Q & A🔗

Q: What do you mean by bliss? A: Bliss! I can describe in two ways; one is, not feeling caged or bound, ‘Swatantra’; this means freedom. Second, feeling blessed to have this body. You have a deep feeling that the Divine has blessed you, that the existence has blessed you; that your very life is a blessing, is bliss.

A small story; a young man, poor and unemployed, went to church and prayed to God,” O God! Please have mercy on me ; help me , somehow give me 100 Dollars, I will be able to manage for a week. I shall then get a job and repay you “. The Priest, who passed by, heard this prayer and felt sympathy for the boy. He put 50 Dollars in an envelope and gave it to the boy, saying that this was a gift sent by God to be given to him. The boy rushed home, opened the cover and saw the money. He then prayed to God, “O God! Next time you send me money, please send it directly; the priest has taken half of what you sent as his commission! “. You see, the boy is looking at what is missing, not what is given! He feels life is a suffering even when he gains. He is not able to enjoy life even when he gets something. When this attitude is set mentally within you, whatever you gain, makes you feel the same way as the boy.

A person came to me and said, "Swamiji , you say life is bliss but I have lost my diamond ring! What do you have to say to my suffering?" I replied, "Fool, feel happy that you have not lost your finger! Enjoy, feel the joy the bliss of being alive. Can you earn your life, even a single breath?" Life is a pure gift from existence. You must feel blessed for having this body and life. First thing, not feeling bound or caged; feeling a tremendous freedom, inner freedom. Next, feeling blessed for having this life itself.

These two put together and something more, is what I call bliss. In Sanskrit there is a word called "Ananda". I broke it and gave you the meaning. "Aa" means a feeling of blessedness, "Ashirvada" and "Nanda" means a feeling of freedom, unboundedness. By your very nature, you are in bliss. That is why you work for it. If you get a headache, you try your best to come out of it, why? Because you know that is not your nature. Your nature is headacheless-ness. If your very nature were to be with headache, would you try to get rid of it? You would not even be aware of a headacheless state. You would simply be in it. You now work intensely to come out of the headache by taking medicines, by resting; because that is not your nature and you want to go back to your true state. In the same way you know for sure in your heart of hearts that bliss is your nature. You work for it, strive for it. Whether you search for it through the outer world of money and material benefits or through meditation, it is still the search for bliss. Search for money is also nothing but search for bliss. You want to expand your boundary because you have more choice. That is the reason why you want more money, because you have more freedom to choose as your boundary is big; money as well as meditation – both are nothing but paths to bliss. If you strive for money you work through the outer world, and when you work through meditation, you strive through the inner world. Both are techniques to achieve bliss. But the trouble with money is that you get a choice of sufferings instead of the bliss you seek! But meditation puts you in choicelessness, which is the ultimate bliss.

Q: Can you explain the difference between pleasure and bliss?

A: Pleasure is that which rests between two pains. Bliss, when it is marked and limited between two pains is pleasure. The gap between two wars can never be called peace; it is merely a preparation for other wars. In the same manner the gap between two pains can not be bliss, it is merely pleasure.

To put it more clearly, bliss is eternal, but a small portion of it is pleasure. Bliss experienced for a very short time is pleasure. When you try to hold bliss, it slips away from you; this is pleasure. Anything which is experienced for a short time is pleasure; a part time bliss is pleasure; full time pleasure is bliss, that is all.

Q: Is this why we greet people as "It is a pleasure to meet you"!

A: (Swami Laughs) ..See, bliss itself is choicelessness. People around me are greedy of the state I am in! It is not that they do not know of my problems. I have enough of them. Just yesterday somebody asked me after seeing the way we work, "Are you a spiritual master or CEO?" How do still live in such a continuously joyous state? "

I answer "It happens because I do not have a choice. Choicelessness is bliss". But when people choose bliss they suffer. When you choose choicelessness, you are trapped. Drop the idea to choose the idea of choicelessness. Drop even the choice towards choicelessness. You will then see bliss happening to you. Bliss is like a breeze; you cannot make it happen; you can only open the door to let it in; you can only make space for it. So open the door and let the breeze in. Drop the choice between choice and choicelessness; then you will see the bliss happening to you.

