. He said she should come with them to attend her ASP. In the meantime Swamiji went out with Ma Sachitananda and personally picked out her sari and gifts that He purchased Himself for her. They traveled all day and arrived towards the tail end of the discourse on Friday evening. Swamiji blessed Sree and presented her

the sari in a simple but very deeply touching ceremony. Receiving such blessings is indeed great. It is only now we can understand the gravity of these blessings. A living enlightened master, is the rarest being and a true living sadguru and receiving blessings from Him is indeed the greatest thing one can hope for.

After Columbus, Swamiji and the crew went on to visit New York City. Discourses were organized in Manhattan. I could not make it to New York, but this was the first time Swamiji visited New York. As soon as he reached Manhattan, Swamiji wanted to visit the site of the world trade center, where three years earlier, on September 11, 2001, thousands perished as a result of a terrorist attack. Swamiji was quite serious and in a contemplative mood as he approached the site. He spent over three hours at the world trade center site in deep meditation. After three hours of silence, Swamiji told the crew that He saw so many souls in deep pain that were not liberated. Since these souls died before their prescribed time, they were caught in deep agony since they still had a desire to possess a physical body, but could not do so. He explained to us that only an enlightened master can help these souls from this agony. He told us that he blessed these souls and relieved them of the pain and suffering.

As the mission was still new and was expanding in all parts of US, we requested Swamiji to come back to US the same year. He agreed to come back in September. After New York programs, the tour ended. It was end of May, and Swamiji returned to Bharat for a few months to attend to mission related activities and to be in Bidadi for Gurupoornima celebrations on July 2, 2004. Ma Sachitananda decided to travel to Bharat with Swamiji. This was her first trip to Bidadi.

Swamiji, during this tour, conducted the first ever Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP) in San Jose. He then conducted the second NSP in Oklahoma. This program is called LBP Level 2 program today. Swamiji still conducts this program occasionally while Swamis, Swaminis and senior acharyas (teachers) conduct these programs routinely. Nithyananda Spurana Program is a powerful program mainly dealing with samskaras or engraved memories. Swamiji spends a lot of time during the introduction session on how this program was revealed to Him. In this program Swamiji gives us deep clarity on the death process and why it is important to understand samskaras and karma.

In this program he sheds light on both prarabdha and agamya karmas. Prarabdha karma is something we bring down with us when we take birth. They are unfulfilled desires from our past birth which we bring with us when we take the body to live them; agamya karma is something that we acquire freshly in this lifetime through desires which become samskaras as they get deep rooted. In the NSP program Swamiji breaks all the myths about the karma theory. He tells us that karma is really the mental set-up we carry from birth to birth and not the very act that we commit.

Swamiji narrated his personal experience at the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi. It was here that Swamiji had an intense experience of death shortly before enlightenment. Through this very intimate and personal experience he gives us a sound basis of what exactly happens when we die. He also narrates his contrasting experiences of witnessing the death of two individuals, one that happened before he was enlightened and one that happened after enlightenment.

He found that when he was near the dying person before his enlightenment, the death was extremely painful but the death that happened after he was enlightened, was painless and easy. Swamiji concluded that since he cannot be physically present at all times, the blue print of NSP were revealed to him. The essence of this program is to burn the karmas that we endlessly take from one birth to another. By making us re-live our pains, fears, sorrows, desires, guilt and pleasures and surrender them he takes care of our deep rooted Samskaras. He says re-living these fears and worries is relieving them.

In this program Swamiji gives us utter clarity and truths about the 7 Energy bodies in us. The seven bodies are - Physical, Pranic, Etheric (Subtle), Spiritual, Causal, Cosmic and Nirvanic. All apprehensions and scientific theories on this subject can be opened out in the Master's presence. In this program 7 scientifically laid out meditation techniques, one to cleanse each Energy body, designed by the Master are taught by Him. These techniques bring about great intellectual clarity for living and help us conquer the pain and fear of death, making it a celebration. Another key component of this program is the experience and glimpse of state of thoughtless awareness during one of the meditations. He says one glimpse of this state can embed this vibrant memory into our being. This can serve as the torch as we leave this body. At the end of the day Swamiji told us the essence is to relieve ourselves of these deep samskaras so that we can live this life blissfully. No doubt the program will greatly help when we leave this body, but the essence is to give us clarity to live this life blissfully.

At the end of the NSP program, in the early days THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM would give spiritual names to all the participants. This is one of the greatest gifts that a Master can give a disciple. In giving a spiritual name to the disciple, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM looks into the depth of a particular being and gives a name that defines the easiest path that the being can take to attain liberation or enlightenment or moksha. This name is a blessing as well as a blueprint He is giving us to make this path easy, blissful and painless. Having been with the Master for the last four years, the process of giving names is quite fascinating. He told us he classifies individuals into intellectual, emotional and being level people. He then gives a name that defines his or her path. For example Sri Bhaktananda indicates the name for a male (Sri = Male, Ma = female) and Bhaktananda means this individual derives bliss or ananda through a path of Bhakti (devotion). This tradition of giving names existed in Vedic tradition from time immemorial and started with Shiva himself giving spiritual names to disciples.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came to Oklahoma after completing the NSP program in San Jose ASP in Seattle. In Oklahoma, the first weekend camp was ASP and the next weekend was NSP. Our current organizer, Bhanu Patel and her husband Champak Patel were kind and provided wonderful arrangements for the ASP program at their hotel, Ramada Inn in Edmond. We were running out of options for the NSP program location being held the following weekend since conference rooms were completely booked in Oklahoma City. Champakbhai, within a matter of days made arrangements for his construction crew to prepare a conference room including dry walling, painting and carpeting this place. He had this place ready for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's NSP program in a record time of 3 days!

The NSP program was quite intense. The traveling group from San Jose also arrived for the NSP program! They had a strange sense of glow in their faces and talked very excitedly about this program. All of us waited anxiously for this program to start.

Prior to NSP program, I had the same recurring dream for almost 10 days in a row. I saw very intensely that my body was being carried from a location (which I now recognize is near the old kitchen/dining hall). I was dressed in saffron with vibudhi (holy ash) on my forehead. There were four people carrying my body. I saw THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's face, similar features as he looks today, but was older, probably in his late 50's or early 60's, with gray hair. The body was taken to a place that I now recognize as the lake in the ashram. The dream was so vibrant that I could see and feel the hibiscus flowers that were there along the way. The body was taken near the lake and I saw THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM light the funeral pyre. This happened not once but for almost ten days prior to the NSP program. When I saw THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM I mentioned to him about this dream. He laughed and said "You will understand in the due course of time. For now realize that it is an indication that your old self is dying and after this you will become a new person." The dream was so intense and I could clearly see that the place that came again and again in my dream was the path from the old dining hall in the Bidadi ashram to the pond where the last rites are performed for close devotees and disciples. Even the lilies in the pond were so vibrant and visible to me during these dreams. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells us not to get "clutched" to these experiences and tells us that these experiences are like a mile post which may say "30 Km to Bangalore". They only give you an indication and encouragement that we are on the right path.

NSP program was quite spectacular. Both Ma Sachitananda and I started participating in the program, but half way through the program we had to stop since we needed to help out with the meditation music and to take care of logistics. We nevertheless participated in the program wherever we could. It was only two years later in 2006 that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said we better complete the program. During this program there are several sessions where THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM asks participants to write down their fears, worries, guilt and pleasures. He then tells them to live them intensely and relieve themselves from these clutches. We started writing them down in Oklahoma and started making up a pretty good list, but halfway through we had to stop this in order to help out with the program. Later on in 2006 it was quite interesting when THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM made Ma Sachitananda and me to attend the NSP program in Bidadi where we had to pen down all of these emotions we literally could not come up with a single point. Believe me this is the honest truth. It is only then it dawned on me how blessed we are that the Master has taken care of all of these samskaras. Being around Him is like being in a fire. He will burn off whatever is not necessary. Again he told us to un-clutch from this feeling itself and live life like a leaf that is beautifully floating in the air, effortlessly moving about and enjoying the present moment.

NSP program in Oklahoma ended with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM giving spiritual names at the energy darshan. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM called Ma Sachitananda and myself and gave us our new names Ma Sachitananda and Sri Sachitananda. He said it means the following: Sat = Truth; Chit = Consciousness and Ananda = Bliss. He gave us blessings and told us to live all dimensions - intellect, emotion and being level and experience something that is beyond all of that. I can now see based on the path He has given me it translates to living Quantum Spirituality, i.e., living intensely in all dimensions. Initially it was a conscious act to juggle all the balls, but now, with his grace and blessings I am finding I am able to live Quantum Spirituality with no effort. I am able to simultaneously live the spiritual and material dimensions. In fact everything I am doing whether it be working on mission related work or living in the outer world, the process has become effortless and a sense of absolute clarity and passion in what I am involved with at that moment has taken over.

The day after NSP was healers initiation. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM allowed Sree and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAMi to come to take blessings. During Ananda Gandha Chakra initiation, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM opens this chakra, by a process that he calls it is similar to gently drilling the channel so that he can connect us to that inexhaustible fountain of spiritual energy (this is the only was he can verbalize such a process. In actuality he is doing a far deeper alchemy process to allow us to connect ourselves to the super conscious energy). After blessing all of us the moment THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAMi came in front, his eyes sparkled and he laughed and said, "Her Ananda Gandha just opened up without my doing anything. Just my presence opened her chakra." He blessed her and gave her the healing stick and said "Start Healing dear!" She was seven years old then and became the youngest Nithya Spiritual healer!

After the NSP programs THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM continued with the tour. We completed the tour in New Jersey and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM along with the crew and Ma Sachitananda left for Bidadi.

After THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and Ma Sachitananda left for Bharat, I tried to minimize my work related travel since the children and Ma Jesusananda were at home. By this time I wanted to serve THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's mission on a full time basis. I felt that having this rare opportunity to serve the Master was a gift and a true blessing. In the short period of time, we had experienced the space, the joy, and the vibrancy around a living Enlightened Master. In His presence, doubts would simply vanish, fears would completely evaporate, and the mind would completely still. We had experienced whatever we read about living around masters and something more. Yet, the dilemma of the mind was also getting in the way. While it did not bother me too much, I nevertheless experienced the oscillation in the mind – at time saying let us jump and not think and at other times thinking, how do we pay the bills, how can we pay for children's needs and their education costs. I would like the readers know that I was clutched about children's education for 1-2 years after I met THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. Somehow my conditioning about education was very, very deep. I had done well in school from an academic achievement perspective, my father was a brilliant doctor and all of this weighed heavily on me.

On the day of Gurupoornima, I received a call from Ma Sachitananda. She called me and said she was in a hurry to get some sort of permission that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told she needs to get. She told me that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was initiating disciples into brahmacharya and vanaprastha sanyasa for the first time. She wanted to take this initiation. However THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said she could not do it without my consent. So she informed me that she wanted to take this initiation and was calling me to get my permission. To be honest, there was no thought or any reservations I had towards this. For all practical purposes we were living the life of sanyas as far as the relationship between married couples went. Without any hesitation I asked her, "Why are you calling me for my permission? If that's what you want to do, go right ahead". She said, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted her to get my permission. The conversation was less than a minute long and I really did not think about this conversation after the call.

Later, I heard of so many cases that in a relationship where people are not allowed to follow their path since one of the spouses do not agree to the other getting involved in the mission or taking vanaprastha sanyas initiation. I feel each person should be given their own independence to follow their heart, especially in matters relating to their own spiritual path. We see so much of conflict in most couples. If the wife is falling in tune, the husband tends to shy away from THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and vice versa is true if the husband falls in tune. Somehow after meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM I felt that everyone's relationship with their Master is the most important thing. I knew for sure this relationship with the master came from lifetimes where as the relations in this life are only 30 or 40 years old. To me, no relationship, I mean none whatsoever is more important than my relationship with my Master.

Ma Sachitananda came back to Oklahoma a couple of weeks earlier than THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to commence preparations for the next tour of USA. During THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's stay in Bharat, devotees from Brazil attended THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's programs in Chennai. They wanted THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to visit Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo. So a trip to Brazil was also planned. When Ma Sachitananda returned to Oklahoma, she was the talk of the town. People questioned, how could she take sanyas when she had such small children? Anyways we did not really care about these comments since we felt strongly about it. She was quite a different person after she came back. She fell in love with Bidadi and told me, "I want to go to Bidadi and stay there for good". I asked her, "what about the

children?" She said she would like to take them there. I was not really shocked or alarmed, but I would describe my demeanor as being confused and concerned. I asked Ma Sachitananda whether she would like to go ahead if I could not make up my mind and jump, she said she really wanted to be in Bidadi in His presence.

I felt that it is really her decision to be with the master and that I had no right to prevent or stop her from progressing in her path. I told her that I needed to work through my conflicts and dilemmas. I also told her that if my mind continued to play games, she should dump me and move on since I had no right to stop one from living around the master or her spiritual path. I sincerely felt that all of us came down as individuals, alone and we will walk that path of aloneness eventually. I knew that meeting the master is a great blessing, falling in tune with Him is an even greater blessing and being accepted by him as His disciple where He takes personal responsibility over your spiritual growth is the greatest blessing of all. How could I possibly stop her, given her desire to be around Him and to serve Him? I also promised her that if my mind continued to play games, I will still send her money so that she can support herself and the kids. Little did I know when Swmaiji says I will take care; there is no need for all these financial dilemmas.

Luckily, the Master's grace instantly showered on me and within a day or two I decided there is no reason to look back. I thought what was the worst thing that could happen? When I thought of the consequences, they were not large. So luckily I could finally say a big NO to my mind and decided to plunge into this new world of spirituality. Let me state emphatically today, almost four years after I made this decision, none of my so called fears came true. When THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told me, "I will take care", he meant every word of it. He told us to come now to Bidadi since after a couple of years we will be very busy with the mission. Now when I look back and see, it is so true. The first couple of years living in Bidadi and traveling with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was truly exhilarating. While we worked hard and diligently we never felt it was hard work. It was work and it was fun so the question of hard work did not even come into play. Every day was new and exciting. With THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, one thing you can expect truly is the unexpected. Whether it is in His discourses or in his managing some mundane aspects of the mission, his perspective and solutions are unique, new, fresh and vibrant.

Firstly in his discourses, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is constantly delivering a fresh perspective and covering new ground. I have seen this happen time and again: just when you think what else is there to shed light on a particular subject, one would invariable see him shed new light on the topic that will completely knock you off the ground.

Secondly, in administrative and organizational matters He is able to effortlessly implement aspects that would have taken years for an organization to develop and embrace. Take for instance how inter-departmental accounting is done. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM with one simple statement institutionalized a complete Activity Based Costing (ABC) and management system. He told various departments in Bidadi the concept that they serve each other and the cost of goods and

services needs to be charged among each other so that a market value of the service needs to be charged. He further went on to tell all the brahmacharis who are running the departments that they need to be efficient and profitable, even though the real money exchange did not happen among inter-departmental activities. He reminded us of Karma Phala Tyaga is important, that we need to be utterly efficient in our actions and then after results are delivered, we give back all the fruits of the work to the society.

It is quite fascinating to see the dynamics in play this new cost management system had set in. Each department was looking at their costs and ensuring they did not waste resources. Every department wanted to achieve efficiency. They negotiated with each other to determine and agree upon rates the other department could charge. They demanded service. Looking at all this, any CEO of a global company can see how beautifully a complex system such as activity based cost management system can be implemented so effortlessly. This is a perfect case study for Harvard Business School! These are some small examples of something new and fresh that gets implemented with the flip of a switch in the master's presence.

Looking back, the so called jump was one of the most exciting journeys one could take. We had the distinct honor to be around and to serve the Master. We leant everyday by looking at how He tacked the most complex of situations with so much ease.

Both the children were growing up in Bidadi ashram. Even though both of us were traveling and away from them most of the time, the support structure and the vibrancy of the environment transformed them. They were not exposed to hours of television nor did they have to face peer pressure of what clothes they should wear, how they should talk or walk. Instead they lived an intense Vedic lifestyle free from fantasies and peer pressure. Nithyananda Sree explored a new dimension and soon found her new love for writing. She now takes Swamiji's discourses and teachings and compiles books on topics as diverse as Master- Disciple relationship, or thought for the day. As far as Nithyanandi, she is a true free bird. She has literally grown up in the ashram and is what I would call a free spirit. She is 12 years old now and has started taking her school seriously. She, along with her classmates enjoys every aspect of this lifestyle including going to the temple for guru pooja and arthi, just hanging out with other children. When I come back to the United States and meet children of Sree and Nithyanandi's age, I always thank Swamiji for allowing them an opportunity to grow in a pure, Vedic ambiance and lifestyle. They are now growing up to be strong, confident and fantasy free youngsters. I have seen similar transformation with Chinmayananda, the son of Ma Nithya Dayananda Mayi and Sri Nithya Bhaktananda. Chinmayananda came to the ashram from San Jose a year and half after Sree and Nithyanandi. These children grew up together and now are the best of buddies. Anyone who sees them always can see the sparkle in their eyes and always comment on the tejas they radiate, all because of the grace of the master. These kids are like pioneers in that they have also given confidence for other children to come from other parts of the world to live and grow up in Bidadi ashram and experience this wonderful revival of Vedic lifestyle.

Swamiji came back for a second tour of the US in July 2004. By now I decided to join full-time in the mission. We placed our house on sale and wanted to officially quit my job as soon as the house was sold. It took us about 4 months to sell the house. During this period I would travel from Oklahoma City to various cities where Swamiji was giving discourses every Friday and would return to work on Monday morning. During this second tour only Ma Sachitananda served as the crew member. We sought help from one of our devotees from Oklahoma, who traveled and helped with videotaping discourses. Ma Sachitananda would take care of Swamiji's food and accommodation, e-Mails, organizing daily events, and run Ananda Galleria store. It was essentially a one person army and I know it required her to be intense, aware and efficient all the time. She used this as an opportunity to start recruiting volunteers to help with various chores. Thus we started getting help of devotees from various cities to get involved with the mission. Several of these devotees are now core members of the mission, serving the mission as organizers and helping spread His message all over the world.

The second trip in 2004 started in New York/New Jersey area. The mission was beginning to gather momentum. Word of this young, dynamic, profound enlightened master started spreading. The first leg of the tour Swamiji visited New York/New Jersey area, Washington, DC, St Louis, Columbus, Dallas, San Jose, Los Angeles and Oklahoma. Swamiji conducted ASP and NSP programs and also conducted one day program called Shakti Spurana that dealt with the three of the gross layers of our beings to mainly focus on physical and mental well being. During this tour there were over 45 discourses delivered on wide ranging topics from general well being, to deep secrets of the mind to the death process. The discourse on the process of death, Mystery of Mysteries, is one of my all-time favorite discourses and was delivered in Columbus. It felt as though Swamiji was slowly upping the ante'. He said he needed mature disciples to deliver the sharp truth right away. Even today he tells us that while he has delivered various breakthrough messages, he has not fully opened up and delivered no frills based discourses widely. As the devotee matures so will the master deliver sharper and sharper messages! I am convinced we have not seen anything yet. I know we have not seen the iceberg, let alone the tip of the iceberg!

After completing this tour a core group of 40 or so devotees started gathering around the Master and started following him wherever he went. In order for the master to continue delivering deeper and deeper truths, he needed to have people who could teach the basic

courses so that He could start focusing on advanced programs for the serious seekers. Swamiji would always tell us, "I want to give you guys so much, but you need to do the base work. By holding me to do the initial level programs, you are wasting the time of an enlightened master on planet earth." So about 40 people wanted to serve as His mission and wanted to be teachers or acharyas for the mission. All of us gathered for an exclusive retreat in Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. This was the first teachers training for the mission, a historic event by any stretch of the imagination.

