CONTENTS

I. Living Enlightenment

II. Bhagavad Gita Decoded

III. Brahma Sutras

IV. Kailasa‘s Contributions to Hinduism

V. The Hindu Holocaust

VI. Appendix - Bhagavad Gita Verses

 Part I
Living Enlightenment
Introduction
If you are here, it means Existence wants you to be here in this form. You are not an accident; you are an incident.
You are a conscious miracle of Existence. Don’t think this is positive thinking. This is the straightforward and
simple Truth. If you trust this Truth, you will start experiencing life in its pinnacle.

Understand, Existence is trying to express itself through you. What you call your potential is nothing but the
expression of Existence through you. When you freely allow this, you will start realizing your infinite potential.
When you start becoming the fulfillment of Existence, you become flowing energy, which is what I call Living
Enlightenment. Living Enlightenment is living with the flowing energy of Existence, in synchronicity with its
miraculous happenings.

When you live this way, you will find there is no personal barrier, no emotional baggage, nothing that holds you
back in life. Life flows continuously like a river, carrying bliss and fulfillment every moment.
In this book, you will find deeper truths and powerful techniques to tide over personal barriers and resolve
emotional conflicts. You will also find truths that demystify your relevance in this vast cosmos, so you start
moving in a higher plane of consciousness.

This book is for anyone who wishes to live a fulfilling life. It reveals the secrets of the self, Existence and the
world. It is for every individual to start experiencing the ultimate purpose of taking human birth on planet earth.
It is meant to give the experience of:

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 into Living Enlightenment when all these four are integrated.
 Flow in Love
Psychology explains that thoughts arise in the brain, and emotions from the heart. Irrespective of where they arise
from, thoughts and emotions are inseparable. Ancient scriptures say that thoughts create us. So do emotions. We
become what our emotions are. Managing our emotions is crucial to transforming our lives.

What is Love?
Whenever we look at something, the first thing we do is to calculate what we can get from it. It can be a person
or an object, that doesn’t matter. Our thoughts start functioning either through fear or through greed to calculate
what there is in the situation for us. Our attention is centered on that object or person.
It is possible to turn our attention towards our own inner space and ask, ‘What can I contribute?’, ‘What can I
add?’, ‘How can I enrich others?’ If the process is only to ask, ‘What can I get out of it?’ then it is driven by lust.
If the process asks, ‘How can I enrich it?’ It is driven by love! Lust is an energy that demands. Love is an energy
that gives.
Love is an intense experience in one’s inner space. Many of us think love is a choice. We think experience and
expression of love is a choice. We think that if we want to, we can handle love; otherwise we can let it go. No! It
is not a choice as we think. It is a basic necessity of life.
When I say life, I don’t mean just breathing and staying alive. I mean being alive at the innermost being level, as
a live Consciousness. If you can express love, if you can experience love, that is the only way of being alive as a
Consciousness. If you don’t experience and express love, you may inhale and exhale, but you can’t say you are a
live being. There are so many animals, plants and other things that breathe day in and day out. You will continue
to exist like them, that’s all.

A small story:
A disciple asked a Zen master ’Does an enlightened master speak?’ The master said, ’No, an enlightened person
never speaks. Only a person who doesn’t know enlightenment speaks.’
Then the disciple asked, ’So does an enlightened master keep quiet?’
The master said, ’No, an enlightened master never keeps quiet. If he keeps quiet, then he is not enlightened. ’
The disciple was puzzled. He asked, ’You say he neither speaks nor keeps quiet. What does he do?’
The master replied, ’He sings! His being sings. He neither speaks, nor keeps quiet. His very being sings.’
Love is the ultimate experience of a human being. When the experience happens, we will not be able to possess
the experience, only the experience will possess us! That is what the master means. When the experience possesses
us, whatever we do will be like a beautiful song. Any word that comes out will be poetry. Our being will be so
light. We will simply float. Our walking will be a dance. Our body language will radiate grace. All our expressions
will be of great service to humanity.
All human beings are born as loving beings. A new born baby radiates causeless love. Does she know anyone
around her at birth?
No! Her energy is causeless love. As we grow, society instills fear and greed in us and we orient our love based
on greed and fear. Then it is no longer causeless love. It is love with a reason. It becomes suffocating. We start
feeling other emotions like jealousy, fear and anger. We experience only love with a cause, a reason. But with a
little awareness and awakening, it is possible to reclaim our original love.

Love cannot be created

Love can never be made to happen with just your logical decision. Our mental setup itself should be created in
such a way that we become love and our actions speak love. Our logic should start radiating a love that is beyond
logic!
If you try to create love, it will be like forcing open the petals of a flower to make it bloom. Can it be called
flowering? No. Love is a flower that blossoms deep within your being and sends out a sweet fragrance that we
share with others.

Love brings great courage

A beautiful incident happened in the life of Ramanuja'. If you study the life of Ramanuja‘, you will see how he
used every step of his life to move towards enlightenment.
When his teacher initiated Ramanuja', he gave him a special chant. The teacher told him not to pass on the chant
to anybody and that if he did so, he would go to hell. Ramanuja asked him what would happen to the others with
whom he might share it. The teacher said that they would be led to salvation.
What would we have done? Naturally we would have kept quiet, thinking, Why unnecessarily go to hell?’
Ramanuja immediately stood on a platform in a temple and called out to the whole village. He loudly pronounced
the chant given by his teacher and told the people, ’Let you all go to heaven! I am not bothered about me going
to hell. Let you all reach heaven!’
When you are deeply in love, you feel as if your whole being is open and you are ready to go to any extreme for
the sake of anybody. You are ready to go to any boundary, as there is nothing to protect within your being. Your
being is totally open. You don’t feel insecure when you are wild with love. That is why people who are in love
always do risky things. They take the risk because they feel they have nothing to lose. There is no insecurity about
anything. They feel so expansive. Love gives tremendous courage and energy. It opens you up. It makes you
finally available to yourself. As of now, you are not available to yourself. Love can make you available to yourself.
When the teacher saw what Ramanuja did, he admitted that he learned a lesson from his disciple and declared that
Ramanuja had reached greater heights than him. He told Ramanuja, ‘You are in a different space now.’

Be Open – Not Philosophizing

The problem is that we have all practically become philosophers. We don’t understand that life is not
philosophy. It is spontaneous flowing energy. It is new every moment. Philosophy is all about repeating the
same old things in different wa s, that’s all. There’s nothing fresh in it. Life is fresh every moment. Philosophy
robs life of the freshness.
A small story:
Ten philosophers were imprisoned in a country. They were kept together in one cell. They decided that somehow
they should escape from the prison. They sat and made a big plan. They got the mold of the prison door key and
made a duplicate key for the prison door.
Finally, they chose the date of escape. The whole plan was clearly laid out. They decided that on the particular
night, two of them will open the prison door with the duplicate key and signal to the others. The others would
escape and these two would follow after locking the door behind them.

The day of escape dawned and two of them went to open the door. The rest of them waited for the signal. They
waited and waited but never got any signal. Three hours passed. Suddenly the two who had gone to open the door
came back and said, ’We have to drop our plan to escape. It can’t happen today. We will have to do it some other
day. We will have to reschedule our escape.’
The others asked, ’Why, what happened?’
They replied, What to do? The foolish guards forgot to lock the prison door!’
Those who philosophize cannot think of anything new! It has to be the same old mental setup. If there is some
change or some new situation, they cannot think creatively to deal with it, because they are not open. They are
like a closed circuit.
We have also become like philosophers when dealing with our lives. We are stuck in patterns of the past. We are
never in the moment. If anything new happens, we are at a loss.
With philosophy, you have fixed ideas and you become very assertive. When you are too assertive, you can’t
love. Assertion is aggressiveness that does not allow love to come in. When you are too sure and filled with
preconceived ideas, then where is the space for love to enter? Love needs beautiful space in order to blossom.
With philosophy, there is no room for love to settle in its existential state. It is like this: if you really want to
experience the taste of nectar, can you experience it through just a set of ideas about it? No! You need to taste the
nectar yourself, give it some space, allow it to fill you and settle in its existential state. Only then you will know
its taste. In the same way, to experience love, just a few ideas alone will not help. You need to allow it to grow in
its existential state in your inner space. Then you will know it. Allow it to happen in your heart, not in the head.
Decide to be with the heart. Then it will grow and happen.
What was once a failure within the head can become a success within the heart! Love is really a success of the
heart that every individual should experience. It is easy to stay in the head. It is, after all, a mundane and familiar
intellect. It requires courage to come down to the heart, because with the heart nothing is familiar, everything is
fresh. At the head level you have a solid identity and familiar patterns. At the heart level there is no identity, no
pattern. It is an open space. To enter into it, you need tremendous courage. That is why love is fearful for many
people. It is an unfamiliar zone. With the head, there is comfortable familiarity.

Ego disconnects – Love connects

If the cosmos is a grand ocean, we are all part of it. We are one with the ocean, not individual drops in the ocean.
When we think of ourselves as individual drops, we feel separate in our boundaries and in our feelings. This is
what is called ego. We become driven by feelings of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. As long as this separation remains, we can
never experience the energy of the ocean that is love. We never experience that causeless and surging love.
As long as we remain a drop in the ocean, we say ‘no’ to life. We neither love nor trust. We don’t feel blissful
either, because bliss is possible only for those who know how to love and trust. It happens only to those who know
how to feel part of the ocean. Bliss is possible only when our heart says ‘yes’, when the ‘no’ completely disappears
from our being. ‘No’ is darkness, ‘yes’ is light. ‘No’ is ego, ‘yes’ is egolessness.
‘No’ is the way of the unconscious person. ‘Yes’ is the way of the awakened one. All the conflict, all the suffering
in our life is because of our saying ‘no’. ‘No’ is a fight, a war with Existence. ‘Yes’ is love, peace with Existence.
‘Yes’ is in deep accord with the totality of who we are — the ocean. Bliss is another name for that accord, that
harmony.
The way to be in bliss is to dissolve into the ocean, not to be a drop but to merge with the ocean. To be a drop is
to be a hindrance. To be a drop is to be with ego. The ego is the root of all misery. When the ego is absent, bliss
reaches us from every nook and corner of the ocean of existence, as if it were just waiting for the ego to disappear.
Ego is a closed state of consciousness. All the windows and doors are closed. Life itself becomes insulated and
encapsulated. Our ego surrounds us like a capsule. Our ego is like a sealed capsule, there is not even a small gap
to allow anything to enter. It closes itself due to fear and shrinks into itself. That is how we create misery for
ourselves.
Love is being in the flow with Existence, to be totally with it. Ego is like frozen ice. Love is like liquid water.
Only when we are liquid do we become part of the ocean. Then we don’t have any private goal or destination.
Each moment is blissful, incredibly ecstatic, just going with the plan of the cosmos.
It is such sheer joy to simply exist and flow. Just ‘to be’ is enough. But we need to be sensitive to feel the joy of
being. We need to grow feelers. The feelers are what we call love. Love feels the joy of just being. When you
grow the feelers of love, life is no longer made of independent thoughts but becomes a continuous feeling. Then
the ego starts to dissolve. Once we have moved from thinking to feeling, there is only one more step and that is
from feeling to being, and that is very simple.
The first step is difficult: to move from thinking to feeling. The ego has trained the mind to think so much, that’s
why. The second step comes almost automatically. There’s nothing we need to do for it to happen. From feeling
to being, the distance is nothing at all. It can happen at any moment. The poet can become the mystic at any
moment. He is almost there. The real problem is how to get out of our thinking and get more and more into feeling.
Just follow the heart. Just love more, that’s all! Feel more. Enjoy more so that you can feed your heart. Watch the
sunrise, sunset, clouds, rainbows, birds, flowers, animals, rocks, and people, and watch them with awareness.
Look into their eyes. Existence is so multidimensional. Look into every dimension like a poet. Praise it. Feel it.
Be ecstatic! Expand your consciousness and experience every single detail of Existence with love. Slowly, the
ego will lose its hold and disappear.
The only barrier to love is fear. When things start happening, we become fearful because with love we enter into
a merger. This threatens the very basis of our ego. Ego is separateness while love is a merger. The fear we feel is
nothing but the fear of the dissolving ego. Let the fear be there. It will hang around for a while. If we simply
ignore it, the ego will leave us. It is a great day when fear of losing the ego leaves us. From then on growth
becomes simple, easy and spontaneous. Then we are not, only love is.

Be a lover every moment

Encounter any situation in life with deep love. Soon you will become pure love. Whether it is a person or your
work or a passerby or god or anything, just encounter it with deep love for love’s sake. If you are a painter, just
be completely in love with painting. If you are a dancer, be completely in love with dancing. If you are working
with your computer, treat it with utmost love and become lost in it. Just be completely sincere and completely in
love every moment.

If you are painting and at the same time thinking about which gallery to put up the painting in or how much to
sell it for, then be very clear, you are not lost in love. You are in love only with some particular thing, which is
money in this case. If you are dancing while calculating what you will get once you finish the dance, then be very
clear you are not lost in love. You create more and more bondage by doing this.
If you become lost in every moment, you become love. Then, when you work you work with the utmost focus
because you are in deep love with it. This way, your very life becomes a deep meditative love.
Then you start feeling, relating and respecting everything as a living being, just as you are. You even start feeling
the other person’s thoughts. You start responding and relating to the other person without him or her opening up
to you. You feel the cosmos as a translucent, ever living presence. You have tremendous intelligence. You know
exactly how to connect to things. Such is the power of love.
The Sufi* mystic Jalaluddin Rumi’ says, ‘Wherever you are, whatever your condition is, always try to be a lover!’
The whole of Existence is in a deep romance with itself. You are part of it. So it is your nature to be a lover every
moment. Only by being that can you experience the real fulfillment of your original nature.

Love yourself first

The big problem today is that most people don’t love themselves. Society never teaches that it is possible to love
ourselves. Understand that unless you love yourself, you cannot possibly love another person. Only when you
lose yourself to yourself can you lose yourself to others. We are taught that we can only love even ourselves if we
have a reason. If we perform well, we love ourselves. If we fail, we hate ourselves. We apply the same logic to
others. We love them only because of something, never without a cause, without a reason.
When you don’t love yourself, you become cynical and negative towards life.
For a few minutes every day, just sit by yourself and feel overflowing love towards yourself. Feel what a
wonderful being you are. Feel how much you have taken yourself for granted. Feel yourself as part of Existence
and love yourself for it. Melt with the feeling of love for yourself. If you practice this everyday you will see that
where you were once hard and self-centered, now you have become soft and loving.
Then, when people love you, you don’t feel guilty or unworthy because just as they love you, you love yourself
too. You become ready to receive love from others. Usually when others show love to you, you feel guilty or
unworthy because you don’t feel you are worth being loved. Once you settle within yourself with deep love, you
will receive others’ love with joy.

Love Existence and feel It Loving You

Existence is not a thing. It is a living energy being. Every single tree, every single stalk of a plant responds to
your love and hate, your every thought.
Cleve Backster‘, a polygraph expert, has conducted several experiments to examine the response of plants to
human emotions and thoughts. He discovered that plants would respond to human thought in a way similar to
how a human being would respond. A simple thought by a person about burning the leaves of the plant would
register erratic movement in the polygraph recording of the plant! Backster* called this response ‘Primary
Perception’ - the ability of plant, animal and human cells to perceive and respond to any thought.
On one occasion, Backster’ recorded graphs that registered a flat line that suggested the plants were in a state of
shock. He asked the owner of the plant if she had done anything to hurt the plants. The lady told him, ‘I roasted a
few of its leaves to get their dry weight!’

When you start loving Existence, it begins responding to you in beautiful ways. You start rising above all of the
differences around you - differences between people, situations, emotions, between anything and anything.
Everything merges into unity. And that is the truth. Everything is part of one Whole. And love is the only thing
that can make you realize this truth.
In India, there is a tradition of spiritual wandering where people walk by foot the length and breadth of the country,
visiting many temples and pilgrim centers. I used to wonder how they were able to do that, especially going
through forests, sleeping with wild animals and begging for food. The secret is that they start feeling connected
with nature so completely that nature protects them beautifully. Whether it rains or shines, the animals and trees,
everything, takes care of them. Even though this may be logically difficult to understand, it is the truth.
If you begin to live with a little respect and love for Existence and all its creations, you will be able to recognize
these things happening in your own life as well. Nature will simply reciprocate your love in many beautiful ways.

Love is different from Respect

Very often, love is confused with respect. From a young age, children are brought up to always show respect but
never to show love. You can hear people teach the children, ‘You should respect your elders.’ You will hardly
hear, ‘You should love your elders.’ That is the problem.

Respect sows the first guilt in you that you are something inferior. It makes you feel separate from the other person
to whom you show respect. On the other hand, love sows the seeds of joy and unity in you. It makes you feel
connected with the other person and with everything in Existence. With respect, there is fear. With love, there is
authentic respect as well as the scope for deep understanding to happen. With respect alone, not much
understanding is possible. With love, there is a possibility for tremendous understanding and transformation to
happen. Love by its very nature is transforming. It softens and melts you.
Respect creates distance between you and the other. Love bridges the distance between you and the other. Only
because people themselves have not experienced love, do they give respect as the rule of acceptable behavior.
Respect is easier but not real. Love might be difficult only because not many know how to go about it, but it is
real. With love, respect lS automatic and authentic. With pure respect, the appearance of love is forced and may
never be authentic.

Love is the root of all religion

Love is the original religion. It is the root of all spirituality. All other religions are offshoots. Love is like the root
of the tree and all religions are like leaves or branches. Even the greatest religions are only big branches compared
to the religion of love!

Love has no temple or scripture. It is like the roots that lie beneath the ground but provide the nourishment for
life. Without it, the whole tree dies. Through love many branches and leaves are created. But what do we do? We
cling to the branches and leaves instead of clinging to the root. When we cling to the root, we get the direct
nourishment. When we cling to the branches, we enjoy only one dimension of the nourishment. When you become
more loving, you will enter the invisible temple of love.

A small story:
One day a master asked his disciples how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun.
One of them said, ’When you can look in the distance and tell whether the animal is a cow or a horse.’ The master
said, ’No.’
Another disciple said, ’When you can look at a tree in the distance and tell if it is a pine tree or a mango tree.’The
master again said, ’No.’
They asked the master ’Then what is it master?’
The master replied, ’When you can look into the face of any man and recognize your brother in him. When you
can look into the face of any woman and recognize your sister in her. If you cannot do this, then no matter what
time of the day it is, it is still only night time.’
The master can give a few hints, a little hints here and there. Then we must find our own way carefully, cautiously.
Love is just a hint, but if we follow love slowly, very slowly, we will be surprised that god becomes more and
more of a reality. He is no longer just a thought, no longer simply an idea, but something that we can feel. The
deeper we go into love, the closer we come to the feeling. The day we dissolve into love we merge with unity.
From time immemorial, the conclusion of many mystics has been that matter is glued together with love. An
invisible force keeps atoms and molecules together. They do not fall apart because of this invisible force. Science
has yet to discover this ultimate energy. It has detected a few of its manifestations such as gravitation and
electricity but these are only gross manifestations. The day that science discovers love will be the day when
religion and science will commune with each other in the same language.
For now, just rejoice because love is possible. Be joyful that love is your inner potential. You can rise to the
ultimate heights with love. Nothing is impossible with love because love can transform itself into god.

Three types of Love and their Integration

Many people confuse lust with love. This is one of the greatest tragedies. The person who thinks lust is love
remains confined to the physical plane. He never rises higher than that. He has no idea that there is a higher plane.
He remains in the basement of his house. Sex is the base-ment. It is not the place to live in. You can use it for
other purposes, but it can’t be your home. Your home is above it.
Man has three planes of being: animal, human and divine. First is the plane of lust, which is the animal plane.
It is a crude form of love. It is not that love is not present there. Love is mixed or polluted by gross greed and
desire, that’s all.
As our being becomes more refined, we enter the second plane, ordinary human love. Human love has traces of
possessiveness and jealousy. Since human love is grounded in greater understanding than animal love, one does
not simply use the other person for his or her own gain. Human love is capable of seeing the other as an end unto
itself.
The third type of love is divine love. It is love in its highest form, almost like a prayer. There is no possessiveness.
There is nothing earthly in it. It becomes an invisible but powerful force. This is when love becomes prayer and
we feel restful contentment for the first time. I say restful because the other two types of love always keep reaching
for more or keep missing something. There is no restfulness in them. When the third type of love happens, even
sex becomes a deep and divine act beyond mere physical pleasure.
Enter into Causeless Love
The first thing we need to understand is that relationships can happen causelessly, without any reason. Only then
will we understand that the experience of love is much more important than the object of love.
You must have at least one relationship in your life that exists for no reason. If you don’t have such a relationship,
be very clear, even if you have money, deep down you are still poor.
From today onwards start relating with someone for no reason. There should be no monetary or physical benefit
from the relationship. If you experience causeless love once, after that, if the money is shared, if the body is
shared, it is okay. The quality is totally different. I am not against money or against marriage. I am not against the
physical relationship, but if it becomes the center of your life, you are missing something very important. That is
what I want to convey here. You miss a major dimension or energy center of your being.
I always tell people, ‘Do some work for half hour everyday that does not bring you money or name and fame. Just
for half an hour, go to some temple or church, clean and sweep the floor, offer some service. Don’t plan to become
a committee member in that place! Don’t think that it will fetch you good credit and a place in heaven... no. Don’t
look any further than that work for half an hour.’
Initially you may think, ‘This half hour is a waste of time. After a few days you will realize that only in that half
hour are you really alive! Only for that half hour you are not driven by fear or greed. You smile at the people
around you without any calculation. You feel strangely sincere in a way that you never felt before.
If you observe yourself at other times, you will see that you even smile only after some mental calculation. Even
before laughing you will see who is the person next to you. Based on that, you decide how many inches to open
your mouth, how polite you should be, how you should project yourself. As of now, every action of yours is
driven by fear and greed. You are fuelled by fear and greed. That’s why you feel lonely and tired.
If you try this technique, you will suddenly see that your body and mind start functioning without the need for
fear and greed! Once you learn this simple knack of how to move your body without fear and greed, be very clear,
you can enter into love. You learn how to tap into the energy of love. You learn how to run your life on the
beautiful energy of love. Only then will you know what is meant by the word ‘love’.
A new center will be awakened in you. A new energy will start radiating in you. Then you will understand how
loving and causeless relationships are possible.

Love, hatred and attention need

Hatred and love are opposite sides of the same coin as long as love is conditional. Love can flip into hatred the
moment we feel that our expectations are threatened. In love of this type, it remains love only as long as the
conditions remain as expected. The moment the conditions change, the love also changes.
Often what we believe as love is actually related to time and space. So long as the distance between lovers is large
and the time of contact is minimal, they feel love towards each other. However, once they get closer and spend
more time together, they feel that they are not so much in love after all! That is why they say familiarity breeds
contempt’. Familiarity can also convert love into hatred. To transcend both love and hatred, we first need to drop
expectations. Expectation is the first enemy of love.
We all go through several stages of relationships in our lifetime. If you observe very closely, whichever stage we
are in, when we ask for love we are actually asking only for the other person’s attention. When we say a person
doesn’t love us, we actually mean that the other person doesn’t give us enough attention. The basic need for any
human being is attention from others. The attention-need, along with our dependency on others for survival, is
what we experience as love.
The dependency on others might be psychological, physical or spiritual. For example, when you expect someone
to lend you a shoulder to cry on, you are dependent upon that person psychologically. When you expect someone
to provide you with money or fulfill your bodily pleasures, you are dependent upon them physically. In whatever
way people may fulfill this dependency, what it boils down to is the attention that they give us! The whole idea
of love is nothing but getting the attention of the other in some way.
In the first session of our meditation camp, I ask people to make an honest list of at least one or two persons in
their lives who they really love. Usually in the beginning, people come up with a big list: husband, wife, father,
mother, brother, sister and so on. They include people whom they would like to please or need to please in order
to be happy themselves. As they hear me talk about real love, they start crossing out names from their list one by
one! Understand, if you cross out something, then it was not truly there in the first place.
Many people include certain people in their love list because these people give them a ‘feel good’ feeling. What
do I mean by a ‘feel good’ feeling? It is a certificate saying, ‘You are good. You are this, you are that’ etc. We
love anyone who pays us compliments, is it not? We think twice before arguing with them. We secretly nurture
our good name with them in the name of love. If they go back on their approval of us, we might fall into depression,
so we continue to please them and love them. Like this, there is always some hidden reason for our love.
Some people tell me, ‘No Swamiji, I don’t love my son or daughter for any of these reasons.’ I ask them, ‘Alright,
if your son suddenly starts to make his own decisions, if he suddenly doesn’t fit into your framework, ifhe doesn’t
follow your guidance, ifhe doesn’t live according to your rules, will your love for him be the same?’

They tell me, ‘No, it will not. My love will be reduced a little!’
What does this mean? We love our next generation as long as they are extensions of our life. As long as they fall
into our pattern of thinking, as long as they live in accordance with our conventions, we love them. We simply
fulfill our own desires through them. We fulfill our lives through them. Whatever we couldn’t accomplish in our
youth, we try to accomplish through them. If we wanted to be a doctor and couldn’t for some reason, we inspire
them to be a doctor. As long as they act and live as an extension of our life, the relationship is beautiful. But the
moment they start deciding on their own, the moment they feel we are suffocating them, the moment they stand
up and say ‘no’, the relationship takes a different turn.

Love and liberate, don’t possess

As long as our love happens towards a particular object, even if the object is a person, we will try to reduce that
person only to the level of an object. That is exactly what we do when we feel possessive or attached to another
person. In the way that we try to possess furniture or a house or any object, we try to possess the person also. We
want the person to be just how we want him or her to be, which means we are actually reducing the person to
sheer matter.
So understand, whenever our love or our attention is towards something in particular, we will be only materialistic,
creating suffering for ourselves and for others. We will only suffocate the object or person. Instead, if we turn our
attention towards the experience of love itself, we will be liberating the object and we too will be liberated from
the object. That is the beauty of love that happens just as love and not for the sake of any object.
When you start possessing someone, you bind yourself also. If you are walking holding your dog’s leash, be very
clear that you are also bound. Don’t think only the dog is bound; you are also bound. Don’t think that only the
dog cannot run away, you too cannot run away! You may be thinking that you are holding the rope and the dog
may be thinking that he is holding the rope. Who knows?
The next time you are with someone, when you are with your friend with whom you are completely open,
remember to practice this technique.
Just sit next to him or her. Don’t bother about what you are going to do or what you are going to say. Just sit,
that’s all! That is the technique. Actually, speaking is nothing but avoiding the other person. Because you cannot
look into the other person’s eyes, you go on speaking. That is the truth. The other person listens so that he can
start speaking whenever you take a break! If a person is listening to you, it means that he is either thinking of
something else or he is preparing for his turn. He sits there so that he can start once you finish.
Now if you try this technique, it can take you to a different space altogether. When you are with the master or
your friend or your beloved, whoever you feel deeply connected with, whoever you are very open with, you can
try this technique. It will straightaway lead you to enlightenment. Be very clear, I am not teaching this technique
for you to have better relationships or for you to develop your personality. No! I am giving it to you to straightaway
experience the pure love that can lead you to enlightenment.
This technique will take you through a quantum jump from the form to the formless, from possessive love to
causeless love.
When love happens as causeless overflowing, you simply liberate yourself and the other person from your own
attachment and possessiveness, because possessiveness as you know it, binds not only the other person but you
as well. It tortures the other person as well as you! Real love simply liberates both of you. It gives freedom to you
and the other person.
When I travel around the world, people ask me,‘Swamiji, did you sleep well last night? It is a new place for you.’
I tell them, ‘Only when you have attachment to a particular house does another house become a new place for
you and you struggle. When you don’t have attachment to any house, you feel at home wherever you go!’
I never feel any place is mine or not mine. I feel totally at home anywhere. The comfort is always within us, never
outside us. When there is no comfort within us, we look for comfort outside us. Feeling comfortable within us is
the result of the causeless love energy.
When we don’t feel attached to one home, we feel at home in the entire world. We are totally relaxed anywhere
in the world.

Love in relationships
In real life, we always look to express our love towards others in some tangible way. Only if love is demonstrated
in tangible form, it is considered to be love nowadays.
True love is like a communion. It is a resonance between two beings. It can be felt without any expression. It
doesn’t need communication because it is already happening as a communion.
If you really love a person, then your very body language will show it. It will be too much to express in words.
You will feel that any words are inadequate and will only bring down the love that you feel. But if you are using
words, then somewhere the love has not really happened. When you have to speak to express love, then
somewhere there is a lie in it! You are using the words just to decorate the lie.
Real love liberates because it doesn’t compel you to express it all the time. It just is. Real love also gives you the
freedom to freely express what you want to express. You can easily express anything like disapproval or anger
and it will not be mistaken for reduced love.
Not only that, with real love, there will be no domination or power play in relationships. Each person will be like
a beautiful flower that has blossomed to radiate its unique fragrance, that’s all.
With real love, there will be no fear or insecurity either. In normal love, physical distance between two people
causes a lot of insecurity and a lack of trust.
A small story:
A young soldier went to his senior officer and said, ’Sir my friend is not yet back from the battlefield. I request
permission to go out and get him.’
The officer said, ’Permission refused. Your friend is most probably dead. I don’t want you to risk your life going
there.’
The young soldier went all the same and came back mortally wounded and carrying the corpse of his friend.
The officer was furious. He shouted, ’I told you he was dead. Now I have lost both of you. Tell me, was it worth
going out there to bring a corpse?’
On the verge of dying, the soldier replied, ’It was, Sir. When I got there he was still alive. He said to me, I was
sure you would come.’
Real love doesn’t look for utility. It operates on sheer trust and is also beyond space and time.
These days I see people gifting each other with so many things to show their love. Gifting has become an
expression of love. If the gifting happens as causeless overflowing, it is okay.
But if it is a condition to be fulfilled, it becomes a problem! Then it becomes a poor substitute for real love.
As long as real love is there, no relationship can become boring. One of the aadheenavasis asked me one day,
‘Everyday you see all of us, all our mistakes and confusions. It is the same thing for you every day. Are you not
bored by us?’ It was a very honest question! I told them, ‘For enlightened beings, just because of their very love,
they feel everybody is unique. They do not look at people as mere numbers. They see each one as unique.’
That is why, with so much patience, masters continue to work with everybody. If it were just a matter of numbers,
it would be very different. When you have this love, your inner space is such that there is no logical reason behind
your actions. You will just feel connected and you radiate love, that’s all!
Not only that, causeless overflowing love is always total in its expression. It doesn’t carry the usual dilutions of
greed or fear. So any person whom you love, you will love totally without any reservations. Irrespective of the
way he is, you will love him. When you love this way, even if the person leaves your life, you will not grieve.
When a person passes away, you grieve only because you regret not having loved him completely. You can love
him completely only when your love itself is complete. It doesn’t have to do anything with the other person. It
doesn’t matter what kind of person he is. That is the beauty of real love.
It loves for the sake of love, not for the sake of the other person.
If you are grieving for the loss ofa person, be very clear, you are grieving because you missed loving him in
totality. If you had loved him in totality, you would say good-bye to him with complete restfulness, not with grief.
You grieve only because you missed something somewhere. Even if it is your own father or husband or wife, it
is the same. If you had radiated your causeless love to them when they were alive, then when they left there would
not be any regret. But if you had loved them with rationalizations, then when they left, the incompleteness of your
love towards them would create a hangover, and that hangover is what you feel as grief.

Meditation - Feel the Love overflowing in you

Sit down comfortably by yourself and close your eyes.
Focus on your heart region. Exclude everything else. Focus only on the heart.
Visualize your heart as an endless reservoir from where blessings can flow.
Feel every heartbeat deeply. Let every beat resound throughout you.
Between the heartbeats, feel the energy of love happening.
In the deepest parts of and soul, the love energy acknowledged.
Invite the love energy of the heart to flow and fill these deepest parts of your body, mind and soul.
Slowly open your eyes.
There is Nothing to Worry
We talked of love so far. Love is about our relationship with others. Love is also about our
relationship with us. Without loving ourselves we cannot love others. What prevents us from loving
our own self is the constant worry or irritation that we generate within us. Whether things go right or
wrong we worry. There is nothing more corrosive to our self-esteem than worry. What is this worry?

What is Worry?
A small story:
A man walked into a bar looking worried and upset.
The bartender asked him, What’s the matter? You look very worried about something.’
The man said, ’My wife and I had a fight and she told me that she wouldn’t talk to me for a month.’
The bartender consoled him, ’It’s okay. One month isn’t that long.’
The man said, ’I know. The month is up today!’
Everyone has his or her own set of worries! If I ask you what you worry about, you will tell me, ‘I don’t have a
job, that’s my worry.’Your neighbor will say, ‘My job is my main worry!’ Someone else will say, ‘My children
are my worry.’ Another person will say, ‘I don’t have children, that’s my worry!’ One person’s dream is another
person’s worry! You will not find any logic in it at all.

What is meant by ‘worry’? Worry arises whenever things are not happening as you want them to happen. It is
the discrepancy between your expectations and reality. For example, you feel your son should stay at home with
you, whereas he feels he should be by himself - away from you. You want to finish your project by a certain
time. But things are happening too slowly and it seems an impossible task. These are all causes for worry. What
you want and expect does not match what others want and expect

How does Worry take root?

Worry takes root from your own thoughts or words. There are two things that continuously happen in you. The
first is dialogue, and the second is monologue —what I call ‘inner chatter’. You either talk to people outside you
or you continuously chatter within you. In any case, words and thoughts are the ‘building blocks’ that make up
worry.
When you speak to others, what you say is strictly governed by societal rules. You automatically don’t use
prohibited or ‘politically incorrect’ words. But what you say inside yourself, no one except you knows. The
thoughts that you generate inside constitute your real worries.
It is like this: there is a continuous current of chatter happening in you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a
week. From this current a few spikes rise. These spikes are what you feel and express as worries. Worries are
nothing but spikes in the current of thoughts constantly moving within you.
These thoughts are mostly negative. That’s the problem. If I ask you to write your life story in a few pages, you
will write a few incidents highlighting how and when you struggled. You will not highlight the many joyful
incidents that happened in between. The mind is trained to record only negative things. Even when something
joyful happens, you remember only the moment when it ended, never the moments when you felt joy. Because
even when you are at the peak of joy, you are always worrying about when the joy will end! The mind is trained
from a very young age to think that life moves from one worry to the other, or from one pain to another, never
from one joy to another.
In a classroom, the teacher found that one boy was sitting with a very sad face.
She asked him, ’What happened? Why do you look so worried?’
The boy said, ’It’s my parents. My dad works all day to provide good clothes and an excellent education for me.
He buys me anything I want. My mother cooks the best food for me and takes care of me from morning until I go
to bed.’
The teacher asked, ’Then what is your problem? Why are you worried?’
The boy replied, ’I am afraid they might run away.’
The mind has a clear identity only with pain, never with joy! That is why recalling even joyful moments becomes
painful.
Joy never gets recorded as thoughts, but pain does. That’s why our internal recordings are always negative
thoughts. Joy is like a blank recording! For example, if your entire life is like a time shaft, on that shaft the joyful
moments are simply empty spaces! There won’t be any recording corresponding to it. But the moments of worry
and suffering will be clearly recorded as black impressions.

See what is as it IS — and move on

Buddha', the enlightened master, used the word tathata - seeing what is as it IS. It is seeing what is there as it is
without any judgment.
But most of the time we see things only through our worry. There is a common saying, ‘We don’t see things as
they are. We see things as we are.’ If you feel there is something wrong with what you are seeing, then you should
look back in at yourself because what you see outside is only a reflection of what is inside you. If you feel pure
love inside, then you see only pure love outside. It always has to do with you, not with what you are seeing.
How can you keep thoughts away from what truly IS? How can you enjoy each moment all the time?

Try this small technique. When you see something — say a person, or a situation, or a book, or anything —
normally old thoughts and familiar reactions immediately rise in you. Bring awareness that these conditioned
thoughts and memories cloud your judgment and visualize shattering those thoughts. Next, see the situation, or
person, or object now with a fresh eye, as though you are seeing it for the first time! Suddenly you see how
much you missed, because of your own worry and thoughts.

Even when you see your husband, wife, brother, or anyone, look at them as though you are seeing them for the
first time. Suddenly, you realize that not only does worry not arise, but also that you will start seeing everyone
alike — whether they are strangers or familiar to you. That is the right way. No one is familiar or unchanging.
Even your wife is not known to you. Everyone is constantly changing every moment along with Existence. Only
your mind is trying to make them appear to be permanent.
Once you start seeing what is as it is, all your energy will integrate within you. There is no more worry, no more
conflict.
Someone asked J. Krishnamurti, the famous Indian philosopher, how to fall in tune with what IS. He beautifully
says, ‘Just don’t name it, you will find you are in tune with it!’

Usually, when we see something, we either try to identify with it or we try to condemn it. For example, if you are
told you are arrogant, you either accept it or you try not to be arrogant! You never understand or go beyond
arrogance. You can only understand within your frame of reference, what you are familiar with. Because of this,
you are caught in a limited view of possibilities. To really understand, you need to go beyond this limited point-
of-view. To do that, you have to stop naming it arrogance , that’s all! There will be no more arrogance.
Only by naming it, you start the conflict. That is how you see what IS— by not naming it.
When you see what is as it is, you are in heaven. When you want to see what you want to see, you are in hell. If
you understand that everything is auspiciousness, you will drop expectation and see things as they are, because
everything is auspiciousness.
A small story:
One disciple kept asking the master ’Master where is paradise?’
Finally one day, the master asked him, ’Do you really want to know?’
The disciple sat up and said, ’Yes!’
The master said, ’Alright, my first disciple Hemachandra is in paradise.’After saying these words the
master closed his eyes and went into meditation.
The disciple knew it would be a long time before the master opened his eyes. So, he went and asked
some of the disciples ifthey knew where Hemachandra lived. No one seemed to know.
Finally one disciple said, ’I know how to guide you there, but I have never been there myself. It is in a
deep valley beyond a range of ice covered mountains. ’
The disciple wrote down the directions carefully and went back to the master. He told him, ’Master, I
wish to pay a visit to Hemachandra!’
The master was absorbed deeply in some work. Without even looking up he said, ’Go ahead.’
The disciple started on his journey. He walked for many days, passing through sun, rain, snow, and
what not. He became exhausted, on the verge ofdeath. It took him one hundred days to reach the valley.
When he finally reached it he looked at the valley and thought, ’This valley doesn’t look all that great.
I have seen many more beautiful valleys. Why did the master call this paradise?’
He looked around and walked further and fin ally fo und He mac handra ’s hut. Hemachandra was very
pleased to see him. He served him food and asked how the master and other disciples were doing.
All along, the disciple was thinking to himself, ’Master called this place paradise? I can’t believe it.’
After a week-long stay he left and returned to his master. It took him another one hundred days to return
home.
He went straight to the master and stated, ’You said that the place is paradise. But what I saw was the
most ordinary place ever!’
The master said, ’Oh god! At the time of your enquiry, had you been more explicit about your intention,
I would have told you the truth.’
The disciple asked, ’What is the truth?’
The master replied, ’Hemachandra is not in paradise. Paradise is in him!’
When you live close to Existence, without any expectation, seeing what is as it is and finding the
blessings in it, you will carry heaven in you! Heaven is not geographical, it is psychological. It is not
physical, it is mental. If you decide, you can be in heaven right now.

Worry — a legacy passed down

Worry is an unwanted legacy passed down from grandparents to parents to children. Children are like sponges.
They simply absorb the body language and attitude of the parents. The parents are not even aware this is
happening. For example, if a child hears the mother repeating a certain worry four or five times, the child simply
internalizes the habit. He grows up repeating statements unnecessarily, which is one attribute of worry.
Ultimately he carries the worry with him into marriage and then both he and his new wife must deal with it, even
though it was originally his mother’s concern. They will then hand it down to their children, unless they stop
naming it and learn to live with what IS.
One man was pushing his baby in a pram. The baby was screaming at the top of his voice. All the while the man
kept repeating quietly, ’Keep calm George. Don’t scream. It will be okay.’
His wife told him to keep quiet.
 A woman who was watching this said to the wife, ’Why are you so rude to him? He is really doing his best to
pacify your son!’
The wife looked at her with resentment, pointed to her husband and told her ’He is George.’

When parents express constant worry, children grow up thinking life goes on only because of worry! Understand
that life goes on not because of us, but in spite of us!
The problem is that parents expect their children to worry! If they don’t worry, they brand them as uncaring. It is
possible to care without worrying. Care is doing, worry is chattering. There is no use chattering. Chattering is like
trying to cross a bridge before it comes.
A young boy was driving his mother to the neighboring village. They were nearing the village when they
remembered a particular bridge th at used to be very old and unusable.
The mother got very anxious and said, ’I will never cross that bridge by car.’
The son said, ’Let’s see how it looks when we come to it.’
The mother said, ’I’m sure the bridge will break if we attempt to cross it.’
The son replied, ’Let’s see how strong it is. We won’t cross it without checking it carefully.’
The mother said, ’If something happens to you or me, your father will never forgive me.’ She kept going on like
this, becoming more and more upset.

Soon they reached the spot where the bridge stood. The bridge had been replaced with a new one!
There are two things to understand: chronological planning and psychological worry. Chronological planning is
needed to set up a schedule for tasks or projects to be completed. For example, you decide, ‘I will wake up at six
a.m., do my meditation, then take a shower at seven a.m., and leave for the office by eight a.m. I’ll finish work
by five p.m. and return home by six p.m.’

This type of planning is perfectly alright. But before you come to each task on your list, you start creating anxiety
about it. You think of the pros and cons of each, etc. This is called psychological worry! This is not needed.
Chronological planning is fine, but psychological worry is not needed. It is like trying to cross a bridge before it
comes.
So much energy is spent worrying and it is all of no use. In the story I just narrated, it does not mean that the son
does not care. He cares without worry, that’s all. Why contemplate over the bridge even before it comes?
You can clean the physical parts of your house, your carpets and floors, but what about the space inside your
house? This space is the energy that circulates throughout your house. It captures all the thoughts you radiate. It
sets the very mood of the house. Your worries rest like cobwebs in the space of your house. That is why when
you enter your house, you experience a familiar pattern of worry. The patterns remaining in the space of your
house grip you when you return to it. Understand that your mental setup settles into the space of your house.
The big problem is that you become so used to your patterns of worries that you end up like an island that is cut
off from the fragrance of the mainland. You are cut off from the fragrance of Existence because of your worries.
You miss the miracles of Existence that are continuously happening around you. You forget to appreciate and
remember only to complain. You forget laughter and remember only anxiety. You forget bliss and remember only
stress. Remembering these negative things becomes a mere habit.

