CHAPTER 1: ALLOW ME!🔗

I welcome you all with my love and respect.

First, I wish to tell you a few basic things before we enter into the program:

Whatever knowledge you have with you already, all the intellectual stuff that you have collected till now, from previous programs and from any reading, please keep it aside while you are here. Just sit as an open being. Then, it will be easy for me to help you. It would be a waste of your money if you sat here with all the old knowledge that you have in you already. Any knowledge that you have within you that has not become a solid experience for you as yet, should be sent out of your system. Even if the knowledge was from my earlier programs, if whatever you have heard has not become an experience in you, do not carry it with you. Especially now, do not keep it in your head. Whatever has become a solid experience would have left your head long ago. It will be in your being. So whatever is still in the head has not become an experience. So, send it out. Sit in a completely relaxed way. You can be very free and relaxed. When you sit, don't sit with an attitude of 'I know this', 'I know that', 'I have heard this earlier', etc.

A small story:

A young man worked hard and prepared for a presentation, and then delivered it to the target audience. The whole group enjoyed it except one professor – a highly intellectual person. At the end of the presentation, the young man asked that professor, ‘Did you enjoy the presentation? What is your opinion of it?’

The professor replied, ‘I know every word that you uttered in the presentation. I know the book from which it is taken. Then, how will I enjoy it? Every word which you used is there in that book.’

The young man was shocked and said, ‘No, I can’t believe this, Professor.’

The professor said, ‘I will send you that book tomorrow.’

The next day, the professor sent the book to him. The book was a dictionary!

Understand! You might think that this is amusing, but your mind also plays the same cunning role. It keeps concluding every minute, ‘I know everything that he is talking. I read it in that book, I read it in this book, I heard it spoken in that discourse,’ and what not. Your mind will always be taking things for granted. Maybe this story is a little exaggerated, but your mind is not far from it. If you watch your mind closely, you will understand what I am saying. You will understand that the basic thread is the same, whether it is your mind or the professor’s; just the degree is different, that’s all.

I always tell people: spending years and years in just acquiring knowledge is a mere waste. If you can work towards one solid experience, it is the best thing that can happen to you. What do I mean by experience? Experience means being convinced beyond your logic that ultimate truths are livable, that ultimate truths are reality. That is what I call experience.

Some people who are a little innocent, who don't have a large amount of knowledge stored in them, will have the 'click' or 'experience' easily. Only those who don't want to get rid of their knowledge, those who have vested interests in their knowledge, take ages to experience.

Understand: it is very rare to get the presence of an enlightened master in your life. I am telling you in very clear words not to miss it. When you are near a master, you are near such a great possibility, so do not waste it, merely because of your mind and the stored information. When I tell this to people, they don't listen, and when I leave the country, they sit and repent for not having fully utilized the time and space around me.

One more important thing: be a little more flowing than your usual self during the time you are here. You are in a safe and blissful zone, so just let go. Don't be frozen and serious. Nobody is here to exploit you; you are in a completely safe and secure zone. So be relaxed and open.

People are constantly holding onto their identity because they feel insecure and threatened that their identity might disappear if they let go. Deep down, all of you have a desire to actually be in a place where you don't need to hold onto your identity; where no one will recognize you, and you can just let go and do what you wish to do. So, when I create such a situation, people see the possibility for it to happen, but feel insecure because of that. Just see the self-contradiction!

When you see a beach, or a resort, or a snow covered mountain in a website or on television or in photographs, you always feel that you should be there at that spot, is it not? You visualize and fantasize that you are traveling by boat and enjoying that ambience! But when you actually go to that spot, you don't feel that same joy or ecstasy which you felt when you fantasized. When you think of Miami, it is amazing, but when you live there, it is not so amazing. Why is this so? Because the desire swelling in you, is actually to be in a place where you don't need to hold onto your identity. While this is your real desire, you think that the place is the real desire!

You know that there is nobody in Miami who knows you and so you don’t have to hold onto your identity for survival. This is the actual thought under all the layers of thoughts. This thought does not even surface consciously; it is there subconsciously. This thought is an expression of your yearning for freedom from identity. This is what you are really searching for, not any fantasy place. Understand this truth very deeply and it will help you to have a real vacation here and now! Your desire for vacation is nothing but the desire to be away from your identity. But when you go there, without knowing the truth that you started out with, you try to establish your identity there also. In two days, you establish your same old identity firmly, and experience the same hell. You settle down comfortably with your old hell.

Now, for these two days, try to have a real vacation. Move away from your identity. First, move away from your friends and family; do not sit next to them. If you sit next to them, you will constantly feel obliged to react the way they would want you to. You will be having some identity or image of yourself with that relative. You will be forced to maintain that identity all the time, if you sit next to them; your words, your laughter, your body language, even the way you sit, etc. You will be unconsciously maintaining it all for their sake. And every time you do that, you will be establishing your old identity again. I have seen husbands who do not laugh completely when they are sitting with their wives. Every time they feel like laughing, they look for some kind of concurrence. If the wife laughs, they will also laugh. So much of bonding is not required! At least, for these two days, you can be a little away from it and relax. It is for your own good that I am saying this, not for anything else.

Our meditation programs are never designed; they are just revealed. There is a big difference between designing and revelation.

Let us understand this first. This is the first thing which you need to understand. 'Designed' means having prior information as to:

'Design' is an analysis of what you want to give, and how you want to market it. With all this information, with all this data, the product is created and marketed.

'Revelation' needs just one thing: the need of the customer, that's all, nothing else. What does the person in front of you need? Then, the Truth, as it should be expressed, simply comes out on its own! That is revelation.

Let us understand the word Atma Spurana before entering into the program. Literally when translated, Atma Spurana means 'Flowering of the Self'. The word 'Self' needs to be understood. In the Western dictionary, the word 'self' is always understood as 'ego' or 'individual identity'. But in the vedic tradition, 'Self' is not considered as the individual identity. It is the eternally existing consciousness. Atma Spurana is the flowering of this consciousness.

Koshas literally means ‘sheaths’ or ‘coverings’.

For example, our physical body biologically comprises various systems like nervous system, circulatory system, musculo-skeletal system, respiratory system, etc. This does not mean that these are separate systems each of which has its corresponding body part. The same physical body has a number of organs, a group of which can be classified as performing a certain function. For example, the respiratory system includes all the organs like the heart, lungs, throat, etc which are involved with the functions of inhalation, exhalation and sending oxygen to each and every part of the body and collecting carbon dioxide from every cell of the body.

So also, we can classify our body-mind-spirit system in different ways. One such classification is the koshas. The annamaya kosha is related to the physical body which is the body we can see, touch and feel. The pranamaya kosha is related to the breath, which is directly and deeply related to our desires. The manomaya kosha is related to our mind and thoughts. The vijnanamaya kosha is related to all our feelings and emotions. The anandamaya kosha is related to the bliss in us - our true nature.

We don't need to work on the Self itself in order to make this flowering happen. We need to work on something which is between us and that Self. Your body, your mind, your emotions, these few things which are between you and your Self are what we need to work on. These are called koshas; they are energy sheaths, in and around us. Only these koshas, which are five in number, need to flower, need to open, need to radiate, need to fall in tune. Understand: the ultimate Self does not need anything; only the instruments with which you experience the Self need to flower; they need to open up for you to experience the Self or Truth. All five layers need to be purified so that they constantly radiate enlightenment.

One more thing: in the NSP, we work on the samskaras or engraved memories that are printed on the koshas, on the layers. Now we are going to work on the koshas themselves, on the very canvas itself.

See, in each one of you, there is something which gives you confidence. Even though you die again and again, there is something that gives you a deep confidence that you will not die in the real sense. That is what the Atman or the Self is.

There is a beautiful story in the great Hindu epic Mahabharata. It is called Yakshaprashna:

There was a demigod named Yaksha who had a quiz program with Yudhishtira – one of the five Pandava princes, known for treading the path of dharma, or righteousness. The demigod was asking all his questions and one of the questions was, ‘What is the most surprising thing on planet earth?’ Yudhishtira says, ‘Every moment, every day, we see so many people going to a mass abode – the abode of death. Even then, every soul, every person who lives here, thinks that he is not going to die! He thinks that he is going to be here forever; that only others are going to die. That is the most surprising thing on planet earth!’

There is something which gives you confidence; there is some energy that constantly gives you the idea that you are going to be here forever. That is what we call Atman! If we understand this truth and catch on to the energy, or Self, behind this thinking, we will celebrate death as a mere passage in the existence of the Self. Instead, if we understand this truth in the context of the physical body, we will end up believing that death can never take our body away from us, and we suffer when it actually happens.

