Mystery Of Mysteries

Our understanding of death can be broadly classified into two categories: there are people who believe in life after death and those who do not believe in rebirth. Of course, there are many who don't come under either of these two categories. They neither talk about death nor analyze it. They want to be deliberately ignorant. Their attitude is, let it come when it has to come, and we will handle it at that time. Why should we even think about it or discuss about it now? They prefer to take the escapist route.

In Western philosophy, there is no concept of rebirth. Their logical minds do not allow them to

believe in it. There is no proof of rebirth. Even near-death experiences are only experiences of certain people. There is still an element of doubt about what death really is. Is it just the end of the physical body? Why does it really happen at the time it happens to every person? Many scientists are still working on this mystery. They have not been able to come to any decisive conclusion.

That is why in the West, people want to live their lives fully. They feel that they don't have a second chance to fulfill their dreams. So they are in a hurry to fulfill all their desires as soon as possible. This has created anxiety in man. This concept or belief of a single life is what has given birth to science. Man started to search for the maximum comfort, joy and juice from the outer world. Man wants to extract the maximum that he can at whatever expense to him and others during the limited period that he knows instinctively is all that he has in this world.

This belief of just one life has also given rise to the sense of purpose in life and the concept of God in the more serious and introspective humans. For most people, God is just a concept. They have not experienced Him. God is just a vague concept until enlightenment. In fact, even the idea of God was created only when the question of death was raised.

Many people have tried to answer these questions. In that process, they have created theories, philosophies and religions. Even the idea of God was created during this process only. The question of death is the most mysterious question according to me. From time immemorial, so many people have tried again and again to answer this question.

Every person who tried answering this question created a new religion, a new cult. All religions are born out of this question.

What actually happens after death? What is death? It is the most mysterious thing!

Let me answer this question first: why should we analyze death? The answer is: our idea, our understanding about death, will change our whole understanding about life.

In Los Angeles, more than a hundred years ago, Vivekananda was asked by a young lady, 'What is life?' He replied, 'Come with me to Bharat and I will teach you.' She was confused and asked, 'What will you teach me?' Vivekananda said, 'I will teach you how to die!' It seems strange that the question was about life, but the answer was about death!

Actually, if we know the secret of death, our quality of life will be different! Our quality of life, our understanding and attitude to life will change.

Understand that death is not an incident that happens at the end of our lives. It is actually happening every moment of our lives! When the understanding of death permeates our consciousness, we will have a clear idea of life. We will realize that living and leaving are just two sides of the same coin.

Serious enquirers of the purpose of Existence in creating humans, eventually turned to the Eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism to resolve their doubts.

Eastern philosophy is based on the experiences of great enlightened masters and rishis (sages). They believed in many births. Instead of the limiting scientific tradition of the West born out of the limited space of life, the idea of unlimited space, time of life and death of the Eastern religions gave birth to spirituality. When we take birth again and again, enacting the same drama of a brother, sister, husband, friend, parent, we eventually feel tired of this drama. When we die, we leave these co-actors and move on. When we come back, we have a new setting. It goes on and on. After a while, we tire of going through the same cycle over and over. We look to be liberated. The moment we start thinking about liberation, we start thinking about moksha or enlightenment. Spirituality is all about this. Our understanding of death makes us understand life.

According to me, our concept of death is the one basis on which we live. There is a beautiful Zen saying, 'Learning the art of dying is learning the art of living.'

A Zen story:

An enlightened master once declared that he was going to die the next day at six in the morning. Of course, enlightened people know about their death. The disciples requested the master to wait for a few hours as it would be very cold early in the morning. That would also give them sufficient time for the funeral. The master, out of compassion, agreed to do so. He changed the time of his death to noon. Exactly at the stroke of twelve, he left his body.

Enlightened masters truly embody Friedrich Nietzsche's words, 'Death of one's own free choice, death at the proper time, with a clear head and with joyfulness, consummated in the midst of children and witnesses, so that an actual leave-taking is possible while he who is leaving is still there.'

When the British were trying to establish their supremacy over Bharat, they were very keen on taking control of a small village in Central Bharat for strategic reasons.

There were only about a hundred tribal people living there (This village does not exist anymore).

The villagers were highly esoteric and mystical. They practiced meditation and it is said that they never fell sick. They were such highly evolved people that even if they hurt someone in their dreams, they would go and apologize to the person the next morning. They did not even want to harbour unconscious vengeance or hatred. They were a mature and spiritual group that had nothing of the outer world but everything of the inner world.

When the British tried to force their culture on them, they would not give in. They resisted. Even when they were threatened to give up or face dire consequences, they refused to do so.

They gathered in the center of the village and right in front of the British soldiers, they chanted a mantra (chant) and dropped dead. Every single one of them dropped dead.

The soldiers could not believe their eyes. They had not anticipated that the villagers would commit suicide. This incident has been recorded by British soldiers.

They also said that for the first time, they felt guilty for being responsible for the death of such innocent, simple, yet great people. These people knew the art of dying. They could just drop their body and leave the world.

The Bhagavad Gita says, 'Death is just like changing your coat.' Learning to die is the one and only art that we are supposed to learn while we are living. There is a great fear of death, of the unknown, in most people.

A beautiful story from the Katopanishad:

There was a young seven year old boy by the name of Nachiketa.

He asked his father, who was a king, 'Why are people afraid to die?'

The king was irritated at what seemed to be an obviously understood fact. So, he scolded Nachiketa, 'Why don't you go face death if you are not afraid?'

Little Nachiketa was genuinely interested in finding out the answer and he set out to meet Yama (God of Death).

On reaching Yama's abode, he found that Yama was not there.

So he decided to wait.

After some time, Yama returned and he was shocked to see a little boy waiting for him.

All the time, Yama had to chase people, who in turn, tried their best to escape the jaws of death. And here was this small boy who had come boldly to face death himself.

Yama compassionately asked him, 'What have you come here for? You are one of the rare beings who has come to the door of death; normally people run away from me!'

Nachiketa replied, 'Master, that is what I have come to find out about. What is death?' Yama was surprised at the young boy's question. He saw the deep sincerity in the boy and gave him the Truth. Nachiketa became enlightened.

We see: Death is the greatest teacher! The teacher who can teach us enlightenment itself!

