Ego dies, Soul is Born

 

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Ego dies, Soul is Born

All spiritual seekers have at some point or the other felt the fear of ‘knowing themselves’. Why? Because there comes a point where we cross the boundary of the ego and enter into the world of egoless-ness. That point is the point of great fear — because it looks like death. And, in fact, it is a kind of death: the ego disappears.

And up to now, that has been our identity. Up to now, that’s what we have been thinking we are. And suddenly it starts evaporating. A great fear grips the heart: “I am dying!” because our identity is dying. We are not really dying; in fact, we are being born. It is a rebirth; it is a true birth. It is like the seed dying into the soil. The seed will not be there to witness it; no seed has ever witnessed it, so how can this seed believe and trust?

And the same happens with the ego: the ego cannot trust that there is anything more than itself. And the ego is dying, and the ego starts breathing its last, and we become afraid. Many people turn back from that point, rush back out. This happens to every meditator. We all reach a point where we feel suffocated, we feel that we are dying and cannot go any further. In a way it is death – death of the ego – but at the same time it is the birth of the soul.

We will die as a drop, but we will be born as the ocean. It is worth it. We will be dying only as a limited being, as a defined being, and we will be reborn as undefined, undefinable.

Yes, we will disappear, with all our neurosis, psychosis, with all our tensions, anxieties, anguishes: we will disappear with all our problems, worries; we will disappear as we have known ourselves up to now. But our disappearance is only a change of garments, and we will be getting closer to our reality, deeper into our individual reality. We will get more rooted into being, existing. That’s the whole search!

We should feel blessed that we are so close to the boundary from where a totally new world and a totally new life can have a start. Just one single step… and we will be new persons, and we will become original individuals. Just a single step, and all the garbage that the society has dumped on us will have dropped, and we will be just a pure consciousness. We will have wings! Now we are just crawling on the earth… and then we will be able to soar high towards the sun.

To be with a Master simply means to learn trust, to learn the art of risking, to learn the ways of adventuring into the unknown. The Master waits, the Master remains patient. He allows us to go back and forth, he goes on watching running away and coming back. But he knows one thing: that every day the outer will go on losing its significance more and more. One day it will be utterly useless, absurd, to be there. And as the outer loses significance, the inner will become more and more magnetic — simultaneously the process happens.

And one day it becomes irresistible — one has to cross the line. And that day is the greatest day in a human being’s life, when we drop our old identity and enter into the unknown — we have encountered God, we have come home.

Confusion in Spirituality

 

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Confusion in Spirituality

Often, it is our physical and mental well-being that we talk about. We are oblivious to the importance of our spiritual health and forget its importance. Our mind, body, and soul have to be in great condition for us to achieve overall wellness.  However, when our spiritual health is disturbed by spiritual confusion, the equilibrium among the three components of our existence is lost.

Spiritual confusion happens mostly to people who are on the path of self-realisation. When they break their old constraints and understandings, they feel lost. Since our beliefs, cultures, and ways of life have taught us to live a certain way, we feel confused when we must break those shackles. When we start expanding our awareness, our inner darkness diminishes. Our inner darkness refers to our biased side, full of prejudice and unable to accept different versions of truth aside from those of ourselves. Since we perceive life through our thoughts, cultural conditioning, and belief systems, making ourselves free from these barriers is the toughest test in our lives. When we progress towards light and embrace the truth, we must cross a dark night of the soul. We all get an opportunity to break all the barriers of our life’s conditioning and experience rebirth. This time, it is the birth of our consciousness, not of our body.

Moreover, spiritual confusion can occur when a person loses a loved one or faces mundane problems beyond their current emotional and mental capacity. They may refuse to accept reality and blame God for their situation. 

No season is eternal. It may take time, but overcoming spiritual confusion is attainable. We just have to allow time to clear the muck gathered over several births that has covered our soul. When starting our journey toward spiritual clarity, it’s important to note that there’s no single way to overcome this adversity.

It is extremely important not to set ourself any goal in spirituality – when we take the guidance of a realised Spiritual Master, we just have to follow the teachings the best way we can. The moment we set a goal, we try to achieve that goal and that defeats the whole purpose of spirituality. The journey is inwards and not about achieving something in the material world – the inner world is totally different, with a different set of rules.

The spiritual process is not about giving up one level of hallucination and moving to another level. It is all about giving up hallucination completely, learning to live with reality the way it is, because the effort is all about truth.

It is all about living in the moment, in the here and now – that is the only reality, rest as the saying goes – is history or mystery.

Devotion and Spiritual Practice

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 Devotion and Spiritual Practice

Words are a means of expressing one’s devotion – it could be through songs or poems – and these words come straight from the heart, these words come with their own energy.

