Shiva Sutras :Merging & from thinking to feeling

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Merging & from thinking to feeling - SHiva sutras in Nithyananda videos

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Merging & From Thinking To Feeling

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I welcome you all with my love and respect.

Q.: After your talk on Vishwamitra’s enlightenment, it seems that rajasic energy is not all that bad. Maybe that it is why you are serving us such spicy hot foods, to raise our rajas. Of course, I’m joking. I know that the Indian diet as we know it today is more the influence of Portuguese and British than ayurveda.

A.: Surely our diet is not the Portuguese or British influence. It is ayurvedic diet. The other day I was reading an article. In the whole world, Andhra is the state where the lowest stomach problems are recorded because of the spice and chile they use in the food. So, understand, it is surely ayurvedic, not the influence of Portuguese or British.

Does not flow: I don’t say that rajasic energy is that bad, but it should have the courage and the good qualities which Vishwamitra had. Even though Vishwamitra had so many bad qualities, he had one thing, the courage and the intensity.

Oh, this is a deep question:

Q.: Could you please prioritize the following to lead a happy, Ananda life for a normal human being: Health, family, wealth, human relationships, friendship, jobs, professions, spirituality, religions, clarity, compassion, intelligence.

A.: First thing, if I have to prioritize, I will put all of them in a horizontal line. All of these things must be seen with equal priority and much more. You need to understand this priority concept, putting one in front of the other.

A small story: A little dirty, it’s okay. I’ll tell only the story. If you want, you can make it dirty, that’s all. Two elderly persons were traveling the British train along with their small dog. One young gentleman entered and sat just opposite to their seat. Suddenly, the dog jumped on the young passenger, and pissed. Now it was very embarrassing, but this lady did not bother to say sorry, please excuse me, or anything. Straight away she picked up her pet dog and started saying ‘Oh, I think you have some bladder problems, I should take care of you,’ and she did not even look at the young man. The young man just had a little patience and kept quiet. Again, after one hour, this dog jumped on him and vomited. Again this lady took the pet, ‘Oh I think you have a stomach problem also. I should give you some medication. She is again pampering the pet. She did not bother to say she was sorry. She did not even have the courage or respect to make eye contact. The young man thought, ‘Alright,’ and somehow he managed. After one hour, again the dog jumped on him, and now what he would have done, you know, I don’t have to tell. That guy thought, ‘Now it is too much.’ He just picked up the pet and threw it out of the window. All this time, the old man was keeping quiet. Now he got up and said, ‘You fool, you threw the wrong person out of window!’

Understand, whenever you pick up and throw out of the window, you always throw the wrong person out of the window. Choosing is suffering. Do not think you are choosing suffering. Choosing is suffering. Whenever you prioritize, be very clear, you are choosing suffering. I have seen people who choose something and put their life towards it. They envelope it, always invariably suffering. Even if you choose enlightenment and make that your priority, pushing everything else away, you will end up suffering. Life, as such, is continuously flowing in all dimensions. Enlightenment means allowing that natural flow through your body without creating conflicts. The moment you start prioritizing, you have already created conflict. Enlightenment never happens to a person who chooses enlightenment. It happens to a person who chooses choicelessness. This is an important understanding.

For thousands of years, millions of seekers have been struggling. Very few have achieved. The reason is, again, you have some idea about enlightenment and you choose what you think is the right work for that. Unfortunately, the side-effect of enlightenment is not enlightenment. You always see only the side-effect of enlightenment or the by-product of enlightenment when you see the living masters. Your idea and greed about enlightenment is built upon seeing the quality and energy of the enlightened masters’ lifestyle. You do not understand the secret.

This is the same mistake Vishwamitra made. Vishwamitra saw Vashista being respected everywhere. He thought enlightenment would bring that quality and he wanted to have it. He started working for it. He missed it. He should have decided to have the exact state which Vashista had, not the status.

One more very important understanding is that whenever you feel ecstasy or bliss, if you look a little deep, for those few moments, you are in choicelessness. You are just relaxed and at ease with whatever is happening. The moment you choose to be in that same ecstasy, you have chosen suffering. If you do not choose anything, the choicelessness and continuous bliss flows through you. The moment any choice is made, you are choosing only suffering. Do not choose. Do not prioritize.

Sometimes I also tell you that you should let enlightenment be your first priority. I am giving you the absolute meaning. You must allow all the energy expression which is happening in you without blocking or disturbing it. I have seen people who chose enlightenment, or their concept of enlightenment, and renounce their wealth or something else. Forever they will be missing that. For enlightenment, all you need to do is renounce what you don’t have. You are living with so many illusory things, visualizations, fantasies, greed, fear, worry, many things which are not part of your life. They are hurting you. They are being inside your mental plane and hurting you. Taking those things out or renouncing them is enlightenment.

I want all of you to understand, you are made up of different layers. The physical body is your physical layer, the first layer. The mental layer consists of your dreams, visualizations, desires, greed, passion, fear. The spiritual layer represents the idea which you think of or remember as you. You exist layer by layer. The center spiritual layer which you think of as you should be allowed to touch the physical layer without the disturbance from the mental layer. Most of the renunciation, at least 80% of the renunciation, is supposed to happen in the mental layer. If you start prioritizing, you will start renouncing physically. You will start pushing things away physically. That is in no way going to help. Start pushing things from the mental layer. Your mind needs to be emptied, not your physical day-to-day routine. Your day-to-day physical life does not need to get emptied. It does not need to go through any alteration. It does not need to go through any big change. Only your mental layer, where you have unnecessarily accumulated too much societal conditioning, that layer needs to go through a big change. Only that needs to have more clarity. Understand in this, whatever you wrote, nothing needs to be put at the front or back. All you need to do is put things which are not required in your mind to the back or to the backyard itself.

Q.: I am not looking for a guru or any techniques. I love to come here to be in your presence and listen to your discourses. Is this okay with you?

