YOGA FOR SPIRIT🔗

‘To reach the Being level, have the courage to experiment with the truth.’

Nithyananda

The Sanksrit word for ‘Being’ is Atman. Atman, the Self, has best been described as the indescribable. Patanjali speaks of the Purusha which means literally ‘the Godhead that dwells within the body.’

If we are asked to describe our Being, we cannot. Ultimately, we can’t say anything about Being because it is beyond our mind. It is beyond our intellect and logic. Because it is beyond our mind, it cannot be expressed in a single word. Whatever we can easily express in a single word is only because it is directly related to the mind.

Although ‘Being’ cannot be expressed in a single word, for the sake of this discussion, we can translate it superficially as ‘consciousness’. Consciousness is not the equivalent or the exact translation for atman. The word ‘soul’ is used frequently to describe what ‘Being’ is, however the word ‘consciousness’ is more traditional.

At the beginning of this series on Yoga, the first day, somebody asked me, ‘Master, educate us about ‘enlightenment’. How did you have that experience? What do you mean by the word ‘enlightenment?’

Understand, ‘enlightenment’ doesn’t mean that you become extraordinary, some kind of super human or become someway superlative. Having supernatural powers is no way related to enlightenment. Please understand, some powers may express through enlightened persons. That is different. However, the powers are not the criteria. Just doing some magic or miracle is no way related to enlightenment.

When you reach enlightenment, you achieve one thing, a deep homely feeling. You feel deeply rooted, centered in your Being. Enlightenment is a deep feeling, deep subtleness or total relaxation which happens inside your Being. When we know our Being and when we feel in tune with our Being or when we experience our true energy, we have achieved the state of enlightenment.

THE FIRST LESSON IN LIFE: REACH YOUR BEING. The Rishi and the Great Masters again and again insisted on us reaching that state of Being. In India, this was one of the first lessons in life. The moment a child turned seven years old, the first lesson taught to them was how to connect with their Being level and to stay there using the Gayatri mantra.

The following verse, the Gayatri mantra, is in no way related to any ritual, any puja or any worship. It is a basic technique that we practice to fall in tune with our Being. The mantra is:

The meaning of the Gayatri mantra is:

That is all it is. There is no mention of any Devata, any God or any ritual. It is just a straightforward technique to tune us into that Being level.

If we somehow learn the technique to tune ourselves with our Being and open the Anandamaya Kosha, this space of bliss, then continuously we will be able to stay in that space. Continuously staying in that space is what I call Nithya Ananda – Eternal Bliss. That is what I call the state of Being.

Some people exist only in the level of doing. These individual's who operate in the level of doing do things just for the sake of the ego. They are centered in the level of 'I'.

These people are usually referred to as 'workaholics', and are the type of people who find it difficult to relax. In Ayurvedic terms, they can be described as Rajasic or restless. The moment they relax from work, they feel that they are not needed. Even if they don't earn money, they will not be able to relax from work.

Many people I have seen take up some form of social service, because they can't relax or keep quiet due to their workaholic attitude. Sadly, their egoism is the primary motivation for undertaking voluntary work. They want to have that feeling they are needed and as a condition of the service, they feel they should be recognized, their name should be displayed. They feel that they should be given priority. They feel it's their place and believe that they deserve to have things their way.

When it comes down to it, we are basically striving to prove in someway how great we are. Why do you think these so called religious followers erect such tall structures? It is not to show the greatness of God, it is only to prove their own greatness. In India, there are these industrialists ‘Birlas’ who have designed and erected certain temples. These temples are actually called Birla Temples. Temples are built for God. However, once you build a temple to prove your greatness, the temple will accordingly be named after you! Not after God!

There is a beautiful Zen saying;

However, ordinary and egoistic people, even if they serve others, will only result in the disturbance of others. Unless we are totally in tune with ourselves, how do you think we can help others? How can we serve others? It comes down to the quality of our Being, which decides whether we are going to do good or bad to society and to humanity as a whole. In all truth, if you do things as an extension of your Being, the service itself is the reward.

A small story.

The Bodhi Dharma went to China. There he was received by the King of China on the border. This King was tremendously devoted to Buddhism and as a means of proving his devotion he had built thousands of monasteries. In addition, he had translated all of the scriptures into the Chinese language. The King had done everything possible to spread Buddhism.

