Parivrajaka - What is it??!!

In the previous few posts we mentioned about Parivrajaka. This post is to further elaborate on it based on inputs from Swamiji during the Varanasi yatra. Our very first halt at Puri, during the opening discourse, Swamiji spoke about our deep rooted identity and how our reluctance and inability to let go of it causes problems. When we are staying in the same house, with the same people, interacting with the same colleagues, friends about the same topics, reading the same kind of news daily, gradually our identity solidifies.

We start to identify ourselves with the objects/people/situations around rather than our real core and drift away from our REAL identity. Sometimes, through meditations or by the grace of the Master, we start to transform. But then again, our surroundings pull us back. Society constantly reminds us - you are son of so-and-so, you are employed at so-and-so, you are a friend of so-and-so... and because of this our identity based on our possessions is constantly reinforced in us.

This reminds me of a beautiful video discourse by Swamiji (attached to the post in the end) where He gives us deeper truths about "I" and "mine". Personally for me, it has been one of the most powerful discourses that shook me. He says that we all think we came first and then gradually started acquiring our possessions. In other words, we think that the "I" came before the "mine". But shockingly, it's the other way around! We start to build our very identity on our possessions! Till the age of 7, we associate ourselves with our physical possessions - mother, toys. After that, the mental layer starts to get choked with our other kinds of possessions. This includes our desires, fears, worries etc and our identity is built on top of all this.

What does this mean? If we take away our possessions, we feel we are nobody. How true! A true parivrajaka journey means breaking away from our solid possessions (not just physically, but mentally as well) and becoming more fluid. When we keep moving from one place to another, meeting new people, there is freshness every moment. The unexpected is always in store, which means the courage/spontaneity to face up to anything starts to flow inside.

During Swamiji's Parivrajaka, He used to take whichever train came first to the platform, not knowing where He was headed. He never touched money throughout His wandering, so you can imagine the inner strength!

Another important message Swamiji says a Parivrajaka conveys: It makes us feel the loving hand of existence if we are open to it. Swamiji recalls that wherever He used to be, He would invariably be given food and shelter. He never thought about it, nor carried the necessary money, but Existence used to make sure He was well taken care of. He says, not one day did He starve. Amazing isn't it?

We are so used to planning that we cannot accept this logically. We not only plan, but have back-up plans, insurances and what not. When the deep trust with existence happens, we suddenly relax. Also, when we relax, the trust is further strengthened.

Most importantly, a parivrajaka helps to relax from our solid identity. When we are constantly on the move, before we start to get settled and comfortable in one place; before we start to identify ourselves with that place and people, we have moved to another. So, there is no scope for that societal identity to solidify. With awareness, we learn to use that identity only when we absolutely need it. The rest of the times, we just relax from our societal identity and enjoy being with our core - our true nature - that of bliss!

Enjoy this video that I mentioned above on "I" and"mine":

The journey continues

The yatris are back from the parivrajaka. Yes, the theme of the Varanasi trip was 'parivrajaka', which means wandering. To put our experiences with the Master during the entire trip in just one single post is simply impossible and more importantly, some experiences are hard to be described in words; they have to be experienced. We will try our best to put our experiences with the Master during the trip in the next few posts that come up in our blog.

For now, let me give you all a brief write up on the entire trip, where we went, what happened etc. in a summary form.

Like I said in the beginning, we were on parivrajaka. In our previous post - 'Off we go ...', we talked about a seeker being a person who lives in utter insecurity. The trip started off with the Master's words, 'In the next two weeks, we are going to cut ourselves off from our identity. When we are located on single place, we start making ourselves comfortable because of the familiarity we start associating with that place. When we wander, every place is new, every moment is fresh and uncertain. That is when our identity is shaken. We cannot associate our identity with any one place during parivrajaka because we are not stationed at one place for long. We are on the move ...'

That is how we started on our parivrajaka with the Master. Every moment during the trip, the Master was continuously working on us. We went to places where He had visited during His parivrajaka. Konark, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Dakshineswar, Kamarpukur, Joyaram Bhatti, Bodh Gaya, Vishnu Gaya, Varanasi and Allahabad, we went from place to place with the Master. Each place was an energy hub, related to an enlightened master. Every place, we had a beautiful discourse and an intense meditation by the Master to help us connect to the energy of the place.

This was not a simple sight-seeing tour and the Master was not our tour guide. Each one of us in the trip had intense spiritual experiences during the course of the tour. He worked on each one of us. And we could clearly see the change in energies as we progressed from place to the other. The Master expressed the energy of the place and made us experience it.

