We all anticipate a better future; then why not death?

This article has been written based on Paramahamsa Nithyananda's discourse series on 'Shiva Sutras' this year (2008).

Have you observed a boy looking at his elder brother and always would be thinking, 'Ah, it's so nice to be like him, a moustache, a macho look!' When this boy grows up to that age, he begins to think, 'Ah, look at father, it's so wonderful to hold a laptop and go to an office like him'. Like this the story moves on and on.

As we can clearly see in our own lives, we always live on with a clear anticipation of a better future. We constantly feel the years to come would be better than the current time. Swami says very beautifully, 'When we all are in this mode of anticipation of a better future, why can't we look at death as something better than now. Surely, sometime or later in the future, we all will have to face death. So, why not look at it this way, that it is also something to be anticipated as a better future than now!?'

This simple analogy and understanding liberates one from the fear of death. Just allow this understanding to soak into us to only live fearlessly and relaxed.

What's your weight? [Series - 1]

'What's your weight?' is a pretty common question, I should say. Anyone can relate with it. But this weight is only relative. We weigh, say 50 kgs, with comparison to the Earth's gravity. So, as such none of us actually know our real weight!

Immediately all think it is just to do with our physical sheath. Well, we are totally mistaken. We have 5 sheaths in total. In brief, let me put it down here.
1. Annamaya kosha (Physical body)
2. Pranamaya kosha (Pranic body)
3. Manomaya kosha (Mental body)
4. Vijnanamaya kosha (Knowledge body)
5. Anandamaya kosha (Bliss body)
For more insights into the sheaths..pls get linked to 5 koshas

Okay, let's touch one concept today to perceive our 'real' weight. As we see, we have 5 sheaths. Now, if one is to say, all these sheaths contribute to our weight, how can we substantiate this statement? This is how. We all have thoughts, don't we? These thoughts may be in a huge number per second. We call this 'Thoughts per second' (TPS). On an average we all have 100-1000 TPS, or more.

These thoughts are related to the past, future and present also may be. Thoughts about the past will be of the 'guilt' category mainly. And thoughts about the future will be of the 'fear' category; generally. Well, there are other categories, like 'desire', 'greed', 'worry' and lots lots more...

Let's try this one small experiment. Grab a piece of paper and simply pen down all the thoughts running in the mind; WITHOUT editing. You dont have to show this paper to anyone, it's just or you. Try doing so for 5-10 minutes. Then, just have a read-through; what do you find? ....? Let me guess... highly illogical, unconnected, irrelevant thoughts, right?

It's practically like a mad-house! These thoughts have a direct influence on the space within us, around us and all around. This is the scenario with most of us. These thoughts arise from the various koshas and create energy blocks (what we call 'Samskara' in Sanskrit) More these Samskaras, more is the collective unnecessary weight in Space. The poor planet is struggling due to over-weight.

We need to melt these Samskaras, or energy blocks to help experience our actual weight! So, join in to reduce the weight of the space within, space around and the space all-over. We've to work on our energy blocks, to melt them; thereby phenomenally reducing the negative collective conscious.

You might be wondering how this is so simple and achievable?... Here's a jet-age and enjoyable technique. log on to http://www.lifeblissmeditation.org/
n!joyyy

Stay tuned for the future related posts of this Series . . .

Get into the Cage of Freedom !?

I know you may be wondering about the contradictory title, right? A cage may sound like a trap; this is a different cage. You are actually much freer here. Enter the realm of freedom from your mind/ego deciding for you. Let's give it rest for a while...as we have been listening to it from a very long time, I suppose.



Just let's beopen to the marvels of that loving and caring energy; what you may refer to as Divine, God, Collective consciousness, Intelligence, Energy, etc., etc. For once, let's drop the mind and experience for ourselves the freedom from its intervention.



This may sound strange and contradictory, but it is true. You'll fly as never before once having dropped the load. This sense of freedom, I could experience by the grace of a young and dynamic enlightened master, Paramahamsa Nithyananda.



