1. Transformation Tools for Inner Health - Volume 7

5.5 He who knows, knows that the state reached by renunciation and action are one and the same.

State reached by renunciation can also be achieved by action, know them to be at the same level and see them as they are.

5.6 Renunciation without devotion afflicts one with misery, Oh mighty-armed one. The wise person engaged in devotion attains the Supreme without delay.

5.7 The person engaged in devotion, beyond concepts pure and impure, self controlled and who has conquered the senses is compassionate and loves everyone. Although engaged in work, he is never entangled.

5.8, 5.9 One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, dreaming, and breathing knows that he never does anything. While talking, evacuating, receiving, opening, closing, he considers that the senses are engaged in gratification.

yat sāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṃ tad yogair api gamyate I ekaṃ sāṅkhyaṃ ca yogaṃ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati II 5.5

One who knows that the position reached through sāṅkhya yoga and karma yoga are both one and the same, and that the position reached by sāṅkhya yoga can also be achieved by karma yoga, sees both of them in the same level and sees things as they are.

Beautiful verse!

One more important thing: All of us are not always karma yogi or doers and all of us are not always sanyāsis or monks. No sanyāsi is for 24 hours a sanyāsi. When he surrenders himself to the greed, he is a doer. No karma yogi is for 24 hours a doer. When he surrenders to fear, he is a sanyāsi.

So be very clear: Whenever we make an optimistic decision, we are a karma yogi. Whenever we make a pessimistic decision, we are sanyāsi. It is we who play both the roles. Who is an optimist and who is a pessimist? An optimist is a man who created the airplane. A pessimist is a man who created the seat-belt.

In life you always play both the roles. Sometimes, you are an optimist and sometimes, you are a pessimist. Here, both can lead to the same goal if the attitude is pure, if the attitude is perfect. One important thing we need to understand: Anything created out of greed will create more greed. Anything created out of fear will create more fear, that's all.

Please be very clear: Whenever we move our body, whenever our body is moved by a particular emotion, that emotion gets settled inside our system. That will become part of our system and that emotion will be created again and again in our system.

Jiddu Krishnamurti, an enlightened master from Bharat made a wonderful statement about emotions arising in the human body. He says beautifully, 'If you can, try to remain centered, silent, without moving your body when a particular emotion rises in you, without co-operating with it.

Within eleven times, or I can say within eleven emotional upsets, if you have managed to be this way, you will be liberated from that emotion.' Vivekananda, another enlightened master from Bharat says beautifully, 'Enlightened masters and enlightenment is the greatest gift given to planet earth by

Bharat.' But the problem is we have given it away as a gift. We are not using it ourselves! While gifting it to others, we forgot how to use it. It started with Swami Vivekananda, and all the masters who followed have been given away to the world. Hindus have forgotten to use what they gave as a gift.

Understand, it is an important thing: If you are caught by an emotion, for example if you are caught in lust, or if you are caught in fear, just eleven times, whenever that emotion rises, whenever that emotion comes up in your being, don't allow your body to co-operate. Don't allow your body to flow with that emotion.

Don't allow your body to move with that emotion. Within eleven times, I assure you, you will be liberated from that emotion.

You may think, 'What is this, Swamiji? Just eleven times! Is it so easy?' It is easy. All great things are easy. Only we complicate them. We complicate because we don't believe anything that is easy.

A small story:

A person goes to the doctor and asks, 'Doctor, how much will you charge to pull this tooth out?' The doctor says, 'Ninety dollars.' This person asks, 'Ninety dollars just for a two minute job?' The doctor says, 'I can do it more slowly if you like!'

We don't believe in simple things. We want to complicate things. Actually, eleven times is too much. I think with all the 'factor-of-safety' idea, Krishnamurti has said eleven times. He might have been afraid of lawsuits, so he might have included the factor-of-safety! If somebody practices for fewer times and they don't get the result, they may sue him! May be that is why he says eleven times.

But I tell you honestly, eleven times is too much. When that emotion rises in you, don't cooperate. Let your body not go behind that emotion. Let you not be taken away by that emotion, whether it is anger or irritation or depression or lust or fear or anything.

Just decide, 'I am not going to be taken away by this emotion.' I tell you, within three or four times, you will be liberated from that emotion because you will learn the technique. You will have the key now in your hand: How not to be taken away by that emotion, how to be centered, rooted in your Self, in your being. Whether it is anger or fear or greed, it gets more power and strength if your body also cooperates with it.

With whatever emotion your body moves, that emotion gets recorded inside your system. And that emotion will happen again and again, many more times, and much more intensely. Both frequency and intensity of that emotion will increase.

There is a beautiful movie, 'What the Bleep Do We Know?' If you find time you should see that movie. In that movie, they beautifully show this very idea that I have just now conveyed to you. Don't think I have some contract with the movie makers to promote it! No! Once, two of our devotees invited THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to come for a show in New York called 'Bombay Dreams'. They invited THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said that THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM can sit for fifteen minutes. If it will finish in fifteen minutes, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM will come. They said that no show would finish in less than three hours. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said, 'Then it is not for THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.' Fifteen minutes is the

maximum time THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM can watch any show. So THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM didn't watch that. But somehow THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM watched this movie 'What the Bleep Do We Know?' THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is surprised how these people sit in front of the television for hours together.

Real couch potatoes! Something is being shown there on the television and they sit and watch sometimes not even knowing what they are watching! And they will continuously be eating something while watching. The snack box will be full before the program starts. When the program is over, that box will be empty and the stomach will be full. This is such a dangerous habit. It will lead to obesity.

An important thing we should know: Ramanujacharya, Hindu philosopher says beautifully, when it comes to 'āhāra-śuddhi', 'purity of food', when you eat something, you digest not only the food that you eat but you also digest the thoughts which you think while you are eating. So please be very clear: Your eating should be done like worship. The problem is now the worship is also corrupted!

Eating should be done with a deep sincerity. Never ever eat watching the television or reading the newspaper. It will make you dull. When I say dull, understand that we already have enough of tamas - laziness - in our system. With this habit, the laziness energy will be significantly enhanced.

Never eat with negative thoughts. And those of you who cook or serve the food, please don't complain at that time.

In Bharat, usually only at the time of serving, the wife will start saying, 'This is not available in the house; that is not available in the house. You are not giving my monthly allowance properly. This has not come to the house properly. That is not here…' They will start the whole story. Never start the house story when you serve or when you cook because the thoughts will also enter the food. Your thoughts and emotions go and settle down into your system.

Anyway, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM can never watch anything for more than fifteen minutes. Somehow, this one movie, 'What the Bleep Do We Know?' THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM sat throughout and watched. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM really enjoyed it.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM will explain a concept from that movie. It is the truth, not just projected by them. It is truth from Vedānta. They have explained it visually in a very nice manner.

They say that whenever some emotions happen within your system, it is like a shower of rain. The emotion pours like rain. It happens inside your system, in your being. There are particular cells that catch these emotions. For example, if you think with anger, there are particular cells that catch that anger emotion. Not only do they just catch and remain, they start reproducing as well. Each cell will create at least four or five more cells that can catch this emotion.

An important thing we should know is that the basic quality of life is reproduction and expansion. This is the survival instinct. The survival instinct is governed by the svādhiṣṭhāna cakra, the fear energy center within our body.

Reproduction is governed by the mūlādhāra cakra*,* the sex energy center in our body. Both these are closely associated. Fear is associated with the svādhiṣṭhāna cakra and reproduction is associated with the mūlādhāra cakra; both the cakras are found very close to each other in our body.

These cells that catch the anger emotion start reproducing and each cell creates five or six more cells. Next time, when the anger shower happens, when the anger rain happens, all these cells will also catch the same emotion. They become the size of the original cells. They grow to the same size. Now these cells also start reproducing. The third time, when the shower happens, all these cells catch the

emotion and start storing it.

That is why, every time when we are showered with the same emotion, it becomes stronger and stronger. We are addicted to that emotion. We will not be able to control that emotion. The first time, if anger is showered on us, if we are affected for ten minutes, then the next time, it will surely become twenty minutes. The third time, it will become half an hour. This is how the emotion becomes stronger and stronger.

In our being, again and again, when we cooperate with these negative emotions, we create the same type of mood, the same type of lifestyle in us. One more thing: Not only will this emotion get recorded in us, but the big problem is that we will express the same thing on others also. What we have within us is what we will vomit on others also.

If we are working to strengthen our greed, we will be caught by the emotion of greed and we will radiate that emotion of greed. We will vomit that emotion of greed on others.

Next, if we strengthen our fear, again, we will be caught by that emotion of fear and express that emotion of fear and torture others with it. Be very clear: Warriors are caught in fear. That is why they torture others. They give fear to others. Warriors are the most cowardly people. A real warrior is a person who has conquered his being, who has won his being. Only he can be the real warrior.

If out of fear we are doing anything, we will reproduce the same fear in others. Now, take a few minutes to sit and analyze, 'Throughout this life, all these years I was driven by greed and fear. What have I achieved? What have I got? Where am I standing? What has really happened?'

Consciously think about it. Consciously allow this Idea to work on you. Decide, 'From today, I will not do anything out of greed or out of fear.' Immediately the fear will rise in you, 'What will happen to my bills? Who will pay them? What will happen to my house? Who will repay the mortgages? What will happen to my car? What will happen to my kids? Who will feed them? What will happen to my social prestige and name and fame? Who will maintain it?'

Please be very clear that you have enough energy and strength to maintain yourself without fear and greed. The important thing you need is trust that you don't need energy from fear or greed to run your life. That is the first thing you need to understand. You have enough potential energy to live your life and to achieve what you want.

Mahavira, another great enlightened Jain master from Bharat says, 'When you come down to this planet earth, when you take up the human body and come, you bring enough of energy to live all your desires or to achieve whatever you want to achieve in this life.' You have already brought enough fuel. You don't need fuel from fear or greed.

You always think, 'If I stop fueling myself with fear or greed, I may stop working.' No. There is enough reserve of fuel in you. Enough fuel is available but psychologists can never believe that unmotivated action is possible because they have never seen a Buddha.

Again and again the people who are working in the field of psychology come to a conclusion, 'Only with motivation a man can work.' What motivation have birds got to sing? But the modern day psychologists are so focused on sex that even for that, they have started giving a meaning! They say that the bird is calling for its partner. They have started interpreting even birds' singing! They can't see anything as it is. That is why here, Krishna says:

The man who is beyond the pull of fear and greed is the only one who can see things as they are. If you are caught in fear or greed, you will see things only as you want, never as they are.

For example, if there is a beautiful, tall building, a man who is caught in greed will have one thought the moment he sees it, 'If I have at least one building like this, how nice it will be!' The man who is caught in fear will think, 'I should not see all these things. They stress me out. I should go and stay in the forest.'

The man who is caught in fear thinks in a particular way. The man who is caught in greed thinks in the other way. But only a person who is liberated from these two emotions will see it as it is.

yaṁ paśyati sa paśyati

What IS, he will see that.

Now, decide strongly, 'Throughout my life, I lived either pushed by fear or pulled by greed. Do I want to continue doing that?' As I said earlier, Mahavira says beautifully, 'You don't need energy from greed or fear.' And I tell you, for a person who is trained by society, who is conditioned by society, it will be very difficult to believe this truth that you don't need energy from greed or fear to live.

I know you are all sitting here out of politeness, thinking, 'He is speaking. Let us listen. What can be done?' Just because you are sitting, it is not that you are able to believe what I am saying or you are able to trust my words. I know that thousands of questions are arising in your mind.

But I tell you: Your whole past, whatever your age is, maybe 30 or 40 or 50 or 60, that many years, you lived only fueled by fear and greed. Just give ten days for Mahavira.

Decide, 'For the next ten days I will trust the words of Mahavira.' Mahavira says, 'You don't need fuel from fear or greed because you have brought enough energy. When the Divine sends you to earth, when you take birth, God sends you with whatever you need.'

In Bharat, when the daughter is given away in marriage, they send a whole set of household items, from a broomstick to a car. They send everything with the daughter. And they give a dowry also.

I don't know when Bharat will understand and come out of the idea of dowry. If any of you have taken dowry and if you really want a spiritual life, the first thing you need to do is, tomorrow itself, give it back. Give back whatever things you took from your in-laws' house. If your in-laws are not alive, give it to your wife.

I tell you honestly, if you keep dowry in your house, Lakshmi, the goddess of riches, will never fill your house with Her full blessing. You see, there are two things. Lakshmi has got two manifestations in your life. One is just outer comfort. The other one is inner bliss. The man in whose house dowry is kept, I can assure you that he will never have the inner Lakshmi. He may think he is having the outer Lakshmi. What is the difference between the poor man and the rich man? The poor man sits on the

ground and worries. The rich man sits on the sofa and worries; that's all, nothing else. The size of the sofa is a little bigger, nothing else.

Anyway, like how a daughter is sent with everything to the in-laws' house, in the same way the Divine sends you with everything to this planet. In Vedanta that is what we call prārabdha karma. When you come down you bring enough of energy for your senses and body to run and acquire whatever it needs, enjoy whatever it needs and live life blissfully. You have brought everything. The only problem is you don't trust that you have brought everything. And one more thing: After coming down, you accumulate more and more desires from others.

If you have come down with ten desires, you have got enough energy to fulfill those ten desires. But after coming down here, you collect some more desires from your friends, brothers, sisters and others and then you try to work out all those desires also.

Please be very clear: Work out only your desires. Let you not waste your life in working out others' desires. You are wasting your life if you start working out others' desires. When we go into the chapter about desires, we will go deeply into desires - how they are created and how we run behind them. For now, this much of understanding is enough.

Decide clearly, 'Let me not be fueled by fear or greed.' And I tell you, just giving ten days for this one idea is enough. Decide, 'For the next ten days, I will work only out of my joy and bliss. I will do everything out of my pleasant mood, out of my joy.' I can assure you, it will transform your life. Anyway, I am going to be here even after ten days. If it does not work out, come and catch me! I tell you, just living ten days out of joy and bliss rather than fear and greed will transform your whole life.

This one single idea can liberate you straightaway from all bondages. One more thing: When you practice this, for the first few days you will feel a little unsettled. Whenever any desire comes up, say 'No.' Whenever any fear comes up, say 'No.' For the first few days you will feel a little unsettled because a new inner space is created. You will feel some emptiness, a vacuum. Don't worry.

