PRESCRIPTION FOR A PEACEFUL MIND🔗

‘The thoughts that are embedded and repeated in our mind are a projection of our life.’

Nithyananda

Between the body and the mind exists our verbalization. This verbalization is also referred to as our inner chattering. Inner chattering is the bridge between our body and our mind. It cannot be regarded as the mind, because the mind is something more than inner chattering. Additionally it cannot be regarded as the body, because the body is physical; it exists in-between.

This inner chattering that continuously goes on within us directly stems from our samskara. Again and again, the great Masters declare you are Atman (the individual Self/ part of the universal intelligent energy).

The Upanishad say beautifully;

> 'Whatever you can express inside in your inner space, you > can express it in the outer world. Whatever you can create > in your dream state, you have the ability to create it in > your waking state.'

In our dreams, we have the ability to create an entire and complete world. So why can we not create the same world in our waking state? There is no reason why we should not or can not make our own world in the waking state. To tell you honestly, if we look deeply into our Being, we can understand that this world is made up of the same things of which our dreams are made. This statement is quite shaking and for some, quite difficult to believe.

Any scientific discovery, whether it is in the field of medicine or physics, has to first be created in the mind of the scientist. It must first be created within their inner space, and only then can they present the discovery to others in the outer world. In our dream state, we do the same thing. We create in our inner space and project it into the outer world.

In the waking state, we also create ideas in our inner space and project them into the outer space. Our verbalization or our inner chattering is where these ideas are created and usually reside and get repeated indefinitely.

When we create in our inner space, we are all bound to make mistakes or blunders. Although we are all capable of creating positive ideas in our inner space, we are also capable of creating negative ideas. Of course, both the positive and the negative will be projected into our outer world. When we start to experience the results that stem from our negative projections we ask, ‘how can this be my creation? If I really have created my outer world, I would have surely created it in a much better way.’

If we can work on the model created inside, if we can correct the negative ideas created in our inner space through our inner chattering, we will have the ability to project what we want to project. Over time, we will cultivate the understanding that the whole world is our projection.

When we correct the current mistakes we are repeating in our inner verbalization, we will achieve two things: First, we will achieve the sakti (energy) to realize our dreams and then turn our dreams into reality and second, the buddhi (intelligence) to realize that our reality itself is nothing but our dream.

Even once if we can create a model in our inner space and project it into our outer world clearly, we will realize that we have the ability to create. When we realize that we can make our dreams into reality, immediately we will realize that whatever we believe is our reality is nothing but our own dream. We will have the realization of both at the same time.

We generate approximately 70,000 thoughts per day. Ninety-percent of these thoughts are the same thoughts we had from the day before and the day before that and the day before that. As we go about our daily routines, we are unconsciously repeating the same thought patterns everyday.

For example, if we work 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday in an office, on Saturday our mind will naturally be repeating the same words or generating the same thoughts that we had in the office all week. One part of our mind will alert us that today is Saturday, that it is the weekend and it is time for us to relax. Even so, our minds will refuse to listen. Our mind is in the habit of simply repeating words without our awareness.

Every morning when we wake up and get out of bed, if we observe, our mind will be repeating the same thoughts it has at this time every morning. When we go and brush our teeth, this is also evident. There will be the same repetition of words without our being conscious.

When we think of an overhead projector, whatever slide is put over the lamp, it will be projected for everyone to see. We will see the reality on the screen. In the same way, whatever slides we keep inside our mind, in front of our consciousness, immediately it will be projected and experienced as our reality. This inner chattering that goes on continuously and unconsciously plays a major role in our lives. It has the power to project and create our life.

SELF-CONTRADICTING SAMSKARA. Self-contradicting samskara are those samskara or engrams which we create to gain a particular result but, in fact, create the opposite of our original intention. We give a lot of power to these self-contradicting samskara and they, more or less, determine the quality of our life.

For example, when we want to be cured from a certain disease, we might repeat the words, 'I want to get rid of this disease.' The more we repeat the word 'disease', the more power we are actually supplying to the word 'disease'. As a consequence, this samskara or this imprint, becomes more deeply embedded within our system and reduces our chance of being cured from that disease. We inadvertently give the disease more power.

In the Ramayana (an Indian epic), there is a character named Vali, who is the king of monkeys. Vali has been granted a great 'boon' or gift, that says if anybody challenges him then immediately half of their power will go to him. No one can ever defeat or conquer Vali because he already has his own power plus half of the other's power. Naturally the other person will be defeated, as Vali is too powerful.

All of our samskara are like Vali. The moment we face them, the moment we give them our attention, we give them half of our energy, thus they gain more power. That

is why, with all self-contradicting samskara, the more power we give to them, the harder it is for us to defeat them. We will fail in any attempt to get rid of them.

This is the reason why so many people find it extremely difficult and often impossible to quit smoking. They can never defeat the habit because they are continuously giving power to the word ‘smoking’. They continuously repeat, ‘I will quit smoking, I will quit smoking’. It can never happen, because the moment you give power to this engram, you also give power to the habit of smoking.

Until we are able to completely drop the mind, until we reach Enlightenment, verbalization (inner chattering) will exist within. Thoughts of all kinds are going to be constantly repeated within us. We have already established that all thoughts that are repeated within our system will be projected in our lives. Our thoughts ultimately create our reality. Therefore, to enjoy a positive, blissful and healthy life, we should work on generating and repeating nothing but positive thoughts within.