After receiving the Bodhi Dharma the King asked, ‘Buddha, please tell me. I have done so much service for Buddhism. What will I receive after my death? What will I receive in return for having done so much service?’

It is a wonderful story.... The King continues, ‘I have asked so many Buddhist monks. They have all told me that I will reach the seventh heaven. However, I want to hear this from you. What will I receive after my death?’

The Bodhi Dharma was a very honest man and it made no difference to him that he was talking to the King of the country. He replied straightaway, ‘I can be sure of one thing. You will only reach the seventh hell.’

The King was totally shaken by this statement. In disbelief he replied, ‘What are you talking about? How can you say that I will reach the seventh hell instead of the seventh heaven! After all the things I have done to spread Buddhism!’

The Bodhi Dharma makes a beautiful statement. ‘If you have really done the service, the very service itself is the reward. If you really have done these things out of your Being, in joy and bliss, the very service itself is the reward.’

Bodhi Dharma further points out, ‘That all of our so called service is an act from our doing level, not from our Being level. If you have done this service from your level of doing, just because you can’t stay quiet, be very clear you will only reach seventh hell.’

Additionally, there is one more beautiful statement that the Bodhi Dharma makes. He says, ‘Don’t think that by committing sins you will go to hell. Understand that the only reason you commit sins is because you already are in hell.'

We will never commit sins, be violent or hurtful towards others if we are happy and peaceful within ourselves. Ultimately, the very mood with which we undertake activities is heaven or hell. Do not believe that if we commit sinful acts we will go to hell and don't believe that if we do good deeds we will go to heaven. Heaven and hell are psychological. We believe that heaven and hell are geographical. We believe we will reach somewhere. It is actually the present that determines whether we are in heaven or hell.

This is another level in which we exist. This level is associated with another kind of restlessness, the people who are centered on having. People, who are centered on 'having' are centered in the level of 'mine'.

I' is continuously doing. 'Mine' is continuously having.

I have seen these people continuously acquiring things but never living them, never enjoying them. People find themselves sitting in an ordinary car and all of a sudden, they are fantasizing about owning an SUV. When they have the SUV, they start to think about owning a Mercedes. When they have the Mercedes, they imagine themselves driving a Rolls Royce. Once they have the Rolls Royce, they start thinking about acquiring an executive jet. Continuously we run behind 'having'. But we never actually stop and focus on living and enjoying what we already have.

Continuously, we are trying to expand our boundary. I have seen people if they have 5 acres they will be standing near their boundary trying to expand their boundary a little more. Suddenly, by fortune, if they acquire 500 acres, still they won't be satisfied. They will continue to stand near the boundary and further try to expand it even by a few inches or 3 to 4 feet. Whether it is 5 acres or 500 acres, these people are, either way, going to stand near the boundary. They are more or less bound to the boundary. They just can't be happy for what they have acquired; they can't resume living happily inside their home.

These people, whose personalities are based on having, only feel happy, secure and relaxed when they gradually possess more and more things. Continuously possessing things only rises out of a deep feeling of insecurity. If we deeply penetrate our Being, we will see it is feeling nothing but deeply insecure. So this insecurity, this deep seated fear, creates within us greed and the desire to accumulate more things. Everything we possess and the consistent want to possess more and more gives us a feeling of security. The more friends, relatives and material things we have surrounding us, the more secure we feel. We believe that because we have more around us, we won't be taken away from this world.

The Mahabharata is one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epics of India. The title may be translated as "History of the Great India". Contained in the Mahabharata is a beautiful sloka. Dharma is a hero of the Mahabharata. He was asked beautiful questions by a Demi-God.

‘Kim Aashcharyam Ithah param?’ Translated as ‘What is the greatest surprise of the planet earth, in this universe? What is the greatest surprise you are witnessing in the universe?’

Dharma answers beautifully. ‘Ahanyahani boothani gachchanti iha yama mandiram. Seshas sthiramichchanthi kim aascharyam ithah param.’ The running translation goes like this:

‘Everyday, we are seeing so many beings reaching the abode of Yama (the Lord of death’s house). But even after witnessing this, we still feel that we are going to be here eternally.’

