To Know Me Is To Be Liberated🔗

4.9 One who knows or experiences My divine appearance and activities does not take birth again in this material world after leaving the body

But attains Me, O Arjuna.

4.10 Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being filled with Me and by taking refuge in Me,

Many beings in the past have become sanctified by the knowledge of Me and have realized Me.

4.11 I reward everyone, I show Myself to all people, according to the manner in which they surrender unto Me,

In the manner that they are devoted to Me, O Partha!

4.12 Men in this world desire success through activities and therefore they worship the gods.

Men get instant results from active work in this world.

This is a very strange statement. He says, ‘One who understands the nature of My appearance and activities will be liberated from this birth and death cycle.’

How can it be? He says, ‘Understand my transcendental nature of birthlessness and deathlessness.’ Just now He said he is birthless and deathless. Ajopi: I am birthless. Just now He says, ajopi san avyayātmā bhūtānām īśwaropi san. He says, ‘I am birthless and deathless.’

Now He says, ‘If you understand the truth of the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities, once you leave the body, you will not take birth and death like ordinary humans do. If you understand My transcendental nature, you will also achieve the same transcendental nature.'

'If you understand that I don't take the body, you will also realize, and you will also not take the body. If you understand I am liberated, you will realize that you are also liberated.' How can it be?

We will start with an incident from Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi's life. Ramana Maharshi is an enlightened saint from India. In the presence of Ramana Maharshi, everyday they used to sing some songs. There is a song called. 'Ramana Satguru', which means 'Praising Ramana Maharshi, an enlightened master.' When the song is sung, Ramana himself used to sing along with the devotees!

Not only would he be sitting and enjoying, he would also be singing along with the devotees. Somebody asked him, 'What is this? You are an enlightened person, you yourself are singing your own name. You are singing, Ramana satguru Ramana satguru. What do you mean by this?'

Bhagavan says, 'Fool! Why are you reducing Ramana to this six-foot body? Why are you reducing me to this six feet body?'

This is a deep, very subtle thing; difficult to understand. He says, 'Just as you are all seeing this body from a distance, in the same way, I am also seeing this body. For you, Ramana is somebody. For me also Ramana is somebody! I don't associate myself with this name and form. That is the reason why, just like you all can enjoy singing the name, I also enjoy, because I have not associated myself with this form.'

I tell you, an egoistic person, at least in public will not show that he enjoys praise, because if he does, people will see that he is egoistic. An egoistic man will make others praise him. He will never be open. Here, Ramana Maharshi is totally open. He is straight. He says, 'Just like you enjoy, I also enjoy this name, enjoy this form, because I don't feel this is me. I don't feel associated with my name or form. The name is just getting repeated, that's all.'

Another incident: One of Ramana's disciples, Muruganar wrote 'Ramana Puranam'. It is the stotra (verses in praise) of Ramana Maharshi. He wrote a few lines and somehow he was not able to write further. So he just brought the paper and put it at the feet of the master and said, 'Bhagavan, I am not able to write.' Ramana Maharshi says, 'Alright, you go, let us look into it tomorrow.' The next day when the disciple came back, he saw that the poem was completed.

Ramana Maharshi himself wrote and completed it! He wrote three hundred lines and completed the whole poem. The disciple was surprised. Bhagavan himself had written about himself; his own praises, written by himself!

Later, when the disciple published it, when it came out as a book, Bhagavan saw that he had put a small footnote: 'From this line onwards it was written by Bhagavan himself', just so that the devotees would be aware that those particular verses were Bhagavan's own words.

The first copy of the book was taken to Ramana Maharshi. He saw the book and the footnote: 'From this line onwards it was written by Bhagavan himself.'

He turned to the disciple and asked, 'Oh! Were the other lines written by you then?'

Understand, he asks, 'Oh! Does it mean that the other lines are all written by you?'

Bhagavan goes on to tell him, 'When you wrote all those verses, it was I who wrote through you. As such, you cannot think about me. You cannot write about me. What do you know about me?

Unless I express myself through you, you cannot know anything about me.'

Only a man who has disappeared into the divine consciousness can write his poem.

In the Bhāgavatam (life story of Lord Krishna), Krishna himself sings, 'I am the Lord,' just like how He now says, bhutānām ishvaropi.

This words are so beautiful: bhutānām ishvaropi: I am the Lord of all living beings!

A mere boy from Brindavan, a cowherd boy from Brindavan says this! You should not look at Krishna from today's perspective. You should understand the whole scene as it happened, when this happened on the battlefield at Kurukshetra.

Now, because of time, we have accepted Krishna as God. But this was said when He was alive. When He was alive, people could not accept him as God. Hardly a few people realized that He was God.

