1. Bhagavad Gita commentary by Nithyananda

50 Chapter Number: 6. Chapter Name: Believe and Practice

79 Chapter Number: 8. Chapter Name: Charity without Expectation 89 Chapter Number: 9. Chapter Name: Deeds, Words and Thoughts

a The Great War of Mahabharata is the fight between the positive and negative thoughts of the mind, called the samskaras. Positive thoughts are the Pandava princes and the negative thoughts are the Kaurava princes. Kurukshetra or the battlefield is the body. Arjuna is the individual consciousness and Krishna is the enlightened Master. The various commanders who led the Kaurava army represent the major blocks that the individual consciousness faces in its journey to enlightenment. Bhishma represents parental and societal conditioning. Drona represents the conditioning from teachers who provide knowledge including spiritual guidance. Karna represents the restrictive influence of good deeds such as charity and compassion, and finally Duryodhana represents the ego, which is the last to fall. Parental and societal conditionings have to be overcome by rebelling against conventions. This is why traditionally Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation those seeking the path of enlightenment are required to renounce the world as sannyasin and move away from civilization. This conditioning does not die as long as the body lives, but its influence drops. Drona represents all the knowledge one imbibes and the teachers one encounters, who stop short of being to able to take us through to the ultimate flowering of enlightenment. It is difficult to give them up since one feels grateful to them. This is where the enlightened master steps in and guides us. Karna is the repository of all good deeds and it is his good deeds that stand in the way of his own enlightenment. Krishna has to take the load of KarnaaTMs punya, his meritorious deeds, before he could be liberated. The enlightened Master guides one to drop oneaTMs attachment to good deeds arising out of what are perceived to be charitable and compassionate intentions. He also shows us that the quest for and experience of enlightenment is the ultimate act of compassion that one can offer to the world. Finally one reaches Duryodhana, oneaTMs ego, the most difficult to conquer. One needs the full help of the Master here. It is subtle work and even the MasteraTMs help may not be obvious, since at this point, sometimes the ego makes one disconnect from the Master as well. The Great War was between one hundred eighty million people - one hundred ten million on the Kaurava side representing our negative samskaras - stored memories - and seventy million on the Pandava side representing our positive samskaras - stored memories - and it lasted eighteen days and nights. The number eighteen has a great mystical significance. It essentially signifies our ten senses that are made up of gnanendriya - the five senses of perception like taste, sight, smell, hearing and touch, and karmendriya - the five senses initiating action like speech, bodily movements etc., added to our eight kinds of thoughts like lust, greed etc. All eighteen need to be dropped for Self-realization. Mahabharata is not just an epic story. It is not merely the fight between good and evil. It is the dissolution of both positive and negative samskaras that reside in our body-mind system, which must happen for the ultimate liberation. It is a tale of the process of enlightenment. Mahabharata is a living legend. Bhagavad Gita is the manual for enlightenment. Like Arjuna many thousand years ago, you are here in a dialogue with a living enlightened Master in this book. This is a tremendous opportunity to resolve all questions and clear all doubts with the MasteraTMs words.

In this series, a young enlightened Master, Paramahamsa Nithyananda comments on the Bhagavad Gita. Many hundreds of commentaries of the Gita have been written over the years. The earliest commentaries were by the great spiritual masters such as Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva, some thousand years ago. In recent times, great masters such as Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi have spoken from the Gita extensively. Many others have written volumes on this great scripture. Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation

a A little reading of the Gita, a drop of Ganga water to drink, remembering Krishna once in a while, all this will ensure that you have no problems with the God of Death.aTM Editors of these volumes of Bhagavad Gita have expanded upon the original discourses delivered by Nithyananda through further discussions with Him. For ease of understanding for English speaking readers, and to cater to their academic interest, the original Sanskrit verses in their English translation have been included as an appendix in this book. This reading is meant to help every individual in daily life as well as in the endeavour to realize the Ultimate Truth. It creates every possibility to attain nithyananda, eternal bliss!

Spiritual life needs courage, sincerity, and the consciousness of dheeraha.