Most of the attendees flew into Newark airport and drove to the Pocanos. There was a group from Silicon Valley – the techie group which was by far the largest contingent with names that are now very familiar with the mission. Several of these individuals are Swamis, Swaminis, ashramites, ananda samajis or city coordinators who are continuing to help spread Swamiji's message to all corners of the world. There was Bhaktananda (Gopal Sheelum), Dayamayi (Jyothi Sheelum), Niranjana (Mukundan Subramanian), Nishala (Usha), Ma and Sri prabha (Douglas and Sharmila MacKellor), Ma Gnanapriyananda (Akhila Balaram), Ma Swambhavamayi/Sri Swabhavananda/and Sri Pragnananda (Drs Savithri & Kamlakas Rambhatla, Niren Rambhatla), and the list goes on and on. You must pardon me if I left out someone. And then there were some who attended the teachers training and somehow did not choose to teach due to their own personal reasons. However whatever is their current involvement with the mission, one thing was clear, this was a life changing event for all. Every attendee was blessed to be at the teachers training in Pocono Mountains.

We were approaching the tail end of summer and evenings were getting cool. But day times the weather was spectacular – spotless skies and 70-75 deg F temperature. Our mornings started with a ceremonial suprabhatham, with a makeshift chariot (since we were in USA, we had to improvise and make do with a Toyota car!). Swamiji would sit on the trunk of the car and visit all the cottages where we stayed. He sang and made sure everyone was awake and ready by 6 am. These eight days I do not think anyone slept for more than 2-3 hours. His style of teaching was like no other. We would sing and play, and yet, magically whatever that needed to get done got done in terms of training, presentation and conducting of the LBP Level 1 program.

Ma Sachitananda and I could not participate in the teachers training course since both of us were busy organizing logistics, doing e mails and other activities relating to the mission. I also used this as an opportunity to start processing videos of Swamiji's discourses he delivered during the tour.

After early morning suprabhatham, all of us gathered in the training hall and Swamiji would spend hours together talking to us, chatting and joking with us. I now know this is a technique He uses to keep the mind occupied while whatever alchemy that goes on in the presence of the master is allowed to go on. After spending hours together we would break out into groups and each group would discuss and brainstorm on approaches to present the intellectual part of the chakra/emotion in a lucid, easy to understand and jovial manner. During this teachers training we did not have any training manuals or tools. Every attendee was given the book "Six Days to Total Transformation" which served as the reference manual for the LBP level 1 program. This book was written from one of the earliest chakra meditation courses Swamiji conducted in Bangalore in 2003 over a six day time period.

The first teachers training served as a means where there were not only teachers that were being trained. Swamiji sowed the seeds for key anchors in the mission. It was here we started to see several people stepping up and seeking Swamiji's blessings and permission to take on the responsibility for spreading His mission. I know at this teachers training Bhaktananda decided to come into the mission on a full time basis, although Swamiji told him to continue with his work for some more time.

Every day after we completed training session in the morning, we broke for lunch. After lunch, training in breakout sessions continued till about 4 pm. Then it was fun and play time. Swamiji in a childlike manner would swing and slide down slides. We would all gather round the Master, sing and dance and feel the joy and bliss. We would sing kirtnas for hours at a time and play games. There were days when we would just sit with the Master for hours at a time, when he would either close his eyes or just be in silence and allow us to experience his space. This was truly nothing but the Master's compassion – to allow all of us, no matter who we were or where we came from to experience His space. There were times he would like to hear our jokes and burst out laughing. Those of you who know the Master that when he laughs you can feel that he is there intensely with the laughter. He would crack jokes himself and when we would say, "Swamiji, this is a dirty joke." He would then say characteristically, "This is just a joke, and what can I do if you make it dirty! It is you who is making this dirty; all I am telling you is a joke!"

Every evening we would proceed to the arthi ceremony at the Jain Temple. Swamiji would thoroughly enjoy the arthi being offered to Mahavir Swami and the thirthankars. He would often speak about Mahavira, sometimes relating to stories from His life and his teachings.

After Arthi we would assemble back in the classroom and would continue with the classes. We would sit hours together in the nights, mostly hearing Swamiji speak about the mission and how he would like us to grow as teachers. First and foremast in his mind was transformation of the teachers. He would say, "If you guys do not transform yourselves how are you going to be able to teach. I want you to experience the truth which you are teaching."

During this teachers training there were a couple of mystical incidents. One of the participants' daughter, a 12 or 13 year old brought along with her camcorder to record highlights from this event. However she forgot to bring her camcorder charger. By the end of the first day the camcorder was completely discharged. All of us were near the swings and slides sitting with the

Part 2: At the Feet of the Master

master and enjoying ourselves, singing and dancing. This girl brought the camcorder and complained to Swamiji that she cannot tape any more. Swamiji took the camcorder battery and held it in his hand for a moment and handed it back to her. I know this is hard to believe that the charge shot up from 0% to almost 80%! I am a scientist by education and worked in research during the early years of my career. Every grain inside me would not believe this if it were told to me. But you have to excuse me for this, but I personally saw the battery level at zero and after Swamiji held the camera I personally saw the charge shoot up to 80%. And that is not all, whenever the charge came down, she would bring the camcorder to Swamiji and he would not even touch it, he would waive his hands and the battery would again be charged. This drama went on for a full eight hours when the battery was charged and we ended up shooting the footage on video tape.

Halfway through the teachers training when we were casually having a conversation with Swamiji, Sri Swabhavananda (Dr Kamalakar Rambhatla, a physician based in Los Angeles, an early devotee and Ananda Samaji) asked Swamiji, "Swamiji you should come and visit Swami Vivekananda's house in Los Angeles". The discussion then went on to Swami Vivekananda and some of the incidences in his life in USA and experiences of close devotees such as Josephine McLeod. Swamiji then turned to Swabavananda and said casually, "Fool, why do you want me to go there? I was already there much before you!" None of us knew what he meant by this, whether it was a past life incident or whether he meant that He and Swami Vivekananda were one and the same from the perspective of oneness of those living in a super conscious state. He was then ending the session and said casually, "And one among you forty was Josephine McLeod who served Swami Vivekananda" and burst out laughing and left the room!

After dropping this bombshell Swamiji would not elaborate more on this! He went out for a walk at this resort and I accompanied Him. I asked, "Swamiji, are there a lot of us who were connected with you in the past life?" He said, "Shiv, how can such a deep connection happen so quickly? It is not logically possible otherwise". That's all he said. In the early days we would all be quite fascinated with experiences, with talks about past life connections. Although He knew who we were, where we came from, Swamiji never encouraged delving into mysteries and mystical things since he told us this is an impediment to spiritual growth. In fact he would always say, "If I show you magic like materialization or teleporting, I will have a big group around me, my business will flourish, but you business (of spiritual growth) will not happen. It is best we keep these things away. Besides if I show all this magic, only idiots will gather around me and eat my head!"

The eight days of the first teachers training passed very magically. Somehow with all the fun and games we got the job done. Most of the participants were ready to become teachers. Swamiji was extremely happy with the group. One of the central themes of the first teachers training was a (dirty) joke made by Sri Nithya Prabha (Doug MaKallor then) called the "Banana Joke" This joke was enacted during the pre-graduation dramas we had prior to the night of the graduation. I cannot write about this joke, but if you happen to see any of the participants from the first teachers training, take them to the side and ask them about the Banana joke! The reason I wanted to bring this up is all of us had a banana hat we used as the graduation gear and I wanted to give you the reason for this gear!

Swamiji handed out certificates to all acharyas and blessed them to spread His mission. When he started the blessing, he got quiet all of a sudden. There was absolute silence. He was here and yet not here. He then showered us with the following blessings. When this brief session was over all of us were spellbound. Words could not describe the moment. It is one of the rarest blessings given by a master and all of us felt so grateful for being there to be able to receive these blessings and to be able to serve our master, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

The following was the first teachers training blessings from Swamiji:

Swamiji's 2 minute blessings transcription here

After the teachers training Swamiji went to Brazil where he conducted the ASP (LBP level 1) program. The program was very successful and core group of devotees was forming in Brazil. I was not there during this trip to Brazil but there were interesting incidents that were narrated to me by Sevananda and Ma Sachitananda. When Swamiji landed in Brazil, the immigration officer prostrated at Swamiji's feet (a traditional form of respect in Bharat when we see an enlightened master). He was quite tearful and said, "Why are you coming so late to our country. You have come in my dreams years before." There was a similar incident during one of the satsangs at a yoga studio. An an old lady came to him during energy darshan and blessings time, held his hand and told him in broken English, "You have appeared in my dreams 12 years ago. Why have you not come to see us earlier?" She said this and cried profusely. At the time Swamiji went to Brazil he was 27 years old and 12 years before that, he would have been a 15 year old boy in Thiruvannamalai. There is no logic to describe these events, but seeing this firsthand and experiencing the miracles of being around an enlightened master is truly spectacular.

Swamiji arrived back from Brazil and landed in Chicago. I flew to Chicago to receive Him at the airport. We stayed for a day at one of my cousin's home in the suburbs of Chicago where Swamiji spent a day and left the following morning to Bharat along with Ma Sachitananda, Sri Atma Maneeshananda and Sri Sevananda.

Just after Ma Sachitananda accompanied Swamiji and the crew members, we found a buyer to purchase our home. Closing was set for the third week in October. We now needed to move – lock, stock and barrel as they would say in America, after living exactly 20 years in America. I also gave appropriate notice at work. My boss, the head of the $1.4 billion per year business unit was quite disappointed that I was leaving and really could not understand. He said, "Siva, why do you want to leave? You are bright and young and you can lead this business and take it to the next level. I do not really understand all this but I wish you did not leave. Anyways, good luck to you"

Ma Sachitananda quickly came back to Oklahoma City and we started packing our items. We ordered a 40 ft container and we found out that was not enough. So we ended up leaving a lot of items behind. It was only then I realized how much excess we live with in America. There was really no need of anything but perhaps 10% of the items we accumulated over the years. And unfortunately, these items are the reason why most of us feel the bondage to our jobs, kind of a slave to our own life style. Today, I can pack up all my things into one suitcase and live and move wherever needed. This is truly a liberating feeling – not attached to any of these possessions. I cannot describe this feeling of liberation. It can only be experienced.

After packing up all the items they were sent in an ocean container. Ma Sachitananda left for Bharat as soon as the container shipment left for Bharat. I stayed back for a few more weeks since I needed to wrap up my work and ensure an orderly transition.

The final day of leaving the US to Bharat was quite an elating experience. While I enjoyed and learnt a lot professionally in the US, I was finally going home. It is where I wanted to be. I landed in Bangalore airport late at night. Since I was almost 1 am in the morning when I landed in Bangalore airport, I took a taxi and headed to the ashram. I reached the ashram around 2 am. The moment I got off the taxi and started going towards our rooms (at that time Ma Sachitananda, the kids and Ma Jesusananda stayed in what we call as the eight room block at the Bidadi ashram), Swamiji came from his quarters to greet me. There was no way he could have hard the taxi come in. He was very happy to see me and said, "The moment the taxi turned into the ashram (which is at least 1 kilometer away), I had felt that you came here so I came to greet you!" I took blessings and pranams from Swamiji. I finally came home!

During the second tour in 2004, Swamiji was approached by a mind/body research group in University of Oklahoma. Several doctors in the James L. Hall Centre for Mind, Body and Spirit wanted to study the various states of mind of an enlightened being during wakeful state, deep meditation state and Samadhi state. Swamiji readily agreed to make himself a subject of this study. He underwent a series of tests including QEEG and PET scan. Researchers injected radio isotope dyes and attached electrodes to Swamiji brain to map his brain patterns under various states. Swamiji spent three full days with the researchers to study the enlightened consciousness using the latest scientific techniques and instrumentation. Some of the findings were quite astounding. Swamiji is quite keen on continuing research on himself and on the Nithya healing system. As of the writing of this book, research programs in pain management, asthma and other ailments are in various phases of planning and testing.

Today, many people are touched each day by Nithya healers. There are so many testimonials of healing. However in order to meet the scientific scrutiny from the western medicine, experiments with advanced statistical tools are needed to ensure the effects are real. Swamiji for one wants to boldly pursue the research frontier. We are hoping to aggressively research into Nithya Spiritual healing as well as targeted meditations for specific ailments. Swamiji tells us that 80% of all diseases have a psychosomatic starting point. An enlightened master knows the origin of these psychological problems from the essence of the science of chakras, koshas and also what some may call as mystical dimensions including prabhdha karma which we bring with us when we assume this body. He has agreed to provide detailed understanding and targeted techniques and with the help of hundreds of physician devotees from all over the world, He is hoping to bring to the medical forefront solutions that can eventually be proved through logical system of testing from western medicine.

In addition to research on Swamiji by physicians in Oklahoma several other studies on Swamiji healing patients, his brain wave patterns, skin resistance tests were conducted. The resulting findings were in astonishing. While a lot of these results have been published and presented in mind/body forums, the focus of the research is now shifting in two broad areas – 1. Impact of Nithya Spiritual Healing on various ailments, 2. Impact of targeted meditation techniques by Swamiji such as Nithya Dhyaan on specific ailments such as Asthma, Diabetes, and Obesity.

I myself have been healed from type 2 diabetes and have been free from this disorder for over four years now. I will discuss more about this in the following chapters.

Swamiji returned to USA for the first tour in March 2005. By March 2005, Bhaktananda and Dayamayi joined us on tour as crew members. Initially Bhaktananda was working part time per Swamiji's advice and traveling on weekends to various cities. In the first tour of 2005 Swamiji toured Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Oklahoma, St Louis, Columbus and New Jersey.

In all cities, Swamiji conducted Nithyananda Spurana program. The crowds coming to these programs have increased substantially since the early days. Also, word of this enlightened master spread to seekers far and wide. The mix of people coming to Swamiji's programs now has become very diverse – people from all walks of life, religions, races had started attending his programs.

During this first tour of the Unites States, Swamiji discourses were a lot more intense. He wanted to make sure the serious seekers are helped. You almost get the feeling that he has upped the ante' during this tour. He spoke on moving from sub-conscious to super conscious, on Chaos (Discourse title: Chaos is order, order is chaos), Collective Consciousness, Cognitive Shift, etc. Every day when you think what deeper truths can He reveal, you will see invariably that Swamiji ups the ante'! His discourses shed a refreshingly new perspective and dimension on age old truths from Vedic tradition. They are fresh, simple, insightful, profound, but the beauty is the simplicity – you know they are being delivered by someone who has experienced what he is speaking and therefore they can be understood by anyone and everyone.

During weekend programs we now had a couple of new crew members to help out. Bhaktananda would take care of registrations, audio/video equipment, I would take care of video work and emails, Dayamayi would take care of Ananda Galleria where books, DVDs and CDs plus mala and Yantras are made available. Ma Sachitananda would take care of Swamiji's needs in terms of his stay, food, etc. We had a great time during these programs. At every NSP when Swamiji would give spiritual names at the energy darshan we invariably ran into last minute hiccups! We would scramble till the last minute and somehow pull everything together. There would be times when the printer to print people's spiritual names that Swamiji gave would not work, or there would be problems with the names – we would have named a female with a Sri and a male with a Ma! No matter what we did, we could not avoid last minute scrambling. We now know for certain that it was the master's lila – he is putting us all intensely in the present moment to awaken the intelligence. Every week as we went from city to city we would tell ourselves, "This week we will get it all right". Sure enough Swamiji would diffuse this feeling of comfort in a jiffy. When we show him the spiritual names we would give him on a typed paper, he would invariably pick out the one mistake we made. He would say, "This is not the name I have given to this person. Go back and fix the problem" This is almost like finding needle in a haystack and sure enough, the master would find this without even looking at the list. So it was back to the drawing board. Ma Sachitananda and Bhaktananda were in charge of this department and every week scrambling in the last minute was unavoidable!

During these tours Master intensely worked on us. Yet the Master's medicine for each individual is targeted and different. For some reason no matter what mistake I made, Swamiji would say, "It's OK Shiv. Correct this next time". He would do the same with Dayamayi. However when it came to Ma Sachitananda and Sri Bhaktananda the poison pill was different. The master would shout, "You fools, don't you have any sense?" Let me assure you the process was a lot more intense than what I am writing here. But this is the process of boiling us, the process of sharpening the stone so that it can become a diamond. I have seen over the years that for the 100s of people for whom he has taken responsibility for their spiritual growth (i.e., Disciples), Master's poison pill is vastly different from person to person. For some it is the kind of scrambling that he puts us through, for some it is plainly ignoring them, for others it may mean silence. I have seen 100's of techniques he uses, each customized to produce the desired effect of awakening. When you sit back and see the Lila and the dimensions it is truly breathtaking. Sometimes when one is going through the process it may seem difficult. However every disciple going through this process realizes that it is nothing but pure love and compassion that master is showering on the disciple. He has taken on the responsibility of our enlightenment and this is the only reason he has again taken the human form.

In late May, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was invited to address the annual convention of AAPI – American Association of Physicians of Hindu Origin being held in Houston. This is an organization of almost 30,000 physicians of Hindu origin that meets annually. In addition to a discourse at the alternate Medicine forum, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted satsang each morning at 6 am for four days continuously. He spoke for the first time on Yoga through a series of breakthrough discourses titled, Yoga for Body, Yoga for Mind, Yoga for Verbalization, and Yoga for Spirit. Each morning THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spoke for about an hour and this was followed by 30 minutes of meditation. As the word of this young charismatic Swami spread, there was packed audience. Those who attended his morning programs were spellbound by this Master's discourses, his sharp clarity and ability speak extempore on any and every topic. A lot of the physicians who are now active in THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's mission met THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for the first time at AAPI. Also, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission in Houston had its roots at the AAPI convention. We met Sri Ananda Maharishi (Prakash Morolia) who was teaching a yoga class in the conference room next door. He is now the organizer in Houston and building a large group of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's devotees there.

After the AAPI convention we flew to San Jose and then drove 5-6 hours to Krishnalaya, a peaceful retreat center located in Northern California. We rented out this retreat for the second teachers training. The drive was quite scenic. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM drove with Ma Sachitananda, Bhaktananda, and I. During the long picturesque drive, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM talked and joked. At one point when we were talking about people who miss the master, He said, "I am your gate. Do not

worry" It was as if he was telling us, relax, do not worry, I will take care of your spiritual growth and enlightenment.

Krishnalaya was a beautiful resort nestled in a remote part of the state near Oregon border. The resort was located on the banks of Eel River. In total we had 50 or so participants for the teachers training. By this time we had a teachers training manual and also insisted on pre-work prior to teachers training. We had a large contingent from Seattle, mostly a group of young Microsoft techies who attended THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's NSP program in Seattle. Bhaktananda was managing all the training programs and was doing the pre-screening and following up with participants to ensure attendees came prepared for the teachers training. We were doing this to ensure all those attending got done with the training aspects quickly so that they maximize the precious time they had with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM started the introduction session with a 3 hour talk and told us point blank, in no uncertain terms, to wake up and grow consciously or be ready to be exploited by a whole host of special interests all of whom have a personal interest to keep us in a subdued/ignorant state. After this discourse it was quite clear this teachers training was going to be different right from the word go!

