A true Master will reproduce in you the same experience that happened in him, no matter what your condition is. I am enlightened only if you can experience my enlightenment, not otherwise. Aim directly at the Divine.

The person who approaches the Divine with ego gets everything and boosts his own ego. He never surrenders to the Divine. His ego becomes stronger by getting all the knowledge. Be very clear, these are the most dangerous people. Instead of surrendering their ego to the Divine, they strengthen their ego with their knowledge. Listen. Knowledge can be used in two ways. With this knowledge, you can surrender to the Divine; or with this knowledge, you can make others surrender to you! It is up to you how you use it. When we approach the Divine with ego, instead of surrendering our ego, we strengthen our ego with knowledge.

### Approach Me with Gratitude

The next level is the ultimate level. In this level, we go to the Divine with the attitude of gratitude, with the ultimate gratitude. Here, the whole relationship takes a different turn. We feel so grateful, so deeply connected to the Divine, that our whole life changes.

We move from the first level of greed, where we pray to boon-giving gods, to the next level of fear where the gods who can protect us appeal to us. The next is worry. Buddha appeals to us if we are centered on worry because he appears to be so peaceful and calm. To the person who is centered on name and fame, gods who give name and fame appeal the most. In the same way as with gods, people also approach Masters from all these various levels.

I have seven kinds of people who approach me: *One*, people who approach me out of greed; *two*, people who approach me out of fear; *three*, people who approach me out of worry; *four*, people who approach me for name and fame; *five*, people who approach me out of jealousy and comparison; *six*, people who approach me out of ego, to strengthen their ego by saying, 'I am a disciple of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. I am close to him. He knows my name.' Just to have ego satisfaction they come to me; finally, *seven*—there are a few, very few who approach me out of gratitude.

There's one more problem with people who approach me out of greed. Not only do they have greed, they also have their own ideas and fantasies about a Master. They come with a frame and see whether I fit into that frame or not. Also, I face a big problem because of my young age. Let me narrate to you an incident that happened in our Bharat ashram:

> One day I was sitting alone at outdoors in the ashram, without my turban. I was sitting there on a small rock, enjoying the cool breeze. One well-read, elderly scholar came to me and asked, 'I want to meet Swamiji. Where is he?' I told him, 'Please go and sit in the Ananda Sabha (meditation hall). He will come in half an hour's time.' He went and sat in the meditation hall.

> He went and sat in the hall. After half an hour, I wore my turban and went there and was about to take my seat. This man said, 'No! I want to meet the big *Swamiji*. I want to meet Guruji (master).'

> I said, 'Please forgive me. In this ashram I am the Swami. Whom do you want to meet?'

> He said, 'I have heard about THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. He healed my cousin. I want to see him.' Then I told him his cousin's name and the disease he had and that I had healed him. I told him, 'I am THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.' You will be surprised; he was not ready to believe me. He just stared at me.

> Then I said, 'Usually, Swamis don't carry any identity card in Bharat. Still, if you don't believe me, look at that photograph (on ashram signboard). See the name, and see that face. I am that Swami!'

> You will be surprised! I tell you, this is the truth. He said, 'I am not ready to learn from you.' He did not speak to me, and also went away. Because of his strong fantasies and imagination about what a Guru should be like, he was not able to even relate with me!

When we have such strong fantasy or imagination about things, we will not be able to relate with reality. It is the same with fear; people who come with fear will never be able to get rid of that fear. They will be stuck with that because fear itself is a fantasy.

At different levels, people approach the Master or God. The more mature we are, the more we will feel connected to that person who will give us fulfillment. When we become mature, when we are above fear and greed, we will approach the same Master, the same God, with more maturity, with more intimacy. We will feel deeply connected to him.

In Bhāgavatam (Hindu epic glorifying devotion onto incarnations), we learn about five different attitudes with which we normally relate with a Master or God:

1) *Dāsa Bhāva*—seeing God as a lord or master and oneself as a servant, as with Hanumān who saw Rāma as his master and served Him as a path for liberation.

2) *Vātsalya Bhāva*—seeing God as a divine child, as with Yaśodā who saw Kṛṣṇa as her son.

3) *Sakha Bhāva*—seeing God or the master as a friend, the way Arjuna related with Kṛṣṇa.

4) *Mātṛ Bhāva*—seeing God or the master as a father or mother, the way Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa related with goddess Kāli (representation of the divine mother).

5) Finally, the fifth attitude is *madhura bhāva*—seeing God as a beloved, the way Radhā saw Kṛṣṇa. This attitude needs a tremendous amount of maturity. Only if we experience the consciousness which is beyond the body, can we relate with the Divine with the attitude of a beloved, *madhura bhāva*.

These are the five different *bhāvas* (attitudes or feeling connection) with which people relate with the Divine. With different maturity levels, different attitudes suit our minds. The more mature we are, the more the gratitude happens. The less the maturity, the more we fill our life with prayers. Prayer is greed; confession is fear!

That is why I say, 'Gratitude is the greatest prayer, and thank you, the greatest mantra.' When we go beyond prayer and confession, we experience gratitude. We experience the Divine. Kṛṣṇa explains how we can grow step-by-step, how we can reach the ultimate maturity, how we can create and experience the Divine at the ultimate level.

Let us see how Kṛṣṇa explains the process step-by-step. What is the technique Kṛṣṇa offers us to grow in maturity and experience eternal consciousness?

Based on how we approach the Divine, only based on how mature we are, the whole community system has been created. How much we enrich and share with society depends on how mature we are. With the same maturity, we approach God also.

If we feel money is missing in our lives, we go to the God who gives money. If we miss knowledge, we go to Sarasvatī (the goddess of knowledge), who gives knowledge. If we feel insecure, we go to the god who protects us; we go to Mother Durgā or Kāli. If we miss spiritual experience, the ultimate experience, then we go to the divine incarnations, the ultimate expressions of the Divine.

Kṛṣṇa says, 'Four types of people come to Me—*caturvidhā bhajante māṁ* ' He explains the four types as four communities. The first are the people who are distressed, i.e., the working class or *śūdra*. The second are the people who desire wealth, i.e., the business people or *vaiśya*. The third are inquisitive people who continuously enquire, continuously ask, '*Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim? Tataḥ kim?'* (What next?) A *kṣatriya*, for example, never rests because he constantly asks, 'What next? What next? What next?' The fourth is the person who searches for knowledge of the Absolute: He is a *brāhmaṇa.*

'All four come to Me, all four reach Me, but from different levels.' From different levels all four go to the same God, but they will not experience Him in the same way. They experience Him in different ways, according to their maturity. As long as you are caught in fear or greed, you will be attracted and go only to those types of gods. It is easy to go to a temple and pray, but difficult to go to a living Master and meditate. It is for mature people, not for everyone In the temple we see thousands; but in spiritual places, we see a few hundred. It is not for all; it's a luxury!

### Spirituality is a Luxury

Spirituality is a luxury; only a few intelligent people can afford it! The price of spirituality is the limit of our suffering! Only if we have had enough suffering can we afford to get into spirituality. It is only for people who have understood that they have suffered. There are two things: It is not only the suffering, but the understanding that we suffer. This understanding is what I call intelligence. This intelligence happens even beyond age and experience. Just a glimpse of life is enough if this intelligence is there; we will understand how suffering happens and we will not get caught in it! Both—the suffering and the understanding—are needed to enter into spiritual life.

'The person who approaches Me out of love and gratitude, is the best person, for I am dear to him and he is dear to Me.' By this one verse, Kṛṣṇa ends the whole conversation, the whole concept.

> *teṣāṁ jñānī nitya yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate I
> priyo hi jñānino 'tyartham ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ II 7.17*

Kṛṣṇa says, 'Starting at different levels is ok, but don't stop there.' We can start or take off from any level. However we should not stop and stagnate there. It is like failing to proceed to the second standard from the first. It is as if we want to stay in the same cozy, familiar level. It takes many lifetimes to understand and achieve this maturity. When I say it takes many lives, some think, 'Let me take some more lives and become mature.' Now, that's a big problem. Whenever we speak, we must make things very clear, otherwise you can't imagine how many different ways people will interpret it!

A small story:

Once, a great scholar recounted the story of Hariścandra. Most people in Bharat know the story of Hariścandra, a king who lived to uphold the truth with integrity and authenticity, and sold his wife for the sake of the truth. Just to keep his promise, he sold his wife. Such was his greatness.

The scholar narrated the whole story. After narrating the story, he asked one person, 'What did you understand from this story?'

The person said, 'Master, I understood that truth is the most important thing in life. We should give up everything for the sake of the truth. Truth is the ultimate.'

The scholar was pleased. He asked the next person, 'What did you understand?' The man said, 'Master, I understood that in an emergency, it is ok to sell your wife.'

From the same story, two people have two different understandings! So be very clear, don't miss the understanding. A common saying is, 'As many Masters, so many paths.' However I say, 'As many disciples, so many paths!' The Master may utter the same truth to his disciples, yet each understands and interprets in his or her own way. They all approach the Divine, but from different planes. Hence the attitude, the context with which one approaches matters how one experiences the Divine.