Awareness - the benign virus!

What is the solution to this distorted software of the mind?
Deep awareness is the solution. Deep awareness is like a benign virus, if such a thing exists! Once awareness
enters your system, the more you work with the mind, the more the awareness gets into the worry software and
destroys it!
Awareness is nothing but bringing our focus to exactly what is happening in and around us. It is witnessing.
Anything that we watch with awareness will dissolve. That is the power of awareness; whether it is physical pain,
mental pain, worry, or something else. When we watch with awareness, we stop the conflict somewhere within
us. We start moving with the natural flow of things.
When we watch worry with awareness, we focus light on exactly how worry is created, how it exists. Once this
happens, the worry starts to dissolve and clarity starts happening.
There is a small story about Buddha and his disciples:
One day Buddha arrived for his usual morning discourse with his disciples. He had a knotted
handkerchief in his hand. He showed the handkerchief to the disciples and asked if any of them could
come up and untie the knot.
One disciple went up and tried to untie it. He pulled and pulled and the knot tightened. Another disciple
went up, he looked at the knot %r a few seconds and easily untied it.
All he did was look at the knot and immediately he knew how the knot was made in the first place. So,
he just reversed the whole thing and untied it! The knot itself taught him how to untie it.
In life worries are the knots in the handkerchief. If we look at them with awareness, we will know how
to dissolve them. We will see exactly how the worry was created and then know how to ‘untie’ it. The
worry itself will teach us how to release it.

Work out of inspiration — not out of Worry

If you observe closely, you will see that goals always create worry in us. When we move toward any goal, we
move only with the worry about the results.
Krishna, an enlightened master from ancient India, beautifully says in the ancient Hindu* scripture, the Bhagavad
Gita’, ‘The person who does not expect gain or loss from anything works happily with no need even for
motivation.’
When you are worried about the results, the very worry affects the results. Because when you worry, your doing
is affected. Work should always be done out of inspiration, never out of worry. The motivation for any work
should be inspiration, not worry. Inspiration is an overflowing energy that expands your capacity to do things. It
is completely energizing. Worry, on the other hand, is something that shrinks your capacity. It limits what you
are capable of really doing because it takes away your energy.
When you work out of worry, you are always bothered about the results. When you work out of inspiration,
you are not bothered about the results. You are bothered only about doing the task to the fullest. Any task done
with the energy of inspiration always turns out good results. Even if it doesn’t give the expected results, you won’t
feel bad about it because you have received fulfillment simply by doing it. The ‘doing’ itself will fulfill you.

Leave no space for Worry

When you live without expectation, you are already fulfilled. There is no space for worry or discontent to thrive.
When you don’t have worry, you see things as they are. You don’t worry about what might be or might not be.
Worry exists only if you give it space. The space for worry is the past or future. The present doesn’t hold any
space for it.
A small story:
A mother was preparing a meal for her young son. She emptied a tin of beans into a saucepan and put them on
the stove to cook. Just then the phone rang. She was expecting the call and wanted to take it, but she was concerned
that her son would be left alone for those few minutes while she was out of the room.
She told him, ’Stay here while I answer the phone. I’ll be back soon. Don’t misbehave, and whatever you do,
don’t put those beans up your nose...’
We always worry about what is happening and what might happen, also! The boy might not have even thought
about putting beans up his nose! Now his mother has planted the idea in him. Worry infuses life into many
things that never existed in the first place. Now, when the boy puts the beans in his nose, her worry turns out to
be true! She concludes that her worries are always right.

Worry is only an illusion

If you look into worries, you will observe that they arise out of deep ignorance of the truth that Existence is
running the whole show. If you look, you will see that all worries are mere illusion. You can understand this by
observing what happens at the time of death. When you are alive, you may have one hundred worries, but suppose
you are dying. At that moment, how many worries do you think will dominate you the way they did earlier? Surely
only one worry will be foremost — that you are going to die. None of the earlier worries will exert any great
influence. All the outer world situations remain the same, but still the worries disappear! Only loving thoughts
remain for the people around you who are dear to you.
How is this possible? It is possible only because your worries were never a part of you in the first place. They
were merely a part of your mind. They were nothing solid. If they were solid, they would definitely exert some
amount of influence over you at the time of your death as well.
The nature of worry is such that it always goes behind something that is not present. If you have wealth, it will go
after relationships, if you have relationships, it will go after education, if you have education it will go after good
looks. If everything is present, it will suspect what is present!

Surrender and relax

When you clearly understand that you are part of the grand plan of Existence, no worry can take root in you.
Existence is a live energy being. It has tremendous intelligence with which it runs the whole show. We are all part
of it. The same intelligence that conducts Existence is available to us too. If we tune in to it, our actions will be
fluid and spontaneous like the happenings of Existence. If we don’t tune into 1t, we will harbor worry and fear
and remain closed.
There is so much to learn from Existence! Take animals for example. Have you ever heard of worried sheep or
cows? No! They conduct their lives like you; they are born, they reproduce, they find food, and they face death -
just like human beings. You may say, ‘They don’t have to face the challenges that we have to face.’ What about
their other activities like reproduction, facing death, etc? Are they worried about all that? No! But these things
happen to them too. So understand that Existence is running this whole macrocosm. It can surely take care of you
as well!
Surrendering to the laws of Existence is the greatest relaxation from worry.

The Ego in disguise

If you seriously analyze every worry that arises in you, you will see that ninety nine percent of your worries are
baseless. But the problem is that the ego is not willing to accept that. The ego has invested too much in worry.
Worry can’t be discarded just like that! Just try telling someone that his or her worries are not worth anything.
They will get very offended. You would expect that a person would feel happy if you tell him his worries are not
true. But it won’t be so! He will feel offended. The ego feels offended whenever its worries are not acknowledged
with due respect.

The ego is what sustains the worry. The worry is created out of ignorance, but sustained by ego. Worry becomes
an axis around which the ego revolves. If worry is taken away, the ego suffers. The worry of work and the worry
of responsibility are classic examples of this.
If you watch some people, they simply magnify their situation to prove that they have the greatest worries on
planet earth! If you try to oppose them, they feel very hurt.
Even worrying about what others will say about us is a problem of the ego. The ego is constantly worried that its
self-image might be spoiled by someone. It is because of the ego that we feel we want to be somebody special all
the time. We spend considerable time just worrying about our self-image. Understand that the greatest blessing is
being a nobody and yet being blissful. That is the greatest specialty. It is said that the most extraordinary thing
about an enlightened being is that he thinks he is ordinary! So, understand that enlightenment itself is a journey
to relax into yourself. You are someone special all the time, only when you drop worry and ego.

Get out of your comfort zone

If you really want to come out of your worries, you will come out right now, without trying tojustify any of your
worries.
The thing is, our very worries become our comfort zone. We hide in them. Hiding and merely talking about them
helps us to remain lazy.
Someone asks Mahavira’, an enlightened Jain master from India, ‘Who is the one who has worries?’
He beautifully replies, ‘The person who is worried.’
They ask him, ‘What is the cause of worry?’ He replies, ‘Laziness.’
Then they ask him, ‘Who ends worries?’ He replies, ‘Man himself.’
They ask him, ‘How can worry be ended?’ He replies, ‘By dropping laziness.’
If you drop laziness, you fall into right action. And when you fall into right action, you drop worry. Your comfort
with worry can be understood even from the way you react to other people’s worries. If you keenly watch, you
will observe that whenever a person talks to you about his worries, you first tell them, ‘What can you do... That’s
just the way it happens...’ You never straightaway give a solution to them. When you do this, be very clear, you
are not only encouraging them, but you are also encouraging yourself to remain comfortably in the worry zone.
If you really observe, we love to worry and talk about it. It makes us feel that we are shouldering a lot of problems.
It makes us feel important, like the world can’t make it without us to take care of it.
When you see a problem, if you want a solution, you never dwell upon the problem even for a second. You simply
switch to the solution, that’s all! In the same way, for every worry there is an instant solution. You have to want
it; that is the key.
Most of the time, you prefer to stay in the comfort zone of your worry. It keeps you settled. For example, let’s say
you are visiting your child at college. You see a few students keeping their rooms all messy, or exchanging clothes
and wearing them. You record the whole scene in your mind and assume that is the way of life in the dorm itself.
You advise your child to keep her things neat and not to wear others’ clothes. Even if she tells you her things are
in order and that she doesn’t wear others’ clothes, you will not readily erase or reprogram your recording. You
stick with the earlier recording of what you observed.
There probably were many other beautiful things to record in the dorm — like the joy of the students, the campus
itself, etc., but every time you think of your daughter, only this one recording comes up and you worry about her.
Not only that, anyone you meet, you talk about how things are a mess in her dorm and how everyone exchanges
clothes and wears them! The recording itself is not the truth. But you choose to have it as your comfort zone. You
reinforce it.
Even your worry related to wealth is like this. If making money is the worry, then it clearly means, somewhere
laziness is pulling you back into the comfort of worry. If you discard laziness and move, you make money. There
are a million opportunities in today’s world to make money.

Drop Worry, pick up health

When you create more thoughts inside you through worry, the load on the navel region increases. It is from the
navel region that thoughts or worries arise. When you create more and more thoughts, you feel the heaviness in
your stomach. There is an energy center in the navel area called the manipuraka chakra’. This energy center starts
shrinking with the heaviness of worry.
This energy centre responds directly to worry, and affects the stomach. That is why when you worry about
something your stomach starts becoming uneasy. Or when you hear shocking news you say, ‘I can’t digest
it...’Any disturbing news causes your stomach to churn. The stomach is very sensitive to thoughts.
There was a doctor famous for his extraordinary and effective treatment of arthritis. He always had a waiting
room full of people.
There was a doctor famous for his extraordinary and effective treatment of arthritis. He always had a waiting
room full of people.
One day an old lady with her back badly bent walking entered the office with the aid of a stick. When her turn
came, she went into the doctor’s room and amazingly, came out within five minutes, walking completely erect
with her head high.
A woman in the waiting room ran to her and said, ’It’s a miracle! You walked in bent in half and now you are
walking erect! What did that doctor do?’
The old lady replied, ’He gave me a longer cane.’
Sometimes we are so used to living a certain way that we can’t see a better way to live. Worry is that habit that
keeps us from living to our full potential and invites disease into the body. Disease starts in the mind.

There are extreme forms of worry that may become habitual and slow down the functioning of the individual.
This form of worry is diagnosed as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, called GAD. It is much more than the normal
anxiety people experience day to day. According to research done by the National Institute of Mental Health in
the USA, GAD affects about 6.8 million adult Americans and about twice as many women as men.

How meditation helps

Once worry happens, we visit psychiatrists. The cause of worry is in the mind, not outside. Then how
will medicine alone help?

A large number of the people in the world visit psychiatrists for the treatment of worry. Medication is all right,
but for psychosomatic conditions like worry, meditation is also needed.
Meditation softens you. When you soften, love and gratitude start happening in you. Then slowly, there is no
room for worry. Worry is also a form of violence. It is a subtle form of violence. It is a disguised agitation in the
system.
Meditation also tremendously increases awareness. When awareness increases, outwardly you might be
completely involved in the outer world, but inwardly you will be untouched by anything that happens. That is the
real worry-free life.
Excel Without Stress
Worry and stress are closely interrelated. They are like parent and child. One cannot exist without the other. What
works for one works for the other as well. However, given that stress is considered the biggest destroyer of health
in today’s world, it is worth going into more depth on this subject.

Four hundred years ago the French philosopher Rene Descartes declared, ‘I think, therefore I exist.’ This has
formed the basis of modern thinking. Billions of people in this world have followed Descartes for generations
believing that unless each one out thinks the other they cannot succeed in this world.
Descartes was right, and he was wrong. He was right in that the human system does not know how to live without
its mind, without thinking. As a result human beings become slaves to their minds. They live in bondage.
Many centuries before Descartes, a vedic sage declared that man does not begin to exist till he stops thinking. Adi
Shankara, at the age of eight, faced his future master across the waters of the holy Tungabhadra river. The master
asked him, ‘Who are you?’
In response Shankara said, ‘I am not the mind, I am not the intellect, I am not the ego and I am not the senses. I
am beyond all that. I am pure consciousness.’
We are merely a bio-machine as long as we think we are mind and body. We are just a shade better than the
animals we ascended from as long as we allow our senses to guide us. But the true potential of human beings is
not merely to think and prove that we are superior to animals. The purpose of human life is to transcend the mind
and ascend to a higher state of consciousness. In that state we are truly in the divinity that we descended from.
Till we reach that state of unity with what we truly are, we are in turmoil. This turmoil, this confusion between
our true nature and what we pretend and strive to be is what we call stress or tension.

Mind is not a machine

According to vedic psychology, we are not disturbed. We are indeed the source of that disturbance. Understand
this well, you are not tensed but you are tension. You are not stressed but you are the source of stress. There is a
big difference between the two. Let us look deeply into it. Then you will understand. You are not in tension. You
are the tension. There is a very big difference between ‘you are disturbed’ and you are disturbanc e.
A group of reputed and experienced scientists, after doing research for many years, have now come up to say this.
They say: We cannot make man responsible for his actions unless we teach him how to manage his emotions by
managing what is happening inside him.
Whatever the vedic' scriptures said five thousand years ago is the same thing that the modern scientists are saying
now. These scriptures also provide the solution and answer for this age-old problem. They can bridge the gap
between the Western psychology and the vedic psychology.

Western psychology continuously gives us the hope that we can be brought back to normalcy, retaining I as I.
For example, if we are feeling hot in this room, we can fix the air conditioning and make it cool to be comfortable.
But we forget an important factor. The moment we bring air conditioning into this room, we need to maintain
that. That brings additional tension. That brings additional problems. Now we need electricity, we need to pay the
bills and for all these facilities we need money. When you go out to work, you no longer enjoy this room. The
room and its air conditioning exist, but you are elsewhere working to pay the bills for the air conditioner! We
forget an important factor. You as you are, is a disease. The concept of mind, according to Western psychology,
is a machine. According to vedic psychology, it is a process. Mind is not a machine but a process. It is constantly
happening. The word ’manas’, which is the Sanskrit word for mind, means a constant happening, something that
is not passive and dead but something that is dynamic and alive.
Western psychology insists on this one idea that the mind is a biomechanical machine. We all believe
unconsciously that mind is matter, a thing or a machine. That is why constantly we connect all the past happenings
of the mind as a chain, and start believing our mind is a solid thing.

Connecting the Unconnected

Let me give you an example. The low mood that you experienced ten years ago, the low mood that you
experienced nine years ago, the low mood that you experienced eight years ago, the low mood that you
experienced seven years ago and the low mood that you experienced yesterday are completely unconnected and
independent incidents. All these happened for different purposes, different reasons, at different times and
situations. You connect all these unconnected incidents and say, My life itself is a depression.’
The low mood that you experienced years ago, months ago, weeks ago or days ago are all unconnected and
independent incidents. Fifteen years ago, you would have felt the low mood and felt depressed because your toys
were lost. Nine years ago, you would have felt depressed because your girlfriend was lost. Few years ago you
would have felt depressed or disturbed because your son was not listening to you. The reasons were different,
situations were different, and the cause was totally different. However, when you connect all these low moods
and decide, ‘My life is full of depression, you have created hell for yourself!

The moment you start believing that your life is depressed, your life indeed becomes depression. Please
understand that it is only what you believe to be your past that you will reproduce in future. We all know that we
can’t fly from our past experience. How can we believe that we can start flying from tomorrow onwards? No, we
can’t. Whatever we believe to be our past, only that we will believe can be our future. So once we start believing
that our past was filled with depression, we have created the unconscious faith that our future will also be
depression.
When we believe that the mind is just a thing, a bio-machine, we have created hell for ourselves. Fortunately for
us, the mind is not a thing. There is hope. The truth is that mind is not a thing as we all have been taught; it is a
process. It is not a noun but a verb.
When we believe the mind is a thing, be very clear, we create problems that do not exist.
A small story:
A man goes to a psychiatric doctor and says, ’Doctor my life is full of problems’. The doctor says, ’Everybody’s
life is a problem. Don’t worry. Every week we will have three sessions and you will be charged hundred dollars.’
The man says, ’Doctor three sessions per week each at hundred dollars will solve your problem. What about my
problem!’
Understand, the moment we start believing that the mind is only a machine, we become helpless. No psychiatrist
can help. No psychoanalyst can help. No other method can help, because the basic belief is wrong. The moment
we bring a wrong belief, whatever is built on that has to go wrong. It cannot be the truth. We need to understand
the basic truth that the mind is a process; we are not in tension but we are tension.

How do we decide?
Only about ten percent of what we perceive through our senses gets recorded in our conscious mind. Everything
else goes directly into our unconscious mind. This is why many times we do not even remember a place that we
pass every day. So long as this sensory perception does not interest us in some way it does not get recorded.
Let us now see what happens to those sensory perceptions that do get recorded in our conscious mind. These
impressions are sorted out by parts of our mind and identified. Your conscious mind records whether the person
you see in front of you is known to you or whether he is an unknown stranger. How you would like to interact
with him is no longer a decision made at the conscious level. In case you know him, your attitude towards him
and your action would be based on the engraved memories that are grooved in your mind. In case he is unknown
to you also, the very appearance of that person would trigger unconscious responses. Either way the file moves
into your unconscious for a decision about what you should do.
For most of us, less than ten percent of the mind is conscious. Less than ten percent of what you perceive through
your senses gets recorded consciously. It is possible that less than one percent of what you decide is a rational
decision!
There are two ways we can regain control. The first is to reduce the conditioning that binds us. In our meditation
programs, we work on the removal and dissolution of these samskaras' that bind us. The second way is to be in
the present moment, in total awareness and control.

Transcend time - be in the present

Your thoughts are always about your past or your future. You can only think about what happened in the past or
what will happen in the future. Your thoughts of the past are usually regrets about what you did not do or guilt
about what you did. Thoughts of the future are about what you wish to do.
Please understand, neither the past nor the future is real. The past is dead and gone. Most often we do not even
learn from the past. All we try to do is use our past to steer the future. It is like driving a car looking only at the
rear view mirror! You know for sure where you will end up!
The future is even more unreal. It has not happened. You have very little control over your future the way you
are, because all your actions are steered by the unconscious mind. You are driven by the embedded memories of
your past. Your thoughts are nothing but the movement of your mind between past and future. Your mind never
wants to rest. If it rested you will know you can do without it!
If only you allowed the mind to rest or even persuaded your mind to rest, you will find that you reach a blissful
state. That state is the present moment. All your future has to happen in this present moment. It is what you decide
now in this present moment that makes your future. Once you take care of the present moment, once you live this
present moment consciously, you no longer will have cause to regret your past or feel guilty about it.

The shaft in the center represents ‘time’. At any given time, the greater your TPS or Thoughts Per Second, the
more far-flung you are from consciousness of the present moment. You are simply worrying about the future thus
allowing it to slip into the past, without ever getting a glimpse of the present. When your TPS comes down, you
enter more and more into the present and when this happens, you have a clearer vision of the past and the future.
You may wonder what is there to be clear about the past. One can understand that the future may not be clear, but
why the past? I have lived it, so why should it be unclear! You need to understand that what you now remember
of the past is your judgment of the past, not the way it happened. How many times do we talk about the golden
past? How much has been written about the ‘golden past’! There is nothing golden about the past. We just choose
to remember the good parts, so it looks golden.

When you are in the intuitive state, be very clear: for those few moments, your TPS has dropped and you are more
in the present. When your TPS is zero, you can clearly see the entire past and future.
The point where the future meets the past is the present. This is where your thought frequency is zero and you are
in a no-mind state. You have not merely controlled or suppressed the mind, which is impossible. You have
transcended the mind, which is possible.

Meditation brings the mind to rest. Meditation disengages the mind so that the mind cannot play games. We can
also reach this state in the master’s presence. The master is always in a no-mind state, which is the zero TPS state.
When you are in his awareness, whether physically or otherwise, your own TPS also drops. You can reach zero
TPS just by being in the master’s presence. The presence of the master is meditation. Awareness of the master is
meditation.

Physiological effects of Stress

We have looked at what the scriptures say and what I think about why stress is created. Let us now look at what
science says.
We all have a part of our brain that controls our actions such as breathing, digestion and such activities that the
body does automatically, involuntarily. Nature has designed a fail-safe system in a part of our brain called
hypothalamus. This part of the brain also includes what biologists refer to as the reptilian brain.
Behavioral scientists often talk about the fight or flight response. When the body-mind perceives a danger to our
survival the hypothalamus is alerted by our unconscious mind. The unconscious mind functions at speeds a million
times faster than the conscious mind. So even before we consciously become aware of danger, we instinctively
become alert. The hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland, the master gland, which then activates the adrenalin
glands that secrete the adrenalin hormone, which is pumped into our extremities, the hands and legs. We then get
ready for the ‘fight or flight’ reaction — either the energy prepares us to fight the threat or to run away from the
threat. The unconscious reptilian brain takes the decision to release chemicals into our body to protect us. This
worked very well in the days of the caveman when he faced lions and tigers. He had to be ready even without
thinking to fight or run away.
To study the effect of adrenalin on human beings today, experiments were carried out on athletes. Sprinters were
lined up at the starting block and moments before the pistol was raised to signal to them to start running the umpire
lowered his arm. So, the sprinters had to fall back and reposition themselves. This was repeated six times. Without
even running a meter the sprinters collapsed at the starting block! The adrenalin level in their bodies had become
dangerously high. The life saving adrenalin can become a killer when it is produced without reason.
The chances of our meeting a tiger or a lion are quite slim these days. Nevertheless our unconscious mind keeps
sending signals of such danger. These are called ‘fear strokes’. Psychologists estimate that we face at least half a
dozen such fear strokes every day. These fear strokes produce large quantities of adrenalin in us. It has been
established that depression is a direct result of such adrenalin production. Depression in turn is considered to be
the main cause of many chronic and fatal illnesses.
Medical research has found that many young people in rich countries, even teenagers, have arteries so badly
blocked that their arteries are similar to sixty-year-old people! Doctors have established that the physical condition
is only one part of the problem. A much larger part is the emotional condition. It is now fairly well established
that an emotional trigger causes the immediate onset of a heart attack or stroke, even though the physical condition
may have been present for a long time.

Is Stress work related?

In an IT company the Chief Executive received an enquiry for a project. He sent it down for a proposal. The team
that worked on such projects did a full review and said that they could do the job in six months at a cost of a
million dollars. The manager in charge of the team reviewed this and said the team can do this in 4 months at a
cost of three quarter million dollars.

The proposal went up to a General Manager. The General Manager called everyone, gave them a pep talk and
said, ’We should be able to do this for half a million dOllars frI three months.’ Then he sent this as his proposal
to the Chief Executive.
The Chief Executive called the client and told him that his company will deliver the product in two months at a
cost of half a million dollars.
People who work in corporations can relate with this incident. People who make decisions and commitments are
often out of touch with ground reality. Once such decisions are made their egos are in play. Anything can be
sacrificed but not the ego! A simple study of corporate history can show how many companies have failed because
of the egos of the people who led them.
I am told by some of my disciples in the corporate field about something called Level 5 Leadership. This is about
those corporate leaders who put themselves behind the needs of the company and the people who work for them
rather than placing their own ego needs first. Research has shown that the Chief Executives of companies that
have been commercially successful consistently are hardly known to the outside world! These leaders are so
humble, and focused inwards.
Stress at the workplace starts with our education system. We start ranking children from a very young age. When
in a group three people are graded as heroes, the rest of the group feels useless. We are taught to compete from a
very early age. This comparison continues into the workplace and converts it into a battlefield.
The so-called Human Resource programs specify that people must be categorized. I am told that in many
corporations it is necessary to show that ten or fifteen percent of the people are bad performers. People are reduced
to statistics! In order to survive people are forced to make others victims. This is probably why they call these
offices ‘concrete jungles’ !
As long as people are driven by fear and greed, they cannot be inspired. They can be controlled and made to
perform routine tasks but they cannot be inspired to do the impossible. This is the dilemma today’s corporations
face. They need people to perform but their kit of motivational techniques is not enough. It contains the whip and
the carrot, nothing more.
A well known psychologist built a model of how human beings move up in their desires. This is now named after
him as Maslow’s’ hierarchy of needs. At the base of this pyramid are one’s survival needs of food, shelter and
other material essentials. People then look for fulfillment in the society they live in, such as building a network
and so on. They then seek love and attention. Then they look for respect, name and fame. After all this they are
still dissatisfied. They feel that there is something still missing in their lives.

That something is within. Maslow called it self-actualization. This is the zone where we flow free of stress. This
is the zone of inner realization. This is the zone where you know that you are one with the universal energy.
Whether you work at home, in an office or factory or you do not work at all, you still look forward to this state
where you are centered. This is what we teach in our basic Life Bliss Program courses. The five levels of the
pyramid that Maslow* drew correspond to the seven levels of energy that we carry within us. These seven centers
of energy are called chakras’ in the vedic system. Each chakra represents an emotional state as well as a state of
desire. As we fulfill the needs of each chakra we move up in energy till we reach a state of fulfillment. It is a
process many thousands of people have gone through with remarkable effect. We have taught these programs in
many corporations worldwide. I call this a ‘Guaranteed Solution’.

Meditation technique
This is a simple and yet a powerful technique to clear stress. We teach this technique in our Life Bliss Programs
for unblocking the manipuraka chakra’ or navel energy center, which is the seat of stress. This technique should
always be practised before a meal, when the stomach is empty and a few hours before sleep.

While standing, shout, scream, rave and rant in a language that you do not know. If anyone is listening, it should
also not make any sense to them. Be aggressive in letting out all your emotions and feelings that will start pouring
out of you once you start. Cry if you so wish. Roll on the floor if your emotions drive you.

This technique is a powerful meditation. It unblocks your unconscious and allows all the negativities stored inside
to dissolve. Typical psychoanalytical sessions when patients talk to their analysts, or even throw things around
for catharsis, are still conscious processes. Only ten percent of your stored memories will be released. Processes
such as hypnosis are through the unconscious and you have no control. This technique is a superconscious process
in which you retain awareness while cleansing yourself.
Practice this technique for twenty minutes. Then sit down and allow the energy to spread within you in silence
for ten minutes. During this silence just be a witness to your thoughts. Do not suppress them or chase them.
Face Your Fears and Be Free
What is Fear? Fear is a deeper dimension of worry. Worry can cause ulcers. Fear on the other hand can even
destroy life. However, unlike worry without which life is possible, fear seems woven into our lives. It is possible
to face fear without fear. A person who we call courageous is not one without fear, but one who has learnt to face
fear without fear. Fear is a form of energy inside us. That is why it cannot be destroyed. Energy can neither be
created nor destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another. Understand, your fear is directly
connected to your life energy. Whenever you are facing a survival threat, you will see your fear rising and the
adrenalin release happening in your body. That adrenalin release gives you so much energy that you can almost
fly. We call it the fight or flight response; either you face the fear and fight, or you run away. There will be so
much energy in your body the moment you face a survival threat. Whenever that threat is real, the swadhishthāna
chakra, the seat of life, gets completely shaken! Big Bang and Black Hole inside you When there is pure desire
or pure greed in you without any object in particular, it becomes the overflowing energy of creation, expansion,
or Big Bang! For no reason, you simply explode with energy. In the same way, when there is pure fear in you
without any object in particular, it becomes contraction, black hole. Fear is your nature, but don’t direct it towards
any object. Having fear is natural. But connecting the fear to an object is societal. Pure fear helps in survival and
it is spontaneous. Enormous energy radiating from you for no reason is pure greed. If it is because of an object, it
becomes ordinary greed. In the same way, energy settling back within you for no reason is pure fear. If it is
because of an object, it becomes ordinary fear. Unless the black hole happens, the Big Bang cannot happen. It is
part of life, part of the drama, part of the game. Pure fear means you are relaxing into yourself, settling inside you.
That is what we call destruction. The birth of this cosmos is the Big Bang, and death is the black hole*. Birth of
your being is a big bang for you. Death of your being is black hole for you. The inhaling breath is pure desire.
The exhaling breath is pure fear. Prana – the life energy that enters along with the air - goes into you because of
the Big Bang. Prana leaving your system with the outgoing air is the black hole. When you resist or fight with the
Big Bang or black hole, you create disturbance in your system. When fear happens, when the black hole happens,
it means that you are turning towards peace or getting ready for the Big Bang. Whenever pure fear happens, you
become rejuvenated with a tremendous relaxation which surges as courage and energy in you!

Fight between your potentiality and

your negative approach
Whenever you are afraid of losing something that you have, or you fear you cannot achieve something that you
want to have, there is a fight going on between your potentiality and your negative approach to the future. If you
are sure there is no possibility of achieving something, that you don’t have the potentiality, you will not have fear.
If you are sure that you can achieve something, then also, you don’t have fear. Fear is the fight between faith and
belief in oneself on one hand, versus the negative idea or expectation you have about your future on the other
hand. You are literally fighting with your own positive and negative energies. If you are very sure you don’t have
the potentiality that you can’t achieve, then you won’t have fear. If you are very confident you are going to
achieve, then also you won’t have fear. However, if there is something you want to achieve, but you are not sure
that you can achieve it, then you will have fear. The fight between these two ideas, the dilemma is what we call
fear. There are two ways to escape fear. One way is to block all possibility. This means you can die, then there
won’t be any more fear! The second way to escape fear is to break the boundary of possibilities. If there is infinite
possibility, if there is no boundary, if there is nothing that limits you, then you become fearless. Just by having
this understanding, something will click in you and so many fears will disappear from your being!
Increased possibility for
enlightenment
People come and say to me, ‘I have too many fears. What can I do?’ I tell them, ‘If you have too many fears, the
possibility for enlightenment is more. So many doors are available to you!’ For a person who doesn’t have too
many fears, the possibility, the number of doors is also fewer because he leads a dull life. A person who leads a
dull life will not have much fear. He has nothing much to lose, nothing much to decide. He is not taking many
risks. All you need to do is this: every time you feel fear, do not disrespect yourself. Do not lose confidence or
condemn yourself thinking, ‘What kind of a being am I?’ Actually people who can face their fears do not have so
many problems. People who are afraid of their fears create more problems for themselves. When you brood too
much about your fears, you start thinking you have problems. Sometimes, just by switching your attention to
something else, you can come out of fear. But that is not fearlessness. Fearlessness means taking a quantum jump
into the consciousness where you will never experience fear of losing anything! Be very clear: the fears that you
have about your life - fear of failure, fear of losing your near and dear ones, fear of losing your wealth, fear of the
unknown - every fear can be used as a door to enlightenment. Another important truth you should know: There is
something within you that never dies which is your source of energy. There is also something within you that
dies; something that is actually never alive, even now. The fear of death exists in you because you think there is
something you have now that will be taken away from you. No! Anything that you have now cannot be taken
away. Anything that can be taken away, you never had in the first place. Anything that can die can never occupy
your inner space.

Fearlessness is courage to face Fear

You cannot conquer fear. Fearlessness means intelligence to live the intense fear without directing it towards any
object. When there is no object to be afraid of, the intense fear will give such an intense relaxation and peace.
Fear is a powerful energy which gives a deep relaxation, self-centeredness. The fear center is the rejuvenation
center. Be very clear: fearlessness does not mean non-existence of fear. It means the fear is there, but you have
tremendous energy or courage to live with it and face it. Fearlessness means having the energy or the courage to
live even with the maximum fear – going beyond that fear and being neither attached to nor detached from the
fear. One more important thing you should know is fear is part of the nature of life. You can be fearless if you are
already in your grave! Then there is no need to be afraid of anything because you have nothing to lose! If you
have something to lose, you will have fear. That is the nature of life itself. Fear does not exist when things are
definite and known. Fear exists only when things are not definite, when they are mere possibilities and unknown
in that sense. For example, death is a possibility. As an incident it is definite, but when and how it might happen,
is not clear. So there is always fear associated with it. If you can just look into the darkness, the fear, with
awareness, you will live through it and get over it.

Fear of losing identity

The biggest fear human beings have is the fear of losing their identity. Even the fear of losing one’s life is not as
great as the fear of losing the identity. The fear of losing your identity is much worse than the fear of death.

Fear of death
All our fears – losing physical health, mental stability, wealth, name and fame, or loved ones - are actually fear
of death under various disguises. The social fear – fear of being rejected by society – makes us do things to please
society, even when it is not good for us. In this process, many times, we sacrifice what our being really wants to
do. That fear of not being accepted by society is just another form of the fear of death – death of the ego. Every
act of ours is unconsciously related to death and the fear of dying. Understanding death can change your entire
perception of life. It can simply transform the way you handle all your fears.

Anger – the active form of Fear

Fear is what leads to anger. Fear is the passive form of the energy while anger is the active expression. When you
are angry, just look into the anger. At the root of it, you will find a deep fear. Try this for yourself: if you are
feeling fear, express anger at that time. Throw your hands, stamp your feet – express the energy. You will see the
fear disappears. You will see for yourself how fear can simply transform to anger. Similarly, fear can also
transform to hate. You just need to be aware of yourself and witness how the emotions subtly change from one
form to another. When you understand this play, you can easily get out of the game.

Fear strokes
Psychologists talk about fear strokes. Say you are walking in the garden in the dark, and you see a coil of rope -
you start shivering, imagining it to be a snake. That sudden shock you get before realizing it is just a rope and not
a snake, is what is called a fear stroke. A fear stroke is like shaking a rose plant from its roots - if you keep shaking
it long enough, it will die. It is said that we undergo six to twelve fear strokes every day and night, in dreams and
also in wakefulness. Imagine what happens to our being! Fear strokes originate from unconsciousness. When they
are viewed with awareness and consciousness, they can be substantially reduced.

How to Overcome Fear

Witnessing and acceptance
When you are faced with fear, don’t try to resist it or suppress it. Just look at the fear, note the fear and accept it.
Acceptance of the fear dissolves the fear. Allow the fear to shake you. If your body trembles, let it tremble. If
your eyes water, let the tears come. Just be like a blade of grass in the wind - bending without resistance. If you
can face your fears, you see they have no depth. Because you magnify the fears, you imagine them to be an abyss.
It is your choice, to let go of the branch, the fear, or to keep clinging onto it and torturing yourself. Acceptance is
the only way to conquer inevitable things. When you accept, suddenly you see the fear disappear. The moment
you accept, fear loses its power to frighten you. When you don’t fight with it, you will see fear as deep peace.
When the fear stroke happens, just live it. That is the only way. When you have an object connected to fear, accept
it. That acceptance transforms. The more you fight, the more you empower fear. Diverting your attention away
from the fear is also not the way because then the fear still remains with you. It does not mean that you are out of
fear. Allow the fear to take over itself. Go into the fear two to three times. Live the fear intensely without any
reservations. Suddenly you will find that it doesn’t touch you anymore!

Fear is associated with the swadhishthāna chakra, the subtle energy center two inches below the navel region.

Visualization
A very powerful way of overcoming fear is to visualize going through that fear as clearly as you can. The beauty
with this technique is that it can be used when you are not in the fear situation, when you are calm and able to
handle yourself. You can sit by yourself and visualize the situation that causes fear. Feel clearly the fear coming
up in you; face the fear with deep awareness. If you suffer, if your body feels uncomfortable, it is fine. Don’t
suppress the fear, just allow it to happen. When you experience something completely, you drop it.

Meditation Techniques
1. Hamsa Mantra
This is a very powerful technique that can be used twenty-four hours a day. Whenever you are attacked by fear,
just sit back and relax. Put your awareness only on your exhaling breath. Repeat the word ‘sah’ silently as you
exhale; that is, with the outgoing breath. Exhaling is like relaxing and letting go anything that can die. While
inhaling you will be constantly trying to hold on to something. Exhaling is like letting go. Focus on exhaling
without bothering about inhaling. When you inhale, repeat ‘ham’ silently. Place more awareness and energy on
the exhalation. Help yourself exhale deeper. Let the inhalation happen automatically through the body. Place your
energy, attention and effort only on exhaling. It is a silent intonation of ‘ham…sah…., ham…sah’. Silent
intonation of this hamsa mantra will suddenly take you into the awareness, the relaxation that never dies. Whatever
can die will leave your system, your inner space. This technique can also be practiced at other times when you
are not faced by fear - while you are sitting, talking, walking, eating, even while you are sleeping. It is a very
powerful technique. Constantly, all twenty four hours, place your attention on exhaling and just intone the hamsa
mantra silently – ‘hamsah’, ‘hamsah’, ‘hamsah’. When you inhale, intone ‘ham’ and when you exhale, intone
‘sah’. Understand, when constantly intoning this mantra, it will become ajapa japa - chanting without effort.
Chanting with effort is called japa. Chanting without effort is ajapa. It means that which goes on automatically in
you. You just need to intone, that’s all. Fall in tune, that’s all. The whole day it will be resounding within you.
Whatever can die will leave your system, and you will realize whatever can die can never be part of you. If you
are identifying yourself with something that can die, that identification will be disconnected and you will be
unclutched. Whatever can never die, you will feel connected to that. Whatever cannot die is your very being. Try
this technique for just three days. You will suddenly see that the fear of losing your wealth, parts of your body or
your health, or your near and dear ones, or the fear of the unknown
– all the fears will disappear. When you put your awareness on exhaling, whatever is occupying your inner space
as a part of you that can die, will simply leave your inner space. You will be liberated.
Pain is a great teacher
Often, fear manifests itself as pain. The most frightening thing in the world is pain. All living beings are afraid of
one thing, and that is pain. If you look deeply, you will find that people don’t fear even death as much as they fear
the pain and agony they will undergo at the time of death! Many are afraid of poverty, many of relationships, and
many others fear disease. The root cause of all these fears is the pain that happens while going through these
things. All these fears are because of the fear of pain.

What is Pain
Pain can be physical, mental or emotional. Physical pain is a basic necessity for the body. Just imagine, if we
could feel no pain in our body we might accidentally hurt ourselves or start styling our faces, hands, and legs the
way we style our hair today! Actually, pain is a letter of request, written by the body to the mind, saying, ‘Please
pay attention to me!’ because attention is energy. When attention is given to a particular area, that attention
becomes energy for that area. When the body communicates pain, it is actually asking for attention or energy,
which will help it heal. Mental or emotional pain is the psychological feeling that arises when you are faced with
something you don’t like. Research shows that emotional pain can deeply disturb the physical body. For example,
the psychological feelings that arise with sexual repression can result in lower back disorders, or the pain of
shouldering too much responsibility can cause pain in the shoulders. Whether physical or emotional pain, an
important thing you need to understand is that pain is always born from resistance to the present moment.

Time Vs Understanding
If a painful incident happens in one’s life – the loss of a child, the husband or wife leaving the spouse, the breakup
of a close friendship – one suffers, but slowly accepts it over time. One may cry and brood many days and nights,
but then one comes to accept what happened. Time heals. It is a common saying. Understand that time is needed
for healing only because you were not ready to face the pain and suffering in a conscious and aware manner at
the time the incident happened. If you can just look at the pain, if you can witness the emotion with awareness
and see the play of the mind while experiencing pain, then the understanding dawns and instant healing happens.
Time is needed because you are not ready to have the understanding. So you suffer a great deal. Over time, after
some weeks, months, or even years, the incident fades and becomes a distant memory. However, the pain is not
completely gone from your system. If you come across a person who even distantly reminds you of your lost child
or husband, it comes up. For example, if the person has a similar style of talking, walking, or laughing, the wound
reopens. It hurts because you carry the memory of the past. Because of this, you feel life is too heavy a burden to
bear. You choose to hold onto your entire past: when you were a child, when you were a teenager, when you first
went to work. You hold onto all the stages of life with all the experiences, pains, and mistakes. That burden and
load of your emotions associated with the past, is what causes you pain every time you experience it. If you decide
to drop the past and look at every situation with a fresh perspective, then you will not have so much pain. You
will heal instantly. You will not need so much time.

Pain and pleasure – two sides of the

same coin
The root of pain and pleasure are the same. It is the same sensation with two names. It is like this: two people
receive a body massage from the same person. One concludes that it was a beautiful rejuvenating process while
the other decided that it hurt! The same massage will appear like pain or pleasure depending on the person
receiving it. Life has both of these opposites – pleasure and pain. Both pleasure and pain are from the mind. The
mind always moves from one extreme to the other. It rarely falls into the middle path. From pleasure you move
to pain, from pain you move to pleasure. As we saw earlier, pleasure and pain are completely dependent on the
person feeling the pleasure or pain. Something may seem like pleasure to you while the same experience may be
painful to someone else.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the great scripture that teaches the various paths to Self realization, the enlightened master
Krishna says beautifully, ‘He who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone, and a
piece of gold with an equal eye, who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same, who is unchanged in
honor and dishonor, and who treats friend and foe alike, is said to have gone beyond the modes of nature. Pleasure
and pain are the same to him and he is ready for enlightenment.’

Free yourself from pleasure and

pain
Buddha, an enlightened master, says, ‘Free yourself from both pleasure and pain.’ Craving for pleasure and
nursing pain are both different aspects of the same experience. Both are chains. Pain may look like an ugly chain
and pleasure a beautiful chain. Just as the day follows night and night follows day, pain and pleasure will always
follow each other. When you understand that pleasure and pain are both creations of the mind, you will realize
that they are both temporary, they come and go like soap bubbles. Nobody is needed to take away your pleasure,
because your mind by its very nature will move like a pendulum to the other extreme called pain! The only way
is to go beyond both pleasure and pain. This doesn’t mean suppressing pleasure or forgetting about pain. It is an
awareness that transforms pain to bliss – the energy that exists no matter what the external situation may be. Bliss
is your very nature and cannot be lost. Just because of your resistance to what is happening, you feel pain and
your natural bliss is forgotten.