I leave you with an interesting video clip to move beyond our 'so-called' identities.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cRDguGz8NM

Heart says to the mind thus... [Series - 2]

Mind: Hey, how are you doing?, I've been waiting for you.
Heart: Oh, I'm doing great, as usual. Okay, let me start with a small question. 'Who do you think is more important for a human being to live, you or me? :)
M: Hmmm, I feel both of us are essential. I'm very much required to think and plan out things, help in logical analyses, and so on.
H: That is what you think. If I tell you that you are absolutely wrong...is that fine? Please understand friend, the world does not run because of you, it runs inspite of you. There is something beyond you and your friend, that is ego.

[Mind listens on, ofcourse puzzled]

Paramahamsa Nithyananda in one of his discourses says that we have been taught from our childhood that we can not survive without our mind.

A small story to be shared here. A blind man goes to the doctor and asks him, ‘Doctor, please do something and give me my eyes’. The doctor says, ‘don’t worry, I’ll do an operation, you’ll have your eyes back. You can walk without the stick then’. The blind people use a stick to find their way, actually.

The blind man says, ‘doctor, I can understand you’ll do an operation, I can understand I will have my eyes back. But I can’t understand how I can walk without the stick!’.

By and by, he has started thinking the stick is part of his walking. Initially, he started using the stick just to feel and navigate. By and by, the moment he started walking, he would have the stick in his hand. In his mind he started associating having a stick and walking; and that both are directly connected. Now he thinks he can not walk without the stick even after he gets his eyesight.

Then the doctor says, ‘I CAN'T convince you intellectually; please have your eyes, then you yourself will understand’.

Only when the man opens his eyes, only when he gets his eyes back, he can understand that he can walk without the stick. In the same way, only when we relax and understand that by our very nature we are unattached, suddenly we will realize we can live without the mind.

The walking stick is just extra for the blind man. Same way, the mind is extra for us, because by our very nature we don’t need the mind to live. Because we have gone to such an extreme of relying on our mind, we cannot understand that we can live without the mind.

M: [now thoroughly shaken, feels himself losing ground] Hey, do you mean to say I am useless to anyone? All this while, it was me whom all were listening to. I would play my own tunes, and people would dance accordingly. Now, you are saying the reverse...!

H: Sorry to hurt you so directly, my friend. But this is the truth. I can perfectly understand how you are feeling now. All who read this article will surely start rejecting you from their system... Hope to see you in sometime, if you still exist ;)

ssss....it hurts!

Oh yes...truth really hurts....only if we allow it to. If not it simply heals. Truth when absorbed in totally and practised (rather when the truth is lived), different dimensions of the same truth presents itself before us and leads us to next level, and to the next level and beyond.

A small quote here: Distractions are distractions as long as we feel they are. Fall in tune with the distractions, they will no longer distract you! says Nithyananda

Being socially polite and hiding the truth only postpones the disciple's progress, also the Master's progress. It is very easy to sit, hear to some discourse, or read a book; and come back to continue the same old life as before. All we need to do is open up to the spirit behind the words of an enlightened one rather than judging, analyzing and thinking too much even before practising them.

The openness to receive ideas which can transform the very inner software is the true listening. Then we shift from questions to quest; from asking 'why' to asking 'how'; from mind to the heart; from the surface to the real core; and from belief to trust.

For a total solution, we need to ask 'How?' Asking 'Why?' will only give us an answer, not a solution! We need techniques, not words - for life solutions.

Just having the curiosity of a child and the sincerity to really work for it gets anyone and everyone there. A little freshness always, wanting to learn more and experience and the deep thirst to know more than what we already know is enough for a jumpstart.

Arjuna, in the Bhagavad Gita keeps speaking (in the whole of the first chapter) until he gets tired...which is when he realizes he knows nothing; and then on Krishna leads him step by step and makes sure he reaches the Ultimate consciousness.

May be, it's good to leave you with a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita delivered by Paramahamsa Nithyananda... http://www.lifebliss.org/video_BG.asp

Heart says to the mind thus... [Series - 1]

Heart: Hi, how are you doing today...A small question..do you believe God in a human form?

Mind: Eh, don't be silly...how can that be possible.

H: Hmm, well then; do you deny the godliness of Sri Ramakrushna, Ramana Maharishi, etc.?

M: No, no, no...all of them were great enlightened masters. They are more than God to me.