Words cannot describe the Supreme Being, but we like to show our devotion, so we describe to the best of our capacity. Music is an intrinsic part of bhava and bhakti, and it goes beyond all words. If you listen to Beethoven’s music, there’s something going on inside. That is why from ancient times the great sages, the great teachers introduce music.

Kabir said - A heart which has no love, no affection, no devotion, no bhav is equal to a  cremation ground, there is nothing there, it’s all burnt, finished, nothing is left. There is no life out there. He gives an example of saying that it’s the bellows of a blacksmith also breathe because they also go up and down like our lungs but there is no life. 

A common question is – how to create bhav? We can teach all the ways leading to it. Yes, but what it is, it can’t be taught. One day, suddenly the seed sprouts, we don’t know how. There is no single way by which it comes. Suddenly something sprouts because it takes time and then the heart opens. There is no explanation for it. We believe that perhaps it comes through the grace of the Supreme only. Also, through the grace of the Guru.

Inside the mind of the human being is divinity and when anybody seeks that treasure, then he or she becomes a bhakta and therefore to say that I’m going to find the Truth without any bhava or bhakti is absolute nonsense, it cannot be done. We can learn all the Upanishads, we can practise ashtanga yog, we can sit and breathe up and down but if the heart has not melted, nothing will happen.

So, music becomes the bridge from the known to that which is unknown. That which is unknown, who can define the Supreme! True divinity can be known only when the mind becomes pure and divine by itself, then it has realised that it can’t be described logically; it can’t be put in words.

The most interesting thing is, if someone who we consider to be the spiritual Master, has touched it then the presence of that Master can make the seed grow inside us. Suppose there’s a big magnet, we take an iron piece near it. The closer it goes to the magnet, the more magnetic it becomes. The cleaner it is, the more magnetic it becomes because usually iron has rust on it.

So, spiritual practice, our devotion, bhakti, bhava is the clearing of all the rust that is on the iron piece. When the rust goes the iron then behaves exactly like a magnet. 

This is the importance of a teacher, a Guru, a real Saint, a real teacher. When there are real teachers, it happens. The seed is sown and then you hear the music of the bansuri, as Krishna plays it in Brindavan.

Five Elements and the Human Body

 

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Five Elements and the Human Body 

In these five elements, unless we want to explore mystical dimensions, we do not have to bother about the akasha. Among the other four, seventy two percent of our body is just water. Another twelve percent is earth. Another six percent is air, which is the easiest thing to manage and take charge of because there is breath and we can take charge of it in a certain way. Another four percent is fire. Taking mastery over fire could do many things to us but because we are householders living in family situations, we do not have to take charge of fire. The remaining is akasha. We do not have to bother about that unless we want to explore mystical dimensions of existence. To live well, four elements are enough. The fifth one is not relevant for people who just want to live well. 

If these five elements do not cooperate, we can struggle as much as we want, nothing happens. Only with their cooperation, from the basic aspects to the highest aspect, our life becomes a possibility. Practice of Ashtang Yog helps us in gaining mastery over the elements by purifying our inner system.

This human system is like a doorway. A door has two aspects to it – if we are always facing closed doors, for us doors mean something which stops us. If doors are opening up for us, then for us a door means a possibility of entering into something. In either case, it is the same door; which side of the door we are on decides everything about our life, even in terms of time and space. Whether we experience this body as a great possibility or a great barrier simply depends on the extent to which these five elements are cooperating. 

Practice of yoga under the guidance of a Master has something to do with organising these five elements in such a way that we can reap the best out of the individual being and the cosmic nature because both are just a play of these five elements. Whether this individual physical body becomes a stepping stone for our ultimate possibility or a hurdle towards that, essentially depends on how we are able to deal with these five elements. What we are right now is just a little bit of earth, water, air and temperature. All the ingredients are out there in the garden; it just takes a little divine touch to make these four things into a throbbing human being. 

Just by sitting where we are, if we are aware of how the water, air, earth and fire in our body are functioning, suddenly we live our life with so much ease that people start thinking we are superhuman. 

But this is not about being superhuman, this is about realising that being human is super. Being human is super if only we learn to use our humanity and this human mechanism for the good of humanity rather than making it into a barrier.

Akasha Element and Spirituality

 

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Akasha Element and Spirituality

Akasha (Ether) is the first and most subtle of the great elements. When we think of space, we often think of it as being empty. However, Akasha is the space in which air, fire, water, and earth come together as creation. It existed before anything else came into being and it is that which everything will return to. 

