Manifesting thoughts into reality

I do not know what the name of this siddhi is, but the manifestation of this is something that happens to me atleast a half a dozen times in a day by HIS grace - and this has been the case ever since Swamiji happened in my life 10 years ago. 

Basically, if a thought happens inside, then it beautifully expresses as an action or event outside. Swamiji once explained this as an alignment of "iccha-shakti" (the energy of desire) and "kriya-shakti" (the energy of action), wherein the gap between the thought ripple inside (to do something or want something) and the actual doing or happening is removed. 

Well, it is as though the entire cosmos conspires to manifest your subtlest thoughts or prayers into reality. And everytime this happens, it keeps putting me into awe and gratitude towards existence, God and Guru. Awe because what you think is a secret prayer or just a silly thought is so loud in the ears of the cosmos, and gratitude because you feel you are on the lap of your mother, constantly being listened to.

Here is just a small example from something that happened just now. Background: I need to be attending a week long workshop next week at Univ. of Californa, Davis. Last night, I was discussing with Sri Arpana about whether I should be commuting daily by taxi (from Sunnyvale to Davis - which is about 2 hours of drive), or whether I should stay in a hotel at Davis for the week. We decided that I should drive daily and I had communicated this arrangement to my post-doctoral advisor, who decided to cover me for the daily commute.

But this morning, Sri Arpana was saying that it would be good to also get a hotel room so I will have the option of staying back in Davis on some days, depending on when we get done each day. 

And just when I was wondering whether it is appropriate for me to ask for a hotel room when I am already getting covered for the daily commute, I get an email from our project collaborator in Sweden saying she has an extra hotel room and asked if she should reserve it for me incase I needed it. And before even I knew it, she had reserved that room for me.

The point is not about the hotel room - it's about the constant assurance that the Cosmic Mother is listening and responding sooo beautifully. Only we don't see it with our colored eyes - colored with all the layers of conditionings, biases and opinions. That's why you need a third eye, and a Master who can awaken it. Thank You beloved Swamiji.

(There have been many, many, many more solid examples of this in my life and I will document those in future blog posts).

- Ma Nithya Arpanananda

The gift of silence - Simhasth Kumbh (Part 1)

Greetings after many long years! I have been around, but slacked in blog-writing. Hope to be back more actively. I will start with the most recent and most intense journey I've had to one of the most sacred energy hubs that cosmos has to offer - Ujjain in North India. But more importantly, it has been a journey inside into the deep, mystical and fascinating woods of the mind - deep down, where silence beckons.  

Here's a little background: I was blessed with the opportunity of attending a 21 day program called Shuddadvaitam at Ujjain at one of the world's largest gatherings - the Simhastha Kumbh Mela with Swamiji. It was the very piece of land where Shiva Himself revealed the sacred Agamas to the Sapta Rishis. The experiences that I had are hidden in so many layers that I am at a loss of words to start describing it.

If I have to summarize in a few words, I can say - so much happening outside, but a shattering silence inside. I felt like I was the eye of the storm, a silent spectator of all the chaos unfolding around me. I have heard Swamiji utter the words - there is chaos in order and order in chaos. I think I got to taste that experientially.

Here is a glimpse: One of the early days of Shuddhadvaitam, we were hit by a massive cylone, with water mercilessly hitting on the pandal as if to uproot it, and gushing water seeping through the carpet floors into the hall. As we held our breaths and watched the whole hall getting flooded with water, a thought flashed into me like lightning - "Oh Gosh, we are in the midst of an empty camp ground with all temporary tents, in a city tucked away from my familiar home and all the comforts. The tent is temporary after all. What happens if it collapses!"

But, the very next moment, this thought had evaporated into thin air and was replaced with a deep feeling of love, compassion and trust - Trust towards Swamiji and the divine energies, that whatever happens in that auspicious energy field is auspicious indeed, so any fear or insecurity is baseless. And a causeless compassion towards all fellow participants started to ooze. I felt as if my whole life and the life around me was one big drama and I am watching the show. I saw some panic about what was going to happen next, some loose the temper about their clothes getting wet, some upset about their bags being moved by volunteers to dryer areas. I went into the dormitory and found out that my whole big bag with many white clothes was now soaked with muddy water. Not only that, my bed was at the entrance, so lot of the slush had got deposited in and around my bed and mattress was soaked too.

But guess what - My inner space refused to feel perturbed about any of this. I felt as if God had pressed the mute button inside me, and all the useless thoughts of fear, insecurity, worry, anger, irritation seemed to all be on "mute" - so I could hear none of them! 

It was only then that I realized what a beautiful gift I had received by the Master - the gift of silence, the gift of peace. If not for all the chaos, I would not have realized the silence, the order. All I was left with were tears of gratitude.......

(To be Continued...)

Selfie time with Mahadeva

Experience the Master - Here and Now!

In one of the recent messages of Swamiji, He gave a wonderful technique - 'Just start blessing whoever your sight falls on. Go to malls, or just sit outside your home and watch the passers by, and keep blessing them for all auspiciousness to happen in their lives, for them to be blissful. If you can't bless aloud, then just bless them silently inside. But make it a point to bless each and every single person you see. Not just humans, you can even bless the dogs on the street, or even a plant or a tree. Just keep on blessing'.

After just few days of practicing this technique, I experienced a sudden cognitive shift inside. Here are the clicks that I experienced through this technique:

1. Firstly, with every blessing, I experienced a shift from being a "seeker" to rising to the space of the Master. As I seeker, we keep seeking - whether it is joy, happiness or even enlightenment. We keep seeking happiness from situations, or seek spiritual upliftment from the Master. But this technique simply forces us to start showering, not seeking anymore. We are forced to experience the very space of the Master - the space from where only showering happens, showering of the nectar of joy and fulfillment to any being that comes in contact with the breathing space of the Master.

2. I also experienced that as I practiced this technique, there is an overflowing feeling of contentment inside, because only a full pot can overflow. If we are caught with any problem or depression, then focus of our energy is on us. But we start blessing others, the focus simply shifts from us tiny ego to the world... the fulfilment first spreads in the system and then is trasmitted to the outside - how wonderful!

3. Another sweet experience that accompanies everytime I remember to bless someone is that my body language and memories get automatically flooded with that of the Master. The simple reason being that Swamiji and 'Blessing the Cosmos' are not different. The ingredients that make up Swamiji are just compassion to uplift and bless humanity. And having witnessed Swamiji bless thousands of His disciples, those memories automatically get downloaded everytime I think of blessing someone.

What an amazing technique to experience the Master, here and now.