A.: I don’t have a problem. Come and sit. But one thing I want to tell you, if you are really serious that you should not have a guru and that you should not have a technique, then you are taking a risk. At anytime, the power of the Master’s presence is such that your mind will be changed. If you say, ‘As of now I am not looking’, if it happens, then okay, be here. If you say, ‘No, I am not looking for a guru and I don’t want a technique’, then you are in a place where you may suddenly change. Suddenly, you will see one day yourself with a mala, bracelet, and kum-kum, and your car tag will read Be Unclutched at lifebliss.org. That is the mala for car. I went to the Temple earlier and asked, ‘What is this?’ They said, ‘It is a mala for the car, Swamiji, to initiate the car.’ I said, ‘Alright.’ Who do you think entered inside thinking that they need a guru or a technique? Whenever people came inside, they thought, ‘He is very good. It feels very wonderful. Let us go and sit.’ That is the way they first came and sat. Suddenly, they open their eyes and saw that they are sitting with a mala, doing hmmm hmmm. You are welcome to come and sit, and I’ll note down the date and the letter card and we’ll see how many days it takes.

If you are really serious that you don’t want a guru, if you don’t want any technique, then it would be best if you do not even go to You Tube. I have seen many people come and sit here. There have been so many other reasons why they come. Then they go to You Tube and start seeing the discourses and clippings and the inspiration begins. Beware.

Q.: Usually the subjects you address are the exact issues on my mind. It also appears that others’ interests and issues get addressed too. Is it pure consciousness expressing a message through you, or do you happen to know who the message is for and what each person’s concerns are?

A.: It is a wonderful question, to ask if it is pure consciousness expressing through me. Yes, exactly. You expressed the right words, pure consciousness just expressing. Understand, when a cold object is kept near a hot object, naturally the heat penetrates the cold object. In the same way, when you come and sit in front of an enlightened Master, the Master’s presence straight away penetrates you. My words are nothing but the heat which is entering into your being. The heat from the hot object is such that it does not bother. It does not think. It does not know what it is doing, but the exact process which is supposed to be done will start happening. I do not know exactly whose problem I am addressing or whose question I am answering. All I know is when I come and sit here, I am just connecting with the whole group sitting here, and sitting in front of the laptops watching from around the world. I know there is a group of minds watching, so the moment the connection starts, automatically, whatever is needed will start coming out.

You should understand that I am not talking because I know something. I am talking because you need to know something. That is the big difference. Philosophers always talk because they know something. They use such big words that you will need to refer to a dictionary. It is as if the more times you refer to the dictionary listening to them, you will appreciate that philosopher that much more. Whenever you go and listen to the philosophers, they talk because they know something. I talk because you need to know something, that’s all. I don’t have any word. I don’t have anything to tell. I don’t have any separate message. I just respond to what you need. That is why, from time immemorial, this is the same story in front of every enlightened Master. In the beginning level, as the other questioner expressed, you are not looking for a guru or any techniques. When you are at that beginning level, before initiation, your questions get solved. After initiation, suddenly you find yourself with a mala and bracelet, and your questions dissolve. There is no other thing happening here. The thing which is happening here is a process, not learning. It is not somebody throwing some words and somebody catching some words. We are not playing a verbal game here. Learning is not happening here. Process is happening here. To tell you honestly, you will be losing respect for many things which you have learned. You will be dropping the many things which you have learned. You will actually be going through an intense cleaning process. It is a cleaning process.

Q.: Is there any way you can create a simple list of each of the sutras, their translation and associated meditation technique for each, and distribute a course online?

A.: We are actually working on it. Still, I have not finished talking on all of the sutras. Once we finish talking on all of them, you will see sutras, translation and technique. It will be a reference tool for all of you. Surely we will do that.

Q.: When I watch you on the internet or listen to your CD, how can I receive and feel the same energy, healing, and the deeper spirituality that I feel here in your presence? Is it my mind only that separates? What can I do to have the experience be the same when watching at home?

A.: First thing, in the home also, when you watch only the first five or ten minutes, until your mind has started settling, you will not get connected. Once your mind starts settling, after ten or twenty minutes, you will start to connect deeply. You will just be completely centered. Of course, you may have a spouse who will be constantly asking you about your interest in my discourses, or there may be other disturbances to distract you. Otherwise, I don’t think that there is any need to feel two different things. One nice thing about being present here is that nobody can distract you. You are assured so your mind goes for rest. It says very clearly, ‘I think this fellow cannot come out for the next one hour. Even if I want, I cannot go out. So many people are sitting, they will all watch. They will all see.’ It is like your mind knows, but in the house, in front of the internet or listening to a CD, your mind has a little courage, ‘Oh, if I play a little more he’ll come out. He will close the computer.’ Maybe the possibility itself can keep the distance. All I can say is add a little intensity and surely you can feel and experience the same wherever you are, because my border or my boundary does not end in this six feet.

Q.: My intention is to be an enlightened being and that is the reason why I meditate. During the last twelve months, I’ve surrendered my life to the higher purpose. My finances have become completely imbalanced, and there is so much frustration and pain. Any advice?

A.: You have prioritized. You have made the same mistake as the other person, prioritizing. You prioritize so that you don’t have to be spontaneous and alive, answering and responding to every problem which you face everyday. If you prioritize and throw away the economical part, family part, or relationship part, you think, ‘Oh, all these problems are not going to come everyday.’ Throwing things out of your fear does not mean your intensity towards enlightenment has become strong. Emptying your inner space does not mean the right furniture has come inside. Many times, emptying happens but in the process of emptying, you put many other junk things inside. I have seen in the process of emptying, you will burn the whole thing and you will forget. When you burn, furniture may disappear from your inner space, but the black smoke will settle down. The dark black smoke will settle down in your inner space.