By this teacher training we got ourselves more organized. Teachers were given pre-training work in terms of repetitive reading and internalization of the LBP Level 1 course materials. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was quite clear that there is as much learning (actually a lot more) that happens in the presence of the Master as it does on the technical aspects of delivery of the chakra discourses. In fact by now, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM wanted all of the pre-work done ahead of the training retreat so that He could spend most of the time with the participants. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is quite clear that He first cares about the teachers' own personal growth and transformation. He wants them to experience the truth so that they can transmit their experience to others and inspire them to start their journey of personal transformation. His model is simple, yet profound – raise human consciousness through personal transformation, one individual at a time.

The location of the teachers training in Krishnalaya was spectacular. The cottages were located on the banks of a River Eel and we were surrounded by mountains. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM aptly called the river Eel Ganga. Like in the Ganges, all of us would gather near the river and those who could brave it jumped into the 40 def F water and had a lot of fun. We would complete our breakfast and head to the class. After an hour or two of the teachers training session, we would all gather on the banks of the Eel River where we erected a makeshift tent and sit down with the Master. We would sit for hours together; sometimes it was singing, dancing and kirtans. Sometimes, the Master would deliver teachings, sometimes it is a profound truth, sometime it is intense silence. But I know at every moment He was always working on us at various levels of our being – sometimes on transformation at the physical level, but most times His work is at the subtle level, the "invisible" work of inner alchemy.

Learning

Joking and having a great time!

On the 5th or 6th day of the teachers training, we completed most of the formal training. It was a cold, misty day and we proceeded to our makeshift. It started like every other day, singing kirtans, joking and having a great time! THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM also started singing kirtans and we spent a few hours with him. It was about 2 pm in the afternoon. It started raining quite heavily and a lot of us got wet. It was quite cold, probably in the 40's (degree F). Then all of a sudden, I remember there was a request from one of our devotees (I think it was from Ma Viroopananda, our Columbus devotee) requesting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to give us a meditation technique. There was a sudden silence; it was as though He had instantly put us in a meditative state. We felt this silence of our mind and all of said later that every one of us felt the same, a feeling of intense silence. We had all lost track of time. I don't know when this instruction was given, but I think sometime after a few hours all of us closed our eyes. Then THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM started talking – he ordered that super conscious energy and said as an enlightened master he is demanding that all the gods come down and shower blessings on this group. He invoked the presence of Devi and Shiva (the feminine and masculine aspects of the universal spiritual energy) and said, "As an enlightened Master I am ordering you to come down and bless this group". It was quite an amazing moment. Several of us at this stage had some truly amazing experiences.

As soon as the invocation was over, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM instructed us to open our eyes and look upwards. It was the most spectacular sight. All of us could see a circular area right above us where the sky was most beautiful. We saw stars with absolute clarity and brightness. They looked like grapes waiting to be picked. All around us the sky was overcast, but just overhead, there was this circular region where the stars came out with absolute magnificence and brightness. He simply laughed characteristically and said, "Enjoy the moment, the starts have come out to greet you!" He said this and walked away towards his cottage. All of us were spell bond. This was the first time the Master has shown a group of us that the cosmos is at the service of the enlightened master. This was one of the turning points of the US mission.

Words cannot do any justice to the experience. Again I am sorry for those of you who may question and not believe this, but honestly what happened is the truth. All I would ask of those of you who doubt this incident is to be open-minded and talk to any one of the attendees of this teachers training. There were 50 of us who experienced this truly exceptional moment in His mission.

When I look back and reflect, there was not a particular instance I can pin point and say "yes! This is when my understanding has happened." The beauty of my journey is I know I have transformed, I know nothing shakes me these days, I know I do not go through a low curve in my mental demeanor, I know I am intensely living in the moment with passion, I know I can be an intense observer, I know when I make a mistake I am not hard on myself, instead, these days, I feel, "Ok, I could have handled this situation better and I will next time" and that's it – there is no pondering or feeling of guilt, just an understanding and that's it. It is quite a liberating feeling. Yet if there is one point I can pinpoint where there was a step change in my understanding it was at the Living Enlightenment. This was a program where there was surely

something mystical, something that He did at the very core of the being. This essentially eliminated the "low energy curve" for me. I will discuss more about living enlightenment towards the end of this book.

But every time I am with him there is a new understanding, a cue from His body language, and a cue from how He handled a particular situation with utmost compassion. I am also sure there is a whole lot of alchemy that goes on "under the hood", i.e., in the subtle dimension. The reason I am sharing this I hope and wish those of you reading this will appreciate what a blessing is is to be in His presence. I hope all of you understand that He is here and now and with open arms giving us the confidence that the path of spirituality can be easy, fun, exciting, transforming. And more over if I can do this so can you. But we need to take the first step and be patient and open to the process. If we take one step, He will take hundred steps to help us on our journey. I know He has bestowed enormous grade on me over the last four years and for this, I am eternally grateful.

The day after this incredible day, we were again with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM sitting near Eel Ganga. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was joking and all of us were having a good time. He asked us casually, "Should we have an Ashram in US? I think we are ready." He paused and asked, "How many of you would like to come and be a part of the ashram?" He was truly opening up His space and reaching out to the people who wanted to be with Him, to be with God. If I look back, it was nothing but the divine reaching out and asking us, "Come on here and let me show you the path and take you to the space in which I reside always." And yet, like me who struggled when he opened his space to me and asked me to jump in, several people were afraid. There were 12 people among the participants who jumped at this opportunity and wanted to take this journey. )

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was very happy this group of people wanted to be part of starting the USA mission in earnest. He quickly asked us to prepare for a homa (fire ritual) at the bank of Eel Ganga. We had a wonderful ceremony on a cool chilly afternoon on May 16, 2005. After the homa THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM dropped another bombshell – he said, "The LA Ashram will start before October 1, 2005!" It was already mid May and there was a little over 4 months for the ashram to start! The logical mind wanted to reason and question how can THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM make these statements so casually? Yet, I realized that when Master utters these words, it is simply bound to happen. So we started this exciting new chapter in our mission, now preparing the move to Los Angeles!

I will talk in detail about the LA Ashram and how this came together in the next chapter. After this teachers training, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM left for Bharat for Gurupoornima. Ma Sachitananda and I accompanied THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to Bharat.

After this incredible trip THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM went back to spend a few months in Bharat. Every time we travel to a new destination THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM gets excited. During the last 30 minutes of the journey he is always excited to get off the plane and see the devotees/disciples. It is almost like a child visiting a new city. He always says, "So many of my people are waiting for me. I can't wait to see them". He would always say before getting down, "now the drama moves to Bharat!" When he is on the plane heading to USA, the same story is true. The beauty is wherever He is; He lives intensely, in the moment, with utter passion.

Whenever we return back to Bharat, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM flies back to Bangalore where the plane lands late in the night. By the time we reach the ashram, it is normally 2 am. The ashram is instantly transformed, there is a buzz in the air, and there is electricity. The first thing he does is to go to the banyan tree. He then proceeds directly to the Ananda Sabha where the entire ashram is anxiously awaiting for his arrival. He then spends 3-4 hours talking to all the disciples. The session typically ends with energy darshan at 5 am or 6 am. The ashram now springs back to life. Everyone is running helter-skelter getting everything ready for the upcoming programs. As THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says, "The drama has shifted to Bharat!" Normally after a tour to Bharat, Ma Sachitananda and I would get relieved, a new crew joins and the Hindu ashramites and disciples are excited to have the Master back in Bharat. We take a break, but Master's work is 24x7x365!

The morning after the Master lands in Bharat, He immediately gets back into administrative matters to ensure in all departments, work is progressing. He typically calls for a meeting of all department heads and asks them about what is going on. In the early days of the mission, the ashramites would hear from the master through telephone calls and e-mails. But as time has gone by, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has become very "tech savvy" and he is constantly on chat over the internet or through a video conference. In fact these days, ashramites sometimes say that they get more work from Him when He is away from Bharat than when He is in Bharat. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM purposely keeps us fully occupied. He says working intensely and achieving the impossible is spirituality. We noticed that when we are around Him we are constantly engaged. It is a technique he uses to tire the mind and the logic that constantly plagues us and gives us un-necessary problems. This does not mean he does not want us to use our intellect and intelligence. In fact he very much wants us to use it, but he does not want us waste our time in gossiping, and in useless activities. Also, when the mind rests, the master's work can happen very easily.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has already seen the LA Ashram in his vision back in 2002 when one fine day in Erode, he suddenly told Ayya and Amma, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's first disciples and ashramites, "Ayya, we will have our eastern headquarters in Bangalore and Western hemisphere headquarters in Los Angeles. Ayya, where is Los Angeles?" Ayya, who did not understand what THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said, and asked him, "THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Los Angeles is in America. We don't know anybody there. How can this be?" THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said there are so many of my people who are already in various parts of the world waiting for him and this will simply happen. Little did we know He is playing His Lila. The script of his

mission and what He has come down for has long been written. He is simply enacting this drama called life.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had already started getting deities carved for the temples that will be built all over the world. The carving work already began in 2004. By 2005 the carving work of various deities was in full swing at various carving centers. The artisans have been working tirelessly and by late 2007 we have shipped over 300 deity statues to USA. Little did we know temples in USA will be starting in Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, Phoenix, Columbus St Louis, Oklahoma, Houston, New York, Florida and Toronto all at once in 2007! He knew about all of this and had started the work three years ago.

After touring various cities in Tamil Nadu, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was getting items ready for the LA Ashram inauguration. Several container loads of shipments were being planned to be shipped to Los Angeles. We did not know where the ashram was going to happen and how. He told us it will simply happen.

Bhaktananda came to Los Angeles a month before THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's arrival. The plan was for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to arrive in Los Angeles after gurupoornima. Bhaktananda and Sri Ananda Jyothi, who lived in San Diego at that time, came to Los Angeles in June. They started searching for various properties and parcels of land for the LA Ashram. They stayed at a Days Inn in Duarte, California which was located close to some of our close devotees' homes.

During his trip back to Bharat, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM toured various parts of Tamil Nadu where people often gather for His satsangs. This tour was titled 'Ananda Ula' where THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM toured Thiruvannamalai, Salem, Vellore and Chennai. After these satsangs and gurupoornima, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came back to America. He was quite excited to be back in USA. There were a lot of preparations in terms of items for the temple, vessels for homas and ceremonies, decoration items, stone deities that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM gave instructions to pack up and ship to Los Angeles.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM landed in Los Angeles in the end of July 2005. All ashramites came to Los Angeles a couple of days before THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM landed. We really did not have a clue where the ashram would be and how we would get started. Once thing was clear – we were all really excited to be together in LA, and looking forward to be with our Master. We rented 5 or 6 rooms at the Days Inn in Duarte, California. All our Los Angeles area devotees were very happy that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came to LA and that they would see a lot more of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM in their city. We spent a spectacular month with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM in Los Angeles.

All of us would wake up every morning at 5 am, take our showers and assembled near THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's room. We played suprabhatham to wake up THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. All of us huddled around his bed in his hotel room. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM brought Anandeshwara (Shiva) utsava murthi (a smaller version of the main deity used for performing daily rituals). We started the day with guru pooja and offered our gratitude to the Master. Believe me most of us were corporate types who did not know Sanskrit chanting. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had to unfortunately put up with our mistakes in chanting the guru pooja mantra. After guru pooja, we would all proceed in 2 or 3 cars to a nearby park and lake. It was called Santa Fe dam. Every morning we would go for a walk at the Santa Fe dam. Then we would assemble near the park benches where we would sit around THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and wait for him to deliver His Pearls of Wisdom. A lot of time was spent without saying a word. But this was the time the actual work of the master was getting done. Sometimes THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM would deliver completely fresh perspectives and new insights into a topic which we never imagined could be expressed with such clarity. We would spend 2-3 hours with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM in this park every morning. We would then go back to the Days Inn Hotel around 11 am where we would get back into our routines. Some of us would be engaged in looking at lands and real estate for the first Ashram. Others worked on various mission coordination activities.

As the hunt for the ashram lands was going on we came across a beautiful piece of property being developed by one of our close devotees in Los Angeles, This seemed to be ideally suited for the ashramites that came together to form the mission. There were 12 apartments, a home (which could serve as the reception area) and frontage consisting of retail stores which could be converted into a meditation hall. We approached the devotee with the possibility of using this facility as the temporary ashram to start the mission in earnest. She was quite happy that we could use this place as the ashram and felt that it was a blessing to have THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM set His foot into this property. The place was in the center of the city of Duarte, near Pasadena with one acre of land. Duarte ashram fit our needs like a glove, with a lot of privacy for and infrastructure that was just what Swmaiji needed to start the mission. The apartment complex was almost ready by the time we approached the devotee. The scheduled time for completion was end of August. It was just the right size, the costs were manageable for us and it also had facilities in the property to be able to provide some basic services for visitors.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had declared to us that the Los Angeles Ashram would happen before October 2005 – we were now targeting the inauguration of the Los Angeles Ashram on September 3, 2005, almost a full month ahead of October 2005. Preparations for the ashram inaugurations started in full swing. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM ordered a lot of items for the inauguration ceremonies from Bharat. A lot of items had to be airlifted since we did not have much time. Now the clock started ticking and there was the buzz and excitement as a lot of work needed to get done in a timely manner.

The layout of the ashram at Duarte

The inauguration day, September 3, 2005 was a beautiful day. We started the activities early in the morning. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM performed a beautiful homa in the morning. A few close devotees attended this ceremony. After the ceremony, we performed gurupooja to our master, to respect him and to thank him for coming into our lives and for showering his grace on us. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM then handed over the keys to each of the apartments ceremoniously. We gave each apartment a name including names such as Bidadi, Omkareshwar, Shambala, Arunachala etc, each name was an important place during THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's wandering days and to his mission. After early morning ceremonies, the public program to officially inaugurate the ashram was held at 10 am. The inauguration proclamation was followed by a beautiful discourse THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM delivered on what it means to live in an ashram. He went on to describe the great social system and joint family system that existed in Hindu villages where there is so much of help and social support. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM then went on to say that the current ashram system he is creating will allow us to re-live the rich Vedic system that was created by our ancestors and how this can help everyone live with a sense of belonging and community.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM with the first group of ashramites at the ashram in Los Angeles. A few ashramites and their children were not present for this photograph

After the ceremony, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM gave energy darshan to all devotees. This was followed by a grand dinner that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM served personally to all attendees. We had various cultural programs followed by dancing and kirtans that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Thus, the Los Angeles Ashram started, with 12 ashramites who moved from all over the country and came together to help start the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission in USA. It is from these beginnings that we are now forming ashrams all over USA and other parts of the world.

Immediately after the Los Angeles Ashram started, we requested THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to start satsangs in the area. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM agreed to deliver 18 days of Bhagavad Gita discourse, one day for each chapter. We could not wait for the discourses to start since we knew that His commentary would be alive, vibrant and would shed light and bring Gita to life in the modern context. Gita discourses were to be held in the auditorium hall of Malibu Temple which was about an hour away from Duarte. The discourses started in late September and this was a fantastic treat for all who attended these discourses.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM on starting day of the 18 days of Bhagavad Gita discourses

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's discourse each day was approximately three hours in duration. The discourses would start at 6:00 pm and end by about 10:00 pm. He would speak for 1 ½ hours and then give a 15 minute break. Our Los Angeles devotees got together and made sure food and refreshments were served to all participants freely every day. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM always insists on anna dhaan (giving food freely) at all our ashrams. He tells us that feeding food through our anna mandirs (food temples) is a great spiritual practice. At all our ashrams all over the world, the kitchen is open to anyone and everyone who visits THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM ashrams.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spoke very beautifully on all chapters of Bhagavad Gita. In each chapter, he provided a new and unique perspectives. The discourses were refreshing, fun, in a language everyone could understand and more importantly take something away that could be directly implemented in our lives. Every evening we would leave Duarte Ashram around 3:30 pm due to uncertainty in Los Angeles traffic and reach the temple by 5:30 pm. It was only in the car that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM would ask, "What is the title of today's discourse?" And then he would say "Alright" and close his eyes. It is quite fascinating to see this. The master never prepares for any discourse. Once when I asked THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM how all this wisdom is delivered so eloquently, he just smiled and said, "I simply download it and the wisdom is delivered". He then went on to say that every thought in the universe is recorded. These records, called akashik records are available for enlightened masters to simply download. He also went on to say that every enlightened master simply adds his experience to the truth and sheds a new light and perspective in the present context.

This great system allows continuous updating so that the truth can be explained effectively to the people. This is why Swmaiji's discourses are so interesting. For example when THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spoke of why samskaras (engraved memories) cause us to be stressful and slow in making decisions, he gave us an example that everyone, especially the younger generation could understand at once. He told us that samskaras are like high resolution photographs. It takes long time to open these files. However when we cleanse our mind of samskaras through meditation, it is like a Microsoft word file which can be opened instantly! Now this kind of an example can resonate with everyone, especially those being exposed to spirituality for the first time. This is the genius of my Master. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM goes on to say, it is like a new version/release of the software – every enlightened master sheds more light on the truth with additional dimensions so that it to be easily understood by the current population. He told us the truth is one and the same – each enlightened master expresses the truth and updates the truth based on His experience and what the society at large at the time He is living in the body can digest, understand and internalize.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's topics in Bhagavad Gita were quite fascinating, contemporary and what he calls in software lingo "user friendly"! The following were the titles for each of the eighteen discourses:

Every topic he spoke on is a masterpiece. The clarity he shed on topics such as the basis of the Hindu caste system, the basis of karma yoga where he talked about the beauty of purposelessness, about death and life. All of these discourses have now been converted into DVDs and books on each chapter are now being released.

Bhagavad Gita discourse series launched our mission in Los Angeles area. A large group of core devotees and volunteers came together during this discourse series. Within a few days of commencing Bhagavad Gita discourses we filled up the satsang hall. Thousands of people were benefited through this refreshing new commentary of this age old scripture.

We now started having a steady stream of devotees coming to the ashram. Every evening THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spent time with the devotees. We never know when the master's pearls of wisdom would come and all of a sudden he picks up a topic or an issue and sheds light on it in a whole new dimension. After the Bhagavad Gita, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spent a few more weeks in LA Ashram and left for Bharat.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM returned to Bharat on November 7, 2005 after an amazing third world tour. The ashram received THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM in a very celebrative mood. He was away in US for good part of 2005. These were formative years in the mission and therefore THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spent a lot of time touring the USA. The Hindu devotees organized several programs for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. Our first program was a three day discourse series on Ashtavakra Gita, which are some of the most profound teachings on enlightenment. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's discourses were aptly titled, "Enlightenment – It is Possible", "Enlightenment – Guaranteed", "Enlightenment – Have it". The discourses were held at St Joseph's auditorium right next to Mallya Hospital in Bangalore from 7 pm – 10 pm every evening. He was addressing a packed audience at the auditorium. The crowd completely filled the auditorium and some people had to leave due to lack of space.

It was the morning of November 12, 2005. It was around 8 am. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came out of his quarters and went to the laughing temple. As most of you know this is a revered spot in the ashram. Laughing temple was the first structure built in the Bidadi ashram. It is a small, circular open hut where THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spent almost the entire 6 months when we did not have any structure in the ashram. It is where he slept, ate and delivered some of the most profound and intimate discourses to the early ashramites and devotees. Ma Sachitananda and I were near to the laughing temple. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM called us to the laughing temple and said, "My father somehow did not take care of his health. What to do? Leave it." Little did we know of the day and the events that would unfold that night and the days to come.