The unexpected guest

Nithyanandam! Recently Swamiji Paramahamsa Nithyananda gave a beautiful spiritual practice to be followed daily - to pen down the truths as they "click" to you in your inner space. As the truths are uttered by the outer Guru, certain truths click inside, which inturn triggers the inner Guru to shower more clicks. He urged all his disciples to maintain a "Book of the Heart - My Book", where the daily clicks are recorded. "My Book" will serve as testimony to the spiritual growth (or stagnation) of a seeker, and aids him/her to get clarity on the path forward.

For me, this blog had served as "My Book" when I started it. Somehow, along the way, I had felt too contented with the silence that follows each powerful click by the Master. Literally each of his words is like a blow to the mind, making it shut up for a while. And I had settled into enjoying that silence and had stopped penning down. But this discourse has given me renewed inspiration to start writing again on this blog.

Anyways, just a while ago, I was talking to my parents over the phone and I received the news that the maid servant of our house, who had been helping us at home for over 2 decades now, met with an accident, where she was hit by a van.. and she passed away a few hours ago.

As has always been the case when I hear about any death of a person I know, this news left me wondering for a while - about how death comes so suddenly to a person. Everything we hold on to so tightly and so dearly is all gone in a jiffy! Lord Yama comes un-announced.

I thought to myself: The greatest gift one can give oneself is to be able to let go of everything in the inner space, while one is alive and to be prepared to receive death at any time. This can happen only by living life fully, intensely, with no hang over! Imagine not being taken by surprise when Lord Yama knocks on your door.. But just being able to receive Him with a smile, so gracefully, saying - "Lord, All is set, shall we go?"..

Nothing can pay back to the Master, for the wonderful understanding and clarity he has given on this subject. To be able to even talk about it so freely, without a negative societal conditioning itself is so liberating.

Enjoy this discourse where Swamiji reveals the science of life and death:

Flow with Change; Flow with Life

It has been more than seven or eight months that we have written anything on this blog. Now, we are back again. Not that we went anywhere :) The persecution that is being inflicted upon Paramahamsa Nithyananda has made our faith in him stronger.

I want to start this second innings of the blog with an interesting experience I had when I visited Singapore last month. I was speaking to a friend of mine who was saying, "I do not like too many changes in my life."

When he spoke that statement, a beautiful revelation happened in me. Whenever I visited Singapore, I used to think, how come everything seems to be the same. The same people, the way they are talking is the same, the things they are doing are the same, the way they behave is the same... everything seems exactly the same. I noticed this "sameness" over a matter of 6 months when I visited Singapore thrice.

I kept asking myself, "how can everything remain the same. Whenever I come, I see the same thing?"

Now the interesting thing is, I lived in this very sameness for ten years before my sabbatical to India in November 2009. But never once, during those ten years, I felt that sameness as haunting as it was during my three visits in a span of six months.

"Why?" was my next question and the answer presented itself as a beautiful click.

The simple reason is the last one year of my stay in Paramahamsa Nithyananda's ashram in Bidadi is so eventful that everything else outside seems very static and pale. Every day, every hour, every moment, we are faced with change. The degree of change is very very high and the rate of change is equally high and we have become completely tuned to adapting to that change every moment.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda talks about chaos in order and order in chaos. This universe for example is complete chaos; yet there is a beautiful order in it. The atomic structure is complete chaos but there is an order also in it.

And that is what I had become used to - change that happens every moment. I could adapt to that change. But when I was in Singapore, I could not see that change. It looked to monotonous to me. It looked pale. Change is colorful and dyanamic and who does not like colors and dyanamism.

Life is colorful because it is dynamic and unpredictable. Being aware and flowing with this dyanamism is the only way to bring an order in that chaos and unpredictability. This is one of the most powerful teaching of Paramahamsa Nithyananda - just unclutch and flow with life. That is enough to keep oneself enjoying every moment of life, be it happiness or be it sorrow.

Watch the following on unclutching from Paramahamsa Nithyananda.

Breaking all limits: Nothing to fear; Nothing to lose

It's been a while since we wrote, amidst all the many things that were happening - "chaos" (as it may appear from outside). There was no intention not to write.

As each day unfolds, revealing many magical moments filled with ananda, I recall some words of my Master, in the light of some recent experiences in our lives. Swamiji has said many times - live the life of "Asaadhya Saadhana" - achieving the unachievable or living the impossible! This inspired me a lot because this means, being daring to dream in a grand way, and living those dreams. Even dreaming needs courage because we are so conditioned and so used to putting limitations in the way we think or operate, that it is reflected even when we envision our future. It is within the fence of our courtyard that we dare to walk around in.

And our decisions are all within the barriers of the fence. We just miss experiencing the amazing energy that is so vast and compassionate, urging us to break all limits. The vast energy is infinite and opens us to those infinite possibilities, only if we allow it to.

After meeting Swamiji, every decision, whether big or small is constantly revealing to us the infinite energy that is within us and around us. There exists no barriers, because all barriers are created by the mind and mind is our creation! So why fear? Let us walk the path unwalked. Let us think for ourselves and live life to the fullest.

Sharing by a fellow devotee - Anniversary celebrations at Ohio

Nithyanandam.

Tomorrow, Wednesday April 14, Ohio will be celebrating the third anniversary of the inauguration of the first Nithyananda Vedic Temple in the USA! Our thanks to Swamiji and Existence for this beautiful place of peace and divine energy. There are so many aspects of this Temple that make it truly live up to its name: Nithya Ananda, Eternal Bliss.

To begin, the Temple physically came to fruition only nine months after Swamiji declared that there would be a Shiva Temple in Columbus and handed over the symbolic towel. Swamiji says that when he declares something, or says it in words, it has already happened. This is evident in how quickly the Temple came about. Once the property was established, Swamiji decided that the Ohio Temple would be the home of the 7 foot tall, 6 tons Anandeshwara and Anandeshwari, the faces of which Swamiji himself carved.

The Temple is in a beautiful natural setting with two rivers flowing on its property: the State protected Olentangy River and a creek flowing into it. Paramahamasa Nithyananda declared the confluence of these two waterways the Prayag of the West. During the Kumbh Mela of April 15, 2007, Swamiji said that the confluence of these two water streams was similar to the Prayag in India and the direction of the flow was matched by that of the sacred rivers; Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.

What memories we have of that two-week period with Swamiji and all the people and other beings that came to help and support the beautiful outpouring of existential energy on planet earth. For many of us, it was the first time we witnessed or participated in rituals of energizing a Temple or Moorthis. That it was performed by Swamiji, an Enlightened Master, in a small town in the US, is almost beyond comprehension. Anandeswara and Anandeswari had arrived in January, and with us were waiting for Swamiji to come to bless and anchor divine energy into them through the Prana Pratishta.

The Kumbhabhishekum, an offering to energize the Temple, is a huge service to humanity as it raises the positivity of the surrounding area, making the pure energy of Divine Existence available to all. The compassion of our enlightened master was evident in the Kumbh Mela, as Swamiji made sure to make eye contact with each passing motorist or person watching.

