Q & A on Feeling Connection🔗

Q: Swamiji, I have two questions related to feeling-connection: 1. Does feeling-connection carry over to the next birth? 2. Can we have feeling connection with several deities and Gurus simultaneously?

1. Feeling-connection as an attitude or quality can be carried from one birth to the next birth.

2 Not really. As they say, the lady of the house takes care of everybody with love, but she knows who her husband is! In the same way, a devotee may respect all Gurus and deities, but the feeling-connection will be only towards your Master who takes you to enlightenment, who raises you to enlightenment.

In Nithyananda Sampradaya, you are expected to respect all the Masters and Gurus. Our devotees have no right to disrespect or criticize any tradition or spiritual order.

As Sri Krishna says, ‘Every path or form leads to Me.’

So the feeling-connection will be there for only one being, but you will see everybody as the embodiment of that being.

Q: Swamiji, can you throw more light on the four kinds of feeling connection described in the Vaishnava tradition?

In Mundaka Upanishad, there is a story.

This story is significant to the question you asked, because in the Vaishnava tradition, they explain the four kinds of mukti or liberation that you can experience, based on these levels of feeling connection: saalokya mukti, saameepya mukti, saarupya mukti and saayujya mukti.

When you first feel, ‘I am connected to him, I belong to him,’ it is saalokya mukti – living in his loka, living in his frequency.

When you feel, ‘He is my very extension,’ it is saameepya mukti – the liberation that happens just by his nearness.

When you experience, ‘I am his very form, I am just his shadow, I am not an individual identity’, then you experience saarupya mukti.

And when you realize, ‘I never existed, it was only he who was existing; it was just an illusion that I existed’, it is called saayujya mukti.

_Q: Beloved Swamiji, I used to do a lot of pooja and temple-hopping earlier, but after coming to you I have lost interest in all that. I only want to sit with your videos and books! Is this a good thing or a bad thing?_

Please understand, always have God and Guru both in your life. Carry the feeling-connection for both in your life.

You may ask, why, is Guru not enough? Or, is God not enough? Please understand, however strong you may be, at some time you will not be able to have complete trust over Guru. Your feeling-connection towards Guru may get shaken a little bit. At those times, you need God to hang on to, you need God to hold on to; you need God to keep your spiritual practice and spiritual life alive. understand that you have feeling-connection.

Please understand: there is no other definition for feeling-connection. Whatever you may be doing, just it is there! The 'best moment' that you wait for the whole day is the next satsang. You all usually run your life waiting for some 'best moments', which you expect may come next day or next week or next month. For some people, the best moment is on the last day of the month, when they receive their salary! For people who have left their family and homeland to work in another country, the best moment is the time when they go back home to see their families. Whatever it is, life moves only for the best moments.

In our sangha, there are thousands of people who feel their next best moment of the day is the next satsang! Even if they are in another country, they keep waiting, switching on Nithyananda TV, even though they know it is too early for satsang! If you feel the next best moment of your life is the next satsang, there is a feeling-connection.

See, I can only describe certain moods, emotions and feelings, the symptoms of feeling-connection. Feeling-connection itself cannot be described. These are all symptoms of feeling-connection - if your heart rate goes up the moment you are logging onto the internet, if your pulse goes up the moment you try to call me on Dial the Avatar, or if you have done e-pada puja and waiting for my call - these are some of the symptoms which you can understand easily.

When you have feeling-connection, you will just feel that the whole purpose of life is that God or Guru has chosen you! The utility of your very existence will look like that.

I tell you, our whole sangha has only two categories of people – one, who

I am telling you this because a lot of this effort to getting the other person out of depression is going on everywhere! I wanted all of you to know - the problems which you can't heal, the pains which you can't get out of by unclutching, you can get out of them only by feeling connection with something higher than yourself; either God or Guru.

Ensure that you don't have a feeling-connection, that you are not entertaining friendliness, with people who are depressed or carry the patterns of depression. I tell you, the people with patterns of depression are arrogant. It is not ignorance or innocence. It is arrogance. Because they are arrogant, they will naturally infiltrate you even if you spend a little time with them. I warn you.

There is a beautiful teaching from Sri Ramakrishna. He says that if your spouse is in depression, don't try to get her out by yourself. If your friend is in depression, don't try to get him out by yourself. He or she will only put that depression mental set-up into you also. Instead, help them feel connected to something that is higher than themselves - to God or Guru. Stop with that, and don't try to meddle with it any more than that!

Q: My dear Swamiji, I really want to experience intense feeling- connection with you! What is the path for that?

When you have the intense desire, there is really no need to look for a path! The very need and urge for the goal suddenly opens up a path for you.

Actually, when you are possessed by the goal, whatever you do will become the path.

If you read the life-stories of the sixty-three nayanmars (Shaiva saints) and Alvars (Vaishnavite saints) of South India, you will see that they did not do some extraordinary tapas. For example, every morning, they would pick flowers and make garlands and decorate the Shiva linga; that's all.