Here Kṛṣṇa says, 'Out of these, the wise is always devoted to Me. He is the best person.' To start with, you can start at any level, yet you must strive to reach the Ultimate. And please don't think, 'Oh! Kṛṣṇa says it will take many lives; let me take some more lives and become mature.'

No! If you can enter into the knowledge this moment, the experience can happen to you this very moment. You don't need to postpone. Every moment is a new birth for you and every moment is death. The outgoing breath is death, and the incoming breath is birth. So be very clear, every moment you die and take birth. This moment can be a new birth for you. The person who understands this truth takes a new birth. He is called *dvijā*. A person who is initiated is called *dvijā* in Saṃskrit, which means twice-born or reborn. All *Sannyāsis* are twice-born or *dvijā.* 'Reborn' does not refer to being reborn physically, but at the being level. They give birth to themselves. So understand that in this moment, a new birth can happen to you.

### He Is Very Dear To Me

Kṛṣṇa says: *ahaṁ sa ca mama priyaḥ*—He is dear to Me, and I am dear to him. He is in Me and I am in him. Kṛṣṇa says beautifully that He is in you and you are in Him. The moment you understand this ultimate Truth, the moment you approach the Divine with the right attitude, you become the Divine. All you need to do is change your attitude. Over! Change your inner space and the whole thing is done.

Please listen, one important thing. The Master or the Divine is in you only when you engage yourself in enriching service to Him. Sitting in front of the Master or the Divine, just enjoying the form, is not the enriching service Kṛṣṇa talks about. Then you are only chasing Him from a purely selfish motive.

When you devote yourself to the divine mission, you become a devotee. That is when you become dear to Him. Your worship is no longer selfish. It is towards the mission of the Divine, in whatever form. I tell my followers: Stop sitting in front of me, gazing and waiting for words to drop. Work for my mission. Enrich yourself and others by helping me to transform people. As long as you sit and gaze, you chase me. When you work for my mission, I chase you. I shall always be with you.

Here Kṛṣṇa says clearly, 'one who knows Me, dwells in Me. Being engaged in My mission, he attains Me, *āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā mām evānuttamāṁ gatim* (7.18).'

When the scriptures say, 'Follow the Master,' they do not mean to follow the form. They advise you to follow the teachings of the Master, so that you can be the master too. They tell you to follow the institution of the Master, his community, his *sanga*. When we follow these three, the Master, his teachings and his mission, we are on the path to liberation. Only after many births and deaths can we relate to an enlightened person. We will not be able to relate to an Enlightened Master unless we undergo many births and deaths.

I told you about the seven steps in spiritual progress—1) go around many temples, perform many rituals, pilgrimages, etc. 2) do rituals by yourself 3) concentrate and pray to one God 4) instead of rituals, chant verses in praise of God 5) instead of chanting, visualize His form and meditate upon it 6) instead of meditating on any form, fall into that same consciousness, realize that the form and your soul are one and the same, that God and the soul are one and the same 7) experience reality! Don't think these seven steps will be done in one lifetime. People take hundreds of lives to achieve this maturity. It is rare to achieve this maturity.


Kṛṣṇa says: *sa mahātmā sūdurlabhaḥ* (7.19)—indeed, very rare is it to see such great souls who have achieved that maturity. It is easy to relate with gods in the temple because they don't demand discipline or purity from us. We can pray to Him, do whatever we want, and think He has blessed us and go away. However, relating with a living enlightened Master is difficult. People ask me, 'Why do Masters become popular after their death?' This is because it is easy to cheat ourselves with a photograph. We can do whatever we want and project everything as His blessings. And most importantly, we don't have to give up our ego with dead Masters. Connecting with dead Masters is easy because they don't demand our ego. We don't need to surrender. That is why there will be large crowds with dead Masters and temples. Sometimes we sit beneath that photograph and represent the Master. But this whole game is nothing but an ego fulfilling game.

But with a living enlightened Master, we need to transform our life. We need to experience the truth. He will not let us sleep or rest. He will haunt us until we realize the truth. He will not let us do what we want. He will not fulfill our ego.

I always tell people, 'Dead masters are dead. The living Master is death!' The living Master will be death for us, death for our ego. We cannot play our games with him. We must grow and become mature beings. We cannot play the same old game and put his name in front. He shakes us. He awakens us.

### **Living Master Is A Nightmare, Siṃha Svapna**!

Living Masters are nightmares. That is why people are afraid to come near a living Master. We can't play the same game with him. The game will be his! He is the director. Only a person who has understood, after many, many births and deaths, who has matured, who has enough knowledge, surrenders to Me, surrenders to the living Master, says Kṛṣṇa.

In Bharat, especially in Tamil Nadu, kids play with wooden dolls. For one doll, they will drape a *sāri* and say, 'This is mother.' They will dress another in a *dhoti* and call it father, then brother, and so on. They say, 'Mother is cooking. Father is going to office,' and place the father doll in a small car. And then, they will say, 'Sister is going to school.' They will make cry sounds as though the sister cries not wanting to go to school.

This seems like a game for kids. But please understand, you play the same game too in your life. You catch somebody and say, 'You are my mother, you are my father, you are my wife, you are my husband, you are my son, and you are my brother.' And if that doll doesn't behave according to your frame or your image, you say, 'It's not a good doll,' and you throw it away and cry. In the same way, when somebody doesn't behave according to your frame, you feel they hurt you. You want all the people in your life to play their role the way *you* want them to play. When that doesn't happen, you feel hurt. Then, suddenly, you die. You leave the body.

When you go to another place, in your next birth, you again catch one more set of dolls and start the same game. Sometimes you bring dolls into the game, sometimes you throw dolls out of the game, sometimes you fire and sometimes you pamper them. If you don't have enough dolls, you get some cats or dogs to play with. Again and again, you play the same game. Only a person who is a little mature thinks, 'What am I doing? How many times will I do this same psychodrama?'

Please listen! The whole thing is a psychodrama! Whether it is a relationship, or whether it is life itself, it is nothing but a psychodrama. You have an agenda. Society has taught you that, as a father, as a husband, or as a son, you should behave in a certain pre-defined manner. The person who understands that he is playing the same drama again and again, has achieved knowledge, the real intelligence about what is happening. Then naturally you surrender. You surrender unto Me, asserts Kṛṣṇa.

Kṛṣṇa says, 'One who understands that the cause of all causes is Me, realizes the ultimate divine. He realizes thus, 'How many times will I play the same drama? How many times will I make the same mistakes?' Until this realization, the whole thing is repeated again and again without end, without the experience.'

'The person who has understood, who has knowledge of this truth, surrenders unto Me, surrenders to the Master, an enlightened being *jñānavān māṁ prapadyate*, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all there is. Such a great soul is rare—*vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sūdurlabhaḥ* (7.19).'

Only a person who has achieved this knowledge sees and relates with the Master in the real sense. There's a beautiful verse that says, 'Even if you have seen an enlightened Master *once*, you will become enlightened.' Some people ask me, 'Why haven't I become enlightened yet, *Swamiji?*' Be very clear, 'Never think that you are seeing *me*; never think that by seeing through your eyes, you can see the Divine. You can see *my form*, but not *me*. Even if you have seen many Enlightened Masters, never think that you have seen them.' The attitude or the space from which you have seen them plays a major role. If you went to them with fear or greed, you went to a demigod and not to an enlightened Master.

Only if you go with an attitude of love and gratitude, with maturity, only then do you *see* a living enlightened Master. The moment you see an enlightened being *as He is*, you *will* become enlightened. There's no doubt about it.

## I Am In Your Heart

*7.20 Those whose discrimination has been distorted by various desires, surrender unto deities.They follow specific rules and regulations of worship according to their own nature.*

*7.21 I am in everyone's heart as the Super Soul. As soon as one desires to worship some deity, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.*

*7.22 Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires; In reality, these benefits are granted by Me alone.*

*7.23 Men of limited intelligence worship the demigods and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go only to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees reach My supreme planet.*

He says: I am in everyone's heart as the *Paramātman* (super soul). As soon as one desires to worship a particular deity, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.

Please understand that when He says 'deity' or 'demigod', He doesn't mean the Supreme. Even if you approach Kṛṣṇa out of fear or greed, you approach only a demigod. When He says the word demigod, He means the attitude with which we approach the Divine; how we approach the Divine. With the right approach, even if you approach a demigod, he will be supreme! He will give you enlightenment. With the wrong approach, even if you approach Kṛṣṇa, you will have only material benefits.

There is a beautiful *Līlā*, happening of a divine play from Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa's life.

## Bhagavad Gita Decoded

A rich man prayed to Kṛṣṇa to become a king. Twice a day, morning and evening he repeated, 'Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa.' He always asked Kṛṣṇa thus, 'Kṛṣṇa, please give me a kingdom. Kṛṣṇa, I want to become a king.'