Every one of you, every one of us, experiences the Self, but unfortunately, not all the time. Every one of us has got some experience, or at least a vague idea about that Self. Without this hidden belief, there would be no logic for you to hold on to this body. Your holding onto the body is only a disguise of the truth that your Self is eternal. Holding onto this body is possible only because you have some idea, in some corner of your mind, that you won't perish, that you won't die. Consciously you think that it is your body that can't perish, but the deep truth is that it is your Self.

Atma Spurana means flowering of the Self, that Self, that consciousness which is in you; making it alive; making this a solid experience for you throughout your life. The goal, or the purpose of the whole program is making that Self alive, making that a living experience, which will hold good for your entire life.

Making the Self alive was the very goal of the master/disciple relationship in the vedic tradition. And to achieve this, you should know the significance of these koshas. Then, you can achieve inner bliss in a much easier and quicker way. During the vedic times, knowledge of these koshas was passed down from the master to the disciple through the learning of the vedic scriptures such as the Upanishads. The Upanishads speak extensively about these koshas. Knowledge about them was imparted in vedic schools called gurukuls. In the olden days, the disciples went to gurukuls and learned about life engineering, that is, Spirituality. Once they undertook training in such profound truths, the rest of the academics became child's play. The reason is, through Upanishadic training, the very learning stemmed from deep consciousness, not from mere intellect.

In gurukuls, whatever be the area of learning for the child, the deep seeking in them for the ultimate truth was continuously nurtured. That was the thread on which everything else was strung. They were continuously prodded to inquire what man's search in life was about. Every human being has this question and the answer for it is deeply embedded in him. It is the responsibility of the enlightened masters to bring this out of them, and help them achieve fulfilment through it. It is only because this question is not brought out, that we really do not know what we are searching for. The aim of education in the gurukuls was to bring out this question, and to identify the answer.

This whole program is based on Taitreya Upanishad. The basic techniques, or the ideas which we are going to practice, are from Taitreya Upanishad. The word Upanishad is a very powerful word. The translation of that word is just ... 'sitting'... nothing else. Just sitting can do so much in you. Sitting in the presence of the master, just sitting with the master, can do so much in you. That is why the essence of all the vedic scriptures is called Upanishad or 'just sitting'. It is the ultimate technique.

When you sit with the master, the Upanishad ... the sitting ... happens; some strange process starts happening in you, which can neither be called a technique, nor a no-technique. It is literally like cooking, or boiling! By tomorrow evening, you are expected to be completely boiled. In Sanskrit we have a word Siddha. Siddha has two meanings: 1) enlightened 2) cooked, boiled. So, by tomorrow evening you are expected to be completely boiled or cooked! It is just like adding something to you and taking something away from you, both simultaneously. Whatever can be taken away will be taken away, and whatever needs to be added will be added. The master's presence is like the cooking fire. Just like in cooking you add some ingredients, remove some ingredients, and in the presence of fire, when you do this, cooking happens. In the same manner when you just sit in the presence of the master, cooking happens. It is more of a process.

If you have done our first level programs like the Ananda Spurana Program (ASP), Life Bliss Program (LBP), or the Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP), you would know that all these programs are technique-based. Technique-based means you will be taught some technique in the camp which you can practice here, or you can go back home and practice it. How much effort you put in, that much you will grow. That much will become an experience. It happens.

There are next level programs like the Dhyana Spurana Program (DSP) or Nithyanandam. These are not technique-based. There won't be any technique to practice. Just understanding will be imparted there. The understanding itself will add so much to you. Just the simple, yet deep understanding is enough. It will change your ideas about yourself, the world and the cosmic energy, that is Jeeva, Jagat and Ishwara. If your ideas about these three change, you will be transformed. This is the second level.

Now, this program is neither technique-based nor no-technique-based. Technique-based is when you will learn something to be done here and which you can go back home and practice. You will not receive anything like that now. You will not receive anything which you can practice at home. No-technique-based is that which is based on just understanding, nothing else. You will not be doing anything. But now, it is not that you are going to keep quiet either. That is why I say that it is neither technique-based, nor no-technique-based. It is called a 'process', or 'alchemy'. Alchemy is a process where a lower or base metal is transformed into a higher metal by adding something to it and removing something from it.

There is a reason why I want to give this detailed introduction to you. The reason is, I don't want any of you to miss the whole aim of this program. Please do not miss a single session. With technique-based programs, if you miss one or two techniques, there's no problem. You will have 80% of the result. With the no-technique-based program, you don't even need to come for the program, just the DVD is enough! Your physical presence is not needed. But now, not only your physical presence, my physical presence is also needed. Both of us need to sit with each other. That is why this Upanishad starts with a beautiful mantra. Let us enter into that mantra next.

For the next few days, please decide very clearly: you are going to be here for the whole program without missing a single session. People will come and ask, 'Swamiji, I have to go and pick up my kids. Can I go and come back?' In India we do the Atma Spurana Program for four days. But you know that in this country, even if God comes, he has to come during the weekend! If he comes on the weekdays, you ask him for his email ID saying you will get back to him! So for at least this weekend, let us be here completely doing the Upanishad. Please do not miss even a single session. Just be with the entire flow.

You can be relaxed; there is no need to be serious. Of course, if you are checking me out, then you will be serious, too serious, trying to constantly judge me and what I am doing. But I tell you: don't bother too much, just relax. I am already judged by 1.2 million people around the world. If you are sitting here, waiting and judging, you are going to miss the whole thing. That is the problem. If you are judging, you will be wasting your time.

Judging is not wrong. The preliminary programs like LBP, NSP, Dhyana Spurana Program... all those programs I have created are for the people who are first-timers, who are judging. But this program, the Atma Spurana Program, I have designed more for the people who are really interested in diving deep. The other programs aim at breadth. This program aims at depth. So unfortunately, if you have not done any of the checking out programs, decide not to waste your time any further. If you have already checked out a bit, then you won't have a problem. You will be completely ready to dive in. So now, don't bother much about judging. Just dive deep into your being.

One more thing: you will not be able to understand about me unless you dive into the technology that I have created. And unless you have dived and had one experience, you can't judge either. Unless you yourself have one experience, you can't understand whether I had it or not. Only when you have some experience, you can understand. So even if you want to judge me, jump completely inside. Only then will you be able to judge properly. If you are standing outside and judging, then you are a critic, not a seeker.

There are two ways of looking at things. Understand: a positive doubt such as maybe what he is saying is right - if you just have that 'maybe', that's enough. It is a scientist's mind, a beginner's mind. How a scientist approaches a theory, in the same way, but in the beginner's stage. Then there is scope for so much to happen; so much of work can be done. Otherwise, you will be just sitting and wasting your time and my time.

Even if you are not able to completely throw away your doubts, decide for these two days that you will strongly believe, you will strongly trust, you will strongly work with the master, that's all. Doubt will completely disappear only when you become enlightened. But now, you can decide that you will put the maximum possible energy in the direction of working with the master.

You have two paths: you can put your energy into working, or into doubting and wasting time. Now, I am asking you to put your energy more towards working. If you are doubting, I need to waste a lot of time in convincing you and proving to you. I have already convinced 12 lakh people around the world, which is around 1.2 million. That is the number of initiated disciples as of now. And for sure, there are at least a few 'more intelligent' people than you in that number! So just relax from the mind.

Why do you think I have to tell you so many things? Why do I have to take so much time in doing this? Because people waste so much time in intellectual jugglery, that's why.

The other day, I went to a devotee's house. I was telling his daughter to do an LBP program. She told me, 'I will do whatever my mom says, but I should be convinced about it.' I wanted to ask her, 'Does that mean that whatever you are doing, you are totally convinced about?' No! The problem is, in other things in life, we are not bothered about logical conviction, but when it comes to spirituality, we are too cautious. I wanted to ask that girl, 'You must be smoking or drinking. Are you logically convinced that it is good for you?' There are so many things that people are not logically convinced about, but they go ahead and do it. But when it comes to spirituality, they get too cautious. They spend a lot of time and energy in just intellectual jugglery. The real reason is, they do not want to enter into reality, that's all! It is a cunning way of postponing reality.

See, you want to claim yourself as spiritual, but you are not ready to transform in order to claim that! So, you just play with the knowledge. Playing with knowledge is a nice way of postponing reality.

I am telling you very clearly: you are spoilt, corrupted with so many unnecessary words and ideas. It is time now to dump all the words and go in for the experience, for the truth. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says beautifully, 'People go into the mango garden and do a big survey, a big research. They analyse: how many types of mangoes are there? What is the production cost? What is the sales cost? What is the income? How many trees are there? How many branches and how many leaves are there? All the statistics are put down. There are some other people who simply go in, pluck a few mangoes, eat them and come out!