Swamiji told us that to give each person the possibility of one glimpse of him…for that glimpse to register and become their “Mastercard”, could allow them liberation. This Temple, the deities, the teachings, the music, the land, the Vedic tradition, has been our home, our life, our blood, our bread and butter for the past three years, given to us by Swamiji, energized by Swamiji, all an outpouring of energy known as Nithyananda.

Nithya means eternal. This land and energy will continue to exist. In the current events of uncertainty and wavering faith, the energy gifted and established here in Ohio by Swamiji will never waver. Our small minds may waver, our egos may get bruised, fear and greed may take hold, but Anandeshwara will stand strong in His intelligence. Swamiji once pointed out that even though a palace and a temple built by the same architect, with the same materials, was built at the same time, the palace crumbled and succumbed to the elements while the Temple remained standing. This is because the temple and moorthis were energized, keeping the temple intact. Happy Anniversary to the Ohio Nithyananda Vedic Temple. Happy Anniversary to Swamiji.

To all Beings: Let us hear your support! Let us feel your support! Show us your support. Continue to radiate Living Enlightenement.

For a beautiful understanding of how these moorthis and rituals can help us, see the following discourse by Swamiji on Karma and Rituals: A deeper Understanding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc__aLv5mEY

In Nithyananda’s Grace
Ma Nithyananda Bodhanaa

My gratitude to my master

The rich Vedic culture and anyone who used to propagate this culture in its full authenticity have always been attacked. And this is what has happened to Paramahamsa Nithyananda. How the world will understand this I do not know. But what I know is my experience; what I know is my transformation that has happened. That is the biggest testimony that I know and I have witnessed. No one else has to convince me about my experience and my transformation.

And with that as the base, I support my Master in these difficult times when he has been framed in such a conspiracy. The deep life solutions that I learnt and experienced during the first level meditation program (LBP1), the deeper truths about death that we consciously experiencec in second level Life bliss program, the power of devotion that we experience in third level program, the strong meditative experience that happens during Healers' Initiation ... these experiences are enough for me to be with him when he is being attacked by people who haven't even seen him once.

I guess this is the time we need to stand up for the transformations that we have had being with the Master. Every Guru Poornima, every Jayanthi, we came to express our gratitude for transformation. Now it is even more important to cut this negativity out with our positive transformation.

Everything is bliss - nithyananda, I found

Everywhere I see around

Beauty is all that I can find

In silence, I hear a beautiful sound

In blissful stillness, rests my mind.

Hitting the rocks and banks a thousand times

The river just flows on and on.

With same peace, same energy and peace

It just flows on and on and on.

From far east, comes the cool breeze

Hugging the branches, cajoling the leaves,

It kisses everything that comes its way.

Whatever comes its way, it just breezes away.

At a distance, I see the banyan tree

Chirping birds and dancing squirrels,

Sleepy owls, in one corner, I see.

A home of many, in harmony.

Their very nature is to flow, I see

In that flow, is bliss and peace.

Untouched by anything that happens around

Everything is bliss, is what I found.

Inner Transformation: Biggest Service to Mankind

Recently I was volunteering in a meditation program held by acharyas (teachers) of Nithyananda order and was witness to amazing scenes of transformation and healing. During one of the meditation, each and everyone of the few hundred participants had melted completely. I could see clearly how they easily they were able to offload the burden of suppressed emotions that they were carrying till now. It was touching to see how people opened up their Pandora boxes and by the end of the session, each and everyone (this is the first time I am seeing a near 100% audience saying this) said, "we feel light... something huge that we were holding on to till now has dissolved."

This is the greatest service that one can do mankind - personal transformation. Spirituality is often mistaken to be social service only (see the emphasis on social service). Yes, social service is one component of spirituality, or rather, one by-product of spirituality but spirituality is not just social service. Spirituality is much more than that. Like Ramakrishna says, "It is better to teach someone how to fish rather than just giving him the fish to eat."

When the inner space of a person is cleansed, it just radiates in the outer world too. All our outwardly emotions like anger, guilts, worry, fear etc. are nothing but a corruption in our inner space. During the program, almost everyone experienced the cleansing of the inner space and each one could experience the result of this cleansing in their outwardly emotions and behavior.

The very transformation in an individual attracts people towards him. When one individual transforms, his transformation transforms 10 people around him. Each of the 10 people can transform 10 more, leading to 100 individuals and so on. Just imagine the chain reaction...

What better service can one do to mankind than to teach them how to lead a blissful life. Paramahamsa Nithyananda is on this one mission - transformation of an individual to transform humanity...

For those who are not convinced with this, let me also add that Nithyananda Global Initiatives spends lot of time, energy, effort and money on various charitable activities like free food serving, free medical camps, disaster relief etc. But these services are offered as a sharing of one's own transformation.

Time to Timelessness, Place to Space

"This is the time when timelessness penetrates time. This is the moment when space descends into the place zone; brahmanda descends into pindanda; macrocosm descends into microcosm", defines Paramahamsa Nithyananda, on Shivaratri. He says this is the time when the whole cosmos creates a possibility for us to experience the Ultimate consciousness. A deep click happened in me when I heard these words from the master on Shivaratri night.

Let me pen down by thoughts.

Time and again, enlightened masters have said, "You are enlightened". But we hold on to time and place as being permanent. We want to hold on to time and place. We always are either in past or future. There is a reason for it. Because present is the always changing, always impermanent, our ego knows that it can't hold the present. That is precisely why we are never in the present moment, we are scared of staying in the present moment.


Similarly holding on to place, the world outside that we perceive as solid reality, deludes us from the space that we are actually a part of. We are part of the whole cosmic space. The whole cosmic space is within us. But we are busy grabbing places for us; putting our nameplates on as many places as we can.


Holding on to these two is pulling us, already spiritual beings, into humanly emotions like greed and fear. Being entangled in these emotions arising from our clutching on to place and time, we miss the vast, ever pervading timelessness and space that we are actually made up of, from which we originally came.


The all-pervading timelessness and space are constantly inviting us to connect back to them. They even come down to planet earth and take birth as human beings so that we can relate to them easily. These human beings (a.k.a enlightened masters or avatar) constantly remind us of the that timelessness and space. They are here only to pull us out of the clutches of time and place.


The only thing that we have to do is: be open and allow them.

Where the roots and leaves meet

At Bidadi Ashram, the home of many devotees from many parts of the world, young and old, one can see the magical coming together of technology and ancient spirituality. Some of the typical sights in ashram, which anyone who has spent time at Ashram would relate to:

-Fresh faces at sunrise, with a yoga mat tucked below one arm, guru puja kit in the other hand, streaming into the sabha for the beautiful morning routine

- Rows of laptops at meetings and the accompanying sound of keyboards in action

- Sound of evening aarati song, temple bells, fragrance of camphor and sandal

- Technical team discussions at the restaurant, members being truly international, some blonde, some NRIs, some Indians, but all dressed in Vedic costume (dhoti or saree)

- The delightful sight of an avatar draped in graceful saffron, suddenly appearing in front of you!