There was another poor lady, who had only one cow. With that milk she made a little butter and some sweets and offered it to Kṛṣṇa. The whole day she sat and chanted Kṛṣṇa's name.

Suddenly one day Kṛṣṇa appeared and responded to both of them. This man, who had asked for a kingdom, became a king. And in the case of this lady who prayed everyday toKṛṣṇa, her cow died.

Nārada asked Kṛṣṇa, 'What is this, Kṛṣṇa? That man who repeats your name only twice a day has been made a king by you. This lady who remembers you 24 hours a day, got deprived of her only cow. What is this? Is it fair?'

Kṛṣṇa says, 'That man only wants the kingdom. He came to Me only for that. I am a utility to him. So I blessed him with what he wants. But for her, I was her whole life. There was only one small hindrance, only one thing that stood between her and Me, and that was the cow! I took that away. I removed that hindrance also. Now she has come to Me and completely become Me!'

Whatever our approach to the Divine is, it plays an important role in our spiritual progress. If we approach Kṛṣṇa out of fear or greed, we worship a demigod. But Kṛṣṇa says we are not wrong, but just that it is not enough. Kṛṣṇa is not here to discourage us. Understand, nothing is wrong, but it is not enough, it is not complete. That is not the place to stop. It is a good place to have a visa, but not to have a green card or citizenship. Here, the planets or palaces of demigods are good places to visit, but not the right place to stay.

Kṛṣṇa says, 'Because I am in everyone's heart as the super soul, the

moment you desire to worship some demigod, I shall make your faith steady, so you can devote yourself to that particular deity.'

# **Stages of Seeking**

Let me describe how a seeker usually travels through all these paths and eventually reaches. When you start as a normal seeker, you hear about all kinds of rituals. You hear that a particular *pūjā* (worship), a particular *homa* (fire ritual) will give some specific benefit, and you starts doing these things. On Friday, you fast for Devi (the divine mother), on Saturday, you fast for Bālāji (another name for Lord Viṣṇu), on Sunday you fast for some other god, on Monday you fast for Śiva, on Tuesday for Skanda (Lord Subrahmanya), on Thursday for the Guru (the master), and so on.

This is the way it starts. Then slowly, you not only go to all these *pūjās* and *homas*, you also go to many different temples. After some time, you understand that these rituals and trips to the temples are too much. Then you think, 'Why let somebody else do these things for me? Let me directly do it and relate with the Divine.' You start your own temple in your own home. You engage in worship. This happens when you become a little mature. You think that you should feel directly connected to the Divine. 'Let me do it by myself,' you think.

The first level in spirituality is going around visiting all the temples, watching all the types of offerings. The second level is doing it yourself. The third level is realizing, 'The Divine is there in all the gods, in all the forms. But I think I feel more attracted towards this one god, this particular god. So let me concentrate on worshipping the Divine in this form.' Having one form and offering only to that form is *iśṭa niṣṭa*. This is the third level. The fourth level happens when you think, 'More than these types of offerings, sounds imbued with energy is more powerful. Let me chant the sacred verses.'

**Understand: surrendering through the body is** *pūjā***; surrendering through words is** *japa***, chanting verses in praise of the Lord; surrendering through the mind is** *jñāna***, wisdom or knowledge of** **the Self.** So here you think, 'Why not chant the name of God?' You start repeating the name of your favorite deity.

At every level of completion, different gods appeal to you; at every level, different Gurus or masters appeal to you, and you grow in your feeling connection or devotion with them. When you are at the level of going to pilgrimage places, people who guide you to these pilgrimage centers appeal to you. When you come to the level of *pūjā* and *homā*, other people who also do these rituals appeal to you! The person who teaches you *pūjā* appeals and connects to you. Even the people who teach you any skills like dancing, acting, martial arts, or even those who educate you in your studies and profession, they connect to you. The *pūjā ācarya* or anyone who teaches and inspires you becomes your guru.

Next, when you come to the level of completion where you begin focusing and offering to only one deity, the deity becomes your guru. This is *iśṭa niṣṭa*. *Iśṭa niṣṭa* **means bowing down, revering only your** *iśṭa,* **your chosen deity.** Wherever you bow down, even if you bow down to your father or mother, you should know that I bow down to my *iśṭa* who is in your heart—your *ānanda gandha*.

Next, after some time you think, 'Why only repeat this verse? Why not do some meditation?' Now the person who teaches you meditation appeals to you. Meditation is again *saguṇa brahman*, which means meditating on a form. This is *Līlā dhyāna*, the next level of completion or next space of *iśṭa niṣṭa*.

*Līlā dhyāna* **means strongly feeling connected to your own version of your chosen ideal.** You are free to choose your ideal in Hindu tradition. You can choose your own Guru. You need to understand, living with your chosen ideal is called *iśṭa niṣṭa*. *Līlā dhyāna* means constantly remembering the actions and the life of your chosen ideal and being immersed in the qualities, words, actions, body language and life of the Master; whatever you may be doing, being totally immersed in Him.

Understand, you may accept all divine beings. It is not that you will not go to Viṣṇu temple or Devi temple, but if you are connected to Śiva, if you have chosen Śiva as your ideal, you will know only He is your ideal.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahamsa gives a very beautiful example of *iśṭa niṣṭa*. A woman in the house will serve everybody. She will serve the brother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, husband's elder brother, younger brother, sister's husband; she will serve everyone, give them food and take care of them. But she knows her personal space is only for her husband! Same way, you may bow down in front of any god, any deity, any guru, but you know you are bowing down only to your Guru in these forms.

# **Living with God—Levels of Completion**

Listen, I am defining *Līlā Dhyāna.*

*Līlā dhyāna* **means being lost in the pastimes of the guru or god.** With god, one thing is that you may not be directly involved in the whole līlā. So you have to remember, remember and try to practice. With a living Guru, you are directly part of the divine play. So, you don't need to try to remember, remember; He will be remembering you! He will be remembering you! This is called *līlā dhyāna*. Even if you are afraid that he is going to shout at you, it is *līlā dhyāna*.

Listen! Practicing the presence of God is constantly feeling you are with Him, He is with you. Practicing the presence of God is the greatest, most powerful technique to put you in *bhāva samādhi* immediately. Bhagavān Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa did it; Bhagavān Ramaṇa Mahaṛṣi also practiced it.


# Understanding Completion

You know you are bowing down only to your chosen ideal, *Iṣṭa niṣṭa*. Same way, if your chosen ideal is Śiva, or Devi, or Kṛṣṇa, even if you bow down to me, you should bow down to me as an embodiment of your chosen ideal. And, if your chosen ideal is me, then even if you bow down to anybody else, you should bow down to them only as an embodiment of me. That is *iṣṭa niṣṭa*. Practicing the presence of God, *Līlā dhyāna*, and *Iṣṭa niṣṭa*, all the three boil down to the same space, space of *bhāva samādhi.*

I tell my disciples to practice *Iṣṭa niṣṭa*, with the whole Existence cognizing—'I bow down to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM who is in your *ānanda gandha*; whether he is awakened or not, whether you experience or not, He is there in your *ānanda gandha*. If you are initiated into *ānanda gandha*, you will also experience him. If not, you may not experience, but I can experience. I bow down to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM who is in your *ānanda gandha.*'

Understand, *ānanda gandha* is a nādi, a subtle cosmic energy center just below *anāhata cakra* (heart center) and above *maṇipūraka cakra* (stomach center), which is awakened only by an Incarnation. The Inner Awakening program participants are initiated into *ānanda gandha* and they become Nithya Spiritual healers as the channels of Cosmic energy transmitting healing to the world. Listen! What you are carrying in the *ānanda gandha* will become reality. Please understand, your *ānanda gandha* is the source of your life. Just like any slide kept in front of projector light becomes reality, any truth kept in front of your inner space, your *ānanda gandha* becomes a reality.

I have seen so many people, ordinary village men and women in Bharat, living with their chosen ideal and living the highest enlightened life without even knowing the words integrity, authenticity, and all that! Without knowing any of these words, they are radiating Enlightenment! I tell you, just this one truth of *Iṣṭa niṣṭa* and *Līlā dhyāna* has made millions of village Hindus, Hindu villagers enlightened! Millions of Hindu villagers practice the presence of God.

Practicing the presence of God makes you more and more authentic. That is the beauty of the Hindu tradition! Beauty of the *Vedic* spiritual tradition! *Iṣṭa niṣṭa* makes you do lot of self-completion with you.

So, the *first level of completion* is attending rituals and visiting temples, *pūjā* and *yātrā*. The second level is doing the rituals yourself, *pūjā.* The third level is having the feeling connection and concentrating on one deity, and offering only to that deity, *iṣṭa niṣṭa*. The fourth level of completion is realizing that the verses are more powerful than rituals, and you start chanting the name of your *iṣṭa*. The fifth level is visualizing a form and meditating on His pastimes and being immersed in His qualities, words, actions, body language and life; instead of chanting, you enter the space of feeling and living with His presence. Then, when you sincerely meditate, He Himself appears. He gives you His *darśan* (vision) and guides you to the higher level of practice. He guides you to the right living Master. Sometimes He gives you *darśan* and guides you; sometimes He automatically makes you feel connected to your Master.

