Blissful Morning

Anywhere in the world, the first thing that comes on TV in the morning is news. The newspaper boy comes and delivers it early in the morning. Infact in many countries, some kind of abridged version of the newspaper is given free to people in public transport like buses and subways.

That is the first thing that we generally do.. get ourselves updated with news from around the world. And that is the reason why so many channels, whether they are news channels or entertainment channels, show news only during the morning time slots.

Now coming to the contents of what we receive during the morning hours... war in some country.. so many people killed.. petrol prices rising.. inflation rates rising.. economy slowing.. more unemployment.. so and so defeated someone to get rank 1.. etc. etc.

If we carefully analyze the news, most news if not all, continuously adds to our negative feelings. If there is an act of terrorism somewhere, we start feeling hatred to that group. If someone defeats someone else, we get angry about the defeat. If inflation rate, property prices, petrol prices are rising, there is an immediate sense of sadness, fear or anger in us. Whether or not our feeling like that affects the concerned party, I don't know but one thing is for certain - we are continuously feeding ourselves with negativities.

Let me tell you something really scientific. It has been proven scientifically that there is continuous electrical activity that happens in our brain and different kinds of brain waves are generated. Of particular interest are alpha and beta waves. Beta waves are generated when we are in a state of stress, tension or in more general terms when we are in a state of continuous activity. Alpha waves demonstrate the creativity aspect of ourselves. Our ability to learn and grasp things is affected by these waves. These are the soothing waves. They bring deep peace and calmness in us. The brain wave patterns of children shows alpha waves mainly and for adults, it is beta waves. That is the reason why children are more creative and pick up creative things like music, painting, arts, languages etc. faster than adults.

Now here is the most important point - in adults, the brain wave patterns are predominantly alpha waves during morning time. It simply means that in the morning, our natural tendency is to be calm and blissful. But what do we do? We continuously feed ourselves with junk.

This precisely the reason why in Vedic culture the morning starts with a chants called Suprabhaatam. In all temples in India, the first thing that they play are these chants. As discussed in our previous post on chants, the sounds that are generated while reciting chants have tremendous effects on us. In India, especially in villages, we see temples playing these chants on loudspeakers. This is done so that early in the morning when we wake up, at least for a few minutes we can experience the deep inner peace and silence. Same goes with why simple rituals and prayers or puja are done early in the morning. All these are tools for us to enter into a deep silence and experience that bliss.

Only now science is studying the brain wave patterns. The importance of 'Brahmi muhurtam' or morning time is very well researched and described in Vedic scriptures thousands of years ago by enlightened masters and there was lifestyle that evolved on these concepts. In many parts of India, especially in villages, people still follow them and live blissfully with whatever they have.

We so called 'modern' people have the tendency to ridicule ancient practices such as this, calling them baseless, illogical and unscientific. We boast of our sophisticated city lifestyle but all this lifestyle is doing is to keep us continuously in a state of tension, stress and surround us with negativities.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda describes how beautifully people live in Indian villages and describes Vedic lifestyle as way to infuse life into everything we do. There is a beautiful meditation Swamiji asks us to do early in the morning. As soon as you get up, touch every part of the part, from head to toe and express love and gratitude to each and every part. Touch and tell each part - thank you and I love you. You will simply see how your body reacts especially when we do it early in the morning.

So, enjoy the blissful morning sun with peace and calmness...

Grown-up - Are we??

Last night, I saw this cute little girl, probably less than two years old, dressed up in a beautiful white frock, running around while her mom was standing nearby. I was watching her playfully running around enjoying the moonlight and after a few seconds, she cheerfully sat down and lied down completely on the road. I could clearly see that she was playing with a big grin on her face. Her mom on the other side was looking all around and started scolding her, 'you should not lie down like that here... get up .. get up ...' After a few seconds, the kid jumped up and started running all around...

Such incidents are a not new. They keep happening everywhere. The first thing that comes to our mind when we talk about or look at children is their innocence, playfulness and cheerfulness. They are full of energy (literally). They are not bothered about society. They jump, they whirl, they run, they laugh, they do everything and they are not bothered who is around, where they are, what people say.

We all were in that state and along the way of so-called 'growing-up' we have forgotten our true self. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'We have forgotten our true nature, that of innocence, that of bliss, as we grew up. Layers and layers of societal and parental conditionings have been built up on us and we forget our true nature.'

Our true nature is that of bliss. We expressed that bliss when we were kids but now if someone says one word against us, we are upset the whole day. We don't smile for weeks or don't talk to that person again for days or even years. If we look at children, they cry but just after a few minutes they start smiling.

We see a number of times how children effortlessly walk barefoot on surfaces where we can't even imagine to walk. I have seen kids running around barefoot in the ashram where some stretches have gravel and stones. When we walk, we think of the pain, the heat of sand, the piercing stones even before we walk. Children on the other hand, don't know what is pain unless you tell them what it is. You might have seen it many times; children fall but immediate get up and start running around. If they are hurt, they just point towards it but they don't cry immediately until we adults go and ask them, 'is it paining?'

We have been constantly bombarded with all kinds of negative ideas and conditionings and we do the same thing with our children. We were constantly bound by society and we bind the children also in the same way. The way we speak, the way we walk, the way we lead our life are completely dependent on how the society wants us to be but not on how we want to express ourselves. Just because we mold ourselves to fit into the society, we go through all our problems. The insecurities, fears, guilt, stress, worry and whatever emotion we can think of, even love, is because of our inability to express our true nature and our fear of being quarantined by the society.

Children on the other hand are centered. They are not bound by the society (atleast initially). They just express their energy and bliss. They can jump for hours together; can we adults do that? No! They can whirl continuously; can we adults do that? No! What is the difference? They simply do not associate themselves with the body. They don't see their body as an obstacle to express their bubbling energy. But we, so called adults, we have become more body conscious and society conscious. We simply do not know what we are. We define ourselves based on the society but they aren't like that. We so bound by society and its concepts like status, name, fame, money, caste, religion etc. ete. that most of the times we don't know who our neighbour is. Leave two children in a room; they start playing; they start interacting even if they are new to each other. Forget an unknown person, we sometimes don't even speak to our relatives and friends openly.

If you get a chance to go to the Swamiji's ashram in Bidadi, see the Gurukul kids there. They radiate bliss. They will come and serve you food, they help you get around the ashram etc. During one of the programs, I remember how beautifully they were helping us understand and do the guru puja. They simply radiate that bliss to everyone, wherever you are from.

All we have to do is break all these conditionings. All our so-called problems simply disappear with this one understanding and some of the meditation courses by Paramahamsa Nithyananda work exactly on this... Once we do that, all we are left with is nothing by eternal bliss - nithyananda. Enjoy this short 2-minute clipping on this subject by Paramahamsa Himself.

Inner Transformation - the Greatest Service

Last night one of our friends beaming with a grin was sharing with us about his parents' first meeting with Paramahamsa Nithyananda. They had just visited Bidadi to receive healing and blessings directly from Swamiji. He was telling us how touched they were by the healing presence of the Master. Now (during the month of March 2008), the Master Himself is giving free healing to thousands of people who are coming to the ashram. He is giving free discourses in the evening every day. Throughout this month, everyone morning, He sits there patiently, listening to the problems of people. He sits there without a break as long as there are people.

We keep hearing about social services by various NGOs etc. They might be doing great work but the compassion of an enlightened master cannot be matched by any person or any organization. I have heard people ask, 'all meditation programs are ok but what social service does the organization do?'

