Chapter - 3: A Paramahamsa APPEARS🔗

It was under the glow of the mighty mountain Arunachala and in the holy energy center reinforced by the jyotirlingam Arunachaleshwara, that nithyananda was born as the second child of Arunachalam and Lokanayaki.

Nithyananda says, remembering his conscious birth:

‘It was neither dark nor light-filled; an indeterminate color covered planet Earth. Suddenly a bright and brilliant light appeared from a region, which I now see as Southern India. I entered into that light in the form of a brilliant meteor. The very next sight that I perceived with my inner eye was Arunachala, and I knew that I had assumed the body once more; I had entered the womb of my mother. It was a conscious birth. I entered into the body. I took a muhurta, which is a period of about 45 minutes in the Hindu system of time measurement, to settle into the body.’

nithyananda’s mother discovered that she was with her second child when she was on a pilgrimage to the holy temple town of Tirupati. She was sick and when the doctor examined her, she was found to be pregnant. Thus nithyananda’s connection with Lord Venkateshwara, another form of Lord Vishnu, at Tirupati, started well before his birth. His mother had actually wanted a daughter, since her firstborn was a boy, and was somewhat disappointed when the second child too, was a male child!

nithyananda was born on 1ˢᵗ January 1978 in the holy town of Tiruvannamalai in South India. He was named after his mother's father as Rajasekaran, as per the local custom. The name referred to Shiva, who is Chandrasekaran, decorated by the moon. nithyananda was born in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January). Lord Krishna refers to himself as Margazhi amongst the months. It is the month of the brahma muhurta – the period of the Devas, (divine beings), their early morning, the holiest time of the day. It is the month in which many great sages and enlightened Masters have been born: Ramana Maharishi, J Krishnamurti, Sarada Devi, Seshadri Swami, Vivekananda and many others. It is considered the holiest of the months.

Nithyananda was born in Tiruvannamalai, on the ashtami day, the eighth day of the waxing moon. Ashtami is considered to be worldly and therefore not considered a favorable day by ascetics. Legend has it that ashtami prayed to Krishna to redeem it and Krishna decided to be born on the ashtami day to prove to the world that spirituality can be pursued by a person of the world, while still leading a material life of comfort.

It is very much in this tradition of Krishna's philosophy that Nithyananda preaches today the concept of Quantum Spirituality where materialism and spirituality meet, seamlessly combining material success and spiritual evolution. There is no need to make a choice, Nithyananda says, between the normal life and material goals of family, career, money and success that one seeks and spiritual values of renunciation and perceiving the rest of the world to be one's own. This concept has changed the lives of many who have heard Nithyananda, by removing the feeling of the guilt of having to make such a choice.

There is a beautiful story from the epic Mahabharata, as told by the sage Markandeya to the Pandava Prince Yudhishtira:

There was once an ascetic named Kaushika who observed his vow of Brahmacharya, the practice of celibacy, in preparation for a spiritual life as a monk with great steadfastness and devotion.

One day, he sat under a tree reciting the scriptures. A crane, perched on the top of the tree, defiled his head with its droppings. He looked up at it and his angry look killed the bird and it fell down dead.

Kaushika was pained when he saw the dead bird lying on the ground. He regretted that the evil thought that passed through his mind in a moment of anger had killed an innocent bird.

A while later, he felt hungry and went to beg alms as usual in line with his spiritual discipline. He stood before the door of a house to receive his food.

In the meantime, the master of the house returned, tired and hungry, and the wife had to attend to his needs, wash and dry his feet and serve him food. Kaushika waited in the hope that she would attend to him after her work was over.

After a while, Kaushika thought she had forgotten him waiting outside. However, after attending to her husband, she came out with alms to give him.

She said, 'I am sorry to have kept you waiting long. Pardon me.'

Kaushika got irritated and said, 'Lady, you have made me wait for such a long time. This indifference is not fair.'

The woman told Kaushika, ‘Kindly do forgive me. I was serving my husband and hence the delay.’

Kaushika remarked, ‘It is right and proper to attend on the husband, but the sannyasi also should not be disregarded. You seem an arrogant woman.’