Only a person who has come to this level of completion can feel directly connected to a living Enlightened Master. Till you reach this level of completion, till this maturity happens, you cannot straightaway feel completely connected to an enlightened person.

**You need to go through all five levels of completion, only then will you feel completely connected to a living Master.** When you come to the stage where you meditate on a single form, the Master happens in your life and guides you to the highest level of completion, enriching you with Enlightenment.

The form upon which you meditate and your own form are expressions of the same divine energy. So the Master puts you into real meditation. This means turning towards yourself, turning towards your own consciousness, turning towards your own being or soul. He gives you the technique to realize your being. This is the *sixth level of completion.*

The *seventh level of completion*, the ultimate completion, the complete completion is when you experience that *you are That.* You achieve Enlightenment!

This is the usual route of completion that seekers travel on, starting from the first level of completion, moving to the second level, and ending with the ultimate and complete completion of experiencing the Self. Completion is Self! Now find out in which level of completion you are in and try to go to the next level. That's all. That is all you need to do. Just go on completing, completing, completing with everything, with Guru, with God, with Sadguru, with life!

Here Kṛṣṇa says, 'Because I reside in everyone's heart as the super soul, when somebody desires to worship a demigod, I make his faith steady, so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.' When you approach the Divine even from the first level of completion, He helps you. He enriches you without doubt. He never gives up on you. You may give up on yourself, but He never gives up on you. One of the biggest qualities of an Incarnation is that He never gives up on you!

When you start, you are like 18 carat gold. There's nothing wrong with 18 carat gold, but you need to be put into the fire a little bit, and slowly, you become 22 carat gold. Then you reach the Master, a living enlightened Master. Then slowly you become 24 carat gold, and you become enlightened. If you throw away the first step, giving up on the 18 carat gold, you never reach the second step. Unless you have gone through the earlier steps of completion, it will be difficult to relate and have feeling connection to a living Master.

One morning, a man came to visit me and started speaking to me. He expressed his confusion. This happened after he had read many books. He said, 'I am now more confused than before.' In the *Gītā,* Arjuna says the same thing. After a few chapters, he says, 'Oh Kṛṣṇa, I am now more confused than before hearing the *Gītā*!'

Understand, this clearly means that you have done your spiritual practice well! You really did your practice. Understanding that a particular practice is not helping you is the right enriching derived from the practice!

Buddha teaches meditation to one of his disciples. The disciple tries his best to meditate and comes back and says, 'Buddha, I am unable to meditate!' Then Buddha says, 'Don't worry. You have understood properly. That is the purpose of this meditation. Understanding that you are not able to meditate is the purpose of this meditation. You have done it. Now forget about it and come to the next step.'

Sometimes these techniques make us mature by giving us the understanding that we are unable to do the technique. That understanding is a big maturity. There's nothing wrong in it.

Approaching the Divine in some form is the first step, or the first level. There's nothing wrong in that, but don't stop there. Here Kṛṣṇa says, 'I make his faith steady, so that he can devote himself to that particular deity,' which means that he can grow in that particular space of completion. There is the possibility of growth. He says, 'I don't discourage him; I make his faith steady, so that he will slowly come up to higher levels of completion.'

Kṛṣṇa says, 'Even if you approach Me with an attitude of fear or greed, I fulfill your needs. It is My own energy which fulfills them, so that you grow, and you come up to the next level of completion.'

If you receive boons through demigods, do not think that those deities are responsible for it. Do not think that the idols that you pray to are the ones who granted your prayers. All these are granted by the ultimate energy, the Existential energy. But you are not expected to stop with these boons. You are expected to grow further levels of completion.

I always tell people, when you approach the Divine, first all your dreams will become reality. The divine will bless you. All your desires will be realized. Later on, the Divine will give you the understanding that the reality you perceive is itself a dream! First God gives the *śakti* (energy) to turn your dreams into reality. Then He gives the *buddhi* (intelligence) to realize that reality itself is a dream!

That is what He says here: When I bless you, according to your maturity, as per your level of completion and based on the way in which you approach the Divine, I give everything.

There are many educated individuals who question me about the wisdom of idol worship and rituals. A small happening from Swami Vivekananda's life.

> A disciple was massaging Vivekananda's feet. A follower, a young student, came to Vivekananda, prostrated at his feet and said, 'I adore you. I adore you because you despise all these superstitions about idol worship and bathing in the Ganges. You are truly educated.'

Vivekananda roared at him, 'You fool, what do you know about my beliefs. I pray everyday to Ma Kāli and bathe in the Ganges. Shed all your notions that worshipping idols is foolish and learn how to pray.'

Soon after, an elderly scholar came to Vivekananda and said, 'Master, you are the greatest. Whatever you have said about learning the scriptures and going to temples is so powerful. I wish everyone would talk like you do.'

Vivekananda said to him, 'What do you know about the scriptures? Is there any point in reading all this outdated material? It only makes your ego stronger. Stop this nonsense and meditate.'

After the scholar left, the shocked disciple asked Vivekananda, 'Master, I am confused. You have just reversed your position with these two people. What should I do?'

Vivekananda said, 'Just keep your mouth shut and massage my feet. That is good for you.'

When you go to a temple and worship an idol, when you are in the first level of completion, you might feel that you are praying to a stone or metal idol. As your completion grows, you will realize that the idol is not just stone or metal; it is living energy. Even without much effort, you will start feeling the energy inside the temple.

Why do you think millions of people, visit holy shrines in Tirupati or Varanasi or Tiruvannamalai? A few hundred people can be misled, but not millions, and that too without any enticement. They go because they feel relieved, they feel deeply enriched; not all of them go merely out of greed and fear. There are thousands who go because unknowingly they feel the hand of God, as it were. They feel the touch and they feel the 'energy connection'.

Hindus worship *through* the idols, not the idols themselves; our rituals address the energy behind these idols. Logic cannot make us understand this. Only faith can, the *śraddha* that comes from authenticity. We need to go through this stage of worshipping the form before we realize the formless. Otherwise we will all be intellectual monsters. Religions that condemn idol worship without understanding the philosophy behind worship breed confusion that leads to destruction.

In every form of learning we need to advance step-by-step. Only if we are an exception can we be promoted to university education without attending high school. Such exceptions are rare, and prove the rule. When we consider idol worship foolish and meaningless, it only means that we are foolish and ignorant. The minute science advances and when a scientist measures the energy vibration of our temples and proves that these are centers of cosmic energy, *kṣetras,* the same people will be queuing up at the temples.

When thousands and millions of people congregate to celebrate the Divine and offer gratitude, any place becomes a temple, a place of worship. Every twelve years, tens of millions of people gather by the sacred river Gaṅgā in Bharat to celebrate Kumbh Melā. In certain years 100 million people have gathered on this occasion, in what is certainly the largest gathering in the world. No invitations or promotions are done, just the dates of Kumbh Melā mark the vedic calendar or Pañcānga on a Hindu's home wall, that's all! Simply millions and millions gather.

As these people bathe in the sacred river with deep *śraddha* (authenticity), gratitude and prayers, the river gets purified and in turn purifies them. It is a deep bio-spiritual interaction that raises the energy of the planet and the Universe.

When Kṛṣṇa says, 'He goes to the planets of the demigods,' don't think there is some planet out there! He talks about inner space and experience. If we worship some god out of greed, we never come out of that greed. We will be continuously caught in greed. If we worship some god out of fear, we will be always in that fear. If we worship the Divine out of love and gratitude, we experience a totally different inner space, the space of completion, the space of Enlightenment.

Hell and heaven are not geographical; they are psychological. Now all we need to know is how to create heaven, how to create the space of completion. There's nothing that needs to be learnt about the art of creating hell. Now, it is time to learn how to create heaven.

Kṛṣṇa says: Men of small intelligence—people caught in greed or fear, attention-need or worry—worship the demigods. Of course, sometimes we worship the demigods; sometimes we approach Bhagāvan Kṛṣṇa or the ultimate God with the same incomplete attitude—the attitude of asking and begging.

If we carry the incomplete cognition of greed, whether we worship Kubera, the god who gives money, or Kṛṣṇa, in effect we worship only a *devata* (demigod). Even if we worship Kṛṣṇa with that same incomplete cognition out of our space of incompletion, we worship only a demigod. It is the cognition of completion or incompletion that makes Kṛṣṇa either the ultimate God, *Bhagavān* or a demigod, *Deva*. It is we who create the cognition, the space. It is we who create the energy. By worshipping *Devatas*, we attain *Devatas.*

This is an important *sūtra*, a technique. It says:

*antavattu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpamedhasāṁ । devān devayajo yānti madbhaktā yānti mām api ॥ 7.23*

It says that when we get boons from demigods, they are temporary. God will bless us with wealth when we ask Him. But we need intelligence to preserve and to protect wealth. So be very clear, when we receive anything out of energy, without having the maturity to receive and sustain it, it is only temporary. If we have enough intelligence and maturity to have wealth, then naturally, we would have created it. Because we don't have *buddhi,* wisdom, we ask God to give us *śakti*, energy. If we get *śakti* without *buddhi,* it will only be temporary.


