Know breath, know life

Columns by Sri Sri Ravishankar

One of the acharyas of Ayurveda has said, ‘‘Rase sidhe karishyami nirdaridryam idam jagath which means ‘‘I am giving this knowledge of Ayurveda to take away suffering from the world’’. So, the approach of Ayurveda towards life is wholistic.

Life has four characteristics, it exists, evolves, expresses and extinguishes. For this, it depends on five elements: the earth, water, air, ether and fire. To make it easier to understand we can bring in the five senses and its objects: sight, smell, taste, sound and touch. The study of life is Ayurveda (‘Ved’ means to know, ‘Ayur’ is life).

According to Ayurveda, life or existence is not a rigid compartment, but a harmonious flow. Even these five elements of which the whole universe is made of, are not tight compartments of defined objects. They flow into one another. Each one of the elements contains the other four.

The subtlest in us is space, which the mind is made up of, and the gross is the earth element, which our bones and marrows, and the skin and the structure is made of. This is further divided into three Doshas — Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

It is a way to understand the physiology, its characteristics and its reflection on the mind.

When an illness arises, it comes first in the thought form, the subtlest aspect, then the sound form, and then the light form, that is, in the aura. It is only then that the illness manifests in the body. Simple symptoms arise in the fluid form, which can be irradicated, and then it manifests in the most gross form, where it needs medication.

In treatments such as aromatherapy, an illness can be cured just through fragrance. It is mostly focussed on the preventive aspect. The holistic approach of Ayurveda includes exercise, breathing and meditation. It is very interesting to notice the relationship between breath and the different Doshas in the body, namely Vata, Pitta and Kapha. These three Doshas affect certain parts of the body more than the other parts.

For example, Vata Dosha is predominant in the lower part of the body — stomach, intestine, etc. Diseases like gastric problems and joint aches are caused due to the Vata imbalance. Kapha dosha is predominant in the middle part of the body. Cough is mainly a result of Kapha imbalance. (Perhaps the word cough has come from the sanskrit word Kapha). And Pitta, affects the upper part of the body ie, the head. Short temper is a sign of Pitta.

Yoga, or breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya (The Art Of Living Healing Breath Technique) and the three-stage pranayama (channelising Prana or life force to different parts of the body) have an effect on these three Doshas.

Among different pranayama and other breathing techniques, there are specific breathing exercises for the lower, middle and the upper parts of the body which help bring balance to the respective areas.

How do we bring good health to our system? First, by attending to the ether element — the mind. If your mind is bogged with too many impressions and thoughts, and it is draining you of your resistance power, that is where it is preparing your body for some illness. If the mind is clear, calm, meditative, and pleasant, the resistance in the body would increase. Because it would not allow an illness to come into the body.

The first remedy is calming the mind, coming from the subtlest aspect of creation, the ether. And then comes the air element, the breathing. Aromatherapy, etc comes in this category. Next is the light element; here comes the colour therapy. Before an illness manifests in the body you can see that in the aura of a person. And by energising our system with the prana or life energy one can clear the aura and prevent the illness.

That is what yoga does. The purpose of yoga is, ‘‘stopping the sorrow before it arises’’. To burn the seed of sorrow before it sprouts. And then comes the water element.

Fasting with water or purifying the system with water can bring a lot of balance in the system. And the final recourse is different medicinal herbs, medicines, and surgery. All this comes when everything else fails or when we neglect these other steps.

Our breath holds a lot of secrets because, for every emotion in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath. And each rhythm affects certain parts of the body, physically. You only need to observe it to feel it. For instance, we feel a sense of expansion when we are happy and a sense of contraction when miserable. Though we feel that happiness or misery and the sensation, we fail to notice the connection.

Knowledge is knowing that which expands. What is that? This knowledge, this enquiry is the study of consciousness, is the study of life, that is the study of prana, the study of Ayurveda. Have you ever counted how many times you breathe in a minute? Breathing is the first act of life and it’s the last act of life. In between, the whole life we are breathing in and out, but not attending to the breath.

Ninety percent of the impurities in the body go out through the breath because we are breathing twenty-four hours a day. However, we are using only thirty percent of our lung capacity. We are not breathing enough.

See, the mind is like a kite and the breath, a thread. For the mind to go high the breath needs to be longer. You don’t have to take Prozac if you can attend to the breath.

In one minute we breathe nearly sixteen to seventeen times.

If you are upset it may go up to twenty, if you are extremely tense and angry, it could total twenty-five per minute. Ten if you are very calm and happy, two to three breaths if you are in meditation. Deep meditation can reduce the number of breaths you take.

If you observe an infant, you will be amazed at how balanced they breathe. They breathe from all the three sections of the body. As they breathe in their belly comes out, as they breathe out their belly moves in. But the more nervous and tense you are, you will do the reverse. When you breathe out your tummy will come out and when you breathe in, it goes in.

These things, you don’t have to go to a school or learn from anybody if you have the sharpness of mind. But our mind is so preoccupied with so many things, so many judgements, so many opinions, and so many impressions in the mind so we are unable to observe, perceive the refined things in nature.

So we need to study. The yoga asanas are something which everyone has done as a child. Have you seen a six month old baby lying on its back with its legs up. And it kicks its legs and head also up, almost like what you do with the ab (abdominal) machine. Then it goes on its back and does the ‘cobra’ posture in yoga. And if you observe a sleeping child, its thumb and the index finger slightly touch, a formation which is the ‘Chin mudra’.

Or go to a zoo and observe the monkeys. Even they do many of the asanas to keep themselves healthy. So these are the things that coordinate body, breath, mind and spirit. And Ayurveda attends to this holistic approach. There are so many points in the body which correspond with different sensations but these are reflections of something which is beyond all this. What is that something? That is the source of life.

Health is... Disease-free body/Quiver-free breath/Stress-free mind/Inhibition-free intellect/Obsession-free memory/Ego that includes all/And Soul which is free from sorrow

A perfect life


In a state of ignorance, imperfection is natural and perfection is an effort. In a state of wisdom or enlightenment, imperfection is an effort; perfection is a compulsion and is unavoidable!

Perfection is taking total responsibility, and total responsibility means knowing that you are the only responsible person in the whole world. When you are in total vairagya (dispassion), you can take care of even trivial and insignificant things with such perfection. Perfection is the very nature of the Enlightened one.

Knowledge will be different at different levels of consciousness. At a particular level, you will become anasuya (meaning ‘devoid of fault-finding eyes’. There is a certain mindset that always finds fault, even in the best of conditions. Even with the best possible companion, or the most beautiful painting, such people will still find something wrong. That kind of mindset cannot know the sacred knowledge.

The weaker the devotee, the purer the Guru needs to be. Krishna tells Arjuna that he is giving him the Royal Secret, because he is Anasuya. Similarly, Hanuman never saw any fault in Rama. From a distance, even craters cannot be seen. Even on a smooth surface there will be holes. If you are only interested in the holes, you will not see the magnanimity of things. If you are not in Anasuya, knowledge cannot blossom in you. Then there is no point in giving knowledge.

If you look for imperfection you can see imperfection even in Rama and Krishna. If Krishna had been living today then probably there would have been many court cases filed against him for telling lies, stealing etc! In Buddha’s life you don’t see any imperfection. Buddha lived a pure life not for his own sake but for the sake of the world, for the sake of the devotees.

For an enlightened person, if someone drinks or smokes, nothing will happen to his consciousness. In that state, all that you want is good for everyone, welfare for everyone and happiness on this planet.

In a perfect world, why is man so imperfect? It is so that you can become more perfect. Recognition of imperfections leads you to more perfection. This is a very delicate point. If you recognise imperfection you may just sulk and brood over it — ‘‘Oh, I am imperfect, imperfect and imperfect.’’ Recognise the imperfection in you and overcome it by seeing more perfection.

You have heard this before, that all is God and all is love. But then what is the purpose of life? If everything is God then where is life heading to? Life is heading towards perfection, isn’t it? We want perfection. There are three kinds of perfection: Perfection in action/work (kriya), perfection in speech (vachan), perfection in feelings/intention (bhaav).

Some people may be very good in their actions but inside they feel very grumpy and angry. Some may lie — ie, their speech is not perfect but they do their jobs right or they feel right. A doctor may tell a patient, ‘‘Don’t worry, your disease will be cured’’, but that may not be true. At times, the intention behind lying is perfect. For example a child asks his mother where his baby brother came from, the mother replies that she bought the baby. The mother’s intentions behind lying is perfect. If someone lies intentionally then the feeling is imperfect, the speech is imperfect and the action will also reflect the same.

