In the Presence of a Satguru

 

In the Presence of a Satguru

A self-realised, enlightened Satguru is a medium of universal consciousness. If ever you are fortunate enough to be in the presence of such a realised Master, just enjoy the experience, witness what your thoughts are, what you are feeling! These moments in the presence of such august beings are very rare and need to be absorbed to the fullest.

After accepting Swamiji as Paramatma, my receiving capacity increased manifold. What I realised was in His presence the mind becomes blank, there are no thoughts, you only respond if you are asked something. In His presence, silence speaks more than words, the continuous flow of consciousness showers your being with cold energy filled with oodles of love.

Remember, in whose presence you are and make a conscious effort to be present mentally too. Empty your mind of problems, else you will physically be present but mentally you could be in Delhi, in some circus, in your office, at home – thinking of all the situations in your life – in which case you will miss the bus. The Satguru is like a mirror and will only reflect what is inside you – you will clearly see who you really are in His presence. Don’t go in His presence thinking that you will ask for something – in which case you will not be in the present moment and your mind will be somewhere in the future which is not the reality. The only reality is your being in His divine presence in this moment.

When you are there in the moment, then you are where you are exactly supposed to be and then you will find that Paramatma’s hand touches you, you will feel the divine presence and you will experience untold inner peace and quiet. Be happy with what you have and accept whatever is happening – just be a witness in His presence and you will observe that unfathonable sensation of being in the presence of the infinite. If you totally surrender and look at the Satguru, you will see nothing but a void, you will see straight through Him as if He is not there – that is because a Satguru has reached a state of void and He has merged with universal consciousness – only those who have reached a high spiritual state will  see His presence in the form of energy; for the rest of us mortals, we will be blessed by just seeing His physical form.

The physical form is an illusion, just like life is an illusion and we have to go deep within ourselves to find our own reality. In His presence, it is best to submit and experience the energy, experience the divine aura and the waves of love energy which keep washing over you. If ever you have the chance to be in His presence, focus beyond the physical form and believe me you will then experience divinity in His presence!

Happiness in the Midst of Battle!

 

Photo Credit: Pinterest | Preaching on Battlefield

Happiness in the Midst of Battle!

The Bhagwad Gita was narrated in the midst of a battlefield – when Lord Krishna, cajoled, provoked, threatened, dictated, guided Arjuna to pick up his weapons and go and fight, whereas Arjuna was loathe to do so as the people on the other side were ‘friends and family’. And if you really see, life is nothing but a battlefield with each individual fighting his/her own individual battle. This entire narrative in 18 chapters is nothing but 18 different ways to find the ultimate Truth. This is perhaps the first scripture, the earliest of the ancient texts, which practically demonstrates the fact that there are many paths to The Truth – that there is no single path, but different paths to the same Truth.

Some people are battling just to survive, some to try and rule the world and others to make something of their lives – a very few of them are looking beyond life’s battlefield to find the ultimate truth. Each person in his/her own way is looking for happiness amidst life’s daily battle.

It’s a good idea to wonder sometimes, why are some people interested in religious matters, when they can also live without being interested in them? It is possible — many people live like that, and yet some people feel — no, no, there is something behind all this; it can’t be just what we see and hear. The search for the Supreme starts in many ways, for different people in different ways.

The crux of the Gita is that you cannot withdraw from the battlefield of life – it is not that you are withdrawing from evil; you are literally withdrawing from life’s battle! This is something which each one of us faces at some point or the other. There are so many situations facing us – what do we do? Either we jump into it with great violence and angst to try and overcome it or run away from it – both solutions are not good. There is always a middle way to tackle each situation with moderation – that is what yoga and meditation teaches us.

Every human being goes through travails and pain and sadness in life. No one can escape from this. The happiest person, at some point of his life, may have passed through difficult times. We really do not know when these difficulties can come. That’s how many people turn to religion. 

The greatest illusion that we have is that we are going to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning. There are many people who don’t wake up. And yet, hope is such a thing that it makes us work for tomorrow. Then, when something happens, which is not according to our willingness or desire, we are dejected. Unhappiness sets in. Happiness is a rare commodity — when we try to grasp it, it escapes, and when you grasp it, it is so dear to us that we don’t want it to slip away. Therefore, unhappiness begins right there, when happiness goes.

Now, the practice of Yoga and meditation is the means and way of finding that happiness, which means our true identity; when we discover that, we are not what we think we are, but something completely different. Swami Vivekananda explained it beautifully. He said: “We are hypnotised by the false happiness that the world seems to give us. We have to de-hypnotise ourselves and come back to our senses.” Remove all the conditions that are there and remain in one essential state where one discovers that one is not this body or the mind but the inner self, the soul which is free of all unhappiness, and which by essential nature is Sat Chit Ananda, or true happiness.