Do not choose. Why do you choose? You think that you are not courageous enough or intelligent enough to spontaneously respond to every situation which comes up, so you sit, plan, prioritize, and procrastinate. Enlightenment is exactly the opposite. Enlightenment is preparing all the tools and all the weapons for a wonderful life. Keeping these tools ready and waiting for any situation to come, and inviting more and more situations to come so that you can express your courage and face it. Having shastra shastras, knowledge weapons, ready to face life spontaneously is enlightenment. When you go the other way, dropping many situations which bring challenges to you, and try to think you are working for enlightenment, you are cheating yourself and others. Do not prioritize. Do not try to avoid situations. Have more and more clarity, more and more understanding, more and more knowledge weapons, shastra shastras. Spontaneously decide. Why do you think people make decisions in advance or plan in advance? I have seen people decide, ‘Swamiji, I have decided to say no to money’. They are just deciding they are not going to face the problems related to that. That is not going to work. That is not going to help. Gathering more and more knowledge weapons and increasing clarity is necessary. Create and face every situation with this knowledge, with this clarity, and be balanced. Then the enlightenment will start happening in you. You will be living enlightenment. Living all your dimensions without disturbing you or others by using knowledge weapons is living enlightenment. Do not avoid anything, prioritize anything, choose something, or throw something away.

Let’s enter into today’s sutra. ‘Meditate on the make believe world as burning to ashes and become being above human’. The continuity of this sutra will be followed by the next sutra. Both techniques are connected to each other. Independently, they can lead you to enlightenment. You don’t need the help of the other technique, but both techniques are for almost the same kind of human beings. So you can pick up this one or the next one.

‘As subjectively let us flow into words and words into sentences, and as objectively circles flow into words and words into principles. Find at last these converging in our being.’ Before interpreting or explaining this sutra, I just want to tell you about one experience. I read volumes and volumes, sometimes five or six volumes in 24 hours. Disciples ask me, ‘How do you read so much, Swamiji?’ This is the technique. Whenever you pick up and read those lines, within a few minutes, you can clearly feel that your inner space gets connected to the person out of whose inner chattering those words came out. The author, the author’s mind, and the author’s inner space gets hooked up, connected and straight away downloading starts happening. You don’t have to read line by line. You know the essence of what he wants to convey. Sometimes you know there’s no essence and he has nothing to convey. The whole thing will be revealed. This is the sutra directly responsible for that experience.

Let me read the sutra once more. ‘As subjectively let us flow into words and words into sentences, and as objectively circles flow into words and words into principles. Find at last these converging in our being.’ J. Krishnamurti became enlightened through this technique. That is why constantly you will see his teachings, his writings, his poetry, and his books, always express the present moment, having him as a center. One important truth you need to understand, whether you believe it or not, you are self-centered by existence. By your very nature, you understand everything keeping you as a center. Actually, when I tell people that they are self-centered, they have a shock and they feel, ‘What? How can you say that I am selfish, that I am self-centered?’ I am not trying to hurt you or disrespect you by saying you are self-centered. Whatever you understand, you keep the self as the only reference.

A small story. One elderly man goes to a neighboring nearby village for some work. When he returns and is about to enter his village, he sees his house is on fire. He shouts, rolls on the ground and cries. You know how the village people cry. He cries, ‘Oh save me, save my house! My house is on fire! I lost everything! My life has gone!’ He had four sons. One son ran to him and said, ‘Father, don’t cry, relax. Don’t you remember yesterday only we sold that house?’ Then he just got up and said, ‘Oh then, okay, okay. I forgot.’ The second son runs to him and says, ‘Father, yes it sold, but we have not got the money.’ Then he again cries, rolls on the ground and says, ‘Oh, save my house, save my house!’ He’s shouting at the sons, ‘Oh run, put the fire out, our house is burning, save it! And within a few minutes, the third son came to him and said, ‘No, father, today morning I got the money. Don’t worry. We sold it.’ Then again he says, ‘Okay, okay, relax, leave it.’ It is the same situation, the same house burning, the same person, and the same time. See how many things he goes through. One moment he’s in joy, he’s relaxed, he’s not touched, he’s not bothered. ‘It’s okay, let it burn.’ The other moment he’s in the same fire. Not only the house, he is also burning. He is running. He’s crying. How the mood swings. The same situation, same person, same time, within a few seconds, see how the human mind can move from one extreme to the other because of self. When he thought it was directly related to his self, his reaction was different. When he thought it was not directly related to his self, again his reaction was different.

Your whole life, whether you understand or not, is self-centered. Your joy, your suffering, your everything, whatever you know is self-centered. Have the clarity to look at everything with this understanding, that you are self-centered. Suddenly you will see this very understanding will relax you, unclutch you. Things will not be able to touch you. If only the man in the fire had the right understanding, if he had been aware, he could have had enlightenment. He would have had the realization, ‘Oh god, the same house burning, same person, same situation in two or three minutes, how my mood has swinged. How my moods have changed. How my responses have changed. How my mind is playing. This means what? When you think it is yours, there is suffering. When you think it is not yours, there is joy. Understanding the self-centeredness of your life brings you tremendous clarity.

When you realize every statement, every word, everything uttered towards you reaches your center and makes meaning for you, when it touches your self center, only then it makes meaning for you. Try it when your family, spouse, friends or relatives are talking to you. Do not attach any meaning, but just sit with the understanding that you are a self-centered being. All these words are reaching you, taking their own meaning and making you react to them. Without your awareness, they are all reaching you and pushing you from one side to the other, without you having any ability to say yes or no. The moment that man thought it was his house, he had no right to say, ‘No, I will not cry.’ He had to cry. The moment he thought it was not his house, he had no will to suffer. He just had to be relieved, not bothered. Understand that you are not expressing any individual will. The words which are coming towards you to your center, because you are not aware you are self-centered, just push you or pull you as they wish. The words make you do things as they want. They do not give you any freedom or any space, and do not let you think or do anything. You are just like a robot. Commands are given and you are working. If you can have the understanding that you are self-centered, suddenly you will see the quality of your response totally changes. The quality of your response plays a major role in creating a lifestyle. When I say live enlightenment, just change the quality of response with the clarity of self-centered consciousness. Understand that you are self-centered. The moment you understand that you are self-centered, you will not act self-centered. Now, you act self-centered, but you don’t understand you are self-centered. Acting self-centered is wrong, but being clear you are self-centered is not wrong. Because you are not being clear, you are not clear you are self-centered. You are acting self-centered. You do so many foolish things. Not so many, practically everything. You do foolish things because you don’t understand you are self-centered. This one story can give you the clarity you are seeking. The same man, seeing the same house burning, having different responses in just a few seconds. When he thinks it is his house, the response is different. When he thinks it is somebody else’s house, the response is different.

