GAYATRI INITIATION🔗

Once the Gayatri is initiated for you, you are called dvija or being reborn. Having the initiation of Gayatri does not mean that you become religious. Every religion has always baptized their babies, conditioned their kids. Sanatana dharma is a beautiful system which never conditions in these ways. All that the Gayatri mantra says is: let me meditate on That Consciousness which awakens my intelligence. Let that intelligence help me to meditate on it. That is all! Gayatri is not any form or any Goddess. You are not baptized; you are initiated. There is a big difference between baptizing and initiation.

Take this instance of a man, more than 70 years of age, who has lived in the same forest throughout his life. A young person, new to the forest comes to him and asks, 'Sir, how can I cross this forest? Please help me.' The old man starts giving directions, 'Go one kilometer this way, you will find a lion. Then take a left and go three kilometers ahead, you will find a big snake. Escape from the snake and go three kilometers ahead, you will find a valley. Cross the valley, travel four kilometers and you will find a river. Cross it and you will reach the other side.' Is this guidance going to help you? No! Instead of that, if you just give him a torch, the torch will give him a clear view of the road, and it will be more than enough. Your guidelines are of no help because the forest is continuously changing. Life is more like a forest. It is difficult to live by just guidelines, by rules, by dead religions. You need more understanding, more clarity.

If you are baptized, you will be given a set of concepts, beliefs. You will be given a set of ideologies to live by, like spoon feeding. But with that you cannot live properly. Most of us are given just a set of ideologies: go this way, that way, you will find this, you will find that. When you go there and you don't find what you are looking for, you will wonder: what is this, there is nothing here, or did I go the wrong way? What should I do now? You are stuck at some point or the other if you are given guidelines. If you are given a torch, you can walk through the entire path yourself. Baptizing is giving guidelines; initiation is giving you a torch.

Gayatri does not mean baptizing. Gayatri is not any religion. It is just a decision to live consciously. It is just an affirmation directed towards the all-pervading Cosmic Intelligence. The emphasis on Consciousness is given to you. You are made to understand the necessity of what Consciousness actually means. When you start living consciously, life happens to you. You are reborn, dhvija. A man who is reborn is a conscious being. In the Upanishad they call it Paramahamsa… A man who decides to live consciously, who goes beyond karmas.

Children of the Nithyananda Gurukul.

The right way

When you don't have any responsibility, you can be totally lethargic. So if you don't take any responsibility, if you don't create, if you have spent your whole life in a lethargic way, if your father is a wealthy guy, if he hands over all his wealth to you, there is every chance for you to take the next life as a buffalo. Because when your father creates and leaves it to you, you do not know its value. I always tell people never to give any property to the son. If you want him to be destroyed, then you give your property. Otherwise, give your children courage, a sense of responsibility and intelligence to stand up. Only then they will know the value of things. Even if you are going to give property, don't give it to them as long as you are alive. When you are alive, even if he does something wrong, you will be there to protect him. So let him learn how to stand up. Let him understand and become responsible when you are alive. If you give, naturally he will never learn the intricacies.

You see, Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth will stay only when you create it, never if it simply comes. There are survey reports which say very clearly that more than 90% of the people who win a lottery lose the money within a year. Within a year they lose the money because maintaining Lakshmi is not a joke. You need tremendous intelligence to maintain Lakshmi.

The ultimate beginning

This deeksha is given to children who wish to start their spiritual learning at the feet of the Master. They will be initiated with the Gayatri mantra and given the yagnobhavita or sacred thread to wear.

Paramahamsa 2006, Bangalore ashram, India

THE SACRED SEVEN

First Vedic marriage ceremony conducted by Paramahamsa at Bangalore ashram, India - 10 Jul 2006.

The second vow: all things that give intellectual and inner strength like yoga, meditation etc. too, we will practice together.

The third vow: I will not force myself upon the other at the physical or mental level when the other does not prefer it.

The fourth vow: I (the man) will help the woman overcome the illusions she holds in the form of her fear and insecurity. I (the woman) will help the man overcome the illusions he holds in the form of lust.

The fifth vow: we will together fulfill our responsibility that every individual holds towards ancestors - living and dead, the Guru, animals and nature.