Ayurveda, the traditional Hindu medicine system and the sister-science of yoga, teaches us that space, along with air, is the stuff of which vata dosha is made. When vata dosha is imbalanced, we may feel weak, be underweight, have digestive difficulties, and suffer from free-floating anxiety and nervousness. Balanced vata dosha means that we are creative, energetic, and expressive. Vata may not be experienced through the physical senses, but it can be felt through its effects. It is our thoughts, words, ideas, and beliefs. Akasha is the space through which these things move beyond the ethereal and into manifested form. 

All beings who have broken all dimensions of barriers within themselves and touched the ultimate – what they perceived, grasped and distilled within themselves is for always. It is on the “inner net” or “Yogic net.” 

There is an individual mind and there is a universal mind. They are just a reflection of each other. It is just that the individual mind may be too muddled and it may not be catching all of it. If one is able to access life through the akashic mind instead of the individual mind, if we see the akashic mind clearly, we not only see possible situations for ourselves, we see possible situations for just about anything. But the problem is that if we even as much as talk about these things, all kinds of people will start imagining all the different types of nonsense they are “receiving” from people. They will start “communicating” with everyone even though they are not on talking terms with the people around them. At the same time, if we deny that possibility, we are rendering humanity blind.

Today, modern science is recognising that there is something called as akashic intelligence, that is, empty space has a certain intelligence. Whether this intelligence works for us or against us will determine the nature of our life, whether we are blessed beings or those who are going to be knocked around for the rest of our lives. Some people seem to be hammered around by life for no reason while others seem to be blessed with everything. It is not for no reason. It is our ability – either consciously or unconsciously – to be able to get the cooperation of this larger intelligence which is functioning.

Space is more than just the absence of something. Humans long to explore space. Space opens us up to possibility. We explore outer space when we go somewhere we have never been, try something we have never done, or speak a truth we had long kept silent. However, our yoga practice is always directing us inward. 

There is an inner space to discover as well. When we allow space to be what it is, without trying to fill or in some way change it, we explore our inner space and learn to navigate the terrain of self, psyche, and consciousness.

Fire Element and Spirituality

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Fire Element and Spirituality

Fire is an element that has been revered and explored since the tradition of yoga began over 5000 years ago – from physical fire used in rituals, to the internal flame of the heart, and the digestive fire or agni. In the ancient Vedic texts, the fire deity (also known as Agni) is mentioned in one of the very first verses. It represents the fire within the sun, lightning, as well as the fires lit within homes and for more specialised sacrificial uses. 

Let us look at the elemental dimension of fire or agni – its manifestations, ways to conduct it, and above all, ways to master it. Though among the five elements, fire accounts for the smallest proportion in the composition of the human body, its influence is tremendous. In many ways, fire represents life. One major indicator for whether we are alive or dead is if the fire is still on within us, or if our body has gone cold. Life upon this planet is essentially solar-powered. The Sun is a huge ball of fire that fuels life on this planet. Any machine, while it works, invariably generates heat because fundamentally, fire is the fuel. You may call it electricity, petrol, wood, coal, or whatever else, but essentially, it is fire that lets any machine run, including our body.

In Indian culture, the element of fire is personified as Agni Deva, a two-faced god who rides on a fiery ram. The two faces are symbolic representations of fire as a life giver and a life taker. Without the fire burning within us, there is no life. But if you do not take care, fire can quickly go out of control and consume everything. When it burns our body, it is called cremation. Another aspect is we are using fire to cook, so that we can consume foods that otherwise may not be edible or palatable for us.

Just as the flames of fire can move and spread wildly, it seems that the symbolism of fire itself varies widely; representing divinity and purity, referring to wisdom and discernment, but also the element associated with evil and the flames of hell.

Something we can perhaps learn from this is that fire is an element both native to nature and able to be produced and harnessed by humans. We also have the responsibility of remembering how the power of fire can be used for both good and evil. If you’re a typically ‘fiery’ person, do you use that power to empower and light up others, or do you allow it to be destructive? Fire can be the catalyst for energy and dynamism, but it can also be destructive if we don’t know how to manage it. 

The third chakra, known as Nabhi or Manipura (which translates at the ‘city of jewels’) or more commonly the ‘solar plexus’, is our energetic fire centre. Moving from the primal, earthiness of the root chakra, through the watery flow of the sacral chakra or Svadisthana, we reach the place that governs our inner power and digestive energy.

Manipura chakra is linked to our sense of transforming ideas into actions and food into energy, as well as our willpower and perseverance. When this place is in a balanced state, we generally feel confident in our ability to complete tasks; we feel physically and mentally powerful, and can discern ‘wrong’ from ‘right’. Underactive, and we’re likely to feel weak and unconfident, with poor digestive capacity and a lack of self-belief or inability to get things done.