Awareness in Pain
Pain, whether physical, mental, or emotional, has only a negative existence like darkness. Darkness exists only in
the absence of light. As such, it has no positive existence of its own. In the same way, pain exists only in the
absence of awareness. Just as darkness disappears automatically when light is brought into a room, pain dissolves
automatically when the energy of your awareness is focused on it. Any mental or emotional pain that you carry is
just the tip of the iceberg. You need to go into the root where it starts. You need to work on the root cause for it
and heal it. Otherwise, there is a distinct danger that you will inflict that pain on someone else or hurt yourself
more with it. I always tell people, ‘If you have pain, just drop everything and work on it. See that its root is healed.
Only then you can be in a safe zone. Otherwise neither you nor the people living around you are in a safe zone.’
When you face any pain with awareness you become aware that you are not just the body. You become aware
that no pain can touch the real ‘you’. Once you realize that you are beyond pain, you rise above pain to become a
dukkha ateeta* (one who has gone beyond suffering). You experience the rare freedom that arises with non-
attachment to the body. You will carry this freedom all your life. You leave mundane life behind and enter into a
spiritual plane. The whole material world disappears and another world arises, one of incomparable beauty,
innocence, joy and compassion. The pain will evaporate of its own accord when you see the nature and cause of
pain with intense inner clarity because the clarity evaporates the reasons for the pain to exist in you. This
realization brings with it a state of absolute bliss, which is the state of enlightenment.
Pain – A phenomenon of the mind
‘Phantom’ Pain
There have been recorded instances of ‘phantom pain’ which is pain in a part of the body that does not exist. Once
in the Second World War, a soldier’s leg had to be amputated because it was badly damaged. The strange thing
was that when he became conscious again he was still complaining about the pain in the leg. He was covered with
a blanket so he had no idea that the leg had been removed. The blanket was removed and he was shown that his
leg was not there anymore. He was shocked! Further research then showed that each part of the body is related to
a certain part of the brain. When a certain part of the body feels pain, the corresponding brain center shows
activity. In this case, the related brain center was still vibrating in the same way it was vibrating when the leg was
a part of the body. There are many such instances of people who feel pain in the empty space where their limbs
were amputated. This is called ‘phantom pain’.

Placebo effect
The mind has tremendous influence over the body. Even the perception of physical pain can be changed by the
mind. In science they call it the ‘placebo effect’ when a simple sugar pill gives the same effect as a painkiller, just
because the person is made to believe that the sugar pill is a painkiller! The other day, I was reading about research
done at the University of Michigan in the USA that appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience. The research was
done on a group of young men who agreed to let researchers inject their jaw muscles with a concentrated saline
solution, causing pain. The brain’s response to the pain was studied using PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
scans that showed the activity of the body’s natural painkillers, called endorphins. In one scan, the men were told
they were being given a painkiller but actually what was given was just a placebo – a substance that had no
painkilling properties. Then they were asked to rate the intensity of the pain they felt on a scale of 0 to 100. Also,
the PET scan would indicate the brain activity related to pain. The researchers were able to study both the response
of the brain and what the men actually felt. The amazing observation was that when the men were given a placebo,
meaning not a painkiller but just a neutral substance, the pain they felt was actually less. It was as if they had been
given the painkiller itself! The PET scans indicated that the endorphin (natural painkiller) system in the brain was
activated.
Desire is a Dynamic Energy
Fear and desire are the fundamental energies that drive our lives. We act either out of a desire to achieve something
or reach somewhere, or out of a fear of not wanting to experience something. Attraction and repulsion are not
merely forces of molecules, but also essential to human behavior.

Recognize Your True Desires

One of the major driving forces in human life is desire. If you look into your life, you can see most of the time we
are driven by either desire or fear. We have so many desires and many times we feel we don’t have energy to
fulfill them. According to the Jain tradition, the Divine sends us with enough energy and capacity to fulfill all our
desires. But most of us don’t feel this way. Why? There is a difference between our true desires and ‘borrowed’
desires. Our true desires are called our ‘needs’. Borrowed desires are called our ‘wants’. We have enough energy
to fulfill our true desires or needs. What are our true desires? During the Life Bliss Program Level 2 (Nithyananda
Spurana Program), we have a session where people are asked to make a list of their desires, their needs and wants.
Then they meditate on these desires. At the end of the meditation, I ask them to recollect from memory their list
of desires. What they can recollect is usually a fraction of what they have written! It is as if they started with a
large tree full of leaves, their desires, and during this meditation the tree sheds almost all its leaves, as if the leaves
were dried and dead. What leaves the tree retains glow like golden leaves. If you can understand which desire is
innate and which is accumulated, spiritual growth happens automatically. When our desires are our own true
desires, when they reflect our real needs, when they express themselves in our inner energy, we don’t feel any
desperation about trying to achieve them. The realization comes that, as a matter of natural course of events, these
desires will be fulfilled.

The true desire for fulfillment

When you have a headache, you are not comfortable with that state - because you know that it is not your true
nature. Your true nature is having no headache. In the same way, when you have some desire, you immediately
want to come out of it - because deep fulfillment is your very nature and desire causes an imbalance in that
fulfillment.

Two important truths you need to understand:

1. Your whole life is a long chain of events performed towards the one goal that is fulfillment. Whatever you
may do, whether it is eating or drinking or having relationships, wealth or joy, it is all to experience fulfillment.
In different directions you seek fulfillment instead of seeking it directly.

2. Fulfillment is within you, it is your very nature. That is why you are trying to come out of non-fulfillment.
The fact that you are searching for fulfillment means that fulfillment is known to you. Otherwise you would not
search for it! In the instances in your life when you have felt some fulfillment, there is also a hope that you will
experience it again. That is why you extend your life.

Desire, knowledge and action

The desire that is pure and not directed towards any particular object or person is simply an overflowing
energy that is called iccha shakti or the ‘desire energy’. From the navel, energy comes as pure energy.
In the heart region, this energy gets converted to the power of desire. This further gets converted into
words in the throat region. When this energy gets converted into words, it is called oak or the ‘speech
energy’. To give an analogy, the energy that comes from the navel is like loose cotton. The cotton
becomes thread in the throat region. Or you can imagine it this way: the energy that comes from the
navel is like molten iron. The throat is like a forge where the product is formed! Anyhow, the speech
energy moves further to the brain. There it stays as knowledge or gets converted into a command. In
the brain, the energy could stay as the power of knowledge or gnana shakti. For example, the desire
energy related to the body can become knowledge of the body. The other option is, the words get
converted to a command and get executed as well. The command goes to the entire body and moves
you. This is called the power of action or kriya shakti. For example, the desire energy related to your
body can express as the power of action like moving your body. Pure iccha shakti or desire energy
which comes from your being gets converted in the throat region to gnana shakti - power of knowledge
and kriya shakti - power of action. If the energy is not processed and channeled properly, the knowledge
and action become disconnected from the power of the pure desire energy. The knowledge and action
should be in tune with the desire energy. Then it forms a virtuous circle of desire leading to better
knowledge and action, which in turn leads to clearer desires! Let us say you have a desire to make a
million dollars. If it gets converted properly as knowledge, you will have a clear plan and do the right
actions to become a millionaire. If the desire energy gets converted as too much knowledge and less
action, then you will end up only thinking more and more, building castles in the air. On the other hand,
if the desire energy gets converted as too much action and less knowledge, then you will end up working
blindly. For example, you may work really hard like driving a truck from Los Angeles to New York,
but can you become a millionaire this way? There is action but not the right knowledge. So the proper
conversion of the desire to knowledge and action has to happen. The reason why this conversion doesn’t
happen properly is lack of awareness. When you are honest and integrated with the desire, there is no
conflict and the conversion happens properly.

The power of love

You might have even experienced some incidents like this in your life. A girl who is afraid to cross a
busy street, if she sees her child run across the road will just jump onto the road to save the child without
a thought about her own safety. We should understand how she has lost her fear all of a sudden. The
reason is that the love for her child has awakened the dimension of motherliness in her. It is the same
thing with every relationship of love. If the feeling of love blossoms in somebody, immediately all the
fear will leave the person’s inner space. Understand, love has tremendous power and so does lust. If
you have a lot of energy in your muladhara chakra, it will override the other chakras immediately. There
will not be any fear in your swadhishthana chakra„ and there will not be any worries in your manipuraka
chakra. These higher chakras will not work when the muladhara chakra has the full power. Without the
person’s knowledge, it will unleash the latent unknown potential in him. It will spread his potential to
the outer world too. If you have a son or daughter, then the dimension of motherliness will be awakened
in you. If your mind is ready to receive the experience of different dimensions, those dimensions will
blossom in you. If you are completely open-minded, every person you meet in your life will cause you
to blossom further. But if you are egoistic, even your spouse or your lover cannot cause you to blossom.
Please understand, you have a great responsibility to create an open and non- egoistic mind before
entering into a relationship such as between husband and wife or between lovers. Then the very feeling
will transform you eternally. If this eternal transformation does not happen, you miss a major dimension
of your life. Why are we not able to feel true love? It is because of our samskaras, our emotional
attachment to the past memories. Your inner space is filled with too many things related to the past.
So your inner space is not available to the present moment. You can only love or feel connected to the
people or objects falling in tune with the past memories you loved. If you can drop the emotional
attachments to the past, suddenly you will see you have so much of inner space available to you. You
can then directl open up to anybody who is in front of you w1t hout asking for his or her past.
Lust to love
Lust is a primal emotion provided by nature for continuation of the species. To go beyond lust is the
first major step in realizing the ultimate potential of human life. Humans are forever confused between
love and lust. They think only animals are lustful. Actually, only animals are capable of pure lust when
they mate! Humans, with their rationalization, can neither be lustful nor loving. That is why they feel
dissatisfied and unfulfilled. Sex is carbon, love is diamond. Sex is mud and love is the lotus that blooms
in the mud. It is the same substance — the only thing is, you should know how to process it. Just drop
your expectations, and you will find a tremendous upsurge of energy.

Discover the man and woman inside

you
Today, we know biologically that no man is 100% man, and no woman is 100% woman. A man may
be 51% man and 49% woman. Likewise, a woman may be 51% woman, and 49% man; just a difference
of 1%, may be more. You have taken birth from the energies of your father and mother. Then, how can
you be only male or only female? Whether we accept it or not, we are an embodiment of both male and
female energies. We are whole, not divided. Right from the moment of birth, society labels you as either
male or female. And it expects you to start behaving accordingly. Inherent human nature is fulfillment.
She starts looking to the outside world for a substitute for her own lost half. The male child starts
searching for a female presence, and the female child for a male presence. This is where the whole idea
of sex starts. The search starts with the idea of how our ‘would-be’ should be.

A small story:
One 90-year old man used to sit every day at the beach from morning to evening, watching people
going by. Another man who noticed this went up to him and asked him, ‟What do you actually do sitting
here everyday? ‟The old man replied, ‟I am searching for a woman to be my wife.‟ The man was
simply shocked at this reply and asked him, ‟Why did you not search in your youth? ‟The old man
replied, ‟I have been searching since I was 30 years old.‟ The man was astonished and asked him,
‟What sort of a woman are you searching for?‟He replied, ‟I am searching for a prefect woman.”
‟The man asked, ‟You havent found one yet?‟ ‟I found one woman who matched what I had in mind
but it didn‟t work out well with her replied the old man. The man asked why. The old man replied, ‟She
was searching for a perfect man!”

This is what happens when we try to get a perfect match for the image that we carry inside us. But after
a long search, we suddenly find a person who seems to match our mental image — from a distance.
What happens at this point is what is called falling in love’. This is the science behind falling in love.
Note that it is always ‘falling’ in love, never ‘rising’ in love! Because of our own strong needs and
expectations, we see things as we want to see them. As long as this distance is maintained, things go on
smoothly. We continue to project our imagination upon each other. But, as the person slowly comes
closer we find that fantasy and reality are totally different. We need to understand that no living person
can live up to the image we carry in our minds simply because the image is not built from reality! No
image can be matched with reality, because at the end of the day, it is only an image, a fantasy!

The ultimate alchemy

What is alchemy? The process of changing a lower level metal such as copper or iron into gold is
alchemy. In the same way, when our being is ripe the base feeling of lust transforms to love, the highest
emotion we are capable of. In the same way, remove the impurity of your fantasies, add the purity of
friendliness in your relationship and process this with your patience. In the beginning, people may not
be able to understand the change in you. Just continue with belief and confidence in yourself. Your
sincerity and strength has no way but to touch others around you positively. Add friendliness to love.
As of now, our lust is deep-rooted violence to possess the other person. Add friendliness to the
relationship. Welcome the partner as he or she is; do not just accept him or her. Welcome and accept
the mind, body and being as it is. Then you can see lust turns to love and your being is in eternal bliss.
Love adds life even to the person. With love the person is a spirit, life! Without love the person is
reduced to a thing, utility! Without love, when you look at a beautiful man or woman and plan for what
you can get out of that person, you reduce him or her to a thing. Only when you look at that person with
love, the person is a spirit, a living being. Celibacy is nothing but not craving for the suppressed half
that is inside you, that’s all. If you are a male, you need to experience such fulfillment unto yourself
that you no longer miss the suppressed half or female inside you. If you are a female, you are so enough
unto yourself that you don’t look outside to experience this fulfillment. When you achieve this
fulfillment, whether you are married or not, there will be peace in your mind. It is then that you can be
celibate even in married life! This is true celibacy.
Meditation Technique
Dukkha Harana Meditation
Total duration: 30 minutes
This meditation technique will bring out all the suppressed emotions in you.
Breathing is very closely related to the mind. If your thinking is calm, your breath will be relaxed. If
your thinking is aggressive, your breathing will also be aggressive.
You may practice this technique on an empty stomach, preferably in the morning. 21 days of
Dukkhaharana will transform your being and bring a glow to your face and body.

Step 1: 10 minutes

Stand with your eyes closed. In the first part of this meditation, your mental system is made fully
alive by deep breathing. This energy will melt all the repressed emotions like melting ice.

Breathe deeply and chaotically from the depths of your body, always through your nose with your
mouth closed. Move your hands, flex your knees, lower yourself and then rise up. Move as if you are
a bird in flight, up and down, knees moving up and down, arms moving up and down, in line with
your breathing.
Do the movements gently and synchronize your inhalation with upward movement and exhalation
with downward movement.

Step 2: 10 minutes

Keep your eyes closed and tense each part of your body, part by part, limb by limb, then let it relax.
Tense and relax one limb and then move to the next. Start with your feet; then move to legs; then
move to thighs; next to the hips; then to stomach and lower back; then to chest and upper back; then
to your arms from finger tips to shoulder; next to the neck and shoulders; next to your face, and
finally to the top of the head. Relax each part of your entire body before you move to the next part. At
the end of these ten minutes, you will become vacant inside; you will become cool, calm and
composed.

Step 3: 10 minutes

Sit down keeping your eyes closed and chant the hoo’ kara sound, just the word ‘hoo’.
There is no need to chant it deeply and loudly. Just chant it in a relaxed manner. As you chant, simply
witness whatever happens inside or outside your being.
The first two parts of this technique are actually a preparation for the third part that is the actual
meditation. When you come to the third part, you will see that the mind becomes silent effortlessly,
by itself. Silence cannot be forced upon you; it can only happen by itself. Remain in this relaxed state
with a smiling face and blissful mood. During this time, there may be many experiences. Just watch
them as you would watch the television. Watch your mind thought by thought.
Guilt is The Original Sin

What is Guilt?
When you have desires you have guilt as well. Guilt is the opposite face of desire. Sometimes you feel
guilty about desiring something because you feel it is not right to desire it. Other times you feel guilty
when your desires are fulfilled because you feel you are not deserving of what you receive. When your
desires do not come true you feel guilty because you feel you have not done what you ought to have.
Desires invariably lead to guilt.

Guilt is nothing but your past decisions and actions being reviewed with your updated intelligence.

For example, when you were in school, you might have said a few mean things to one of your friends
which caused a relationship to break. Now, this many years later, with the intelligence that you have,
is it right to review that incident and feel guilty? No! At that time you had only that much intelligence,
so you behaved in that fashion. Now, you have updated intelligence.

It doesn’t make sense to review the past with your present intelligence.

The futility of the past

What is gone is gone. What has been done is done. You cannot undo it. Now if you constantly think
about the past and feel guilty, you destroy your present and your future too. Nothing can be done
about it, so guilt is useless. What can you do? All that you can do is not repeat the same pattern again,
that’s all. At that time with whatever intelligence you had, you acted, that’s all.

Our past is always past, it is always dead. That is why it is called past. Yet, we always let the past
affect us. How do we allow the past to affect us? In two ways:

1. If you review your past incidents or decisions using the present intelligence, you will create guilt in
your being.

2. If you take the present decisions based on past experiences, you will be repeating the same past
into the future also, maybe in a little updated fashion!

3. Even though you might not commit exactly the same mistake, you will be moving in the same
experiential level, in the same plane.

4. Our mind falls into a groove, a track, a mindset that forces it to do what it has always done. So we
keep making the same mistakes as well.

Three kinds of Guilt

There are three kinds of guilt that take root in us and kill our intelligence:
1. Guilt created by immediate family
2. Guilt created by social laws
3. Guilt created by ourselves
Guilt created by immediate family
Before the age of seven, guilt is created by your immediate family. If you don’t do according to your
parents’ wishes, they instill guilt in you. They tell you that god will not approve of what you are
doing. Poor god, he has to support whatever anyone says about him! Or your parents tell you that you
should respect their wishes as parents. Immediately you feel guilty of making them unhappy. In this
way, family sows the first guilt in you. You in turn pass it on to your child. Like a crown, it is passed
on over generations.
Because you don’t have the knowledge to explain why things have to be done in a certain way, you
change it to a rule and impose it on the child and create guilt through it. For example, children love
whirling. They love moving and flowing with the body. It is a natural way for them to center their
energy. But what do we do? We stop the child and put the fear in him that he may fall. We don’t stop
our efforts until we make the child stiff, frozen and dull like us!

The child may want to go outside and play in the sun or collect some flowers or just jump around in
the fresh air. If you think about it, it is not much the child is asking for. But the mother says ‘no’ - he
may fall ill due to the hot sun. If you look a little deep, you can see that by saying ‘no’ she gets a
subtle feeling of power, of being in control. She might say it is the sun but it is subtler than that.

The ‘no’ by the mother actually has a deep impact on the child. It creates guilt in the child. Now, the
child may force himself to stay in or he may escape from his mother’s eyes and step out. But either
way his raw energy is being suppressed. Ifhe forces himself to stay in, his energy is not being allowed
to express. If he goes out, he will feel guilty, he will be afraid that somebody might spot him. And all
this for nothing big - just for playing in the sun!

As the child grows, this deep engram of guilt will actually settle inside him. Even after he grows up
into a man and becomes independent, he may be sitting in the lawn under the sun and those childhood
memories may be triggered. He may feel guilty and uneasy for no reason. There is nothing to feel
guilty about just sitting in the lawn but the old memories are awakened.

This is how guilt arises. Small incidents like this collect and make guilt your natural way of life.

Guilt and happiness

Why can’t we enjoy and encourage the natural joy and happiness the child lives in?

If you look a little deep, you can see that happiness itself has become associated with guilt. A small
child knows nothing of guilt - he is just wild and natural. That is why seeing a small child can be so
captivating. He is total in whatever he does. He has not been introduced to the mask of civilization. He
is still wild. That is why he is so full of energy. He is overflowing with joy and curiosity; he is just
vibrating with the energy bubbling inside him.

The child wants to enjoy everything but the parents are filled with the conditionings of society — guilt,
seriousness, hypocrisy. The child wants to shout and jump and dance - that is his natural expression.
But the adults stop him, ‘Don’t shout! It is bad manners. You should be civilized. You should carry
yourself well like us.’ By and by, the notion of being free and happy is itself associated with feelings
of guilt.

Guilt created by society

From seven to fourteen, society creates guilt in you through its rules. The guilt based on fear is created
by social laws. Till the age of fourteen, family and society create guilt for you. An important guilt in
this is the guilt of sex. Parents or family never open out topic of sex.

When there is a chemical change happening in you, you feel your body is new. A lot of questions arise
and clarity is needed but no one is prepared to give it.
And to add to the confusion and desire, the media around you constantly bombards you with fantasies
in that vulnerable age of change.

To add to it, society instills in you the feeling that you are not enough unto yourself. It makes you feel
guilty of what you are, what you do. Once it convinces you that you are a sinner, you are caught in its
grips. Then you cannot enjoy the joy of life any more.

According to me, guilt is the greatest sin. At least other sins will punish you after your death. Guilt will
punish you when you are alive.

‘My religion is to live - and die - without regret.’

You are called a saint or a sinner only by society. As long as society labels you a saint, you are a saint.
The moment society labels you a sinner, you are a sinner. If you kill someone in society, you will be
called a murderer, you will be punished. But if you kill someone on the battlefield you will be called a
hero, you will be given a big award! So there is no absolute scale to decide what is right and what is
wrong. It is society’s own logic.

Heaven and hell

A very subtle and cunning way of sowing guilt today is through the idea of heaven and hell. People
exploit your fear and greed by showing you ideas of hell and heaven. They create in you greed for
heaven and fear for hell. They create so many concepts of hell and heaven and sell them to you. They
say, ‘If you practice these types of things, you will be rewarded with heaven; if you practice otherwise,
you will be punished with hell.’ When you are given rules based on greed and fear, you automatically
start creating deep guilt in you.

A small story:
Once a military general asked a Zen master,
‟Master what are heaven and hell?‟
The master asked, ‟What do you do for a

The general replied, ‟I am a general.‟ The master just laughed, ‟Which idiot asked you to be a
general? You look more like a butcher!‟
The general was furious and took out his sword shouting, ‟I will cut you to pieces.‟
The master just raised his hand and said, ‟These are the gates of hell.‟ The general realized his folly
and bowed down deeply to the master for forgiveness.
The master continued, ‟These are the gates of heaven.‟

Be very clear, heaven and hell are not physical locations. They are psychological states of your mind.
One instant the mind may be in hell and the next it may be in heaven — the gates to heaven and hell
open and close at any time alternately.
Guilt created by you
Till the age of twenty one, knowledge from family and society creates guilt. After twenty one, the guilt
sown in you by family and society grows roots inside you. Then you start creating guilt for yourself
without any reason. Guilt becomes a permanent guest in your being!

The guilt created by family and the guilt created by society are imposed guilt; they are like a crown that
is passed on from one generation to another. The third guilt is the worst - that which you create for
yourself. When you internalize guilt based on greed and fear, you create new types of guilt for yourself.

The moment you start feeling guilty about something, you can be exploited. That too when you start
fighting with yourself it is easier to exploit you.

If you look into your life you can see how every moment you are subtly looking for some reason to
fight with yourself, to feel discontent with yourself. You cannot remain without some conflict, you want
to create misery for yourself because that is what you have been taught — happiness is a sin.

The stone of guilt in the river of your

mind - the block in the flow of
intelligence
You are designed to move like a freely flowing river. Guilt is like the rocks in the

path of the water. Society has subtly branded happiness as a sin. That is the problem. That is why you
will notice, when everything is going smoothly and happily, there will be a lurking feeling of guilt in
you. You are taught by society that being happy and enjoying life is being irresponsible in a way. So
you feel guilty.

But when you feel sad and depressed, do you ever feel guilty? No!
You are taught that life is a chain of suffering and endurance, with happiness stepping in once in a
while.

This is also why people can’t take it when you are happy and smiling all the time. They try their best
to bring you back to the so-called reality - by instilling guilt in you.
When you are enjoying, dancing or relaxing at the beach for example, suddenly you will observe guilt
starts rising in you about all the work that is pending, about all the responsibilities that need to be
fulfilled.

Guilt has no basis but it can destroy your whole life. If you can live without guilt, you will enjoy
every moment without any regret and still fulfill all your responsibilities.
The problem is that your being is a crowd of voices that don’t belong to you. It is a totality of your
mother’s voice, your father’s voice, your teacher’s voice, your neighbor’s voice and what not! All
these voices are in there. If there is only one voice, you will never have any problem. Your mind will
move like a river. But there are so many voices telling you so many things and creating the rocks of
guilt in your path.

As long as you flow like a river, you will express extraordinary intelligence in your life.
You will live with an energy that is overflowing every minute. The moment you allow guilt in you,
the moment you are stopped in your free flow, you create energy clots inside your being.

Lift yourself by your self

Once you become aware of how you are driven by guilt, you can start practicing to come out of it.
When you start practicing anything, naturally you will slip a few times. When you practice to be
without guilt, you are bound to slip back into the older patterns of greed and fear. Then suddenly you
will remember, ‘Oh, I started working out of fear, ‘I started working out of greed.’ Then you will start
afresh. When you start working, naturally you will see these things happening.

A small story:
A monk from a big spiritual organization was sent to a remote tribal area for doing service. Suddenly,
the headquarters received a lot of complaint letters about the monk.
The president after reading the letters said, ‟We have posted the right person.‟ The secretary asked
him, ‟What is this Sir? We are getting complaints about him. How do you say we have posted the
right person?‟

The president replied, ‟If we are getting complaints, it means he has started working, there is
something happening!‟

When you start something new you will have three phases - the first is resistance. The next is just
avoidance — people will neither care nor resist. The third is acceptance.
In the same way, when you start doing anything inside your system, you will start growing but these
three phases will be there. The first phase will be resistance. You will feel the new practice is a
difficult change in your current system. Because of this, the next thing that happens is you start
avoiding opportunities where you should be practicing the change. Again and again you will go back
to your older ways. Your system will resist, it will try to create all kinds of complications, all possible
arguments. If you allow the resistance to grow, you become your own enemy.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita’, ‘Let you lift yourself by yourself. If you don’t, you will be your
worst enemy.’ It is up to you to help yourself as your best friend or hurt yourself as your worst
enemy.

Be very clear: nobody can hurt you unless you allow. Nobody can help you unless you allow.

If you have forgotten the practice, remember and again and again lift yourself.
Don’t fall into depression, don’t have guilt. Don’t think you will not be able to do it.
Even in the life of Buddha if you read, he was about to leave the body when his disciples asked him to
give his ultimate message, and he said Appo deepo bhava — Let you be your own light, let you be
guided by yourself.

The way out — looking in

To feel guilty is to be in sin. In fact that is the only sin. The hell that we talk about is not in another
time and space. It is within us when we feel guilty, without doing anything to change our mindset.

All your guilt, all your pain, everything is a pure imaginary shaft you create inside your head. The
mistake you did ten years ago, the mistake you did seven years ago and the mistake you did three
years ago, are independent and unconnected incidents. But when you connect them and start thinking
about it, naturally you start creating guilt. You start feeling like a continuous sinner. This is one
approach.

There is another approach. When you commit a mistake, see objectively why you committed it, how
you committed it. Watch as an observer how and why it is getting repeated. Look scientifically into
the mechanism of guilt. Just this awareness will open a new door and you will never commit the same
mistake again - because once you look into it, and you find the cause, it will disappear. To know a
thing totally is to be free of it.

Morality
Integrity

Please understand that morality should happen out of integrity, not out of guilt.

What do I mean by integrity? Integrity is being in the present moment and being only one solid
personality and not many conflicting personalities. It is seeing reality without the play of the mind.
Once the mind steps in, duality also steps in. Just by being intensely aware of the present moment,
you can achieve integrity where there is only one and not two or three or many personalities fighting
in you. Only when the mind flits between the past and future, you become split personalities and
integrity doesn’t set in. If the mind is on the present, automatically you become unified and integrity
sets in.

A small story:
One day, a priest knelt before god and started crying loudly, ‟I am a sinner. Please have mercy on
me, O god.‟A man who was praying silently got inspired by this and also knelt down next to the priest
and started praying. Now, another man also went down on his knees and started crying. Seeing this,
the priest nudged the first man saying, ‟Look who thinks he is a sinner!‟

All our humility, our morality, is more or less a pretence to others and to ourselves. We pretend
because we are not solidly integrated within us. We ourselves don’t know which personality within us
is authentic and so we get caught in such games. If we are integrated, we will be authentic in every
action, and automatically we will be moral.

Be aware, be spontaneously right

Please understand, you will never make mistakes if you are deeply aware at the time of making them.
When you are aware, you will be one solid personality and moral as well. When you stray from
awareness, you will be many personalities and immoral also. Morality has to do with awareness, not
with any other social rules. Awareness is the only way to be naturally moral. Awareness causes you to
spontaneously take the right action in the right situation. Morality can cause you to do the wrong
action in the right situation because it doesn’t have the right base. Its base is not its own, it is built up
by society. So you don’t feel connected to it. When you don’t feel connected, you cannot act with
confidence. Once you integrate yourself, you will be centered upon awareness. If you remain
fragmented, there will be no awareness and you will depend on morality for guidance.

Conscience Vs Consciousness
When you start internalizing the laws of society, you create a deep wound in your being. You destroy
your innate intelligence. According to me, children can be given a set of rules initially so they don’t
move from the path of consciousness. But soon they have to be given the understanding of life and the
need to operate from consciousness instead of conscience.

If you live with consciousness, you will automatically live a moral life. To start understanding the
need to live with consciousness, just look into your morality. Morality is only skin deep, whereas
consciousness comes from the very being. Your consciousness tries to break through your conscience.
Your consciousness continuously fights with your conscience. Conscience is societal. Consciousness
is natural. Conscience is a poor substitute for consciousness.

People ask me, ‘Master, what is this? You are pulling down the whole social structure. Then how can
we all live morally?’ I tell them, ‘Be very clear, it is only for kids that you need a forced morality. For
them you need to say, ‘Keep quiet, I will give you candy.’ Of course, nowadays kids reply, ‘I am
happy. I don’t need your candy. Who cares for your candy!’ For a child you can say that you will give
candy and restrict him. You can impose morality on him based on fear or greed. But for you, it is time
to grow up. You are not kids anymore. Just stand up with consciousness. When I say consciousness, I
mean the intelligent energy of your being.

Rules
The natural instinct to break rules
When anything is a forced rule, you always try to get around it. For example, you always speed when
you don’t see the policeman.

A small story:
A policeman pulls over a car on the highway for speeding. When he asks for the driver‟s license, the
driver replies, ‟But officer I was only trying to keep a safe distance between my car and the car
behind me!‟
When you follow rules blindly without understanding their spirit, this is what happens — you just
wait for an excuse to break them.

Honestly answer yourself: if there were no rules, no regulating authority to keep a check on what you
did, would you be the same person as you are now? Would you be doing things in the same way as
you do now? If your answer is no, be very clear that the rule is coming from your conscience, not
from your consciousness. You have not internalized the spirit of the rule or you do not agree with the
rule. That is the reason you are not doing things in a way natural to you.

The thrill of ‘no’

You can see, when you tell children not to do something, they will be most tempted to do it. As long
as you don’t mention anything about doing it or not doing it, they may not even be bothered about it.
But the moment you tell them not to do something, they will be looking to do it.
A small story:
One man says, ‟I found three ways to get things done.‟His friend asks, ‟What are the three ways?‟
The man replies, ‟First, do it yourself. Second, hire someone to do it. Third, tell your kids not to do it.
That‟s all, it will be done!‟

Actually there is a taste, a thrill in doing what you are not supposed to do. Most of the time, you
develop an instant urge for something if you are asked not to do it. You feel a kind of joy or
satisfaction by doing it. That is the basic tendency in every human being.

A Small story:
Once a shopkeeper was trying hard to increase his sales. He trfed various options — discounts,
catchy advertisements, better customer service. Nothing worked. Then one day, he hung a black
curtain on his shop window and made a small hole on it. Under the hole he put up a board, ‟Peeping
strictly forbidden.‟ From that day, he saw crowds gathering at his shop, each one curious to peep
through the hole to see what was there! His shop sales automatically increased because people now
actually saw the variety of grocery items his shop carried.

When you are told not to do something, the basic human tendency is to do exactly that.
As a teenager, when you say ‘no’ to your parents, you feel you have proved you are independent.
When you say ‘no’, you feel you have proved you are somebody special, somebody different. As long
as you say ‘yes’, you feel you are only a child. When you start saying ‘no’, you feel you have become
an adult.

You feel that you are a man only when you say ‘no’ to your father. Till then you feel you are a child.
Just to prove that you are a man you start saying ‘no’ to your father. This is basic psychology. When
you say ‘no’ you think you are somebody, until then you think you are nobody. So please be very
clear, to whatever you say, your grown up son is going to say ‘no’, because he wants to be somebody.

Dead rules Vs Live intelligence

In the course of time, many regulations that had meaning earlier become blind rules - without any
meaning. In India, during the times before electricity was invented, tailors would sew by hand with a
needle with the help of dim lanterns. So clothes would not be sewn after sunset since sewing in the
dim light of the candle or lantern would cause strain on the eye. So the work was always confined to
daylight hours.

But even now in India, the elderly people in the house will say, ‘It is not a good thing to sew after
dusk!’ The very reason for not sewing at night doesn’t even exist anymore! Electricity and bright
lights are there. But it has become a ritual for them, with no connection to its original purpose.

A small story:
Once a paratrooper was being interviewed on television. The interviewer said, ‟Your life must be
really adventurous.‟
The paratrooper replied, ‟Yes, it does have its scary moments.‟
The interviewer asked, ‟What is the most anxious experience in your life?‟
The paratrooper replied, When I was coming down on the lawn of a house and the sign read, ‟Keep
off the grass!‟
When you don’t have the right intelligence or understanding, things become dead rules in your life.

When you have understanding, any correct rule can become a friendly technique to live life happily.
Rules and rituals are actually techniques for your own enlightenment. When I say enlightenment, I
mean a blissful life full of clarity. Of course, when pursued deeply, it will lead to the ultimate state of
enlightenment.
A small story:
A railway official reported a murder on a train, ‟The murderer entered the compartment, stabbed the
victim multiple times. Then he left the train through the opposite door jumping onto the railway track
— there by violating the railway regulations.‟
When you don’t have the right understanding, you will miss the whole thing and end up acting in a
foolish way. When you are given the right understanding, you will understand that any rule was
created just for you and others around you to live a happy and blissful life.

When the spirit of the rule is understood, there won’t be any problem falling in line with it. By falling
in tune, there will only be juice in your action; there will only be a blissful commitment to it. But if
the spirit is missed, everything is missed. Life will seem dull and lifeless.
Take meditation for example. Meditation itself is done to go inwards irrespective of the outer world
noise and situations. I have seen that some people, before starting their meditation routine, will first
try to create a noiseless situation outside. They will go around telling everyone to keep quiet. They
will practically freeze people in their normal routine just because they are going to meditate.

Only when the spirit is missed, things become dead rituals. You miss and mess!
All rules and regulations were created for a harmonious life with the understanding that you will not
kill me and I will not kill you, and both of us will live happily. That was the basic understanding
behind them. However in the course of time, they became laws.
All rules and regulations were created to live a harmonious and happy life, but the moment you
internalize the rules without the understanding, you create guilt. As long as you follow the rules with
an understanding, you will be happy. When you start following the words instead of the spirit, you
will start creating guilt.

When you want to escape from the law, what do you do? You just catch on to the words of the law
and drop the spirit behind them. Then you legally work around the words and escape from the law.
When you catch the words, you become a bureaucrat and you miss the spirit. Only when you catch
the spirit, you can be an intelligent being without guilt.

The useful guilt

There is a certain guilt that is useful for you, a guilt which if pursued intelligently can cause you to
move forward in life. It is like this: when you see that you have the potential to do something, when
you feel that you have so much potential which you are not using at all, then if you are intelligent,
guilt will happen in you. This guilt can spur you to start doing things that will actualize your entire
potential.

Sometimes we see the state of things around us and we know in one corner of our mind that we can
very well help turn the situation around. But either due to laziness or due to the fear of confrontation,
or due to the fear of taking responsibility, we just keep quiet and watch. This type of situation can
cause deep guilt in us. This guilt is significant. If we take steps to correct the situation by doing what
we really feel we should do, then the guilt will disappear and we will also move forward.

This type of guilt has the ability to drive you to do what needs to be done. Because of lts very nature,
you cannot harbor this guilt for long. You have to get over it. And the way to get over it is by doing
what needs to be done. Once it is done, the guilt also disappears. How long you wish to harbor this
guilt without taking steps, for that long you suffer from it. This is the simple logic of this guilt.

Another manifestation of this guilt happens when you can feel your ego surfacing in certain situations
and you are unable to help it. When you can smell your ego but you are unable to control it, this guilt
arises in you. This guilt is also good since it is a sign of the deep awareness of your own ego. It
facilitates you to sincerely work towards eliminating that ego.

Guilt can result in physical disease

Guilt is the sure killer of intelligence. According to me, guilt is the worst killer of intelligence. It will
never let you move in your life.

Once one of our devotees had a tumor at the base of her spinal cord. For twenty years she suffered
with the tumor. She came to me complaining, ‟Please help me, heal me. I am suffering with this
tumor for so many years. After undergoing surgery, it has reappeared. ‟I started talking to her slowly
to trace the origin of the problem. I asked her a few questions at the end of which she finally opened
up and started weeping. I asked her ‟Do you have any guilt related to your sex energy? “She slowly
opened up.
She said she was physically abused when she was very young. One of her close relatives had abused
her for many years. That guilt stayed with her. She said, ‟I started hating that part of my body. I
started feeling that that part of the body should not exist in me. I felt that part of my body was not my
being. My hatred towards that person turned towards my own body.”

Her hatred was so deep. I continued speaking to her. Slowly she opened up more and more. When she
brought the guilt out, she came out of the guilt. She was psychologically healed.

I gave her a small meditation technique to meditate on that area. I told her ‟Express your anger
towards that man. Weep, shout, cry, hit. Close the doors, take a pillow, imagine that it is him and
show your anger on it. After that sit silently and feel that part of your body also as your own. Feel
love towards that part of the body.‟

You will be surprised that in just ten days the tumor disappeared! It never recurred.
Most of our ailments are due to psychological disturbances where guilt plays a major role. Most of the
time, our energy flow gets blocked because of guilt. If you look deep, wherever you are not able to
move, wherever you are not able to take decisions, wherever you have fear, there will be some guilt
lurking.

Acceptance — the beautiful way out

Acceptance is a wonderful tool to relieve yourself of the pull and push between the past and future.
With acceptance you fall into the present straightaway. The first thing is to accept all the happenings
of the outer world and all the happenings of the inner world. Whatever problems you have in the outer
world and whatever problems you have in the inner world, just accept them in their entirety.
Summarize all that you experience as problems and accept them in totality.

Accept all guilt, all mistakes and all failures. Even if you cannot accept, accept that you cannot
accept. You will then relax and guilt will drop from your mind.
Just try this small experiment:
Just relax for three days with complete acceptance. If you relax for three days without the pull and
push in the inner and outer worlds, are you going to lose all your wealth? Surely not! So there is no
problem. In three days you are not going to lose anything. Why don’t you give it a try? Just for three
days, sincerely, utterly, accept everything in your life one hundred percent!

If you are not able to accept one hundred percent then accept that you are not able to accept one
hundred percent. Even the acceptance of ‘I am not able to accept myself in the inner world and outer
world’ will make you drop from the pull and push between the past and future. The moment you
understand, ‘I am unable to free myself from the pull and push of desires and fears, I am not able to
accept my reality, that very understanding will start doing its job.

If you can fall into the present moment, relaxing from the outer world and inner world things, in three
days you will have a glimpse: What is life? What does it mean to live in the present moment? If this
happens to you, you will experience such ecstasy, such a different space, such a different life that you
have never experienced before.
You have lived based on your philosophy for maybe the last thirty years. Just for three days, don’t try
to alter anybody in the outer world. You will see that when you experiment with such great
techniques, they work miracles in your being. They start a great alchemy process in your being. If you
are not able to be sincere, accept that you are not able to be sincere. Even that sincerity is enough.
You will start seeing a different space in you.

Meditation Techniques
From Head to Heart
Sit down and close your eyes. Take slow and deep breaths, just for a few minutes. Along with it, feel
that your head is being pressed into your heart, into the chest region. Become totally headless. You
have no head now. You are headless.
Feel that you are breathing from the heart. Feel that you are seeing through the heart. Feel that you are
smelling through your heart. Feel very clearly that you are breathing through the heart. Listen
through the heart, see through the heart, and feel through the heart.

Stand up. Have the consciousness from the heart and let your movements be as slow as possible.
Don’t walk. Just move your body around slowly. Remember that you are moving from the heart. Your
center is the heart, not the head. Again and again, forget the head. Move from the heart. Remember
you are a headless being.

Stand in one place. Now, increase the speed slowly, very slowly. Remember to move from the heart,
not from the head. Forget your head. You are a headless being moving.
(After few minutes)

Sit down where you are. Just be without the head. Sit only with your heart. Relax.

(After few minutes)

Slowly, very slowly, open your eyes.
You Are The Best, Why Compare?

Comparison and Jealousy

Emotions of fear, desire and guilt are subjective emotions. What I mean by this is that you do not
need another person or even an object to create these emotions. Imagine that you are in a sound
proofed room with your eyes closed and with nothing to touch, taste or smell. You can still feel the
emotions of fear or desire. But to compare yourself with another person and to feel jealous of him,
you need the presence of another person. Jealousy is therefore an objective emotion. It needs an
object to be activated.

A small story:
One evening a man was sitting with his wife on a park bench. Without noticing them, a young man
and life girlfriend sat down next to them. The young man started talking to his girlfriend in a very
loving manner.
Hearing this, the wife whispered to husband, ‟I think he is going to propose to her. Maybe you should
cough or do something to warn him!‟
The husband replied, ‟Why should I warn him? Nobody ever warned me!”

Jealousy starts from comparison. We always compare ourselves with others in various fields — looks,
wealth, knowledge, name and fame and friends to name a few. When we compare ourselves with
others we feel that somebody else has something more than what we have and, we get caught in
jealousy.

Comparison is the seed and jealousy is the fruit!

Why Comparison?
Why exactly do we compare ourselves with others?
First, we compare ourselves because we have never understood ourselves. We are not aware of who
we are and what we have.

Second, society has conditioned us from our birth to evaluate ourselves based upon others. From
childhood the comparison starts. In school, the grading system introduces a child to competition and
comparison with others.

There are standard benchmarks to measure a child’s qualities such as mathematical ability, scientific
aptitude, artistic skill, athletic ability, musical talent and so on. But, what we don’t realize is that
when we try to measure a quality using a standardized benchmark, it is nothing but using comparison
as the scale to measure the child himself. We are literally punishing all children with the reward
systems we use in schools.
The child gets used to judging and knowing himself by looking at others and comparing himself with
them. He has no understanding of himself based on what he is. He knows himself only based on
others.

A small story:
Once a man was testifying in court about a road accident. Suddenly, the man noticed that the court
reporter was writing while he spoke. As the man started speaking faster and faster he noticed that the
reporter was writing faster and faster. Suddenly the man said to the court reporter, ‟Please don’t
write so fast. I am not able to keep up with you!”

Every judgment you make about yourself is based on some comparison. But why does the idea of the
other enter into your mind? It is because you have not looked in and realized who you are. You have
not experienced the bliss and tremendous potential you have inside you. You feel incomplete because
you have not been able to express yourself as you are. So, the emptiness and lack of fulfillment inside
makes you feel inferior to others.

The futility of comparison

Buddha says, ‘Nothing exists except in relationship.’ Suppose you were the only person on a new
planet, how could you compare yourself with anyone? Could you call yourself tall or short, ugly or
beautiful, rich or poor, intelligent or dumb? No! When there is no one with whom to compare
ourselves, we just are!
Understand, even now, there is no scale to compare you with anybody. Each individual is unique.