I feel compelled to tell about the social service part of the Paramahamsa Nithyananda's movement because these details never come out in the open. In the website, we see a tab 'Social Service' with one page write up but if we go slightly deeper, we see theres so much that is being done and Swamiji does not even mention about it. The fortnightly free health check up camps, free eye check up camps and free meditation programs to thousands (literally) of people for rural villages in India are just a few examples. There are one-year long courses being conducted in the ashram in India where few hundred people are undergoing spiritual training under Swamiji, completely free. They are learning the Vedic sciences without spending even a rupee on anything. There are many more ...

Anyways, one important thing, I want to highlight is Paramahamsa Nithyananda's expression of His enlightenment is like teaching a person how to fish rather than giving him fish for one meal. He is continuously on the mission of inner transformation of the individual through meditation. That is the biggest social service that someone can do. When this inner transformation happens, every individual starts to radiate that bliss and energy of the Master to everyone around; the socially perceived social service happens through each one of them. Like He says -

"Transformation of humanity and global peace happen through transformation of every individual."

Shiva: Causeless Auspicious Energy!

For the first time in our lives, Shiva Raatri was really a raatri with Shiva! We started off the evening of Shiva Raatri, 6th March 2008 with a special satsang here, where we watched Swamiji talk about 'Shiva: the Causeless Auspicious Energy'. Truly, nothing could be more auspicious than being in His energy field. The beautiful energy play during the meditation and the energy darshan that followed!!!

Totally charged and rejuvenated after the satsang, four of us headed to our place with a resolve to do a jaagaran (night out). Initially none of us thought we could pull through a full night out physically, considering we had to be back in office/work/meetings/presentations the next day. But somehow, we decided strongly "today we will not allow our mind to cause us any fatigue, sleep or boredom"... after all, what better opportunity to soak into the causeless energy!

We selected and watched a few of our favorite videos of Swamiji, interspersed it with some Ananda Natana (blissful dance...yes, at about 3 am we were dancing away to the latest breathless Nithya dance beats!) and did a beautiful darkness meditation that converted whatever trace of sleep into fresh bursts of energy! There was simply so much energy everywhere, we thought to ourselves "its not just the four of us in that house.. Swamiji was definitely with us!!"

We then went for a 'Nithya Yoga walk' at about 5 am, every step with intensity, awareness, breathing in the cool fresh prana (life energy) of braahmi muhurtam (referred to wee hours of morning, ideal for meditation). It was such a fun packed day (night!).

At the end of it, something that proved to be an interesting learning experience for us. We could clearly see the liberation and energizing process that happens when we ignore the mind (in this case, the context of lethargy or tiredness). Swami in His latest talks on Nithya Dhyaan at Bangalore speaks about a wonderful concept, that of chronic fatigue. He gives an example. When we are running, after a while, the mind says "no no, I think you are tired.. I think you need some rest..etc". If at that point, we choose to ignore the ranting of the mind and continue running, He says we suddenly feel a tremendous burst of energy. This is because the samskara of chronic fatigue would have left our system for those moments and hence the liberation.. the energy rush happens. He goes on to say that if a seeker has crossed this layer of chronic fatigue, then 90% of his spiritual journey has been covered.

What a great opportunity to internalize so many truths! Truly, a night with Shiva, a night with the Truth, a night with Nithyaaaaananda!!

Here's Paramahamsa Nithyananda's video on Shiva:

Guru's Grace

About four years ago, when words like meditation or master or spirituality were just beginning to make sense to me, my cousin gave me this book called Play of Consciousness by Swami Muktananda, and said that it is worth reading it. Apparently he was very inspired by it. When I read the following message in the third chapter on 'The Greatness of the Guru', I just closed the book with a deep sense of helplessness and thought to myself 'This is not fair!!'.

The passage read: "Realization of God is possible only through a Guru...We should acquire the sublime grace of a Guru, for until the Kundalini Shakti is awakened by the Guru's grace, our inner light does not shine, our state of bondage cannot be lifted. Just as there can be no life without prana, so without the Guru there can be no knowledge, no unfolding and growth, no destruction of darkness, no opening of third eye. The Guru is more necessary than a friend, a son, a husband or a wife. He gives a new birth to man, he gives him the experience of knowledge..."

I felt, a person who has experienced the Guru's grace can easily express his gratitude and glorify the Guru. I felt these words did not make any sense to a person like me, who was so helpless, in the dark, all alone. 'Where do I now go in search of a Guru?' I thought. I was left with sadness, with nobody to share these emotions with. I just thought I should move on.

A few days after this incident happened, I was delighted when I read in 'The Autobiography of a Yogi' that when the disciple is ready, the Guru arrives at your doorstep. Somehow, I was consoled, but even those words didn't really sink deep. I was deeply touched seeing the beautiful guru-disciple relationship that Paramahamsa Yogananda shared with his master Sri Yukteshwar. Similarly, when I first read about the relationship that Swami Vivekananda shared with his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, I thought to myself 'how lucky Swami Vivekananda is, to have the fortune of being a disciple of Ramakrishna'.

Now, as I sit back and recall the incidents that led me to me meeting my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda, nothing remains except tears of joy and gratitude that flood my eyes. I can now understand what each of them meant by the grace of the Guru. The sheer compassion of the master for no reason, who showers his grace on anyone who seeks refuge in Him is hard to comprehend. The deep transformation, healing and experiences of higher consciousness would never ever have been possible but for the grace of my Guru, Swamiji. In eternal gratitude to Him...

Vedic Chants... Useless? Think Again.

For most so-called modern people, especially youth, when we are told the word, "chants", thats it. We immediately call it religious and useless. We dismiss the chants instantly. We do not even want to listen to them. We feel our so-called modern image does not go well with the chants. Ironically, this syndrome is seen more in Indians.

To those of us who reject chants in the name of religion or tradition, a simple question, 'have we ever wondered why so many Sanskrit chants were written in the first place? Why were they written in a particular way? Why do they sound in a particular way? Why one comes after the other? What is their significance?'
No! we do not even want to think about these questions, simply because we want to be modern, we want to be non-religious, we want to be scientific. Let me tell you, the sounds of these chants, the structure of these chants are more scientific than modern day quantum physics. Modern day scientists are currently working on the power of these chants, the effects of these chants on human mind-body system.

The people, who designed and wrote these chants, developed them in high states of consciousness. The mere sounds of these chants create vibrations, which have healing and cleansing properties; there are enough scientific evidences to prove this. Many emotional disorders and depression can be healed by the vibrations of these chants. Lifestyle diseases like diabetics, blood pressure, ulcers etc. are being tackled with these vibrations. Experiments have shown that plants that grow better amidst chants. If all this is not modern then I doubt what is?

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'Every language tires us when we speak in that language. Sanskrit is the only language which creates sounds, which creates vibrations that energizes us when we speak it. Sanskrit language is not just linguistic which was created for the sake of transmitting an idea or concept. It has phonetic importance also. The very vibrations that are generated have power on you. And being in the sound of the Vedic chants is an easy way to experience the power these vibrations.'

And we reject them just because our fast paced modern lifestyle does not think them to be cool enough for us. We are ready to listen to music in Arabic or Spanish or Chinese, languages which we don't even understand. Even worse we listen to songs with heavy music, songs where we can't even make out whether it is a music or noise, sounds which create terrible effects in our system but we cannot sit down and listen few minutes of Sanskrit chants. Simply because these chants are not modern enough; we think they are not scientific enough.

Just being in the vibrations generated by the chants can do wonders in our system. The only thing that is stopping us modern people from even trying this is our mind and ego. Drop that mind, drop our so called modern image for a few minutes, so that we can allow these sounds to work on us. Let me leave you with a beautiful video on this topic in our Master's own words.