Meditation- The Ultimate Gamble (…for your ego , living with old masters or dead masters .is very easy …how these qltys are ncssry in ultimate sense for meditation –) What are the qualities necessary for the ordinary gambler and how are they applicable to the ultimate gambled, the meditator ? For the ordinary gambler 3 things are ncssry- the courage to understand the laws of gambling – these itself are intimidating - fear that the gains will go away – if it goes it goes, if it comes it comes – the courage to start, the power to proceed- to stake what is necessary and finally, the energy to let go – to accept the positive or negative. You must understand it requires energy to let go both the positive as well as the negative – a small story – a man with a weak heart won 5 million dollar in a lottery. His wife heard of it but did not want to tell him this on account of his heart condition , fearing his collapse. Wondering how to break this news to him, she went to the local priest and apprised him of her problem. The priest assured that he would handle it as he had known her husband for the past 25 years. The wife did not want to chance it but the priest was confident. The priest accordingly met the man and after a long chat slowly opened the subject of the lottery. He asked the man what he would do if he won 5 million dollars in a lottery. The man said he would give half of it to the church.. on hearing this, the priest collapsed of shock ! It is not so easy to accept even the positive things. You need the power to stake , the energy to let go. We shall see how these things are required in the ultimate gambling – meditation – First understand the laws , the structure of the universe and meditation – why and how to meditate , what were the benefits and what would happen if one did not meditate . Someone asked me , " If everything in life is evolving .. the monkey into a man etc, naturally by evolution would man not ultimately evolve into God ? . where then, was the need for meditation, for inspiration ?" I replied, “ It took 5000 years for monkey to become man and it would take equally long for you to become God. If you are willing to wait this long, it was alright with me ! “ Alternatively , take up meditation and revolutionise the process of evolution. Enlightenment can be achieved only by revolution. The very the word meditation make many people reject this idea, saying they were too modern for this concept. A truly logical person would see the truth behind medition or spirituality. In Tamil Nadu, India, there is a group of people who believe there is no God. To believe there is a God, one does not need to be a fanatic or illogical. But it would need an illogical person or a fanatic not to believe in God. Being logical only leads one to the ultimate search. People who are logical have the courage to seek . People who understand that their life would transform or change after meditation, still hesitate to take the step. By this they show that they do not have the courage to accept this transformation. This fear is one of the obstacles in spiritual life. If people complain of not changing despite meditation, they only believe they are meditating but are not actually doing so. For example, if you have set the alarm to wake up early in the morning to take a flight but want to sleep just a few minutes more after the alarm rings , you have a dream during these few minutes that you are actually awake and taking the flight. This is a suggestion of your mind. Likewise, if you think you are meditating but without any transformation, check again what you are missing . The fear of transformation is deep and one needs real courage to face this reality. A truly logical person like the scientist, has the courage to seek the truth. The fear of transformation is such that most of the time we do not want to follow the truth – we give some reason or other to not let the truth penetrate our lives.

One of our devotees wanted to know what was the primary duty of a man. The real purpose of a man is simply to achieve bliss inside his being. Unless he achieves this, he cannot give this to others , even if he lives to fulfill all his responsibilities. Without this , he will only be living for others – either pushing or pulling – achieving bliss is therefore, the first duty. Understanding meditation leads us to this path and after doing so, the courage to take the first step.

Next , the power to put things at stake. When people see me in my joyous state, they ask me that I should bless them to be like me. Being in an ecstatic state entails responsibility - energy and responsibility come in the same package. One of the ashramites, tired of the long hours of work , wanted to know why he should work and serve at all when he could meditate and be happy ! I told him that energy descends on only him who was ready to take responsibility to serve the world and had compassion for others. The energy , the power and ultimately, enlightenment , descends only on him who is ready to take this responsibility- this feeling for every being . This realization dawned on me on my enlightenment.

When people see me they are inspired to meditate but are not prepared to put their lives at stake. An atheist once went to a picnic ..he fell from a mountain cliff but held on to a root of a tree . He screamed for help as the root slowly got loose and.he now realizes that he would die. At the last minute , he appeals to God for help. God says that He would take care of him if he would just let go of the root. He immediately shouts , “ Is there anybody else who can save me ? “ ! We are not ready to put our lives at stake.