In a few days you will beautifully settle with the new system. You will settle with that emptiness. That emptiness is what Buddha calls śūnya or nirvāṇa – working from śūnya consciousness, working from bliss consciousness, not being driven, pulled or pushed by fear or greed.

Just for ten days decide, 'I will work only out of joy. I will not let fear or greed enter my mind.' Of course, in ten days, you may fail a few times. Don't worry about it. Starting this way is much better than staying in fear of failure. See, when you have the fear of failure you will never start. Start! Even if you fail, it is ok. You will know the trick of the trade. At least you know the technique and you know where you are a failure. If you don't even start, you will not even know where you are a failure.

I tell you honestly, if you start and continue, it will transform your whole life. It will give you such great strength and courage that invariably you will be liberated. Don't be bothered about the initial feeling of emptiness.

It is like this: When our mother-in-law dies, we will feel empty for a few days! Or if one of the people with whom we are living dies, for a few days we will always feel that we are missing something. If we don't have anybody to nag us we will feel that we are missing something! This desire and fear continuously nag us. So for the next ten days when you practice this, you will feel that you are missing somebody who was continuously nagging us. Don't worry. You will settle into that new consciousness. Your whole being will become new. You will be a new personality.

This is an important thing: Trust that you have enough energy to run without fear and greed. Only small kids need candy. For you, trust should be enough. Kids will work only when you show the candy. And they will keep quiet if you threaten them that you will discipline them.

Only when you are a small child, you need fear or greed to make you work. Now, you are all grown-up. Still, why do you need fear or greed? Still, if you need fear or greed, you are mentally retarded! Please be very clear that you have grown physically but not mentally.

One more thing: In just ten days, you will not lose your wealth. Is there anybody who thinks, 'If I practice for ten days, I may lose all my wealth?' I tell you, if so, that wealth is not worth having. It is better you lose it. In ten days if you can lose it, do you think it is worth having it? If it can be lost so easily, then it is not worth having. The earlier it is lost, the better it is for your being.

Let you remove the tremendous stress and load from your inner space. Decide, 'For ten days, I will do all my action out of deep bliss, out of a settled mood.' If you practice this, a constant irritation that remains in you without your knowledge, will disappear. Knowingly or unknowingly, you carry constant irritation in you. That is why all of us are just waiting to burst, explode. Any small thing, we just shout, vomit words. We are waiting for reasons to shout. Any small thing happens, we get irritated. We shout, 'Don't you know? Don't you have sense? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that?' From morning to night, constantly, even for small things, we always shout, explode.

Look into yourself: How many of you can honestly understand and agree that you carry that constant irritation in you? Raise your hand. (A few raise) Others are not honest! Don't think you are not carrying it. Everyone carries it. This irritation we carry in our inner space is because of fear and greed.

Let you be liberated from it from today. There is uneasiness between you and your being. That uneasiness expresses continuously on others. That uneasiness is what I call dis-ease. That dis-easiness between you and your being is what I call disease.

We carry this dis-ease because we are putting the wrong fuel in our engine. If the wrong fuel is added into our engine, we know that a different type of sound will come out and a different type of smoke will be emitted! If the fuel is not pure, the engine will create a different type of sound.

A small story:

Husband and wife were traveling by car. They stopped at a signal. Suddenly, next to them they saw a Mercedes Benz car. The husband said, 'Last night, in my dream, I was driving a beautiful Mercedes Benz car like this.' The wife said, 'Yes, yes, I heard the engine sound!' Sound sleep: Sleep for them and sound for others!

Be very clear: If the fuel is not pure, we will have a different sound and a different smoke. If we are carrying the constant irritation in us, the fuel is not pure.

So decide that just for ten days, you will not put the fuel of fear and greed in your vehicle. You will suddenly feel a new energy coming up from your being - pure enthusiasm, causeless auspicious energy. Causeless auspicious energy is what we call Shiva. In Sanskrit 'Shiva' means causeless auspiciousness, reasonless energy.

I tell you, it is possible to live with that reasonless energy, the unmotivated energy. Only two things are needed for that. The first thing is trust that you have that energy. Next thing is, starting to live it. Only these two things are needed to reach the divine consciousness.

When we start working with the causeless auspicious energy, we become Shiva. Otherwise, we are śava (dead body).

Here, Krishna does not refer to renunciation the way we traditionally understand

it. Normally we think renunciation is giving up everything, especially responsibility. Just by so-called renunciation, if we just go to the Himalayas and try to sit and meditate, we cannot become a sanyāsi.

When we use the word 'renounce' the way we understand it, we exclude something. Exclusion can never be the solution. When we say 'I should give up or avoid something', we exclude some creation of Existence.

When we try to renounce the world, we are renouncing the creation of Existence. We are trying to prove that we are more intelligent than Existence. Our renunciation then becomes a show of our ego, even though this may not seem to be very obvious to us.

Actually, we try to renounce because we want to escape from the situation. We just see what is creating the trouble and decide what we should be renouncing. What is creating trouble for us can never be the outer world things like situations or people around us. How can they control us? It is our attitude of fear and greed, the projections of our mind that are really the cause of all the trouble. Our mind continuously creates subtle expectations every moment of how things should be, how people should be, how your life should be.

The mental setup needs to change from running away from something due to fear of it to facing the reality. Running away from material pleasures due to fear of facing reality or fear of facing the guilt imposed by society, cannot be called renunciation.

Just sit down for five minutes and be aware of how you perceive situations in those five minutes. Just look at everything that you think, feel and do with awareness, and you can understand what I mean.

When we come to a deep awareness and understanding of our own self and are able to live as a witness to everything that goes on around us, unaffected by situations and people around us, we become a realized soul.

A young sanyāsi lived across the road from a beautiful courtesan. The sanyāsi was all the time trying to meditate. The courtesan, on the other hand, carried on with her way of earning money. Many men came and went from her house.

The sanyāsi used to try his best to concentrate on his meditation, but his attention was more on the young woman and he kept cursing her for the kind of immoral life that she was leading. The courtesan, on the other hand, was not even aware of the sanyāsi staying across the street.

Even though the courtesan was involved with her lifestyle, with her way of earning money, she was immersed in her love for Lord Krishna and spent as much time as she could in praying to Him and playing with His image.

The sanyāsi and the courtesan died on the same day and reached the gates of Lord Yama, the Lord of Death. On reaching the abode of Yama, the courtesan was sent to heaven. The sanyāsi was shocked but thought that if the courtesan can be sent to heaven, he would get the ultimate royal treatment. To his surprise, Yama sent him to hell.

The sanyāsi expressed anger at the unfairness of the whole justice of Yama. Yama calmly explained to the sanyāsi, 'All your life, under the guise of meditating, you were harboring lust for the courtesan. She, on the other hand, despite whatever she was doing, was totally focused on God.'

If we try to do things due to the conditionings and morality imposed by society, we will become hypocrites. Even renunciation will be just a farce. It will also lead to misery just like the life of material pleasures leading to pain due to the push and pull of desires.

Brahmacārya literally means living with reality. It does not mean celibacy, as you understand it. When we are ecstatic unto ourselves, when we live completely in the moment, flowing spontaneously in tune with the wonderful symphony of Existence, we are true brahmacāris.

When we are completely in the present, totally involved in what we are doing, that we become the action itself, we no longer exist as the doer. That is when we have truly renounced. We have then renounced the sense of 'I am doing', the ego.

Then we are true sanyāsis. But we don't want to renounce our mind that continuously creates fantasies and gets us worked up when reality does not match our imagination. All we need is to experience that behind the shallow emotions that exist in the periphery, at the very core of our being is a solid, silent center in us that is absolutely unaffected by the external incidents. It is a pure witness to everything that goes on and that is eternal and eternally pure.

Don't try to go to the Himalayas to escape from the world. Create the Himalayas within you. Realize the silent center in you. Look at the cause and address the issue rather than addressing the symptoms.

You see, renunciation is going beyond desires and when I say desires, I mean all desires, including desirelessness. We think desires include the usual desires for money, power, prestige, relations and all such material things. I tell you, the desire to be spiritual and the desire to attain God is also a desire. The moment we say, 'I want to achieve liberation, renunciation,' we are holding onto a desire. The only thing is that the desire is not in the standard list of material desires. It is still a desire; it is still a product of the mind. The mind always hankers after something in the future. It can never exist in the present.

When we desire something, be very clear that we are working in the plane of the mind, whatever the desire may be. Only when we drop all desires, when we are completely at ease and ecstatic in the very present moment, we have gone beyond the clutches of the mind and we can see reality as it exists here and now.

Otherwise, whatever may be the desire, we will always live in our world of illusion, of māyā, because the future is unreal, it is an illusion.

The real, the present, can never be comprehended by the mind because it is way beyond logic. That is why Existence can never be understood by the mind. The mind can only philosophize. It cannot experience. And the truth can only be experienced.

All that we can imagine about God is still an imagination. God or Existence is beyond all that we know because Existence is beyond the small purview of the mind. How can the limited mind even come close to understanding the vastness and the splendor of Existence? Vivekananda said that, to him Ramakrishna was greater than God Himself. God was just a concept in Vivekananda's head. Ramakrishna, the guru, was a living entity, a living master who showed Vivekananda God, who gave him the experience of God. The guru is therefore even greater than God Himself because the guru is the bridge for man to experience God.

How can we desire that which cannot be even known? All our desires can be based only on what we know or what we can imagine based on what we have seen and known, right? How can we desire God whom we have never known? How can we desire enlightenment? We can always desire enlightenment in a way that fits the limited understanding we have of it based on what we have read or heard about enlightened masters. But understand, that is still our imagination. It is based on what our mind has come up with as to what enlightenment could be.

I tell you, you can never possess, you can never achieve enlightenment. Only enlightenment can possess you. It happens to you when you drop all desires. Actually, our true nature is neither pure nor impure. It is something beyond purity and impurity. This is what we call visuddhi - beyond purity and impurity.

When your visuddhi cakra*,* the energy center in the throat region is awakened, we start nearing our true nature. Whether we accept it or not, believe it or not, we are bliss. Our very nature is bliss.

Our true nature itself is self-control. When we realize and experience that our being is pure bliss, the other emotions automatically drop. Until that point they mask our true nature. When we allow ourselves to be our true nature, to be bliss, we live spontaneously. We respond with intelligence instead of through programmed unconscious responses. Then it is not a problem to control the senses because they are under the control of the ultimate Existence. There is no question of having to control them.

In the Mahabharata war Krishna drives Arjuna's chariot. The horses represent the senses held beautifully in control by the divine charioteer. He drives the being represented by the warrior, in the body represented by the chariot towards victory, towards bliss. When the individual consciousness surrenders control to the Divine, the Divine controls the body-mind-spirit and steers one towards one's true nature, bliss.

Society teaches us from a very young age what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. So, we have programmed reactions, fixed perceptions about everything. The moment we see a situation, we react in the manner we have been taught. Note that we only react, not respond. With conscience, we can only react. We can only react by looking up our database of the past, what we did in a seemingly similar situation, what was the reaction of people then.

If what we did was appreciated, endorsed, we will react in the same fashion that we did before. If people around us did not like what we did, we will feel uncomfortable and to remove the discomfort, we will now react in a manner that we think will be acceptable to others. This is what happens all the time. It may not be very obvious to us because reacting like this has become a way of life for us.

We have forgotten what it is to respond with intelligence. Please be very clear: No situation can be exactly the same as before. How can it be? Can a river flow in exactly the same way at two different points? No! The very water would have changed from the time it flows from one point to the other even if the two places look exactly the same when seen from outside.

Life is like a river. It is continuously changing, continuously in flux. Existence is energy. It can never repeat itself. Every moment is unique. Because we see it from the limited perception of our mind, because the mind tends to always analyze and categorize, we categorize life as well into different

categories. We say, 'These are pleasant situations, those are unpleasant situations, this is good, that is bad, this is right, that is wrong, this should happen, that should not.' It is not Existence that makes these distinctions but us.

If we can just understand this much, if we can allow this understanding to penetrate us, we can simply relax. We will then allow our consciousness to respond. Understand: Conscience is a very poor substitute for consciousness.

Have the courage to live life with intelligence, with consciousness and awareness, with spontaneity. See what a wonderful difference it makes to every moment of your life! Just this small change in attitude can do wonders for you; every moment will then be a celebration!

When the intelligence happens, the compassion also descends. Compassion for the whole world automatically happens in you because you see yourself in each and every one. How can you feel anything but compassion then? That is why masters can only feel compassion to everyone and that is why they feel responsibility towards the whole world.

When we flow in tune with Existence, we become a channel for the divine energy to flow through us. If the bamboo can remain hollow, it will become a beautiful flute and simply the air from the lips of the Divine will come out of the flute as heavenly music, as beautiful notes. Instead, if the bamboo is blocked with dirt in the form of ego, it will remain dead and can only be used for carrying a dead body!

These verses of Krishna are very powerful, but often misinterpreted. Many people use them conveniently to justify their actions. It is like you commit a murder and then claim you didn't do it but your hands did it! Be very clear: Not being the doer does not mean we give up responsibility for our actions. It means exactly the opposite. When we are so involved in the action, when we are completely relaxed, we are overflowing with compassion and love, and we just do out of the blissful energy in us.

You must have noticed in your life, when certain people act in what would normally be seen as disrespectful manner, they still don't come across as disrespectful. The energy behind the action is what decides the effect and the perception of the action.

Even in our ashram, I sometimes seem to be harsh with the residents and when I fire them it will be just open, direct firing. But not a single person has left the ashram because he or she was fired! When masters scold, the energy behind the firing is only of compassion; they do everything only for our growth. The energy behind the words of firing carries a tremendous power of transformation and if we are just open to receiving it, it will simply rid us of the blocks and tumors in our system and we can simply flower.

When we are complete and total in what we do, our whole intelligence, our whole energy will be behind the act. When we are truly involved in any action, we become the action. The action and we are no longer separate. On the other hand, if we do something without being fully involved,

our energy is not completely behind the action. Energy is intelligence. So, when our energy is not total, be very clear, our intelligence is not completely behind the action.

