They cried out, 'Master! For three days we have gone without food! Today we were even driven out of that village like dogs! Is this what you are offering your gratitude for?' Junnaid looked at them and said, 'You talk about three days of hunger! Have you thanked God for the food you have received for thirty years? And know one thing: my gratitude is not for receiving or not receiving anything. It is simply an expression of the deep joy and love in my being. It is a choice-less and prayerful expression, that's all.'

When you live with overwhelming gratitude in you, you have found a space wherein nothing else is needed. It means that you have fallen into meditation. Then, you will not worry about anything else. You are on the right track. Your mind is no longer a hindrance to your growth; your mind has disappeared. The mind cannot step in when you are brimming from your heart. When there is no space for the mind, where will discontentment come from? Discontentment cannot come from the heart. It is purely a product of the mind.

#### Awaken to the beauty of Existence

Your mind always stands between you and Existence. It prevents you from hearing, seeing, feeling and emoting with Existence. Once you go beyond your mind and see the beauty of Existence, gratitude will become your prayer and bliss your being! You will then enjoy liberation and permanent joy!

When you drop the mundane logic of your mind, you will flow like a river – choicelessly, effortlessly, joyfully with the flow of the current. You will then play your role and enjoy every moment of it. You will then understand that you are a part of a wonderful drama, where the more sensitive you are to the director, the more effectively you can play and enjoy your part!

When you go against the current, you need to put in effort and exercise choices. When you go with the current, you don't need to make any effort; you will not feel tired; you will not feel frustrated; you will only feel a flowing lightness! Everything will then appear beautiful.

A small story:

A man was on a cross-country train.

He spent all his time in the observation car, watching the passing scenery outside.

An elderly lady was seated next to him and he told her that the best part of the journey was the breathtaking scenery outside.

The lady shook her head, sat for a while looking out of the window, and left.

A little later, the lady came back, sat for a short while looking out of the window, and then got up and went.

After some time she came again and this time she sat behind him.

After a few minutes, she tapped him on the back and asked, 'Excuse me, but do you see something that I don't?'

We simply miss the beauty of Existence! We are always looking for reasons to enjoy, reasons to celebrate, questioning what we enjoy, and what not! We have lost our connection with Existence altogether because of this.

Instead of feeling gratitude towards everything around us, we are *asking* and questioning all the time. We need to get back this connection with Existence again. Gratitude can help bring back this lost connection. It can help you find your roots once again. It can help you commune with nature, with Existence.

A small story:

A man prayed very hard in a temple one day, 'Oh Lord! Please give me 1000 rupees for 15 days. I am very desperate to receive it. I will return the money to you on the 16th day from today when I get my first paycheck.'

The temple priest was listening to his prayers.

He felt very sorry to see the man in that state.

He had with him 500 rupees. He put it in an envelope and gave it to the man saying that God had asked him to give him the money.

The man was overjoyed. He took the envelope home and opened it.

He counted the money and saw that there was only 500 rupees and not 1000 rupees.

The next day he went to the temple and prayed, 'O God! Next time, please don't send the money through the priest; send it directly. He took half of it.'

We take everything for granted and remain discontented!

#### Guaranteed Solutions

# Don't take anything for granted

Remember that life *itself* is a gift to you! Have you worked hard to get it? Can any of you say that you have worked very hard to earn this life? No! That is why we don't realize its value! We simply take everything for granted – our bodies, our daily food, the beauty of Nature – everything is taken for granted. We ask God for diamond rings – but do we thank him for giving us fingers to wear them? With time, even the diamond ring will lose its value to us!

> One day, the Geography teacher in a school asked her students to write down the Seven Wonders of the World.

> All the kids listed the great wonders like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and so on.

> One girl was writing and she kept writing, shaking her head and continuing to write.

> The teacher came to her and asked, 'What happened; have you forgotten what you learned?'

> The little girl said, 'No. I am a bit confused. There are many more than seven.'

> The teacher was surprised and took her sheet and read it. She then read it aloud for the class to hear, 'The seven wonders of the world are: I can see; I can touch; I can smell; I can hear; I can taste; I can laugh; I can love…'

The class was suddenly filled with penetrating silence.

These small things are forgotten because we think that they are small. Everything becomes small to us when it is easily available. There are so many millions of people in this world who can't see, who can't hear, who can't talk, who can't taste. We never think of all these things. We are always thinking of what more, what better, what next, all the time.

A small story:

A man was traveling on the highway to get to his village.

After just one hour of travel, his car jerked and stopped.

He was panic-stricken and saw that he had run out of fuel. He walked a few kilometers praying and sweating and panting and finally came to a town.

He spotted a gas station and went in. He explained that he was penniless, but badly needed fuel to get to his village. They turned him away.

He then spotted another station on the opposite side of the road and walked into it and explained his situation.

The manager of the gas station took pity on him and agreed to give him a few litres free of cost.

The man asked, 'Can you give me the money instead? The station across the road is cheaper.'

Until something comes to us, it seems very precious and we remain in a prayerful mood; the moment it comes, it loses its value and we move on…to another prayer!

We always live with a 'what next' attitude. We are unable to relate to gratitude because of this.

For example, if we go to a shop and see a new type of alarm clock with some new features, immediately we feel that our life will be much better with these new features. We will feel that the whole quality of our life will change if those new features become available to us. We will feel that we will become a lot more efficient with this clock in our lives. So we buy it and take it home.

After a few days, what happens? We won't even have the time to wipe the precious clock! The poor clock will be lying somewhere covered with dust and you will even get scolded for buying it and cluttering the house with one more item! And you will have also moved to some other gadget, some other desire!

We always feel that something that we don't have is as big as a mountain without which we cannot survive, but when we actually get it, somehow it becomes too small a thing. This is how we miss the wonderful attitude of gratitude in our lives. We keep running behind 'what next'.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, enlightened master from Bharat, tells God: 'I am so very intelligent. I gave you all that I had, all my life, full of suffering. You in your compassion gave me in return your presence of bliss!'

Bhagavan tells God that he is more intelligent than God Himself because of this intelligent exchange! Such is his adorable sense of gratitude towards Existence!

Another small story about Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa:

It is said, that whenever Ramakrishna saw someone from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's place, he would fall at his or her feet.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a great enlightened master from Bharat.

On one such occasion, when Ramakrishna fell at someone's feet, the people around him asked him why he fell at ordinary mortals' feet.

He replied, 'Whether they are ordinary or extraordinary, it does not matter. They are from Baanigaati – where Chaitanya did an important *sankeertan*. The moment I hear that they are from there, the very name creates memories of Chaitanya in me; that is enough. I pay my gratitude to them by falling at their feet for having brought Chaitanya to my mind. If I had not met them, in those moments, I might have been thinking of something else unworthy. They are therefore instruments through whom divine memories and ideas are kindled in me.'

That was Ramakrishna's reply!

For bringing thoughts about Chaitanya to him, Ramakrishna fell at their feet! Can we imagine this today? This is what I mean when I say, everything and everyone should be looked upon with gratitude for whatever they are doing. They are all part of Existence and they are all moving in some synchronicity, orchestrated by Existence. When we are sensitive to this happening, we will be able to feel gratitude for the way things are happening.

We need to imbibe this sense of gratitude from great masters. This is the only thing we need to imbibe from them; the rest will be taken care of automatically, because when you imbibe this, the power of coincidence will make things happen for you and Existence will simply shower upon you. But today, things are very different.

Listen to this small story:

A beggar stopped a man on the road and asked him, 'Two years back, you used to give me 20 rupees. Last year fully, you gave me only 10 rupees and for the past few months, you have been giving me only 2 rupees. Why?'

The man replied, 'First I was a bachelor, then I married and now I have a baby, that's why.'

The beggar cried, 'What? You are using my money to run your family?'

The beggar says, 'You are using my money to run your family!' Actually, many of us think that it is our birthright to expect another person to keep providing for us and for our needs. And we simply take them for granted.

Understand: Even our own father or mother or husband or wife should not be taken for granted.

So understand: When you change your attitude from seeking discontentment, worries and depression, to seeking the present with gratitude, you will automatically be able to harness the energy of Existence better. You will then be able to appreciate Existence better and gratitude will then become your attitude.

A man went to the market to buy vegetables for his wife. He bought ladies' finger, came home and showed them to

his wife.

The wife saw the ladies' finger and said, 'Oh! These are so over grown. I will not be able to cook them.'

The man went the next day and bought some more ladies' fingers, choosing carefully this time, and came home and showed them to this wife.

The wife said, 'What have you bought? They are too tender to make the dish I had in mind.'

The next day, the man went to the market, prayed to the shopkeeper and said, 'Please give me some good ladies' fingers that are neither too ripe nor too tender.'