Can you compare a lion and a horse? Do we ever compare ourselves with flowers or birds or
mountains? Then why do we have to compare ourselves with other human beings! A beautiful Zen
story:
A king once went to a master to ask for a technique to become more powerful than his neighboring
kings. He sat in front of the master and started telling him the purpose of his visit. The master listened
patiently to the king.
He then told him to go into the royal garden where a rose plant and a cypress plant were growing
side by side. He told the king, ‟They are your teachers. They can teach you what you need to learn.‟
The king went into the garden, saw the two plants but could not understand what he was meant to
learn from them. He went back to the master and asked, What do you mean, master? I am not able to
understand what and how these plants will teach me.‟
The master took the king to the plants and explained, ‟This cypress plant has been next to the rose
plant for so many years. Never once has it even aspired to become a rose plant. Similarly, the rose
plant has never ever aspired to become a cypress plant. If man had been the cypress plant, he would
have compared himself with the rose and felt jealous at the attention that the rose plant was getting
from people. Or if man were the rose plant, he would have looked at the cypress plant enviously
thinking how peaceful the plant was without the torture of getting plucked by people all day!‟
The two plants prospered because they used all of their energy for their own growth instead of using it
to compare themselves with the other.
The moment you stop comparing, all jealousy disappears. Instead, you will start feeling contented in
yourself and grateful to Existence for having given you so much and for making you unique.
Instead, if you feel jealous of others, you will suffer. You will constantly fight with others openly or
inside yourself. If somebody laughs, you think he is laughing at you. If somebody is friendly towards
another person you feel lonely and jealous of that person. Actually, you are just waiting for someone
to hurt you. The jealousy you allow inside you is like a raw wound. Any action done with no intention
to hurt you also touches the wound and hurts.

So when you feel hurt, understand that you have a wound. Don’t throw the responsibility of the
suffering on the other person. The wound needs to be healed and the jealousy has to be dissolved.
Then nobody can hurt you. Be very clear, nobody can hurt you without your silent permission.
You compare yourself to each other because you feel that you are somehow lacking. Honestly, you
have no idea of your true, unique potential! If you did, you wouldn’t spend one second looking
outside yourself for answers about how to live a creative, fulfilling life. All of the confidence,
intelligence, and vibrant energy that you need already exist inside you. You have the potential to live
like god on earth. Don’t believe the limiting things that you have been made to believe about yourself.
Just look in! Experiment, explore and discover the truth for yourself. Then you will simply radiate all
of these qualities effortlessly.

Above and Below the Ladder

Suppose there was a huge ladder and everybody in the world was asked to stand on it in ascending
order of success in any field such as beauty or intelligence. You would probably position yourself
somewhere in the middle of the ladder. There are many people above you but there are also many
people below you. Seeing the people above you causes you to feel jealous. So, you constantly try to
become better than them in order to move further up the ladder.

Now, at some point in your life, you may realize the uselessness of this never-ending game. Then you
want to jump off the ladder. And you look down. Now what do you see? There are so many people
below you. Suddenly you start feeling happy to see so many people below you and you feel hopeful
because you are not as inferior as you thought you were when you were looking at the people above
you.

This is where the fight starts. When you look up, you feel miserable, but when you look down, you
feel happy. Now even though you begin to realize the futility of spending your life just climbing the
ladder, still you are not able to jump off the ladder because if you jump off, you will be left alone.
There will be nobody above you or below you.

Doing, having and being

We all function around these three axes of doing, having and being . Doing for having, without
enjoying being, IS the sole cause of all our misery. Doing never catches up with having! Every time
you work hard and fulfill one desire, suddenly that desire loses its pull over you.

As enlightened master, Ramana Maharishi’, says beautifully, ‘The mind is such that it shows a tiny
mustard seed to be a huge mountain until it is attained. As soon as it has been attained, even a
mountain appears as insignificant as a mustard seed!’

As soon as a desire is fulfilled, another one starts pulling at you. You don’t even have time to enjoy it
and feel satisfied. You may think, ‘Let me get this one more thing also. Then I can relax and enjoy
what I have.’ Be very clear, your mind will never let it happen.

The only way to really live and enjoy life is to enjoy the very doing itself. Then automatically the
doing, having and being, will be integrated and will happen.

You are unique

Nature has its own unique way of growth for each of us. Take the Chinese bamboo for example.
When it sprouts, it doesn’t show much growth for the first four years. Then in the fifth year, the
bamboo grows ninety feet in six weeks! It was not that the tree was not growing in the first four years.
Though the growth was not visible, the roots were being strengthened to make it possible for the plant
to grow fast and safely into a huge tree!
Like the bamboo’s growth, there is no scale to measure yourself with anyone other than your own
self. If you spend all your energy looking in and competing with yourself, you will progress in leaps
and bounds.

First of all, understand that god is an artist, not an engineer. If He was an engineer, He would have
made one perfect man and one perfect woman and then made millions of copies from that mould! No.
God has made each one of us unique in every way. It does not matter whether you are a rose or a lily
or a wild flower. The important thing is that the wild flower should realize its ultimate potential as a
wild flower just as the rose should actualize its inherent potential. The fragrance of you realizing your
unique potential is what radiates and, without effort, touches everyone around you.

Whether it is beauty or intelligence, you are unique. It is only when you don’t respect your uniqueness
that you start comparing yourself with others. Even if your favorite cinema star or model is very
beautiful, can you enjoy drinking even a cup of water from that body? No! You can only enjoy using
your own body your best friend. Accept and welcome it.

Peer pressure — the stick of

Jealousy
There is a beautiful verse in the ancient scriptures that says the power of maya‟, the energy which
runs the universe, uses jealousy as a tool to make you do whatever it wants you to do.

In India, there are people who do circus shows with monkeys in the street. They will have a small
stick. Once they pick up the stick, the monkey will do whatever they say. If they just gesture to the
monkey, it won’t listen. Even though it knows that the man can pick up the stick at any time, unless
he picks up the stick, the monkey won’t listen. If he picks up the stick and tells the monkey to walk
straight, it will walk straight. If the man tells the monkey to jump three times, it will jump three times.

The man will use the stick like the ringmaster uses it in the circus. In the same way, the power of
maya„ uses peer pressure and jealousy as a stick to make you do whatever it wants. Understand, peer
pressure is just a big ego game. Actually, it is not at all necessary for you to grow. There is enough
food, shelter, medical care and clothing in the world to satisfy all of our basic needs. There is no need
to compete!

How to overcome Jealousy

Jealousy is closely related to many negative emotions such as anger, greed, possessiveness and
depression. All of these emotions will dissolve when we break this cycle of jealousy.

1. Witnessing
Jealousy cannot be overcome either by escaping from it or hating the object of jealousy. All you need
to do is just be fully aware when the feeling of jealousy arises. You will be surprised that it simply
disappears.
The enlightened master, Buddha says, ‘Destroy those envying roots and enjoy lasting peace.’ Just be
aware and destroy the jealousy, competition, envy and comparison that have robbed you of your very
nature which is bliss. Use the light of awareness to reveal the shadow nature of these negative
emotions. Otherwise, you are just caught in the rat race. I always tell people, even if you win the rat
race, you are still just a rat!
Understand, the way out of jealousy is not by suppressing it or denying its existence. Expressing and
encouraging it is also not the way because then you are not ready to face the jealousy with awareness.

Just watch how jealousy arises in you, how it develops into hatred for the object of jealousy, how it
creates restlessness and frustration inside you and makes you lose all your peace and calm.

Be aware of the jealousy instead of hating it or the object of your jealousy. Just watch, as if you have
nothing to do with it. Look at it with a scientific attitude. What do I mean by a scientific attitude?

No Prejudice — The Attitude of the

Scientist
When a scientist is experimenting, he simply experiments without any judgment, without any pre-
determined conclusion. If he has a conclusion already in his mind, that means he is not a scientist
because his conclusion may influence the experiment.
Now, you are the scientist in the laboratory of the inner world science. Be a scientist in your inner
world and let your mind be your laboratory. Just be aware and witness without any prejudice.

Don’t condemn the emotion saying it is bad because that is what you have been taught. It has not
become your experience. If it is your experience that jealousy is a negative emotion you will drop it
automatically. It has not become your own experience. It lS only something that you have picked up
from others.

Unless it becomes an experiential understanding in you that jealousy and comparison are negative, it
will not become a part of you.

Don’t condemn the object of jealousy. The object has not generated the emotion from outside. The
jealousy is happening inside you.

Once you see your jealousy with awareness, you will realize that it does not have a basis for existence
at all. When this happens, jealousy will drop automatically.

You won’t have to drop it.

A small story:
A woman once hired a professional artist to paint her portrait. The artist carefully made a large
portrait and then presented it to her saying, ‟How do you like it?‟ The lady looked at it and said,
‟Yes, very nice. But can you add a few things? I want you to add a glittering diamond necklace, a
gold watch and bracelet, em erald earrings and beautiful pearl rings on the fingers. The artist was
surprised and said, ‟But madam, the portrait looks simple and beautiful as it is. Why do you want to
add all the jewelry and clutter it?‟ The woman re plied, ‟I want my rich neighbors to see the painting
and go crazy when they see all the jewelry that they will think I have.‟
The fire of jealousy can just consume you completely if you don’t control it with the fire extinguisher
of your awareness.

2. Infinite love
Jealousy does not allow you to experience your true nature of love and bliss. It arises out of
misunderstanding life and yourself. You misunderstand love to be something outside of you that has
to be acquired. Not only that, you think love is a quantity that needs to be shared. That is why you are
afraid, thinking that if you share your love, your share will be reduced.

Love is a quality inside you. It is not a limited quantity. It is an unending happening overflowing from
within you. It cannot be blocked by anything or anybody except you because it is your very nature.

Once love starts flowing, jealousy and possessiveness and all that simply become non-existent. If you
accept yourself just as you are, you can accept others also as they are.
You Are Not Who You Think You Are!

Seriousness Vs Sincerity
All our comparison with other people begins with what we think of ourselves. Jealousy disappears
when we understand our uniqueness. We may then create another problem. We may believe ourselves
to be so special that we start taking ourselves far too seriously.
What is seriousness?

Seriousness is nothing but paying undue importance to something, at the cost of everything else. It
arises from the inability to see that all of life is just a drama that is unfolding every minute.
Seriousness is the result of over-expectation from life.

A small story:
Two boys were building sand castles on the beach. They suddenly had a quarrel and one of the boys
got angry and kicked the sand castle. The other boy went and complained to the king about his
serious problem. The king began to laugh at him for getting so upset over silly sand castles. But the
king’s advisor a Zen monk, started laughing at the king.
He asked, ‟When you can fight battles and lose sleep over stone castles, why do you laugh at these
boys for fighting over sand castles!‟

All our seriousness is just about sandcastles! For the child, at that young age, sand castles seem
precious, whereas at our age, stone castles seem precious, that’s all. Whether it is a sand castle or a
stone castle, the seriousness behind it is the same. The object may be different, but the seriousness is
the same. So, don’t laugh when children fight over sand castles.

Seriousness closes your mind to the openness and freedom of life. It makes you dull and dead. It
curbs your thinking and makes you stick to the familiar patterns that you know and use all the time.

A small story:
In a Zen monastery, there was a competition among disciples over who had maintained the best
garden. One disciple was ofa very serious nature. He took the competition quite seriously. He always
kept his garden neat, clean, and well-swept. All the grass was of the same height. All the bushes were
neatly trimmed. He was sure that he would get the first prize.

On the day of the competition, the master went around all the gardens. Then he came back and
ranked the gardens. This disciple‟s garden got the lowest ranking. Everyone was shocked. The
disciple could not contain himself and asked, ‟Master what is wrong with my garden? Why did you
rank me the lowest? ‟The master looked at him and asked, ‟Where are all the dead leaves? A garden
maintained in such a way is no longer alive!
It is dead.‟

Seriousness kills spontaneity. Seriousness destroys creativity. Science has proved that when you
perform a task in a relaxed and light manner, your thinking and decision-making capacity is
automatically enhanced. The same task when performed in a serious manner dulls your mind. When
you do something too seriously, when you are too concerned about the result, you are actually not
allowing yourself to perform at the optimum level.

Of course, you need to make plans, and you need to think ahead. But do it with sincerity, not with
seriousness. Seriousness is not the same as sincerity. Sincerity is focusing on the task with enthusiasm
and youthfulness. Sincerity is giving the task your best without worrying excessively about the result!
When you are serious, you don’t enjoy, you don’t laugh. How can you laugh when you are serious!

Perfectionism
Perfectionism always comes from your mind. It becomes a goal for you. You work towards it as a
goal. When you work towards it as a goal, it becomes dead and mundane. But when you are total,
when you are established in your heart, it becomes a deep experience. The outcome has to be
beautiful, and it will give you joy. Then, whatever you do, you will be in tune with Existence.
Whatever you do, do it wholly, totally, and it will be total. You won’t have to worry about
perfectionism at all.

Perfectionism never gives you joy; it only fulfills your ego. Even if you feel fulfilled at the end of it, it
is only a fulfillment of your ego, never a fulfillment of your being. Be very clear, perfectionists are
the biggest egoists. They miss the dimension of being total. Totality is possible when you enter into
something deeply. Perfectionism is never possible because it is in your mind, and your mind keeps
changing its definition of perfection!

Life is beyond your logic

Most of us unconsciously believe that life is filled with incidents that are under the control of our
logic. But life again and again reminds you of the truth that life is beyond your logic. You are
reminded of this fact, especially when some near and dear friend or family member dies or when
something unexpected happens. If you lose your job, suddenly you see that life is not under your
control. You suddenly wake up to the reality that life is beyond your logic. Then you start seeking the
Truth.

Especially if you live in the city, your routine is almost fixed. From morning until night, you know
exactly how your day will unfold. You know where you will go, what you will do or not do, and what
and when you will eat.

Practically, your ego gives an idea, your logic gives you the feeling that your life is under the control
of your logic. That is why whenever some incident happens that is beyond your logic, that is not
under your control, you are totally shaken. You are not able to handle it. You don’t know what to do.
Either you fall into depression or you just suffer.
There is an important truth, an ultimate secret that you must understand. Never think things are going
smoothly because of you. In spite of you, things are going smoothly! This is one of the important
secrets. As long as you think it is because of you that things are going smoothly, you will be
constantly suffering with ego.

What is Ego?

According to the Upanishads', as long as you think that life has a purpose and you run behind that
purpose, you are an egoistic person. When you realize the beauty of the purposelessness of life, you
have dropped your ego. The master is the one who makes you understand the purposelessness of life.
Whatever you think as being worthy now is not actually the true and worthy thing. A man with ego
searches with purpose and misses reality.

Death clearly shows that whatever mind you lived with has no real existence. When you realize the
purposelessness of life, a new consciousness starts blossoming in you. The moment you experience
that there is nothing to be achieved, that the diamonds you are protecting are not diamonds but stones,
and that all your great things in life are mere toys, you will understand the purposelessness of life.

The real purpose of life cannot be understood by the ego. When the ego is dropped, you will
understand the Divine purpose of life, the leelas or the Divine play; you will enjoy the drama. If you
keep thinking that life has a purpose and wait to achieve something, you will miss life itself.

Life itself is the path and the goal. When you have a goal, you will run. Your feet will not touch the
ground and you will miss the beauty of Existence or nature. When or while driving. You feel boosted
in ego when you say ‘no’ to rules. You can see this with small children. The moment you say they are
not meant to have certain things, they will ask only for those things! you drop the goal, the emphasis
will be on the path.

When you understand the purposelessness of life, you understand the meaning of living. Until then,
you are just a ‘living dead’ person. A person in a coma lying in the hospital bed and a normal person
who has not realized the Truth, both live without proper consciousness. The master is the one who
makes you realize this truth. The meaning of living is the meaning of life or Existence.

Drop the goal and enjoy life. Meditate on this teaching again and again. The Truth will dawn on you
and the nithyananda state will flower in you, the state that is the very meaning of life.

The solid feeling of ‘no’

Many times, you may have seen that whenever someone says something to you, the first reaction
inside you is a certain resistance, a ‘no’. When you say ‘no’, it is ego-fulfilling. You feel solid and
firm inside yourself. When you say ‘yes’, you feel liquid and vulnerable. Your ego feels submissive,
which is uncomfortable, so you say ‘no’.
This is also why you feel good when you break rules at home, school, in the workplace,

Ordinary Vs Extraordinary
Whenever you try to live for your ego, you make your life and others’ lives miserable. Most of the
time the miseries you face in your life are not created by others. They are unknowingly created by
you. You may not even derive any benefits from them. But just to prove your ego, you create them.

A small story:
An enlightened master Suzuki, lived in Japan. When his master passed away, he started weeping
profusely. One person asked him, ‟You are an enlightened person. Why are you crying on your
master’s passing away?‟ Suzuki replied, ‟My master was the most extraordinary man on planet
earth.‟ The person was puzzled and asked him,
‟What was so extraordinary about him?‟ Suzuki replied, ‟I have never seen such an extraordinary
person who thought he was the most ordinary man!‟

In ordinary life, every average person thinks he is extraordinary. When you feel that you have
undergone the maximum suffering, your ego feels good that you have been able to handle a tough life.
Only when your enemy is big, you feel big. When your enemy is small, you feel small.

For the same reason, if your suffering is big, you feel good. Your ego feels satisfied. You measure life
with the amount of your suffering. Unknowingly, you torture others as well as yourself. Suzuki’s
master was extraordinary because he thought he was the most ordinary, whereas in this world, every
other person thinks he is extraordinary.
If you want to check whether you are average or not, do this experiment. If you feel extraordinary, be
very clear: you are average.
If you feel ordinary, you are extraordinary!

Using the right mask

You all play different roles and use different masks in your day-to-day lives. You use one mask with
your mother, a different mask with your father, a different one with your boss and so on. As long as
you use the right masks with the right people, it is alright. The moment you use the wrong mask with
a person, be aware that your ego has stepped in.
All you have to do is switch masks efficiently and enjoy the show. Then you are a watcher. You can
do this only when you know that you are something beyond the mask. Otherwise, you will get carried
away by the mask and lose the whole charm of life. When you know that you are only using masks,
your desires drop.

Just like when you grow up, you automatically drop your toys, in the same way, when you look at
these masks intelligently, you don’t have any desire for them and simply use

Ego is born from discontentment

If you are a strong egoistic person, you don’t need a separate hell because the mind can exist only in
conflict and discontentment. With contentment, with satisfaction, you will lose your boundary. That is
why you don’t want joy or bliss. Please never think you want bliss. No! Actually you are afraid of joy
and bliss. Whenever you go through a peaceful, no-worry feeling, just watch yourself. You feel you
are missing something when there is nothing to think about! Unless you have something strong to
brood over, you don’t have a clear-cut boundary in your inner space.

Your mind exists when it hits the corners of your suffering. You don’t feel your boundary or your
identity unless you have enough suffering. If you look a little deeper, you will understand that many
times you feel lonely if you don’t have anything to worry or suffer about. That is the way you believe
yourselves to be, because by its nature, the mind can record only negative things. The mind can
flourish, it can create more thoughts, it can more clearly identify with suffering, dissatisfaction and
discontentment. The quality of joy is boundarylessness. When you are in joy, you won’t feel your
boundary. Whenever you don’t feel your boundary, you are in a state of joy, in a satisfied and
contented mood.

Suffering leads to Ego

Your ego cannot exist without your suffering. Suffering is the root of your ego. This is an important
thing you need to understand. We always think that the ego is disturbed by suffering. No! Ego is
enriched by suffering. One more important thing is that if your suffering is less, your ego is less. You
feel you are too small, so you increase your suffering so that you can feel you are somebody.

The less the suffering, the weaker is the ego. The more you suffer, the stronger your ego becomes. So,
you always exaggerate your suffering. The problem is that after some time you forget that you
exaggerated. Then you are also caught in the same net. You might disagree and say, ‘No, you don’t
know my life; you don’t know my suffering.’ But be very clear, after some time you are caught in the
same net that you yourself created!
Dual identities
We all have two identities, the identity that we project to the outer world, and the identity that we
believe to be us in the inner world. The identity that you believe to be you inside your mind is called
mamakar' in Sanskrit. It will always be much smaller than what you really are. You will carry or
remember all your failures, past mistakes and guilt, constantly trying to work on them.

The identity that you project to the outer world is called ahankar„. Ahankar' is your visiting card. You
print on it everything that you want others to know about yourself. This is based on the identity you
show to the outer world. It will always be more than what you have, more than what you are. It will
always be much more than what you are because you think you have to sell yourself. It becomes a
basic need to do this, especially in the societies where you have to market yourself.

Ahankar' will be based on a superiority complex. Mamakar‟ will be based on an inferiority complex.
Ahankar will be based on fear. Mamakar' will be based on greed.
The basic truth is that you are much more than these two identities. When you unclutch from these
two identities, you will suddenly realize that you are beyond the two identities. When that happens,
these two identities can never bind you again.

Inferior Ego
An incident from the life of Ramana Maharishi‘:
One of Ramana Maharishi’s disciples translated one of his books into another language. In the
translation, inside the book, his name was also published as the translator.
When the disciple saw the book, he was shocked to see this. He went to the concerned authorities and
scolded them for this mistake. He then went and told Ramana Maharishi, ‟Bhagavan, they should not
have put my name. I don’t feel my name should be publicized. I am not that kind of person.‟
Bhagavan said, ‟The ego that asks for the name to be there and the ego that asks that the name not be
there are one and the same.
Relax.‟

Be very clear, the inferior ego that is trying to show humbleness is also ego.
With a superiority complex, with a violent aggressive ego, at least society will teach you. This ego is
very visible. With the humble ego, you will escape from society. That is more dangerous. It is the
cunning ego that can nicely save itself. Ego is just the identity you carry about yourself.

Types of Ego
Active ego Vs Passive ego

The active ego is easy to recognize. People with an active ego will behave in a highhanded fashion;
they will claim self- importance openly. They will be arrogant. This ego is actually easy for a master
to deal with. He just needs to bang on it a few times and it will break!

A small story:
A psychiatrist asks his patient if he is suffering from fantasies of self-importance.
The man replies, ‟Absolutely not. In fact, I think much less of myself than I really am! ‟
A person with an active ego will not be willing to let go of it at any cost.

Passive ego is very subtle and cunning. People who have a passive ego will pose as being very
humble, lacking courage to face people, and shying away from taking credit. The worst part of this is
that they think they are like this because they are not egoistic. Actually, they are so carefully guarding
their ego from getting hurt by unconsciously thinking they are humble!

People with active ego are like dried, hard twigs. They can be broken easily. People with passive ego
are like fresh, green twigs. Each time their ego is hit, they bend but don’t break! Their ego is so well
safeguarded that it becomes difficult to deal with. Actually, they work very hard to safeguard it but in
a sweet and passive way.

‘I’ and ‘Mine’

‘I’ is the ego, the root of fear. ‘Mine’, ‘this is my house’, ‘that is my car’, ‘these are my friends’, is the
root of greed. ‘I’ means continuously doing. ‘Mine’ means continuously having. Continuously you try
to expand your boundary. Continuously you try to change the things outside. You want to expand
your boundary of‘mine’. For example, you have a basic car now but you want to have a more
luxurious car; you may want more than one car. You have a house to live in, but you want a bigger
house. This kind of personality is based on having. Such people feel happy, secure and relaxed only
when they continuously possess more and more things.

The deep feeling of insecurity, that fear, drives us to more greed, to continuously try to possess more
things. Continuously possessing things is nothing but a feeling of deep insecurity. You can see the
idea of continuously possessing more and more things is just because of fear and insecurity. We
usually feel more secure if we have more friends, more relatives, and more things around us. With
more security, we feel we will not be taken away from this world.

Ego Vs Master

People ask me, ‘Why do we have to follow masters?’ I tell them, ‘You don’t have to follow masters.
But if you don’t follow masters, you will be following your ego, that’s all. There are only two
options. Either you listen to the master or you listen to the ego.’
Master is the being who has already achieved eternal bliss, nithya ananda. If you follow him you will
also reach that state. As for your ego, you know what it has achieved so far and what it is heading
towards! If you are happy, comfortable, contented and blissful in the path in which your ego is
already leading

you, then you can follow your ego. Nothing is wrong with that. If you are a little uncomfortable, if
you want to change, then follow the master’s path. There are only two to follow: master and the mind.
If you follow the master, you cannot follow the mind. If you follow the mind, you cannot follow the
master. There is a beautiful word, ‟na maha‟. It means, ‘not mine’, ‘I am not’ - I surrender the ‘I’ and
‘mine’ at the feet of the master or god.

Meditation Technique
1. Third Eye Meditation
Total Duration: 25 minutes
This is an extremely powerful technique, most effective when practiced in the master’s presence or in
front of a picture of the master’s eyes.

Step 1: Duration: 5 minutes

With your eyes closed, just see through your eyes, whatever images you are seeing behind the closed
eyes.

Step 2: Duration: 5 minutes

Now open your eyes and through your third eye, look intensely at the master’s third eye in the picture.
Look through your eyes.

Step 3: Duration: 5 minutes

With your eyes closed, just see through your eyes, whatever images you are seeing behind the closed
eyes.

Step 4: Duration: 5 minutes

Now open your eyes and through your third eye, look intensely at the master’s third eye in the picture.
Look through your eyes.

Step 5: Duration: 5 minutes

With your eyes closed, just see through your eyes, whatever images you are seeing behind the closed
eyes.

During this meditation, you may see visions of your favorite deities, or you may find that the master’s
form is replaced by a beam of light. Sometimes you may see total emptiness where his picture was.
Don’t be alarmed or lose your awareness at these moments. It is not hypnosis! In fact, it is a
dehypnotizing process. Your superconscious is being awakened. If you see only light or emptiness, it
is a sign that you have done the meditation with deep sincerity. That is the truth of our nature - we are
all nothing but energy.

Seeing through the eye, you can achieve the ‘I’. Currently, you are making up your own reality. If you
see through the eyes, you will wake up from it and see reality as it is!
Gratitude is Enough!

What is Gratitude
When we recognize that we are part of the total scheme of Existence, and that we are lovingly taken
care of by Existence every minute, we are overcome with gratitude. We become truly thankful for
what we receive every moment, even if it is as basic as the use of our very limbs and senses.

Gratitude is your response to recognizing the abundance of Existence. It is a wonderful flowering

energy within you.

If there is one energy that takes care of everything in your life, it is the energy of gratitude! If you
ever feel that there is something missing in your life, it is because you feel less gratitude.

Gratitude should become your very breath. Gratitude is a transforming energy. It transforms the
happenings in you and around you. It is an energy that harmonizes you with the energy of the
universe and brings back tremendous prosperity to you. With gratitude you will see that Existence
simply responds to you —as if it is a live being. It is the channel to commune with Existence!

When gratitude happens, it works beautifully through the law of attraction and attracts great
prosperity to you. How is this possible?

A small story:
Akbar, a great king from ancient India, and Birbal‟, his advisor were walking together on the street
one day.
They passed by a sandalwood dealer and Akbar told Birbal', ‟I don‟t know why but I feel like
hanging this man.‟

One month passed and the two of them walked past the same sandalwood dealer again.
This time Akbar‟ said, ‟It’s strange but I feel like giving this man some endowment today! How is it
possible? ‟
Birbal replied, ‟O King! A month back, the sandalwood dealer’s business was suffering and when he
saw you walking past he thought to himself, ‟If the king dies, the courtiers would come to buy a lot of
sandalwood from me for his funeral pyre. ‟
He sent out these negative vibrations which prompted von to feel hatred towards him. That is why last
time you felt like hanging him without any real reason. I immediately purchased a lot of sandalwood
from him to make tables and chairs for our kingdom. It made him very happy. Today, he feels very
grateful to you for it. You are now struck by these positive vibrations from him and therefore you feel
like giving him some endowment! ‟
According to the Law of Attraction, like energy attracts like energy. How does this apply to gratitude?
Understand this: when you feel gratitude towards everything, it means you feel fulfilled, you feel
blissful. So when you radiate gratitude, your energy of fulfillment attracts fulfillment back to you in
the form of material gains, good relationships, good health and so on. This is how it works.

The main thing is that gratitude makes you resonate with Existence and transforms you into a
beautiful human being.
Psychologists have studied the effects of the feeling of gratitude on people. In their first study, two
researchers, Dr. Michael McCollough of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and Dr.
Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis, California, concluded that gratitude played a
major role in a person’s well-being.
The results of the study indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of
alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, energy, lesser depression and stress. They further
suggested that anyone could increase their sense of well-being and create positive social effects just
from counting their blessings.

Be grateful for just being

When I tell people to live with a sense of gratitude, they immediately start looking for reasons. Real
gratitude can never have a reason. It happens as a causeless flowering within you. Does the flower
bloom for a reason? No! It blooms because it is its very nature. Gratitude is our real nature. It has
been covered by layers of conditioning from society.

The problem is, society doesn’t know the language of gratitude. It knows only the language of utility.
It straightaway instills greed and fear in you so that you will give it the needed results. Society doesn’t
know there is a path of gratitude that will give much better results than the paths of fear and greed.

There are endless reasons to feel gratitude. This life itself is a gift that we have received. Did any of
us work for it and receive it? No. To be born with human consciousness is the first blessing we have
received. Our gratitude should start right from there. Just for being we should feel grateful.

A young girl sat at the dinner table to eat. She started eating when her mother suddenly stopped her.
She asked her ‟Did you say grace before eating?‟
The girl replied, ‟But there is nothing on this plate that I have not already thanked god for at least
once.‟
Understand, if ever you feel life is dull, that it is not as juicy as it should be, it is because gratitude has
not happened in you. Gratitude is the energy that makes your life intense and exciting every moment.
This is a basic secret of life.

Everything is a gift
The main reason why you miss experiencing gratitude is that you take everything for granted. You
feel anything that people do for you is your birthright. Understand, people could be doing something
else instead of doing things for you. So it is really a gift from them to you. You have to thank them
for it.

Receive every small thing in life as a gift. When you sit down to eat, have you ever thanked your
fingers? There are people who don’t have fingers with which to eat! Have we ever thought about that?
Never! We only look at those who have a diamond ring on their finger. We never look at those who
don’t have fingers.

When we start feeling grateful for small things, our whole sensitivity will increase. We will become
more refined.

A small story:

A man was narrating to his friend how he got lost in a desert one day.
He told the friend, ‟In sheer despair I knelt down and prayed that I should be guided out of the
desert.‟ The friend was awed by the story and asked, ‟So did god answer your prayer?‟

The man replied, ‟Oh, no! Before that an explorer appeared from nowhere and showed me the way.‟

This is how insensitive we are in life! We keep taking everything for granted. If we sensitized
ourselves with gratitude, we would never take anything for granted — not our fingers, not our wealth,
and not the timely benevolence of Existence. When sensitivity happens, every moment passes in deep
awe of the happenings in Existence.

Revere the other with Gratitude

The first thing we need to understand is that no person has taken birth only to serve us. Every other
person is also on the path of life just as we are. As a kind gesture, out of love, they do things for us.

Especially between partners, a lot of things are taken for granted. Somehow, this idea has taken root
very deeply in our society. Because of this, many marriages fall apart today. I tell you, even during a
physical relationship there can be such deep gratitude for the other person’s body. It will make the
whole thing a divine experience instead of mere physical pleasure. When you can derive so much
pleasure because of the other, why not feel gratitude towards the other for it? If the other is deeply
respected from the beginning, many marriages can be saved.

A small story:
One man prayed to god, ‟Oh lord, please have mercy on me. I work so hard while my wife stays at
home. She enjoys staying at home while I slog the whole day. Please grant me a boon whereby I
become my wife and she becomes me. I want to teach her a lesson on how tough a man’s life is.

God granted his wish.

The next morning, the man who was now the woman, woke up early in the morning, packed lunch for
the children, made breakfast, got the children ready and drove them to school. She then came back
and put the clothes in the washing machine, went to the bank and cashed the checks, paid the
electricity and phone bills. Next she went to the market and bought some groceries, put the clothes out
to dry, picked up the children from school, sorted out all their problems, helped them with their
homework, watched television and ironed clothes at the same time. Then she prepared dinner, fed the
children, put them to sleep, had dinner and went to bed.

The next morning the man prayed to god again, ‟Oh lord, I don’t think I can handle this tomorrow. I
beg you to please switch me back to a man.

God replied, ‟Of course I will switch you back to yourself but you will have to wait nine months
because you are now carrying a child!‟

Each individual plays an equal part in life. No one should be taken for granted. There has to be some
gratitude for every person on planet earth. I always tell people that even if things don’t work out
between you and your wife and you have to part, part with gratitude.

The problem is that somewhere we feel people are waiting to hurt us. It is not so. It is only our own
insecurity which we project on others.

So many people feel ungrateful to their parents and society for conditioning them in certain ways.
Please understand that with the intelligence that you have now, you are able to see that you did not
receive the right kind of mental setup earlier. Those who gave us this body and mind did not have any
intention to deprive us or disturb us in any way. Whatever they knew as their best, they just gave to
us; that’s all. We are going beyond it now because we have become more intelligent. Just feel grateful
to them, that is enough.
One more thing: whenever you feel truly grateful to the people in your relationships, you will never
try to possess them. You will look at them as beautiful individuals and leave it at that. Possessiveness
happens only when you think of the other person as an object and not as an individual. With gratitude,
you will allow the person to have his or her own space.

Decide consciously that you will respond with pure love and gratitude for the next couple of days,
whatever the situation may be. Automatically you will start seeing each and every person as a unique
creation of Existence, as a reflection of the Divine.

Not only that, you will find tremendous compassion towards everything around you. If you were a
person who gets angry easily, you will find the anger disappearing. All the energy that was invested in
other negative emotions will get released with this growing gratitude. You will be a compassionate
and loving person.

Thank your body

A small story:
A middle aged woman suffered a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating
table, she had a near death experience. During the experience, she happened to see god. She asked
him if this was the end of her life.
God replied that she had another thirty or forty more years to live.
Once she recovered, she decided to stay in the hospital to undergo multiple surgeries such as a face
lift, jaw reconstruction, a nose job and removal of excess fat. She also colored her hair. She thought
that since she was going to live for thirty more years, she would start with a fresh look.
She finished the surgeries and was about to walk out of the hospital when she was run over by the
hospital ambulance and killed. She arrived before god and asked him, ‟God, I thought you told me I
had another thirty years to live.‟
God replied, ‟Sorry, but I didn’t recognize you”

Each human being is a unique masterpiece of god. That is why no two bodies look alike. God is not
an engineer. He is an artist. That is why each of us looks different. If he was an engineer, he would
have made us all with the same mold, like in a production line! He has uniquely created each one of
us. But we never feel that we are beautiful enough. We constantly compare ourselves with others and
try to look like them. We never make our body feel it is beautiful.

Our body is influenced by the thoughts we entertain about it. Every cell responds to our thoughts and
feelings about it. If we feel gratitude towards our body, our body responds by improving our health. If
we hate our body, the body responds by shrinking with disease. In the Sufi* tradition, body gratitude
is done as an everyday meditation itself where every part of the body is felt with love and thanked.

Everything is auspicious, just

celebrate it!
One thing has to be understood very clearly. The whole of Existence is an auspicious happening. You
are part of Existence, so everything happening around you is also auspicious. This is the truth of
Existence. Nothing that happens in Existence is inauspicious. Everything is only a blessing, for which
we have to feel grateful. If this is understood clearly, there is nothing to complain about in life. If this
is understood clearly, your very eye becomes a grateful eye. It sees everything as extraordinary.
Nothing appears mundane. Everything appears as a miracle.

A small story:
One day a duck hunter went to the market to buy a bird retriever dog. To his amazement he found a
dog that could walk on water! He immediately took it home.

He invited one of his friends to hunt the next day and took the dog. When a flock of ducks came near,
he took aim, fired and silently watched. The dog walked on the water and retrieved the bird. He
looked at his friend for a reaction but the friend remained silent.
He asked him, ‟Do you see anything unusual about my dog? ‟ The friend replied, ‟Yes, your dog is
unable to swim. ‟

Miracles are continuously happening in front of our eyes. But we continuously miss them! Only
because we miss them, life itself appears to be dull sometimes. When we start perceiving them, our
entire life becomes a miracle. The truth is, there are too many miracles happening around us in our
lives.

Just accept and celebrate Existence with all its different dimensions and paradoxes. Don’t judge
anything. You continuously judge what is going on. You feel something is right or something is
wrong, something should have happened this way or something should not have happened this way.
Become aware that whatever happens in Existence is auspicious. In the whole world there are only
two kinds of people. The first kind feels that whatever is happening in the world is auspicious. The
second kind feels everything is happening against their will and things have to be slightly altered all
the time. Such people will try to alter, judge, criticize and develop the things happening in the world
according to their ideas. These people continuously suffer because of trying to change things all the
time.

Understand: everything has a message for us including death and disease. Everything has something
to teach us. Every incident raises our intelligence, raises our frequency of consciousness.

You need to know one important thing: there is no qualitative or quantitative difference between you
and an enlightened being except that he feels contented in the outer and inner worlds while you don’t
feel that way. You feel something is missing all the time. Just like how Existence wants him to be
here on this planet, Existence wants you too to be here. You are not an accident here; you are an
incident. You are a miracle of Existence. This is the straightforward and simple truth. Don’t think this
is positive thinking. No. This is the plain truth. If you trust this truth, you will automatically become
positive, that’s all.

Understand that you are a fulfillment for Existence. If you are not here, Existence will miss you. All
your wealth, relations etc are not an accident. Existence wants you to have all these; it wants to live
through you, fulfill itself through you! Understand this.

A small story:
There was a certain village isolated and surrounded by acres of cornfields. The city was very far from
it, so it remained very quiet. One morning the villagers saw a sage whom they had never seen in the
village. He was seated under a banyan tree. They asked him where he came from. He told them, ‟I
have come to spend a few days with all of you whom I consider my own brothers.‟

The villagers were happy to hear this and built a small hut for him. Soon the sage started healing and
solving many problems of the villagers.
Once an epidemic struck the village and killed many birds there. The villagers reported this to the
sage. He said, ‟It is sad that you lost so many birds but if you have faith in Existence and pray, the
loss may actually be a matter of gain.‟

The villagers didn’t agree fully with him but since they respected him they went away.
The next week, suddenly, all the dogs in the village ran away. The villagers got upset again because
the dogs used to guard the village against burglars. They went to the sage and reported this to him.
He only repeated his message, ‟If you have faith in Existence and pray, even this loss may prove to be
again.‟

A few days later a very strange thing happened. In those days, there were no matchboxes. People
used to rub two stones together to make fire or keep a fire alive in their ovens continuously. One day,
all the fires in all o[the households went out. They tried to start a fire by rubbing stones but nothing
happened. They got very disturbed.
They went to the sage again and told him what was happening. The sage told them, ‟It looks like
some very special phenomenon is taking place. ‟

The villagers started doubting the sage. They started wondering in what way the sage was superior to
them and whether he was in any way qualified to tell them such things. Some of the villagers
proceeded to the next village to get some fire but the sage stopped them, sternly saying that they
should not go.

Early next morning some of the villagers started making their way to the next village anyway.
Suddenly they saw something like a sandstorm in the distance. After a few moments they could see it
was actually a large invading army on horseback. They were on their way plundering the city and the
villages surrounding it. The villagers hid behind trees and watched them. The army stopped ahead of
the village and one of them screamed, ‟Let us invade this village too!‟

Another person said, ‟No use will come out of it. There is no bird that chirps even so early in the
morning, no dog barks, no smoke comes out of the chimney of any house. It doesn’t look like a single
soul lives there.‟

The army turned back and went away. The hiding villagers ran back to the village and told the
villagers what had happened. They suddenly realized how true the sage was all along! They went to
the sage‟s hut to tell him everything but the hut was empty. The sage had left.

Nobody knew where he had gone. Existence is not an accident. It is independent intelligence. When
you understand that it is an independent intelligence, when you understand that it is a profound
mystery to be experienced and not solved, everything in your life will open itself and reveal to you the
lesson it has brought with it.

Some people ask me, ‟Swamiji, how do we express our deep gratitude to you?’ I tell them that the
only way to express their gratitude is to live enlightenment the way I have just described it to you.
That is the best you can do for me and that I can do for you. People ask me, ‘What service can we do
for the mission?’ I tell them, the greatest service one can do to the world is working for the flowering
of one’s own consciousness. Once this happens, automatically, you will serve where required, not out
of ego or to gain credit, but because you are celebrating and overflowing. Then it is not called service.
It is just an overflowing. That is the way service should happen not as a giving, but as a spontaneous
sharing.
Gratitude can burn your karmas

Sufism is completely a gratitude-based religion. If I have to reduce the whole of Sufism to one word,
it is gratitude. You can see it in all the poems of the great Sufi™ masters like Jalaluddin Rumi’ and
others. You can see the flowing energy of gratitude in their words. Gratitude makes you a nobody,
just flowing energy.

Gratitude is like a fire that can burn all your karmas. What is karma? It is an unfulfilled action on your
part that pulls you again and again to fulfill it. In order to fulfill and exhaust all such karmas‟ that we
have accumulated, we take birth again and again on this planet. Just by being with the energy of
gratitude, these karmas get burnt! Such is the power of gratitude.

Gratitude - the ultimate prayer and

religion
When your prayer becomes gratitude, you attract more benevolence to you. Gratitude is the ultimate
prayer that can bring us more than we can imagine. Real prayer is not reading prayer books, it is not
offering material things to god, it is not donating money to temples, it is deep and silent gratitude to
the whole of Existence for being what it is. It is the undaunted trust that Existence is taking care.

Many people think prayer and gratitude are bondage. No. They are the greatest liberators. They
liberate you from the bondage of discontentment. Prayer should be an overflowing of the gratitude
and fulfillment in you. Some people ask, ‘Why do we go to the temple and pray?’ Understand, prayer
is a celebration of the benevolence of Existence. When our prayer is this way, Existence responds.
When Existence responds, it comes to you as more benevolence in your life. This is the virtuous cycle
of prayer and blessing!
I always tell people a wonderful story of a Sufi saint. Sufism is a religion rooted in gratitude. It is
nothing but gratitude towards the whole of Existence.
One Sufi saint and his disciples were in their spiritual wandering. They went without food for three
days. On the fourth day they were even chased away by the villagers and so they slept in a graveyard
that night. The next morning, the saint as usual started to say his prayer of thanksgiving to god. His
disciples could not believe their eyes. They had gone without food and shelter for so many days and
their master was thanking god. They refused to follow suit.
The disciples asked the saint, ‟Why should we thank the lord when we were refused food and a place
to stay for three days?‟
The saint replied, ‟You have been fed and given a place to stay for thirty years. What about thanking
Him for that?‟
Prayer is gratitude for the continuous showering of Existence upon us.

Expectation is the culprit - let go!