Based on Satsang Foundation newsletter

Witnessing in Meditation

 

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Witnessing in Meditation

As unaware human beings, we live our lives absorbing the sensations and sights from the material outer world into our inner being – in fact we are advised by scholars to reflect that which is on the outside within us! In reality what should really be happening is our inner world should reflect on the outside. The external world is full of chaos and to find peace in that chaos and make it reflect in our inner world is calling for the impossible to happen! On the contrary, if you have managed to find peace within through meditation then that inner peace is automatically reflected in the outer world through your energy body.

Becoming a witness to everything in and around you has been advised by all spiritual masters, but when you ask fellow seekers very few have a true perspective on what that really means. Becoming the inner witness, a neutral observer of the mind is an important aspect of meditation. Unless one grasps this basic strategy of detached self-observation and puts it to work, meditation will prove to be nothing more than a daydream and our tryst with it nothing more than an invention of our imagination.

A witness is a direct observer and the process of witnessing has three essential components – seeing our inner experience directly from a distance, remaining detached and steady in this process and finally, through meditation, gradually internalising this experience in the form of a new spiritual vision.

The process of becoming this new inner witness begins by discovering how to calm the reactions through which we normally experience life and then set them aside in favour of a more detached point of view. As we gain distance from the rigidity of our attachments the sense of awareness starts acquiring a different inner feel. It becomes more restful, transparent and expansive. This is who you really are – in other words the inner witness. With this realisation the depth in your meditation starts increasing.

You start observing the activity of your mind, you do not associate with the thoughts but just observe them from a distance – you are just watching a movie play in your mind. You are not the movie nor the thoughts which are playing therein. With time your association with these thoughts gradually changes as you learn to watch them without pursuing them. The thoughts must be witnessed objectively thus gradually weakening your attachments. It is the process of watching over the concentration of the mind and thus transforming your awareness.

Like Osho says, “Watch your mind. Don't do anything – no repetition of mantra, no repetition of the name of God – just watch whatever the mind is doing. Don't disturb it, don't prevent it, don't repress it; don't do anything at all on your part. You just be a watcher, and the miracle of watching is meditation.”

Soul is the Self

 

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Soul is the Self

Swamiji has run an entire series of daily messages on the ‘Soul’ – he has given many insights about the Soul and the Self. The object of this post is to see how there is actually no difference between the soul and the self – in fact the soul is the real self.

Atman or the Soul refers to the non-material self, which never changes. It is distinct from both the mind and the external body. This real self is beyond the temporary designations we normally ascribe to ourselves, in terms of race, gender, species and nationality. Ideas of reincarnation are natural extensions of this preliminary concept. Consciousness, wherever it is found, is considered a symptom of the soul, and without it the body has no awareness. This life-giving soul is considered spirit (brahman), differentiating it from inert matter. Belief in the soul is not just theoretical or the property of theologians, but is a worldview expressed by Hindus in all walks of life.

The key points to remember are: The real self is distinct from the temporary body. Material designations do not apply to this eternal soul. The atman is spirit (brahman) – unchanging, eternal and conscious. Consciousness, as spread throughout the body, is a symptom of the soul.

In many discourses you will find that the body is compared to a vehicle and the soul to the driver. For example:

·       A car cannot run without a driver. Similarly, the body will not work without the presence of the soul.

·      Just as a young child may not realise that each and every car needs a driver for it to move, those without developed knowledge perceive the body but fail to see the soul within.

·     The driver may identify with his car and even feel kinship with drivers of a similar model. Similarly, feelings of friendship or enmity arise from identifying with the body.

·    The driver develops a deep attachment to the car, so in an accident he commonly cries out “You hit me!” If the soul identifies with the body in the same way, then – preoccupied with the body’s condition – he becomes caught in a web of distress and happiness.

 ·      The driver is not satisfied maintaining the car alone without looking after his own needs. Similarly, looking after the body alone cannot satisfy the soul.

·        Although the driver is not the vehicle, he will move according to the nature of the car, namely fast, slow, etc.

·       The same driver can get out of one vehicle and drive another. Similarly, the soul leaves one body and enters another.

All forms of yoga and spiritual discipline are aimed at realising the true self. Only when one stops seeking external happiness and looks within, can one perceive the true self. According to the Bhagavad-Gita, this can be achieved not only through study, meditation, and renunciation but also by active and selfless performance of one’s duty.

Based on Hindu Philosophy

Seeing God in Everything

 

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Seeing God in Everything

Swami Vivekananda gave a lecture series on Jnana Yoga in London in 1896 – in this he speaks about the obvious suffering of mankind and the evils which humans perpetrate to establish their superiority. Even today, 125 years later the world has not progressed much, in fact the suffering and man’s inhumanity to both man and nature has gone up manifold. The impact of both is clearly visible in terms of the degradation in both nature and man’s behaviour.