She said, ‘Be not angry with me, and remember that I kept you waiting only because I was dutifully serving my husband. I am no crane to be killed by a violent thought, and your rage can do no harm to the woman who devotes herself to the service of her husband.’

Kaushika was taken aback. He wondered how the woman knew about the crane.

She continued, ‘Brahmachari (celibate monk), you do not know the secret of duty, and you are also not aware that anger is the greatest enemy that dwells in man. Forgive the delay in attending to you. Go to Mithila and be instructed in the secret of right living by Dharmavyadha living in that city.’

Kaushika was amazed. He said, ‘I deserve your just admonition and it will do me good. May all good come to you’.

With these words he went to Mithila.

Kaushika reached Mithila and looked for Dharmavyadha’s residence, which he thought would be some lonely hermitage far from the noise and bustle of common life.

He walked along magnificent roads between beautiful houses and gardens in that great city and finally reached a butcher’s shop, where a man was selling meat. His amazement was great when he learnt that this man was Dharmavyadha. Kaushika was shocked beyond measure and stood at a distance in disgust. The butcher suddenly rose from his seat, came to him and inquired, 'Revered sir, are you well? Did that chaste lady send you to me?'

Kaushika was stupefied.

'Revered sir, I know why you have come. Let us go home,' said the butcher and took Kaushika to his house where Kaushika saw a happy family and was greatly struck by the devotion with which the butcher served his parents.

Kaushika took his lessons from that butcher on dharma, man's calling and duty. Afterwards, he returned to his house and began to tend to his parents, a duty that he had neglected before.

Vyadha Gita, the teachings of the butcher to the brahmachari, explains how one can still achieve liberation by leading a normal life of a householder.

At the beginning of the Bhagavatam, one of the great epics of Hindu mythology, sage Vyasa invokes Lord Krishna with the words, Before starting your story, the story of the Divine, who else can I remember but You!

In the same light, as we begin this story, the story of an incarnation, let us remember the Energy that landed as Nithyananda upon this planet.

When talking to us, the Master once said, 'When I talk about my birth and life, I do not know at all how I am going to express myself. I do not know how IT is going to express Itself. I too can only bow down to that energy and along with you all, allow that Energy to work the way It wants to.'

The Master said that the birth was conscious and wonderful. There was no separate experience, experiencer, or experienced; it was all one. There was no duality. The experience was like darkness covered by darkness, light covered by light. It was pure Consciousness; it was live energy. It was pure awareness, sat chit ananda. Pure Consciousness is such; it must be such. It is alive (sat), It knows, and it is in bliss being alive (ananda); such is sat chit ananda.

Nithyananda described his birth process as a sequence of three scenes, of three kshanas (a measure of time). The first scene was one of perceiving a light, a flame that emanated from a place in South India. The second scene was himself, the energy, floating into that light. The third scene was conscious awareness of Arunachala, the place, the mountain, and the deity at Tiruvannamalai. He knew he had arrived.

When a spirit leaves one body for another, it has three kshanas to find another body. The spirit enters the new body just before the body enters the world, just before the body leaves its mother's womb. Till that point in time, the body of the infant is part of the mother's life energy; it has no life energy of its own.

These three kshanas are the three scenes described by Nithyananda as the scenes before his birth. Kshana in the Hindu concept of time is not chronological, measured by the movement of a pendulum. Kshana is the time between two thoughts and varies individually based on the state of mind. The spirit chooses a body based on its past samskaras. In the case of enlightened beings who have no residual samskaras, it is Existence, Parashakti that decides where they go. In the case of all those who are with samskaras, it is the past samskaras, the embedded memories, and the vasanas, the mindset born out of these samskaras, that decide the next body, the next set of parents, the next location and the next life. The new body is

born with its prarabdha karma, the inbuilt driving force, which is the carry-over of its past vasanas.

The memory of the vasana is lost as the spirit leaves the previous body through the causal layer of energy, when it goes into coma. The spirit no longer remembers the purpose with which it has left its earlier abode. It forgets its prarabdha karma. Conscious birth enables this memory to be retained; it enables one to remember the purpose of one's present life. When the prarabdha is remembered, it is possible to fulfill it; all one requires is the awareness.

