Stepping Stones To Spirituality...

Chapter 2: Ananda Yoga – The Path of Ecstasy

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Ananda Yoga, the path of ecstasy is today's topic. Let me explain the meaning of the title, word by word. Then we will be able to understand what this is. Ananda means bliss. Nanda is that which can die, which can disappear. Ananda is that which can never die, which can never disappear. A thing, which can never disappear from our Being is what Ananda is.

Ananda means bliss. We should be very clear, that it is not joy. Joy is not bliss. Whenever we have joy, we should be sure that we are going to have suffering. Ananda is nothing to do with joy or suffering; it is beyond both.

Three words need to be understood here: ‘pleasure, joy and bliss’.

Pleasure is whenever we come in contact with outer world things, some music, some sweet, some smell, some beautiful scene or physical touch. It is called pleasure.

Whenever we come in contact with nature; for instance, when we see a big hillock or a snow-capped hillock, or we see a big ocean, or a beautiful forest and then what we feel is joy.

Whenever we feel the ecstasy or a beautiful feeling without any outer object; neither the sensory objects nor the nature, without any outer object, not even the forms of Gods, not even the names of the Gods; totally from our energy, from our Soul, from our Atman, it is called bliss. If we feel ecstatic or joyful from the Atman, without any outer supplement, without the help of any outer objects, it is bliss.

These three words need to be understood. Whenever we get the joy or whenever we get the feeling of well-being, whenever we feel excited through an external object; it is called ‘pleasure’. Whenever we get the feeling from the nature, it is called ‘joy’. Whenever we get it just from inside for no reason, without the help of anything outer, it is called ‘ecstasy’, it is called ‘bliss’. Ananda means that which comes from within. It just happens internally, without the outer objects.

What is the word Yoga? To understand what yoga is, one word is enough. To understand what is not yoga is the main thing, because we have a wrong concept about yoga. We think yoga is nothing but a set of postures, to bend our body this way or that way; more or less like a physical exercise. No. Physical exercises are only Hatha yoga, it is only one part of yoga.

Yoga means ‘union’. What is union? The technique or the method which again unites us to the divine, which makes us one with the divine, which makes us feel the experience of Advaita, the experience of oneness with the cosmic intelligence, with the cosmic energy, with the cosmic power. The technique or the method is only called as yoga. Yoga means union.

Yoga means ‘yogaha chitta vritti nirodaha’.

This is an ultimate explanation or definition about yoga. Yoga means ‘cessation of the mind’. Yoga is the technique or the method to take us beyond the mind, to take us to the enlightenment, to take us to the divine energy, to make us feel one with the existence! Yoga means union.

Ananda Yoga, the path of ecstasy. ‘Bliss Union’, is the method to unite ourselves with the divine, the method to unite ourselves with God, the method to unite ourselves with the existence. The technique to unite ourselves with the existence is what Ananda yoga is. It is a blissful technique, a blissful method. Bliss itself is used as a technique, as a method to unite ourselves with the God.

I will explain how bliss itself is used. It is ‘Path of Ecstasy’. We should understand the difference between path ‘to’ ecstasy and path ‘of’ ecstasy. Ananda yoga is not path to ecstasy; it is path of ecstasy. ‘Path to’ means, there is something like a goal; and that we are going to reach there. But it is not path to ecstasy; it is ‘path of’ ecstasy. The very traveling is ecstasy. The very traveling is joy, very beginning, very walking is joy. If we keep our mind always on the goals, if we think about the goal continuously, somewhere we will miss.

People ask me, ‘Master, what is the goal of life?’

Life has no goal, it has only purpose. Goal is different; purpose is different. Goal means, there is something in the end; and that we will go and reach there and get it. Purpose means, the very living has got a purpose. Logical mind always thinks life has goal. Mystical mind always thinks life has a purpose. Our very living has a purpose! We should not think life has a goal and that if we achieve only that goal, our life has a meaning; No. Our very living has a purpose.

When one thinks life has a goal, the whole life becomes more or less like a rat-race. I used to regularly tell and will always tell this; ‘The greatest problem in the rat-race is even if you win, you are a rat!’ We are nothing more than a rat. If we think there is something like a goal, after a long, long distance, we will be running towards it....continuously towards the goal. There is no goal. Only purpose. Purpose means the very living is ecstasy. Very living is joyful. Very living has got purpose.

Let us see what is purpose. Goal-orientation always makes us more tensed. Generally in the outer world, we run towards this, we run towards that; the greed makes us run. With the same mind, we start thinking God or Divine is also one more goal! We start running towards that, that is all. We think we can run towards the Divine, we can run towards the God, No.