The only solution to get out of the rut that mankind seems to be falling into is by trying to understand one’s Self and thereby trying to see God in everything and everywhere. For this to happen we need to awaken the humanity within us, we need to rise way above our religion and grasp and live with humanity as our religion. All religious scriptures have one basic lesson ‘love everybody and everything’ – so Love is at the root of humanity, because ‘to love’ is man’s basic nature. “We are dying of thirst sitting on the banks of the mightiest river. We are dying of hunger sitting near heaps of food. Here is the blissful universe, yet we do not find it. We are in it all the time, and we are always mistaking it. Religion proposes to find this out for us. The longing for this blissful universe is in all hearts. It has been the search of all nations, it is the one goal of religion, and this ideal is expressed in various languages in different religions. It is only the difference of language that makes all these apparent divergences. One expresses a thought in one way, another a little differently, yet perhaps each is meaning exactly what the other is expressing in a different language,” says Swami Vivekananda.

The mind is very powerful – it is the creator of thoughts – it is best if we start listening to the Self, then think about the Self and then meditate upon it. We are fortunate that we have Swamiji to guide us, but think about those billions of people, the vast majority who are groping through this dark life without any ideal, without any goal. Get this ideal of seeing God in everything into our hearts, into our brains, into our veins, until it tingles in every dop of our blood and permeates every pore, atom and sub atom in our body – then we must meditate upon it.

"The ideal of man is to see God in everything. But if you cannot see Him in everything, see Him in one thing, in that thing which you like best, and then see Him in another. So, you can go on and on. There is infinite life before the soul. Take your time and you will achieve your end."

Happiness and Sadness

 

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Happiness and Sadness

As children, we become happy at the simplest of things, our parent’s loving touch, a little gift, sound of music, nature’s beauty and so on. As we grow older and as our innocence dries up with the reality of life – ‘happiness’ starts coming from people and objects – here the mind starts defining the meaning of happiness. And along with happiness, sadness is not far behind – basically both these emotions are two sides of the same coin.

Our happiness is now a function of our desires – it becomes an exercise in ‘ifs’ and ‘what ifs’ – ‘If I get a promotion’, ‘If I get a salary raise’, ‘If I can go on that holiday’ and so on and so forth; on the other hand – ‘What if I don’t get a promotion’, ‘What if I don’t get a salary raise’, ‘What if I can’t go on that holiday?’ Thus, our desires start defining our happy or sad state. The more intense our desire, the sadder we are, more disappointed we are if that desire is not fulfilled.

In a way sadness is also good, nothing to be afraid of, accept that you are sad for whatever reason and don’t pretend that you are happy when in reality you are not. You are only fooling yourself – deep down you know the reason for your sadness – it is just that your mind is not letting you accept it. Remember the night is darkest before dawn, and just as in nature, day follows night and happiness follows sadness in life – it is nature’s wheel and it keeps turning. It is up to us whether to accept it or not – acceptance of life’s up-down cycle leads to happiness and inner peace and protest or resistance leads to sadness and depression.

The solution to our individual state is in our own hands – if we choose to be happy, we are, else sadness and depression become our lot! Happiness gives one the feeling of vastness and sadness the feeling of depth – embrace both as both are needed. People who pretend to be happy are always shallow, they are mediocre. People who have been touched by sadness become aware of many things which one remains unaware of in ordinary circumstances. Sadness gives you depth, an insight into other dimensions of your persona that you were not aware of. Of course, it is sad, but also beautiful. Even the night has its own beauty and those who cannot see the beauty of the night, miss a whole lot!

Both the dark and the light, sadness and happiness need to be viewed from a distance – as a witness. When you learn to just observe from a distance, you become detached – then the happiness and sadness is not ‘yours’ so to say, it is just a happening which is a part of life. This realisation will give you tremendous peace and inner joy – this feeling is true happiness, divine bliss, accept it, live it.

Based on Osho talks

Stoke the Fire Within

 

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Stoke the Fire Within

In the centre of our chest is the little flame, akin to a candle light, this is nothing but our soul which guides us subconsciously 24 x 7. Most of us have lost touch with the soul because we are consumed by desires which are available in the modern world. But desires have been present throughout the ages only their form has changed – for example, 200 years ago you may have desire a horse and carriage, today you desire to have a car. Rarely has man crossed the threshold of desire and reached the stage where the little flame within has been stoked into a fire so huge that burnt everything within its all-consuming flame to light up the crown with the blinding light of Paramatma – this all-pervading light, very few on earth have crossed over so to speak from darkness into light, where nothing but joy, bliss and universal wisdom exists.

The desires in the four primitive fountains which need to be burnt – food, sleep, sex and self-preservation – the ONE desire which remains after all these are burnt is the desire related to finding your way back home.

These four primitive fountains contain desires related to the individual playing in the manifested world. They all, one by one, are directed to the manifested world and thus move the seeker away from the Center of Consciousness, where Pure Consciousness resides. This ONE desire is unique because it is not related to the manifested world but is directed to go beyond it, to leave the manifested world behind. Thus, this desire is first, prior to all the other desires. It is buried underneath all other desires.