Suppose someone makes a mistake and when you look at the mistake you get angry. Then you are no better than the person who has made the mistake, because there the action was imperfect, but here your feelings have become imperfect. Any action will have some flaw. But when the feeling becomes imperfect then it stays for a longer period. The innermost perfection is lost.

Many people who fight for human rights are fighting for a cause but inside, they get angry. Anger is as bad as lust and jealousy is no better than anger. From all these six imperfections (lust, anger, greed, entanglement, arrogance and jealousy) you think one is better than the other, but they are not.

Sadhana helps you maintain your centredness and not be shaken by small events. When someone screams at you, their speech is imperfect but don’t assume that their feeling is also imperfect. Don’t see an intention behind other peoples’ mistakes as then, the mind brings in more impurity.

That’s also Vikara, the distortion. Prakriti and Vikriti; the whole creation is made up of nature and distortion of nature. Anger or jealousy is not our nature. It is distortion of our nature. They are part of this creation but we still call them distortions, because they do not allow the Self to shine forth fully. And this is what sin is. Sin is not your nature and you are not born out of sin. Sin is just the wrinkle in the cloth. It needs proper ironing.

Lust is considered a sin because in lust, you treat the other person like an object. But in love, you see them as someone higher. Anger is a sin because when you are angry you lose your centre, you lose sight of the self. In guilt, you are limiting the small mind to an action that has already happened.

Be thankful that you have been bestowed with the qualities that you have because it is not of your own making. And these qualities depend on the part that you have been given to play. When you understand this basic truth, then your inner perfection becomes stable. It is said by some psychologists that ‘‘Deep inside you there is fear, guilt and anger.’’ These psychologists know nothing about the mind or consciousness. I tell you that deep inside, you are a fountain of bliss, a fountain of joy!

Jesus got angry twice. He threw people out of the church and shouted in anger. Krishna once broke his own promise. He had vowed that he would not take up a weapon in his hand during the Mahabharata war. But when it became impossible to conquer Bhishma, he picked up his weapon, the Sudarshan Chakra.

The peak of every emotion, every sensation leads you to blossoming, to the innermost perfection. Don’t look for perfection just in actions. You name any action and I’ll show you that there is a flaw in that action. Even when you give alms or charity, you are bringing down the self-respect of the receiver. But perfection in feeling is possible. Perfection in speech is possible to a great extent and to a greater extent, perfection in action is also possible.

Even if the Vikritis come in your way, don’t give them too much importance for they are like the wrinkles in a cloth. If you give importance to somebody’s anger, greed or lust, then it’s not only in them but at some point of time it takes a permanent place in your mind.

For example, an animal has sex and after that it doesn’t think about it till the next season. But a man keeps on thinking about it in his mind. This is what Krishna says in the Gita on several occasions; ‘‘What has happened to your mind? If you nourish these Vikaras inside you they change from one impurity to another and keep multiplying inside you. Relax and know that you are not the doer.’’

See this whole thing as a drama. That is the only way you can remain in your centre.


Secrets of life


Deepening the mystery of creation is science. Deepening the mystery of the self is spirituality

The purpose of technology is to comfort human beings. When spiritual values - human values - are ignored and neglected, instead of bringing comfort, technology brings fear and destruction.

Technology without human values would see nature as a dead object. Science gives an insight into the life of nature and spirituality makes nature come alive. For example, in the eyes of children, there is nothing dead in the world animals, trees, the sun and the moon they all have life, emotions, feelings; but in the eyes of a stressed and ignorant person, even human beings are like robots objects!

Technology without spirituality is destructive. Spirituality is the technology of consciousness, and the whole world is the play and display of consciousness. One who is not amazed by the magnificence of this creation, his eyes are not yet opened.

Tell me, what in this creation is not a mystery? Birth is a mystery; death is a mystery. Then, life is certainly a greater mystery.

Being completely immersed in the mystery of life and this creation is samadhi. Your knowing or believing doesn't really matter.

This creation is an unfathomable secret! A wise person makes no effort to conceal a secret. But he does not make an effort to reveal a secret either. For example, you do not talk about menstruation, death, etc. to a five-year-old, but as they grow older these things are not hidden from them any more. They become known as a matter of course.

There are five secrets which are sacred and guarded by the subtle beings and angels in this creation. They are:

Janana Rahasya (the secret of birth): Birth is a secret. How a soul takes a body, the criteria for selecting the place of birth, time of birth, type of body, parents, etc are all a secret.

Marana Rahasya (the secret of death): Death is a highly guarded secret. Death remains a mystery. The process of separation of spirit from matter and its journey from then on is a secret.

Raja Rahasya (the royal secret, the secret of ruling): The principles of governing; the principles of maintaining the orderliness in creation are a secret.

Prakriti Rahasya (the secret of nature): Nature is a mystery. The more you know about nature, the mystery deepens. The more a scientist knows, the more he feels there is much more to know. Science, though appearing to resolve the mystery in creation, has deepened it. The knowledge of particles, wave functions, black holes, the vacuum state, etc have only deepened the mystery.

Mantra Rahasya (the secret of mantras): The mantras and their effect, influence, method and mode of working are all a mystery.

Mantras are the impulses or rhythms of consciousness, which itself is a mystery.

Usually in the West, a secret is shameful and dishonest. But in the East, it is honoured and regarded as sacred. Mysteries of the creation only deepen. Getting steeped in mystery is Devotion. Deepening the mystery of creation is science. Deepening the mystery of the self is spirituality. They are the two sides of the same coin. If neither science nor spirituality can create wonder and devotion in you, then you are in deep slumber.

Whenever you consider a symbol, place, time, person or act as sacred, your attention is undivided and whole. When things are the same, you tend to slip into unawareness and inertia. Then why does an act when performed repeatedly lose its sacredness? This happens when your memory overpowers your consciousness and you lose your sensitivity. For example, people living in Benares do not feel that it is a sacred place. Through living in the present moment and through sadhana we can preserve that feeling of sacredness in our acts.

There is a pleasure in rest and there is a pleasure in activity. The pleasure in activity is momentary and causes fatigue. The pleasure in rest is magnanimous and energising. So, to the one who has tasted pleasure in rest (samadhi), the pleasure in activity is insignificant. In order to have deep rest, one must be active. The proper balance of both is essential.

The mind

Let us examine the five factors that influence the mind: place, time, food, past impressions, and associations and actions.

Space: The place you are in. Every place you are in, has a different impact on the mind. Even in your house, you can see that you feel different in different rooms. A place where there there has been singing, chanting and meditation has a different influence on the mind. Suppose you like a particular place, you may find that a little later it will not be the same.

Time: Time is also a factor. Different times of the day and year have different influences on the mind.

Different types of food that you take influence you for some days.

The past impressions , the Karmas have a different impact on the mind. Awareness, alertness, knowledge and meditation all help erase the past impressions.

Associations and actions: The people and events you are associated with influence your mind. In certain company your mind behaves in one way and with others in a different way.

Though these five factors influence the life and the mind, know that the self is much more powerful. As you grow in knowledge, you will influence them all.

Restlessness

Now let us examine the types of restlessness and its remedies. There are five types of restlessness:

The first is due to the place you are in. When you move away from that place, the street or the house, you immediately feel better. Chanting, singing, children playing and laughing can change this atmospheric restlessness. If you chant and sing, the vibration in the place changes.

The second type of restlessness is in the body. Eating the wrong food or vata aggravating food, eating at odd times, not exercising, and overworking can all cause a physical restlessness. The remedy for this is exercise, moderation in work habits and going on a vegetable or juice diet for one or two days.

The third type of restlessness is mental restlessness. It is caused by ambition, strong thoughts, likes or dislikes. Knowledge alone can cure this restlessness. Seeing life from a broader perspective, knowledge about the Self and the impermanence of everything. If you achieve everything, so what? After your achievement, you will die. Knowledge of your death or life, confidence in the Self, in the Divine, can all calm down the mental restlessness.

Then there is emotional restlessness. Any amount of knowledge does not help here. Sudarshan Kriya helps! All that emotional restlessness vanishes. Also the presence of the Guru, a wise person, or a saint will help to calm your emotional restlessness.