We ultimately think that we are going to be forever. We never think and our Being feels that we will eventually have to leave. Truth be told, we refuse to accept that we will eventually have to leave. We are in denial. We refuse to think about it. We turn our backs on the reality and we avoid preparing ourselves consciously for the whole life and death. We don’t want to acknowledge the whole event and see both sides. Therefore, we start expanding our boundary. We try to avoid the inevitable, we try to hide ourselves and forget everything by expanding our boundary.

‘If you stay in the level of doing, or in the level of having, unless you reach the level of being, you will not be able to relax, you will not be able to experience what life really is.’

If a person is born blind, we can never make that person understand what he is missing. Really think about it. Would you personally be able to give that person an understanding of what they are missing? No. In the same

way, the person who has not experienced the ecstasy of Being, the bliss of Being, can't explain to another person what they are missing, what they are not experiencing. The feeling that we are missing, by not entering into that space of Being, simply cannot be expressed or explained by words.

When I use the word Being, I mean thoughtless awareness (awareness with no thoughts). Your doing and having are like two zeros. Unless there is a Being (Oneness), these zeros will have no value. Only when you achieve your Being these zeros will have value.

If you don't have the Being, what can you enjoy? If we aren't in the Being level, but in the doing and having levels, we will constantly jump from one place to the other. We will be constantly changing the space, our atmosphere. We are living like ghosts. Our physical body is there and we are moving; however, the Being, the feeling of homeliness is missing.

Let me tell you about an incident which happened in my life. My native place is Thiruvannamalai, in South India. When I was 10 years old, my parents took me to see a great master, Annamalai Swamigal. In India, parents usually force their kids to go and see swamis and visit various temples. My parents also took me by force.

When we arrived, Annamalai Swamigal was talking to a group of Westerners. He was saying things like,

‘Everything is maya (illusion). We are not bodies, we are not disturbed, and we will not have any pain or sufferings. We are beyond pains and beyond sufferings.’ All these great vedantic things he was talking about.

However, when he said that we will not be affected by pain, I felt surprised. How could this be true? When my Mum beats me, I feel pain. Of course, in India, you realize children will be beaten by their parents. Further, when he said, ‘you won’t feel any suffering’, again I felt surprised. When my teacher yells at me, I feel suffering. I couldn’t understand how he could justify these statements.

I decided I would undertake a small experiment to test whether or not I would be affected by pain. So on returning home, I took a knife and I cut myself on the thigh to test if I would feel pain or not. Of course, I felt pain and I was rushed to the doctor so the large cut could be stitched up!

A few days later, I went back to the Swami and asked him, ‘What have you taught me? You said that we would not be affected by pain and we wouldn’t suffer any sufferings. I went and cut myself on the thigh, to test whether or not what you told me was true!’ The Swami said to me, ‘My son, do not worry. Now, you may have not understood what I said, but when the time comes, you will understand and realize what I said.’

He then gave me a simple meditation technique. He said, ‘Whenever you have spare time, just sit and try to see from whom all your thoughts are coming. Just search the source of all your thoughts.’ I was grateful for the technique, but I still could not understand why he hadn’t given it to me earlier. I still wanted to know why he had said we wouldn't be affected by pain or feel suffering.

He said this beautiful statement, 'Don't bother about this suffering. The courage to experiment with the truth, which you have, is more than enough. That will liberate you. If there are one or two small mistakes, small incidents along the way, don't bother about it. It is worth it. It is trouble worth facing. The courage to experiment with the truth, that is the greatest thing anybody can have. You have that. That is enough. That will guide you. That will lead you to the ultimate experience or to the end of life.'

'To reach the Being level, we need to do only one thing:

Have the courage to experiment with the Truth. Have the courage to go behind the Truth, no matter where it leads us.'

This one statement, gave me the courage to experiment with all Truths. I have seen a lot of people, they want to understand and live by these higher ideals. However, they approach them in a very shallow, very superficial way. They approach them almost as a means to be entertained.

People come and ask me, 'Master, tell me something about God, how to realize, how to achieve spirituality.' I say to them, 'Please be seated and let us talk.' They say, 'No, no I have to catch a bus. Could you please just tell me something quickly? I have about 10 minutes.' So, as you can see, the question is shallow, just to pass the time.