They say the Buddha walked when He was born. What they mean is that He was aware the moment He was born. So was Nithyananda. Nithyananda has said that He is working on techniques with expectant mothers to enable the process of conscious birth of their children.

As we saw earlier, baby nithyananda was born the First of January 1978, on New Year's day. He was born on the star or nakshatra of chitra, the 'shining' star, on the eighteenth day of the Tamil Margazhi month, on the eighth or ashtami day of the waning moon, the same as Lord Krishna. The number eighteen has always been auspicious in the Hindu calculations. The Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters, as also a number of other scriptural works.

When such an auspicious energy enters the Earth, Earth celebrates, the whole Existence celebrates. That's why they say that when Krishna was born, the gods and goddesses showered blessings and danced in celebration. At Nithyananda's birth, the whole world celebrates each year, as it is New Year's Day!

During the birth of a Master, it is as if a hole is drilled in the Collective Consciousness layer for this Energy to land. When there is such an opening, it also can be used to move back into Collective

Consciousness. That's why a Master's birthday is auspicious and is celebrated as Jayanthi. This word jayanthi means that 'He came, He visited this Planet, and He is going'. Meditating upon the Master's formless energy on this auspicious day, gives one a chance to have a glimpse of the Collective Consciousness and the opportunity to realize the oneness with it.

Within forty-eight minutes or one muhurta, nithyananda was fully aware of being in his body. He was conscious of all that was happening around him. He felt it as a joyful experience.

I asked nithyananda's mother about the delivery. She smiled and said, 'He was a big baby, but it was an easy and painless delivery.'

Exactly 22 years after nithyananda entered his body on this planet, he would reach enlightenment, severing the thin line that held him to the planet. During these 22 years, he was visiting people on this planet in a relaxed and conscious way. He was gradually shedding the little satvic guna that he came to be born with, through the tapas (penance) and parivrajaka (wandering) that Existence had ordained for him.

nithyananda was born in the community of Saiva Vellalars, a community of religious people in Tamil Nadu. People from this community used four different caste titles, such as Nayanar, Chettiar, Mudaliar, and Pillaimar. While going through His family tree with Nithyananda, we sometimes found it confusing that different ancestors had different caste titles. Moreover, these caste titles used by Saiva Vellalars was also used, sometimes more commonly, by other caste groups.

According to his parents, their second baby never cried at birth; its spirit was so relaxed and comfortable; the Doctor had to tap the baby to make sure that it was alive! There was no pain to the Being during birth. Based on the mother's weight and size, the Doctor expected twins, and the baby justified it at 10 pounds!

The child was born in Kanya rasi and Kanya lagnam (moon and sun signs of Virgo), normally indicative of a female child. When the family priest drew up the baby's horoscope, he found that the stars and planets had aligned themselves in an exceptional manner that he had never seen before as an astrologer. After extensive study and consultation to ensure that he was not making a mistake, the priest declared to the startled parents that the baby would grow up to be a raja sannyasi or a 'king amongst holy men'. The priest considered himself blessed to have been able to cast the child's horoscope, and stopped practicing astrology after foretelling the baby's future.

nithyananda's parents were not very happy with this prediction. However much a family may respect saints and revere holy men, no parents want their own child to become a monk; so too it was with nithyananda's parents. They had no desire to see their son turn into a monk renouncing the material world. Like all other normal parents, they too wanted the propagation of their family through the progeny of their children and were quite upset to learn that this might not happen.

They wanted to know from the priest if such an eventuality of the boy becoming a sannyasi could be prevented through ritualistic and religious interventions. The priest confessed that he knew of no method to prevent his prediction from coming true. He however suggested that they keep this knowledge away from the child in the hope of postponing the inevitable.

Many years earlier, nithyananda's great grandfather Kumaraswami Chettiar had met an enlightened Master and had a spiritual experience. When this man decided to give up his material way of living, he threw out all his belongings, including jewelry, from his house on to the street so that any passer-by could pick them up and walk away. He went away from home and lived near a cremation ground, Bhoomandakolam in Tiruvannamalai. Later he traveled to Varanasi on a pilgrimage and passed away there.