The fifth type of restlessness is rare. It is the restlessness of the soul. When everything feels empty and meaningless, know you are very fortunate. Do not try to get rid of it. Embrace it! This restlessness of the soul alone can bring authentic prayer in you. It brings perfection, Siddhis and miracles in life. It is so precious to get that innermost longing for the Divine. Satsang, the presence of the enlightened one, soothes the restlessness of the soul. Do not look for the Divine somewhere in the sky, but see God in every pair of eyes, in the mountains, water, trees and animals. How? Only when you see God in yourself. Only Gods can worship Gods.
Heightened awareness brings you close to the reality. And for this, you have to increase your prana. This can be done through: 1. Fasting, fresh food 2. Pranayamas, Sudarshan Kriya, meditation 3. Silence 4. Cold water baths 5. Not letting sleep take over 6. Emotional peaks 7. Presence of the Master 8. Singing and chanting 9. Giving without a givership, service without a doership

All of these together is Yagya.

When you have reverence for the whole universe, you are in harmony with the whole universe. Then, you do not need to reject or renounce anything of this universe. When you have reverence in all your relationships, your own consciousness expands. Then even small things appear to be significant and big. Every little creature appears to be dignified. It is the reverence in every relationship that saves the relationship. Cultivate the skill of having reverence every moment in your life.


More than words


Wisdom is beyond words. It is the very Being. It is the essence of all words. See and relate beyond words. Then there is no lie in your life. We attach meaning to words and we distort them, too. If you manipulate words, it is a lie/If you play on words, it is a joke/If you rely on words, it is ignorance/If you transcend words, it is wisdom. Let’s examine few words which have changed their meaning in the course of time.

BRAINWASHING, Disillusionment, purana: Take, for example, the word ‘brainwashing’. Like your body, your brain needs washing sometimes. You don’t want to walk around with a dirty brain, a dirty mind. What is wrong with the word ‘brainwashing’? It indicates a clean brain, a clean mind, but it is used in a derogatory manner. Like that, the word ‘disillusionment’. It is good that you are disillusioned. You have come to reality. Similarly, the word ‘purana’. It means ‘‘that which is new in the town, the most modern’’. But it is used in the sense of being old.

MERCY: First let us look into the commonly used word ‘mercy’. Mercy indicates lack of intimacy. It Indicates a distance; a lack of belongingness. You don’t have mercy on your near and dear ones. You don’t hear parents say, ‘‘l have mercy on my children’’. You have mercy on those who you think are not yours. Mercy indicates anger, judgement and authority. When you ask for mercy, you are self-centred. You want to be excused from the law of cause and effect. It also indicates lack of courage and valour.
When you know and trust the process of creation, you will simply rejoice. It is the small mind which superimposes its nature on the Divine mind. The Divine is all knowing and all loving; there is no chance for mercy. Do you know I have no mercy? When there is intimacy there is no place for mercy.

FORGIVENESS: Similarly ‘forgiveness’ can never be complete. We struggle, trying to forgive someone else. You know why? When you say I forgive, you think they are the culprits, and when you think someone is a culprit and trying to forgive, however you do it, a little bit of it remains. But when you see with a broad outlook you see the culprit is also a victim, victim of his or her own mind, ignorance, unawareness, unconsciousness. Isn’t it? So compassion arises from within you. But when people cannot understand compassion, then they have to be spoken to in terms of forgiveness.


SOFTNESS, FORCEFULNESS: Certain types of people are soft and their softness comes out of lack of courage and forcefulness. There is yet another type of softness in people and this softness comes out of maturity, magnanimity, and the knowledge of the Self. The people who are soft out of lack of courage suffer a lot. And at sometime or the other they become volatile. Similarly there are two types of forcefulness in people viz aggression or assertiveness. Some people are forceful in an aggressive manner out of weakness, lack of strength, or out of fear. Others are forceful out of care and love, out of compassion.

TOLERANCE: Another word used often is ‘tolerance’. Many people think tolerance is a virtue. Tolerance is a negative term. If you like something you don’t have to tolerate. Tolerance indicates a deep sense of dislike, which can at any time turn into hatred. It indicates a sense of separateness, small mindedness, limitation of consciousness. When you are tolerating, it is a temporary state. Tolerance is a potential volcano. If you are tolerating it means you are holding on.


AUSTERITY: Austerity is often mistaken to be poverty or self-denial. It is neither. Austerity comes out of maturity. It is a sign of social health. Austerity is not against celebration and just vanity is not celebration. Only one who is rich in spirit can practice austerity. Poverty of spirit is vanity. Austerity brings freedom from the pride of vanity. But taking pride in austerity is again a vanity!

Do not make an effort to impress others, or to express yourself. When you come from the self, your expression is perfect and your impression lasts for ages. Ask yourself, ‘‘Are you really your behaviours?’’ No! Don’t mistake this crust for your inside. The ocean becoming the cloud is a secret, but the cloud becoming the ocean is obvious. In the world only a few can notice your inner growth.

In search of bliss


The Divine has given you all the small pleasures in the world, but has kept the bliss to Himself. To get the highest bliss you have to go to Him and Him alone. Don’t be too smart with the Divine and try to fool Him. Most of your prayers and rituals are just attempts to trick the Divine. You try to give the least and get the maximum out of the Divine and He knows. He’s an astute businessman; He will trick you even more. If you go underneath the carpet, He will go underneath the floor.

Be sincere in your attempts. Do not try to outsmart the Divine. Once you get the bliss, then everything else is joyful. Without the bliss, joy in anything in the world will not stay. What type of time do you give the Divine? Usually you give the time that is leftover, when you have nothing else to do, when no guests are coming, there are no parties to go to, no nice movies to watch, no weddings to attend.

This is not quality time. Give quality time to the Divine. It will be rewarded. If your prayers are not answered it is because you have never given quality time. Give Satsang and meditation your highest priority. Give prime time to the Divine. You definitely will be rewarded.

Suppose you go to God, get a boon, and walk away. When your intention is to get a boon, then you are in a hurry. Another person who knows he owns God is not in a hurry for anything. Infinite patience comes up in him. When you know you own God, you are not in a hurry to get something out of God. Your hurry to get something throws you off balance and makes you small.

Have ‘eternal wait’, infinite patience. Then you will realise God belongs to you. Either through awareness or through practice you reach the same spot. The Divinity belongs to you. It’s not like shopping at the supermarket in a hurry and rushing back home. When you see the whole store is at home, you are not in a hurry to shop. You are at ease. To develop patience just observe the thoughts and feelings and don’t regret it.

When you know you are part of the divine plan, you stop demanding. Then you know everything is being done for you. You are taken care of. Usually we do it the other way: we hurry the mind and are slow in our action. Impatience means hurrying the mind; lethargy means slowness in action. Patience in the mind and dynamism in action is the right formula.

The Divine does not test you. Testing is part of ignorance. Who will test? One who does not know will test, isn’t it? God knows your capacity, so why does he have to test you? Then, why the misery? It is to bring out thithiksha, or forbearance, in you. And forbearance could be increased by prayerful surrender or vigorous challenge for patience!

Strange are the ways of karma. The more you understand it, the more amazed you become. It brings people together and separates them. It causes some to be weak and some to be strong. It makes some rich and some poor. All the struggle in the world, whatever it may be, is the bondage of karma. It cuts across all logic and reasoning. This understanding will lift you from getting stuck to the events or personalities and help you in your journey to the Self.

You may think that a thief can say it is my karma to steal? Then the police have the karma to catch him too! Only human life has the ability to be free from karma. And only a few thousands aim to be free from it. Only through Grace can the bondage of karma be burnt. Performing actions cannot eliminate karma.

Some karma can be changed and some cannot. When you prepare halwa, if the sugar or the ghee used is less than required, or if the water is more or less than is needed, it can all be adjusted, repaired. But once soji is cooked, it cannot be reversed. If the buttermilk is sour, milk can be added, salt can be added to make it drinkable. But it can never be reversed back to milk.

Prarabdha karma cannot be changed. Sanchitha karma can be changed by spiritual practices. Satsang burns the seed of all negative karma. When you praise someone, you take on their good karma. When you blame someone you take on their bad karma. Know this and surrender both good and bad karma to the Divine and be free.

Attachments cause feverish breath and feverish breath takes away peace of mind. Then you are in pieces and fall prey to misery. Before you get scattered too much, gather yourself and rid your breath of the feverishness through surrender and sadhana. Unfortunately, most people do not notice this until it is too late.

When someone is drowning in the ocean of attachments, surrender is the life jacket they can put on and wait for the rescue team. Without fighting the attachments, observe the feverish breath and go to the cool place of silence within. Your first step in this direction is directing your attachment to the Knowledge, to the Divine. Your non-attachment to the mundane is your charm. Your attachment to the Divine is your beauty.