Mahadeva says, ‘Let us flow into words and words into sentences.’ The letters and words are flowing towards you and objectively circles flow into words and words into principles. All of your principles, your ideas, your words, are the inner software you created, the inner programming which started at a young age. Mahadeva is telling us to add a little awareness to that inner programming. Many times your inner programming brings disease to you. You are programmed continuously from a young age. This will bring disease, that will bring uncomfort, that will bring problems. When those incidents happen, even if you don’t have a problem, you will be meditating and waiting for it. You will be waiting for it.

Understand that life solution is the path for enlightenment. Here, when I speak, it may look like a life solution. It is not just a life solution. People ask me, ‘Swamiji, your discourses are great. They carry a lot of life solutions, but what about techniques for enlightenment?’ They do not understand life solutions are techniques for enlightenment. I am not a psychiatric counselor. I am not giving you psychoanalysis or psychiatric counseling, or some advice. No. Everything I am telling you is to heal your deepest self. Mahadeva, what he says here, if it is practiced in the beginning, it will be a life solution. In the deeper level, it will be the solution for the whole life itself. It will be the technique for enlightenment itself.

He says, ‘the words into principles, find at last these converging in our being.’ It’s like layer by layer, how things come toward you, how they get processed, and how you respond. Any message comes to your eyes first. The energy behind the eyes, the indria then starts converting that file into the bio signals. Just like how in a computer all information is converted into digital signals, the digital signal processor is the indria behind the eyes. When you hear signals through the ears that is indria behind the ears. The signals behind the eyes are called pancha indria. The eye itself is not indria. It is only a sense through the eyes. When something is seen that is indria. Chaksu is the energy which is seeing through eyes. Eyes are just doors, openings. Chaksu converts all the signals into bio signals, then the file starts getting processed. It goes to chitta (memory) where deductions are made that ‘it is not this, it is not that’, the no, no, no process is done. Then it goes to manas (mind) where identification is made that ‘it is this’, the yes, yes, yes process is done. Then that file makes its way to the ego. The ego decides ‘What is there for me in this file?’ That is the process called self-centeredness.

For example, if you are sitting here, first the picture of me will be retained by your eyes. It gets converted as a bio signal by your indria chaksu. It then goes to chitta. Chitta will first analyze and say, ‘Oh this is not an animal, this is not a goat, not a tree, this is not a plant, this is not this.’ The netti-netti, not-this, not-this process will be done. That file will go to the manas. Manas will do the itti-itti, this-is-it, this-is-it identification. ‘He is a swami. He is an enlightened person. He is wearing an orange robe. He is sitting on a golden throne. There is a book in front of him.’ The itti-itti, this-this-this, identification process will be done by manas, then the whole file will go to the ego. The ego will decide, ‘What is there for me,’ based on your ideas which have been programmed into you from a young age. You will decide whether sitting here is going to be good for you or bad for you. You will decide that decision only is going to be an important thing for you to continue to sit here or to go out. That decision is what I call self-centered in this situation, this file, this process of ‘What is there for me?’ When you are aware that you are sitting with that self-centeredness, suddenly your response, your reactions, everything will become totally of a different quality. You will not be sitting and listening. The same work of sitting and listening for different reasons will create different effects.

A small story. Three mad fellows wanted to be released from the asylum. They go to the doctor and say, ‘All three of us feel we are okay. Send us out. We want to go back and live a normal life.’ The doctor says, ‘Tomorrow we’ll have an examination. After that we will decide.’ All three were called next morning near an empty swimming pool. The doctor says to the first guy, ‘Jump.’ That guy jumps and breaks his leg in the empty swimming pool. The second guy is called. The doctor says, ‘Jump.’ That guy jumps and breaks his hands. And the third guy comes and the doctor says, ‘Jump.’ He says, ‘No, I will not jump.’ The doctor says, ‘Oh that’s great. You are healed. You are the right guy to go out, now you can leave. You can go and live a normal life.’ Before that guy signed out and was about to leave, the doctor asked, ‘May I know, sir, the reason for you not jumping?’ He said, ‘Oh, I don’t know swimming.’

Understand, right action, wrong reason. So even if you are sitting here, your sitting here may be right action, but if it is for the wrong reason, you will not have the right benefit which you need to have. So if you are sitting with the clarity of the self-centeredness, with the clarity of the process which is happening in you, with awareness of all files being brought to you, and the process which goes on and makes the decisions, you will see your quality of response is totally different. When Mahadeva says, ‘Find at last these converging in our being,’ he is asking you to be aware. When the information is received through your five senses, processed, and brought to your self-center, the ego and decision making happens. Just be aware. Many times, we make wrong decisions because we are not aware nor are we spontaneous to this moment. We are not aware how our being’s self-centeredness takes decisions.