That is what Kṛṣṇa says: If we get *śakti* without *buddhi,* it is temporary. It will not remain with us. That is why He says that boons derived from demigods are temporary, not permanent. And if we continue to worship them, we are stuck with them. We create that kind of energy in our inner space. We live with that kind of energy in our being.

# **Gratitude—The Greatest Attitude**

He makes one more statement: *madbhaktā yānti mām api—*My devotees attain Me. Then He says these words: If you approach Me with the ultimate attitude, with the attitude of love and gratitude, you achieve Me. The greatest attitude is gratitude. If you approach Me with gratitude, you experience Me.

Again and again people ask me, '*Swamiji*, when I have so many problems, how can I be grateful?' Listen, we continuously pray, 'Oh God, please give me a diamond ring.' Do we feel grateful that He gave us the finger to wear the ring? We don't feel grateful that He gave us the finger. Be very clear, the finger is not our birthright. There are thousands of people who don't have hands. There are thousands who don't have a finger. It's not our birthright.

We continuously pray intensely, in all possible ways, 'Oh God, give me this. Oh God, give me that.' But we never feel grateful for the things that are showered on us.

This very life is a blessing! Can we say that our life has been given to us as payment for some job that we did in Vaikuṇṭha (abode of Lord Viṣṇu) or Kailāśa (abode of Lord Śiva)? No! It's not as if we worked for 100 years in Kailāśa, and earned a check that says, 'Alright, have 70 years of life.' If we work in the army, they give us money to study. It's not like that; we did not get life as a salary. It's a pure blessing showered on us.

Every breath is a blessing! The breath that we inhale and exhale is a boon given to us. This very life is a blessing. Continuously we miss things that are not part of our possession. But we never experience the things that are showered on us by the Divine. Each of us has a big list of things that God has not given us and we also have a big list of things that God has given us. If you take a paper and pen and start writing these lists, both lists will be endless. Every moment of our life is a gift from the Divine. We are alive, we are still conscious; that by itself is a gift from the Divine.

Now it's up to us whether to look at the list of things not given to us and constantly feel miserable and live in hell, or look at the list of things showered on us and be in heaven. The second way makes us feel deeply grateful. It makes us say, 'Oh God! You have showered so much on me, and given me the blessing of life.' We feel grateful and create our abode, Vaikuṇṭa or Kailāśa. It's purely our choice.

Kṛṣṇa says, 'These men of small intelligence worship demigods. Their results are temporary.' We continue to live that way. When we feel life is a blessing and we approach the Divine with deep love and gratitude, not only do we experience divine consciousness, Kṛṣṇa says: They achieve ME. They attain ME—*madbhaktā yānti mām api.*

There's another verse where Kṛṣṇa beautifully says: 'If you ask for something, I will give you that. If you don't ask for anything, I will give you Me.' People say, 'Who wants Him? We want Him only as a utility, not Him. As long as He serves our purpose, things are ok. So we don't want Him.' People want only solutions. They don't want the Divine.

# No One Knows Me

*7.24 Unintelligent men, who do not know My Supreme Nature, think that I, the Supreme Divinity, the Bhagavān, who was unmanifest before, and have assumed an embodied form now. They do not know that I am imperishable and Ultimate, even when I assume the body.*

*7.25 I am never revealed to the foolish and unintelligent, covered as I am by My divine power [yogamāyā]. The ignorant do not know Me, the unborn and eternal.*

*7.26 O Arjuna, as the Supreme Divinity, I know all that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all that is to happen in the future. I also know all living entities; but no one knows Me.*

*7.27 O scion of Bhārata [Arjuna], all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of attachment and aversion, Parantapa, conqueror of foes.*

Unintelligent men, who do not know my supreme, illimitable and immortal form, assume my illimitable form as manifested. Here is another important verse. When He says earlier—My devotees achieve Me, attain Me—naturally Arjuna would have had the doubt: are you one more *devata* (demigod)?

So Kṛṣṇa gives the explanation: 'Unintelligent men, who are not mature, think I am just this form. Only an intelligent man understands that I am immortal. Even when I assume this form, I am that same consciousness. I have not become an ordinary human being by assuming a human form.' He declares His divinity openly. He declares, 'I am the same even when I assume a human form. Don't think I am one more demigod.'

He says, 'I am unborn, immortal, illimitable, even when I assume this form. Even when I assume this form, I am that same ultimate divine. I am not an ordinary man.' This is an important statement. This statement is made to declare His enlightenment and to express clearly and explicitly, 'I am enlightened. I am the embodiment of the ultimate consciousness.' The problem is that the person who is receiving this is not mature enough to recognize it as such.

People ask me again and again, 'Why is Kṛṣṇa repeatedly declaring that He is enlightened?' That's a big problem. If you talk about something again and again, people tend to think that something is wrong with that.

There is a proverb in Tamil: If you wear a new ring, you always gesture with that hand because you continuously show it off. If you wear a new earring, what will you do? You shake your head to show it off! If you speak about something again and again, there's something wrong with that thing. If you are clear about it, why should you speak about it again and again? This is how a spiritually immature person will misunderstand what is said.

Arjuna is approaching Kṛṣṇa out of fear and greed. When the Gītā started, Arjuna approached Kṛṣṇa out of fear and depression, and also out of greed, with the 'What is beneficial for me?' attitude. He asked Kṛṣṇa what would give maximum benefit, which is an expression of the attitude of greed.

Next he experiences fear. He is afraid of what will happen in the war. Fear and greed—that is the way he approaches Kṛṣṇa. So initially even Arjuna sees Kṛṣṇa as a demigod. At the initial level, Arjuna's approach is also as though it is towards a demigod. That is the reason why Kṛṣṇa now declares His glory, or His true form.

He says, 'All types of people come to Me. I fulfill them at different levels, to encourage their faith and to enrich them to grow. But only intelligent people understand, that even if I assume this body, I am the ultimate, I am enlightened. Unintelligent people think by seeing my body, by seeing my form, that I am not the Divine. So please be very clear: I am THAT.' He makes a clear statement again and again, so that Arjuna understands.

We need to understand two important issues here. First, the formless energy of Kṛṣṇa defines His supremacy, His divinity, His Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Second, in whatever form the formless is expressed, it is divine. It is the awareness of that divinity in Him that makes Kṛṣṇa divine, the supreme Master. If that awareness happens in you, you will be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, immersed in Him; and you will be divine too. The intelligence Kṛṣṇa talks about is the intelligent awareness of one's own divinity, not merely that of Kṛṣṇa. They are both one and the same. It is only when we are aware of our divinity that we appreciate the Divine.

I say to my disciples, 'Till you become enlightened, you will have no clear awareness of who I am. Till then you try to reach me only out of fear or greed, however slight it may be. It is only when you are enlightened and are in the same awareness as me, only when it is no longer necessary for you to fear me or desire through me, that you open up to me in sheer gratitude.'

That is the intelligence that Kṛṣṇa speaks about. When that intelligence exhibits itself, when that awareness surfaces, then and only then true recognition of the Divine happens. That true recognition happens when you recognize the Divine within you.

## **How To Recognize Divinity?**

Kṛṣṇa asks: How can you recognize divinity when you are covered in ignorance? How can you recognize Me when you are not aware?

Out of the thousands who come to me, tens of thousands, the vast majority seeks favors of one kind or another. They come for the healing of the body and mind, or they come for repairing relationships, and for material benefits. Even those who do not look for material benefits may aspire to that intangible peace and bliss.

It is the rare person who comes without asking anything. It is not

even seeking a benefit, tangible or intangible, that leads such people. It is an awareness of what they need to be and where they need to be. They are attracted like iron filings to a magnet. It is a call from their being which leads them to me.

In Mahābhārat, the Pāṇḍava princes could recognize the reality of Kṛṣṇa. No one needed to coach them for it. On the other hand, their cousins the Kaurava for the most part denied Kṛṣṇa. They rejected and ridiculed Him. Duryodhana, who was offered the first choice by Kṛṣṇa to choose either Him unarmed or His Yadava army, chose the utilitarian army! That was all Duryodhana could see. That was his level of awareness, steeped as he was in ignorance.

Arjuna jumped at Kṛṣṇa's offer. All Arjuna wanted was Kṛṣṇa, His presence, not His army, not His divine powers, nothing else. It is a choice that all of us need to make, whether we wish to be Duryodhana or Arjuna. It is not a difficult choice, as it will be determined by our being and our awareness. It will not be a choice at all. It will be a happening.

'No one knows Me, *māṁ tu veda na kaścana* (7.26)', says the Master. How true! 'Don't take me for granted,' says Kṛṣṇa. 'Do not put me in a frame for I shall not stay there,' He says.

Can you know Nature? Can you predict Nature? Each time you think you can, Nature does things differently. Then you say Nature is cruel, and ask why Nature is so cruel. Nature is Nature, not cruel, not kind, it just is.