The path itself does not seem too big. But they were possessed by the goal; they were shraddha vivecha, possessed by authenticity. When you are possessed by shraddha, whatever you do becomes the path.

Q: Swamiji, according to the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the warrior Arjuna was in deep depression. But by the second chapter he was full of gratitude to his Master Krishna, and his sahasrara chakra (gratitude center) was completely open, as you mentioned. How did this happen so quickly without any sadhana or tapas on his part? Is there a way for us also to progress so fast?

Understand, Arjuna was completely open to Krishna; his tremendous trust in Krishna was something extraordinary. For few moments he also suffered in depression, but he just got back the trust; nothing else. He just got it back.

See, falling is not wrong, but never rising again is wrong. Arjuna fell, no doubt, but he got up immediately, he stood up immediately. And he doesn't have ego in front of Krishna.

Courage or power is nothing but the ability to put yourself on the right track. Arjuna never lost that. He is really an amazing disciple. So he never lost that strong feeling connection with Krishna. It was just covered, like how a cloud covers the sun for some time. It was covered, and again it you may want to chant something. Sometimes you may just make some meaningless noises.

Just allow whatever sound is coming out.

Don't feel awkward if you are making some sounds you have never made aloud before!

They are inside you, that is why they are coming out.

And anyways, there are no good or bad or meaningful or silly sounds in Existence. All are equally sound energy, that's all.

Understand, this is not a cathartic technique.

You are not going to try and release stress by shouting and screaming madly. What you are doing here is inner tuning, just helping your inner vibration to be activated. Just fall in tune and enjoy the vibrations of your being, that's all!

This technique brings a certain rhythm to your day.

You will also feel more settled, more relaxed and sensitive. There will be less violence inside you and more friendliness and more compassion.

Below is a powerful meditation technique to be in constant feeling connection with others.

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE

Before we can connect to the whole world, let us first connect honestly to one person!

If we look deeply, we find that we are unable to be authentic even in our most intimate relationships.

In the first few interactions with a person, we create an idea or image about the other person. From then onwards we relate with our idea of that person, rather than with the real person! Similarly, the other person creates an idea about us, and relates only with that idea.

In this meditation, we try to contact the other person as he or she is, and reveal ourselves as we are – spontaneously, without readymade ideas, without deceit.

Obviously, such an interaction can never happen in words! The moment we start using words, we have stepped into the world of concepts. Instead, we use the direct language of silence to connect with the other person.

When you connect with words, it is called communication. When you connect in silence, it is communion.

When you enter into real communion with another, a beautiful thing

This one time, you are going to be totally open, totally vulnerable to the other.

You are just going to be like a child.

You have no idea what the other person is like. But whatever he/she may be like, you welcome them totally, exactly as they are.

Step 3

Open your eyes.

Smile at your partner.

Now put out both your hands and take his/her hands in your own.

Just sit silently for a while, experiencing you both flowing towards each other.

Then look deeply into each other's eyes.

Just look.

Don't have any idea what you should see there.

Don't imagine you or the other to be loving or connected or any such thing.

Just get all the ideas out of your head and be still.

Look silently into the pools of the other's eyes.

Just try to enter into the depth of the other person, not knowing what you might find. Spend the rest of the day silently, just resting deep inside yourself, savoring this experience.

Below is a powerful meditation technique to be in constant feeling connection to the five major elements of nature.

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE

In the eastern cultures, man is recognized as having a deep and integral connection with the whole cosmos.

In the Taittiriya Upanishad1 there is a beautiful verse:

Tasmaad va etasmaad aatmana aakaashah sambhootah

Akaashaad-vaayuhu, vayor-agnihi

Agner-aapaha adbhyah prithivi

Prithivya oushadhayah...

This verse describes how the whole material universe was created from the five major elements - earth, water, fire, air and space (or ether). All these elements find their representation in man as well.

For instance, the earth element corresponds to our physical body, the air element corresponds to our breath, the fire element corresponds to the digestive fire present in our stomach, and so on.

Each of the five elements also has its unique quality or subtle essence:

In the highest spiritual sense, real pooja (worship) is the constant contemplation of the highest reality. Snaana is the cleansing of one's senses and mind in the current of spiritual consciousness. Homa is the offering of one's individuality into the fire of universal energy, and japa (chanting of mantras) is the continuous remembrance of Truth in every breath.

Tuning oneself to the cosmic energies is a beautiful way to recognize our interconnectedness with everything in the universe.

In this meditation, we use simple but powerful visualization techniques to tune ourselves to the five major elements in Nature.

Earth Meditation

DURATION: 21 minutes.

INSTRUCTIONS

Sit comfortably with your eyes closed.

Visualize a beautiful natural landscape, say a forest, a mountain or a valley.

Visualize yourself as part of this scene, standing in this place.