When Rama was walking on planet earth, only the saptarṣis (the energy of seven sages that controls the world) knew He was an incarnation. Nobody else knew. In the same way, when Krishna was alive, very few people recognized who He was.

At least Rama lived a controlled life; he is easy for people to accept. But Krishna lived such an ecstatic and spontaneous life, it is very difficult to realize who He is!

For a socially intellectual person, or a so-called religious person, it is very difficult to realize Krishna, very difficult to understand Krishna. But He says, bhutānām ishvaropi, I am the Lord of all living entities.

Naturally, it is difficult for them to understand. It is very difficult for people to understand. Somebody asks Ramana, 'Why are you speaking about yourself? Why are you expressing your own glory?'

Bhagavan says, 'If I don't speak about myself, you can never understand me. Unless I reveal, you can never realize. Unless I express, you can never understand. Just out of my compassion for all of you, I express the truth, I express myself.'

It is like this: You are going somewhere and you see a traffic jam on the road. You know one of your friends is traveling ahead of you on the same road. You ring up and ask him, 'How is it at that place? Is there a traffic jam? Can I come by the same road or should I take some other road?' Will he not have the simple courtesy to guide you? He will surely have that basic courtesy.

He will tell you, 'No, this route is okay, you come. In ten minutes everything will become alright. In this area there is no traffic jam.' He will give you some instructions. He will guide you.

With the same basic courtesy, Krishna is revealing His truth to you. He is revealing His truth to all of us. It is just a simple courtesy of helping fellow travelers.

Here, when He says, 'I am God, I am the ultimate,' He says there is a possibility, 'When I can achieve, why not you?' He shows the possibility, He gives us the courage, He encourages us. Here He says, 'When I can achieve, why not you?'

It is like a seed always afraid of rupturing to become a tree. The seed always feels, 'If I break and the tree doesn't happen, then what will happen? I will die.' But the tree tells the seed, 'Unless you open, I cannot happen.' Unless the seed opens, the tree cannot happen. The seed says, 'No, no, no, let the tree happen, then I will open.' But the tree says, 'No, no, first you have to open, only then I can happen.' The problem between the tree and the seed continues endlessly.

It is necessary for somebody to give a little courage to the seed. A tree that was a seed once and now has become a tree can give the courage, 'Be courageous. Don’t worry. You will never perish. Open. Just like me you will also become a tree.’

In the way the tree gives courage to the seed, in the same way Krishna gives courage to us. You can also become God, like me. You can also experience the truth like me.

When He says, ‘I am the Ultimate,’ He expresses the possibility. He shows us the possibility. He again and again reminds us of our potentiality. He inspires us to enter into the same consciousness. He inspires us to experience the same bliss. He shows us the way of truth which we need to experience.

When Krishna reveals this truth, be very clear, Krishna is not egoistic. He is expressing His true nature out of basic courtesy to His fellow travelers.

The senior tree encourages the junior seed to open up and become a tree. The tree assures the seed. It says, ‘Don’t worry, I have become a tree. You can also become like me. You don’t have to feel you will disappear.’ It is an assurance.

That is why again and again I tell you, when He tells us ‘I am God’, He means, ‘You too are God.’ He gives you the courage. He encourages you to enter into the same experience.

And one more thing we need to understand, as I was telling you, as Ramana says, ‘Why do you reduce Ramana to this six-foot body?’ Ramana is far superior, far greater than his six-foot body.

When enlightened masters say ‘I’, they don’t have any meaning behind that ‘I’. Only the divinity speaks. For a normal man, take yourself for example, when you say the word ‘God’ it is just a word. There is no meaning behind it. At the most, you will have some imagination about God, that’s all. There is no solid meaning behind that word when you use it. But when you say ‘I’, you attribute a solid meaning for it, you have a solid identity. You know clearly what you mean. But when you say ‘God’, you don’t know what you mean. The emotion or the understanding is not supported well by any experience. The word is not supported by an emotional understanding or experience.

But with enlightened people, when they say ‘God’, it is based on solid experience and when they say ‘I’, it has no meaning. It is just for utility sake that they use the word ‘I’. It is an empty word for them. Because they can’t use any other word, they use the word ‘I’. They have to use some word; there is no other way. That is the reason they use the word ‘I’.

There was a great enlightened master. His name was Nisargadatta Maharaj. He lived in India. Somebody went to him and asked, 'Master, you say enlightened people don't have karma. But how can you speak? How can you do all your activities if you don't have karma?'

He said, 'I am not doing anything!' The disciple asked, 'No, you are speaking to me. How can you speak to me if you don't have karma?' Nisargadatta Maharaj said straightaway, 'I am not speaking to you.' He said, 'I am not speaking to you!'