If there’s too much energy moving through this chakra, we may become overly fiery, angry, irritable, pushing ourselves too hard and suffering from issues like acid reflux or heartburn. This chakra is our place of inner power, so when it comes to understanding how we use our power, it’s important to keep things balanced. 

Air Element and Spirituality

 

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Air Element and Spirituality

With its qualities of lightness, clarity and movement, the air element has been connected to gods, goddesses and deities for thousands of years. Vayu is the primary Hindu deity of winds and breath, said to have been ‘exceptionally beautiful’, riding through the sky ‘noisily’ on his shining chariot. As the ancients seem to have known, we may not be able to see air and wind, but they have a profound impact on the world around us, and are an invisible yet powerful force of nature.

Among the five basic elements – earth, fire, water, air, and ether – which make us and everything in the universe, air is the most accessible and relatively the easiest element to gain reasonable mastery over. 

Within our own bodies, there are subtle energetic winds – known as the Vayus – that correspond to our physical and emotional actions. Yogic texts say that keeping these winds moving well is one of the keys to caring for ourselves. These movements of air include Udana Vayu: the upward-and-outward movements of speech, singing, exhaling, thinking, and vomiting; Prana Vayu: the movement of subtle life-force energy around the heart and lungs; Samana Vayu: the air energy governing digestion in the centre of the body; Vyana vayu, which pervades the whole body; and Apana Vayu, governing down-and-out energy like the ability to feel connected to the earth, elimination, and menstruation. The prana vayu is an inward movement between the pit of the throat and the navel.

The air element is directly linked to the heart chakra and the sense of touch. Often thought of as the place where the soul abides, the heart is a place we might consider our life energy to be held. As you’ll have read in the words above, the heart and chest are where Prana Vayu primarily circulates.

One can connect with the air element by tuning into the sensations of nature around us. This could be the warmth of the sun on our skin, the earth beneath our feet, or the wind on our skin. The next time we go out in nature – or on our balcony, or in our garden! – pause for a moment and tune in: Notice the feeling of the wind on our face or hands. Does it feel cold or warm? Is it gentle or forceful? Which direction is it coming from? These subtle cues are a wonderful way to become present and engaged with our surroundings instantly. 

An invisible yet important factor of feeling well and healthy at home, is the air quality in which we live. When we walk into a room, we’re affected by the colours, shapes and textures around us. But scent also plays a huge role when it comes to our emotions.

Air may not make sound itself, but without it, we wouldn’t be able to hear anything! Air carries the vibration of sound waves, allowing us to hear our favourite song or the voices of our friends. Close the eyes and notice the sounds one can hear. Millions of soundwaves around us – from the hum of the refrigerator, to the meow of our cat – are all being carried by air. When we walk in the park or through a forest, stop to listen to the sound of the wind moving through the trees. Pause and enjoy this completely natural soundscape.

Breathing is perhaps the most direct and intimate way we can connect to the air element. Try practicing a few minutes of simple Sama Vritti (equal breathing) before  getting out of bed in the morning. This practice involves gently breathing in and out for an even count, and observing the subtle sensations of life force energy moving through the body.

Water Element and Spirituality

 

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Water Element and Spirituality

Life begins in water. Our first nine months are spent in our mother’s womb surrounded by warm fluid. Water is a representation of wisdom, peace, and purity. The spiritual meaning of water lies in its reflection of the human spirit and the interconnection of all creations.

We are all well aware of the necessity of water. From keeping us alive to quenching our thirst, to washing the dirt from our bodies and our food, not to mention its role in producing that food, our survival depends on water. But what does such a valuable life force mean spiritually?

As a symbol of life, water represents divine generosity. Indeed, it’s a personification of healing and suffering, protection and vulnerability, change and constancy, stillness and rage. Water in all its glory is considered a purifier of the soul.

Water is the basis of purification in multiple religions, and many cultures use water as a sacred practice to heal internal turmoil. For instance, Hindu devotees take a holy dip in the river Ganga to purify the soul. Likewise, other cultures use water to cleanse the spirit and eliminate impurities from the soul.

The spiritual meaning of water is evident in its form and sound. Like the crashing ocean waves, the serene river, the roaring waterfall, and the drizzling rain. It’s all something to marvel at and use as a basis for meditation practices.

Swamiji in his discourses tells us to become like water, it is transparent and pure, it is formless and shapeless, it is flexible. When we put water in a cup, it becomes the cup, in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Water can flow or water can crash – we should aspire to become like water.

All of us have an affinity at least two elements, if not more, and this is also said to be influenced by our sun signs. I have a definite affinity to earth, air and water. Those who are influenced by the water element live in the realm of emotions. Their world is focused on feelings, intuition, and family. They also often feel a close connection to animals.