When the energy behind the action is total, whatever we do will always propagate the blissful energy that is behind the action. That is why even a simple technique like watching the breath given by Buddha can be so powerful. But even a seemingly big action of moral good does not have the desired energy and effect.

Another very important understanding from this verse is this: Every moment, every action, whether it is talking or breathing or seeing, should be done with awareness. That is true meditation. I always tell people, meditation is not something you do for a fixed amount of time during the morning or the evening. It is not a quantity that can be added to your life.

I have seen so many people who claim that they have been meditating for 30, 40 or 50 years. What they mean is that they have been sitting with closed eyes, doing some breath control, trying to concentrate and all such techniques. But even after so many years, the person inside remains exactly the same. Absolutely no transformation has happened.

Meditation is actually a quality that needs to be added to our life. It should permeate the very way in which we view life, the attitude with which we perceive everything. When we infuse awareness into every action, we are in meditation.

So how to be in complete awareness? We can be aware only when we can distance ourselves from what is happening. When we can witness the scene without getting involved in it ourselves, only then can we watch the scene clearly.

Otherwise we assume some role in the scene. When that happens, we create some vested interest in it. We have some expectation that things should happen in a certain way that we consider beneficial to us. The moment we get involved, the distance between the scene and us has dropped and we can no longer be the witness. Then we can never see things as they are.

It is just like when we are in a dream. When we are in the dream, we don't realize it is a dream. We think everything that is happening is reality. The moment we wake up from the dream we realize in a flash that it was just a dream. It has no basis, no significance whatsoever.

The way we are living life now is exactly the same. We are living life in the dream of the future and the past. And we think that the dream is reality. We are caught up in the dream, thinking it is reality.

The reality is actually in the present. When we realize this, we simply wake up to the true reality from the dream of illusion. Then, we understand that the senses, body and mind are not us. We are something much beyond these. With this awareness we become blissful.

Q: Swamiji*, I am confused by the word bliss. All I understand is that it is the same as happiness or joy. But you say it is not. Please explain.*

Bliss is the state of being spontaneous, being in the present, responding, and not reacting to what happens around you. To be spontaneous means to live moment to moment, to respond to that which

is, with no prejudice, with no mind, with no past and no future, with no time at all. Then suddenly there is a meeting, a meeting between you and Existence. That meeting is bliss, that meeting is God.

To be spontaneous means to be responsible to the present moment. People are ruled by their past. Life goes on changing every moment but the mind remains clinging to the past. There is a gap between the mind and life now. Anything that comes out of the mind is never going to be a real response. It is only a reaction.

And it always falls short. It can't reach the target. It either goes above or goes below the past, as it knows nothing of the present. Bliss is a totally different phenomenon from joy, pleasure and happiness. It is not pleasure, because it has nothing to do with the body. It is not happiness; happiness is of the mind and is very momentary. It just comes and goes and keeps you in turmoil. You can never trust it. It is bound to betray you. That is its very nature.

Bliss is not even joy, because joy is of the heart. Bliss is beyond all three; it is of the spirit. It is not something you choose. It has to happen. It chooses you. To experience it a person has to stop identifying himself as the body, mind and heart. It is eternal. Once it comes, it is forever.

Then one can trust, relax and rest. It can't be stolen, it can't be taken away, and it can't be burned. Even death is impotent as far as bliss is concerned. One who has known bliss has known something deathless.

The search is to find something that is eternal, that is bliss. And the way to obtain it is through meditation. Meditation takes us beyond the body-mind, because meditation is not identifying with all that which we have become identified with: I am not the body or the mind or the heart. When this understanding arises in us meditation has flowered. In that flowering is bliss.

Why do so many people choose to be in misery while few choose to be in bliss? All of us claim that we want to be in bliss. Then why do we end up in misery? The reason is that the more miserable we are, the bigger our ego becomes. The ego feeds on misery, on negativity, on darkness; that is its food and nourishment. If we choose to be blissful, if we choose to be a song, we will have to risk one thing, only one thing: the ego, because that is the only discordant note in our being. We will have to drop the idea that 'I am'. We will have to learn a totally different language – that 'God is and I am not'. 'I' and God cannot exist together. That is impossible. Either 'I' can exist or God can exist.

8.27 O son of Pritha, the devotees who know these different paths are never bewildered. O Arjuna, be always fixed in devotion.

In the last few verses Krishna summarizes the essence of the whole chapter. He says, 'O son of Pritha, the devotees who know these different paths are never bewildered. Therefore O Arjuna, be always fixed in devotion.'

He means that a person who understands the different paths that a spirit can take while leaving the body will always be prepared for death. He immerses himself in devotion throughout his life so that he becomes liberated. Krishna first gives Arjuna an intellectual understanding of the whole death process. He clearly tells him that the last thought while leaving the body governs the path that the

spirit chooses when entering the next body.

Again and again He emphasizes that this thought cannot be divine unless we spend our entire lives in devotional service. When I say devotional service, devotion is more important than service. I tell people, never give money in charity because some priest told you that it is a good thing. Never follow these rules blindly. I do not say, 'Don't do charity work.' I am only saying, 'Let it just be a natural expression of yourself, not with any expectation.'

We have a head to think with and a heart to feel with. We do not need to refer to society every time to decide what to do and what not to do. Another thing, do not work in the name of 'devotional service' to please someone else or society. If you expect something in return, then be very clear, it is not devotional service. If it springs purely out of devotion, the act itself should be the reward.

Bodhidharma goes to China. The King of China was devoted to Bodhidharma. The king did a lot to spread Buddhism in China. He built many temples and ashrams, and spent lots of money trying to get people to follow the path.

When Bodhidharma entered his palace, the king welcomed him and asked, 'Buddha, I have done so much to spread Buddhism in my country. What will happen when I die? Will I reach heaven?' Bodhidharma replied, 'You will reach the worst hell.'

The king was shocked! What did he mean? Understand: The king's question contained an expectation of return for his charity. He did service hoping that Bodhidharma would recognize and reward him.

I tell people, every day for half an hour, just for half an hour, work without expecting anything in return. It could be anything. If you make a painting, don't calculate, 'Oh, how many people will appreciate this. How many paintings should I make so that I can start an art gallery?' Without such calculations, immerse yourself in some work for half an hour.

You will suddenly see a new space open up inside you. When you work without expecting anything in return, just for the joy of doing it, you will see how liberating it is. Gradually, when this becomes engrained in you, you will enjoy whatever you do much more. You will no more bother about who thinks what about you.

Krishna says, 'Performing austerities and sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing pious result-based activities will take a person to the supreme abode.' While doing each of these activities, it is the attitude that matters most, not the action itself. I have seen people give money to temple priests out of fear and greed.

They are told that if they don't give money, the gods will be angry. Or if they give money, their family will be protected. The attitude behind these actions is what counts. Krishna says, if one engages in activities with devotion, then He will be there at the time of one's death.

He has given intellectual knowledge until now. In the following chapters, He gives deeper level techniques to experience this truth, to experience thoughtless awareness by removing engrams, by removing engraved memories, by understanding our desires.

Let us pray to that ultimate energy, Parabrahma Krishna*,* to give us intelligence and the experience of thoughtless awareness, witnessing consciousness, ātma jñāna,* the eternal bliss, nityānanda.

Thank you.

Let me put it this way: Before I realized my Self, I probably had an option to spend the rest of my life in the Himalayan region in seclusion, pursuing what I considered my spiritual path. When enlightenment happened, I had no choice. I was clear that my mission, as dictated by that universal energy, was to convey to others my own experience so that they could achieve personal transformation.

It was crystal clear that I should take the message of personal transformation through meditation to the world and that was when my real journey began. It took a few years to put my understanding together and develop the teachings.

Dhyanapeetam, the spiritual laboratory, was the result. In the beginning I talked about what people needed most in terms of managing their lives. I spoke about how they could cope with emotions. I explained how we are all an integral part of a living energy. This cosmic energy is reflected within us and can be experienced in the seven energy centers called cakras. When these cakras are blocked, we are in emotional distress, which in turn leads to physical distress.

Energization of our energy centers, cakras, was the focus and content of my first Life Bliss program. This was originally called Ananda Spurana Program in Bharat. ānanda is bliss and spurana refers to free flow. This program is designed to allow the bliss energy to flow freely once again within you. The technique to make this happen is meditation.

This is a program taught by teachers who are trained and personally ordained by me. Several tens of thousands of people all over the world have benefited from this program, which is essentially a life solution process. We have a book titled Guaranteed Solutions that explains the content of the course, and the understanding that comes from reading this book solves many problems for people.

We now call this program Life Bliss Program Level 1. We have variations of this program to suit professionals and corporations as well, as many of the techniques are ideal stress busters.

Thus ends the Eighth chapter of the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, called as Akṣara Brahma Yoga**,** of the Upaniṣad of the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture of Yoga, dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna.

9.13 O son of Pritha, the great souls who are not deluded know me as unchangeable. They are devoted to Me as they know I am the cause of all creation.

9.14 Those with firm resolve perpetually worship Me with devotion. They sing My glories, striving with determination, prostrating to Me,

9.15 Some worship Me by acquiring and spreading wisdom of the Self. Others worship Me in my non-dual form, or dual form or universal form.

Krishna speaks about bhakti or devotion in these verses.

You see, devotion can be one of the most powerful ways to reach God. Many saints showed the world the path of devotion. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was devoted to Krishna. He sang songs in Krishna's glory. He danced in ecstasy while singing about Krishna. Meera was another devotee of Krishna who was in love with Him. Meera's devotional songs, Meera bhajans, are sung even today to show her devotion towards Krishna.

Be very clear, devotion is one of the most powerful ways to reach God; however it depends on how we express devotion. Many people go to temples. Some people have a habit of going to a particular temple every week. If somebody asks, they say, 'Oh, every Saturday I pray to Lord Venkateshwara. Every Tuesday I go to the Hanuman temple.' Going to temples becomes a fashion statement.

Making mechanical visits to the temple is not devotion. It is just a sort of ego. We mostly go to temples to ask for something. Our devotion to Lord Venkateshwara is dependent on how much He answers our prayers. If we ask for something and He gives it, then Venkateshwara is great; otherwise we switch gods! We go to the god who we think will grant our wishes.

A small story:

Three village men set off to the city to earn money. Before leaving, they went to their village temple. They prayed, 'O God, we are going to the city to earn money. Please help us become rich. If we become rich, after one year, whatever money we earn, we will donate fifty percent of it to you. We will put that money in the collection box. Please help us.' They made a business deal with God, a profit-sharing deal.

In the city, they started a business and after one year, they made a million rupees. They remembered their promise to God. So they went back to their village. On their way, they started thinking. Each of them calculated how much they will get. One million rupees is a lot of money. If they give fifty percent to God, how much will they have for themselves?

Once they reached their village, before going to the temple, one of them said, 'Why does God need so much money? He is rich anyway. Let us think of another way to show our devotion and gratitude to God.'

The other two immediately agreed. Just see how the human mind works! When they had nothing, they wanted to give God; now when they have, they don't want to let go of it. Anyhow, they came up with a plan. They told God, 'We will make a circle on the ground. We will throw all the money up in the air. Whatever falls in the circle is for us and whatever falls outside, we will donate to you.'

Then they thought, 'When we throw the money up, more money will fall outside the circle.' Now once again their greed started. They thought, 'No, this is not a good idea.' So they revised the plan. They decided to create a bigger circle and throw the money upwards. Whatever money fell in, they decided to give God. But now they felt that more money would fall inside the circle.

As they were discussing, one of them looked up and said, 'Oh God, you are sitting up there. You know how much money you want. So we will throw all the money up. However much money you want, keep and we will take the rest!'

This is our devotion! We make business deals. We pray to God, but not with devotion. As long as God gives what we want, he is our God; otherwise He is no longer God. Prayer should express our devotion, gratitude, and love to God. All great devotees of Krishna and Rama showed complete gratitude and love. When devotion reaches that state, they reach the ultimate consciousness.

One more thing, prayers are powerful; however, we should not get stuck at prayers. Prayers are powerful in the initial stages when we pray as we go towards God. Let the prayers express devotion rather than asking for boons. We should go beyond words. When we pray, we are stuck in words. We should go beyond words. Our devotion should help us see the ultimate energy behind the idol of Krishna or Rama.

Actually, complete devotion puts us in a completely different plane. When we show our devotion to someone, we surrender ourselves to him or her. Have you heard the story of Prahlad?

He was a young boy less than ten years old. His father Hiranyakashipu was a great devotee of Brahma, the creator. Hiranyakashipu does intense penance and asks Brahma for a boon. He asks to be made immortal; however Brahma says that is impossible. Hiranyakashipu then comes up with lots of conditions such as: he should not be killed by an animal, a bird, a human, or anything living or non-living, either during the day or the night. Brahma grants him that boon.

Hiranyakashipu thinks his boon covers all the ways in which he might be killed. So he declares himself to be God. He asks all the people in his kingdom to worship him as God. So people worship his idol. All the chants include his name. However Hiranyakashipu's son, Prahlad, turns out to be a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He is a little boy, yet his devotion to Vishnu is strong.

Obviously his father is not happy about this. He tries to persuade Prahlad; however it is of no use. The more Hiranyakashipu talks to his son, the more intense Prahlad's devotion becomes. Hiranyakashipu then tries to get Prahlad killed through various ways. Prahlad worships Vishnu with such great devotion that Vishnu saves Prahlad every time. Prahlad prays to Vishnu every second, with every breath. His devotion is deep. Even when he is about to be executed, he prays to Vishnu with gratitude and love. His devotion is that of surrender rather than a prayer asking Vishnu to save his life. This is the story of Narasimha avatār, the incarnation of Vishnu in which He is half-lion and half-human.

Krishna continues to explain to Arjuna the ways in which people worship Him. Here he talks about the path of jñāna, knowledge: Those following the path of knowledge try to worship Me by acquiring and propagating knowledge.

A philosopher who had only a single pair of shoes went to a cobbler and asked him to repair his shoes. The cobbler told him, 'I am sorry, but I closed my shop just now. Please come again tomorrow.' The philosopher said, 'But I only have this pair of shoes and I cannot walk without shoes.'