As far as possible, we should avoid allowing any single negative word to be repeated within our being. We should welcome only positive words to be repeated in our being. Whatever word we are in a habit of continuously repeating within ourselves, be it positive or negative, either will be given power.

Instead of repeating, ‘I want to get rid of this disease’, rather we should be repeating, ‘I am healthy’. Words which are straightforward, words which will create only a positive memory within us should be given power. When we are repeating ‘I should become healthy’, again and again we will be remembering our health or well being and therefore the idea of health will be given tremendous power. We are more likely to experience health. We are more likely to experience progress in our life.

We will only experience trouble and suffering in our lives if we allow negativity to be repeated inside our Being. We will end up in depression, develop a split personality or even worse, develop schizophrenia.

A small story.

A man wanted to have miraculous powers. He went to the Himalayas to see a Master hoping to acquire these miraculous powers. When he stood before the Master and made his request, the Master advised him, ‘No, you shouldn’t ask for miraculous powers! Ask for meditation and enlightenment. This is the right thing to ask for.’ However, this person was not ready to listen to the Master. He replied, ‘Give me what I want, I didn’t ask for your advice.’ (In those days, spirituality was a sellers market and now it is a buyers market).

The ignorant man said again, ‘Give me what I want or I will simply go elsewhere’. The Master not having much choice finally said, ‘Okay, I will give you some medicine to take back to your home. You are allowed to drink it on one condition: you should not remember a monkey when you drink this.’ The man immediately questioned, ‘What should I do if I remember a monkey?’ The Master replied, ‘You must bathe yourself and only after that, will you be ready to take the medicine.’ (Already you probably know where this story is going and understand that this person is

in big trouble.)

The man thought this was not such a big deal and returned home. Immediately he felt he should drink some of the medicine. The moment he picked up the bottle he thought, ‘I should not remember the monkey.’ He realized instantly that he had made the mistake of thinking of the monkey. ‘Oh no’, he thought. ‘Now I have to go and take a bath!’ He went and bathed, came out of the bathroom, picked up the medicine bottle and you don’t need me to tell you what happened. Again he remembered the monkey. He ran back into the bathroom, bathed again, came back and remembered the monkey. For the next half and hour, this guy is just running from the bathroom to the bottle and after sometime he is simply just screaming ‘monkey, monkey, monkey!’

After 2 or 3 days, he understood the whole drama. He ran back to the Master and said, ‘Please relieve me from these monkeys. Please just do this one favor for me! I don’t want your medicine or miraculous powers, just relieve me from these monkeys!’

Question from the audience: Master, I sometimes find it difficult to sleep. If I repeat at night, ‘I have to sleep’, would this be considered as a positive engram or a negative engram?

Answer: I would actually recommend simply repeating, ‘I’ll sleep’. Furthermore, these words will have one thousand times more power and effectiveness if you consciously repeat them with your awareness, which will filter into your unconsciousness. Always be careful and be aware. Avoid allowing a single negative word into your unconsciousness.

Question: Master, I believe that at times people might be afraid to say something positive because they might not get it in the time that they are expecting it, and they are afraid.

Answer: With that fear, they are only repeating negative words and it will only result in negativity. Whether we actually receive what we are asking for or not is secondary. Be aware, that by repeating the negativity, we are not going to get the positive result; however, we will simply create more trouble for ourselves.

Negativity is not the substitute for when we don't receive the positive things. At least with positive engrams, we have a hope. The hope itself will give us enough energy to move on our path. It will pull our life. However, with negativity only the hope itself is over. There is no way of moving. We will simply be stuck. We will be in tamas (inertia). You would rather be in rajas (active).

Question: One thing I could not understand Master, was your statement regarding the mind and how it is in a habit of repeating words and, in particular, words that hurt us. I feel I have not yet experienced sickness or disease resulting from my thoughts.

Answer: Samskara are not just limited to repeated negative thoughts or words that cause sickness, disease or depression. They can include any thought that is continuously repeated or embedded in our Being. For example, if we have a coffee addiction and we have a coffee at 7 am everyday, even when we can’t see the time, automatically at 7 am the bells will go off inside. Our Being, will simply call out ‘Coffeeeeee!’ Our system will orient us as to the time and remind us that it is waiting for its caffeine fix. This is an example of a samskara. It is an embedded memory that is continuously being repeated inside our system.

Even though we may not have directly experienced the above example I have given, we would have all naturally experienced something similar in our lifetime

Question: Master, you said that we are responsible for our dreams and we create them. I don’t really understand or believe that. I just believe that they naturally occur and we don’t create them.

Answer: First, when I made that statement I was actually referring to our dreams that are created in the waking state, our ‘daydreams’ if you like. However, even our dreams which we have during the night, while in the dream state, they are also created by us.

If we deeply analyze our dreams we have while we sleep, we can gain the understanding that they are nothing but a mixture of our suppressed desires and fears. Actually, if we deeply analyze our day dreams or observe our line of thought during the day, the thoughts are nothing but an expression of the night dreams.

The way we think should be understood at a much deeper level. Our thoughts just move. Sigmund Freud said, ‘we don’t think, we associate.’ For example, if we are walking down the street and we see a dog, immediately we will remember our pet dog with which we played, during our childhood. That thought may then lead us to think of our teacher with whom we studied with as a child. Then we might suddenly remember our school that we learned at when we were a child and so on. The thoughts will simply just keep flowing. There is no logical connection between the dog and the teacher; however, our mind is simply moving through mere association. Our thinking is association and, therefore, our dreams are also created through association.

