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.

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.

Ganesha Chaturthi: Towards the formless & eternal!

Yesterday was Ganesha Chaturthi - the birthday of the famous elephant God, Ganesha. Just for this day, hundreds of thousands of idols of Ganesha idols are made with clay, metal etc every year and worshipped with all grandeur. Apart from the Ganeshas in every home, huge Ganeshas would grace almost every street of India during this period for about a week. Ganesha, being the God of beginnings, is worshipped by all segments of the Indian society - starting from businessmen to farmers to householders; starting from the followers of Shiva to Vishnu, practically every home has a celebration for Ganesha Chaturthi.

There is a very interesting way in which this festival is celebrated. At the start of the festival, Ganesha is welcomed in a grand manner, taken very good care of, fed well, protected with utmost care, entertained with dances, shows and what not. After building this beautiful relationship with Ganesha for that period, on the last day, He is bid farewell and immersed into the neighborhood pond, lake, wells etc.

This may make us wonder for two reasons. One: about how deep idol worship has penetrated the masses of India, and two: what is the point of building that relationship for those days only to say good bye to the idol, that too by immersing it in water once and for all.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda very beautifully unveils the significance of idol worship. We, as humans have started associating our identities to our body-mind entities, so much so that we have forgotten that we are actually the vast universal existential energy. The solid identities we have carved for ourselves about ourselves, the world around us makes it difficult to connect to this energy directly.

Once a man goes to Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and asks him how to get enlightened. Bhagavan says "just see the source of I, you will realise who you are". The man came back after a few days saying "that is too difficult for me, can I meditate instead?". Bhagavan said "sure". Again the man is back after a few days saying "this is also too difficult for me, can I chant the name of the Lord instead?". Bhagavan said "sure". Again he is back saying "this is also difficult for me, can I do puja/rituals instead?" Bhagavan said "sure"...

So, directly connecting with existence as energy is something that does not happen very easily. That is why the inner world scientists have hence created a system of idol worship where we first start by giving a form to that energy, a form that we relate to. Ganesha, whose very nature is that of bliss, joy, dance, prosperity is a form that is lovable and easy for most to connect to.

Now, as Swamiji says, when we intensely pray to a form that we feel deeply connected to, the form itself will take us beyond the form. The reason Ganapathy is put into the water is exactly for this reason. He shows that point of transition from the form to the formless. When Ganesha dissolves into the water, He becomes the formless. After building that beautiful relationship with Ganesha, if we able to still continue that relationship without the form, then we have grown.

Ganesha also reminds us that everything in this world is temporary. We came from the five elements (panchabhootas) and have to return to it some day or the other. He reminds us of the impermanence of everything in life. Our possessions, our so called career, family, friends.. everything has to go one day. This very remembrance can make us let go of our transient identity and merge with the permanent and eternal.

I would like to end this post by sharing a video in which Swamiji speaks about the significance of the form of Ganesha, including each of the weapons he holds in his hands. This was delivered on Ganesha Chaturthi 2007. EnjoY!

The "City" of devotion

Jagannath Puri or just Puri was the first of the places we visited with the Master on our 14 day parivrajaka (wandering). Puri literally means - the City, which goes to say that at the time when this city existed, this was the only city the people knew. This City finds place in all great Masters' biographies like the Great Master (Ramakrishna Paramahamsa), Autobiography of a Yogi (Paramahamsa Yogananda), Lives of Sri Sarada Devi, Sri Chaitanya and Shankaracharya. This is the place of Krishna and the temple is world renowned for its Rath Yatra (the Chariot Festival) when three huge chariots carrying Krishna, His brother - Balarama and His sister - Subhadra, pass through the streets of this City.

This post is not about the city. It is about the beauty of the city which sings and dances like Sri Chaitanya did, in the name of Krishna. The Jagannath Temple that is the center of attraction of this city is a testifies what all masters have always been propagating - intense devotion leads to the Ultimate Truth. Whether it is devotional Masters like Sri Chaitanya and Ramakrishna or intellectual Masters like Shankara, all say - bhakti (devotion) and true love towards the Divine is the simplest way to connect to the Divine.

If you see the main deities of the temple (as shown in the picture), there are no features, i.e. no palms, no feet, no eyes, lips etc. They are just blocks of earth and the all the features have been painted on them. There is a beautiful story related to this. Let me narrate it followed by a very powerful message that the Master spoke about:

There was a king who made a beautiful temple and he wanted to installed the most beautifully sculpted deity of Krishna, Balaram and Subhadra in the temple. He announced it to the public and put a warning that if he is not pleased with the idols, the sculptor will be beheaded. Hearing this not many were willing to come forward. Once an old man came and took the job but he too had a condition, 'I will lock my self up in the sanctum sanctorum for next one month and no one should open the doors, whatever the case may be.' The kind agreed and the work started. People noticed that there were all kinds of loud sounds of rocks falling apart coming from the main room. The ministers patiently waited for 20 days but then they went and told the king that the old man might be destroying the temple. The king opened the door and saw that the old man stopped the sculpting work. He turned to the king and told him, you broke your promise and now I leave the idols in whatever state they are. Saying this the old man merged into the Krishna idol. It was then that the king realized that it was Krishna Himself who came down to break his ego.

The Master commented, 'Lets see the truth from this story. It was the king's ego to build the most beautiful temple with the most beautiful idols. It was not out of devotion or love that he was doing it. It was purely out of his ego, to show to the world; that's all. Later he understood his mistake and become a Krishna devotee himself. This temple stands now purely on true devotion. It is not the external beauty that matters but it is the intensity of devotion that is important. The three idols in the sanctum sanctorum are unfinished and they may not be as "beautiful" as other Krishna idols in other temples but this temple gets thousands of devotees. It is based on pure devotion and love to God, not the external looks. That is what we have to assimilate from this place.'