A wandering mendicant once came to Kumaraswami’s household seeking alms. As the lady of the house was about to come out with food to serve the ascetic, someone from inside shouted out sarcastically that able-bodied people should work and earn, and not beg. The holy man walked away without accepting the food that was offered to him, saying as he left, that in that household at least one person in each generation would end up begging.

nithyananda’s very birth removed that curse laid on his family several generations earlier by that wandering sannyasi. It is said that an enlightened Master’s birth removes the karma of his ancestors and progeny for seven generations each way.

Kumaraswami Chettiar’s wife used to call nithyananda an incarnation of Kumaraswami himself. Kumaraswami used to wear a big rudraksha mala with the kandi, which was a family tradition, symbolizing great spirituality. Nithyananda says that this man lived like a Paramahamsa, a realized soul, and that was why he could walk away from all his wealth without a thought. Kumaraswami’s daughter, Dhanakoti Ammal, used to call nithyananda Jnana Pandita, a wise scholar.

Early one chilly morning, during the fall of 2005, a group of us sat at the feet of the Master at the newly opened ashram at Duarte, near Los Angeles, USA. He spoke to us on the background to His conscious birth.

When a pup or even a baby is born, it takes time for the newborn to settle into its body. In fact, a human child takes longer than any other animal to move or walk. A pup or a calf struggles for a few minutes after it is born, gets up tentatively, wobbles around and is functional almost immediately. A human child, however, takes several months before it starts moving.

It happens the same way with the human spirit as well. To evolve and get liberated, the human spirit struggles through its samskaras. Samskaras, as we saw earlier, are the collection of the embedded impressions and memories of past actions and desires, from both this and previous births. From childhood, from the time we are in our mother's womb, we collect experiences and memories of experiences. Some of these memories are carried over from past births. These memories, samskaras, are stored without our conscious knowledge in our mind-body system. These samskaras drive our decisions, very often unconsciously.

In the normal course of events, most of us are bound by our samskaras and live our entire life chasing them, forever unfulfilled. When experienced, but still unfulfilled, these samskaras that are stored deep in our unconscious mind reappear with renewed vigor. Many of these samskaras follow us through many birth cycles as mindsets and attitudes. A few amongst us, a few lucky ones, who are mostly guided by enlightened Masters, may find ways to work our way out of the bondage of our samskaras through meditation, and sometimes through sheer devotion, and finally find liberation.

These few lucky beings are born with a burning desire to be enlightened. They have not been enlightened in previous births, but have been close to it; they have been close to enlightened Masters, but for one reason or another have missed the bus, so to speak. Such rare beings, who seek desperately in this birth and finally find liberation, enlightenment, mukti, moksha or whatever name you wish to give to this experience of being one with the Divine, the Cosmic Energy, Existence, are the jeevan muktas – the liberated souls.

Jeevan mukta is different from an incarnation. A jeevan mukta does not have a conscious birth. He is born like all of us and struggles through life in the same manner. He does not arrive on this planet Earth fully conscious of his true divine reality. He too practices sadhana (spiritual pursuits) diligently till his chosen path of jnana (wisdom, also spelt gyana or gnana), bhakti (devotion) or dhyana (meditation) leads him to the realization of his innate divinity.

Then, there are incarnations. Incarnations take birth consciously, fully aware of their divinity within. They too may go through sadhana or spiritual pursuits. However, these pursuits in the case of incarnations arise out of the realization of their own divinity, instead of being the necessary prerequisite to such understanding and realization. The sadhana is part of their witnessing consciousness; part of the journey they are on without any definition of destination.

What we need to understand is this: Incarnations are already enlightened beings, who have descended upon planet Earth with a mission defined by the cosmic energy. They have no choice in this matter. It is as if the energy of these enlightened beings is sucked into Earth due to a combination of circumstances, wherein the cosmic energy decides that the presence of the energy of this enlightened being would be of value to human beings.

Incarnations are like the legendary swan, the Paramahamsa. These birds have conscious birth. Paramahamsas are incarnations, who come down to planet Earth fully realized, fully aware and conscious, and ready to fly fully conscious.