- Quiet faces in deep meditation under the mystical banyan tree

- Blackberries downloading emails at real time for enhanced work efficiency

- Spiritual debates and inner healing sessions

- Dancing away to the latest Nithya dance hits

- Gurukul kids playing badminton, football and other games in their playground

- Fashion accessories at Ashram - Rudraksh mala, Nithyananda bracelet, kumkum, vibhuti

- The list goes on...

To summarize, Bidadi Ashram is the most beautiful place on planet earth - where you get to experience the peak of the inner and outer worlds, with joy! After all, it's the home of God!

If you have a sight you want to add to the list, please feel free and leave your comment.

Nithyanandam!

Upanishad - Sitting at the feet of the Master

Eternity unfolds itself every time we sit at the feet of our beloved Master. Nobody has any track of time or space, as we sit in a deep silence in His presence. Indeed, this is what the ancient rishis meant by the word "Upanishad", sitting at the feet of the master. The Master's presence is like that of the sun, the rays of which simply penetrate the surroundings. If a cube of ice is put in the sun, it melts in no time.

Just like that, our samskaras simply dissolve in the intense energy field of the Master. The sun does not think about who is coming near it and then decide whether to shine or not. It shines no matter what. Master's compassion does not have logic. There is no calculation involved or an ulterior motive when the Master radiates his love and compassion. It is whether we want to allow ourselves to melt or we choose to hold back.

It does not matter what He talks, every word is like an arrow hitting our inner space and killing the demons of ego and conditionings. The Master wants our transformation, our growth, our joy. Why should he be so bothered about our growth? For no logical reason. This is called compassion.

Nithyananda Ashram - Tiruvannamalai, Shortcut to Instant Samadhi

Tiruvannamalai, the spiritual incubator of the world, ...

- the place where Shiva rests as the Mountain - Arunachala, the Linga and the Master,

- the place, the name of which when uttered, brought a 16 year old kid running towards It who later became the enlightened Master Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi,

- the place which has seen an unbroken lineage of enlightened Masters continuously grace planet earth,

- the place with the huge Shiva temple which attracts devotees from all over the world,

- the place which is now seeing the enlightenment expression of living avatar Paramahamsa Nithyananda...

This was my second trip to Tiruvannamalai with Swamiji for his birthstar celebrations (the first trip was also on the same occasion three years ago). But it felt as if I have always been there. This place has such tremendous energy that anyone, from whatever culture, creed, country, religion, tradition they are, feels at home. More than a 100 Life Bliss Engineering participants, majority of which were westerners, all of them had the same response - Its brilliant.

Its literally a home coming for anyone who goes there. Ofcourse it would be... it is Shiva's place after all or should I say the whole place is a Shiva linga, as someone told me.

This time, my trip was even more fulfilling. This is the first time I was visiting Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam Tiruvannamalai. I reached the ashram late night on 7th Jan. Let me explain you the morning of 8th Jan; this particular morning has filled my inner space with unfathomable joy and bliss.

I wake up at about 4.30 am and got ready by 5.30 am and came out. The darkness was just then being replaced by Sun's soothing morning brightness. As I come out of the ashram, I see the Arunachala formed a beautiful backdrop behind the ashram, just a few meters away. That was a breathtaking sight. The ashram is located right at the foothills of Arunachala. I kept gazing at It with awe and deep fulfillment, just looking at the beauty of the mountain. Low lying cottony clouds moved past the peak of Arunachala making it even more beautiful, as if Shiva has been crowned by them.

My awe was just the beginning. I walked a few steps, backward, without losing my sight of Arunachala. And then in my viewing pane, I see the 1008 Shiva Lingas beautifully clad in white and rudraksha and the mighty Arunachala was overlooking them.

That was the sight of my life:

Morning breeze bathing everything with its coolness, the 1008 Shiva Lingas all systematically installed radiating the energy of Arunachala, that is overlooking them like a proud father and the soothing Sun rays massaging everything around with their warmth.

My joy knew no bounds but was it the end... I don't think so.

A few steps behind me were Anandeswara and Anandeswari dressed in white, bejewelled in gems and smiling at the 1008 Shiva Lingas.

I was in instant Samadhi, seeing all this at one go. What a blessing... what an opportunity and this was not all ...

Because in a few minutes, Shiva Himself was going to step out of the Ashram to celebrate His own birthday :-)

Ah! that's it! That's all one needs for this lifetime...

(Watch Swamiji speak about His fond memories of His birthplace in this video)

Whole world, one family... Vasudaiva Kutumbakam

"Vasudaiva Kutumbakam", this is how Swamiji described the organizers' meet that was held in the ashram on Sunday. There was something special about this organizers' meet. Usually it is attended by organizers from ashrams around India. But, thanks to Inner Awakening program, organizers from countries around the world were all assembled in the hall along with the Indian organizers. This rarely happens. The 1000 over centers (including ashrams) were represented on this one single day.

One statement that was so blissful to hear from the Master was this:

"You see: here there are people from different countries, cultures, traditions. People with different academic and economical qualifications have come here for a common cause. Someone who does not understand English at all is sitting comfortably with those who understand nothing else but English.

This is what I call Vasudaiva Kutumbakam."

It was such a blissful moment for us to see that all of us had no barriers between us. There was one common thread running within us - Nithyananda, the Master who has taught us how to be in eternal bliss every moment.

Tens of thousands of people saying one thing: I have forgotten the last time I was in low mood or depressed, is a testimony to the deep inner transformation He has made us undergo. He has shown us how to live and this congregation was our gratitude to Him.

Devotion to the Master has bound us as one single entity. Love for the One who taught us how to be in eternal bliss (rather than just giving us bliss) has strung us into one garland. Thank you, Master for every thing.

I will leave you with this video on how our inner transformation directly leads to Global Peace.

At Bidadi Ashram - our Home!

After a long break, we're back. Sincere apologies to our readers for the spell of absense. After an exciting 2 days of Swamiji's program in SIngapore, we're now at Bidadi Ashram, our home. You will see more regular updates from us henceforth about our experiences here and the exciting things that are happening.

So much to say, yet nothing to say - that's how I feel if you ask me to explain what it is like to be in Bidadi Ashram. The rich Vedic lifestyle at the Ashram makes us wonder whether we are living in the 21st century or in the Vedic age, thousands of years ago. A few words in attempt to capture the Ashram lifesyle - refreshing early morning sessions at the break of dawn with Yoga, meditation, puja (prayer) and Sanskrit chanting, traditional costumes (of sarees, dhotis), ananda seva (blissful service), deities in breathtaking decorations at the temple, moments of deep reflection under the ancient banyan tree, guidance of a living enlightened Master, sattvic/Yogic food, international family with people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures living blissfully together, dips at the healing pond with energised water, library with rich spiritual literature...... literally a Vedic renaissance happening right in front of us! And what a blessing to be part of it.