The cobbler answered, 'Okay, I will lend you a pair of shoes then.' The philosopher was shocked. He shouted, 'What? You want me to wear other people's shoes? Who do you think I am?' The cobbler replied, 'Why do you refuse to wear other people's shoes when you can carry people's ideas and thoughts in your head?'

Understand that mere accumulation of knowledge only increases ego. Please be very clear: mere accumulation of spiritual knowledge does not give enlightenment. Internalize the knowledge and relate it to experiential wisdom. Then the breeze of joy will flow into your life.

How can we internalize knowledge? How can we embed that knowledge inside? Do meditation. When you are alone, think and contemplate upon great truths. Deeply immersing ourselves in contemplation is a meditation. Question those truths and try to find answers within yourself. Swami Vivekananda beautifully says, 'Even if we sit day in and day out, and memorize all the books in all the libraries, nothing happens, except that our head becomes a little big, that is all!

Just know one single dimension of the truth and imbibe that completely, that is more than enough. It can do wonders. Take any one teaching and internalize it fully.'

Meditation helps us internalize our experience and process it into wisdom. It is an alchemy that happens internally, an alchemy that transforms our lives. Meditation helps us experience the truths.

Please understand, acquiring knowledge can be done in another way. Many people read many books and scriptures. They have shelves filled with books. They will show off their library of books to whoever visits their home. These people take great pride in showing off their knowledge.

Many people discuss spirituality. They have debates over this subject. Debates are not wrong; however the motive with which they discuss should be correct. If they discuss to show others how much they know, then they are debating purely out of ego. Please be very clear, if we show off our knowledge to show how much we know, there is no use of that knowledge.

The only way knowledge in the scriptures helps us is through experience. Instead of debating, instead of having discussions and showing off knowledge, apply it in day-to-day activities. See the results on yourself first. Experience it. Only when we experience it, we have the right to speak about it to others. Till then, they are mere words. They are nothing more than words.

Meditation helps us here, especially in the path of jñāna or knowledge. You see, the path of knowledge is not an easy path. In the path of devotion, all we have to do is pray to some form: either Krishna or Rama or someone, show complete devotion to that chosen God. We must completely surrender. Actually that is difficult. Really, total surrender is difficult; however, in the path of devotion, at least we have someone to talk to. We have someone to whom we can pray and look up to.

However in the path of knowledge, that is not there. There is no reference point. No one is in front of us. In this path, there is nothing called you and He. In the path of devotion, there is a clear separation between Krishna and us. In the path of knowledge, Krishna says that everything is Krishna. There is no duality. Everything is one.

When we meditate, we experience the great truths. Through meditation we connect to our inner space. All the knowledge in the scriptures, the Upaniṣad, talks about microcosm and macrocosm. They speak about how they are one and the same. If we talk about this knowledge without experience, all our knowledge is words. It is bookish knowledge, nothing else. We are like another library of books.

The difference happens when we experience that truth. During meditation, we merge with the cosmic energy. Meditation helps us enter that space where our inner space merges with the outer space: microcosm merges with macrocosm.

Actually, all paths are one and the same. Even if we meditate on the form, after a point we will see that there is nothing like a form. Everything is the same. So even in the path of devotion, we experience the same thing as in the path of knowledge. Be very clear, nothing is better than the other. Everything is the same.

The greatest enlightened master Shankara who spoke the greatest truths on nonduality wrote poems on devotion also. Swami Vivekananda was an intellectual being, yet he saluted the devotion of Ramakrishna's disciple, Gopale Ma, a devotee of Krishna.

This is what Krishna says in this verse. There are numerous paths. In the previous verse, He talked about the path of devotion. Here He talks about the path of knowledge. He says, 'Some worship the form, some worship the formless. There are many ways to worship Me.'

There are many different ways people worship the Divine; the options are many. So, we are repeatedly given many options. We have customized ways, customized paths for our personal growth. So naturally wherever one is, one can grow and reach the level we are supposed to reach. There are all sizes of ladders, all kinds of steps. We are continuously given choices, options. So, naturally one tends to take up something or the other.

He gives options among the different paths; worshipping through singing the glories of the Lord or cultivation of knowledge and offering everything at the feet of God.

You see, these stories should not be analyzed on the basis of whether they happened or not. It does not mean that if it did not occur in reality, we should not go deep into the message. Let us not get diverted by all that. Let us not analyze from the intellect. Let us appreciate the message of the story. Then it will not matter whether they happened or not.

Be very clear, all such things should be absorbed. The message should be absorbed. By analyzing when it happened, how it happened, whether it happened, we miss the truth. Whether they happened in 'fact' is a question historians must answer. You should be aware of the message, the truth.

Truth is different from fact. Whenever we say something, it is a fact. If someone asks the time, you say 10:30. When you say that, you do not say the truth. It is a fact. It is 10:30 here; however it is 12:30 somewhere else in the world. These are facts.

So when we listen to stories, look for the truth, not for factual details. In the story of Prahlad, let us absorb the truth of devotion. See the depth of devotion. We should internalize with what feeling Prahlad prayed to Vishnu. What were the underlying emotions behind his devotion? Complete surrender, complete trust and complete gratitude.

All great masters have expressed their experiences through stories and parables. Jesus and Buddha and many great masters have parables incorporated as part of their religion's scriptures. As experiences of these great masters, these stories are absolutely true. There is no doubt about it.

The Hindu Purāṇas, the great epics, are not merely historical facts. They are a combination of historical events and shifts in human consciousness. Their relevance is greater as shifts in consciousness; they serve as guideposts for us to learn and follow.

As I explained in the introduction, Mahabharata is not about the fight between two warring related clans. That is a mere historical occurrence. What is important is its metaphorical significance as the fight between one's good and bad saṁskāras. What is relevant is the understanding that comes about as a result of studying and understanding this epic in terms of what saṁskāras are and how they can be eliminated.

Similarly in the stories of Prahlad, Meera and countless others, there are great truths embedded metaphorically. Once we understand these truths and apply them to our lives, we can make a significant difference in the way we

Drop everything and surrender. This is the gist not only of this final chapter of Bhagavad Gita, but it is also the essence of the entire Bhagavad Gita. In addition, throughout the ages it has been the basis of the teachings of all the spiritual masters.

Krishna concludes the Bhagavad Gita with one subject: Drop everything and surrender. Beautifully He says:

sarvadharmān parityajya māmekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Drop everything, whatever you know as dharma, whatever you know as life, whatever you think you know, just drop it. Drop everything and surrender.

Whatever you know is only your knowledge, it is just what you know. It is not what is. In fact, wisdom and truth are about what we do not know. That is all! What we know cannot lead us to the ultimate Truth. Knowledge of the mind, that we take so much pride in, functions like blinkers that we wear to shut out the truth of Existence. The French philosopher Rene Descartes said, 'I think, therefore I am.'

There may be no doubt that he was a human or that he existed because of his mind and thoughts. However, the mind is not the scale of measure of existence. What we are has nothing to do with our thoughts. What we are is beyond our thoughts. If our thoughts alone could circumscribe what we are, we would be nothing more than a biomechanical machine.

Animals have greater innate intelligence than humans. Animals do not clutter their minds with fantasies like humans do. They simply flow with nature.

A lion or tiger hunts for food when it is hungry. It eats when it must eat and sleeps when it is tired. No wild animal stores food, except in rare cases when dictated by Nature. No animal in the wild becomes obese.

Humans think. That is the problem. Our great sages, the ancient ṛṣis, declared the opposite of Descartes. They say, 'Drop your mind and you will be aware. You will realize your true potential as a human.'

Adi Shankaracharya, one of the greatest Hindu philosophers, proclaims this so beautifully in the verses of his Atma Shatakam. To define what he truly is, Shankara negates his body, mind, senses, emotions and all his relationships. By negating all this, he declares his inner divinity boldly and beautifully.

Understand, we are spiritual beings in human form, and not human beings striving to be spiritual. Our potential is huge. Our intelligence is unlimited. But our intellect is limited.

The first and the least relevant type is acquired through the mind and intellect. Scientific knowledge such as physics, math, medicine, etc., falls into this category. We think we benefit from this knowledge.

We believe this knowledge enhances the quality of our lives. In the end, we wonder why we are unhappy despite all this knowledge. The more we acquire knowledge belonging to this first category, the more disturbed we become.

The second type of knowledge cannot be taught in the same way as intellectual knowledge. This type of knowledge must be learnt. Creative arts belong to this type. We cannot learn to sing, dance or write by reading a book. It does not involve mere absorption of information. We must observe. We must internalize. We must imbibe and then we must express. In addition to the head and intellect, one's heart and emotions must be involved. Knowledge based on the heart is based upon intellect plus something more.

The third and highest type of knowledge is from the being. It is conveyed from the being to the being. This knowledge is the 'aha' experience that happens so rarely. The greatest discoveries and inventions are this type of knowledge. This knowledge is intuition. This is communion, as opposed to communication at the intellectual level and collaboration at the emotional level. Knowledge at the being level is a combination of knowledge of the head, knowledge of the heart plus something more.

Knowledge about God can also be of all these three types. When we started the Bhagavad Gita series, we learned what śāstras, stotras and sūtras were. Śāstra is knowledge of the intellect. It is acquired by reading and understanding. Stotra is knowledge acquired through learning, through the heart, that is through devotion.

Sūtra is learning through the being, that is through meditative techniques that cut to the core of what is essential. Even knowledge about God creates bondage when it is merely intellectual because we will only know about God. That is all! We will not know God. Please understand this. Knowing about God is not the same as knowing God. Knowing about God is different from knowing God. When we completely surrender everything, we will not even have the idea that we know God. When that idea does not exist in us, we know God. Otherwise we may know about God but we do not know exactly what the Divine is.

Words do not express God. No expressions can lead to the experience of God. God is when expressions cease. Zen masters say that the finger pointing to the moon is not the moon. It is only a pointer, a reminder. Words about God in any form, however sincere they may be, are mere pointers and reminders.

The problem with religions is that they teach us about God. They do not teach us how to know God. All moral science and related classes do not help us reach God. Religions tell us a few things about God and instill fear and greed in us.

How many religions have helped enlighten people? On the contrary, we find that all the wars in the history of mankind have been fought in the name of religion. Millions of people have been massacred in the name of preserving and propagating religions. All colonization happened with religion putting out signposts. Religions caused destruction and death, not enlightenment.

Spiritual masters never preached that one should kill another or cajole, coerce and convert. No spiritual master preached violence. If he did, he would be no master!

Great spiritual masters come with the mission to raise us to a superconscious state. They aim to awaken individual consciousness so that we become aware that we are part of the collective consciousness of this universe. They come with a mission to make us understand that we must move from the attitude of 'I' to 'you' and 'us.'

The ignorant followers of the great masters fostered violence based upon their limited understanding of the truths that the masters expressed. Instead of spreading spirituality that integrates beings, they built religious institutions that divide people.

Unlike spirituality that spreads love among people, religion fosters violence. Understand: Enlightenment is a gift. It makes no difference what effort we put in. Whatever we may have put in does not matter. We may have stood on one leg for hundreds of years. We may have fasted for thousands of years. We may have practiced meditation or yoga or some other technique. These are equivalent to buying the one-dollar lottery ticket. Anything we put in is comparable to that onedollar lottery ticket. What we receive in return is a pure gift. Whatever we do is within the dream. How can that get us something beyond the dream?

Krishna says, 'Drop everything and surrender.' First let us understand the word 'surrender'. The word itself frightens people. We must understand that we are not going to lose anything when we surrender. We are only going to gain everything.

However, for lack of a better word, we must use this word. Realize first of all that we have nothing of any value to surrender! We only think we have something to surrender. The truth is that we have nothing to surrender. We simply need to open our eyes and see that everything that is, is divine. It is Existence. Whatever we think is ours does not exist! The 'I' and 'mine' that we hold onto are mere lies. The moment we understand this, we surrender. The moment we surrender, we understand.

When we call something 'mine', legally it may belong to us, but existentially, it does not. Legally we can fence off a piece of land and call it ours. Legally we can own things. But Nature or Existence does not know that it is ours. When a cyclone hits, it does not care whose property it is. It does not know the law! It does not know that legally a cyclone is not allowed on someone's property! For Existence there is no law.

Your idea of 'mine' is protected by the laws of society. You cannot truly use the term 'law of the land'. The land has no laws. Only society has laws. The land can have an earthquake at any time. We cannot have laws to govern Nature. The law of the land is beyond your comprehension. As long as you are caught with the concept of 'I' and 'mine', you will not understand the truth about Existence. You are caught in thinking that something is 'you' and something is 'yours'.

When Krishna tells us to drop everything and surrender, He asks us to open our eyes and see the foolishness of our possessions and expectations. Open your eyes and see the drama that you are playing. Open your eyes and see the game that you are playing. It is one thing if you play the game to cheat others; however, do not cheat yourself. By and by we forget this and cheat ourselves with this game.

Please understand, there is no 'I', there is no 'mine'. The person who is intelligent and willing to open his eyes and see reality, will sooner or later wake up to the truth that there is no 'I' or 'mine'.

Can whatever you think of as 'I,' either your body or mind, function without air? Can you say that the air belongs to you? This basic energy, prāṇa, which goes in and comes out, does not belong to you. If prāṇa stops happening, what you think of as 'you' disappears.

It is like saying that the foundation does not belong to me, but the first floor of the house is mine! You can do that legally. But it is impossible existentially. In the same way, the building may belong to you, but the earth that it sits on does not belong to you. The earth can give one small shake, and whatever you thought was yours just disappears!

The very foundation of whatever you think is 'you' does not belong to you. It belongs to the Whole. It belongs to Existence. It belongs to the universe. It belongs to Nature with whom you are continuously fighting. The base or root of what you think of as 'you' does not belong to you.

We take for granted the air that continuously goes in and comes out. We believe that the air belongs to us. There is no break in this natural supply. Maybe if God called a strike, like a workers' union strike, we would understand that we cannot take even the air for granted. Suppose He called a strike for a minute, then we would understand that it did not belong to us. But He is a Karuṇāmūrti, god of

mercy. Out of His compassion, He never goes on strike! That is why we take life for granted. Just because certain things belong to us legally, we think that the concept 'mine' is solid. The truth is that both the 'I' and 'mine' have no base.

Anybody who is intelligent enough to open his eyes and see, realizes that 'I' and 'mine' are a drama. Whatever you may think is 'I', is not under your control. The moment the air that goes in does not come out, it is over. 'I' disappears.