The sixth vow: at all times of low or high moods, I will not disturb the other in any way.

The seventh vow: we will upkeep all the forgotten vows (not mentioned till now) as well.

CHILDREN

How they should be

I enjoyed a wonderful spiritual incubator in Arunachala, my birthplace, during my childhood. I experienced galloping intelligence in the inner and outer worlds in the wonderful ambience created by it. My goal now is to offer the same ambience to children through Nithyananda Gurukul, the same intense atmosphere, so they may experience what I experienced.

Children are born inherently blissful and close to Existence. As they grow, they are conditioned by society and they are exposed to the needs that arise in everyday living. They need money to live. To earn the money, they need education. As long as they understand these things as basic needs and not as the goal of life itself, things are alright. But in no time, these needs become the goal of life itself, and in the process they lose the ability to live life.

When you take birth, you take birth with a reason. That first reason with which you take birth determines the course of your entire life. The position of the planets and the state of your mind at the time of taking birth determines your whole life. In the same way, every day too you take a new life. Everyday, you go through life and death. The first thought that comes to you when you wake up in the morning determines the course of your whole day.

Children who go to school invariably wake up with fear every morning from the swadhishtana chakra - the energy center in the navel area that is responsible for the fear emotion. They wake up thinking of the teacher and the beating stick! Diseases like cancer have their roots in this type of disturbed consciousness at a young age. Most teachers lack basic intelligence. They themselves suffer from not knowing how to balance themselves emotionally. When children spend 8 hours a day with them, they too grow up without knowing how to balance themselves.

It is important that children learn to internalize and understand social needs without getting corrupted or internalizing society's value system. They need to learn how to maintain social protocols without internalizing society's so called value system. Once they obtain clarity in this, they will no more wake up from the swadhishtana chakra. They will wake up from the anahata chakra, the heart center for the love emotion. When this happens, concentration and memory power will increase tremendously.

Children of Nithyananda Gurukul will flourish in the inner and outer worlds. I am from Arunachala, a spiritual nerve center in South India. Arunachala is like a spiritual incubator for anybody who is receptive to it.

With the first batch of students of Nithyananda Gurukul, Bangalore ashram, India - 2 Oct 2006

I had a beautiful ambience there. Between the age of 7 and 14, I was able to learn the inner science along with the outer science in a natural fashion in the ambience offered by Arunachala. That was the reason for the intelligence I gained in both the inner and outer worlds. This is what I am trying to give to these kids through the Gurukul. I am creating an ambience for the children, the same ambience that I enjoyed for intelligence to flower.

I want the children to wake up like a flower, with deep love, and live with people who are meditators. All our teachers are meditators who know how to balance themselves. Here, they will not absorb the negativity of the outer world and will maintain the purity of the inner world, radiating nithyananda - Eternal Bliss!

There have been many traditions of the past. Some have died without teaching anything effectively. Some have sustained only causing misery for people. The ancient tradition of Gurukul learning has sustained over thousands of years, teaching Life Engineering to people.

A child, whichever hero he idolizes from young age, imbibes that hero's mental set up and body language. The children at Nithyananda Gurukul are lucky to be with a Master. They will be continuously watching me. Their mental setup and body language will be influenced by a very intense spiritual atmosphere that is created here. This is like the center of a spiritual cyclone. These children will grow up learning and imbibing highest spiritual values. I hereby declare Nithyananda Gurukul open! May the children be in and radiate nithyananda - Eternal Bliss!

Paramahamsa Nithyananda Gurukul inauguration address 2 Oct 2006, Bangalore ashram, India

Paramahamsa

Children of Nithyananda Gurukul are engaged in various activities.

Sannyas life is neither right nor wrong. It is a lifestyle for individuals who choose it out of spiritual interest.

Paramahamsa

Soulmates

In a Vedic marriage, the couple take a vow to place their spiritual life before their married life and live. It is simply deciding to co-operate and exhaust each other's karmas - unfulfilled actions, without causing any further karma to each other. Normally in marriage, the man will operate from the muladhara - sex energy center and the woman from the swadhishtana - fear energy center. The man will exploit the fear aspect of the woman and the woman will exploit the desire aspect of man. In a Vedic marriage, they will live without this exploitation just, as soul mates.