So is Kṛṣṇa. His compassion is not pity as we imagine. The compassion of the Master is beyond our frames of time and space. So we cannot fathom what that means. When a tsunami kills a thousand people, we weep. When we pray and then win a lottery, we make a donation to the temple, since we are very pleased. Divine compassion is not related to these. It is the truth that is beyond time and space.

Those who stay around me have experienced that whatever I say is the truth and it happens. They don't question me, not because they are afraid. What control can I have over them? They are free to leave any time they want. In fact, I tell them the only thing that causes me to pause is when a disciple leaves me, because then I have lost the chance to enrich him. They know the way enlightened beings flow. They recognize that and they simply follow. They know that when I tell them something, it is not just a fact but the truth: truth that is not constrained by time and space.

> Over two years ago when I went to the Himalayas with a group of disciples to the *cār-dhām* pilgrimage centers, I had asked them to tell the local religious authorities that I am a Mahāmanḍaleśvar. This title is given to the leader of a very large Hindu religious organization. It is more than a title; it confers spiritual leadership, like being canonized as a saint leader. Without questioning, they announced that a Mahāmanḍaleśvar had arrived. They accepted the statement and gave the due respect when I visited the temples.

> Back in 2007, I was at the Ardh Kumbh Melā at Prayāg in Northern Bharat, which normally happens every 4 years. However this time the sacred river Gangā reversed Her direction, and this happens once in every 144 years. So it was more significant and 90 million people gathered for a dip in the holy river. I went with a large group of disciples. In every Kumbh Melā, the first right to dip on the day of the royal bath is given to the *nāgā sādhus*, who are a special sect of naked monks, and among them the Mahānirvanī Akhāḍa, the oldest apex body of Hinduism.

> During part of my wandering days before my self-realization, I had been with a group of these monks and they had accepted me as their own. Now at the Kumbh Melā they conferred upon me the title of Mahāmanḍaleśvar of their akhāḍā (religious sect), just a few days prior to the day of the royal bath, and also gave the first right to enter the Gangā on that special day.

> Amongst the disciples was one who was present two years earlier during the Himalayan trip. He couldn't

believe how the words he had heard from me were manifesting themselves now! I explained to him, it had nothing to do with what I had said. It is just the way Existence wants things to happen. What is spoken through enlightened beings is what Existence directs, and there can never be a contradiction in that.

The Truth is unpredictable because it is not bound by time and space as we know it. Truth cannot be known unless we are in truth ourselves. We cannot know Kṛṣṇa unless we are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not just about going around chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Such chanting, unless done with awareness from the space of completion, is of no real consequence; True Kṛṣṇa consciousness needs no words. In fact, it has no words because the experience is beyond expression. One who experiences it does not express it.

Fear and greed are what drive us, says Kṛṣṇa. That is our delusion that leads us away from Him. Attachment and aversion, *rāga* and *dveṣa,* form the duality, the polarity of human life. Even at the fundamental cellular level, biologists have shown that this tendency is exhibited. If you place a single cell in a petridish and place a drop of nutrient, it is attracted to it and moves towards it. If you place a drop of toxin in the same dish, the cell moves away from it. If on either side, you place drops of nutrient and toxin, the cell remains immobile.

At the cellular level, attraction aids in growth and aversion in survival. A cell can either grow or protect itself. At the multi-cellular level with higher intelligence, human beings act in the same way as the primary cell. They get attached to what they think is good for them and flee from what they think is not good.


Unfortunately, what works well at the cellular level does not work so well at the human level simply because humans have greater intelligence. Cells obey Nature and are directed by Nature to recognize instinctively what is good and what is bad. They also automatically accept the consequence.

Humans are different. They bypass signals from their body, refuse to accept what Nature tries to tell them and indulge in or avoid activities or objects based on their logic. Logic overriding Nature always leads to suffering.

Shedding attachment and aversion is the first step to awareness. Attachment and aversion are born out of our past; based on experiences and memories that form the root thought patterns, what we call *saṁskāra* in Sanskrit. Based on these *saṁskāras*, we try to define our future. The problem is that these *saṁskāras* operate at an unconscious level and drive us from unawareness to unawareness, from incompletion to incompletion. Therefore, we end up acting instinctively, but unlike our cellular brethren, without listening to Nature.

Human beings are given intelligence so that they can rise above instinct and logic and operate out of intuition. This intuition is born from awareness. It comes through meditation. With awareness, we understand that there is truly nothing that we can be attached to, since everything is impermanent. As I said earlier, every moment of our life is a psychodrama.

The same is true of aversion. It arises from insecurity and fears. What is there to be afraid of in life? Every occasion that we are afraid, we actually die inside us. If we shed our fear of death, we lose all our fears.

When we move into awareness, through meditation, we settle within the boundary of our body-mind and we enter the present moment. When we are in the present moment there is no duality of like and dislike, attachment and aversion. We respond to each event as it unfolds with clarity, with intuitive intelligence, with completion and we are always right.

# No Sin, No Virtue

7.28 Persons who have acted virtuously, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of reality and unreality, engage themselves in My worship with firm resolve.

7.29 Persons, who are striving for liberation from the cycle of birth, old age and death, take refuge in Me. They are actually Brahman, Consciousness, because they entirely know everything about conscious activities that transcend these.

7.30 Those who know Me as the Supreme Lord, as the governing principle of the material manifestation [adhibhūtam], who know Me as the one essence of all the gods [adhidaivam], and as the one sustaining all enriching sacrifices [adhiyajñam], can, with mind engaged in Me, understand and know Me, even at the time of death.

Kṛṣṇa talks here about *pāpa* and *puṇya*, sinful and meritorious acts. The concept of sin and merit itself is a delusion, one of duality. At the level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness there is no *pāpa* or *puṇya*, no sin and no act of merit. All are the same.

Your immediate question will be, 'Can I do anything I want? Can I kill, maim, annihilate, and be a Hitler?' When you reach *Kṛṣṇa* consciousness you will not be a Hitler. It is impossible. At the level where you are now, it is necessary to follow some regulations because you still operate in duality. You operate from attachment and aversion. You act out of fear and greed.

Unfortunately, instead of these statements being guidelines for self-awareness as they were intended to be, they have become tools in the hands of institutions, whether religious, political or societal, to control us.

Thousands of years ago, great masters like Patañjali outlined prescriptions for Self-realization. In his *Aṣtāṅga yoga*, Patañjali established practices of *yama* and *niyama.* These are internal and external regulations for your guidance, not for others to manipulate you with. These are milestones to guide your way. Once you reach the destination, you don't need the milestones; you don't need any regulations.

Every year, I take a group of disciples to the Himalayan mountains on a pilgrimage, and the first stop is Rishikesha, where the river Gangā is about to enter the plains. Here I make them take the sannyās vows prescribed in *yama*. It is for their protection and guidance. It is not to instill notions of sin and virtue.

These five vows are *satya, ahiṁsā, asteya, aparigṛha* and *brahmacarya*. *Satya* is truth in thoughts, word and action; *ahiṁsā* is not harming anyone in thought, word and action; *asteya* is not coveting, not stealing what belongs to another; *aparigṛha* is living with minimal needs; *brahmacarya* is living without fantasies. They take these vows after a dip in the sacred river Ganga and participate in a *vṛaja homa*, a fire ritual of purification. For the next two weeks they wear the saffron cloth that I give them.

These vows are for self-discipline and they lead one to awareness and completion. No one needs to control us. Understand, as long as we need to look over our shoulder to see if someone is watching us, we are still living in hypocrisy.

Kṛṣṇa addresses mortal beings here, in the form of Arjuna. So He talks about doing virtuous acts and avoiding sinful acts. What follows is more important. He says to go beyond duality, the duality of sin and virtue. This is only possible when we become aware. It is only when we become aware that we can reach Him.

In the verses of the famous Bhaja Govindaṁ, Ādī Śankarācārya says hauntingly, *punarapi jananaṁ punarapi maraṇaṁ ..*. Birth and death again and again; lying in a mother's womb again and again. This [ocean of] repeated birth and death is so difficult to cross. Please save me, O

#### Murāre Kṛṣṇa!'

The greatest philosopher that Hinduism has known, prays to the greatest Master that the Universe has known, 'Save me from this endless cycle of *saṁsāra*, the cycle of birth and death.' To know that one needs to be saved from this cycle needs great wisdom. To seek the feet of the Master who can lead you to that liberation needs great wisdom and awareness.

You can be born again and again and still think that you are being born for the first time, and that this is the only life that you have. This knowledge requires no wisdom. With this knowledge, you focus on this life and want to extract the maximum juice out of it. You run after everything possible, as if there is no tomorrow. You live in a fantasy world. You enact a psychodrama.