There are three things: the Self, the senses, and the object, or the world. And there are three words: sukha, pleasure; dukha, sorrow; and sakha, companion. These have one thing in common: kha, which means ‘senses’.
The Self through the senses experiences the world. When the senses are with the Self, that is pleasure (sukha), because the Self is the source of all joy or pleasure. When the senses are away from the Self (dukha) in the mud, lost in the object that is misery.

Self is the nature of joy. In any pleasant experience, you close your eyes; you smell a nice flower, or you taste or touch something. So sukha is that which takes you to the Self. Dukha is that which takes you away from the Self. Sorrow simply means that you are caught up in the object, which goes on changing, instead of focussing on the Self.

All the sense objects are just a diving board to take you back to the Self. Sa-kha, companion, means: ‘‘He is the senses’’. Sakha is one who has become your senses, who is your senses. If you are my senses, it means I get knowledge through you; you are my sixth sense. As I trust my mind, so I trust you. A friend could be just an object of the senses, but a sakha has become the very senses. The sakha is the companion who is there in both the experiences of the dukha and of sukha. It means one who leads you back to the Self. If you are stuck in an object, that wisdom which pulls you back to the Self is sakha.

Knowledge is your companion and your companion is Knowledge. And the Master is nothing but the embodiment of Knowledge. So sakha means, ‘‘He is my senses, I see the world through that wisdom, through Him.’’

Knowledge has an end. Knowledge completes. So also does discipleship. For the disciple is aimed at acquiring Knowledge. Once you cross the water, however nice the boat is, you get off the boat. After twelve years, the disciple completes his studies. The master does a ceremony called Samavartha, where he tells the disciple that he is ending the discipleship and asking him to behave at par with him, and let the Brahman dynamically manifest.

Sakha is a companion in life and death; it never ends. In the path of love there is neither beginning nor end. Sakha only wants the beloved. He doesn’t care about the Knowledge or liberation. Love is incomplete because of longing. And so it is infinite, for infinity can never be complete. Arjuna was a sakha to Krishna and although Krishna was the perfect Master he was a sakha, too. If your sense is the Divine, then you see the whole world through the Divinity.

Your head will be in the mud in a few years; Don’t put mud in your head while you are still alive. If you follow fun, misery follows you; If you follow knowledge, fun follows you!



Know yourself, know God


What is God?

What is not God? What is the definition of God, if there is one? The moment you define by a word you already have a concept about it. What do you think is God? You describe it as that which is everywhere; which is all-powerful; which is responsible for this creation, for its maintenance, and for its dissolution; which is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient.

You say ‘‘I want to see God’’ and when you want to see God as something, as an object, then it’s not everywhere. The moment you see God, there is a distance between you and God; then you are not God. You want to see God, and this wanting to see God as separate from you is again an illusion; and if you are seeing God, then God is not omnipresent!

Like love is felt in the heart, so is God’s presence. You cannot see air, but you simply feel the air. You cannot see heat or cold, but you just feel it. So in the same way God cannot be seen. If you see God, then He is outside there; He is away from you and isolated. God is never an object of isolation. God is the sum total. When you dissolve, God remains. When you are there, there is no God. Either you can be there, or God can be there, not both. So when you meditate, you become one with God. You are God. That is why, it is said, ‘Tatvamasi’, meaning, ‘‘Thou art that’’.

So, God is to be felt in the depth of your heart. In deep meditation when your mind is still, calm, hollow and empty, you suddenly feel, ‘‘I am not there. There is only one big existence.’’ So, don’t worry about God. First know yourself then you also know what is God, almost simultaneously.

Who are you? Do you know about yourself? Just find out about yourself first. If you think you are just the body, it is not possible, because body has its limitations. If you think you are the mind, that’s also not possible because mind has its limitation, it’s another layer. If you know that you are Silence or you are Space, then it is possible; God is also Space. Space is God. Can you see space separately? There are three types of space:

Bhootha Aakash — Outer space in which all this universe is hanging. Chitta Aakash — In your mind, there is a world with impressions, thoughts, dreams; you live in that world, all the visions come in your mind. Chida Aakash — It’s the sky of consciousness that is all permeating; the consciousness, the basis of all creation, that is Divine, that all knows.

Lord Rama himself had asked a question once. He was curious to see so much love, devotion and dedication in Hanuman that he wondered and asked Hanuman what it felt like being Hanuman? Hanuman told Rama — ‘‘When I am in body Consciousness, I am your servant; when I think I am an individual — I am in Soul Consciousness, I am a part of you; and when I am in my being Consciousness, when I am in my self then I am you; there is no difference between me and you.’’ It’s the same when somebody blames your child; you take the blame don’t you? There is so much oneness; in fact, there is really nothing other than God. God is that which is present everywhere, all the time.

Don’t worry too much about philosophy or descriptions of Atma (self) — Paramatma (God). Let’s forget about God and observe this moment; this moment has a mind of its own. The whole existence has a mind of its own. Like you have a mind and it has such intelligence, that’s why it keeps everything orderly. Similarly, this moment is seen by this mind.

This mind you can call it Atma or God and that is what you are. Yesterday is not here right now, tomorrow is not here but the present is here, now! Respect this moment, adore this moment. See, this moment is not flat; it’s very deep. When you accept from the head, you can have the horizontal idea; from the heart you experience the depth; and both together bring true wisdom and knowledge.

What is God and what is Self? The one beyond Self is God; first reach till the Self at least. The difference between Self and God is just like the Wave and the Ocean. Can there be a wave without the ocean? Space is everywhere; everything is in space. You take all things out from a box, empty it yet something remains still; the space remains as space, can anything touch the space? Can anything destroy space?

You cannot make God an object of your sight. If you make it then it is no more God. You can live God, can be God, but you cannot see or perceive God as an object which gives you the path. As you move into the spiritual dimension of your life, you will come to know your true nature. In ancient India they said, ‘Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’.

Satyam (Truth)

When you feel the truth strongly, energy arises. Suppose someone accuses you of stealing a car. You become upset and say, ‘‘No! I have not stolen anything!’’ What is happening to you? A huge force of energy is coming up. When You say, ‘‘How dare you say that?’ truth is coming up to confront a lie. Only when a lie confronts you, does truth come up so strongly. When you see that everything is changing, something inside you stands up and says, ‘‘No! I am not changing.’’ That force within you is truth; it’s always there.

Shivam (Infinity; that which is comforting)

Comfort comes from consciousness and is experienced by consciousness. When the consciousness relaxes itself to some degree that is called comfort. If you have worked all day until you are very tired and you lay down in bed and take a deep breath, there is a sense of your whole consciousness expanding in some manner. Energy moving in a particular way creates comfort. In the spiritual dimension one’s perception and expression of life changes. The small ‘I’ and ‘mine’ disappear. You see life as a phenomenon. You are here and you are part of the river, the trees, the mountains, and the whole of nature. Such a soothing comfort comes with this knowledge.

Sundaram (Beauty)

God is ever youthful, ever young. To me, God is very naughty; God loves fun! That is why he has created so much fun around, including all the worry and everything else. All the rat race that goes on, that is also fun. Life is fun! Recognising beauty, loving beauty, surrendering to beauty; life can never be dull. As you move into the spiritual dimension of your life, you come to know your true nature — Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram

Head understands head and heart understands heart. Nose can only smell; eye can only see; ears can only hear, ears cannot see. So, heart can feel, isn’t it? We try to put the heart in the head and the head in the heart and it doesn’t seem to work. Your heart feels something is beautiful, head says it is beautiful. We cling on to the word in the mind, we don’t feel it. We repeat the word ‘beautiful’ and it doesn’t seem beautiful.

The same thing goes for love. You talk too much about love, you get stuck in the head and it doesn’t rise in the heart. In silence love emits, radiates. We are not separate. We are all one. I know you all and when you go deep inside you, you know me also. We are not strangers.

When we start listening to our heart then we know that all is one and all is God. GOD stands for Generator, Operator and Destroyer. The present moment has generated; the present moment is operating; and the present moment destroyed the past. So, you are in God and, God is in you...



Combating corruption


The big ‘C’ of corruption can be countered by five more ‘C’s! The first, I would say, is the sense of ‘Connectedness’. A lack of connectedness or sense of belongingness breeds corruption in society. That is why, often, you see people looking for connections, in order to avoid corruption! A sense of belongingness among people, among the community, can root out corruption. That is why corruption is lowest at the village level; but when it comes to urban areas, cities, it’s much more because there is no community sense there — no belongingness.