The great Master, Dakshinamurthy Swamigal, lived in Tamilnadu, South India, near a place called Thiruvaroor. Let me share a historical incident from his life. A poet from the king's court met Dakshinamurthy Swamigal and was inspired by his presence. Consequently, the poet wrote one thousand songs in the bharani style in the saint's honor. Bharani is a special style of poetry involving one thousand verses. The rule is that only someone who shows courage and power and kills one thousand elephants in war is qualified to have such a song written about him. Here, this poet was so inspired by the Master's Section: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation presence that he simply wrote the songs about this saint on the spot. The king also considered himself to be bharani. I don't know if he killed one thousand elephants in war. He may have just paid a poet to write one thousand songs about him! Suddenly, one day in court, out of ego and pride, the king announced, 'I am the only bharani in this whole country, in this whole region!' One of his poets stood up and said, 'No king, you are wrong. Dakshinamurthy Swamigal is also a bharani. One of your court poets has sung a bharani about him.' The king's ego was hurt. He said, 'What? Who is this person deserving bharani? Bring him here.' The poet said, 'No, no, he is a beggar. He will not come.' Beggars can never be forced. We can never force homeless people. We can force anybody to do what we want, except a homeless person because he has no desire. We can't do anything about him. As long as someone has some desire, he obeys the social system. However, we can't do anything about a homeless person. He does not care for name, home, fame or security. He does not care about anything. We can do nothing. We cannot bind him. In this case, this man was a beggar and a swami. They could not bring him to the king. The king felt deeply offended. He said, 'What? For a beggar, bharani! What fool sang the songs? Call him to me right now.' The poet was summoned to the court. The king said, 'Fool, how dare you sing bharani for a beggar.' The poet replied, 'O King, please forgive me. Before you say anything, before you abuse that Master, it would be nice if you would go to see him.' The king said, 'What kind of advice are you giving me? Tomorrow morning your head will be cut off.' That was the king's usual trend, straightaway violence. Only foolish people immediately express violence. When they can't behave in an intelligent way, when they don't know the truth and they don't have enough energy to convince the other person of the truth, they take to the sword. On the other hand, throughout the history of Buddhism or Hinduism, they never converted anyone with the sword. They had intelligence. They converted through logic, analysis and convincing the other person of the truth. For example, great Masters like Sankara and Mandana Mishra had different views on a particular subject, still they did not fight with each other. Sankara did not say, 'If you don't convert to Vedanta, I will kill you.' They sat together and analyzed what they knew. It was a loving discussion. It was a beautiful thing. Sankara and Mandana Mishra sorted out their differences with deep respect by discussing without rancor. The person who acted as judge in the discussion was Mandana Mishra's wife. What a beautiful, loving atmosphere it must have been! Can you believe that the wife of one of the competitors was the judge? Never. And here, Sankara appointed Mandana Mishra's wife as the judge. Bharati judged the discussion between Sankara and Mandana Mishra. And finally, Bharati passed judgment in favor of Sankara. She said that Sankara won the debate. The whole thing happened out of love. There was no violence, no cutting, no killing, nothing. It was just a simple discussion. Throughout the history of eastern religions, there was never any cutting or killing. They never converted through the sword because they did not believe in killing. They had enough intelligence to express the concept. And one more thing, the loser automatically joined the group of the person who expressed the truth more clearly. When Sankara convinced Mandana Mishra, Mishra dropped everything and surrendered his life to Sankara. He became a disciple of Sankara and took the spiritual name Sureshwaracharya. He followed the path of Sankara's teachings. People who use the sword prove that they are idiots. Because they lack intelligence, they must attack. Many religions convert people through the sword because they do not have enough clarity or courage to share the truth. We can never achieve anything by the sword. Only destruction is possible through the sword, never construction. The king, foolish as he was, straightaway said, 'Kill him. Tomorrow morning the poet should be killed.' The poet replied, 'I have no problem. I have experienced truth through this Master. I am ready to die; however, if you are really intelligent, meet this Master at least once. Don't punish me until you have seen him. Then I will be ready to die.' The king agreed, 'All right, I will see him. If he is not a real bharani, we will kill him also.' The king set off to meet the Master with all his paraphernalia: ratha (chariots), pada (foot soldiers), gaja (elephants), sena (armies) and all his warriors. Kings always travel with their paraphernalia because they lose their identity without their paraphernalia. In contrast, Dakshinamurthy Swamigal was a paramahamsa, an enlightened Master. Masters always live by themselves. They do not need any paraphernalia. This Master was an avadhoot, which means he never wore clothes. The king found him sitting under a big banyan tree. Without any paraphernalia, this beggar was sitting under the banyan tree and the king arrived with his paraphernalia to see him. So this was the scene: this simple beggar sat in a corner without any clothes. He was merged in bliss and peace and completely lost in Existence, in brahmajnana (knowledge of Brahman). He sat in intense silence and peace. This silence penetrated anyone in his presence. The king appeared with his warriors and entire army to confront this yogi who sat in profound silence. The king jumped down from his chariot and advanced towards the Master. The Master did not move. There was no movement in him even after seeing the king and his army and hearing all the commotion. He opened his eyes and looked straight into the king's eyes. It was the first time someone looked straight into the king's eyes. The king had always looked at others and they had always put their heads down. For the first time somebody looked straight into the eyes of the king. After a few seconds, the king put his head down. The king clearly felt something happening inside his being. He felt like a mere beggar in the Master's presence. He did not know how to act. He did not know how to react. It was a strange situation. He was at a loss. He could not decide what to do. He felt overwhelmed. Dakshinamurthy Swamigal signaled the king to sit down. There were no words from the Master. He simply made a sign asking the king to sit. All the ministers and the army dropped their weapons and also sat in silence. In ten minutes the whole army was sitting down. It is impossible to make an army sit. Even the leader of the army can't make the army sit. That is why they say we must continuously give a job to the devil. If we don't give any job to the devil, it will eat us. We cannot make the army keep quiet. Here the whole army sat in silence. One hour passed. Then two hours were over; three hours; then the evening also got over; one day over. The Master, the king and the whole army sat in silence. Not a single word was exchanged. There were no instructions, nothing. They did not even greet each other. They were merely sitting. Two days over, three days over. Now the Master thought, 'This is too much. The poor guy and his entire army have been simply sitting for three days without food and without toilet visits. These guys must return to their kingdom, to the palace. The king must take care of the country. He has been just sitting here for three days. The Master opened his eyes and said, 'Now you can go.' The king fell flat at the Master's feet, did namaskar (obeisance) and came out of the forest. Then the king summoned the poet and said, 'What thousand elephants? You may sing for the Master praises for the one who has killed ten thousand elephants!' The poet made a beautiful statement, 'Killing ten thousand elephants is easy. It is not a big deal. You just need the weapons and you simply kill; however, killing one's mind is a real achievement.' This Master had killed his mind. Not only had Dakshinamurthy Swamigal killed his own mind, he could kill anybody else's mind if they sat in his presence. Killing ten thousand elephants doesn't take courage, but killing your mind requires courage. All we need for the real spiritual life is courage and sincerity to experiment with the truth. We typically lack that quality. We listen to everything. Wherever there are Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation discourses and lectures, we go and listen to anyone who speaks. We read all the books. When it comes to facing the reality of putting this knowledge to test, there is no action. 'For practical purposes, Master, we must have our possessions. Otherwise how can we survive in this world?...' You just compromise. Compromising is cowardice. Please understand that the person who compromises never experiences anything in his life. Not only the spiritual life, even in the very life. We can never experience life itself. Sincerity to experience a single truth is enough. Nothing else is necessary. We don't need to do big, big things. Please be very clear, we can't call somebody a big person if he does something big. What he does is unimportant; how he does it is important. As an example, the great saint Nammalvar, who lived in Tamilnadu, made garlands for Vishnu throughout his life. He did nothing else. He picked flowers from a garden, made garlands and gave it to God. All he did was make garlands. He became enlightened. So many enlightened Masters did not do big, big things. They did small things in a big way. They had a deep trust. Another enlightened person did not even do that. He did not make garlands to offer God. Instead he threw a stone towards the Shiva lingam everyday. His name was Sakyanayanar (Sakya refers to the clan of the Buddha, and Nayanar is a name for devotees of Shiva). Somehow he became a Buddhist monk. Because he was a Buddhist monk, he could not worship the Shiva lingam in public. Yet he had tremendous respect and devotion for Shiva. In Buddhism, at least one son from every family is given to the monastery at a young age. They bring him up and make him a Buddhist monk. Like that, Sakyanayanar was given away to a monastery. Still, he had a deep devotion to Shiva. Everyday he went near the Shiva temple. It was not even a regular temple, just a small Shiva lingam under a tree. From a distance he took a stone, visualized it as a flower and threw the stone at the Shiva lingam. If someone observed him and asked, a What are you doing?aTM he said, a I am only throwing stones at the Shiva lingam, throwing stones towards Shiva.aTM He would throw these stones and then leave that place. One day when he threw the stone, an old man suddenly appeared and asked, a What are you doing?aTM The monk replied, a I am only throwing stones at the lingam.aTM The old man said, a No, the way in which you throw shows your devotion. You may be throwing stones, but the way in which you are throwing shows devotion. Tell me who are you?aTM Sakyanayanar replied, a Somehow I was born in a Buddhist family, yet I am deeply devoted to Shiva. Everyday I come and offer my being to him by throwing a stone. Immediately the old man turned around, gave darshan (vision) as Shiva and blessed him with enlightenment. Understand that what we do is unimportant. Even if we sweep our home, even if we just clean our house, it is Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation okay as long as we do it with complete and intense sincerity in that moment. Live in the moment. Understand that spiritual practice does not mean you need to go into a deep forest, hold your nose ten times, and breathe this way and that way. You will only torture yourself. No. Do anything, but do it with intensity and sincerity. May you have courage to express whatever you believe. May you have courage to work and experiment with whatever you believe. Whatever your beliefs, have the courage to experiment. DonaTMt bother whether the truth you believe is the ultimate truth. You will never know whether it is ultimate unless you have the courage to experiment with it. Without experimenting, you cannot conclude. If you conclude without experimenting, that is prejudice. You cannot conclude without experimenting. All you need is courage to experiment with the truth that you believe. Tamil has three words for satya (truth). One word is vaaymai, which means speaking the truth through the mouth. Another word is unmai, which is speaking the truth through your mind or heart. The third beautiful word is maimai, which means living the truth through your body. In Tamil, a maiaTM means body. Truth means living the truth through the body. All of us understand speaking the truth through the mouth and speaking the truth through the mind. However, what does a living the truth through the bodyaTM mean? We have never heard this before.

He said, 'Master, you have not heard political meetings. That is why you call this slang. It is decent.'