What we perceive the water to be is what we want to instil in our hearts. Try meditating on the source of water. Take a deep breath in and out and bring your awareness to the sound or form of the water. Then visualize the water and its features. Accordingly, form a connection with the water and your true self. This leads to a sense of clarity and peace of mind.

70% of the earth comprises of water and so does our body. When we meditate, we purify the water element within us. In essence, water is the life force that centres our spirit and our body, signifying wisdom and conscious awareness. Take time to ponder the spiritual meaning of water and celebrate its gifts on earth.

Earth Element and Spirituality

 

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Earth Element and Spirituality

Our body comprises of the five elements – earth is associated with the muladhar or root chakra. Though the element of earth is part of physical matter around us too, it is best we start to perceive and understand it from the basis of our lives, because most people only really experience their own body and mind. Knowing and experiencing the element of earth from within is part of the Yogic process.

Whenever we eat food, we swallow a part of the earth – meaning we take a part of this planet to sustain our body. Consequently, how we treat our planet is how we treat our own bodies. That’s why it is important to understand the role of the earth element  in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. If the earth element is not cooperating with us, we don’t get anywhere. If the body does not support us, none of our aspirations will take us very far. Unless we are completely detached from the physical, it will determine just about everything in our life. 

In India, we refer to earth as ‘Mother Earth’ – we are born of the earth. Our biological mother is also born of the same earth. The real mother is the soil that we carry as our bodies. The very body that we carry right now has been millions of bodies in the past – insect, snake, cow, monkey, and human being. We are not talking about the evolutionary process, but the soil going through every form of life. Soil is not a commodity. It is older, wiser, and far more intelligent and capable than us. It is a far bigger process than we are as a person. 

But now parents don’t allow their children to play in the soil – they are afraid that their children will get dirty – hands, clothes etc – they are more worried about the physical cleaning process! In reality, when children play with soil, they are touching the source of their life. When we mistake soil, which is the source of our life for dirt, the chances of putting our roots down, growing to our full capability and potential, and seeing flower and fruit are remote. Just imagine if a tree thought that my roots are getting dirty, there would be no tree, no flower, no fruit! A tree understands that when it sinks its roots into the earth, this is the source of its life.

But we – the seemingly most intelligent species on the planet – are not able to get this. This is a source of many problems that human beings are experiencing right now. Forget about enlightenment and seeing other dimensions of life, human beings are not even able to be healthy, which every other creature is able to do quite effortlessly. This is because they do not sink their roots into the earth. Somewhere in their minds, it has become dirt. 

To grow spiritually we need to connect regularly with the earth element, when we do this our muladhar chakra gets cleansed and becomes pure, after which all problems related to this chakra are resolved and this helps in our inner progress.

Accept and Respect

 

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Accept and Respect

One just has to accept the idea that one can be better and one starts becoming better. People are very miserly in accepting happiness; nothing else is a barrier. It is just that people cannot believe that they can be happy, this is the barrier. And if we can’t believe that we can be happy, how can we be? People believe in unhappiness; they are great believers in unhappiness; they believe in hell. They talk about heaven but they believe in hell, they talk about God but they believe in the Devil.

In fact, they talk about heaven only so that they can believe in hell because without heaven there will be no hell. They talk about happiness so that they can feel really miserable; in comparison to happiness, they can see how unhappy they are. But they don’t accept this simple truth which can transform their life immediately, instantly – that life is meant to be blissful, that it is just normal to be blissful. Not to be blissful should be a rare thing, a freak-out.

If people could accept happiness, joy, peace, silence, then sainthood would be the normal course of life; everybody would be a Saint. Only once in a while a person may not be a Saint; that can be accepted. Health is normal, disease should not be normal. Sanity is normal, madness should not be normal. And sainthood is nothing but sanity, utter sanity, sheer health.

But this is the most difficult thing for people to understand, it takes them so long a time to accept a simple thing – that they can be happy, that they are worthy of being happy, that God has created them to be happy, otherwise He would not have created them, that they are already accepted, that this existence needs them, that they are not useless, that they must be fulfilling some function in this vast complexity of life.

Once one starts accepting and respecting oneself, life starts changing, joy arises. There is no need to better oneself, we start becoming better; it simply starts happening more and more every day. And the more it comes, the more trusting we are that it is possible; then it becomes easier.

It simply depends on us, on how much we can receive; that much will be given to us. So, open the heart. Become a receptacle, an infinite receptacle. Then God becomes a guest in our being. This time something is definitely going to happen!