He was saying the words and yet he said, 'I am not speaking to you.' It is very difficult to understand!

He continues, 'Because you wanted me to speak, the speaking is happening through this body. There is nobody inside.' He was just like a hollow bamboo. When the breeze enters a hollow bamboo, it comes out as music. There is nobody inside, just an empty hollow bamboo. That is why whatever goes in comes out as music.

When you become like a hollow bamboo, whatever words come out of your mouth become mantra, sacred syllables. Your form becomes yantra, the tool of liberation, and your whole life becomes tantra, a technique for liberation. Your words are śāstras, scriptures. Your form is the center for stotras, devotional prayers. And your life is the sūtra, the technique. Your very life is a technique.

Here, when Krishna says, 'I', there is nobody inside. It is just the Divine that is speaking; just the emptiness that is speaking.

Then the disciple asks Nisargadatta Maharaj, 'Then how do you say I am not speaking to you?' What do you mean by the word 'I'?

Maharaj says, 'Because there is no other word, I have to use the word 'I'. But this 'I' has got no meaning like how your 'I' has. Your 'I' is supported by experience. When you say the word 'God', it is an empty word. It is not supported by experience.'

When you say the word 'I', it is supported by solid experience. You know it. You feel it. If somebody asks, 'Are you mad?' you shout at them and prove it! When somebody asks, 'Are you a dog?' you just bark at them and prove it! You know the 'I' in you is solid. It has got meaning.

But when you utter the word 'God', it has no meaning. It is superficial. It is some imagination which you created through what you read in some books. Something which was taught to you in some discourse; which you heard when you were a child. That’s all.

But when enlightened people use the word ‘I’, it has no meaning. Like how the word ‘God’ is empty for you, the word ‘I’ is empty for them. There is no meaning. But when they say the word ‘God’, there is a solid experience behind that word.

Here, when Krishna says ‘I’, there is nobody inside. It is pure emptiness. Just the Divine speaks through him. Just pure Existence speaks through Him. He has become a hollow bamboo. He has become pure energy. That is why He can courageously declare in a battlefield, bhutānām ishvaropi, I am the Lord of all beings.

Sitting in a home comfortably, where you have all the security, safety, all insurances, all the protection, and declaring ‘I am God’ is very easy, because there is nothing to risk. You don’t need to take any big risk. You don’t need to prove anything. Just make the statement, what is there in it? After all it is free! Say whatever you want!

But Krishna is making this statement in a place where He needs to prove it. He is making this statement in a battlefield, where all the risky things are there, where his life itself is at risk. One arrow is enough to finish his body. He will be dead. But He is making this statement in that space. In the battlefield He declares, ‘I am God.’

What courage and energy has to be there behind His words! It can come only from a solid experience, a deep conscious experience.

Earlier I told you the story of Alexander threatening an enlightened master with his sword, and the master laughing at Alexander. ‘Fool’, he said, ‘what will you destroy? What is in me is indestructible!’

Only an enlightened man can laugh in front of a sword. Alexander is standing with a naked sword and the master is laughing. He is not bothered. Just imagine, on the street, if somebody is holding a gun towards you and asking for your wallet, will you be able to laugh? Impossible!

But here, this person is able to laugh, in front of Alexander’s sword. The courage that comes out of satya, truth, is the courage that comes out of solid experience. One important thing that the Vedānta scriptures can give you is courage: courage to live, courage to face life and death; courage to face the whole of Existence.

One of the great disciples of Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita asks him, ‘Swamiji, if I come with you what will you teach me? What will you give me?’

Vivekananda says, ‘I will teach you how to face death.’ That is the ultimate teaching. Here, Krishna is giving that ultimate teaching.

In these two verses, He says,

Then the next statement is very strange:

It means: if you understand the secret of My birth and death, you will be liberated from birth and death, Arjuna.

How? Let us see the secret of the birth and death of Krishna, how we all go through the birth and death cycle.

Now, just as Krishna made the statement, ‘I tell you this because you are my devotee and friend’, now I have to make the same statement to you all again.

Here I am going to speak on something which is beyond logic. It is pure experience. Before speaking, I take an oath: Whatever I speak is the truth.

Whenever the ultimate truth is uttered, whenever something beyond our logic is uttered, we never receive it completely. Please be very clear: A silent listener is a person who is thinking about something else! A silent listener is a person who is thinking about something else. Whenever something which goes beyond our logic is told, we never receive it.

If we are courageous enough, we fight, we question, we argue. If we don’t have that much courage, we don’t allow that word to enter into us. To tell you honestly, we never believe anybody.