When we develop a little awareness, we will understand that our day dreaming and our night dreaming are very closely related. Both stem from the roots of desires and fear. From these desires and fears, different combinations are created. Our mind, more or less, elaborates on them.

The seven colors of the rainbow can be used to illustrate this point further. There are obviously 7 base colors, they are essentially the roots. From these 7 base colors, we can create thousands of different shades. Similarly, our roots are desire and fear, so every day and every night in our dreams, we can also create thousands of different shades or different combinations. We can't say that these shades are not our creation, therefore, it shows that we are completely responsible for our dreams, whether in the waking state or in the state of sleep.

Question: Master, for most of us living in the west, it is a struggle to begin practicing vegetarianism. Additionally, it has been proven that diabetes can stem from a vegetarian diet as it consists of many carbohydrate rich foods. This is my struggle. Do I compromise my health and risk developing diabetes in order to accelerate my spiritual growth?

Answer: According to my understanding, our engrams or our mental ideas play a major role. To tell you honestly, if we make up our mind that we will be affected negatively by consuming a certain food, there is a good chance that this will actually occur.

For you personally, before you have even entered into the vegetarian lifestyle, you have already decided that it could possibly be detrimental to your health. You have already developed a negative concept regarding vegetarianism. You have repeated within yourself that you will develop diabetes if you practice vegetarianism. This is of course a negative engram. It is a fear you have and a fear you are continuously expressing within yourself. You are more or less giving power to that fear which in all possibility could result in suffering.

You also raised concern in regards to accelerating your spiritual growth through vegetarianism. Understand that becoming a vegetarian is in no way related to spiritual growth. There are many non-vegetarians who have become enlightened. You don't have to force yourself to become a vegetarian because you fear without it your spiritual growth will be hindered.

The last thing I would do is put vegetarianism as a basic condition for spiritual growth. If we put vegetarianism as a basic condition for spiritual growth, we would be excluding half of humanity from spiritual life. For me personally, being a vegetarian is a lifestyle, I love it. I enjoy it and that is where it is different.

I tell you honestly, I have seen some people eat non-vegetarian food for 15 minutes of the day and then they forget about it. To the other extreme, I have seen people who don't eat non-vegetarian food; however for 24 hours of the day, they think about it! Therefore, it is much better to have non-vegetarian food for 15 minutes of the day than 24 hours of mentally having non-vegetarian food. Also understand that a non-vegetarian person will actually become closer to God than a vegetarian person who is egoistic in regards to their vegetarianism. It is common for some vegetarians to create an ego. They start to believe they are in someway holier than everyone else.

Any morality we follow, which happens out of an overflowing or a feeling of fulfillment will never give us an ego. On the other hand, any morality we follow through force, by bending over backwards, by torturing ourselves and by suffering, will only give us a strong ego. It is not certain whether we will gain spiritual growth; however, it is certain we will become egoistic.

By forcing moralities on ourselves, we are not the only ones who will suffer. We will begin torturing our relatives, our friends, our neighbors. We will be continuously speaking about our important morality and also start forcing others to follow it, or at least, start forcing them to respect us for it. We will constantly be seeking approval from the people around us and wanting them to acknowledge that we are in someway great.

We should never force ourselves into any morality. Let things happen through our understanding. If we force, the outcome will never be permanent.

MEDITATION IS PRESCRIBED.

The quality of our decisions, our relationships, our health, the way we influence our children, every aspect of our lives is completely dependant upon the quality of our inner space. It is completely dependant upon the quality of our unconscious zone. This space needs to be clean and peaceful.

As I have already said, the unconscious zone is filled to the brim with negativity. This negativity, these deeply engraved memories that are stored there influence every decision our mind makes. This negativity is the stuff that is repeated over and over in our mind. It constitutes our inner chattering. If this space continues to hoard all of this negativity, only negativity will manifest in our lives. Nothing good can result from being filled with negativity.

To experience yoga, to experience our inherent nature of bliss that is not dependant on the external world, we need to infuse peace into this unconscious zone. We need to clear out the negativity and flood this space with peace and awareness. The technique to infuse peace and develop richness in our inner space, to experience bliss and to achieve the oneness of yoga is known as dhyana or meditation. Since our mind is the obstacle standing in the way experiencing of all these things, meditation is prescribed to promote a peaceful mind; a mind that constitutes positivism and clarity.

Meditation is the technique to clear all negativity from our system.

Doctors, in particular are exposed to a lot of negativity. When they see and examine their patients they are also exposed to their patient's negativity. The doctors listen to their problems and hear about their various diseases and all the while they are unconsciously swallowing all of the patient's negativity. They are continuously meditating on negative things.

Please be very clear, for most meditation may be a luxury, however for doctors, it is a necessity. Doctors being exposed to depressed and sick patients, day in and day out will also end up in sickness and depression without meditation. I have seen some doctors saying, ‘No Master, I am a professional doctor. I disconnect myself from my patient's problems.’ Consciously you can disconnect yourself, but we are never aware of our unconscious activity which is going on in our mind.

Many books have been written in recent times by eminent doctors, which recount how during surgical procedures, under anesthesia, patients remember what is being said. After coming out of the operation, patients recall that the doctor said this and that to the nurse or another person. Negative comments have retarded the progress of the patient and positive comments have enhanced recovery.