Swamiji directs us to meditate and let the cleansing of the chakras and meridians do their job of helping you get rid of your desires, this happens automatically, if you force it to happen, then you are using your intellect and the desire just gets buried and when you least expect, it comes back into the open with a vengeance. With regular meditation you develop the sakshi bhaav – you become a witness and one this happens you just see life happening without becoming a part of life – then there is no good, no bad, whatever happens is happening as per divine will.

The churn which happens within you as the chakras are cleansed is like a fire burning up all the negativities within and I am sure you are aware that the phoenix rises from the ashes – similarly your pure SELF rises from the ashes of desire and negativity within you. The space created within gets filled with the light of eternal love for all beings, your approach to life gets transformed as your soul consciousness becomes one with universal consciousness. From darkness into eternal light is the journey of the sadhak – the Master leads and the true disciple follows by questioning and testing everything the Master says, till he KNOWS for HIMSELF the ULTIMATE TRUTH!

Sensations and Spiritual Progress

 

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Sensations and Spiritual Progress

Today, while meditating I felt that when we get cold vibrations and get various fragrances such as rose, sandalwood, jasmine, and so on – it just so happens that sub-consciously we start expecting these sensations. Whenever we attend Swamiji’s shibirs we always feel that the atmosphere of the Himalayas has descended at the venue of the shibir, regardless of the season when the shibir is held. During the anushthan period and on Mahashivratri the cold vibrations at the ashram are legendary – that is because the Master is in deep meditation and sending the vibrations across the Ashram and into the universe. We feel that, we experience it, as we are in that energy field and we are carried by Him in His energy and with His grace. This is nothing to do with our own state.

So, my point is, do we get stuck at this level? Because, to my understanding the vibrations, cool sensations, fragrances are all part of a process and we have to go beyond this stage. If we keep expecting to feel cool vibrations and get fragrances, we are subconsciously putting a barrier to our own progress. Because with expectation comes a pause and then like Osho says, the mind starts playing tricks. You start feeling cold vibes and getting wonderful fragrances because your mind ‘tells’ you that you are getting these sensations.

When one reaches this stage, then one has to reassess and find out the way to go beyond this stage of sensations. The objective is to reach a state of sat-chitta-anand – that stage of perpetual bliss which one can only get when one is completely empty. To go beyond this stage, I feel that the series of daily messages on ‘Love’ which Swamiji sent recently are a pointer on going beyond this stage. Love is a human’s pure nature, to reach that pure state one has to unconditionally surrender and accept completely, fundamentally and with full faith that Swamiji Himself is Paramatma.

Once you accept your Guru as Paramatma, then you attain that introversive state after which there is nothing else left to attain. You reach that state of perpetual inner peace, silence, bliss, joy and this is reflected in your own persona. The radiance is visible and the people who come in contact with you feel its beneficial impact – in fact, they may end up telling you that they feel very peaceful and nice when they are with you. Praying that each one of us reaches that introversive state which takes us beyond sensations and into nothingness.

 

Spirituality, Happiness and Innocence

 

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Spirituality, Happiness and Innocence

Swamiji keeps telling us to become as innocent as a child – a child tells it like it is, there is no hanky-panky, no motivated opinion, just pure innocent joy and fun. Man is not innocent because he is a slate on which nothing has been written so far, or because it has not been filled with karmic bondage but because he bears the divine imprint. He always has been and now too he is the very image of Paramatma.

Happiness does not depend on the body, external comfort or external objects. True happiness lies in the mind – if we learn to quieten the mind, we will gain control over everything else. It is only spiritual knowledge acquired with the help of a Realised Master through meditation that teaches us to control the mind. In the past – say 5 – 6 generations ago we lived in joint families in the villages. There would be 40 – 50 people to a household but they all lived with unity, mutual affection and deference. The atmosphere in such families was filled with love and peace because they understood spirituality. All households had a spiritual guide to advise them if and when the need arose. Sadly, this is no longer so – today if there are three members in a family, they are like three islands in an ocean. Each one has his or her own way of doing things and there are likely to be a clash of opinions and egos.

If spiritual principles and values are imbibed early, we can at least avoid these situations within families. Spirituality brings hearts closer because one who has learnt to swim in the ocean knows how to ride the waves. Some mistakenly consider spirituality to be nothing but blind faith! Whereas the truth is that spirituality dispels the darkness of ignorance. Youth are misled by people today, offering drugs to give so called spiritual experiences, when the same experience is available through proper practice of spirituality and meditation.

Why do seemingly rich and famous people kill themselves? If they have all the comforts of life, what are they missing? You cannot buy happiness, joy and inner peace – that has to grow within you through proper spiritual practice. Therefore, we must accept or practice whatever bestows peace of mind. We are all different forms of the one SELF, like the same toffee in different wrappers!