Happiness Can’t Be Sought

 

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Happiness Can’t Be Sought

Happiness cannot be sought; we cannot seek it. It is a by-product; it is a natural consequence. If we make a goal out of happiness, we will never find it, we will always miss it. It comes very silently, it comes like a whisper, it comes like our shadow. When we are totally absorbed into something and not thinking about happiness at all, it is there. Whenever we are thinking about it, it is not there, it is very shy. Whenever we look around, it disappears; whenever we start thinking - ‘Are we happy or not?’ - we are not. A happy person never thinks about happiness - he/she is so happy, how can he/she think about happiness? Only an unhappy person thinks about happiness, and by thinking, he/she becomes more unhappy.

Actually, when we go about our business, our day-to-day work honestly and diligently with complete focus – our mind becomes quiet, silent, and in that silence we find our true happiness. In fact, when we work in this manner happiness comes after us.

Whenever we are dissolved in our act, ego disappears. Then there is no space for the ego to exist. In that very moment when ego is absent, there is happiness. So, let’s put it in this way: Ego is misery, no ego is happiness. And ego remains only when we are split, ego disappears whenever we are harmonious. Dancing, we become the dance — ego disappears; singing, we become the song - ego disappears; sitting silently doing nothing, we become that non-doing - and ego disappears.

When the self disappears, when self-consciousness disappears, we are vast like the sky. Suddenly it pours into us. So, the art of being happy is the art of forgetfulness. And when we say this, remember - don’t start planning about how to forget, how not to think about happiness - otherwise we are again in the same trap. It is not a question of ‘how’, we simply do it. And it is not a question of tomorrow, we do it right now, this very moment.

Don’t postpone because one never knows. Tomorrow we may not be here, the next moment we may not be here, so this is the only moment we have. 

NOW IS the only time we have and HERE is the only place we have. That’s the whole message of Tao: WE ARE READY AS WE ARE. As soon as we start enjoying this moment, happiness will follow us. 

Every Day is Sunday

 

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Every Day is Sunday

When we were children we always used to think every day is Sunday – a holiday, meant for fun and frolic. What happened as we grew up! Our happiness is our state of mind – so, even today, if we think every day is meant to be enjoyed then do so. Why every day? Enjoy every moment of life as if it is our last! Don’t make a problem out of it – that is the nature of the mind as it constantly searches for something to pounce upon – even our happiness. It makes a problem out of happiness also. If we are feeling happy, we ask, ‘Why?’ That question is dangerous.

If we are suffering it is good to ask ‘why?’ because the suffering has to be dissolved, transcended; ways and means have to be found to get out of it - so the ‘why?’ is relevant. But when we are happy, then to ask ‘why?’ is to disturb it. There is no need to ask any questions. When happiness surrounds us accept it totally without any questioning.

It is a habit of the mind because it has been always living in misery, unhappiness, and always the ‘why?’ has been relevant. So, when clouds disappear for the first time and the sun shines in our life, the old question goes on persisting — ‘Why?’ Learn to accept happiness, learn to enjoy it without any questioning, learn to trust happiness, don’t doubt it, because the very doubt will become poisonous.

Happiness rarely happens. Those moments are very few and far between. When they come, welcome them, open your door, receive them with your full heart, don’t withhold anything. Even a question will become a very, very strong wall between you and your happiness.

Every day is a Sunday. It should be so. Every day is a holiday. It should be so. Because all days belong to Him. Each moment is holy. Once we understand it, we will stop asking questions like this. Don’t think that any particular day is needed for us to be happy - only a particular state of mind. It has nothing to do with time; everything depends on the attitude, how we look at life. There are people for whom even a Sunday is not a Sunday. There is no light, no sun rising - even on a Sunday. They are clouded in their own darkness, shrouded in their own misery. They carry their hell around them. Even if we force them into heaven, they will go on carrying their hell. They will live in their hell. Nobody can force them out of their hell unless they decide to drop it. It is always our decision to be happy or to be unhappy.

It is always for us to decide whether we want to be happy or unhappy. Every morning when we wake up we have two choices – be happy or unhappy. If we choose to be happy, then our whole day goes in joy. Be positive, be happy, stay blissed!

Remember God Loves Us

 

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Remember God Loves Us

Bliss is a by-product of trust, of total trust in existence or in God. God is not a person but the impersonal presence. The very life of existence is God, the living energy is God. And to trust in it means to stop struggling against it. Struggling against it creates misery; it is trying to go upstream. But trust means surrender, going with the stream. And going with the stream is bliss.

All misery is because of the ego and its struggle, its resistance. Trust means that resistance has been dropped. We don’t think of ourselves as separate from the whole; we are just an intrinsic part of the great harmony of existence, a small note in this great orchestra. Then bliss is natural.

There is no need for war and there is no need to be a warrior. Relax. Drop those attitudes which have made man a fighter with others or with himself. Drop all those attitudes. There is no need to fight with anything. Accept. Whatsoever is, is good.