Try to sit down and make two lists. Let one be of all the things that you have and one of all the things
that you don’t have. The first list should include every single thing that you have, starting from your
eyes, ears, hands and legs, because there are people who don’t have some of these. Include all your
physical and mental faculties before moving to material things. If you write very sincerely without
leaving out anything, you will not be able to complete the first list! That is the truth. If you find you
are unable to finish the first list, it means gratitude has started happening in you!

The problem is that there is a continuous expectation in us all the time. That is why gratitude doesn’t
happen easily. Working with expectation is like pouring clarified butter into the fire to quench it. Can
you quench fire by pouring clarified butter into it? Never! In the same way, you can never feel
fulfilled if your actions are rooted in expectation. You will only tire your senses.

You can live either in expectation or in gratitude, never in both. With expectation there is a desire to
possess things. You become the owner. With gratitude, you become the enjoyer. When you are the
owner you enjoy only the few things that you own. When you are the enjoyer, you enjoy everything
in Existence. When you look to own, nothing will seem enough. When you enjoy, everything seems
to be overflowing! That is the difference.

A small story:
In a village, the night guard was on his rounds blowing his whistle periodically.
He had an earthen pipe that he smoked. He filled it with tobacco and searched for a match box. He
didn’t have one.
He went to the nearby hut where an old lady lived and asked if she could give him some ember from
her oven. The old lady said her stove had not been lit for the past three days and that she herself was
managing with the little food they gave in the temple.
He tried in several places but it was of no use. He finally went to the village chief’s house and asked
the maids for fire to light his pipe.
One of the girls looked at him and asked, ‟Fire to light your pipe? Why not use the lantern you are
carrying? ‟
The guard couldn’t believe his eyes. He had been carrying a lantern all along while searching for a
matchbox!
When we believe that what we need is always only outside of us, we live in eternal expectation and
we will continue searching like the night guard! When we believe that Existence always gives us what
we need, we will find everything within us all the time.

Your very body language can change

with Gratitude
When we work with expectation all the time, we carry a subtle violence in our body language; not
deliberate violence, but inherent violence. If we become a little sensitive to our body language, we
will be able to catch this.

Watch yourself when you type on the computer, when you handle phone calls, how you place the
phone receiver back in its cradle, with what aggression you walk ... everything. You will see that
everything carries a subtle violence in it.
With gratitude, your entire body language changes. When you start experiencing deep gratitude, your
responses to situations change. You start resonating with Existence. Your body will flow with that
resonance, with a cool grace and softness. All your actions will arise Only joy will be flowing. Then
anything you out of this grace. There will be no violence. do will only make life sweeter.
You can Unclutch from the Mind Maze
We have thus far looked at the basic emotions that drive us. When these emotions are negatively
expressed, we destroy the energy within us and block ourselves from receiving energy from without.
If you have practised the techniques that have been given with each of the preceding chapters, you
would also have seen how you could overcome these negative energies and unblock yourself.

Let us now look at a few other issues, which if we understand well, can change the way we live.
These understandings can transform us.

Let us start with something very simple, something that we all take for granted. Let us look at the way
our mind really works.

The Ten-Minute Experiment

Try a very simple experiment for just ten minutes.

Take a sheet of paper and a pen. Sit down alone. Write down whatever thought comes to mind — as if
a transcribing software has been connected to your mind; transcribe exactly what you think. Do not
edit or suppress any thoughts. It is an experiment only for you. No one else is going to look at what
you have written. Just like how the transcribing software which is connected to a taped speech
transcribes everything, transcribe whatever is going on in your mind verbatim. At the end of ten
minutes, read what you wrote just once. You will be amazed! You can clearly see that there is no
logic in the way thoughts form in your mind!

For example, you see a dog on the street. Immediately you remember the dog you were afraid of
when you were young, or the one you used to play with when you were young. The next thought
could be about your childhood. The third may be about the teacher and the room you used to sit in at
school. The fourth may be about the house where your teacher used to live.

There is no logical connection between the dog that you recently saw on the street and the teacher
who taught you in school. However, in a few seconds you simply jumped from seeing the dog to your
childhood teacher.

You can see that your thoughts are just moving, drifting from one thing to another. We can’t even call
this ‘thinking’. It is just ‘association’, that’s all. You associate the dog with your childhood, your
childhood with the teacher, and so on.

Actually, if you do this exercise just once, the very understanding that it gives you will transform the
way you think about yourself, and how you treat yourself and others. Your whole life will be
transformed.

How does our mind work?

How do we create thoughts and how do we give meaning to them?
How do we experience life?

The Nature of the Mind

Let me give you a simple diagram to understand how thoughts flow in the mind and how you connect
them.
Each thought in your mind is shown here as a square or rectangle. Each is a different shape, size, and
color. Different thoughts are continuously flowing in you. One may be related to pain or a painful
experience. Another may be related to joy or a joyful experience. The next one may be related to joy,
but you think of it as pain. It is referred to as JP on the chart —joyful experience, painful impression.

Similarly you may have a thought that is related to a painful experience, but you think of it as joy. It is
referred to as PJ painful experience, joyful impression.

Generally, all your thoughts are related to something about the past or the future. You cannot have
thoughts about the present. In the present moment you can have only consciousness, no thoughts.
Thoughts are either related to some joyful experiences that you had in the past and want to have in the
future, or painful experiences that you had in the past and don’t want to have again.

Even at the time of some serious problem, you will suddenly have a positive thought. Even in the
peak of joy, you will have some unconnected negative thought. Each thought is completely
independent, completely unconnected to the previous thought. That is why you are able to have a
happy thought amidst sad thoughts and vice versa.

Understand that no two thoughts are logically connected. No thought is responsible for the creation of
another thought. They all appear randomly, independently, and illogically.
How do you ‘unclutch’ from this random stream of thoughts? We will be using the word ‘unclutch’
again and again. Let’s clearly define what is meant by ‘unclutch’. When we change gears while
driving a car, whether we change from first to second, or second to third, or any gear for that matter,
we have to pass through neutral every time. We have to completely depress the clutch, or ‘unclutch’,
move through neutral, and only then we can go to the next gear, right? In the same way, we
experience a neutral space between any two thoughts in our mind. That neutral space, that silence that
exists between two thoughts, is peace and bliss. When we no longer grab onto thoughts and connect
them to the past or future, we remain ‘unclutched.’As we remain ‘unclutched’ from our thoughts we
become more aware of the neutral spaces between thoughts. The gap between the thoughts will
automatically extend when we remain ‘unclutched’ from the stream of thoughts. We will dwell in the
neutral space longer and experience more and more peace and bliss.

Awareness
The Ultimate Key

When you suddenly become aware, any thought that flows in front of you becomes your life for that
moment. You start giving attention to it, either to fulfill it or to escape from it. It is like slides on a
projector. Any slide that is kept in front of the projector light is seen as reality on the screen. The
problem is that in your inner space, the projector light is not continuously on. When I say projector
light, I mean your awareness. It just comes and goes, comes and goes — you are not fully,
continuously aware.

Many times, even though your eyes are open and your body is moving, you are not aware of your
existence. An example from everyday life is like when you get into your car and drive for half an hour
to the office. It is only after you reach the office, park the car, and get out, do you suddenly realize,
‘Oh, I have reached the office!’ It means that in those moments of driving, the projector light was off
most of the time.

Any slide that is placed in front of the projector during moments that the projector light, your
awareness, is off is not part of your life. You don’t remember it at all. When the light comes on again,
when your awareness comes back again, whatever thought you have at that time becomes a part of
you. Understand that this is a very subtle truth. Your life is the totality of all the thoughts you have
when you are aware and unaware.

Unfortunately, many times there are thoughts, many major decisions, and life- changing incidents that
happen when you are not aware. These are also part of your life, part of your biography.
Unfortunately, you are not aware of these scenes, decisions, or thoughts when they come up. Without
your knowledge they have contributed significantly to your life.

Be very clear, every moment that passes in your life without you being aware of it, without your
presence, is suffering. You will either directly or indirectly create situations for suffering. Just like
when the turn indicator light in your car blinks, your consciousness blinks also. But, because of your
lack of awareness, you do not know when it is on you. You do not remember your biography as it
happened. You remember it only as you want it. Just take a simple example. Your life is filled with
different kinds of incidents relating to joy, suffering, guilt, pain, and depression. and when it IS off.

I read a joke the other day:

One man got into his car and started the engine. He flipped on the turn indicator and asked his son to
see if the light blinked in the rear of the car.
His son shouted back, ‟Yes, it‟s on...no, it‟s not on...yes it‟s on...no it‟s off...now it‟s on!‟

If you just see the thought flow in front of you, suddenly you will realize, ‘Oh god, all these things are
actually going on in me! I don’t have a clue where I am heading. I don’t know what is happening in
me!’

You are not aware, but constantly you believe you are aware. That is the first illusion.
If you become aware continuously, you open up to reality for the first time. It might be a bit intense
initially, because until now, you have spent most of your time in unawareness. Ultimately, it will lead
you to experience only joy and bliss.

You Are Not Aware of Your True Past

This is the first truth — you are not aware of all the things that are happening in front of You don’t
look at life as it is. What do you usually do? You collect only the incidents related to suffering and
create a shaft, connecting only these ideas, and you think your life is nothing but suffering. You think
that your life is a long chain of suffering, a pain shaft.
Very rarely, you create a joy shaft. It is very rare that you collect joyful incidents, create a joy shaft,
and feel life is joy. It is rare not only in the number of joyful shafts, but also in the quality of them.
Most of the time you collect all the painful memories and incidents, and create the idea that life is
only pain. The moment you believe life is continuous painful occurrences, unconsciously you try to
strengthen that belief, even though consciously you try to break the pain shaft. Please understand,
your belief that life is a pain shaft or a joy shaft will stay only as long as you are unconscious, not
when you are aware.

Relationship Between Awareness

and the Thoughts in Your Inner
Space
If you normally enjoy lustful thoughts, then whenever lustful thoughts cross your system, you come to
the awareness, ‘I exist’. If you normally enjoy violent thoughts, whenever violent thoughts come into
your system, you come to life and know that you exist. This is what I call a vicious circle: you
powering negativity and negativity bringing you back to life; you empowering more negativity, and
more negativity bringing to life perceived excitement.

The Shaft That Does Not Exist

The Pain Shaft Invites Painful

Incidents to Your Life
There is a very beautiful analogy by Ramana Maharishi, an enlightened master from India. A dog will
chew a dry bone. As it chews, fragments of the bone will poke into its mouth making it bleed. The
dog thinks the blood is coming from the bone and it enjoys the blood. It continues to chew on the
bone for the pleasure of the blood! It doesn’t realize that the blood is coming from its own mouth and
not at all from the bone.
If violence excites you, you wait for that kind of incident in your life. If pain excites you, if you
believe life is a pain shaft, you wait for that kind of incident in your life in order to strengthen and
reinforce your belief. That is the general human psychology. Although people claim they want to
break the violence shaft or pain shaft, they secretly nurture it.

Shaft of Pain

Let me provide a deeper understanding. The pain that you had ten years ago, the pain that you had
nine years ago, the pain that you experienced seven years ago, the pain that you experienced three
years ago, and the pain that you experienced yesterday are all unconnected, independent, individual
incidents. But you start connecting all of them and create a shaft of pain. You connect all these
thought shafts and create one big shaft. You start thinking and believing, ‘My life is pain.’ Is that
true? No! What happened to all the sweet incidents of joy that you experienced in between? Surely,
there must have been at least a few moments of joy in between? They are simply forgotten. They are
never picked to form a shaft. So the shaft, any shaft, is never true, because it focuses on only a
fragment of your complete biography.

First, you start archiving the painful memories for utility purpose. You archive all your pains,
probably for medical history sake or to tell your doctor. By and by, you start believing that all these
pains that happened in your life are connected. You decide that your life is pain; your life is suffering.
The moment you come to the decision that your life is pain or your life is suffering, you create hell for
yourself.

For example, until yesterday you were only walking, you were not able to fly. You know in your past
you never flew, you only walked. Can you believe you can start flying from tomorrow onwards? You
can’t. You know tomorrow you will still only be walking. You rely solely on your remembered past
experiences to predict your future, eliminating many new possibilities.
 Shaft of Joy
The joy that you experienced ten years ago, the joy that you experienced nine years ago, the joy that
you experienced three years ago, and the joy that you experienced one year ago are all independent,
individual, unconnected thought shafts. At the present time, you connect all of those thoughts and
create a big shaft of joy.

You may identify your joy with an object, a person, or a space, like a particular vacation resort. Now
you will try again and again to bring that back in your life, to bring that person, that object, that space,
or that same incident back in your life. Try as you might, you will not be able to experience the same
joy again. This puts you in further pain!

Pain Shaft or Joy Shaft — Both Lead to Suffering

In life, we constantly create either shafts of pain or joy. Once you create a shaft of pain, you try to
break it. If you create the shaft of joy, you try to elongate it! But you don’t understand that you can
neither elongate the joy shaft nor break the pain shaft - simply because the shaft itself doesn’t exist. It
is just selective memory. The very shaft is your imagination.

Thoughts are like Bubbles in a

Fish Tank
There is no linear connection between one thought that we have and another thought that we have.
The only relationship between thoughts is that they come from the same source. But we constantly
connect one thought and the next thought in a linear manner.
Just as bubbles in a fish tank rise from the bottom, our thoughts also rise in the same manner. When
one bubble comes and reaches the surface of the water, the next bubble starts and then the third
bubble starts. Because the bubbles are rising at a high speed, they look like a continuous stream!
Actually there is always a gap between two bubbles.
Like the bubbles, we also experience a neutral space between two thoughts. Since the gap or the
neutral space between two thoughts is so small, we think all thoughts are connected and form a shaft.
But there is always a gap between two thoughts. But we constantly connect one thought and the next
thought in a linear manner.

Just as bubbles in a fish tank rise from the bottom, our thoughts also rise in the same manner. When
one bubble comes and reaches the surface of the water, the next bubble starts and then the third
bubble starts. Because the bubbles are rising at a high speed, they look like a continuous stream!
Actually there is always a gap between two bubbles.
Like the bubbles, we also experience a neutral space between two thoughts. Since the gap or the
neutral space between two thoughts is so small, we think all thoughts are connected and form a shaft.
But there is always a gap between two thoughts.
Let me tell you about an incident that happened:

A middle aged man came to me and said, ‟I am going to divorce my wife. Please bless me!‟One
gentleman around forty five years of age came up to me and said, ‟Swamiji, I am going to divorce my
wife, please bless me.‟ I told him, ‟I only bless people for marriages. Why do you want me to bless
you for a divorce? ‟ He replied, ‟No, you have to bless me, because I have suffered so much. ‟ I told
him, ‟I on1y bless individuals for marriages. What made you come and ask me to bless you for a
divorce? ‟ He replied, ‟No, no, Swamiji, you have to bless me, because I have suffered too much. ‟ I
said, ‟Suffering is always give-and-take. It is never just taking. You must have given your wife enough
suffering too. So, please tell me the truth about what happened and then we will analyze the situation.
‟

He replied, ‟How do I decide which incidents to tell you, and which ones to leave out? There are so
many of them! From day one she has been torturing me. You don’t know how much torture I have
gone through!‟ Then he narrated an incident from the day of his marriage!

In Indian villages, when a wedding takes place, the newly married couple plays games after the
marriage ceremony. For one of the games, a ring is dropped inside a pot filled with water. The
husband and wife put their hands inside and compete to pick up the ring.
Whoever grabs it first wins. These sma1l games were created mainly to reduce the unfamiliarity
between the couple because in arranged marriages the bride and groom first meet during the wedding
ceremony.

They have small games to reduce the distance between the couple because they are new to each other.
This man said, ‟During that game, she scratched my hand. With her nails, she scratched my hand! ‟
And he started a big story about everything that she had done to him since that day! For all practical
purposes, he had kept a file, like a police report from the first day of his marriage.

After two or three incidents, I told him, ‟Please stop! If this is the case, she should be happier than
you to part ways. It is very difficult to live with someone who keeps such large and detailed files in his
head! ‟ Any time she does something, this man will always be looking through the files.

Then he told me the immediate reason for the divorce. He said, ‟She spilled some coffee on my
clothes! ‟ I told him, ‟Spilling coffee on your clothes cannot be a reason for a divorce! ‟
He said, ‟No, you don’t know. Today she poured coffee, ‟ tomorrow she will pour acid! ‟ He really
said this. I did not understand the connection. I asked him how he could possibly connect coffee and
acid. Again he said, ‟No, no Swamiji, you don’t know.”
He may seem extreme and you may laugh when you hear this. But just look intensely at your own
life. You are doing the same thing - constantly creating illogical connections. You forget to see
incidents as being independent of each other. You forget to see thoughts as independent.

If you just learn this one simple technique of unclutching, you will be able to retain a significant
amount of energy in your system, in your being. As a result, you will be many times more productive
and creative. Your relationships will be much friendlier because you will not clutch incidents that are
not related. You will not feel suffocated by people or their expectations of you. You will have
tremendous inner space available to you to fulfill your needs, as well as others’ needs. You will also
have tremendous compassion to know why others are suffering. It is only when you don’t understand
why the other person is suffering that you are harsh with them. When you unclutch, you are able to
accommodate that person in your inner space. You are automatically compassionate. Your very life
has a different quality and you become a different person in the world.

It is Never the ‘Same’

Every single happening in our lives is unconnected, even our everyday activities like eating and
drinking. Each and every experience is independent by its own right. Drinking water yesterday and
drinking water today are two completely different incidents.
The food that you ate yesterday and the food that you eat today are different, even if they seem
physically the same! But your mind creates the shaft between these two incidents and says, ‘I eat the
same food every day.’ Please be very clear, you don’t eat the same food every day. You may use the
same word ‘eating’ for both the experiences, but they are not the same experience. Do not be cheated
by the words that you use.
Yesterday’s eating, today’s eating, and tomorrow’s eating are separate incidents, separate
experiences. They are completely independent and unattached.

A beautiful incident from the life of an enlightened master from central India:
During the last ten years of his life, the doctors asked the master to eat a particular kind 0 ff ood. He
was not allowed to eat anything else. He had to eat the same kind of food three times a day, everyday.

After two years the person who cooked for him came and complained, ‟Master I am bored with
cooking the same food. How are you able to eat the same? The master just laughed and said, ‟I am
not eating the same food every day. How can I eat the same food every day? I can only eat this food
today. Tomorrow’s food is totally different!‟
Life is new every moment. It is the mind that makes it look repetitive, dull and mundane.

Just Let Go...And You Can Fly!

You may think, ‘How can a bird be trapped with a small stick? How is it possible?’
I saw this in my days of spiritual wandering. In the forests of Northern India the hunters use a trap to
catch birds. They tie a rope between two trees. In the middle of the rope, they secure a wooden stick.
The rope is tied at the midpoint of the stick. This is actually a hunter’s trap for birds.
You may think, ‘How can a bird be trapped with a small stick? How is it possible?’ Actually, all
they do is just hang the stick between two trees using a rope, that’s all. When a bird comes and sits on
the stick, the bird’s own weight turns the whole stick upside down; it turns topsy-turvy. The bird is
now hanging upside down, clinging to the stick.
The moment it turns upside down and loses its sense of balance it feels totally shaken and tightens its
grip on the stick. It simply holds onto the stick as if its life depends on it. Because it is hanging upside
down, it thinks, ‘If l unclutch from this stick, what will happen? I will fall and die.’
There is no record that any bird has ever fallen and broken its head! But the bird does not have the
intelligence to realize this. It keeps hanging on. By not letting go, not only does it lose lts freedom, it
loses its life too, because ultimately the hunter traps it.
Just like the bird, you don’t realize that if you just drop your mind, at that moment you can become a
paramahamsa“. That very moment you can be liberated. You can simply start flying.
The same fear that the bird clinging to the stick had, you have now. Your fear and the bird’s fear are
one and the same. The bird believes that it can’t let go; if it does it will die. Similarly, you hold on to
your mind and feel, ‘I can’t let go. If I start trusting that I am unconnected, unclutched, independent
and illogical thoughts, I might be lost.’
The hunter comes leisurely, after four or five hours, takes the bird, puts it in the cage, and leaves.
Now the bird neither has the freedom to fly nor the stick to balance. The foolish bird doesn’t know
that if it had just let go of the stick, it could have simply flown away!
In the same way, you hold on to whatever you think is your identity and security — your education,
your mind, your life, your relationships, or your bank balance. Yama, the god of death, ultimately
comes to remove the stick — that is your identity. Then you are neither a Paramahamsa', a liberated
soul, nor are you able to hold on to your identity. You will neither have the freedom, nor will you
have the stick of your identity that you are clutching, because the stick itself is an illusion.
Let me tell you, if the bird lets go and relaxes, it may flutter to balance for a moment or two. It may
take one or two moments to balance itself, but it will never fall and die. When it leaves the stick,
maybe for a few seconds it will fall, but then it will adjust itself and start flying.
Be very clear, let go and you will never fall and die. You will only become a Paramahamsa!
This moment, trust yourself. Don’t bother about losing your identity. Just trust yourself and let go of
your identity. You will immediately become a Paramahamsa and be liberated. All you need to do is
trust that you are unclutched - even if you don’t trust that it is still the truth!

Safety Net of the Sangha

When you unclutch, there will be some revolutionary changes in your life, in your day- to-day
thinking, your decision-making, and your daily routine - your lifestyle. Courageously going through
that revolution, going through the transformation that happens in you, is what I call tapas - penance.
On rare occasions during my wanderings, I have seen a bird hanging on the stick. Another bird that
was once stuck in the trap, but had the courage to let go and open up, comes back. It pokes the
hanging bird and says, ‘Hey, let go! Relax! I was like you. I had the same problem. When I relaxed I
just started flying. All it takes is just two or three seconds to balance. When I opened up, I never fell
and broke my head or died. I only became liberated. I only became a free bird. Come on...’ But the
hanging bird will not believe it.

Safety Net of the Sangha

When you unclutch, there will be some revolutionary changes in your life, in your day- to-day
thinking, your decision-making, and your daily routine - your lifestyle. Courageously going through
that revolution, going through the transformation that happens in you, is what I call tapas - penance.
On rare occasions during my wanderings, I have seen a bird hanging on the stick. Another bird that
was once stuck in the trap, but had the courage to let go and open up, comes back. It pokes the
hanging bird and says, ‘Hey, let go! Relax! I was like you. I had the same problem. When I relaxed I
just started flying. All it takes is just two or three seconds to balance. When I opened up, I never fell
and broke my head or died. I only became liberated. I only became a free bird. Come on...’ But the
hanging bird will not believe it. Understand that the responsibility of the free bird is to go about
freeing other birds. It is the responsibility of the free bird to go and poke the bird trapped on the stick
and say, ‘Free yourself.’ I am that free bird and I have created a safety net. Even if you fall, you won’t
hurt yourself. Relax! Let go, you will only fly! See, the sangha, the community of the master, is the
net. Even if you fall, you will not hurt yourself.
First of all, you will not fall. But just to give you the deeper assurance, the sangha, the spiritual
community, is created. So, I invite all of you to come and experience the sangha.
Understand that it’s a free bird’s responsibility to liberate all the trapped birds, to help them, to inspire
them to free themselves.

The Story of the Monkey

Similar to the bird trap, hunters also have a trap to catch monkeys. They catch monkeys using a small
box for a trap. They place some sweets inside a box that has a small opening. The monkey puts its
hand inside the box and grabs the sweet. As long as the monkey holds onto the sweet, it will not be
able to take its hand out because its fist is larger than the hole!

If the monkey lets go of the sweet, it can remove or slide its hand out immediately. But the monkey is
not intelligent enough to realize that. It holds onto the sweet - and just because it is holding on, it is
not able to take its hand out. If it just lets go of the sweet, it can take its hand out and be free. If you
allow the understanding of this story to happen in you, you will instantly unclutch from your shafts
and be free this very moment.

Living Intensely in the Present

By Your Very Nature You Renounce Every Moment

Fortunately, by your very nature, you can have only one thought at a time. The moment a new thought
comes inside your system, it means that the old thought has lost its power or influence over you. If the
new thought has entered you, it means the old thought has been renounced because you can’t have
two thoughts at a time. You can have only one thought at a time. If you say that the old thought is also
there, it only means that for that moment, the new thought has been renounced!

There is a beautiful story by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa‘:

A king who was inside a huge fort, was once attacked by an army that was two million strong. The
king only had two or three people around him and got very frightened. He told his advisor ‟Two
million people, and I am all alone. They will kill me!‟
The royal advisor said, ‟Don’t worry, King. Open only one door. Surely through one door only one
person can come in at a time. As they come in, stand on this side of the door and kill them one by one.
Over! Do not try to fight with the whole crowd‟
If you think all your enemies are gathered together, you will start having unnecessary fears. You
cannot have two thoughts at a time. You can only have one thought at a time. This means that every
thought is replaced by the next thought.
I’ll repeat: the first thing is that you can have only one thought at a time.
The second thing is that unless the old thought is pushed out, the second thought cannot come.
The third thing is that if somebody can push me out and sit here, he is surely more powerful than me!
Any thought that comes in and pushes the old thought out is more powerful than the old thought. This
means that any thought that is coming now is rooted in the present moment. It has more power than
the thought that is

being renounced, whatever that thought may be about. By your very nature you are renouncing.
You don’t need to learn renunciation. Every moment you are renouncing. What do I mean by the
word ‘renouncing’ here? I mean that at every moment you are letting go of one thought after another.
Only then is it possible to allow new thoughts to keep entering your system. Every moment your inner
space is getting cleared of the old thought.
Thoughts are constantly getting renounced by themselves. The only issue is that when you create the
belief your thoughts are connected, you have the problem of linked suffering, the shaft. Your belief
that you have some problem is your only problem.
Every moment your inner space is purified by the new incoming thoughts. If you allow this process to
continue, it will happen by itself and clean itself also. There is no need for you to clean your mind. All
you need to do is just get out - just get out of the system so that the system can proceed on its own.
One important truth you should know is that even if you want, even if you try consciously, you cannot
possess or hold onto your suffering for long.
Even if you try to hold it, you cannot hold your suffering because continuously, your thought that
creates suffering is also replaced by newer thoughts! In fact, to hold onto suffering will require a lot
of effort on your part because thoughts are continuously flowing.
Allow Your Thoughts to Be
Replaced
Be very clear, your power to bring on a new thought itself proves you have the power to drop the old
thought. The problem is, instead of just watching the new thoughts flowing through you, you try to
bring back old thoughts into your system. It is like picking up your trashed emails and bringing them
back to the inbox. Is there any need to bring back trashed emails? No! If you constantly look to bring
back the old thoughts, you will create only suffering.

Understand that if you nurture the fact that any suffering can be replaced by a stream of fresh
thoughts then that becomes reality for you. And there is no suffering. If you are nurturing the thought,
‘No, however much I allow replacing, the suffering comes back, you will make that into reality. If
you mother the thought that the suffering is going to come back, it will come back. If you mother the
thought that it is going to go away, it will go away.

All you need to understand is that if even once you can replace a thought in your inner space without
returning to the previous thought, you will get the confidence, ‘I have replaced it once. I can do it
again.’ Then you can tell yourself, ‘If the old thought comes back ten times, let me replace it ten
times!’ that’s all. Soon you will see the old thought will stop coming back.
There is a very beautiful incident in Buddha’s life:
Buddha says, ‟Whenever I said in meditation, ‟I am going to get up after a few hours‟, I never
became enlightened. Once I decided, ‟If I am not going to become in this very place. Until I become
enlightened, I am not going to get up from this seat. I am not going to move.‟ Buddha says that the
moment he created that strong clarity, the authentic sankalpa„ - vow, the next second, he became
enlightened!

When you sit down to replace your suffering and think, ‘Today I will replace it ten times. If it comes
back the eleventh time, I can try again tomorrow, then nothing will happen. No transformation will
take place for you. Decide very clearly, ‘Until it stops coming, I am going to replace the negative
thoughts.’ That is what I call courage. When you sit down to replace your suffering and think, ‘Today
I will replace it ten times. If it comes back the eleventh time, I can try again tomorrow, then nothing
will happen. No transformation will take place for you. Decide very clearly, ‘Until it stops coming, I
am going to replace the negative thoughts.’ That is what I call courage.

Solutions for Physical, Mental and

Emotional Problems
When we unclutch, the first thing that will happen to us will be an inner healing effect - a deep silence
and peace in us.

Second, that inner healing will start radiating as physical wellbeing, which is our health.

Third, naturally it will start radiating in our relationships also.

Fourth, because these three are going beautifully, we will be creative and productive!

Solution for Chronic Ailments

People come and tell me, ‟Swamiyi, for the last twenty years I have had knee pain.’ No, it cannot be!
Please understand that in reality it cannot be. I am not disrespecting you or adding more suffering to
you by saying all your problems are only in your head. I am just telling the truth: all your problems
are in your head! I am just stating the truth.

The knee pain you experienced two years ago, the knee pain you experienced one year ago, the knee
pain you experienced two months ago, and the knee pain you experienced two hours ago are
independent experiences. Only because you connect all of them, you conclude that you have been
having knee pain for twenty years. Is it really true that you have knee pain continuously for twenty
years? What happens to the moments of‘no knee pain’ in between? The important thing you need to
understand is that because you connect and see all these as one continuous incident, you block the
possibility of self-healing.

Solution for Depression

The depression that happened one month ago, the depression that happened one year ago, and the
depression that happened three years ago are independent, individual, unconnected, and unclutched.
The problem is the same as with physical pain. You start connecting them and concluding that you are
having the same depression continuously. You create an idea that your life is depression. Then you
start fighting with it. That only gives more life to the depressive thoughts.

When you strongly believe that your last ten years have been filled with suffering and depression, ou
create a strong mental setup surrounding 1t. Naturally you start thinking that your future is also going
to be painful and filled with depression.

Suppose there is a person sitting in front of you who you think is an enemy. Suddenly if you notice
that his head is separate, his legs are separate and his hands are separate, would you even feel like
fighting with him? No! He is not even worth fighting! He doesn’t even have a solid existence, as you
imagined him to have. So what is there to fight?

In the same way, only when you imagine you have a huge problem in front of you, that a big person is
in front of you, you start fighting and getting into more trouble. Your depression is not the huge
enemy that you think it is. It is just like the person with disjointed body parts. It is you who joined the
parts and gave it life. Your fighting with depression is the root cause of your depression.
In Ramayana‟ there is a beautiful story. Whoever stands in front of the monkey king

Vali‟ and fights with him, loses half of his power to him. In the same way, whoever stands in front of
the thought shaft and starts fighting with that shaft, half of their power will go away to that shaft.

The moment you unclutch from the shaft, you experience the neutral space, and inner healing starts.
The moment inner healing starts, physically also you are healed.
Do not try to renounce your depression, because by your very nature it is getting renounced, flowing
away from you. By your very nature just as joy disappears from your mind, depression also
disappears from your mind. The moment you try to eliminate the depression, you will extend it and
give it more life.

See, if you have a deep depression, will you stop going to the office? No! You may carry the
depression in your mind but your body moves. You work. You may not be that productive or
efficient. But your body still moves. Instead of ‘living depression’, I am saying, ‘live unclutched’.

When we live in depression, we don’t have all these questions, ‘If I am depressed, how can my body
move?’ We don’t have such questions. The depression becomes part of our life. In the beginning you
may have questions, ‘How can I live unclutched? How will I even move my body?’ Understand that
the constant remembrance of unclutching does not interfere with your mind or body movements. It
only removes the depression because it lets the depression thoughts rise and fall without clutching to
them.

Solution for Addiction

What is addiction? It is a behavior or action that if you don’t do it, you will feel terrible that you are
missing something. But, if you do it you won’t feel any joy, it will only be mechanical. Addiction
means believing that joy or ecstasy happens due to some object, person, or situation.

Understand that this is the definition of addiction: trying to elongate the joy shaft by recreating it. You
bring the same persons, situations, incidents, or happenings into your life again and again, knowing
that the same joy is not going to happen. Some people are addicted to partying, some to smoking, and
some to drinking — there are so many addictions.

Remember that anything you bring to your life again and again will not give you the same excitement
as it gave you the first time. It can only lead to addiction, not happiness. The first time you enjoy a
sweet, it is a wonderful experience. The excitement is totally different. But if you keep eating more of
the same sweet, the same experience is not there anymore. Eventually if you eat enough sweets you
will not even like the sight of them. You Will look at them and say, Oh no, not more sweets. They
make me feel terrible.’ In the same way, when meeting a person for the first time, the excitement is
totally different. Later on, the excitement falls off.

People come and ask me, ‘How can I break my habits?’ See, habit is a beautiful word. If you remove
‘h’, ‘a bit’ will remain. If you remove ‘b’, ‘it’ will remain. Only when you remove the ‘I’, the shaft
‘it’ will die. Only when you remove ‘I’, only when you throw ‘I’ away, will it completely die.
Be very clear, your smoking two days ago, ten years ago, and twenty years ago - all these three
incidents are completely independent. They are not connected. Mentally, when you start connecting,
when you start believing that you have the habit of smoking and that you are addicted to it, the belief
creates a shaft. Then you start fighting with it. That is what I mean when I say the ‘I’ has to be
dropped. It is your belief that makes it a habit. If you drop the belief, the habit drops.

If you believe it is a joyful experience, you continue to smoke more and more. If you believe it is a
painful experience you start fighting with the shaft. Either way you don’t win. Even if you believe
that smoking is joyful, try to smoke without restraint and see for yourself how you feel. When you
smoke and inhale, it can never be a pleasurable experience. It is never really joyful.

When you smoke, in that moment, just see what is happening in your inner space. You
are not enjoying anything. You are just trying to escape from something. You merely believe that
smoking is joyful. Even if you don’t feel joyful when you are smoking, you try to squeeze joy out of
it.

If you deeply scan your life and see, you will understand that whether it is smoking, or sex, or money,
or any other pleasure, even if you don’t feel the same joy as you felt the first time, you try to squeeze
joy out of it. You try to console yourself, ‘No, this is joy. What else is joy?’ You try to cover the
frustration by believing it is joy. You want to believe it is joy.

Try your best to drop some addiction. You can never be successful. Even if you drop it you may be
dropping it out of some fear or greed, which is a much bigger addiction. If you drop smoking out of
some fear or greed, you are not doing anything good to your consciousness, to your inner space. You
are only damaging yourself more.

You might have dropped smoking, but the fear or greed that made you drop it will be added to your
inner space. At least with smoking, you will destroy only this body. With fear or greed you will
destroy your whole being, life after life! In the next body, you will carry over the fear and greed. The
smoking habit may not carry over to the next body but the emotions of fear and greed will be carried
with you to the next body. So the best way is to drop the idea that you have an addiction, and it will
drop.

Unclutch - Work Smart, Not Hard

The moment you hear you are unclutched, the first fear that arises in you is, ‘If I start living without
connecting my thoughts, who will pay my bills? I could lose all my wealth. I could forget where I
keep all my money. I may not be able to live successfully in society. How will I do my job? How will
I take care of my things? Won’t I not just lie down in my bed without doing anything? Why would I
want to go to my office?’
I ask, ‘Why wouldn’t you go to your office?’ The moment you ask that, it means that you inherently
have a little hatred or a little vengeance against your office work! This is why the moment you find
some excuse you want to escape from your work. By asking this question, you are only expressing
your anger, your violence against your routine, nothing else! The question has nothing to do with
unclutching.

If you have such questions, just unclutch and sleep for ten days. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Have a vacation for ten days. Decide, ‘I am going to unclutch from both the identities.’ How many
days do you think you can sleep? How many days do you think the cessation of activity can continue
in you? Only until the tamas„ energy in you is exhausted. After that you will automatically start
doing something. So, even if you feel it is a lack of responsibility or defeatist behavior, be unclutched
for a few days. You will then understand and experience that when you are unclutched you will not
have a lazy or passive attitude. Mentally you will be silent, but physically you will be active and alive.
When you are in that space of irresponsibility or defeatist attitude, mentally you are very active but
physically you are tired. When you are unclutched, physically you are active and alive, but mentally
you are silent.

You see, 33% of the body is sattva‟, pure silence. 33% of the body is rajas', restlessness and 33% of
the body is iaraS‟, deep sleep, laziness. Right now the first fear that happens in you is if you
unclutch, you may become tamasic, a lazy person.

Unclutch. That 33% of your laziness will quickly be exhausted. It will disappear from your system
within a few days. Then you will automatically start working from your innate intelligence. You don’t
have to be driven by fear and greed to live your day-to-day life.
I am not saying you should stop thinking completely. I am only saying, when you are unclutched,
whatever thoughts have to happen will happen automatically. Initially when you are unclutched you
will feel as if no thoughts are happening. Later you will understand, even after unclutching, whenever
thinking is necessary, the mind is clutched. Whenever thinking is not necessary, the mind is
unclutched. Your mind is being used as an instrument, not as a master.

We can live purely from inspiration. But the problem is, we are never given that confidence. We are
never given the courage that we can live simply by inspiration. Sometimes you can see that for no
reason you radiate excitement; for no reason you radiate intelligence. That is what I call inspiration. It
may last only for a few moments, but you need to realize that those few moments can become a way
of life for you. If we remain unclutched, then continuous inspiration will happen in our lives.
Unclutching directly kindles the energy of the being. This energy is the energy of inspiration, the
energy of unclutching.

Are ‘You’ Needed to Run Your Life?

Understand one important thing, we have an automatic intelligence that can run our lives, that can
take care of our day-to-day responsibilities. Not only can it run our lives, it can maintain, extend, and
expand our lives as well.

But society conditions you from a young age. You are taught that you cannot run without planning,
without fear or greed. Your self- respect is taken away from you. You are made to lose trust that you
can lead your life spontaneously, without fear or greed. That is why constantly you try to infuse greed
or fear into yourself. You try to use fear and greed as fuel to make your life run, to make your life
alive.

Be very clear, you cannot run your life based on fear and greed. If you are driven by fear and greed,
you will carry a constant irritation in you. From morning until night, from the moment you wake up
until the moment you go to sleep, you will carry a constant irritation in you. You just wait for a reason
to explode. Just one small touch is enough, and you are ready to jump on the other person. He does
not even need to make any mistake; just coming in front of you is enough to trigger you! This
happens because of the strain of running your life through fear and greed.

If you just relax, the automatic intelligence of Existence will run your life beautifully for you. Your
actions will be automatically propelled by the energy of Existence.

Technique — ‘I am not the Doer’

Ashtavakra says, You who have been bitten by the great black serpent of egoism ‘I am the doer’
Drink the nectar of the faith, ‘I am not the doer’ and be happy.

Ashtavakra’ gives this technique to the king and seeker, Janaka. Please understand that simply
thinking that ‘I am not the doer’ or having faith that ‘I am not the doer’ will not liberate you directly.
This technique by itself will not liberate you. It will just make you tired! You are not able to
remember that you are not the doer continuously without a break. The moment you understand that
you are not able to remember ‘I am not the doer’ all the time, you will be completely frustrated and
you will just drop the mind. The moment you drop the mind, the truth that you are not the doer will
simply become reality! That is the technique suggested here.
Unclutching: A Self-Purifying and
Evolutionary Technique
This is a very simple understanding of unclutching. All you need to do is remember to unclutch
whenever you start giving meaning to old thoughts or whenever you connect with old thoughts and
allow them to bother you.

Do not create, maintain or destroy any thought. If you don’t do any of these three things, you are the
Supreme Self, Parabrahma„! Unclutching is like a self-purifying method.
For any technique to be self-purifying and become subtle, by itself. Unclutching is one such
technique.

The technique that does not become subtle by itself stays in the gross level. If it is not able to kill
itself, if the technique is not able to commit suicide, it will kill you! The beauty with the technique of
unclutching is that it will become subtler and subtler by itself as you become subtler. Finally, it will
dissolve.

Meditation Techniques
Unclutching — Anytime Anywhere

When you sit, naturally some thoughts will come. The moment you see a thought coming, do not give
meaning to it. You give it meaning only if you connect it with your past. Without giving meaning to it
just remember to unclutch and see what happens. The moment you remember, ‘Let me unclutch from
this thought; let me not give meaning to it, for a few seconds there will be a small silent gap. The
moment you are aware that there is a silence, it will become one more thought. Then unclutch from
that thought also. Then, again there will be a gap of a few seconds. Then, one more thought will
come, ‘I am in silence or ‘I am unclutching’. Unclutch from that thought also. Just the gap or the
silence should become longer and longer. That is the whole idea.

Naturally it is the nature of the mind to wander somewhere after a few minutes. The moment you
remember or become aware that the mind has wandered, unclutch. There is no need to have guilt or
be agitated that the mind has wandered. The moment you remember, unclutch, that’s all.
The Karmic Cycle Can Be Broken
If we are able to truly manage our mind with the understanding that it is our mind that connects
thoughts to form shafts of pain and pleasure and if we stay unclutched, we can stay in what Buddha
calls mindfulness. We can stay in awareness and in the present moment. It is our thought process that
constantly takes us from past to future and back again and does not allow us to rest in the present
moment.
Understand this clearly, when we are in the present moment we can stay out of trouble without fear
and desire. We can act without fear and desire. You may ask how. How can I be motivated to do
something ifI do not desire it? There is no need for motivation. Do you think that it is motivation that
makes you breathe or digest your food? It is the intelligence of the energy that is within and without
us that makes it possible for us to live and grow. We live not because of us but in spite of us.
When we act without attachment, there is no consequence to our actions, there is no karma arising
from our actions.

What is Karma?
There is a very beautiful verse in the Isa Vasya Upanishad:
Om poornamadah poornamidam
Poornaat poornamudachyate
Poornasya poornamaadaaya
Poornamevaavashishyate
From the Whole came the Whole. If you remove the Whole from the Whole, only the
Whole remains. By very nature we seek the Wholeness. By very nature we seek fulfillment in
anything we do.

Whether it is eating, drinking, jumping, reading, talking, sleeping, or meditating, in any activity that
we engage, our being yearns to completely experience the activity and be fully involved in it. Are we
fully conscious of every action we engage in? Are we aware every moment of our life?

A small story:
A man was travelling by cab to the airport. The cab driver was driving very fast even around corners
and sharp turns.The passenger was getting terrified with his driving. Finally, the cab driver, seeing
the terrified passenger, said, ‟Why don’t you do what I do when I take turns? Just shut your eyes!‟

When you are not completely aware and involved in the action you are engaged in, your being
remains unfulfilled in that experience. The unfulfilled experience remains inside you and keeps
pulling you to do the action again with intensity to fulfill it. This is karma.

Karma is the collection of unfulfilled experiences that stay in us and constantly pull us to fulfill them.