A small story. A story of Birbal, a very intelligent Brahman minister of Akbar. Once, the whole country was filled with rats. The king has decided that in all the houses people should have a cat, and the king will take care of all the expenses. All of them are given one cat. Everyday morning, one liter of milk will be given to each house to take care of the cat. This poor Birbal, he thought, ‘Even my kids do not have milk. Why do I use this milk on the cat?’ He started feeding the milk to the kids. Somebody went and told the king, ‘King, all houses, they take the milk and feed the cat and take care of the cat, but your minister Birbal, just because he has so much influence over you, he does not feed the cats. He is feeding his kids. You should take care. The next day the king says, ‘All of you should bring your cats to the kingdom court and should show me. I want to see how you guys are bringing up your cats.’ The next day, everybody brought their cats. All of the cats are very healthy. Birbal’s cat is about to die, just barely alive. Rarely, if he catches for himself one or two rats, he can eat. And if you don’t have strength, how will you catch even the rat? The king asks him, ‘How dare you treat your cat like this. After all, it is given by me. It is my gift. And I am giving you every day one liter of milk. What are you doing?’ Birbal says, ‘I don’t know King, but this cat does not drink milk. What can I do?’ The king says, ‘What? The cat does not drink milk? Let’s see.’ They brought a cup of milk. The moment the cat saw the milk, it started running. Birbal said, ‘Catch the cat!’ They brought the cat and literally forced its face inside the milk cup. The moment they took their hands away, it just jumped out and ran. If they tried to bring the cat near the milk cup, it started shouting and crying. Everybody was surprised. Then Birbal said, ‘King, see, that is why I am not giving milk. It’s not that I am cheating you. The cat is like that.’ The king was really surprised. How can a cat escape from milk like this and be afraid of milk like this? The king said, ‘Alright Birbal, you have not done any mistake.’ He said to the court, ‘No wrong has been done. No punishment for Birbal, over.’ Court ended. The next day, he asked Birbal, ‘I know for sure you have done something. And I know for sure you want to teach a lesson to me. Tell me exactly what you want to tell.’ Then Birbal says, ‘King, don’t you see the whole kingdom is suffering in poverty, and you are asking everybody to feed only the milk to cats which are useless? After all, the problem of rats is nothing. In a few days they will disappear. Even if they are there, there is nothing to eat. Then what are they going to do? They will die by themselves.’ The king said, ‘Yes, I understand, but how did that cat become like that? Tell me that secret.’ Birbal says, ‘All I did is only once I heated the milk so hot and kept in front of the cat. The cat came and put his mouth and burnt himself. From then on, the moment he sees the milk he runs.’ Understand, when the king kept the milk, it was not hot milk, it was cold milk. The cat would have drunk it. This cat could have tasted, but because of the earlier experience, the moment he sees the milk he runs. Understand, not only that cat, we also take so many decisions the same way, without awareness. We are also, in many ways, cats running from the milk. You are not aware of the decision making mechanism which is continuously functioning with unconsciousness and in an unaware way. You are not aware that so many experiences which you had with the hot milk drives you away from the cold milk which is in front of you. When Mahadeva says, ‘Be aware,’ he is asking you to be spontaneous. Do not make decisions just like the old cat. Then you have to be fasting and practically dieing. Be aware every moment of how the information reaches you. How the memory, chitta, is doing the process, and how the mind Manas is doing the process.

Because it happens in a very short time, you need a sharp awareness, a subtle intelligence, to be a witness. An especially important thing you need to be aware of is the decision making, the click, the self-centered decision making, when the self decides, ‘What is there for me?’ The right strategy planning about you and your relationships, your life and business is enlightenment. Right strategy planning will happen when you remain aware of the decision making self center. When I say the word right, it will change continuously for you. When Buddha says right listening, right understanding, right talking, right action, he means continuously be aware of the self-centered space where decisions are made. Many times you review and regret something that you should or should not have said, especially after having a good fight with your spouse. After having a fight with your spouse, if you sit alone, you will just review and do the deductions. ‘I should have told this point, I forgot. Three years ago she did the same thing, and I forgot that point. Two days ago again she made the same mistake, and I forgot that point.’ You will sit and revise. You will be sitting and repenting. You will be sitting and changing all of your decisions. You will feel, ‘I have not decided properly’ because you lost your balance. You are only bothered about violently expressing what you feel. You did not bother about convincing or responding properly to the other person.

A person who is aware of the center where decisions are being made will always be successful and can never be a failure. After my enlightenment, a very, very strange incident happened. I was resting for a few days at the banks of Ganges in Calcutta. One person came and asked, ‘You are always sitting silently from morning until night. Why don’t you help me by saying a few words about Upanishads? I want to know.’ I said, ‘Alright, come tomorrow. I’ll try to say a few words.’ The next day he came. Somehow through some strong experience from inside, I downloaded the ideas about Upanishad, and then I started saying a few words. Maybe I can say this is the first discourse I delivered on the banks of Ganges. And the person really enjoyed it. It was half an hour discussion. I didn’t know that he was a very influential local leader. He went and brought a whole bunch of people, something like a hundred people, the next day to listen. I said, ‘Oh God, what is happening?’ To tell you honestly, I was a shy person. You may or may not understand. The only video clipping we have of me before enlightenment is at some family function, some marriage. And at the function, they are trying to turn the camera towards me, and I am saying, ‘No, no, no. Turn that side, turn that side.’ I think that is why my whole life now I am spending in front of a camera. I myself was surprised when I recently saw a clipping. Oh God, what kind of a person has turned into what kind of a person? When he brought a hundred persons, I was shocked. One person, a personal conversation, is different, but there were at least one hundred people. And I tell you, I never read or understood any Upanishad formally by any teacher or anything. It was a spontaneous expression. Speaking to that many people meant I had to be very logical and factful. And whatever I uttered, I had to be very careful. This guy said, ‘No, no, no Swamiji. Whatever you are saying, tell that. That’s what I want to hear. I enjoyed your words and that’s why I brought these people.’ I started telling whatever I felt as a truth.

One elderly pundit, well read, came to be on the banks of the Ganges. As usual, the only work they have is going and disturbing others. They do not have any other creative work. God gave them the responsibility of keeping people honest. And they’ll take charge of everything and go around and interfere with everybody’s life. The moment he entered the space under the big tree, he shouted, ‘Hey baba, you can make these few fools listen to you, but not an intelligent person like me. Can you make someone like me listen to you?’ I just said, ‘Can you come here?’ He came here. He thought that I had not heard what he said. I just slowly moved my head and said, ‘Can you come to this side?’ He came and then I said, ‘Can you come this side?’ I shrugged my shoulder to one side, and he came there. As he was about to reach me, I just turned my head to the side and then he came to that side. Then I told him, ‘Understand, now you have already obeyed me three times. Please sit and listen.’ He was shocked, he was really shocked. I told him, understand, he can cheat or disturb the people who are not aware of the process happening inside. The person who is aware of the process which is happening inside can never be caught, can never be imbalanced, can never be cheated, can never be shaken. Later on, I had the time to read one Zen book. I read that an exact incident has happened in another enlightened master’s life, some Zen master a few hundred years ago. In the exact same way, one pundit tried to come and disturb his lecture, and he did the same thing of making him go through this exactly. A person who is living spontaneously, who is aware of this process which is happening inside where the decisions are made, will never be a failure. The pundit will always be a failure because he may know what decision to make, but he will not know how decisions are made. He may execute, he may reproduce, he may obey.

