LEAP BEFORE YOU LOOK!🔗

When you hear the words of the Master, you know

he is uttering the Truth to which you always wanted to listen.

Now you know you can't escape from this Truth!

Your Being says, ‘This is the Truth! I am going to follow it.

I am going to follow it.’

Your logic will try to find thousands of reasons not to believe.

Your mind will say, ‘No, no, have you gone crazy?

Fool, wait! Tomorrow, not today.’

It will give a thousand reasons.

But your Being simply says,

‘No, I've decided. I'm done.

It has happened.’

In this space, there is no need for practicing techniques.

You just leap into the experience, that’s all! That is why the fifth layer is called the bliss layer. Because it is called the bliss layer, don’t imagine that here we will be working to create bliss! No! Bliss is the fragrance of consciousness. As you move closer and closer to the core consciousness, as you loosen your hold on your body and mind, the bliss that is naturally there inside you will start bubbling up. In the fifth layer, you are already so close to the Source, that there is a high chance that you can experience sudden enlightenment.

I can say all major spiritual traditions can be classified into two major categories. One is the category that gives you techniques for gradual progress towards enlightenment. There will be a clear-cut, defined path, like the five disciplines prescribed by the father of yoga, Patanjali – yama (discipline), niyama (personal conduct), asana (sequence of postures), pranayama (breathing), and pratyahara (withdrawal). It will appeal to the common mind. You can start and slowly continue to progress! It is easy to start on this path but difficult to end; it is easy to start the practice, but difficult to achieve the final experience.

The other tradition has techniques which catapult you directly into the experience, like the Shiva Sutras (meditation techniques delivered by Shiva). These are techniques that can straightaway take you into the space of enlightenment! But accepting such techniques may be a little difficult, because logically you cannot feel connected. For example, there is a technique which says that if you can just be intensely aware when you sneeze, you can become enlightened! Just a sneeze can lead you to enlightenment! How can you believe this? You just cannot understand these techniques logically. That is why these sudden enlightenment techniques work only if the seeker has the courage to experiment. You need courage, and a feeling of deep connectedness with Existence or your Master.

The traditions that teach us gradual enlightenment have also contributed a lot. For new seekers, they can be a really inspiring way to start. Not only that, your body and mind are also gradually prepared, so that when you finally have the experience, you are able to hold it. It is the slow and steady path! But these gradual paths have a danger: until the very end the seeker does not even know what he is seeking. It is like searching for a black cat in a dark room! Without even a glimpse of the state, how long can you keep up the inspiration? So even before he gets the ultimate breakthrough, the ultimate opening, the mind may get tired. The modern mind is very impatient. It wants everything instantly, like instant coffee!

If you are open, sudden enlightenment techniques can straightaway you give a glimpse of the experience. Even one glimpse can convince you that the experience is possible for you. Then you will not have so many doubts and problems. All your problems are nothing but doubts like, ‘Does such a state really exist? Is it possible for me? What will happen to my life if I do get enlightened? What will happen to my husband (or wife)?’ When you have at least one glimpse of sudden enlightenment, all these problems and doubts will disappear. It will be a lot easier for you to travel on your spiritual journey.

Only two things are needed for sudden enlightenment: a powerful energy field, and a prepared inner space.

When you are in an intense energy field - in a holy place, or in the presence of a realized being - naturally the powerful spiritual vibrations can affect you. When you are sincere, courageous, intensely available, you allow the energy to work on you. When both are right, ‘the happening’ can happen!

In every culture, there is the concept of holy places and pilgrimage spots. Sacred places or worship, sacred mountains, sacred rivers are part of every religion. It is well-known that certain places hold vibrations which can raise you to higher levels of consciousness. These places have such a powerful energy field, it will simply pull you inside! In such places, you don't even have to meditate. Meditation simply happens to you! When you are in tune with the energy of the place, meditation will happen naturally. An energy field need not even be a physical location. In Tibetan Buddhism, they have the concept of 'bardos' – the intermediate states between death and rebirth, the states where the possibility of enlightenment is very high.

The energy field that is always available to you is the presence of an enlightened being. Because he lives, moves and acts in the space of enlightened consciousness, an enlightened being radiates and showers the same experience upon all who come near him. If you are sensitive enough, you can touch the same space in his presence. You can simply absorb and radiate the same experience!