Feeding our senses - a favorite passtime

Yesterday I went for an Indian movie titled Jodha Akbar, which shows the life of a famous Moghul emperor - Akbar and his wife Jodha. Just a few lines about Akbar and Jodha before entering the subject :) Akbar is considered one of the greatest Moghul emperors to rule India in the sixteenth century. He consolidated most of India under one administration and came up with innovative styles of governance. Akbar was a Muslim but his wife Jodha was a Hindu by religion who was a devout Krishna follower.

Now let me come to the point... Let me describe peoples' reactions to different scences in the movie theater.

Scene 1 - Battle of Panipat: There were armies fighting, clashing against each other, bloody fights, swords, sounds, screams, blood, death ...
Audience Reaction: Pin-drop silence, glued to the screen ...

Scene 2 - Sufi saints singing: Akbar was a follower of a great enlightened Sufi saint called Moinuddin Christi. Sufi saints sing a song and enter into a whirling meditation.
Audience Reaction: Loud laughter at the people dancing, mockery at the way they look, they dress up and dance...

Scene 3 - Another fight: A close aid of Akbar attacks him... a short sword fight
Audience Reaction: Pin-drop silence, glued to the screen ...

Scene 4 - Devotion of Jodha: Jodha goes and kneels down before the idol of Krishna and prays for recovery of Akbar when he gets wounded.
Audience Reaction: Loud laughter and mockery...

Scene 5 - Final battle between Akbar and his rival, shot almost like the final fight sequence in the Hollywood movie Troy.
Audience Reaction: Pin-drop silence, glued to the screen, not even blinking their eyes...

This is the state of human consciousness. We are thrilled to see a bloody battle, a fight sequence but we cannot sit for five minutes to watch heart touching devotional scene. Believe me, the Sufi song especially is heart touching rendering.

When we watch a fight sequence, our adrenaline levels start rising. We are glued when either an action scene or a lustful scene comes up on screen. These are the commercial elements of a movie or a program and we enjoy such commercial scenes. Such scenes give us sensory pleasure. When we watch an action scene, we actually start feeling so much for the protagonist that we ourselves sometimes feel like getting up and hitting the bad guy :) ... Such is the way we get involved in such scenes.

On the other hand, heartful rendition of a beautiful Sufi song or a scene showing the power of devotion, we dismiss it immediately. Simply because such scenes most often than not do not give the kind of kick that an action scene gives. Since we do not get the sensory pleasure, we do not appreciate something which comes from a deeper layer.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'we are continuously bombarded with violence and negativities throughout the day that we can now relate to such kinds of things only.'

This is true. Be it movies or television serials, everything is based on violence. If humans are not enough people invent robots, aliens, predators, big sharks, crocodiles and even cockroaches to show violence, blood and death. What is even more dangerous is how children, hardly 5 or 6 years old are glued to their playstations, X-boxes or hand held gaming consoles killing the bad guys, bombing the enemies etc.

We are simply filling ourselves with garbage. If we really see, we do not need all that. We do not need that violence. But our senses crave for it and we feed our senses obediently.

Our Master says, 'all the mass calamities like tsunamis etc. are a result of collective negativities.' Our own negativities are accumulating to an extent that such incidents occur.

Its a pity that we are becoming the cause of our own destruction. We can decide now to pull ourselves out of it, only if we wish to...

P.S: One of the meditations in the programs conducted by Paramahamsa Nithyananda includes the Sufi whirling meditation for 42 minutes.

Judging the mind or judging the master?

Last week, there were a couple of new members at our weekly wellness meet (satsang) here in Singapore. They have been in the so-called spiritual path for many years, have been with many masters. Apparently they were very touched and inspired by Swamiji's discourses on youtube; that's how they found their way to our center.

In the course of my conversation with them, one of them started remarking 'this master is like this, that master is like that, that other master should be more...' etc. Although he said great things about Swamiji, I felt uncomfortable when this kind of analysis about masters started.

As Swamiji says, one of the favorite pastimes of people who are so-called spiritual seekers is to constantly evaluate and judge various masters. Swamiji says "these professional seekers, their profession is to seek!" Not thinking about how one can benefit from the master, they are ready with their evaluation report about him, whether good or bad!

It is time we stop the evaluation outside and start the internal evaluation of ourselves. Many people ask Swamiji "With the track record of so many fake sadhus, isn't it essential we judge and evaluate first to be convinced about whom we are following?"

To that, His beautiful answer: The only test for you to follow a master is to see if you feel a deep connection, from the heart and being. If this happens, then even if the master is not enlightened, it's ok. Just follow him, you will become enlightened. If that connection does not happen, then even if he is enlightened, he cannot help you!

Many times we miss the master simply because we give more power to the mind. I cannot help but quoting Swamiji again on this. He says, "it is never a battle between you and your mind. It is a battle between me and your mind. Just decide which side you want to support". So, if we decide to be on the mind's side, even by mistake, then we know where we are headed!

A related video where Swamiji answers this issue in His own words:

Simple it sounds, yet so powerful it is!!

Yesterday during a coffee break with my colleagues, my feet accidentally touched my colleague and my immediate reaction was to say sorry (of course in an Indian style). We might have seen, especially with Indians, when something/someone comes in their way and if accidentally their legs/feet touch the person or things like books, vessels, etc. we bow down, touch the person/thing and do a little prayer.

Of course, this might seem stupid to outsiders. Why should someone pray if his/her legs touch a book or a person? Socially, our legs touching an elder shows disrespect. Again society instills fear in children saying if your legs touch books, you will not study well.

These are surely social reasons. But I was thinking there should be some deeper meaning to all this. It seems to have been present in Vedic lifestyle for a long time. Society cannot come up with a new concept. It can only twist an existing concept to suit its needs. So there should be some deeper meaning to it. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says Vedas are true knowledge and following Vedic lifestyle leads one to enlightenment. If that is the case, how does this seemingly social practice fit in the path enlightenment?

Paramahamsa Nithyananda recalling His first enlightenment experience says, 'when the experience happened, I found myself in everything around me. I was not able to eat food because in that food also I saw myself. How can I eat myself?' He says that an enlightened being sees the Divine, the Self, Himself or Herself in everything and everyone.

And this is precisely what is inculcated in children in the practice that I described above but with a twisted meaning to it :) If we remove the societal reasons to the practice, we can unearth a beautiful meaning to the whole practice of seeing God or Divine or our own Self in each and everything around. By touching them and praying we are respecting our own Self or the Divinity in them. Beautiful isn't it?

Now, people who do not understand call this stupid but once we understand what and why behind it, we see that everything that was a part Vedic lifestyle leads one to enlightenment. The whole Vedic lifestyle was such that every little action would turn the thoughts and energy towards the divine, and realizing It. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says Veda means true knowledge, that knowledge with has not been corrupted by the mind. He says, 'when we don't interfere and let the mind rest, true knowledge or Veda happens.'

Such simple things, yet so powerful and deep; our intellect does not allow us to believe that people actually get enlightened by following something as simple as that. Infact this is a powerful Shiva Sutra in which one goes beyond the limits of the body and sees everything and everyone around as the one. Let me leave you with a beautiful video where Paramahamsa Nithyananda talks about a mystical experience that He witnessed during His wandering days...

Nithya Yoga Series 6 - Body Gratitude

Demand for Plastic Surgery continues to grow in the UK
Seoul to tout Cosmetic Surgery tourism
Cosmetic Surgery sure to increase in 2008
Plastic Surgery patients want Angelina's lips ...