In this inner world, logic is totally different. It is never like a goal and running and reaching the goal, No. That is what again and again I insist, Arise, awake, Stop! the goal is reached. Vivekananda says, Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached. I tell you, Arise, awake, stop; the goal is reached.

One person went to a Buddhist Master, Zen Master and asked, ‘Master, when will I get what I seek?’ Master said, ‘when you stop seeking, you will get’. Because the very seeking creates a tension or stress in us that we miss the goal. The goal is missed because of the very seeking. Because of the very search, we are so tensed; we are not relaxed; we just miss the whole thing.

We have gone to a relaxation course and we are so tensed to learn how to relax; we make the whole thing a mess. If one is too tensed to learn how to relax, even the relaxation will be one more tension. The very idea that ‘I should relax’ will become one more tension. I always tell the people ‘Accept everything; all your guilt, all your fear, all your anger’. They come and tell me, ‘Master, I © 2021 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved am not able to accept, what to do?'. I answer back to them, saying, 'Atleast accept that you are not able to accept, that is all, over. What for the technique 'acceptance' is given is to drop out of the mind. Accept that you are not able to accept, then again you are dropped out of the mind'.

Whenever we understand that, 'I am not able to accept', the very understanding makes us accept. If we are too goal-oriented; our mind or the Being can never relax or rest. The very purpose of the spirituality or the bliss or the divinity is to make us relax or to drop from our mind. Only when we relax from the mind, when we drop from the mind; we can taste the divinity.

Yogaha chitta vritti nirodaha, yoga is cessation of the mind. How can cessation of the mind happen by tension? If we are goal-oriented, we will be continuously in tension, never the mind will drop, never the cessation of the mind can happen. Only when we relax, only when we know the cessation can happen, only when we come down from the mind, only when we drop the goal-orientation; the mind can stop. The very mind itself is nothing but goal-orientation. Your goal-orientation only keeps the mind alive.

Just suddenly for one moment; decide whatever IS, I accept that; whatever exists, I accept as they are. If one accepts this deeply, simply the mind will lose its roots. Our very mind will lose its roots. Mind is alive because of our goal-orientation. If spirituality or the bliss becomes one more goal, how can mind be killed? How will we reach the bliss?

Mind and bliss are daughter-in-law and mother-in-law!. They can never stay together how much we try. How much we try from morning to night; we can give all your best teachings or we can take them to the best seminars, even to ASP (Ananda Spurana program)/LBP (Life Bliss program) and then the next day morning; again we will see the same two people and the same mood.

They will tell, 'What Master said is alright for others, but atleast not for my daughter-in-law'. She also tells, 'See, she has attended all these courses; Master, you have taught so much but my mother-in-law never understood anything'.

I have seen many people coming and complaining to me: 'You said so many things in the ASP, my mother-in-law is the same Master, she never understood'. That means clearly that the daughter-in-law has not understood.

If we have understood, we will never come and complain. Mind and the meditation are just like the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law. Mind and bliss, they can never stay together. Either the mind or the bliss. If we are goal-oriented, only the mind can be alive.

Only when we drop from the goal, when we are path-oriented; bliss can be alive. So I tell you, path OF ecstasy, not path to ecstasy. The very living is ecstasy. Let us be path-oriented, not goal-oriented.

Now, let us analyze the various paths. Then we will understand what is 'bliss path', what is the goal, what is to be achieved, why all the spiritual groups are created on this planet earth, why so many religions, so many cults, so many sects, so many groups, so many methods, so many techniques and so many Masters. Almost if we enter into the line of search, we are crowded with Masters. I always tell them, 'it is very easy to get Masters, but very difficult to get a good disciple'. Masters are very easy, one can very easily get, but it is very difficult to be a good disciple. Only a man who is a good disciple can be a real Master.

Anyhow, so many Masters, so many methods, so many techniques, what is our ultimate goal, what for the whole thing is created? It is only one thing, the whole thing, the very movement of life is towards the joy and bliss. In Rishi's language, they call it Satchidaananda. Sat means the awareness, which is constant or which is eternal, permanent or which always exists. Chit means consciousness. Thirdly, Ananda means bliss. Sat-Chit-Ananda, all the Vedantis, all the Rishis, all the Advaitis, all the meditators take the path of Sat. Searching for the truth is what is called Sat.

What is truth, Sat means truth, which is permanent. When we start searching what is truth, what is permanent, we take the path of Sat. Chit means consciousness. When we put our consciousness in the path of devotion on some form, when our consciousness is surrendered to the Ultimate through a Master or through God, or through some form, it is called path of consciousness. Path of truth is Sat. Path of consciousness is Chit. Path of bliss is Ananda. In this path, the very starting is bliss and our walking is also bliss. Your ending is also bliss. The other paths, when you start; you start with the techniques, most of the times dull, dead and dry.