Now, slowly, visualize your body crumbling gently to the earth.

You are becoming the earth!

You have become the earth, the soil.

Water Meditation

DURATION: 21 minutes.

INSTRUCTIONS

Sit in a silent place with your eyes closed.

Imagine the soft sounds of running water near you.

You can hear the gurgling of a stream, a river.

You are merging into this sound.

Your body is slowly, slowly dissolving in the river.

You have become the river!

Experience yourself as flowing water.

Feel the sheer joy of being fluid!

Feel your own coolness, your wetness, your softness.

You are taking a new shape at every bend.

Can you feel the blue sky, the clouds reflected in you?

There is a yellow leaf floating on you! You are playing with it.

You don't know where you are flowing, but you are flowing.

Nothing can hurt you, because you never resist.

Just flow with this experience for a while.

Slowly, return to yourself. Can you hear your own hissing sounds?

See the golden glow spreading all around.

Feel the warmth radiating from you.

You have the power to give light and warmth, to sustain life.

You also have the power to burn and destroy.

Enjoy the movement, the energy, and the power of your dance!

Stay with this experience for a while.

Slowly, return to yourself.

Spend a few moments with your eyes closed, visualizing your own form again.

When you feel comfortable inside your own body, relax and open your eyes.

Air Meditation

DURATION: 21 minutes.

INSTRUCTIONS

Sit cross-legged on the floor with your eyes closed.

Sway your body gently from side to side, like a flower in the breeze.

Feel the movement of the breeze rippling through you. Remain still, in this silence, for a while.

Slowly, return to yourself.

Spend a few moments with your eyes closed, visualizing your own form again.

When you feel comfortable inside your own body, relax and open your eyes.

Below is a powerful meditation to feel connected with life:

ABOUT THIS TECHNIQUE

An unspeakably beautiful meditation; it is more like a prayer than meditation!

This meditation is a direct way of feeling connected with the energy of all of Existence. It takes you to the threshold of the state of turiya, where you are in a state of total awareness but without thoughts.

This mediation is best practiced at night, just before you go to sleep. If you do it during the day, be sure to rest for fifteen minutes afterwards to assimilate the energy, or you will be in a state of intoxication for hours afterwards!

DURATION: Not applicable

INSTRUCTIONS

Choose a cool, dark room with enough ventilation. If you choose, you can practice in a private space outdoors.

Kneel on the ground. Don't sit on your haunches. Use a mat if it helps you feel more comfortable.

Raise yourself up on your knees, and raise both your arms towards the sky. Turn your face skyward and wait.

If you wish, you can visualize the blissful face of your Master or your favorite Deity – whatever helps you connect instantly with the Divine energy. (Just as a miser is at the peak of his energy when counting money, or a lover is at the peak of his energy when he is with his beloved, so also a Master is at the peak of his energy when laughing or smiling. Just remember His blissful face and allow the energy to flow through you).

In a moment, you will feel the energy of Existence pouring into you.

Be unresisting. Let the energy enter into you.

You will feel a tingling sensation, then a trembling in your arms; then slowly your whole body will begin to tremble and sway with the energy, like a leaf dancing in the breeze.

Allow the movements.

As you drink in the energy, you become the point where male and female energies melt and merge; the point where earth and heaven meet. You begin to feel as if you are floating, as if your body is no more.

Courage is nothing but the ability to put yourself on the right track!

His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda

Your body is not as rigid as you think! When your eyes are closed, you will become aware that your body subtly changes shape, changes form, becomes heavy or light, expands and shrinks. Only your idea of it remains constant. That's why you don't notice these changes.

Now become aware of your breathing, the rise and fall of your breathing. Feel the life force entering you through your nostrils. Feel the prana vibrating inside you.

Feel yourself intensely alive in every cell of your body.

Welcome the pulsing of life inside your body.

Now, take your awareness outside yourself.

If you are sitting on a chair, become aware of the chair, as if from inside.

Visualize that you are alive inside the chair! Feel that you are alive inside the chair in the same way that you feel alive inside your own skin.

As you feel alive inside your skin, with the same intensity, feel alive inside the chair.

Feel the pulsing of life inside the chair in the same way that it is happening in your body. The same life is radiating in the chair that is radiating inside your skin.

Even if it feels strange at first, keep up the visualization.

This is not just imagination; it is the truth. The visualization is only to help you realize the truth that your eyes cannot normally see.

Once you can feel yourself alive in the chair, slowly take your awareness to other things.

Feel the presence of the persons sitting around you, and feel alive inside each of them, on the same way as you feel in your own body.

Take a few moments to experience clearly that you are alive in each and every person.

Now expand your awareness in a relaxed way.

Feel that you are intensely alive in everything - the furniture in the room, the walls, the floor, the flowers in the garden outside, even the sky.

Carry this experience with you continuously.

Repeat this technique for 21 days.

You will see a great transformation in your power to live with constant feeling-connection.