We waste too much time in analysis! The whole time is spent on project planning. No work gets done!

Actually, you don't need so much time with me. Only because you are loaded with words, with too much analysis, do you have to sit together with me for two days for anything to happen. I have seen so many people having the experience without going through any technique or program with me.

A beautiful story...

Just the other day, I visited an ailing devotee. She has not done any of our programs, but she has achieved a far deeper state than anyone else. Actually, I went to heal her, to bless her before she passed away. After healing, I turned towards her feet and did namaskar. When I came out, one of my close disciples who had caught my action asked me, 'What is this Swamiji? You did namaskar to her, towards her feet, why? She has not even done any of our programs!' I told him, 'She has not done any of our programs. All she had done was hear about me, and she felt connected! That's all. She has seen me only once.'

I explained further why I did namaskar to her feet.

In Bhagavata Purana (an ancient Hindu epic), there is a beautiful story where Krishna is painting the feet of Radha with mehandi (Indian concoction for decorative coloring of hands and feet). The rishis got jealous seeing this. They asked Krishna, 'What is this? How can you do this to a girl? You may be in love with her, but you are God, so how can you touch the feet of somebody, and that too a girl? This is too much. We can't digest this.' Actually their ego was hurt, that's all. They fall at Krishna's feet and touch them. Krishna is touching Radha's feet! Hence they feel they are indirectly touching Radha's feet, which they do not want! That is their real problem.

Krishna answers beautifully, 'Understand: purely by her devotion, she is more connected to me than this body is connected to me, so this body is feeling shy and offering its respect to that body, to that person.'

If you understand this one thing, the Atma Spurana is done, nothing else is needed!

Krishna says, 'She is more connected to me than this body is connected to me. I feel she is more close to me than this body. That is why this body is touching her feet and offering its devotion and respect!'

This one sentence has got so many truths. The first thing is, it clearly implies that Krishna is beyond his body. That is why He is able to talk of the body in that fashion. The second thing: the feeling of connectedness happens only through deep trust or surrendering or relaxing, as in the case of Radha. Third: when devotion happens in you, you become much more than God! Understand: when devotion happens in you, you become much more than God! That is what you need to understand by this one sentence, by this one statement.

So, I told the same thing to the disciple who questioned me. I felt that the ailing devotee was more connected to me than this body itself because of her simple faith and devotion. A few days later, she left the body so beautifully and gracefully. She was never trained in the ways of intellect or logic in her life. People sometimes think that if you are from the West, you will be stuck in logic and if you are from the East, you will be more towards the being. This is not true. I know so many Indians who are so strong in the head and so many Westerners who simply melt when they see me for the first time! It is to do with the quality of your being, not with where you took birth.

Anyhow, for these two days, drop your identity. If you are a doctor, think of yourself as an engineer. If you are a lawyer, think of yourself as a doctor. If you are male, think of yourself as female. Just change your identity; relax from your identity for these two days. You don't know the freedom you will experience if you are able to do this! Just for these two days decide, 'There is no need for me to prove my identity to anyone. I am not going to prove my identity to anyone. I am not going to hold onto my identity.' Just for these two days, be a Paramahamsa! The word Paramahamsa literally means: instead of society calling me mad, I myself say I am mad, so that I am free!

Just look at me! I don't have to follow any one idea. I don't have to follow any one mould. I give you only one guarantee: that I will not hurt you; that's all. After that, I don't have to prove anything to you. I am not even interested in proving any identity to you. That is why I don't even use the word swami in my title. This swami word is associated with too much identity, too many problems. That is why I never use the word swami in my title. Paramahamsa means liberated. You can also live the life of liberation for these few days. As long as you are here, try to even avoid talking. If you start talking, you will have to bring back your old identity; you have to talk in the same way; you will be on the same track. So for two days, just relax; do not carry the identity; do not carry your same ideas; just be like a vagabond.

Actually, hippies are the people who are very close to enlightenment; all they need is a little meditation, that's all. They have all the other qualifications for enlightenment. I lived a hippie for nine years, but of course, not with drugs, only with meditation! If you simply remove drugs, and add meditation to

hippies, they are enlightened… over! Nothing else needs to be done. Just remove their drugs and add some meditation. For these two days, let you be enlightened hippies! Paramahamsa is just an enlightened hippie, nothing else! Hippie minus drugs plus meditation equals enlightenment, that's all!

For these two days, just relax from all identities; relax from feeling compelled to prove your identity; just be completely relaxed. Don't bother about the results. At the end, you will see that so much can happen in you. So much of transformation can happen in you; you will be a new being, a new person when you leave the hall.

This is such a great opportunity to sit, to experience Upanishad. Now, you are going to experience Upanishads. It is such a great opportunity to experience Upanishad from the very source of the vedic tradition; from the very root! So, all you need to do is only one thing: relaxing from your identity. If you don't have one, you are saved; half the job is done. If you have one, then relax from it for the next two days.

Now, we will start the first thing - the initiation. Sit with a completely open being. You can even visualize and feel that you are open. Visualize that you are completely open; that you are a flower fully opened, fully blossomed, fully available; that you are totally relaxed. Just listen to these few mantras that I am going to chant. I am going to chant mantras from the Upanishad on which we are going to work.

Close your eyes. Just sit completely open and in silence. The silence always exists ... inside you and outside you. Sit with a completely open being. Make your inner space available and open, for the downloading of this new software that is going to happen now.

Just visualize very clearly that you are opening your body, that you are opening your prana - that is the air circulation; that you are opening your mind - that is, your inner chattering; that you are opening all your emotions; that you are opening your very inner space.

These words are powerful words coming to you directly from enlightened beings, now recited again by an enlightened being, towards enlightened beings, that is you all... from an enlightened being through an enlightened being to enlightened beings...

Let your eyes be closed. Be completely open and relaxed.

(Master chants from the Taitreya Upanishad)

Let these words vibrate in you and penetrate your core. Be completely open. The whole process is now getting inscribed into your inner space, so that it can open by itself. It can take care of the process by itself. It is literally like downloading a software. Just allow it. Put your whole energy into opening up. Allow whatever happens to happen.

(Chanting continues and finishes.)

Relax. You may now open your eyes.

Now, you will see that this very downloading itself will do the process. You don't have to worry that you don't understand the meaning of what I have just chanted. In fact, even if you understand the meaning, try to avoid going into what you think the meaning is. In reality, you don't know the meaning. Sanskrit is not just a linguistic language; it is a phonetic language also. You may know the meaning of the words as written in the dictionary – that is the linguistic meaning. But, you will not know the phonetic experience of it, the other layer of it. So just relax, and allow the downloaded software to work on you.

You have the great fortune of sitting with an enlightened being. Enlightened beings are the only living Gods on planet earth. If I declare this openly, sometimes, people get irritated. Their ego gets hurt. They ask: how can he claim that? Understand one thing very clearly: don't bother whether I am God or not; but just by your trusting this statement, just by your believing this statement, you are going to be helped these few days. I have finished solving all my problems. By saying that I am God or that I am not, I am not going to have any problems. Also, by your accepting that I am God, I am not going to gain something out of it. No! If you don't accept also, I am not going to bother about it. By your not accepting it, my personality is not going to be affected in any way! I am not going to lose confidence in myself. Do you understand what I am saying? Whether you accept it, or don't accept it, my confidence in myself is not going to be affected in any way. I have solved my life already! Only thing: if you accept, it will help you; that is the only reason. For the next two days, it will be a big help for you. In making such a statement, I am proposing it more as a technique, as a method, than as a fact. You may take it more as a method, to lift you or to transform your consciousness, than as a fact. So, just take it as a method, and work.

Fortunately, enlightened beings are not selected by voting! They just declare themselves, that's all! Whether people vote or not, they don't care. That is the greatness of enlightenment!

For the next few minutes, you can go around meeting people, without your identity. I am not telling you to introduce yourself to others. No! Remember: you are not the identity which you were carrying earlier. So, I am not asking you to introduce yourself. Don't go around saying, 'I am a doctor, I am a freelance software engineer, I am from this place, and what not.' Try to experiment with the simple technique of making friends without using your identity! Just go around and make twenty friends without using your identity.

You should not use any of the usual things such as your job, your profession, your career, etc. Don't use any of them. Similarly, don't ask any such related questions to the other person either. Don't ask them, 'Where are you from?' Is it possible to make friends without asking any of these questions, with just the face value... just directly trusting the other person? You are here, I am here, let us just directly trust each other! The matter is over! Why do we need our past track record to create friendship?