Immediately your name will be taken from the name board outside your house and put on your tombstone. You will be called a dead body! You will be taken to the place where you can rest forever! Your house and car will be useless. So, whatever we think is 'I' and 'mine' is baseless.

Sometimes even the piece of land that we think belongs to us we may find doesn't, when we see the papers of that land! Our life itself is built on paper. The moment we have the intelligence to see this, the moment we wake up to this reality, we achieve the state of surrender. The moment we understand that in Existence nothing called 'I' or 'mine' exists, we immediately experience tremendous relief from the need to continuously protect ourselves.

These two instincts of holding onto 'I' and 'mine' are the reason for physical and mental problems. The instinct to survive and the instinct to possess are the root cause of our problems. On the other hand, when we realize that the 'I' and 'mine' do not exist, we laugh at ourselves. We realize how we have cheated ourselves and how foolish we have been in spending our whole life and energy in building sandcastles.

Some children were playing on the beach, making sandcastles. The whole day they worked hard to build beautiful sandcastles. At the end of the day, they jumped on the castles and destroyed everything that they had taken the whole day to make. And they enjoyed that too! A Zen master sat nearby and watched the whole scene. He merely said: 'This is life.'

A king also watched this scene. Then one child started crying because another child smashed his sandcastle. The king laughed and said, 'How foolish to cry over a sandcastle.' The Zen master laughed at the king. The king became angry and asked, 'Why are you laughing?'

The master explained, 'At least these kids know that they are playing when they make and break sandcastles. In contrast, when you make and break stonecastles, you think you are doing something real. The children are more aware than you; yet you call them foolish. That is why I am laughing.'

The important point here is that the children knew that both the building and the demolishing was a drama. That is the reason they laughed. They enjoyed building and destroying. In our so-called real life, we do not understand this truth.

Actually, our life is pseudo-life. The way children live is real life. They understand that it has no value intrinsically. One day it will be built and the next day destroyed. They do not sit and cry. They are not emotionally disturbed. They have no problems. But if our castles are shaken, we have a problem. We do not even have the basic understanding that all castles will be shaken and all palaces will be destroyed.

The whole thing is pure fun! We must understand that whatever way we live and whatever we may build, does not belong to us. If we do not internalize the outer incidents and if we treat them with the indifference they deserve, we experience what I call surrender.

There is only one thing to remember: Do not internalize sensory inputs and do not take things too seriously. When you take life too seriously, you can be sure of one thing, and that is sickness. All seriousness is a form of sickness. When you think the 'I' or 'mine' is the truth, you create trouble for yourself. The moment you believe that there is an 'I' in your being, you start moving away from life.

The idea that you have of yourself has no base, whatever you may think of as you. Sometimes you think you are the body. Sometimes you think you are the mind. And other times, you think you are the senses. No matter what you identify yourself with, it is baseless.

There is another critical aspect to understand in this regard. Whatever aspect you think of as 'you' will not grow. If you think you are the body, you stop the growth of the body because you do not like change. When you think you are the mind, you stop the growth of the mind. You stop the inputs to the mind.

That is the reason egoistic people cannot listen to new ideas or read about them. They cannot learn because learning is against their vested interests. They think that they already know and have nothing more to learn. When you think that your mind is you, the very attitude of learning, the beginner's mind, is lost. Wherever you cling, you destroy that.

If you think you are the body, you do not let the body rejuvenate itself. You do not let your body do its regular work. If you think you are the mind, you do not let it learn anything new. You do not allow anything new to enter. That is a sure way of destroying it.

The same applies to what you consider as 'mine'. This is based on the laws of society. In no way is it related to the laws of Existence. It is well known to science that of the trillions of cells in our body-mind system, millions of cells die each day and millions of cells are reborn. After a few years, there isn't a single cell in our body which existed two years earlier. Every single entity in the body is new. This means that there is really no constant 'I' as we imagine. Yet, we carry that label proudly.

All we are is a bunch of memories, value systems and beliefs, collectively known as saṁskāras. Our saṁskāras define us. Our saṁskāras rule us. And our saṁskāras make decisions for us. That is what this 'I' is all about.

We conduct Life Bliss Programs on meditation to eliminate these saṁskāras because saṁskāras rule us and we make our decisions unconsciously. We live unconsciously and instinctively, instead of consciously and intelligently. When we are focused on the 'I', our responses are unconscious and instinctive. They are defensive and protective. Studies have shown that when cells are in a protective

mode they cannot grow. As long as we are focused on 'I', we never grow.

The feeling of 'I' arises from the svādhiṣṭhāna cakra, the spleen energy center, where the Self is established. This is the seat of insecurity. Until we relinquish our fears by energizing this cakra, we desperately grasp the apparent security of 'I'.

The feeling of 'mine' is more primal than that of 'I', 'mine', the ideas of survival and possession, precedes the identity of 'I'. It arises from the mūlādhāra cakra, the root energy center. All emotional blocks like lust, greed and anger arise through this feeling of possession.

Giving up possessiveness and identity are difficult when we are conditioned the way we are, yet it is not impossible. In the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Order, all the teachers who take up mission work conduct the Life Bliss Programs, change their names to spiritual names that I give them.

Why do they change their names, sometimes even at the age of sixty? They will tell you that for the first time in their lives they feel a sense of liberation and freedom. They feel reborn and they celebrate. Initially people told me that it would be difficult to find teachers who are willing to change their names, since most people would not like to give up their past identity. The truth is that when you truly understand what 'you' is, you sincerely wish to give up your past identity.

Similarly, when we give up our possessions and attachment to possessions, we feel liberation. When I walked out of my home for spiritual wandering, I felt no loss. Today, the whole world is my home!

This does not mean that all of you need to become monks, renunciates and sanyāsīs. You can happily continue your normal life, but drop your attachments, fantasies, speculations, greed and fear.

You need not renounce what you already have. All you need to do to achieve happiness is to renounce what you do not have. This one statement has been a clarion call for awakening thousands of people.

For the first time in their lives, they understood the mistakes they were making. By dropping fantasies about the future which had no existence and by dropping regrets and guilt about their past about which nothing could be done, they reached a state of happiness that had thus far eluded them.

Renunciation does not mean sitting cross-legged with a tense look and eyes closed. If enlightenment could happen by shutting off our senses, it would be easy. We would just need to sit in soundproof rooms, wear blindfolds and have no contact with anyone. We would emerge enlightened after one week or so. If this method worked, all prisoners in solitary confinement should become enlightened.

Renunciation is a state of mind and not a mere state of the body. It is even more than a state of mind. It is a state of being. We can renounce attachments to relationships and possessions while being involved in material life. On the other hand, we could take sanyās, go to the distant Himalayas, and every time we close our eyes, our inner television would switch on.

The surrender that Krishna talks about involves dropping fantasies and surrendering to reality. The true reality, the only truth, is that we are part of the universal energy. We are part of the collective consciousness. When we have this awareness, there is no room for the individual 'I' and 'mine' to rule our actions.

Throughout Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about renunciation. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said that the Gita is nothing but Ta Gi, meaning tyāg, or renunciation. Ramakrishna said, 'Keep repeating Ta Gi and you will understand Gi Ta.' Again and again Krishna speaks about renunciation: How we should surrender the fruits of action to Him, without renouncing the action itself, and how all knowledge and action should be surrendered at His feet. He prepares Arjuna for this final moment when He tells him that all that needs to be done is to surrender. That is all.

Surrender is of three kinds.

1. The first step is the surrender of the intellect. For most people, especially intellectuals, this is the easiest. Your ego must be ripe before it can fall. The more stuff you pack into your thick skull, the more bloated it becomes. You become intoxicated with your own knowledge. You become intellectually arrogant. You are then ripe for surrender.

When someone appears on the scene and proves that intellectual knowledge is a pile of garbage, a person with a truly ripe intellectual ego understands and accepts the truth. Only those with half-baked knowledge who pretend to have intellectual status have a problem in understanding such a truth. A true intellectual can understand that all acquired knowledge is a mirage, an illusion.

When this happens, such a person surrenders his intellect to the master who shows him the way. Many intellectual seekers and spiritual shoppers come to me with loads of questions. After spending time with me, most of them tell me with great surprise that they no longer have questions. I don't take the trouble to answer their questions. No one can answer such questions. All I do is add more

words to them. They struggle with the new words and ultimately find the right answers themselves! Once a few questions are answered, the rest just drop.

When I do answer, I answer the questioner. I address the person, not his question. I look into his being and provide the solution.

2. The next step in surrender is the surrender of the heart. People ask how they will remember me when they go away from the ashram. I tell them that if I am their master, they will have trouble forgetting me! Remembering me is not an issue, forgetting me is.

The thought of the master will melt your heart. You will become emotional. You do not need to be in the master's physical presence. You do not need to see His picture. You do not need to hear His voice. The mere thought is enough. Tears will flow from your eyes. This is a powerful form of surrender. Ramakrishna says, 'Know this for sure: When the mere thought of your iṣṭadevatā (favorite deity) or your master reduces you to tears, you are in your final janma, your final birth.' What an enlightened master says is always true. So powerful is this surrender that it can liberate you, enlighten you. This is the power of devotion, bhakti. Krishna keeps repeating that this is the easiest way to reach Him. Do not worry about learning scriptures. Do not worry about performing rituals. Do not worry about techniques. He says, 'Just be devoted to Me and Me alone, and I shall save you.'

3. The third and final form of surrender is the surrender of the senses. When the surrender of senses happens, enlightenment happens, and when enlightenment happens, the surrender of the senses happens. Walking with Arjuna after the Mahabharata war, Krishna points to a bird on a tree and remarks, 'Arjuna, look at that green crow!' Arjuna responds, 'Yes, Krishna, I see the green crow.'

Krishna says, 'What a fool you are! How can a crow be green?'

Arjuna simply says, 'Krishna, when you told me to look at that green crow, what I saw was indeed a green crow.' Such was the state of Arjuna's surrender to his master, whatever He said was what Arjuna's eyes saw. This is the final state of surrender.

It may surprise you that an enlightened master has no freedom to do what he wishes. His surrender to the cosmic energy is so total that every move he makes is dictated by that energy. Ordinary people have the freedom to do what they wish.

All this talk about destiny has no meaning. Each of you has full freedom to do what you wish. After doing what you want and suffering, you claim it was because of your destiny! Whatever you do is within your power. In contrast, I have no power to move on my own. Every word I utter is at the command of Parāśakti, the cosmic energy.

Krishna's advice to Arjuna and to all seekers is to drop everything and surrender unto Him. That is the only and final solution.

As I said earlier, all of us are spiritual beings having a human experience. We are not mere human beings in search of a spiritual destination. All of us at the core are energy. We are not matter. Therefore, we are driven by energy. Masters can guide us in traveling this energy path. But we need to give them the chance. We need to be open.

When you say that you are not content with where you are, it is a reflection of your inner restless state. The rest of the pronouncements that you are spiritual, you are energy and that masters guide you etc., arises from a restless ego. It would be an insult to attribute this restless ego to a master's guidance.

You are in the same state as billions of others. You are in a state of rajoguṇa, the attribute of restlessness, aggression and passion. There is nothing wrong with being in this state. It just means that you are still in the grip of your senses. It means that your senses control you and you don't control them. It means that you are on the periphery and not at the center where your spirituality is centered.

In order to be truly spiritual, you need to move to the core. The core is where you understand who you are. You understand that you are not 'I', but that you are 'we'. Even now you may pretend to be selfless and do charitable services. But they have no meaning as long as you are credited and they give you fame. You will rarely do anything anonymously or be charitable to others when they do not respect you.

Neither the past nor the future is relevant when you are truly in the present. You do not make goals for the future and you do not regret or hold grievances from the past. The present moment is the satva guṇa moment where the action is passive. You are no longer restless but centered. You act, but do not worry about the outcome. Whatever the result is, you no longer measure it as success or failure.

What happens is what should happen, that's all. When you are on the right path, only the path matters, not the destination. If you consider the destination more important, it is unlikely that you are walking the right path. When you focus on the path, whatever destination you reach is right. How do you know which attitude you are in?

Please understand that if you hold grievances, regrets or guilt from the past, you are far from the right path. People pretend that they are not emotionally connected with past events and that they are no longer disturbed by happenings or people who have seemingly wronged them in the past. Yet their blood pressure shoots up when they must face such people and recollect such events. Your body does not lie. Your voice will become shrill and you will complain. These people and events still haunt you no matter how much you deny it.

Living in denial of reality is the sign of being rooted in the past and future. The problem with denial is that you will not accept what others tell you. You are blinded by ignorance of your own behavior. You are like Duryodhana. The ego is the root cause of denial, because you feel that accepting that you are haunted by the past is a sign of weakness. Unfortunately, weaknesses do not disappear by your suppressing them. Instead, they become more harmful.

When you are in a state of self-denial due to your ego, you will not be receptive to the master. Even the master cannot help you. You are taught how to open up these past saṁskāras and dissolve them, in our second and third level Life Bliss Programs. One needs to re-experience and relive these past moments in order to relieve and expunge them. The memories will stay without the emotions. They will not haunt you anymore. You can truly smile when you meet the person against whom you have held the grudge.

I also personally train and initiate people into Nithya Spiritual Healing. Before initiation, they need to complete all three levels of Life Bliss Programs. They can practice the meditation only after all their saṁskāras have been dissolved through these programs. Hundreds of testimonials attest to their transformation. Participants no longer hold enmity against another person after these three programs.

In the Nithya Spiritual Healers' Initiation, potential healers who become my ordained disciples must take an oath that they will heal whoever seeks their help. They must take an oath that they will heal even their worst enemy. Surprisingly, again and again, these people say that they can no longer consider anyone an enemy. They say very humbly that they no longer hold a grudge against anyone

for any reason.

Sometimes when a disciple tells me that he has had an outburst of anger against another person, I ask, 'Can you smile at that person now? If there is no guilt and no grievance, there is no problem. Then the anger has been expressed as energy.'

But don't do that ten times each day and shout at people and then say that you can smile at them! Especially if these people are obliged to you or employed by you, they have no choice but to listen to you. Whether you can smile at them or not is not an issue. Can they still smile at you? That will be the deciding factor. No energy should be misused.