Jeevan muktas on the other hand are like pups, calves and infants who struggle to get up and move. Unlike other pups, calves and humans, jeevan muktas eventually learn to fly and reach the same level of realization as the Paramahamsas. At the level of divine realization, both jeevan muktas and Paramahamsas reach the same level; there is no difference in the level of enlightenment. The difference between them is the starting point, which is the conscious birth of the Paramahamsa. Paramahamsas do not need sadhana (spiritual practices) and tapas (penance) to reach enlightenment; they already are enlightened at birth. Their sadhana and tapas are only to inspire others and provide other spiritual sadhaka (spiritual practitioners) the template for guidance in their individual paths to enlightenment.

You may be tempted to ask how we know whether we are dogs or Swans!

When this question was asked of him, Nithyananda said, 'If you are already a Swan, you will not find the need to be here. You must be at least a dog to be here! Otherwise you would not have reached this far and ask. If you are a Swan you would not even ask; you will simply know!'

Those of us who have had the great fortune to come in contact with Nithyananda consider this event to be the greatest blessing that we have had in our lives. It is not any kind of intellectual analysis that has led us to our unflinching conviction that He is an incarnation, an avatar. He is as close to being a Poornavatar as Krishna was.

There have been other enlightened Masters, who are rightly revered as incarnations. They all generated one or another aspect of the five great bhavas (relationships) that attracted disciples to them. All of us relate to spiritual masters in one of five relationships. These are dasa bhava, the master-servant relationship as with Lord Rama and Hanuman, vatsalya bhava, mother-child relationship as between Yashoda and Lord Krishna, matru bhava, child-mother relationship as between Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Mother Kali, sakhya bhava, friendship as between Kuchela or Arjuna and Krishna, and finally madhura bhava, the relationship of the beloved that Meera and Andal exhibited uninhibitedly towards Krishna.

The relationship that Nithyananda generates as the Poornavatar is as Krishna did. Nithyananda relates to different people in any of these different forms. His relationship is not confined to one of these. With some, He relates in the Maha Bhava, the ultimate relationship that combines many or all of these five bhava relationships. We have seen Him be a lovable Krishna at one time, an austere Shiva at another, a loving Devi at another time, and a multi faceted Vishnu CEO at other times!

It is impossible to frame Him. ‘To frame me,’ He says, ‘to capture me in one aspect is to convert me into a dead Master. I am alive, He says, and I change every moment.’

The only certainty that one can have of this Master is uncertainty!

As He says time and again, ‘Can you predict which way the river Ganga will flow? Where she will move next? She is nature, so am I; I flow with the universe; I have no idea what I will do next; Parashakti decides that; not this body.’

Time and again we have stood in front of this force of nature, just watching, absorbing, imbibing, wondering, loving, completely overcome by gratitude for the sheer blessing that we have received to be in front of Him.

Indian mythology refers to 330 million gods. Hindus take these numbers in their stride. To most people unfamiliar with the Hindu philosophy, these numbers are reason for confusion, if not scorn and laughter.

Whatever follows in this chapter is not an endorsement of the Hindu religion. It is appropriate that the Western or Eastern reader, who is unfamiliar with certain aspects of the Hindu religion, is familiarized with the background, making it easier to relate it to certain aspects of Nithyananda that were influenced strongly by the environment of his upbringing.

Nithyananda was brought up as a Hindu, in a conservative middle class joint family in a small town in Tiruvannamalai, in rural South India. Many of his early childhood experiences were related to this environment. It would be easier to relate to these experiences that influenced him, if we are familiar with the relevant aspects of the Hindu religion.

The explanation of Hindu religious practices here is in no way meant to be a criticism of any other religion or philosophy. Each religion evolved out of a civilization, culture and philosophy and flourished based on the environment of its origin. When one understands and imbibes true spirituality, this understanding leads to a better understanding of the core of one's own religion, through a process of inner awareness, and brings us to the conclusion that the core remains the same in all authentic religions.

There are religions and cultures that worship idols, and there are religions that condemn idol worship, associate idols with pagan worship and uncivilized behavior, and consider their own mode of formless worship as a more civilized and superior alternative. This probably happened as a result of inappropriate ritual practices that were associated with idol worship, such as the sacrifice of living beings, etc.