All the above are newspaper articles that figured in the last few weeks. The last of the articles I found the most interesting:

"Eyes like Katie Holmes, the sultry pout of Angelina Jolie and a body like Jessica Biel make the perfect woman -- at least in the opinion of plastic surgery patients in Beverly Hills.

The most requested look-alike female nose was that of "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl, while British actress Keira Knightley was tops in the cheek department, and Paris Hilton haD the most sought-after skin. The features most desired by men were Leonardo DiCaprio's nose, soccer player David Beckham's body and the blue eyes of the latest James Bond actor, Daniel Craig. George Clooney's cheeks and Matt Damon's lips also got top billing."

Interesting, isn't it? All of us, I am sure at some point in our lives would have looked at the mirror wishing to be somebody else. After reading this, I was reminded of what Swamiji talks about the deep gap that exists between our fantasies and reality. This is so true, isn't it? Nobody seems to be happy with what they have. That is why the mad running happens in the world today, people trying to be like someone else, look like someone else, dress like someone else.

This dates back to how we were brought up. Teenagers pick up ideas from media about their role models. These ideas are fueled with ads in TVs, hoardings etc about the perfect body, perfect figure and what not. Society not only plants ideas into people, it even knows where to cash on, that is why we see the boom of slimming centers, plastic surgeries and beauty salons. The funny thing is even the so called celebrities whom people wish to be also carry this same feeling of wanting to be someone else.

The more fantasies we collect about ourselves, we have moved away from the reality. We move away from what we have and put our energies into what we want to have. Let us understand that this body itself is a gift from existence to us. And let us remember to thank the universe for it.

Can we imagine doing anything at all without this body? Starting from breathing, to eating, to walking, to talking..! The very fact that we are born in this Universe, isn't that enough proof that existence cares for us? We forget that, take everything for granted and carry a deep unhappiness and vengeance for not being born as somebody else. We have only learnt to compare and abuse this body.

When we start to develop a loving relationship with our body, the body responds in the most beautiful way! In Nithya Yoga, we do a body gratitude meditation that puts us in a state of love and gratitude for this body. We remember every part of our body for all that it does to us, offer our deepest gratitude. By and by, we start to really respect our body instead of abusing it.

Swamiji says "Try this. When you are not well, just make your body sit on a soft bed/sofa, treat it nicely and just request it to become alright. You will be shocked to see it respond! All our so called bodily illnesses simply run away"

Most of our skin diseases arise because of a deep resistance to our body. Here is a small meditation technique that Swamiji gives that can put you in tune with your body. Not only has this technique shown to cure many skin ailments, it also restores a deep love and respect for our body. Every day, when you wake up in the morning, just when you are opening your eyes, touch every part of your body lovingly, starting from head to toe and offer gratitude to it. A beautiful way to start the day!

Here is a short discourse where Swamiji gives some insights into the human body being more than just a biomechanism, it is pure intelligence that can respond to us... Enjoy!

Thank you is not enough

Yesterday, one of our friend came back from India after attending a four day meditation program with Paramahamsa Nithyananda. He was narrating to us in great detail what happened during those four days in the ashram, the way how our Master was talking, His antics, His jokes, His narrations, His mannerisms etc. We talked and talked until mid night and I am sure we could have continued even more ...

During this entire period, we didn't even know how time went by. Not just this once, every time our friends come back from ashram after meeting the Master, we await here for their encounters with the Master.

Forget people coming from India, when we read about the Master's graceful acts in emails, like how He was dancing with people on the banks of Ganga, how He was playfully throwing pebbles at people like a kid, how He was riding an golf-cart like electric car and trying to hit everyone around, even then by reading those emails we get mesmerised; we get completely drawn into Him; we feel happy for no reason at all; we experience bliss...

We have invariably seen whoever has met the Master comes back dancing, in ecstasy. They will go on and on and on... There is no end. When we listen to them, a common chord strikes, that of bliss, that of being a part of the same Existential Energy. Though we were not present at the place and time when it happened, when the narration happens, we are literally transported to a parallel universe where all those events are replayed..

If somebody wants to know the meaning of bliss, I can say the moments when we hear and talk about the beautiful divine acts of the Master, what we experience and express is bliss :)

Just some emotions pouring out ...

A glimpse from His beautiful eyes, we wait;
A motherly hug from Him, we wait;
A beating with His Zen stick, we wait;
A scolding from His energy, we wait.

When He laughs, the whole Universe laughs with Him
When He talks, the whole Universe listens to Him.
When He sings, all the planets play for Him.
When He walks, the entire cosmos moves with Him.

Like a baby, He sleeps;
Like a baby, He complains;
Like a baby, He plays;
Like a baby, He dances...

What beauty! just indescribable...
What grace! just unimaginable...
What innocence! too much to handle..
Before Him, everything seems feeble.

1000 years more???

Whenever we talk about how we should not miss living enlightened masters, how we should strive for enlightenment in this life etc., some of us question, 'Let us flow with the Universe, the Existence. When It thinks the time is right, It will lead me to the right source. If Existence is all-compassionate, It will only help me...'

If we are still stuck with these thoughts, let me put down what one of the disciples of Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'He (Paramahamsa Nithyananda) is on fire. Catch Him and hold onto Him. If you miss Him, you will miss Him for eternity; you will take another hundred births or thousand years to meet another living Master...' And now the bomb shell ...

'Afterall, what is 1000 years in eternity...'

A thousand years is nothing for Eternity, for the Existence. The Solar system has been existing in this Universe for billions of years. The Milky Way Galaxy itself, we don't even know how long it has been existing. It takes thousands of years for a star to be born, another thousands of years for a star to exist and another thousands of years for it to die...


But in our time scale, thousand years is lot of time. In Eternity's time scale, the same thousand years is equivalent to a second or a minute. For the Universe it might be minuscule but for us it is too much. For Eternity, thousand years might be equivalent to someone blinking an eye (as Krishna says in Bhagvat Gita), but for us a thousand years is too long a time to wait.

And what else do we want the Universe to show us than to bring us in direct contact with living enlightened master. This reminds me of a story that Paramahamsa Nithyananda quotes from Sri Ramakrishna's teachings:

There was a fisherman who went out for fishing. He was a devoted man and prayed to God all the time to take care of him. He was in the middle of the ocean and his boat was hit by a storm. He started praying to God, 'God! please help me. You have to come and help me. Please God, please.' After sometime, a bigger vessel passed by that area and found this guy stuck in the storm in this little boat which could collapse any moment. They called him out to get on board their vessel. This guy said, 'No, no, no.. I am waiting for my God to help me..' They persuaded but he didn't listen and they left. After sometime a helicopter came. They too couldn't convince him. He was left stranded in the middle of the ocean and the storm was getting stronger. He prayed and prayed and finally God called out to him and said, 'You fool! You are asking me to help you; when I really came and helped you, you never accepted my help. How else do you think I can help?' Saying that God left and the fisherman was washed away by the ocean.

Even after coming in contact with a living enlightened master, if we think time is not right and Existence will make things conducive for us to tread the path, then we are no less stupid than the fisherman in the story. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'when the urge becomes urgent, when the question becomes a quest, true seeking happens.' If we are waiting for a good time and Nature's blessings for the question to become a quest, for the urge to become urgent, then we are simply wasting one more life of ours... we are simply paving the path for our own cycle of birth and death for another thousand years which by the way is very insignificant amount of time for Eternity... but is it for us?