Come experience the womb of an enlightened master, at Bidadi: http://www.dhyanapeetam.org/

Watch this space for regular updates from us.

Nithyanandam!

The Waves within Us

Let me tell you an incident which Swamiji speaks about in one of the discourses.

'A young devotee came to Swamiji for some counseling. He was telling the Master about how much he likes a girl and the girl is not reciprocating. This has become the biggest problem in his life. He has not been able to do his work. He is constantly thinking about that girl etc. etc. The Master was just listening to the whole thing.

After a few minutes, someone called this person and informed him about some litigation problem with his house. For the next few hours, the devotee was making phone calls and busy resolving it and after he was done with it, he went to the Master. Swamiji told him, "Did you see what was happening within you? Few hours back, the biggest problem in your life was your love life and in the last four hours you did not even think about it." '

Swamiji says,
"All our emotions, our thoughts are just like waves. One thought or emotion comes like a wave, to be swept away or absorbed by a bigger wave."

If we look back into our lives, all our emotions or thoughts are so momentary. Be it worry, stress, guilt, pain or happiness, everything comes, stays in our inner space for a short while before being engulfed by a stronger emotion. Within a few minutes, we would have gone through a big rollercoaster of emotions. Every emotion seems big and important till it is escapes into another emotion.

It is amazing how we constantly want to hold on to these thoughts and emotions. Swamiji says, "By nature, we are actually renouncing every moment. We renounce thoughts and emotions every moment."

The problem is we choose to create, maintain and destroy thoughts. Instead of just watching them and letting them go, we go into the dustbin and pick the rags saying, 'Oh, this a good rag. Oh this is bad one.' We fail to see that every in the dustbin is still waste and of no use.

Swamiji's technique of unclutching is all about watching and witnessing our emotions and thoughts rather than connecting them to form a long convoluted chain.

Imagine the liberation one can have if we can just relax and watch those emotions/thoughts just like a movie. Enjoy these video:

Be Unclutched - 1

Be Unclutched - 2

Everything that goes on is auspicious

I am not from Mumbai. I had never been to Mumbai but I just love the city. The whole city of Mumbai is in floods now. And its not just this year, but every year when the monsoon hits India in the month of July, Mumbai is drowned. Whether it is a chaiwallah's (tea selling vendor's) shop on the road side or the posh bungalows of some of highest tax paying actors like Amitabh Bachchan, everything is flooded with rain water. Not just Mumbai, every place in India it is the same.

But life goes on in India... When I was going through some of these news articles, its just too amazing to see people having a cup of tea with their pants rolled up till their knees and sitting in a coffeeshop with rain water till their knees. Its just too amazing to see the spirit of people pulling bicycles with one hand and holding their sandals in the other; to see people hanging on to the holding rails of the crowded subarban railway trains of Mumbai and the train cutting through flooded railway tracks.

Whether it is rain or terrorism or earthquake, cities like Mumbai have shown that - life just goes on.

Yeah, many people might be cribbing about the poor infrastructure, hygiene etc. etc. but there are many more people who just take life as it comes. That is the beauty.

When we went for Varanasi trip with Swamiji, we were all waiting for train from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata at Bhubaneswar station. The train was delay by about two hours. We all (300 of us) sat down on the railway platform. Swamiji also happily settled down on platform with a turban on his head and asked us, "How many of you are irritated with delay and this waiting?" He paused for a while and said, "Even if you are irritated, nothing can be done. Just relax and enjoy."

Swamiji says, "We can always see things in two ways. One: we can see what is wrong, how things can go wrong and always be engulfed in fear and worry. Second: we can see everything that is happening as auspicious and just flow with whatever is there in this moment."

Our fears arise because of our expectations and fantasies about what is really there in this moment. Those people in Mumbai can feel terrible about the whole thing by seeing how their expectations and fantasies are not being met. Or, they can be just flowing with what they have right now.

Living life by the moment and strongly believing what is happening is auspicious is the best possible option that any of us has. In fact our fears due to our fantasies and expectations always creates a thread of negativity constantly running in us. If we see in our lives, even if something good (according to our definition) happens, the first thought that comes is that of fear as to how long will this happiness last. It is not about gratitude or pure joy; its about fear. That negativity in turn attracts negative events in our lives. This becomes a vicious cycle.

It need not be as big as our homes getting flooded. It can be as simple as some issue at office or home. We have the right to decide: do I want to get worried and scared, or shall I just see what really is there and work on it. The choice is ours. Enjoy this video

The Gift of Vedic Lifestyle

Swami Vivekananda in one of his speeches once said "I am one of the proudest men ever born , but let me tell you frankly .It is not for myself , but on account of my ancestry .The more I have studied the past , the more I have looked back , more and more this pride come to me , and it has given me the strength and courage of conviction ,raised me from the dust of the earth , and set me working out that great plan laid out by those great ancestors of ours."

The Vedic culture that many Indians take for granted sometimes is one of the most precious gifts we are born with, as Indians. We simply take for granted the spiritual atmosphere we are brought up with. The chants that reverberate in many Indian homes, traditional sarees worn by the elderly ladies in the house, the kolam on freshly watered frontyards (designs made with flour), the fresh mango leaves that are used for decorating the entrances, the prayer alters/rooms dedicated for prayers, the evening bhajans that are played during sunset.... we take all this for granted.

It's not just taking it for granted, many so-called "modern" youth even dislike all this, in the name of blind belief or "too traditional!". Probably it's because the modern minds do not understand the science behind all this or probably because the western comforts seem too luring in front of these traditional rituals.

It is however interesting that the west is now slowly openly acknowledging the ancient Vedic wisdom. When a bunch of US guys started selling bottles of energised water in the brand name H2OM (more about H2OM here), then the word is all awed by it, including media and impactful channels like Time. In the link above, you can even see a list of celebrities posing with the bottles of H2OM water. They even have different bottles for energising different "Chakras". This is based on the scientific studies by Dr. Masuro Emoto on the effect of chants and other emotions on samples of water.

Now, if we sit back and see - the Kumbha Melas (the largest gathering of humanity on Planet Earth that can be captured by satellite images) have been happening from thousads of years based on the same concept of water being energised by the vibrations and energy of many spiritual masters meeting on the banks of the holy rivers. Infact this is why rivers like Ganga, although polluted externally are still considered "holy" and daily prayers are offered to them.

