You Are No Sinner🔗

4.33 O conqueror of foes, the sacrifice of wisdom is superior to the sacrifice of material wealth.

After all, all activities totally end in wisdom.

4.34 Understand these truths by approaching a spiritual master, by asking him your questions, by offering service.

The enlightened person can initiate you into wisdom unto you because he has seen the truth.

4.35 O Pandava, knowing this you will never suffer from desire or illusion,

You will know that all living beings are in the supreme, in Me.

4.36 Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners,

You will certainly cross completely the ocean of miseries with the boat of knowledge.

We spoke about the story of Brahma and Vishnu trying to reach Shiva's crown or head. Vishnu was able to accept that he failed, whereas Brahma could not. This symbolically indicates that a wealthy person (symbolized by Vishnu) realizes the limitations of wealth, whereas a person of knowledge (symbolized by Brahma) becomes arrogant and refuses to acknowledge the limitations of knowledge. Sacrificing knowledge is far more difficult than sacrificing wealth. For a scholar to admit that he does not know is similar to committing suicide. He is losing his identity.

Krishna advises the seeker to sacrifice one's knowledge and one's intellect at His feet, at the feet of the master, to experience the ultimate Truth.

A master is one who has experienced the truth. A teacher, on the other hand, is one who imparts knowledge through communication. A master is one who can simply transfer his experience of truth to you. He communes with you.

In Sanskrit, there are three beautiful words to describe this. You are born in the bhū garbha, the womb of the mother; this signifies your physical birth. The teacher with his love and teachings gives birth to you in the hrid garbha, the womb of the heart. The master gives birth to a completely new you, a transformed being in the jñāna garbha, the womb of knowledge. You then become re-born, dvija!

All you need to do is be open to the guru, the master. When you open yourself to the master, his presence simply heals you. He can elevate you to the same experience as his. This is what the viśvarūpa darśan is. Viśvarūpa darśan refers to Krishna revealing His cosmic form to Arjuna in order to show him who He really is. Krishna elevated Arjuna to the same level of consciousness in which He himself was.

Understand, masters have no vested interest for themselves; they have no karma to exhaust. They descend on this planet earth out of sheer compassion for humanity.

Just like a low pressure region attracts winds, so also, when a depression is created in this world, when people desire for a master to descend, the formless energy of Existence descends in a form. This energy is what is known in different forms as Krishna, Christ, Buddha etc.

Buddha says,

This means,

Actually, the master, his teachings and his mission are not three different entities. The master lives in all three: the body, his teachings and his mission. Masters come to dispel the ignorance of seekers, to show them the path. Only one third of the master's energy is in the physical body. The other third is in the teachings and another third is in the mission.

Nithyananda is nitya-dhyāna-ānanda, all in one. Nitya, the master in the body as Nithyananda, dhyāna, my teaching and message of meditation and ānanda, my mission of bringing forth the fountain of bliss that is lying latent in you, all the three together constitute the energy called Nithyananda. Understand that.

It is easy to do the first step that is to follow the master in his physical form because masters are so alluring and attractive by nature and they do not expect you to give them anything in return.

The next level is to follow the teachings of the master. This is slightly more difficult because other than gazing at the beautiful form of the master, now you have to actually do something. You have to not only listen to his teachings but also follow his teachings, practice them. Then, you really internalize what the master teaches but it requires some effort from you. Though it is only for your own growth, your laziness (tamas) causes you to not do this.

The final level is where you give your life to the mission and to spreading the master's teachings. This is the most difficult, since it requires from you the ultimate commitment for life.

People think ashram life is very easy and it is meant for retired people who can just sit and eat and have an easy life. No! Ashram life is a life of work because you are constantly implementing the master's teachings, and your whole mission is to spread his words.

When you surrender to the master, you surrender to his mission and to his teachings as well. When you surrender at the physical level, you surrender your physical self, your comforts to the master, to imbibe and spread his teachings and mission.

On the physical level, you sacrifice your comforts, like desires for luxury, wealth, food or sleep. I cannot call it sacrifice because you will feel from your very being that this is what you really want to do and this is the best use of your time and energy.

And I tell you, when you take up the responsibility of the mission, you will realize that what seemed to you as a load, as a responsibility, is actually a blissful experience. How can the mission of the master give anything other than pure bliss? The moment you surrender to the master and his mission and you stand up to take up the responsibility, you will find that the divine energy simply flows through you and you just flow effortlessly and express yourself most beautifully.

All you need to do is to be stable and available and the divine energy will make you able!