Introducing yourself with your track record is like saying, 'Alright, here is my track record. You can now trust me. We can be friends!' We don't need such big files. We don't need a credit report to create friends! Showing your track record is like showing your credit report. It is like saying, 'See, I have a good track record. Let us make friends...' No! Just you being here, or you seeing the other person is enough to create friendliness; to radiate warmth; to radiate love; to radiate the feeling of connectedness.

So, just spend around 10 to 15 minutes, and try this new experiment of creating new friends. Don't go to your own family and friends. If you go to them, you will bring back your old identity. Go to people whom you don't know. Meet at least 20 new persons. When you don't carry your identity, you can express yourself in a more innocent way, in a more simple way. Try to express yourself in a new way, and feel connected. Let me see how you are able to connect without using your identity. Let me have some fun! Just go around. No using identity, no visiting cards allowed! This will also make each of you comfortable with the others in the group.

(The group does the exercise.)

Alright, come and sit down. Again, I see that families are sitting together. Even if I liberate them, they don't want to be liberated! Ramakrishna used to narrate a beautiful story:

A few fisherwomen went to their village to sell fish. After selling the fish in the market, they were returning, but somehow, it was too late to go back to their homes. They could not find any shelter on the way to rest. They managed to find a single house where a florist was living. He had a lot of flowers in his house.

They asked him, 'Can you accommodate us?'

He said, 'Why not? You can very well sleep here tonight and leave tomorrow morning.'

The women lay down and tried to sleep. But they were not able to sleep, however much they tried. Suddenly, one of them realized what the problem was. The fragrance of the flowers was too much for them. These women were habituated only to the smell of fish! That was the problem. They were unable to sleep amidst the fragrance of the flowers. One of them went out, brought their empty fish baskets, sprinkled a little water on them, put them near their heads and soon, they were all fast asleep!

In the same way, these people cannot live without the old smell of their friends...the fish smell... that is the problem. I tell you: it will be a big liberation for you. You don't have to maintain so many standards. You have so many standards constantly nagging you.

As I told you, this program has nothing to do with any technique or no-technique. It is a clear process. After this program, you are not expected to practice anything at home. You will not carry back any technique from here and practice it. No! It is a process that we are doing now, and you will carry back only the experience. That will itself do its work. So, just carry the experience that will become part of you.

Before entering into the Upanishad - that is the process, let us learn the Upanishad. What do I mean by Upanishad? 'Just sitting', that's all. Upanishad means 'sit'. You may think, 'I am sitting already!' No. You are not sitting. You are only trying to sit. You are not 'just sitting'. Now, you will 'just sit'. Please do not ask questions like, 'How long, why, what are we going to gain, and what not…' I am not going to answer even if you ask these questions. Just sit, that's all. Let us see what happens if we just sit. Many things might surface: maybe boredom, or the thought that you came all this way just to do this…' Whatever your mind may tell … just sit. Don't listen to your mind. It may tell you anything, but you just sit. No technique, no visualization, no mantra, no meditation, not even unclutching from the mind, no technique needs to be done…do not do anything. Just sit. You can tie your eye bands.

Remember only one thing: you are sitting in the presence of a master. Upanishad is happening. Just sit.

(A few minutes pass)

Om Nithyanandam…Relax. You can open your eyes.

You might wonder why I am giving you such an extensive preparation. In this Atma Spurana program, the preparation is very important. If you internalize the preparation, you are done with the purpose of the program! That is why I am stressing these points so much. These points are the real truth of this program.

Upanishad...it is a very powerful process. I request you not to miss even a single session. Next thing, for Upanishad to happen, you need to be 'here and now'. It means two things: 1.) You can't sleep as you do normally 2.) You need to be inside your boundary. What do I mean by 'being inside your boundary'? Currently, your bodies are not like your homes; they are more like hotels, like lodges. You put your luggage in it and start roaming around. That is the way you use your body. If you are physically at home, your mind will be in the office. If you are physically in the office, your mind might be planning a vacation. If you are eating, your mind will be watching television. You are never inside your boundary! But for these two days, you are expected to be at home inside your body ... and no sleeping!

There is a small story. I always love to tell this story because I really enjoy this story!

A great preacher, a man who was preaching in the name of God all over the world died one day. On the same day, a rash taxi driver, maybe from Chennai, or New York or Calcutta...Calcutta is number 1, maybe Chennai gets number 2, then New York...Anyhow, a taxi driver died at the same time as the preacher, and reached Lord Yama's court. Yama is the Lord of Death.

Yama did the regular enquiry. First the taxi driver came, as usual – fast! Yama asked, 'What were you doing for a living?' 'I was driving a taxi,’ he replied. Then Yama saw the list of sins and merits. Now of course, they must have computerized these lists! He saw the whole list and said, ‘Alright, have the golden key and go to heaven.’

Next, the preacher came. Yama asked, ‘What were you doing? What’s your name?’ The preacher replied, ‘I was spreading the Lord’s name all over planet earth.’ He started giving his regular sermon, as usual - his fully well memorized speech. Yama said, ‘Stop, stop, stop. Relax.’ Then he saw the list of sins and merits and said, ‘I think you need to go to hell.’

The moment the preacher heard this, he started shouting, ‘What? Just to a taxi driver, you gave heaven. How dare you send me to hell? I will sue you.’ Preachers are professional shouters.

Yama said, ‘Relax. Let me explain to you. Here, up in heaven, we are not bothered about what you do. We bother only about the result. This taxi driver, even though he was driving the taxi rashly, was so wild in his driving, that the people sitting inside the taxi and those who were outside on the road, were all the time praying to God for their lives because of him! He made so many people theists. He made them all believers in God. What he did is secondary; by the effect of his actions, he converted many of them into believers in God. But even though you were preaching about God, you were preaching in such a way that you put people to sleep!’

So understand, the problem is: if you sleep now, when I go up, I will have a problem! So at least, maybe not for your sake, but for my sake, don’t sleep!

One more thing: if I am telling Ramayana or Mahabharata or Bhagavatam, then you can sleep, because you might have heard these stories earlier, and you may wonder how many times you will listen to the same story. You know the whole story of Ramayana: Rama is the one who will go to the forest, Sita is the one who will be kidnapped, and Hanuman is the one who will go to Lanka. Then Rama will go and kill Ravana. Sita will be brought back, and then the coronation ceremony of Rama will happen. You know the whole story. And how many times will you listen to the same story? Naturally, you will think: for one session, I can take a nap. You can catch up, even if you miss a session. Not much is lost.

I have seen very funny things happening when these stories are staged. In January, we went to the Kumbha mela in Allahabad, where I saw these stories being enacted. Not only were the people who were listening sleeping, even the person who was singing on stage was sleeping sometimes!

Anyhow, now I am not going to tell you how Rama lived, or how Krishna lived, or how Christ lived. We are going to directly deal with how you are living. So now we can't afford to sleep. Neither can you afford to sleep, nor can I. So both of us have to remain awake. What you will do to keep yourself awake, I don't know.

First thing: no sleeping. Second thing: sitting inside your boundary. This sitting inside your boundary is a very important thing to be understood. Just observe your life. Early morning, when you wake up, when you get out of your bed and start brushing your teeth, your mind is already sitting in the office, thinking about your boss, thinking about the answers that you are supposed to give, thinking about work. By the time you reach your office, your mind is already on the beach, thinking about the beach, or the weekend vacation. If you are on the beach in the evening, your mind is already thinking about when to go back home. The mind will be saying, ‘It is cold…and this…and that…’ The funny thing about your mind is that when you see beautiful scenery on television, or an advertisement, like a beautiful beach, or a beautiful forest, or a snow covered mountain, you always feel you should be there, and that if you are there, you will be in ecstasy. That is the idea you get, especially with the resort advertisements. And you almost feel that if you are lying in that chair near the swimming pool or on the beach, you will experience heaven! But when you go there, you don’t feel the experience the way you had imagined it to be. You don’t feel that it is so heavenly. Why? What is happening? Why is it that when we see visually, it seems that we will be in ecstasy, but when we go there, it is not such an experience?

The reason is: the moment you are on the beach, your mind has already started thinking about home. When you are back at home, you have already started thinking about the next day’s routine. If your body is here, one thing is sure: you are not here! Your mind is not here. That is what I mean by not being inside your boundary.

Now, for these next two days, you will not use your body as a lodge or a hotel. You will use your body as a home. Come back. Just be inside your boundary. Only then I can work with you. You and me, both of us need to sit with each other. You need to be here, only then I can work with you. You need to be inside your boundary. Your skin is supposed to be your boundary at least until you become enlightened. After you get enlightened, whatever life you feel within your skin, the same life you will be felt inside every other skin; inside this pillow, inside this seat, inside everything, you will feel the same life. But, for now, your skin is your boundary.