Now, let us look into the mystery of death, which is truly the greatest mystery. Can anybody speak about death? In Tamil, there is a proverb, 'Those who have seen death have never come back.' Those who have come back have not seen it. No one can speak about death except an enlightened man. He is authorized since he has already undergone the death experience. He is dead. Unless we undergo death, we can never get enlightened, we can never get liberated. The mysteries of death can never be recorded or proved logically. They can never be reduced to facts and figures. They are such personal experiences, that only a few enlightened masters have spoken about them. Unfortunately, they have no certificates. God has not created a university or industry for enlightenment. Only a few who have had the experience share their views with others. Only a few who felt the energy of the master could take advantage of this science. That is why the mystery of death is unknown to most people.

This science can transform our lives. As we have not understood this mystery, we have missed so many things in life. The secret of death is not a very popular concept in the West because it can never be proved scientifically. Today, a lot of scientists and psychologists are researching accounts of NDE's (Near Death Experiences). Thousands of people have experienced it. There is even a website which gives the experiences of nearly people. We will be surprised to know that all their experiences are similar. Hypnotherapists adopt the regression method to know more about the past lives of the patients. Patients are hypnotized and taken back in life and lives, often resulting in information on past lives, how they enter into the body, and how and when they leave the body. We will see that the findings are very similar to what the Upanishads say about death. So now, this science is spreading in the West too.

What happens after death? We need a little bit of mental preparation before we can go in depth into this subject. Whatever I have spoken so far is only to prepare us, to bring us to a mental level

from where we can understand what I am going to say. I promise you that what I am going to narrate about my experiences is the truth and the absolute truth. It matches the findings of the rishis, hypnotherapists, psycho-analysts and doctors. I developed that personal experience into a formula that will help people to overcome the pain at the time of their transition.

This is how this formula happened to me; this formula is behind the Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP). I am trying to transmit and reproduce my experience as a master, just like a scientist develops formulae to reproduce the external truths that he observes.

I was in Varanasi, which is a sort of headquarters of Hinduism. Hindus are enjoined to visit Varanasi at least once in a life-time to wash away their sins by bathing in the sacred river Ganga that flows through this city. I was caring for an elderly monk of a particular religious order, who was sick. He was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and I was sitting by his bedside.

This happened before my enlightenment experience. There was another person in that ICU ward who was dying. I could see the struggle of the soul leaving the body. The body was in tremendous pain, as if a knife was ripping across its entire length, as if a thousand scorpions were stinging him. The pain was so palpable that I wanted to run away from there; I could hardly watch. Suddenly, the being fell into coma; coma is a pain-killer; it is an automatic mechanism of the mind for the body to stop feeling the pain, that unbearable pain.

When I saw that being suffer, it seemed to last only for a few minutes, but for that being, it was eternal. The pain of that being remained with me; I too was suffering. I watched, but I could not do anything. The monk I was attending to recovered. A year after this incident, I became enlightened.

I traveled down to South Bharat after my experience. Two years later, I was again in an ICU healing a disciple. This time too, another person was dying at a bed nearby. I saw that person die even as I was healing my disciple. I felt the pain starting; I wanted to run; but now instead of this being falling into coma and unconsciousness unable to bear the pain, it went into deep awareness - super consciousness! It was floating from one energy layer to the next and finally disappeared into bliss.

I asked the family of the dead man whether he was a very spiritual man, whether he was a great meditator, whether he was enlightened. They said no. He was a non-believer, an atheist, and not even remotely religious. I wondered how he could have had such a blissful death? How? Why? For this being, death was not an ordeal; it was a blessing. Why then did the other soul suffer a year back? I contemplated, I meditated. Suddenly, the knowledge that descended on me was the knowledge of what I now teach at the NSP. It is a science, a technology that arose from the experience of these two deaths.

All suffering is caused by memories of desires, the unfulfilled desires accumulated over births in our body, mind and spirit. NSP makes the inner space pure and clean; it dissolves all memories. It helps the the spirit leave peacefully, blissfully. Death becomes liberation and a celebration for one without memories.

When we leave the body, we cross seven different layers of our body: the physical, pranic, mental, subtle, causal, spiritual and finally nirvanic. As soon as we leave the body, as the spirit

leaves the physical layer, we undergo a tremendous, unmanageable pain. A small cut in your hand gives you so much pain. Can you imagine what the pain will be when your whole body, your consciousness from head to toe is torn? The pain will be similar to the pain that one will undergo when stung by ten thousand scorpions at once! A little meditation while we are living, will help us have a painless transition. It can heal and guide us at the time of passing away.

We must know the depth of the problem; otherwise, we will not go for the solution. When death happens, our consciousness will be torn from the body. There will be severe pain. Immediately, we will go into coma. Doctors say that coma is an automatic mechanism to combat the pain. It is automatic anesthesia. That is why, every ordinary men fall into coma before they leave the body. Only enlightened masters have conscious deaths. There is no need for them to go into a coma. Many enlightened masters have passed away in the sitting posture. Paramahamsa Yogananda was one of them.

Next, in the pranic space, our desires want to possess our body, but time refuses to allow them to do so. It is time to leave and move to the next body. In the struggle between our desires and time, it is time that wins. Like this, step by step we move into different spaces and enter the next body. We enter into another body in 3 kshanas (kshana is defined as the time between two thoughts).

As long as we are in this body, we see the whole world in four dimensions. We have seen movies in three dimensions where we feel that we are a part of the scene. But in 4D movies, they also make us experience it by rocking our chairs and causing some special effects at the physical level! For example, if we are sitting and there is an earthquake being shown, we will not just be watching it but we will also experience it! When we are in this body, the outer world is exciting and colorful; meditation and spirituality take the back-seat. They don't seem important or necessary. We feel that these can wait. But the moment we leave the body and start travelling inside, the outwardly trip becomes inconsequential and meditation and other spiritual interests become more important and enjoyable. As long as we are in this physical body, we continuously chase material things to make our lives comfortable.

People come and tell me that they don't have time for meditation. I tell them to take back their words. Be honest and accept that you don't have the interest. At least be clear to yourself that your priority is not meditation. Our aim is to make more money, and make our life comfortable. Be honest to yourself about it. Our money and status, our social life, will not contribute to anything when we leave the body. Remember that.

All the things that we have lived for have no place in the zone that we experience as we leave our body. Our sins and good deeds bear no value. There are no bargains for us to have. Our charitable donations have no say there. There can be no money exchange. We cannot give donations to a charitable institution and take the receipt along with us. There is no visa or speed-pass in heaven. There is no exchange counter between earth and heaven.

A small story:

One man managed to strike a conversation with God. He spoke to him about heaven and hell. God said to him, 'Come, I will show you hell.'

They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Everyone was looking famished.

Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but the spoon had a handle so much longer than their arms that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible.