We say we do not have time to meditate but the truth is that we do not want to admit that this is not one of our priorities, that this is not important enough for us. One night I got a phone call at two a.m.. It was from the dist. Collector , an IAS officer , asking for guidance from a problem which was of life-and-death importance and insisted that I see him immediately. I agreed to see him early the following morning but he replied that he had to go to his office then ! See what I mean by priority ? I understood his problem was not serious after all . One person asked me if I had seen God . I answered in the affirmative. He wanted me to show him – I told him he could have the experience if he was ready to practice. People are unwilling to take this step. They tend to think of enlightenment also as one of their possessions in the house but are unwilling to pledge what it takes.

You need power to undergo meditation, power to stake , power to decide to live the truth.. Truth has three meanings - as of now we know it only as speaking the truth. The other two are thinking and living it. Thinking of it means constantly looking for it and living the truth means the readiness to live the truth as we perceive it. Just like you know that touching the fire would burn you , the truth would likewise transform you when you know it . If it has not, be sure you have not known it. The power to understand and go after the truth is the power to put at stake what it takes .

Thirdly, the energy to let go – the real thing. This is the major difference between gambling and ultimate gambling. In the ultimate gambling, there is no element of loss, only gain. Here lies its greatness. But you need courage to start , walk and let go. This means you would happen on a space ; that moment when a seed fears to let go and go on to become a tree. This is why we call Nirvana the lastnightmare. If a dream is too wild, we come awake . Similarly when you get a jolt or shock in life, you wake up to enlightenment ; enlightenment happens when there is a sudden shock to your dream state. In Zen monasteries they have strange techniques to enlighten a person. A master was walking on the third floor . A disciple sincerely asked him for enlightenment. Suddenly the master turned and pushed him from the third floor. But the disciple who had total faith in his master was entirely calm and fell like a flower and got up to dance. Strange as this may seem , research says that it is our body’s heaviness that causes a heavy landing. When children fall they do not hurt themselves badly. When you fall and drown in a river, your dead body though filled with water and therefore much heavier, floats, whereas a lighter, living person drowns. They infer that it is your ego , your solidness , which causes the damage. There was a whirling sufi dancer who used to be airborne in moments during his dance, but never ever hurt himself on landing. Levitation done by yogis is similarly achieved by egolessness( Time magazine, Aug 2003 ) - Likewise , such was the egolessness of the disciple , such was his courage and trust to stake his whole life ,that in that moment, he became enlightened.

The wonder with masters is that there is no failure, ever. This is a fool proof system. A naga disciple was so fond of his master that he had the habit of constantly imitating his hand and body movements. The master who knew this , did not mind on account of the disciple's sincerity. Once when a discourse was on, the master suddenly turned and and cut the finger of the disciple with a sword – so great was the disciple's devotion that with finger his ego too fell and was enlightened. The other disciples wondered if this was not too high a price to pay, to which the master replied that compared to the number of lives people have to take to achieve this state, this was a very small price indeed ! Only people who are ready to put everything at stake are the real gamblers, the courageous ones, the ones qualified to play this ultimate game.

Meditation does not mean changing your routine by half an hour. It means you will change the very quality of your routine. If you take up meditation, your very understanding will change ,life will change and become new. When you meditate, you gamble your whole life , you put your whole life at stake – only then a transformation happens. Only when you commit the whole can you become holy. You need the energy to let go , to allow the transformation to happen. Like the seed which lets go of its fear in becoming a tree, you too must have the energy to let go , to allow the transformation to happen. In Christian theology they call the last moment ‘the last night of the soul ‘( termed by Buddhists as the last nightmare )- In the moment when your ego is dying, you must be willing to let go of the past . Enlightenment never happens as a continuity but as a new birth. The Hindus call it “ Vishaada” – the 1ˢᵗ chapter of the Gita is called “ Arjuna Vishaada Yoga “ – his dilemma was so great yet he was willing to trust Krishna and let go. In such a situation no decision taken is correct and when the master guides you , you must be ready to let go and follow what he says completely, implicitly. Arjuna had to courage to believe totally in Krishna and let go, which was how he had the “Vishwaroopa Darshana” . You must have the energy to let go, to allow the dark night to happen to you.