The shopkeeper picked the best ladies' fingers himself and the man took them home and showed them to his wife.

The wife saw them and said, 'What? You've bought ladies' finger today also!'

When we take things for granted, appreciation will never come spontaneously for us. We will never appreciate anything including our relationships.

Another small story:

A man came home from work one day to find his wife in a terrible mood.

She screamed at him*,* 'I finally managed to train the maid to do all the work in the house and she has now quit!'

The man asked sympathetically, 'For what reason, dear?'

She replied, 'Well, you are the reason! She claims that you spoke so rudely to her over the telephone that she felt she needed to guard her self-respect and therefore quit.' The man was baffled and blurted, 'But I thought I was talking to you!'

We always take relationships for granted. Learn to treat every individual as a part of the whole and feel gratitude towards him or her; then you will never take anyone for granted. You will then worship and respect everyone for being a part of Existence.

When you don't take things for granted, you will count your blessings. If you sit and analyse, you will realize that we always count what we have not received! However much we are showered, we are not happy because we are thinking about the things that have not yet reached us!

Imagine if you had to sit down and make a list of things that you feel you have been showered with in life. You can start the list with your own eyes. As I said earlier, do you know how many people have not been blessed with eyesight? Can you even imagine what will happen if you woke up one day and realized that you have turned blind? You will not even be able to get out of bed and go to the bathroom! Every task you performed thanklessly earlier will demand all your effort now.

Anyway, if you started writing a list of things that you have been given in life, it would be a long list. Once you finish this list, write down a list of the things that you feel you have not been given. This will also be a long list... a very long list actually! The list will probably start with a Benz car and end up being longer than the Benz itself! Both the lists are endless, infinite actually, if you write sincerely without missing a single thing.

Alright, now we have the two lists in front of us. It is now up to us to decide which of the lists we are going to focus on. Are we are going to look at the things not given to us and make our lives dull and dead, or look at the things that have been showered on us and enjoy, making our lives beautiful? It is purely our choice!

A person who takes everything for granted will look at the second list with greed and discontentment. When you are greedy, you will automatically feel only discontented, because there is no end to your greed and therefore contentment can never happen in you! Anyhow, this person totally misses out on the joy of life that is there in the first list.

Anything that comes his way, whether it is small or big, will seem ordinary to him and he will only wait for the next thing to arrive. And when the next thing arrives, that will also look ordinary to him because he is already thinking of the next thing!


Children are trained from a young age, to think of hell and heaven as entities outside of them. They are trained to think that God is sitting above, on a big throne, and watching every movement of ours, and noting down our sins and good deeds.

By thinking in this way, we start the cause and effect cycle of all our actions. We associate good deeds with heaven and bad deeds with hell. We start thinking of God and the whole of Existence as a transaction center. Each one of us becomes a businessman in our own way, whatever may be our real profession!

What do you do when you go to the temple? You purchase flowers, coconuts and fruit, and go to the deity inside and make an offering in your family's name to the deity. You tell the name, birthstar etc. of each and every member of your family and do the ritual.

The poor priest will hold one bowl in his hand and you will be telling him a long list of names with all the details of each of your family members. You are so afraid that God will send the blessings to the wrong person, to the wrong household! You give him the exact geographical location etc. and emphasize to him that it is *you* and no one else who has come with the offering. Only after doing this, you leave the temple. Am I right?

As if God does not know you if you don't tell him all this! As if you need to remind God of your existence so that he will shower on you.

All you need to do is feel continued gratitude towards Him, that's all. He is always showering on you.

It is not that he sees you in trouble and then decides to bail you out, or sees that you are alright and therefore ignores you. All this is our own conditioning that we project on God. All this is what society has taught us from a young age.

Simply enter into the temple with a feeling of gratitude; stand before every deity for a few minutes with deep thankfulness, and leave the temple in that same mood. That is enough. The rest will be taken care of. This is the ultimate prayer. Gratitude is the ultimate offering.

Use these few days you are going to be here effectively to experience what I am saying. Allow gratitude to take root in these few days, when you are away from the outer world. Open up and allow yourself to flower. This is a rare opportunity for you. This is a chance for you to transform. Don't miss it. Create that new inner space in you, which will go with you when you leave this place.

### Guaranteed Solutions

# *Gratitude happens from the heart*

The problem is, we are always trying to reach God through our heads. You can never reach God through your head. If you simply drop your head, you will automatically function through your heart and discover that you need not even reach out to Him; He is already there in you!

With your head, you will always seek outside and you can never find God outside. Also, you will be looking for reasons to feel grateful. When you move from your head to your heart, a whole new space will open out for you, and you will realize that you always knew, and that it was your mind which was causing all the havoc and not letting you realize it.

When you operate from your heart, you are always in gratitude. Do we ever say 'mind-felt gratitude'? No! We always say 'heartfelt gratitude', do we not?

Next, you will ask, 'How do we move from our head to our heart Swamiji!' Just be aware of your head, that is enough! Only because you are unaware of your head, you allow it to function in an undisturbed fashion, in a mechanical fashion. Once you become aware of your head, you will be able to drop it.

Gratitude is not any virtue. It has to be your very attitude. When you feel *only* gratitude, you can tune yourself beautifully to Existence, and then Existence will reveal to you its magical splendour. All you need to do then is sit back and enjoy!

Let me explain what I mean by tuning. We all know how the radio works. The same radio, without any change in its physical form, can be connected to many radio stations airing different programs, can it not? While you are listening to a particular station, if there are any disturbances or cross-talk, what do you do? You fine-tune it. Now, just apply this same concept to tuning to Existence.

There are thousands of programs happening around us. Whatever we tune ourselves to, *that* we will experience. Now, tuning to any one program is purely our own choice. You have the freedom to choose the program you wish to listen to, right? In the same way, if you choose to tune yourself to discontentment and similar negative things, you will be caught in the never-ending whirlpool of worry, discontentment, dilemma and what not. Whereas, if you choose to tune yourself with the central chord that is running this whole show, you will catch the right thread in all the chaos that is around you and will be free from all these emotions. You will become a beautiful flower that blossoms with a fragrance.

The more you fine-tune yourself with Existence, the more ecstatic life will be.

Discontentment will pull you down, make you heavy and miserable. On the other hand, gratitude will make you light and blissful.

## *Feel causelessly grateful*

A small story:

- In a Christian household, a girl was sitting at the dinner table with her mother.
- Food was served at the table and she started eating her food without saying grace.

The mother was shocked and asked her how she could do such a thing.

The girl promptly replied, 'There is nothing on this plate that I have not said thanks for at least once before.'

We know to feel grateful only with a strong reason.

One more small story:

A young girl asked her mother, 'Mom, how many more days remaining before Christmas?' The mother asked, 'Why do you want to know?' The girl replied, 'I was just wondering whether it was time for me to start being a good girl.'

This is how we train children to think and behave. We teach them how to do transactions. We teach them that everything is nothing but a transaction. We don't teach them to be spontaneous and flowing. We don't teach them to live without a purpose. We make everything goal-oriented for them.

Because of all these things that have been done to children, you have to work hard in undoing them first. Be very clear that all that I am doing with you is only undoing. I am continuously undoing. Imagine the amount of doing that has been done to you! Over generations, people have been passing on their ideas to you. I have to first undo all that and then create a space in you for you to flower.

When I tell people to feel a continued sense of gratitude in them, they come back later and tell me, 'Swamiji, these days I say thank you to the cab drivers and to the servants at home.' Be very clear: when gratitude becomes your being, you will not even report these kinds of things.

When you are grieving the loss of a dear one, do you verbalize your grief? Will you be able to verbalize your grief? No! It becomes such a deep-rooted emotion that it becomes the state of your being. You can only *feel* it; you can never *report* it.

In the same way, gratitude when it becomes your very being, will simply become your state; you will not be reporting it. You can never report it also. Of course, saying 'thank you' is alright for social reasons because unless you express it, it doesn't reach the ears of the other person.

But what I am trying to tell you here is, we need to move from gratitude of the mind to gratitude of the being. The gratitude that we are talking about, you will never be able to express, because it runs *so deep*.

## *Real gratitude runs very deep*

People often say to me, 'Swamiji, we are so grateful to you for so many things that have happened in our lives after association with you.'

For reasons of social etiquette, you may thank a person for something, but gratitude is not something that you direct towards a person. When you feel gratitude towards a person for something you have received, it is simply gratitude of the mind. This is the kindergarten stage of gratitude.

Real gratitude is a deep overwhelming feeling inside yourself, not as a result of any gain but just at the thought of existing, at the thought of the compassionate life force that is Existence, that's all. This gratitude does not need any relationship; it is not dependent on anyone or anything; it is not under the sway of any emotions like lust, anger, hatred or love. It simply IS, that's all.