Someone came to me and asked me, 'Master, please tell me how to achieve God. How can I reach enlightenment? Please teach me.’ I did not answer him. Instead I just initiated a friendly conversation with him. I just started asking him things like, ‘What do you do for a profession? What does your wife do? How many kids do you have?’ He of course just sat and happily answered all of my questions. It just turned into a friendly conversation. A conversation, that lasted for three hours. In the duration of the three hours, that whole time he sat with me, he did not even raise that question again. He had completely forgotten about it.

The reason he had completely forgotten it was because of the level of sincerity of the question. It was just a casual question, simply asked to pass the time. He thought, just because I have this Master in front of me, I better ask a question. If the Master answers, that’s okay. If he doesn’t answer, it’s still okay. The question the man had asked was not sincere. It wasn’t a real problem.

When people come and see me they say, ‘Master, before I came to see you today, I had prepared myself in regards to what I would ask you. I thought, oh I must ask him this question and I must ask him that question. But now I have come in front of you, I have forgotten all my questions!’

Understand, if this is what you also experience, than your questions are not worth answering. If the questions are superficial, naturally you will forget about them. If the questions are real, you will not be able to forget about them. The questions will be continuously haunting you. They will haunt you while you are sleeping, in your dreams. They will haunt you during the day. The questions will constantly plaguing your mind.

The questions should become your guests. Only when they become your guests, you will be able to grow towards the higher consciousness. Only then you can reach the flowering of your Being, what I call your consciousness or your spirit.

Please take this one message with you. Have the courage to experiment with the truth, whatever you believe is the truth. You don't have to go searching for the highest ultimate truth. First, people always want to know what the ultimate truth is; only then will they experiment with it.

Whatever you consider as a truth, try to experiment with it. That is the one and only way to reach the 'Being'. There is no other way. There is no other method. There is no other technique. Not even meditation will help you in comparison with this one statement. Actually, meditation is a truth and you will only practice the meditation if you have the courage to experiment.

Simply by coming and listening to one of my discourses, you must also come with the courage to experiment with the truth. There are generally two types who come and listen to my discourses. The first is the kind who sits during the discourse and agrees, believes in everything I say. So the whole time they will sit and think about what they will say to praise me afterwards. They will be sitting thinking, 'Oh these two days, Master has spoken really well. He is a good orator and even though he looks young, he is a good speaker.'

I have seen so many people. After the discourse, they come up to me and say, 'Master, you speak so beautifully, you have spoken today about such great things.” I catch them out. I ask, ‘Tell me what I spoke about?’ They will reply, ‘No, no, no. Don’t ask me that. You spoke very nicely and you are a really great person. I have never heard such great discourses. I have never seen such a great person. You spoke so beautifully.’

Understand if you are coming up afterwards and telling me that I spoke beautifully, that only means you have not heard what I spoke about. I know that you were just sitting there the whole time preparing what you will come and say to me.

Also be very clear. We only praise others to get the attention of others, or we expect they will also praise us in return. We can’t say directly, ‘Please praise me.’ We have to be a little more polite than that. We have to use a more diplomatic approach. So we throw good words at others, expecting we will get them back.

The second type of person is one that sits there the whole time arguing with himself because they don’t agree with what I am saying. They sit there thinking, ‘No, no, no, I don’t believe this is the truth. I don’t think what he is saying is right.’

Either way, if you are against what I am saying, if you are continuously questioning, you are missing the truth which is expressed. Or if you are trying to find words to praise me, again you are missing what is being expressed. Either way, you will miss out on what I am saying whether you have a negative attitude or a positive attitude. What you need is not faith or doubt. What you need is courage to experiment with the truth.

These so-called believers or so-called religious followers are the most cunning people. On the other hand, the atheists are the most honest people. They are more straightforward. They will be outright honest. If they don’t feel the same, they are very straight. They will tell you. They don’t care about what anyone thinks.

However, the so-called believers, who only believe out of fear and greed, who don’t have the courage to experiment with truth, are more or less, hypocrites. They are egoistic. They will find, or actually design methods to escape from the truth. Instead, what they need to have is the courage to experiment with the truth.