Jesus prays on the cross - “Thy will be done, thy kingdom come.” That is dropping all the fight, that is surrendering to God. In that surrendering, for the first time we will taste joy, truth, godliness. A warrior, worldly or religious, remains in misery. He is fighting a losing battle. We cannot win against the whole, remember it. We can win only with the whole, not against the whole. Hence the stupid one fights and the wise one surrenders.

The most important thing to remember in life is that God loves us, that He has not forsaken us, that He is not indifferent to us, that He is continuously concerned about us, that He cares. The deeper this idea enters our heart, the better, because when we start feeling more and more loved by God, we will be able to love others. That’s how we become able to love: if we are loved we can love; if we are not loved we don’t know how to love, we don’t know what love is.

In the world today love is disappearing because God has disappeared. The sky is empty. It used to be full of love. For centuries people prayed looking at the sky. They were uplifted, they felt love pouring, raining, showering on them. They were moved and touched by it; they were transformed by it. And then they were able to love others - because when we have love we can give it to others. If we don’t have it, how can we give it to others? And the only source to get it from is God because He is the only inexhaustible source.

We can find God within us – meditation is the key – the deeper we go, the closer we are to God, we can then feel God’s love as it comes forth from within us. Others in our vicinity feel it too!

To Feel Needed

 

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To Feel Needed

Our very presence on earth is an indication that existence needs us. We are fulfilling a certain need; we are not useless, we are not accidental as science goes on telling people.

The greatest need of man is to be needed. The moment one feels needed life starts having ecstasy. Even if a single person needs us it gives us significance. A child needs a mother — that’s enough to live for. A man needs his wife and that’s enough to live for. A friend needs us… without us there somebody will miss us, somebody will feel lonely — that’s enough for us to feel meaningful. And the religious person is one who feels that the whole existence needs him, hence his joy is infinite.

If even one person can give meaning to our life by making us feel needed, then we can imagine how much bliss can happen when we come to feel that the whole infinite universe needs us, that we are all fulfilling some purpose. Suddenly life becomes poetry, a song. A dance arises within us, a celebration, a thankfulness. That thankfulness is prayer. That gratitude is the greatest experience. All Master’s teach us to experience and feel the significance of life.

And existence makes no conditions on us. It is not that if we do certain things only then the love from the whole will flow towards us. It is unconditional. It comes to the saint, it comes to the sinner; it makes no distinctions. When a raincloud comes and showers it does not shower more on the saint’s garden and less on the sinner’s garden; it makes no distinctions. So, there are no conditions from existence that we should fulfil this, that we should do that. Human beings make conditions and destroy the beauty of love.

Existence gives us unconditional love. Whatever we want, we do - that’s our freedom. God loves us as we are. But we have destroyed even the idea of God. The entire religious establishment needs us because of our contributions to the church, temple, and mosque and so on. Our need for inner connection is not looked after by the religious establishments – they are only concerned with money and how the business of religion be run – it is just a game of power to control the minds of followers.

God is pure, unconditional love, we are nothing but love – and God is not a person, but universal energy that flows through the physical body of realised Masters. We can feel that pure love in their proximity. We are part of existence, existence is love – and to feel it is to be transformed.

Worthlessness?

 

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Worthlessness?

God creates the world out of his love. The world flows out of his love – it is an expression of his love, an explosion of his love. He loves every creature… from stones to stars. We are all protected by his love, we are all continuously showered by his love. Everyone has to consciously become a beloved of God. Once this recognition penetrates the heart, it transforms our whole being. It is as if suddenly a light comes into darkness and darkness is gone.

Just the idea ‘God loves me’, just the feel of it – ‘He surrounds me like a caress, his lips are on my lips, his heart is in my heart. I am not abandoned by existence; I am loved, cherished by existence. I am not worthless, I am not unworthy…’ and the dignity and the splendour starts growing within one.

And remember a great paradox - real dignity has no ego in it; real splendour has no idea of any superiority. In fact, the ego is just a cover-up for our worthlessness. Because we think ourselves worthless, we try to prove in every way that we are not worthless. That effort is our ego trip – ‘I am a president of a country, I am not worthless. I have so much education; I am not worthless.’ But deep down we are constantly nagged by our worthlessness. Deep down we know we are worthless, dust unto dust.

That has been taught to us down the centuries. Our souls have been corrupted and poisoned. The priests and the politicians have conspired against the whole of humanity. This is their whole conspiracy - to create the feeling of worthlessness in human beings. If they feel worthless they can be dominated by the politician, they can be dominated by the priest. If they feel worthless they will seek some authority figures to depend on. If they feel worthless they cannot be independent. That is the secret trick in it. If they feel worth, if they feel loved by God, if they are nourished and cherished by existence, they will not look up to any father-figure, to any authority – political, religious, or any other.