When you are centered, you allow the future to happen to you. You do not direct the future. You may need to make some chronological plans if you are in business, but you do not become obsessed with it. You are not worried whether the result will be one way or another. You may ask, 'How is this possible when I am engaged in business activity? I must plan and be obsessed with the results. I

must be with the goal twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Only then can I succeed.'

Not true. You will only be stressed out and have a heart attack. The wealthiest people in the world are focused, not obsessed. Wealth is created by being focused on the process of creating wealth, not by being obsessed about the end result, money. Someone who is obsessed about making millions or billions will only fantasize about the money. They will neither have the time nor the inclination to be

focused on the process that delivers the wealth.

For a few days, act without being obsessed about the outcome. Do whatever you need to do and are used to doing, as and when the situations arise. But do not sweat about whether the result will be as you would like it. Focus only on the action. Experiment with this attitude for three or four days.

Nothing disastrous will happen to you in three or four days. Whatever happens will only be for your good. You will find out how relaxed you are and how much more energetic you are about what needs to be done.

To be focused on the process is to be in the present moment. In the present moment you are in reality. You say that you conceive the future and work hard to make it a reality. Are you in the present moment when you work? Or are you caught in the regrets and grievances of the past and the fantasies of the future?

Whether you are on the right path or not depends on the answer to this question. Ego combined with grievances and fantasies is a dangerous mix. This was Duryodhana's state. Personalities like Hitler, Stalin and Saddam caused havoc with this combination in recent history. Others, who may not be labeled as clearly as global villains, can equally harm others as a result of this combination. All these people conceived of a future and worked obsessively towards that future. But they

were so focused on their ego and satisfaction of the ego that their mind was in constant movement between the past and future. Their attention was occupied with grievances and fantasies.

This is an area where many so-called fulfillment techniques mislead people and sometimes destroy people's lives. Many are based on unconscious or subconscious visualization techniques such as using the alpha state of mind. These are positively dangerous since one has no control over the unconscious mind. It is like opening a Pandora's Box. Along with what one wishes for, a host of unwanted saṁskāras come into fruition. This is what they mean when they say, 'Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.'

Others advise you to visualize in the conscious state. If such techniques worked, everyone would be a millionaire. Who does not desire to be rich, healthy and happy? If it is so easy to achieve that by constantly repeating it in your conscious mind through some process, there should be no poor, unhealthy and unhappy people in this world. All these self-improvement programs make the designers and promoters rich, no one else.

These methods do not work because intents only work when there is no selfcontradiction. There are two extremes when self-contradiction does not exist. The first is when one is completely deluded by the ego, as with Duryodhana, Hitler and Stalin. Their self-obsession was so complete that there was no self-doubt about their own fantasies. There is no reality in this state. There is no intelligence to

accept reality. Such people are in complete denial. This is their route to selfdestruction.

The other extreme where there is no self-contradiction is the enlightened state. The enlightened being is always in reality and aware of himself. There is no selfcontradiction at this level. But unlike the state of Duryodhana, this is an egoless state. In either of these states, intent becomes reality since there is no selfcontradiction between what is desired and what is considered possible.

In every other state, there is self-contradiction between the present-moment reality and the future intent. This prevents any process from working, whatever the form of visualization. To make the intent work in reality is to make the intent congruent with reality. This happens only in a superconscious state of awareness brought about by meditation.

In the meditative state, you are in the energy field of the cosmos. You are the same energy as the universe. The energy guides you. Whatever you seek will match with what is to happen. In fact, if you are truly in a meditative state, you will have no desire to seek. Whatever happens is acceptable.

If you truly believe that there is a supreme power, even if you are still unaware that you are an inherent part of this supreme power, when you pray with the faith that this energy has the power to grant you what you wish, why don't you also trust that it has the intelligence to decide what to give you and when to give it!

This awareness can change the way you see your future. There is a supreme intelligence guiding your life and your fortune. All you need to do is trust that supreme power.

18.13,14 Learn from Me Arjuna, there are five causes that bring about the accomplishment of all action, as described in Sāṅkhya philosophy.

These are: physical body that is the seat of action, the attributes of nature or guṇa that are the Doer, the eleven organs of perceptions and action by the life forces and finally the Divine.

18.15 These five factors are responsible for whatever right or wrong actions a man performs by deed, word and thought.

18.16 Those who think they, their body and spirit, are the doers, are ignorant and do not see things as they are.

In these verses, Krishna gives the exact technology of surrender.

These two verses can be called techniques. Krishna lists five factors from Sāṅkhya philosophy responsible for our activities. These are the body-mind system, the operator of the body-mind system (that is the individual), the senses, different efforts causing the activities and finally the ultimate power of God. All activities, right or wrong, good or bad, are caused by these five factors. If however, the individual considers himself to be the doer, his body and mind, he is not aware.

Krishna uses the word ātman while saying that one who perceives one's spirit or Self as the agent, the doer, or the performer, does not see and is not aware. Krishna draws a distinction between the individual Self and the cosmic energy. He differentiates between ātman and Brahman, mānava and Deva, nara and Narayana, self and Parāśakti.

Krishna concludes that while philosophical discussion mentions five players in all activities, the ultimate controller is the Divine. We are immersed in our body-mind spirit system and caught in our sensory perceptions and believe that we are the power behind all that we do. So long as we have this deluded belief, we are rooted in ignorance.

Whatever you may understand as yourself, your body-mind-spirit system is the totality of many things. And individually each is responsible for something. In spite of this, you think that 'you' are responsible for the whole thing. That is where the trouble starts. Krishna gives the technology for the deeper levels of surrender.

As we saw earlier, there are three levels of surrender. The first is intellectual surrender. This means you accept that the master's intellect is sharper than your intellect; His intellect is of a higher order than yours. This is intellectual surrender.

Next is emotional surrender. This is trusting that the master's guidance on the emotional plane is more intelligent than your emotions. The third is surrendering the senses, your cognition or the root of cognition itself.

Surrendering the intellect is easy because it continuously tortures you. You have suffered with the intellect for many years. You want to get rid of it. So you surrender it. Surrendering the intellect is easy. When you see somebody more intelligent and with clearer thinking, you just surrender.

For example, when you hire a consultant, you surrender to his ideas. When you take on a lawyer, you surrender to his ideas because you know his intellect is sharper than yours in that field. The same happens when you go to an accountant.

In the spiritual field also, when you see a person who knows more, you surrender your intellect to that person. That is not a big thing. Surrendering intellectually happens easily. Most of the time you want to get rid of your intellect. Finding somebody to dump your intellect on allows you to relax from it.

Next comes emotional surrender. This happens when you feel deeply connected to the master after experiencing some meditation or understanding. You respect His emotions more than your own. The master's emotions mean the things He guides you in, the way He wants you to live.

You give more importance to these things than what you think of as life. Slowly He becomes the center of your life. You respect Him more than other emotional attachments. Priorities shift. The master becomes the number one priority at the emotional level. Emotional surrender is when you feel totally connected at the emotional level.

Next is a deeper level of surrender. After listening to these seventeen days of discourses, you can understand this deeper level of surrender. This is the level of the senses. The surrender of the senses means that your senses listen to what He says. Normally, when you listen to me, a filter in your mind discounts what you do not agree with. You hear what you want to hear. However, when intellectual and emotional surrender happen, you are ready to surrender this disbelief and unblock your senses.

Once a disciple asked his master, 'Why should I surrender?' The master asked, 'How do you know whatever you think you know about yourself?' The disciple replied, 'I know myself through my senses.'

The master asked, 'Who do you think you are according to your senses?' The disciple said, 'As far as I know, I am the body and mind.' His master responded, 'You are God, not just body and mind.'

The master said, 'Only when you surrender your senses, will you realize the truth of what I am saying. The moment you trust me more than your senses, you experience that you are God. You then understand the meaning of tatvamasi (literally 'You Are That', meaning 'you are divine').' The master again and again tries to show that you are God. I keep saying, 'I am not here to prove that I am God. I am here to prove that you are God.'

The master stands for the idea that you are the infinite. He shows you various dimensions of your inner self that you have not explored or experienced. He shows you so many dimensions of your being. The master stands for your multidimensional being. He tries to show you that it is possible. He shows that if it is possible for him, it is possible for you also. But as long as you believe your senses, you think that you are the body and mind.

When you trust the master more than your senses, you understand that the master's words are the truth and not your senses. Then you experience the truth of the master's words. When the master says you are God, you suddenly realize the truth for yourself. You understand that you are God. You realize that you are not the body or mind as your senses have led you to believe. When you believe the master's words more than your senses, you experience this truth.

Two voices are speaking from two different levels. On the one hand, your senses tell you that you are the body and mind. On the other hand, the master tells you that you are God; you are divine and have many dimensions to your being. He tells you to enjoy and experience everything. As long as you listen to your senses, you will not even hear what the master says.

When you move away from your senses and come to the master, you hear Him and experience the truth that you are divine.

In the inner world, the first and last tool you need is complete surrender. Only then can you wake up to the truth. If Arjuna had trusted only his senses, he would have been at best a good warrior and king. Instead he trusted Krishna more than his senses and became enlightened. He experienced the truth of Krishna. When Krishna said that the crow was green, he saw a green crow. Such was his faith.

You can experience Krishna consciousness not just by surrendering the intellect and emotions but also by surrendering the root of the intellect and emotions, that is the senses. The senses supply the data. When you surrender them, the source of the data is surrendered.

You receive all information about yourself through the senses. Please understand that you do not know anything about yourself. You respect yourself because of data you collect about yourself through the senses of others. If somebody says, 'You are beautiful,' you make an entry in a notebook that you are beautiful according to so and so. Again, when somebody says that you are intelligent, you make an entry that you are intelligent, as told by so and so. If somebody says that you are tall, dark and handsome, that entry is made and the name mentioned. When you are told that you are dumb, another entry is made! At the end of the day, you make a survey and assess what everybody said. You see that seventy-two percent of the people say that you are intelligent; twenty percent say that you are dumb and the rest do not know. Based on these statistics you decide about yourself. You decide that if seventy-two percent of the people say that you are intelligent, all of them cannot be fools. What they say must be right. Therefore, you must be intelligent! Thus your conclusion about yourself is based on what others say about you.

The whole day you conduct a signature campaign. You continuously go around asking people to tell you something about yourself. As a result, the senses give you an idea of what you are. Krishna asks Arjuna to surrender these senses.

When you surrender your senses, the root of your idea of yourself, you lose your identification with the body and mind. As long as you believe your senses, you think that you are the body and mind. Only when you believe the master's words more than your senses, do you realize the truth that you are divine. On one hand, your senses say you are the body and mind. On the other hand, the master

tells you that you are divine and in eternal bliss. He tells you that you are the consciousness beyond body and mind.

It is up to you to choose. If you believe the senses, you cannot believe the master. And if you believe the master, you cannot believe your senses. Your way of life decides whether you surrender to your senses or your master. It is for you to decide.

Krishna says that only when you surrender at all three levels do you have the ultimate experience. Let me tell you this, surrender itself is enlightenment. Please do not think enlightenment will be issued to you after surrendering. No! It is not a paycheck you receive by courier. Surrender itself is enlightenment. At that moment, you experience the Truth.

Usually we play with words. At least be aware of the moments when you play with words. People tell me that they have surrendered their life to Krishna, Venkateshwara or Shiva. Then they say that their only wish is to be happy. If they have truly surrendered, surrender is enough. They will not need to ask for anything else. Sometimes people ask if they need to meditate since they have surrendered to God. If they have surrendered, they will have no doubts, nor will they need meditation! If they have doubts, they need meditation. As long as doubts remain, surrender has not happened, because the moment you surrender, you disappear.

A beautiful verse in Tamil says, 'When you give your 'I' and 'mine' to Existence, Parāśakti or Existence gives Her 'I' and 'Mine' to you.' Both bank accounts merge and become one. It becomes a joint account! You have nothing to lose.

When you think of yourself as body and mind, you have śarīram rogamayam and manam śohamayam. Śarīram rogamayam means that the body is filled with diseases. Manam śohamayam means that the mind is filled with sorrows or depression. Since that is the case, what can we surrender? Absolutely nothing, except a body full of diseases and a mind full of sorrows. When you drop these two at the feet of the Divine, He gives you His body and mind! And it becomes, śarīram devamayam, manam sukhamayam, ātmā ānandamayām, meaning, you get in exchange a divine body, a mind in happiness as well as a third thing: a soul in bliss! A 'give one, get three free' offer!

Manickavasagar, the great enlightened master, sings a beautiful Tamil song to Shankara (Lord Shiva):

tańdaḍu eńtańai, końdaḍu uńtańai, śańkara yārkolo śaturar?

He says, 'I gave myself to You and received You in return. Who benefited most from this bargain? Who is more intelligent, O Shankara?'

In surrender, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Surrendering does not mean giving up everything. It does not mean giving up your property.

Keep everything; however, take care that you do not internalize them. Do not judge yourself based on your properties. You are far greater than you think. Do not judge yourself based on your bank balance. Do not judge yourself based on your relationships. Do not judge yourself based on name and fame. Do not judge yourself based on your friends. You are greater than all these things put together.

As long as you judge yourself based on these things, you internalize these into your being. These become the central points in your life. They push and pull you in all directions. You will not have yourself for your being. As long as these are the major factors in your life, these things will rule you. Even so, you are greater than all these things put together.

Understand that you are something beyond these things. The moment you wake up to this truth, you will not allow yourself to be put into any frame based upon bank balance, relationships, attitudes or name and fame. These things cannot be used to judge you. The moment you wake up to this truth, you have surrendered.

I simply ask you to surrender these small ideas you have about yourself. On the surface of the vast ocean, small bubbles are formed. One bubble starts thinking that it is an individual long lasting entity. It thinks that it must become strong. It lasts only for a few moments. Yet within those few moments, it collects other bubbles around it. One bubble is its wife, another bubble is its son and so on.

Some are called parents or relatives, still others are friends, and so on. It collects bubbles on all sides to protect itself. It collects a few grains of sand from the beach and thinks it is its property. It thinks one grain of sand is its bank balance, another is its jewelry and treasures and so on. Then it builds a fence to protect its property. How long can the bubble play this game? Only for a few seconds! Before it can complete its game, it disappears back into the ocean.