Now, doctors I am told are advised to be careful about what they speak in the operation theatre, because patients can actually hear them even under anesthesia. Wise doctors would therefore use this positively to aid the recovery of their patients.

If under anesthesia, a patient can recall and be affected by what is being said, why wouldn't a doctor not be affected by what he sees and hears, hour after hour, day after day. This is why psychiatrists are the most disturbed people on earth, not their patients!

In India, everyday around 400 to 500 people come to see me for counseling and healing. I listen to their problems and I give them the healing touch. People come and ask me, 'Master, how do you manage to sit so long and see so many people everyday?' I tell them it is not such a big thing. It is very easy and anyone can do it. The most important thing is disconnecting from their problems.

There was some research conducted in a particular medical school which proved that 40% of students involved in a discussion, say on a headache, knee pain or back pain, would begin to experience the same symptoms in their own body. It showed that by listening to peoples' various problems and discussing certain ailments, we unconsciously start to exhibit the characteristics of that problem or disease. When we constantly hear about something, we start unconsciously meditating and contemplating on it.

One important concept we need to understand is the pain body which is inside our system. It consists of the memories of our pains and sufferings. This pain body attracts more and more pain into our system. Anything which is inside our system has its own instinct, the survival instinct. It tries to multiply. It can only survive by multiplying and expanding its boundary. So this pain body expands itself by attracting more pain and suffering. The moment we start listening to the pain and suffering of others, we immediately plant the seed of that pain for ourselves.

All physical diseases have their roots in the mind. Unless we manage to completely seclude ourselves from society we cannot avoid the constant influx of negative information. The only way to save ourselves is by clearing that negative information through meditation.

In the yoga system, after providing healing for someone, all healers are advised to meditate apart from just taking a physical bath. They are asked to meditate so that they can clean their inner space which may have been contaminated during the healing process. Just as we wash our hands and our external body after coming out from visiting a hospital to avoid viruses and infection, similarly we need to meditate daily so we can internally cleanse. Just as we cleanse our external body daily with soap and water, we also need to clean our inner space with meditation. We need to take a shower of bliss so that we don’t attract any negativity from our surroundings.

Please be very clear, no doctor and no healer can disconnect themselves from the patient unless he or she meditates. Unconsciously we will be repeating the word which we received from our patients and we will be creating those engraved memories. The etheric connection between the healer and patient continues to exist unless the healer meditates.

Whether we are a healer, doctor, psychologist, parent or any human being that is exposed to society and its negativity, we need to meditate. If we have a mind, we need to cleanse it daily through yoga, through meditation.

Most of us would not go a day without having a shower. Most of us would not want to walk out the front door to go about our daily routine, interacting with other people without first being clean externally. However, when it comes to our mind being cleansed daily, it is our last priority. It is no problem for most of us to walk out of the front door and start interacting with others with our mind not cleansed and our inner space negative and depressed.

Some people will make any excuse not to meditate: I am too busy, I have appointments all day, I have children to look after, I have cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking to do, I have responsibilities. Responsibilities are a figment of our mind. Our responsibilities, ultimately, are unto ourselves. When we learn to fulfill these responsibilities to ourselves in full, we also move towards fulfilling what we believe are obligations unto others. Understand, there are 24 hours in a day and all you need to devote is 20 minutes to yourself. We will give appointments to everyone else except our own selves. We ignore our own Being constantly.

If we devote just 15 - 20 minutes a day to clean our inner space, this is enough for the next 24 hours. For the next 24 hours, the quality of our inner space will remain the same; clear, peaceful and rich. After practicing meditation for a while, we start to understand that the effect we experience from meditation doesn't actually depend on the quantity, but rather the quality. It depends on how intensely we can sit. After a while, we can realize that we don't even need 15 – 20 minutes a day to meditate. 5 minutes a day becomes more than enough.

Eventually, just remembrance is enough. That's right! Eventually, mere remembrance will capably clean your inner space!

This is the scale; when we close our eyes, we should feel the inner space radiating nothing but peace. We should simply feel a continuous sense of well being and health. This is not just limited to physical health or being free of diseases. Real health is something more than just being free of disease. If we feel alive, bubbling and simply oozing bliss, that is what I determine as health. If when we close our eyes we can instantaneously feel that mood, than we have reached the inner space. We have reached meditation.

It is the mind that makes us attached to something and repulsed to something else. When we are not in the clutches of the mind, we are free.

Even though we do actions because the senses by nature have to perform their functions like the eyes see, the ears hear, the tongue tastes, the nose smells and the skin feels, yet, we are free from the bondage of action because we do not have any identification with the action, we do not have any emotional attachment to anything. So, naturally, we are free and we are liberated and we can do what we are doing most beautifully without expecting any particular result or being bothered by the results of the action.

This is what is being 'unclutched'. Being 'unclutched' is the state where you are free and liberated. Let me expand on the word 'unclutching', what I mean by the word 'unclutching'.

Constantly you are connecting all your thoughts and creating shafts in your mind. For example, the headache

which happened 10 years ago, the headache which happened 9 years ago, the headache which happened 8 years ago, the headache which happened yesterday, they are all independent experiences which happened in your life.