Anything that we do and experience intensely and deeply will always leave our system. It will liberate
us. Any experience that we did not go through completely, through which we did not have complete
fulfillment, that did not get our full energy, attention and awareness, remains inside us as karma.

Even though we carry some karma, basically we are complete fulfillment, Wholeness. So any karma
that has not been fulfilled cannot rest inside us for too long. It will try its best to fulfill itself. It will
drive us again and again to go through the same activity so that it can be fulfilled. Any desire, any
experience, which has not become complete in our system, will remain as karma and push us again
and again to make us go through the same experience until it is fulfilled.

We think, speak and do things without clarity, without fulfillment and with deep ignorance. All these
thoughts, words and actions collectively contribute towards our karmic baggage because none of them
gives rise to fulfillment in us. When they do not give rise to fulfillment our karma pushes us to
somehow fulfill them.

Our own thoughts, words and deeds become our karma and drive us to reach fulfillment in some way.

The present is the totality of all past

decisions
Understand clearly that now you are reading this book because of all your past decisions. You decided
to pay attention to the book on display. You decided to buy it. You decided to sit down and read this
book now. The totality of all these decisions contributes to your sitting here.

The totality of all these past decisions is your present moment. Now, applying the same logic, the
totality of your present decisions will be your future.

This is the essence of karma theory: the totality of all your past is the present, and the totality of your
present is your future.

The totality of all your past is the present. The totality of your present will be your future. The
problem is that we make most of our decisions unconsciously. We take thousands of decisions
unconsciously. That is the reason why we are not able to connect the cause with the effect. Flood
more awareness, more intelligence into your thinking system. Flood more awareness, more
consciousness into your decision-making system. In any given moment, the future is predestined but
conditionally. It will be a certain future according to all the totality of events till that time - this is the
predestined future. But it is conditional. There is an important factor that can and will change i—t
your consciousness, your will.

A small story:
Once, two brothers met a sage who was known to be able to look into the future. The brothers paid
their respect to the sage and asked him if he could tell them about their future. The hermit advised
them, ‟It may not be good for you to know your future. Besides, your future can change later even ifI
tell you now.‟
The brothers insisted on knowing their future. The sage looked at the elder brother and said, ‟You
will become a king ft a year.‟ Looking at the younger brother he said,
‟You are destined to die in the hands of a murderer in a year ‟s time.‟ The brothers started walking
back home. The elder brother was overjoyed while the younger one was depressed.
Now the elder brother started creating his fantasy world dreaming of becoming a king. The younger
brother who was destined to have less than a year to live, started spending his time in spiritual
activities. He used his time to serve everyone and soon came out of his depression.
Eleven months passed. One day, the elder brother invited the younger one to his house. He wanted to
look out for land for a grand palace he was planning to build since very soon he would become a
king. They were walking on a huge open piece of land when the younger brother stumbled on a half-
buried pot. The brothers dug the pot and removed it. It was a huge pot of gold coins.

The elder brother was thrilled and started shouting, ‟This treasure is just for me! It is for me to set up
my palace and kingdom! “Just then, a bandit jumped out from a bush, gave a blow on the elder
brother’s head and tried to snatch the pot from him. The younger brother jumped at the bandit to
protect his brother. But the bandit attacked him with a dagger he had in his hand. During the struggle
the bandit dropped the pot and ran away.
The elder brother was very thankful to his younger brother for saving his life and offered him half the
gold coins. The younger brother politely refused saying he was not going to live much longer in any
case. The elder brother with his new treasure started living a lavish life, eating, drinking and being
merry.
One year passed. There was no sign of any crown in sight. The younger brother was also enjoying
good health. They decided to visit the sage again. They met him and asked, ‟How did your
predictions go wrong? “The sage was also surprised and went into meditation. He then explained, “I
told you, your destiny can be changed. ‟
He looked at the elder brother and said, ‟Your destiny changed because of your irresponsible actions
over the past months. The crown that you were to get was reduced to a pot of gold.‟
He looked at the younger brother and said, ‟Your spiritual life, trust and surrender to the Divine
changed your destiny also. Death in the murderer’s hand was reduced to only being wounded by
him.‟
Understand, destiny is not something written in stone. It very much depends on how you choose to
respond to every situation life presents to you. Your awareness will give you the intelligence and the
courage to change the flow of events in your life.

Karma and TPS

If you don’t know your past completely, you will repeat the same things in the future. If your
Thoughts Per Second (TPS) can come down and you know your past as it happened, you won’t repeat
the same past in the future. You will then become a karma mukta‟, liberated from karma. As of now
you are a karma bandha‟, bonded to karma because you have not lived your past completely.
For example, your childhood always seems golden. It is the golden past. You may feel your life in
college was great, but when you were actually in college, you didn’t really feel that way. Why?
Because your suffering has become much more now and in comparison, the past seems very nice!
Now you attribute joy to your past and if given a chance you want to repeat it. When you lived
through it, did you actually experience it? No!

If you can relax in the present moment, at zero TPS, for at least 11 kshanas', you will penetrate the
time shaft. If you can stay in zero TPS for 21 kshanas, you will penetrate the time shaft and can alter
the future. This is in your hands.
All meditation techniques are ways to bring down your TPS so that you can penetrate the time shaft.

Kshana
It is important to understand the concept o kshana. There is no equivalent for this word in the English
language. So, let me explain to you what kshana means. Kshana is a measure of time. It is not a
second or a minute as many people believe.

The gap between two thoughts is one kshana. We are used to thinking of time in an absolute sense.
But a kshana is absolutely relative! The thoughts of every person and the rate at which they come in a
person are dependent on that person. Kshana varies from person to person.

If a person is restless and gets too many thoughts in a span of one second, his kshana is shorter
because the gap between two thoughts is less.
If a person is calm and collected like a meditator is, he gets fewer thoughts in a given span of time.
His kshana is longer because the gap between two thoughts is more.

Karma — totality of conscious

choices
Your life is nothing but the totality of the conscious choices that you continuously make. Whether you
want to or not, directly or indirectly, you are choosing everything. Someone else does not choose. It is
you who chooses.

A small story:
An employee approached his boss, ‟Sir my wife said I should ask you for a raise.‟
The boss replied, ‟Oh, I will ask my wife tonight whether or not I should give you a raise!‟
Understand, continuously it is your choice, your decision. You may think somebody else decides. But
it is only you who is deciding.

A small example can make you understand the basic truth. If somebody criticizes you, you choose to
get offended. If somebody praises you, you choose to get flattered. Because of your habit, you may
choose it unconsciously. It is not someone else who chooses, it is you who choose. Because it has
become your habit to think that someone else influences your decisions, you have forgotten that you
are choosing.

Every time someone criticizes you, you choose to get upset. Every time someone praises you, you
choose to get flattered. It is nobody else’s choice but your own. You can decide either way. When
someone criticizes you, you can choose not to get offended and you can choose to remain calm and
relaxed. It is just your choice to feel offended or not.
All your continuous choices every minute put together decide your life. If you don’t decide and if you
allow incidents to decide your life you go into a mode of ‘paralysis’. Our lives as of now are nothing
but paralysis. It is only when you decide to live your life without any outside events, situations or
decisions being forced on you, you actually decide to live. As long as you don’t understand life is
your choice, your living is just paralysis.

Vasana, samskara and karma

There are three interrelated concepts, termed vasana, samskara and karma, in Sanskrit.

Vasana
Vasana is the seed of desire. For example, you are walking and you happen to see a dazzling necklace
displayed outside a shop. A desire arises inside you to possess it. This is vasana.

Samskara
Samskara is the plant that grows when the seed of vasana sprouts. When you see that necklace again
and again, the desire to possess it becomes stronger in you. When you feed the desire to possess the
necklace, it is like supplying water and nutrition to the seed of vasana.

The comiption that happens to the inner space is what I call samskara or engraved memories. They
are the memories that go and sit in your inner space and pull you to go through the same experience
repeatedly. They pull you to do the same kind of actions repeatedly, pull you to run through the same
kind of thought patterns, even if you don’t want to. Those memories are what I call samskaras.

Any samskara that is operating in your conscious or unconscious layer is nothing but a hindrance to
the fulfillment of your life. There is no such thing as good or bad samskara. No samskara is good. An
inner space filled with samskaras is hell. An inner space without samskaras is heaven. Do not try to
classify samskaras as good or bad.

A samskara by itself, by its very nature, is negative. By its very nature samskara is depressive.
Anything done out of samskaras will reduce everything to boring emptiness. Anything that happens
with a deep understanding, just out of your pure inner space, always adds value to you. Anything
done out of samskaras adds more and more bondage to you.
From our young age we collect so many different samskaras in so many ways. We accumulate them
and also reproduce them. Samskaras do reproduce themselves even without any further action from
our part.

Samskaras get strengthened in different ways. There are some samskaras that get strengthened only
by action, when you repeat the action. There are some samskaras that get strengthened just by
receiving information with regard to them, when you receive input from the world about them. There
are some other samskaras that need neither action nor information, just remembrance is enough, and
they get strengthened!
We collect these different levels of samskaras, engraved memories, and store them in our system and
expand them.

Karma

Finally when driven by the desire you execute the action and it becomes karma. The power of desire
drives you into finally buying the necklace. That is the action — the karma.

Anything half done leaves a samskara (engraved memory) in your being. Anything not lived fully
leaves an imprint or samskara in your being, which time and again pulls you, attracts you to travel the
same path and fulfill it.

The cause of addiction is also related to samskaras. In my own experience of having worked with
millions of people personally, at least a few thousand cases of addiction have been healed by
meditation. The basic truth about addiction is that you have lived your life vaguely, not fully or with
the whole being. Unfulfilled desires create a samskara in you pulling you back to fulfill the desire by
re- experiencing the same desire again and again.

Any emotion lived intensely simply liberates you of that emotion - be it anger, fear, desire to eat or
attachment to any object or person. You are liberated fully of anything when you live it fully. If a
person keeps going back to a problem time and again, it only means that he or she has not lived out
the problem fully.

When we live, half our mind is somewhere else. Patanjali says beautifully, ‘The more the quantity,
the less the quality.’ The moment the quality of enjoyment of any object increases, its quantity
decreases in direct proportion, of its own accord.
Therefore, it is the quality that needs to be increased.

Life is not a brief candle. It is a bright shining torch. Make it burn as brightly as possible in your life.

Three types of karma

There are three types of karma - agamya, prarabdha and sanchita.

Sanchita karma is like a bank, a reserve bank. Understand, this may not be the first time you have
taken a body and come to planet earth. You may have taken millions of bodies before! In those
millions of bodies, whatever thoughts you had, whatever you spoke, whatever you did, all those
unfulfilled experiences have become your engrams — engraved memories. Put together, they are like
a bank called sanchita karma. When I say ‘bank’, it is not a collection or saving, it is debt! You will
have to pay back all the loans!

The next type of karma is prarabdha' karma. Prarabdha' means this: from the sanchita bank of karva
you take some karma out of which you create your present body.
You then decide to enjoy and exhaust all those karmas that you brought with you through that body.
So prarabdha is just a small bit of the accumulated sanchita karma account that you have brought
into this life. You have planned to enjoy or exhaust these through this body of yours.

The third type of karma is the worst. It is the agamya karma, the karma that you start collecting after
coming down to planet earth, because of fresh thoughts, words and deeds.

Anybody who lands on planet earth has to exhaust his prarabdha karma before he dies. For example,
let us say you have 1000 karmas in your sanchita bank. Out of these 1000 karmas, suppose you take
only ten karmas with you as your prarabdha karma when you take up your body saying, ‘Let me
finish these ten karmas this time.’ However, after coming down, instead of exhausting your own
prarabdha karmas, you start watching others and collecting karma based on their desires. These are
desires that you have borrowed from others around you. Because of these borrowed desires, you
create certain thoughts, words and actions.

For example, if you see someone more beautiful than you, your thoughts multiply due to comparison
and jealousy. You create karma based on thoughts. Sometimes you talk ill of others, without knowing
any of the related facts. When you do this, you accumulate karma based on words.

The way out of the daily irritation - Living your prarabdha karma
Let me explain the three types of karma from a different angle. You see, if you take all the
possibilities that you are aware of and that are available to you in the cosmos, we call that as agamya.
There are all kinds of possibilities. You can become a fish, you can become a snake, you can become
a man, or you can become a god. All these are possibilities. We call that as agamya.

There are also other possibilities that are available to you. These are not only within the field of your
awareness like the things that you know such as fish, monkey, dog, donkey and man, but also many
other possibilities that are unknown to you. Those we call sanchita, the whole range of known and
unknown possibilities.
The whole is sanchita and the possibilities that lie in front of you are agamya. You then decide to
play only with certain boundaries of these possibilities when you come into this body. That is what
we call prarabdha. See when you came down, you decided to play inside certain boundaries. That
boundary is what we can call prarabdha.

After coming here you see many possibilities before you that you try to accumulate, that you try to
acquire. Those possibilities can be called as agamya.

This prarabdha that you brought with you has the intelligence to run your life.
One big difficulty is that you see too many agamya, too many possibilities in front of you. Because of
that, your trust over your prarabdha or your own preselected possibilities reduces. You think your
prarabdha may not be that powerful to run your life because of the agamya, the possibilities, which
are in front of your eyes.

Let me tell you this. Trusting prarabdha is powerful. Fulfilling your prarabdha will take away one
very negative aspect of your life - the continuous irritation. The constant irritation that you carry from
morning till night is the gift of agamya.

From morning till night, from the moment you come out of your bed till the moment you fall asleep,
you feel a constant irritation. We just need somebody to make some mistake and we jump on them!
We are just waiting. Anybody who comes in our presence will have our ‘blessing’! That constant
irritation is because we are centered on agamya.

If our energy, our inner space is centered on prarabdha, we will not be carrying the constant irritation
that we carry now. It is not that we will not be working or relating with the possibilities. It is not that
we will stop working, no! We will continue to work but our base will be our prarabdha.

You see, the mood of constantly rejecting everything, constantly being irritated, happens because of
our agamya, because of the possibilities we see around us. We are running behind the choices, the
possibilities, the agamya. But we forget that the prarabdha is very intelligent, very powerful.

In the whole world, there are only two kinds of people, people whose inner space is centered on
agamya and people whose inner space is centered on prarabdha, that’s all. People whose inner space
is centered on prarabdha live their life in restful awareness.
The mind that is based on agamya will be inspired only by fear or greed. You can see this when you
wake up. You will come out of your dream state only if you have a desire or if you are caught by
some fear. For example, you may get inspired to wake up because you wish to send your child to
school so that she gets a good education and has a bright future. Or you may get up out of fear of
getting late for office because you are afraid of losing your job. Moving the physical body out of fear
or greed is what I call living your life based on agamya.

The way out of the cycle of karma

All your actions are invariably driven by greed or fear and therefore end up being superficial actions,
adding to your karma.

In this way, you end up collecting more karmas. By the time you go back, what will happen? Your
‟karma bank balance’ would have increased by the number of your agamya karma!

Say you came down with ten karmas, you did not exhaust these ten karmas With which you came, but
you collected 200 more!

What will happen the next time you take the body? Your sanchita is now 1000 added to the 200 new
agamya karmas you collected now. You now have 200 karmas more than in your last birth. Again
you take ten out of that collection and come down with another body. But you only collect more and
go back. This becomes a vicious circle. This is what we call janma marana chakra, life-and-death
cycle, continuously taking a body and dying, again and again.

Instead, while you are living, if somebody gives you the knowledge that you are not just the body or
the mind and it is karma that is influencing you, then the influence of that karma over you will begin
to come down. You will then start exhausting the prarabdha karma that you came down with.

Let us say you brought ten prarabdha karmas with you when you took this body and came down.
Suppose in these ten prarabdha karmas, you have three samskaras or three engrams that have the
power to put you into depression. If you continue to obey those engrams and fall into depression, they
will not remain just three, but will probably become ten. The additional seven karmas are the agamya
karmas. If instead of exhausting your prarabdha you decide to remain with them, you collect
agamya.

If on the other hand, whenever these three engrams put you in depression you have learned some
technique to come out of the depression, then these three will start losing their power over you. So,
over time, of the ten karmas, three will leave you. Whenever you reduce the influence of prarabdha
on yourself, not only will the prarabdha get burnt, but the chances of accumulating new karma, the
agamya karma, will also come down.

You stop collecting agamya when the prarabdha loses its influence over you. When the influence of
these ten prarabdha engrams over you stops, the agamya collection will also stop because it is these
ten engrams that are responsible for the collection of further engrams or karma.

Now let us come to the sanchita karma. Understand, you can’t do anything directly with your
sanchita karma bank. For sanchita to burn out, only Guru Krupa, grace of the master, will work.
Only the master’s grace can do anything to burn out your sanchita.

Only intention matters

A beautiful story from the devotional vedic scripture Bhagavatam:

Krishna reached the banks of river Yamuna with the gopis, his milkmaid friends. They wanted to
cross the river but there was no way to cross.
Krishna declared, ‟If I am true brahmachari' (celibate), then let the Yamuna part and let us go
across. The Yamuna parted.

Outwardly, it may seem that Krishna was with the girls like other ordinary men. But Krishna was
beyond the body-mind. His actions did not carry the intention of an ordinary man. It is the intention of
any act that matters, not the act itself.

Intention is the baggage, the karma, not the action. If action creates intention, it becomes the baggage.
Pure action with no end objective is not karma.

Master’s presence affects the

intention
See, whatever you are doing in the presence of the master, you are doing for the master. You know it
is in no way going to build your name or fame. So, the action happens without intention. There is no
intention. The intention is the master’s. The action is yours. Intention is in the being of the person
who has no intentions!
You see, the total sanchita karma can be yours or mine. Mine is divine play. Yours is suffering. When
it started, your total sanchita karma also started as a divine play. But, after gathering more and more
agamya karma, it became dirty.

Because I have no karma, when you flow with me you will also act without intention. Action without
intention is living enlightenment.

Action without intention is free from

karma
If a person has committed ten murders, the quantity of murders will not be recorded. But the intensity
of the murderer will be recorded. It is the quality, the mindset, and the attitude, that carries the karmic
burden.

That is why Krishna says again and again in the Bhagavad Gita that intention is much more important
than action. That is the message of the whole Gita. He says, ‘When you are without intention I will
take care.’

Action does not get recorded. Only intention gets recorded.

The Mahabharata‘ tells us the beautiful story of a courtesan and a monk.
There was a monk who lived across a courtesan’s house. He used to keep a count of the men coming
to her house and used to imagine all kinds of things about her lifestyle. The woman spent all her free
time praying to Krishna to redeem her from her miserable
One day, they both died at the same time. Both reached the court of Yama‟, the god of death. Yama‟
looked at the record of their lives and gave the decision. the monk should go to hell and the woman
should go to heaven. The monk was shocked and started protesting, ‟I lived such a pious life while
she lived such an immoral life! How can I be sent to hell and she to heaven!‟
Yama replied, ‘In my court of judgment, your actions are of no value, only your intent matters. You
wore a monk’s robes and lived a good life outwardly but your inner space was filled with lust. So in
the outer world, your body is now being buried with honor but you have to suffer hell. The woman’s
heart was forever with Krishna even while her body was sold to men. So her body doesn’t have
anybody to even do the last rites but she is going to heaven.’

It is the intention and attitude that counts.

An enlightened being, an incarnation, is one with Existence. An enlightened being can only operate in
tune with Existence. He can never be out of tune. The actions of an enlightened master can
never be without awareness and compassion.
Since we do not have the consciousness or awareness, we cannot justify our actions by saying they
are similar to those of an enlightened being. Be very clear, the action may look similar outwardly but
the intention, the inner space, the attitude, is completely different.
A beautiful story from the life of Adi Shankara:
Once while Shankara was wandering with his disciples, he suddenly felt thirsty. They were in the
middle of nowhere. They traveled further and finally came across one shop. Shankara went up to the
man in the shop and asked for some water to drink. The man said, ‟I am sorry but I have nothing to
offer you except liquor. That is all 1 have.‟
Shankara replied, ‟Alright, please give me some. ‟ He drank a glass of liquor and thanked the man.
The disciples were shocked to see their master drink liquor! The thirsty disciples decided to follow the
master and they all drank liquor to their heart‟s content.
When they resumed the journey, Shankara continued to walk normally but the disciples under the
effect of the liquour were not even able to keep next step properly. They went up further and after
some distance, came across an iron forge.

Shankara went upto the man who was pouring molten iron into the cast. He asked him for a glass of
water. The man apologized saying he didn‟t have any water to offer. Shankara said, ‟Alright. Please
give me the molten iron then.‟
The man and Shankara‟s disciples were all shocked. The man gave Shankara the hot molten iron
which he just poured into his mouth as if it was water!
He then turned around to his disciples and said, You may also drink now. The disciples stood with
their heads lowered. Shankara then explained, ‟Do not follow what I do. Follow what I say.
Otherwise, you just choose to follow what your mind tells you.‟
Understand, the very plane on which enlightened beings exist is different from the normal human
plane of existence. So they do not need to and cannot do things according to usual logic. Their
intention is what is important, which cannot be explained in terms of ordinary logic.
An enlightened being has no personal interest because he has no individual identity — his identity is
dissolved in the identity of the whole universe.

The power of daily intention

We have seven layers or seven bodies of energy, which are physical, pranic, mental, etheric, causal,
pleasure and nirvanic„. Please understand, in the causal layer our gathered ov agamya karma is
completely available for us. See, in the causal body, you may have the skills to play cricket, golf and
tennis. But if you get up from deep sleep with a strong will or intention to play cricket, then you will
also bring from the causal body the intelligence to play cricket. You will be naturally led into the
situations, the atmosphere and the intelligence for it. If you go to sleep at night with a strong intention
to play golf and you wake up in the morning with the strong intention to play golf, then you will bring
with you that intelligence to play golf.

The causal layer is an exchange place. It is like monetary exchange. In the causal layer you can
exchange anything. When you go to the causal layer the karma of this birth itself can be changed if
you have that strong intention every day. This is true freedom. Strong intention has the capacity to
change the gathered agam ya karma and the prarabdha karma of this birth. It cannot change the total
sanchita karma. Sanchita karma can only be changed by the grace of the master — one who is
without karmas.

Mission or machine?
Reaching out to the master, doing what the master says and acting without intention, are what the
whole game of life is all about.

Action without intention is mission. If you are acting with intention, you are like a machine.
If you are acting without intention, you are the mission. Machine or mission, the choice is yours. Till
you act with my intention without adding your intention, I will keep training you. Just do what I say
without asking inspiration from your intention, from your greed and fear. Pure action without
intention will lead to fulfillment.

Pointing the same sword inside

Karma is not a law of reward and punishment. It is not a way god uses to punish people for
committing sins. It is a reflection of your own mental state giving you the experience of ‘heaven’ and
‘hell’.

A small story:

A traffic policeman caught a man speeding. He was about to issue him a speeding ticket.
Suddenly a woman started screaming from the back seat, ‟See, I told you that you will get caught!
Who asked you to drive so fast? And when I tell you to be careful, slow down and watch out, you tell
me to shut up. Now see you got caught!‟ The cop asked the driver ‟Who is she?‟The driver sighed,
‟My wife‟. The cop tore up the ticket and said, ‟Drive on. You have been punished enough!‟

When you are angry, it is not that you will incur sin and pay for it in your next life. You are suffering
with your anger now. That itself is the hell you suffer! You are suffering inside in the same way that
you are torturing the person you are angry with.

The fire you spit outside will burn with the same intensity inside you also. No matter whether it burns
the other person or not, the fire of anger will surely burn you. The sword used to cut someone outside
will cut you inside with the same intensity. Remember, it is a double edged sword.

A beautiful story from Buddha’s life:

A man once came and spat on Buddha’s face. Buddha wiped his face and asked the man, ‟Do you
want to say something more, or is this all? ‟ Ananda, his close disciple, was very angry. He was
fuming that some man came and just spat on his master and that too for no reason at all. He said to
Buddha, ‟Master if you give me permission, I will handle the man.”

Buddha replied, ‟Have you forgotten that you are a monk, a sannyasi' (renunciate)? That poor man
is already suffering with his anger. See his angry face, his body shaking with that anger. And before
spitting on me, do you think he would have been celebrating and dancing? He is mad with his own
anger. In that state of madness, he came and spat on me.
What is a bigger punishment for him than being in such a state? And what harm has he done to me? I
just had to wipe the spit off my face. Now you don‟t get agitated, otherwise you are building the same
anger inside you. Why are you punishing yourself. That is foolishness. Feel compassion for the poor
man instead.‟

The man was listening and was surprised and confused to see Buddha behave in this way. He was
expecting Buddha to become angry. That is what he wanted. Instead the compassion and
understanding Buddha showed was just too shocking for him!
Buddha said to him, ‟Go home. You look tired, you have punished yourself enough. Forget about
what you did to me. You did not harm me. This body will return to the earth and people will do all
kinds of things like spitting. Go home and relax.‟

The man was completely shaken by Buddha’s response. He went back home. He came back that
evening, fell at Buddha’s feet and cried, ‟Please forgive me!‟

Buddha calmly said, ‟I was not angry in the first place. How can I forgive you? But I am happy to see
you relieved from the anger and in a state of harmony. Just remember. never do such acts again, this
is how you create hell for yourself. ‟

Karma and the next body

How do we choose the next birth?

Once the life force leaves the body, within three kshanas„, it chooses the next body.
At the time of death the three most enjoyed experiences in that lifetime stand out as one’s last
thoughts. The choice of the next body arises from the mindset based on these three experiences.

These three thoughts will be based on one from each of the total karma (sanchita), this birth karma
(prarabdha) and gathered karma (agamya). Based on this, the prarabdha karma will take shape for
this birth.

Practicing spiritual life solutions in one’s lifetime will reduce the gathered sanchita karma of that life
because these understandings will help one to live with awareness.
Meditation helps to reduce the prarabdha karma. It acts not only upon the conscious and physical
levels but also has the capacity to penetrate and clean the unconscious on a physical, mental and being
level.

However, the largest balance in the bank of karma, the total sanchita karma, can only
be dissolved through the master’s grace.

The more these three karmas are reduced, the less the constraints of choice for the next body. Since
each of the three karmas will dictate a corresponding intense experience to be lived, the next body
will need to provide a space for these experiences to be lived.
It is like this. If I say, ‘Let me meet a person who can speak English, I have more choice than if I say,
‘Let me meet a person who can speak English, Spanish and German.’
Similarly, if you have all the three types of karma, there are more constraints on your next birth.

For example, the desire influenced by your total sanchita karma may be, ‘I want to be beautiful.’ The
desire influenced by your karma of this birth, prarabdha, may be, ‘I want to be rich.’ The desire
influenced by your gathered or agamya karma, may be, ‘I want to settle down in USA.’

It is more difficult to get a body for your life energy’s next birth that will lead to the satisfaction of all
the three desires within the short gap of three kshanas. So, it ends up choosing a body that satisfies the
strongest desire amongst the three desires. The combined desires, the mindset, with which the life
energy leaves the previous body is the vasana, the seeds of desire we earlier talked about.

These three desires, these three thoughts will be seen in one glimpse in three kshanas, as one vasana .
The vasana is like a television channel and the body that attracts the vasana is like the television set
tuned to this channel. The depth of the vasana and the body that matches the vasana attracts the life
energy. Just like a television set tuned to the satellite channe1’s frequency receives the corresponding
electromagnetic waves, in the same way, the vasana is attracted by the body.

The life energy, the spirit, departing from the previous body enters the new body that it selected, as
that body leaves the womb of the mother. It enters the body in the birth canal. The darkness of the
causal layer that it left from the previous body corresponds to the darkness of the mother’s birth canal.
Since the body has been prepared by the energies of the parents, the life energy chooses the
combined energies of the parents based on the desires, the vasanas, the mental attitude, with which it
leaves the previous body. So the parents do not choose the child. It is the child that chooses its
parents.

Having chosen a particular body, the spirit or life force has to satisfy the other two desires it had but
could not choose an appropriate body for. However, during its transition through the darkness, the
deep pain experienced by the spirit erases all memories of the vasana it carries before it enters the
new body. The new entity no longer remembers the desires with which it left the previous body.
Instead of fulfilling the desires with which it left the previous body, since it has forgotten them, the
life energy in the new body seeks new desires and collects more karma.

Now, of the three types of karma, if one of them is gone, the choice constraints are fewer and the life
force can be more focused in the choices. Cleaning the gathered agamya karma and this birth’s
prarabdha karma can be done by the individual by understanding about life and by meditating. The
master’s grace will reduce the total sanchita karma.

Once the total sanchita karma is cleansed, there is no reason to take another body. Then, if the next
birth still happens, it is for no reason but out of overflowing joy and bliss. The birth is thus chosen
consciously because there is no pull of karma. The life lived is a leela or reasonless play of an avatar
or incarnation.

How did the cycle of birth and death start?

For all of us, our total sanchita karma initially was a divine play. For an enlightened master, it is still
a divine play as he has no karma at all. Playing because you can play is the divine play.

We took birth out of choice. We forgot our prarabdha karma, started gathering agamya karma and
expanded the total sanch ita karma. Then, to exhaust the increased load we had to take another birth
where we collected more desires and karma. This is how the cycle of life and death continues.

Please understand, your gathered agamya karma is your bondage. The total karma and this birth
karma can be a divine play. The result of this play is the karma of that birth. After birth, if we play
without gathered karma, it will continue to be a divine play. The bondage comes with gathered
karma.

Will a human be born as an animal, bird or insect or can he be born

as human being in the next birth?
This is a very good question. Let me boldly declare this truth and clear all the myths that have been
surrounding this one question on the wheel of karma!

When a human being takes birth as human once, he will continue taking the life of a human unless he
has acted against his consciousness like torturing others or committed violent acts in the physical,
mental or verbal forms against Existence which is in the form of the master, nature and human
consciousness. The intensity of these acts is what gets recorded in the cosmic karwic record.
Understand, it is not the act itself but the intensity of the act that matters.

When a person spends his whole life in lower consciousness, he can be reborn as an animal. For
example, if he spends his whole life in only eating or sleeping, he can be reborn as an animal.

See, if the person has not experienced the unique human qualities like falling in love, seeking
enlightenment, even once in his lifetime, he will be reborn as an animal because he had a human body
but the channels of human experience have not been awakened.

Do we have to wait for the next birth if we feel strongly about

something but it is not our prarabdha?
No. You can change your prarabdha through a simple, strong will or sankalpa'. The strength of the
sankalpa' can cause a rebirth in you in this birth itself. The next birth can happen now itself. For
example, people, especially householder disciples who feel they are caught up in their responsibilities
ask me, ‟Swamiyi, please bless me that I should be with you at least in my next birth.’ There are so
many examples where they have been able to come and live in the ashram’ just a few months later. It
is just the strength of the will.

Enlightenment — Back to Home

You are like a wave in the ocean of Existence. The wave rises up from the ocean but it is still
connected to the ocean. It may think it has an individual existence but that is just a myth. Whether it is
rising, above the ocean or falling down, it is still a part of the ocean.
On its own, because of joy, when the wave takes the body, there will be no gathered or agamya
karma. When agamya karma is acquired, it will corrupt the total sanchita karma that was pure. This
sanchita karma has to be exhausted in the next birth. Comipted total sanchita karma generates the
cycle of life and birth— this is how the wheel of Parsa starts.
The new body that the life energy occupies does not remember the prarabdha karma that the life
energy brought with it when it took the body. So, you do not remember the desires with which you
left your previous body.

Reminding yourself of those desires again and fulfilling them in this birth is what doing tapas
(penance) and becoming enlightened is all about.

So what happens when you forget at birth that you have come through divine play? When the total
karma weight becomes excessive, you realize, There is some problem somewhere. Immediately you
wake up and get enlightened again. The rewinding and coming back is enlightenment.

Sometimes, if you get a really bad dream, only a thought like ‘I am dreaming’ will come at first.
Then, you actually wake up. That thought of ‘I am dreaming’ coming is turning towards
enlightenment. Waking up is getting enlightened.

That thought of ‘I am dreaming. This whole world is a dream’ and then renouncing the false world
and catching the reality is enlightenment. In this world, the same experiences repeat making you tired
and bored. It gives rise to the suspicion, ‘I am seeing a dream.’ Then, you start doubting the world,
doubting the promise the world gives.
It is like the newspaper ads about some beachside resort that show the beach, the table, the food, all
looking like heaven, giving a promise of luxury. You doubt that promise, because you realize that if
hundred people see this and go, not many will actually feel the ecstasy promised. Similarly in life
also, you doubt the promises your mind has been making all along but never fulfilling any.

Techniques to overcome karma

Re-living to relieve

Till now, what we discussed was a preventive measure for incurring karma. As a curative for karma, I
will give you a simple technique. Right from this moment, try and remember all the incidents in your
life. Start going backwards from this moment to your childhood days. Remember what you can.

Do not bother about what you cannot. Understand: what you cannot remember is only a hangover. It
has not touched you deeply. That is why it is not retained in your memory. Try this technique for a
year. Re-living is a wonderful way of relieving.

Our second level Life Bliss meditation program —the Nithyananda Spurana Program (NSP) is
focused on just this method of exhausting one’s karma. It is like a complete spiritual bath in the
presence of an enlightened master.

Deities and enlightened masters — your paths to exhausting karma

There is a way to again and again remind ourselves not to collect karma and to live without the
influence of the earlier incurred karma. The first step is to have a clear understanding that karma is
powerless in the presence of an elevated consciousness.

There is an important difference between normal human beings and enlightened masters. A normal
person does not have the ability to make his body alive out of his will. His body is either alive or it is
dead, that’s all. It is not under his control.

But for an enlightened person, it is under his control. He can either make his body alive, or relax.
Because of this ability, he can also make another body alive! When an enlightened being chooses to
make a stone or metal alive, that stone or metal becomes a representation of his very self.
All the deities in our major traditional temples are energized by enlightened masters.
Masters like Arunagiri Yogeeshwara* from Tiruvannamalai’, Patanjali’ from Chidambaram‘,
Karurar* from Thanjavur‘, Konganavar* from Tirupati’ and Meenakshi’ from Madurai‘ have
energized the deities in these temples.

Deities are therefore considered to be the very bodies of the enlightened masters.
Disciples continue serving the deities even after the masters leave their physical body. The body of
the deity is considered to be the body of the master himself. That is the reason why
the deities receive the same respect offered to an enlightened master.

For example, all the disciples initiated by Arunagiri Yogeeshwara’ will worship the Arunachala
temple for generations together. You will see that whatever is offered to the master will be offered to
the deity also.

Masters, even after they decide to leave the body, are continuously available to the disciples through
the deities that they energized. For example, even during my lifetime, my physical presence is not
possible everywhere at the same time. So these deities are programmed to do my work where I am
physically not present! They are my representatives!

The deities possess independent intelligence. Energizing the deities is a big process. It is like giving
birth to a child. These energized deities will directly respond to your prayers. They will directly relate
with you if you are open in relating with them.

If you see our puja„ (offering) and our ashram* routine, you will see that in the morning, they play
the wakeup song to wake up the presiding deity. Then they give a small cup of oil for His hair and a
small cup of tooth powder for Him to brush His teeth! Then, they give Him a bath and offer fresh,
ironed clothes, just like how they offer to the master. They offer food and perform the evening arati'.
In the night, they put the deity to bed again in a ceremonious way.

Understand, all this does not add anything to the deity or to the master. It adds only to us! This is what
is living with god. This is what is practicing the presence of god. Practicing the presence of the master
is Puja. It is done every day because it is a technique to remember the presence of god every day.

Nithyam — Dhyanam — Anandam

What is needed so as not to collect gathered agamya karma, is life solutions, what I call nithyam
(eternal) because you practice them daily. To dissolve the karma of this birth, you need meditation or
dhyanam. That is why you see that most of our meditations are based on breathing. Altering the
breathing, making it fast, slow, silent etc is what our meditation techniques are all about. The only
thing that can dissolve the total karma is the master’s grace or anandam (bliss).

So understand, karma is simply the effects of thoughts, words and deeds that stem from
deep ignorance and cause you to again and again tread familiar patterns of misery. The way to break
this cycle is to tune into the clicks received from the master and live in an elevated zone of
consciousness.

Myths on karma

Q: Can our karma be exhausted by doing charitable service?

You need to see the motivation for the social service. Honestly look at yourself in the face. What do
you want by doing the service?

Do you feel motivated by the fear ofhaving to go to hell if you don’t do good deeds? Is it the desire
for a good name and publicity? Or is it just to do something to keep yourselfbusy? Is it the greed of a
good afterlife after death? Is it a better next birth?
If you are driven by fear or greed, you can never intensely enjoy doing the service. One part of you
will be doing the act of service. Another part of you will be caught in thinking about the benefits of
the service. So you are not integrated in that action. You are not completely fulfilled through it.

This action also binds. Outwardly, socially, it looks good and free from bondage. But inside your
inner space, you can see it is not. The whole of mankind is swinging around result-oriented action.
This is extended to service as well. At least in service, do not think of dollars or fame. Do not plan to
impress. Do not plan to make your presence felt.

Do the work for the work itself! Do not plan anything. Just do any service anywhere. This kind of
service will infuse tremendous power into your being. For at least half an hour a day do something
selfless, without any thought of results or benefits for yourself. You can then experience the true joy
of service.

Karma can be exhausted only through deep understanding, awareness and at least one glimpse of
consciousness.

Q: What happens when someone has a premature death like in suicide

or accident?

In the case of premature death, the soul has to wait for the time it was destined to live, before it can
take a new body. In the case of suicide, the suffering is much more intense than what would have
been if the spirit had continued living. It is like when you have a plate of food in front of you but you
don’t have hands or a body to enjoy it!
In the case of accidents, the spirit has to be without body. But there is no suffering as in the case of
suicide. The spirit lives in the same consciousness it would have lived had it been alive. It just waits
to get the next body.

Q: Are past life regressions useful and safe?

Past life regression should not be done except by an enlightened being. It has such a strong influence
it can affect this birth. For example, if you had been a blind person in a past life, when regression
happens, you can become blind in this birth!
An unenlightened being doing the regression will also suffer the karmas of the person he is doing the
regression for.

To clear past life regression, one should know how to handle it, clear the past samskaras and close it.

Q: When the master clears the karmas, do we have to go through

pain?

When the master removes the karma, you call that feeling pain. Actually, the master would be
removing in a second the suffering of many births, what would have otherwise taken many births to
dissolve. So, it is practically no suffering in comparison.

Sharada Devi says, the master clearing the samskaras is like you facing a thorn prick instead of
suffering a fracture!
Death is a Celebration
Our concern for karma is rooted in our fear of death. It is a primal fear, that of the unknown.
Our actions in this life are for the most part driven by the desire to be in a better place after death or
the fear not to be in a worse place after death. This fear of leaving the body and mind has
existed through the ages.

Story of Yayati
There is a nice story in Mahabharata‘, the great Indian epic:
There was once a king by the name ofYayati. He lived extremely well for hundred years, enjoying his
kingdom and all the physical and mental comforts of li[e. At the end of 100 years, Yama, the lord of
death, came to take him away as it was time for him to leave the earth. The king was shocked to see
Yama and started crying, ‟Why have you come so fast and that too suddenly without any notice? I
have not lived my life fully yet. Please give me some more time to live.‟ Yama replied that there is no
extension possible to one‟s life. But Yayati pleaded with him and begged for more time. Yama finally
agreed that if any one of his sons was ready to give up his life for Yayati, then the king could live for
that much more time.

Yayati called one of his sons. The son agreed, ‟I will give up my life, let my father live.‟ He gave up
his life. Yama extended Yayati‟s life by a hundred years.

Yayati continued to enjoy all the material comforts in the same way as before and lived another
hundred years. At the end of this period Yama returned to take him. This time too Yayati was shocked
to see Yama again so soon. He felt he had hardly lived his life and begged Yama saying that he was
not prepared to die and wantedsome more time.
Yama gave him another chance; another of Yayati’s sons gave up his life for his father and Yayati got
a lease of another hundred years of life.

Yayati enjoyed another hundred years and again Yama came back to take him. Again as before,
Yayati asked for more time but this time Yama refused to play the same game again.
Instead of agreeing to the king‟s plea, this time Yama asked Yayati compassionately, ‟O king! Do
you think you can put a fire out by pouring oil into it? Do you think that you can fulfill your desires by
living them out more and more?‟ In just a few beautiful words Yama explained the whole purpose of
life to Yayati. Yayati finally realized the Truth, followed Yama and rested at the feet of the Divine.

You cannot feel fulfilled by offering sense pleasures to the senses. You cannot feel that you are ready
for death if you never lived intensely. Trying to satisfy the senses, pouring pleasures into your senses,
or living as you want does not mean living intensely. When you really live intensely, automatically
you will be liberated.

Why are we afraid of Death?

We are afraid because instinctively we resist change and death is an abrupt change in life. The master
Chuang Tzu says beautifully, ‘Man’s thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in
the present.’
We are afraid because we do not know who we are. We hold an identity of ourselves inside us, based
on our family, relationships, job, wealth, social image etc. Death removes this very foundation on
which our identity is built, so we feel death snatches everything that is ours.

Our understanding about death, or rather our misunderstanding about death, makes death a fearful,
frightening experience. The man who resists death dies even while he lives. He dies every moment
because he is tortured by the very idea of death. When I say ‘death’, I don’t mean only physical death.
Losing anything is a form of death. Losing your comfortable life is one form of death, losing your
relatives is another. Please understand that loss in any form is nothing but death.

There are two issues: the incident of death that happens at the end of our lives, and psychological
death. Real death happens only once, but psychological death, the fear of death, permeates our life.
The idea and fear of death decides our entire life structure.
Every part of your body is connected to someone or the other. Your being is not an individual being.
It is not alone, separate, as you think. We are all interlinked. That is why we undergo terrible
suffering when we lose someone or something. Every missing that you experience, no matter of
whom or what is what I call death. Fear of death is just the fear of continuity or discontinuity. We are
afraid about the ‘what next’.

In the mystery of death lies the answer to life

Once, in USA, a young lady asked the great Indian monk Vivekananda, ‟What is life?‟ Vivekananda
said, ‟Come with me to India. I will teach you.‟ She asked, ‟What will you teach me?‟ He said, ‟I
will teach you how to die.‟ If you know the secret of death, the quality of your life will be different.
Your very understanding and attitude towards everything will change.

Death is not a mere incident at the end of your life. It is a profound knowing. If you know how to die,
you know how to live. Living and leaving are two sides of the same thing. Your life will be totally
different once you understand death.

Entering into Death

Almost all the traditions have tried to conquer death, to outlive death. But one group of really
intelligent, intuitive people understood after much struggle that we were approaching death in a
completely wrong direction. They decided to take a 180-degree turn. They started working with death
in a different way. They used meditation as a technique to take them where others had not dared to go
before. Those few intelligent ones were the rishis‟ of the Upanishad’ age. The report they submitted
on their research into the phenomenon of death is called the Kathopanishad.