Please be very clear: We never believe anybody. It is always an argument, sometimes open, and at other times, in the mind. If we can’t express it openly, we continuously repeat the same words in the mind.

That is why, before entering into the truths, I tell you that what I speak is the truth. If you can, receive it. There is a possibility of transformation, because here I speak the truth that is realized only by experience, which cannot be logically true.

There is a website on NDE, Near Death Experience (http://www.nderf.org). If you find the time, try to go through that website. A doctor has done research spending 30 years, just on this NDE, Near Death Experience.

Let me first describe what Near Death Experience is. People who are declared clinically dead, after four or five hours, sometimes come back to life.

The doctor who created this website went around the world, meeting those people who came back to life after four to five hours; people who are declared medically dead by doctors. He was interested only in those who have come back to life after the doctor’s declaration that the person is dead.

He met about several thousand people. He has collected and recorded their reminiscences. If you find the time, try to see the website. He has collected so many different kinds of experiences from different kinds of people - from Buddhists to Christians to Hindus to Muslims and so on.

So many religions describe the death process in so many ways. Some say, if you have done puṇya or merits, you will reach a place called heaven, and there will be someone standing at the gates, and they will take you in; if you have committed sins, you will be taken to eternal hell. Each one has got his or her own faith.

Some say there is no hell or heaven and you directly go to heaven. Some say there will be a special pushpaka vimānam (mythological aircraft), sent from Shiva’s abode, where Rambha and Menaka (celestial dancers) will be serving you, and you will be directly taken to Shiva’s place. There are so many different versions as to what happens after death or what happens at the time of death!

The Kathopanishad says you will enter through a tunnel and see the Angushtha matra purusha antaraatma, meaning the light that is thumb sized, which is your soul. You will see the light when the soul leaves the body.

There are so many explanations, so many different kinds of versions as to how death happens, and how your spirit enters into the next body.

This researcher has categorized and explained everything. In the end, after doing research for so many years, he makes one important statement. He says, ‘I have studied so many Near Death Experiences. Now I can tell one thing: Only when people live, they are Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. That is to say, they belong to different religions. When they die, all of them undergo the same experience.’

He says very clearly, all of them undergo the same experience, and this is the experience that is described in the Kathopanishad.

Here, Krishna explains that beautifully. He explains it in a much deeper way in the chapter on Puruṣottama Yoga. We will see that subject when we come to that chapter. We will study that then. Now I just want to give you an introduction. I just want you to know the science into which we are entering.

He says people belong to different religions only when they are alive. When they are dead, they follow only one path, which is described in the Kaṭhopanishad.

Exactly what happens at the time of leaving the body? When you leave the body, the moment the physical body dies and relaxes, the moment the physical body says, ‘I cannot hold the soul anymore, I am tired,’ that very moment the soul leaves the body.

At that time, you think of that which you hold as the highest pleasure in your life based upon how you have lived in the 70-80 years. If you think eating is the highest pleasure in your life, naturally you would have spent your whole life eating. Then at the time of leaving the body, eating is the highest pleasure you can imagine.

You will think, ‘I should take a body which will continuously help me to eat. Which is the best body?’ You go through all the choices. Then you decide: ‘A pig’s body is the best body. Let me take that life!’

If you have the thought that sleeping is the greatest, happiest and most joyful experience in your life, if you have lived your whole life in sleep, in inactivity, then you would think, ‘I think sleep is the best experience in my life. Why not take a buffalo’s body? I can then spend my whole life sleeping.’

Whatever you think is the greatest experience in your life, on which senses you have spent the most energy, the maximum time and the maximum part of your inner space, you decide your next birth based on that desire, based on that point.

Please be very clear, nobody else decides your birth. It is you who decides. It is simply you who chooses. It is clearly the conscious decision of your individual soul.

I am ready for any of your questions. Naturally this is a very controversial subject, very difficult to understand. After this, any question you ask, I will surely answer. But you need to understand the science of birth and death, the mystery, the secret and the mystery behind birth and death.

Here Krishna says beautifully, ‘Here I am telling you the secret of things.’ Krishna says, ‘rahasyaṁ hyetaduttamaṁ’. ‘I am telling you the mysterious ultimate science, Oh my dear devotee and friend.’

We need to understand one thing: How do we take birth?

Let us analyze this concept with questions and answers. Understand, now I made a few statements: ‘You take birth based on your desires, based on how you lived in the previous birth. Birth and death are your conscious decisions.’ These are the statements that I have made.

We will analyze these statements with questions and answers. Only then will we be able to internalize them. If you just hear these words and go away, they will not enter into you. I always encourage people to ask questions. Because it is only when you question that you will be able to relate with the idea.