November 12, 2005 was the third and final day of Ashtavakra Gita discourses. By now the word of the profound truths being delivered by Swamiji spread since the auditorium was completely filled up. Swamiji delivered a spectacular discourse on this final day of Ashtavakra discourse series. This was the first time he talked about being unclutched. Ten minutes into the discourse, Swamiji's secretary Sri Nithya Sadhananda (Ayya as we call him) received a call from Thiruvannamalai that Swamiji's father, Sri Nithya Arunachalananda passed away from a massive heart attack. Ayya went up to the podium, something that is never done during the discourse and briefly interrupted Swamiji. He conveyed the message to Swamiji. He smiled and gazed upwards for a moment. Swamiji then called ayya a few minutes later and told him, "I have scanned his consciousness while passing away and he was enlightened for a full 12 minutes before he left the body. I have taken care of him. Just do not let anybody know about this incident until this discourse is over. Arrange cars and buses for all of us to go to Thiruvannamalai". With these words he got back into the discourse and delivered one of the most profound discourses on the breakthrough topic of "Being Unclutched."

The discourse was over and only 2 or 3 of us knew about what had happened. One of us asked Swamiji after the discourse, "Swamiji can we cancel darshan and blessings and proceed to Thiruvannamalai?" He looked up and asked, "Why? So many devotees came to seek my blessings. What needed to be done for my father has been done. I do not want to disappoint my devotees. They need my help now". He then looked up and said, "Until now you have just seen the theory of Vedanta that was delivered during my discourse. Now see how Vedanta is practiced live!" Swamiji completed the blessings, which lasted another 1 ½ hours. He then asked his mother, and brother to accompany him in the car. It was only then Swamiji told Swami amma (Swamiji's mother, we call her Swami amma) about the passing of her husband.

Swami amma is a true inspiration for all of us. The way she handled this incident, with utter grace, calmness and composure was a true a learning experience for all of us. She did not shed a tear and said with all confidence, "When Swami said he has taken care, what is the reason to worry? He knows what is best for my husband". Such was her utter trust in Swamiji. Swami Amma is such a simple and unassuming person. In the ashram unless you are told, no new visitor will know she is the mother of Swamiji. She takes care of the gurukul children and never comes to the limelight. Even when Swamiji's father was alive, he too was quite unassuming. He would always stand in the line and take Swamiji's blessings. When Swamiji would ask him, "What do you want?" He would say, "Swamiji, what else can I ask you. You have given us the greatest gift by taking birth in this family. There is nothing else I need."

We reached Thiruvannamalai around 2 am. Swamiji was busy instructing everyone on what all needs to get done for the cremation. He talked to ahramites that when he heard of the passing away of Sri Nithya Arunachalananda, "I scanned his consciousness in the time shaft (Kaala chakra which is the past, present and future which can be accessible for someone in a no mind state. It is this kaala chakra that Nataraja dances in!) and found that at the time of his passing, he was completely surrendered to the existence. A small thought arose in him at the time of leaving his body which asked, "What will happen to my wife and sons?" Soon another thought came which said, "THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is there, he will take care". This thought, at the time of passing was the only doubt that was raised and from the deepest core of his consciousness; his faith and trust in the Master completely erased this worry from his consciousness." Swamiji then said, "The moment this was completed, his whole prarabhda was erased and he merged into the nirvanic layer. For full 12 minutes he experienced this state of enlightened consciousness before he finally left the body." The body of Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami was that of an enlightened person, and all rituals, ceremonies and celebrations performed for an enlightened being were now being prepared.

There were no tears or crying during Swami Appa's (Father) passing away ceremony. There was kirtans and chanting and arthi performed to the body of this enlightened being. Swamiji put on the kavi cloth and initiated him formally into poorna sanyas (the final sanyas initiation given by a master to his/her enlightened disciple). Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami was the first poorna sanyasi (enlightened one) in the Nithyananda Order of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. After the poorna sanyas disksha, arthi was performed and Swamiji blessed the physical remains of Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami. The energy, the vibrations during the bhajans, kirtans and energy darshan given by Swamiji to Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami was intense. We could feel the heat and energy generated during this ceremony. Just when Swamiji touched the ajna chakra to bless Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami, the energy was so intense, the electric bulb popped and there was darkness for a moment. After the energy darshan and kirtans, we then proceeded to the place where he was going to be cremated. The family wanted the Samadhi of Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami to be in their ancestral property. Swamiji's grandfather, a wealthy businessman in Thiruvannamalai donated land to build the ashram in Thiruvannamalai and to also have the Samadhi of Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami on this land.

A large procession followed and we walked almost 6 km to the new ashram land. It was a beautiful and tranquil property overlooking the sacred hill of Arunachala. The final ceremony was also quite historical. In most funerals held in villages, women per tradition did not attend the funeral. Swamiji announced that everyone would attend the funeral. In fact the pyre was lit by Swami amma, which is also another historic moment. Swamiji stayed until 2-3 hours for the cremation to be completed. He then told us another profound truth. He took us to the ashes and said anyone who does not have any more prarabhdha karma left, there will not be any bones left in the ashes. Everything will be turned to ash. It was quite interesting to see that ashes were completely converted to powder. Ashes were collected for immersion into various sacred rivers including Ganga in Varanasi and Triveni Sangham (the union of the three sacred rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati) in Allahabad.

We returned back to Bidadi ashram the same evening. These were spectacular days. It was one of the greatest lessons for us that passing away of someone need not be with sorrow and suffering. He beautifully turned this event around to be a joyous celebration of Sri Nithya Arunachalananda Swami's life. We learnt from Him death of someone near and dear can be turned into a joyous celebration of their life. In fact Ma Sachitananda and I know now that he already knew on the morning of November 12 that Appa was going to leave us. He never would make any comments about his father, and yet, that day he mentioned to us about father not taking care of his health. The Master knows the past, present and future. Then there was Swami Amma, her graceful behavior, her utter confidence and surrender to the Master was quite an inspiration to all who were present. This by far was one of the greatest teachings given by the Master to his disciples.

Swamiji offered the first enlightenment intensive, Nithyanandam in December 2005. He warned all participants that he does not know what he may put them through during this intensive course. He told us it is possible that he may send us out to beg, as a technique to shed the ego. He also said that unless people were prepared to anything and everything the master instructs, they should not attend this program. Nithyanandam was held for 18 days, where over 200 people from all over the world came and sat with the master. There were large contingents from France, USA and Bharat.

Throughout this program, Swamiji worked directly upon the cancerous tumors of ego in each and every participant, making them intensely aware of the various forms of ego deeply hidden in them. Swamiji continuously put the participants through various activities including subtle meditations, Ananda Seva (blissful service), or simply sitting with the master (called Upanishad in Sanskrit). He used every occasion to churn our beings and to help purify us.

The core message of the program in Swamiji's words was: Man is by nature made up of unclutched, abstract, unconnected, irrational and illogical thoughts. Each thought arises in him and dies before the next thought comes. But he tries to connect similar thoughts and form shafts of either pain or pleasure and because of this he suffers. Clutching into this shaft is the Original Sin. This clutching is the root cause that is preventing man from experiencing the liberated or enlightened state while living on planet Earth. To be un-clutched from this shaft at all times is the greatest liberation for man.

The Nithyanandam program was really all Master's esoteric work. All we did was a little bit of Seva in the morning and we sat with him for hours together. He would joke and laugh so that our mind eases up and drops its constant analytical nature so that he can allow the super conscious state He lives in radiate and grace us. There were several energy darshans he gave to us to transmit the energy of enlightenment. Several meditations and discourses were conducted under the banyan tree.

During one of the meditations where Swamiji was giving us a technique to feel our presence beyond our body, I had this intense feeling of being there in a state beyond my skin. It is quite difficult to describe this state, but a sense that you exist beyond this body was quite clear and profound. Whatever needed to get done was getting done at Nithyanandam. For me there was this feeling of lifting of heaviness. Since this experience, there has always been a sense of lightness in me; there is no feeling of any pressure whatsoever.

Nithyanandam program ended into Jayanthi celebrations. All of us went to Thiruvannamalai where the temple authorities honored Swamiji. Thiruvannamalai boasts an unbroken lineage of living stream of enlightened masters for the last 2,000 years. In recent years, Seshadri Swamigal, followed by Ramana Maharishi, Visiri Swamigal (Yogi Ram Surat Kumar) and now our beloved Master, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is recognized as the living master. Every year on his birthday, the temple authorities invite him and pay respects. We then go to Swamiji's first Samadhi experience site where Swamiji typically addresses us and puts us into meditation. I will discuss more on experiences at the first Samadhi experience place including the darshan of Arunachala in the next chapter.

Swamiji left for the US in February 2006. Ma Sachitananda and I accompanied Swamiji back to USA. By this time we were also having new crew members joining us on tour. It was time for new disciples to serve the master and experience the fantastic journey we have taken. These days, it is quite amazing to see we can always feel him wherever we are. He has given us the clarity and experience to be intense, to live in the present moment with intensity. Ma Sachitananda, Sri Bhaktananda, Ma Dayamayi and Ma Medhananda Mayi were now part of the crew. Ma Sachitananda started training the latest crew members during this first tour in 2006. Swamiji told us in Oklahoma in February 2004, that His mission will be like a concentric ring and he said – allow me to burn through you (i.e., through your ego) and then step out. Let new people come around me and experience this. This is how I will be able to reach out. We feel so blessed that he has spent so much time with all of us. Especially during the early days in the mission, the wonderful time we had spending around Him is something we will cherish all our lives. Now there is no more yearning to be around Him (but don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy being in His presence, but it is also OK if I am not physically around Him). He would always say, "Do not reduce me to this six foot THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. I am also in this six foot form. Go beyond my physical form and experience me everywhere and in every action". He beautifully describes this in his discourse on "Living Enlightenment". In addition, as of writing this book in May 2008, thanks to You Tube and information technology, people from every corner of the world are now able to learn from the Master's teachings.

In 2006, I started traveling on my corporate rendezvous off and on. A friend of mine who I worked with me in the corporate world approached me and requested me to help out his company. The company was growing and needed someone to come and serve on the board and help challenge the senior management with executing the business strategy. So I travel on business and come back and join Swamiji's tour wherever I can. This I know was a new opportunity Swamiji was giving me to experience and grow from. It has been a great adventure for me to live all dimensions; it was directly and experientially helping me live Quantum Spirituality – living intensely in the material and spiritual worlds, all at once. Initially there were times when I would think, "Why am I doing this? I do not want to run after corporate earnings and all the pursuits of economic gain." It felt like de ja vu all over again. But I trusted the Master was stretching me for my own growth. Now I am able to play this role so effortlessly and without any attachment to the goal. Swamiji knows what every being is made of and the experiences every being needs to go through to grow spiritually. Since 2006 my journey has been incredible. There were times I would go on a corporate strategy session to the US, Europe or the Middle East, or on a yacht in Greece or at a retreat in Swiss Alps. Right after such a session, I would immediately go to my hotel room at night to work on shipping temple items or statues. Initially it was difficult to juggle all this, but luckily He has

given me the opportunity and confidence that I can do it. Juggling so many balls has now become effortless.

In our spiritual path there is always a phase when He is trying to stretch us to expand to the next level. In his discourses THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM gives the example of hunters in North Bharat who tie a rope to a stick and hang it on tree branches. Birds come and sit on one side of the stick and turn upside down due to its own weight. The poor bird hangs on to the stick and stays that way for hours together. The hunter then comes and simply takes the bird in his hand and places it in the cage; now the bird is really in bondage. Little does the bird know that she could have simply let go the stick and flown away. Maybe when she let go of the stick, she would flutter a little while, but would surely not fall. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM asks us "How many birds do we know who have fallen down because they could not fly?" In a similar manner THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells us that we are stuck to our old habits and samskaras and do not let go. He has given me this opportunity to let go of my conditionings that life can only be uni-directional, that I could only live in the material world or the spiritual world. Luckily when I lived both the dimensions at once, his arms were always there beneath me to protect me, to hold me from falling. Initially I fluttered a little in that I felt as to why I need to get back to the corporate world. Little did I realize at that time, this is a technique THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is giving me to explode in all directions. I was lucky I totally believed and trusted whatever THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had for me was the best thing for my being. I am thankful for this intelligence He showered on me. A lot of times, when the Master is trying to give a solution for our own growth and expansion, people do not understand. They think the Master is giving them a hard time, that the Master is doing this for his own benefit, and simply miss Him. Missing the master is one of the worst things that can happen to a disciple. I hope those of you reading this book will have patience and let this process happen to you. If I can now glide effortlessly between material and spiritual worlds, so can you. Living and experiencing this quantum spirituality is truly spectacular.

In 2006 THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had a hectic tour of the United States. He started a new discourse series on Shiva Sutras and started his commentary on Vignana Bhairava Tantra (they are 112 techniques given by Shiva to His consort Devi for her to experience enlightenment). THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM first spoke on Shiva Sutras for a month in January 2005. I will describe this event in detail in the next chapter. From February 2006 until November 2007, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM delivered all the Shiva Sutras to the world.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM started the Shiva Sutra discourse series in Los Angeles, followed by tour of St Louis, Oklahoma City, Houston, Columbus, New Jersey, Vancouver and Seattle. This was followed by teachers training in Seattle area. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM completed this tour by May and left for Bangalore for Himalayas Yatra and Gurupoornima. During this tour, as usual, Ma Sachitananda was catering to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's needs while Bhaktananda was taking care of registrations audio/video work and I was taking care of e-Mails, videotaping and processing of DVDs. The mission was growing rapidly all over USA. Houston was becoming a very active center. We have seen a large turnout of devotees and a strong base forming there. During this tour, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted Dhyana Spurana Program (DSP or Life Bliss Program Level 3). DSP program was designed to deliver the science of un-clutching experientially to participants. DSP program was followed by healer's initiation program which was conducted on the Monday following the DSP program in all cities.

Halfway through the program, after THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM delivered the first discourse in New Jersey, we received a call from Bharat that His grandfather from mother's side was critically ill. His grandfather played a very important role during the early years of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's life. In fact it was He who would carry THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to the Thiruvannamalai Temple everyday. He would talk about various puranas and tell him stories. He would teach him pujas and rituals. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells us that his great passion for rituals came from the interest His grandfather nurtured during THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's early childhood. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's grandfather, Raja Mudaliar was a well known businessman in Thiruvannamalai. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM grandfather took promise from THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM that He would be by his side during his last days. When the news came, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM immediately wanted to stand by his grandfather. Arrangements were made for a short trip to Bharat. On the way to the airport, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told Bhaktananda, "You will conduct Shiva Sutras discourses and DSP". He took a little honey and placed it in Bhakta's mouth and said, "Go ahead and do the discourses and conduct the DSP. You will simply feel my presence and everything will turn out beautifully" He also initiated him into being a medium to transmit the spiritual energy through energy darshan. With the power of this vak (vak is the power of speech or spoken word that is bestowed by the blessing of an enlightened master) and the initiation, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM gave blessings and left for Bharat.

This is again the magic of the master. By giving this power of the vak, I was quite amazed to see how beautifully Bhaktananda delivered Shiva Sutras discourses and also conducted the DSP program. We then went on to Vancouver where Bhaktananda also delivered two of the three Shiva Sutra discourses. He also gave meditation techniques based n the Shiva Sutras. This was as if the master was holding the strings in the puppet show and delivering the discourse. This was again His great lila! By Friday the following week, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM returned to Vancouver and went straight from the airport to the discourse venue. After Vancouver, the program moved to Seattle.

After Seattle program, the third teachers training was conducted in Seattle and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM left for Bharat for the Himalayas Yatra. There was a large group who came for this Himalayas Yatra. There were almost 250 participants and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's theme during this tour of Himalayas was master-disciple relationship. We visited char dham (four holy places - Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath) as well as many holy places along the way. We had unforgettable experience of visiting these places with the Master.

Right after Himalaya's yatra, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM went to Guadeloupe for a short tour. In this Island in the French Caribbean a strong group of devotees was forming and He promised to visit them in their home country. We first landed in Paris and travelled to Nantes, a city near west coast of France, a couple of hours away by train from Paris. Nithyananda Mission was spreading rapidly in French speaking regions. We had a group of devotees from Guadeloupe (French West Indies) who started spreading THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's message to France and other French speaking territories. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was warmly received by the people of France. Hundreds came to His discourses which were translated live by one of our devotees. He conducted three satsangs and the Dhyana Spurana Program (DSP or Life Bliss Program Level 3) in Nantes, followed by healers' initiation the Monday after the DSP program.

We then went to Guadeloupe in French Caribbean. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was welcomed by hundreds of devotees in this small Island. Ma Sachitananda, Sri Bhaktananda, Ma Dayamayi and me accompanied THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM on this trip. There were actually thousands of people who attended THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's discourse in this small island. What was most touching was the openness and warmth with which the people of this island welcomed THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted the DSP program in Guadeloupe and then we returned back to Los Angeles Ashram.

It was July 2, 2006, a beautiful clear morning. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said this was the day he was initiating the first batch of ashramites into Sanyas. They were being initiated into Vanaprastha Sanyas order. It is where both wife and husbands take the vows that they will help each other in their spiritual journey. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM initiated the following eight Swamis into the Nithyananda Order: Sri Nithya Bhaktananda, Ma Nithya Dayananda Mayi, Sri Nithya Medhananda, Ma Nithya Medhananda Mayi, Sri Nithya Sahajananda, Ma Nithya Mitraananda, Sri Nithya Vimalananda, Sri Nithya Sevakananda, Ma Nithyananda Gopika.

That morning the Los Angeles Ashram was beautifully decorated with flags of Dhyanapeetam. All the ashramites that were taking this initiation fasted the previous day. They dressed up in traditional clothes. After a ceremonial arthi at the Anandeshwara temple in Duarte Ashram, we proceeded to Ananda Sabha, where the kavi (saffron cloth) is ceremoniously taken from the feet of the master in accordance with the Vedic tradition. After the ceremony THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM broke the fast and fed all the new vanaprastha sanyasis an offering of sweet that was offered to the Lord.

After this ceremony all the Swamis and Swaminis of Nithyananda Order took blessings from THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. Thus the first batch of Swamis from the Nithyananda Order outside Bharat that was ordained.

After the Sanyas diksha, we went back to Bharat for Gurupoornima celebrations. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM always makes it a point to be in Bidadi for Gurupoornima. He spent the month of July and part of August in Bharat. Ma Sachitananda and I accompanied THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM back to Los Angeles for a short trip for the teachers training program at Camp Buckhorn and the first ever USA Kumbh Mela in Los Angeles. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was quite keen to symbolically respect all the victims of September 11, by dedicating a march of peace which he called as Kumbh Mela. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM announced that every year, the closest weekend to September 11 will be dedicated to Kumbh Mela.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM beautifully described the significance of Kumbh Mela to us using the recent scientific confirmations from research done by leading Japanese scientist Imoto. In his book, "Messages from Water" through advanced microscopic techniques, Imoto demonstrated the crystal structure of water was highly influenced by the types of thoughts one had. When he subjected water to thoughts that were peaceful, meditative and prayerful, the frozen water crystals amazingly exhibited beautiful structures that represented peace and harmonious look. On the other hand when water was subject to anger or troubled emotions, the crystals formed had a frightening and ghostly appearance. For thousands of years Hindu rishis gathered every 12 years and took bath in Ganga with a deep prayerful mood to infuse collective positiveness to people. This was especially important during the anniversary of Spetember 11 events where so many innocent people lost their lives. This is why THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was very keen on making the Kumbh Mela an annual event for peace and collective positivity in USA.

The first Kumbh Mela in USA was very successful. We had several organizations participate in this peaceful march of fun and festivities. Spiritual leaders from various traditions came together. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM personally supervised all of the arrangements as Nithyananda Mission took on the responsibility for organizing Kumbh Mela in USA every year. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM brought water from 21 holy rivers in Bharat. Deities from each spiritual organization were immersed into the holy water from the 21 holy rivers in Bharat. The event was followed by cultural events and concerts. The event was widely covered by press from Los Angeles and all over the world.