Vivekananda says beautifully, ‘Instead of reading libraries, volumes and volumes of books, just have the courage to experiment with a simple two or three concepts. Just two or three concepts and have the courage to experiment with them.’

This is enough! Instead of having the courage to experiment with a couple of truths, we go and read volumes and volumes and we end up turning ourselves into some intellectual. Our heads will only become heavier, because you will just accumulate too much in your head. If you eat food and it doesn’t digest, what happens? You end up vomiting. It’s the same thing, when you read and read and don’t have the courage to experiment with the truth, you will start vomiting on others. What ever we read, we will almost have no choice but to start vomiting it on others.

Understand that all we need is one thing. Carry this one line as a message;

‘Whatever you believe to be the truth, have the courage to experiment with that truth.’

Let us pray to the ultimate energy, the divine cosmic intelligence, cosmic energy. Let it give all of us the courage to experiment with the truth and Eternal Bliss.

Question: Master, could you please tell us something about ‘Swaroopa samadhi.’

Answer: Oh nice. Two big words! In the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, he explained different kinds of Samadhi, the final state of mind body spirit union with the Self. To name a couple, there is Savikalpa samadhi and Nirvikalpa samadhi, quite well known types of samadhi. Savikalpa samadhi is characterized as a type of samadhi with which a person can lose all human consciousness for an hour or two.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is the highest samadhi one can reach, and it is the samadhi that most realized spiritual Masters attain. Nirvikalpa samadhi is the outcome of all spiritual practices. It is when a person directly becomes ‘One’ with their ‘Being’. They continue to operate in Conscious awareness, without attachment.

If we meditate on some roopa (form) of God, just becoming one with it and having no other thought except that form, we reach the state of Swaroopa samadhi.

Additionally, there are four types of samadhi related to ‘Swaroopa samadhi’. When we become part of that energy or we become one with that energy, then it is called in Sanskrit: 'Saalokya Samadhi', 'Saameepya Samadhi', 'Saaroopya Samadhi' and 'Saayujya Samadhi'.

If we are meditating on Vishnu, if we are given that state or if we are given the place in Vishnuloka, it is called 'Saalokya'.

If we are given the nearness it is called 'Saamepya'.

If we are given his own form it is call 'Saaroopya'.

Finally, if we just become one with him, it is called 'Saayujya'.

These are all deeper levels and there is no real need to do research on all of them. We should just follow any one method and simply we will reach that goal. Instead of analyzing the goal, we simply work on the path. It will prove to be much more beneficial for us.

Question: What are your suggestions for dealing with the truth?

Answer: Dealing with the truth is what I call 'experimenting with the truth.'

First of all, in reality, none of us really want to deal or experiment with the truth; we require buffer springs. In a car we have shock absorbers so that we will not feel the shock of the road. So just like that, in our life, we require shock absorbers. Continuously we keep ourselves away from the truth, the things that may shake us or shock us. Our fantasies and our hopes are like shock absorbers. We have fantasies or hopes only because we don't want to look at the truth directly, face to face.

Through our hopes and fantasies, we believe that truth can be postponed. We say, ‘No, no, no tomorrow things will change, after sometime things will change, I think there is some hope.’ Continuously, people fantasize about heaven simply because we are not able to face the truth of the present moment. Just because we are not happy with the present moment, our reality, the truth of this moment, we fantasize. We say, ‘I will have heaven, I will have this, I will have that.’

Secondly, the reason we cannot deal with the truth is because we are, actually, not mature enough. Children are allowed to dream to cope with reality, however, if we find that when we reach maturity that we are still in the habit of dreaming as a means of coping with reality. Be very clear, we are still behaving childishly. Not child-like but childish.

Maturity is in no way related to turning 21 years of age; primarily, it is related to our Being. Maturity is measured by how well we are able to respond spontaneously to the present moment and how well that we can deal with reality. Maturity is nothing but the ability to face and respond to the truth as it is, without having our hopes and fantasies.

Whether we accept it or not, whether we want it or not, we have to deal with the truth. So deal with it through mature consciousness. Don’t deal with it grudging or grumbling. Don’t try to escape it. Just face it directly. Start living it.