Understand, any expression that comes out of enlightenment will take you to enlightenment. For instance, if a piece of music has come out of enlightened consciousness, if you imbibe it with deep receptivity, it can take you to the same space. If you imbibe the expression, the body language of the Master, the expression itself can take you to the experience of enlightenment That is why they say, being with the Master is effortless meditation. Blessed are the ones who live around an enlightened Master. If you are open, the enlightened Master can simply download the software of an enlightened physiology into you.

When the inner space of the disciple is completely available to the Master, the first step is the last. There is a Sanskrit sutra (aphorism) for this happening, which says, deeksha mokshah. The initiation is itself the liberation. Just the initiation liberates. When the seeker is ripe, you don't need the three steps of shravana (listening), manana (reflection) and nidhidhyasana (expression). Shravana directly leads to nidhidhyasana. No time is wasted in manana! When the trust in the Master is total, the disciple simply listens to the Truth and starts expressing it in his life.

A beautiful incident from the enlightened Master Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s life:

A disciple of Bhagavan called Muruganar was writing the Ramana Purana, verses in praise of Bhagavan. But he had what you call the ‘writer’s block’, and he was stuck at one point. Whenever you write with ego, the ‘writer’s block’ is sure to happen! Anyhow, that disciple came to and said, ‘Bhagavan, I am not able to write further, please help me.’ said, ‘Put that paper down and leave. I will talk to you later.’ The disciple placed the paper before Bhagavan and left. The next day when he came back, he saw that the whole poem had been completed! Bhagavan had written the last 300 lines himself. When the book was printed, the writer enclosed those 300 lines within quotes and added a footnote, ‘These 300 lines were written by Bhagavan Himself.’ Bhagavan saw the book and asked, ‘Oh! So then, all the other lines are written by you? Alright!’ The disciple later said, ‘Something simply broke in me when he said that. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I just dropped down at the feet of Bhagavan and never got up again.’

Just that one comment was enough for this disciple, Muruganar, to become enlightened! Because the disciple was in such a state of readiness, because his trust in his Master was total, that casual comment became a key for enlightenment. Because he did not resist with his logic, the Master’s words directly penetrated his being and did their job!

Initiation is the direct transmission of Truth from Master to disciple. When a teacher conveys the truth to a student in words, it is called a teaching. When an enlightened Master directly transmits the experience of Truth to the disciple, it is called initiation. When the Truth is experientially transmitted, the disciple straightaway gets a glimpse, he has a powerful spiritual experience that is beyond his logic. He gets a 'click'! If this click happens in the disciple, it means the initiation has happened.

Understand, when the Truth comes from the enlightened experience, from the pure inner space, you do not know why, how or what, but you suddenly see it is true! It clicks, even though one part of your logic continues to fight. The initiation need not be in a form of a mantra. It can be just a few words, a clear expression of the truth that sinks deep within you and lifts you into its own space. It literally explodes in you, in your consciousness. Truth has the power to shake you! As you listen, you start to live by it. You cannot forget it. Your life changes without any effort. This is the power of Truth. Initially, a part of your logic continues to fight with it, because too much is at stake. If you accept the Truth and start expressing it in your life, all your vested interests are at risk, your very life as you know it is at risk. But your core, your being understands. It gets the click and says, ‘I know that this is the Truth.’ You may not understand logically, but suddenly your heart feels connected to the words being uttered, the truth being expressed. That sudden click or connection with the Master and his teachings of truth is what I call ‘initiation’.

Understand, unless you are tired of living with the ordinary logic, mere logic which cannot help you to look into your own life, your own mind, you cannot open up to the Master’s initiation! I am not against logic. Using your logic is not the problem. But when you trust your logic more than your intelligence, all your suffering begins. The logic which dissects, which judges, which does not allow you to trust anything or open up to anyone, which does not allow any transformation to happen in you, is your first enemy. In Bhaja Govindam, the enlightened Master sings: Nahi nahi rakshati dukrinkarane (Your logic cannot save you, it cannot give you the ultimate experience)

From love to enlightenment, anything can rejuvenate you, anything can make you feel that life is worthy, only when you open up. If you open up to one person, you experience love. If you open up to a few people, you experience compassion, if you open up to the whole universe, you experience enlightenment, that’s all.