For the sake of easy reference, you categorize all these experiences in your mind into one category of headache. It is archived just for utility purpose, to serve as reference. Just like how you file documents in your office in various categories, in various files. But, what happens? By and by, you start believing that all these experiences are all connected.

The suffering which happened 10 years ago happened for a different reason, in a different place; it was a totally unique experience. The suffering which happened 9 years ago happened for a totally different reason; it was a completely different experience. The suffering which happened 8 years ago was again for a different reason.

Initially for the sake of ease, you archive them in the same place, for easy reference. By and by you start believing they are connected. When you start believing they are connected you create a shaft.

If you connect all the painful memories, you create a pain shaft: 'My life is suffering, my life is pain.' You start believing your whole life is a chain of suffering, a long chain of suffering.

When you start believing your whole life is suffering you have created a pain shaft and you are waiting in your life only for painful incidents, so that you can elongate that shaft.

One more thing you should understand, whatever you believe, you expand it. If you believe something, you will again and again see that in your life.

That is why again and again Vedic rishi say, you create what you want. You create what you desire. You see, by seeing you create. What ever you believe you will create it, you will expand it.

Once you start believing your life is pain, you are waiting unconsciously for painful incidents to strengthen that belief, to strengthen that judgment.

We don't usually collect arguments to pass judgments; we collect arguments to support our judgments. The judgment is ready, we only collect arguments to support it. When you are clear that your life is a pain shaft, a big chain of pains, you are waiting for some more judgments to support your faith, some more judgments to support your belief.

Second thing, whenever you are adding the painful incidents unconsciously, constantly, consciously, you will be trying to break that shaft.

If you believe your whole life is a shaft of joyful experiences, which we do very rarely, constantly you are in fear, will it continue? You think, will it continue in the same way?

If you believe life is a shaft of painful incidents, you do two things: unconsciously gathering more and more incidents and strengthening your faith and consciously trying to break the shaft. If you believe life is a chain of joyful incidents, unconsciously you will be in fear that it will end and consciously you will try to prolong it. Understand these two big dramas we do with ourselves.

But the big difficulty, the important thing that we forget is that you can neither break the shaft nor elongate it, because the shaft itself does not exist.

The shaft does not exist. You can neither elongate it nor break it. When you started archiving all the incidents in your life for the sake of easy reference, by and by you started believing that they are really existentially connected.

When you start believing that they are existentially connected together you believe your life as a pain shaft or a joy shaft. When you start believing life as a pain shaft you try to break it; when you believe it as a joy shaft, you try to elongate it.

But one important thing you forget, you can neither break nor elongate because the shaft itself does not exist.

Just try this experiment:

Sit down for ten minutes with a pen and paper. Now, just start jotting down whatever comes in your mind. Please do not edit your thoughts; write them down as it is. Do not judge yourself and try to control what comes in your mind. If you try to judge, you are playing a hypocritical game with yourself, that's all. Just write down whatever comes.

Now, read whatever you have written. You can see for yourself how unconnected, illogical your thoughts are!

You will be sitting here and thinking, 'I think tomorrow I should go to my office', then 'No, no no, I should just wake up and decide then', then, 'What should I do about dinner tonight?'

Have you seen a fish tank? Have you seen how the bubbles rise up in a fish tank? There is a gap between one bubble and the next. But, the gap is too small; it looks like a continuous stream.

Just like the bubbles in a fish tank, there is a gap between one thought and another thought in your mind as well. If you look a little deeply you will realize your thoughts, by their very nature are independent.

For example, if you see a dog in the street, suddenly you remember your pet you used to play with as a child. Then you will remember your teacher you studied with as a child, then, where your teacher used to stay.

If you look at it logically, you will see logically that the dog in street and the teacher are not connected. There is no logical connection, but simply your mind flows, it is simply flowing. If you look a little deep you will understand your thoughts are illogical, independent, unconnected.

When you believe that your mind is logical, when you believe that your mind has got its own logic, you have created the first original sin for yourself. That is the original sin. Believing your mind is logic is the first sin.

Understand by your very nature you are unclutched. By your very nature you are unconnected.

It is like you trash all your emails but you pick some up emails from the trash. Similarly, every moment the thoughts are being renounced by you, by your very nature. New thought appearing means the old thought has been renounced. But even after renouncing you try to pick up the thoughts from the dust bin and try to create a new shaft.

You feel that some valuable thoughts have been dropped in the dust bin, so you pick up some thoughts here and there. You pick up these thoughts from the dust bin and put near your bed and put on a little scent and keep it a little bit nice and pretty!

All you need to do is few things. First, have a clear understanding that you are creating a shaft, shaft of pain, or shaft of joy and trying to fight with it, by either trying to elongate or by trying to break.

Second thing, you don't even have to unclutch yourself. By your very nature if you stop creating a shaft you are unclutched. You don't need to unclutch.

Then we start asking, 'How will I do my job? How will I take care of my things? Will I not just lie down in my bed?' Understand, the moment I say these things, the first question people ask is, 'If I am unclutched, why should I go to my job?' I ask, why should you not go to your job?

The moment you say you will not go for your job, it means you have a little hatred or a little vengeance against the job. That is why the moment you get some excuse you want to escape from that. You are expressing your anger, your violence against your routine, nothing else.