Swamiji is restoring this lost spirit of the Vedic lifestyle back into the world. He says "Bharat (India) is not just a geographical piece of land, but a lifestyle. So all those leading this lifestyle are Indians". True to His words, He is giving an opportunity for people from various countries and backgrounds an opportunity to experience and live this beautiful Vedic lifestyle that is slipping away from our hands. In His recent stunning program Life Bliss Engineering (LBE), one can see young pariticpants from world over enthusiastically participating in a range of activities starting from Vedic rituals, Sanskrit chanting, Vedic Astrology, Yoga to learning how to wear the Vedic costume of saree/dhoti, making flower garlands for deities, putting kolam etc. They are taught not just the science behind each of them, but are made to experience these truths in the energy field of living enlightened master. They are not mere rituals but techniques for enligthenment.

When we visited the Bidadi Ashram for Guru Purnima, we could see the faces of the LBE participants glowing and radiant, soaked in bliss. If you get a chance to attend the next LBE, please don't miss it. More details about the LBE program here: http://www.dhyanapeetam.org/web/international_LBE_1.asp

Leela Dhyana - The sweetest meditation!

Last weekend, the Nithya Youth group in Singapore had it's first activity - 'bowling in bliss' by the beachside. After the bowling was done, the group sat down and each one started to share his/her experience with the master. It was such a treat to see each one narrate their stories with the master with a sparkle in their eyes and a smile of gratitude.

Nobody was ready to leave. After the experience sharing session, we sat talking about the master for hours and nobody was bothered about looking at the watch. This is our favorite meditation - to talk about the Master and His glories. When the divine lands on planet earth, that too with such energy, grace, majesty, innocence, compassion, mysticism, and much more.. that too all of these together.. who can resist talking about Him? I can't recall how many night outs we have done just talking/listening about our beloved Swamiji, especially when we have special visitors from the ashram.

I would like to share a very sweet incident that happened during the NSP program that we attended with Swamiji recently in Malaysia. One of Swamiji's senior disciples was sharing miraculous experiences with the master as experienced by the many devotees worldwide. It was so amazing to listen to each incident - how the divine has rescued so many lives in so many mysterious ways. Not only that, how the divine has showered out of compassion on so many souls... it was very touching to listen to the whole narration. Everyone in hall sat there melted, listening with awe.

All this was happening during the breaks as the main sessions were conducted personally by Swamiji. Now, it was time for Swamiji to arrive into the hall, but the intense narration of the Master's glories were going on inside. Swamiji sent word that He will be arriving soon, but the disciple whom He sent also sat in the hall enjoying the master's glories. Vat to do! Now, Swamiji had no choice but to open the door to enter the hall. He later jokingly shared with us how He had opened the door to enter, but then the Master Himself decided to quietly listen to the leela - the glories of the divine expressing though Him. :)

(This also goes to show how He Himself does not connect with the body, but to the cosmos which is expressing through the 6-feet frame of Nithyananda! When He said that, it reminded us of an incident in Ramana's life, when he used to join his own devotees singing the glories of Ramana. When asked, He used to reply 'Why are you reducing the infinite energy Ramana to this body? Just like my devotees are enjoying Ramana's glories, I am enjoying too!'. )

The Bhagavata is the beautiful narration of the glories of Krishna and about the incidents in Krishna's life. For those connected to the divine in Krishna's form, it can be the sweetest thing ever to just meditate on the divine stories - Krishna as a child, Krishna as a cowherd, Krishna as a beloved to the Gopis, Krishna as a friend to Arjuna, Krishna as the savior to Draupadi. One experiences the peak of the various bhavas, divine emotions when listening to the these incidents.

Just like that, we are all witnessing in our own eyes, the divine singing and dancing with all of us, expressing its full glory in multi-dimensions. We now understand the ecstacy that the Gopis used to experience just by the very thought of the master. Thank You Swamiji for being with us, We absolutely love you.

Compassion Personified

The last one week has been one of the best times that many of us here in Singapore had ever experienced in our lives. Two bus loads of people attended the second level meditation program - Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP) conducted by the Master in Malaysia. To say, "We were completely blown away in bliss", is an understatement. Each one of the 65 people and the rest of the 500 other people who had come to attend NSP, some of us second timers in NSP, were lost in ecstasy. Nithyananda's energy possessed us for those four days in the midst of beautiful tropical rain forests of Bukit Tinggi in Malaysia. The bliss is still ringing within us.

The meditations were like nuclear missiles thrown at each of us. Every session ended with deep silence in our inner core. Every statement made by the Master pierced through each one of us, such were the strength of His words. And these are not words. When I say there was silence, there was utter silence. After some specific meditations, it was as if everything has been churned within us, inside out. Every thing seemed new and fresh.

NSP is a program when the Master works on each one of us to erase our samskaras or engraved memories. He lets us see for ourselves how our samskaras are living our lives and how they ultimately take charge during our death also making it a painful process. This is the program where the Master helps us take charge not only of our lives but our death also. He gives us a new life.

Swamiji says, "Even if you don't attend any other program, it is ok. But attend one NSP. That will do its work. After that even if you don't remember me or meditation, you will leave peacefully. If you meditate, you will live and leave blissfully."

At the end of the program, there was only one thing that was on our minds - what compassion. What is the need for Him to do all this? Why should He spend His energy and time on our enlightenment, on our liberation? Why should He constantly remind us of our true nature?

It is His compassion. The all-compassionate Cosmic Mother is expressing through that six-feet frame called Nithyananda. She wants us to reach Her. She wants us to understand She is always with us and She is expressing through Nithyananda.

Swamiji made a beautiful statement during this NSP. He said, "I use this body to connect with you. You also use this body to connect with Me."

Our intellect of course will start its process - questioning, doubting, thinking, speculating. For once, if you drop it and look in, you will see for yourself: why millions of people who are with the Master are so blissfully dancing; why inner core of millions of people is unperturbed by the external roller coaster?

Just once...

The Ultimate Insurance

There is always some kind of fear associated with spirituality and meditation. Many people just don't talk about it; these words are tabooed just like the word - death. If I try to bring up this topic with some of my friends, they simply change the topic. They do not want to even speak about it, forget even thinking of trying some meditation.

Why is that so? Many of us have notions about spirituality and meditation. They have been associated with renunciation, people leaving homes and becoming wanderers and sanyasis.

Actually our fear is not about spirituality or enlightened masters. I know of many people, who enjoy reading spiritual books but when it comes to applying them to their own lives, they just back off. That means spiritual truths actually echo with us; they have to because they are meant to echo with everyone's being.

If that is the case, why the fear?

Our actual fear is that of our identity. Spirituality shakes the roots of our notions about our identity. All along our lives, we have been made to believe by society, parents, friends, school, teachers etc. that we are this, we are so and so, we should have this, we should do this ... Spirituality shakes this very belief. Our identity which was based on the external objects be it animate like our family, or inanimate like our possessions, is questioned by spirituality and enlightened masters.