India ... the spiritual incubator

Last week, we were in Paramahamsa Nithyananda's ashram in India for His birthday celebrations. Though indescribable, we have tried our best to give a gist of what it was like to be in the energy field of a living enlightened master for just a few days. Everyone in the ashram was blissed out totally, dancing, singing, jumping in ecstasy, completely immersed in the energy.

Anyways, after the birthday celebrations, we left the ashram to my parents' place by train. Its an overnight journey. I found myself allocated to the middle berth and on the lower berth, I found a long haired, bermuda-t-shirt clad westerner lost in his own world. As soon as he saw me, he turned his head, his attention on the book I was reading- Sri Sharada Devi - The Holy Mother. He smiled and immediately said, 'that's a nice book.'

Why am I quoting this incident? This incident brought back one of my very old questions. Why is it that any person from any part of the world comes to India in search for deeper truths? Why do seekers of the Ultimate Truth think India is the place where there is an answer? This guy is not just touring India. He is certainly come to India for something more because he knows and read about masters like Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sharada Devi.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda declares, "India is the spiritual incubator of the world." There is no doubt about it. Several enlightened masters and beings happened in India, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Patanjali, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Sharada Devi, Ramana Maharshi, Annamalai Swami, Sai Baba, Osho, Ajja, Paramahamsa Nithyananda ... the list goes on and on. There are thousands of enlightened masters and beings sitting in remote corners of India who are not even known to common people.

India is a culmination of the energy of these enlightened masters and it is this energy that strikes a chord with the seekers from the rest of the world. Osho puts it beautifully, "India is not just a geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something more: it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields that no other country can claim."

That is India. In terms of materialistic possessions, India may be termed as developing but in spiritual possessions, India is the only developed country. The people of so-called developed countries turn to India when everything external fails to fulfill the deepest inner craving for the Ultimate Truth.

India is a metaphor for the Ultimate Truth; India is a beautiful poetry penned down by the energies of the enlightened masters; India is a colorful painting with strokes of energy made by these masters and India is a culmination of the faith, hope and trust of a billion people on this Ultimate Truth in one way or the other.

Where words fail...

Last week, this blog saw no posts for two reasons. One is that we were at Bidadi ashram for Swamiji's birthday celebrations, away from internet and secondly, we were in the space of no-words! Truly, words fail to describe the silence and the depth of it that one experiences in the energy field of Swami Nithyananda at Bidadi. Anyway, here is an attempt to share my experiences there.

The ashram at Bidadi has many layers of significance, in the physical and the metaphysical planes. My favorite spot in the ashram is the banyan tree. The 600 year old banyan tree built on an ageless cave, the samadhi on an enlightened master takes you to eternity. It is amazing to see so many creatures live in harmony there - squirrels, owls, mynas, snakes, bugs, beetles, ants, rats... As Swamiji puts it, just being at the banyan tree is meditation, one has to experience it. If you get a chance, don't miss it.

The cave at the banyan tree had a swayambhu (self formed) shiva linga, which has now been consecrated at the Anandeshwara temple. This temple whose deities have been infused with life energy by the master Himself resonates with a high frequency. The unique thing about Swami's temples is that everyone is allowed to touch and interact with the deities.

The most ironic thing was that although there were so many people who had come down for the celebrations, amidst the noise there was silence, amidst the chaos there was a strange order, amidst the diversity there was a common bond.

We all got to do 'firewalking' as part of the celebrations. It is an amazing cleansing activity and an opportunity to see how much ours fears are a projection of our minds. All of us walked on burning coal so effortlessly just because of the assurance that the master is sitting in front of us blessing us. It's amazing! no blisters, no burns, no nothing! When we offer our fears and negativities at the feet of the master, it is so liberating! Nothing can burn us then :)

There is so much that happened in that short span of a few days at ashram. A deep alchemy! It is said that there are 5 moods that one can relate with God with - that of a mother to God, a child to God, a servant to God, a friend to God and a beloved to God. It is also said that the relationship with the master is deeper than all these 5 put together! Indeed it's true - for those of us who are fortunate to taste even a bit of this deep relationship can attest to this. The master-disciple relationship is so sweet, so deep, words always fail to describe it.

In deepest gratitude to Swamiji...

Nithyotsava - Eternal Celebration

December 25 is a holiday in all parts of the world. Just today, I came across an article which talks about Christmas around the world. The lightings, the festive atmosphere, cakes, chocolates, Christmas carols etc. etc., people in every corner of the world celebrate it.

People think there are so many Christians around the world, obviously it is celebrated by everyone. But even non-Christians celebrate it with the same excitement and enthusiasm. We (not Christians by religion) too celebrated it like many others whom we know. We set up a nice big Christmas tree, decorated it with shimmering colorful balls, bells and lights. The setting up itself was super exciting.

We went to Ramakrishna Ashram on Christmas eve and we were pleasantly surprised to see Christmas carols being sung in bhajan (Indian devotional music) style :) It was amazing to see celebrations in the Ashram.

There are many of us who restrict ourselves to our petite thinking. There are many Hindus who do not celebrate Christmas or Buddha Jayanti. There are Christians who do not celebrate Deepavali or Pongal and so on and so forth. In fact in Hindus itself there are Shaivaites (followers of Shiva) who do not celebrate festivals of Lord Vishnu like Ram Navami (birthday of Lord Rama) or Krishna Jayanti (birthday of Lord Krishna); and then there are Vaishnavites (followers of Vishnu) who do not celebrate festivals of Lord Shiva like Shiva Ratri or Ganesh Chaturti.

It is our ignorance to see Shiva, Vishnu, Jesus, Buddha etc. as different people. It is simply our stupidity to see it that way. Paramahamsa Nithyananda says beautifully,

When Jesus and Krishna meet, they will hug each other but when the sheep of Jesus and cows of Krishna meet, they fight against each other.

When we showed the Christmas tree at our place to some of our friends, they were shocked. They had a big question mark - why are you celebrating Christmas?

Christmas celebrates the birth of one of the greatest enlightened masters to have happened on planet Earth, one who fought all odds to preach nothing but the Truth. Instead of looking at it as a mere festival of one religion, it is an opportunity for us to connect to Jesus's Consciousness atleast on this one day.

Paramahamsa Nithyananda says, 'let our celebration not last for just one day. Let the whole life be a nithyotsava - eternal celebration. Let us not restrict ourselves to just select few days to celebrate our happening on earth. Let us enjoy every moment of our life and shed all our negativities and flow with nithyananda - eternal bliss.'

Finally, we leave with some pictures of our Master's on-going birthday celebrations where we see him dancing and singing with full grandeur. Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The problem is we think!

Yesterday, my friend said that one of our earlier posts quotes Swamiji in contradiction to what Swamiji Himself says elsewhere.

One of the titles of Swamiji's discourses is "Collective Consciousness" where He gives us detailed insights into how thoughts of every person affects and is affected by the rest of the cosmos. In another discourse, He says there is nothing called "Collective Consciouness"! He says in one of His discourses that rituals are meaningless. In another, He gives a detailed explanation on the significance and science of rituals! In yet another place He says we do not have to renounce what we have, but you would see the Sanyasis (monks) in His ashram literally renouncing everything they have!

As long as we try to intellectualise these things, our mind is left thoroughly confused. An enlightened master deliberately teases our ego and intellect. When Swamiji talks, it is not the words that work on us, but the energy behind them. If we catch only the words, then we have lost the game.

And one more thing, whatever an enlightened master talks is the Truth. So, it is not that He is lying in one of His contradictory statements. What He says, relevant to a particular point in time and space may not be relevant in another. But our puny intellect cannot comprehend the difference and starts to assess and complain.