The bubble was part of the ocean in all three instances: when it was created, when it existed and when it disappeared. Even though it claimed to be different from the ocean, even though it thought it was an individual, and even though it thought many people and things belonged to it, it was always part of the ocean and very soon disappeared into it also! In the same way, for a few moments you think you exist as an individual being in this universal consciousness. Within those few moments you catch hold of a few people as your relatives and friends. This makes you feel safe. You collect a few things as possessions. You feel secure with these things around you. With these things you form an opinion about yourself. You play the same game as the bubble.

Suddenly the whole thing disappears. Before the game started, while the game is going on and when the game ends, whether you understand it or not, realize it or not, experience it or not, you belong to the ocean. You are God. You are one with Existence.

You are playing a game. You register your marriage to another bubble. You register some grains of sand as your property. The registrar is another bubble! A larger bubble is the ruler of the land or that bit of the ocean! And there is an understanding among the bubbles, 'You will not hit me and I will not hit you! You will not take my bubble and I will not take yours!' The whole game goes on in this

way. Suddenly within one moment the whole thing is part of the ocean again.

When I say surrender, I mean wake up to the truth that you are in the ocean. When you are born, when you think you are an individual or when you become enlightened, you are always in the ocean. Just wake up! Waking up to this ultimate Truth is surrender. Surrender these small ideas about yourself and wake up to reality. As a result, surrender automatically happens in your inner space, your inner consciousness. Otherwise you just play with the word surrender.

We use inflated words when we define ourselves. We do not realize that we are beyond these descriptions. One day a follower used exaggerated words about himself in front of me. After he left I told my disciple that he seemed to be suffering from an inferiority complex. My disciple was perplexed. He asked how it could be called an inferiority complex when he boasted so much. I told him, 'Understand, each of us is God. Hence anything we say about ourselves that is lesser than that, is an inferiority complex!' Any estimation you have of yourself except that you are God is an underestimation! You suffer from an inferiority complex if you think of yourself as anything other than God. Drop your ideas about yourself. Wake up to the truth that you are the ocean.

Some fish swim along with the current. Others swim against the current. Whether they go with or against the current, all the fish are in the water. Whether you flow with Existence or fight it, you are one with it. Whether or not you have realized you are divine, you are divine. There is no choice in this. There is only one choice, realize and enjoy or continue to struggle and suffer; that's all! You may try to create stronger fences around yourself or collect more bubbles around you, but can you ask the wave not to come? Whatever you may do, the whole thing is only a drama of a few seconds.

The next problem is what to do if you cannot surrender.

Some people tell me, 'Swamiji, I am unable to surrender. What can I do?' Do not worry, because you have nothing to surrender. By understanding that you have nothing to surrender, you have already surrendered. Just relax. Whether you surrender or not, this is the truth. Whether you surrender or not, Existence takes care. Automatically life continues and you will relax. That relaxation itself is surrender.

Relax into the flow of life and wake up to the truth that you are something greater than your body and mind as suggested by your senses. You are led by society to think that you are something. Now wake up to the truth that you are greater than what you can imagine. You are beyond any imagination you can have of yourself. Surrendering will give you a new consciousness. You will not be the same person. One single moment of surrender will transform your whole life. You will be a new being.

There are three levels of birth, three types of garbha or wombs, according to the ancient scriptures. The first is the bhū garbha. This is the womb of a woman that gives birth to an infant. This is connected to the mūlādhāra chakra, the lowest of the seven chakras or energy centers in the human body.

Next is the hṛt garbha. This is the womb of the heart and is witnessed in the case of real artists. A singer for example, conceives the song or music in his heart and then delivers it. Likewise, an artist or sculptor conceives the concept in his heart first and then delivers it. That is the reason artists get such satisfaction from their work. Their life itself is so fulfilling because they give birth continuously.

A woman feels fulfillment when she gives birth to a child and becomes a mother. She overflows with satisfaction. In the same way, when an artist creates a painting, poem, sculpture or song, he feels an overwhelming satisfaction and fulfillment. For the poet, the womb is in his heart, the hṛt garbha.

The ultimate is the jñāna garbha, which happens in the highest energy center, the sahasrāra chakra on the top of the head. In the jñāna garbha, all the spiritual ideas are conceived in the head and worked on. Suddenly one moment you give birth to a new you, to an enlightened being.

So there are three levels of garbha. The bhū garbha is the first level, which we are familiar with. The next is the hṛt garbha, which a few artists reach. The ultimate is the jñāna garbha where you receive the teachings of the master and His presence into your sahasrāra chakra. You work with yourself and give birth to yourself as an enlightened being.

Receive this concept of surrender, this truth, and work on it. Suddenly you will wake up and give birth to yourself as an enlightened being. The moment you understand you belong to the ocean, that you are from it, that you are in it and that you will disappear into it, you will realize that you will never die, because you are the ocean.

As long as you identify with the bubble, you feel insecure. The instinct to survive and the instinct to possess torture you. The moment you realize that you are the ocean, the instinct to survive disappears because there is no death for you.

There is nothing to fear, nothing to feel insecure about. Death creates fear as long as you think you are the bubble. The moment you realize that you are the ocean, there is nothing to possess because everything belongs to you. There is nothing to lose and nothing to acquire. Hence, the instinct to possess disappears. I am not asking you to legally throw away your possessions. You do not need to throw away whatever you have done for your 'I' and 'mine'. You do not need to throw away whatever you have. Just do not internalize them. Within yourself be aware that you are something greater than anything you can possibly possess.

At the age of seven, your toys are important to you. Do they hold the same importance today? You have neither renounced them nor are you attached to them. They are just there. Do you feel that you must return home because the toys are there? No! Do you feel the toys make your life a torture and that you must renounce them? No! You feel neither attached nor detached. You have grown beyond them.

Rāga means attachment. Arāga means detachment. Virāga (or Vairāgya) means beyond attachment and detachment. As you grew up, vairāgya naturally happened towards your toys. So also, when you realize that you are the ocean, vairāgya will happen towards the few sand particles and bubbles that you have collected and gathered around yourself. You will have gone beyond these things.

The instincts to survive and possess would no longer be relevant to you. Your property does not suddenly disappear. They are there, but you live them and enjoy them more intensely. You do not take them for granted. You do not feel bored with them. You do not think: same house, same wife and same life! You take them for granted only when you think they are your properties.

When you realize that they may be taken from you at any moment, you do not take them for granted. When you realize that you are the ocean and that they are also of the same ocean, you value them more. When you realize this, you are transformed at the level of body, mind and consciousness. When consciousness is transformed, you give birth to a new you.

Krishna goes much deeper than these three levels of surrender: surrender of the intellect, surrender of the emotions and surrender of the senses. He gives Arjuna a glimpse of the greatest surrender. He gives Arjuna a glimpse of the ultimate experience itself. Krishna already gave Arjuna the experience during Viśvarūpa darśan, the vision of His cosmic form. Even so, Arjuna was unable to establish himself in that experience due to fear.

Always you miss the first experience because of fear. Now Arjuna is more mature and capable of being established in the experience. Krishna gives Arjuna the experience that will stay with him forever. In the next few verses Krishna puts Arjuna into the experience of enlightenment. He wakes him up to the ultimate Truth.

A man asked a Zen master how to become Buddha. The master just slapped him! In that instant, the man became enlightened. He experienced Buddhahood in himself. The slap simply showed him that he was already That. He merely needed to wake up from sleep.

Krishna is waking Arjuna up from the long slumber called saṁsāra sāgara. This can also be called unconsciousness or tamas. Krishna gives him a good shake by giving him the ultimate experience and puts him in that state forever. I was telling you about the three levels of surrender. Krishna puts Arjuna into that final level or highest level of surrender.

Yes, it is and no it isn't. There are always different ways of looking at something. Buddha was never dogmatic. He said that everything could be right or wrong, right and wrong. There can be right love and wrong love as well as right anger and wrong anger.

Prior to Buddha nobody thought that way. People considered love as always right and anger as always wrong. So it was about will or resolution. A man of will was always right. All cultures until then had praised willpower. On the other hand, Buddha was tremendously insightful and said that everything that can be right can also be wrong. Nothing can be absolutely right. Willpower is wrong if used by the ego. Then it enhances the ego. And that's what happens in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred.

Willpower can be right, but one must be alert and aware. Willpower can be right only if it is used for surrender. It is a paradoxical phenomenon. Ordinarily we think will and surrender are polar opposites. In spite of this, there is only one right use of will: to surrender to the Whole. Call it God, Nature, Tao or whatever you like. Willpower in the service of the person is dangerous because the idea of the person is false. Personality is illusory. We are not separate entities. The whole

universe is one organic unity. We exist together. Even a small blade of grass is connected to the faraway star. Everything is interlinked and intertwined.

It is like a spider's web. If you touch one thread, the wave is felt throughout the pattern. Through a slight touch, the vibration is felt throughout the web. So it is in the case of the universe. We are not separate. We only appear separate. Hence, if will is used in the service of the person, it is a wrong kind of will. It leads to more and more misery, conflict and violence.

Right will means will used in the service of God and in renunciation. When that happens, you are no more. Right will means that the will gathers itself and commits suicide. But only a man of will is able to do that! People who don't have any will, who are always lukewarm, half-hearted and wavering, cannot surrender.

Surrender needs a certain kind of integrity and resolution. In fact it needs the greatest resolution possible. Unless you are totally in it, it will not happen. Even if you hold back a little bit, it is not surrender. Through that which you are holding back, everything will return again. You will be the same. Surrender must be irrevocable. One must commit oneself so totally that there is no going back, because the bridge will be burned and you will have thrown the ladder away.

Right will is capable of destroying itself. It is a strange phenomenon but that's how life is. It is paradoxical. First we must learn to create an ego, then the ego is made ripe and strong; next we must learn how to drop it. It would seem logical not to develop it at all. Also, the harder the wood, the brighter the fire when it is burnt! If there was never an ego, you would never know the joy and freedom of dropping it. A person who has never been imprisoned has no consciousness about freedom. Being in prison is a prerequisite to know the taste of freedom.

Life is full of contradictions. A poor man never knows he is poor. He looks poor to people who are not poor. He does not know that he is poor and has nothing to compare his poverty with. To be really poor, first you must be rich.

After that, you will know the pain and agony of poverty. To be a true beggar, first you must be an emperor. Otherwise you will not know what it is like to be a beggar. The ego must first be strengthened, only to be dropped later. The so-called strengthening of the ego is actually the process of gathering and focussing our scattered energies into a single ball, which actually enables us to drop it more easily and therefore aids in the process of total surrender. The will first must be sharpened, only to be surrendered later. Knowledge must first be gathered, only to be unlearned later.

On the day you unlearn whatever you have learned, you become a child again. You are then twice born. This is not like the first childhood in which you lacked awareness of being knowledgeable. You now know what it means to be knowledgeable. And in dropping it you feel a great freedom, great joy, such ecstasy, and yet you are not attaining anything.

You were the same in your first childhood, yet you were completely unaware of it. This whole process is needed to make you aware. Awareness comes through a dialectical process. So will is good and right, when you are capable of dropping it.

If you cannot drop it, if you cling to it, if it becomes your life-pattern, you miss the whole point. Then it creates misery and hell. Great willpower is needed to create hell or heaven. If you continue in it, it creates hell. If you jump out of it, it creates heaven!

The only evolution worth calling evolution is the evolution of bliss. If bliss does not grow, you do not evolve. If bliss does not grow, society does not evolve. What people generally understand as evolution and progress is sheer nonsense. A more complicated technology does not mean evolution. You may have more gadgets, bigger machines, better airplanes, better trains and better houses, but you are the same person. You can reach the moon or stars one day, but you will do only whatever you did on earth! If you smoke cigarettes here, you will smoke there also. If you play cards here, you will play cards there also. If you drink beer here, you will carry beer to the moon. What else will you do there?

If mankind remains the same, there is no evolution. We can only bring about a substitute evolution that gives the false appearance that we are evolving. For centuries, mankind has not evolved. Only a few individuals here and there have evolved. We can come across a handful of people such as a Buddha or a Jesus.

Those who have tasted the nectar of bliss are evolved human beings. A small number of people have experienced evolution. Getting down from the trees and walking on two legs instead of all fours does not make us an evolved animal. It merely makes us erect and vertical, that's all. Real evolution is judged by blissfulness. And blissfulness grows with consciousness. They grow together, simultaneously. They are two aspects of the same coin. You grow in consciousness and you become more blissful or you grow more blissful and become more conscious. Start from anywhere, either consciousness or bliss, and you will grow.

Unless one becomes a Buddha or a Christ, one misses the great opportunity of evolving. All other progress is false. Surrender is an effort in the right direction. It releases our potential, and mankind has infinite potential. Man can reach the ultimate peak of joy in surrender, not in acquisition.

Gaining knowledge is cheap and easy. One can sit in a library and collect knowledge. Our memory is so great that some claim a single man's memory system can contain all the libraries of the world. No computer has yet been invented which competes with man's memory system. It is almost unlimited and it can create such a great illusion of being wise.

Wisdom is a totally different phenomenon. It comes through love. It grows and flowers in the heart. The ways of the heart are unlike the ways of the head. Surrender is a search for wisdom. I am not interested in imparting knowledge here. I am not a teacher. A teacher imparts knowledge. A master imparts his being.

A master does not teach. On the contrary, he helps you unlearn. He helps you unburden. He helps you to come from the head to the heart. Once you are centered in the heart, your life pulsates with a new energy. That energy is love. It is not that you become more loving. You become love itself.

Surrender is the transformation of ego into love. It is the transformation of your love for yourself into love for all. Yes, you need the ego to start with. When the ego is dropped, surrender happens.

What if some never had an ego to start with? What about those whose identities had already merged with the collective identity? You may say that this cannot happen. You are wrong. It is rare, that is true; but it happens. Incarnations come to earth with full consciousness of their collective identity. They are already in tune with the universe. In the book titled THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Vol. 1, this issue is covered in greater detail.

18.63 I have explained the knowledge that is the secret of secrets. After fully reflecting on this, do as you wish.

18.64 Because you are My dear friend, I express this truth to you. This is the most confidential of all knowledge. Hear this from Me. It is for your benefit.