Religion is almost like a punishment. If it is dull, dead and dry, religion is almost like a punishment.

A small story:

After a long dry sermon, the priest announced; 'After this benediction, there will be a congregation of the board in the next room'. After the benediction he went to the next room. He saw one man who was dressed like a Muslim sitting inside. Priest asked, 'there will be a congregation of the board, why did you come here?, you do not even look like a Christian, why did you come in this room?' The man said, 'O!, is it the congregation of the board, sorry. I mistook it is the congregation of the bored! I thought it is the congregation of the bored, I wanted to see how many more are bored just like me'.

Religion has almost become a dull, dead ceremony, a punishment. That is why the rituals have to be forced on people, by greed or through fear. Either we are shown the greed of heaven or the fear of hell! Religion, the techniques, the methods have become a totally a dry, long thing. The very idea has become anti-life. Almost every ritual has become anti-life.

There's a small story:

In India, there was a big Ashram where everyday morning a pooja (prayer) used to be done. That Swami had a pet, a small pet cat. Everyday at the time of the prayer, that pet used to come and play with him. It would disturb the prayer. It would sometimes jump on the God also. So, that Swami decided that from tomorrow onwards; before the prayer, the pet should be caught and should be covered with a basket. So, before the prayer, the pet used to be caught and they would be covered with a basket, then the prayer would start.

Everyday the same thing continued. Suddenly one day, the pet cat died. They did not inform the Master. They thought pooja means, there must be one cat. So, they went to somewhere else, caught one cat, covered it with a basket, then the prayer started. Even after the Master's time, the habit continued. After sometime, it had become very difficult to get a cat. Then raised an anxiety in them as to how to do the prayer without the cat!

Then they all discussed, 'First thing to be done for the worship is; the cat will be brought and it should be covered with a basket, then the prayer has to be started! This is the first step; if we cannot get a cat, how to do the prayer?'

Because one day they could not get the cat, they stopped the pooja. Then slowly and gradually, the orientation turns. When the orientation has turned, the whole thing becomes a dull, dead and a long path. Many people come and ask me; even yesterday we were discussing that somewhere there is a yoga group which takes months and years to open chakras, and they are long and dry techniques. When they heard about our ASP/LBP, they were surprised to learn that in two days, about every energy centre, one could have a glimpse or one could have an experience and wondered how grand this technique was.

I told them, ‘It is true. All the old techniques and old methods are designed at the age of ‘bullock-cart’!, so naturally they will have only bullock-cart speed. But now, this modern day path, Ananda yoga is designed at the age of air-craft, jet-age. So, this naturally will have the speed of a jet. Ananda yoga is jet-age technique.’

The yoga through Sat is invented or designed at the age of bullock-cart. The yoga through Chit is designed at the age of tractor. The yoga through Ananda, Ananda yoga is designed at the age of jet-age. The very starting is itself with the bliss. All the mystics say God is Satchidananda. As far as this Satchidananda concept is concerned, as far as the idea Satchidananda, (truth-consciousness-bliss) is concerned; it is not that only the Hindus or the Muslims say. The truth-consciousness-bliss concept is said by almost all the mystics.

Jesus says, ‘Be still and know that I am God, the Truth’. I am God does not mean Jesus, but the Christ; Christ who is inside the Jesus, the Christ-consciousness. Whenever the Masters declare ‘I’, ‘I’, they do not mean their body; it means their spirit.

There is a fanatic group of Krishna devotees, Krishna believers. In India, once they called me for their function and I went to their function. In that function, they asked me, ‘Swamiji, do you believe in Krishna, do you believe in Geetha?’ I said, ‘Verily, it is a great scripture, the greatest scripture ever that can be written on the planet Earth, you cannot produce one more book like Geetha. It is an ultimate book.’ Then they asked me, ‘Why do you then worship Shiva instead of Krishna?’ In our ashram there is a Shiva temple and there is a big Banyan tree, a 300 years old banyan tree. Under that Banyan tree only, I sit and do the healing or meditation classes to the people. Under that there is a Shiva temple.

There is a beautiful shloka written by Shankara, which says:

Chitram vadadarormoole
Vruddha shishyaa gurur yuva
Gurostu mounam vyaakhyaanam
Shishyaastu chinna samshayaa

The shloka (verse) is sung towards Dakshinamurthy; and it means, O! What a surprise, under the big Banyan tree, a small boy is sitting as a Guru and all His disciples are His grandfathers’ age and the Guru is only grandson’s age.