The same is the case with enlightened masters. We resonate with the truths uttered by the masters but there is a deep sense of fear, especially with living Masters. History shows how people condemned masters when they were in their bodies. Buddha was stone pelted, Ramakrishna was called a mad man, Jesus was crucified ... But now, Buddhism is a religion, Ramakrishna Matt is one of the largest spiritual organization ... We fear loss of our identity especially with living masters as they can straightaway work on us.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'Spirituality is all about exploding in 360 degrees, in all your dimensions. It makes one tap all the energies present in oneself to enjoy both external and internal worlds. It takes away your false identities and lets you realize your true identity - bliss. An enlightened master is an instrument to show you that truth. The body language and the life of an enlightened master radiates that energy.'

From experiences of thousands of disciples of my Master, including my own, what Nithyananda says is the truth. Spirituality makes life a beautiful process every moment. Just remembering these spiritual truths and the face of the Master pulls us out of low mood (if any) and keep us alive and bubbling with energy. Our Master has given us a glimpse that we do not need these external entities to define us and our state of being. He has shown us that we are "bliss" irrespective. He has surely shaken the roots of our false identity and shown us our core.

What insurance company, which million-dollar job, which millionaire... can guarantee me this life-long bliss??? Think over it.

She waits till we call Her...

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa very beautifully quotes a story of a little child busily playing with its toys. The mother knows that even if she calls her child at this point, the child would not bother, because the toys are most dear at that point in time. The toys are the very life of the child. The mother gets busy in the kitchen and doesn't even see the child, because she knows the child does not need her attention. But she waits for her child to call her.

After a while the child gets bored with the toys, it starts to look here and there in search of the mother. Now the mother throws a glance at the child. After a while, the child gets very anxious that it can't find its mother and starts to wail and cry its heart out. Of course, this time the mother comes running and carries the child in her arms.

He goes on to say that this is exactly how our relationship with God is. When we are busy with our toys, we can't be bothered about God or enlightenment. Well, like Swamiji says, instead of small toy cars, we are busy with biggers ones, that's all! Money, bank balance, car, house, family... these are the toys we get immersed in, so much so, that we forget our Mother. We cry over these toys, get stressed up, worried and what not!

She knows that if she comes when we are busy playing, we will only treat Her as a disturbance. So She waits patiently for us to look at Her.

After many lives, when these toys no longer interest us.. when a sense of understanding dawns upon us that we have been playing with the same toys, life after life... a sudden awakening happens.. to search for Her, to search the divine. Because that is where we belong, that is whom we should be calling upon. But until we are ready, the Mother leaves us alone. She knows we don't need Her :)

Sometimes, the Mother out of Her compassion sends a wake up call because she knows that if she leaves us alone, we will take ages to realize that we have been caught up with the toys! She sends living enlightened Masters again and again to wake us up. This awakening or realization is the greatest gift one can ever have!

Imagine the freedom that results when you realize that you have been crying over something so vain, so petty! Suddenly all the so-called worries, sorrows drop, because we now know the space we came from. We now understand our true source, our true nature.

Thank you Master for bestowing this awakening on us. What compassion! Blessed are we....

Bliss: It's upto us to have it

Recently, I received an email from a friend of mine showing pictures of pollution of river Ganga. He was asking the question - "How can people go and take a dip in this and consider it holy when it is so polluted?"

Last year I was on a pilgrimage to North India with our Master. We went to Dakshineswar, Varanasi, Allahabad and other places which are on the banks of Ganga. We took a dip in Ganga and also collected a good few ml of Ganga water in a small plastic bottle (the normal 250 ml disposable water bottles). I got back home and placed that bottle in our meditation room and forgot about it.

This was a 15 day tour and after fifteen days when I got back to my office, I saw that before leaving for the trip, I had left some drinking water in my water bottle (Nalgene brand, considered one of the best water bottle makers) on my desk. And now it had caught green algae.

This year in April, when I was shifting home, I removed that small plastic bottle with Ganga water and saw that the water intact: no algae, nothing.

I remember seeing a similar thing in many places. Ganga water never gets affected, however long you keep it, in whatever container you keep it.

Science is still unable to understand how this is possible. It is still trying to find out, how despite being one of the most polluted river, the water seems to be unaffected even after keeping it for such long periods of time. How is it that thousands of people take bath and do what not in it, and yet nobody seems to be affected.

Some questions have no logical answers - river Ganga is a perfect example and testimony to this statement.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, "You might have heard about Dr. Emoto's experiment where he used to emote some emotions to few ml of water everyday and at the end on crystallization, emotions like love and gratitude showed beautiful crystals but ugly emotions showed ugly crystals.

"Imagine, on the banks of these rivers, hundreds of thousands of masters, sages, seekers and devotees are constantly radiating positive emotions that of gratitude and love. Chanting is done on the banks of these rivers. These chants have positive vibrations. They are constantly being radiated in and around these rivers. If one person's thoughts for few minutes a day can affect few ml of ordinary water, imagine the effect of hundreds of thousands of peoples' thoughts 24x7, 365 days a year on these waters."

Such is the effect of our thoughts. They are the ones that decide how good or bad our outer world is. We come across people who are living with bare minimum things in their lives, yet living a contended life. But most people despite having everything and that too in excess are always in depression.

I remember of another incident in this regard. Two friends of mine attended the same program in India. One came back and said, "It was such a big pain. Everything was bad, the accommodation, the food... it was so hot, it was so smelly...." The other said, "Amazing... I can't comprehend the amazing organization of the event. Everything was perfect. For 3000 people, they did everything so perfectly.. food, accomodation .. everything."

The same external event but two different reactions. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, "Your inner blueprint decides your outer world. If you are blissful inside, you will see everything as bliss. If you are struggling inside, if you are violent inside, everything outside looks violent and ugly."

Our awareness to look into ourselves decides the external world outside us. It could be blissful, ever compassionate and pure Ganga or dirty and polluted Ganga - it depends on us (our blueprint) how we see it.

The real vacation - within!

In the previous post, we wrote about the holiday our friend was going to embark on, full of uncertainties ahead. In this post, let us see why we like to take holidays in the first place. Nowadays, it's trendy to be planning out vacations to exotic places with family/friends and hence the number of travel fairs, budget airlines, newspaper ads etc etc. What is it that makes us feel drawn to the idea of a "vacation"?

The first sad truth is that we are looking at the slightest opportunity to run away from our life, our daily routine. We have become so mechanical with our lives, we literally treat our body as a machine and each day as just another day. No wonder it feels "the same old job", "same old house", "same old family" etc. We have lost the essence. We have become dead. We have stopped seeing each day as a fresh day, each moment as a new moment. This is why we have lost the spirit to live our lives and it's no wonder we want a break.