He said, 'Because of the loudspeakers, people can listen to the speech from their homes for a radius of ten kilometers. They don't need to attend the meeting.' In that political meeting, he told the crowd, 'O dear people who are here, like an ocean you have gathered...' Only four ladies were listening to him and he called them an ocean. I thought that the four ladies were spitting and creating an ocean! They were chewing betel nut and betel leaves and kept spitting. I thought he was talking about that ocean! He said, 'You people are here in front of me like an ocean,' and he went on and on. At the homes of these old ladies, there must have been some arguments with their daughters-in-law. Where else could they go? There was some entertainment here. 'Let us go and sit there', they must have decided. 'Maybe at the end of the talk, they will give some clothes or gifts. If we don't get anything, we can remove a few flags and take them home. We can use them to clean the house!' This was why these ladies probably decided to come. Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation A small story: At a political meeting a politician caught hold of the mike and started speaking, speaking, speaking, and speaking, went on and on and on. Slowly some people left. Then a few more left. By and by, everyone left except one old man with a shawl. The guy with the mike went on and on and on. Finally, he felt tired. He stopped and thanked everybody for attending. The man saw this old fellow sitting in front of him and said, 'I am so happy that at least you stayed and are listening to me.' This old man said, 'No no, I own the mike system. I am waiting to pack up the mike system and take it home.' The politician said, 'Please forgive me, I did not bring a watch. That is why I didn't know how long I was speaking. At least you could have set a clock in front of me, so I would know when to stop.' The old man said, 'You forgot your watch, but we put up a calendar for you. You could have at least looked at that!' These politicians become courageous when they speak, especially when they don't have an audience sitting in front of them. They say whatever they want. When the audience sits at home, there is no danger of anyone throwing stones at them. So the politicians say whatever they want. If there is a crowd in front of them, they don't speak much. They are careful in case people throw stones or create problems. Otherwise, they go on and on and on. It never ends. Please understand, our meeting will become one more political meeting if we don't have the courage to experiment with the truth that we learned here. If we don't practice, if Krishna's words don't work on us, if we don't work with these words, this meeting will be another political meeting, maybe a polite political meeting. Please don't make this a political meeting. Let these words penetrate you. May you experiment with the truth. If you don't experiment, at least it will be mentally clear to you that this is not the truth. You might think, 'This swami was simply saying what he read somewhere.' But if you believe this is the truth, you will be here. If you think this is not truth, you will not be here. You will not come everyday and sit for three hours, even if you do not have any other work to do. You have a TV at home. You could have sat in front of the TV. There are many other places to go to, yet you chose to be here. You chose to listen. This shows that you think there is truth behind these words. So when you think there is some truth, never wait to experiment with the words. Have courage and experiment. Take one single idea. You don't need to experiment with the whole Gita. Take one single concept and imbibe that to the core. Let your whole being vibrate with that single thought. Swami Vivekananda says, 'When you commit to a single idea, your blood should boil with that single idea. Even your hair should stand in that direction, your bones, your thoughts, your body and your mind should all stand for it. Your whole being should be directed towards that concept. Only then success is certain.' Please understand, take one concept and work with it. If you fail, there is nothing wrong. But have courage to work with it. If you succeed, you will know it is the truth, and you will be liberated. You will have bliss. If it fails, you will know that this is not the truth and you will be clear. You can continue your search elsewhere. So be very clear, the basic truth Krishna is telling you is about sincerity. There are three groups of people. The tamasic group is prejudiced, meaning negative. The rajasic group believes intellectually. The sattva group has sincerity. They not only believe, but they have courage to play with the words and ideas. Please do not miss the courage. Let these words penetrate you. Q: You tell us to search for bliss. You and Krishna say that sincerity, courage and faith will take us on the path to bliss. But the path to bliss does not seem easy. There are many pitfalls. We do not even recognize bliss when we experience it. How can we cope? Bliss is not easy. Nothing worthwhile is easy. You must struggle. That is where shraddha comes in. Buddha, Christ and Mahavira also struggled. The word 'Christ' means to be crowned by God. But Christ had to go through a rare crowning ceremony: crucifixion was the first step. That has always been so and will always be: unless one dies, unless the ego dies, God cannot crown you. You can be crowned only when you are not. Meditate on that paradox. When you are, you are as far as possible from God; when you are not, you are God. You reach the crown chakra, the sahasrara. When you are absolutely empty, God fills you from everywhere, from every direction and dimension. You are flooded. That is the crowning. Unless God crowns a man, man lives in vain. He does not live. He only exists. And to merely exist is to live in hell. On the other hand, to live is a higher state of existence. It is a conscious state of existence. A rock exists. The ordinary man believes that he lives; however, he exists like the rock. Only a Buddha or a Christ actually lives. How should we live? How can we come to this ultimate glory? We come to it only through disappearance. Be ready to dissolve. Surrendering to the Master is dissolution. Once you are not, everything fits perfectly. A deep harmony arises. When you are not, there are no discordant notes. It is all music and poetry, all celebration. We continue listening to the outside; hence we keep missing the inner voice. And God speaks from our Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation innermost core. In the Master we hear the echo of our innermost being. The Master functions as a mirror: he reflects our original face. He says what God wants to say to us because we are not ready to listen to our inner self. By listening to the Master we slowly become aware of the synchronicity between the Master and our inner voice. We become aware that the Master speaks on behalf of our inner self. That is why surrendering to the Master is not surrendering to anybody; it is surrendering to our own center. We live on the periphery. We live in the mind and the mind is so noisy that it does not allow us to hear the still, small voice within. A Master is needed as a device because we only hear the outside. The Master says from the outside what God has been trying to tell us from the inside forever. But we don't listen to the inner voice. By listening to the inner Master, you slowly become conscious. What is happening? The Master says things that you somehow feel to be your own, more your own than your mind and your body. That's why the East calls the Master God. The West is unable to understand this phenomenon. The East knows why the Master is called God. He represents God. He reflects God because he reflects your reality, your true being. Being with the Master is getting ready to turn in, so that you can close your eyes and look in, so that you can hear what your intuition keeps telling you. And intuition is always right. The intellect may be right or wrong. It is always either- or and doubt persists. It is never without doubt. But intuition is without doubt. It simply knows. The intuitive person never repents because he never does anything wrong. He simply follows God's voice within him. It is possible to be blissful without being wise; however, that is not true blissfulness. That is what people call happiness. It comes and goes. It is momentary. And it leaves us in deep frustration and despair. The cost is too much and not worth it. It is also possible to be wise without being blissful. That type of wisdom is pseudo and false. It is known as knowledge. It is borrowed and so it is a burden. Anything that has not arisen out of our experience is bondage. It can nourish our ego but it cannot reveal our Self. The true seeker must find bliss and wisdom together. Meditate. On the one hand, you become blissful and on the other hand, you become wise. Both grow simultaneously in a kind of deep synchronicity. In the ultimate state, bliss becomes wisdom, and wisdom becomes bliss. To be blissful is to be prayerful. All other prayers are formal. You can say beautiful words, but they are only on the lips. Words belong to the mind. The heart knows no words. It is wordless. It is silent. It is full of love, yet wordless. It is cheerful. It can sing, but in silence. It can dance, but in an invisible way. The head is gross. Hence everything of the head is visible. It is matter. It is machine. The heart is the center of the invisible. It is not matter. It is Consciousness. The Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation heart knows how to be blissful, how to be longing. Being blissful opens the doors to Divinity. People typically go to God in despair. That is the wrong moment because when we are in despair we are closed. God is available, but His availability is of no use unless we are available to Him. People remember God when they are in misery. That is not the right time to remember Him. These prayers are more or less complaints against the misery as well as demands and desires for things to be better. Those are not real prayers. Consequently these prayers go down the drain. They never reach God. A real prayer has one flavor, that of gratitude. A real prayer has one fragrance, that of immense gratefulness. It knows no demand or desire. And because God has given so much and been so gracious, the heart silently bows down to the Ultimate. That is real prayer, the very essence of prayer! Be blissful and let that be your prayer. God is not far away. He never has been. He is just around the corner. The moment the heart is ready, He immediately enters. He will not knock on the doors because that is interfering with your freedom. He will not trespass for He respects human dignity. Unless you invite Him, He will wait. Prayer is a way of inviting Him. And the best way to invite Him is when you are in a dance, when your whole being is singing, when you are joy, when every fiber pulsates with celebration. Then He is ready to come in immediately. There is not a single moment's gap: instantly it happens. Fulfill the only condition: be blissful. Bliss arises from love. Love is the only real poetry. When the heart is full of love, your whole life is transformed from prose to poetry, from noise to music and from discord to harmony. A heart without love is a desert. The man with a heart without love remains ugly. His approach towards life is prosaic. He has no aesthetic sensibility, no sense to appreciate the beauty of Existence and no awareness to be grateful for all that God has done, for all that the Universe is. Only the poet knows how to praise, how to be grateful, how to dance and sing and how to celebrate life and its tremendous blissfulness. It is such a sheer joy to be. Just to be is enough. It is more than is needed, yet we need to be sensitive to feel it. We need to grow feelers. Learn to grow feelers so that life is no longer a thought but becomes more a feeling. Once we have moved from thinking to feeling, there is only one more step, and that is from feeling to being; and that is very simple. The first step is arduous: we must do a lot to move from thinking to feeling. The second step comes almost automatically: there's nothing we need to do for it. From feeling to being, the distance is none at all. It can happen any moment. The poet can become the mystic at any moment. The real problem is how to get out of our thinking and get more and more into feeling. Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation Love more. Feel more. Enjoy more so that you can feed your heart. Watch the sunrise, sunset, clouds, rainbows, birds, flowers, animals, rocks, and people - look into their eyes. It is such a multidimensional Existence. Look into every dimension as a poet: to praise and to feel. Be ecstatic! Much is going to happen. So get ready! And don't be afraid when it happens. The only barrier is fear. When things start happening, we become fearful. We are moving into the unknown. And the mind wants to cling to the known because the mind is clever with the known. With the unknown, the mind has nothing to say. With the unknown, the mind is at a loss as to what to do. It loses its expertise. It is shocked into silence when it encounters the unknown. The mind is a great expert as far as the familiar and the known are concerned because mind is memory. It can give all kinds of information about the known. It is like a computer: first we feed the information to the computer. Then the computer is ready to give the information back. It can only feed back what we have fed to it, nothing more. There may be new combinations of the old inputs but nothing is original. Mind knows no originality. On the other hand, the mind can pretend with the known. It can feel great. It is an expert. A child asked his mother, 'What is an expert?' The mother said, 'The expert does the same thing that women do, but when we do it, men call it nagging.' Mind is a great expert, a great nagger. It keeps goading and nagging, 'Do this. Do that.' It opens many alternatives and constantly persuades you, seduces you and corrupts you, 'Go this way. Purchase this. Enjoy that.' It keeps you occupied with the known. The work that a disciple enters into is with the unknown, the uncharted, and the unmapped territory; so fear will be there. That is the only barrier. In spite of it, we should go on. Let fear be there. It will hang around for awhile. When we do not listen to it, it will leave us. It is a great day when fear of the unknown leaves us. From then on growth becomes simple, easy and spontaneous. This committed journey leads to bliss, eternal bliss, nithyananda. Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation

The foods that promote longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness, and joy are juicy, smooth, substantial and nutritious. Such foods are liked by persons in the mode of goodness. Chapter Number: 17.9

A monk was sent to Alaska to spread GodaTMs word. Before going, the Pastor Father blessed him and said, a Your rosary and wine will take care of Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation you. Don't worry.' A rosary is the prayer beads and wine is given as offering at prayer symbolically representing Christ's blood and sacrifice. 'Rosary and wine will take care of you.' After one year, the Pastor Father visited the monk to supervise how the mission was going. The monk received him with honor. The Father asked, 'How is the mission?' The monk said, 'Father, just as you said, the rosary and wine are taking care of me. If it were not for them, I would have died in the cold.' In the course of their conversation the monk asked, 'Father, would you like a cup of wine?' Father replied, 'Why not? Please get it.' The monk turned towards the kitchen and said, 'Rosary, bring a cup of wine!' Words can easily be misunderstood. Please don't miss the essence of the word. It is easy to miss the spirit behind words, the truth behind words and their true meaning. Experiment with courage. And if you can't, if this is not the truth for you, forget about it. At least you will be free to search somewhere else. If you think that it is the truth and you don't execute it or experiment with it in your life, then drop it! Otherwise it will become a habit to listen to the truth and not practice it. This becomes a mental setup. It is a most dangerous mental setup. People ask me, 'Master, should I renounce everything to become enlightened? Should I become a sanyasi, a monk? I tell them, 'No. There's no need. Just do one thing. Don't have the mental setup of receiving the truth and not practicing it, that's all.' That is the most dangerous thing that can happen to any being. Please be very clear, receiving the truth and understanding it intellectually without having the courage to practice it is the worst possible mental setup. That is the worst devil or demon that can catch you. So at least have the courage to decide, 'This is not for me because this is not truth.' If you believe this is the truth, then have the courage to experiment with it. You have heard many things. Krishna does not say anything new in this chapter. He only says one thing, 'Be sincere.' Sincerity is the straight way. I tell people, 'Honesty is the basic spiritual virtue. Sincerity is the basic spiritual virtue.' First be a gentleman, and then you can be a spiritual man. Gentleman means to be honest to what you believe, truthful to the core. Never do anything without being clear about the truth, and never stop doing anything if you know it is the truth. The scientist is courageous enough to go after the truth. Wherever the research takes him, he is ready to experiment. In the same way, you must become an inner scientist, a spiritual scientist. You must have the courage to go after the experience within the words. You must be able to play with them. Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation Section: A small story: A small story: An enlightened Zen Master and his disciple went to the river to bathe. Suddenly, the disciple fell into the river and shouted, 'Master, save me, save me.' The Zen Master said, 'You are Atman, save yourself. You are God, save yourself.' The disciple shouted, 'Master, first save me, then you can teach me philosophy. Then you can teach me meditation. First, please save me.' The Master replied, 'Stand up and save yourself.' The disciple shouted, 'No, No, Master, save me. Then you can teach me.' The Master shouted back, 'Fool, I am telling you to stand up.' The disciple became frightened. Just out of fear, he simply stood up, and realized that the water was up to his knees! When you stand up, you understand the whole samsara sagara, the ocean of life. Whatever you consider the great worries of your life are not even up to knee level. They are just up to ankle level. Because you are lying down, because you never stand up, you think you are drowning. You think you are going to die. I tell you from my personal experience, if you stand up, you will realize the water is only knee-deep. Whatever you regard as the samsara sagara is only knee deep. It is nothing. There is no way it can affect you. But you need courage to stand up. For example, if the disciple had decided, 'No, no, I am drowning and instead of pulling me out and helping me, Master is teaching me impractical things. What kind of Master is this?' If he were blaming the Master, he would have gone with the river. If he had the courage even for one minute, the guts to experiment with the Master's words, he would be saved. You need the guts. That is called viraha, the courage to stand up and see the truth by yourself. It is having the courage to experiment. Nothing will be lost. If something can be lost, it is better to lose it as soon as possible. May you be rid of that thing or situation. If something can be lost by practicing the truth, may it be lost as early as possible. The earlier it is lost, the better for you. May you flood your being with truth. Whatever cannot stand, whatever can be washed away, let it be washed away. May it be lost from your being as early as possible. Krishna explains here about the energy of various food substances. Generally, all food that is not from plants i.e., from animal origin has negative energy. Food that is hot and spicy tends to aggravate desires. Vegetarian food that is fresh and not spicy is ideal for spiritual practices. In our Nithya Spiritual Healing system, it is essential that the Healers become vegetarians and give up substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc. I have nothing against alcohol or meat. I have no theories about cruelty about animals and so on. Plants also have life, just perhaps not at the same frequency level. So if one argues from the point of cruelty or himsa, eating vegetables also goes against ahimsa. The Nithya Spiritual Healing system is based on deep meditative techniques. For the meditative energy to be effective, negative energy substances cannot be used. I have seen that these meditations do not go together with meat as well as tobacco and alcohol. If Healers eat meat, smoke or drink, they are affected physiologically and psychologically. Many people complain that this condition is restrictive. What can I do? To satisfy especially the Western followers who wish to become Healers, I have modified the system for self-healing, which allows them to eat meat, drink or smoke. But the interesting development is that many of these Healers drop meat, cigarettes and liquor on their own. After awhile the mind-body system rejects these low energy food substances. Any serious meditation technique requires one to be in the energy field. The word 'ahara' used by Krishna can be expanded to mean food for all senses, not merely the tongue. All sensory inputs need to be of the same description that Krishna uses here promoting 'longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness, and joy' to aid one's progress in one's spiritual path by the sattvic route. Q: Master, the Vedic science of medicine, Ayurveda recommends food types in line with one's constitution. Are those similar to what Krishna says? Ayurveda, which literally means the knowledge or science of life, is the ancient Indian system of wellness. Ayurveda is essentially about lifestyle and wellness unlike western medicine whose focus is to cure diseases. The principle of Ayurveda is based upon our relationship with the universe. It arises from the fundamental assumption that we are the same energy as the universe. The Taittreya Upanishad explains the five elements of energy in the universe and how they are connected. First, ether or akasha arose from the universal energy. From akasha, air or vayu arose. From vayu came fire or agni. Agni gave rise to water or apa, from which earth or prithvi developed. Herbs and plants grow from earth and support humans, whose energy is the same as the universal energy. These five elements of the cosmic energy that exist in foods of plants and herbs sustain all living beings. Ayurveda connects the source of energies, the energies, the carriers of energies and consumers of energies in a holistic way. Food is therefore an integral part of this system of wellness. Ayurveda classifies human beings into three types or doshas. Unlike gunas that are the essential behavioral attributes in which we operate, doshas are a combination of the kinds of energies predominant in us. There are three doshas called vatha, pitta and kapha. Vatha, for instance, is a combination of ether and air in us. Ayurvedic diagnosis can tell which constitution we belong to and our physical and mental attributes. Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation Ayurveda recommends different foods for each constitutional type based upon the tastes such as sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, etc. These are specific recommendations as to what tastes would be healthy for which constitutions and based on this what kind of vegetables and fruits and so on. Even cooking methods are specified that can be used to provide wholesome ayurvedic food. Krishna outlines a more general classification based upon the purity and nature of food. Krishna explains that tamasic food, putrid and stale, is forbidden for consumption by Vedic tradition. The injunction is to eat food within a few hours of cooking. After that food should be discarded. Today we store food in freezers for months! How can we be healthy? Rarely do people eat food within a few hours of cooking. Everything is prepared in advance and then mixed and micro waved. Heaven knows what kind of genetic modification will happen to people who eat only such food. Eat fresh food. It is not necessary that it be raw as some people claim. Fire and heat are good energy. But you should know what materials should be used as containers. Cooking in plastics can only give you diseases, not energy. We have forgotten how to prepare food and how to eat food. Soon, children will think that food grows in supermarkets. They have no knowledge about farms and plants. Even our flowers are artificial. We touch them and the plastic cuts our fingers. To preserve such food, we need chemicals. How can we stay healthy when we ingest chemicals instead of energy? We eat on the run. I see people in America walking down the street holding a phone to the ear with one hand and shoving a burger into the mouth with the other hand. They call it multitasking. This is the easiest way to stress, depression and disease. The food we disrespect so much eventually abuses us. It settles in places that make us unhealthy. Eating an apple in this manner is bad enough; however, eating a horrible hamburger in this fashion is suicidal. Eat fresh food in silence and with attention. Pay attention to each morsel of food and eat with gratitude and love. Eating does not need to be a social occasion. It should not be. Enjoy your social interactions before and after meals, not while eating. Be in the present moment while you eat. What Krishna says makes pure sense for wellness. Natural foods contain their own flavor and goodness. You do not need to add spices and flavoring agents to corrupt their taste. He says eat food as it comes, fresh from the earth, and cooked with the energy of fire. Eat it while it is fresh. You will be in sattva. You will be in bliss.