We do not understand this simple thing and thus end up creating so many problems in the world. This is because we have lost our child-like heart and thus are unable to experience Paramatma. A spiritual aspirant needs a heart filled with innocence and an intellect rich with discernment. Only then we will be able to experience the Divine! The life of a person bestowed with both will never know sorrow. You cannot enjoy peace without an innocent heart because God abides only in an innocent heart.

Paramatma Unites Us All

 

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Paramatma Unites Us All

Swamiji always talks about the power of collectivity and how he is connected with millions of souls and how millions of souls are connected to him. When we sit down for meditation and we connect with Swamiji’s subtle presence, then we too connect with the energy of those millions of souls – we feel that as vibrations embracing our being from the crown of our head through the rest of the body.

The reason for this post is because there is a lot of negativity that is prevailing in society today all over the world – but specially in India, America, Europe and China. These countries and continents are key to the future of the economic prosperity of the rest of the world. It is not that we are confronted with outer difficulties such as pandemics, wildfires, hurricanes, floods or the economic distress and so on – this list goes on and on, but this has always been the case to a lesser or greater degree through the ages.

What is more disturbing than those outer conditions is that we seem to be losing our sense of mutual support over the last few decades. The political situation as well as the leadership seems to be introverting and looking out for their own interests rather than the world as one family. That collective strength and sense of sharing economically too seems to be reducing over time. The bonds that we share as a human family and as a community seem to be eroding away.

I think, most of you would probably agree that all the world’s problems seem worse today because we have lost to some degree the common basis for confronting them as a unified team. So many of us feel alienated. All over the world there is a great divisiveness, a sense of isolated camps and factions that keep us separated from each other because the shared moral and spiritual values that form the basis of our civilisation, are being frayed and torn!

This is the time to embrace the spiritual truth which Swamiji talks of – The closer to Paramatma we are, the closer we are to the Truth, the closer we get to each other. The collective bond of universal consciousness binds us together. For that to happen we need to meditate regularly and in collectivity – connect with the divine within each one of us, so that the combined energy forms a positive network of pious collective souls spreading positive vibes all over the planet.

Think of the two sides of a triangle as representing two communities or of a pyramid with the four sides representing different factions. When you are at the bottom you are quite a distance apart, but as you start rising towards the apex you move closer to each other. Paramatma is at the top and as you move closer to him you feel the power of the spirit of unity, you rediscover that togetherness which enables us to say, “Yes, we all have our differences and there will always be differences of opinion, but at the base there is respect, a sense that we are all in this together.” That togetherness is what we have lost by ignoring moral and spiritual truths, by thinking that we can live happily without dharma. Just remember Paramatma unites us all through our collective strength.

From Darkness to Light

 

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From Darkness to Light

We have all heard about the famous Upanishadic chant - ‘Lead us from non-being to being, lead us from darkness to light, lead us from death to immortality’ - which precedes the special verses that teach ‘Aham Brahmasami’. When it comes to the Samarpan Meditation values, the spiritual experiences that each one of us gets is based on the extent to which we surrender ourselves to the Satguru.

With continuous meditation practice one reaches a stage where one stops seeing things – lights of various hues – golden, purple, white, blue green and so on, one also stops seeing images of deities or saints from our past lives who are deeply embedded in our subconscious. Whatever we ‘see’ in meditation is nothing but a manifestation of what we have retained in our subconscious – the churn that meditation commences deep within you causes all these to start appearing in your third eye – which makes you feel that you are ‘seeing’ the images as they appear.

After a point all these images stop coming and you find yourself in a very dark, cool tunnel, or what appears to be a tunnel. This, according to Osho is good, this is progress because now you have progressed from seeing to ‘not seeing’ – you are in a very cool, pleasant, comforting dark zone. Now, when you enter this phase, if you are afraid of the dark, then you will never progress, because that fear of darkness will always get you out of your meditative state in a jiffy.

There is nothing to be afraid of about darkness – darkness is nothing but the absence of light and our spiritual journey is from darkness to light. So, instead of being afraid of the dark, embrace it, make it a part of you, be comfortable in the darkness so that the fear itself disappears. Once the fear has gone, you will find yourself being in solitude and a completely still state in that all-comforting, cooling dark tunnel. Keep going, and one day with the grace of the Guru-energies you will see the light – the light of a thousand suns exploding within you, you will feel like the universe is expanding within you, something which is beyond description.

The ultimate goal of life is to move across the ocean of darkness or samsara to the eternal light of truth. This cannot be achieved by mere emotion or belief, or by reason or ideas, because these are part of the darkness and ignorance of the mind. The journey from darkness to light is a movement beyond the dualistic mind to a higher unitary awareness that transcends all concepts.

The Atma, our true self, is the inner light and energy that links us with the entire universe. We reach it through developing our 'buddhi' or higher intelligence, cultivating a discernment between being and non-being, light and darkness, the eternal and the transient. May each person enkindle that inner flame of awareness by looking deeply within to our original nature of boundless self-illumination and bliss!