The second ‘C’ is ‘Courage’. A lack of self-esteem or confidence in one’s own ability is one of the causes of corruption. It is fear, or insecurity in a person that makes one become more corrupt. He then tries to find his security only through money, which doesn’t really happen.

The more money he acquires, the insecurity doesn’t disappear. In fact, he becomes more afraid and more fearful because the money is not earned in a right manner. So the second ‘C’ that we will have to focus on is to create that courage in a person — courage and confidence in one’s ability and in the laws of nature.

Third is an understanding of ‘Cosmology’ — looking at one’s own life in the context of extended space and time. Just take a look at our own life. How long is it? Only 80-100 years! See life in the context of the huge dimension of time. Billions of years have passed since the creation. Our creation, as scientists say, is 50 billion years old. And everything in this creation is recycled. The air we breathe is old, every cell in our body, every atom is old, the oxygen and hydrogen is old!

And this will continue. Seeing life from a different perspective of space and time is what will deepen one’s vision about one’s life. Being corrupt, one amasses a lot of money and puts it in the bank. One can’t spend all that money and then one dies. One’s children inherit the property and then they fight over the inheritance! Seeing life in the context of this huge universe and unfathomable time can broaden one’s vision, can broaden one’s mind and can enrich one’s heart.

The fourth ‘C’, I would say, is ‘Care’ and ‘Compassion’. Care and compassion in society can bring dedication. It is the lack of dedication that causes corruption. The Kumbha Mela in India was attended by a total of 30 million people — nearly 3 million people each day, and there was not a single incidence of violence, theft or robbery!

One night, we were distributing blankets to the poor as it was very cold and I came across a youth, who refused to take a blanket, saying that probably someone else there needed it more! That sense of care and compassion: ‘It doesn’t matter even if I don’t have, somebody needs this more. We have to care for them’. That care and compassion can root out corruption.

The last one I would like to emphasise is a sense of ‘Commitment’ — commitment to contribution. When a person has a goal, a commitment to a higher cause in life, it brings a shift from gaining to giving. In society, if everyone keeps thinking, ‘What can I gain?’ rather than ‘What can I contribute?’ or ‘How can I be useful to the people around me?’, then corruption cannot be rooted out. In society, we need to have this shift in our attitude, from ‘What can I gain?’ to ‘What can I contribute?’

But all this cannot be possible without individual upliftment. Spiritual upliftment. A sense of belongingness with the whole world. Today the globe has become a village. We have globalised everything other than wisdom. And that is one of the causes of terrorism and unrest in the world today. We accept food from every part of the world, we accept music from every part of the world, but when it comes to wisdom, people seem to shy away.

If every child in the world learns a little bit about all cultures, a little bit about all values, the whole scenario will be different. Then one will not think, ‘Only I will go to heaven. Everyone else will go to hell’. This wrong education or lack of education has caused so many problems in the world. A sense of belongingness with the whole world — it doesn’t matter what colour or race you are — is that shared value that we are talking about today.

Even if one pocket in the world remains ignorant of these shared values, common values, the world will not be a safe place. So we need to address these issues with a lot of patience. It is not a job that we can do overnight, but through education and creating that sense of community, through inspiration and example.

Make a subtle distinction between spirituality and religion. Religion is like the banana skin and spirituality is the banana. Spirituality or the common values are the same, in every religion. The differences are only on the surface. and they are good! It’s good to have differences. Nurture the differences and at the same time enliven spiritual values. Then we all get together and make a change. Make a better society.



The creative impulse

It is very important for us to probe into the source of thought. Often we are called great thinkers, but what is a thought? Where does it originate? Is there any way that we can improve the thought process?

Creativity is a hot subject today all over the world. We want to make people very creative. What are the mechanics to make people creative? Why does someone get a violent thought and why does someone get a creative thought? How can someone be a genius and someone not? What does this depend on? Is it the food, is it the exercise or does it depend on any other avenues or arenas?

But, we can create great thinkers. There is a question in front of us today and research is happening around the world about the very process of creativity. Great writers and thinkers have experienced the writer’s block. You would have sometimes experienced that. You sit with a paper and pen in a beautiful place, waiting for something to come... and many times they don’t!

What is the source of creativity? Thought is nothing but an impulse of energy and intelligence. That impulse of energy and intelligence, for it to arise and a correct thought to come, you need 16 impulses to meet at a point in the cerebral cortex at the speed of 10 to the power of minus 30 cycles per second. In that short interval of time, all the 16 impulses in the cerebral cortex, when they meet, is what we call a correct thought. What do we do about it? We need to train our brain, our mind.

Now, as you are reading this, are you fully with it? Now? 100 percent? No! As you are reading, you are having a dialogue in your own mind saying, ‘‘yes, I agree’’ or ‘‘no, that cannot be’’. Are you observing this? We all have a filter in our mind and we listen through this filter and we accept only that we already know. Something, which doesn’t already fall within our belief system, we straightaway filter them out. This tendency in the mind to take things which it already knows and reject that which it doesn’t know, is one of the main blocks of creativity.

The second aspect for creativity is imagination. You will see that every creative person has some imagination. At that moment you will not think whether that is real or not. What appears to be unreal and an imagination in that direction brings creativity. If it is only an imagination, totally disconnected with ground reality then also it falls short of that connection, that transformation, that unreal becomes real. Thomas Edison, once upon a time, dreamt of how to create light. It was purely an imagination.

Similarly, the telephone or plane — all these inventions happened through certain imagination and linking that imagination to the present creativity, present state of ground reality. If you are thinking only of the ground reality then no creativity will come and if you are only on imagination, then too there is no creativity. A balance is needed. See, life is also like that — a balance between our intellect and our heart, or feeling, or intuition. Listening to our gut feeling, developing that intuitive ability within us is another aspect of creativity.

So, when such blocks come into us, there is a way to eliminate them. How? To study our own seven layers of our existence. What are they? I call science as a study of ‘‘what is this’’ and spirituality as a study of ‘‘who am I?’’. They are not at loggerheads at all, they go hand in hand. So study about yourself, your seven layers of existence. What are they? The body, the breath — are you all breathing now? See, many times we are not even aware that we are breathing. That something, which keeps our body alive, we don’t care to look into it. Our breath has great secrets to offer.

Then comes the mind. Mind is perception, observation and expression. Then is the intellect — the judgement, the arguments, the agreement or disagreement that happens within us is all part of our intellect. The memory — if you observe the memory, it stores the memory of unpleasant things much more than the pleasant. We take the insults and preserve it in our memory much more than the pleasant events. This is the nature of memory.

Then comes the ego — the more we study, the more learned we become; we become so stiff. We lose our smile, we lose our innocence, we lose our friendliness. Learned people get a sort of an ego — that I am much better than the other, more learned, I know better than them — this ego of ‘‘I know better’’ takes away certain beautiful things from your life.

One should have a sense of belongingness with everybody, naturalness. Ego dampens one’s personality. Today, what we lack is really good examples of personality. Knowledge is there in all the libraries — but what the books cannot transmit is the personal charisma, the vibration a person emits. The friendly and warm atmosphere a person carries along with him/her.

The seventh layer is the self. Self is that something that is the reference point of all changes in life. We notice that everything is changing in our life — our body, our mind, our thought, our environment, and our behaviour. If everything is changing then how do we know the change? Because there is a reference point, something that doesn’t change, we are able to notice the change. And this reference point, the non-changing something that is in every one of us, I would call the Self. The scriptures would call it atman.

A little bit of knowledge about these seven layers of existence makes a big, big difference in our lives. It brings cheer, freshness, and we become so alive and childlike. If you are cheerful, you will be creative. Otherwise you are so dull. The youth of today don’t want to study more. Why? Because they see the people who are well read, and have become great achievers in the field of literacy, science, they don’t see joy in them, they don’t see them as an example, and they don’t see a warm, friendly environment atmosphere around them. So, I see many youth turn their face away from going into higher studies. This is the situation all over the world today.

We need to bring a scientific philosophy in the youth — and practical philosophy, which is not in the books but shines out in our own personality. In our country what we have really destroyed is the self-esteem in our people. Village boys and girls have zero self-esteem. This is because we have constantly, in many ways, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, drilled into them the idea that they are no good. Wear a pant, shirt, jeans, modern dress, only then you are good, otherwise you are no good — you are much less.

This idea we have been bombarding into their life through the media, through various means. I was telling the director of Doordarshan that we have Hindi newsreaders in a tie and suit — how does a villager relate to this? They think that only if I dress like this will I get respect. We don’t have to copy everything. If you see, our news reading is a copy of BBC or CNN.