practiced by yogis with supreme sincerity, without a desire for the fruit, is said to be in the mode of goodness. Chapter Number: 17.18

You see, if you give importance to vastu, vaastu automatically becomes all right. Vastu means Consciousness. Change vastu, then vaastu automatically changes. Vaastu is a great science when you follow it. But nowadays, so many unnecessary rules have been added and it has gone to extreme foolishness. So whatever you Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation can, do it, otherwise donaTMt bother, just change the vastu. That is enough. Changing vastu automatically changes vaastu. Just bother about vastu, vaastu automatically takes care of itself. I tell people, vaastu is one or two volts of electricity. Vastu is 1000 volts of electricity. Just change the vastu and vaastu will change. I have spoken extensively on vastu and the science of outer space and inner space, in the lecture, From Place to Space. If you are interested in vaastu, I have given scientific explanations in that discourse. I reveal how vaastu is a science as well as how you can change vaastu and balance the energies without changing the house. If you have interest in vaastu, listen to the discourse From Place to Space for more details. Q: Master, the other day you talked about the question on birth, meditation and liberation, and this whole life cycle of samsara. The answer was not given. Could you please provide the answer? Understand, I spoke about the question so that you would think about that. The question cannot be answered. The question is a technique to create seeking or quest in your being. The question is not supposed to be answered. You must find your own answer. Atman or Divine is the answer. However, with this word what have you understood? Is the questioner here today? Tell me. The reason for birth, meditation and liberation is Consciousness, Divine, God. Now I answered. What have you understood? Nothing, one more word, that's all. At the most, you can look up the meaning of this word in the Oxford Dictionary and face more confusion, nothing else. Understand, the question cannot be answered. You must experiment with this question. May you contemplate on this question. May you be disturbed by this question. You will achieve the state wherein you will never be disturbed by anything.

Not only for her children, it can work for the whole world. You can pray for the whole world. It will work. Q: How can we differentiate between intuitive and impulsive decisions? In this information age, one's decision directly or indirectly impacts many people. Can you kindly help us understand this? The moment you doubt whether it is an intuitive decision or an impulsive decision, you can be sure that it is an impulsive decision. Intuition does not leave any doubt. If your decision within a group is based upon intuition, you have tremendous power to convince and Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation lead the whole group. You will not only have the decision, you will have the power to execute the decision. You will have both in your life. Q: All enlightened Masters I have heard about left home for at least a number of years to experience enlightenment. Is this necessary? If not, why did they do it? They did it to understand that it is unnecessary. What to do? Unless you do it, you don't understand that it is not necessary. People ask me, 'Master, you did so much tapasya and became enlightened. Should we also do tapasya?' Please understand, I tell you the honest truth. I did so much tapasya because I was a fool. I did not know. So I did it. For you there is no need. Understand this simple analogy. There is one lock and ten thousand keys are lying near it. I do not know which key will open the lock, so I work with all ten thousand keys. One by one, I experiment. Suddenly one key opens the lock. Opening the lock does not take time. Experimenting with ten thousand keys took me ten years. Understand that opening took me one second, but experimenting with ten thousand keys took ten years of tapasya. Why should you experiment with the ten thousand keys? Here I am giving you the right set of keys. You can straightaway open the lock and experience. There is no need to waste your whole life with ten thousand keys. I had to do it because I did not have the right person to tell me, 'This is the key. Take it and open the lock.' For that reason, I had to play with all ten thousand keys until the lock opened. For you there is no need. Why waste your life playing with ten thousand keys? You neither have the time nor the energy. Here I am, straightaway giving you the key. I have given you the best keys. Straightaway use them. Open the lock. You will open it in a second. Open the door and enjoy the fresh air that is in your Consciousness. In these discourses, I have given you at least ten or twelve keys. Take up any key and work with it. You will open the door and experience the Ultimate Truth and enjoy the fresh air. Q: When everything is Divine in this universe, how can there be good and bad, happiness and sadness, lower level and upper level, jivatma and paramaatma, permanent and impermanent, etc. Is it not true only in the eyes of the perceiver? True. Only in the eyes of the perceiver is there good and bad. In reality, there is no good and bad. Reality is beyond the duality of good and bad. Be very clear, when you achieve that state, there is no good and bad. There is Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation something called good and bad only on the normal, material level. Q: Respected Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, my love and pranams to you, Kindly answer these questions now or at such time as you feel appropriate. If God is at such a high vibration, as to be unaware of deaths caused by catastrophes, just as an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) is unaware of the ants it crushes, then does it not follow that God does not hear our cries for help, when we are swept up in these catastrophes. And if that is the case, do our prayers reach God? (Background: This question arises from an earlier question when a person asked why so many die in natural disasters. Nithyananda replied: Nature is unaware that people are dying in a tsunami or earthquake. It is like you driving a SUV over an anthill. Thousands of ants die. Do you notice? Your frequency is different from the ants. In the same way, NatureaTMs frequency is different from ours.) Nice question. Understand, when I said there is a difference in the frequencies of ants, man and God, I didnaTMt mean that your prayers donaTMt reach God. But the reactions will not be as you expect. It is unlike the Vithalacharya Telugu movies where a brilliant laser-like light comes out of the hands of Vishnu or Krishna. Whoosh! It falls on an eighty-year-old woman and she suddenly becomes eighteen and exclaims, a Ah, what happened to me? I have become a new person.aTM