You express your gratitude with words because you are egoistic and you don't want people to think you lack courtesy. But the moment you express it, you belittle or falsify it.

Actually, your very *body language* can convey the state of gratitude in you. Your eyes can convey it; your smile can convey it; your warmth can convey it much better than words. Tears of gratitude express it better than anything else. When you are overwhelmed, when you are brimming, tears overflow.

I am not asking you to cry! I am only telling you that when you overflow, your body will show it, you cannot hide it, and that is the real indication of the state of your gratitude.

And remember, these tears don't belong to any caste or creed or religion. They cannot be classified as Hindu tears or Muslim tears; these tears don't belong to any religion. They belong to the being and the being is beyond all this. Gratitude is one thing that can dissolve all man-made barriers and conditioning; that is why it is the ultimate prayer.

Anything deep can never be expressed wholly. Poets may write poems to express it, painters may paint to express it, writers may write to express it, but there will remain a portion that can never be expressed through any of this. Existence can never be expressed by ordinary things. That is why it is so mystical and luring. That is why it is so exciting beyond what words can describe! That is why you can only feel it and not express it. That is why you come here again and again!

When you come here, you don't have to express any gratitude, because even without you expressing, I will know. When real gratitude is overwhelming in you, I will know it even before you do! I know the beat of your heart! I know it from the look in your eyes! In fact, when you express to me, you might be deceiving yourself because most of the time, you think and talk in contradicting ways. You might be thinking something inside, but you express something else outside.

Existence *knows* when a person is flowering from within. Just feel the deep gratitude towards Existence, that is enough. You don't have to express it, just *become* it, that's all.

In Bharat, there is a tradition of touching the master's feet. When you are overflowing with gratitude to the master, there is no way to express it. You then simply touch his feet, feel the oneness and express the gratitude in you.

Many people come from many places to visit me. Some of them come and stand in front of me and don't say anything. Just tears of joy flow from their eyes. They don't feel compelled to say anything, because they cannot say anything more than what their tears are conveying. They are just emoting from their being.

When you are in the presence of the master, just be there with a deep sense of gratitude and love, with a feeling of gratitude at just being present near him. You will find that all your questions will dissolve and you are filled with a certain joy in no time. When you fill up easily, it means that you have caught the right thread.

Always be with the master with deep awareness; then you will not miss it. When you are in gratitude with the master, the master's energy will pour into your being and his experience will simply flood you.

And when you feel *only* gratitude towards the master, the need to be physically near him will also slowly dissolve. Gratitude helps you cut across space and time. It dissolves boundaries and makes you expand. When you expand, you feel one with everything. After some time, even gratitude will seem like a disturbance; just silence will prevail!

Even in relationships, if you feel that any relationship is coming to an end with no love lost, you can simply feel gratitude towards the other and depart, that's all. Just feel gratitude inside you for having been associated with the other person for that period of time, for all that you learned and enjoyed because of your association with him or her for that period of time, and depart. Then, even *that* becomes beautiful.

# *Feel grateful to your enemies too!*

People ask me, 'Swamiji, how can we feel gratitude towards our enemies?'

I ask you, *why not?* Your so-called enemies are responsible for making you stronger. They are a challenge to you; they make you grow. By hurting you, they show you a different perspective of life to deal with. Why not then feel gratitude towards them?

After all, you want to grow, do you not? Every moment, you want to become more intelligent, do you not? If these people did not open up opportunities for you, you would be living deluded by only friends surrounding you. That is not going to help much. You need to get roughed out; only then you will rupture and intelligence will flower.

The seed *has to* rupture for the tree to grow. If the seed is happy remaining a seed, it will simply disintegrate with time and die, that's all. No transformation will happen to it.

When it comes to so-called enmity, an ordinary man will make it look ugly. He will take it to a point where everything becomes a vicious cycle, moving from hatred to hatred. In so many families, there are feuds. It becomes ugly and too much to deal with. Why? It is *you* who have allowed it to grow in that way. You did not function with deep awareness and intelligence. You were not functioning with fulfillment and so you allowed it to grow in an ugly fashion.

If you were functioning with fulfillment, you would not have been able to see any *space* for the enmity to grow. It will be an unknown language to you. Even if the other person wants to continue the enmity, you will not feel any hatred towards him. If he wants to end the relationship, you will end it only with gratitude again!

In so many families, people don't look each other in the eye or they actually even take pains to avoid each other in public places. Why all these unnecessary things? Why are you wasting your energy in these kinds of things? Never allow hatred to consume you. Look at it with deep awareness and intelligence. Hatred will disappear and only love and gratitude will remain.

# **Q: These days I feel only gratitude to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, and in a way, I don't have any wanting from you. But strangely, I want you to remember my name and call me by it now and then! Is this a kind of discontentment or craving from my side Swamiji?**


This is a beautiful thing you have come up with. It goes to show that you have analyzed yourself very deeply. You see: When you seek attention from your mind, through jealousy or discontentment, it becomes unhealthy. But when you ask with love and gratitude, it is not a craving; it is simply a deep love for me, that's all.

When you pray with a wanting, it is simply ungratefulness and a play of ego. But when you ask out of deep love, it becomes a prayer, filled with gratitude and devotion. There is a difference between the two.

You are in awareness, so it cannot be called discontentment or craving. With time, this too will drop for you. And one more thing: You have had the courage to come up with this question! I am sure many others secretly feel the same way, but have not said it aloud! They may have consoled themselves by saying, 'What is there in a name,' or they may feel shy to come out with it! Of course, there is nothing in a name. But, you need to go beyond it with an experiential understanding, not delude yourself out of it. The fact that you have come up with the question shows that you are willing to courageously go through it.

# Gratitude and the master

People ask me, 'Swamiji, what can we do for you in return to show our gratitude to you?'

I tell them, 'The best that you can do for me in return is flower!' That is the best that you can do for me and the best that I can do for you. Understand that. When you internalize these words and make gratitude your being, you have done a lot in return for me.

But, If you feel that you have to do something in return, do some service to society; help others. Help awaken others to the joy that you have discovered. Don't do it out of ego or superiority. Do it for the *love* of sharing, for the *joy* of sharing. Give your full energy and enjoy doing it. It will become a joyful meditation for you and an awakening for them.

Every time you feel deep gratitude, you are actually in meditation. So just imagine if you were in gratitude forever! You would be in meditation all the time.

### Guaranteed Solutions

Gratitude can never be taught. Of course, the idea of feeling grateful can be told to children when they are young so that they know about it. But it remains social conditioning just like other things, in the same way as you are taught to respect your elders, and to wish your teachers a good day in school. It is just a mechanism of the mind, not an actual feeling inside you.

Even now, be very clear: I am not teaching you to be grateful. I am only trying to create an *inner space* in you wherein you will *feel* what I am saying; wherein it will become your own experience. The energy behind my words can create that space in you, that's all.

Whenever you are given freedom, you become a better individual and you are ready to open up. When you are under psychological slavery, it becomes difficult for you to explore and find your inner space.

I always tell people that I am a *liberating* Guru! I give tremendous freedom when working on people. Only then it becomes easy for them to explore and evolve.

Of course, I am not telling parents that they should give their children complete freedom and watch them without interfering. I am only saying that psychological slavery should be avoided. Just create the conditions for children to evolve. Take the necessary precautions, no doubt, but allow them to experience the truth for themselves instead of stuffing it down their throats. Give them enough space to grow and experience their inner bliss.

Sometimes people ask me, 'Swamiji, how is it that you are so blissful all the time!'

Masters are always in an ecstatic state because of the deep state of gratitude that just continuously bubbles in them; because they are in communion with Existence all the time!

When you feel gratitude only towards me, or just towards anyone else, you miss the whole. Gratitude is not a beam that is directed in a controlled manner towards appropriate people. It is a fragrance. When you wear it, it simply radiates from you. That is why a master appears so blissful all the time. A master is like a fragrance that you can experience and enjoy! That is why you are drawn here again and again!

Understand that every moment is beautiful, if you are ready to receive and see it. It is not only when we are celebrating a function or we have seen success, or we have achieved something, that the moment is beautiful.

Every single moment is beautiful because Existence simply flows spontaneously and joyfully and all events happen in synchronicity all the time. When you understand this, nothing will ever seem 'wrong' to you. You will then wonder what people are complaining about all the time!

When you feel gratitude towards Existence, the whole of Existence becomes a temple to you. Then you are in a prayerful and meditative mood anywhere you are. You no longer need to go to temples and pray. You simply merge with the whole and feel blissful all the time.