Never think that by asking questions everyone around will look at you and you will look like a fool. If you ask a question you may look like a fool. If you don’t, you will remain a fool! Better to look like a fool than to be a fool.

We will analyze this whole concept, the secret of birth and death, the mysterious science that Krishna delivers, through our questions and answers. Then you will be able to internalize this truth. The moment this truth is understood, you will immediately see that life is a blessing.

This life is your decision, please be very clear about it. Including poverty, everything is your decision. Don’t think poverty has been forced upon you. Even that is your decision. When we take birth, when we assume the body, we take birth based on our fear and greed. On one side, greed pushes us, ‘Let me become the son of a king, let me become the son of a rich man.’ On the other side, our own fears say, ‘No no, I can’t take on so much responsibility.’ Along with money comes a big responsibility of protecting it. That is why goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is handed over to Lord Vishnu, the Protector! Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is neither with the Creator, Brahma, nor with the Destroyer, Shiva. She is with the Protector, with Vishnu.

Along with Lakshmi who represents wealth, the responsibility to protect Her also comes. Most of the time we don’t want to take the responsibility. We only want enjoyment. We only want the enjoyment, we don’t want the responsibility. That is where the trouble starts. A person who is ready to take on the responsibility as well as the enjoyment, will never miss and will never be deprived.

If you understand this secret clearly, this very moment you will feel that your life is a blessing and not a curse. Usually we always blame life. We say, 'If I am given a chance, I would make the world much better than what it is now!' We always think we can develop on the existing creation.

Be very clear, surely God is much more intelligent than us! Whether it is to do with your life or to do with the whole of Existence, He has done the maximum that can be done. Because we don't understand the mystery behind our decisions, we continuously blame life and the person who gave this life to us.

Let me narrate to you a small incident. It really happened. It happened in America. A small boy had autism. He was a small boy who was about seven or eight years old. He was brought to me for healing. The father and mother requested me, 'Swamiji, please heal him, help him become alright.' I put my hand on his head and started healing.

Immediately, the boy started talking to me in Tamil, my mother tongue. The family doesn't know Tamil. Even the boy doesn't know a single word of Tamil.

The parents were shocked. They said, 'We don't know how he is speaking Tamil, because we don't know Tamil.' The boy simply started talking in Tamil with great clarity. They said that normally, even in English he does not speak that fluently. He would utter only one or two words. But that day, straightaway he started speaking to me.

He said, 'Stop healing.' Using Tamil slang, he told me very crudely, 'Stop healing.' I was shocked, first of all to hear him speak clear Tamil words, and then in a crude rough manner, 'Stop healing!'

Then I asked him, 'Why are you asking me to stop healing?' I started asking, 'Who are you? Why are you asking me to stop?'

Then he said, 'I am the owner of this body. I took this decision consciously. I don't want to take the responsibility of leading a regular life. I don't want to take the responsibility of attending school, making money and leading a regular life. That is why I took this affliction. I took this decision of autism consciously.'

He spoke the whole thing to me in Tamil, in my mother tongue. I don't know how you will be able to believe this. Because this is personal, I am not able to give his name and reference. But I tell you honestly that this really happened.

Straightaway he started addressing me: ‘I don’t want to take the responsibility of life. I am not interested in doing all these regular things, going to school, going through life. That is why I took this type of body. I wanted somebody to take care of me. I want to just enjoy.’

Then I asked him, ‘Alright, that is okay, but why did you take birth through such nice people? They are such nice people, why did you take birth through them? Why did you come down as a son to them?’

Then he replied, ‘I took birth in their family because they are nice people! They will take care of me. They will not abandon me. Had it been someone else, they would have abandoned me. They wouldn’t have taken care of me. That is the reason I took birth in their family.’

All the while, he spoke to me in Tamil. I was shocked. And in the end, by force he removed my hand from his head. Then I said, alright, I cannot interfere in the decision of any individual. I cannot interfere in anybody’s life.

The greatness of God is that He gives you the freedom to be in bondage. Even if it is the ultimate freedom He offers you, He never forces it on you. He gives you the freedom to be in bondage if that is your choice. And in the end, I did not heal him.

The whole thing, your whole birth, is based on your fear and greed. But the enlightened master’s birth is based on love and compassion. The whole secret is this. Ordinary man takes birth based on fear and greed. That is why his whole life is driven by fear and greed. His whole life runs on fear and greed. Enlightened masters assume the body out of love and compassion.

That is why Krishna beautifully says, ‘Ātma māyayā, because of my own energy, I take birth. With my own energy, just out of my love and compassion, I land on this planet earth.’