Please understand, this is not your only life. This body is not who you are. All this is temporary. What you chase is a dream. One day you will wake up and discover that this life is nothing but a dream. You are more than this body and mind; you are above this body-mind. What you are endures after death. When you understand this Cosmic Truth, you are liberated. At some time, you do not wish to be part of this psychodrama anymore. You are bored. You ask, 'What for?' just as Śankara plaintively asks Kṛṣṇa, 'Again and again, without end, I come and I go. Please save me from this useless journey; let me be with You.'

Buddha calls this cycle of birth and death a bondage. It is sorrow because it is not real. It is not the real *you* that dies and is reborn. The real *you* changes bodies as you change clothes.

### **It Is Never Too Late To Reach Me**

Kṛṣṇa ends this chapter with the prescription for how to know and understand Him and reach Him.

Even at the time of death, He says, even if all your life you lived a dissolute life, if at the point of departure you realize your folly, the futility of the psychodrama that you have enacted, that is enough to redeem you. The mere recognition of that can save you. His compassion is unlimited. He promises: Knowing me at the time of death, even at the time of death, will lead you to Me.

Please understand, this is not easy, not so easy as it seems. If you have been ruled by greed, greed for power, wealth, possessions and all such material objects throughout your life, nothing can change suddenly at the time of death. You will be full of the same fantasies that you were obsessed with throughout your life. Your last thoughts will be on those very same things.

We cannot change our nature at the last minute. If we want to die with the thought of the Divine uppermost in our mind, we must cultivate the habit of remembering Him now. We should start knowing and understanding Him today. Then and only then will we know and understand Him at the time of death.

Some may ask, 'What is the need to understand and know Kṛṣṇa, whether at the point of death or before? If I do the right things in the right manner, why should it make any difference whether or not I understand and know Kṛṣṇa?'

Please understand that Kṛṣṇa is not talking about the physical Kṛṣṇa, or even about the Cosmic Consciousness that He is. He speaks about our understanding, about knowing ourselves, *who we are.*

The ultimate Master resides within us, not anywhere else. The external Master, be He Kṛṣṇa or THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, is a guide to make us understand, know and accept the Master within us. Yes, it may be possible in rare cases for that wisdom to dawn on us at the point of death, but it is not common. Someone who constantly seeks that truth will continuously search for that Master within, and has a better chance of making that connection earlier rather than later in life.

Kṛṣṇa in His deep compassion says, 'Even if that happens at the point of death, I shall redeem you.' He does not want us to miss that chance, even if we have not thought about Him all our lives. He does not rule out the possibility, even if we have not been seeking all our lives. He wants us to discover the master within. Even if we do that at the point of our last breath, it is okay with Him.

Many read *Gītā* and claim that they understand what Kṛṣṇa says. What they mean is that they understand that language into which the *Gītā* they are reading has been translated, that's all.

How can we even intellectually understand that Kṛṣṇa is supreme? Forget the demigods, how can we even accept that He is greater than us? We are so full of our identity and root patterns, that even if a thousand Kṛṣṇas were to descend in front of us, we would ask them for their identification cards! We will recognize Kṛṣṇa only if He comes in front of us in the mold and image of Him that we have stored in our minds!

Kṛṣṇa must come to us in our image of Him. Then we will accept Him as the Supreme and hang His picture on the wall. Everyday, Kṛṣṇa comes to us in many forms. He comes to us in the form of every person we meet. We decide whom we will accept and whom we will reject. We cannot accept Kṛṣṇa in parts and reject Him in parts. Either we accept Him totally or reject Him. We have to surrender to Him. We have to surrender our identity, our root patterns to Him. We have to surrender to Him that foolish image that we have in our minds of Him.

Meditation is a technique for surrendering one's identity. Completion is the process of surrendering one's root patterns. Throughout the *Gītā*, Kṛṣṇa suggests to Arjuna techniques, *sūtras* that leads to liberation. Combined with the cognition at the intellectual level, *śāstra*, with the higher devotional acceptance of His glories through verses, *stotra*, the *Gītā* leads you through the path of surrender into liberation.

Dropping one's identity requires a deep cognition, acceptance, intranalization, and completion which brings the merger of the Self, World and God. Simply put, we accept our Divinity and become one with the Divine. We become complete, whole! This is what Enlightenment is about.

At the Inner Awakening program, you are initiated into the science of completion with everything—with yourself, others and life and into the creation of the space to cause the reality for yourself and others. You are empowered with the four great powers of words, thinking, feeling and living to rewrite your future as you want.

You can choose to be initiated into a meditation process that enriches you to reach your innermost core. This meditation process, called the *ānanda gandha* meditation or 'fragrance of bliss' meditation, enriches you to constantly be in the space of completion and complete with any patterns as they surface. It anchors you to the present moment of completion where no root patterns or the branches of parasite patterns can form in you. In this state, you don't create further *karma* (unfulfilled actions) and your mindset of unfulfilled desires is extinguished. You are liberated. You are in the space of perpetual completion!

The simple truth is that the present moment of completion is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When we reach this state of being in the present moment, we reach Him and we are complete. So it is not the mere intellectual understanding of what we read in the verses, but the authentic listening, *śravana*, authentic intranalying, *manana* and powerfully living and radiating, *nididhyāsana* of what Kṛṣṇa speaks into our listening, that can complete us.

So, let us pray to the Ultimate Kṛṣṇa to give us the intelligence and awareness to realize the truth about ourselves, to give us this experience of eternal bliss, *Nityānanda*

May you reach Kṛṣṇa consciousness and realize eternal bliss, *Nityānanda*!

> *Thus ends the seventh chapter named Jñānavijñāna Yogaḥ, 'The Yoga Of Knowledge and Conscious Realization of Absolute', of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.*

# The Art Of Leaving

Death is our ultimate fear. Anyone who claims not to be disturbed by the thought of death is only lying. The moment we understand death, our life becomes a celebration. Krsna reveals the secret of death, understanding which, we can live even our death. ...

# The Art Of Leaving

I n this chapter, Kṛṣṇa speaks about death. He gives us deep insight into how death can become liberation and celebration. Death is the end of life, as long as we don't understand it! The moment we understand it, it becomes a liberation and celebration.

## **Death Is A Celebration**

Death is not the end of life, as we think. It is the climax of life. End is different from climax. The moment we think that death is the end, we wonder about it, trying to figure out what happens next. We create more trouble for ourselves. We worry about death the moment we think it is the end. Our lives become dull because of such worries. The shadow of death happens even when we live.


Appreciate and intranalyze the deeper meaning. Understand that whatever we see is transient. Nothing is permanent. It is like putting our hand in a river and trying to hold the water in our hand. What happens? The river flows past, and our hand is empty. Once we realize this truth, our whole idea about time and space will change. We will see everything around us in a different way and understand the futility of the rat race.

I mentioned the seven layers that the spirit travels through at the time of death. The first four layers are related to the physical body-mind system. They store emotionally laden memories: patterns related to desires, guilt and pain experienced during that lifetime. The fifth layer is experienced during deep sleep and when leaving the body. The sixth layer is associated with happy memories and the seventh layer is beyond sorrow and happiness; it is the Ultimate consciousness.

Please understand, even attachment to happy memories brings us back into the cycle of birth and death. It is not enough if we transcend pains and sufferings alone. Understand that happy incidents are also temporary and try to move beyond them.

## The Abode Of No Return

The secret to liberation is what Kṛṣṇa gives here—'One who attains My abode will never return, *yaṁ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama* (8.21).'

The abode where one will not return to refers to the state of the *being* when it transcends joys and sorrow. Kṛṣṇa again and again talks about focusing one's thoughts on the Divine. The only way to think of the Divine at the time of our death is by thinking about Him all the time. At that time, we suddenly cannot think of God. In such pain and suffering, we suddenly can't think of God if we have always been thinking about money and food in our life. It is impossible.

That is why Kṛṣṇa insists upon continuous devotion to the Supreme *bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā (*8.22). When we live in a state of continuous devotion, our last thought will be of the Divine. Please be very clear: Our last thought determines our next birth. There is no doubt about it.

When we continuously think about God, we understand the truth that everything around us is Him. When we are continuously in that meditation, we see Kṛṣṇa in everything around us. You see, thousands of thoughts come to us every minute. Let as many thoughts as possible be of God. We do not need to reduce the number of thoughts. Let the thoughts be of God. Let us immerse ourselves in thinking about the supreme soul. This purifies our inner space.

Throughout the day, how many times do we think of God? Maybe before a meal, or before going to bed. Otherwise, it is only when we face some problem, that we think of God! But how many times do we think of some film actress or actor? Everything in the newspapers, on television or on the internet is about something with which we are not really connected.

Out of thousands of thoughts, less than one percent is probably related to God. Everything else is related to something external. Please listen, every thought is energy and we waste more than ninety nine percent of our energy on something that is not really needed for us. If we can channel this energy to look inward, to see the source of our existence, we explore a new dimension of our *Self.*

We are ready to do anything other than think about God or our *Self*. Why? We think it is a waste of time. We always make business plans. We do something only if we feel we will get something from it. But if we analyze our thoughts carefully, we are not thinking of anything productive. Our thoughts are simply completely illogical. Most of the time, we justify ourselves when someone asks us to think of God. We say, 'Why think of God? What will we get? I have better things to think about like work and my studies.' However these are mere justifications. If we sit and write down our thoughts, we will see that we are not thinking about work or anything productive. Our thoughts are completely illogical and random.