When our intellect is questioned, the ego is at threat. The ego tries to make sense of everything based on what it knows. When it encounters something which it cannot place in the familiar frames of reference, it starts to lose its bearing. It is too much for the ego/intellect to handle.

When this layer drops, we suddenly start seeing that everything makes sense - INCLUDING those that appear as contradictions. That is the reason we think there are so many paths and so many enlightened masters. Because our ego differentiates one from another. At a point, what Jesus says may contradict what Buddha says, which may inturn contradict what Swamiji says. At another point, they are blend into each other. After all, they are all talking of the same thing and are just different manifestations of the same energy!

That is why Swamiji says - 'When Jesus and Krishna meet, they hug each other. But when the sheep of Jesus and cows of Krishna meet, there begins the war!'.

The message is that, we will never ever be able to comprehend enlightened masters if we use our puny scales and known templates. Simply because they are all beyond them - in a completely different dimension altogether. Our mind is our only obstruction to enlightenment and a master burns the mind away, if we allow him to.

That is why you see the famous Buddhist Zen Koans are one liners which the mind can never answer. Example: how did your face look like before you were born? or what is the sound of one hand clapping? The koans are teasers of the intellect and their concept is amazing! When we completely contemplate on them, fully, at one point, the intellect gives up. The mind drops and one achieves the no-mind state. Here is a video on Zen Koans by Swamiji:

True love...

Yesterday, on the 12.12.2007, a close friend of ours came with envelopes. He didn't say anything. He started distributing the envelopes. On the envelope was written, "For Thalaivar's Birthday, Dec. 12" and inside it was a Dairy Milk bar. He was distributing these birthday sweets to each and everyone in our lab, Chinese, Malay, Burmese, Viets and Indians.

Thalaivar is what the popular Indian actor Rajnikanth is called by millions of his fans all over the world. For the first time in my life, I (and I am sure many others) had witnessed such an act. This friend of mine is a great fan of this actor. This is the first time I saw how much this actor means to him.

Now just imagine, if we were in a state to express and radiate such intense love and compassion to each and everyone around us. That is the state in which an enlightened master is always in. We have witnessed many such instances with Paramahamsa Nithyananda where He sits for hours together from morning all the way till the night, without a break, listening to people, blessing them and giving them a divine loving hug. He sits throughout the night through meditations without leaving the meditation hall. If one sees His program schedule, we will be surprised to see the amount of travel and the number of meditation programs he conducts back to back, sometimes almost without a break.

Why would an enlightened master do that? Why should He spend his time and energy for all this? Why should He pain Himself for others? Because, He is pure compassion; He is pure love. His love doesn't bargain; His love doesn't see time and boundaries.

We think that we love our closed ones. We believe that we love our parents, we love our siblings, we love our children. The problem is we think we love but do we really know the meaning of love?

Just think about it, how can love be restricted to just the people we know. If it is such a beautiful emotion that brings everyone close, how can we just love our closed relatives, parents and children? Don't you think this emotion should encompass everyone?

True love doesn't see arise inside us by looking outside, by looking who is infront of us. Swami Nithyananda says, "True love is an expression of your own self, your true nature. It is unconditional. An enlightened being is in constant touch with his own Self and hence he can truly express that love."

We show strong emotion of love to our closed ones or in my friend's case to his hero. In the process, we start binding ourselves and the other person. Swami Nithyananda says, 'When you intensely love an unenlightened being, the problem is it becomes an attachment. Truly loving should take you beyond attachments but if it binds you, then it is no more love. We start to possess the other person'.

Pouring that kind of devotion and love to an enlightened master will simply take us beyond everything. An enlightened master is beyond bonds and hence he does not bind us. All he wants is for us to experience the true love that he is always in. He makes sure that we do not get stuck in the process of loving him.

One last thing, it is not like we will stop loving our closed ones and heroes when we become enlightened; we will still love them but we will love everyone around us equally; we will simply drop all conditions.

Just as a small exercise, next time when you say you love someone, just think about the 100 different conditions you put yourself and the person in front of you, which you are considering to say that you love that person. And this video is a must to understand the true meaning of love.

Let it be now... or it will be never

(1) When I started meditation and went to the ashram for the first time last July, my grandmother, who is nearly 70 now, told me, ' is it the age for someone to go to Ashram, do meditation etc? You are still young. You have life to see.. all these things can be done later in life.' If we look at old people, how many of them are really treading the spiritual path? How many of them really meditate everyday?

(2) I was talking about meditation and the quest for the inner Self to a relative of mine who is a highly placed professional (in his forties now). He is placed very well, earns well and well settled with family. So when I told him about meditation, his reply was, 'Hmm.. I understand all these but you know what, at this age it is very difficult. I understand your enthusiasm about it. These kind of things should be taken up early in life like in your twenties or teens or later in life. But now at this age of mine.. its very difficult. There is so much of work, managing people etc., you see? And what about my daughter! I have get her to go places, get her degrees from good universities and get her married etc.'

(3) In my University, I again keep talking about meditation, enlightenment etc. to my colleagues and peers of same age as mine, in twenties or early thirties. As soon as I talk about them, I get different kinds of responses like -
"Nah, its not my cup of tea..."
"Ya, I will think about it..."
"I am not mature enough for all these ..." (that's silly isn't it?)
"I am still thinking about my life .. may be I will think about this also ..."
Some just give me looks and go away :)

(4) We are trying to arrange a meditation program for kids in Singapore. So we often talk to parents about sending their kids for this program. As soon as we start, some parents get scared. Their immediate reply is, 'he's just a kid. Let him do stuff what kids of his age do. Why unnecessarily bother them about adult stuff.' And these kids that we are talking about are in their teens (hmm.. are they still kids??).

From these discussions, one thing is clear ...

AGE... is an easy excuse. At every point in our life we keep postponing, we keep giving excuses to do exactly what we need to do in this birth. We have time for everything and everyone except ourselves.

At every stage of life, we have an excuse for saying a NO. We give an appointment at a later date. In this process, we simple forget that we are simply forgetting ourselves till we reach our grave or funeral pyre.

A simple act like meditation can be integrated into everything that we do, while at office, while at home or outside. The problem is we see meditation as a different object from ourselves. Time and age become big issues. Each one at different stages in life believes that there is no time of meditation.

The truth is time and age are just excuses. We do everything else because we think they are adding value to our life but the truth is they are taking us away continuously from the reality, from our own selves. We are continuously being pulled away from realizing ourselves.

Mind you, spirituality or meditation not only unravels our true potential but can simply be a tool to grow in this materialistic world like job or studies or relationships or whatever.

Swami Nithyananda says, 'Why do you brush your teeth everyday? Why do you take a shower everyday? Why do you go to market every week? Why do you play everyday? You never forget to them promptly everyday because it has become a part of your lifestyle. Why should meditation be any different?'

Just think about it - at every stage of life, if we keep saying this is not the right time, then when is the right time?? Let it be now...

A puppet in the hands of Engrams!

My friend asked me a few days ago 'according to the law of karma, is it true that if I get an illness, then I have nullified something else? And then does this mean I can deliberately get ill and offset effects of things in the past?'

Swamiji throws a great clarity about karma in this video. If you haven't already watched it, then please do so:


In very simple terms, it is to be understood that what propels us in doing what we do is our unfulfilled desires. Some people interpret karma as if you do this, then that will happen. Although it is true that everything we do has a cause and effect, eventually it is our mental set up that counts. (Note: In this post, karma, samskara and its English counterpart engrams (for engraved memories) including desires are used interchangeably although there are subtle differences)

It is the mental attitude that decides the future actions and their outcome. That is why they say that even a so-called crime committed by an enlightened master can only do good to humanity. But even a so-called noble deed done with greed or fear can only harm the society.