God said after a while, 'Come, now I will show you heaven.'

They entered another room, identical to the first - the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.

'I don't understand,' said the man. 'Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?'

God smiled and said, 'It is simple. Here they have learnt to feed each other!'

Geographically, there is no hell or heaven. These are only psychological states. How much we learn to go with the flow and live, that much life can be heaven. If we are intelligent, we will be happy and blissful; we are in heaven; else we will remain depressed; we are in hell.

Another story:

A big industrialist died and reached the office of St. Peter.

St. Peter gave him a choice to be in heaven or in hell.

The industrialist requested to be taken to both the places before he could decide.

The request was granted. First, he went to heaven. There he saw only saints singing hymns. There was no great activity.

Next he went to hell where he saw people dancing and drinking and having fun. There was a celebration going on. The industrialist was very impressed and decided to choose hell.

St. Peter agreed but warned him that once the decision was made there was no going back.

The industrialist was confident of his decision and went ahead with his choice of hell.

The industrialist was taken to hell. The moment he stepped into hell, he was grabbed by two devils who started torturing him. He was very upset. He protested and blamed the authorities for this treatment. He said, 'This is not what I saw when I came to inspect! It was so lively and inviting. Now what I see is completely different. I feel cheated now!'

The demons looked at him and replied, 'What you saw was only our marketing department!'

Understand that if we believe in heaven and hell, we will end up only in the marketing department! All our ideas of merits and sins are created for better social life. They are not spiritual laws. Only consciousness can help us; not our conscience. Our consciousness is natural; it is a continuous witnessing awareness. Only that is going to guide us after death.

Going to temples and places of worship is not going to help us after death. If we think that leading a religious life here is going to help us there, be very clear that you are not going to be rewarded there. Our actions are not going to accompany us. The moment we leave this physical layer, our activities are not going to count. Whether we are sinners or saints does not count either. There is no difference between a sadhu (one who has renounced family life) and a householder; this is only a social difference. At the time of leaving the body, what matters is how the person has lived; how aware he has been.

How consciously we have lived life is all that counts. The more we become aware of our body and mind, the more it comes under our control. Someone once asked me, 'By controlling my desire for sex, can I attain enlightenment?' I told him, if you are enlightened, you will not have the desire for sex. But don't think that by controlling your desire for sex, you will become enlightened. We must understand that an enlightened man is out of the sex circle. Buddha was out of sex, Krishna was out of sex and Jesus was out of sex.

A small story from Krishna's life:

Once, Krishna along with the gopis (cowherd devotees of Krishna), was trying to cross the sacred river Yamuna (river in northern Bharat) which was heavily flooded at that time.

He prayed to Yamuna to subside and give Him way if she believed He was a brahmachari (celibate).

Yamuna subsided at once to give them way.

People wondered how this was possible since to them, Krishna was a flirt! He used to spend time with all His female devotees and He had thousands of wives as well. How could He be a brahmachari?

Vyasa (author of the epic - Mahabharata) explains that an enlightened master is beyond sex. He has no gender. He is beyond his body. He is beyond sex.

But an ordinary person will not attain enlightenment just by going beyond sex. It cannot be used as a technique for enlightenment. Enlightenment does not happen by suppressing ourselves. It needs transformation - of base energies to higher level energies; lust should transform to love, anger to compassion and so on. We need to work on transforming ourselves. None of our virtues or acts are going to help us after we leave the body.

A small story:

In a village, one man was charged of committing a sin. He was rounded up in the village meeting for punishment.

A wise old man visiting the village was watching the scene.

People accused the man of sin. There were shouts from all around.

The wise old man spoke loudly, 'Let the man who is without a sin pass the final judgement.' All of a sudden, there was pin drop silence!

We are saints as long as people worship us. A 'sinner' is just an idea given to us by our enemies. A 'saint' is an idea given to us by our disciples. A sinner and saint are titles given by moralists. Ofcourse, to live in the planet, we need to follow some morality. But neither a sinner nor a saint exists once we leave the physical body. How consciously we lived our lives is the only thing that matters. Our consciousness will be the torch that will help us cross all the seven layers. Once we cross these seven layers consciously with awareness, in a meditative way, we will have the choice to be enlightened or to take birth. If we have not lived with consciousness or awareness, we will immediately enter a new body after our death. Our lust for the body will be so much that we will not even wait to get a suitable body; we will get into the first available body.

When we are living with the body, if we can be at ease with our body, if we can live with ourselves, sit without thoughts, that is what is the power of consciousness If we have the capacity

to sit by ourselves without thoughts, we have the power of consciousness in us.

This is actually a very powerful Zen meditation technique: sitting with yourself. We may think that sitting without doing anything is quite easy. But if we just sit we will see how our mind races through so many thoughts, one after the other, and we will also see that most of these are disconnected and have no real reason to arise as they do! When we are with ourselves, if we are aware of thoughts as they rise, we can drop them instead of trying in vain to control them.

We can sit with everyone, but we cannot sit with ourselves. Even when we are alone, we keep ourselves busy by watching television or reading the newspaper. We watch the same things again and again; we read the same things again and again. If we are not doing these two things, we start planning or thinking.

If we can sit at least for a minute completely relaxed, we will have the same sense of relaxation when we leave the body. We will have the patience and awareness to wait and choose the right type of body. We must understand that it is we who program and design our birth, including the choice of our parents. Our choice of the next body is based on the way we have lived our lives.

For example, if we live to eat rather than eat to live, at the time of death we will still have the desire to continue eating. So we will design our next body to accommodate this desire. We will naturally choose the body of a pig! If we have lived our life only for sleeping and doing no creative work, we will choose the body of a buffalo. Based on the attitude we have lived with, we choose the next body. This is the basic idea on which our janma-marana chakra (cycle of life and death) revolves. We go into janma samskara chakra, a birth life cycle. We go and come back again taking a new body. This phenomenon happens again and again. This is the cycle of birth and death. I have given you my understanding of this cycle of birth and death from my own experience.

This is a vast subject. Only by questioning can we have a clear understanding of this subject.

Apart from the first two layers, which I have explained briefly, the third layer is the subtle layer. It is related to our guilt. When we leave this layer, there will be struggle between us and our guilt; the question of right or wrong will arise. When we leave the physical body or the sthula sarira, we have to deal with pain. In the pranic layer, we deal with desires and in the subtle layer, we deal with our guilt. The fourth body, the causal body is that of total darkness. In the fifth body which is the spiritual body, we will remember all our pain intensely. In the sixth body, the cosmic body, we will feel intense pleasure. These are the 2 spaces that I call heaven and hell. When we reach the cosmic body, we become one with consciousness. If we are not ready for it or we are not enlightened, we come back; we take a rebirth. If we are mature as we go through these layers, we become enlightened.