These rishis researched deeply on death and finally came to the conclusion that death cannot be
understood or overcome by resistance. By resisting death, you cannot go beyond death. The only way
to break free from the vicious cycle of birth and death is by becoming enlightened - entering into
death, dropping the fear.

Please understand that death has power over you because of your belief, your faith in it, that’s all. If
you take a little time and look into your fear of death you will see that it has the power to transform
your life in the most positive way. You will realize that it is not contradictory to life but
complementary to life.

Death is a deep relaxation. It is the ultimate ‘letting go’. It is the dropping of the old and starting with
the new. When your being recognizes that it cannot achieve what it wants to through this body it
decides to move on.
This ‘moving on’, this ‘passing over’ is what is called death.
When your brand new house becomes old after the passage of years, you either try to repair it or if
that is too inconvenient and frustrating, you decide to sell the house and move into a new one. In the
same way when you feel that you have not lived your life totally in the way you wanted to, you leave
this body to take a new one. Your choice to start all over again is what is called death.

Mystery of mysteries

There is a beautiful story in the great Indian epic, Mahabharata‘:

The prince Yudhishtra‟ was asked by a yaksha (demigod), What is the most mysterious thing on
planet earth? ‟ Yudhishtra replied, ‟Every day so many lives are going to the abode of Yama, the
lord of death, yet the people who stay here think they are going to live forever.‟

We always think that it is someone else who will die, not us. Death is truly the mystery of all
mysteries.

There are only two things that are certain about death. One is that we will die at some point in time.
The other is that it is uncertain when or how we will die. Everything that is born has to die. That is the
nature of life.

A beautiful story from the life of Buddha:

Once a woman came with her dead son to Buddha. She was mad with grief at the death of her only
son. She cried to Buddha, ‟Master please give me some medicine that will get my boy back to life.‟
Buddha replied, ‟Get me a handful of mustard seed.‟ The woman got up immediately and rushed to
get a handful of mustard seed. Then Buddha added, ‟The mustard seed must be from a house where
no one has lost a dear one — child, husband, parent, friend.‟
The woman went from house to house. Out of pity for the desperately crying woman, people gave her
mustard seed from their house. But when she asked whether they had lost a dear one, they had
someone or the other who had died in the house. She went from house to house till sunset but found
no house where a death had not happened. Slowly the truth started dawning on her — death is
inevitable. She buried her son‟s body and returned to Buddha. She fell at the feet of Buddha and
asked hinn, ‟Master please teach me the truth. What is death? What exists beyond death?‟

She became Buddha‟s disciple and allowed Buddha for the rest of her life.

There is a beautiful saying, ‘Tomorrow or the next life, which comes first, we never know.’
The topic of rebirth is not popular because it cannot be proven by science. Ofcourse, now Near Death
Experience (NDE) has become a hot subject as many doctors and psychologists have recorded their
experiences. There are many people who have recorded thousands ofNDEs, almost all of which fall
into a similar pattern. They all relive the events of their lives. Hypnotists have regressed people into
their past lives. These too fall into a pattern. They are similar to what the rishis said over 5000 years
ago about what happens when you die, which is recorded in the Kathopanishad.

Death in my presence - before

enlightenment
This incident is from the days of my spiritual journey before enlightenment.
I was near a small village in North India called Ghaziabad, a place near Varanasi, the spiritual
headquarters of Hindus. Hindus traditionally visit Varanasi at least once in their lifetime. The city has
a floating population of at least two hundred thousand people every day.
I was there with an old monk who had been hospitalized and was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
According to the vedic tradition, young monks take care of the elderly monks and sannyasis‟. As a
young monk staying in that village, I started taking care of the elderly monk.

One day, while I was attending to him, suddenly it became obvious that the man in the bed next to his
was about to die. He started struggling for life. I was able to see very clearly what was happening
inside him. By that time I had had my deep spiritual experience or satori but I had not become fully
enlightened; the realization of the purpose ofmy life had not happened. I was still seeking and my
body was getting prepared for the explosion of energy that was to happen after enlightenment.

Several doctors were trying to give him critical medical care and support. The man was gasping for
breath. I could see very clearly how death was happening in him. I could see very clearly how the life
source was moving away from the body.

That is the strongest experience that has happened in my life outside my body. Inside my body, the
strongest experience that happened was realizing the mission!
I was able to see what was happening, but I was not able to bear it. An important thing you should
know is, if you see somebody in physical pain, it will affect you only about thirty to forty percent. But
if you see somebody in depression and you can relate to the person and feel the depression, it will
affect you more - say around sixty percent. Further, if it is emotional pain and if you are able to
connect and understand the pain, it will affect you much more - about eighty percent. The more subtle
the pain, the more you will be affected.
I saw not only the physical, mental or emotional pains of the dying man, but I also saw the being level
pain. It was almost like I was going through the pain myself. I wanted to just run away from there but
the elderly monk got afraid and just held my hand begging me to stay. I had been taking care of him
for two to three months, so he had got really attached to me.
Since a young age, I have loved serving monks. I used to take food and clothes from my house and
give it away to the monks! Serving monks has always been my passion. I have always felt that this
whole vedic tradition is alive even today only because of such monks. They have kept this science
alive.

For doing research in any science, you need great support in many areas. For example, in the West, a
lot of research happens in the outer world science because there are people and organizations to
support it. If it is research on medicines, a pharmaceutical company may support the research. If it is
some research related to space and astronomy, the government may sponsor and support it.

In the same way, in India, the whole country supports and sponsors spiritual science research. The
whole country has taken up the responsibility to support an inner world scientist by providing him
food, shelter and clothes so that he can continue his research in the inner world without spending time
for basic outer world requirements. So I have always felt that it is my responsibility to take care of the
monks and inner world scientists.

The elderly monk who I was taking care of in the ICU did not want me to leave because he was afraid
seeing the man next to him dying. The man was going through such a hard time. It was like the whole
six feet ofhis body was being torn apart! Imagine the pain if you have a small cut in your finger. Now
imagine how painful it would be if the skin on your whole body is literally being peeled. It is
something like a thousand scorpions stinging at the same time! I could clearly see the pain the man
was going through.

On one side, the individual soul associated with all the unfulfilled emotions like desire, greed and
guilt was undergoing terrible suffering. The individual soul wanted to stay in the body and fulfill
these, but the body was tired and wanted to relax! It was a fight between the body and individual soul.
It was as if the body wanted to leave but the individual soul was trying to hold onto it. If the right
hand was gone, the soul was trying to hold onto the left. If the right leg was dead and gone, the
individual soul was trying to hold onto the left leg. Whichever part of the body it could hold on to, the
individual soul was trying to hold onto it.
Part by part the body was dying. I saw that with the lower body there was not much struggle. But
when it came to the upper body, the whole body was vibrating and pulsating with pain.

Slowly the individual soul started moving out of the physical body. Understand, when the breathing
stops, that is the moment when the individual soul actually leaves the physical body. There are seven
layers or bodies in you. The body of flesh, bones and blood that you see is the physical body. The
energy moving in you as prana‟ or life energy is the pranic‟ body. There are five kinds of prana or air
movements that happen in the body: air that enters into the body, air that circulates inside the body,
air that spreads all over the body as life force, air that comes out of the body, and air that cleanses.
These form the second body or the pranic‟ body.

The third body is the body where inner chatter continuously happens. Inner chatter is nothing but the
continuous stream of words or thoughts that move within you.
The fourth body is made up of emotions like fear, anger and greed which spread as feelings all over
the body without even words coming into play. An emotion by itself can simply shake you. This is the
emotional layer.

The fifth layer is the body that you experience in deep sleep. This is where all the engraved memories
or engrams are stored in the seed or causal level. The engrams are not active but they are not dead
either. It is like a deep coma where you are neither living what you want nor are you dead. You are
just stuck in this layer.

From the causal body, the individual soul moves to the cosmic body. The sixth layer is the cosmic
body where you experience bliss. This is what continuously inspires you to be a seeker. If you are a
seeker, understand that this layer is strong in you. If you enrich this layer, your life will be blissful. If
you have any engram remaining in this layer, you will assume another body and come back.

If you continuously enjoy pleasurable experiences, then you are said to be in heaven. If you are stuck
in pain, then you are said to be in hell. Depending on how much pain you experienced in life, you will
stay that long in the pain body or hell at the time of death. Depending on how much pleasure you
experienced in life, you will stay that long in the cosmic body or heaven. Hell and heaven are purely
psychological. This is the truth. Based on what engrams you have, you experience heaven and hell.
That is why different cultures visualize heaven in their own way - because heaven is not a place, it is
an experience.
The seventh layer is the nirvanic‟ layer which corresponds to enlightenment.

At the time of death, there is a powerful fight between the owner or the individual soul and the object
or the body. The object says, ‘I am tired, I can’t function any more.’ The owner says, ‘No, I want to
use you.’ When the object wins, the physical body dies and the individual soul moves to the next
layer, the pranic body. This is the layer you are in when you normally dream. While dreaming, your
logic loses its power over you but your desires remain active. The very definition of dream is the state
where logic has no power but desires and engrams remain active. Even when you are unconscious or
in coma, your logic will not be active.

As long as you are in the physical body, you will have desires with the logic to analyze whether the
desires are needed or not and which one of the desires should be fulfilled etc. Desires are under your
control; there is a balancing mechanism. But when the desires exist without the supporting logic, the
individual soul will be kicked around like a football by the desires. On one side there will be guilt and
on the other side, desires that play on the individual soul.
When I saw the man dying, I could see that the individual soul was slowly moving out layer by layer.
I could see the soul suffering intensely when it went through the unfulfilled desires. The soul was
literally being eaten by guilt when it realized, ‘I did not fulfill the purpose and mission ofmy life.’
Understand, you will remember the purpose of your birth only during death.
When you are born, your body travels through the birth canal of the mother, and because of the
intense pain that you go through, you go into coma or the deepest unconscious state, and you forget
the whole purpose of taking birth. It is like this: you booked the flight ticket and sat inside the aircraft
also, but during the flight you were put in coma and so when you landed, you forgot all about why
you came to that particular place! Only when you leave the place and board the flight again, you
suddenly remember why you had come to that place!
In the same way, when you die, you feel the strong guilt of not fulfilling the purpose of your birth or
what we call the prarabdha karma.

After passing through this guilt, next, all the pain experiences of your life will come up. So at the time
of death, you first pass through physical pain, then through all desires, next through all guilt, then
through all emotional pain and finally through all the pleasures that you experienced in this birth.

Normally, as soon as you reach the cosmic body or the sixth layer itself, you return to assume the next
body, the next birth. That is, the individual soul returns to assume the next body. Sometimes, rarely,
you go beyond the sixth layer into the nirvanic' body. Then you don’t come back to assume another
body.

When you travel through these various bodies and experience your unfulfilled desires, deep guilt and
intense pain, you decide strongly, ‘Let me take another body, another birth. When I do, I will not
forget the purpose of my life and get caught in these illusive games. I will straightaway follow the
path of Truth.’ But when you actually take birth the next time, again because of the intense pain
during birth, you drop into coma and forget all about your decision!

Finally, the man died. But the experience left a strong scar in me. It left a very strong impression in
my mind. The fortunate thing was that the elderly monk became alright and he was discharged from
the hospital. I continued my journey, and after a few months, I had my own death experience and I
became enlightened, thus realizing the mission and purpose ofmy life. My life as a liberated being
started at the age of twelve itself when I had my deep spiritual experience. But the clarity about the
mission, and what was exactly going to happen through my body, dawned when I became
enlightened.

Death in my presence - after

enlightenment
After my enlightenment, I came back to South India. I was in Bangalore in a devotee’s house, healing
people who sought me out. At that time, a devotee was admitted in the ICU and I was requested to
heal him.

There again, while healing, the person in the bed next to the devotee started dying! The moment I saw
that the person was about to die, the first thing I felt like doing was to move away from the suffering
that was about to come! But the devotee was afraid and not ready to leave me!

Suddenly I saw that this person who was dying, was not going through any suffering like the earlier
person. I was shocked, and I became very curious. Earlier, the movement of the individual soul from
layer to layer was great suffering and torture for it. But this soul was moving so smoothly from layer
to layer just like how a knife moves through butter, or a snowball rolls down!

In the first layer or physical body, there was a little pain. Then suddenly the pain disappeared and the
individual soul moved to the pranic layer. It moved from layer to layer like a royal guest! It was so
empowered, that the desires, guilt and pain were not able to attack it at all. Even in the causal layer, it
did not fall asleep. It was so energetic, and it finally entered the nirvanic layer, relaxed and just
disappeared!

I thought that this person must be an evolved being. I asked his relatives whether he was a spiritual
person or a meditator. The family was surprised and replied that the man had never meditated or done
any spiritual practice in all his life! He had lived a completely materialistic life.

I contemplated as to why the first death I had witnessed was terrible while the second one was so
wonderful. What I am about to tell you now is the honest and straight truth, and I am saying it
because I have the great responsibility of telling it to you. When I meditated to know the difference
between the two deaths, the revelation happened: at the time of the second death I was an enlightened
person. The second person had died in the presence of an enlightened being! In the case of the first
death, my presence could not help,because I could not radiate the energy of enlightenment at that
time. So the first person died an ordinary death, while the second person died a wonderful death in the
presence of an enlightened being who had realized the Truth.

When this revelation happened, I saw a deep compassion coming out of my being. I felt that if at all I
can give this as a gift to every individual, my mission will be accomplished. A peaceful death is such
a powerful and wonderful gift which nobody but an enlightened being can give. I started meditating
as to how I can give this gift to everyone. Obviously I can’t be in the ICU of all the hospitals and wait
for people to die! I contemplated on the science behind the whole thing, and understood what really
happens at the time of death.
Let me explain:
As long as you hold onto your ordinary logic and remain in the physical layer, the master is just a
simple faith for you. The material world appears more solid and real. But when you travel to the
deeper layers, the master becomes reality while the material world becomes vague and blurred.

It is like how during your night dream, the dream world looks real and the waking world looks vague,
whereas when you are awake, that is when you are with a higher consciousness, the dream world
becomes imagination while the waking world becomes reality. In the dream state, the dream world
that you see appears alive, like a 4D colour film! When you come out of the dream, the whole dream
appears black and white.

In the same way, if you are raised to a still higher consciousness, this waking world will become dull,
while things like spiritual truths and the master will become alive and real! When you disconnect
from the body and rise into higher consciousness, the master and the superconscious energy will
become a gross reality.

When the second death happened, the intense enlightened presence straightaway caused him to
connect strongly to it.

Understand, as you sit now and here, what is stopping you from connecting with the enlightened
energy of the master and merging with it? Only your own logic and reasons.
As you sit here, there are still doubts in your unconscious like, If I drop my possessions and surrender,
the master may take it away!’ The other problem is, presently, as of now all other things in this world
also appear as reality, and you think the master is also real to that same depth.

You experience me as the same frequency as the rest of the material world. In the case of the second
dying person, all his outer world things became inaccessible to him at the time of death. He could not
sign his checkbook or drive his car! Whatever was holding him back in the material world was
automatically being taken away from him. When he looked around, only I, the enlightened energy
was there! He saw the strong light energy and just held on to me! The surrender automatically
happened to him because I was there at that moment. Even in his case, if he had seen me while he was
alive, he may have struggled to surrender and connect to me! Only when everything was taken away
from him, there was nothing to hold him back from connecting to me.

There is a beautiful story in the Bhagavatam' which is a beautiful account of the enlightened master
Krishna’s life: There was once a rich devotee. He asked Krishna, I want more wealth and
possessions.’ Krishna granted him his wish. There was also a poor lady, who had a cow and a small
house. Krishna once visited her house, ate the food she served, blessed her and left. That very same
day, her cow died.

Somebody asked Krishna about the strange happening of how a rich person got more wealth while the
poor lady was deprived of her only source of income!

Krishna beautifully explains, ‘The king was already in heavy illusion of the material world. So I gave
him what he wanted so that he will ultimately get tired of material things and turn towards
enlightenment. In the case of the poor lady, there was only one thing that she really wanted, and that
was to connect to Me. And the only thing that was stopping her from that was the cow. I took away
the cow so that she could completely merge into Me!’
In the same way, in the case of the second death, the cow was taken away. In the physical layer, the
man was not able to connect. But in the pranic layer, the consciousness entered a different space, and
the man was able to clearly see me there.

The master’s presence is such an intense light. It is much stronger and of a higher frequency than this
world, just like how this world is ofa higher frequency than your dream world.
The man realized that there is something of a higher frequency and he completely surrendered to it.
When he surrendered, all his other engraved memories lost their power over him. The individual
consciousness became empowered. Desires, guilt, pain, pleasure, everything bowed down.
Straightaway, the individual soul’s frequency increased.
Understand, when the seer is strong, the seen has no power over you. This is the science of death.

In the case of the first death, the seen was stronger than the seer. In the second death, the seer was
stronger than the seen.

I intensely meditated how to transmit this science to people. Suddenly, a revelation happened to me.
Understand, energy is not constrained by space and time. It is just like the satellite waves that are
present in space. If you have a set-top box converter, you can see the channel that you tune into. An
enlightened master’s energy pervades the whole cosmos. I just need to place the set-top box in people.
It is like a pacemaker, just that this is a peacemaker! Once it is placed, the person can connect to it
while leaving the body.

What you remember in the last

moment counts
There is a beautiful story in the Upanishads', the sacred Vedic texts:
A rishi called Jadabharatha somehow became attached to a deer he had rescued. He was living the
life of a renunciate but he got attached to this deer.
From morning till night, he used to spend his time taking care of that deer. When he was dying, he
was not able to forget the animal. He started worrying about the deer ‟Oh! Who will take care of the
deer? What will happen to it after my death?‟ When he died, in the next birth, he was born as a deer.

Beautifully the verse in the Upanishad says that whatever you think in your last moment - you
become that!

Some people think very cleverly, ‘Let me live my whole life the way I want to live. In the last few
moments, I will remember god and chant His name and enter heaven somehow.’ Please be very clear,
only that which you thought of in your whole life, will come up when you leave the body. Don’t think
that at that last moment you can play the game! No!
Actually, when you leave the body your whole system will be in such agony, because 80 or 90 years
of your life will be run through in a fast-forward mode. All that will be seen are the scenes being fast-
forwarded. Whatever experience you had intensely, only that will come up before you. Your spiritual
experiences will come up in multicolor.

Please understand that ‘thoughtless awareness’ is the strongest experience you can have in your life.
Even for a single moment, if you had that experience, it is enough. Naturally, when you leave the
body that will come up. That will act as a light and you will be able to move into the Consciousness.

My own death experience

Let me narrate to you my own conscious death experience in Varanasi.
I always used to think that I should have an experience of death, that I should face death directly. But
somehow, that thought never became a priority. For any experience to happen, the related thought
has to become the topmost priority. It should not just be in one corner of your mind. Usually on our
‟to do lists, we have washing, cleaning, paying the rent and phone bill, and finally if time perm its,
enlightenment also! No! Enlightenment will not happen if it is this way. Only when it becomes a top
priority, only when the urge becomes urgent, everything around you will start aligning itself for the
experience to happen in you. This is the case not just with enlightenment. With anything, it is true.

Understand, if at all you are complaining that what you wish to happen is not happening, it is
because it has not become the topmost on your priority list, nothing else. Nothing else and no one else
should be blamed for it. You will see that the moment it becomes the topmost priority, there will be an
energy play that comes into being and it will simply happen. Until then, it will wait for you, that’s all.
The death experience was not my top priority and so somehow, it was getting postponed.

In my wandering days, I had been to Varanasi, the holy city for Hindus, which has an estimated
300,000 daily floating population. Further, every day around 100 dead bodies are estimated to be
burnt in a place called Manikarnika Ghat on the banks of the sacred river Ganga‟. It is traditionally
believed that of somebody dies or somebody’s body is burnt in that area, they will be liberated. They
will have direct enlightenment.

It is not just a traditional belief. The enlightened master Ramakrishna Paramahamsa confirms it with
his own experience. He says, ‟I saw very clearly Shiva„ himself going near every burning body,
taking the soul, unclutching it from the body-mind and liberating it! ‟ So, you can’t say that it is a
mythological belief. It is a solid experience of an enlightened master.
I had the fortune of going to Manikarnika Ghat. Traditionally, it is not only believed, but it is true that
for the last 2000 years, the fire that is used to light the pyres has never been put off.

Whether it rains or shines or floods, people never bring fire when they come with the dead body to
Manikarnika Ghat. The fire will already be burning there and they will just take it to light the dead
body, that’s all. The fire just continuously burns the bodies as they arrive. Sometimes I would see that
two to three bodies are burnt at the same time, so many bodies keep coming!

Especially in the evenings, the bodies will be more in number. From the place where the person dies
they will walk carrying the dead body, chanting mantras 'such as, ‟Ram naam satya hai, Ram naam
satya hai (Lord Rama’s name is the ultimate and eternal truth). By evening they will reach
manikarnika Ghat.

The scene there, the very experience of just being there, I cannot describe to you verbally. You have to
be there to experience it!

To tell you honestly, by just being there, the fear of death just disappeared from my system. You see so
many bodies continuously being burned every day. You feel, ‟I am also going to go like this one
day...all right‟, that’s all! You feel there are so many people giving you company! It is like one more
trip that you make, that’s all. You don’t feel lonely about death at all.

In your life, you may see one or two bodies being burnt, so you still have the fear of death. But at
Manikarnika Ghat, there will be no ritual done. They will bring the body and straightaway dip it in
the river Ganga' three times while chanting, ‟Ram naam satya hai, Ram naam satya hai, Ram naam
satya hai‟. By this time, the fire will be ready, and the wood will be arranged. They will bring the
body straight from the water and burn it, that’s all!

One strange thing that you see there is that none of the relatives will stay there and do any further
rituals. The moment they dip the body in the Ganga' and place the body for burning, they will go
away, that’s all! The people who maintain the ghat will take care of the rest. You will not know how
long it will take for the body that you brought to be burnt completely. There will be a queue and
bodies will be burning continuously.

I thought to myself, ‟Let me try to sit here and see what goes on.‟ I sat at the Ghat. In just an hour’s
time, I felt that death is no more a strange incident which happens once in a while only for some
relative or friend. I was sitting there watching bodies arriving one after another. It was like any other
queue, that’s all. Different sizes, genders, ages, and communities of people arrived to be consumed by
the same burning flame. When you continuously see dead bodies being burnt you actually lose respect
for death! As of now, you have too much o[ respect, too many ideas about death. That is the problem.
Death is actually nothing but this. The breath that goes inside the body doesn’t come out, that’s all.
Nothing much can be done about it. Neither can you rewind it nor fast-forward it.
As I was watching this scene continuously, initially the little fear that I had about death also
disappeared and slowly it actually became interesting to watch. I went near the people who maintain
the fire and started helping them. As I was helping them, I was thinking to myself, ‟After all, one day
this body of mine is also going to become like this dead body that is burning now.‟

When you remember that death is going to happen to you, the respect that you carry for your ego will
come down. Because, whenever you think that something should vol leave you, it is just the ego,
nothing else. When you know for sure that everything is going to leave you, then the respect for the
ego just drops drastically. The respect I had for my ego just dropped from me.
Then I decided, ‟After all I am going to die. Either I should have a conscious death experience now
itself and live the rest of my life without the death-fear or really die, that’s all. “I decided that I have
to see death happening to me one way or the other.
There was a small Shiva' temple around the corner and a small tower above the temple. I went and
sat in that tower so that nobody would disturb me. I sat in that tower and from there I started seeing
the dead bodies being burnt.

I still remember the strong click, the deep understanding and instant realization that triggered the
whole experience that was to follow. An elderly lady’s body was being burnt. She had a big belly. Her
clothes were being consumed by the fire and then the fat that was in the belly started melting and
flowing. Sorry for describing this so vividly but I have to dO ff to ex plain the strong experience! I
could see clearly that because of the fat flowing, the fire was burning with even more intensity. That
gave a very strong click to me and I said, ‟God! Yes, the very same thing is going to happen to this
body also!‟

That click opened up a deep fear of death inside me. The fear spread all over the body. But I faced the
fear consciously. I could see very clearly the fear spreading all over the bod y, and when the fear hit
my awareness, that became the experience of death. I went through a conscious experience of my own
death and came out of it.

Understand, whenever your fear is suppressed, it stays inside you. Whenever the fear com es out and
you are not consciously facing it, it becomes a fear stroke, and shakes your whole nervous and breaks
it down. When the fear is faced consciously, it becomes the death experience, that’s all!

I was able to see very clearly the fear that arose. When I faced it consciously with awareness, it
became my death experience. The body was dead. It was not moving.
For two and a half days I had no food, no water no thought, no question, no doubt. The body alone
was there. Only after the experience had passed, I realized that I had been like that for two and a half
days! I could see with closed eyes that the body was dead and there was no movement. Suddenly, after
two and a half days, the click happened again, ‟God! The body is dead but I still exist! I am there!
That clarity, when it clicked, became such an intense ecstasy in me! The fear of death had left me
once and for all.

I was in such deep ecstasy, such joy, and such bliss! I slowly opened my eyes and I was able to move
the body. The first thing I felt was such a surge of ecstasy and gratitude. I went down to the Ganga,
sprinkled a little Ganga water on myself, took the Ganga water in the kamandalu‟, took a /ffffe ash
from the fire, and went straight to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. I went up to the Shiva linga„, offered
the ash I had brought and did the puja (worship) with such inexpressible gratitude. I saw that
Vishwanath was simply alive there!
Understand, because I died Vishwanath became alive! Until the day before that, because I was still
alive, Vishwanath was always an ordinary stone. I used to feel that to touch this stone, thousands of
people are coming every day from so far away... what foolishness! I always felt that the Vishwanath
deity was an ordinary stone. I felt that way because I was still alive. When I died, I saw clearly, He
became alive!

Only one can be alive, either Him or you. When you see the Truth, He will become alive. You will not
be alive anymore as you now think. The fear of death left me once and for all. I can say that this is
one of the very strong experiences that transformed me to search for the ultimate experience
o[ enlightenment.
What happens at the time of Death

Only an enlightened being, a person who has gone through death consciously and come back anew,
can exactly explain what happens during death.
I am going to reveal the mystery of death now. This may be surprising, even shocking to many of
you. But this is the truth. Whether you believe it or not, accept it or not, this is what happens at the
time of death.
We do not just have one body. The physical body is just one of the seven bodies we have. It is only
the gross body that can be felt and seen in space-time. However, we actually have seven layers or
bodies or planes of existence. Since these layers have a subtle existence they cannot be seen or felt by
the ordinary eye
A simple representation of the seven bodies is shown below.
Each of the bodies holds a corresponding emotion. For example, the pranic body holds all the desires
that arise in life. The mental body holds all the feelings of guilt experienced in life. The etheric body
holds the experiences of mental pain felt in life.
When the spirit leaves the body it crosses all the seven body layers. The physical body dies. But, the
remaining six bodies do not totally die. If you are holding a lot of desires in your life, all those
unfulfilled desires are held in the pranic body. So even though the physical body dies, the pranic
body does not die. When the life force leaves the pranic body, the being experiences tremendous
suffering.
When you leave the physical body, your consciousness will be torn from the body and you will
immediately fall into coma. According to doctors, coma is the automatic mechanism to make you not
to feel the pain. It is automatic anesthesia. If the pain becomes too much, you can’t bear and you
automatically fall into coma.

When you move from the first body layer to the second body layer, all the unfulfilled desires, all the
ways in which you wanted to live but did not live come up. When this happens, it is almost as if ten
people are standing in a room kicking a football around. What will happen? Just like how the football
is kicked from corner to corner, your consciousness will be kicked from all corners. In each corner,
some desire will be standing and kicking it. At the time your consciousness is trying to leave the
body, all your desires will be forcing you to re-enter the body so that you can enjoy them further and
fulfill them.

On one side, the desires will be forcing you to enter the body again so that you can live and enjoy,
while on the other side, the body will say, ‘No! I am tired. I can’t host you anymore, just leave!’ That
is what causes the pulling and pushing at the time of death. The pulling and pushing is nothing but the
fight between your desires and your body.

Somehow, you manage to move away from the pranic body, and enter next into the mental body.
When you enter into the mental body all your guilt rises. All the guilt about the way you felt you
should have lived your life but never lived, all the mistakes committed, all the regrets, everything
comes up.

Please understand desire is about the future and guilt is about the past. But actually, both are one and
the same. The way in which we want to live is desire, and the way in which we wanted to live but
didnt, is guilt. Guilt is nothing but reviewing our past decisions with updated intelligence. Like this,
step by step, you move through different body layers.
The less the unfulfilled desires, the lighter is the pranic body and the easier it is to leave this body.
Similarly, the less the guilt, the lighter is the mental body and the easier it is to leave this body.

One more thing, when the desires, guilt and pain are less intense, you not only have an easy death
with less suffering but you also age gracefully. Ageing gracefully 1S what vanaprastha sannyas„ is
all about. Being able to live in fulfillment in the latter part of life is the tremendous gift of
vanaprastha sannyas“.

All the guilt that we collect over our lives rises as we pass through the mental body. Then we come to
the etheric body which is related to all our sufferings. All the suffering that we went through during
our life is stored here.

The first four bodies are related to the physical body-mind system. They store all the engrams related
to desires, guilt and pain experienced during that lifetime. The fifth body is experienced during deep
sleep and when leaving the body. The sixth body is associated with happy memories and the seventh
body is beyond sorrows and happiness, the ultimate consciousness.

Please understand, even attachment to happy memories brings us back into the cycle of birth and
death. The desire to experience more and more similar incidents that are happy and joyful pulls us
back and we take more births.

Happiness is a temporary feeling created by the mind. Bliss, the seventh body, is the true reality. It is
the causeless, unending happening inside you of spontaneous energy, joy and auspiciousness. It is like
a fountain that continuously happens inside you for no reason.
Actually, the reason your favorite candy gives you happiness is that it acts as a trigger to put you into
this space of bliss that is your true nature. But you mistake the happiness to be because of the candy,
the external object. The happiness is because for those few moments, you come in touch with your
inner bliss.

The cleaner the bodies, the lighter they are and the easier it is for the life force to leave the body. Just
like its peel comes off a ripe banana, the life force easily moves out of the body.

Death happens everyday

In the seven bodies, the first four bodies - physical, pranic, mental and etheric, collapse into the
causal body every time you go to sleep. The darkness of the causal body is associated with the deep
sleep state, which is what rejuvenates you every day. So till you cross the fifth body, this ‘death’
happens every day. This is what happens when you fall into your daily sleep.

When the departing spirit moves beyond the fifth layer of causal body into the sixth layer, which is
the cosmic body, the process of death is complete.

If the life force does not have to take another body to fulfill its remaining desires it then enters the
seventh layer of nirvanic body, which is enlightenment. If the life force has to come back assuming
another body to fulfill its desires, it is death.

Waking world Vs Dream world

One more thing: when you enter into the dream state and start dreaming, this whole world in which
you live now becomes black and white because you are in the dream world. You forget this whole
world of your waking state and the dream world becomes very real and seen in multicolor. If you
come out of the dream, this whole world that you wake up to is again seen in four dimensions, 4D.

Now when you are in this physical body and in the waking state, you experience this world as 4D, in
multi-color. When you are in the dream world, you experience that world as 4D. So, when you are
here, the dream world becomes black and white, and this world becomes 4D, and when you are there,
the dream becomes 4D, and this world becomes black and white.

In the same way, when you move away from the physical body to the pranic body at the time of
death, this whole physical world will become unreal and be seen in black and white. All your
achievements, your pride, your efforts, your sorrow, your happiness, everything will no longer have
any meaning and will appear in black and white. You will wonder, ‘Why did I do all this work? Why
did I think of all this as a base for my life?’

Let me explain why this happens. When you are alive you invest in your personality. You build up
your personality based upon a few pillars - money, name and fame, relationships, pride that you have
a big community, support circle, and so on.

When you move from the physical body, all these pillars, all these foundations will be completely
shaken. You can’t sign your name on your checks any more. Your signature is not accepted. Your
bank balance is no more related to you. You can’t handle your bank account. Your car will not be
useful to you. At the most, only the ambulance will be useful!
Only the conscious glimpse can come with you. Whatever has been the foundation for your being will
be shaken. When the foundation is shaken, naturally you won’t have anything to hold on to.

As of now, this whole world will appear in 4D. All this talk about spirituality, meditation, growing the
inner being, consciousness etc. will appear as black and white. That is why, when I call people for
meditation, they tell me, ‘I don’t have time to meditate. Let me finish all my work and then come. I
have a few more years to think about it.’

Be very clear, never say, ‘I don’t have time to meditate.’ Be very clear to yourself and say, ‘I don’t
feel that it is that important in my life right now.’ If you are not ready to meditate and say, ‘I don’t
think meditation is so important in my life, then you are honest. But if you say, ‘I don’t have time,
then you are just fooling yourself. Everyone has got the same 24 hours on hand to do what they feel
they should. It is not that the few who are meditating are jobless. It is just a question of priority, of
what you really want in your life. If spirituality and meditation appear as black and white to you now,
you will not divert your energy in that area, that’s all.

You see, now we are in two dimensions, the material world and spirituality. Right now, what is
happening is that however many pillars we build our personalities and life upon, all those pillars are
based on the material world which appears to be 4D. Not a single pillar is based on consciousness or
our inner space. Our whole personality is built only based on the outer space - our name and fame,
what society speaks about us, etc. If everyone’s opinion of us is that we are great, we think we are
great. If everybody says, ‘You are useless’, we start getting depressed.This happens because not even
a single pillar of our building, our inner core or our being, is based on spirituality. The entire structure
is based on the outer space. That is the reason that when those pillars are shaken by anybody, we start
suffering terribly. If we have even one pillar based on consciousness, we can depend on that to stand
straight without suffering. If we build at least one pillar based on our inner space, this pillar will shine
in 4D at the time of death and help us leave the body beautifully.

The art of dying

There is a beautiful Zen saying, ‘Learning the art of dying is the real and the ultimate knowledge that
we can learn in our life.’ A small Zen story:
One day, an enlightened master suddenly declared that he was going to die the next day morning
around 6 o‟clock. Of course, enlightened people always know about their death. They can declare
beforehand when they are going to die. He declared that he was going to die around 6 o‟clock in the
morning.

His disciples said, ‟No, no, please wait for 2-3 hours. It will be too cold early in the morning. Why
don‟t you wait for a few hours so that we can prepare for the last rites?‟ The master agreed and told
the disciples that he would pass away around 12 o‟clock. Exactly at 12 noon, he greeted them all and
left the body

Auspicious death
A true story:
The great master from India, Paramahamsa Yogananda„, had moved to USA in 1920 and settled
there. How he left the body is very interesting. Till the last moment he was doing his routine of giving
discourses and attending programs.
On the day of his passing away, he was attending a banquet in honor of the then visiting Indian
Ambassador to USA, Binay Ranjan Sen, in Los Angeles. At the conclusion of his speech, he just
relaxed from his body and died.

His body did not deteriorate for more than twenty days. No odor of decay came from his dead body at
any time. There is a beautiful write-up about his death in his autobiography as an appendix. It was
such a beautiful experience. Even his death was auspicious for him.

Reality is a dream

You are not the eyes. The eyes are just an instrument. Many times you can see, your eyes may be
open but you are not seeing, not registering the scene you are seeing.
Just remember you are seeing through the eyes. If you look through the eyes, suddenly you will see
you are witnessing everything. You are not the two ‘holes’ called the eyes.
You are only seeing through the two holes called eyes.

If you feel you are the two eyes, you are caught in ego. In your dream, as long as the attention is on
the objects, you will continue to dream. When your attention is turned towards yourself— that is from
the seen to the seer, you will be awakened.
The moment you realize you are something beyond the eyes, your attention is turned to the seer. Then
you realize that this world is made of the same stuff of which your dream is made.

As long as you think you are seeing, the whole attention is on the seen. That is what I call ego. When
you step back and realize you are seeing through the eyes, the whole attention is on the seer. That is
what I call innocence. Innocence means having a clear understanding that whatever you see in the
outer world is made of the same stuff out of which your dreams are made.
These are the steps: the first is getting the idea that what you see is a dream. The next is having the
shakti, the energy, to change the dream. The third is the buddhi, the intelligence to know it is a dream
and so there is no need to change it!

Life and death vs Waking and sleep

Air and prana

To understand this powerful, life- transforming truth, we need to understand about this stuff of which
the dream world and this world are made of. We need to know about prana‟, the life energy that
sustains us.

Understand, the air you breathe is just a vehicle in which the prana comes in and goes out. Prana is
the life force, the energy itself. Understand this one example. If a truck comes inside this campus and
leaves something and goes out, the truck is like the air, the breath.
The product that is delivered is prana.

Life or death depends on the

direction of prana
One more thing: as long as the incoming breath is bringing in more prana and going out as an empty
vehicle, your life will be strengthened.

If the reverse starts happening, if the air comes with less prana and goes out with more prana, it
means death is nearing or the life energy is going towards death. When death nears, just the empty air
will enter but when it goes out, it will go with the prana
There is a beautiful concept in Ayurveda‟ called as the ‘peak age’ which is based on this science of
prana. Till a particular age, the person will be receiving more prana through the incoming breath and
less prana will be going out through the outgoing breath. The moment the outgoing breath starts
carrying more prana than the incoming breath, they know now the person is moving towards death.

Controlling life through awareness

Constantly, life is slipping and entering into death. Life slipping into death is what we usually call
living. Please understand, actually we don’t live. We are just waiting for death to happen. Ordinary
human beings don’t live. Life just slips into death, disappears into death. That is the reason however
many years you may live, you don’t feel satisfied, and you don’t feel you have lived your life because
you don’t even know what life is.

When you become conscious of life, when you start thinking, contemplating about your life, when
you bring awareness into your life, you create a new center in your being. Between this life and death,
when you bring more awareness into the life, you create a new center, a new space in your life - that
is what I call consciousness Whenever you are conscious, you will start deciding about your life. For
example, the more you become aware, the more you start designing or choosing what type of car you
should drive, what type of house you
should live in, and what type of life you want. You start deciding every inch. You become conscious
about everything: how you should talk, how you should behave, how you should think, every inch
you start becoming aware.

The moment you start becoming aware, you start deciding, and you start controlling your life. When
you become completely aware you will start controlling your death also.
These two events of life and death then happen at the conscious level. If you are consciously thinking,
it is life. If your consciousness can’t think, it is death.

Awareness - control dreams and deep sleep, life and death

In the unconscious level, two things happen as well, dream and deep sleep. In the unconscious level,
if you are aware, it is dream. If you are able to see anything, if you are able to sense anything, if you
are able to feel anything, if you are able to experience any movement, then it is called dream. If you
are not aware of anything, if you are not able to feel anything, if you are not able to understand any
movement, it is deep sleep.

In the waking state, when you are aware or you are in what psychology calls as conscious state, it is
life. If you are not aware, it is death. When you bring more awareness into your life, you take charge
of your life. In the same way, in the dream, if you start bringing in more awareness, you will take
charge of your dreams and deep sleep.

Controlling life and death and controlling dream and deep sleep both require one important condition:
awareness. Awareness Is the main requirement to control life and death and to control dream and deep
sleep.

Bringing awareness into your dreams can not only help you control the dream and deep sleep, it can
also help you control life and death.

Prana movement in sleep and death

The moment you start moving towards the dream state, the prana starts coming towards the
vishuddhi', throat center. The more you move towards the deep sleep state, it moves towards the
anahata', heart center.

It is the same in the case of life and death as well. The more you are alive and energetic, the more the
prana accumulates and gets centered in the forehead.

When the incoming breath is bringing more prana and the outgoing breath is going empty your prana
will be centered on the forehead. If the incoming breath is getting less prana and the outgoing breath
is taking more prana, slowly the prana will slip into vishuddhi‟, throat center. If the incoming breath
is not bringing Prana at all and only the outgoing breath is taking the prana, you will fall
completely into the heart center.

Actually, falling from life to death, falling from the waking state to the deep sleep state, are both
directly related to prana movement. If the prana movements of inhalation and exhalation are handled
properly, you can handle life and death as well as dream and deep sleep. Dream and sleep, life and
death can all be handled by this single key, single thread called prana.

Stopping the cycle of life and death

If you can be aware when you fall into the dream state, when your consciousness is slowly fading
away, when you are falling asleep, you will be able to change the dream itself.
If you are able to you be very clear, the first thing you will do is you will stop dreaming. You will
stop dreaming because you know the uselessness of dreams. You know you are wasting time and
energy in dreams. Person who is aware of dreams will never dream. He will simply stop dreaming.
Person who is aware of life will simply stop the cycle of birth and death. He will not take one more
body.

You need to understand this: when I use the word death, I don’t mean you will commit suicide. When
I say that when you become aware of life you enter into death, it does not mean that you will commit
suicide. You will stop living in the normal way. You will stop living with identity. You won’t give
importance to identity. You will be reborn.

If you can be aware when the prana falls into the heart center every day, you can stop, alter and
manage your dreams and deep sleep. If you are aware of prana slipping from ajna to anahata‟ each
time you go to sleep, it means that at the end of the life you will be able to change your life and death.
If you want, you can bring it a little early. If you want, you can postpone. You can play in whatever
way you want.

Meditation technique
This technique has two parts: one that you do when you fall asleep, when you are lying in the bed and
the second one that you do whenever you can remember during the whole day.
The first one will create more energy to do the second part and vice versa. They are complementary to
each other.

First part: when you lie down, before falling asleep, just remember the area near the ajna chakra' or
the third eye, the center of the forehead. Do not concentrate. If you force yourself, if you start
concentrating, your sleep will be disturbed and you will have a headache. Just remember that area in
a relaxed way, the way you look at a flower, just casually. Slowly, you will see that you are relaxing,
you are slowly dropping into the deep sleep state.
Just be aware of this movement into deep sleep, that is enough. First day, you may feel that you are
not falling asleep at all and that your sleep is getting delayed by ten or fifteen minutes. Don’t bother
about it. Just be aware of the prana movement in the ajna chakra'.
You will be aware that you are dreaming. If you want to continue the dream, you will continue. If you
don’t feel like it, you will come out. There will be no intensity to the dream.
The next step, you will start having the dreamless sleep. That is the deeper level. Once you start
having the dreamless sleep you will also start having the dreamless day.

Dreamless day means that your energy will be conserved without day-dreaming.
If you are aware of the prana, that is enough. It will automatically come back to the higher energy,
and your body will heal itself as the flow of prana is directly related to all your diseases. Above all,
when you are able to change your dream, when you are able to handle your dream, you will have the
intense power and energy to handle the incidents of your life.