So why not think about God? We feel thinking about God does not give us any immediate results. But be very clear, when we are completely immersed in thoughts of God, our inner space is purified and transforms into the space of completion. Completion is God! We are preparing our *Self*. At the time of death, these thoughts will liberate us. Constantly thinking about God enriches us when our soul passes through the energy layers at the time of death.

## Passing In Light

*8.23 O best of the Bhārata, I shall now explain to you the different times When passing away from this world, one returns or does not return.*

*8.24 Those who pass away from the world during the influence of the fire god, during light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the waxing moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north, And those who have realized the supreme Brahman do not return.*

*8.25 The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun travels in the south, Having done good deeds, goes to the cosmic layer and returns.*

8.26 *According to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world—one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not return; but when one passes in darkness, he returns.*

In these few verses, Kṛṣṇa describes at what time one can achieve Enlightenment, how one can achieve enlightenment and how to reach that state. He also talks about how people come back into this cycle of birth and death.

He says:

*agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam I tatra prayātā gacchanti brahma brahmavido janāḥ II 8.24*

Those who know the supreme Divine attain that Supreme by passing

away from the world during the influence of *Agni,* the fire-god, during light or at an auspicious moment of the day, also during the fortnight of the waxing moon or during the six months that the sun travels in the north, referred to as *uttarāyaṇaṁ*.

Understand, these are not chronological calendars. If it were a chronological calendar, then at *uttarāyaṇaṁ* time, all of us can commit suicide and be done with it, that's all! But that is not what is meant here. All these things have metaphorical meanings. When He says *uttarāyaṇaṁ,* Kṛṣṇa means when our mind is totally balanced and when we are not agitated.

In the Mahābhārat war it is said that Bhīśma Pitāmaḥ waits for *uttarāyaṇaṁ* to leave the body. Don't think he waited for January. He waited until his mind settled down from the agitations and incompletions, and he establishes himself in the space of completion.

He had fallen in battle and was lying down on a bed made of arrows. He must have felt agitated. He must have felt, 'My grandson, whom I taught everything, for whom I did everything, did this to me.' He would have been disturbed. So he waited until the agitation settled down. That is what is meant by the words, 'he was waiting for *uttarāyaṇaṁ.*'

Don't think these are chronological concepts. They are psychological. If it were chronological, then do you think that the millions of people who die in those six months become enlightened? Enlightenment is not an accident! It is a pure conscious choice.

So be very clear, when He says *agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ,* He means if we are conscious...*agnir jyotir..*. means when your being is conscious... when your being is fully alive, awakened, naturally you go up. (*śuklaḥ* means going above, *kṛṣṇa* means going down).

Listen. If we live throughout life centered on the eyes, our energy leaves through the eyes. At the last moment, we open the eyes and the soul leaves. If we live throughout life centered on the tongue, eating, our mouth opens and the soul leaves through it. So if we live throughout life centered on higher consciousness, our energy leaves through the *sahasrāra,* the crown cakra, the energy center on the top of our head.

Kṛṣṇa says *brahma brahmavido janāḥ*. He means that if we have always lived with our attention focused towards higher consciousness, we will travel in that path and disappear into *Brahman*. We will become enlightened.

So be very clear, these conditions are not chronological. They are psychological. Bhīśma waited until his mind settled, until he felt completely peaceful, till he was able to forgive and complete with everybody and himself, and till he was able to reach conscious awareness. Then he entered enlightenment.

Next, Kṛṣṇa says that the person who passes away from this world during smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon or those six months when the Sun travels in the south, referred to as *Dakṣināyaṇaṁ*, reaches the Moon but comes back again.

Again, this is psychological. They can't say that in these six months nobody can become enlightened. They can't say, 'During the six months of *dakṣināyaṇaṁ*, the Enlightenment gates are locked, no entry. Only at *uttarāyaṇaṁ* time, the gates are open. Come at that time.' No! They can't say, '*Dakṣināyaṇaṁ* time is non-working hours and only *uttarāyaṇaṁ* time is working hours.' There are no working hours for enlightenment. It is purely because of the conscious choice of one's being.

Kṛṣṇa says that according to the *Vedas*, there are two ways to pass from this world: one in light and one in darkness—*śukla-kṛṣṇa gatī hy ete jagataḥ śāśvate mate*. When one passes in light, he does not return, but when one passes in darkness, he comes back again—*ekayā yāty anāvṛttim ananyāvartate punaḥ (*8.26).

What does Kṛṣṇa mean by light and darkness, *śukla-kṛṣṇa*? They refer to the levels of consciousness one has reached. If a person leaves the body without knowing what drove him all along—his *saṁskāras*, his desires, fears, guilt, etc., which we call root thought patterns—then this ignorance is what He refers to as darkness.

If you look inside, the reason for your low inner space, powerless inner space will be some root thought pattern. Break that! Reclaim your freedom! Declare your freedom! Raise your inner space to the peak joy, fulfillment, and excitement.

Please understand, when Śwetaketu, a young seeker mentioned in *Upaniṣads*, was initiated by his Guru, his Guru said only nine times— '*Tat Tvam Asi! Tat Tvam Asi! Tat Tvam Asi*!' (thou are that), and Śwetaketu became enlightened. Why then, even if you listen to '*Tat Tvam Asi*' nine-thousand times, you don't become enlightened?

Carry the right inner space! On the rock, seed cannot sprout as a tree. In the right fertile ground only, the seed can become tree. In the right inner space only, the teachings can become reality. Right inner space means where all the root thought patterns of suffering are destroyed. Listen! All root thought patterns are destroyed where your inner space is fertile for experiencing the higher ideals and ideas.

When we become aware of these root thought patterns and are free from them, we leave the body and become liberated. This is what He means by light. He says that when this happens, the being does not return to the body.

## Be Fixed In Devotion

*8.27 O Pārtha (son of Pritha), the devotees who know these different paths are never bewildered. O Arjuna, be always fixed in devotion.*

*8.28 A Yogī, realizing the path of devotional service, transcends the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing austerities and sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing pious and result-based activities. At the end he reaches the Supreme and Primal Abode.*

In the last few verses Kṛṣṇa summarizes the essence of the whole chapter. He says, 'O Pārtha, the devotees who know these different paths are never bewildered. Therefore O Arjuna, be always fixed in devotion.'

*naite sṛtī pārtha jānan yogi muhyati kaścana I tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu yoga-yukto bhavārjuna II 8.27*

He means that a person who understands the different paths that a spirit can take while leaving the body will always be prepared for death. He immerses himself in devotion throughout his life so that he becomes liberated. Kṛṣṇa first gives Arjuna an intellectual understanding of the whole death process. He clearly tells him that the last thought while leaving the body governs the path that the spirit chooses when entering the next body.

Again and again He emphasizes that this thought cannot be divine unless we spend our entire lives in devotional service. When I say devotional service, devotion is more important than service. I tell people, never give money in charity because some priest told you that it is a good thing. Never follow these rules blindly. I do not say, 'Don't do charity work.' I am only saying, 'Let it just be a natural expression of yourself, not with any expectation.'

We have a head to think with and a heart to feel with. We do not need to refer to society every time to decide what to do and what not to do. Another thing, do not work in the name of 'devotional service' to please someone else or society. If you expect something in return, then be very clear, it is not devotional service. If it springs purely out of devotion, the act itself should be the reward.

I tell people, every day for half an hour, just for half an hour, work without expecting anything in return. It could be anything. Without any calculations, immerse yourself in some work for half an hour. You will suddenly see a new space open up inside you. When you work without expecting anything in return, just for the joy of doing it, you will see how liberating it is. Gradually, when this becomes ingrained in you, you will be enriched and enjoy whatever you do much more. You will no more bother about who thinks what about you.

Kṛṣṇa says, 'Performing austerities and sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing pious result-based activities will take a person to the Supreme abode.'

While doing each of these activities, it is the attitude that matters most, not the action itself. I have seen people give money to temple priests out of fear and greed. They are told that if they don't give money, the gods will be angry. Or if they give money, their family will be protected. The attitude behind these actions is what counts. Kṛṣṇa says, if one engages in activities with devotion, then He will be there at the time of one's death.

He has given intellectual knowledge until now. In the following chapters, He gives deeper level techniques to experience this truth, to experience completion by removing root thought patterns, by removing bio-memories.

Let us pray to that Ultimate Energy, *Parabrahma* Kṛṣṇa, to give us intelligence and the experience of thoughtless awareness, witnessing consciousness, *ātma jñāna*, the eternal bliss, *Nityānanda*.

Thank you.

*Thus ends the eighth chapter named Akṣarabrahma Yogaḥ, 'The Yoga Of Imperishable Brahma' of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśātra, the scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna saṃvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.*

## Secret Of All Secrets