After Kumbh Mela celebrations we had the fourth teachers training program in Camp Buckhorn, a beautiful facility near Los Angeles. Over 80 people were selected for the teachers training program. By now all manuals and pre-qualification process is completed ahead of the teachers training program. It was picturesque surroundings – we were surrounded by mountains and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said the surrounding area was vibrant with spiritual energy. Camp Buckhorn was near Idyllwild. Those of you who know southern California will know the area I am referring to – beautiful mountains, tall pine trees and serene picturesque surroundings.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM spent a lot of time outdoors with the group. In this teachers training program we also had a special training for organizers. As the mission was now growing in all corners of USA, those who had taken up the responsibility for spreading the mission in their cities/regions were given specific training to spread the mission. The mission was now active in Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, Phoenix, Houston, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Columbus, Toronto, New York and New Jersey.

On the day before the last session, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM did not come out of his room for most of the day. He was in a deep Samadhi state and knew something big was going to be delivered. He came out of the room towards the late evening and talked to us about a meditation technique that was revealed to him. He told us that this meditation will transform humanity and that it incorporates the essence of all his teachings. He called this technique, Nithya Dhyaan. He said this technique if done regularly is all what one needs for their physical, mental health and spiritual growth. He then went on to describe this technique where he beautifully blends the science of Chakras, the Koshas, the unclutched state and finally ends it in Bhakti through chanting of Guru Pooja mantra. It was a day filled with so much excitement and energy. Whenever he is in the expanded state THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM always tries to give blessings. We had energy darshan that night and THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM blessed all the participants.

Ma Sachitananda and I headed back to Duarte Ashram a day before teachers training ended to pack up for the trip back to Bharat. We later heard the final day of the teachers training was an emotionally charged day. During this session a 90+ year old famous Jazz singer from Hollywood who lived in the area visited us. He was a devotee of Paramahamsa Yogananda (name of the celebrity is not being disclosed for privacy reasons). He spent a few hours with Swamiji. He was so touched and filled with energy that he was able to take away the crutches and walk by himself during energy darshan. He said maybe the reason for his living all these years was to meet this enlightened master THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. During energy darshan I was told by ashramites that Swamiji talked about some past life attachment/connection of some of us and this became a very emotionally charged event.

We headed back to Bharat on September 10, 2006. The year 2006 was quite a hectic year with three trips to USA and other countries. This was the year the mission was being solidified. It was the time that seeds for various ashrams that are now happening all over the United States were sowed. We feel blessed to be part of this exciting time in Nithyananda Mission.

After reaching Bharat, the devotees in Bharat had a hectic program organized for Swamiji. There were NSP programs where participants attended his programs. We also had the inauguration of the Nithyananda Gurukul in October. Nithyananda Gurukul is now a school that effortlessly balances conventional education in mathematics, sciences, and languages with the ancient Vedic system of spiritual knowledge. We restrict enrollment in Gurukul to children of ashramites at this point. Swamiji spends a lot of time with the children of the Gurukul these days. The Gurukul inauguration day coincided with Vijayadasami, the day of worship of Saraswathi, Goddess of learning. He declared: I enjoyed a wonderful spiritual incubator in Arunachala, my birthplace, during my childhood. I experienced galloping intelligence in the inner and outer worlds in the wonderful ambience created by it. My goal now is to offer the same ambience to children through Nithyananda Gurukul, the same intense atmosphere, so they may experience what I experienced.

Swamiji performed Vidyaarti homa, a fire ritual before start of education and initiated each child with yajno bavitha (sacred white thread symbolizing the connection between man and Existence) and the Gayatri chant (chant to invoke the Existential Energy to bless one with the Supreme intelligence which is the Energy itself).

Swamiji delivered a beautiful message on the inauguration of Nithyananda Gurukul which is summarized below:

Children are born inherently blissful and close to Existence. As they grow, they are conditioned by society and they are exposed to the needs that arise in everyday living. They need money to live. To earn the money, they need education. As long as they understand these things as basic needs and not as the goal of life itself, things are alright. But in no time, these needs become the goal of life itself and in the process they lose the ability to live life.

When you take birth, you take birth with a reason. That first reason with which you take birth determines the course of your entire life. The position of the planets and the state of your mind at the time of taking birth determines your whole life. In the same way, every day too you take a new life. Every day, you go through life and death. And the first thought that comes to you when you wake up in the morning determines the course of your whole day.

Children, who go to school, invariably wake up with fear every morning, from the Swadhistana chakra (the energy center in the navel area that is responsible for fear emotion). They wake up thinking of the teacher and the beating stick! Diseases like cancer have their roots in this type of disturbed consciousness at a young age. Most teachers lack basic intelligence. They themselves suffer from not knowing how to balance themselves emotionally. When children spend 8 hours a day with them, they too grow up without knowing how to balance themselves.

It is important that children learn to internalize and understand social needs without getting corrupted or internalizing society's value system. They need to learn how to maintain social protocols without internalizing society's so called value system. Once they obtain clarity in this, they will no more wake up from the swadhishtana chakra. They will wake up from the anahata chakra, the heart center for love emotion. When this happens, concentration and memory power will increase tremendously.

Children of Nithyananda Gurukul will flourish in the inner and outer worlds. I am from Arunachala, a spiritual nerve in South Bharat. Arunachala is like a spiritual incubator for anybody who is receptive to it. I had a beautiful ambience there. Between the age of 7 and 14, I was able to learn the inner Science along with the outer Science in a natural fashion in the ambience offered by Arunachala. That was the reason for the intelligence I gained in both the inner and outer worlds. This is what I am trying to give to these kids through the Gurukul. I am creating an ambience for the children, the same ambience that I enjoyed for intelligence to flower.

I want the children to wake up like a flower, with deep love, and live with people who are meditators. All our teachers are meditators who know how to balance themselves. Here, they will not absorb the negativity of the outer world and will maintain the purity of the inner world radiating Nithyananda – Eternal bliss!

There have been many traditions of the past. Some have died without teaching anything effective. Some have sustained only causing misery for people. The ancient tradition of Gurukul learning has sustained over thousands of years, teaching life engineering to people.

A child, whichever hero he idolizes from young age, imbibes that hero's mental set up and body language. The children at Nithyananda Gurukul are lucky to be with a Master. They will be continuously watching me. Their mental setup and body language will be influenced by a very intense spiritual atmosphere that is created here. This is like the center of a spiritual cyclone. These children will grow up learning and imbibing highest spiritual values.

I hereby declare Nithyananda Gurukul open! May the children be in and radiate Nithyananda – Eternal Bliss!

Swamiji has started creating deities for various upcoming temples that were going to happen all over the world. Those of you who know Swamiji know that he does not do anything in a sequential manner. He expects and makes explonential growth to happen – all at once! Preparations started on a grand scale to start carving various deities for temples across the world. Swamiji went and personally inspected the wax mold of the 8 ft Anandeshwara and Anandeshwari. Pouring molten five-metal for a deity this size in a single step was never done before. Stapathis (metal statue artisans) were quite concerned about how a single five metal piece would form in one step. With the master's grace this happened effortlessly. Once the deity was completed, a tour of the deity all across South Hindu states commenced. Swamiji called it koti kannu yatra indicating people would have the darshan of Anandeshwara and Anandeshwari before the idol is installed in the Bidadi temples. In order to meet the deities Swamiji wanted to be carved immediately we had also to lease carving centers

in Mahabalipuram, started our own centers in Bidadi and Rasipuram and leased a hill famous for granite specifically used for making deities. Swamiji does everything in a grand scale!

In January 2007 Swamiji attended the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. Over 90 million people gathered for the event which happens once in 12 years. We were miraculously granted a prime spot for Dhyanapeetam's tent. Normally organizations that are 4 or 5 decades old do not have their own facility. They end up sharing with other organizations. It was as if this great event was being planned for Swamiji. I could not attend this event since I was traveling to USA and Europe working with the company I am now helping. I have had to juggle a lot of balls these days trying to use times between events to be able to do justice to the role in the outside world I have taken on.

Swamiji arrived at Kumbh Mela amidst a lot of celebration, dance and kirtans. Thousands of people gathered to receive Him. The mood among the devotees of Nithyananda Mission was festive and full of energy. The group was always in bliss and there was always excitement around in this group. The word of this charismatic young Swami spread widely during Kumbh Mela and a lot of crowd started gathering and sought blessings from Swamiji.

The following are excerpts from Swamiji's talk at the first satsang at the Mela:

Let us offer our gratitude to the devotees who have set up this camp in such a wonderful and comfortable fashion for us to stay. This is a grand event, the oldest festival of humanity, the largest gathering of humanity on planet Earth and the greatest spiritual event that can happen! Please note: this largest event happens with no invitation, no advertising, just a single line written in panchika that says: Maha snan (Royal bath) is on this particular date; that's all! And mind you, this event is a gathering of millions of people in a place where there is not even an airport! Even the railway station is a small one.

This event is a solid and unshakeable display of faith and dedication; faith on Existence as the Life Force that is conducting this entire Universe. It is indeed remarkable that the largest gathering of humanity on planet Earth happens not on account of any other occasion but straightaway on the account of God! People gather on their own, attend the Mela and go back and settle so beautifully and seamlessly into their regular lives once again.

What goes on here during this Mela time is beyond your comprehension. Let me try to briefly tell you a few dimensions of this Mela. First, the scientific dimension of it: Dr. Masaru Emoto, the famous scientific researcher who specializes in the study of water released a book 'Messages from water'. In that, he demonstrated through the study of water crystals, the profound influence of human thoughts on the very chemical composition of water. A glass of water that was subjected to positive thoughts and chants relating to peace and harmony, showed up with a diamond like crystal structure under the microscope. Another one that was subjected to negative thoughts came through with a ghost-like structure. Another one which was subjected to chants

from the Dhamma Pada - teachings of Buddha - took on the form of a Buddhist temple! Like this, over 300 times on 10 glasses of water he tried and the results were consistent. Such is the power of energy or thought on water. Now imagine: In this Mela, over 90 million people's faith on Existence is applied to this Triveni Sangam - the confluence of the three rivers: Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. This Triveni Sagam, the water here, is simply amrita (nectar)!

The second dimension of this mela is on a mystical plane: There are so many enlightened masters present here now - ones who are in their body in physical form and ones who have left their body as well. From Buddha to Mahavtar Babaji, the whole Shambala (congregation of enlightened beings) is here for this event. The Kumbh Mela is a reminder to them about planet Earth and the need to bless it. Just imagine the energy field here in this place now.

Thirdly, in this Mela, so many spiritual organizations bring their deities and immerse them in the Triveni Sangam. Although their Masters are dead, the deities are the ones energized by their Masters when they were alive. This Triveni Sangam therefore is energized by deities which have been directly energized by great Masters such as Buddha, Guru Govind Singh, Madvacharya and so on.

This Kumbh Ghat is the space where there is the highest possibility of a quantum leap in one's Consciousness. This Mela happens for Sanatana dharma or righteousness. It happens to spread Nithya Ananda - Eternal Bliss. Can any other field such as Science or Cinema think of gathering 90 million people with no advertising whatsoever?! This Mela is our pride! Let me tell you: It is a commitment on the part of Enlightened Masters to be present here at this time.

These types of gatherings are created to help you to dissolve your identity which you and society have created for yourself. If you look deep inside, you will realize that the deepest craving for man is to go to a place where he is completely unknown by anybody. These Melas are an opportunity to fulfill this. For these few days that you are here, just go around in an un-clutched way not bothering to maintain the usual social protocols, not harbouring the usual thought patterns, not protecting your identity. Just celebrate wildly like the Naga Babas (naked wandering mendicants) who are here! In this space, celebration is liberation! Additionally, you have my presence, the presence of an Enlightened Master. My very presence creates a tremendous possibility for you to take a jump into a higher plane of consciousness.

Let me tell you more about the Triveni Sangam. As I said earlier, it is a confluence of the three sacred rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. While the former two are visible, the third flows underground and becomes visible only at the point of merging. Ganga is the river of Lord Shiva and stands for wisdom or gnana. All Shiva temples are on the banks of the river Ganga. Yamuna is the river of Lord Krishna and stands for devotion or bhakti. All Krishna temples, you will find on the banks of the river Yamuna. When Ganga and Yamuna merge, when wisdom and devotion merge, Saraswati (or knowledge) happens! That is the symbolic significance of Triveni Sangam. Unless this merging happens, you cannot see or experience knowledge. That is why Saraswati remains hidden until the point of merging.

One more significance: During this particular Kumbh Mela, it has been observed that the river Ganges has reversed direction and started flowing against the nature, upwards. The clairvoyance is too much here. You are in an intense energy field. A man who has the three things: Moorti (an Enlightened Master), Sthala (a space which is an energy field) and Theertha (a water body that is energized) has everything and is blessed. Here, you have this Kumbh Ghat which is the energized space, the sthala, you have the Triveni Sangam which is the energized water body, the theertha, and you have the moorti, an Enlightened Master! You have all three here just now. Here, all you need to do is celebrate and you will be liberated.

Experience liberation! You will then be able to go back and live life with a total understanding. You will be able to live in a mould that is liberating and not suffocating. You will know how to live untouched by anything. Let you all achieve and radiate THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, Eternal Bliss! This is a 4000 acre land. spiritual heads are here. Over tents have been spread out. Today alone people have taken bath. By next year, we will have an ashram in this sacred city of Allahabad!

This Kumbh Mela was also a historic event for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission. Kumbh Mela was first organized years ago by Kapila Muni. Ardh Kumbh Mela in 2007 was the event in recorded history. Ardh Kumbh, is held every 12 years in Allahabad. There are in fact stone carvings in a cave in Northern Bharat that chronicled every Kumbh Mela through stone carvings.

Mahanirvani akkada now responsible for organizing Kumbh Mela, traces its roots back to Kapila Muni. The Mahanirvani akkaada invited Swamiji and honored him by requesting him to be Mahamandaleswar. Swamiji accepted and the Nirvani Peetadhipathi Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Sri Swami Vishwadevanandaji immediately declared Swamiji as Mahamandaleshwar from that moment. All the Mahamandaleshwars present noted that such an honor was previously offered only to Vivekananda Swami. With this proclamation, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM became the 13th Mahamandaleshwar in Mahanirvani akkaada.

As a result of this proclamation, the mahamandaleshwars requested Swamiji to be the first person to enter the Ganga before the maha snaan (the royal bath). This was indeed a historic moment for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission.

Swamiji left for the US tour in mid-February. Ma Sachitananda and I accompanied Swamiji during this tour. Los Angeles Ashram was now buzzing with excitement as Swamiji arrived at the ashram on February 26, 2007 to start the first tour of USA in the year 2007. Swamiji's said that he would spend a large portion of 2007 in USA since there were a lot of ashrams and temples that will come up in USA that year.

Ma Sachitananda, Sri Bhaktananda, Ma Dayamayi, Ma THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Gopika were members of the crew during this tour. I have been traveling in and out between my corporate work as well as the mission work and joined Swamiji wherever possible during the tour. Swamiji continued to deliver Shiva Sutra discourses and this was followed by Atma Spurana Program (AtSP or Life Bliss Program Level 3). This program dealt with the five koshas or sheaths of our being (annamaya kosha, prāṇamaya kosha, manomaya kosha, vijñānamaya kosha and ānandamaya kosha).

Swamiji's tour of 2007 started in Los Angeles where he continued to deliver Shiva Sutras. This was followed by tour of Vancouver, Seattle, Columbus, St Louis, Oklahoma and Houston.

Swamiji for the first time was invited by the Jain Center in Los Angeles to deliver Jain Sutras. So over a period of six days, Swamiji spoke about the great teachings of the 24th tirtankara, Mahavira.

During the tour of Columbus, Ohio we had our first kumbabhishekam (inauguration of temple) in USA. It was the inauguration of the Columbus temple. Devotees from all over USA gathered for this historic event. Columbus ashram is located on the banks of two rivers where there is a confluence, similar to Triveni sangham in Allahabad. Swamiji declared this place to be the Paschim Prayaag (Western Confluence) for our mission.

Columbus Kumbabhishekam program started with mahasapthayagam where Swamiji conducted the homa in the yagasala (a place where fire rituals are conducted) which was erected for the inauguration event. The seven deities representing the seven chakras (major energy centers) in the human system were worshipped in the yagasala. Homas were performed for each of the deities individually as part of the Sapthayaagam. During the second day, additional rituals were performed and on the third and final day Swamiji did the prāṇapratishtha or installation of the spiritual energy into the deity. It is a deeply esoteric process where Swamiji connects the deity to the cosmic energy and with the chanting of the mantras locks the connection. It is after the pranapratishta by an enlightened master that the deity now starts to radiate spiritual energy in the space where it is installed. This is the reason why so many devotees coming to temples where the deities are installed by Swamiji feel the sudden calming of the mid and the feeling of this spiritual energy. This is also the reason why when we go to major temples in Bharat, such as Thiruvannamalai, Madurai, Kanchipuram or Tirupathi we also feel the same stilling and calming of the mind.

During Columbus trip we saw the announcement of the formation of the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Community. Swamiji announced that every temple would be surrounded by a community of homes where people can live and experience the Vedic lifestyle. There were 15 families who instantly wanted to join the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM community in Columbus. As of the date of writing this book, Columbus ashram planning is going ahead in full swing and construction work of the homes and the community is expected to commence very shortly.

During this tour of USA, news of the Vedic community spread rapidly among all devotees and now THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Vedic community is being planned in Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Phoenix, St Louis, Columbus and Houston. It has been truly been magical to see the excitement building in all cities as the organizers and devotees are now keen to start living the Vedic lifestyle centered around a temple and a meditation hall. This concept of living together in a Vedic community was talked about for quite some time now in USA. I know a lot of times when I visited my cousins living in US, they felt they lost connection with their tradition and wished they could have lived close to friends and family in their later years. Also, as our children were growing up in the US, we too felt the need to bring up children in a pure environment, free from media influences, peer pressure, fantasies and other problems facing society. However this concept could not become a reality since there is invariably groupism and power struggle that follows when a group of people try and organize such a community. However, now, with the presence of an enlightened master, this was happening effortlessly. Swamiji along with His Swamis and Swaminis of the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission would help run the temple and meditation hall. This seemed to be the necessary catalyst.

Swamiji spent most of 2007 in USA. After the spring tour in 2007, Swamiji came back to Bharat for Himalayas Yatra and Gurupoornima. Hindu devotees were very anxious to see the master since he was out for more than four months in 2007. Swamiji was also out of Bharat for a large portion of time in 2006. They complained that Swamiji is not spending much time with them. It almost felt like they were all children seeking attention (which it was!) from the parent. Swamiji assured them that he will spend most of 2008 in Bharat. Gurupoornima celebrations in 2007 was conducted in a very large scale to accommodate the thousands that were expected to come to Bidadi. Over people came to Bidadi ashram where Swamiji gave blessings continuously for almost 14 hours to each and everyone.

After Gurupoornima, Swamiji left for the US. During this trip Ma Sachitananda and I stayed back and the new crew members from Los Angeles Ashram, Ma THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Gopika started traveling along with Ma Dayamayi, Sri Sahajananda, Sri Paramananda and others. Swamiji told Ma Sachitananda that she needed to focus on children's education as THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Sree and Sri THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Chinmayananda (Bhaktananda and Dayamayi's son) were getting ready to take the 10th class examinations. I was juggling between my corporate travels and Los Angeles ashram in 2007.