So come back. Be inside your boundary. Only then the Upanishad can happen. Both of us need to sit with each other. That is why this Upanishad starts with a beautiful mantra, which says: let both of us not hate each other; let both of us grow together.

The beauty of education in the vedic tradition is that it is not egocentric. The master says, 'Let both of us grow.' He is not saying, 'Let you grow, I will teach you.' No! He is saying, 'Let both of us grow.' That is the truth. So, let both of us work with each other. Let both of us not hate each other till we end the process. Let both of us feel connected, at least till tomorrow evening.

Understand: you may sit here like you are attending a weekend workshop or a management course. Any attitude is alright; no problem. But decide that for these two days, you will sit sincerely with the whole process. I am not asking you to accept me as your guru. Actually, people ask me, 'Swamiji, should I accept you as a guru?' I say no. If I am your guru, this question will not arise. As long as this question is there, I am not your guru; forget about it. Search again. Seek again.

Someone asked me, 'When I accept you as my spiritual guru, does that mean I have to give up praying to Shirdi Sai Baba, whom I have been worshipping for over fifty years now? I don't feel he is my guru, but I remember him and pay my respects to him.’

I always tell people, even if you accept me as your guru, there is nothing wrong in learning from some other source, or master, or place. Pluck flowers from all the gardens and make a beautiful bouquet for yourself. Nothing is wrong in that. After all, I am here to enrich your life. If somebody else is also enriching it, just absorb whatever comes from them. It’s not like a shop where if you come to my shop, I would prefer you not to go to the other shops! Just enrich yourself, wherever you can, or in whatever way you can.

Just for these two days, don’t bother about all your internal struggles or unnecessary and useless questions. Just sit with a deeply receptive and prayerful mood inside your boundary. The whole process will happen. The Upanishad will start happening. Till tomorrow evening, let us not hate each other. Because I am going to make you do all sorts of things, like for example, your food will be a little delayed, your sleep will be a little delayed, etc. You may face a few discomforts. Do not grumble or grudge. Even if you grumble, I am not going to leave you...! See, the program is fixed. Either you go through with complete acceptance, or you go through with struggle. It is up to you. But you have decided to go through it. If you go through it without struggle, it will be a lot easier for you. So let us not hate each other. Let us feel connected to each other. Let us grow together.

That is the beauty of enlightened masters. Enlightenment is the ultimate experience, but not final. Understand: the ultimate happening every moment is ‘enlightenment’. So every moment, the enlightened being is exploding and growing ... expanding. You may think, ‘How can enlightened persons grow?’ Maybe ‘growing’ is not the right word. It is the Ultimate Experience happening every moment. Enlightenment is the ultimate. But it is not that it happens once and it stops. It happens continuously. The right word is ‘enlightening’, not even ‘enlightenment’. It is not a noun. It is a verb! That is the truth. Continuously, the experience is happening. That is why the master says, ‘Let us grow together.’ For that, we need simple and honest friendliness. Feeling connected, feeling respect for each other, and taking a conscious decision to work together are all needed. All this is needed at least until tomorrow evening. I am not asking you for your whole life! No! And the important thing is, don’t forget to be inside your skin, that’s enough. Everything else will start happening.

The master’s presence is very powerful, even if you don’t understand it. Whether you understand or not, when you sit around fire, you will have its effect; you will feel the heat. Similarly, whether you understand it or not, when you sit next to the master, you will see that things start happening inside. Enlightened consciousness is much more powerful than your doubting logic. It can penetrate you. People ask me, ‘Should I trust you? Should I believe you?’ I say, ‘No. There is no need. Your doubt and trust, both are shallow.’ Neither is your doubt strong, nor is your trust strong. Both are depending on your mind. But enlightened consciousness is beyond the mind. It can straightaway work on you. Do not bother about whether you have doubt, or trust, or faith, or anything. Sit with a deeply receptive mood and ‘the beginner’s mind’, with a willingness to go through the process. Be inside your skin. That’s enough. You will see that the process happens. The Upanishad will simply start happening.

I will just give a simple understanding about how the mind works and how exactly the Upanishad is going to help us. Let me once more explain the word Upanishad. It means: just sitting. If you want a commentary for that word, I could say: sitting with an enlightened being.

Let us first understand how our mind works with the help of a simple drawing. Your mind is doing nothing but ‘making your future into past’. Understand: what you call as life is nothing but swallowing your future and making it into the past. Am I right? The future becoming the past is what you call your mind, or whatever you know as life; nothing else. This diagram is just a time shaft. The space where the future and the past meet is what we call the present moment. The future is just disappearing into the past. Every step of what I am describing, you need to understand completely; only then you will be able to go with it.

A little bit of introduction about the mind is good. It is like an owner’s manual. Owner’s manual for the mind! We use the mind without reading the owner’s manual even once. Even in the car, there is information about the airbag, and it says: for further details, see the owner’s manual. How many of us have referred to the owner’s manual about the airbag? With airbags, it is alright to ignore the owner's manual, because you may feel it is useful only when you have an accident. But if you don't read the owner's manual for your mind, you will create accidents! And you will not even know that you are going through accidents every day. That is the problem. So it's better

(points to the board)

Your mind is nothing but a process in which you constantly jump back and forth between the past and future. If you just observe your mind for a few minutes, you will understand exactly what I am saying. Thought is nothing but jumping from past to future or future to past. Only when you are shunting between the past and the future can you think. In the present moment, you can't think. Try to create a single thought in the present moment. You can't! Either you create a thought or be in the present moment. The two are mutually exclusive. The moment you come to the present moment, thoughts will disappear! Thought, and the present moment are mutually exclusive. If thinking is happening, it means that you are jumping from past to future or future to past. If you are jumping a 100 times from past to future or future to past in one second, you have 100 thoughts per second or 100 TPS for short. Are you able to grasp what I am saying?

If any of you have any doubts, put it down in writing. At the end of the session, I will answer, because this needs to be completely internalized by you. Understand, only if the internalization happens, you will involve yourself in the whole process.

The problem is, you will do all sorts of illogical and nonsensical things for any pleasure, but even to move one finger for spirituality, you will ask one thousand questions. And you think you are very intelligent in doing so. You keep justifying your foolishness by thinking that you are intelligent. That is the problem. Many people come and tell me, 'I know that smoking is bad, but I am not able to drop it. What do I do?'

What do I do? I give them honey. I give them a drop of honey specially energized for de-addiction. Even when your logic says that something is not good, you will do the same thing when it comes to pleasure. But when it comes to meditation or spiritual things, even for a small thing, you will ask so many logical questions. And you think that because your questions are very logical, you are very intelligent. Sometimes, you have the pride, 'I don't believe in superstitious things.' You are dangerously unaware of how many thousands of nonsensical and superstitious things are actually there within you. You are the body, is the first superstition that you are carrying! You are not even aware of this! Anyhow, at least now, internalize this, so that you will be ready for the process.

When you are having 100 thoughts per second (TPS), you will be away from the present moment by that proportionate distance. The present moment is where the future and past meet. If you are jumping too many times, which is what is going on now, naturally you will be away from the present. You will never be in the present moment, because in the present moment, you can't think. There is no space for thoughts in the present moment. If you come back to the present moment, there will only be a beautiful silence. The more number of times you are jumping between the past and the future, the more number of thoughts you will have. 100 TPS means you are completely away from the present moment. You are just not concerned about what is happening in the present. Even if I am standing and talking here, you just pick up one thought, and compare it with all that you have heard in past lectures, discourses, classes, and books, and you remain judgmental about what you are hearing now. You will be sitting and having big comparison notes and missing all my statements. That is the problem. See, I am not saying that whatever you heard is wrong, but sitting and analyzing at this time is wrong, because you are missing my continuous flow of statements.

And the problem with so called spiritual seekers is that they are well-read, and completely confused! For any statement that I make, they will be sitting with 10 dictionaries and 10 references and comparing my statement with the statements there. They will be doing two things: either they will refer to all those books, and if they find some relationship with what I am saying, they will say, 'What he is saying is right,' or if they do not find the right quotation or match for my statements, they will say, 'This is not the right thing. I don't think he knows the subject fully. He is too young.' This is the problem!

See: whether you say 'yes' or 'no' to my statements, by comparing notes, you are not going to grasp. Even if you say yes, you are going to miss the other statements which I am making. By the time you finish your analysis and come back I would have gone 10 steps ahead.