Love is Freedom from ‘I’

 

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Love is Freedom from ‘I’

Swamiji spoke about ‘love’ recently in his daily messages – there was a series on selfless love. In this post we will see how selfless love sets us free from the ego of ‘I’. Love it is said is the means to tune in the strings of the heart so that divine music is the result. The values of the heart represent all that is good, truthful and beautiful. Unfortunately, modern society all over the world has lost that tuning with its heart – the world today is heartless, cruel, selfish and always seeks the shortsighted easy way out of situations, even if that means hurting others!

For strengthening the bonds of the heart, to tune the strings of the heart, love is required to recondition the heart into its original role – that from where music can arise. One can attain Paramatma through selfless love, prayer without any love is false and futile. Prayer expressed just in words have no value at all unless they are embellished with selfless love.

In this context love is not physical love, it is something which is pure and which flows from the heart to touch all beings on earth – human and otherwise. When we say we love you, we are actually seeking love not giving it – think about it! Every time we tell someone ‘I love you’, we are in fact asking ‘Do you love me?’ We are actually begging for love because that is the state of the world today, it has become dry and selfish. Only a person who has risen above the need for asking for love, can give love – Swamiji is a prime example! Love knows only giving, it does not know anything about asking.

Love comes only to the door of the house from where the hankering for love has disappeared. Love starts showering on the house of one who has stopped asking for love, but on the house of one who is still hankering for love, no rains will fall. Love will not flow towards an asking heart. The asking heart does not have the kind of receptivity that makes it possible for love to enter. Only a sharing heart, a giving heart has the kind of receptivity for love to come to his door and say, "Open the door! I have come.”

Love is an inner flowering. It arises from some dormant energy within, yet all of us search for love outside. All of us search for love in the beloved - which is an absolutely false and futile action. There can be only two voices inside a person. There is no voice of love within the person who is filled with the voice of 'I'. And there is no voice of 'I' within the person who is filled with the voice of love. The two of them can never be found together. It is impossible.

There can be no love within us, because if we search inside, we will find that the voice of 'I' is resounding there for twenty-four hours continuously. We breathe with this 'I' , we drink water with this 'I', we enter a temple with this 'I'. What else is there in our lives except this 'I'? The love which comes from the ego is absolutely false hence I said that all our love is false - because it comes out of ego, it is the shadow of ego. And remember that the love which comes out of ego is more dangerous than the hate, because hate is clear, direct and simple but love comes with a changed face and it will be difficult to recognise it.

Love is the door to the divine and ego is the door to ignorance. Love is the door to light and ego is the door to darkness. 'I' is the first in a person's life and 'I' is the last. The person tied up in 'I' experiences pain - and after getting free of 'I', he attains to bliss. Find this 'I' and the doors to bliss can open. If the rock of 'I' is shattered the springs of love will start flowing. Then the heart fills with the music of love. When the heart is filled with love, a new journey starts which is difficult to describe in words. That journey will take you to the very center of life.

Based on Osho and Shree Shivkrupanand Swamiji talks.

How to Remain Connected?

 

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How to Remain Connected?

In his discourses Swamiji says, “I play the music to the song you sing” – what he means to say is that you will receive to the level to which you surrender to him. So, if you are 100% then you will receive 100%, if you are 50% then you will receive 50% - basically you will feel his divinity only to the extent you are willing to give yourself up to him.

I have been asked this question several times – how does one remain connected? In my experience, once the connection is established, we cannot break it, unless we do something really, really bad. Swamiji always holds our hand firmly, it is us who pull our hands in a way that he is forced to let you go. Just remember, He is your soul’s father, so if you disconnect in this birth, he will follow you in your next birth and still the next till you find liberation.

Swamiji asks us to donate half an hour of our time to him every day and he will ensure that the remaining 23.5 hours pass by happily. Question is, do we give him the promised half an hour regularly, every day? If you do, you will observe that over a period of 45 days (if you are a new comer) your life starts changing, some of your problems suddenly go away, some bad habits are given up, little-little things which tell you that Swamiji is keeping his end of the bargain.

The problem with sadhaks is that they start expecting more and more whereas the solution is for us to become emptier and emptier. What I mean to say is that we should let go of our expectations, releasing ourselves from attachments – both material and emotional, quieting the voice of our ego so that we can listen to our inner wisdom, facing uncertainty with faith and complete confidence, being selflessly of service to others, surrendering completely and unconditionally to the divine.

We can always connect with the divine through meditation, once we feel that missing meditation makes our day incomplete and we begin to feel uncomfortable because of that, then that is the first indication that you are connected and your soul is guiding you to not miss those meditation sessions regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in.