During our stay in Puri, we were dancing and singing kirtans all the time. In Dakshineswar, He talked about devotion towards God or the Ultimate Cosmic Consciousness and put us through intense meditation to connect with It. In Bodh Gaya, we were immersed in meditation for 2 to 3 hours under the Bodhi tree where Buddha got enlightened. In Varanasi, He made us connect with Shiva and Ganga. While I am writing this now, I can feel the surge of energy that we all experienced at each and every place.

We had many light moments; if I list them down here, the post can go on for ever. The Master took care of each one of us; We had 3 hour long boat rides on Ganga with the Master cracking jokes, telling stories... and many more like these.

We saw how the Master lives in closer quarters during these two weeks. We had goose bumps, tears when we saw some aspects of the Master. We were taken to a completely different plane. One thing is certain:

what we see as Nithyananda is nothing; the six foot body that we see as Nithyananda is nothing. There is much bigger, unexplainable and unfathomable energy behind that six-foot frame. He coming down to our frequency to interact with us is His compassion.

On the last day, the Master said, 'the trip will never come to an end if you take the intensity of the trip - the intensity of seeking the truth - to wherever you are going back.'

And so, the journey continues....



More photos at http://www.nithyananda.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=380

Off we go ...

For the next two and half weeks, you will not see any new post on this blog. The reason is we both are going for a Varanasi travel study tour with our Master to all high energy, enlightenment places of various enlightened masters like Buddha, Mahavira, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and others. And I don't have to say it, we are extremely excited about the tour. We not only will be visiting these places but our Master will also be giving discourses at some of these places.

Now what is the purpose of these tours? There are two important points.

Firstly, Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'Each of these places is an energy hub. All you have to be is open and available at these places and there is every possibility for the psychological revolution to happen in you that can lead you to the Ultimate.' He fondly remembers His own days in Tiruvannamalai, a temple town in South India which boasts of a lineage of enlightened masters like Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swamigal etc. He says He was fortunate to be born in such a place where He was exposed to the deeper truths of the Self from a very young age. He says it was His openness to the Existential energy that radiated in that temple town, which sowed the seeds of inner exploration in Him.

Generally, people prefer holidaying is some picturesque places with beautiful landscapes etc. Nothing wrong with it; even in those places, if we are totally open we can experience the deep inner peace. But these places have an added advantage. Enlightened masters walked on the soil of these places. Though they have left their bodies, their energies still resonate in those places. The Ramana Ashram in Tiruvannamalai is one such example to feel Bhagvan Ramana's energy even now. When we are in these energy fields completely open, we are letting Existence to work on us. Ramana Maharshi, who was staying in Madurai, came to Tiruvannamalai at 16 years of age to experience and be in the energy field.

And this trip, we are going with an enlightened Master to the energy hubs; what else can we ask for?

Now coming to the second purpose of this trip... Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'one of the best times in my life has been my wandering days or parivrajaka before my enlightenment. I had no money, no fixed place to stay, no assurance at all that I will get my next meal. I was just moving and flowing with Existence.'

This organized tour that we are going with Him does not come any close to what He did during His parivrajaka. In fact we can't even compare the two. But the point is there are going to be some uncertainties. The accommodation, food, transport etc. may or may not suit everyone on the tour and there are in fact many people who back out of the trip seeing some of the facilities.

Nithyananda says, 'a seeker is a person who lives in utter insecurity of life.' When we try to live in known patterns and known conditions, we suffer the moment something unknown to our knowledge takes place. We are happy and cozy as along as everything goes according to our expectations but if we even have the slightest feeling that something is not going our way, we create hell for ourselves.

The point is we do not flow with Existence, with what is happening at that point in time. That is why our Master says that living in utter insecurity of life but totally centered and flowing with whatever Existence has in store for us is the sign of a true seeker of Truth.

So it is going to be a test for us to see how best we cope the summer of North India and everything that time has in store for us. But well we are not too bothered about them. We are off to experience the cool breeze under the shadow of our Master's Energy and sun bathe under the energy of these energy hubs...

So cya sooon... Do check in two weeks time to get an update of our tour :)


Other upcoming travel tours from Life Bliss Foundation:
Himalayan Tour with Master (Fundraising event)
Monsoon Mantra with Nithya Yoga Acharyas (a tour to architectural places in South Indian state of Karnataka during the Indian monsoon)
Tiruvannamalai Tour with Nithya Yoga Acharyas as a part of Nithya Yoga Teachers' Training