Only if you have trust in the master can the ultimate gain happen to you. The master George Gurdjieff had strange techniques to enlighten his disciples. He had a stream inside his ashram – he had a rule that anybody engaged in any activity , on hearing his cry, “Stop ! “ should immediately stop whatever they were going , sit down and meditate . Three disciples were in the water when he once cried ‘Stop ‘. However, no sooner than he had cried out, the water in the stream began to rise . Seeing this two of them immediately came out of the water. But the third continued to meditate – his ego drowned with his body and a new being floated. You need to have the trust to experience the unknown space – at that moment, you have only the master to hold on to – the energy to accept the new experience happening to you , the energy to transcend your old personality. You then have the third quality to play this ultimate gamble.

People will meditate till the family members do not object. Ramakrishna gives an open sanction to go against father, mother, husband, wife ,duties or responsibilities if need be, in the path to spiritual progress- this is the power to put things at stake – the second step you take towards spirituality. Finally, the power to let go of your ego, your old personality and being totally, the power to trust the master even at the last moment , to face the last nightmare. To survive, to withstand the "Vishaada" of the soul's squeezing depression- the quality required for this ultimate gamble. When you play this ultimate gamble, you cross all the three steps-The only great thing I promise you- in this gambling, there is no losing, only winning . Let you understand the methods of gambling and stake your Nithyananda to achieve and attain eternal bliss. Through this gambling may you achieve Nithyananda.

Q: ---( what is Samadhi ? ) A:Sama plus Adhi is Samadhi. Adhi means the original source from which we have all come. Sama means becoming that original source. Becoming one with the original state. Q: ---( are there many other enlightened people , where are they and what are their roles ? ) A: There are many who are enlightened. In your level there are many who are enlightened. In my state there is only one energy. They all have the responsibility of equating the positive energy on this earth. All the negative energies create terrorists like Bin Ladens and all the positive energies create Buddhas. Enlightenment possesses you and drives you towards this responsibility. You do not possess enlightenment, in turn it possesses and drives you. When there is no more positive energy produced on earth , there will be no more earth left. In Bhagwata it is asked why the earth still exists after the age of Kali. Krishna says that enlightened people still walk the planet. As long as they do so , the planet will always live as their very being on earth is a great blessing. Q: -- A: ….will there be any time ? I do not know ( laughs) Q: Swamiji, what do you say about this saying, Work is Worship ? A: Work is worship when you do it intensely, totally. But most of the time, we make worship as work. Two things – work without any fear or greed while working , without any thought ; if you live and work in the present moment and involved , absorbed in your work totally, that work is worship. It becomes a technique to bring you to the present moment. If a professor teaches seeing only the faces of his students and not the dollar bill, the quality of his work will be great and with it the dollars would follow of their own accord. But most of the time we try to find some short- cut and are thinking only of our salaries at the end of the month , which affects our work. When the whole being is involved in the work, the work itself becomes worship .Krishna says, ‘‘Karmanye vadikaraste mapaleshu kadachana ‘‘- you have freedom only to work, not to expect the results . If you expect results, the very expectation will hinder the results. If Vivekananda says , ‘‘ Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached ", I tell you, "Arise, awake, stop , the goal is reached ! ". Come to this moment, this present moment , be intense in your present work totally , not even thinking of it as worship. " Phala sruthi " –all the saharanamas will have a "Phala Sruthi' – 'what will happen '; " Sivena sadamodathe "- you begin your worship only when you know what you are going to achieve. When if you worship, expecting the fruit, it becomes work. If you do your work intensely it becomes worship. If you work expecting results , even worship becomes work. "Living in the present moment " is what is emphasized by the words, " Work is worship " . Any work done in this way only rejuvenates you ,never tires you. You have the capacity – whatever is your 'Iccha" can become " Kriya" – desire can be expressed in reality. Whether you believe or not, you are God and have the power to bring desire into reality. If you work intensely, you will neither be tired nor be bored – both are by – products of expectation of results. This is your deep understanding to live in the present. Q:...( I sometimes have doubts , sometimes faith ).. why does mind have this personality ? A: One thing, if you do not doubt me, you cannot have faith in me. Doubt and faith are both sides of mind. Both faith and doubt are given by the master ; surrender both at his feet. Then you will see that you have a new experience called ' knowing'. After this you don't have to believe, you will know. Q: How does one surrender ? A: Feel that both doubt and faith are from the master. Don't associate yourself with the doubt or its roots. Don't follow the decision of the doubts- surrender both , you will see how the knowing happens. If I say that the sun rises in the East, do you need to doubt it or believe it ? You will know just by getting up in the morning. Only knowing can transform you. Open your eyes and see.. practise. Faith will not allow you to know. Like doubt, faith too is an obstacle. People who have doubt ,have faith , will not benefit from me. At the most they will add my photo to the already existing 33 crore Gods of India ! Dropping both and knowing the truth of my statements and my teachings is the only real achievement you can have in your life. When you know, you have a transformation and beyond your doubt and faith, you feel a sense of gratitude flow towards me. It is this gratitude which is devotion.