The first Vedic marriage conducted in USA - 2007.

As they say it

Children at the Nithyananda Gurukul. They sit with the Master, just like Vedic times. Inner and outer growth happen as a natural process. Bangalore ashram, India - 2007.

Twenty years ago, if someone had told you that information from around the world will be available with a single click on your laptop, you wouldn't have believed it, but today it has become a reality. Most of us cannot do without the internet today. What would not have been believable and provable a little over a decade ago, is day-to-day reality now.

Acharyas - teachers...

First thing: I am not asking you to lead people down the path. I will not give you that responsibility till you become enlightened. I am only telling you to reproduce the same experience you had, in others. Only when you reproduce, you will understand: in how many different ways you need to learn about it. In Vedic culture, we have learning through 4 methods. When you sit with the Master, you learn only 25%. When you discuss with your friends you learn 50%. When you start writing or penning down, when you start answering questions, when you work on the material that you learnt, it is called manana. Here

Children from Nithyananda Gurukul are seen here. They learn and grow with awareness, knowledge and bliss, with a sense of freedom and innocence.

Here they are seen in a classroom in the very school that Paramahamsa studied in, at Tiruvannamalai. This is the Math classroom where Paramahamsa's Math teacher suddenly saw the Lord's form in Paramahamsa's form when the latter was standing at the doorway of the room waiting for permission to enter. The boy standing in the picture is in the exact place where Paramahamsa used to sit in during class hours!

Thank and be blessed

Sufi Saints are not respected much, although Sufism is a part of Islam. In Sufism, gratitude to God is the only way of worship. One Sufi Saint and his disciples, in their wanderings, suddenly went without food for 3 days, and the 4ᵗʰ day they were even chased away by people without being given a place to stay. They slept in a graveyard. The next morning, the Saint as usual started to say his prayer of Thanksgiving to God. His disciples however refused to follow suit. They asked why they should thank the Lord when they were refused food and a place to stay. The Saint replied, 'You have been fed for 30 years and given a place to stay for 30 years. What about thanking him for that? There is still life in us. We need to thank him for that, least of all!'

If we consciously feel a sense of continued gratitude towards the Cosmic Energy, we will be able to feel ourselves being taken care of in its very lap! We will feel ourselves being cradled by this Energy - like a child by the Mother. In my days of wandering, I have traveled extensively by foot. I traveled with just two pieces of clothing and a vessel for begging food, taking a vow not to touch money. People ask me how it was possible. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says, 'Ananyas chinta yanto mam yejana paryupasate, thesham nithyabhiyukthanam yogakshemam vahamyaham. . .' a man who thinks only of Me and serves Me with shraddha - commitment, will be looked after by me for his well-being. You may think that this concept is for yester-years of Saints. No! It has happened to me who is sitting right in front of you now!

You say Kali - the fourth quarter of Time which is believed to be a period of injustice, has ripened. No! Only faith has disappeared. Because faith has disappeared, you feel that there is a lot of injustice. Feel gratitude towards God. Feel him as your mother and as your father. Stop asking and start thanking, only then a relationship with Existence can be established.

A Sufi Saint once went to meet a wealthy King for endowment. He saw the King praying to God. He smiled to himself and went away. The King later called for him and asked him the purpose of his visit and why he had gone away without meeting him. The Saint replied, 'I came to ask for alms but saw you begging!'

Make it a reality

When I say Cosmic Intelligence, I don't mean just the data or information from or about the universe. You can get that from a website. But something more than information is required to process the right data at the right time. That's what I call intelligence. It is the capacity, the energy and the power to deal with information. All information is recorded in matter and can be passed on. Intelligence on the other hand is consciousness, which humans are unable to create, even at the level of artificial intelligence. Computer intelligence is not human intelligence, however much data the processor can crunch and however fast it is.

The vision about all the past and all the future is what I call Cosmic Intelligence. All meditation techniques are ways to bring down your Thoughts Per Second, TPS, to relax you into the present moment, relax you now and here. Then, what mystics call Cosmic Intelligence will become a reality in your life.

EAST OR WEST

(In response to a question: how do people from the West get enlightened?)