One more consideration: at least the main problems of caste system do not exist in present-day India. Enough of culture and acceptance has spread around the country. We should not speak about India with data that we have collected about thirty years ago, from a time before we left the country. Chapter Name: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation Today, practically every village has an educational and medical facility, as well as some understanding about life. India has improved, especially after the new way of life and social service started spreading around the country, helped by the post-Vivekananda movements that serve the society. I donaTMt want to go into minute details. Please go into this deeply and see. We donaTMt even hear of many types of crimes. We hear them only where things have become westernized. In India all the houses are open. Kids move around wherever they want. At least in my village, I used to enter into any house and eat. Hardly a few hundred houses and I could enter any home and eat because that is the way we lived. We canaTMt imagine these things in other countries. Wherever child abuse and all these things occur in India, itaTMs a lower percentage compared to the total volume of people. And the next thing, these kinds of crimes have increased only where television and Western influences have entered. In the past and in the present, we have done a great job. Of course we can do better, no doubt, but we donaTMt need to feel worthless. Sometimes, our guilt that we have not achieved what we want is projected on society and we collect data that supports our guilt and projects a picture. If we stand on the platform of truth and analyze, it is always from good to better, not from bad to good.

I became emotional and said, a Ma, it is because of people like you that India is alive.aTM I know the backbone of India. DonaTMt speak from the superficial skin and sweat of India. Speak to me from the backbone! The western media portrays the sweat smell, not the backbone. I have seen this in every village. Every village I walked through or sometimes used a bullock cart (cart drawn by bulls), covering about 30,000 miles! I know the backbone. The media is sensational. They need sensations to show people. I can relate a thousand incidents. You can quote one ten-year old working without going to school. I can quote millions of people who give education to others who cannot afford it. Only in India, charitable educational institutions give free education to many people. More than forty three percent of education is given to people by religious charitable institutions. In no other country is so much education given by the charitable institutions! One thing to note when it comes to percentage is the quantity. Another country's one hundred percent is India's five percent! See the quantity. I know how many thousands of people are given education free of cost in India. At least in the last fifty years, we have done a tremendous job, especially the post-Vivekananda movements. I'm the very proof! How many houses are ready to give food? How many villages are ready to take care of spiritual truths just because of this saffron cloth that I am wearing? And remember: I may have been a robber or a thief. There were many possibilities because I was new to that village. We have media and televisions in the villages also. The people are aware of criminals coming in disguises and committing crimes. But beyond all these things, the spirit and culture are alive. I was in the Himalayas one week ago. We saw thousands of sanyasis wandering like I did and not caring about the next meal. These people who are taken care of by the society prove that we respect and follow the religious ideals. We have done a great job when we consider the size of the population. When I return to my country after traveling all over the world, I feel like touching the earth and putting it on my head. I feel gratitude to the culture and the country in which I was born and brought up. Let me tell you: when premature babies are born, we need an incubator to keep the baby healthy. Like that, India is a spiritual incubator. Indian culture is a spiritual incubator. We may say there are one or two holes here and there but still it is a usable and working spiritual incubator. Q: I have a comment to make from Vivekananda's words: 'If only we can combine the spiritual wisdom of the East and the material wealth of the West.'

Please understand that only on the full moon can we see the black patches on the moon. We can't see the patches on a new moon. By its own light, the moon shows its black patches. By its own glory, India shows its problems. Because we have the ideal of perfection, we understand and realize our problems. The moment we understand our problems, we prove that we are great. That is proof that we are intelligent. Why do we say that we have a problem? Because we have the ideal of perfectionism! That shows we have achieved great things. The idea of perfectionism reaching a billion people is a great job! Understand: even people in the lowest slum celebrate Vinayaka Chaturti and Durga Puja (festivals in honor of Hindu Gods). They may not know the spiritual ideal of Section: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation Vinayaka (Ganesha, the Hindu deity), but they know there is some Energy greater than us. That is why they have simple rules like bowing down to that Energy, 'We should do this and we should not do that,' etc. Reaching even the most deluded and the lowest rung within a population of a billion people is not a joke. That is a big job! Understand that that itself is a big job! When I was in Brazil, a Catholic priest from India came to meet me. I asked him: 'Father, how are you?' He said: 'Master, if any religion wants to flourish, they must come to India. If they want workers, they must come to India. Whether it is Christianity or Hinduism, we can only get them from India! Brazil has a huge representation of Catholics, yet nobody becomes a monk. Nobody takes up the spiritual life. Rio de Janeiro has only three native Catholic monks and thirty-three Christian priests from Kerala (an Indian state). In India, the spiritual life is in our blood.' Whether it is Krishna, Shiva or Christ, living the spiritual life is a basic thing. It is in the blood of the population all across the country! That alone shows we have done a big job. I've seen this in many countries besides Brazil. The fulltime, dedicated monks or spiritual servants are from India. One more point: only two percent of the Christians in London are churchgoers whereas in India ninety-three percent of Christians attend church. Even other religious systems are stronger in India because the root, the understanding of following a higher, spiritual life is in our blood. Indian Christians are more dedicated to their beliefs. Whatever our people believe in spiritually, they are dedicated to that. If we penetrate and see the root, we see that our ancient Masters did a tremendous job. Compared to the volume of people that we are handling, whatever service we do is like mixing asafoetida (Indian spice) in the ocean. Somebody asked me: 'Master, do you think you can change the country by your service? Whatever you do is like mixing asafoetida in the ocean. The smell of the ocean will not change. How can you help the whole world?' I told him: 'I don't know if I can change the whole ocean, but my hand smells beautiful. I'm enjoying that, nothing else can be done.' Q: Respected Master, I am one of the sheep-lion who has forgotten his lion self. Now I want to roar. How? Just roar, that's all. There can be no how. The moment you ask how, you forget you are a lion. Just roar. Nothing else needs to be done. Let us all experience the sincerity and imbibe, experience the truths of Parabrahma Krishna. Let us pray to Him to give us all the sincerity and experience of the Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation truth that He is teaching through the Gita, to all of us, and let Him make us experience and establish ourselves in

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter named Sradhatraya Vibhaga Yoga, a Threefold FaithaTM of the Upanishad of the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture of Yoga, dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna.