We need to bring in creative ideas. We should empower our village youth — bring them self-esteem. Without self-esteem there will be no creativity, without creativity there will be unemployment. The cause of unemployment in the country today is lack of initiative, entrepreneurship and all this is based on low self-esteem. So we need to bring self-esteem in our children.



Breath of life

The world would be free from trouble if there is no love! All the problem in the world is caused by love! So also all the joy, pleasure and the very purpose in life. Do you see what I’m saying? Suppose there is no love, you can’t be jealous; jealousy is because of love. Greed is because you love objects too much. Anger is because you love perfection, that is why you are angry at imperfections. You love yourself too much and that’s why pride and arrogance comes to you. Isn’t it?

So, every distortion of love causes problems not only for ourselves, but for everybody. Even though this is the case, without love what is there in life? Just imagine there’s nobody who loves you on this planet, and you don’t love anybody. Does life have any meaning, any purpose? It appears absolutely depressing, boring, uninteresting, isn’t it so? But, how do we get to that point of love where that love is free from the distortions and we are able to be at ease with ourself?

This is where a little knowledge about ourself, about our mind, our consciousness, and the root of distortion will help. It is when you are tired and exhausted that you are not in touch with your virtues. Every individual is bestowed with all the virtues in the world. They simply get covered by lack of understanding. All that is needed is to just to uncover the virtues that are already there.

Never should we think, ‘‘Oh, deep inside me there is sorrow’’. I say it’s only skin deep, go a little deeper there is no sorrow. You cannot have hurt deep inside you, that only means you have not gone deep enough. That’s why we are unable to forgive somebody because we think that person has caused us hurt. Right? But if you look at the person from a different perspective, that person himself is also a victim of ignorance, small mindedness, lack of awareness. So, inside every culprit there is a victim crying for help. If we can recognise that we don’t need to forgive them, we will feel compassion for them.

When we are happy, something in us is expanding, have you noticed it? And when we are upset, something in us is being crushed, a sense of contraction is felt. Just knowing this brings freedom to us. Then our mind or our consciousness no more becomes a puppet of anybody’s words, opinions or their sayings. It becomes free. We are unconditionally happy.

Each of us should reach out to everyone and say, ‘‘Hey, come on, just be friendly!’’. Do you know that a child smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent only 17 times, and an adult doesn’t smile at all. And that too, if he becomes a little successful, he becomes much more stiff. I can’t understand this! To me, someone who has no fear, who feels at home with everybody and has a smile which no one can take away is a successful person.

From today, make one resolution — that you are going to be a guiding lamp for the world, for the people around you. Wherever you go, you are going to uplift the atmosphere. If someone comes to you with complaints they should go back with a lighter heart, feeling more enthusiastic. Can you all do this?

So, learning something about our breath is very important. Our breath has a great lesson to teach us, which we have forgotten, for every rhythm in the mind, there is a corresponding rhythm in the breath, for every rhythm in the breath there is a corresponding emotion. So, when you cannot handle your mind directly, through breath you can handle the mind.

Neither at school nor at home does anybody teach you what to do when you are upset or angry or depressed. Isn’t that so? The first thing we did when we came to this planet is that we took a deep breath in and then we started to cry. The last thing we’ll be doing, we’ll breathe out and make others cry! In between, the whole life, we are breathing in and out, but, we have learnt very little about our breath! No breath, no life... know breath, know life! The rhythm in breath can help us get in touch with the depth of ourself, our soul, our consciousness, our being and we feel connected with everybody, with everything in the world.

I am sure that deep within you, everyone of you feel that you have not grown, meaning you have not changed, not grown old. This indicates the soul in you, the depth in you, the spirit in you doesn’t change, doesn’t grow old, it’s not aging. The body is aging but something in you is not aging. Getting in touch with that something that doesn’t age, brings beauty in life. That is meditation.

We need to learn a little bit about our breath. We need to know a little bit about all the layers of our existence, viz body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the self. This is what I call Art of Living, learning a little bit about ourself, the seven layers of our life. And that makes you be in the present moment and it helps us to maintain the innocence that we are all born with, and feel at home with everybody, anywhere.

What I would suggest is take one week off every year for yourself, like you take your car for servicing. During that time, align yourself with nature, wake up with the sunrise, do some exercise, eat proper food, just as much food as necessary, some exercises, yoga, and some breathing exercises, a few minutes of singing, and keeping silence, enjoying the creation. Aligning ourself with nature, our whole system gets recharged, makes the whole year, we feel so vibrant, enthusiastic.



Power of love


There is strength in peace. There is strength in calmness. There is strength in love... but it goes unnoticed. What you cannot win with a stick, you can win with love. What you cannot win with guns, you can win through love... and this power of love needs to be realised. The most powerful thing in the world is love! We can win the hearts of people through love.

The victory that comes out of ego is worth nothing. Even if you win in ego, it is a loss. Even if you lose in love, it’s a victory! Making people realise this innermost strength that we all have is the challenge!

You cannot talk about love when a terrorist is at your door, but is there some way in which we can transform the world? Is there any alternative method that can bring sense to people who do not listen to anything, other than force? We can start thinking along these lines only when we realise that there is enormous power in love and inner peace. When we are peaceful, we radiate that peace to the people around us and they also become calm.

In these times of war and disease in the world, it’s so important that we all meditate a little bit everyday. When we meditate, we nullify those vibrations, thereby creating a more harmonious environment around us. I would call war the Worst Act of Reason (WAR). In every war, there is some reason. Sometimes it becomes unavoidable, like an operation. If there is a wound or a cancerous cell in one’s body, we operate. After the operation, the nursing is very essential. We need to nurse that part which has been operated. It’s the same in the world and in the psyche of people; a lot needs to be done to bring peace, love and confidence into hearts and minds.

So our being peaceful in a meditative, prayerful state, will definitely help. Don’t think, ‘‘what can I do?’’ or that you are insignificant, when the world is in a problem. You too have a role to play. Like a tiny homeopathic pill, which has a 1/100th, or 1/1000th potency, makes an impact on a body, which is sixty to seventy kilos! In the same way, every individual — everyone who is breathing, talking, walking, thinking — has an influence on this cosmos, on this planet. So we can all radiate peace, good thoughts, good vibrations, good wishes and that will definitely make an impact on the planet.

I’ve seen this over and over again. When there is a conflict and you interact with both the groups engaged in the conflict, they soften up! When communication breaks down, it causes turbulence, which in turn causes stiffness and rigidity, but when you re-establish communication through love, through peaceful means, through patience — it does yield.

One thing that is absolutely essential to avoid such fanaticism or religious terrorism in the world is a multi-cultural, multi-religious education for children. It is because a child grows up thinking that other religions or cultures are bad or no good, that he/she is ready to give up his/her life for that cause; but when a child grows up knowing a little bit about all other religions, cultures and customs, then there is a sense of belonging with everybody.

So, whether a culture or a religion is rightly or wrongly used to divide people, it is not good. We need to unite the world, the hearts and the minds! Where is it that we can all unite? That is the meditative state that we are all born with — the simplicity that we are gifted with. So, I feel that when every child in the world learns a little bit about every other religion, the child will not have inhibitions or hatred towards other religions or cultures.

See, we accept food from every part of the world. We accept music from every part of the world. You don’t need to be Chinese in order to eat Chinese food! You don’t need to be an Italian to go to Pizzeria and eat pizzas, nor a Danish to eat Danish cookies! One doesn’t have to be an Indian to listen to bhajans or sitar music! Similarly, we need to learn to accept knowledge and wisdom from every part, and this is what has been lacking in the world.

We need to drive home this message because even if one part of the world is not adopting this idea, the world will not be a safe place as that little part or corner can breed terrorism. I would say you should take up a two-point programme — doing a little service in groups and/or as individuals, educating people on human values, friendliness, compassion, non-violence, non-aggression... Aggression has even come into the lives of children. There is a beauty in non-violence; there is a beauty in non-aggressive behaviour, which has unfortunately not been highlighted, either by our media or by our surroundings.

This is happening everywhere in the world. Children take pride in being violent. If they lose their temper, they feel that it’s normal — they take pride in it. One who is very aggressive in the classroom, gets more attention than one who is peaceful, isn’t it? So children grow up feeling, ‘‘If I am aggressive, then I have my say’’.

We need to bring back the pride in being non-violent. If we could instill that pride in being non-violent, in children, their whole life will take a new direction. A pride in being compassionate, a pride in being available and helpful to others around us should be our new motto.