Swamiji spent time in Los Angeles between August and November 2007. He spent a lot of time with the ashramites and conducted the first living enlightenment program with a small group of ashramites in September 2007. I will write more about this program in the following chapters.

As Swamiji returned back to Los Angeles in August 2007, He said we needed to start a Vedic Temple in Los Angeles. He said the time was right and that we were running out of space in being able to accommodate the large crowds coming to the Duarte Ashram every evening. So a small group of ashramites (Sri Sevakananda and Sri Sahajananda) and devotees started looking at various properties for the Vedic Temple. Simultaneously work was going on in full swing to procure and ship the deities. Over 300 deities were ordered for the temple. This was going to be the largest temple in the United States the first day it opened. Normally when temples start in USA it takes 4-5 years before all the deities and their jewelry and other worship items are procured. But here work was going on in full speed in all directions at once – granite deities were being carved in Mahabalipuram, marble deities were being carved in Jaipur, five metal deities were being made in Tamil Nadu and the Bidadi ashram, metal works and prabhavalis (the arches that surround deities) were being made in Kumbakonam and Bidadi ashram, Jewelry was being made in Chennai. Work was going on at an unprecedented scale and speed. And yet we did not have a temple or property identified. The master knew exactly how the temple would be and what he needed for it! It was quite clear that He knew the end state and was merely waiting for the drama to unfold!

There were several properties that LA Ashramites looked at. They came across a beautiful property that was shown to Swamiji in Montclair. The place seemed like a perfect fit for our needs. We had a large area for the temple, large room for public events that could accommodate people, classrooms and other facilities which made it an ideal place to start the city temple for the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission in Los Angeles. Swamiji instantly said this is the place and that we needed to get the transaction done at any cost. Sri Sevakananda and Sahajananda along with local devotees immediately sprung into action and after many trials and tribulations succeeded in closing the deal. The facility was right off the highway with a large parking area and over 25,000 square feet of area.

As soon as the commercial transaction was put together, work started towards the inauguration of the Vedic Temple at a feverish pace. In 15 days, ashramites, ananda sevaks and devotees came together and worked around the clock, and had the place ready for Kumbabhishekam. As with everything else that Swamiji does everything fell in place at the last moment and fit like a glove. It almost feels that he is making it happen this way to make sure the devotees are aware, alive and they are having fun and growing amidst this chaos the Master creates.

The Kumbabhishekam for the Vedic Temple in Montclair, California was set for November 9-11, 2007. A lot of festivities were planned for this event. Luckily I was able to take off a week before this event and made myself free. There were so many festivities and cultural events that were planned. Cultural groups from the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Jewish faiths from all over the world came and performed on this occasion.

On the morning of November 9, 2007 the temple opened with over 300 deities and pranapratishta was done for all the deities. The temple area was packed. Devotees filled up the meditation and conference halls where the event was carried live through closed circuit television. This event was webcast live and thousands of ashramites and devotees from all over the world were able to see this event live. This was history in the making in front of our own eyes. It was quite magical to see how all of this came together beautifully. A lot of hard work went into this but everything happened in such a blissful and beautiful manner. In most temples in North America a project of this magnitude would take 3-5 years and committees after committees and meetings after meetings would take place to come to a consensus. In the case of the Vedic Temple, all the activities came together within 2-3 months and the biggest and the grandest Vedic temple in North America happened beautifully in front of our very own eyes.

This is the magic of the master. I have no other words to describe how these events were accomplished in a picture perfect manner! I would also go on to say this is true hyper-efficiency at work. I know this for a fact since the company I serve takes years to accomplish their agenda and strategies. It is taking them years to transform. Here, with the Master, there is one head and hundreds of hands. So there is no questioning and arguments since everyone knows Master knows what is best. It does not mean it is a dictatorial model. Swamiji in fact is always open to suggestions and new ideas. However once he tells us what he wants, the thousand hands jump right in to get the work done!

The Vedic temple project was a very large undertaking for the mission in terms of the costs. Ashramites were beginning to feel nervous about the financial load to the mission. After the inauguration of the Vedic temple, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted a month long series on the last remaining Shiva Sutras. He wanted to complete the Vignana Bhairava Tantra series with the 30 day discourse series. He said one day, "the complete temple will be paid for before I leave to Bharat. You will see!" He then went about delivering one of the most profound series of discourses for one month – non-stop.

Half way through the discourses, one of our close devotees, Ma Ahimsa (Dr Kalpana Savla) and Sri Maheshwara (Popat Savla) came and offered a check at the feet of the master and paid up the loan for the temple in full. They told THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM that what they are doing is the least they could do. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM completed the discourses and came back to Bharat to prepare for 2008 Jayanthi celebrations.

I had contemplated for a long time whether I should write about miracles around the master. Every moment around Him is a miracle. Whenever events that are beyond the logic happens, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM almost always brushes it off saying it is the "Power of Coincidence" or something like "It is divine grace". He never encourages us to dwell on and be stuck with miracles. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells us that they are an impediment to one's spiritual growth. However there are so many incidents that seem to casually happen around the Master, all of whom defy the normal logical process. While we can brush an incident or two off we cannot set aside the preponderance of incidents that makes one take a step back and reflect on these happenings.

I am writing this chapter to share with you what I have experienced with living around the Master for the last five years. It is only intended for you to be inspired as I have, to realize what a blessing it is to be with the enlightened master. A lot of these incidents defy logic. It was not easy for someone like me who was trained in science and who worked in research and business management where logic and process of analysis is the norm. Hope you too will be inspired and experience this fantastic journey.

There have literally been tens of thousands of healing miracles that happened in the last 5 years and hundreds that happen every day. As of today, Nithya Spiritual healers touch over thousands of people every day in tens of countries and provide free spiritual healing services. I wanted to share a few miracles that happened in our own lives.

I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 32. There is a very long history of diabetes from both sides of my family. Both of my grandfathers were diabetic. My father was diagnosed as a juvenile diabetic. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 14. However, none of us knew about his ailment until he had severe health problems and complications from hypertension and edema (swelling of the legs). At the time of my diagnosis we were living in Voorhees, New Jersey. I was feeling quite tired every day. I would come back from work and just feel like sleeping all the time. I did not know what this was due to and never even considered going for a physical check-up. All I thought was maybe I am putting in long hours at work so let me get some rest. We received a call from an insurance agent working for Met Life Company. He came to our home and convinced us that we needed insurance. Part of the insurance process is to do a complete medical check-up including detailed blood work. A week or so after my blood sample was taken, they found elevated levels f blood sugar and he told me that our premium may need adjustment since they felt I was a diabetic. This was the first time I came to know about my diabetes.

I went through detailed medical examinations and the results came back as positive. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The physician asked me to take medication every day. I was on glucophage based medication. Also, since I was a young diabetic, they prescribed me another medication that seemed to help with protecting the kidneys. I do not know the exact name of the medicine but recall they were called alpha inhibitors. I was also told to measure my fasting blood sugar and blood sugar levels after one hour after meals. I purchased the kit to measure my blood sugar levels at home. For most part, with medications my blood sugar levels were in control. My fasting blood sugar levels tended to be around 100. I would also measure the blood protein levels (also called hemoglobin A1c or glycohemoglobin; This test measures average amount of glucose present in the blood over the last 2 to 3 months and helps the doctor to determine how well a treatment plan is working to control the patient's blood glucose levels over time). My long term averaged 5.8 to 6.2 which I believe was border line.

Eight years later, I met THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. I did not tell him about my diabetes until the second meeting when he came back for the USA tour in February 2004. He simply said, "Don't worry. I will take care". Almost 4 ½ years have passed since this statement. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told me to continue on the medications. He always tells people they should continue with their medications as before and whatever needs to be done from His side He will do. In my case, I did not listen to His advice and stopped medications few months after THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's healing. I am writing this since all readers should not follow me in that they should continue their medications and other regimen prescribed by their physicians. I have continued to check my blood protein tests on a bi-annual basis. The levels of the hemoglobin A1c is now more or less stable and at the level of 5.2. This is considered below normal by physicians. I am not on any particular diet and do not feel any symptoms of the disease. I know I have been cured of diabetes.

I have been drinking coffee since my childhood. Somehow in South Bharat we were used to drinking coffee from as long as I can remember. I remember drinking a glass of coffee every morning from age 8 onwards! When I came to America, my coffee consumption increased substantially. I would consume 4-5 cups of coffee a day. By 10 am, I would have had at least 3 cups of coffee – one in the car on the way to office, two cups as soon as I got to office and another cup around 10 am. Days when I missed coffee, I would have a headache and a feeling of numbness in my head. I think I would classify myself as a coffee addict!

When THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM came back to USA for the tour in February 2004, he stayed with us in our home in Oklahoma City. When I mentioned to him about my coffee addiction, he asked for a bottle of honey. He held the bottle for a moment and told me to consume the honey and this addiction would disappear. I consumed the honey over the next several days. Immediately I began to notice that I no longer suffer from these headaches when I do not consume coffee. I still

Part 3: At the Feet of the Master_English_part_3.md

consume 1 or 2 cups of coffee every day, sometimes I do not consume any coffee. So I know my addiction to coffee is not with me anymore.

It was sometime in summer 2004. Ma Sachitananda would go for an annual mammogram examination. This year the doctors found a very geometrically shaped mass. The doctors were quite concerned. They said a geometrically shaped mass is always a concern to them since the probability that it could be malignant is high. They asked her to come back three days later for a biopsy so that they can determine if this tumor was malignant.

This incident happened during THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's second trip to US in the year 2004. Ma Sachitananda called and informed THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM about this on the day biopsy was to be scheduled. He immediately told her, "Just think of me during this procedure and I will take care". Ma Sachitananda requested the nurse that she would like to keep her mala blessed by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and they agreed. She held on to the mala. The doctors tried to locate the tumor so that they can make an incision to obtain a sample for tests. To their surprise there was no evidence of a geometrically shaped mass any more. They were confused and brought up the x-ray of the mass they took only three days ago. Ma Sachitananda this time was in a meditative mood, thinking of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and holding on to the mala. After several minutes they gave up and said they cannot explain what has happened, but now there was no tumor like mass and that she was good to go.

There is no logical explanation of what happened in this case. We know for sure it was He who took care of this. If this is a stray incident we can brush it aside. But there are thousands of such incidents that are happening all over the world.

Take for example, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's secretary, Ayya. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2001. He was not able to consume any food and weighed only 70 pounds – frail and very sick. He was taken to leading medical hospitals and doctors in Chennai. All of them said there was not much that could be done and recommended he get his estate in order. They said he had only few months to live. In 2001 THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM was living in a hut on the banks of Cauvery River near Erode in Tamil Nadu. This was a year after his enlightenment experience and he found that through touch he was able to cure people. Word of this spread to the villages and towns nearby and people would come to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for healing. He was all by himself and food was being delivered to him by local villagers and restaurant owners. When Ayya approached THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, he gave him a little rice from his hand and told him to eat it. Within a week of this encounter, ayya started feeling better. He was able to eat and started looking better. In the months that followed Ayya's health steadily improved and today, almost seven years after this incident, he is free from cancer and is a healthy individual. Ayya was from a business family and served as a managing director of the family's spinning mills. As a result of this cure, Ayya and Amma became the first

ashramites and helped start THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's mission. I am sure Ayya's experiences will be chronicled in his reminiscences in much greater detail.

If I start talking about these healing incidents, the list will be thousands long. If there is one incident we can say it is a fluke, an accident, a placebo effect of whatever logical explanation we can give. But when we see healing happening all over the world, with people from all economical, social, racial or cultural backgrounds, even the logical mind needs to take a step back and wonder as to what is happening.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells us that healing is also a science. This science is based on subtle energy. Just because modern science has not yet developed instruments and methods to logically measure this subtle energy, it does not mean the healing science does not exist. And one more thing, whatever we cannot measure with logic or with the current understanding of Science, we call it a miracle.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is now very keen to develop a methodical system of scientific research to quantify the effects of healing. In the medical research, researchers want to know if the particular effect is real or if it is a placebo effect. Placebo effect often tends to be some kind of a psychologically induced response which allows cures to happen regardless of administering a particular therapy or medication. For example when medical researchers are testing a particular drug they test its efficacy by administering a sugar pill or the drug without any active ingredient to a set of patients to see if psychologically cure happens regardless of medicine. They always like to separate this "baseline" effect from the real effect of medication or a particular therapy. In case of healing research, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is so pragmatic that he says, "It really does not matter if the effect is placebo effect or a real effect. Even if we find everything is a placebo effect, it is fine. At the end of the day we are helping people and that's what matters" We have tens of thousands of testimonials of people getting healed from diseases ranging from asthma, pain, cancers, diabetes, infertility, as well as psychological disorders such as depression. However, in order to satisfy the analytical minds, we are hoping we will soon be able to quantify effects of Nithya healing in various ailments.

It was December 2004. There was a core group of devotees in the US who came to Bidadi to spend the time around Jayanthi celebrations with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM took a group of 50 or so ashramites and devotees to Thiruvannamalai. All of us stayed in a Chathram (a place built to provide free accommodation to visitors coming to temples) operated by the family of our close devotee and Chennai organizer, Ramanathan.

It was dusk time, about 6:45 pm to 7:00 pm. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM took us to the location where he had His first satori experience in Thiruvannamalai. This is a beautiful serene hillock facing Arunachala on one side. On the other side is a Devi temple. It is believed that Devi has the experience of enlightenment here. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM showed us the rock where he has the first satori experience. I would like to direct the readers to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's biography, "Nithyananda Volume 1" for in-depth discussion of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's first experience. It was here, where THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had the deep satori or Samadhi experience at age 12. This experience revealed the blueprint of enlightenment to him. He had the incredible experience of being one with the cosmos through the experience of 360 degree vision (Brahma with four faces really symbolizes this 360 degree vision). The reader may also go to

Swamiji was sitting on the first experience rock and started singing. All of us huddled around him. There were about fifty of us. Suddenly Sri Atma Maneeshananda exclaimed to Swamiji, "Swamiji I am beginning to see Arunachala being lit up!" Swamiji acted as though nothing happened and casually said, "Just look around, maybe the lights from the city area are causing this." And he went about singing. Maneeshananda told us that there was no chance for this since everything else around was dark and only the region near us was beginning to light up. As Swamiji increased his intensity of singing, we started seeing Arunachala being lit up in a light reddish color. We were sitting about 700 metres from Arunachala. Yet, we had a clear view of the mountain to an extent we could clearly see stones, rocks and plants. The rest of the area was all dark. This was not logically possible. Swamiji would increase the intensity of singing and the intensity of the light would increase. All of us were in complete silence. There were no thoughts, no words said, just complete stillness in us. This went on for a full 45 minutes. Swamiji jumped from the first experience rock and suddenly got serious. He told us, "Cherish this moment and keep it inside your heart. Arunachala has blessed you with darshan" He then went on towards the foothills. All of us followed him. I looked back and amazingly, Arunachala was pitch dark. I could only see the outline of Arunachala.

The next morning Swamiji took all of us to climb Arunachala. The first stop was Skanda Ashram. This ashram was built by Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi. It is a beautiful ashram half way up Arunachala. The moment we reached Skanda Ashram, Swamiji explained to us about Ramanamaharishi and what went on in Skanda ashram and his childhood experiences coming here. After we saw the ashram, Swamiji sat down in front of Skanda ashram. All of us sat

around him. All of a sudden it was as though something came down on us. There was complete silence and stilling of the mind. It happened to all fifty of us, all at once. While there was complete silence, it was an intense silence. It is not that we closed our eyes in meditation. My eyes were wide open, but the mind was completely still. Time stood still. Swamiji was smiling and gazing upwards. Suddenly he got up and said let us continue with our trekking. We looked at the watch and it was one hour since we sat down with the Master. Every one of us knew that the master gave us a deep glance of His true inner space, a space of intense silence.

There have been so many instances where devotees would come and tell us that their master appeared in their dream and sent them to Swamiji.

Swamiji would always tell us that depending on the spiritual progress and the needs of a sincere devotee, the master will take the responsibility for the disciple. He will make himself available in the physical form if the disciple requires the physical form of the master.

It was April 2005. Swamiji was touring the USA. He was conducting the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Spurana Program in St Louis. It was an intense program. People from St Louis and nearby towns came to attend this program. After NSP program, we had the healers' initiation at the Hindu Temple in St Louis. It was Monday morning on April 18, 2005.

One of the attendees at healers' initiation came from nearby town, Bloomington in Illinois. He was a Caucasian man, male about 55 or 60 years of age. He had been on a spiritual path for decades, following Paramahamsa Yogananda. While he was very touched by Swamiji, he had a lot of conflict within him as to whether he should attend the Healers Initiation program. In this program, as explained earlier, Swamiji opens the Ananda Gandha Chakra and gives us a technique to experience perennial bliss by giving us the keys to experience Nirvikalpa Samadhi. That night the devotee had an intense dream and clearly saw Yogananda in his dream tell him, "Fool, do not have any conflict. You go and attend the program being given by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM." As you may imagine, this was a serious jolt and wake up call for this devotee.

He came a little late for the healers initiation. As he was entering the hall, Swamiji smiled at him and asked, "What did he come and tell you last night?" The devotee was quite shocked with this question. Swamiji then allowed the devotee to narrate the incident to all of us.

Our St. Louis organizer, Ma Gnanapriyananda was traveling with us during 2006 Himalayas tour. She is a very shy and quite person by nature. As we were going on mules near Gowrikhund, Swamiji was showing us the area were Mahavatar Babaji appeared before Swmaiji and whispered in his ear, "THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM". Swamiji's darshan of Mahavatar Babaji took place a shortly before his enlightenment experience.

Ma Gnanapriyananda approached Swamiji and asked him if he could please grant her the darshan of Babaji. She was an ardent follower of Babaji for decades and wanted to see him. Swamiji gave her blessings. As she was going up the mountains on a mule, near Gowrikhund, she had the most beautiful vision of a young man, in golden color. She said this was the most beautiful sight she ever saw. She could not utter a word. He was sitting down in front of a tea stall. She knew instantly it was Babaji. She was unable to utter a word. This experience lasted for 2-3 minutes. During this experience Babaji never looked directly into her eyes, but the vision was intense and beautiful. For 2-3 days after the incident she had a fever and she just seemed to be very quiet and introverted.

After her fever subsided she approached Swamiji and told him about this incident. Swamiji laughed and said, "So you wanted to see him and he appeared". He caught her hand for a few moments and said, "Ma, you really had the darshan of Mahavatar Babaji. He did not look directly into your eyes because you were not ready to handle his energy. He has however showered his blessings on to you. Enjoy and cherish this experience"

He then went on to tell us that when an enlightened master takes the responsibility for a disciple, he will ensure that the disciple is enlightened. He will always be available to them in whatever dimension or form he is required in, so that the disciple continues to grow towards the ultimate experience. He then said that this is why Babaji still appears to his disciples from time to time to help them in their path. He then said, "Poor Babaji, even after 2,000 years he needs to keep appearing and giving darshans. And me, I have so many of my idiot disciples around me. I don't know how many thousands of years I need to be available for you guys!" And in his characteristic manner, burst out laughing!

These days, my daughter Nithyananda Sree has taken well to writing. In fact she organizes compiled books using Swamiji's discourses and question and answer sessions. I am now going to briefly describe her experiences, but will tell you upfront that I may not share specific names of individuals in order to protect her space and privacy. In 2006, Swamiji sent her along with a few other Sanyasis and Sanyasins to Osho Ashram. He told them to go and learn how they take care of guests. Swamiji is always willing to learn from others and improve. Nithyananda Sree,

in 2006, was 15 years of age. She has taken up Naishtika Brahmacharya Diksha and wants to pursue the path of Sanyas. Swamiji gave her a probationary period where he wants her to try the brahmacharya diksha. If this is not for her, he will tell her to take the path of Grihastha. The moment she landed at the Osho ashram, she had very intense experiences. I will describe some of them to you.