H: How do you know that, dear?

M: I've read loads of books on them and on many more Masters. If you want, I can lend them to you.

H: See, this is where your ego is playing a trick on you, watch out. You say you find godliness in the dead masters... then why not in a living master; who is in flesh and blood right in front of you?

I'll share a small analogy with you here. "The grandfather when alive lived in the out-house, outside the house. When he died, he was brought inside the house, into the God's room and worshipped!"

This is exactly what we are doing with a living Master every janma (life). We easily, casually brush aside the living Master when we bump into him and may be after He leaves his body, we'll start scrambling in every possible book-store collecting all his books, cd's and information about that Master, and make a lovely book-shelf to store all of them and once again start bragging about our archive with friends and family.

M: Hmm, yes heart, I find a ray of truth in your words. Thanks for enlightening me about living Masters...I won't miss him in this life atleast. If not for you, I wonder how many more janmas I had to come back here. I won't repeat the same mistake. Hey, and by the way, who IS this living Master you are going on and on about?

H: Good, you are on the track now friend. We call him Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Check out this link http://www.dhyanapeetam.org/ or http://www.nithyananda.org/ ... you can relate better to what I'm trying to convey...formless in form and stuff.
Happy reading....bye, will see you tomorrow.

M: Byeee...I'm very eager to talk to you soon.

Is Comparison draining you?

‘Come on, you need to improve. Look at your friends, how well they are scoring.’ This is the usual statement ringing in students’ minds. Not just at school, at the university, at the work place; literally everywhere constantly we are compared, pulled and pushed. But none of us stop by and ask, ‘Why should I compare with some one else? Let me compare with myself and aim at becoming a better me’.

When we are not able to bear others’ excellence, we get jealous. Comparison is the seed and jealousy is the fruit. Comparison and jealousy are actually non-existent. We create them ourselves and talk endlessly on how to overcome them. Let’s see how.

Now imagine that there is darkness in this room. Can I remove it if I want to? Can I take it to another room? No! The reason is that darkness has a negative existence. It does not really exist. If I bring light into the room, the darkness will automatically cease to exist. In the same way, thoughts in you such as ‘I am ugly’, ‘I am rich’, ‘I am getting pressurized’ etc., all have a negative existence. Jealousy has negative existence. You cannot deal with it directly. Even if you tell yourself repeatedly not to feel jealous, you cannot overcome it.

We will never meet failure if we live our lives by competing with ourselves. Win yourself with yourself, never with others. Every minute of comparison with others is a waste of time in your own progress.

Here is a simple analogy to portray this situation. An inflated balloon can be considered to be us when we compare our self with our self. This inflated balloon can fly. On the contrary, a deflated balloon, feeling drained out can be considered to be us when we compare ourself with others. This deflated balloon can not afford to take off and fly; it remains on the ground.

Once we stop comparing, we can soar high…

What are you waiting for? :-)

A word or two to describe where we stand – NOW HERE or NO WHERE. Just a gap’s difference and look what it can do to our lives. This tiny gap, pause we need to put in our routine and ask ourselves where we are heading towards…and what for we are heading so, in a stressed and helpless way!

A small ray of sunlight is enough to light up the dark room. Infusing awareness is what we need to work on from now on. A small amount of time if spent with ourselves, applying brakes to our busy routine; one can realize the purposelessness of this whole drama.

This ray of sunlight that I was talking about was nothing but allowing the higher intelligence to guide us and lead us to the zone of clarity. This lovely zone can be reached by an express highway by listening to an enlightened one’s words or wait for time to make us go through the lessons. The choice is purely ours now… If you feel you want to get onto the nu-clear express highway, come along…and join me with this discourse – ‘Awareness is the key’, delivered by Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Enjoyyy

Addicted to work? or alcohol?

Alcoholism or workoholism, both are addictions! Taking in alcohol or drugs is a visible addiction; and society does not praise us for that. It instead warns us of its consequences, such as ill health, etc. On the other hand, a workoholic is praised by the society... We get the feeling we are in the right direction.