So for now, just keep all the things which you have read, or studied or heard, in one corner, for two days. When you go back from here, you can pick it up. I am not asking you to completely throw it away. I am only saying, just for two days, go into my words completely, and understand and internalize. If you are jumping between this and that, you will be away from the present.

Sometimes, because of some meditation that you do, because of some technique that you sincerely practice, you might manage to bring down your TPS to say, 80. This means that instead of moving 100 times between the past and the future in one second, you move 80 times between the past and the future in one second. You come down a little towards the present moment. If you work further and reduce the TPS to 60, you move a little more to the present moment. Sometimes, very rarely, by powerful techniques or by the blessings of an enlightened guru, you can bring it down to 20. See, these are just indicative values. It is not that you are currently having 100 TPS. You are probably having 1000 or 2000 TPS. Or it may even be a million.

One more important thing...please do not sleep! Sleep does not mean zero TPS! Sometimes...in the silence... people wake up. See, my talking sometimes feels like a lullaby, so you feel relaxed and taken care of. When I give a break, suddenly you understand that something is wrong, and you wake up. And the fun part is, when these guys wake up, the first thing that they do is: look at others! If you are looking at others, understand that you are the person who slept, not the others! These people who doze off, they will start with, 'Let me listen with closed eyes.' They will have the justification, 'I am meditating and listening'. Soon, the person next to them will see them sitting with closed eyes, and they will nudge them. But these people will not even open their mouth to say, 'I am listening', because then, their sleep will be disturbed! They will say, 'You attend, you listen, I am ok. I am listening.' What to do? I always tell people that 'meditative listeners' are the ones who are thinking about something else, or are lost somewhere else.

Anyhow, coming back to the subject, rarely, in the presence of a master, or through some process or some initiation, you come down to 20 TPS. When you come to the present moment, suddenly you will have the intelligence to see the future and the past clearly! From a higher TPS point, you can't see the past or the future clearly. When you come down, you may be able to see a little better. The lower your TPS, the better your vision of the past and the future will be. One important thing: now it feels like I am giving you a big promise, but let me tell you: if you come to the present moment, you can see your future so clearly!

Let us analyze one important thing. Sometimes, when you are at a party, suddenly you think that some person is going to appear in the next few minutes... some old friend or someone... and you will see that the person is suddenly there! Or sometimes, when the telephone rings, suddenly you will remember someone who was not there in your memory for the past few years. When you pick up the phone, that person will be on the telephone line! Or when the doorbell rings, suddenly you remember a relative who has not come to your home for the past five years or whom you have forgotten for the past five years. When you open the door, you will see him standing there. How many of you have had these kinds of experiences, at least once or twice in your life? So many of you are raising your hands! But when it happens to you, what do you say? You usually call it a coincidence. If it happens in one person's life once, it can be called a coincidence. Am I right? Practically, 98% of you, say that you have had this experience. When 98% of you have had this experience, how can it be called a coincidence? You can't brush this aside in the name of coincidence. Then you will have to change the meaning of the word 'coincidence'! Coincidence happens rarely, it may or may not happen in one or two person's lives. But now, the evidence says 98% of the people are experiencing it. There is something more than coincidence in this. This is actually what we call 'intuition'. It means, when that doorbell was ringing, or when that cellphone was ringing, maybe due to a sudden jerk or due to some other reason, your TPS suddenly dropped. TPS can be made to drop even by force sometimes. When the TPS dropped, you were able to see the future, maybe the next five minutes of the future clearly. You had a glimpse of the time shaft! That is how you were able to see the person on the other side of the door or phone.

When the TPS drops, you see the future. I think you are able to connect with what I am saying. This is the reason why you will be able to see what is going to come or what is going to happen. See, suddenly, due to the doorbell ringing or the cellphone ringing, or probably because you were really relaxed and happy, maybe because in a party, where you don't have your direct relatives or your in-laws, you were very relaxed…for whatever reason, your TPS suddenly drops. Then, you will have a glimpse of the next five minutes of the future. Just imagine, if your TPS falls, just accidentally, if you can glimpse the future, if your TPS can be consciously brought down, then understand the value, understand the clarity which can be added to you!

Now, the next few statements which I am going to make, are very mystical. Until now, whatever I said looked very logical, and they are logical, but the next few statements are going to be mystical.

An enlightened person is the person who is established in the present moment, whose energy is in 0 TPS. He is neither lost in the future nor lost in the past. Understand this. The first statement which I am making is: an enlightened person is the person who is established in the present. It means that if you can bring down your TPS and establish yourself in the present, you are enlightened. Second thing: the future, past and present - all these three put together are called 'eternal.' Eternal means 'nithya'. You can touch eternity only in the present moment!

See… eternity can be touched only through the present moment. You can't touch eternity through the future or the past, because both of them do not exist directly under your control, as you think. The past you cannot touch, because it is not there. You can't catch the future also, because it is not there! You can only touch the present moment. You are in the present moment. If you want to enter into eternal bliss, or the present moment, or enlightenment, or whatever you want to call it, the only way is to bring down your TPS.

One thing: an enlightened person is a person who is established in the present moment. The next few statements which you need to understand are: if you are in 100 TPS, and you are in the presence of a being who is in 0 TPS, something happens in you. Your time shaft also starts slowing down. This is what I meant when I said that I will be making a few mystical statements. Understand: the person who is in 100 TPS, if he sits with a being who is in 0 TPS, suddenly the TPS drops drastically. Fortunately, the TPS of enlightened persons cannot be raised by you! Only yours can be dropped by them.

Now you need to understand a little deeply. How does the TPS drop?

Let us now understand these koshas. Koshas are energy sheaths in our system.

The outermost sheath is called the annamaya kosha and refers to the physical body that you have.

The annamaya kosha is very closely related to the next layer that is the pranic layer or pranamaya kosha. Pranic layer refers to the movement of air, the air circulation that is happening in you all the time. Air circulation is not just inhaling and exhaling. When we come to that layer, I will explain more about it. The third layer is the mental layer or manomaya kosha. Your visualization is your fourth layer - vignanamaya kosha. Finally, the fifth layer is the silence or peace or bliss that is within you, which you rarely experience. It is called the anandamaya kosha.

The outermost layer, the annamaya kosha, you can think of as the physical layer. You can visualize it as the physical layer. The second layer, the pranamaya kosha, visualize it as air. Prana is not actually air. It is the air energy that is carried by air. Air is simply the medium to carry the energy, that's all. It is the air energy that is required for us to sustain life. The third layer is the manomaya kosha - the mental layer. Visualise it as the constant inner chatter that goes on inside you. Inner chatter is your inner or mental layer. The fourth is the vignanamaya kosha or the visualization layer. The fifth layer is the anandamaya kosha or the bliss layer - the bliss or joy which you rarely experience. Most of the time, you experience only blisters, not bliss! Causeless bliss has become a rare thing in our life.

Understand: we are not disconnected and separate islands as we think. Even though civilization constantly teaches us that we are separate entities, we are not disconnected and individual islands. Maybe in the physical layer, we are all individual islands. For example, if the food is poisoned, only the person who eats it will suffer, not everyone. In this sense, you can think of yourself as an individual. But if the air is poisoned, whoever is breathing will suffer. This means that in the pranic layer, in the second layer of our energy bodies, which is to do with our breath, the distance between us is reduced. Going further, if the mind is polluted, a much bigger group will suffer. For example, if one person who is disturbed in the manomaya kosha, that is, someone disturbed in the brain, sits as a leader, you know what will result in that entire city. Now, going still further, if one corrupted visualization leads to any action, for example take the visualization of the atomic bomb- corrupted visualization – what happens? It can destroy the entire planet earth!

Albert Einstein, the famous scientist says, ‘I am successful because I did whatever I did by my visualization. I am successful because I can imagine well.’ He did not discover the atomic theory, E=mc² through his logic. He says the formula came first, and after the truth of the formula came out, he developed the logical steps behind it! This means that it was done through visualization. But corrupted visualization can disturb the whole planet earth. We are all now threatened by this one visualization, by this one invention called the atom bomb. Today, planet earth has got atomic weapons enough to burn itself 700 times over and over again. Just imagine: burning once is enough, but there are enough weapons to burn planet earth 700 times! Fortunately, the bliss layer cannot be corrupted since it is in the control of enlightened beings! Otherwise, planet earth would have perished long ago. Fortunately, the bliss layer key is kept with us. It is not available to the public. That is why planet earth exists today.

One more thing… this is a mystical prophecy: don’t bother much about these things, you will never perish. Global warming and such things will come and go, but it will affect only those people who have created collective negativity. Nothing will happen to planet earth because this layer is still under the control of enlightened beings. They manage the whole situation!