As our Master says, when we infuse "spirit", even a "ritual" comes to life, this is "spi-rit-uality". Without the spirit, even spirituality becomes just another ritual.

Secondly, our true nature is that of freedom, without any bondages, without any conditioning, without any limitations. We are limitless energy, boundless joy, infinite bliss. But because we are forcing ourselves to live in familiar thought patters and societal conditioning, we have gradually started to identify ourselves with that solid and bounded mind-body system. When we visualise a large beach or a vast valley amidst huge mountains, our heart jumps with joy because our inner core connects with that vastness. The bounds are broken.

Another important thing, in a vacation, nobody knows us, nobody recognises us, our societal labels have no meaning. That is why we look out for a vacation where we become "nobody", because deep down our true nature is that of emptiness. We are nobody.

Deep down, we want to be away from our labels, because that is not our true nature. But again and again, we are pulled to it because we think that is what defines us. This is the conflict we go through all the time. As as result, even when we are there lying at the beach, this conflict haunts us. We are there worrying out work, home etc. As Paramahamsa Nithyananda says "worrying at office is called work, worrying at home is called home-work and worrying at a beach is called vacation!".

The best part is that a true vacation is something we can take within us, not at an external beauty spot. Imagine being 24 hours in vacation in our inner space, unclutched by all the nagging thought patters, worries, fears etc. That is what Swamiji called living enlightenment. With the grace of a living enlightened master, this is very much possible. That is the only reason masters have descended, to remind us of our infinite possibilities. Let us all take a vacation in our inner space and relax into it. Happy holidays! A related video in Swamiji's own words below:

The Road Trip of Life

April 10-12 is a long weekend here in Singapore because of Good Friday and we generally don't spare such precious long weekends in Singapore :) People are busy packing their bags to go to nearby Malaysia or Thailand for a trek in the jungles. So a friend of mine was saying, 'Dude, I won't be here for the long weekend. I am gone for a long drive with a group of friends to West Malaysia.'

I asked him if there were any particular places that they were going. He replied, 'Nope! This time its more of no-planning trip. Just go wherever, eat wherever and stay wherever types!!' ... He paused and then said, 'it sounds fun to me...'

It surely is fun. I agree with him totally. No planning as to where to pit-stop, where to eat etc. Just go, enjoy the traveling part and take the trip as it comes.

I was wondering, if a two-day trip can be so fun, by offloading the baggage of planning, just imagine how much more enjoyable our 60-70 years of life can be if we just flow with life?

Why can't we have the same attitude towards life? Instead, we plan and plan and plan... continuously, we keep planning not just about our life but about one generation behind us and one generation ahead us.

The answer is simple! We are scared about the insecurities of life. We do not enjoy our life simply because of our fear and greed: fearing the insecurities and greedy about our own expectations from life. We do not enjoy the path - the process of life. We think we will enjoy the goal, when it is reached but before it is reached we have already exhausted all the energy to enjoy it by constantly psychologically worrying about our fears and expectations about the goal that we have set. And after that goal is reached, there is another goal that awaits us.

Nithyananda says, 'When we live in utter insecurities of life, we are a seeker. That is why my parivrajaka, wandering days were one of the best parts of my life.'

When we live in utter insecurities of life, we just flow with life. We plan but chronologically only. We will not have an opportunity to psychologically worry about it because we are too busy enjoying and celebrating the path; then the path itself becomes the goal. Our fears and expectations keep our joy away from us.

The main difference between the road trip of my friend and our life is that my friend is already prepared to take on whatever comes his way as auspicious (mangalatva); either a tent in a jungle or a posh luxury suite; either food or no food. And hence he is saying the trip is going to be fun. There are no expectations or fears whatsoever. If there is any trace of either of them, one would certainly back off.

When it comes to one's own life, it is too far fetched to accept that insecurity for 70-80 years. Actually, even for one or two days it becomes difficult to accept because we are conditioned about our lives. We are conditioned by society, parents, friends etc. as to how one should live.

The irony is, all those from whom we learn to live are themselves most of the time living a life of total internal chaos.

When we surrender to the Existence, the Existence takes care of us... and this the truth. There are enough number of testimonials from people who believe in this to testify this, myself being one.

And you know what! When we surrender, the Existence always gives a lot more, many a times what we wouldn't even have dreamt of, both in our outer world and our inner world. And It also gives us the intelligence to be completely unperturbed whether that outer world is there or not there ...

Thank you Swamiji for giving us this shakti (energy), buddhi (intelligence), yukti (understanding), bhakti (devotion) and mukti ... liberation

The Great Wall of Logic

During my piano class, I was discussing about one of the American Idol contestants with my music teacher. I was telling her about how this particular contestant, though visually impaired, so skillfully plays the piano while singing and is already in the Top 9.

To this my teacher replied, 'See, you don't need your eyes to see the notes and play beautifully. Though we think having eyes is gift for us to see and play, it actually is the biggest obstacle because when we have eyes, we only read the notes and play the notes, and not the song. We are so worried about the notes, the tempo, the notations etc. that we lose the beauty of the song, the emotion everything is lost because we are too busy reading everything with our eyes.'

This conversation reminded me of Swamiji's words, 'Our intelligence or logic is the greatest gift for human beings and it is also the biggest obstacle.'

As humans, we are different from other species because we have intelligence; we have mind; we have consciousness. We can do when we want to do something. When we are hungry we can choose to eat or not to eat. When we are sleepy, we can choose to sleep or stay awake. We can make conscious choice. We have that freewill.

Though I have written about this in our other posts, this is something which I come across everyday - how we make use of our freewill to decide things.

At a deeper level, as humans we have all the energy to go beyond this mind-body system, to merge with the Ultimate Consciousness, to realize we are one with the Ultimate Consciousness. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'I am telling you, 'You are enlightened', then why don't you believe it? An enlightened master's words are always true and I am telling you like every other enlightened master born planet earth that you are already enlightened. All you have to do is to believe that you are enlightened.'

We choose to not believe the truth that every enlightened master has been saying for ages and ages, in all those thousands of scriptures, from all over the world. We choose to use our freewill to be with our mind which is always pulling us from the Ultimate Truth.

Our intelligence which can be used to every outer world comfort has become the greatest impediment in our progress in the inner world...

Simply because we think we are the most intelligent by suspecting each one of those masters who try to show the Ultimate Truth. We think we are most intelligent. Even the greatest of the intelligent scientists, Einstein, says 'Where Science ends, Spirituality begins.' Are we more intelligent that Einstein?

An enlightened master only helps to pull us out of our ignorance, which we mistake to be our intelligence. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'Use your intelligence when required. That's all! Rest of the time, relax from it into your consciousness.'

Like He says, 'Its upto you whether you want to choose your mind/intelligence or choose Consciousness.'