Work is also an addiction, something more dangerous than alcoholism, as we have the direct support from the society. The usual sceanrio in corporate companies is like this. An employee is continuously made to run, run and run. It's like a mutual silent contract signed by both. Employer extracts all that he can from the employee and the employee gets a high pay-chek. Both dont know why they are running or made to run. The missing point here is both feel they are doing the right thing and in the end fall down, completely exhausted, unaware of the purpose of this whole drama!

Let not work become an addiction for us. Let's enjoy every moment at our work place and not
allow the sense of addiction to secretly engulf us.

We may have achieved 'what we want' to achieve; but we forget 'what for' we wanted to achieve all these things. The underlying basis for anything a man does is for happiness... And this happiness, rather bliss is decided by the quality of the inner space rather than the outer objects. The outer space can be enjoyed thoroughly if the inner space of the person is All we need to do now is try and work on our inner space a bit through meditation.

Since till today, we have been giving appointments to others around us, let's now give an appointment to oursleves and work with this inner space and infuse awareness into every action or thought of ours.

There is a 3-day mediation program that is being held at Palace Grounds, Bangalore.
Event: 'Nithya Dhyaan' by Paramahamsa Nithyananda
Heal the Body... Heal the Mind... Experience Bliss
3 hours, 3 days, 3 techniques
20-22 Dec, @ 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
For Tickets: log on to http://www.ticketpro.in/

How are you feeling? Cozy?

We are all so used to feel the warmth of the cocoons we build around ourselves. Well, we forget that the cocoon is to be broken open one day and we are to emerge out as lovely colorful and bright butterflies, with the ability to fly high!

We hold on to one person and call it as ‘wife’…and another and call it as ‘son’ and a few houses here and there and mark our boundaries and stay inside cozy. Well, this cozy feeling does not last long…since these boundaries are impermanent. The only certainty is ‘uncertainty’. Feeling secure may be a good feeling, but deep down we are also aware that, any time insecurity may hit us. So, why still try to strengthen this feeling?

To be open is a great quality for any kind of growth, be it in the inner world or the outer world. Let’s try this simple example: let’s try to catch the flowing river in our hands…it is impossible. We need to just keep our hands open in the water; the river happily flows her way. Same way with our lives too. We just need to be like a hollow bamboo flute, for the Existence or the Divine can flow in and have her tunes emerging out through us!

What we often do is cling on to the identities to such a large extent and work so hard, day in and day out to protect it! (further reading) This identity, sadly is dull, dead and dry. These may look like shocking words, but if we look deeply, this is the truth; for we are something much much more than this tiny identity that we have woven for ourselves.

Let’s break open to fly out with radiating colours. Seeing us in this blissful flight, many others may take off from their cocoons too, Watch out!

Drop the load and be free

It feels challenging to carry on our backs a huge boulder and struggle to take a few steps forward, isn’t it? This is the same case when a person shoulders the past memories, incidents in his system and trotters his way. It’s so simple, just drop the boulder of the past and walk freely…may be even fly then.

There is a catch here. Yes, you guessed it right. The boulder has not been placed by anyone else, except we ourselves. Since, the culprit is us, why not speak to ourselves and ward off this burden we are carrying throughout? Let’s have a deeper look at this issue.

In certain tribal villages, the hunters use a technique to catch the parrots. A stick is tied to 2 tree barks using a rope at either ends. The stick hangs loosely as its ends are tied to threads. Our friend, the parrot comes and sits on the stick and becomes topsy-turvy. Now, it panics what to do. It feels it will fall and die if it lets go of the stick, only not realizing that it can fly when left loose.

The parrot holds tighter onto the stick and waits for the hunter to have his take-away for his meal!

The parrot is us and the hunter is the Lord of death, Yama. We are afraid to let go of our past conditionings and memories, fearing we may fall and die. Only, when we let go, can we see the grandeur of the power to fly untouched. We literally wait for the Lord of death to come near us, at which time, we have to let go, but would have spent all our life in holding on to our conditionings tighter and tighter.

Let’s drop it and fly free to see the world and life differently.

Music, Meditation, Silence

Indian music was originally created as a meditation technique for both the musician and the listener. Instead of listening to it as a relaxation, if you meditate on its core, music can steadily increase the awareness in you. It can help you move from your outer periphery to your inner core and ultimately help you explode and merge with Existence! Music is the simplest meditation technique that can take you to the state of Nithyananda - Eternal Bliss!