The next question that follows is this: How can we be liberated by knowing this truth? In what way is it going to help us directly in our life?

Please be very clear, when I say the words birth or death, I don’t mean just dying at the end of life. I mean, every night’s sleep is your birth and death. Every night when you go to sleep, you die! When you come back in the morning, you take birth one more time. Every day, you assume the body. Every day, you leave the body. When you go to the causal body in deep sleep, you actually die and come back. When you come back, every day you are new.

As of now, every morning, how do we come back to life? How do we take this body? Just look deeply. What happens at the time you get up from bed?

First thing, usually, the moment you become aware that you are awake, either a thought based on greed or a thought based on fear hits you. A thought based on greed - maybe you want to meet somebody, you have got something to do, or a thought based on fear - you have to go to office, you have to meet some deadline. Some thought based on fear or greed hits you. Immediately you jump out of your bed. Am I right? If you have analyzed your waking up, how you assume this body every morning, that moment is actually your taking birth.

Please be very clear, that moment when you take the body matters. These are the basic, very subtle, mysterious secrets of altering the whole consciousness. Early morning, with whichever thought you enter into the body, whichever thought makes you assume the body, that thought is going to play a major role in your consciousness. The first thought is going to play a major role in your consciousness for that entire day.

But an enlightened person, an enlightened master assumes the body out of love and compassion. He comes back just to pour his compassion out, just to share himself with the whole world. When I say he comes back, I mean his coming back every day, every morning.

If you understand this once and alter your thoughts at the time of waking up, you will alter your whole consciousness; the very quality of your consciousness can be changed.

It is just like how a camera works. The first moment the lens is opened, whatever scene is there in front of the camera eye, is recorded on the film. That will stay there forever. In the same way, during the first moment of consciousness while assuming the physical body, the thought that you have while entering into the body, plays a major role on your consciousness for the whole day.

When you get up from bed, let the first thought be related to love and compassion. Let it be related to a deep, divine, spiritual thought. Get up only to express your life in bliss. Get up just out of joy. The moment you come to consciousness, the moment you become aware of yourself, express, 'Oh Lord, it is so beautiful! You have given me one more day! I have come back to life once more just to see Your Existence. I am blessed that You have given me one more day's extension!'

Please be very clear, you have no right to have any extension. Don’t think life is your birthright. I have seen many people taking things for granted. Before they get the job, they say, ‘If I get that $10,000 per month salary, I will be really safe. I will feel blessed.’ The moment they get the job, in one month, they think it is their birthright.

Birth itself is not your right. Then how can you say something is your birthright? The word birthright is completely wrong. Birth itself is not your right. You have no right even to your own birth. It is a pure gift. You can’t expend even a single breath thinking it is your own.

You can’t inhale or exhale for even one single moment unless the Divine allows you, unless the universal energy gives the extension. So every day is a blessing. Every day is an extension. When you get up from bed, assume the body with this gratitude to the Divine. The quality of your whole consciousness will change and you will become an incarnation.

Here I am giving you the straight technique to become Krishna, how to enter into Krishna consciousness, how to become an incarnation. The man who assumes the body out of love and compassion is an incarnation. If you assume the body out of greed or fear, you are a man. If you assume the body out of love and compassion, you are an incarnation and you are divine. Your whole life will become pure eternal bliss. Your whole life will happen with a different consciousness.

I was explaining the secret of birth and death: how we go through them, how it is our conscious decision, how it is our choice.

Please be very clear, your whole life is purely your responsibility. Nobody has forced anything on you!

People always ask me, ‘Then why do we get into accidents, Swamiji?’ Please be very clear, everything, including accidents, is your choice. I am making a bold statement: everything, including accidents, is your choice. You can send me your questions. I will explain the answers tomorrow when I see the questions. Then you will understand this truth in a much deeper way.

Here Krishna gives us a technique to attain Him. If we are able to live in such a way as to be free from the attachments born out of anger and fear, then we can be absorbed in Him, we can attain Him.

We have to understand, all actions create their own reactions. When we sow a seed, the action, though it may appear to be complete, is in reality not so. We have set into motion a cycle, a chain of events. The seed sprouts and becomes a plant or tree.

Thus it is in the order of Existence, that every action or we can say, cause, has its own reaction or, we can say, effect. It is therefore quite difficult to escape from the clutches of the cause-effect cycle. Here Krishna gives a technique to cut these karmic bonds, to escape and realize the reality.

Actions that are free from fear and anger do not create bonds. They lead us towards elevated consciousness. Fear and anger that arise out of greed are two of the most provocative emotions that create action, and lead to bondage.