Even ordinary people who are not enlightened, just by their simplicity and innocence, are able to predict their death. This is very common among villagers. Even among the very family members of these people, such predictions of the person's death have been made and have come true as well. They predict the exact time!

Understand that there is nothing wrong in enjoying life. This morning, a devotee was asking me about pornography. According to me, pornography is the most insensitive thing. It makes us lose

sensitivity. In this, only the body structure is respected and not the person or the being. We never feel fulfilled because it makes us insensitive. That is the reason we run behind it again and again. If we enjoyed it with our sensitivity, we would be fulfilled. I call the body, the temple of consciousness. If we enjoy it in the ultimate sense, we will get enlightened and never come back.

When we discuss enjoyment, we should see whether we are talking from a sensitive or insensitive point of view. If we are talking from an insensitive angle, we will never get enlightened. We will come back again and again. We will be stuck in the second layer. If we want to enjoy life on planet Earth, we are attracted by this desire, and we will naturally take rebirth. It is our choice whether we want to get enlightened or whether we want to enjoy the pleasures of this life on a purey materialistic plane. If our sensitivity is heightened, we enjoy bliss and are relaxed without the help of outward pleasures.

There is a beautiful sutra in the Kamasutra which says, 'The moment we have sensitivity, we realize the ecstasy and joy of living. Our very living inside our body is ecstasy.' Tantra calls it, 'the inner orgasm'. If we experience this, we will decide not to take another birth. Why go through all the pain of birth and death? If we have the maturity to live without the body, we will not look for another birth. But if we have any hangover, unfulfilled desire, naturally we will choose to be born again to fulfill it.

The karma theory (theory of cause and effect) according to me has no basis. It is only a faith, a belief created by man. By creating this law, man has done a great service to society, but he has created a great conspiracy against humanity. For social well-being, this theory or law is good. For example, one implication of this law is that you will not kill me and therefore I should not kill you. It is only an understanding between people so that they can live in peace and harmony. There is no spiritual attribute to this law. But we can start giving spiritual explanation saying that we will be punished for our sins. This sense of torture is not correct. It is used to instill fear in us, so that we follow the dictum of morality as dictated by society.

When we are teaching children about morality, we could resort to telling them stories to teach them the idea of right and wrong and what repercussions can happen if they don't follow morality. But this type of fear is not necessary to make mature people understand morality.

The truth is that we carry neither our sins nor our merits with us. But we cannot say that we can do whatever we want in our lives without regard to others. What we carry with us is the mental setup. For example, a murderer carries a mindset which tortures him. Be clear, it is not the burden of a hundred murders that he actually carries with him. It is the sense of sin that he carries with him.

We think that we will go to hell if we sin. Actually it is the other way around: we sin because we are in hell! When we are in bliss, we cannot harm any one. It is only our conscious attitude that will make us joyful.

As long as the karma theory is based on fear, it will never give fulfillment. No morality should be based on fear or greed. It should be based only on understanding. Man should be given techniques to create deep awareness within him; he should be taken to an appropriate level of maturity to

understand the laws. There should be no fear of hell and heaven. Surely there is no hell or heaven based on the theory of karma. In fact if we associate ourselves too much with so-called wrong actions, we get tied so closely to our body that we cannot disconnect ourselves from it at the time of death. This is the truth.

For instance a man who has lived only for sensual pleasures cannot leave his body easily at the time of his death. There is too much pain, and that is really what hell is.

If we live with awareness and consciousness, we will radiate joy, bliss and compassion. We will experience life to be so enjoyable and radiant, that living leaves little time for anything else.

This is the reason I never give rules even during our meditation camps. I never ask people to refrain from eating non-vegetarian food. Surprisingly, even confirmed non-vegetarians have become vegetarian after attending the meditation camps. The awareness and consciousness becomes so sharp and heightened that our very being starts guiding us. There is no need for any law. If I force vegetarianism on people, they will come up with excuses for not giving up non-vegetarian food.

So I don't believe in morality since I know it is not going to work. I believe in experience. I don't believe in conscience; I believe in consciousness. When consciousness happens in us, automatically awareness will happen in us. Social morality will start manifesting within us. There will be no conflict between inside and outside. Morality will become our life. The moment we start living rules and regulations based on morality, we will not adhere to them. It is man's basic instinct to break rules. For example, the moment we see there is no policeman or the traffic signal is not working, we start speeding. The moment we see a policeman we reduce the speed.

We try to inject the karma theory in a subtle way through these social laws. As long as morality is taught with fear as the basis, when morality is instilled in us from the outside, it is a result of social laws. When it is programmed inside us in our mind right from a young age, we call it the theory of karma. But both of these are just programming. According to me, conscience is a poor substitute to consciousness. The karma theory is a very poor substitute for meditation. I always tell people it is time for us to drop our toys and become mature.

A small story:

A young girl who had not seen her parents for nearly five years came home unexpectedly one day.

No sooner did she set foot inside the house than her father screamed angrily at her, 'Where have you been all this time? Look at the state you are in. You are wearing lipstick. That skirt barely covers your legs. You left us without a word and we have not had any communication from you in five years. Why didn't you call? Do you have any idea what you've put your poor mother through?'

The girl started crying and said, 'I got into bad company. I took drugs. I became a prostitute...'

The father shouted in disbelief, 'What did you say? You are a sinner! You are a disgrace to this family. I don't ever want to see your face again!

The girl continued, 'I only came back to give mum this fur coat that I bought for her, the title deeds to a new house that I bought and a savings account certificate for one million dollars.

Her father interrupted and asked, 'What was it you said you had become again?' The girl started crying again and said, 'A prostitute.' The father embraced her and said, 'You scared me half to death! I thought you said 'a Protestant'!

All our morality is just skin-deep. If we look deeply, we will realize that the karma theory is only a societal program. People who are not programmed with karma theory are also alive. Social laws are social toys and karma theory is a mental toy.

Enough! Drop your toys and go beyond your fear and greed. Why should you do good acts just for a place in heaven? Do good acts for joy of doing it. Then the very act will bring you so much joy.

Francis Bacon says beautifully, 'Men fear death as children fear to go forth in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.'