To soak into a musical piece, one needs to lose oneself, only then the real listening happens.

The listener, musician and the music become one! Music is one of the greatest creations of man, which can be readily enjoyed and connected to. Be it any language, any person, so to say, even plants and animals respond and can enjoy music.



There are an interesting series of experiments done by Japanese scientist, Dr. Masaro Emoto - Messages from Water; who photographed the crystals of water after exposing the bottles of water to diffrent words keeping the emotion too behind, and playing different kinds of music. It's really striking to see the responses... Go ahead and check this link: http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm



Nowadays, people are taking up this as a profession and looking at making more money, name and fame only. Well, once the musician catches the spirit of the tune or song, a sense of deep satisfaction flowers, nothing else.



Anything done out of greed or fear is not whole, not fulfilling. It keeps a person on the run always and goal-oriented, eventually not being able to enjoy the path itself!



I leave you with a lovely discourse given by Nithyananda on the center of all sounds, 'yes, you got it right, Omkaara' : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBVO8KeGmHg

Happiness without reason!

A short conversation with one of my friends goes like this...

he: I have read many books on philosophy and spirituality. I know this, I know that...

me: Oh, that is nice.

he: I'm actually interested in attending the weekend meditation class... But, let me first visit the ashram (at Bidadi, India) and let me meet the Master (Paramahamsa Nithyananda); then I will decide whether to attend the class or not. I don't want to be hasty.

me: Oh really, but you know friend, you can visit the ashram and meet the Master later; but it's my sincere request to you to experience your energy centers first! (Energy centers = chakras)
You will get a clarity of how to use them to their maximum potential.

he: And also, only if it is for free, I'd be interested to come; if we have to pay some fees, I'll think about it and not be in a hurry.

me: Hmmm, ok; which movie you saw last?

he: Why are you changing the topic...? Well, I'd been to an I-max theatre to watch an English movie with friends, and then had some ice-cream and did some shopping...and...

me: See, how you have no second thoughts on spending for clothes, movies and food; but when called for a life-transforming meditation class....first thought that strikes all is, 'why should I spend money for this now; let me enjoy first...'

he: I see some truth in your words, please let me know when is the next class? :)

From the above dialogue, one can sense the mental conditionings so strong, not allowing a new class of thought to penetrate. Well, this is the case with most of us. We are so comfortable with our pre-conditionings that we fear to transform.

The human mind is such, that it runs behind temporary happiness and pleasures only. Happiness with a reason is always temporary, whereas the joy or the happiness that one feels without any reason is the real Bliss.

Nithyananda says about this beautifully, 'We try to frame happiness in space and time. Great happiness and joy is ours. Enlightened masters are in this state all the time.

Happiness is the core of existence, of nature that surrounds us. But man somehow needs a reason to be happy. If we are successful in say, business today, we are happy. Then again, if someone says something nice about us, we are happy. If we visit new places, we are happy.

But the moment we need a reason to be happy, it means we don't know what real happiness is! Real happiness is the result of overflowing gratitude in oneself towards nothing in particular. We may be grateful towards the Whole, towards Existence. This is real happiness; this is Bliss.
This kind of happiness is happiness without choice. The moment we are allowed to choose, we will choose between happiness and sorrow. But to have no choice is Bliss. To choose is to suffer.

Real happiness can never be taken away from you since it came without reason. When you have found this kind of happiness, you have found the way to permanent happiness, or nithyananda.'

For the complete article please click on the link below:
http://www.dhyanapeetam.org/press/29Mar2006_DH.htm

Catch the Thread, and don’t leave it!

Well, one must be wondering where is the thread now :) There is something common in all of us, yet each one YO(U)-nique. The beauty of the Divine is that he is a painter and not an engineer. He’s carefully carved out every single one of us to unique, beautiful beings.