I always tell people, alright, don't do anything; just be unclutched; how many days will you be lying in your bed? Maybe ten days, until your tamas (laziness) gets exhausted. See, you have a certain amount of tamas in you, one of the three attributes of satva (virtuous action), rajas (passion) and tamas (laziness). Until your tamas gets exhausted you will lie there, but after that what will you do? Naturally, you will start working, you will start moving. Do not be afraid; do not be afraid that if you are unclutched, you will not do your daily routine.

We cannot by nature by inactive. You will day dream if nothing else. You will clutch on to fantasies. You will try to escape from reality by deluding yourself, because your mind is clutched onto soft and easy dream shaft.

When you truly unclutch, when you are in the present moment, without any attachment to the past and future, you will realize that you are full of energy. You just cannot keep quiet. You will have to do something. That something will be dictated by your present moment awareness, not by fantasies.

I tell you, what you think as you is not necessary to run your day to day life. This is the basic truth. What you think as you is not necessary to run your day to day life. This truth hurts us.

See, if somebody is happy independent of us, we can't tolerate it, it is too much. Constantly we feel we are needed. That is why we project our sufferings, so that we feel important. What you think as you is not necessary to run your day to day life.

People come and ask me, ‘Constantly I repeat the positive affirmations, I should stop smoking, I should stop smoking, it is not working, why Master?’ All these creative visualizations create more and more trouble. Because the very word, ‘I should stop smoking’, the very word ‘smoking’ is contradicting.

When you decide I should get rid of the headache, constantly you are remembering the headache.

Instead you can do a very simple thing like decide to have a glass of water. The moment you decide to have a glass of water, you have a new thought. The old thought of ‘headache’ has to disappear because the new thought has to come in its place.

You ask me, ‘How can it be so simple, Master?’ It is simple. Constantly you are taught that it is not so simple. It is simple. If you really understand that, it is so simple.

But, soon after, the thought of headache may come back, what to do? Understand: your faith in it is what brings it back; that is the basic problem.

And one more thing: if it comes back, it goes also. Why don’t you celebrate those moments in which it left you? Why do you constantly remember the moments it comes back?

People ask me again and again, ‘I fail when I try to unclutch Master.’ I tell them, why are you connecting your past failure with your present failure? When you connect all the past failures, you create one more word, ‘failure’. The failure that happened 9 years ago, the failure that happened 8 years ago, the failure that happened yesterday are independent incidents. Why do you connect all of them and create the next experience also?

Just relax and stop connecting and suddenly you will see such a deep inner healing happening in you, such a deep peace happening in you. Suddenly you will see you have dropped out of the war, the constant running. Just relax.

I tell you when you become a drop out, when you drop out of this war, when you drop from this whole game, suddenly you realize the whole thing is just a psycho drama happening. Because you are constantly supporting it, you are creating these shafts.

Try this simple meditation:

Just close your eyes. Whatever words are rising in you, just let them rise. Just do not connect them with any other thought. Just don't create a shaft. Just unclutch.

If you feel bored, or if your mind asks what to do, just unclutch from that thought. Do not even connect with that thought. Just sit, be unclutched. If your mind connects with a thought, just unclutch. Do not create, maintain, or destroy thoughts.

Try this for a few minutes and you can see the effect for yourself.

To understand what meditation is, you need to understand what meditation is not.

In my programs, I spend a day and a half explaining what meditation is not and less than half a day about meditation. It is the same thing about Healing. For two full days people are explained what Healing is not with the help of a detailed manual! Then I come in and ordain the Healers, which takes only half an hour!

When you unclutch, you are seemingly in inaction. However, the removal of the bondages of the various shafts of pain, pleasure, fantasies etc releases so much of energy within you that you are now actively passive. You are at the height of potential energy, ready to release that energy for what ever purpose you decide in that present moment.

If instead, you are actively day dreaming, caught in the web of your shafts of fantasies and pleasures intermingled with sorrow and pain, you are seemingly active, very busy, but totally uselessly busy. In fact, counterproductively busy, as you are then digging into more suffering!

In the process of unclutching, you transcend both action and inaction. You have destroyed the false notion of connectivity of thoughts and have reached the state of the present moment, the state of no mind, and the state of dropping thoughts.

In this present moment of unclutched condition, you are active and yet not attached to any activity. You are truly in the Consciousness of Awareness.

Our mind should not be regarded as a dilemma. It should be regarded as a pure inner space, free from negativity and full of awareness. The only way to assure that our mind stays dilemma free is through unclutching, the meditation.

We should honor the people around us, our children, our husband or wife, our patients, our colleagues and society in general by honoring ourselves; by making a daily appointment with ourselves. By prescribing to ourselves the technique that will promote peace and clarity within: meditation.

Question: Isn't meditation religious, and practiced only by Hindus and Buddhists?

Answer: Meditation has nothing to do with any religion, nor is it patented by any one spiritual Master. Meditation is looking inwards, looking for one's own self, looking to understand one Self.

Christ, time and again, talked of repentance. The word 'repent' in those days means just this: go back to where you came from. Go find your roots. Go find your Self.

The Sanskrit word samadhi is synonymous with 'repent'. It means to go back to the original state. The path of Yoga leads to samadhi.

Great Sufi masters, many Christian saints and masters from other faiths have practiced meditation. People who are afraid of looking within, who would rather be exploited by their senses senselessly, would like others to think that meditation belongs to cult groups. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

When you are afraid to face yourself, you naturally live in fear of every one else, and everything else. When fear rules, violence results. Terrorism is a result of this mindless fear; fear that arises because we do not wish to look within.