When they were in the ashram and watched an Osho discourse, she had a strange sense of being intensely present when the discourse was delivered. She saw the person in whose body she was. In fact she felt it was her who was inside this body, but the body was that of a Caucasian female. She then attended dynamic meditations at the center and during one of the meditations, she heard in no uncertain tone, Osho's voice which said, "Idiot! You have come at last. Now do not miss the Master and get the job done" She also had a similar intense darshan of Osho walking with the person who was her with a different body and they smiled. This happened near a bamboo grove in the commune. She also saw a person in his late 50's. The moment she saw him, she had a strange feeling of intense love. Later she realized that she, in her past life was very close to this person.

I am not purposely giving more details to protect my daughter's privacy. But after this trip a new sense of purpose has engulfed her. We were traveling with Swamiji in USA during this experience. Swamiji smiled and said that the divine has granted her this experience so that she can realize why she has come down during this birth and not deviate from this path and get the job done!

In past, Swamiji has spoken of several children in the ashram. He told devotees during 2006 Jayanthi celebrations that these children are yogaprashtas, they have come very close to enlightenment, but somehow missed it. Now they have chosen the parents to come to Him to get this work done. He then told devotees, "You still have a chance not repeat their mistakes; otherwise you will again have to come back like them!"

I had previously talked about my mother-in-law's darshan of Jesus Christ during the first ASP Swamiji conducted in Oklahoma City in August 2003. Swamiji conducted an NSP in Bidadi ashram in January 2008.

There was a person from Mumbai who attended the NSP program along with a large group of people from Mumbai. During the reminiscences at the end of the NSP program he told us his experiences. This person was a Hindu by birth, but has been following Jesus Christ for sometime now. He is the CEO of an IT company in Mumbai. A few months ago, he had an intense darshan of Jesus Christ where he was told by Jesus to go south of the Vindhya Mountains, near Bangalore to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. He was told by Jesus, this is a living Enlightened Master. He was also given an image of a person in saffron clothes with a turban. A few months later, one of our brahmacharinis, Ma Achalananda was at a spiritual conference in Hyderabad in May/June 2007 where she presented a paper on Nithya Spiritual healing. We had a booth at this conference where Swamiji's books and discourses in CD and DVD formats were being sold. This gentleman then came to the booth and he was quite shocked to see Swamiji's photograph. This exactly matched the image that was revealed to him by Jesus! He shared this experience with all the attendees during NSP and we video recorded his reminiscence.

There have been even stranger incidences. We have had several visitors from remote parts of the world just come by and tell us that they were directed to Swamiji's web site for reasons unknown to them. There was a gentleman from Scotland who just showed up in Bidadi in early part of 2005. He was into yoga, meditation and pranic healing. He told us that when he was browsing the internet, out of nowhere web site popped up. He browsed the web site and was quite intrigued and just wanted to come and see Swamiji. He spent a full one month in 2005 and was fortunately able to do NSP by Swamiji and was initiated as a healer. I take it divine is now getting high tech!

But in all seriousness, there have been several such incidences that defy logic. There was someone from Iran and another from Pakistan who suddenly found Swamiji when they had health problems. They came and stayed with us for a few months to take healing from Swamiji.

I now understand when there is a sincere seeker; divine appears to him in whatever, shape or form based on the being's state in their spiritual journey and helps them with their path. If I heard this 4 or 5 years ago, I would not be able to digest this. But now, having seen these events unfold in front of my very own eyes, I know better. There is a point beyond which logic needs to be kept aside. Surely in our careers and professional dealings, logic is important. It can help us with a good paycheck, a good house, a good career, etc. But I hope you can have an open mind and realize that there is a whole new world out there which is beyond logic. I feel blessed that Swamiji appeared in our lives and gave us the intelligence to recognize and appreciate what we have – the rarest of the rare beings, a living enlightened master, a Paramahamsa who has reached out to us with open arms.

During Swamiji's spiritual journey, he was greatly helped by various enlightened masters, some of them were in the body and others were not in the body. Among the masters who were not in the body, Ramana Maharishi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sharada Devi in particular helped him through darshans and gave him encouragement and confidence to continue on the path.

It was around the time of gurupoornima in the year 2007. Swamiji was back in Bharat from USA. He wanted to go to Dakshineshwar. Swamiji has not been to Dakshineshwar since his days of wandering. We first visited ghats on Ganga where Swamiji spent days together in meditation. It was almost towards the end of the tapas period where Swamiji's body was crumbling and his drive and burning desire to achieve this ultimate state was intense. As Swamiji told us, it was only when He dropped this intense desire and just relaxed, the final experience happened to him. After visiting these ghats, we proceeded to Dakshineshwar. Swamiji was accompanied by me and another devotee (now ashramite), Mr. Shiva guru who recently retired from a bank in a senior management role.

When Swamiji reached Dakshineshwar, he was so happy to be back. He looked at me and said, "Do you know every atom in this place is vibrating with the energy of Ramakrishna. I wish you guys can feel it" We then went to the temple where Ramakrishna worshipped mother Kali. The pujaris (priests) of the temple are direct descendents of Ramakrishna. We then proceeded to take a dip in Ganga. Just as we came out and were proceeding to see the bedroom where Ramakrishna slept, an old lady along with her daughter came to Swamiji, profusely crying. She fell at Swamiji's feet. She told in Hindi, "Baba, mujhe moksha de!" (In Hindi, Baba means father. This is how Swami's are referred to in North Bharat. She essentially asked Swamiji, "Father, please give me liberation"). Swamiji told me to tell her that whatever she wishes will come true. She then went on to tell me that she has worshipped Ramakrishna for over 50 years and the previous night she had an intense darshan of Ramakrishna where he said there is a Baba who will be in Dakshineshwar tomorrow. He told her to go and fall at his feet and seek liberation. Swamiji then told us that similar incidences happened when Ramakrishna walked in flesh and blood at Dakshineshwar.

Swamiji was traveling in Tamil Nadu conducting Satsangs in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Tirupatthur, Rasipuram and Namakkal. It was the morning of November 19, 2005. We were on our way to Vellore. We stopped by at one of the granite quarries we leased to procure granite stone for our deities. This particular area was famous for granite used in temple deities. Swamiji is in the process of carving a 21 ft granite Shiva lingam which will be installed to radiate healing energy. The stone for the yoni (the bottom portion of the Shiva lingam) was located in this quarry. It was a single stone, about 25 feet wide and 20 feet tall. We suspected it weighed at least 100 tons. The stone was originally on top of the hill, roughly 500 feet high. It was going to be a very difficult task to bring this rock down. The quarry had 100 or so workers. Our plan was to rent equipment from Mumbai. We envisioned needing to create a road, 1 kilometer long with a gradual slope to move the granite rock slowly down the hill.

We reached the quarry and the owner of the quarry was in a shock when he saw Swamiji. He then told us that about two days ago, when they came back to work, they found this large rock at the bottom of the hill. When Swamiji heard this he burst out laughing and said, "Divine Grace!" The interesting thing was if a 100 ton rock were to come tumbling down, it would have created a track. Perhaps there would have been chips on the surface of this rock. But there was no signs of it tumbling down, no track created, nor was there any sign of chipping of the stone. Swamiji did an arthi to the rock and told them to proceed with the work.

The owner of the quarry told Swamiji that he cannot charge any money for the rock. He told Swamiji jokingly, "Swamiji if I charge, maybe the whole quarry will follow you to Bangalore anyway!" Again this is an incident that I personally observed in front of my very own eyes. No logic. No explanations. Swamiji brushed away this incident and called it, divine grace!

It was January 2005. Swamiji decided to speak on Shiva Sutras for one complete month. Swamiji told us that Shiva Sutras will be the mission's scripture. To be specific, the date was January 5, 2008.

In those days, I would go near Swamiji's quarters and remind him it was around 6:00 am. Swamiji would have gone to bed around 4 am. He never sleeps for more than 1 or 2 hours a day. When I went near his room and said, "Swamiji it is 6 am!", he called me back and said, "Shiv, I have something to tell you!" He opened the door and said in a very excited manner, "Shiv! This morning Shiva walked in flesh and blood right here" He then pointed out the spot where Shiva walked and then went on to describe what had happened.

Swamiji told me that right around 5:30 or 6:00 am, he heard a sound in front of his quarters. Swamiji stepped out of his room and shouted in Tamil, "Yaaru?" (Whos is it?). He was thinking that it was some of the workers who worked on the adjacent farm. The person turned and smiled at Swamiji. By now he clearly saw this person's Ajna chakra and instantly knew it was none other than Shiva himself. Swamiji told me that he immediately wondered if this was real or if it was a darshan. He immediately knew this could not be a darshan since enlightened masters cannot have darshans. He immediately touched Shiva's feet and looked up at him. When he touched His feet he found they were solidly on the ground, further proving it was not a darshan, but His presence was in flesh and blood! He smiled at Swamiji and there was a deep communion. Shiva then walked away towards the Ananda Nilayam which is right adjacent to Swamiji's quarters. Ananda Nilayam was the venue for Shiva Sutras that was going to commence that day. Swamiji then told me not to tell anyone about this incident and asked me to drive him to the Banyan tree.

It was the middle of winter. The leaves of the banyan tree would normally be quite dull in winter. However today, it was something quite different. The Banyan Tree was shining. Actually I could feel the glow as we came near the tree. There was no rain for quite some time now, but each leaf felt that it was individually wiped clean. I mentioned this to Swamiji. He said "She is celebrating His presence!"

I could not contain myself and blurted this out to Ayya. After spending a few moments under the banyan tree Swamiji went back to his quarters. We were supposed to start Shiva Sutras in the morning. It was not until 9 pm that night that Swamiji emerged from his quarters. Those of us who knew Swamiji could see he was in a much expanded state and was in Samadhi all day. He walked to the Ananda Nilayam and sat down. There were no words exchanged, just silence, pure vibrant silence. All we did was sit with Him. There were about 40-50 people, mostly ashramites and a few close devotees from Bangalore. We played songs in praise of Arunachala for hours together. Then, after a few hours Swamiji narrated the incident about Shiva appearing in Bidadi.

Immediately when they heard this, Ma Sachitananda, Ma Priyamayi and Ma Maneeshananda, sprang up and said that they had a very interesting experience that morning. The four of them were walking towards the Banyan Tree around 5:45 am for the guru pooja. They heard distinct foot prints of someone walking next to the road. This was clear and lasted for their entire walk. They were afraid and talked among themselves and said, "Don't look, may be it is a bear!" The footsteps disappeared at the banyan tree. When they mentioned this conversation, one of our early devotees from Salem, Anand, had tears in his eyes and showed a picture he drew in the morning. He said while he was walking to the banyan tree for guru pooja, he saw a person walking towards the banyan tree. He did not know what or who this person was but was courageous to catch a glimpse of him. He quickly came back to the room and made a drawing of what he saw. The drawing clearly showed matted locks and long hair, a face that had uncanny resemblance to Shiva.

That night after the inaugural session of Shiva Sutras, Swamiji took all of us to his quarters and showed the place where Shiva set his foot on the soil in Bidadi. We quickly placed stones around this area to mark this spot. Now, even after 3 ½ years after this incident, the stone marks are still there. The entire areas around this spot there no vegetation, only bare soil. And yet just in the area that where we placed stones, there is lush vegetation. We do not water or do anything different in this area, but yet we can see lush vegetation in that spot. Swamiji said we will build a small temple in this area to memorialize the day when Shiva appeared in Bidadi, to bless all of us and to symbolically recognize this living enlightened master's delivery of His teachings again to the planet earth.

If I look back at this incident, the memory is vivid. Indeed this land, our home in Bidadi is blessed, for it is where my master resides in flesh and blood and it is where Shiva appeared in the physical form.

This incident happened in 2006. I do not remember the exact date, but it was a time between USA trips when we were back in Bidadi. When I went early one morning to Swamiji's quarters, he told me to come in to his room. For some reason, he told me that day, "Shiv, do you know I planted this Banyan Tree? I planted this several hundred years ago" I did not know why Swamiji was saying this to me.

That day Swamiji said we were going to Thiruvannamalai. When we reached Thiruvannamalai, Swamiji took us to the places in the temple complex where he spent his childhood. He showed us the Yogashala where Swamiji was taught Yoga by Gururaj Raghupathi Yogi, Swamiji's first yoga teacher. In fact Swamiji showed the very spot where Raghupathi yogi would levitate. We then moved towards the Banyan tree at the back of the temple. It was near this banyan tree that Swamiji delivered his first discourse on Patanjali Yoga Sutras at the age of 9! This banyan tree also had very mystical connections with Swamiji which are chronicled in the first volume of Swamiji's biography, "THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Volume 1". This was where he was blessed with the darshan of Arunagiri Yogeeshwara, the enlightened master who built the Thiruvannamalai temple thousands of years ago.

When we reached the Banyan Tree, Swamiji looked at me and said, "Shiv is there a technique to test whether this Banyan Tree and our Bidadi Banyan Tree are from the same mother?" He first said, "Actually let us record this event and have fun!" Parananda, a brahmachari and an ashramite who takes care of video recording of Swamiji when he is in Bharat quickly came and started video recording this event. Swamiji then looked into the video camera and said, "Take a twig from this Banyan Tree and a twig from our Banyan Tree and do a DNA test and you will see that this is a perfect match. Let us have some fun!"

I quickly collected a twig from this banyan tree and wrapped in a wet towel. We quickly took a twig from the Bidadi Banyan Tree. Ma Sachitananda had a cousin in Hyderabad who was the Head of the Department of Genetics in Osmania University. We requested her to help out with the DNA work. She readily agreed and we started the DNA test. The first test, which is some kind of a rough test showed that there was 90% probability that both the twigs came from the same source. She then went on to conduct two detailed tests (repeat of the same test) consisting of complete DNA mapping and concluded that without any doubt both the twigs came from the same parent!

We then asked Swamiji how this could be. The trees were over 600 years old by previous tests by the hortriculture department. Bidadi is about 250 kilometers away from Thiruvannamalai. What is the probability of this happening from a logical perspective? He then went on and told us that there were four saplings of the Banyan Tree that have been brought from the metaphysical to the physical plane. He thought one of them was planted near the first experience place which never sprouted. The other two Banyan Trees are now in Thiruvannamalai and Bidadi. He did not say much about the fourth Banyan Tree. All he said was it is somewhere in Karnataka and at the right time we will find it!

We were returning from the teachers training camp heading towards Duarte Ashram. Bhaktananda was driving Swamiji and I was sitting in the back seat of the car. Swamiji was going to Duarte Ashram since we had a special meditation program on September 11 for peace since it was the day innocent lives were lost in the United States as a result of terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. We were in a mountainous area. Swamiji closed his eyes and was resting in the car. Suddenly he opened his eyes and sat straight in his seat. He told us that he could feel a lot of distress in the mother earth. He felt we have abused her enough all these years. He said he could feel an earthquake was going to happen in the Los Angeles area and that he will take care.

The next morning, right after the peace meditation, we got news about a strong earth quake that happened just of the coast of Los Angeles in the ocean floor! Swamiji also tells all our devotees that they should not stay close to the ocean in Los Angeles. We do not know the reasons for it – Yet.

The above events all have a dimension that is beyond logic. The healings, the darshans of masters, the past life experiences showered on disciples, the day Shiva appeared to many in Bidadi Ashram, the DNA match of the two Banyan trees or the earthquake incident in Los Angeles are beyond the realm of the logical world. If I wanted to write, I am sure I could have written a hundred more such incidents that seem to happen every day around the master. For me, it served as an inspiration in early days. For some of you reading this, you may still not believe. But the only reason I have shared my experiences of these miracles is to tell you that living around an enlightened being is a true blessing. It has cleared up so many cobwebs from my head. It has liberated me from the crutches of my mind. It has given me the ability to live every moment passionately. I hope those of you reading this chapter will also realize how blessed we are to be here and now in the midst of my sadhguru, my god, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

If I look back at my life, it is clear that I was the last person in the world to have taken this path. On the other hand, I also feel I would have been the easiest to take such a path.

When I look at so many seekers that have read Vedanta and all kinds of philosophy and moved from one master to another, I know I am very lucky for many reasons. I see so many people who have had a guru in the past torn with conflict when they are drawn to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. Their heart is pulling them towards THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM but they (actually their ego) is holding them back. In some cases organizations impose a significant guilt by stating that you cannot go to anyone otherwise you will betray your guru. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is quite clear – he tells us to pluck all flowers from the spiritual garden and make a beautiful bouquet for you. He also warns us those who do not give freedom to their devotees to explore by going to other gurus are doing a very serious disservice to their devotees. In my case the moment I met my Master I knew this was it. I felt a sudden click. And fortunately, there were no guru conflicts or there was no heavy head with all philosophies so that whenever the master said anything I would have to refer to my spiritual encyclopedia to compare against the teachings of this guru or that guru. This way I feel quite blessed.

With all the life experiences we had, I was ready in that money was not a very important factor in our lives. I always felt that there is more to life than the corporate ladder I was climbing. I am also thankful to all the life experiences and tragedies that I faced early in life because they were my gurus too. Luckily these experiences made me realize the fragility of life and gave me a sense of urgency to step into the spiritual path when our Master appeared and showered his grace on us.

I think I have been quite an intense person all my life. But there was also some kind of constant urgency that I seemed to want to get done with whatever I started that very minute. Somehow I never made the time to stop and smell the roses. I worked very hard and somehow could not understand why others did not want to do so. A major source of irritation to me at work or even off-work was why people could not focus and get things done. I think this was nothing but ego. The sense of urgency was somehow related to the early death of my father. I somehow seemed to think time is running out and I needed to get things done now! If I sit back and analyze this, I realize there is no need for this. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM taught us to be intense at the same time not to be clutched to the goal. Even in the early days of the mission I would often get irritated as to why certain things could not get done in a timely manner.

When I first met the Master I really wanted to serve Him. Little did we know that it is the Master who gives us an opportunity to serve Him out of His compassion. He really does not need us, our time or our money. By giving us the opportunity to serve Him he allows us to explore ourselves, develop an understanding of who we are, where we came from, where we/our ego is caught and learn from these experiences. A lot of times, the Master tell us, to stop judging people and not be irritated because they may not do work. We often brought corporate atmosphere around us and tried to judge people based on what they delivered. The Master, on the other hand would tell us that there is no equality of work in his ashram. Those who could work on the mission could work and those who did not want to, it was also OK. He knew that every being was unique and was starting from a different point in their growth. So he provided all options to all beings. We on the other hand, as senior Swamis in the mission continued with a corporate attitude. I am sure we have hurt a lot of individuals who needed to go through their own growth. I know we have been resisting this change in our attitude for several years despite ample opportunities THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM had given us to look inwards. Over the last year and a half, this thick buffalo skin finally began to give in and I am now able to understand that everyone of us have growth to undergo in our own way, some more than others, and that everyone cannot be expected to do or perform per corporate productivity metrics. So I must apologize for all who may have been hurt by this corporate demeanor.