Once, one of my devotees who was handling the entire collection of money from my classes in the USA, lost all the money while in the process of transferring it to the bank. Some of my very close devotees were very upset when they heard about it. I was very relaxed and calm. I told them to relax. When we are handling such big amounts, it is bound to happen. I am not worried about it. Sometimes these things happen. They were not ready to accept any explanation. They felt terribly sad because according to them, it was hard-earned money and I had worked very hard for it. I consoled them saying that when we work intensely, the work itself is the reward and not the effect. As long as we work on the basis of greed, there will be no joy. Likewise, service should never be based on some reward.

Krishna beautifully emphasizes this point in the Bhagavad Gita. When Arjuna is hesitant to fight against his cousins and relatives, Krishna tells him, 'You are a warrior; you are fighting a battle. Do your job and don't worry about the fruits of your actions.'

There is need to worry about fear and greed; no need to fear about punishment and reward. If we are only living our lives based on fear and greed, be sure that we are not mature. We have aged, but not grown up. All these theories about karma are good to start with, but not to end at.

Someone asked Vivekananda, 'What is the need to believe in the Bible? Should I actually believe in heaven and hell?' Vivekananda replied, 'It is good to be born in the church, but not to die there.'

It is good to start with a little bit of force and fear. To start with, when fear is used to make children understand, it is okay. They may need it for understanding certain concepts. But adults have no need for it. We should be mature enough to understand.

Vivekananda said, 'Flood your spirituality and religion with logic and reasoning. Whatever withstands these, let it stay; let the others be washed away. The sooner it is washed away, the better it is for mankind.' We have had enough of living with Manusmruti (ancient Hindu religious text for moral living). Of course, Manu had done a great service to mankind by laying down guidelines for social interaction, but we have to go beyond Smruti, the laws that were laid down to reach Sruti, the divine truths.

There are two types of scriptures in Eastern mysticism - one is Smruti: day-to-day laws such as social laws laid down as religious truths and regulations, and the other is Sruti: inner spiritual qualities to improve one's consciousness that the great sages internalized as they contemplated infinite cosmic power. The Upanishads constitute Sruti, while the Puranas, including Manusmruti, constitute the Smrutis.

Hindu religion was originally called Sanatana Dharma, the eternal way of righteous living*. Sanatana Dharma* is the only religious philosophy which has the courage to say that Smrutis, religious laws can be changed. It declares that its scriptures can be updated. It says that its students have the right to do so. Rishis (sages) say that when the Smrutis are changed, the entire society can be changed. Sruti is the technique to consciousness.

The desires and thoughts which we have in this birth if fulfilled can lead to either of two things: deep satisfaction and fulfillment or unfulfillment and hopelessness. If we have led a complete life and satisfied all our desires, there is no need to come back. But if we have not lived our desires, we will come back again to fulfill the unfulfilled desires. To fulfill these desires, we will choose our parents, birth-place and friends. We will carry with us the same mental setup and tendency to do the same kind of things.

For example, if we cheat somebody in this life, in the next life we may not be cheated by that same person but we will carry the same attitude of cheating with us and whatever we gain by cheating, we will never enjoy. We will not have the sensitivity to enjoy it. We will be in deep dissatisfaction. This is like having an expensive bed to sleep on but lacking the ability to sleep!

By carrying the same mental setup, we will hurt others as well as ourselves.

Someone once asked me what the difference was between awareness and consciousness. Awareness is the starting point and consciousness is the end, the state of enlightenment. The process starts with awareness, and ends with consciousness. Awareness is like 18 carat gold, while consciousness is like 24 carat gold!

A beautiful real-life story from the life of Viktor Frankl, author of the inspiring book, 'Man's Search for Meaning'.

Frankl was a Jew, a practicing psychiatrist who lived in the days of Nazi Germany. He along with his entire family, were sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis. His family, except for his sister, perished in the Holocaust. Frankl suffered a lot of indignity and torture and lived life by the moment, never knowing what the next moment had in store for him - whether it was the gas chamber for himself, or whether he would have to shovel out the bodies of his fellow inmates. One day, when he was alone in his room, he suddenly became aware of what he calls, 'the last of the human freedoms'. He realized that his captors could control the entire external environment, but one thing they could never control, was his actual self, his choice of how to handle himself and his reactions to what happened in his life. He realized at that instant, that even though things happened in his external world out of his control, his response to it was still in his hands; it was ultimately his choice. It was up to him to choose whether he got frustrated and depressed or whether he could look at the events as an unaffected observer, aware of his true identity. This gave him tremendous strength which radiated to the others as well who were facing this unimaginable torture and helped them find meaning and dignity in their existence.

This is what led him to declare ultimately: man should not ask what the meaning of his life was, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. Each man is questioned by life and he can only answer to his own life; to life, he can only respond by being responsible.

Consciousness is pure energy and intelligence. We attribute many things to it. No attribute can actually describe it completely because no attribute exists in it. It is devoid of any attributes. It is our innermost self. Sankara talks beautifully about consciousness. He says in a Sanskrit sloka, 'Even if we do abisheka (offering) and rituals for one yuga (tens of thousands of years), it is not going to help unless we understand consciousness.'

Devotion helps but devotional activities which are the outwardly activities like pouring milk or water on the deity, done without awareness are not going to help. If we feel that God is residing in us and we can relate to Him deeply, it is going to definitely help. Physical activities are not going to help. Working in the line of awareness and working for improving one's consciousness through meditation is the only solution.

I speak the truth bluntly; this does hurt some people. They run away from me. When I ask people to drop something, they drop me! The master is like a rotating diamond; he cuts through and exposes the diamond in us. The truth will transform all the lies in our life that we are carrying. But just like how a diamond cuts, this uncovering of the truth cuts and this hurts our ego.

Your seeing me is a dream. The scriptures say: the moment we see an enlightened master, we become enlightened.

Seeing me is not the same as looking at me, which is what you do. Looking is with the eyes, seeing is with the being. The closer you come to the master, the more your understanding of him changes. Your maturity allows you to see me differently.

When I speak the truth, you are not ready to listen, since you are caught up in their outer world. You feel cozy and comfortable in it. After all, truths are hard to digest. You want to escape them. You fool yourselves by thinking that the life you are leading is fine. Little do you realize that at the time of leaving the body, you are going to undergo unimaginable pain. At that time, you will feel that you missed out on me. You will have an intense guilt for not listening to me. This experience of pain and guilt will make you decide not to miss me in your next birth. Unfortunately, at the time of delivery, you go into voluntary coma because of the intense pain. You lose the past memory. The past is wiped out from memory. Again, in this life, we may meet an updated version of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM but we miss Him once again.