When the whole of Existence becomes a temple, the trees, the sky, the earth, everything becomes one. When you bow down before it, what can you ask for? You will simply bow down with gratitude for being part of the profound Existence, that's all.

When this happens, you can relate to the trees, to the sky, to the earth and to everything else. You then move from communication, which is a language of the mind, to communion, which is the language of the heart. You then shift your center from your mind to your heart.

# How God functions

For those of you who believe that God answers your prayers, let me tell you one thing: God is so compassionate that most often than not he leaves your prayers unanswered!

It is like this: When a child asks for an ice cream when he is suffering from a cold, do you give it to him? No, you don't give it to him.

Now, the child might feel ungrateful to you for it, but you know that you are doing your best for the child because he does not know that what he is asking for is not the right thing for him at that time.

In the same way, with your deep ignorance, you don't know what is best for you but keep asking God for various things. But out of pure compassion, God gently brushes aside your prayers and bestows you with the things that you actually need and prods you on towards better intelligence, which is his *only* concern for you. Remember that the more your inner intelligence grows, the less you pray or ask.

What can you ask God for? The moment you ask, it means that you think that there are a few things that God does not know! It means that you feel that unless you ask, God will not know. It sounds ridiculous, does it not? Can there be anything that God does not know?

Understand that God gives you what you *need*, not what you *want*. If he starts giving all that you want, you will move from misery to misery! When he gives you what you *need*, you will move from intelligence to more intelligence and somewhere, the asking will drop and gratitude will happen.

God gives you the strength and courage that you need to overcome difficulties.

He gives you the wisdom to dissolve your so-called problems.

He gives you an invaluable resource that is your own updated intelligence, to bring you prosperity.

He gives opportunities for you to explore your own love and care.

He gives you the intelligence to understand that all that you have is all that you need.

He gives you the maturity to flower with a fragrance.

The basic problem with all of us is, we are all ready to believe that God has the *shakti* or power to give us what we want, but fail to understand that he also has the *buddhi* or intelligence to decide whether or not it is good for us! Simply because we believe that God has *only power*, we keep asking and asking.

We always feel that we know what is best for us and pray to God for that. We want to use *our* intelligence and *God's power* to get us what we want! We clearly tell him, 'This is what I want and this is how things should be, so please do this for me with your power!' We give all our wants with our preferences within brackets, as a prayer to God!

This is the attitude that gets us into complications. We have to understand that God not only has the power, but also the intelligence to decide what is good for you. When we understand this, we will stop our method of praying.

We think that the whole world is running because of our intelligence. Be very clear: the world is running in spite of our intelligence!

A small story:

God and all the scientists of the world had a meeting and a competition.

Whatever item that God made, the scientists reproduced it identically out of some material. The scientists were able to reproduce things with no problem.

Finally, God made man out of dust and challenged the scientists.

The scientists started to pick up dust…

God said, 'Wait! Make it out of *your* dust, not *mine*!'

Man has to understand that Existence is the creator, the created and the creation. Only then can he simply start enjoying things without a care. Only then can he relinquish possession and doership.

We are so used to the concept of trading that it becomes difficult to understand that there can be someone who is not even our blood relative, who can care for us unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. It is too much to believe!

I tell you that Existence cares for you like no one else can. This truth I can tell you, but it is up to each one of you to realize this from within, from your own experience. Only then it will be first hand knowledge.

I always tell people, 'I cannot teach you spirituality, but you can learn!' I can tell you great truths so that you will at least know what you don't know. But making that truth into an understanding for yourself is up to you. I am ready to tell you how many ever times you want to hear the truth.

A small story:

Once when Adi Shankaracharya, a saint from ancient Bharat, was on a pilgrimage by foot with his disciples, at one place he felt very thirsty.

They looked around but could not find anything to quench his thirst.

There was only a palm grove, where they were producing country arrack.

Shankara entered the grove and asked the workers if they had anything to quench his thirst.

They said they had nothing except the country arrack.

Shankara asked for the country arrack and drank it.

The disciples saw Shankara drinking. Immediately, they also asked for the arrack and drank it!

The arrack did not affect Shankara because he is an enlightened being, having boundary-less consciousness!

He walked on steadily but his disciples were staggering behind him!

After a few days, again they were walking, but this time in a desert area.

They felt thirsty and this time they saw only an iron forgery.

Nothing else was available.

Shankara asked the worker attending if there was anything to drink.

The worker said there was nothing to drink.

But Shankara saw the molten iron, the liquid iron and asked the worker for it and drank it.

After drinking the liquid iron, he turned to his disciples and offered it to them!

The disciples were simply shocked.

Shankara wanted to make them understand that they should do what he *says* and not what he *does*. The arrack did not affect him because he was established in boundary-less consciousness. Unless you have experienced it, you will not know. So you cannot simply imitate from outside. It has to happen from inside for each of you, and then you will know.

How committed or how connected you want to feel with the truth, is your own decision. I can only help those who help themselves. I can give my hand to lift you up, only if you are willing to at least lift your hand to reach out to mine. If you really want to be lifted, you would at least put out your hand to me. Otherwise, I will allow you the freedom to simply be where you are, that's all. That is why they say, 'God gives you the freedom to be in bondage!'

Most of us think that we are not helped by God the way we should be. I tell you, God knows you better than you know yourself. This is the truth. You have to understand this, that's all. Just try to drop the doubt and have some faith; that is enough. The rest will be taken care of automatically.

A small story:

Two goldfish were inside a fish tank. One of them asked the other, 'Do you really believe in the existence of God?' The other replied, 'What else do you think changes our water everyday?'

If you believe that Existence takes care of all your needs, you will be free from any kind of worry. But remember, as I told you, your needs are different from your wants. Your needs are few but your wants are many. Your needs are automatically fulfilled by Existence. When your wants increase, you lose faith in Existence because you don't see them being fulfilled.

#### Guaranteed Solutions

You see, ordinary belief is just believing, that's all. Faith on the other hand, is belief plus energy to put it into action. You can start with belief but you have to end in faith. With belief, there will be a doubt; with faith there will be no doubt, because you would have experienced it. When you have experienced for yourself the wonders of gratitude, you will attract more and more fortune for yourself. I am declaring this from my own experience.

#### *Gratitude brings more to you*

A small story:

A boy once visited a king's palace.

He requested to allow him to stay for a night in the palace. The king agreed and the boy stayed.

The next morning, the boy came up to the king and complained endlessly about the shortcomings of the accommodation provided to him.

The king ordered the boy to be taken out saying that even a day's accommodation was too much for a person such as him.

The boy felt very bad and went to a Sufi saint and narrated to him the happenings.

The saint did not say anything. He simply asked the boy to become his disciple.

A few months later, the saint told the boy that he was going to visit the king and asked him to accompany him.

They went and asked to be allowed to stay for a few days in the palace.

The king agreed.

The next morning, the king asked the saint if he was comfortable with the arrangements that had been made for him.

The saint expressed heart-felt gratitude towards the king for the comforts made for him.

The king was very happy and immediately ordered his men to pay more attention to the arrangements made for the saint.

The saint told the boy, 'Do you see now? This is the secret of life. Feel grateful and you will be showered.'

This is what happens when you thank Existence instead of finding fault with what has been given to you. By feeling gratitude, you send out positive vibrations that will automatically bring back more than you can imagine for yourself.


# The Sahasrara Dhyana

(Total duration: 60 minutes)

#### Part of this meditation is the Nithya Dhyaan meditation

#### Why Nithya Dhyaan?

Emotions and thoughts give birth to our mental set up and attitude. Understanding the play of emotions and thoughts is the first and final step towards moving beyond it. Nithya Dhyaan is a 35-minute meditation designed by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM to unclutch from the mind and move beyond it.

Man by his very nature is an *unclutched* and blissful Being. What do we mean by the term *unclutched*?

Every thought that arises in us is like a bubble that forms, rises and dies. Every thought independently rises and dies before the next thought comes up. For example, if you are sitting in a chair and suddenly get up, the moment you have decided to get up, *that* moment the thought of sitting has left you. If you are working on your computer and decide to shut down the machine, *that* moment, the thought that you want to *work* has died. So every thought is unconnected and happens in series, one after the other. One thought *has* to die before the next one comes up. This is our true nature.

Our true nature is to *renounce* thoughts every passing moment; to allow each thought to rise like a bubble and burst and allowing the next thought to rise. Our thoughts have only a vertical existence, like rising bubbles.

This process of allowing thoughts to rise and die without trying to connect them is what we mean by being *unclutched*. As long as this natural process is allowed to happen, things are alright.