Many of these practices stemmed from societal compulsions and the need to build power bases for religious leaders, rather than any deep understanding of a religious philosophy. Reformers, who were appalled at what they perceived to be negative in such ritualistic approaches, condemned not only the rituals but also the background from which these rituals originated. Unfortunately, these new religions too built their own form of rituals arising out of the compulsion to control and direct. The chain of reformation, therefore, continued.

Hinduism is an inclusive religion, open to all who walk in; there is no exclusivity of beliefs in the Hindu philosophy. Hindu philosophy allows dissent from within. Sanatana Dharma, the original scriptural name for Hinduism, means the ‘eternal path of righteousness’. Hinduism is a journey of inclusive acceptance, not a destination of exclusive belief.

Belief systems that have been embedded in our unconscious from childhood prevent us from opening ourselves to anything new and different that is in seeming contradiction to existing beliefs. Human beings limit themselves by such beliefs. Many of these beliefs are through societal and religious sanctions that are quite selfish in protecting the interests of those who control society and religion.

Such beliefs, imposed on us by society and religion, have no spiritual validity; there is no spiritual truth that underpins these beliefs. Truth has to be experienced in our innermost being with awareness; truth cannot be an instruction that can be imposed on us by anyone claiming to act on behalf of God. Anyone who does that either as a religious leader or a social leader is acting out of his own self-interest, not in the interests of the believer.

All it requires is a little bit of introspection and intelligence to become aware of the truths which may seem to defy factual reality. However, for the average human being, it is a complex and difficult task to contemplate upon the formless existential energy. It is too abstract, too distant; it is too much of an intellectual exercise; or alternatively, it requires blind faith, without understanding, to accept this concept. It is a lot easier for the average human to visualize this formless energy in easily identifiable superhuman forms, and to relate to such forms with devotion and emotion.

This is the idea behind idol worship. This is what Hindus did. They created forms to represent the formless to reach the masses; to link intellect with emotion; the head with the heart. Emotion is always stronger than intellect. They created forms that had features similar to humans and sometimes animals, which were familiar to them, forms with which they could easily identify. These idols were instilled with divine energy. They worshipped the energy behind these forms, not the forms themselves. Mythology and folklore were created around these energy forms, once again to reach the masses.

There is little point in trying to reach with dry intellect, that which needs the heart to experience. Intellect without heart only creates monsters. Modern day terrorism is an outcome of intellect without emotion, head without heart.

Most Indians and almost all Hindus are familiar with the many forms that Hindu gods (and goddesses) take. Almost all Hindu households will have a pooja room or an altar that holds pictures and idols of these many forms of divinity, as well as of sages and enlightened Masters.

When Hindus worship idols of gods and goddesses, they do not worship stone, metal or wooden idols; what they worship are the visualized forms of the formless energy. What Hindus worship is the formless energy beyond the forms of these idols. Hindus worship the formless through the form. Worship is through the idol, never of the idol.

This concept of idol worship is one of the most misunderstood ideologies of Hindu religion, and doubts exist even amongst educated Hindus out of lack of knowledge of the underlying principle.

It is far better to identify with a form of your visualization that appeals to you and which can uplift you, than to pray to the formless using only one's intellect. What the heart can reach, the head never can; only when you reach at least the heart level, the connection with the Being can begin.

Often one is told by a well read, convent or public school educated Indian, that he believes he is above all rituals including idolatry, and considers it foolish to worship a stone image. If one has understood the concept of the formless energy behind the idols and has graduated to other ways of connecting with the formless energy, it is alright. But, without understanding the concept behind worship through idols, it is not becoming to condemn it.

We are all divine. We are all part of the universal energy.

Hindu philosophy believes that all animate and inanimate beings are divine in origin and in character. All authentic religions say the same thing: We human beings are all divine in nature. There is absolutely no confusion on this score.

In Hinduism, this truth is clearly defined as divinity present in the individual, the soul, spirit or atman. Great declarations like Tat tvam asi, called Mahavakya, found in Hindu scriptures means: Thou art That; you are Divine. There is no doubt whatsoever.