Only at the time of departing from the body, we realize our mistake; we get our consciousness back. Our memory comes back. Then, we take a rebirth. Some people, after missing this consciousness two or three times during their life-time, decide not to miss it again at any cost. Many of them decide to go to the extent of coming back with some disease. They feel that at least the disease will be a constant reminder that will ensure they do not miss Him. Some of my inner circle devotees who have come to me had cancer and other major diseases; they have been cured. They decided to stay on with me.

Part 2: Beyond Life and Death

A devotee once told me, 'Master, my cancer was my own creation. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to you.' People bring the diseases with them, so that they can be with the Master, even if their ego gets hurt.

There is a beautiful story from Tamil literature:

A great poet, Appar, missed his spiritual path and the possibility of enlightenment in two or three births. The next time, when he took birth, he came with a stomach problem. He says the stomach problem was to be a constant reminder to his enlightenment. He came with the attitude, 'Let me suffer with this stomach problem till I get enlightened.' The moment he got enlightened, the stomach problem left him.

In the Mahabharata, Kunti, mother of the five Pandava princes, prays to Krishna, 'Let pain and sufferings come from the four corners of the world. This will make me constantly remember you, O Krishna! This will constantly remind me of my goal, my only goal of enlightenment.' This is a technique for enlightenment. Some people even bring depression.

Take the example of Lance Armstrong, the famous biker who has become the epitome of courage and grit.

Lance was a very successful professional biker who was ranked number one in the world. He won a number of prestigious tournaments and was at the top of his career when he was literally forced off his bike by an excruciating pain. To his horror, he was diagnosed with cancer that had spread all over his body. But his courage and determination made him not just work towards getting back to normal but also gave him the strength to get back to his passion for biking. He totally recovered from the deadly disease. But it had taught him to look at life with a broader perspective and he wanted to work towards awareness of cancer and help the thousands of people who are going through what he underwent. He trained hard enough and returned to not just participate but to win the most strenuous cycling championships - Tour de France - 6 times! What to most people would have come as a lethal blow, killing the spirit and eventually the body, became a turning point for this man, who has now become a great source of inspiration and hope for thousands of people.

However, there is absolutely no need to take a few births, then come back with some serious disease, in order to get enlightened. In this janma (birth), you can do it. Don't miss it! Just use your intelligence.

In three kshanas, we enter a new body when we are reborn. There is a hangover for thirteen days. For thirteen days, children will not have individual consciousness; they will not have total awareness. For thirteen days, the transfer of mental setup happens. The shraddha ceremony for the dead (last rites in Eastern custom) helps the jiva (soul) to leave the body easily and enter another body. During shraddha, the Katopanishad is read. It is said that all the truths are chanted in the form of mantras. It helps the jiva be relaxed and go into atma jnana, self-awareness or enlightenment. These mantras give the right knowledge to the jiva. This is to enable the jiva to realize these truths in the next birth.

When we come back, we come with certain ideas of what we want to achieve, how to live and how much strength we want to have for the body. Once the body has run enough, unconsciousness settles in. Our body starts feeling tired progressively and one fine day we leave it.

Accidents are also in a way unconsciously invited by us. Logically, we can't understand how we can invite accidents. When we choose more comfort, better life, we invite risks also. When we have deep fear in our minds, it can invite accidents. Just like the antenna attracts the satellite waves, our mental setup attracts incidents in our lives towards us.

Some one asked me why anybody would want to be born in a beggar family out of choice.

It is the conscious choice of that being. Wealth brings comfort and responsibility too. The being would have had enough of responsibility and therefore chosen the apparent suffering of a beggar family.

I was once called to heal an autistic child in America. As I touched him, his being talked to me in Tamil though nobody in the family knew Tamil. He said to me rudely, 'Take away your hand! I do not want your healing!' I asked the being, 'Who are you?' He said, 'Don't bother me; it is none of your business! I do not want any responsibility in this life and I am very happy as an autistic person.' I asked him, 'Why did you choose these nice people as your parents? Why are you torturing them? They are not happy because of you, though you may be happy.' He said, 'They are good people and that is why I came to them. Since they are good people, I knew they would take care of me.'

If we are blissful, people with similar attitudes will be attracted towards us. If we are dull, lethargic and depressed, the same type of people will be attracted towards us. We will fall in line with the people who have the same mental setup. We attract incidents based on our mental setup.

If a person has taken birth with the intention of living a hundred years, but commits suicide before that, for the remaining years of his destined life, he will be without a body. This is what we call ghosts. In the case of accidents, if the person has had a glimpse of meditation,, or lived consciously till until the accident, the person will be given the next body immediately. If before the accident, he has lived unconsciously and has not had a glimpse of meditation, he has to wait for his body just like people who have committed suicide. The suffering in those remaining years is great. They will feel the whole world but they cannot enjoy it. It is like placing a variety of sweets before a man who cannot use his hands to reach the sweets!

Suicide is the worst crime. These people who are without a body try to take over the bodies of people with low awareness and try to possess them. This is what happens when a person is possessed by a ghost. A meditator can never be possessed or troubled by a ghost because his awareness and consciousness is high.

So never postpone meditation, since accidents cannot be predicted!

In this life, meditation will help the whole family because the house will be filled with positive energy and vibrations. Our well-being and joyous mood will be felt by other family members and they will also benefit. At the time of death, meditation will help only you and not the others in your family.

Krishna says, 'Whatever we choose at the moment of death, that will become our reality in the next birth; we will be that.' Some people think that they can manage, if they remind themselves to think of the Almighty, the divine Existence in the last moment of their lives. That will never happen unless we make that a habit all our lives. If we repeat the words 'Coca-Cola' our entire lives, we cannot and will not think of Rama or Krishna in our last moment!

Many argue with me about what Krishna says about karma in the Bhagavad Gita. They say that an entire chapter of the Gita is devoted only to the explanation of the karma theory: what we do in this life not only affects us in this life, but also in future lives; similarly, what we have done in past lives will influence what happens to us in this life. All this is correct factually.

Krishna plays multiple roles in our lives. He is our teacher in our primary and middle school and professor in our college and university education. He teaches us step-by-step. He is a teacher at every level. So when He talks about the theory of karma, it is only for learning at the initial level. He prepares us for greater understanding. He talks about our last desire becoming our desired reality in our next birth. It takes great awareness to understand the words of an enlightened master such as Krishna.