Enlightenment is not restricted to East or West. The East somehow created a situation or atmosphere in which you can easily un-clutch yourself from your mind. Constantly the ideas about un-clutching are put into your head. That is the only plus point of the East, otherwise nothing else. For a premature baby, you need an incubator. You keep the baby in it for three or four months until it can live in the world, live with the atmosphere safely. The East is a spiritual incubator. India is a spiritual incubator where even if you don't want, even if you are an atheist, somehow some spiritual ideas will be put inside your head. Even if it is just low level ritualistic things, they will establish that something beyond your mind exists. That concept will start going inside. That will help to do the preliminary work. So it is easy for the second level work or the high level work to happen.

| | Ashramites get ready for arati (offering of lit camphor and wicks) in the temple in Los Angeles ashram, USA, 2007 |

Paramahamsa

Paramahamsa visits the new piece of land in Tiruvannamalai, donated by a devotee in Mar 2008. Paramahamsa declared, by next year this time, there will be a full fledged ashram on this land.

With ashramites in his quaters, Bangalore ashram, Dec 2007.

SPACE

Be in eternity

People ask me, 'Swamiji can you predict my future?' I say to them, 'I can change your future, then why bother about predicting the future?' Don't worry about predicting the future. There are thousands of people out there who sit and predict the future. Go to India and you will see that under every banyan tree, there is some guy sitting with a parrot (the practice is that the seeker asks a question and the parrot is made to pick a card that answers the question). The parrot is not aware of its own future. It is caged. And you people go there and sit in front of the parrot and ask about your future. The owner of the parrot is himself homeless, sitting there under a banyan tree! Yet you believe that he is going to be able to tell you when you are going to build your house etc... Don't worry about predicting the future, because the future is actually under your control.

When I say this, again your mind will play a game, 'Swami speaks well but this is not practical. I am married with household responsibilities. This is not for me. He is an enlightened person, he is a Swami, it is okay for him to say this, but not for us.' Your mind knows of all the cunning methods to escape the present moment. Understand that like any being on planet Earth, your mind also has its own instinct to survive, so it will confuse you and create enough misunderstanding and doubts to keep you under its control. This is the reason why again and again you stay in the clutches of the past or the future. Experience the present MOMENT and you will experience a different dimension of your being. When you are in the present moment, at the first level or the intellectual level you will get the power to see the future. At the next level or the emotional level you will get the power to change the future, and at the third level, you will understand that there is no past or future! This is what I call as first shakti - power to make your dreams into reality, and then buddhi - intelligence where you realize that reality itself is a dream!

Not only positive thoughts, you should have clear thoughts. You should not give power to self-contradicting thoughts. Please understand, always pray 'Let me be healed'. Never pray, 'Let me get rid of this disease'. When you use the word, 'Let me get rid of this disease', you are creating self contradicting thoughts.

When you repeat the words, 'Let me get rid of this disease', you are giving power to the word 'disease' also. When you repeat the word 'disease' you automatically think about that disease. So by now you have already given power to that word also. Understand: repeat only the positive words. Repeat only the words which are straight.

THE ANCIENT TRADITION

Of Masters and disciples

In the Gurukul tradition, when the child is aged 7, he is given the Gayatri mantra initiation. Between 7 and 14 he will repeat the Gayatri. By the age of 14, if he achieves the pratyakatma chaitanya jagrat, means the individual conscious awakening - the first spiritual experience - he will be asked to study Brahmasutra, a great scripture, and given sannyas training. If he does not achieve that experience, he will be asked to study Kamasutra, the science of sex, and he will go for the grihasta, married life. If the person who studies Brahmasutra, between the age of 14 and 21, achieves complete enlightenment, he will be given sannyas. If he does not achieve complete enlightenment, he will be given Yoga sutras techniques related to yoga. This is the way the structure was created.

The main sanctum at the Temple of Sri Anandeshwara in Bangalore ashram, India - 2007. Sri Anandeshwara and Anandeshwari are the main deities. In front of them is the swayambu linga (naturally formed Shiva Linga). Further in front are the Mahameru - 3 dimensional representation of the cosmos worshipped as Shiva and Ambal - Shiva's consort.