But what we do is, we start connecting these thoughts randomly and forming a shaft. By doing this, we convert the vertical and unclutched process into a horizontal one with linear connectivity. Here starts the whole problem. As long as each thought is allowed to rise and die, we can take on any amount of load at the physical and mental planes and our consciousness will remain light and blissful. Once we start connecting the thoughts, our consciousness suffers and we start feeling burdened. It becomes damaging to our Being.

All emotions like worry, lust, discontentment, jealousy, fear, ego and attention-need are purely because we find a connection between independent incidents, between independent thoughts and create a concept for ourselves and start relating with that concept. We create an imaginary shaft with our thoughts and we suffer because of this.

It is these emotions that create all forms of violence be it religious wars, social conflicts or political unrest. The basis or the root of all forms of violence is our emotions and the basis of our emotions is our habit of creating imaginary shafts of our thoughts and empowering them to work on us.

The key thing we do while creating these shafts is, we choose the thoughts depending on whether we want pain or pleasure. We pick pleasant thoughts at random and connect them to form a shaft of pleasure or pick negative thoughts and connect them to form a shaft of pain. We create shafts of pain and pleasure alternately for ourselves and keep oscillating between these two emotions. To *unclutch* from this shaft is the master key to a blissful life.

If you deeply analyse how we connect our thoughts instead of renouncing them, you will understand how we create suffering for ourselves. It is the mind that finds the connection. As such, there is no connection between our thoughts.

We have been trained to all the time feed on words and thoughts. That is why we create these shafts. We feed on words because we operate out of fear or greed all the time. Out of fear or greed, we create connectivity in our thoughts. We are afraid to let go of this process because if we let go, there is nothing else to hold on to. We have never experienced an *unclutched* state of mind where there is no shaft, there are only bubble-like thoughts.

In the *unclutched* state, there is no scope for fear or greed. You will simply BE, that's all. It is a dimension that we rarely experience because we are so used to clutching into the familiar shaft of thoughts.

A small story:

An eye specialist was treating a blind man.

He assured him, "Once I operate on your eye, you will have your vision back and you can throw your stick away."

The blind man became afraid when he heard this. He asked the doctor, "I understand that I will get my vision, but how can I walk without my stick?"

The man was so used to walking with the stick that he could not understand that by getting his vision he can throw away the stick! In the same way, when the truth is that we can live in an *unclutched* fashion blissfully, we wonder how we can be without clutching into the shaft of thoughts. We see it as something inevitable!

We fail to see how mythical the whole thing is. Our mind is a myth. We have empowered it and become a slave to it. It is nothing but mental slavery.

Just watch the thoughts rising in you. Clearly see how each thought rises and dies and the next thought comes up. Observe how you effortlessly connect these thoughts and create ideas and concepts. Watch the play of these concepts upon yourself; you will understand how you create the whole myth. Connecting thoughts is the original sin.

Living in an *unclutched* fashion is the only way to a blissful living. Just decide that you will not connect any two thoughts, that you will not pass any judgment on any thought or any incident. The moment you find yourself connecting, simply *unclutch* from it. Keep on *unclutching* every time you remember this technique; your mental setup will automatically be transformed.

When you work in an *unclutched* fashion, you will find your capacity expanding; you will take on a lot more responsibility without getting stressed; you will not experience mood swings between pain and pleasure; you will be blissful all the time. We are so used to happiness that comes in with a *reason*. This *reason* is again a shaft that we create with our thoughts. Once you stop creating these shafts, you will be blissful all the time.

The term *unclutched,* does not mean that you should be aloof and cold to people and situations around you. Just don't connect your thoughts and start the process of creating shafts, that's all.

Remember that you are a beautiful and *unclutched* being by nature; that is enough. You will stop creating misery for yourself and for others.

Nithya Dhyaan cleanses and energises the vital energy centers in your body which are responsible for the swaying emotions and stored negative memories. It brings intense awareness into your system to awaken the inner intelligence; causes to experience a growing explosion in consciousness that can steer you towards a life of totality. It expels deeply engraved and unwanted negative memories and suppressions.

Meditation as such purifies and lays the foundation to experience the true nature of your body, thoughts and emotions. It is the direct way to connect to the land of the beyond, of eternal bliss, free from the clutches of one's own mind.

Nithya Dhyaan is a technique that gives you what you need to balance your self and be in complete harmony with your body, mind and spirit; to harness the inner intelligence as a propelling force to excel in the inner and outer worlds.

It is a guided meditation technique comprising 5 steps. Please listen to the instructions carefully.

#### Instructions:

#### Step 1

Sit in *vajrasana* with hands on your hips. Sit on your mat on the floor with both your legs stretched out. Next fold both the legs, one after the other at the knees and rest your posterior on your heels with your toes turned outward. Let your hands rest on your lap. You can use a cushion or a rolled turkish towel under your ankles. Sit comfortably with your head,

neck and spine in a straight line. Now close your eyes and breathe chaotically for 7 minutes. Don't follow any rhythm in breathing. Just move your entire body and breathe aggressively and chaotically from the bottom of your stomach.

## Step 2

Continue to sit in *vajrasana*. Form '*chin mudra'* with your fingers. This is how we form the chin mudra: Place your hands on your knees. Your hands with open palms should be facing upward. Let the tip of the index finger touch the tip of the thumb, as if forming a circle. The three other fingers, arms and the hands remain relaxed. You will now hum intensely for 7

minutes. The humming should be done with lips together with the sound coming from the navel center – as deeply as possible, as lengthily as possible and as loudly as possible. (This is actually the *mahamantra* humming).

#### Step 3

You may now sit cross-legged on the floor if you wish to or continue to sit in *vajrasana* and for 7 minutes you will take your awareness from the *muladhara chakra* to the *sahasrara chakra*.

*   *Muladhara chakra* – base of the spine
*   *Swadhishthana chakra* – 2 inches above the *muladhara*
*   *Manipuraka chakra* – at the navel center
*   *Anahata chakra* – at the heart center
*   *Vishuddhi chakra* – at the throat center
*   *Ajna chakra* – between the eyebrows
*   *Sahasrara chakra* – top of the head

Dwell on each *chakra* for a minute with the awareness that – the *chakra* is pure; the *chakra* is filled with energy and the *chakra* is radiating eternal bliss - *nithyananda*.

#### Step 4

For 7 minutes just be unclutched in silence.

#### Guided meditation for offering gratitude

This guided meditation is taken from Sufism.

Sit straight, hold a few flowers as offering in your hands and close your eyes. Concentrate on your *sahasrara chakra*. Forget

all other parts of your body. Concentrate only on your crown center and relax there. Wear a smile and relax.

With your whole Being, offer your gratitude to your mother for giving you this body. Remember and give your gratitude to her with all your Being.

Offer your gratitude to your father for giving you this life and providing for all your needs.

Offer your gratitude to all the doctors and nurses who received you when you came to planet earth.

Offer your gratitude to all the people who built the hospital or home where you were born.

Offer your gratitude to all the people who took care of you when you were an infant.

Offer your gratitude to all those who worked for your food, clothes and living when you were young.

Offer your gratitude to all the teachers who gave you primary education.

Offer your gratitude to all your young age friends who made your life happy and blissful, who shared their innocence and joy with you.

Offer your gratitude to your brothers and sisters and other relatives for nurturing you and caring for you. Seek their forgiveness for any hurt that you may have caused them intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously.

Offer your gratitude to all the people who gave you professional education, who helped you stand in your profession, who gave you the courage to stand on your own feet.

Offer your gratitude to all the people who helped you financially, whenever you needed it.

Offer your gratitude to all the doctors and nurses who took care of your health, who gave you medical assistance whenever you needed it.

Offer your gratitude to your wife or husband for giving you love and security in your life. Forgive them for anything that they might have done to you that hurt you. Seek their forgiveness for anything that you might have done that hurt them with or without your knowledge.

Offer your gratitude to all the people who encouraged you and gave you inspiration in your spiritual life.

Offer your gratitude to all those who have served you in one way or another all through your life: the milk man who delivers milk, the grocer, the laundry man, the garbage collector, your servants, your driver, all these people who you take for granted. Seek each one's forgiveness for any hurt that you may have caused intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously.

Offer your gratitude to your enemies and those who have hurt you, for making you strong and forgiving. Seek their forgiveness for any hurt that you may have caused them.

Offer your gratitude to all those who helped you physically, mentally, socially, economically and spiritually.

Remember each one of them and offer gratitude taking your own time.

Offer your gratitude to your body and all its parts one by one.

Offer your gratitude to your mind for its miraculous functioning.

Offer your gratitude to the Divine, to the Whole, to God, for making all these things possible in your life.