Meditation: Plan for a Miracle

What is a Miracle? What ever happens in the Universe has a reason had a cause, has a reason, nothing happens by accident. If something happens in one side of the Universe something else happens somewhere else. If there is a big bang in one place there is a black hole some where else in the Universe.

When you do not understand the cause and effect relationship you call it a miracle. If it is obvious you call it an incident. When the relationship is too deep for you to understand, for your logic to penetrate you call it a miracle. There is no such thing as a miracle. Everything happens only with a cause.

Einstein is a super scientist. Just because of Einstein that scientists started respecting mystics. Otherwise scientists had a prejudiced idea of all things spiritual. They felt that what they knew of the universe was correct. Einstein says: There are only two ways of living; either as if everything is a miracle, including all with relationships of cause and effect; or live as though all is a miracle.

I am trying to make you understand that nothing is a miracle; then I want you to understand everything is a miracle. How does a seed change mud into a lotus? How does a piece of bread become your blood? Your knowing how does not change anything, it is still a miracle.

You see kids; they take nothing for granted; they see everything as new; today's sunrise is today's sunrise for them , not yesterday's.

An enlightened Master had stomach trouble, and his doctor told him to take the same diet every day. He had no problem. But the disciple cooking for him got fed up. Master said: I don't eat the same food. How can I do that? How can I eat the same food every day? I eat different food every day. We label things, we take them for granted.

Like the master, for a gild every thing is new every time it looks at it. A child never waits for your answer, they are not bothered about your answer, they keep asking new questions. Either we try to shut them up or try to make them intellectuals. By questioning they explain to you that they are growing. They don't want you to answer. They don't take things for granted; they don't take people for granted; they don't take situations for granted. When they look at things they do not verbalize. When you at a rose you start associating it with your memories, you don't see the real rose in front of you. By verbalizing you miss reality. Only children see reality.

Freud says: all your thinking is association. If you see a dog in the street, you start thinking about all the dogs you have seen from childhood. Then you remember your childhood, you remember a teacher when you were a child. There is no logical connection. When you start verbalizing you miss reality. Every day sun rises; every day sun sets; every day something new happens. To you it's one more Friday, one more Saturday , one more Sunday. What do you know? The moment you label it as Friday, you think you know everything about that day. You just take it for granted. Because you take people for granted you don't enjoy your relationships. You judge people first and collect arguments to support your judgment. You can never step into the same river twice, because by that time the river has moved. People also move, they change, they are not the same as who you met before. By the time you meet them again your husband or wife has changed; something is added to them; either intelligence or foolishness. But you don't agree. You hold on to the same mental set up.

Sushruta wrote 5000 years ago. He talks about open heart surgeries and transplants. A great enlightened Master. Every six months your liver replaces itself completely. Not even one part is same. Once in 21 days your intestine replaces itself. Modern day physiologists agree. Every cell is replaced continuously.

Sushruta says: your mental structure plays a major role when these changes take place. A disciple asks him: why do we carry diseases over a number of years? Why does the new liver carry the same disease? Sushruta replies: You don't believe you have changed. You carry the same mental frame. That mental frame retains the disease. You don't let go that frame, you don't let go that disease. You don't let go your samskara. Samsakara is the powerful mental root, that drags you to travel the same path. Like Pavlov's dog who came running and salivated even when no food was served but the bell was rung. Whenever you remember that past situation or person you react the same was, you move in the same rut. In the morning you worry about office, by evening you worry about you wife and children , unconsciously. The mood remains low even if you do not realize why. You do not live based on intelligence, you live based on information. Ability to respond spontaneously is responsibility. Responsibility is not name and fame or status. Only those who have spontaneity can survive in this world. You may have had education, money yet you may not be successful. Intelligence is not based on information that yu have or receive. That's only intellect, Intelligence is about how you can let go, be spontaneous, be without prejudice. It is not the totality of your experiences, it is the lessons learnt from experiences; difference between anubhava, experience and anubhuti intelligence, which are the lessons from anubhava. You do not need to touch many different types of fire, from a match stick to a blazing fire, to know that fire burns; even one will do. You need the lesson of just one experience. But we trust only experience, not intelligence. Our entire education system is based on evaluation of information, not intelligence; only intellect and verbalization, not visualization. When you try to move on information you lose the ability to be intelligent. If you are logically logical you will understand that logic itself is not logical. Life is not logical.