During the wonderful exposition of the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna, after hearing about the different types of yoga, Arjuna confesses to Krishna, 'Oh, Krishna! You have confused me totally. I was better off before I spoke to you. Now, I am utterly confused. What should I do?' Krishna replies, 'That is exactly what I wanted to happen. Drop all your so called dharma, moral and righteous living, societal conditioning, your value systems, beliefs and understandings. Surrender to me.' Here, surrender refers not to the form of Krishna, but to His energy: the cosmic intelligence, Parashakti. He says, 'Surrender to me and I will liberate you from everything.'

Krishna is teaching Arjuna step by step. You may ask me, how can we object to Krishna by saying that the karma theory is wrong? You see: I am not the one who is objecting. Krishna Himself is objecting to the karma theory and rewriting it as he continues to teach Arjuna in the Gita. He waits for Arjuna's awareness to grow so that he can progress from the gross facts of living to its subtler truths.

When a person is learning to cycle, we tell him to keep his hand on the handle, sit straight and keep his feet on the pedals. The moment he learns it though, he starts doing stunts on the bicycle.

I am teaching you the Ultimate lesson: the Mystery of Mysteries.

Free will is not free will as we think. Destiny is not destiny as we think. We are here because of our past decisions. Take the example of a person who has come to my meditation camp. First, he saw the flyer announcing the details of my meditation program; then he noted down the place and decided to call the organizer. He decided to take the driving directions; then he decided to drive and arrive sat in the hall and decided to listen. The questioning in the mediation program about various things happens because of the totality of his decisions.

Fate or destiny is the path we create. But after creating it, we forget that we created it when we face the consequences.

As the Upanishads put it beautifully:

We are what our deep driving desire is, As is our desire, so is our will, As is our will, so is our act, As is our act, so is our Destiny.

It is we who choose something without knowing its after-effects. This is like going to a restaurant, eating whatever we want and then when we finally get the bill, we are shocked and refuse to pay the bill, saying we have only ordered the food but not the bill!

The present is a result of all our past decisions and our future will be a consequence of all our present decisions. The problem is, many of our decisions are made unconsciously. So when situations arise, we don't take responsibility for it. We have forgotten our past decisions.

We lack understanding here. All our present is only the result of our past decisions and all our future is only the effect of our present decisions. Be aware of your present; that is enough. There is no need to worry about the past or the future. By doing this, we will be able to design our future in a beautiful way. Then, there is no need to be concerned about destiny and free will.

Buddha teaches, 'Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.'

A beautiful question: the world population is increasing so much. Where are they all coming from? The answer is: of course, from the countless animals being killed everyday everywhere. These animals are coming as the increased population! No wonder so many people on this Earth today are behaving like animals!

Having the right master and practicing meditation is essential. Even a glimpse of joy or deep feeling while meditating is enough. The Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP) is a gift from me to this world. I make you work on the seven layers of the energy body during this program. You will get a glimpse of the higher consciousness at least in one layer.

Many people come and tell me about their experiences of intense joy during the Life Bliss Program (LBP) that is the precursor to the NSP. They say they have never experienced such joy or bliss in their lives. Even a glimpse of joy or bliss will make you understand that it is possible, even without the body. That will act as a torch or a guide throughout your life especially at the time of death. A continuous practice of meditation will be a path-finder and will definitely help you at the time of death.

One glimpse is enough to change your mental setup. It can change your entire life. So instead of asking how long one should meditate, it is better to ask how intensely one should meditate!

As Emerson, the American essayist and poet says, 'It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.'

If we have just one glimpse of consciousness and awareness and if we maintain it with a simple meditation technique, it is enough to penetrate the seven layers. If our meditation has given us a conscious experience, we don't have to remember it. At the time of death, our whole life will be relived before us. It will be just like a fast rewind. Within a few minutes, our entire life's incidents will be flashed before us. If the glimpse has been deep and intense, it will help us at this time. Its intensity will surpass the pain which we will be going through.

If we have been meditating for thirty years and still have not had even one glimpse, something is wrong. According to me, one year is too much if you are with me, to have a glimpse of consciousness.

Until we get a glimpse, we have to keep our eyes closed and do the meditation. Once you have the glimpse, there is no need to sit down, close your eyes and meditate, since every moment you will be joyous. Eating, sleeping, walking, sitting, you will be in continuous joy. With eyes open, you can see God.

Try this experiment: Take a green chilli in one hand and sugar in the other hand. Meditate and touch either side of our tongue with these two. There will be no difference between them. It is we who says that something is hot or cold, sweet or bitter. We are so unconscious that we keep on qualifying all our experiences as pain or pleasure.

There is no difference between suffering and joy. If we go beyond both, we experience bliss, come what may. We continuously pigeon-hole our experiences. That is the reason we see suffering as suffering and joy as joy. We judge the present moment based on our past experience. If you analyze this deeply, you will realize that you are not living in the present; you are just 're-living' the past.

A small story:

An elderly man was returning to his village after a few months, after attending to some work in the next village.

Suddenly, he sees that his hut is on fire. He starts wailing and running around, as he cannot do anything about it.

Just then, one of his sons comes running to him and says, 'Father, don't worry! We just sold our house to our neighbors yesterday.'

Hearing this, the man was overjoyed that the burning house was no longer in his possession. He started dancing around.

Just then, his wife comes running and anxiously tells him, 'But we have not yet received the payment for the house!'

The minute the man hears this, he starts wailing again and is grief-stricken.

Within half an hour, the man has had three different moods. The same house is burning and the same person is seeing this. Within half an hour, he has felt deep pain, deep pleasure and deep pain again!

Pain and pleasure are our rubber-stamps. It is our idea! Both pain and pleasure are part of our psycho-drama. Even without meditation if we feel the truth consciously, we will feel liberated. But when emotions start erupting unconsciously, our conscious will not be under our control. For that we need meditation. As long as we are balanced, all the logic and reasoning will work. But when we are confronted directly by these imbalances, we see a problem. If we are balanced even at that time, we are truly liberated. When we are imbalanced, only meditation will give us the power and energy to shift the balance.

If we have a glimpse of consciousness, we will have an understanding of the samatva, the sameness, the non-differentiation between these emotions. All our understanding of samatva right now is wrong. Our idea of samatva is based only on the dictionary meaning. After the glimpse, it will be experiential.

A small story:

A woman was wearing a fur coat and admiring herself in front of the mirror. She felt it looked really good on her.

Her daughter looked at her and said, 'Mom, how much the poor animal must have suffered for you to get this coat!'

The lady was furious and shouted at her daughter, 'How dare you speak of your father like that!'