## Step 5

For the last 7 minutes you may sit and chant the *Guru Puja Mantra* or just sway with the flow of the chant on the cassette and offer your gratitude to Existence and to the great lineage of enlightened masters. Offer your gratitude with your whole being.

You may now offer your flowers.

***

# ABOUT THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is an enlightened master living amidst us today. With a worldwide movement for meditation and inner bliss, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM offers solutions for situations as practical as every day stress to the quest for something as profound as enlightenment.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM left home at a young age and traveled the length and breadth of Bharat, visiting holy shrines, associating with several yogis and mystics during this period. He realized his intrinsic knowledge through the paths of meditation, yoga, knowledge, devotion, Tantra and other Eastern metaphysical sciences. With an enlightened insight into the core of human nature, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has defined his mission for humanity at large.

Rooted in the ancient tradition of enlightened living, and embracing all world

religions as sacred and unique. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM draws people from around the globe, crossing all societal, cultural, language, age and gender barriers.

The services provided by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Mission include • meditation • yoga • corporate leadership programs • free energy healing through the *Nithya Spiritual Healing system* • free education to youth • promoting art and culture • *satsangs* (spiritual gatherings) • free medical camps and eye surgeries • free meals at all ashrams worldwide • a holistic system of education for children through the ashram *gurukul* • a two-year free residential spiritual training program in Bharat called Life Bliss Technology • a three-month residential program for international youth called Life Bliss Engineering, and more.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says, 'Enlightenment flowers when individual consciousness disappears into Universal Consciousness. When you start living enlightenment, you automatically raise the human consciousness around you. Living enlightenment holds the key to global peace and inner bliss. Every individual should be a pioneer in the transition of human consciousness to Divine Consciousness.'

# PROGRAMS AND WORKSHOPS


# **Inner Awakening**

Inner Awakening is a 'master' program that is intensely transformative. It is a 21-day energy cycle that brings about an irreversible alchemy of moving from the mundane to the Divine. It is a program where the master is completely available to work on the true seeker and guide him to the Ultimate. Further, it gives you the lifetime opportunity to stay in the intense energy field of the Bengaluru ashram for 21 days.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM says,

'The Inner Awakening program is designed to reproduce all the components of *jeevan mukti* or 'Living Enlightenment' in every being.

Each of my programs is designed to reproduce one component, one dimension of me in you. For example, Life Bliss Program Level 1 (LBP 1), is designed to reproduce one component that is 'living joyfully'. Life Bliss Program Level 2 (NSP) is designed to reproduce another dimension that is 'living death beautifully'. Nithya Yoga is designed to reproduce yet another component that is 'having a yogic body'. Each program is designed to reproduce one component of *jeevan mukti* in you.

Whenever you experience one dimension, you experience an opening, an inspiration or feeling to go deep. Unfortunately that one opening is not enough to pass into *jeevan mukti* and start staying in *jeevan mukti* itself. It is more like having one glimpse of *jeevan mukti* .

The Inner Awakening is designed in a complete, whole way – it is like all the programs such as Nithyanandam, Nithya Yoga, everything put together and something more...reproducing all the components of *jeevan mukti* which is in me, in you.

The whole thing is now available to you in one place.

Living every moment with the understanding that life is introducing new dimensions of the cosmos to you is 'Living Enlightenment'."

# **Life Bliss Engineering**

A residential program to experience the intense and transformative power of being in an enlightened master's presence. Life Bliss Engineering (LBE) is a 90-day program in the Bengaluru ashram in Bharat, which takes you to the depths of your being through yoga, meditation, and helps you to awaken your innate peak potential. Learn directly from the master, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, to engineer your very body and mind for enlightened living.

In LBE, you will:

- Experience life in its most authentic form of 'Living Enlightenment'.
- Learn and imbibe the ancient inner world science of an awakened consciousness through direct talks and meditations delivered by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM himself.
- Create a yogic body through daily practices of Nithya Yoga, the yoga for enlightenment designed by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM from Sage Patanjali's ancient system of yoga. Nithya Yoga unites mind, body and being for greater energy, mental clarity, physical and emotional well-being.
- Participate in the 'Inner Awakening' sessions, a 21-day enlightenment-intensive program with the master, that leads you to discover the very purpose of your life and rise above the clutches of your mind. This program includes life solutions and meditations for all levels of seekers, daily Nithya Yoga sessions, initiation into Nithya Spiritual Healing - an energy-based healing science and more.
- Embark on travel studies to culturally, historically and spiritually significant locations including Tiruvannamalai, the birthplace of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, and Chidambaram, the birthplace of Patanjali.
- Engage in revealing discussions, debates and study groups for deeper insights and understanding about the human mind-body mechanism and how to live life as a celebration.
- Concept, design and execute project work(s) that will help expand your capacity for creativity and intelligence, and to serve society with responsibility.
- Experience continuous inner healing in the energy field surrounding the mystical Banyan Tree at the ashram in Bengaluru.
- Enjoy ayurvedic satvic food during all meals in a day.

People from all over the world participate in this unique program and experience a quantum jump in their inner space and outer life.

# **Kalpataru**

A one-day meditation program that sows in you the seed of Living Enlightenment. Through Kalpataru you will be blessed with:

*Shakti,* the Energy to understand and change whatever you need to change in life,

*Buddhi*, the Intelligence to understand and accept whatever you don't need to change in life,

*Yukti*, the Clarity to understand and realize that however much you change, whatever you see as reality is itself a continuously changing dream,

*Bhakti*, the Devotion, the feeling of deep connection to That which is unchanging, eternal and Ultimate, and

*Mukti*, the Ultimate Liberation called Living Enlightenment when all these four are integrated in you.

This program empowers you with the energy to **align your actions with your intentions** so you move with success and inner bliss.

# **Life Bliss Program Level 1 (LBP Level 1)**

#### *- Energize yourself*

A *chakra* based meditation program that relaxes and energizes the seven major *chakras* or subtle energy centers in your system. It gives clear intellectual and experiential understanding of your various emotions such as greed, fear, worry, attention-need, stress, jealousy, ego, and discontentment. It is designed to create a spiritual effect at the physical level. It is a guaranteed life solution to experience the reality of your own bliss. When you are liberated from a particular emotion, you experience a new world, a new energy. It is a highly effective workshop, experienced by millions of people around the globe.

# **Life Bliss Program Level 2 (LBP Level 2)**

*- Death demystified!*

A meditation program that unleashes the art of living by demystifying the process of dying. This program creates the space to

detach from ingrained and unconscious emotions like guilt, pleasure and pain, all of which stem from the ultimate fear of death. It is a gateway to a new life that is driven by natural intelligence and spontaneous enthusiasm.

# **Life Bliss Program Level 3 - Atma Spurana Program (LBP Level 3 - ATSP)**

*- Connect with your Self!*

An indepth program that analyzes clearly the workings of the mind and shows you experientially how to be the master of the mind rather than be dictated by it. It imparts tremendous intellectual understanding coupled with powerful meditations to produce instant clarity and integration.

# **Life Bliss Program Level 3 - Bhakti Spurana Program (LBP Level 3 - BSP)**

*- Integrate your Devotion*

A program that reveals the different dimensions of relating with others and with your deeper self. It clearly defines relationship as that which kindles and reveals your own unknown dimensions to you. It allows you to experience the real depth and joy of any relationship in your life.

# **Life Bliss Technology (LBT)**

*- Residential life sciences programs*

Life Bliss Technology (LBT) is a residential program for youth all around the world. Offered over either a three-month and a two-year period, this program, with its roots in the ancient inner science of living enlightenment, is designed to empower modern youth with good physical, mental and emotional health, practical life skills and above all, the science of blissful living. By nurturing creative intelligence and spontaneity, and imparting life skills, it creates economically self-sufficient and spiritually strong youth. Above all,

it offers a lifetime opportunity to live and learn under the tutelage of an enlightened master.

# **Nithyanandam**

An advanced meditation program for seekers where the presence of the master and the intense energy field lead one to the state of *nithya ananda –* eternal bliss. It offers a range of techniques from meditation to service to sitting in the powerful presence of the master.

# **Nithya Spiritual Healing**

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM offers Nithya Spiritual Healing, a science and service of energy based healing that is causing miraculous relief from a host of physical and mental diseases. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM initiates people into becoming healers of this Nithya Spiritual Healing system. The initiated

healers world over touch at least 20,000 people every day through this free service.