Question: Master, when is a good time to meditate?

Answer: The best times to meditate are when we immediately wake up or just before we go to sleep. These are the two most recommended times.

In regards to meditation, there are 2 techniques. They are passive and active meditation. In regards to active techniques, the involvement of our physical body is required. Passive meditation techniques do not require the use of our physical body. They usually just involve some visualization. They allow us to rest with ourselves; perfect before we go to sleep.

Question: What is the difference between prayer and meditation?

Answer: When we pray, we pray to God. When we meditate, we become God. That's all. We become that energy towards where our prayer is directed.

First, prayer is beautiful and it's a good start, however it doesn't end there. Just like first grade or second grade at school, it's a good start but it doesn't end there.

Second, prayer requires faith and belief and, ultimately, these requirements are outdated. No matter how hard we believe in God, there is always one part of our Being that is potentially inclined to raise doubts. As long as God answers all of our prayers, we give him permission to sit on the throne of God. As soon as we believe he has failed us in relation to some request we have put forth, immediately, He will be dethroned. His integrity will be questioned.

In the modern day, people can only believe by looking, seeing and experiencing. People in this generation can't relate with words such as belief, faith and trust. These words have lost their meaning and we simply cannot relate with them. If an attempt is made by an individual to believe in something and have faith and trust in it, this attempt is primarily motivated by fear and greed, never out of love and understanding.

Furthermore, fear and greed are the basis for all of our so-called prayers. Anything that stems from fear and greed, however, will fail to be long lasting. Fear will disappear when we feel secure and greed will disappear when our desires are met. Prayer will give an immediate effect but not a long lasting effect.

It is better that we build and promote an understanding of life on the basis of meditation. It is a solid base and a base that imposes no requirement to believe or have faith in anyone. Meditation does, however, require a little more intelligence and patience on our part. It is a process of understanding certain concepts, internalizing them and finally expressing them in our everyday lives.

Question: I have a question about the interference of depression and pain in the flow of joy. You described the sadness you felt when you toured Universal Studios. How do you metabolize or understand that sadness in the context of constant joyfulness? It's a very personal thing to me. At times, I have often enquired within myself and I have observed sadness arising.

Answer: Over time, we suppress so much sadness in our Being that whenever we sit alone in silence, it erupts! This is why we avoid spending time with ourselves. We avoid spending time by ourselves because we become overwhelmed with sadness.

Meditation has always been postponed. We put it last, we procrastinate and as a result we move further away from our Being. Additionally, we have always associated peace with sadness. Somehow our mind does not associate peace with bliss. This is why, we feel sadness instantly when we sit with ourselves. Meditation is the only technique that will banish all of our sadness. When we sit with ourselves and meditate for a few minutes a day, we will automatically feel tremendous joy and ecstasy flowing through us.

When I was taken to Universal Studios, I did not feel sad for myself. I felt sad for others when I saw the plastic smiles on everyone's face. The same people claiming that this is the world's happiest place. I just felt it was all so ridiculous!

Bliss is our very nature. If we are really happy, it can never be associated with some place or event. We will just be happy! It will be joy without any cause. It will be 'causeless joy.' The moment we start associating our joy with a particular place or time, we have started choosing. So it cannot be happiness. In fact, all that we are doing is just temporarily escaping from our miseries. It is just a change. Whenever there is a change, we feel excited. This excitement is not bliss. It's just an excitement. It is nice to experience the excitement, I am not saying there is anything wrong with it, but ultimately, it's not enough.

Question: Master, you spoke briefly about window shopping for a guru or peace. Also you spoke in regards to people not knowing whom to follow or what to do. I have spent some time in my job and have looked after my kids. I was kept busy with my routine. However, when my children grew up and started living their own lives, I started to feel a kind of emptiness. That's when I started to ask myself 'What am I here for?' and other such similar questions. Personally, I am a beginner on the spiritual path. I really don't know where to start or what to do and I know that this is the same for others too.

Answer: First of all, the emptiness you felt inside of you is a form or depression. The first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is called Arjuna Vishada Yoga. Vishad means depression. Arjuna, an intellectual, who has everything he wants in life, falls into depression when he has to face the prospect of fighting his kith and kin.

At a certain stage in our life we can fall victim to a kind of depression referred to as 'depression of success'. You have achieved all that you have set out to achieve. You have fulfilled all the requirements by which society evaluates you to be a success. The, suddenly you start asking yourself, yes, I have achieved, but what for have I achieved?

When people are suddenly not around us anymore, in your case your children, it is then we start searching. We start asking questions like 'what are we here for?' We face the reality of aloneness, so naturally we turn to our Being. Second of all, for you as a beginner, I always advise beginners to go and try at least 10 – 15 types of traditions. Something will just click. Once something happens beyond your intellect then you can start following that particular system, tradition or Master. Until that happens, continue your search. When you meet the right Master your heart will automatically start flowing.

However, don’t make the mistake of assuming that a particular Master is wrong in someway just because you don’t feel in tune with that Master. Every Master is real. But when you meet the Master with whom you are going to grow, naturally you will feel something happening inside your being. Until you find the right Master continue seeking.

Question: What are your comments about Japa (chanting a mantra repeatedly)?

Answer: With Japa, you are repeating a word unconsciously and you repeat it simply for the sake of repeating it. You repeat and repeat because maybe some guru has inspired you or somebody has told you to. At some moment, you may have experienced a feeling of ecstasy, therefore you continuously repeat. Repeating and repeating without awareness becomes an unconscious process and it doesn’t help us and it is potentially very dangerous.