Vruddha shishyaa gurur yuva, Gurostu mounam vyaakhyaanam, Shishyaastu chinna samshayaat: The very presence of the Guru, the very silence of the Master destroys the negativities of the disciples. Samshayaa means not only the doubts, even the negativities. Negativities and doubts of the disciples are destroyed. This verse is sung towards Dakshinamurthy. Not only Dakshinamurthy, it is suitable for all the great Masters.

This is the same with Shankara also. Shankara was only 16 when He became a Guru! All His disciples; Totaka, Hasthaamalaka; all the Acharyas, Sureshwara. Sureshwara is 60, all disciples are grandfathers' age. Master is grandson's age. Same thing is true with Ramana Mahrishi. When He became a Master, He was just 21 when He came out to the world. And His first disciple Kavyanataganapathy was an elderly pundit. There are so many examples. Turanyaasammandar was also very young; Vivekanandar too.

The Guru is grandson's age, the disciples are grandfather's age.

They asked me, 'why do you worship Shiva?' Under the big Banyan tree, a Shiva's statue is there. 'Why do not you worship Krishna?' I told him, 'why, Krishna and Shiva are one and the same, same energy! Just because I believe Geetha, why do you say I should worship only Krishna, both are one and the same.' They said, 'No, no, no, in the Geetha, Krishna says, 'I am everything, I am the God. So you should understand that He says Krishna is the God, He is everything, why should you worship something else, you should worship only Krishna'. I told them, 'No, when Krishna says, 'I', He does not mean the Vasudeva Krishna, He means the Parabrahma Krishna.

He does not mean the person who took birth to Vasudeva. He means the enlightened Soul who is Krishna, He means His Being and not the body or the form, He means the energy. They said, 'no, no, no, where is the proof?, when He says He means only the form, how do say He means the energy?; give us the proof, give us a clear explanation.' I told them, 'if you read 2 chapters after Geetha, you will come upon one smaller book called Anu Geetha. I do not know if any of you have read'.

If we read Mahabharata, after Geetha, after chapter 2, we will come upon a small chapter called Anu Geetha. If we know how that book was created, then the whole doubt will disappear.

After the war, after everything was over; Krishna and Arjuna were going for a picnic, for a vacation. At that time Arjuna asks, 'O! Krishna, You said so many good things at the time of war, in Geetha, I forgot everything. Whatever you have said, I have forgotten. Why do not you repeat so that I will remember or put the whole thing in writing? Why do not you repeat once more?'

Krishna replied, 'you have forgotten? O!, it is not that only you have forgotten. I tell you honestly, I have also forgotten!' Arjuna could not understand what He was talking and told, 'You are the man who told everything, how can you say you have forgotten? Krishna says, 'the person who spoke at that time was not Vasudeva Krishna, it was Parabrahma Krishna. It is in that enlightenment ecstasy, the ecstasy of enlightenment, the bliss of enlightenment, in that high mood, in that enlightened mood; as an Energy I spoke to you, it is not the body with which I spoke to you'.

He continued, 'When I spoke to you, when I gave the Geetha to you, I am the Brahma, Parabrahma. In that state, I gave you the Geetha, but now I am in a normal state, I am in the Vasudeva Krishna, I am in the form. When I gave you the Geetha, I was in the formless. So, Geetha is delivered in the Energy, in the Formlessness. It was delivered by my energy, now I am in my form'.

Yesterday, one of my devotee was asking me, 'Master, sometimes when we look at You, you look so Divine!, your actions, your speech, your deeds, everything; and the very next moment, You look so innocent like a small boy, like an ordinary man. You confuse us'.

It is Truth, it is Truth! There is always a possibility in enlightened Masters, there are two dimensions. The major dimension, the ultimate dimension is enlightenment. There is a small ray, one small inch or the human dimension, which they hold to keep the body alive! But the beauty in enlightened persons is; they can always go and come back. The path is open. That is why; one can see the very innocent small child, and the next moment, the mood of the God.

In the life of Krishna, we can see; the moment He opens His mouth, He shows the whole universe in His mouth to Yashoda. The moment He closes His mouth, He starts eating the mud. One moment He eats the mud, and when Yashoda beats Him, He cries and He opens His mouth and shows the whole world, the whole universe.

Krishna says, ‘At that time, I was in that ecstasy, I delivered it. Now, I am Vasudeva Krishna, so, do not ask me, I am not able to remember’. Then Krishna says, ‘I can do one thing, I can go back to that ecstasy and bring back the memories. I will do that’. He went back and brought whatever little bit of that memory He could and He could put it in a small way, in a nut-shell. That small book, which He put it in the nutshell form, or the capsule form, is called Anu Geetha.