# **NITHYANANDA MISSION HIGHLIGHTS**

- **Meditation and de-addiction camps worldwide:** Over 2 million people impacted to date
- **Nithya Spiritual Healing:** A system of cosmic energy healing administered free through 5000 ordained healers, through our worldwide ashrams and centers, touching 20,000 people globally every day – healing both mind and body
- **Anna Daan**: **free food program**: 10,000 nutritious meals distributed every week through all the ashram *anna mandirs* for visitors, devotees and disciples thus improving health standards
- **The Nithyananda Order and its training:** Spiritual aspirants ordained as *Sannyasis, Brahmacharis and Brahmacharinis*: who

undergo years of intensive training in yoga, meditation, deep spiritual practice, Sanskrit, *vedic* chanting, life skills, and who run the 100% volunteer based ashrams of Nithyananda Mission worldwide, working in all Mission activities

- **Nithya Yoga**: A revolutionary system of yoga in the lines of sage Patanjali's original teachings, taught worldwide.
- **Nithyananda Vedic Temples and Ashrams:** Over 30 Vedic temples and ashrams worldwide.
- **Meditation Programs in prisons:** Conducted in prisons and juvenile camps to reform extremist attitudes – resulting in amazing transformation among the inmates.
- **Medical Camps:** Free treatment and therapies in allopathy, homeopathy, ayurveda, acupuncture, eye check-ups, eye surgeries, artificial limb donation camps, gynecology and more
- **Support to children in rural areas**: School buildings, school uniforms and educational materials provided free to rural schools.
- **Life Bliss Technology and Life Bliss Engineering Courses**: Two year / three month programs for youth to learn Life Engineering and the Science of Enlightenment.
- **Nithyananda Gurukul:** A modern scientific approach to education combined with the *vedic* system of learning – protecting and developing the innate intelligence of the child who flowers without repression, fear or peer pressure

### • **Corporate Meditation**

**Programs**: Specially designed and conducted in corporate firms worldwide including Microsoft, AT&T, Qualcomm, JP Morgan, Petrobras, Pepsi, Oracle, American Association of Physicians of

Hindu Origin (AAPI) – with focus on intuitive management, leadership skills and team work.

- **Nithyananda Institute of Teachers' Training:** Over 300 teachers trained to teach: transformational meditation programs, Quantum Memory Program, Nithya Yoga, Health and Healing Programs, Spiritual Practice Programs and more
- **Media**: Articles in national and international newspapers and magazines, carrying transforming messages from THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
- **Nithyananda Publishers:** Over 5000 hours of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's discourses transcribed, edited and published inhouse and made available in stores through books, DVDs and CDs
- **Life Bliss Gallerias:** Worldwide stores and mobile shops retailing recordings and books of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's discourses and Nithya Kirtan recordings in 23 languages
- **Nithyananda Meditation & Healing Centers:** Worldwide, offering meditation and healing services
- **Nithyananda Sangeeth Academy:** Music, dance and other forms of art taught and encouraged in youth and elderly alike - live and through internet
- **Free Discourses on YouTube:** Over 600 free discourses on www.youtube.com – wisdom from the master, easily accessible. Ranked top in viewership
- **Support to scientists and researchers:** Continually bridging gaps between science and spirituality through researches on spiritual energy and healing.
- **Nithyananda International Youth Foundation (NIYF)**: A collection of inspired youth, building a divine and dynamic society with a common ideology of peace and enlightenment

- **Nithya Dheera Seva Sena:** Through transformation of self, this volunteer force of *Ananda Sevaks* trains and functions in the service of humanity, also serving as relief wing working towards disaster recovery management.
# **CONTACT US**

Listed below are some of the main centers of Nithyananda Mission.

#### **USA:**

**Los Angeles** Life Bliss Foundation 9720 Central Avenue, Montclair, CA 91763 USA Ph.: +1 909 625 1400 Email: programs@lifebliss.org, shop@lifebliss.org URL: www.lifeblissfoundation.org

## **MALAYSIA:**

#### **Kuala Lumpur**

14, Jalan Desa Gombak 5, Taman Desa Gombak 53000 KL, MALAYSIA Ph.: +601 78861644 / +601 22350567 Email: murthi.kasavan@gmail.com, manirantaraananda@gmail.com URL: www.mynithyananda.com

## **BHARAT:**

## **Bengaluru, Karnataka**

(Spiritual headquarters and Nithyananda Vedic Temple) Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, Nithyanandapuri, Off Mysore Road, Bidadi, Bengaluru - 562 109 Karnataka, BHARAT Ph.: +91 97422 03311 / +91 92430 48957 Email: mail@nithyananda.org URL:www.nithyananda.org

#### **Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh**

Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam Leelaghar Bldg, Manikarnika ghat Varanasi, BHARAT Ph.: +91 +99184 01718

#### **Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh**

Sri Anandeshwari Temple, Nithyananda Giri, Pashambanda Sathamrai Village, Shamshabad Mandal Rangareddy District - 501 218 Andhra Pradesh, BHARAT Ph.: +91 +84132 60044 / +91 98665 00350

#### **Salem, Tamil Nadu**

Nithyanandapuri, 102, Azhagapurampudur (Behind Sharada College), Salem – 636 016 Tamilnadu, BHARAT Ph.: +91 +427 2449711

#### **Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu**

(1008 Lingangal ulla Ananda Linga Kshetram) Nithyanandapuri, Girivala path Tiruvannamalai – 606 604 Tamilnadu, BHARAT Ph.: 04175 237666 / 94449 91089 / 94450 56262 / 94874 52555 **E-mail: anandalingam1008@nithyananda.org**

#### **Rajapalayam, Tamilnadu**

Nithyanandapuri, Kothainachiarpuram, Sankaran Coil Road, Rajapalayam, Virudhunagar District Tamilnadu, BHARAT Ph.: +91 +4563 230001 / +91 +98421 30008

#### **Puducherry**

Nithyanandapuri, Embalam to Villianoor Main Road, Embalam Post, Puducherry - 605 106 BHARAT Ph.: +91 94420 36037 / + 91 97876 67604 For further information visit www.nithyananda.org

# **NITHYANANDA GALLERIA**

A wide range of products for blissful living:

- THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's insightful messages on video, audio tapes, CDs and books in over 26 languages
- Enlivening music and chants for meditation and inner healing.
- Meditation and yoga books, kits and CDs for rejuvenating body, mind and spirit.
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- Ethnic energy bead jewelry for men and women for tranquility and continued high energy.

Visit www.nithyanandagalleria.com or www.lifeblissgalleria.com for more information. E-mail:

nithyanandagalleria@gmail.com & shop@lifebliss.org


# SUGGESTED FOR FURTHER READING

- Living Enlightenment (Gospel of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM)
- Bhagavad Gita Series
- THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Vol. 1 (A biographical account of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's life up to the age of 17)
- Guaranteed Solutions
- Meditation is for you
- Don't Worry Be Happy
- Instant Tools for Blissful Living
- You Can Heal
- Follow Me In!
- The Door to Enlightenment
- Songs of Eternity (A coffee table book with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's messages and pictures)
- You are No Sinner
- So You Want to Know The Truth?
- Uncommon answers to Common Questions

Over 500 FREE discourses of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM available at http:// www.youtube.com/lifeblissfoundation

**PUBLISHED BY NITHYANANDA PUBLISHERS**

## Guaranteed Solutions

you can just see the truth in what I am saying, you will slowly know the knack of how to get out of this cycle and move to a higher plane of your being.

One more thing with intuition: it gives you the energy not only to make the decision but also to execute what you have decided. When I say this to people, they ask me, 'Swamiji how do I find out whether I am having an intuition or I am just being intellectual.' They tell me, 'Swamiji, I am confused about whether it is intellect or intuition.' I tell them: be very clear: if you are confused, it is only intellect. The very confusion shows that it is only intellect! When you have intuition, you will be so confident and brimming with energy that there will be no room for confusion.

With intuition, the potential power which is inside your being is simply unleashed. You open up and start expressing it, executing it. If you read about scientists and CEOs who have been involved in major breakthroughs in their fields, again and again they say their success came from something beyond their intellect, that something gave them the energy or the guts to make those decisions.

Each and every one of you has the power of intuition in you. Let me ask you: how many of you have experienced at least once in your lives, that when you are thinking of a particular person, the phone rings and that very same person is on the line? Or you enter a place and you feel you have been to the place before? Or similar intuitive things?

*(More than 80% of the people raise their hands.)* You see, these are the moments of intuition that you have experienced accidentally in your lives. During these moments, you are accidentally in a meditative state. In these moments, your being tries to relate with you. But what do you do? You brush these things aside as coincidence and ignore your being. You completely ignore the higher dimensions of your being. How can something that has happened to 80% of you be a coincidence?

Be very clear: these moments of intuition are clear signs of the latent power in you. If you recognize and encourage it, you can express the higher dimensions of your being.