Be alert for signals which appear out of the blue, it may be a message on a poster, or on a car, bus etc, some message coming on the radio which may be addressing a specific issue that you face – it could come in any form – but for that you need to be alert and aware, witnessing everything in a fully aware state. You will be surprised at the number of messages that the divine sends to you through the strangest of messengers.

But once you begin recognising the signals, it is actually fun and also spiritually elevating at the same time. For each individual it will be different, you need to submit yourself to the test with full faith and once you are tuned in, then you will feel the connection 24x7, believe me. Here’s praying that all of you find your connection and stay connected all the time.

Trip to Dandi after a Long Time

 

Trip to Dandi after a Long Time

Yesterday, ten of us – five newcomers and five other sadhaks/sadhikas had registered for Gurushaktidham darshan at Dandi Ashram for the 11 – 12 time-slot. I left home at 4.50 and picked up the first sadhika from Shivaji Park at 5, then the next mother-son duo at Jogeshwari at 5.20 and the final pickup-up of mother-daughter duo at Borivali at 5.30am. We reached Fountain at 5.45 which was the designated time for Deepak Tandon and my cousins and another sadhika to meet. We exchanged seats so that the mother-daughter duo shifted to the other car and the first sadhika’s sister joined us in our car. We reached incident-free with His grace at Dandi Ashram at 10.20 after a breakfast halt.

The entry is now from behind the Ashram and the road comes up to the Yagyashala. We entered and showed our credentials and then the volunteers checked us in, hand sanitisers were being used at every stage. We went to the sahitya stall and I got a few things for my cousins and also for my brother.

I met Ramesh Lalwani, the manager, after a long time and it felt like I was meeting my younger brother after ages – the joy emerging from within was immense – the love energy at the Ashram was playing its role completely!

At 10.50 we were told to enter the Gurushaktidham for our meditation session. We went in and the first thing that struck me was the continuous flow of a cool breeze – mind you it was mid-day and the sun was up, but the ambience was very cool, refreshing and energizing. I sat down for meditation and within minutes was in a thoughtless deep meditative state – the energy around the spine and crown was very cool and captivating, it was continuously swirling throughout the body. I thought I heard a bell ring, but then the soul was in no mood to come out of that state, and then later the bell rang really loudly and I got up with a start, I looked around and everyone was getting up. I prostrated and then quietly left the Gurushaktidham walking backwards till I reached the entrance door.

Once we were outside, I was asked by the sadhika from Shivaji Park whether they spray rose perfume inside and I burst out laughing. I told her you have been captivated by Swamiji’s marketing expertise – most first timers get this strong aroma of rose or sandalwood. Both she and her elder sister experienced this and she opened her eyes to check on this. The 15 year old boy also got the immense fragrance of rose. Also, she felt as if someone placed a cold hand on her head and her crown went ice cold, she opened her eyes to check this too!

Just goes to show, that the Guru-energies are ever-present in the Ashram and those who are in a position to receive get their inner experiences.

I definitely recommend a visit to the nearest Ashram for Mangal Murti darshan and meditation. The four days prior registration list goes to Swamiji and He places His chitta on all the registered sadhaks so that they come in a good state and receive good meditation experiences. It is for us to go there in a good enough state to receive the energy which he is always giving.

Eternal Source of Strength

 

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Eternal Source of Strength

Whenever we travel abroad to a new country, forget abroad even when we travel to an unknown destination for the first time, even in our own country, we are beset by a sense of both trepidation and expectation as to what we may find! We feel slightly insecure about what to do if our travel plans go awry in spite of so many guideposts being in place; we feel anxiety, a feeling of uncertainty with so many of our support systems taken away from us as we try to settle down in the new place!

If we have the faith then we can definitely rely on certain principles to help us find our bearings and to settle in. Despite changing and troublesome external conditions, there are eternal principles and spiritual laws which never change. When everything around us is changing, we can realign ourselves to those eternal truths so as to reorient our sense of direction, to ground ourselves and give ourselves a firm footing with which to confront life with when it throws something at us!

Through meditation and spiritual practise, we can free ourselves from identification with our lower self, our lower nature; awakening and expressing in our own lives and in our relations with those in our new surroundings, the true, pure and exalted transcendental nature of our real Self, our Atma. Through the science of yoga and meditation we can keep alive our connection with the divine, keep ourselves bound to the eternal Source of strength, wisdom, and security, no matter how chaotic or how insecure our outer circumstances might be.

When we connect with the subtle body of Swamiji and through him to universal consciousness which is the Supreme Source of divine energy, we find the source of eternal strength which helps us get through seemingly the toughest of circumstances.

We just have to remember the Himalayan Gurus, Swamiji’s eleven sages who are always with him, apart from these each one of us has our own guardian angels – Swamiji’s subtle body plus at least two of our past life Gurus who are always guiding us unbeknown to us. If you reach that inner state, you will definitely feel their presence around you all the time.