Philosophers are intellectual obedient students. They are intellectual slaves. They just carry somebody’s words in their head and vomit on somebody else. Naturally, when you eat something and vomit it out, the quality will be a little different. Same way, when you put something in your head and vomit, the quality will be a little different. You can count it as your own unique contribution, or your own unique representation. Philosophers do not know how to take decisions because they are not aware of the zone where decisions are made.

Being aware of the zone where decisions are made is living enlightenment. This is the Nithya sutra. It means you are to understand, internalize and be aware all day, during all your activity. If you are spontaneous, if you are living in the zone where the decisions are being made, and if you are aware, the Master’s presence will be useful to you. Even one moment if you are around me, it will be straight away useful. Whenever you come around the Master, be aware of the decision making zone. You will feel so deeply connected, and the time which is spent around the Master will be very useful to you. You will use him properly. I have seen fools coming around me and wasting their time and my time. It’s not that they are wrong people, they are just unaware.

Today, I was sitting in the Temple. One devotee came and asked me, ‘Can I ask you something?’ I said okay. It was a very rare chance of getting a few minutes around me, especially personally and directly. That person could ask something useful. That person asked about some goddess, some deity, and about some parts of the deity. I just thought, Oh God, what a missing! I told her to talk to the priest on all these things, and they will answer it. It’s not that she has done something wrong, but she has wasted one moment which could have been used for so many other better things. When you get a rare chance, be clear. Be in the center where decisions are made and use that moment. If a person had something directly useful for her life, his life, or their life, I would have surely responded. I would have said yes, or I will take care, or some counseling or something. The moment would have been useful. What is there in that? The whole thing is just a game to inspire some people, and if you are inspired, get inspired. If you’re not inspired, okay, forget about it. Actually, when you are not aware of the decision making zone, even the few beautiful moments which you get near the Master, you will waste. It won’t be directly useful to the life. That is why I always take care that I do not waste my time near the people who are not exactly aware of the decision making center. Sometimes, even my swamis ask me, ‘Swamiji, after all, you are sitting in a relaxed way, why don’t you see the people who are coming and bless them?’ I tell them, ‘Fools, you don’t know. Now at least I’m wasting only my time. If I start seeing them, I will waste their time also.’ They are not aware of the decision making center. They will ask some foolish thing. They will ask why these steps are seven steps and why don’t they have three steps? Why do they put the yellow tape and not red tape? Wasting my time or their time, they are not aware exactly what to ask or what to do. The awareness on the decision making center is an important thing to use the opportunities happening in your life. Be centered on the place where the decisions are made, then you will not waste things which are happening around and in front of you. These are rare opportunities. Not only the outer world things, even the Master’s presence is a very rare opportunity. When it happens in front of you, be aware of the decision making center. You will see you are taking the maximum advantage out of his presence. Understand this sutra and imbibe it. Let it flow in your life twenty-four hours and you will see you will be living enlightenment.

Let’s break for next session and the next sutra.

Session 2

This question not necessary since not answered? Q.: Why did God create the genders male and female? Who asked this question? Nobody? Then I don’t have to answer. (Audience member says, ‘I did, I did.’)

Q.: Will you name a few female enlightened masters?

A.: There are many female enlightened masters. There were, there are and there will be. And you are asking, ‘How did our world become so male centered?’ I don’t know that it is male centered. I want you to know an important truth. When somebody becomes enlightened, he is neither male, nor female, nor gay. He is beyond all three. There is no such thing as male enlightened or female enlightened. Enlightened is male, female, and gay all together, and something more. Enlightenment is the space where the male and female energy is balanced, so there is no such thing as male or female enlightened.

Whatever you think you can get from a female enlightened master, a blessing, energy or technique, surely you will be able to get from a male enlightened master also. I do not think the world has ever become male centered or female centered. Maybe your understanding needs to be properly centered. In the inner world, the Dharma, the constitution of the cosmos, wins. In the outer world the constitution of that country wins. Might is right. That is mostly the essence of many different constitutions. I don’t see anything like male or female enlightenment. It is just a person who starts expressing particular kind of identities and energies. I don’t want to get into more controversy by naming or telling anything else.

Q.: You do not want us to take notes. I only try to take down some important or golden words. I decided so that I can create a reference. Please comment.

A.: One thing, I am not against taking notes. I am against missing the words which are being uttered, when you are busy taking notes. That is what I am against. If you can be aware without missing the words which are continuously being expressed, you are free to take notes. Usually you will miss. That is the reason I’m telling you not to take notes. Take notes in the heart.

Q.: The story about the swan, you said the fish feel that the closer they are to the reflection, the faster they’ll get enlightened. If only the fish would raise their eyes, they will see the real swan. Does raising their eyes mean raising their consciousness? If not, please teach me how to look up and see the swan.

A.: When I say they need to raise their eyes, I mean exactly what is stated in the last sutra. Be aware of the space where you are taking decisions. Every decision you take, let it be conscious, let it be aware. Be aware of the decisions you are taking in front of the Master and just be. You will see you have already raised your eyes and are seeing the swan.

Q.: Please tell me what I should ask to ask the right question. I should know about what is the right question.

A.: What this person is trying to ask, he is asking me to tell what to ask. When you are listening, listen completely, that is enough. You will understand what to ask. Usually, you just say, ‘whatever is good, let it be showered.’ That’s the best prayer I have seen or I have done in my life.

Q.: To be aware of the self decision center, what action should we follow?