Attachments are our bondage to the future based on experiences of the past. We have unfulfilled desires that we hope to fulfill. We look for results. We get attached to the possibility of these results. When the results happen the way we wish them to, there is temporary satisfaction. More wishes arise. More attachments are formed.

When things do not happen the way we want them to, we feel sorrow, we are depressed. We strive again.

Either way it is a never-ending cycle that brings sorrow in the end. When we let go of attachments and perform actions with no expectations, we enjoy the path of action. There is no stress regarding what must happen, since there is no attachment.

Krishna offers a way out. He says, ‘Be drowned in Me; you will have no anger, no fear. All actions will thus be without bondage. In this manner, you can realize Me.’

He gives the assurance, the valid proof, that having done so, having followed this path, many people in the past have achieved Realization.

He is not telling us, if you do this, maybe something good will happen. No! He straightaway gives the positive assurance. ‘Do it, you will achieve! Not only one or two people, many people have done so and have realized Me.’

Masters are like mirrors. They are a true reflection of us. Devotees get whatever they ask for. If the devotee is praying for wealth, he gets it. If he wants healing for body or mind, he is granted it. To the devotee who says, ‘Oh Lord, I want nothing except knowledge of Your true reality,’ the Lord grants him that. He shows him the way to the ultimate reality.

If you visit our ashram, you will see that there is something there for everyone. No one goes back empty-handed. We have prayers, fire rituals, devotional songs, yoga, meditation, service etc. for all kinds of people. People from all walks of life, from all cross-sections of society, from all kinds of economic strata, can find their place there.

For the devotee who has faith in worship, there are the temples. For the devotee who wishes to attain through yoga, there are various yoga programs. For those on the path of knowledge, there are enough and more avenues and meditation techniques. Only in this manner can we raise the consciousness of society.

I always say we cannot hope to transform society through any mass movement. It can happen only through individual transformation. The mass has to be made up of such transformed people. When such people act together, it will have the same power as a laser beam.

I always say that each devotee and each disciple is unique. The way I treat each one is unique. What I tell one person is not applicable to another. I warn my disciples, time and again, please do not advise someone else based on the advice I have given you. It will only cause more confusion.

Vivekananda once lectured to another disciple of Ramakrishna and made him believe that all his devotional beliefs were nonsense. Such was the powerful personality of Vivekananda that he convinced this disciple that he must follow the non-duality route that Vivekananda himself espoused, instead of the devotional path that Ramakrishna had chosen for that disciple.

Ramakrishna called Vivekananda immediately, without anyone telling him what had happened. He said sorrowfully to Vivekananda, ‘What have you done to this disciple of mine? I have been working on him based on his nature and being. Now, with your words, you have set him back in his spiritual progress. It will take me years to bring him back on his path.’

Here, Krishna promises and reaffirms what He has said earlier, that He will take care of the need of every one of His devotee.

Only the most compassionate being, only such a person who cares for all, will make this statement. Now it is left to the devotee to have some wisdom, some intelligence as to what to approach the master for.

Krishna explains here why non-attachment is so difficult. It is in our nature to look for success in whatever we do. It is impossible to embark on an activity expecting it to fail.

There is nothing wrong in looking for success at the end of an activity. What creates problems is the illogical attachment to that expectation of success. We become so obsessed with what we desire that the expectation consumes us.

What Krishna says here shows that our mindset, human nature, has not changed in over five thousand years. Even then they were looking for material success. They were looking for instant results. When they prayed to God they were praying to fulfill their expectations of material success.

Again, I must say that Krishna is the greatest psychologist who ever lived. He has measured human nature accurately. What we want is results, material, tangible results, and instant results. In His days, in Krishna's days, when saṁskāras (engraved memories) were relatively fewer, when the cerebral pollution was much less, the word ‘instant’ itself must have been rarely used. People had a different concept of time. There was much less rush and much less aggression.

Yet the master uses a term ‘kshipraṁ’, instant. The master is talking about humanity; past, present and future.

He says you normally pray to God not as an expression of gratitude and not for spiritual benefits, but to seek unfulfilled material desires. You go to a temple and pray to the idol so that you may have more money, a beautiful spouse, more children, better jobs and all that you think will bring you happiness.

All your actions, Krishna says, are based on material success, and He says such activities bear instant results. Please note that they bear instant results. Whether you understand it or not, all these prayers and actions do produce instant results.

This does not mean that whatever you pray for is instantly granted by whichever God you prayed to. God, fortunately, has far more wisdom than we have. God uses His buddhi, wisdom, to grant what He deems appropriate.