This divinity of the individual being is a holographic part of the divinity of Existence, of the Universe, of God, of the Cosmic Energy, of Brahman and by whatever name we wish to call that intelligent energy of creation.

Atman and Brahman are one and the same; Man and God are one and the same; they are the same energy. There is no room for an atheistic belief in Hindu philosophy. There is no God outside of you; you are God. All that is needed is to understand and realize this Truth. Enlightened Masters have realized it; others have yet to. That is all the difference there is. The only barrier to this realization that we are one with divinity is our mind and belief systems.

Both Atman and Brahman are formless. They are energy. Atman is the energy enshrined in our mind-bodies; Brahman is the Energy that pervades the Universe.

All that Hindu mythology states, based on this belief, is that every one of us is divinity, a deity, a God; not just the human beings but all living beings as well. The numbers of 330 million or even 33 billion would refer to the number of beings on this planet Earth, at a given point in time. All these beings are forms of energy and are an integral part of the cosmic or universal energy.

The Hindu scriptures, the Vedas and the Upanishad, state very clearly that Existence is formless energy. It is formless both at the universal level and at the individual level. This energy is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and all pervading.

In the timeless Hindu scripture - the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna as the embodiment of the cosmic energy, says about this formless energy as it manifests itself within each one of us: No weapon can destroy this energy; water cannot wet It; wind cannot dry It; fire cannot burn It; It is eternal; It lives on.

What is implied here is that this energy, whatever we may call it, spirit or soul, lives on after the body is destroyed. Nithyananda described this beautifully on a piece of paper when he was asked what happens to the energy within when it leaves the body.

He drew circles on the paper with a pen and said, 'See, the outline periphery of the circles that I have drawn is the body within which the energy is captured. The area within the circles is the energy of the living being. The white paper background, outside the circle outline is the universal energy from which we all arise and to which we return. When the energy leaves the body, the perimeters of the circles disappear and the space within the circle merges with the space outside the circle. There are no barriers any more. That is all'.

Truly beautifully and simply described!

God to most of us is a concept, not a reality. We attribute to Godhood what we perceive to be the attributes that we, as humans, lack. When events do not go the way we wish them to, we immediately reject Godhood, rather than accept and surrender.

True devotion, which is acceptance of life as it is, and one’s surrender to the cosmic energy, can and will lead to realization of God as reality. This can happen perhaps more easily through worship of form and through rituals of devotion, as long as one is aware of the truth that the form is a representation of the formless energy. Often, it is difficult for the intellect to comprehend this.

Spirituality is beyond science, far beyond science. Einstein, arguably the greatest scientist who ever lived, once said, ‘Where science ends, spirituality starts.’ There is no proven scientific explanation till date for the creation of the universe. There are hundreds of unproven hypotheses; the big bang theory, the primordial soup theory, the creation by aliens theory and so on; but none has either facts to support it or scientific evidence to prove it.

Spirituality states that the universe always existed and will continue to exist. Apart from Darwin and the Christian doctrines, which again are hypotheses without substantial proof, there is no proof as to how living matter emerged out of energy, what science terms as ‘abiogenesis’. There is only this word in scientific lore, with no knowledge behind it.

Science, as in quantum physics, has established beyond a doubt that all matter is energy. The first verse of the first Upanishad, the great Hindu scripture, says beautifully: Isa vasyam idam sarvam. From Energy arises all matter. This was stated more than 5000 years ahead of Einstein. This is what Einstein referred to when he said, ‘Where science ends, spirituality starts.’

He said, ‘My theory could only talk about how all matter releases energy. Thousands of years ago there was wisdom that stated that all this matter came from a source of energy.’

If one looks deeper and deeper into any matter, as with looking at an atom through a highly powered electron microscope, all that we would find is emptiness. The atom has nothing to it! Energy is formless. Yet, we see things around us, which appear to have form.

It is not difficult for anyone today, truly educated in science, to realize that ultimately form is formless, and that the formless can and is represented by form. This is what the great rishis, Hindu sages said many thousands of years ago. This is the basis for idol worship.