A.: Again you missed. To be aware of the self decision center, you don’t have to follow any action. The action has to follow the self decision center awareness. Just constantly be in the awareness while you are taking decisions. Your actions will go through a big change. And you are confused about self and selfishness. Selfishness, selflessness, self, forget about all those things. Don’t confuse where you are taking decisions. Just be aware of that zone. Don’t even try to change your decisions. If you are trying to change your decisions, you will be fighting with you. Just be aware of the decisions you make and automatically they will change. Another important thing, not only do you not need to change the decisions, do not even bother about being right or wrong or self or selfless, all those things. When you are aware of the decision making center, you will automatically be selfless, radiating love and everything.

Q.: Why do bad things happen to good people?

A.: I think this is one of the F.A.Q.’s. Be very clear, bad things happen only to bad people. I always see people coming and telling, ‘See my enemies, Swamiji, they are all such bad people, but they are having good things. I am such a good person, but I am having bad things.’ You always position yourself as right and your enemies as bad. They may not be bad as you think, and they may not be enjoying life as you think. You may not be good as you think, and you may not be suffering existentially as you think. Both ideas are complete in their own way. I can say a good person means one who knows how to keep himself good and happy. That is the quality of a good person. If you don’t know how to keep yourself happy, please drop the title of good person.

And you are mentioning some particular incident, somebody’s son died, and you are saying that we all have different theories to explain this, but you would really like to know my spiritual perspective. I have to see that person, only then I will be able to give some idea. I should know in whose life this death has happened, only then I can give an idea, otherwise my words also will become one more theory for you. Many times I will never give theories in this kind of situation. I will just hold the hand for a few moments and take the suffering away. That’s the best thing that can be done.

Q.: I feel quite irritated. I have been trying to teach my partner to make priorities in his life, to decide what is really important to do with his limited resources. Now you ask us not to prioritize, but be ready to do anything spontaneously. Life does not allow such freedom.

A.: No, life gives so much freedom. You do not take it. Freedom is available. So many possibilities are open and available. When you do not have the courage to take advantage of the freedom that is available to you, do not blame life.

Q.: Is someone born gay or is being gay a choice?

A.: You are asking is it by birth or by choice? I can tell you that all the qualities with which you are born, you have chosen them at some point in your life, maybe in earlier lives. Your choices only come as birth, and again your birth only comes as choice. It is like a vicious circle. Now, if you want to become gay, you can consciously choose, or if you want to break from being gay, again, you can consciously choose. You have that freedom. Based on the intensity with which you make the decision, it will take that quality to express. If you consciously, very strongly decide, then that quality will express from tomorrow morning, because tonight will be your death and tomorrow morning will be your birth. Sleep is death and waking up is birth. If you do not consciously intend, but just slowly think about it, maybe you will enjoy next jenma. So becoming something or breaking habits can be done as your conscious choice. If you are gay or not gay, you would have chosen that in this jenma or the earlier births.

Q.: Something, what do you see in the transition of 2012, some Mayan calendar, Aztec calendar and all those kind of things is being asked in this question.

A.: Sorry, I don’t know any Mayan calendar. I don’t know even my calendar. I don’t want to comment about the mystical things, nor will I comment on politics. I don’t have an answer for this question. Usually, these mystical things lead to more and more confusion than to clarity. If somebody says by 2012, the world is going to die, then intensify your enlightenment, put seeking first, that’s all. If somebody says the world is not going to die, then get ready, become enlightened so that you can live long and enjoy the world, that’s all. Either way, there is my answer.

I am not interested in any other theories, philosophies, or some Nostradamus’s prophecies, and all these things. Funny thing, only after it has happened, it can be interpreted or connected, not before things happen. Somebody said something and somebody records it and anything can be connected to anything. I can give you a few tips on how to become a prophet or how to write prophecy. Just write some common words. Anybody should be able to make any meaning out of it. After 2012, all people will have problems in their family. Family itself means problems. And your wife will not listen to your words. Wife means she will not listen. If she listens, how can she be called as wife? You come up with some common statements. Students will have problems studying. That is life. We should be able to make out any statement, any meaning and write something like in two or three hundred statements, find some fool to publish that and have some nickname.

I am surprised when I go to these spiritual bookstores where all this foolishness and junk is being printed and sold. The books just become vessels in the homes, that is another one fun. Maybe people buy books just to tell others that they have collected so much. I don’t think they’re reading. I think, fortunately, they don’t read.

Let us enter into the next sutra. ‘Feel my thought, I-ness, internal organs, me.’ This is another wonderful sutra. You asked what to ask and how to be in the Master’s presence. This sutra is the answer, to feel the center where the decisions are made continuously. If you understood the last sutra, start doing that technique today itself. Sometimes people who are based on the body cannot understand the intellectual definition of a technique. The last technique is more of an intellectual definition. He says, ‘Be aware of the inner space where the decisions are made.’ A body centered person can never be aware of that center. He will be thinking, where are the decisions being made, here, or there, or where? Where are the decisions being made? Sometimes he will understand the decisions are made neither here nor there. He will not be able to understand. The body centered person needs a more gross explanation and a more gross understanding. For him, Mahadeva gives this technique. If you are able to understand what I said in the last sutra, please do that. That is actually a very fast, quick sutra, that will give you experience instantly and very easily, but starting is a little difficult. Starting trouble will be there. In this sutra, starting trouble will not be there. Even a villager, a person who does not understand anything intellectually, a grass rooted physical person who is working from morning until night physically, can understand, can start, but growth will be very slow. It is more like a bullock cart technique and the first sutra is more like a jet.

I am continuously speaking on all of these sutras just to keep this knowledge alive and keep the possibility of reinvention in the future. We don’t know after how may generations somebody will listen, see these discourses, reinvent, comeback and connect themselves with the truth or enlightenment. For that reason, I am talking on this technique. My thought, I-ness, internal organs, me, feel. Understand the path happening inside and the I-ness, the feeling of ‘I’ happening inside and on the internal organs. This is one of the very powerful techniques. In those days, this technique was used as self diagnoses. When the thought rises, if you start feeling which parts are separately felt by you, which thoughts are touching and connecting with which organ, you will be able to diagnose your body by yourself. It’s a very wonderful technique at a physical level. You have to sit. This is Dhyana sutra, not Nithya sutra.