This divinity within all of us is made to realize so beautifully by Paramahamsa Nithyananda in one of his meditation camps, called Nithyananda Spurana Program (flowering of eternal bliss within). http://www.dhyanapeetam.org/NSP.asp

You could also hear to the Master's words on this ... http://nithyatube.blogspot.com/search/label/Nithyananda%20Spurana%20Program%20(NSP)

The same prana that flows in a plant’s stomata flows through a man, or a cat, or a fish. But yet, we find such a vast diversity in species. Well, all this is up to Him, logic is a poor tool to explain the Truths. An underlying base runs as a common thread through all living and non-living things, that is Divinity. Whatever you see or don’t see is all divine. None can deny this.

Ok, when everything is divine, why is there so much of comparison, religious conflicts, irritation, vengeance and so on? Well, all are missing to hold on to the thread.

This leaves me with a small joke quoted by Nithyananda in one of his discourses.
4 friends, one from Chennai, one from Delhi, an NRI and another from Bangalore were taking their walk in the morning, as usual. They reach a well containing water and stop there for a while. One guy says, ‘this is thanni’. Immediately the NRI says, ‘No, no, it is water’. The Bangalore friend says, ‘Both of you are wrong, it is neeru; my grandfather has taught me so’. Now, our friend from Delhi gets angry and says, ‘all of you are wrong, it is paani; I’m very sure. My grandfather and father both have taught me this’.

The fight continues….

The very same thing we are also doing. Without giving a moment’s pause and seeing what is in the well, all start fighting, proving each one is right and the others wrong. A peaceful understanding would have transpired, if atleast one of them would have got into the well and tasted the water.

So many names, so many interpretations for the single Truth; we all but lack the patience to look in, even though it is presented evidently before us. This only postpones one from really experiencing the Truth. Jump in and catch the thread to become the thread yourself!

Are we really ready??!

I asked my friend, ‘hey, why don’t you come for a weekend meditation class next weekend (ASP) http://www.dhyanapeetam.org/asp.asp?’ She replies, ‘oh, you know, I’ve got to finish some important pending work at office on Saturday and on Sunday, my husband’s friends are coming home for lunch’

Well, I shrugged and left the conversation. This is just one example quoted here. Different people have their own stream of reasons coming up as top priorities when called to attend a meditation class which is life transforming.

The truth is no one wants to change. We are cozy in our self-woven cocoons and like to stay there without opening up, only but to emerge out with flying colors. We love our old mental set-ups and find it uncomforting when our conceptions are shaken or disturbed.

One story comes to my mind here. Nithyananda in one of his discourses quotes this incident.

A housewife is busy taking care of her child. She’s running to the kitchen to get the baby some milk, meanwhile she goes outside to fetch the clothes. She has somehow kept herself busy without a moment’s pause!

One afternoon, the door-bell rings suddenly. She, holding her baby in one hand manages to open the window and asks on, as to who it was. After being requested, reluctantly she opens the door slightly to find 3 Buddhist monks at the doorstep. Not having the patience to even call them inside, the lady was about to slam the door back at them.

The monks very calmly ask her, ‘Ma, do you want to learn meditation, we can teach you. It will surely do you good, it can transform the way in which you are living; you can live a better life with awareness and understanding and…’

They were still continuing; when the lady interrupted with a disturbed look, ‘Sirs, I don’t want to change, I’m very comfortable the way I’m living. Please don’t teach me any meditation or anything, I wish to be this way only. Now, please without wasting my time, will you leave?’

This happens with majority of us. We like to be closed without giving a moment’s thought that only when the door is open can the breeze come in. The more resistant we are to the truths when presented before us, more is the chance of being in darkness and ignorance. Later on only we may realize the futility of this stubbornness.

Let’s open up to the Divine, let’s be patient and give a chance and see what this energy has got to teach us.

Open the door….let the breeze in! http://www.amazon.com/Open-door-let-breeze-Nithyananda/dp/8190243713/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/102-9740034-9110540?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192026946&sr=8-4 is one such book that is compiled from talks given by Nithyananda to audiences in India and abroad. This book is a series of thought-provoking articles that focus on the science of inner transformation in contemporary society. Each of us find it rather hard to accept or take-in any Truth, if presented as a simple thing. Here’s a book, simple to its words; but deep in impact.

Let’s break open the shell to witness a world unseen before, with awareness and clarity.