All you need to understand is that you are not islands as you think. When you come under the influence of a corrupted mental layer, whether you want it or not, you suffer with it, am I right? In the same way, when you come under a person with a pure mental layer, you will see that he is a great leader. Whether you want it or not, you will be touched by all the pleasures and joys created by that person. In the same way, whether you want it or not, when you come in the presence of a bliss layer person, your TPS will come down. That is what is meant by Upanishad. Sitting with an enlightened person, brings your TPS down.

Because the person has gone beyond the mind, he has entered the bliss layer. As long as you have the mind, you will be disturbed. When you enter the bliss layer, the person has no mind to get disturbed! Rivers can dry up, but the ocean cannot dry up. An enlightened being has become the ocean. In his case, the river has entered the ocean. That is why, instead of others affecting him, he affects everybody! He influences everybody. The person who affects everybody (positively of course) is an enlightened being. Anyone who comes into his presence gets affected in a positive way, but he remains the same. He is not affected by anyone. As the Bhagavad Gita says, this person is established in the Self.

The TPS comes down when you sit with the master. You might ask, 'Then let us sit for half an hour and go back. Why 2 days, unnecessarily?'

The problem is, you have forgotten how to just sit. I have to teach you for 2 days how to just sit! If I tell you to just sit, you will do some sacred syllable repetition or you will sleep or you start praying or you will just become restless. You don't know how to sit with no mantra repetition, no technique, nothing... just sitting... You have forgotten the art of just sitting. In Zen they call it Zazen - just sitting. You have forgotten that. Just sitting is no longer part of your being. To teach the 'just sitting', it takes 2 days for me, because you know everything except just sitting, except just being. That is why I have to work 2 days to bring your TPS as far down as possible. For example, when you have 100 TPS, you are in the physical layer. When you have 80 TPS, you are in the pranic layer. When you have 60 TPS, you are in the mental layer. As your TPS comes down, you go deeper and deeper into the inner layers. When the TPS is completely down, you enter the anandamaya kosha - the bliss layer.

Now you are going to sit with the master in every layer. We are trying to reduce the TPS to bring the frequency of thoughts down. The whole process which we are going to do for the next 2 days is sitting with a '0 TPS being' so that our TPS can drop drastically. One more step you can do is, balance yourself to come down to a low TPS in order to sit with him, since you have forgotten how to just sit. You will be consciously balancing yourself so that your TPS falls. We are going to do something just to stop you from doing something else. This doing is what I call 'process'.

You can write questions about this subject alone.

The moment I tell you to ask questions, you will ask about vaastu shastra, astrology and what not. Please do not ask questions such as whether vaastu shastra is true, astrology is true, will this stone work for me, etc. If a stone can change your life, then you are nothing more than a stone! So ask questions only on the science that I have spoken now. All other FAQs, I will answer in the evening or tomorrow.

Understand, when I say figures such as 100 TPS and 80 TPS, I am saying them only for you to understand the concept. Don't start thinking: I think I am between 61-80 TPS and so I am probably stuck in such and such a layer...no! These kinds of analysis are for professional seekers who seek all their lives without getting even one glimpse of the truth. Some people make seeking their part-time, if not full-time profession. The whole day they will go around and find some stone, some pendulum or some crystal and experiment with it. They will say, 'Oh! This is radiating energy, I could feel the energy,' etc. Sometimes, even I will not be able to feel the energy, but just to keep them happy, I say, 'Alright, take it and go.'

Energy is the experience that happens inside you, not anything that happens through a stone or a pendulum. So many books and theories are being sold today on energy play. One thing I have understood: anything highly impractical that you write, sells! I can give you three tips to become a big philosopher and author of bestsellers. First: write what you yourself cannot practice! Second: just keep on talking only about the problem in different ways. Third and most important thing: never give a solution! If you follow these three things, you can become a great philosopher and an author in just 30 days. The problem is, you don't need enlightenment to teach professional seekers; if you are a philosopher, it is enough. For the fortunate ones who have been brought up in a spiritual environment, truths are engraved in their inner space.

Understand: unless you have walked the path, do not talk. Unless you know it completely, its side-effects, after-effects, everything... do not talk. Unless the person is enlightened, it is considered as the worst conspiracy against humanity to teach. In India, if you are still a seeker, a wanderer, there is a beautiful tradition where you are taken care of by the public. You are not forced to take care of your own survival. You are given food, shelter and respect anywhere you travel within India. But remember, the seeking should not be just an outward profession. It should stem from a deep thirst, an urgency to know the truth.

(Questions to do with TPS have been grouped together for convenience)

Q: Sometimes, what we see in our dreams turns out to be true the following day. Is it because of 0 TPS?

A: No, it is not because of 0 TPS. In the dream, you pass through the vignanamaya kosha to anandamaya, that is, from the 4^th to the 5^th layer. The space between the 4^th and the 5^th layer is where you fall asleep - deep sleep. When you pass through, you pick up one or two rare truths from vignanamaya kosha. Vignanamaya kosha is where you dream. You pick up one or two things from here. That is all. It has nothing to do with 0 TPS. What happens during the waking state is 0 TPS. If you see your future in the waking state, it is 0 TPS. In the dream state, it is not 0 TPS. It is just an accident.

Q: You said that the TPS is reduced by sitting in the presence of an enlightened master. You are here now. We are able to sit quietly with reduced TPS. But apart from this, is there any other way to reduce TPS in day-to-day life?

A: Nithya Dhyaan is a meditation technique that will create the master's presence for you. That is the meditation I prescribe to bring your TPS down. It is an everyday meditation technique. All our ashramites do it everyday in the ashram as the first thing in the morning.

_Q: There have been many times during the past two years, when I have thought that I have experienced the near zero TPS expansiveness – bliss or spaciousness. But the mind, the identity, always comes back. How does one become fully established in the 0 TPS state without returning to the mind or ego or identity?_

A: Getting established is a thing achieved by practice / sadhana.

_Q: Do artists have high TPS or low TPS?_

A: They have low TPS; maybe 20 or 40 TPS.

_Q: I understand that I can have 0 TPS only in your presence, or when I get enlightened. Am I right?_

A: In the master's presence, 0 TPS will start happening. When you get enlightened, it will still be there. I can give you a glimpse of 0 TPS. If you choose to stay there, you will get enlightened. When you become enlightened, you will stay in the same state forever.

_Q: Is 0 TPS, a state we always need to stay in? If yes, then how does one do the day-to-day activities, job etc.?_

A: In the real 0 TPS state, you will be most productive! That is the truth. You will be highly productive because you are not wasting energy in unnecessary jumping between past and future. Your decisions will be very sharp. 0 TPS is the high energy zone; you will never become mentally fatigued. You will never say, ‘I am done.’ You will be so joyful. You will become more productive in whatever you are doing.

Productivity is never disturbed by the 0 TPS state. To tell you the truth, you guys do not spend time on showing productivity. You spend time only on selling yourself. What do I mean by ‘selling yourself’? You sit and spend all your time on project plans, deadlines, projections and fooling the bosses. When you are in the 0 TPS state, you will excel just out of your ‘quality’, not out of your ‘marketing ability’. When you excel out of ‘quality’, you will feel so fulfilled. Dharma or righteousness always gives fulfillment. The person who can sell himself can get into politics or a high posting in an organization, but he will never have fulfillment. The person who is dharmic, is the one who will be productive and fulfilled. He will attain levels out of his own quality, not out of his marketing. Excelling without selling yourself always gives fulfillment. Put your energy more on being; you will see that you become more productive. Apart from just becoming more productive, you will feel deeply fulfilled in your personal life. You will start living a beautiful life. A real 0 TPS person will be dharmic and productive.

Q: If I meditate with another person who also meditates regularly, both of us get to a higher state. If I meditate with a restless person, will my TPS become higher?

A: Group meditation will always cause low TPS. And especially in our satsangs... I have given a promise that wherever our people gather to meditate, I will be there. If people gather and dance, I will be dancing in their midst, in spirit. When they gather to talk about my teachings, I will be there. So group meditation will always bring down your TPS.

Q: If every teacher and student both become changed through interactions, how is it that the TPS is not increased for an enlightened master?

A: This is a nice question! Understand: when an enlightened master or rishi says, 'Let both of us grow together,' it does not really mean, 'I am going to grow by you.' It just shows their humbleness, their openness. It does not mean: I am going to learn from you. It just shows the humbleness. So, just be relaxed. You see: when I do namaskar to you, I am not coming down to your level. Instead I am bringing you up to my level! Understand this clearly every time you see me doing namaskar.