18.65 Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will certainly attain Me. This I promise you because you are My very dear friend.

What powerful words! Only the Divine can speak these words of absolute authority. Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. This is the way you will come to Me without fail. I promise this because you are My great bhakta (devotee) and very dear to Me.

Now He comes to the ultimate teaching. This is the essence of all His teachings, the quintessence of Bhagavad Gita. He wakes up Arjuna with this verse and puts him into Krishna consciousness, the eternal consciousness or enlightenment.

Krishna showers Himself on Arjuna, waking him up to the experience of the Whole. He says, 'Give up everything, whatever you know as dharma, the rules and regulations of the outer life and of the inner life. Drop everything that you know and surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from everything. Do not fear.' Krishna gives him abhaya, complete protection.

Part 2: Transformation Tools for Inner Health - Volume 7_English_part_2.md

He liberates Arjuna with these words. He gives the ultimate experience to Arjuna. With this verse, Krishna makes Arjuna drop everything and liberates him. He gives him a conscious experience of the ocean. He asks Arjuna to drop his ideas about being a separate bubble, relax and realize the truth. Even the idea of the ocean or of God are simply our ideas. Krishna makes Arjuna drop those ideas and makes him explode into Krishna consciousness, the eternal consciousness.

Now Krishna enters into the actual experience. Krishna liberates Arjuna and gives him the ultimate experience permanently. We cannot call him Arjuna any longer because he has become Krishna. He has achieved Krishna consciousness. Now only Krishna exists. As long as Krishna and Arjuna existed, there were two entities. But now that they have become one, neither exists. There is no name for it. It is only energy.

Forget about dharma, the codes of conduct laid down by religions, and turn to Me. I shall be your savior, says Krishna. Do not misunderstand, misquote and misuse these words. You will do yourself the greatest disservice. The Divine does not care whether you are good or evil.

The Divine does not care whether you are a saint or sinner. A saint and a sinner, a celibate monk and a prostitute have equal chances of reaching the Divine. This is the truth. Of course, when you come close to the Divine, the energy transforms you. Negativities will be dissolved. They will be burnt and you will be pure as you were at birth.

Religion is the creation of men. Spirituality is the creation of enlightened masters who live in the energy of the Divine with total awareness. Krishna, Shiva, Buddha, Mahavira and Jesus were enlightened masters. They related to no religion. The followers who interpreted them to the best or worst of their understanding created religions. The followers established dharma, the codes of righteous conduct.

No God or master is interested in coming down to tell you how you should behave. They tell you to be in awareness and that will put you on the right path. Thus, Krishna says with absolute conviction and authority: Forget all codes of conduct, give up all religions and come to Me with awareness. This is your salvation.

Krishna is triguṇa rahita: beyond the attributes of nature and karmic influence. Merging with Him, surrendering to Him takes you beyond all karmic bondages. If you understand this verse and act accordingly, you will be liberated. That is Krishna's promise.

Take a few moments now to pray to Parabrahma Krishna, the universal Krishna, who showered enlightenment on Arjuna and gave him the ultimate experience. Pray that He may shower the same experience on us or give us a glimpse of the ultimate Truth. Take a few moments to pray. Please close your eyes and pray intensely to Him. Do not think that He is unavailable now. He is always available to everybody on planet earth. He may not have the body, but He is available in the form of energy. The statues in the temples are called arcāvatāra. That means 'incarnation of the Divine'. He is available to us all the time, whenever we call Him. Close your eyes and pray intensely to Him to shower us with the same experience He showered on Arjuna. Relax in silence and listen to the words of Krishna.

Yes. Unclutching is the surrender of thoughts, the surrender of the mind. It is the ultimate surrender. When you surrender the process of connecting thoughts, which is what unclutching signifies, you move into the present moment. In the present moment your mind dissolves and your ego disappears.

This is the state of renunciation and surrender that Krishna advises. We are forever controlled by our senses. What we perceive through our senses and what we perceived in the past through our senses drives us on our path to the future. Sensory perceptions create thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Emotions and thoughts give birth to our mental setup and attitude. Understanding the play of emotions and thoughts is the first and final step towards moving beyond it. Man by his nature is an unclutched and blissful being.

Every thought that arises within us is like a bubble that forms, rises and dies. Every thought rises independently and dies before the next thought comes up. For example, if you are sitting in a chair and suddenly get up, the moment you decide to get up, the thought of sitting has left you. If you are working on your computer and decide to shut down the machine, the thought that you want to work has died at that moment. So every thought is unconnected and happens in a series, one

after the other. One thought must die before the next one comes up. This is our true nature.

Our true nature is to renounce thoughts every moment; to allow each thought to rise like a bubble and burst and then allow the next thought to rise. Our thoughts have a vertical existence like rising bubbles.

This process of allowing thoughts to rise and die without trying to connect them is being unclutched. As long as this natural process is allowed to happen, things are alright. In spite of this, we start connecting thoughts randomly and forming a shaft. By doing so, we convert the vertical and unclutched process into a horizontal one with linear connectivity. The whole problem starts here. As long as each thought is allowed to rise and die, we can take on any load on the physical and mental

planes. Our consciousness will remain light and blissful. Once we start connecting thoughts, our consciousness suffers. We feel burdened. It damages our being.

Emotions such as worry, lust, discontentment, jealousy, fear, ego and attention-need are connections that we make between independent incidents and between independent thoughts by linking or clutching thoughts together. We create a concept for ourselves and start to relate with that concept. We create an imaginary shaft with our thoughts and we suffer because of this.

These emotions create all forms of violence including religious wars, social conflicts or political unrest. The basis or root of all forms of violence is our emotions, and the basis of our emotions is our habit of creating imaginary shafts of our thoughts and empowering them to work on us.

While creating these shafts, the key thing we do is choose thoughts depending on whether we want pain or pleasure. We pick pleasant thoughts at random and connect them to form a shaft of pleasure or pick negative thoughts and connect them to form a shaft of pain. We create shafts of pain and pleasure alternately for ourselves and keep oscillating between these two emotions. To unclutch from this shaft is the master key to a blissful life.

If we deeply analyze how we connect our thoughts instead of renouncing them, we will understand how we create suffering for ourselves. As such, there is no connection between our thoughts. The mind finds the connection.

We have been trained to feed on words and thoughts. That is why we create these shafts. We feed on words because we always operate out of fear or greed. Out of fear or greed, we create connectivity in our thoughts. We are afraid to let go of this process because if we do, there is nothing else to hold onto. We have never experienced an unclutched state of mind where there is no shaft, but only

bubble-like thoughts.

In the unclutched state, there is no scope for fear or greed. You will simply BE. It is a dimension that we rarely experience because we are used to clutching onto the familiar shaft of thoughts.

We wonder how we can exist without clutching onto the shaft of thoughts, when the truth is we can live in an unclutched fashion blissfully. We see it as something impossible! We fail to see how mythical the whole thing is. Our mind is a myth. We have empowered it and become a slave to it. It is mental slavery.

Watch the thoughts rising in you. Clearly see how each thought rises and dies and the next thought comes up. Observe how you effortlessly connect these thoughts and create ideas and concepts. Watch the play of these concepts upon yourself. You will understand how you create the whole myth. Connecting thoughts is the original sin.

Living in an unclutched fashion is the key to blissful living. Decide not to connect thoughts and not to pass judgment on any thought or incident. When you find yourself connecting, unclutch from the connection. Continue to unclutch every time you remember this technique. Your mental setup will automatically be transformed. The psychological revolution will happen in you.

When we work in an unclutched fashion, our capacity expands. We take on more responsibility without becoming stressed. We do not experience mood swings between pain and pleasure. We are blissful all the time. Normally we are accustomed to happiness that comes due to a reason. This reason is another shaft that we create with our thoughts. Once we stop creating these shafts, we are blissful all the time.

The term unclutched does not mean to be aloof and cold to people and situations around us. Just don't connect thoughts and start the process of creating shafts; that's all. Remember that you are a beautiful and unclutched being by nature. You will stop creating misery for yourself and others.

5.27, 5.28 Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, Suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, The transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from desire, fear and the byproduct of desire, fear and anger, all three.

One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

5.29 One who knowing Me as the purpose of sacrifice and penance, As the lord of all the worlds and the benefactor of all the living beings, achieves peace.

Here, the 'Me' refers to the supreme witnessing consciousness, the Krishna consciousness; it is not the six foot Krishna frame. I always tell people, the outer guru, the master is needed only to kindle the inner spirit, to awaken the inner guru. Once the inner guru, the consciousness is awakened, the outer guru needs to be dropped. Just like after burning the dead body, the very stick that is used to stoke the wood to burn the body is dropped into the same pyre, so also the outer guru needs to be dropped.

Let us now enter into the technique. For the first time, Krishna gives a beautiful technique to move your energy from fear and greed to divine consciousness, eternal consciousness.

Your fear is rooted in the svādhiṣṭhāna cakra. This is the energy center that is situated two inches below the navel. Your greed is rooted in the mūlādhāra cakra, the cakra that is in the root of your spinal cord.

Krishna gives us the technique of how to elevate ourselves from these two chakra to the eternal consciousness, the ājñā cakra at the brow center, where the eternal consciousness resides, where our very being resides. When we have elevated our self to ājñā, we go beyond our ego or mind. We are in tune with the eternal consciousness.

We are all caught in the mûlâdhâra and svâdhisthâna, fear and greed. That is why, continuously, we can watch and see that we have a sort of a tensed feeling. We will be continuously holding our mûlâdhâra and svâdhisthâna tightly. Here, now, just look into your being. You will be able to feel yourself near the mûlâdhâra area, tightly holding yourself. You always hold yourself in tension.

Krishna explains how to relax that area, how to stop the fuel coming from greed and fear, and get the amrita-dhâra (flow of nectar) from the eternal consciousness. Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from desire, fear and the byproduct of desire, fear and anger - all three. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

First, He gives the technique to enter into that state. Then He says, if you can stay in that same state, you are liberated. Now, at least let us try to have a glimpse of this state that Krishna explains inthis verse. I will guide you step by step through this meditation.

Please try to enter into that state.

Please sit straight and close your eyes. Let your head, neck and backbone be in a straight line. Intensely pray to that ultimate energy, Parabrahma (Supreme) Krishna, to give the experience of this meditation to us.

First thing, visualize that all your senses are completely shut. Visualize that your eyes are completely closed. Don't allow any visualization to happen inside your being. Not only should you close the eyelids, you should close the eyes also, because sometimes even though we have closed our eyelids, we continue to see things from behind the eyelids. Visualize that your eyeballs have become completely dark. You are seeing only darkness in front of you.

Visualize your ears are shut. Visualize your sense of touch is shut. Visualize your smelling capacity is shut. Visualize your face to be shut. Feel deeply that all the five senses have been shut down.

Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible. Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible.

Slowly, let your nostrils blow the air. Let your consciousness reside between the two eyebrows. In a very relaxed way, let you be aware of the space between your two eyebrows. Don't concentrate; don't tense yourself. Just be very relaxed, have a deeply relaxed awareness.

Let your mûlâdhâra cakra located at the base of your spine be relaxed. Let your svâdhisthâna cakra located just below the navel center, be relaxed. Let your whole consciousness come up to the âjñâ cakra which is between the eyebrows. Let you concentrate on the space between the eyebrows. Let you relax in the âjñâ cakra, between the eyebrows.

Visualize cool, soothing light in the âjñâ cakra, in the space between the eyebrows. Relax in the âjñâ cakra between your two eyebrows. Forget all other parts of your body. Forget about the body, mind and the world; remember only the âjñâ cakra, the space between the two eyebrows. Relax in the same state in your âjñâ cakra.

Go deeply into the âjñâ cakra, in the space between the two eyebrows. Visualize a beautiful, cooling, soothing light in the âjñâ cakra. Let you experience beautiful, blissful light in the âjñâ cakra. Don't tense yourself; let your awareness be in the âjñâ cakra in a very relaxed way; let your consciousness rest in the space between the two eyebrows.

Let you relax in the same space of eternal consciousness. Let you be beyond the body and mind. Let your intelligence be awakened. Let you work from your eternal consciousness. Let you have the pleasant awareness of the âjñâ cakra.

Let you all have the grace of the divine consciousness. Let you be established in the eternal consciousness. Let you all be in, with and radiate eternal bliss, nityânanda.

Om shanti, shanti, shantihi...

Om tat sat

Relax. Slowly, very slowly, you can open your eyes.

Try to remain in this same mood at least for the next ten days. Understand: Don't concentrate by force. Have a pleasant awareness. When you keep the pleasant awareness around your âjñâ cakra, your whole energy will be directed towards the eternal consciousness. You will receive energy from eternal consciousness, from immortality, amritatva. You will not be driven by fear or greed.

You will be driven from above by the eternal consciousness. If you are driven from below by fear or greed, you are man. If you are driven from above, you are God.

Let you learn the science of how to connect yourself with the divine energy, how to be driven by the divine consciousness. Let you function through the Eternal consciousness.

What do you understand by the term "devotion above action?" Brief on 'I' and 'mine' with the concept of Prana In what way surrender is related to unclutching? Detail about the technology to surrender Explain the meditation technique on "Know Me and Be in Bliss"

The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism ("SPH"), Jagatguru Mahasannidhanam ("JGM"), His Divine Holiness ("HDH") Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, is recognized as the 1008th living incarnation of Paramashiva as per Sanatana Hindu Dharma ("Hinduism") and by His predecessors of enlightened masters and adepts

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

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

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

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

The 1008th living incarnation of Paramaśiva, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM stands as the unifying force for the 2 billion born and practicing Hindu diaspora worldwide and established the Hindu State, KAILASA for the persecuted Hindus in over 100 countries.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANADA PARAMASHIVAM has made resolute efforts towards recognizing and legitimizing the Hindu genocide which has been receiving scant consideration by global leaders and international bodies, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM founded KAILASA Uniting Nations. For the past 27 years, this international body has been responsible in building relations, bridging dialogs, inspiring leaders, uniting nations towards acknowledging the Hindu policies which are universal, life positive as referenced from the ancient text of Hinduism. This is the 'ahimsa' (non-violent) way of bringing acknowledgment to the horrors of the Hindu genocide, the untold facts of the darkest act of mankind on Earth to the most contributing civilization - KAILASA.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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