I think we need to do something to bring back those human values in society and smile more! You look at a teenager or a boy or girl who goes to college — do they really smile? See the heaviness in their faces, the heaviness in their hearts. A child is so happy — walking, moving, jumping around and then that same child goes through college to become so sad, upset and depressed! Is this the purpose of our education?

You know, sometimes I feel like shaking everybody, ‘‘Aye! Come On! Smile!’’. I read some research recently that a child, a baby, smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent only 17 times and an adult doesn’t smile at all! If you smile, do you think something might be robbed from you! What is it that you lose? When you smile, others get and you don’t lose anything! We need to smile more! At least give yourself a big smile when you wake up every morning and look in the mirror!

Only a few people in the world cause terror, not the whole population. Of the six billion people on this planet, there’ll be a handful who are causing problems in the world. There are hardly a few thousand who cause crime and the whole world is affected. Don’t you think that with the same law, the reverse will also work? Just a few of us, a few thousand of us, being really peaceful and loving, caring for the whole planet — can we not bring a transformation?

When you point a finger at others, three fingers are pointing towards you! So if I say, ‘‘You are beautiful!’’ that means I am three times more beautiful! If I say, ‘‘You are ugly!’’ I am three times more ugly; but when I include you into me, then there is no you and there is no me. Then there is only one — that is ultimate victory!

Life is so short! We’ll all live another 20-30 years and then one day, everybody will be dead and gone! But we cry for what we have and we’re upset about what we don’t have, isn’t it? Is it worth living life like that? We ourselves get depressed and then depress everybody around us! We need to shake ourselves up! Wake up! And when we wake up from this slumber, then we have peace in our hearts and we can radiate that peace and love around us.



God for the disbeliever’s soul


You have always thought of God as a father, up in the heavens somewhere. But can you see God as a child? When you see God as a father, you will want to demand and take from Him. But when you see God as a child, you have no demands.

God is the very core of your existence. You are pregnant with God. You have to take care of your pregnancy and deliver this Child into the world. God is your child who clings onto you like a baby till you grow old and die. This child clings on to you crying for nourishment. Sadhana, Satsang and Seva are the nourishment.

It is difficult to see God as formless and it is difficult to see God as form. The formless is so abstract and God in a form appears to be too limited. So some people prefer to be atheists.

But atheism is not a reality, it is just a matter of convenience. When you have a spirit of inquiry, or are in search of truth, atheism falls apart. With a spirit of inquiry, you cannot deny something which you have not disproved. An atheist denies God without first disproving it. In order to disprove God, you must have enormous knowledge. And when you have enormous knowledge, you cannot disprove God! For one to say that something does not exist, one should know about the whole universe. So you can never be 100 percent atheist. An atheist is only a believer who is sleeping! In fact an atheist is someone who has a concept of God!

For a person to say, ‘‘I don’t believe in anything’’, means he must believe in himself — so he believes in himself about whom he does not even know! An atheist can never be sincere because sincerity needs depth — and an atheist refuses to go to the depths. Because the deeper he goes, he finds a void, a field of all possibilities — he has to accept that there are many secrets he does not know. He would then need to acknowledge his ignorance, which he refuses to do, because the moment he is sincere, he seriously starts doubting his atheism. A doubt-free atheist is next to impossible! So you can never be a sincere and doubt-free atheist.

When the atheist realises his ignorance, what does he do? Where does he go? Does he go to a Guru? What does a guru do to him? Atheism is when one does not believe either in values or in the abstract. When an atheist comes to the guru, what happens? You start experiencing your own form and discover that you are indeed formless, hollow and empty. And this abstract non-form in you becomes more and more concrete!

The guru makes the abstract more real and what you thought as solid appears to be more unreal. Sensitivity and subtlety dawns. Perception of love, not as an emotion, but as the substratum of existence becomes evident. The formless spirit shines through every form in creation and the mystery of life deepens, shattering the atheism. Then the journey begins and it has four stages.

The first stage is Saarupya (to see the formless in the form) ie, seeing God in all the forms. Often, one feels more comfortable seeing God as formless rather than with a form, because with a form, one feels a distance, a duality, a fear of rejection and other limitations. In life all our interactions are with the form, other than in deep sleep and in Samadhi. And, if you do not see God in the form, then the waking part of life remains devoid of the Divine. All those who accept God to be formless use symbols, and perhaps love the symbols more than God himself! If God comes and tells a Christian to leave the cross or a Muslim to drop the crescent, perhaps he may not do it! To begin with, loving the formless is possible only through forms.

The second stage is Saamipya (closeness) ie, feeling absolutely close to the form you have chosen and reaching out to the formless. This leads to a sense of intimacy with the whole of creation. In this stage, one overcomes the fear of rejection and other fears. But this is time and space bound.

The third stage is Saanidhya — feeling the presence of the Divine by which you transcend the limitations of time and space. Then the final stage is Saayujya, ie, when you are firmly entrenched with the Divine. It is then that you realise you are one with

the Divine. There is a total merging with the Beloved and all duality disappears.

Take care of your God! Atheists lurk around the corner! Doubts, disbelief and ignorance are the atheists in your mind — so you better take care!



Living the mystery of life


Purpose of words is to create silence. Does every word you speak create silence in others or does it create turbulence in their minds? Purpose of knowledge is to make you feel that you don’t know! If the knowledge makes you feel that you know it all, then it has not fulfilled its goal. The more you know, the more you become aware of the unknown. Knowing is just pushing the brick a little further towards ignorance.

Before, you thought that you had less ignorance and now you know that you have more ignorance. Purpose of knowledge is to create awareness of the Being. This creation is enormous and infinite. It is a mystery. Mysteries are there not to understand, but to live. Love is a mystery, sleep is a mystery, your mind is mystery and all that you see around is a mystery. Your life is a mystery. Trying to understand mystery is confusion, but living it fully is called enlightenment.

There is one ‘‘I don’t know’’ that comes out of ignorance. This is an ugly ‘‘I don’t know’’. Then it passes through knowledge and becomes a transformed ‘‘I don’t know!’’. This is a beautiful ‘‘I don’t know!’’ which is a wonder. This is how every question turns into a wonder. What is the difference between a wonder and a question? Question is associated with sorrow and restlessness whereas wonder is joy in expression.

What is your life? After all, how many years are you planning to be here in this planet? Look in the light of the time. In the time scale, millions of years have passed and millions will come in the future. What is your life? 60 years or 70 years or 100 years? Span of life is insignificant. It is not even a drop in the ocean. In terms of space you simply don’t exist! This understanding dissolves the ego.

Ego is ignorance of your reality, ignorance of your existence. Now, just to know this do we have to do some thing else? Just open your eyes and see, ‘‘Who am I? How I am on this planet? What is my life time?’’. Awareness dawns in the mind. It does not worry about small little things like, ‘‘this person said this thing to me and that person broke away with me and this happened with that person and I am going to say this and that’’. All smallness will simply drop away with this beautiful ‘‘I don’t know!’’.

Ignorance has its necessity. Ignorance keeps the joy in the game. In a game if you know the result before you are playing you won’t be playing sincerely. If you know you are going to win a game you won’t put your 100 percent in the game. If you know that you are going to lose a game, then also there is no charm in playing the game. The game is joyful when its results are unknown, when they are hidden away... The nature is so kind and loving to you that it does not tell you about your future and does not remind you of your very old past. But, even with the short little memory it has given us we try hard to make our self miserable!

When the state of ‘‘I don’t know’’ passes through knowledge, you are delivered in another state of ‘‘I don’t know!’’... That is a beautiful ‘‘I don’t know!’’ and that is the end of knowledge. So the whole journey is from ‘‘I don’t know’’ to ‘‘I don’t know!’’. There is a saying that before enlightenment you chop wood and carry water and after enlightenment you chop wood and carry water. But with a slight difference; before it was a miserable ‘‘I don’t know’’ afterwards it’s a beautiful ‘‘I don’t know!’’. Every knowledge whether scientific or artistic leaves you in a place of amazement and wonder. You ask a poet, ‘‘How did you write this poetry?’’ He will say, ‘‘I don’t know!’’. You ask a scientist, ‘‘How did you discover this?’’. He will say, ‘‘Oh! I don’t know!’’. This ‘‘I don’t know!’’ level of consciousness is innocence.

Some of you might have the problem that the mind goes round and round. This is because you want to know all the time. Just remain in ‘‘I don’t know’’, the mind becomes quiet. Knowledge is like a detergent agent. You put the soap on the cloth, but wash it away. You never say, ‘‘it is a wonderful detergent soap, let it remain on my body’’.