Then there was resistance from my part when it came to education of my children. Right from childhood we were brought up with the notion that education was the most important thing. So when THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said that let Nithyanandi and Nithyananda Sree stay around Him for a year, I resisted. Ma Sachitananda was quite OK with this. The Master was actually giving space for these beings to blossom, to be de-conditioned from the influences of TV, Schooling, Peer pressure, etc. But I resisted THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for two years on this, until it dawned on me that He knows better.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM tells us that surrender is important. There is a lot of confusion of what surrender is. Especially in the west surrender seems to be equated to some form of slavery. In Bharat when Master says, surrender everything we think He is asking us to give him our properties and wealth. It is so far from that. So far, I have not known Master use anything surrendered by ashramites or disciples. Luckily in our case we were never really stuck with the idea of accumulating a lot of wealth. However when THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said, do not worry about the children, leave them alone, I will take care, I was not ready to let go. As I said before it took me a few years to get over this. I now know that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM clearly knows what is best for them, we know he will give them all options in life so that they can explore and explode in all directions. I can now say with utter clarity that this aspect where I did not trust the Master has completely evaporated from my being.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told us that it is quite easy to surrender wealth, name and fame and personal belongings. All of them do not touch the ego very much. The ego gets fed by the five senses. Surrendering these senses to the Master is the final and the most difficult surrender. There would be so many times in the early days, the moment THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM would say something, the mind would pop up with its own interpretation and judgment.

I can say that surrender of the senses happened to me as a process. It did not happen instantly, but as the deep understanding grew within me that Master knows best, only until this was internalized fully, the mind stopped to pass its judgment. Today I can now see no matter what the Master tells us, whether we understand it or not, believe it or not, there is no judgment being passed by the mind. We simply do it since we know that He knows what is best. We invariably find later and understand why he told us to do a particular thing which made no sense at that time.

The next phase in my growth that I observed was a phase of intense awareness. It almost seemed to happen right around the time when I started feeling that the mind no longer analyzed people, situations or the Master. Every word I uttered, I have started being aware. If I hurt somebody, I would clearly be aware and say to myself, "Look, you could have handled this situation this way" and try to incorporate them into my life. Another very important transformation was there was no guilt with a wrong act, but a clear understanding that I need to change my attitude or behavior. This phase of intense awareness continues even now. Initially my awareness seemed to happen around external incidents and happenings. These days I am finding there is intense awareness at the thought level. So now I am finding I do not go around thoughts, I do not seem to create or want to destroy thoughts, they just seem to come and go and somehow as time passes by I am now seeing clearly that this is what THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM means by living in an unclutched manner.

These days while I continue to work very hard and live with intensity and passion, I am finding I am no longer the corporate guy wanting to drive everything. I try to do the best I can and try and inspire others to do the same. If on the other hand, they are not able to do it for whatever reasons, I am OK. I no longer get bent out of shape as I used to a few years ago. I just seem to set a goal and work towards it. I am no longer frustrated that the goal has not been achieved. I feel all of a sudden a lot of lightness in myself. Also, there was a step change in my mental

demeanor since THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM conducted living enlightenment program with a few of us. I want to try and describe this for the benefit of the readers. The whole idea of sharing this is to really let you know, that if this process happened to me, it can happen to anyone. The only thing I have done is to be around the Master and not let my mind play its game. Whenever I took one step, I always found he took hundred steps with me. All I can say to those reading this book is be open, do not resist, be open and do not miss the Master.

While my journey of personal transformation was a process that started from the time the Master came into our lives, if there is one time I experienced a step change in my mental set up and structure, it was during Living Enlightenment program.

It was October 2007. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM called all ashramites in Duarte ashram and said he was going to work with all of us. There were 12-15 of us who attended this process. I do not even know what went on during the four days in Duarte. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM would sit with us for hours at a time, joking at times, asking us to think about where we feel we are stuck. I cannot unfortunately verbalize anything that went on in living enlightenment program since it was far beyond the intellect and therefore verbalization. All I can say is for example, when THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM asked each of us to tell him why we cannot live in the present moment, in bliss all the time. Each of us verbalized where we felt we were stuck. The moment we verbalized this, whatever that was holding us back vanished. All I can say, is there was some intense alchemy that was going on in the non-physical plane. It was as if THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM set up a flame and whatever we verbalized was burnt away from our system once and for all. If write more, I will not do justice. All I can say is he showered his love and compassion on us and we came out as new beings.

The only thing I can describe was my mental state before meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, after meeting him and after living enlightenment in the drawings below. I can best describe this in the following four phases pictorially:

Phase 1 - State of mind before meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: In the first drawing I am showing my mental state before meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. I would go up in a high energy curve and somehow this high energy curve was not sustained. I would be brought down by whatever incidents happened in our lives – if there was a problem at work, a fight at home, or whatever. This low energy curve would also not last for long. Somehow, healing thoughts or some other source of excitement would pull me back. So I would characterize my state of mind to oscillate between these two states.

Phase 2 – State of mind 1-2 years after meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: After meeting THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM I have found quite a change in my mental demeanor. While I may oscillate between high and low energy states, the lows were shallower than the high and I did not oscillate as frequently. Whenever I was in a low state, just the presence of the master pulled me out of the low energy state. So while I was having a lot lesser lows, the form of the master and his presence was helping me. None of this was static. Over time I was also finding that even without the Master's physical presence I was able to pull myself out by the clicks he had given me in terms of His teachings and understandings that would pop-up and pull me out of the low energy curve.

Phase 3 – Immediately after Living Enlightenment Program: In the days after this program, he said whenever there was a situation; clicks would automatically happen and these clicks would pull us out of the low energy curve. It happened exactly the way the master told us it would. For me the impact of living enlightenment was an immediate step change. There was

almost no negative curve. Even if I seemed to be going into a low energy situation, I would immediately be aware, and clicks would pop-up just like an internet banner advertisement and pull me up. Also, strangely I noticed that even as little as a day after living enlightenment program, even my highs were also diminished in magnitude.

Phase 4 – Current State: Within a few weeks to a month after the living enlightenment program, I am now seeing the mental demeanor to be completely different. I started finding there was no need for any of the clicks and I would not go into a low energy curve at all. I now feel free from ups and downs, anger or disappointment, happiness or sadness. The curve seems to be a flat line these days. It is intense silence. The intellect is used when it is required and then it seems to rest. This is indeed a wonderful feeling to live in this state.

I am also finding that when I am working with the board of the chemical company, I am able to provide them with sharp, solutions with utmost clarity to a point where I may sometimes say to myself, 'Where did this idea come from!"

There is nothing I have done in this process. It was Masters' grace and compassion showering on us. For this I am eternally grateful to my Master. Now that the engineer in me has described this in a graphical format, I am satisfied. I do not know what exactly happened during this process, but I am also not looking to deeply analyze this new found state without ups and downs in my mental demeanor. It has been truly liberating and I am also finding these days that wherever I am and whatever I do, I am doing it with intensity, with passion, with a feeling of gratitude, with fulfillment and with contentment. What more can I ask for?

To all the readers out there, all I want to say here is five years ago I really did not know what seeking was. We lived the so called American dream, had a good home, a successful career, a young family. I was running 100 miles an hour not knowing what I wanted out of life. Yet, the word spirituality was not in my dictionary. Only thing I did was follow my heart. When the master came there was a click and I followed the click. I have troubled the Master a lot and it was purely his love and it was only due to His compassion that I continued on this path. Swamiji always tells us follow you heart and you will never go wrong. This path is so simple; if I can do it so can you. However there are dangers and pitfalls in this path. The moment we start to analyze the master, we are bound to fall because the plane he is residing in is a pure logic less space. If we try and analyze Him from our plane of logic we will simply miss him. Luckily for us we did not read a lot of philosophical books. We were not spiritual shoppers. When the ultimate consciousness of the enlightened being shined on us, we followed our heart. That is all we did. The rest was taken care of by my Master. This path is so simple, if I can do it, so can you!

Whenever a close devotee or disciple goes off track, the master truly feels for them. He would often say, "arey, this guy has missed me the last birth and his being had a painful death experience. Why is he repeating the same mistake again?" However the master will never interfere with one's free will. He is nevertheless always available to them. If they take one step forward, he is willing to take 100 steps with them. I do wish and hope those who have taken a detour in their spiritual journey realize that it is not every day that god comes down in the human form to uplift us. He has made this journey so easy and so much of fun. Do not miss this opportunity that comes once in many lifetimes.

It has been a truly exciting journey these five years. It is only now when I started writing this book I looked back at all the events, all the miracles, all the spectacular incidents that have happened around the Master. As I look forward I feel very fluid, I feel a deep sense of fulfillment and gratitude. I am seeing every day is opening new understandings in me.

I know I am the most blessed person on this planet.

Nithyanandam!

Sri Nithya Sachitananda Hunt Valley, MD, USA May 26, 2008

After working in corporations for all my adult life, I wanted to share Swamiji's teachings as it relates to around human mind and productivity. This is a very important topic for companies since all companies constantly face the need to lower costs as global competition is constantly driving the need to improve productivity of human capital in companies.

The charts presented below are self explanatory. The basic premise is the conscious mind which really represents our actions is really the output. This output differs based on our deeply embedded emotions and engraved memories. The way we respond to a particular situation really depends on our past experiences. For example if a dog bit us in our childhood, whenever you see a dog, even after thirty years, there can be a sense of fear. We fail to realize that organizations are simply a collection of individuals. Each individual has a unique set of engraved memories. Their response to a particular situation at work is a function of their engraved memories.

As a corporate executive, I have attended numerous training sessions, often with some of the most well known corporate trainers and inspirational speakers. I also attended numerous skill building and team building exercises. All of these exercises normally address two areas: 1. Development of particular technical skills. For example, taking a course in project economics to understand an income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, Net Present Value etc would fall into this category. 2. Then there are courses for leadership, team building. 3. There are courses that corporations offer on stress management, work/life balance and some of the more progressive companies may provide wellness programs.

As a senior executive too often I would get frustrated at why, despite all the training and investment in an individual, he or she is not performing or he/she is a difficult team player, he/she is not "committed" to the business. I believe that until we help the individual at the root level of the emotion and take it one step further to relieve them of the root of these problems, we are just doing "cosmetic surgery". By attending a two day course on team building where we climb a rock or work together on team building exercises we feel good for a day or a week. Then we are back to our good old self. The training manual that we picked up at the event or the certificate of completion for this course just gathers dust as a memento in our offices. Little did I realize then that we are indeed not helping the employee with their deep rooted engraved memories causing problems. It is these samskaras causing him/her to behave in a particular way. After having undergone this deep personal transformation myself, I now believe that if corporations can understand and appreciate the deep rootedness of our emotions they can provide holistic solutions to individuals. A one size fits all strategy of training and development will not work. It has not worked in companies for decades. In fact it is interesting when I get back to my old employer to meet with friends I worked with they are speaking of the same issues we grappled with five years ago – this manager is not a team player, that particular department does not coordinate, we are still a very siloed organization, etc. It almost feels like time has stood still in these organizations.

On the other hand, I am living in this spectacular living laboratory called the Bidadi Ashram, where you can see hyper-efficiency in overdrive, but with no stress. People's root emotions are being worked on and addressed and you can see the people are working in a blissful manner, with tremendous confidence and maturity. I would sincerely hope you will think about this aspect when you are planning on your training programs in your organizations. I am not trying to push our meditation programs, but I would urge you to read the book, "Guaranteed Solutions" in the privacy of your home and understand how our basic emotions are causing us from exploding in all dimensions in our personal and professional lives.

In this slide we can see that most conventional training programs work on the surface or at shallow depths of our being. Yet in the unconscious mind we are boiling with a lot of emotions and below this layer are experiences we have undergone in our life (or lives as the eastern mystics tell us). It is based on these deep engraved memories or Samskaras that each one of us respond to a particular situation so differently.

Productivity = Output Divided by Input

Output is something that is "valuable" for the organization, business unit or society

Input is the resource required (i.e., number of people, capital investment, etc). Whereas, output = Function of knowledge, job skills and the state of mind of the individual. The state of mind is often the most ignored aspect in a corporation. In USA especially, one could argue that this is getting too close for comfort in terms of getting into the "personal space" on an individual or employee. However I will argue that 90% of one's problems stems from the deep layers of the mind, from the deeply embedded engraved memories or samskaras. Unless we address these deep rooted issues, all we are doing is cosmetic surgery.

I hope the corporate executives reading this appendix realize we are really not helping our employees reach their fullest potential if we do not address the root of the problem which lie deep in the unconscious layers. They are deep engraved memories and emotions. We normally tend to address the end result of these emotions (stress, anxiety, obesity, etc) and not the root problem. I realize addressing the root of the problem can be tricky, especially in US and other western countries where individuality and privacy are important.

The Life Bliss Program I is one such program where we try and address these deep rooted problems in two ways: 1. By providing an intellectual understanding of each of the core emotions of fantasies, fear, worry, attention need, comparison, ego and gratitude. 2. This is then supplemented by meditation techniques to cleanse our body/mind of these deep rooted emotions. Those who can internalize this program have seen significant benefits in their physical and emotional problems.

SWAMIJI'S WORLD TOUR, 2004

SWAMIJI'S WORLD TOUR, 2004

SWAMIJI'S WORLD TOUR, 2004

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is recognized as the 1008th living incarnation of Paramashiva as per Sanatana Hindu Dharma ("Hinduism") and by His predecessors of enlightened masters and adepts

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is reviving Hinduism as the 1008th Acharya Mahamandaleshwar (the head for all spiritual leaders) of Atal Akhada (ancient apex body of Hinduism), coronated as Mahamandaleshwar (Supreme Spiritual Head) of Maha Nirvani Akhada (largest apex monastic order) and the youngest Mahamandaleshwar, ordained as the 233rd Guru Mahasannidhanam (Pontiff) of Thondai Mandala Aadheenam, ordained as the 293rd Guru Mahasannidhanam (Pontiff) of Shyamalapeeta Sarvajnapeetam, ordained as the 23rd Guru Mahasannidhanam of Dharmamukthi Swargapuram Aadheenam, and coronated as the 203rd Emperor of Suryavamsa Surangi Samrajyam.

The Srimad Karana Agama, Purva bhaga, Patala 71, Sakalotpatti vidhi, Sloka 8 & 9 (Sacred Ancient Hindu scripture) declares:

इत्येवंनि ष्कळं प्रोक्तं परं भावंनिनि स्। सृनिस्थंलोकरंक्षाथंलोकस्येत्पनि कारंण।। सृधका नि#थं$ स्वंच्छये गृह्ण $)।

In this way (Shiva) who is Nishkala - without any body and parts, who is the Ultimate Supreme Being, who is established in the Creation, who is the Cause of the creation of the Universe, assumes a body out of His Free Will for the protection of the Universe, and for the welfare of the Spiritual seekers and Devotees.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is the reigning spiritual emperor of 17 ancient traditional Hindu kingdoms and the reviver of the most ancient, most peaceful, still-living and long-lasting demonstrable system that shows the possibility of peaceful co-existence amongst people. Following the coronation to establish KAILASA worldwide at the age of 16, for the past 27 years, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, as the face of the unified Hindus, has been singlehandedly, tirelessly inspiring the dispossessed Hindu Diaspora to reclaim their Hindu centric freedom and stand unified for the centuries-old Hindu genocide.

The 1008th living incarnation of Paramaśiva, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM stands as the unifying force for the 2 billion born and practicing Hindu diaspora worldwide and established the Hindu State, KAILASA for the persecuted Hindus in over 100 countries. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has made resolute efforts towards recognizing and legitimizing the Hindu genocide which has been receiving scant consideration by global leaders and international bodies, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM founded KAILASA Uniting Nations. For the past 27 years, this international body has been responsible in building relations, bridging dialogs, inspiring leaders, uniting nations towards acknowledging the Hindu policies which are universal, life positive as referenced from the ancient text of Hinduism. This is the 'ahimsa' (non-violent) way of bringing acknowledgment to the horrors of the Hindu genocide, the untold facts of the darkest act of mankind on Earth to the most contributing civilization - KAILASA.

KAILASA is an apolitical nation whose vision is enlightened living for all. Towards this goal, KAILASA is the only Hindu nation on planet Earth today bringing legitimacy to the principles of Hinduism. Social principles, economic principles, judicial principles, Hindu medical principles, and Hindu economic principles. KAILASA is THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's response to humanity's global problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, disease, violence and global warming and the continuing ethnocide and genocide of over 80 million Hindus worldwide since 7 centuries.

Over the last 50 years, the effects of meditation and its significant impact on stress, crime rates, violence, political decision making and even war in local and global consciousness is well established. Unfortunately, in the last two hundred years, forcibly we are made to believe Hinduism is a functional principle only for enlightenment and spirituality. It is absolutely dysfunctional for the political, social, economical system. Making Hindu family structure, Hindu social structure dysfunctional is the greatest crime done against humanity.

Sanatana Hindu Dharma has faced both historical and ongoing religious persecution and systematic violence, in various forms including assassination attempts on living incarnations, targeted elimination of Hindu pontiffs through bio war and lawfare, cyberbullying, Hindu phobia, forced conversions, documented massacres, demolitions, desecration and grabbing of worship temples and monasteries, looting of Hindu temples properties, destruction of Hindu educational institutions, elimination of well known Hindu libraries, the gross violation to the freedom to practice the Hindu school of liberated thinking (Sankhya), Hindu schools of living enlightenment (Jeevan Mukthi), gross violations of the right to freedom of religion that includes violations of the right to life, personal Hindu integrity or personal Hindu liberty, mass execution, looting and enslavement.

Hinduism was once practiced freely in over 56 nations across the continent from Afghanistan, Bharat, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, all the way to Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia and Indonesia, and in 200 states, 1700 samasthanas (provinces) and 10,000 sampradayas (traditions). Over several centuries the combined forces of foreign invasion, political upheaval, colonialism and religious persecution systematically ended millennia of Hindu Swarajya, or self-rule. Today Hindu temples remain in a few countries but the Hindus who worshiped in them have been ethnically cleansed.

The revival of Hinduism through the civilizational nation of KAILASA globally irked vested interests of atheistic terrorist militant elements, caste supremacist terrorists and other anti-Hindu forces who executed a massive persecution and genocide on SPH and His followers on 2 March 2010 that continued for the next whole decade and comprised of over 70 assassination attempts, over 250 sexual assaults on SPH and his monks and disciples, lawfare of 120 false cases over 10 years, massive hate propaganda in electronic media of over 14,000 hours and print media of over 25,000 articles in 5 years, destruction of heritage properties worth over 27 million USD, and the continuing ethnocide and genocide of over 80 million Hindus worldwide since 7 centuries. Specifically, the lawfare involved:

• Delegitimizing SPH by hate propaganda, disenfranchising Him of His civil and human rights, prejudicing Him from fair representation and fair trial
• Repeated illegal imprisonment, with brazen torture, custodial assassination attempts, supported by system justification in various forms, including the common processes of bureaucracy, indifference, self-deception, diffused responsibility and has resulted in continued systemic complicity with torture, murder and genocide
• Well-planned multi-layer false hate propaganda by the 'fourth estate' media sustained by moral disengagement, leaving the broader public in a state of willful ignorance, motivated denial, out-group victim-blaming, dehumanization and bystander apathy to even genocide.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM stands in solidarity with the untold, multi-level - social, political, intellectual, religious, cultural, linguistic, economic, legal, digital - persecution done to Hinduism and faced by Hindus and Hindu minorities worldwide for the past several thousands of years continues through the modern day. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has been recently acknowledged by the United Nations for the persecution of The SPH and the KAILASA global community, especially the affected women and children.

The KAILASA with de facto spiritual embassies operating across over 100 countries and having presence across the globe as the largest spiritual knowledge source on Hinduism is spiritually governed with the life positive, all-inclusive, universal policies sourced from Hinduism revived by the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. Having enriched and enreached more than one billion individuals over the past 27 years the KAILASA raises the voice to protect Hindus, defend Hindus and preserve the Hindu narrative for the world.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM At the Feet of the Master -