Never be afraid of whatever life throws at you, because you have that eternal source of strength in you to overcome every circumstance that life throws at you – just connect with the divine source while meditating, feel the vibrations, feel that great power, that healing vibration, that healing light of faith, courage and divine presence flowing into the homes and lives of each one of you. The eternal source of strength is within you – empty yourself first and then fill yourself with the in-flowing energy and see your life change in ways you would never have dreamt of!

The Highest Faith

 

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The Highest Faith

In our day-to-day lives we come across various situations and life crises which tests our faith in God to the utmost. The most unexpected of things happen – both beneficial and bad. We take the beneficial in our stride and thank God for his benevolence but when things go against us, we don’t thank him for the hurdle which he has put in our life. To the contrary we complain and pray for the difficulty to pass by and to give us the strength to overcome the tragedy. Why does this happen? Why do we not accept the bad in the same spirit that we accept the good? Why is our faith put to the test in adverse circumstances? These are questions which keep cropping up.

Acceptance is so easy when things are going in our favour, but the moment the tide turns acceptance becomes a challenge. Questions crop up in the mind – why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this? And so on and so forth!

Life, its substance and purpose, is an enigma, difficult yet not unknowable. With our progressive thinking, we are daily solving some of its secrets. But in spite of all our devices and facilities available in the modern era along with its strategies and inventions, it appears that we are still playthings in the hands of destiny! We have a long way to go before we can become independent of Nature’s domination!

To be constantly at the mercy of Nature – this surely is not that freedom! Our enthusiastic minds are rudely seized by a sense of helplessness when we are victimized by floods, earthquakes, cyclones, landslide, avalanches, volcanos, or apparently when without any rhyme or reason some near and dear one is abruptly snatched away from amidst us through illness or accident. It is then that we realise our vulnerability and that we really haven’t conquered much! In spite of all our efforts to make life what we want it to be, there will always remain certain conditions which are introduced on this planet, infinite and guided by an unknown, unseen power, operating without our initiative…… with all our certainties, we still have to abide an uncertain existence.

That is when we realise the necessity of a fearless reliance on our true Immortal Self (Atma) and on the Supreme Deity (Paramatma) in whose image the Self is made – a faith that acts without egoism, and plods on merrily, knowing no trepidation or constraint. Exercise absolute fearless surrender to that Higher Power. Make your consciousness remain steadfast in its faith and let it not be diverted by sickness or calamity – faith should remain absolute regardless of circumstances.

Hold on to this faith disregarding the buffeting of life’s untoward circumstances. Let your faith work for you and you will find its dynamic influence on you, the greater your faith the less you will be a slave to weaknesses. Absolute and unconditional surrender to Paramatma is the criterion of faith. Remember, this surrender is not laziness, expecting Paramatma to do everything for your – it is the faith that your utmost effort to bring about the desired result is also necessary – rather, it is this surrender through love for Paramatma, which is the Highest Faith!

What is True Freedom?

 

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What is True Freedom?

Our understanding of freedom strives from ‘democratic’ values which are invariably enshrined in the constitution of various countries – these are the rights each one has by operation of law. Freedom to speak, freedom to marry, freedom to write and so on….. but each of these freedoms come with reasonable restraints – meaning you are free to do what you want as long as your freedom does not impinge on that of another or is against national security!

We, who live in truly democratic countries know the meaning of freedom as we have experienced it, lived it – but what about those people who live in say Afghanistan, Libya, China and so on. Are they really free? We are now only talking about the role that freedom plays in day-to-day material life. Here, we talk about freedom to do this, freedom to do that. What we are looking for is active freedom and what we should really be seeking is inner freedom!

Inner freedom can only come when we start obtaining freedom from various attachments which we have held on to throughout our lives. Freedom from fear, anger, hate, reaction, desire and so on. How do we reach that state of freedom which truly sets us free from everything material and brings us in tune with cosmic freedom?

Simply, realising one’s mistake is not enough. Without deliberation, practice and realisation, one cannot be free from the bondage of material life, although one may have understood the impact of one’s mistakes. It is very important to take up the journey towards freedom right from one’s childhood. Without specific training, freedom is not possible.

One needs to free oneself from the grip of society and delve deep into one’s own self through meditation and introspection. You will learn to redefine your purpose in life – from material to inner growth. Unless one deliberates upon the intention of knowing and realising the Absolute Truth, there can be no true freedom!

Most people do not realise that true freedom is in reality a yogic concept. Yoga says that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not inalienable rights, but inalienable forces embedded in the very fabric of human nature. Yoga tells us that life energy, liberty (free will) and the pursuit of happiness (or soul’s desire for perfect bliss) – these are forces that act through the soul’s ten instruments – the five senses and the five senses of bodily action, with or without our permission. That is why these are not just inalienable rights but inalienable forces or processes.

We can only get true freedom through the practice of deep meditation where we merge with universal consciousness and find that nectar of bliss which lies deep within each one of us – that nectar, a taste of which once obtained sets you truly free from the bondage of the physical body!