Our thinking is comprised of two parts. One is verbalization and the other is visualization. Both should be engaged while practicing Japa. Only then will it be of help. If only verbalization is engaged and the visualization is left out, there is every chance we might develop a split personality.

Be very clear with Japa, when we engage in the repetition of a mantra, this verbalization should be complemented with some visualization. If we repeat a certain mantra, either we should contemplate on the meaning of that mantra, or the deity of that mantra or a letter in that mantra. When we repeat, we must be conscious of the word we are repeating. Be aware of the meaning of the word. Let both our verbalization and visualization be engaged in the Japa.

Question: Master, what are your comments regarding Mantra Meditation?

Answer: Honestly, repeating some mantra or meditating on some deity are techniques designed for the age of the bullock cart! It is now the jet age and we have available to us so many more developed and sophisticated techniques, which can directly lead us to that conscious experience. Meditating on some mantra or some deity is a good initial level step. However, being inside our own Being or entering into our consciousness is the real thing that needs to be achieved.

Deities are an expression of enlightenment. They are an expression of the higher consciousness. They are a beautiful expression and when we concentrate on them, we can also reach the same experience. However, please understand this is a round about way.

Available to us now are direct, straightforward and powerful techniques to reach that experience.

Question: What is the role of Karma?

Answer: Nice question. Would you like a social answer or an honest answer? To tell you honestly, I have read enough books, philosophical books, literature in Sanskrit and English on this karma theory. In the end, I can say one thing honestly. The very concept of karma, the very idea of karma is nothing but nonsense! It has nothing to do with your life. It's just your faith in it that creates all trouble.

I have meditated enough and worked with millions of people face to face through various mass meditation programs and believe me, from my experience, the very idea of karma is nothing but our faith in it.

All negativity has just one power over us, our faith in it. Whether it is 7.5 years sani dosha (evil effect of the planet Saturn, considered to be a malefic influence in Hindu astrology), astrology, ashtami, numerology or anyology, all of these things only have power over you because of your faith in it. There is a beautiful sloka in jyotisha, that only when we know that we have a sani dosha, sani will start working on us. Only when we know that he is looking, his eyes fall on us. Only when we understand or only when we believe that we have that dosha or that graha, we have that problem, it starts working on us. Till then it never works on us.

What does this all mean?

All these people who will say it is karma will noticeably only say it is karma after the incident happens, never before. Be very clear about this. From my experience I am telling you, it is just better to forget all of these things. Just be confident and have enough independence to decide about your future. It is in your hands. Even if it is in somebody else's hands, by you knowing that, what is it going to change?

We cannot change it by knowing it. We are only going to be in more trouble and depression. That is what they call self fulfilling prophecies, self fulfilling predictions. Just by knowing there is going to be some trouble, we will actually start to create it or associate ourselves with it.

It is just better to relax from this concept of karma. This is the honest answer.

MEDITATION TO INFUSE PEACE.

This is a simple and practical meditation technique which I prescribe to promote a peaceful mind. It is a technique that cleans our inner space of negativity and infuses peace and bliss into our Being. It is a very simple initial level meditation technique and I always encourage beginners to practice this particular meditation. A seemingly simple and basic technique, however, it is an extremely powerful technique. When you practice it, you will understand.

The meditation technique is called the Mahamantra and it is taken from Tibetan Buddhism. There are four instructions;

1) First you must sit in a comfortable position. You can sit cross legged on the floor however, if you feel more comfortable you can sit in a sofa or a chair. Importantly, when you meditate you must ensure that the spine, neck and head are in a straight line, and that you are comfortable.

2) The second instruction is to close your eyes. Please understand that when I instruct you to close your eyes, I don't mean just physically. Something more must be done. When you physically close your eyes, we all still see things in the inner space. There will an inner TV operating. These visualizations must also be stopped. When you close your eyes, for 30 seconds or so, create pressure on the eye ball mentally. Not physically, but mentally create pressure in the eye lids and the inner visualization will come down.

3) The third instruction is to keep the lips together and just create the sound ‘Mmmmm....’ It is not a ‘Hum’ or an ‘Om’ mantra sound, it is simply keeping the lips together and creating the sound ‘Mmmm...’, like the humming sound of a bee. Imagine your body as an empty vessel. If you put your mouth to it and hum, what sound do you hear? Create that same vibration inside yourself.

Just make this sound as loudly, as deeply and as intensely as possible. Create this humming sound in your inner space. Just fill your inner space with this vibration and naturally you will put your engrams to rest. You will infuse peace into your unconscious zone. When you produce this humming, automatically the thoughts will not be there. Allow whatever happens to happen. If tears roll, let them roll. Laughter, coughing, shivering, let it happen. Let it out. Don't hold back anything. Become the sound, become the vibration.

Produce the humming sound for 21 minutes.

4) At the end of 21 minutes, I will instruct you to stop. Instantly stop your humming. For another 10 minutes, you remain in your seated position, eyes closed and remain silent. Thoughts will slowly start entering into this silence. Don't stop them; don't enter into them. Simply witness these thoughts. Remain silent, blissful and peaceful. During this final 10 minutes, the energy created by the 21 minutes of humming will enter all corners of you Being. The peace will be infused deeply into your Being.