Only when this was explained, the Krishna fanatics or the Krishna believers accepted that everything is one and the same. Everything is only one thing; that is the formless energy, never the form!

When the path is towards Sat, when it is towards the truth; we must understand, things are more than form. It is beyond form. In the Bible also, the Sat-Chit-Ananda, the Truth-Consciousness-Bliss is accepted. In Quran also, they say ‘Un-ul-haq’ I am the Truth. In Upanishads, they say ‘Aham Brahmaasmi’; I am the Truth. In Zen, they say, the very body is Buddha. The very Being is Buddha. So everywhere, the concept of Sat-Chit-Ananda; Truth-Consciousness-Bliss, is accepted

When we go searching for the Truth, we have to leave all the things which are not the Truth, which are untruth. We need a tremendous renunciation. Because of renunciation, only, the path of truth has become outdated. Today, nobody follows that path. The path is almost outdated. It is very difficult.

If we go through Consciousness, again we need to spend a lot of our time doing bhajana (singing in praise of God), rituals, worship, yaaga (fire sacrifice), yajna (fire ritual), pooja.

The path of Ananda neither asks us to renounce the world nor asks us to concentrate on any one object. The path of Ananda is: whatever we do, we should do it totally. In whatever way one may live, one has to live it beautifully. The very living should become the moment of Ananda. From Ananda to Ananda. Every moment, we should let it become Ananda, we should let it become Bliss!

What is it we are continuously listening to for the past 15 days, ‘be blissful, be blissful, be blissful’. In all possible languages, I am shouting ‘Be blissful’ in English, ‘Anandamaaga iranga’ in Tamil, ‘Anandavaagiri’ in Kannada, ‘Anandaga undandi’ in Telugu. In all the possible languages, I am blessing or talking; ‘be blissful, be blissful’.

But only at the time of a joke or some small story, we show our mouth or teeth, then again the face is back to the same condition, same mood.

Today, I met the kids. A few kids were sitting with me. I was talking to the kids, Bal vikas kids. I was sitting and talking to them for an hour. I was really shocked; none of the fellows knew how to laugh. I thought I should take these guys to India just to show them how the Indian kids laugh. Foolish fellows! At least three times I told a few small stories, not even once they opened their mouth and laughed. I was shocked, I was really shocked. Then I thought, ‘if I sit for some more time, I will become old; because the guys behaved in such a matured way, rather they think they are mature’.

Not only that, the symbol of maturity means showing a calm face. I think that is the ideal taught to them; that is the ideal they have learnt from the society. And not even one fellow was looking like a kid. Everybody is asking me questions like; ‘Swamiji, why did God create the world at all?’ And all sorts of questions, ‘Swamiji, are there other human-beings on the other planets also?’ I told them ‘fools, first know how to live happily on this planet’. They have started bothering about the other planets now itself.

And one of the kids is asking, ‘how to stop the reincarnation cycle, Swamiji?’ as if she is going to put her hand in that chakra (wheel of life) and going to stop that. Now itself they are tired of living. I said, ‘what a question you are asking, you are supposed to ask, how to live more joyfully, now itself the questions of tiredness’. And I am really shocked that none of them laugh. Actually I was bored. Oh!, I thought kids means they should laugh. ‘In India one should see, really I am happy for the Indian kids; at least they know how to laugh. And if they do not like it also, they know how to express it.’

In India, I went to attend a small gathering with kids. They told me to speak something. I told, ‘no, the kids are already happy, why should I speak, leave it. If they have something, I will answer’. One kid asked me one question. I was answering and somehow he could not understand. The very next thing he did was he came near me and started pulling my dhoti (an Indian garment). Then, there was no other way, it was a break, I had to stop my answer and listen to him, only then was I able to proceed.

Atleast, in that I could see life. Even in their mischievousness, I could see the life. Here the kids are so cultured. I tell you, ‘Never do that. I am telling all the parents and if you make them this way, if you make them so cultured and so serious; you can be sure they will also end up in the same way as they end up in the depression’. Depression is nothing but the disease from the logic, from the intellect.

Gift of logic to the humanity is depression!

Because, for everything, we measure; even to laugh, we measure! Everything we measure. If we look at ourselves when we laugh, it is only when the person sitting next to us is of the same status or we see if his status and our status equals, or if our status is little high, only then, we open our mouth. Even after laughing, we just verify what the others think about us, what the others are doing. For everything, we measure. It is really very pathetic, very sad to see.

I felt really bad when I saw those kids. And somebody sitting and shaking their legs. I said, ‘Eh, it shows your inner restlessness.’ I can be sure if I would have told this to an Indian kid, immediately he would have stopped at least. Even after telling, he did not stop. Not only after telling, even till the end, he did not stop and he did not even want to show that he is ready to listen to me. I was shocked how logical or how....there is no other suitable word to express. How foolish, how dull the way in which their system responds.