However, the result of your actions is instant. The karmaphala is immediate. When religions talk of karma (action) and karmaphala (the fruits or outcome of such

action), they speak in terms of merits and sins, pāpa and puṇya. They tell you that you will go to hell if you accumulate sins, and you will go to heaven if you gain merits. They use these concepts only to control you. They try to control you through fear and greed; through fear of hell and greed of heaven. That is all.

There is no merit and sin, spiritually speaking. None of it is accumulated and presented to you at the pearly gates by Chitragupta or St. Peter. There is no hell or heaven. Hell and heaven are both states of your mind, not locations in some distant future in God's land.

When you think good thoughts, when you do good deeds, you feel good, you are in heaven. When you think evil, you act evil, you feel evil and you are in hell. That is all. That is all there is to karma. This is the cosmic cause-effect principle. You are what your intent is; you become what your intent is.

Karma acts instantly. It is here and now. It is not some slow grinding of the wheels of God. You live in the tormented mindset of a sinner or the blissful mindset of a sage depending on what you choose to think and do. Remember that. Do not put the blame for your actions on some misunderstood principle of karma.

Karma is in your hands. You are a free spirit; you have free will and you have freedom of thought and action. It is not merely guaranteed by your national constitution, but by God's own constitution. What you sow, you shall certainly reap.

Q: Swamiji, you say that we decide our rebirth, in terms of what we shall be born as, to whom, where etc. Why are so many desperately poor and sad people out there? Why would they ever want to be born that way? People say that is their karma, which to me seems more acceptable.

Yes, we do decide on our rebirth. Rebirth is decided by the mindset of your previous life. It is the accumulated effect of all the experiences that you have had in your earlier life, the saṁskāras. These saṁskāras leave a subtle footprint in your spirit when it leaves the body-mind system. This is called the vāsana.

If vāsana is a seed, saṁskāra is then a partly grown plant and karma is a fully grown tree. All these are to do with your desires. As long as you do not move out of your desires, vāsana, saṁskāra and karma bind you. Karma is not cause-effect as you think. It is not as if you do something that your religion or society labels as bad and you are born a pig, or if you do only good things, you will go to heaven. No.

There is no heaven and hell. These are what you create in your own mind. You live in hell throughout your life if you have a bad mindset. If you are always happy and carefree, you live in heaven.

Krishna says elsewhere that you are reborn based on what your last thoughts are. He means that you are reborn in line with your vāsana, or mindset. You may think, ‘Ok, that is good, I shall think good thoughts when I die and I shall be reborn comfortably.’ I tell you, if you have lived a miserable life fighting with everyone throughout your life, your last thoughts can be no different. In any case, you cannot plan your death and if you know you are going to die, you will not be able to think differently just because you are going to die.

If you were a miser all your life, your last thought will be of money. It will not even be positive; it will be only about hoarding money. If you had been a playboy all your life, your last thought will be about sensual pleasures only. There is no way you can avoid that.

So your question is, ‘Why would anyone want to be born a beggar?’ You remember the autistic boy I told you about, the one whom I didn’t heal? Why was he born autistic? His spirit had decided that he had had enough responsibilities in his previous life. He just did not want any responsibility in this life. He would rather be a non-responsive person with no responsibilities; being taken care of.

A wealthy man in his previous life may have had enormous burdens and miseries that his spirit did not wish to repeat in its next body. He may have regretted accumulating wealth. He may have had money but may have been cast aside by his family and friends. He may have been miserable, so much so that he would not wish to be wealthy again. So, he is born poor.

Why do you assume that to be poor is to be unhappy? This is not at all true. I have met many people who are poor as it relates to money and do not know where their next meal is coming from, and yet they are wonderfully happy. It is the mindset. Material wealth does not guarantee happiness. Your state of happiness depends on how you treat wealth and poverty.

You may ask, ‘Ok, I can accept your theory on being poor; but why would anyone want to be born terribly unhealthy and with painful diseases? Surely, this could not have been brought about by any desire.’

You can ask the people who live around me. Many of them have come to me with chronic and life threatening illnesses; some, just days before meeting me, have been told by doctors that they were going to die. But they have lived on. These people, if you see, are the sincere seekers. They all would have had the same quest

So, you do decide your rebirth, as to what, how, where, and to whom.

In our second level meditation courses LBP 2 – Nithyananda Spurana Program, we take participants through the energy layers that the spirit passes through at the time of death. This program is in a sense a re-creation of one's death, and the participant literally feels reborn. In one of the sessions the participants work on what they think are their desires at that moment. When they do the meditation that takes them through that energy layer, they understand that most of what they assumed to be their desires were not real. They realize their true desires, the vāsana, the prārabdha karma, with which they were born into this world.