Everyone is utterly essential. This existence needs us – without us it would not be the same existence. And not only does it need us - it needs everybody in the same way, so there is no question of superiority. It needs even a small blade of grass as much as it needs the sun and the moon. As far as the whole is concerned, everything is absolutely essential – the great oceans and the small dewdrops. It will miss the small dewdrop if it is not there; it will not be so beautiful. There will remain a hole in it which cannot be filled by the great oceans; they can only be filled by small dewdrops.

As far as the whole is concerned, there is absolute equality. In asserting one’s own dignity, one asserts the dignity of the whole of existence of animals, of trees, of people, of mountains, of rivers, of all. So, it does not create any superiority complex, because a superiority complex is nothing but an inferiority complex standing on its head, doing a headstand; that’s all it is.

And it has nothing to do with ego. Ego simply shows a poor person who has not yet become aware of his inner splendour and the gifts that God has given to him.

Existence Has No Language

 

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Existence Has No Language

If we depend on language there can be no communication with existence, as existence knows no language! Existence is a mystery, we cannot interpret it. If we interpret it, we will miss. Existence can be lived, but not thought about. It is more like poetry, less like philosophy. It is a sign, it is a door. It shows, but it says nothing.

The problem is we think about existence – our mind comes in the picture – this is the barrier to approach existence. Thinking about existence will never bring us close – we need to learn to look, see, feel, and touch! Then we will be nearer. The moment we think we go off track and into a private world – thinking takes us into a private world. This is our own private world, we are imprisoned in our own mind. The moment we stop thinking, we are no more – non-thinking we become open, porous, existence flows into us and we flow into existence.

The mind’s tendency is to interpret, even before things have happened, the mind starts playing the ‘what if’ game. That’s how listening becomes impossible. We will have to learn to listen. Listening means we are open, vulnerable, receptive, but we are not in any way thinking. Thinking is a positive action. Listening is passivity: we become like a valley and receive; we become like a womb and we receive. If we can listen, then nature speaks - but it is not a language.

If we move into nature to find where it leads, don’t stand outside it and ask because then nothing can be done; we have to move into it. If we move we will never come back, because the very movement into existence… and we are losing our ego, we are disappearing. We will reach to the goal, but we will never come back to relate the story about it. Nobody comes back. Nobody can come back, because the more existential we become, the more we are lost.

Existence opens millions of doors for us, but we stand outside and we would like to know something about it from the outside. There is no outside in nature, everything is inside… because how can anything exist outside nature? The whole is the inner. 

And the mind is trying the impossible; it is trying to stand outside, to watch, to see what it means. No, we have to participate. We have to move into it and become one, and disperse like a cloud - whereabouts unknown. Merge into nothingness!

Surrender – Guru Does The Rest

 

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Surrender – Guru Does The Rest

In every discourse Swamiji talks of ‘samarpan’ – surrender – and then see what changes take place. But surrender is the greatest gamble. Surrender means putting aside the mind completely. When we surrender to the Guru, we give our everything to him with the feeling that our life is now in His hands, and whatever happens will be his wish. It will be for our spiritual benefit – that much we accept, whether what happens is considered to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by society! When we start behaving like this our friends and family think we have lost it completely – because people who live in their logic and in their minds will think we have gone mad! In reality this is not madness – it is courage that has made us take this step and this step is the deepest jump one can ever take.

All saints during their lifetime were condemned as mad men – Jesus, Buddha, Shirdi Baba, but time proved that they were saints of their eras. They were giants whom the ignorant masses failed to recognise. Religions are formed with the teachings of such people at the base. Later, the intellectuals take over and they start interpreting the simple teachings and make them complicated. This is what has created the chaos in today’s world. At the source of the energy, when the Master is alive, then the ‘truth’ is experienced – the time that we live in is that era.

There are lots of Masters doing their work of awakening the masses, those who are fortunate and have connected with a living Master, know the meaning of surrender, know the meaning of true love, which is what humanity is all about.

When we truly and completely surrender to the Master, take initiation, and after that a part of the Master is instilled within us in subtle form, and this forms the umbilical cord between the Master and disciple. The only way the disciple can feel and sense the Master, is when he/she starts meditating and trying to emulate his master to the extent possible. When we take one step towards the Master, he takes ten steps towards us. He will hold on to our hand firmly, it is up to us to hold his hand firmly too. If we let go, then after a point the Master too will let go, and then we will have to start all over again.

We need to remember that surrender is our sense towards our Guru, our ‘bhaav’, once we surrender completely our life goes on autopilot and things just start happening. We become witnesses and watch the drama of our life with detachment. Love starts flowing from within us and that love is felt by all those who come within our aura.