In other words, it is our mindset that we carry with us attracts similar incidents and people and situations in our life.

Having said that, our actions also matter. Why? Because actions contribute in strengthening the mindset.

To answer my friend, if I have killed someone and expect that the 'sin' of killing is wiped off if I suffer with an illness, that is not the correct understanding. If I have a tendency to kill, then as long as this tendency remains, I only attract incidents that support this tendency. And the actions that follow only further strengthen the tendency.

This applies to anything that makes up our mindset. If we are lazy, we would attract only those people and situations that promote the laziness. Because mind you, when these engraved memories (samskara/karma) live though your body, they do not care about you. They just want to make sure they live well and grow well. So as long as the laziness is living through us, it only becomes stronger and stronger. We are sidelined.. survival of the fittest in a way! In other words, we are simply exploited by them.

That is why, Swamiji says, it is only when these samskara die, that we actually start living! Till then, they live through us.

The first step towards dissolving these samskara is to become a witness. Techniques like meditation allow this separation to happen. Till then, we do not realize that we could even exist without them.

An interesting thing to ponder: When our deepest true desires are fulfilled, why should we feel good, joyful, blissful etc? Because deep down that is our true nature. Fulfillment of a deep desire (samskara) causes the samskara to die. This liberation from the samskara exposes us to our true nature.

Its a pity!

During the weekend, we were volunteering for the third level meditation program (Atma Spurana Program). The participants were made to go through a series of meditations just to make one realize that we are more than what we think we are. The third level focuses on expanding one's dimensions, letting one realize that we are not islands. Each one of us connected to the other through deeper chords of energy.

It was interesting to note during the course that many of us have a certain ideology, certain way of thinking. We acknowledge that there is something more but our ideology, our logic and intellect does not allow us to go beyond it. We want a concrete objective proof. What is interesting is that we do not care if we ourselves have personally experienced or not but if a great scientist (who is logical and intellectual) attests to it, we gladly accept it. Many of us have no clue about Einstein's relativity theory; we have never and will never experience it but we accept it because a scientific logical and intellectual scientist named Einstein has said so. Similarly, we take great pride in understanding and accepting some complex scientific theories like Heisensberg's uncertainty principle, Quantum physics etc. etc.

Now to these intellectuals if someone says these truths and many more which scientists are still pondering over were written by thousands of enlightened beings in purely scientific books like Upanishads, the one thing that immediately comes up is suspicion. We reject immediately because our intellectual mind cannot take in the fact that something like that could have been proven thousands of years ago by some guy sitting under a Banyan tree or a Peepal tree.

But mind you, the latest in science is - what is all this Universe? When did it start? What was it before Big Bang? Who are we? I was watching this video where physicists, top scientists, are all asking these questions. They are coming up with theories like String Theory to explain the Universe. They say that everything that we see is energy. They claim that everything that we see can be described by 11 dimensions. Truly speaking they have no clue about the basic question - what is life and what is death?

Now if an enlightened master or being says that the Upanishads and other ancient scriptures written thousands of years ago actually talk about these eleven dimensions, about what we see as matter is nothing but energy, about the probability of occurrence etc., we cannot take it; our intellect just cannot accept it. Simply because we want a concrete proof.

An enlightened being has seen that space where everything unifies, where everything becomes one and this is what String theorists are trying to prove, which some physicists say will take long time. An enlightened master gives a straight solution for us to experience and we do not want to accept it; we do not even want to try it and see for ourselves. If we think for a moment, isn't it foolish to think that science can explain everything when science itself is a result of human mind? When science can't explain the phenomena of life and death, when science cannot explain what the Universe is, when science cannot explain where it all started, when science cannot explain the how we think, when science cannot explain lot of things, why cannot we accept that there is something beyond science as it exists today?

I have nothing against science, I am a researcher myself. But we must understand that there are limitations to science as we know today and in such a case we should explore what lies beyond it. If the entire science that we know today is a product of the human mind and intellect, then what about the space when the mind/intellect is dropped? A valid question, isn't it?

Its a pity that human intelligence itself has become a impediment to the evolution of the human being.

Isn't it intriguing that the evolution of life has stopped with humans? Life forms were continuously evolving from one life form to the other until the human being happened. Why should it suddenly stop? Why should the human not become a super human?

The intelligence in a human has become an obstacle for him to move forward. The very intelligence, which can show him his other dimensions, has become a road block.

Swami Nithyananda says, 'only when we drop the intellect, only when we drop our ego that we are supreme, we can see what really is the truth.'

Brand new or same old?

I was recently catching up with a good friend of mine in the US, after a long time. She was telling me - life is the same old, the same old PhD, the same old exams, nothing majorly exciting as such, to share. I am sure we have all heard this many times and surely many of us have said similar things before. Why is everything 'the same old' to us?

Remember the times you did something for the first time, the excitement within - be it your first time in an aircraft, your first outing with your spouse, the first day at office. After a few days, the same office or person becomes 'the same old'. Why? It is not really the aircraft or the office or the person causing the excitement, but the freshness of the experience.

The same excitement and energy flows in an artist, every time he paints or in a poet every time he composes a poem. During these moments, he/she is giving birth to something new and the creativity expresses. What stops us from feeling this all the time? The answer is simple.

After a while, we start taking things for granted.

Swamiji gives an example of how if we go to a beach, our heart longs to buy one of those beach side chalets. Once we own it and visit it a few times we start to think - 'the same old beach', 'the same old house'. Our mind has taken it for granted.

So how do we make sure this same creativity and energy bubbles through us all the time?

In this post, instead of stopping with an analysis of ourselves, let me share with you a practical technique from the Shiva Sutra that Swami Nithyananda gives in one of his discourses. It's a simple and beautiful technique.

For the next few days, just become a baby, an innocent child which is just put into this world and see everything for the first time, with freshness.

When we see anything only our eyes see it, but when a child sees it, its whole being sees it from deep within. Am sure you agree. If you watch a little child closely, you will observe a sparkle in its eyes, a smile of awe and deep joy.

Just try this for the next one week. When you see anything, be it a plant, a flower, your food, your books, whatever... Just treat it with freshness, curiosity and loving awe, as though it is the first time you are seeing it.

As Swamiji says, this will open up a new dimension within. When we take things for granted, we become dead and dull. When we open ourselves for the freshness and creativity to flow through, we become alive!

Rubbish! Think Again...

Yesterday while I was traveling back home by bus, I came across this advertisement from the National Environmental Agency of Singapore. It asks people to throw coke cans, plastic bags, newspapers etc. in their respective recycle bins and the importance of reducing rubbish around.

Today while traveling by bus on my way to office, I was watching this interview on the mobile TV in the bus. As a part of Singapore Design Festival, an exhibition called Utterubbish is currently going on. The organizers of this exhibition were being interviewed. They were discussing about how the items thrown out as rubbish by a person can reveal the person himself. They did all kinds of stuff by collecting the rubbish thrown out by celebrities like Madonna and Tom Cruise.

I started wondering why did I register these two events - something as inconsequential as an advertisement and some silly exhibition where people are collecting some thrown overs of some celebrities. May be inspiration for a new post :) ... incidentally most of my recent posts are inspired by some program on TV mobile :)

Anyways, coming to the point, we see so many people, leaders, scientists etc. etc. talking about rubbish outside that is environmentally unfriendly leading to all kinds of diseases, global warming, climate changes, glacial depletion etc.