Truth is like a diamond. It can be polished. It will mould us. It will transform us. It has the ability to make us into a different person. In the process, it may shake us. During life, whenever we feel too insecure to face some truth, some reality or incident in our life, it shakes our entire Being. Allow the shaking to happen. Let the truth shake us. Let the truth penetrate us and by doing so, let it transform us.

Truth is intelligent. The truth will provide us with enough intelligence to face life. Only when we try to put a massive shield of protection around ourselves, we try to hide and escape from feeling the truth, we miss the outcome. Whenever our Being is depressed, we actually try to ignore it or escape that feeling of low mood. We'll do anything but face it. We'll go and drown our sorrows through drinking and partying or we will distract ourselves from facing the low mood by watching movies or television. The depression will always be there though. Waiting, running behind us, chasing us and the moment we don't have something to distract ourselves with, it will come up. When we are sitting by ourselves, when we are finally on our own, it will come up.

Whenever we are depressed or have negative emotions, we should confront them. Face them. How can we face anyone else if we can't face ourselves? If we don't want to be with our own Being, who else will want to be with us? So, we must face up to these things, we must acknowledge reality. We have to seek the truth, whether today or tomorrow, the earlier we seek the better.

Question: All of these steps - yogic disciplines, meditation, asana practice, all of these steps that we do to strengthen the body and the mind, is it the common goal of them all, to help us reach the state of connectivness, the state of bliss or ananda?

Answer: The disciplines you are referring to as 'steps,' are not actually 'steps'. They are techniques. When you refer to these disciplines as being steps, it is implying that you do the steps and then you reach the blissful state.

When I say the word technique, by doing the technique itself you will reach bliss. It doesn't mean that you will try and practice the technique, master it and then as an outcome reach the bliss. It is just like, the earth will open and you will fall into bliss. It doesn't mean you will walk and reach the bliss. Just that the earth will open and you will dissolve into bliss.

This is the concept on which the entire system of Nithya Yoga is based. 'Bliss is the path and the goal.'

Patanjali uses the correct word – 'Ashtanga' Yoga. Anga means part, not steps. Ashtanga yoga is sometimes mistakenly translated as the 'Eight Steps to Yoga'. The Sanskrit and English translations miss the whole idea. It is not the 'Eight Steps to Yoga'. It is the 'Eight Parts of Yoga' or also popularly known as the 'Eight Limbs of Yoga', meaning that all parts should be practiced together.

The first step is yama and the second step is niyama. If we decide that we will only go to the second step once we have achieved the first step, we will never actually be able to go to the second step. We will never be able to go to the second step! Because the first step yama (truthfulness, non – stealing, non – violence etc) can only happen in us only after we have experienced samadhi.

Question: As the Master has pointed out, there are so many Masters, so many different techniques and so many different schools that we have searched for or have stumbled upon. We try different Masters and techniques. Some things go well and sometimes things don't go well and we take them as all different experiences.

How do we know when we have found the right Master, or the right technique or discipline? There are so many different paths to choose from. Do all these paths all help us reach the state of bliss?

Answer: I have to say honestly, I don't know. I have not experimented with all the systems, will all the techniques and I realize that there are so many different Masters, so many techniques. Anything that you feel suits you, suits your system, you can follow it. So, how do you find out whether something suits you or not? Something will happen inside of you. Something beyond your intellect will act. You will simply feel connected.

People ask me, 'Master, should I accept you as my Guru? Should I remember you continuously? Should I meditate on you?'

I tell them, 'Do not make that mistake. If I am your Master, you won't be able to forget me. You will have no choice in the matter. I will be there with you when you are sleeping, in your dreams. I will be there in your mind continuously. You will not be able to get me out of your consciousness. You won't be able to do a thing. Simply you will see that you are continuously remembering me.'

The acceptance and the remembering of the Master or the following of a system should just happen automatically. After this, all you need is again, the courage to experiment with the truth. Just experiment with these techniques or things you believe as the truth.

Just search, continue to search and at some point, with somebody, something will click. You will feel deeply connected and you will simply feel that he the Master for you. You will simply follow him. Something from you Being, beyond your intellect will tell you that He is the right person, the right path for you.