One day, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, an enlightened master was doing Kali puja to Sharada Devi whom he later married. The puja was the same that he generally performed to the Goddess Kali. Sharada Devi was a young girl at that time, and was living just like any other girl of her age. She had not yet attained enlightenment.

One of the disciples asked her, 'Mother, gurudeva did puja to you. Don't you think that he has come down one step by doing so?'

Sharada Devi's reply to this question made people become aware of the level of her maturity and understanding, and why Ramakrishna did puja to her.

She replied, 'He did not come down one step, but instead, he helped me step up by one plane in spirituality. From this moment onwards, my responsibilities have increased.'

If someone accords you a similar respect, what will you do? You will not stand on your feet. You will start flying in the air! Once in India, when I was entering the meditation hall with my palms joined in namaskar, an elderly man was standing there, and instead of doing namaskar, he simply blessed me! The person who was standing next to him asked him, 'Why are you blessing, when Swamiji is doing namaskar?' He said, 'After all he is a young person, younger than me; I can bless him.' I told him, 'When I do namaskar, I do not come down to your level. Instead, I bring you up to my level.' When masters say that, they show their humbleness, their openness and respect for you. If I have to learn from you, you will project yourself onto me! That can never happen, don't worry!

A: Firstly, I do not have a mind to feel anything! In the way you enjoy seeing my form, I also enjoy seeing my own form. Now, I am sitting on the throne. I can get down anytime from this throne, whenever I feel like, is it not? Similarly, I may also go out of this body anytime I feel like, and then come back to it!

Look at this handkerchief in my hand. There is a small thread hanging from one of the sides. Although the thread is a part of the handkerchief, it cannot be the handkerchief itself. The master's body is like the thread whereas he himself is the all-pervading energy. Once a person becomes enlightened, the body is only the thread.

Understand: the power of the Cosmic Nithyananda is what drives the body of the six-foot Nithyananda. What does Cosmic Nithyananda mean? The true state of Nithyananda is Cosmic Nithyananda - it is like the whole handkerchief. The thread which hangs from the kerchief is the six-foot body of Nithyananda. The decisions of the Cosmic Nithyananda control this six-foot body.

As soon as enlightenment happens, there is no separate thought, action or decision of one's own. The annamaya kosha is transformed completely during enlightenment. It becomes completely blissful like the anandamaya kosha! Ramakrishna says, 'For the modern day man, just looking at the guru's image itself is a great meditation technique.' Just looking at the blissful image of the guru can lead you to enlightenment.

Q: Your great words are so assuring. I feel connected and in bliss. Does it mean that I am thinking of the past and living in the present?

A: You are living in the present. Bliss can never be felt based on the past. Bliss is always to do with the moment.

Q: How can I prepare myself psychologically for enlightenment?

A: Psychologically, preparation has no significance in enlightenment. Enlightenment is actually blasting you every moment. Whether you have one candle in the house or not, it will not make any difference to the sun. Your psychological preparation is like having one candle to welcome the sun. It will help only till I blast you! After that it won't matter whether you have the candle or not. The psychological preparation is not going to make a big difference. Don't bother about it.

Q: Does enlightenment seem far because of my own fear?

A: Yes, your own fear is the only problem. Don't bother. Just relax and sit here. If you relax with trust, everything will be taken care of.

Q: On the same day that ATSP ends, I am visiting relatives in the evening. They will ask many questions. I am sure that I will not feel like answering them. What should I do? How do we keep quiet, even when social pressure is on us to respond?

A: Normally, these kinds of problems are more prominent in Indian society! Of course, in the Western world also, it is there mildly these days.

Just don't talk to them, that's all. What is there in it? What are relatives, really? Each one is an individual. 'Relatives' is nothing but a badge that you give them. Each one is an individual, traveling the path alone. You need not disrespect anybody, but you are also not answerable to them in such matters. It is your own personal matter. No one but the master can help you in this matter. When it comes to spiritual life, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says that anything can be sacrificed. He goes to the extent of saying that even your wife or husband can be sacrificed; even father or mother can be disobeyed.

In the journey of enlightenment, let me tell you one incident that happened in Ramakrishna's life:

One of Ramakrishna's young and very close disciples called Rakhal or Swami Brahmananda, was married at the age of 14 before meeting Ramakrishna. He had a child too. It was a custom in Bengal to marry at a very young age.

Of course, after meeting Ramakrishna, he felt that his parents had made a big mistake by getting him married at the age of 14. He felt very bad that he could not tread the path of sannyas.

He went to Ramakrishna and said, 'I want to get initiated into sannyas very badly. My wife is not allowing me to. She is forcing me to live the worldly life. There is constant argument and grief happening. Somehow, I am not able to digest the whole thing.

Ramakrishna said, 'Go and pray to Mother Kali.' The man prayed. There is a small ritual of offering betel leaves and betel nuts to Mother Kali and then throwing it into the sacred Ganges river. The man performed this ritual.

Eight days after that, the wife died!

Please do not think anything negative about this story at this point. Let me continue...

When the disciple came and conveyed this to Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna said, 'You are born for sannyas. She came just to finish some of her karma. Her karma is over, so she has left the body. I did not kill her.'

He did not kill her. You have to understand this very deeply. You can very easily think that Ramakrishna used some supernatural powers and planned her death. Just understand: things happened according to the laws of Existence.

Ramakrishna finally told the man, 'You take sannyas,' and he initiated him into sannyas.

One more very surprising thing: after sometime the son also died! The son probably died after 10 to 20 years, but the wife died just 8 days after the ritual!

Q: When I do a meditation, I start feeling different within me. I feel anxious and afraid.

A: Don't bother. It is just an initial level feeling. It will go away. When you start meditating, you will feel yourself dissolving. You will feel as though your identity is dissolving. So, you start to feel afraid. Just allow the dissolving to happen. That is the whole idea. The very idea of meditation is to lose your solid identity and merge with the Whole.

Q: Are you the 'Mother Kali' avatar?

A: Don't bother about whether I am an avatar or not. You have to realize that you are an avatar! That is my mission. My mission is not to prove my divinity. My mission is to prove your divinity.

Q: Is there a correspondence between chakras and koshas?

A: No, there is no correspondence. Let us keep the discussion on koshas, only.

Q: If, to be in the present implies 'not thinking', then how could a scientist or wise man take decisions and still live in the present moment?

A: Whatever they discovered, they did in the present moment, without any thought. It was a sudden revelation. The revelation itself happened in one moment, in the present moment, not based on the past or the future. The rest is logical analysis.

Q: Sometimes we have a bad dream. Does that mean that the vignanamaya kosha is corrupted?

A: Yes.

Q: Is eternity what is being in the present moment?

A: Yes, if you are in the present moment, you are in eternity.

Q: How do you stay in the eternal present, and deal with the future or past for working sake, as you do?

A: I do not work with past and future. When you actually establish yourself in the present moment, you can just stop and see the past and future as you wish to. Time shaft is like a video game. You can rewind or fast-forward!

Q: If some older people are going to speak of good and bad experience again and again, and not accept the present, how will it affect the younger generation on which they force it down?

A: I think you are talking about in-laws or grandparents! Somehow, when the present is not enjoyable for them, they are caught in the past, in the good and bad of the past. So they will catch you, and start telling you stories: in 1963, when I was in the army....etc! And sometimes, they will tell the same stories everyday. They forget that children have good memory! Not only that, sometimes people listen to them because they will get candy from them at the end of it. What do I mean by candy? Money… wealth! With me, just because I don’t shout at them, they tell me also these stories! Even if I tell them that I know the story, they will insist on finishing the same old stories again and again. They will not even be creative and tell new stories.

You have to know how to handle it. They will not handle it. Nothing much can be done about it. Just be ready to sacrifice the candy that you get in the end, that’s all. As long as you want the candy, you have a vested interest in their stories, so you have to suffer. If you are ready to renounce the candy, you will not even ask this question. You will simply handle it yourself, and be relieved. In most cases in India, the older generation hold properties. Unless you listen to their stories and humour them, you can’t get the property at the end of the game! So until they die, you will be putting up with them. Sometimes, relatives even pray for their death! If you are a girl, when you get married and leave, you will get a portion of the wealth, like jewels, etc. If you are a boy, you have to please them in some way or the other all the time, so that you are assured of your share of the property!.

_Q: Why do we bounce back into the mental and physical layers soon? Why can’t we go deeper and experience bliss completely?_

A: I should ask you this question! When you can have a glimpse, why can’t you stay there? It is because you want to come back, that you are coming back! Maybe your samskaras, that is your engraved memories, are bringing you back again and again.