Day by day you underestimate yourself, because you underestimate others. Past is always a golden past. There was never a golden past. Hinduism says there was a Satya yuga; Christianity says there was an age of Adam and Eve; all these are only ideas; ideas you escape from the present. They also give hope for the future; The gods will come down to redeem you. They give you these ideas about the past and present to escape. You do not want to live in the present, that's why you wish always to escape to the past and future. These ideas about yourself that you do not let go, which is your ego, which are not true, all these false experiences, which are not real, you miss reality. When you kiss reality you feel nothing is a miracle. You take everything for granted.

There are so many miracles happening to you every day. You remember some one, he appears; you remember some one's name, she calls you. You remember an event at a party, that event happens. We call these coincidences. There is nothing called coincidence. They are the miracles. When you do not take everything for granted everything is a miracle. That you are alive is a miracle. Thousands of miracles keep happening within you.

If some one complains that he can not change, I say change is your nature, I am surprised that you are holding on to the same character. Let go and you will change. Your body is changing. Your mind is changing. You are becoming more mature. You just have to let go, relax, allow yourself to change. Existence will change you. Life will change you. Trust yourself and relax. When they don't listen and insist I give them advice to confuse them. If you let it, your heart will transform you. The air you inhale and exhale will potentially change you. If your body, which is so gross and matter can change, don't you think your mind which is subtle and energy can not change. If you trust your intelligence you will be transformed immediately. You will be enlightened when you drop your mental setup, like dropping a fire pot. But you can not believe so easily.

You say give me a technique. It's so difficult. The word difficulty is the greatest difficulty. When you know fire burns drop the fire. Where is the difficulty? Be a little more intelligent. Drop what hurts. When you understand that the mental setup causes you trouble drop it. You will then transform your being.

You ask, how will I survive if I drop? The seed always wonders what will I do if I break? Unless it breaks the plan can not grow. Trust and open, trust and break, you will grow. If you make mistakes its worth making mistakes. Perfectionism is madness. The more you are far from perfect the more God has grace for you. Search for perfection is search for madness. Graveyard is the perfectly secure place. But it's not the place to live; it is only for the dead. A ship is secure in the harbor, but it has to move out to function.

As you move from ego to spontaneity you will undergo pain, transition, that's your penance, your tapas; that's the price you pay for a better life. Everything will be a miracle. When you take life for granted, boredom and depression result. You seek to acquire not to enjoy. You can increase the height of your bed not the depth of your sleep.

Meditations is the key to spontaneity. Living moment to moment, in the present, without worrying about past and present is meditation. It's a quality to be added to your life, not a quantity to be added to your life.

A zen master is sentenced to death by his king. He is unconcerned. Disciples ask are you not bothered you are going to die tomorrow. He says , how can I worry about a day later, even the next moment is a new miracle for me.

When you live in the present all your fantasies drop, all your fears drop. If result is exciting you call it a miracle; if you do not like the result you call it a coincidence if it's average you call it an incident.

When your ego is rooted in one place it does not get rejuvenated. If some one is always worrying he is centered in his navel chakra; if he begs attention he is rooted in his heart. These centers do not rejuvenate. It is important you get derooted so that you can grow. Meditation practices are needed to remove these roots and blockages so that you can let go and grow.

Do not keep track of what you have undergone. It's better to let go and grow without worrying about what happens. Enlightenment is not a step by step growth, it is a quantum phenomenon.

Awakening the kundalini can be done by many methods, but handling the kundalini is like handling a snake. It is dangerous. It is better to work on awakening your intelligence.