On the mental level, you surrender your intellect to serve the master and the mission. You surrender your mental faculties, mental pursuits to serve the mission according to the needs of the mission. You become like a liquid, flowing into the shapes and moulds created by the master. The master knows the best way in which you can grow. He creates the moulds for each of you according to your needs and abilities. Trust him, drop your solid ego and become fluid so you can fill in the spaces he creates for you.

At the being level, when your very being surrenders to the master, your being clearly recognizes the call of the master. You become a part of the master. You no longer carry any separate identity.

This process of transformation automatically happens when you surrender to the master, his teachings and his mission. The water is converted into formless steam. Like steam, you now explode in all directions. There are no limitations because all boundaries and limitations exist only in the mind. You now transcend the mind and express your potential. The master tirelessly and compassionately pushes you in different ways so you can also experience and be in the same state of eternal bliss as he is.

Masters are established in the truth. Out of compassion, they emote with you in a manner that you can understand. But, the only emotion that a master knows is love. All other emotions are just affectations to teach you in the language you understand. I always tell people, ‘When I show compassion to you, I cheat you. When I fire you, I teach you. Either way, you grow.’

The Vedas also clearly declare that a master is needed. You may have access to all the books, the recorded teachings of all the great masters. But, you have only the words; where is the body language?

For example, look at yoga. Yoga as it is taught now has been reduced to just a form of physical exercise. Of course, it has physical benefits, but physical health is just one of the benefits. Yoga as taught by Patanjali is much more than a bunch of postures. It is a means to enlightenment. The way Patanjali conceived it was as a means to enlightenment. But the body language of Patanjali is no longer there for us; only his words exist. Words can only convey so much; you need a living master who is in the same consciousness, the same state as Patanjali, to convey the underlying essence of the words.

There is a beautiful verse in the Guru Gita which says, 'The guru just wipes off with the big toe of his left foot your fate which Brahma has written on your forehead.' The master can change your very destiny. He can simply take you to a new dimension, which you could not even have imagined. An astrologer may be able to predict your future, but a master can simply change your future. He is one with Existence, which is operating this whole universe. Can the energy which runs the planets and stars not have the power to handle your life?

The big problem is that it is very difficult to relate with a living master. You see, it is very easy for people to relate with dead masters. You can look at him as God. You can project all your imaginations about God on him.

When Krishna promises that He descends again and again, what He means is the Krishna energy will descend on Earth again and again. People think Krishna will come down in the same form - with the yellow clothes, the flute in hand and the two peacock feathers in the hair. Again and again, Krishna happens on planet Earth, but we are so cunning, we manage to miss Him in any form. We miss all the masters.

Another thing: It is easy to fool yourself, escaping from a living master and just worshipping a master who has left the body. It is easy to escape by just worshipping. You think nothing else is needed and you can just say whatever you want to the idol of the master, do some rituals and get away with it. You escape all the possibilities of any transformation happening. You can just say, 'Amayam anahankāraṁ arāgaṁ amadaṁ tatha...'; 'I offer my non-attachment to you', 'I offer my ego to you.'

You can say that to an idol and that idol will be there, just standing. But, if you tell me that, what will I do? I will simply catch your neck and say, 'Hey! Where is your non-attachment? Give it. Where is your ego? Surrender it!'

With the living master, he will be constantly working on you, to cut your ego and to show you your true Self, which is much higher than your small ego. But the ego is afraid to die at the master's hands, so you try to escape.

Just be open to the master's energy and you can see yourself being transformed in front of your very eyes. Just being in the master's presence can heal you. Just being open to his energy can get rid of the biggest cancer in you, your ego. Even the closest disciple or devotee may have this egoistic feeling of being close to the master. No one is immune to this illusion, this egoistic perception. Your ego sees what it wants to see, not what exists.

A small story:

A forty-year-old man was admitted to a hospital for some tests. He was just coming out of anesthesia after the tests. He opened his eyes and found his wife sitting by his side. He looked at her and said, ‘You are so beautiful.’

Hearing this, his wife became very happy. She continued to sit there while he went back to sleep. After some time he woke up again and said, ‘You look good.’

The wife asked, ‘What happened to beautiful?’

The man replied, ‘The effect of the drugs is slowly decreasing.’

Be very clear, this is how māyā or illusion is! Till it exists, you cannot see reality. Only when it starts lifting slowly, you can realize the Truth and your true Self. Only then do you see reality.

Then you start talking like Ashtavakra, who declares beautifully,

‘I am infinite like space and the natural world is limited like a jar. To know this, is knowledge, and then there is neither renunciation, nor acceptance, nor cessation of it.