The other day I had an opportunity to have a meal with Dr Charles Townes, Nobel laureate in the field of LASER and MASER. I asked him, 'How did it happen? How were you able to do this?' He answered in a beautiful way. He said, 'I was just sitting in a park in Washington DC and suddenly something happened in me. Suddenly the conclusion was revealed to me. I immediately wrote down what I got. I then realized that I had a difficulty. I had the conclusion but not the steps! I was not able to present it to anybody because I knew only the conclusion; I did not know the steps. Then when I sat down, I was able to get the logical steps.'

Not only with Charles Townes, even Albert Einstein the famous scientist says, 'Whatever new understanding happened in me, came through intuition, not through intellect*.*' He says beautifully, 'The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant*.*' We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

#### **G**uaranteed **S**olutions

Whether we believe it or not or accept it or not, there is something called intuition in us. Of course, even Einstein calls this a gift because he didn't know whether it could be consistently had. He was not sure *when* it would happen and whether it would happen or not. But *yogis*, the great eastern mystics, again and again say that you can very well have it all the time. You don't have to think that intuition is a gift. You *can* work for it. It can become a part of your life.

When intuition happens beyond your intellect, your whole being is integrated. You are at your peak. When you are at your peak, something opens. You may call it a revelation or an intuition or something else. *Yogis* have again and again said that it is a science. If you can tune yourself to this energy of intuition which is continuously available in your being, you can use this in your regular life.

Intuition is the energy of your being. When this pure energy starts flowing out from the unconscious level, it also heals you physically, mentally and emotionally. Apart from healing, it reduces stress and helps you to make decisions spontaneously.

Spontaneity has nothing to do with the data that you collect; it is something to do with the way in which you process the data.

The same data, the same information, can be processed in many ways. Intuition is all about how you process data and how you come to conclusions not limited by your intellect. We can prepare ourselves; we can tune ourselves to this energy of intuition through techniques and methods.

These techniques are what we call meditation. In the East, we use the word meditation to tune ourselves with the higher energy which is in our being, and which continuously invites us to experience it.

Whenever you find time, just sit with yourself and observe yourself. We are always ready to give appointments to others, but never to ourselves…! If you just sit with yourself, you can always see that some part of your being wants to express, wants to do something more, but you never give the chance or time to that portion of your being.

We are so caught up with our intellect. We think that our intellect is the ultimate, but again and again *yogis* have proven that something more than intellect is possible.

# *Energy centers within our body*

If we understand how the mind works, how to unload the deeply engraved memories in our unconscious, how to prevent further loading and how we can awaken the latent power of our being to move into the zone intuition, we can live like a master and not a slave.

Just take a look at this chart here. Here you are able to see a human form with seven markings on it. Are all of you able to see? Yes. These seven markings on this human form are called *chakras*.

The *chakra*s are the subtle energy centers of our body. They are seven wheels of energy in our body.

We don't have only one body, as we think. We have seven bodies – energy bodies. I will explain the first three bodies now.

The first body – the one in which you have come here, in which you are moving, talking and writing – this is called the *jagrat shareera* - the physical or waking body.

The next body is the *sukshma shareera* - the dream body, the one that you use in your dream state. It is the body you use to travel from place to place in your dreams! In your dreams, you see yourself in various places. Sometimes you see yourself in places which you have not even been to in the waking state.

The third body is the *kaarana shareera* - the causal body, which you use when you are in deep sleep. This body does not move.

Now, the latter two bodies meet the physical body at seven points along the length of the physical body. These seven points are known as the *chakra*s. There are seven major *chakras* in our body. There are also a number of minor *chakras*, but these seven are the major ones that are responsible for our physical and mental well-being.

These *chakra*s were discovered a long time ago during the *vedic* age. In fact, in many of the spiritual chants, you will find reference to the names of these *chakras* very often. Today science has proved that there is a gland located near each of these *chakras* that is related to that particular *chakra*. These seven *chakras* supply energy to the glands.

These seven major *chakras* deeply influence our physical, emotional and mental activities. They have great power. They are energy centers and if they are kept in a cleansed and energized condition, they can cause us to live an ecstatic and healthy life.

Dis-ease is only an imbalance in any one of these *chakras*, because our body and mind are rooted in our inner consciousness. Keeping these *chakras* in a healthy state, we can see a transformation happening in us at the mental and physical levels.

Let me tell you a small story:

After World War I, a biplane was abandoned near a remote tribal settlement in Asia. The tribal people had never seen an aircraft in all their lives. There was a lot of excitement and commotion about it and a big crowd gathered around it. They wondered what it might be and each one started giving some suggestion about it. They finally concluded that since it had wheels, it must be a bullock cart! News spread in the village about the new bullock cart. There was a lot of celebration in the village and the biplane was taken around the settlement yoked to bullocks, and it served as a bullock cart.

Some weeks later, a young tribal boy who had returned from the city where he was studying, saw the biplane. He got into it and looked around. He saw all the gears and mechanisms in it. He fiddled with the switches and levers. Suddenly, the engine came to life! He managed to taxi the plane on the ground for a short distance and the villagers were shocked at what they saw. The boy had seen tractors being used and declared to the people that the biplane was not a bullock cart but some kind of tractor.

There was great celebration once again and the biplane started being used as a tractor!

Six months passed by and a retired army officer came to the village. He saw the biplane being used as a tractor and was shocked! He told the villagers that it was not a tractor and that the plane could actually fly.

They refused to believe him because the only things they had ever seen flying were birds! The army officer got into the aircraft, flew it for a short while and landed.

The villagers were wonderstruck. Then they understood its true potential.

Understand: man is a wonderful mechanism meant to fly. But we don't know our true potentiality. We have a very limited view of ourselves. Most of us operate only as a bullock cart, at the instinct level, surrendering to our emotions.

When we associate ourselves with mostly external things like a home, a car, a profession, and other basic things, we use our bodies as a bullock cart. We just operate at the instinct level and remain with an over-loaded unconscious mind.

When we additionally move into art, creativity, philosophy and such things involving not just the mind but the heart also, we use our bodies as a tractor. We will find a certain fulfillment in ourselves. A poet who has given birth to a poem will be happier than a woman who has given birth to a child. In the case of the latter, the womb is centered in the stomach whereas in the former it is centered in the heart, and so the fulfillment. These people will be able to operate at the intellectual level.

Finally, the man who enters into spirituality and develops a thirst for true knowledge and realizes that he is the ultimate existential energy in physical form, uses his body as an aircraft! Enlightened masters use their bodies as an aircraft. They are so ecstatic all the time. They rise beyond all the miseries of the bullock cart and tractor and just fly! They operate at the intuitive level.

What should we do to become an aircraft? What was the difference between the villagers and the army officer? The aircraft remained the same. Nothing was added to it or removed from it. No physical changes were made in it. Then what was the difference?

Knowledge. The knowledge of the mechanism of the aircraft. The villagers did not know that the device had such a mechanism that could be operated in a way that it could fly, whereas the army officer knew about it, that's all. The technique with which they handled the aircraft made it first a bullock cart, then a tractor and then finally an aircraft.

Just like this, there are mechanisms or gears inside us, called the *chakras*, which are boundless energy centers. Each of them is associated with a particular emotion within us. If we understand how to handle the emotion properly, we can function as an aircraft.

When we understand the science behind some of our basic emotions, we can become aware of our present deep unconscious state. Then we can free ourselves from the load of the unconscious and start moving to the higher dimensions of our being.

These *chakras* are not physical entities in our body. They are metaphysical representations because they belong to the auric body and not the physical body. Kirlian photography has enabled us to capture these *chakras* and prove their existence on the metaphysical plane.

It has been proven that when a person is locked with a particular negative emotion, the *chakra* associated with that emotion shrinks to the size of a coat button. It becomes that small. But when the same person experiences the associated positive emotion, the *chakra* expands to the size of a cartwheel! This is the effect that our emotions have on these energy centers, our *chakras*.

Our energy flow in these *chakras* is blocked by our negative emotions and we are totally unaware of it.

Understand: man has not been designed to be a worm that crawls on the ground; he has been designed to fly in the air. Just as the villagers had no idea that the device could fly, man has no idea that he can fly. Man always thinks that enlightened people are gifted people and that he should stand at a distance and look at them with awe and respect. He never aspires to become like them. I tell you now: if you are really interested in achieving in the inner world, you will achieve it, come what may. The problem is, you don't believe that you can achieve. Just as the villagers refused to believe that the device could fly, you refuse to believe that you are actually designed for much higher things.

# *Don't learn from experience, learn from intelligence!*

A small story:

A young girl was learning how to play the piano. She was struggling to cope with the master's lessons. The man next to her was an expert pianist and was playing a song by himself. The little girl walked over and watched him play for sometime. She finally asked, 'Sir, do you by any chance have more fingers than I do?'