The little girl was talking about the furry animal that was killed in order for the coat to be made. But the mother totally misinterpreted her comment and scolded her for talking about her father who had worked to get her the coat! Her daughter's description matched the image of her husband as a man who had to work really hard to earn enough so they could afford to buy her coat.

So understand: experiential understanding is different from the dictionary meaning. Only when we have this experience, will we understand what Krishna meant by samatva.

Even the word 'sex' has two different meanings: the dictionary meaning and the existential meaning born out of meditation.

Buddha was intelligent: he tried thousands of meditation techniques and ultimately became enlightened. He worked with thousands of keys and ultimately found the right key. If we have the courage, we can also do it.

That is why Buddha says with authority, 'To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.'

Think about it: if it were us in the place of Buddha, forget twelve years of trying, we would not have been able to do meditation for more than a couple of days! Our ego would not have allowed us to continue. We would be cheating ourselves. Buddha belonged to a different level. We may not be able to do what He did. But atleast we can learn to improve. We always aim very high. We want to fly when we are not even able to walk. Accept reality and start walking first; you will automatically fly!

Forget vaastu (ancient Hindu science relating to house-building), gemology, astrology, numerology; just do meditation. The experience will stand by you at the time of death. It will help you have a painless transition. Understand the truth of dying and you can start living better.

The final step in the NSP is to reach the nirvanic layer. By the time one reaches this layer, one will be without samskaras; one is at the doorstep of enlightenment. We have to let go to reach enlightenment. Enlightenment just happens; it cannot be made to happen. It is like river water. It stays in our hands as long as our hands are open; once we close our hands there is no water.

Bliss is choicelessness. If we try to make bliss a choice, it will be absent. If we can understand the purposelessness of life as a part of the grand plan of Existence, we will reach this layer.

Ego believes that there is purpose to life: material, relational and spiritual. The more the purpose, the stronger our ego feels. If we drop all other purposes and still hold on to the purpose of enlightenment, it is futile. Only when we realize that life is totally purposeless and drop our ego will enlightenment happen to us.

Even if you look at it logically, what is the purpose of Existence? Could God who creates everything else, including jungles, not have created concrete jungles and cities as well? The purpose of Existence is bliss, that is all!

How can we enjoy without possessing, without making something our own? We are like water bubbles on a wave in the ocean. Each bubble catches hold of a few more bubbles labeling them as wife, husband, father and son. The bubble collects sand particles thinking they are jewels, since it does not understand that it can burst any moment!

When we are ready to digest that everything is purposeless, including material, relational and spiritual objects, only then life acquires meaning. When we have a goal we miss the path! We miss the joy of the path.

The mind waits for something to happen. It waits for salary: weekly, monthly, yearly, five-yearly. When we measure life by pay cheques, we reduce our spirit to matter.

Our ego is stuck on what we see as a purpose in life. We think that after we settle our social responsibilities, we will take up the spiritual path. An elderly lady came to me with her son. She wanted me to take him into the ashram as a brahmachari (young boy who stays single and follows certain vows to follow reality instead of fantasies). I was surprised since usually no parent would like their child to be a brahmachari. Many think that Vivekananda is great, but no one wants his own son to be a Vivekananda. They can't imagine how their child can be so blissful. I asked her to tell me why she wanted him to be at the ashram. She said that that he was mentally unsound. I told her politely, 'Amma, I run an ashram, not an asylum!'

We have many reasons why we cannot do things. We say, 'If I didn't have this responsibility, I would be with the master.' By the time we finish one responsibility, we will have ten more waiting for us! Running has become our conditioning, not relaxing. When we are young, we tell ourselves that we will relax after we graduate from university; then we shift the goal post to marriage; then to children; then to educating children; then their marriage. Can we relax after we are sixty? By then we miss the path and we forget how to relax!

The primal sin we can commit is to miss the path of life by following goals. When we live, let us allow our being to be blissful. When we start hurrying, think about what we are hurrying for. Do not allow restlessness in you hoping it will settle; that will never happen. If we are not able to relax into the present moment even after fulfilling our responsibilities, we will still feel unfulfilled. Whenever we run, when we hurry, think 'why', 'what for'?

We may have a big house, drive a big car, and people around us may be always praising us. Can we carry any of this with us into the afterlife? Can we carry even one single cheque book with us? It is all purposeless.

When we understand this purposelessness, healing happens. Even if we have been abused, we will heal. if we allow this understanding to happen, the understanding itself will guide us.

We may ask, 'What kind of teaching is this? All my life I have had a purpose, and my life has been fine. Now you say that everything is without purpose!' Whether you like it or not, this is the truth.

People are shocked when I say this.They begin to think, 'Now I know life is purposeless. I should not go to work. I should not take a vacation.' This is wrong understanding. Once we have the understanding of purposelessness, we can never be lazy. Tamas (laziness) cannot come out of intelligence. Perhaps for two days you will just lie in bed and not get up. The third day, you will wake up as a different person, without restlessness; restlessness is a monster that you would have conquered.

Restlessness hides purposelessness from us; it hides the path using goals. Please understand this and be healed. All our dreams of the future, all our guilt of the past will disappear; all ephemeral joys and suffering will vanish.

In Tiruvannamalai, there was an enlightened master by name Ram Surat Kumar. He was as innocent as a child. Whenever people came to him, whatever their problem was, he would say 'Alright'. When someone died, he said, 'Alright.' When someone told him, 'My son is getting married', he would said, 'Alright.' I asked him, 'Master, why do you say 'alright' to everything?' He said, 'Everything is just purposeless. Whatever we think has a purpose, has no meaning.'

Whenever we remember the truth of purposelessness, healing will happen; suffering will disappear. Whether we have something or do not have, neither will have purpose.

We need courage to pursue the truth. Then, life will take a different path. We will live as a liberated soul. We will never drop our job, relationship or wealth. We will drop only what we do not have. We will drop the mental associations. We will drop the fantasy of a throne and start enjoying the seat. When purpose is dropped, meaning will happen.

When you wake up in the morning, just laugh! If you cannot feel free to laugh in your own home, where else can you laugh? Laugh at how purposeless everything is. Release yourself from the nagging of restlessness. There is no need to sell our inner space to have outer space. We can retain the joy inside and still have outer space to enjoy.

When we have fear, we are enslaved. It is social conditioning. Drop it! Our very quality of life will change. Once we understand freedom, we cannot be enslaved any more.

The Master is there to awaken this understanding of freedom in us. Ramana says: Guru is a simha swapna, a nightmare, a lion that chases you until you are fully awake! You will wake up even if you are not in a dream!

Sex, Death, Meditation