Several institutions have conducted experiments using scientific and statistically supported techniques to verify the truth behind the Bhagavad Gita. Notable amongst them is the work carried out by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose findings are published through Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetam. Studies conducted using meditation techniques related to truths expressed in the verses of the Bhagavad Gita have shown that the quality of life is significantly improved through meditation. These studies have found that meditators experience a greater sense of peace resulting in a reduced tendency towards conflict. Meditators gain greater respect for and appreciation of others. Their own inner fulfilment increases resulting in improved self-respect and self-reliance, leading to Self Actualization. One's ability to focus along with brain function integration is enhanced. These have resulted in greater comprehension, creativity, faster response time in decision-making and superior psychomotor coordination. Stress levels have been shown to decrease with enhanced sensory perception and overall health. The tendency towards depression has been clearly shown to decrease. Section: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation There is enough evidence to show that as a result of meditation, individuals gain a better ethical lifestyle that in turn improves their interaction with others in the community, resulting in less conflict and crime. Group meditation of 7000 people (square root of 1% of world population at the time of the study) was significantly correlated to a reduction in conflict worldwide. Meditation leads to higher levels of consciousness. Through the research tools of Applied Kinesiology, Dr. David Hawkins (author of the book Power vs. Force) and others have shown that human consciousness has risen in the last few decades, crossing a critical milestone for the first time in human history. Dr. HawkinsaTM research also documents that the Bhagavad Gita is at the very highest level of Truth conveyed to humanity. We acknowledge with gratitude the work done by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi institutions and Dr. David Hawkins in establishing the truth of this great scripture.

Pandu the original King who handed over the kingdom and care of his 5 sons to his brother Dhritarashtra

Kunti - 1st wife Madri - 2nd wife Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna Nakula, Sahadeva Draupadi-wife to all five Pandava Subhadra-Arjuna's wife, Krishna's sister

Draupadeyah-five sons of Draupadi Step brothers Dhritarashtra The blind King, to whom the happenings on the battlefield are being narrated

Gandhari - 1st wife Vaishya - 2nd wife Dhurayodhana and his 99 brothers

Krishna: God Incarnate; Related to both Kaurava and Pandava; Arjuna's charioteer in the war Drupada: A great warrior and father of Draupadi Drishtadummna: The son of King Drupada Shikhandi: A mighty archer and a transexual person Virata: Abhimanyu's father-in-law; King of a neighboring kingdom Yuyudhana: Krishna's charioteer and a great warrior Kashiraj: King of neighboring kingdom, Kashi Chekitan: A great warrior Kuntibhoj: Adoptive father of Kunti, the mother of first three Pandava princes Purujit: Brother of Kuntibhoj Shaibya: Leader of the Shibi tribe Dhrishtaketu: King of Chedis Uttamouja: A great warrior