I am like the ocean and the multiplicity of objects is comparable to a wave. To know this, is knowledge and then there is neither renunciation, nor acceptance, nor cessation of it.

I am like the mother of pearl, and the imagined world is like silver. To know this, is knowledge, and then there is neither renunciation, nor acceptance, nor cessation of it.

Alternatively, I am in all beings, and all beings are in Me. To know this is knowledge, and then there is neither renunciation, nor acceptance, nor cessation of it.’

When you realize the truth that you too are one with the universe, there is nothing more to desire; there is nothing to be attached to. There is no longer any differentiation between who you are and what the universe is. Māyā, the illusion of that separation, disappears. That is why the master is called guru, one who leads you from gu, which is darkness, to ru, that is light; one who leads you from ignorance to bliss.

A master does not differentiate between who is good and who is bad. He is not bothered about what you do, whether what you do is considered meritorious by society or sinful. This whole concept of sin and virtue is societal. In some societies, it is a sin to marry more than once while in some others it is not. In some societies animal sacrifice is a sin while in some others it is a religious ritual.

Knowledge makes all the difference. Here, Krishna says beautifully, 'Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, you will certainly completely cross the ocean of miseries with the boat of knowledge.'

At the spiritual level, the concept of sin does not exist. It is a creation of man, of man-made institutions, of religious, societal and political organizations to control others through fear. In all such institutions you will find that different sets of rules apply to those who rule and to those who are ruled. All are not judged by the same standards. A king will be immune to any sin and punishment whereas his subjects will be at the king's mercy, to be judged and punished.

The Original Sin is merely one of forgetting our true nature, our true, divine nature. Animals do not care whether they are animals or divine. They flow with nature. They eat when they are hungry, mate when nature guides them, and sleep when they are tired. In that sense, they are one with nature, one with divinity. They are not confused like us humans.

Humans eat when they don't have to, and become obese. They watch television long after they are tired and their eyes are closing. Sex is no longer for perpetuation of the species, but a form of entertainment. We have corrupted our true nature through misuse of our intellect. That is the sin we have committed.

When you have the true knowledge, the intent, the understanding of what you are doing, the very intent and knowledge will make the action divine, the act will no longer be just a ritual but a means to reach the Ultimate. Automatically, you will cross the ocean of miseries because misery itself is a result of ignorance of your true self.

When 'spirit' is added to a 'ritual', it becomes 'spi-rituality'. When wisdom is blended into the ritual, it truly becomes a prayer.

Q: Swamiji, even if you say that ignorance of our true divinity is the original sin, it still means that we are all sinners, as we have forgotten our true nature. So, religions that label all of us as sinners are in fact correct, aren't they?

Ignorance is not a sin; it cannot be a sin. What I am referring to as sins are your own creations. They are creations of your mind. There is nothing called sin in spirituality. There is nothing called hell. Both reside in your mind, one as an action and another as a location. That is all. You are a creature of bliss and you have no reason to suffer.

You are being controlled by this word ‘sin’ and you are promised redemption through another word called ‘forgiveness’. Both are manipulative words that have been created solely to control you, to rule you. They are designed so that you cannot be free. How can religions and society rule you otherwise? You will also be like the mystics, the Sufi saints, the Gnostics, and the yogis who do not care about sins and forgiveness because they are already established in the right knowledge.

These religious leaders who control you through the fear of sin are the sinners; they are the ones whom Existence would punish, if Existence were to punish anyone. They make the rules and then make sure that the rules do not apply to them.

No master who founded the concepts on which these religions were built, ever said that man or woman is a sinner. They all uniformly talked about the divinity that resides within each individual. Time and again they said, search within and you shall find the truth. If all humans are sinners, were these masters also sinners? If they were not, how did they become exceptions?

We are all born with a divine spirit. Please understand that you are not a human being in search of a divine experience. You are indeed a divine being having a human experience. When you are born, a veil of ignorance prevents your perception of this truth. Unfortunately society and religion, instead of removing that veil, reinforces that veil, so that they can control you. Once in a while, you suddenly wake up realizing that there is something deep within that you are missing. The search begins.

If you are lucky and if you are sincere, you find a master who leads you upwards. He raises you in love. He helps you find that truth within, the realization that you are divine. You are then released of all your bondage. If you are not that fortunate, your spirit, at the point of death, longs for that release and realization. You are born again and again, with the sole meaning of realizing yourself. Once you realize the truth of your own divinity, you are no longer governed by the cycle of life and death and rebirth, which is called saṃsāra in Sanskrit.

Be sure that you are no sinner! You are indeed divine!