All our struggle is to know more, know more, know more... you are trying your level best to understand your feelings and your emotions and you get into more and more and more confusion. This is what has happened with psychology today. It tries to explain to you why you feel like the way you are feeling. The ‘‘why’’ question arises always when you are unhappy. You say ‘‘why this problem to me on earth of all the people?’’... Nobody ever asked, ‘‘why am I so happy?’’ or ‘‘why is there so much joy and beauty in the world?’’. You want to understand, ‘‘why am I not feeling good?’’ or ‘‘why am I angry?’’, or ‘‘why is this not happening?’’.

The more you try to understand and try to dig it, you seem to understand less and less. The mystery deepens, but an illusion comes as though ‘‘I know it’’. But that’s for a short while. We ourselves do not know and we try to explain to others! Stop your explanations; your explanations have put you into a soup and make other people also more confused. You don’t know what is happening in your mind. Mind is like a rollercoaster — it’s a crowd. Something comes up sometime and then some other thing pops up.

Just be in the simple and innocent state of ‘‘I don’t know!’’. This life is a mystery — beautiful — live it. Living the mystery of life so totally is joy. Becoming the mystery is divine. You are a mystery!


Enlightenment is a joke!

Seekers on the spiritual path are curious to know about Enlightenment. What is Enlightenment? I say, ‘‘Enlightenment is like a joke!’’ It is like a fish in the ocean searching for the ocean.
Once upon a time, there was a congregation of fish, who got together to discuss who among them had seen the ocean. None of them could say they had actually seen the ocean. Then one fish said, ‘‘I think my great grandfather had seen the ocean!’’ A second fish said, ‘‘Yes, yes, I have also heard about this.’’ A third fish said, ‘‘Yes, certainly, his great grandfather had seen the ocean.’’
So they built a huge temple and made a statue of the great grandfather of that particular fish! They said, ‘‘He had seen the ocean. He had been connected with the ocean.’’
Enlightenment is the very core of our being; going to the core of our self and living our life from there.
We all came into this world gifted with innocence, but gradually, as we became more intelligent, we lost our innocence. We were born with silence and as we grew up, we lost the silence and were filled with words. We lived in our hearts and as time passed, we moved into our heads.
Now the reversal of this journey is enlightenment. It is the journey from the head back to the heart, from words back to silence; getting back to our innocence in spite of our intelligence. Although very simple, this is a great achievement.
Knowledge should lead you to that beautiful point of ‘‘I don’t know.’’ The purpose of knowledge is ignorance!
The completion of knowledge will lead you to amazement and wonder. It makes you aware of this existence. Mysteries are to be lived, not understood. One can live life as fully in its completeness, in its totality.
Enlightenment is that state of being mature and unshakeable under any circumstances. Come what may, nothing can rob the smile from your heart. Going beyond the limited boundaries, and feeling ‘‘all that exists in this universe belongs to me,’’ is enlightenment.
Unenlightenment is easy to define. It is limiting yourself by saying, ‘‘I belong to this particular place’’, ‘‘I am from that culture’’ or ‘‘I belong to this religion’’.
It is like children saying, ‘‘My dad is better than your dad,’’ or ‘‘My toy is better than your toy.’’ I think most people around the world are stuck in that mental age group, just the toys have changed. Adults say, ‘‘My country is better than your country’’ or ‘‘my religion is better than your religion.’’
A Christian will say, ‘‘The Bible is truth,’’ and a Hindu will say, ‘‘The Vedas are the truth. They are very ancient.’’ Muslims will say, ‘‘The Koran is the last word of God.’’ We attribute glory to something just because we are from that culture, not for what it is.
If one could take credit for all that exists throughout the ages and feel as though ‘‘It belongs to me,’’ then, that is maturity. ‘‘This is my wealth because I belong to the divine.’’
The Divine, according to time and space, gave different knowledge in different places. One becomes the knower of the whole universe and can say ‘‘all the beautiful flowers are from my garden.’’
The whole evolution of man is from being somebody to being nobody, and from being nobody to being everybody.
Have you observed that young children have that sense of belonging that oneness, that innocence? As we grew up we lost that innocence and became more cunning. The innocence of an ignorant man has no value, and the cunningness of an intelligent man also has no value.
Enlightenment is a rare combination of innocence and intelligence, having words for expression and, at the same time, being very silent. In that state, the mind is fully in the present moment. Whatever is necessary is revealed to you in such a natural and spontaneous way, you just sit and the song of the nature flows through you.



Feeling the presence

The Art Of Self-Discovery


Only those who have eyes can see and only those who have ears can hear. That which has to be seen cannot be heard; it has to be seen. Life has five dimensions or five senses — seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. But there is one more dimension that has gone out of sight; that is feeling. Feeling the Presence. Light cannot be heard through the eyes; it has to be seen through the eyes. Sound cannot be seen through the eyes but heard through the ears. Likewise, the presence has to be felt by the heart.

God is not an object of senses but the feeling of feelings, the presence of presence, the sound of silence, light of life, the essence of the world and the taste of bliss. And our human life is enriched only when we can live this sixth sense of existence, of feeling.

If you are feeling depressed and continue to feel depressed, you create particles of depression around you. Those ions of depressions around you go and stick to the environment. If someone walks into that place, even after you have left, that person for no reason would start feeling depressed. Have you experienced this? You walk into a room and suddenly feel angry vibes. You were all right a few minutes ago but the moment you walk in, all the anger, stress and tension overtakes you.

Today there is a lot of talk about the environment. Environmentalists are at work everywhere you see. There is talk about protecting the forest, bringing up more greenery, recycling of things, materials, plastics and use of more natural and organic substances. A few years ago, this was not an issue at all, wasn’t it? Now all nations are coming to an agreement to save planet earth. Like we pollute the earth, we pollute the water, we also pollute the subtle environment of feelings and emotions.

Man has become a victim of his environment. He is not in control of his mind but a victim of the environment. He is not in control of his mind but a victim of the environment and the total stress in the environment. Is it not so? We pollute our environment in a very subtle way through our negative emotions. But it takes quite sometime to clear the environment of this. It is inevitable that sometimes you feel stressed, sometimes you feel negative, sometimes you feel doubt, sometimes you get into all sorts of moods — it is inevitable. It happens. Nobody wants it. But when it happens how do we handle them? We hear a lot about other things in life but we spend very little time to hear about ourselves; how to handle our mind? How to be in the present moment? How to be happy and grateful? This we have not learnt. This is the most unfortunate thing. Then what is the solution? This is where we miss a very fundamental principle that governs our environment, our mind our emotions and our life in general. Our body has the capacity to sustain much longer the vibrations of bliss and peace than it does negative emotions because positivity is in the centre of our existence. Just like in the structure of the atom, protons and neutrons are in the centre of the atom and electrons are only the periphery, same is with our lives; the centre core of our existence is bliss, positivity and joy but it is surrounded by a cloud of negative ions. Through the help of the breath we can easily get over our negative emotions in a short period of time. Through meditation and certain breathing techniques you can clear this negative cloud.

In future, I think the rule will come — anybody who feels depressed, will be fined! Ten thousand rupees fine for getting depressed! Then you will be asked to go and breathe and meditate and get rid of all your depression without swallowing any tablets. What is there for you to get depressed? You are here for a few years anyway; just a few years on this planet. And as long as you are here, you can as well, be happy.

This life has so much to offer to you. You can see this once you take sometime off, rejuvenating the soul. You soul is hungry for a smile from you. If you could give this, you feel energised the whole year and nothing whatsoever can take the smile from you.

Everyone wants to be successful in life. But without knowing what is success, you want to be successful. What are the signs of success? Just having a lot of money, is that success? Why do you think money means success? Because money gives you freedom so that you can do whatever you want. You may have a big bank balance but, you have stomach aches, ulcers, you may have to go for bypass surgery; can’t eat this, can’t do this, can’t do that. We spend half our health to gain wealth and spend half our wealth to gain back the health. Isn’t that funny? Is this success? It is very bad mathematics.

Look at all those who claim to be successful — are they successful? No, they are miserable. Then, what is the sign of success? The sign of success is overwhelming joy, right? It is confidence, compassion, generosity and a smile that none can snatch away, being really happy and being able to be more free. These are the signs of a successful person.

Take some time off to look a little deep into oneself and calm the mind down. Thus erasing all the impressions that we are carrying in our minds and experience the presence, the divine that is the very core of our existence. This is FEELING THE PRESENCE!!!