Sanjay: Charioteer and narrator of events to Dhritharashtra Bhishma: Great grandfather of the Kaurava & Pandava; Great warrior Drona: A great archer and teacher to both Kaurava and Arjuna Vikarna: Third of the Kaurava brothers Karna: PanadavaaTMs half brother, born to Kunti before her marriage Ashvatthama: DronaaTMs son and Achilles heel; Said to always speak the truth Kripacharya: Teacher of martial arts to both Kaurava and Pandava Shalya: King of neighboring kingdom and brother of Madra, Nakula and SahadevaaTMs mother Soumadatti: King of Bahikas Dushassana: One of Kaurava brothers; responsible for insulting Draupadi Section: Sincerity: Straight Way to Liberation Meaning of common Sanskrit Words For purposes of simplicity, the phonetic of Sanskrit has not been faithfully followed in this work. No accents and other guides have been used. Aswattama is spelt as also Asvattama, Aswathama, Aswatama etc., all being accepted. Correctly pronounced, Atma is Aatma; however in the English format a is used both for a and aa, e for e and ee and so on. The letter s as used here can be pronounced as s or ss or sh; for instance Siva is pronounced with a sibilant sound, neither quite s nor sh. Many words here spelt with a saTM can as well be spelt as a shaTM. [In the glossary, however, letters have been indicated in brackets to facilitate pronunciation as intended in the Sanskrit text.] This glossary is not meant to be a pronunciation guide, merely an explanatory aid. It is merely a compilation of common words. A(a)bharana: adornment; vastr(a)bharana is adornment with clothes Abhy(a)asa: exercise; practice A(a)cha(a)rya: teacher; literally a one who walks withaTM Advaita: concept of non-duality; that individual self and the cosmic SELF are one and the same; as different from the concepts of dvaita and visishta(a)dvaita, which consider self and SELF to be mutually exclusive A(a)ha(a)ra: food; also with reference to sensory inputs as in pratya(a)ha(a)ra A(a)jna: order, command; the third eye energy centre A(a)ka(a)sa: space, sky; subtlest form of energy of universe Amruta, amrit: divine nectar whose consumption leads to immortality Ana(a)hata: that which is not created; heart energy centre A(a)nanda: bliss; very often used to refer to joy, happiness etc. Anjana: collyrium, black pigment used to paint the eye lashes A(a)pas: water Aarti: worshipping with a flame, light, as with a lamp lit with oiled wick, or burning camphor A(a)shirwa(a)d: blessing Ashta(a)nga yoga: eight fold path to enlightenment prescribed by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutra A(a)shraya: grounded in reality; a(a)shraya-dosha, defect related to reality A(a)tma, A(a)tman: individual Self; part of the universal Brahman Beedi: local Indian cigarette Beeja: seed; beeja-mantra refers to the single syllable mantras used to invoke certain deities, e.g., gam for Ganesha. Bhagava(a)n: literally God; often used for an enlightened master Bha(a)vana: visualization Bhakti: devotion; bhakta, a devotee Brahma: the Creator; one of the Hindu trinity of supreme Gods, the other two being Vishnu, and Shiva Brahmacha(a)ri: literally one who moves with the true reality, Brahman, one without fantasies, but usually taken to mean a celibate; brahmacharya is the quality or state of being a brahmachaari Brahman: ultimate reality of the Divine, universal ntelligent energy Bra(a)hman: person belonging to the class engaged in Vedic studies, priestly class Buddhi: mind, intelligence; mind is also called by other names, manas, chitta etc. Buddhu: a fool Chakra: literally a 'wheel'; refers to energy centres in the mind-body system Chakshu: eye, intelligent power behind senses Chanda(a)la: an untouchable; usually one who skins animals. Chandana: sandalwood Chitta: mind; also manas, buddhi. Dakshina(a)yana: Sun's southward movement starting 21st June Darshan: vision; usually referred to seeing divinity Dharma: righteousness Dhee: wisdom. Deeksha: grace bestowed by the Master and the energy transferred by the Master onto disciple at initiation or any other time, may be through a mantra, a touch, a glance or even a thought Dosha: defect Dhya(a)na: meditation Drishti: sight, seeing with mental eye Gada: weapon; similar to a mace; also Gada(a)yudha Gopi, Gopika: literally a cowherd; usually referred to the devotees, who played with Krishna, and were lost in Him Gopura, gopuram: temple tower Grihasta: a householder, a married person; coming from the word griha, meaning house Guna: the three human behavioural characteristics or predispositions; satva, rajas and tamas Guru: Master; literally one who leads from gu (darkness) to ru (light) Gurukul, Gurukulam: literally 'tradition of guru', refers to the ancient education system in which children were handed over to a guru at a very young age by parents for upbringing and education Homa: ritual to Agni, the God of fire; metaphorically represents the transfer of energy from the energy of A(a)ka(a)sa (space), through V(a)ayu (Air), Agni (Fire), A(a)pas (Water), and Prithvi (Earth) to humans. Also y(a)agna, yagna Iccha: desire Ida: along with pingala and sushumna the virtual energy pathways through which pranic energy flows Ithiha(a)sa: legend, epic, mythological stories; also pura(a)na Jaati: birth; jaati-dosha, defect related to birth Ja(a)grata: wakefulness Japa: literally 'muttering'; continuous repetition of the name of divinity Jeeva samadhi: burial place of an enlightened Master, where his spirit lives on Jiva (pronounced as jeeva) means living Jyotisha: Astrology; jyotishi is an astrologer Kaivalya: liberation; same as moksha, nirva(a)na Ka(a)la: time; also maha(a)ka(a)la Kalpa: vast period of time; Yuga is a fraction of Kalpa Kalpana: imagination Karma: spiritual law of cause and effect, driven by va(a)sana and samska(a)ra Kosha: energy layer surrounding body; there are 5 such layers. These are: annamaya or body, Pra(a)namaya or breath, manomaya or thoughts, vigya(a)namaya or sleep and a(a)nandamaya or bliss koshas Kriya: action Kshana: moment in time; refers to time between two thoughts Kshatriya: caste or varna of warriors Kundalini: energy that resides at the root chakra 'mula(a)dha(a)ra' (pronounced as moolaadha(a)ra) Maha(a): great; as in maharshi, great sage; maha(a)va(a)kya, great scriptural saying Ma(a)la: a garland, a necklace; rudra(a)ksha mala is a garland made of the seeds of the rudra(a)ksha tree Mananam: thinking, meditation Manas: mind; also buddhi, chitta Mandir: temple Mangala: auspicious; mangal sutra, literally auspicious thread, the yellow or gold thread or necklace a married Hindu woman wears Mantra: a sound, a formula; sometimes a word or a set of words, which because of their inherent sounds, have energizing properties. Mantras are used as sacred chants to worship the Divine; mantra, tantra and yantra are approaches in spiritual evolution Ma(a)ya: that which is not, not reality, illusion; all life is ma(a)ya according to advaita Moksha: liberation; same as nirva(a)na, sama(a)dhi, turiya etc. Mula(a)dha(a)ra: the first energy centre, moola is root; a(a)dhara is foundation, here existence Nadi: river Naadi: nerve; also an energy pathway that is not physical Na(a)ga: a snake; a na(a)ga-sa(a)dhu is an ascetic belonging to a group that wears no clothes Namaska(a)r: traditional greeting with raised hands, with palms closed Na(a)nta: without end Na(a)ri: woman Nidhidhya(a)san: what is expressed Nimitta: reason; nimitta-dosha, defect based on reason Nirva(a)na: liberation; same as moksha, sama(a)dhi Niyama: the second of eight paths of PatanjaliaTMs Ashta(a)nga Yoga; refers to a number of day-to-day rules of observance for a spiritual path Pa(a)pa: sin Phala: fruit; phalasruti refers to result of worship Paramahamsa: literally the a supreme swanaTM; refers to an enlightened being Parikrama: the ritual of going around a holy location, such as a hill or water spot Parivra(a)jaka: wandering by an ascetic monk Pingala: please see Ida. Pra(a)na: life energy; also refers to breath; pra(a)na(a)ya(a)ma is control of breath Pratya(a)hara: literally a staying away from foodaTM; in this case refers to control of all senses as part of the eight fold ashta(a)nga yoga Prithvi: earth energy Purohit: priest Puja (pronounced as pooja): normally any worship, but often referred to a ritualistic worship Punya: merit, beneficence Pura(a)na: epics and mythological stories such as Maha(a)bha(a)rata, Ra(a)ma(a)yana etc. Purna (prounounced poorna): literally a completeaTM; refers in the advaita context to reality Rajas, rajasic: the mid characteristic of the three human guna or behaviour mode, referring to aggressive action Putra: son; putri: daughter Rakta: blood Ra(a)tri: night Rishi: a sage Sa(a)dhana: practice, usually a spiritual practice Sa(a)dhu: literally a a good personaTM; refers to an ascetic; same as sanya(a)si Sahasrana(a)ma: thousand names of God; available for many Gods and Goddesses, which devotees recite Sahasrara: lotus with thousand petals; the crown energy centre Sakti: energy; intelligent energy; Para(a)sakti refers to universal energy, divinity; considered feminine; masculine aspect of Para(a)sakti is purusha Sama(a)dhi: state of no-mind, no-thoughts; literally, becoming one's original state; liberated, enlightened state. Three levels of samadhi are referred to as sahaja, which is transient, savikalpa, in which the person is no longer capable of normal activities, and nirvikalpa, where the liberated person performs activities as before. Samsaya: doubt Samska(a)ra: embedded memories of unfulfilled desires stored in the subconscious that drive one into decisions, into karmic action Samyama: complete concentration Sankalpa: decision Sanya(a)s: giving up worldly life; sanya(a)si or sanya(a)sin, a monk, an ascetic sanya(a)sini, refers to a female monk Sa(a)stra: sacred texts Satva, sa(a)tvic: the highest guna of spiritual calmness Siddhi: extraordinary powers attained through spiritual practice Sishya: disciple Simha: lion; Simha-Swapna: nightmare Shiva: rejuvenator in the trinity; often spelt as Shiva. Shiva also means 'causeless auspiciousness'; in this sense, Shivara(a)tri, the day when Shiva is worshipped is that moment when the power of this causeless auspiciousness is intense Smarana: remembrance; constantly remembering the divine Smruti: literally 'that which is remembered'; refers to later day Hindu works which are rules, regulations, laws and epics, such as Manu's works, Puranas etc. Sraddha: trust, faith, belief, confidence Sravan: hearing Srishti: creation, which is created Sruti: literally 'that which is heard'; refers to the ancient scriptures of Veda, Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita: considered to be words of God Stotra: devotional verses, to be recited or sung Sudra: caste or varna of manual labourers Sutra: literally 'thread'; refers to epigrams, short verses which impart spiritual techniques Sunya: literally zero; however, Buddha uses this word to mean reality Sushumna: Please see 'ida' Swa(a)dishtha(a)na: where Self is established; the groin or spleen energy centre Swapna: dream Swatantra: free Tamas, taasasic: the lowest guna of laziness or inaction Tantra: esoteric Hindu techniques used in spiritual evolution Tapas: severe spiritual endeavour, penance Thatagata: Buddhahood, state of being such...a pali word Tirta: water; tirtam is a holy river and a pilgrimage centre Trika(a)la: all three time zones, past, present and future; trika(a)lajna(a)ni is one who can see all three at the same time; an enlightened being is beyond time and space Turiya (pronounced tureeya): state of samadhi, no-mind Upanishad: literally 'sitting below alongside' referring to a disciple learning from the master; refers to the ancient Hindu scriptures which along with the Veda, form sruti Uttara(a)yana: Sun's northward movement Vaisya: caste or varna of tradesmen Va(a)naprasta: the third stage in one's life, (the first stage being that of a student, and the second that of householder) when a householder, man or woman, gives up worldly activities and focuses on spiritual goals Varna: literally colour; refers to the caste grouping in the traditional Hindu social system; originally based on aptitude, and later corrupted to privilege of birth Va(a)sana: the subtle essence of memories and desires, samska(a)ra, that get carried forward from birth to birth Vastra: clothes Vastr(a)harana: removal of clothes, often used to refer to Draupadi's predicament in the Maha(a)bha(a)rata, when she was unsuccessfully disrobed by the Kaurava prince Va(a)yu: air Veda: literally knowledge; refers to ancient Hindu scriptures, believed to have been received by enlightened rishi at the being level; also called sruti, along with Upanishad Vibhuti (pronounced vibhooti): sacred ash worn by many Hindus on forehead; said to remind themselves of the transient nature of life; of glories too Vidhi: literally law, natural law; interpreted as fate or destiny Vidya: knowledge, education Visha(a)da: depression, dilemma etc. Vishnu: preserver in the trinity; His incarnations include Krishna, Rama etc. in ten incarnations; also means 'all encompassing' Vishwarupa (pronounced vishwaroopa): universal form Yama: discipline as well as death; One of the eight fold paths prescribed in Patanjali's Ashta(a)nga Yoga; refers to spiritual regulations of satya (truth), ahimsa (non violence), aparigraha (living simply); asteya (not coveting other's properties) and brahmacharya (giving up fantasies); yama is also the name of the Hindu God of justice and death Yantra: literally 'tool'; usually a mystical and powerful graphic diagram, such as the Sri Chakra, inscribed on a copper plate, and sanctified in a ritual blessed by a divine presence or an enlightened Master Yoga: literally union, union of the individual self and the divine SELF; often taken to mean Hatha yoga, which is one of the components of yogasana, relating to specific body postures Yuga: a long period of time as defined in Hindu scriptures; there are four yugas: satya, treta, dwa(a)para and kali, the present being kali yuga

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