Almost all Dhyana sutras will be very physical, something with do’s and don’ts. Do this, don’t do that, that kind of instruction at the initial level. Dhyana sutras will be very apt for kids or beginners. For them Dhyana sutras will be best. Nithya sutras will be for the next level of people who have grown a little bit and matured. And Ananda sutras are the people who are living enlightenment and who are completely fulfilled and just overflowing with more and more understanding. If your mental setup has already turned to Nivritti, (any suffering induced by the world), you know how to come back to the center of joy. Your mental setup has turned towards Nivritti. Pravritti means even if the joy is induced by the outer world incidents, you will roll on it, vomit on it, add your quality and make it suffering. Nivritti means even when the pain is induced by the world, you come back to the center, stay in it and make it as a joyful ecstasy, and face it with peace and bliss. If your mental setup has already become Nivritti, whatever you read is Ananda sutra for you. Ananda sutras will click for you. If your mental setup is Pravritti, then Dhyana sutras are best for you. And during transition, Nithya sutras will help. From Dhyana you will become Nithya, from Nithya you will move to Ananda.

Feel my thought, I-ness, internal organs, me. Sit and feel when thoughts rise, when some thoughts are coming up, which internal organ feels that thought. Sometimes, when the thoughts relate to love or beloved ones, you will feel that in the heart area. When a deep worrying comes, you feel it in the navel area. When you are shaking with fear and the fear happens in you, you will feel the swadisthana, the swadisthana chakra area just below the navel area. When the fantasies are awakened, you will feel the muladhara area at the base of the spine. With different emotions, you feel different internal organs. Mahadeva is saying just feel, that’s enough. You have an automatic bio intelligence which will automatically heal the pain the moment you feel the pain. For example, you have some worry so you feel that worry is starting from the navel, and there is irritation and pain. You don’t have to do anything, just feel that pain. Suddenly you will see what heals the pain and drops the worrying thoughts. Your body, if it is allowed to heal itself, will not only heal the symptom, it will heal the root cause also. Disease itself happens when you are not allowing the natural healing process, when you don’t have patience, time or trust over your body. Your body does not heal and all the things you try to do heal only symptoms. Here, Mahadeva says allow the body to heal itself by feeling and not doing anything else. You will suddenly see, not only it heals the symptoms, it heals the disease itself.

Of course, nowadays we start feeling our disease only if it has become very strong at a gross level, which cannot be handled by the mind. This is problematic. In those days, people were so sensitive, even a small imbalance they could feel. They were so sensitive, they could come back to their center and heal themselves. They could heal before the disease started expressing itself in the physical layer. But now, unfortunately, we have lost sensitivity. Only when it becomes very gross, and you need a straight surgery, do you even realize the imbalance has happened. At this point, I don’t think this technique will work. This will work only if the disease has not yet expressed in the very gross physical layer. If it has already expressed at the physical layer, anna maya kosha, you need to pursue allopathy treatment. But the root level diseases which are getting expressed through the prana maya from the mind, which is moving towards the breath layer, can be healed by this technique.

Whenever a thought rises, just see on which part you are feeling some movement, which part is getting the first impact of the thought, which part is feeling the thought happening. Feel that connection and you will see suddenly, automatically the healing starts happening in that part. Feel. Understand, don’t think. ‘Feel my thought, I-ness, internal organs and me.’ And another beautiful thing in this sutra, Mahadeva says, ‘when you start feeling the thoughts and the physical organ which is touched or which feels the thought, and allow the body to heal itself, in that healing energy, you will feel my very self.’ He says you will feel Mahadeva. If you are able to heal yourself, you have already had a glimpse of Mahadeva in you. Shiva energy has already started oozing and has already started coming out of your system. You have had a connection to Mahadeva. Even if you had one self healing experience through this technique, Mahadeva says you are initiated. You are initiated. Now you can say Shivohum. Shiva is in me. The I-consciousness is Shiva.

In India, after the healing initiation, all the disciples will be made to sit and I do puja to them and do Namaskar, physically expressing and giving a statement to them that now ‘you have Shiva in you. You have the Shiva consciousness in you.’ I don’t do this here in America. Here the problem is that the healing initiation is done in a half day. Even if God comes here, he has to come on the weekend. He can’t come on a weekday and the weekend is always for meditation workshop. Monday morning, by the time I finish the initiation, even before even I say, ‘Let you be in eternal bliss’, half of the fellows will be sitting and they will be rushing, ‘Swamiji, just hand me the healer’s stick quickly I have to rush. Life is waiting.’ Anyhow, we do that in India to make the person understand the initiation the moment the initiation happens. Now you are carrying Shiva. You are impregnated. You are now filled with Shiva’s consciousness, Shiva’s energy. You are carrying Mahadeva himself. He says, ‘internal organs and the very me, the very myself will be experienced by you.’ Mahadeva says, ‘Amantayami.’ I am that in every living being, and giving the experience of consciousness to that. So understand, feel my thought, I-ness, internal organs and me.

Maybe we can enter into this technique. We can have an idea how to practice because this is a Dhyana sutra. We’ll practice now just for five minutes. Let me describe the technique. When you just sit naturally, some thought will come. Just see from where the thought is rising or which part is getting some movement or irritation or any feeling through that thought. You will see, one by one, each thought creates some sensation in some internal organ in your body. Try to see which thought is connected to which sensation happening inside your body. Try to settle down to the internal organ which is feeling the sensation by the thoughts which are coming out of your system. Please close your eyes. Just see from where thoughts are rising and where you are feeling sensation because of the thoughts.

Om, Shanti Shanti Shantihi

Experiment. Try this technique. Within twenty-four hours, if it clicks, this is the technique for you. If not, continue to try other techniques.

So let you all achieve and radiate the eternal bliss, Nithyananda. Thank you.

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