See, once somebody tells something to the Indian kids, at least they will show they do not want to listen. But here, they are just there as if I am talking to somebody else. I always tell them, ‘at least show some expression on your face, whether you agree or not. At least if you are showing that you are not agreeing, I can try to explain little more’. I did not find any expression. Just as is everybody is a Buddha! Buddhus (meaning: fools in Hindi) indeed!

I was bored. If I would not have sat with them, I think I would have spoken much better today. I was bored sitting. Generally, whenever I sit with kids, I do not stop. I extend. Today, when my PRO came and told me that it was time. Then I told, ‘alright, let me finish’. This was the first time I did not even give a hug to the kids. Whenever I sit with the kids; after I finish, I always give them a hug. But I saw everybody was so intellectual, all philosophical questions, nothing was practical. Full one hour, only philosophical discussion.

Nothing was practical. I had to bring them down to earth constantly. Again they would become philosophers. Of course they learn only from our body language. When I say one story, one joke, one minute the mouth is opened, again the gum on our lips is pulling the lips back. Why?, why are we continuously sad; continuously we listen, but after some time, we come back to the normal position.

There are three small keys from Tantra to make your life as Ananda yoga. These three small keys are very small. But if we can use it, we do not need anything else. One may have attended ASP, NSP and even taken the healers’ initiation, and may have attended all my discourses. We can forget everything else, and just carry these three keys. I tell you, ‘just forget everything, there is no problem, if one can carry these three keys’.

First thing, is the acceptance of the life? Grumbling or Grudging is not going to help. Atleast we will have intelligence to look into the life. The first one is called Tathaata. Whatever IS, accept the easiness. Tathaata, or acceptance is the first key. Next thing is to make a conscious decision to live happily, to live joyfully.

With small stories, I will explain one by one.

Tathaata means acceptance of the rules of existence. There is a beautiful story. A middle aged lady went to see Buddha early in the morning, with her son’s dead body. Early morning her son has died. With the dead body, she rushed to Buddha, saying, ‘O, lord, please do something to revive the life of him, please do something to give life to him.

Whatever Buddha would say to convince her was never going to help. So Buddha said, ‘alright I will revive him, but please go and get a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no death has happened.’ She went house to house and everybody was ready to give her mustard seeds, but all said, ‘no, no, in my house some death has happened’. She went around door to door, house to house. By the time she came back to Buddha in the evening, she understood that it is not that only she is suffering the misery of death, or misery of separation, it is the rule of the world.

‘See, our main worry is not our worry, but thinking others have no worry’. The main cause for our worry is we think that everybody else has no worry; that is our main worry. Once we understand the whole world is having worries, then we won’t feel much sad. If we understand that everybody is suffering, then we come to an understanding, we come to a clarity. The very basic problem is we think that only we are the persons who suffered too much on this planet earth.

We always think, ‘See, how he is happy, see how she is doing well, and see how he is doing well’. Whenever we think everybody else is happy and only we are suffering, only then our suffering looks big. When we understand everybody else is suffering in their own way, we come to a state of relaxation.

Then she understood, it is not that only she undergoes the pain of separation, pain of death, the whole world undergoes this. When she understood that this is a rule, then she was almost transformed. She came to Buddha, not only did she not ask for the healing, she did not ask for her son. After doing the rituals for her son, she became big, she became a nun. She said, ‘O Buddha, even if you would have given life to my son, what would have happened is I would have taken him back, and like regular mothers, after one month, again I would have fought with him, I would have tortured him and he would have tortured me; the same usual procedure’.

A person came and joined the ashram, where I was staying and became a Swami. That person’s elder brother came to take him back. Whenever somebody becomes a Swami, always the fight takes place. And whenever we enter into a spiritual life, there will be problems in the house. If we don’t have any problems, then we can be clear that we will not enjoy the spiritual life, we may not know what we really want. Many people come and tell me, ‘Master, my husband is not letting me to go to NSP. He is telling it gets too late, the sessions are very late. Don’t go. My husband is not allowing me to go for the ASP or NSP’.

Some others tell me, ‘My wife is afraid that I may become a Swami’. So many people come and tell me these things. I tell them, ‘if one does not have problems in the house, then really they will not enjoy the program’. Only when we have a problem, we will know what our choice is. It becomes a solid thing. If everybody says, ‘go’, then it is not the juicy portion. It is not fun. Only when we have some problem, only when they say ‘don’t go’ and we come without telling them or come telling them that we have this work or that work, it becomes fun.