But what about the rubbish inside us? What about the continuous filling of negativities, fear, anger, frustration, irritation and lust inside us? Consciously or unconsciously we continuously feed our system with negativities. A simple thing like a movie trailer of a violent movie is enough for fill our mind-body system with huge volumes of rubbish. This is a scientifically proven fact that 80% whatever happens outside goes into our unconscious memory and we capture only 20% consciously. If we think we do not have any negativities inside us, we are most certainly wrong. When we see a violent or horror scene on TV or wherever, though we consciously believe that we are unaffected by such scenes, unconsciously we have already filled our system. This rubbish that we are collecting piles up so much that one day the body has to give way. There are so many cases of people dying out of fear, anger, frustration, depression; and these very people claimed to be completely happy.

We cannot sit silently for a second because of this inner irritation. We have to keep on doing something, either watch tv or talk to friends or go for party. If theres nothing to fiddle with, we start shaking our leg. All these are signs of inner disturbance, inner rubbish which is just waiting to be let out.

The problem is that we don't even know what we are feeding ourselves with, simply because an unconsciousness process is constantly going on due to our own ignorance. We are not aware of ourselves and our mind; hence we empower our unconscious mind to take over us.

Meditation is the key to flood ourselves with this awareness. Forget enlightenment; forget realizing the Ultimate Truth through meditation. Meditation can help us to lead a healthy lifestyle and help us flood awareness in the way we live. That's all!! The first two levels of meditation programs by Life Bliss Foundation is just about that - removing all negativities inside us through a conscious process; they help us flood awareness inside us.

You could either call this post as rubbish or you could throw the inner rubbish by giving meditation a chance. The choice is up to you...

Are you your name?

I came across this riddle when I was in primary school. I think it goes like this :)

"What is one thing that is yours, that you carry with yourself but you yourself hardly use it?"

Take a guess.

The answer is - your name. The name is yours but you hardly use it. It is used by others to address you.

Our name is such an integral part of our life. We are so much attached to it that there are people who get upset if you call their name in a different way or spell their name incorrectly.

On the same lines, if you have seen this movie named - the Namesake, the protagonist of the movie (Kal Penn) is named Gogol, after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol who wrote some controversial books. So the hero of the movie changes his name because he couldn't face his peers with his original name.

There are thousands of such cases. Laskman Prasad Sharma becomes Lucky; Venkateswarulu gets converted to Venki; Krishna Reddy becomes Krish.

So whats with this name thing anyway? Why do we want some stylish names? Why are people sensitive about their names?

Simple reason! Our name is what we identify ourselves with. If someone asks you, 'Who are you?', what is your first reaction? Our immediate reply is - 'I am XXX.'

Our name is the first thing that we identify ourselves with. Next our name is also channel for others to identify us. It is way with which society recognizes us. This is what makes us very sensitive about our name.

We constantly seek attention from society and our name is a mode for society to recognize us. That is the reason why we want our name to stylish or modern. We equate our names to the real person inside us and hence we are concerned about our name.

In simple words, holding to our name is holding onto our ego. An enlightened master knows that our name is the first thing that we clutch to. He knows that our name is the crutch on which our entire ego stands, our complete identity stands.

Swami Nithyananda gives spiritual names to his disciples and asks them to legalize the spiritual names. When we tell this to people, you can imagine the reactions - how can you change your name? Why is that necessary for someone to follow a spiritual path? What is this whole thing about changing name?

The fact is people cannot digest the fact that someone who is 25 years old can actually change his or her name at that age. They are perfectly fine to change the name of a 2 year old kid if an astrologer says the kid has some defect due to the name but a young person of 25 years, in his or her prime, how can he/she?

This is because, we have built a solid identity by that time. We have a strong foundation called - NAME and the world knows us, addresses us by that name; our ego has already created the "name and fame" around that name. That is the reason we hold on to it and an enlightened master like Swami Nithyananda cuts exactly that - ego.

Going beyond ego, the spiritual name is not just any name. An enlightened master studies the energy of the person and gives a name that suits the energy of the person. It gives the path of the person which leads him/her to realize the Truth. We have personally seen people with spiritual names given by Swami Nithyananda and we can clearly see how apt the names are. Not only that, we have seen how they have progressed in the path unique to them, that the name contains. When we were given our spiritual names, we were flabbergasted to see how much it resonated with our beings. Swami Nithyananda meditates on each and every person and gives the spiritual name. It is a tool that keeps on reminding us about our path and about the Truth.

Even a spiritual name can bloat up our ego. Swami Nithyananda says, 'you should not hold on to your spiritual name either. Let it just be a reminder. That's all.'

The point is whatever the name may be, one thing is certain - we are more than our name.

Shaolin Kungfu, Yoga, Tai Chi ... 1000 Tools but Few Takers!!

When I say, 'Shaolin Kungfu', what is the first thing that strikes you? Jackie Chan and Jet Li fighting 10 bad guys! Kungfu Hustle! Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon! Monastery with a large ground and 1000 students lined up in files being taught Kungfu by a master for a competition!

Recently I was watching an interview on TV of a National Geographic photographer Justin Guariglia. He spent eight years of his life in Shaolin Monastery with the monks there trying to unravel the truths behind Shaolin Kungfu, their tradition, history and above all, the point of all the martial arts. He was given full access to the entire monastery after five years of his stay there.

By the way, anyone and everyone, especially photographers and film makers, is not allowed into the monastery. The reason is simple - the truth behind Shaolin school of Kungfu is replaced with the film makers' or photographers' own interpretation. The Shaolin monks do not trust them and they have a good reason to do so.

Justin Guariglia released a book of photographs of the Shaolin monastery and discussed the history in the interview. He says how Shaolin is misinterpreted as a school where people like Kungfu for fighting or for competitions. Shaolin monastery was founded by Bodhi Dharma (a disciple of Buddha about whom Swami Nithyananda talks very frequently) . He traveled from India to China and started Shaolin monastery for Zen monks as a place for meditation to get enlightened. It still is a place to realize one's true potential. Kungfu in addition to other meditations and yoga practices was introduced as a means for enlightenment. I saw the book having various mudras (hand gesture meditations) that are a part of Ashtanga Yoga by Patanjali, the father of Yoga.

Now the interesting point that he noticed (and I saw during the interview) is that the monks do not fight against each other when they are practicing Kungfu. Each one practices on his own. They select a secluded spot and practice. They consider it as a meditation to achieve the Ultimate Bliss. This is the underlying truth of the highest school of Kungfu.

What has happened all along is that these techniques for Self realization have been adulterated by people to suit their own needs. Martial arts like Kungfu started off to help people realize their true potential but now it is just another fight between 10 people. Thanks to Shaolin monastery, that the true spirit of Kungfu is still preserved.

The same is the case with Yoga. What started as a 360 degree approach to enlightenment has now become a mere physical exercise. Different meditation techniques, Yoga, Kungfu, Tai Chi etc., which work with mind-body system through breathing techniques and physical movements, are techniques developed by enlightened masters to help us experience the bliss that they were continuously in.

Enlightened masters have been continuously providing tools and techniques. It is our suspicion, our ignorance and our ego that blinds us from their compassion. All they want to do is to share that boundless joy and bliss, which has no reason, no cause, no ending. But we do not see them... the truth is we do not want to see them because we feel comfortable and secure with what we have. If someone/something removes that comfort zone, we panic; we feel dead; we feel we are no one.

Just think - if the absence of that comfort zone makes us feel we are no one, then what is point of holding on to it?