I have seen many people, especially in India. The husband will come without telling his wife, and the wife will also come without telling the husband and they both will meet each other in the ashram. And I have seen some other situations regarding very rich people. They feel they have to go to a Swami, or do the spiritual things only if they have got some problems. In India, there is a mental thinking prevailing, that one should go to a Swami only if one has a problem, otherwise one will not go. So just for that, many people try to avoid coming to me in public. They come without anyone’s notice.

‘Some people plan their visit in such a way that those people whom they are afraid of should not know that I am here’. So, before that itself, they will call up my PRO and ask, ‘I am coming today, can you be sure who are all there, can you tell me who are all there?’ Then this person will confirm that these people are not coming and then decide to go, saying, ‘alright, today I will come’. And when they come to the ashram, they will meet the persons whom they were trying to avoid.

Not only that, the other person whom he is afraid of, he will call separately and ask and come separately. Each one has got their own view and after coming here, they both will meet. Of course, if we do not have any difficulty, if we won’t have any problem, if we do not have any obstruction; things will not look juicy! Things will not look very enchanting.

The understanding or the clarity that the whole world is suffering and it is not that only us; when that understanding comes, then we will see that Thaathaata, the acceptance automatically happens.

She is telling Buddha, ‘even if I would have taken him, what I would have done?, just like the regular fathers and mothers, fighting, fighting and then my life would have ended’.

‘I was telling a story, let me complete it’. One fellow became a monk and his brother came to take him back. The brother was weeping and wailing, ‘please come back, come back, I can not be without you, come back, come away.’ Then the person who had become a monk replied, ‘Oh, be honest, even if I come back, what will I do? After 4 years, we both are going to fight for our father’s property. Why don’t you take all the property now itself, and forget about me.’ As soon as this was told, that guy simply went away. He simply went away and he understood the truth.

It is actually the truth. Whenever we understand that it is not that only we are suffering, but everybody else is suffering; the whole world goes only in this same way, then Thaathaata, the easiness takes place.

She says, ‘even if you would have given life to my son, what I would have done? I would have taken him and after a few months, the regular life would have continued. In a regular way, everything would have been going. But now, you have given me a great intelligence, a great understanding of accepting the life, accepting the pain. My whole life has changed; this is the greatest miracle, which you have done’.

Giving life to the person is not the greatest miracle, but transforming one’s life is the greatest miracle. This understanding is the greatest miracle. Thaathaata is accepting the life as it is. If we do not accept, we do think it is going to change? If anybody who thinks that, ‘if I do not accept, things might change’, can continue to think so, till we come to the understanding, whether we accept or not, whether we want or not, what is going to happen is happening.

There are two things to be understood here. Wherever we can change, we should change. Anyhow, we will be changing; it is not that we will be keeping quiet. Is there anybody who keeps quiet? No. Wherever one can change, we are changing. Wherever its not possible, we will not. That’s all. Wherever we can, we are already doing it. Wherever we cannot, we should understand that we cannot and accept the easiness. When we accept the easiness, the first step in the path of ecstasy is taken. The path of ecstasy is started.

First thing is Thaathaata, next thing is ‘Conscious Decision’, the Pratyagaatma chaitanya, the individual decision, awakening.

There is a small story from Sufism:

There was a great Master called Abdullah. He used to be always happy. From morning till night, laughing and enjoying and whosoever would go near him would just catch the infection of joy or the bliss, Nithya Aananda or the eternal bliss.

Somebody asked Him, ‘Master, what do you do to be so joyful, so ecstatic, why do not you teach us the technique?’ Then He says, ‘everyday morning as soon as I get up from my bed, I ask myself; Abdullah, Abdullah, Abdullah!, what do you want, whether suffering or bliss, today what do you want?’.

Here, we need to understand that calling ourselves by our name is itself a great technique. Others only use our name, we never use it. If we use our name, then we will understand that we go beyond our name. We go just up from the mind. The mind will always tell, ‘I want bliss.’ Then the Master would tell, ‘alright then, have bliss, that’s all. The matter is over’

What we ask, ‘no, no, no Master, you ask us to have bliss, but there is so much of suffering and problem, how can I have bliss?’ I say, ‘Alright, even if you worry and have continuous depression, is it going to solve the problems? No, it is only creating one more problem’.

Let us try. All these years we have tried the key of depression, why do not we try the key of joy or bliss, let us just try. Then we will understand that Aananda does miracles in our life.

There is a beautiful book called, ‘Miracle of Mindfullness’. I am writing a book called ‘Miracles of Nithyaananda’, not Nithyananda, Nithya aananda (the eternal bliss). When we live in the bliss, we are unaware of how many miracles happen in our life.

This Master says, ‘I ask myself what I want, then the mind says, I want bliss, then I allow the mind to have bliss. I tell the mind, ‘alright, have the bliss, that’s all’. And one should not allow anybody to interfere with that bliss.

One important key point to be noted. ‘Never decide for two days’. One must never decide for two days, we should decide everyday. If we decide for two days, then we will think, ‘why for two days, let me decide for one month. No, why for one month, let me decide once for all’. We will decide, but the very next day, we will forget what we have decided. Never for two days, only for 24 hours. Only for the next 24 hours, what we want is to be decided, whether we want to live with happiness, joy or we want to live with sorrow, misery.

And in the next 24 hours, what is going to happen in our life, we know. It is not that in the next 24 hours, we are going to become a millionaire or we are going to lose a million, millions of dollars. No.

In the next 24 hours, almost clearly we know. And people who work in a normal life, not just the next 24 hours, even the next 24 years, they know what is going to happen! Same wife, same house, same office; may be they will have a white beard, that is all.

We know what is going to happen in the next 24 hours. Why not try a small thing. Instead of facing the life with the same long face, why not face with a little bit of excitement, joy and ecstasy, some zest!

Why not do that. When we decide to do it, we will see. If the radio is tuned to Chennai station, it receives the Chennai waves. If it is tuned to Pondicherry station, it receives the Pondiherry waves. When we are tuned to the bliss, we receive the bliss waves. When we are tuned to suffering, it receives the suffering waves.

We attract only what we want. Only a radio can sing, can our shoes sing? No. if we tune ourselves, only then we can get it. If we tune to Pondicherry station, we can get Pondicherry waves. If we tune to Chennai station, we can get Chennai waves. In our lives, either we live like the shoes, never tune ourselves to anything; or we tune to suffering, that is all.

Instead of that, we can tune ourselves to bliss or joy and accept the life. It is worth trying just for a few days. I am not telling you to live the whole life, just for a few days, you try. Then one will understand how many miracles happen in the mind, how many miraculous changes start happening in the mind. Let us just decide for the next two three hours, ‘I will accept whatever happens. I will not shout or I will not become mad, I will not become a dog’.

When somebody says we are a dog, we immediately bark and prove. When somebody says we are mad, we simply yell at them and prove. Instead of that, just for a few hours, it is worth trying. Whatever happens in our life, let us accept.

The first two keys are: Thathaata (acceptance) and the Pratyagaatma chaitanya, Jaagrata (means a conscious decision). I am telling you the exact Sutras, I am translating them for you. We should make the conscious decision to live joyfully, face joyfully, face ecstatically.

The third thing is a very deep but the ultimate thing. The Master is questioned, Abdullah is questioned. One disciple is asking, ‘Master, you say your mind always chooses the bliss, if our mind chooses the suffering, what should we do?’ Because there are a few cunning minds which will tell, ‘If you will ask, Abdullah, what do you want?’ your mind will tell, ‘I want suffering’. For this the Master says, ‘if your mind wants suffering, understand you are enjoying the suffering’ this is the third key. Understand you are enjoying the suffering.

Unless we enjoy something, we will never ask for it, whatever we are having in the life, we are enjoying it, we are experiencing it. We have such a clear power and a conscious decision, we enjoy only what we want. We ask only what we enjoy. If we enjoy the suffering, what is wrong, one can enjoy that. The very problem is the conflict between our asking and when it is presented to us, we are not ready to enjoy it.

It is like this. We go to a hotel and order for all the varieties. We eat and finish everything. Finally, when the server brings us the bill, we say, ‘I have not ordered for the bill, why did you bring?’. If we order for food, naturally the bill also will come to us. But we know the bill is going to come when we order for food and eat. But we are contradicting ourselves with the bill, when we know that the bill is going to come, that by ordering the food, the bill is also going to come. But when the bill comes, we resist with it.

Same thing is happening in our life. We order for our choices and when those things come, we resist with it. When we order for joy, when we order for the pleasure, we know the pain is going to come. Even if pain is not going to come, the end of the pleasure is going to be pain. So, when we prepare ourselves for the pleasure, why not for the pain also.

First thing is to accept. Next thing is to decide consciously to be blissful. Third thing is that even if the suffering comes, it is purely our choice. Enjoy it. One may think, ‘what is this. This Swami simply says, enjoy suffering’. I tell you, ‘choicelessness is bliss’. Many people come and ask me, ‘Master, when we did the meditation camp, it is so ecstatic, so joyful, especially the Energy Darshan. I never felt like that before’. And the next day, many people, almost 80% of the people came and reported to me, ‘Master, as I got up today from the bed, I never got up like that before. The experience of today is the best day in my life. Today I am so fresh, so alive’