Life Bliss Program Level 2 -

Nithyananda Spurana Program
(LBP Level 2 - NSP)
Our second level meditation program, LBP Level 2-NSP journeys you through your own life,
simultaneously revealing the secrets of death. It makes your inner space pure and clean by unloading
the baggage of emotions that you usually carry with you. It teaches you to live blissfully and leave
peacefully. It puts death in the right perspective so that your life becomes more joyful and
meaningful.

It is opening up your energy layers one by one. Your pains, pleasures, guilt and desires are opened up.
Once these open up and get healed, you experience a glimpse of god within you.
You are Intelligence
To be free from the fear of death, which is really the fear of losing our identity, we need to be aware
that we are something more than this body and mind. We need intelligence to understand this. We
then come to these questions:
What exactly is intelligence?
Are some of us more intelligent than others?
Can we increase the level of our intelligence?

Natural intelligence

Intelligence is not something to attain; every single being is endowed with intelligence. Every one of
us has intelligence. It is an inherent, inborn quality of life just as fire is hot and ice is cold.

I am reminded of a joke on ‘intelligent’ people:

Once there were four men travelling in a private airplane. Suddenly, there was an emergency as the
tail of the aircraft caught fire. Unfortunately for the four passengers, there were only three
parachutes available.

The first person in a panic took a parachute saying, ‟I just got married. My wife is waiting for
me.‟And he jumped. The second person declared, ‟I am the most intelligent person on earth. Planet
earth needs my intelligence. ‟ He jumped as well. One of the passengers was an old man, he told the
other remaining person, ‟I am old already but you have your whole life ahead of you. You take this
parachute and jump.‟ The young man quipped, ‟You can also come, Sir. We can both go. The most
intelligent person on planet earth just jumped off with my back-pack!‟

Most ofus have lost touch with our natural intelligence; that is why we are not able to live life to its
fullest potential. We mistake our acquired knowledge for intelligence; we are like the man who
jumped with the backpack as a parachute!

Every single being in nature has been endowed with inherent intelligence. Birds have a natural
intelligence that enables them to fly. It is amazing to see the migratory birds travel thousands
of miles in the sky - with no map or guide and retrace their paths back when the season
changes!

Patanjali, an enlightened master from India and father of the ancient science of Yoga‟, says that man
has in him the intelligence of all the lower forms of consciousness such as the trees, birds and
animals.

Man has the capacity to produce food just like trees. He has the capacity to live by himself right from
the time he is born - just like animals and birds. By nature we have all the intelligence in our human
body. The difficulty is we strongly believe we are limited. We have been conditioned to think that we
have only limited capabilities, that ‘we cannot.’ so we have forgotten how to use these capabilities.
And because of this, we are not tuned to the technique to tap into all the dimensions of our being.

Children are born intelligent

A small story:
One boy came back from school and told his mother ‟You said the school dentist would be painless
but he was not!‟ His mother became worried and asked him, ‟Did he hurt you?‟The boy replied,
‟No, but he screamed when I bit his finger!‟
Children are born intelligent. They are so spontaneous and enthusiastic. But the family, society and
conventional school destroy the natural intelligence within the child with the undue importance they
pay to logic, memory and competition. The price the child pays for education is too heavy as he
sacrifices his priceless creativity and uniqueness and he is not even aware of it.

The other day, I read a statement on a teenager’s T-shirt, I was intelligent until education ruined me.’

Allow your complete being to simply express itself - and you will see your natural intelligence
flowering beautifully. This is what I call being integrated and fulfilled.

The driving forces of fear and greed

We think we are very intelligent and so we try to mould our children to become intelligent like us.
When we start this process, we first teach the child the logic of running in life driven by either fear or
greed.

Either he has to do something to achieve more, or he has to do something to prevent what he doesn’t
want to happen. When you want something to happen, it is greed. When you are afraid that something
will happen, it is fear.

Either he has to study so he can get better grades and win admission in a good college - this is being
driven by greed. Or he has to study so he is not left behind in his future professional life - this is being
driven by fear.

The motivation for the child is greed or fear, never inner fulfillment. Naturally, the child gets into the
rat race and just keeps running - with no time to even look whether he is running for what he really
wants. He does not even know that he can enjoy the run! He has been taught that with any other
diversion, precious time will be wasted in reaching the goal.
But how many people have felt fulfilled after reaching the ‘goal’? When you reach the goal you have
set, you realize the goalpost is no longer there. It has moved further and you want something else
now!
Understand, if you are living your life based on just seeing what others are doing, you are just wasting
your precious life. This is what they call ‘herd mentality’ — joining the rat race because everybody
else is a part of it. You may even win the rat race but you are still a rat!

What is the measure of intelligence?

Can we measure intelligence? Is there a standard to measure intelligence?

Right from school, we use standard benchmarks to determine a person’s so-called level of
intelligence. In the grading system used from elementary school through college, we compare and
grade all children for various skills and aptitudes.

We need to understand an important thing here: one kind of intelligence is needed to be a scientist and
another kind of intelligence is needed to be a poet. To be an Olympic swimmer one needs yet another
kind of intelligence! Intelligence is the ability to respond to a situation or challenge. Everyone is born
intelligent; it is a question of just discovering each one’s unique dimension of intelligence
Spontaneity - straightforward
intelligence
You have a natural, spontaneous intelligence inside you. You have tasted it as a child.
As a child, you looked at things in a very simple, straightforward way. That is why you were so
spontaneous. What took away that spontaneity as you grew up? The societal conditioning that has
been telling you right from when you were a child, ‘You are not enough...’ Because of this, you are
constantly trying to become something else, prove something to others. By constantly thinking that
you are not enough, you try to imitate others and waste the wonderful natural energy bubbling inside
you.

I read one funny one liner on a company’s notice board

Death will be accepted as an excuse, but we would like two weeks notice, as we feel it is your duty to
teach someone your job prior to your death.
Note: this new benefit program began yesterday.

If you blindly imitate another person’s performance or behavior instead of acting from your own inner
spontaneity, your own intelligence, you will be cheating yourself out of wonderful possibilities.

Once there was a statistics student who, while driving, would always accelerate before coming to any
junction, and then drive fast past the junction and slow down again once he passed the junction.

One day, he was travelling with his friend. They passed a junction in his usual way. The friend asked
him in surprise, ‟Why do you drive so fast across junctions when you are actually supposed to slow
down?‟
Th e statistics student rep lied, Well, statistically speaking, you are more likely to have an accident at
a junction, so I just make sure I spend less time there!‟

Knowledge is good only when applied intelligently. It is intelligence that gives the real result, not the
knowledge itself. When knowledge is applied in the right place at the right time, it is intelligence.
Spontaneity is when we easily express our knowledge in the right place at the right time; in other
words, using our intelligence.

The key to awareness

A small story:
One boy was learning a lot of new things at school and home. One day, he told the teacher
‟Yesterday I killed three female and two male flies. The curious teacher asked, ‟How did you know
which were males and which were females?‟ The boy replied, ‟Simple. Three of them were on the
mirror and two were on the cigarette box!‟

Intelligence is being aware and spontaneous. Understand an important thing: when you are deeply
aware, you cannot make mistakes!
With awareness, you don’t rely on what others have taught you. You don’t rely on the past
conditioning that has gone on inside you for many years. You act just out of the fresh intelligence that
comes with awareness.

The light of awareness is enough to remove the darkness created by years of living by habit. The
whole key lies in being aware so that your intelligence can function. Living every moment in total
awareness is what meditation is all about.

Beyond rules to responsibility

A small story:
Once, a sergeant in his training session asked the recruits why walnut wood was used for making the
rifie. The recruits thought hard and one of them answered, ‟Because walnut is harder than other
types of nuts.‟ The sergeant brushed him off saying, Wrong! ‟ Ano ther recru it ventured, ‟Because
it is more durable.‟The sergeant‟s voice boomed, ‟Wrong!‟A third person tried his luck, ‟Because
it is waterproof.‟ The sergeant, tired of the answers by now, replied, ‟You boys surely have a lot to
learn. Simple reason. that is what is laid down in the rule book!‟

In life, because it is easy to place responsibility on others, you blindly follow other people’s directions
instead of relying on your own intelligence.
Talking about responsibility, a small joke on how people understand responsibility:
Once, a convict was scolding his lawyer ‟You are a useless lawyer. You don‟t even understand your
responsibility of when to raise an objection.‟ The puzzled lawyer asked him, ‟I don’t understand.
When do you think I should have raised an objection that I did not?‟ The convict replied, ‟When the
opposing lawyer spoke, you objected. But, when the judge declared me guilty, you kept your big
mouth shut. That was the time to do all the objecting!‟

It is always easy to put the blame on the whole world for what happens in your life. But, if you just
look a little deeper, you can see how you are completely responsible for what is happening in your
life!

Now and here

Being intelligent requires the effort to be yourself, which you are not used to. So you choose to react
based on your past experiences.

Usually, we only react like programmed machines; we do not respond to situations. Someone insults
you and you become angry even before becoming aware of what you are doing.

A beautiful story from the life of Buddha, an enlightened master from India:
Once a person insulted Buddha openly. His disciple Ananda said, ‟I was getting so angry with the
person. Why did you keep quiet? At least I would have given him a piece of my mind.‟ Buddha calmly
replied, ‟You surprise me. What he was saying was comp lete1y irrelevant and you know that. Then
why are you getting angry? You are punishing yourself. It is foolishness. When somebody else has
made the mistake, why are you suffering for it?‟
 Moving with time, flowing with life, becoming a fluid process instead of being a solid ego is called
intelligence.

Beyond the head is the gate to loving Intelligence

Once, a father and son checked into a cheap motel at night.

The father tucked in the son to sleep and switched off the light assuring the son,
‟Don’t be afraid son. The angels are watching over you. ‟
‟I know, “said the boy. ‟Two of them just bit me! ‟
Operating with intelligence is the process of going back to the innocence you were born with. It is not
a process of becoming. It is not attaining something new; it is discovering
your very being. It is the true door to knowing you as you truly are.

When you are intellectual, you operate purely from the head, from logic.

A small story:
A man was working on his doctorate in philosophy. He was so involved in his studies and research,
his wife thought he would forget her if he was not reminded of her once in a while. So one day, she
casually mentioned to him, ‟Honey, what is the one reason you love me so much? ‟ The man asked
very seriously, ‟When you say ‟so much “are you referring to the depth, quality, quantity or mode of
expression?

When you are too caught in the head, you start thinking that your logic, your head, can understand the
whole of life. You try to frame everything in this universe with your head.

Another small story:

Once, a student had freshly graduated in a course on plumbing. He went with his friends on a sight-
seeing tour to Niagara Falls. He took a look at the huge Falls and said, ‟I think I can fix it!‟

Your knowledge gives you the false illusion of knowing everything that exists. It keeps you firmly
rooted in the head.
When your intelligence awakens, you drop from the head to the heart, from logic to love. Then, you
operate neither from pure intellect nor from pure sentimental love. You operate just from loving
intelligence, and you automatically radiate compassion to all of those around you.

Understanding, not thinking

A small story:
Once, three wise men set out on a travel journey to the city with the hope that they would learn more
about life. They entered a big city and were surprised to see a very tall building - a skyscraper- in the
distance. They wondered what it might be.

They grouped and discussed what to do. They were afarid to go near and see for themselves, thinking
it may have something dangerous in it. What if they did not know how to come out? So, they decided it
was better to find out before they ventured inside.

They analyzed and came up with all the things it could possibly be, based on all their past
experiences. Finally, they concluded it was something too big for human beings and it must belong to
giants. So, it was not safe for them to be in this city of giants.
Very satisfied that they had gained this new knowledge, they picked up their bags and went back to
their village!

So, you see there is not much you can understand from past knowledge. You cannot think about
something in the mind and try to understand everything about it in that way. You need to see it, to
experience it in order to fully understand.
One more thing: you can only think about what you have known, what you have experienced. Can you
think about anything unknown? You may fantasize about what the unknown could be, but that is still
based on what you have seen in the past.

With thinking, the energy of intelligence and truth is not there, so the answer will be based on your
limited experience and it will always lead to further questions and doubts.
Not falling back on the answers rising from the past memory but functioning from your present
consciousness is called understanding.

Mind — master or tool?

Thinking arises from the mind, which is actually one of the most marvelous mechanisms. But the
problem arises when the mind becomes your master instead of a tool in your hands.

A small story:
There lived a king who had a very faithful servant. He was so loyal he had even risked his own life to
save the life of the king on a couple of occasions.
On one such occasion, the king highly pleased with the servant asked him for anything he wanted. The
servant humbly replied, ‟I don’t need anything, O King. You have given me everything I need. ‟ But
the king insisted. Finally, the servant said, ‟Ok. If you really want to give me something, please make
me the king for one day. ‟ The king was a bit uncomfortable but he had already promised and had to
keep it up.

The morning of the day the servant became the king. He simply pointed to the king and ordered the
royal guards, ‟Kill him! ‟ The king was shocked and asked the servant, ‟Do you know what you are
saying?‟ The servant calmly replied, ‟I am the king today. I can do what I wish to The king was
killed and the servant remained king forever.

Understand: in this same way, when we give the power of attorney to our mind, it takes entire control
over us.

Body Intelligence

How many of us realize the tremendous intelligence that our body possesses?

Intelligence of the digestive system

Take the example of our digestive system. The whole process of converting bread to blood is such a
complex and delicate one - requiring fine intelligence to convert the different types of food into
energy to run the body.

What is achieved through a few feet of coiled intestine would need a few miles, if it were an industry
outside of the body!
The process of digestion starts from our mouth. We chew the food and the saliva we secrete starts the
digestion. There are so many big and small body elements that perform amazing functions in the
process. We swallow the food and it passes through the throat into the food pipe. Beautifully the food
is blocked from going into the wind pipe instead of the food pipe - by the epiglottis. The food enters
into the stomach, which is like an elastic bag and has a delicate and powerful digestive mechanism.
Depending on the type of food taken in like carbohydrates, proteins or fats, the digestive mechanism
varies.

The digestive fire in us, what we call jataraagni in Sanskrit, is related to the acid in the stomach. The
stomach is such a delicate organ but it actually contains this powerful acid needed to digest the food
we eat. The stomach itself is beautifully protected from this acid by a thick mucus layer around its
wall which neutralizes the acid.

All the complex foods we eat take just a few hours to digest and get absorbed into our system.
Imagine not even a single process has to be consciously thought about! It is managed automatically
and so precisely - adapting itself so beautifully to accommodate all our diets.

After the stomach, the food passes into the small intestine where the majority of the digestion takes
place. It is actually a long structure but so efficiently fitted in a small area with many folds which
increases the surface area of absorption. Most of the nutrients get absorbed in the small intestine. The
main function of the small intestine is absorption of nutrients. The complex products like
carbohydrates and proteins are broken down into basic elements and absorbed. The nutrients that are
absorbed are carried to the liver for further processing.

Then the food moves into the large intestine where mostly water absorption occurs. Then, the food
that cannot be absorbed, like fiber for example, is mixed with other waste products from the body and
thrown out as waste matter. This is just a basic explanation of digestion. But in the body it is such a
complex, well-organized and adaptive mechanism.

Distributed Intelligence
The human body starts from a single cell which replicates and becomes about 250 different types of
cells.

Imagine, one cell transforms into so many different specialized cells that form the complex parts of
the body! Not only do these cells do their specialized job, their very maintenance needs millions of
things to be done in a second. And all their activities have to be coordinated for the body to function
as a single organism. It is the best example of distributed intelligence.

Every cell in your body has Intelligence

We have been taught that the center of our intelligence is in our brain. We think that we control the
body through our brain. Science has all along been saying that the brain controls respiration,
digestion, blood circulation, and all such activities of the body.

Now, cutting-edge research has given rise to a new field called epigenetics. One of the pioneers in this
field, Dr. Bruce Lipton’, an eminent biologist, has been doing research in the field of epigenetics for
over ten years. In his book, ‘The Biology of Belief’, he states that our brain does not control our body.
In fact, there is evidence of intelligence in every cell, even in the cell’s membrane!

Recent research at Sandia Nati-onal Laboratories, USA, supports cellular intelligence theory.
Scientists there studied how cells responded to a harmful substance called an antigen that attacked the
cells in the body. They concluded that even the cell membrane had a beautiful and complex structure
to fight the antigen, and that the cell membrane was not a simple structure as it was earlier believed
that our body is not a simple centralized system of intelligence controlled by the brain. The human
body is a highly evolved distributed system of intelligence beautifully and seamlessly orchestrated.

‘You’ are not needed to run your life

An important thing to understand which may shock you:

You have an independent intelligence in your system which runs your life without your interference.

Right now, you think you need to interfere with your intelligence in order to run your life happily. But
the truth is the intelligence with which you came down to planet earth, the intelligence which created
your very body, can run your life beautifully for you.

The intelligence or the energy based on which you created your body at birth, is called your bio-
memory. You need to understand this important truth here: it is you who designed your own body to
enjoy specific things, to live for a particular number of years, and to do particular things when you
take birth, you decide your life, your enjoyments, whatever you want to do, based upon what you
think is the ‘juice’ of life. That same bio-memory has enough intelligence to live, run and expand
your life. That tremendous intelligence is operating every single moment whether you believe it or
not, whether you accept it or not. But our limited understanding prevents us from realizing this - and
we constantly feel that life has to be different from what it is at the present moment.

Trusting that intelligence and relaxing is what I call devotion. Surrendering to that higher intelligence
is true surrender. Living in harmony with our natural intelligence is living a spiritual life.

Meditation technique — Nithya sutra of acceptance

Please sit straight. Close your eyes and be in a relaxed way without moving the body. Body
movements will create thoughts. So if your body is stable without movement, it can take you to a
deeper silence.

Very consciously and intensely, create an intention that you are accepting yourself as you are in the
outer world and the inner world, this moment.

Tell yourself, ‘I have enough nice things in the outer world, enough possessions. I have enough good
qualities in the inner world, my inner feelings. I am accepting myself completely. There is no need to
develop myself in the outer world or in the inner world. If I have ego, that is ok. If I have guilt, that is
ok. If I have fear, that is ok. If I have greed, that is ok. Whatever I have been told I have, is ok. Even
if I am going to die the next minute, it is ok.’ Decide consciously, ‘I accept everything.’ Don’t bother
whether it is right or wrong. Whatever objection your mind raises, accept that also.

Accept the present moment. Accept all the future moments. Whatever your mind thinks as the worst
thing that can happen to your life, accept even those moments. If it happens, you cannot avoid it. It is
inevitable. Understand the inevitability and accept everything.
Do this for 21 minutes.

Your intelligence will simply awaken and show you how to relate with every moment, how to relate
in every situation, in every relationship.

Cosmic Intelligence responds to us

This may be a surprising revelation, but the truth is that universal or cosmic intelligence responds to
every thought of ours.

Interesting research by Japanese scientist, Dr. Masaru Emoto* shows this point very clearly.

Water responds to our thoughts

Dr. Masaru Emoto’ did experiments on water. He collected water samples from different sources and
exposed them to various kinds of thoughts. Then he froze the samples and studied their crystalline
structure through a microscope with the help of high-speed photography. Thousands of these crystals
were studied under tightly regulated conditions of temperature, cooling time and lighting.

He did various experiments on these water samples — playing different types of music to the water,
talking to the water, reading out from ancient life teachings, praying with a certain intention etc. He
found that when the water samples were exposed to healing music, the water crystals that formed
were very beautiful and graceful. The water exposed to negative feelings or thoughts did not form
crystals but rather an irregular structure which reflected the emotions of the person handling them.

Our body is about seventy percent water. Planet earth is covered with over seventy percent water.
After studying the effect of mental thoughts on water, just imagine the tremendous effect our
thoughts, words and intentions have on the planet and us!

Another real incident from history:

When India was under British rule, the British soldiers found that when they carried water from
England to India in their ships, the water got spoiled even while on the ship. But when they carried
water back from India to England, the water not only stayed fresh through the voyage, but also
remained fresh until they consumed all of it back in England! When scientists studied this surprising
phenomenon, they found that this fresh water was from the sacred river Ganga in Calcutta which was
worshipped by millions of people from around the world. It had the natural properties of neutralizing
harmful bacteria and purifying itself.

Billions of people have been praying to Ganga for over thousands of years. Naturally they have left
their prayerful thoughts as imprints on this water which is so energizing and self-healing.

Even in Egypt, the river Nile* has been studied by the Egyptians over thousands of years by
measuring its flow, level, turbulence etc. They have found that many times these parameters reflected
the calamities like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, that have happened or are about to
happen in even distant parts of the world.

Connection with nature

What makes us become insensitive to nature? The moment our ego comes into play we become
insensitive to nature.

There was a beautiful story I was reading about a poet who in his young age used to go and play
with the wild animals near his house. His father used to warn him that he should not play with the
wild animals because they might harm him.
But, he still used to go and sit with the wf/d animals when he could. He would say,
‟When I was self-conscious and afraid that there was a possibility that the animals might harm me,
they would never come near me,‟ the communication never happened, the relationship never
happened.
But, whenever I had courage or I was in a very playful mood, whenever I did not have the fear or the
self-consciousness, the communication and relationship used to be so strong. I could feel very clearly
the animals were connecting with me andl was connecting with them.‟

Understand, what I mean when I say your ego becomes strong, it means when your identity that you
are a ‘separate person’ is felt strongly. When this happens, your connection with nature is disturbed.
The innocent way of relating is lost. The feeling of being connected is lost. This is one of the big
losses that can happen to a human being.

It is similar to how a person who is born blind can never be made to understand what he is missing. In
the same way, the man who has forgotten the way of relating with the heart can never be made to
understand what he has lost.

Space no bar

I was reading about an experiment where some years back scientists used an
electroencephalograph‘ (EEG) to measure the brain waves of two people meditating together. It was
found that certain pairs of people showed a strong correlation in their brain wave patterns. These
strongly bonded pairs were asked to meditate side by side for some time. Then, they were moved to
different rooms.

Then one of each meditating pair was stimulated by bright lights flashing in the room. The EEG brain
wave recording showed activity in the brain of that meditator as expected; but, surprisingly it also
showed that the paired meditator in the other room who was not stimulated by the lights also showed
the same activity in the brain automatically and instantly!

Understand: what happens in your mind affects not only you but also those around you. Space is not a
criterion for thoughts. They simply travel in air. That is why in your house, if you express worry and
negative thoughts a lot, the very atmosphere for your family members becomes heavy. They are
affected by the negativity that you radiate.

Intellect Vs Intelligence
Our entire educational system is based upon evaluation of information, not intelligence. It is driven by
intellect and verbalization, not visualization.

When you try to move on the basis of information you lose the ability to be intelligent. In fact, if you
are logically logical you will understand that logic itself is not logical. Life is not logical. It cannot be
explained with the mundane logic and intellect. It happens in a plane much higher than the intellect.

The intelligent person lives moment to moment, not through logic. He does not believe in borrowed
answers. He sees the challenge of the situation and directly responds to it.
The intellectual person is like a photograph; he has the imprint of the past on him. The intelligent
person is like a mirror; he reflects and responds to reality and is therefore spontaneous.

The intellect is a beautiful mechanism but only as long as it remains a tool. It should not become the
controlling factor. When you put your intellect aside, a deeper intelligence awakens inside you. You
start functioning from your center instead of from the periphery. And your center is pure intelligent
energy.
Intelligence can be rediscovered. The only way to rediscover it is meditation. Meditation destroys all
the barriers, all the blocks which society has created, that prevent you from being intelligent. Like in a
flowing river, it’s as if meditation removes the rocks so that the water can flow smoothly.

Intelligence requires tremendous courage; it needs a love for adventure! When you are always going
into the unknown, then intelligence grows, it becomes sharpened. It grows only when it encounters
the unknown every moment.

Intellect is only a mental game; it cannot be creative. Intellect is imaginative, but not creative.
Intelligence is creative because it is a part of the divine energy.

Meditation technique — drop the

intellect
Just try this for the next 48 hours. Consciously decide you are not going to think about your problems.
Drop your intellect which continuously tells you that you do not have enough intelligence to solve
your problems spontaneously, that you do not have the capacity to produce that much spontaneity.

Work on solving your problems boldly and with simple awareness and you will see that a higher
intelligence comes into play. One lesson you will learn is that without your knowledge, the higher
intelligence comes in to do things for you. When you become sensitive to this happening, your
awareness will take a quantum jump. Then you no longer need to work to dissolve your problems.
Problems will simply dissolve with the play of spontaneous intelligence in your life.
Responsibility Elevates You
With the intelligence gained about who we are and what we are doing here, comes the feeling of
responsibility for others. We know then that we are not independent of others but interlinked to each
other.

Some years back, there was an epidemic of tuberculosis in Tamil Nadu in South India. Finally,
medicines were found and the epidemic was contained. The officials responsible for eradicating it
proudly claimed that they were the ones responsible for curing it. But did they take up the
responsibility for the fact that it was allowed to spread all over the town in the first place? No! They
were actually responsible for allowing the tuberculosis to spread also, right? They should have
prevented it to begin with and not just taken credit for managing the crisis!

Likewise, in our liv es we claim responsibility for anything good that happens, but we don’t take
responsibility for anything bad that happens. We take up responsibility with discrimination.
Only if we take up responsibility for everything that happens in our lives will we start growing.

Vivekananda’ beautifully says, ‘Take as much responsibility as you can shoulder. The more
responsibility you take, the more you expand. Expansion is the only growth. Without expansion, you
will contract and die.’

A small story:
Once a man was giving a talk on Responsibility at the Charity Club. He gave an example of what
happened a few days back. He said, ‟A friend and I were walking down the street towards the park
when we saw a helpless man lying unconscious on the road. ‟ He paused and looked at the concerned
faces of the audience. Then he continued, ‟Nobody had bothered to help him. Not only that, when we
came back after our walk, the poor man was still lying there!”

Instead of blaming others, let us look into ourselves and see what we are doing about the problem.
The more responsibility you take up, the more you grow. Only when you feel responsible for all that
is happening around you do you become a leader. Until then you are just a follower.

Compassion is responsibility and

energy
One of my disciples once asked me, ‟Swamiji, how is it that so much energy constantly flows through
you?’
When you feel compassion towards others’ suffering, the whole thing takes the shape of responsibility
and expresses itself as energy, that’s all. For that matter, when anyone takes up the responsibility of
suffering, they will immediately start radiating energy.

Be very clear, you can stand up only if you feel responsible for people’s growth, only if you feel
responsible for uplifting them. When you can say that you will do whatever you can for people, when
you stand up with responsibility, you expand and the divine energy flows through you. Contemplate
on this concept so that you can deeply understand it.
When you are free from ego and stand up with responsibility, the expansion happens and you become
like the bamboo flute. Then, just as the air that enters the bamboo leaves it as music, so too will the
air that enters you flow through you as energy!

A cognitive shift
When you take up responsibility, a cognitive shift happens in you. Your mental setup changes. Many
of us live life like slaves. For example, if you work eight hours in your office just following orders
you will feel dull and tired. Instead, if you take up responsibility and initiative, that same eight hours
will become much easier and more enjoyable.

For example, take the case of a person who is running his own business and another person who is
working for a company. The owner of the business has the full responsibility of his business, but the
person who is working for some other company does not really feel the full responsibility. If he does
not feel the responsibility, the whole job becomes like a burden on him. There is little or no self-
motivation. He keeps looking at his watch to see if it is time to leave! For him, only the first of every
month is sweet, since it is payday! In a month, he sacrifices twenty nine days of his life for one day of
joy. A sense of personal responsibility can help turn around any situation. A sense of personal
responsibility can achieve great things.

When you stand up with responsibility, you become a solid force. Until then, you remain a burden for
yourself and for others. We often think that we are in an ordinary job.
We wonder why we should take up more responsibility when our higher authorities at work are not
doing so.

Let me tell you, in an office, when a janitor does all his duties perfectly, he will inspire people. You
see, the head of the organization has to be responsible. No credit is given to him for that! But
someone in a lesser position demonstrating such responsibility is a true inspiration.

There is a greater chance of people at a lower post inspiring others through their sense of
responsibility than people at a higher level doing so. So don’t wait to get some authority to become
responsible.

Secondly, don’t think that you are in a lesser post, and therefore you need not be responsible.

Thirdly, allow the cognitive shift to happen in you.

There is a beautiful story about Buddha. It is said that when Buddha went to beg, He would appear
like a king, and the kings who gave Him alms would appear like beggars! Appearing like a beggar or
a king is not because of your status or the property that you own. It is because of the state inside you.

When you take up responsibility for the entire cosmos, you will expand and look like a leader, you
will become a leader. Even if a leader sits on his throne and does not take responsibility, but instead
points his finger at others for responsibility, he will appear small. The state is that which gets the
status. The status can never get the state. The state of Nithyananda is different from the status of
Nithyananda.

Ego Vs Responsibility
When you stand up feeling responsible, your problems will dissolve. A new intelligence will awaken
in ou. Don’t think you are being egoistic. Ego is different from responsibility. When you feel
responsible, you will take the initiative, you will not feel egoistic. Only when you think that you
would have done better than the other person will ego come into play. When ego comes into play, you
will not take up responsibility.

Trust and patience

I always tell people, ‘Do not think you have a certain amount of energy and you will work according
to that energy. No. Whatever work and responsibility you take up, the energy starts expressing
accordingly. You will have energy according to the responsibilities which you take up. Whatever
responsibility you take upon yourself, you will see that your inner space expands to that extent and
energy flows through you!’
If you feel responsible for whatever is happening around you, you suddenly become a leader. You
start transforming your life and others’ lives. Responsibility is one of the ways to consciously grow.

You only need to do two things: trust that life is good and know that you can expand to the
responsibilities that you take up.

Another thing: When that expansion happens, just hold on and have patience during the
transformation process. Patience during the transformation process is what I call tapas or penance.
There is a beautiful phrase of the teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba*: Shraddha Saburi‟ — trust and
patience. This is the essence of life.

Why don’t we allow big breakthroughs in our life? Because we don’t trust that life leads us into a new
space. Have trust and patience. The simple truth is that when you
take more responsibility, you just expand and more energy starts expressing through you.

Responsibility of enlightenment
Understand, enlightenment comes with a tremendous responsibility. It comes with a tremendous
‘pressured’ compassion. ‘Pressured’ is the right word to use! Your whole being will be vibrating with
an intense compassion, with a very deep compassion.

Let me tell you one incident:

Early one morning, Vivekananda suddenly got up and said, ‟I have a deep pain in the right hand. “At
that time, he was lying down on a bed. He said, ‟On this side of the ocean, some country is suffering
from some natural calamity. Please find out where we are needed, and send our swamis„ to go and
do the relief work. ‟ The next morning, they received the news that there was an earthquake on a
nearby island. All the swamis rushed to do the relief work.

Vivekananda was sensitive to and actually felt the pain felt by people so many miles away!
With enlightenment, practically the whole cosmos is felt inside your body. A deep pressured
compassion lands on you along with the enlightenment experience. Understand, it is a great
responsibility. It is not just freedom. It is a great responsibility too.

State, not status

Most of us wait for the status to come in order to take up the responsibility. Be very clear, it doesn’t
work that way. Only if you take up responsibility will the status come. Those who wait for the status
will not take up responsibility even after they get the status! They will simply find another reason or
excuse, that’s all.

Be very clear, responsibility is a consciousness.

Many people think that if they get enlightened, they will get a golden throne. They think that
somebody will give them food and a place to stay. They think that people will worship their
photograph. If you see the status of the enlightened master and try to achieve enlightenment for that,
you will feel cheated! If you see the state of the enlightened master and try to achieve it, you will be
successful. You will be happy. You will enjoy it. That is the difference between state and status.
Leadership is a State, Not a Status
When we become responsible for others, we no longer are focused on us. We move towards serving
other people. Serving other people is leadership. Pandering to one’s own needs without a care about
others is absence of leadership.

Background

There are so many books these days about leadership and how it is an important part of making an
organization successful. There are so many so-called leadership gurus who teach and train people in
organizations to ‘develop’ leadership. Yet when we look at all organizations, whether they are doing
business to make a profit, or in government service or in the area of social services, true leaders are
rare.

If you look at any organization you will find that less than 1% tends to become the so-called leaders
in the organization. If you look at business organizations, we can say that there are probably only 1%
of these organizations that can claim to be true leaders in their fields who are excelling in all areas of
their business—making profit, delivering good products and services, providing service to society,
providing satisfaction to their employees, etc.

So, we can say, true leaders are actually 1% of the 1% of successful business organizations. It means
just 0.01% of the overall working population actually has true leadership qualities in them! We can
say the same about organizations in other fields. This is what I mean when I say true leaders are rare.

Let us now try and understand why this is the case. For this, we need to understand:
1. What is Leadership?
2. Can leaders be ‘created’ or do you have to be a born leader?
3. What are the key ingredients that make a successful leader?
4. Why do some individuals effortlessly and ‘naturally’ lead and most others struggle?
5. How do we start the process of our individual journey to become leaders?

Let us now understand step by step all these points.

What is Leadership?
So many books have been written on this subject of leadership by management gurus, professors and
consultants. Most of them have spoken about how a successful leader should be. There are a lot of
courses conducted by companies on leadership, team work, etc.
My disciples who have come from the corporate world have described to me how these courses are
conducted and what they have been striving to achieve through these courses. They have also told me
that while the courses have been helpful to them, the effect from the courses tends to wear off within
a short period after the courses are completed.

I am told of weekend boot camps where team spirit is built by climbing ropes, playing games,
creating a sense of friendship, etc. The gist I picked up from hearing my disciples is that these training
programs tend to work on the outer attributes but do little to change or improve the ‘inner software’ of
the individuals so that leadership can radiate from the individual. Leadership to me is not a quality,
but an experience that can radiate from an individual who has experienced personal growth and
transformation.
Now let me give you some explanations of how leadership is described traditionally. If you search the
internet under the terms ‘Leadership’ and ‘Leader’, you will be amazed at the millions of hits that
come up! Just recently when I typed the word ‘Leadership’ on Google it had 156 million hits and the
word ‘Leader’ had 278 million hits!

So whatever needs to be written or said on these topics has been said! So I am here to mainly give you
a few examples from the leading management gurus and their concepts of a leader and more
importantly to give you the real understanding, tools and techniques on how to become a leader and
how anyone can radiate leadership as a result of personal transformation!

Understand, every human being is a potential leader. Leadership is not a quality only some people
have been born with as is viewed and understood currently. Everyone can become a leader and the
quality of leadership arises from one’s ability to take responsibility for a particular organization, a
situation or a particular group.

Can leaders be ‘created’ or do you

have to be a born leader?
A lot has been said by many people on what a leader should be. But there is very little that has been
said about actually how to get there. What exactly do I mean by this?
Is leadership some quality you have to be born with or can it be cultivated? How can one develop
leadership skills? Can a person truly lead an organization ifhe or she is caught up in personal struggles
and confusions?

Before we get into these details, let me first say that leadership skills CAN be cultivated. It is all about
achieving the state of consciousness of a leader and not the status that is achieved by becoming a
leader.

When you read this, please do not think I am going to take you through a spiritual journey! The
process I am going to take you through is a time-tested, proven science of personal transformation. It
is a product of ten thousand years of research and development from the Eastern system of inner
science. What do I mean by this?

Firstly, understand that every civilization has focused its energies in certain fields. In the West, they
focused their efforts on the outer world science, innovation, discovery and creation of products and
services to improve the quality of life and comforts. These outer world scientists have discovered so
many products and services which have greatly benefited humanity and improved the quality of life of
humans all over the world.

Just as there is science of the outer world, there is a vast science of the inner world, something that
lies within all of us. The scientists of the inner world or rishis worked on various tools and techniques
to handle the different emotions we experience and our mind. Over the last ten thousand years, these
scientists of the inner world have created tools and techniques that help us handle our emotions and
overcome the stress and depression from emotions. They have created techniques for us to live
blissfully with ourselves. These tools and techniques are what I call meditation techniques.

So most of my discussion on leadership will be focused on giving an understanding of human

emotions, the mind and how we can use these simple understandings from the inner scientists to help
us lead a successful and fulfilling life.
In most organizations, those who have become leaders have achieved the status of the leader. They
may not have necessarily achieved the state of the leader. What do I mean by this? To understand this,
first let us understand the key ingredients that make a successful leader.

What are the key ingredients that

make a successful leader?
A small story:
There was once a great war between two countries. The war had been going on for some time and the
soldiers were starting to feel tired of the long battle.
On a hot afternoon, a man in civilian clothes was riding past a small group of tired soldiers digging a
huge pit. The group leader was shouting orders and threatening punishment if the work was not
completed within the hour. The man riding the horse stopped and asked,
‟Sir, why are you only shouting orders? Why can’t you help them yourself.‟ asked the stranger on
horseback. The group leader looked at him and replied, ‟What do you mean? I am the leader. The
men do as I tell them.‟ He then added, ‟I[ you feel so strongly about helping them, you are welcome
to do so yourself!‟

The man got down from his horse and started walking up to the soldiers at work. The group leader
was simply shocked! The man took up the tools and started helping the soldiers and worked with them
till the job was finished!

Before leaving the man congratulated the soldiers for their work, and approached the group leader.
He said, ‟The next time your status prevents you from supporting your people, you should inform
your higher authorities, and I will provide a more permanent solution.‟
The group leader was now completely surprised. Only now he looked closely at the man„and realized
that the man was the army general!
We now need to ask ourselves how many so-called leaders in organizations exhibit the qualities of the
group leader. And how many people do you know who exhibit the qualities of the army general?

Regardless of the status in an organization, you will agree that the majority of the so-called leaders
exhibit the qualities of the group leader. They achieve the status of the leader but not the state of the
leader.

There are very few people who are ready to really help get the work done.

The army general exhibited some of the key qualities that are important for a true leader:
1. Honesty and Responsibility
2. Caring genuinely about people
3. Confidence
4. Efficiency and lateral thinking skills
5. Attention to detail
6. Efficiency and Effectiveness
7. Broad-based thinking and doing

I will discuss these traits in greater detail in the following sections.

Leader Consciousness
Leadership - a result of a conscious choice made by an individual
What do I mean by this term, ‘Leader Consciousness’?

Most of us achieve the status of a leader, but not the state. State is totally different from status. Status
comes from society. When you are leading a group of people, if you are forced to take the
responsibility of some department or if you take the responsibility out of your greed, the status comes.
But the state is totally different.

When I use the word ‘state’ I mean your inner space or your being should be mature enough to handle
what you are entering or the responsibility which you are assuming. When we just get the status
without achieving the state, all the problems which exist in the corporate world start - stress and
tension in the personal level, and backbiting and politics in the level of the team. All these problems
start when you don’t achieve the state but just achieve the status.
Here I am trying to express to you the truths from the great traditions of the East - how to achieve
leader consciousness, how to achieve the state of the leader and not just the status. See, status is very
easy, state is something which we really need to achieve.

Status will simply follow a man who has achieved the state of a leader. Even if the status takes its
own time, he will not be bothered, he will live like a king! His very life will be totally fulfilled. The
invaluable feeling of fulfillment happens to beings who achieve leader consciousness.

State of a leader Vs Status of a leader

What do I mean by the word, ‘state of the leader’?

A true leader is a person who is ready to take responsibility consciously, who is ready to handle life
consciously, who is not constantly dependent on the past or his memory. If you are dependent on your
memory, if you are dependent on the past to take decisions, please be very clear, you will be a
follower. You cannot be a leader.

Responding spontaneously to situations is what I call responsibility.

A responsible leader is a person who is able to respond spontaneously to situations, who is fresh and
continuously keeps himself alive, who is not caught in the past.
Let me try to give you a small diagram on how the mind works, how the state of a leader is achieved,
how leader consciousness happens in us. Let us understand how the mind works - how we receive
data, process it and make decisions.

For example, you are seeing something through your eye. Of course, you receive information through
all the five senses - eyes, ears, nose, tongue and touch. For now, let us take the example of the eye.
When you see with your eyes, immediately the file goes to a space called the chakshu„, it is just like a
Digital Signal Processor (DSP). Whatever you are seeing through the eye is converted to a bio-signal,
just like a digital signal file. This file moves to a space called chitta in Sanskrit which is just like
memory in a time’, or ‘I read similar books but did not feel any benefit, if you feel negative you will
decide not to continue reading. The ego decides based on your past experiences. This is the way your
mind functions.

Now, the important thing which you need to understand is, the decision is taken unconsciously. If the
process happens like this, in a straightforward way, you will not have
computer. Here the process of identification starts. For example, you are now seeing this book - the
whole file goes to the DSP, chakshu', and the whole file is converted into a bio-signal file, and then it
moves to chitta, memory.

The memory starts analyzing - ‘This is not a stone, this is not a tree, this is not an animal...’
The elimination process happens in the memory. This process of elimination happens in the memory.
Next, the identification, ‘This is a book, happens in the mind or manas‟. In the mind, you start
identifying, ‘This is a book, ‘It is a book on spirituality, ‘It is written by an enlightened being.’

After identification, the file then moves to a space which I call ‘ego’, the decision-making center. In
the ego you start thinking, ‘In what way am I connected to this situation?’ If your past experiences
with similar books were good, you decide to continue to read. If your past experiences were not good,
if you felt Oh, this is not worth it, I felt very bored last any problem and things will go very smoothly
in your life. Everything will be clear and straight!
But this process does not always happen in a straightforward way. Sometimes things start happening
in an unconscious way. For example, if you were hurt or disturbed by something that was said in a
similar book you read before, the moment you see this book, unconsciously that memory will be
awakened.
You see, in your life, if you are hurt or disturbed in a particular place, or by a particular situation, or
by a person wearing a particular colored dress, the next time when you go to that place, or the next
time you see another person wearing the same colored dress, you will go through the same low mood
even if you know logically that the place or that person has nothing to do with your past experiences.
You will have that same memory again in your mind. You will again have that same experience. This
is what I call ‟samskaras‟ or ‘engraved memories’.

These engraved memories distort or disturb your decision-making capacity. You see, if the whole
process of the mind map I just described happens consciously, then it is a straightforward and logical
process. But due to the unconscious mind, a lot of times, the process is not straightforward. As I
described earlier, we tend to get biased based on our experiences we have had with a particular person
or a particular situation. This is the space where politics happens! This is the space where things move
illogically. This is the space where the past memories or engrams will be sitting and you do not even
know what decision you are making!

Let me give you one more example to give you more understanding of the unconscious mind. If we
analyze logically or consciously, all of you know that smoking is injurious to health. If we follow
through the process from eye to the mind, you know clearly that smoking is injurious to health,
according to the data collected b your senses. But suddenly, even though logIC tells us not to smoke,
you decide to smoke, beyond your logic and consciousness. This is where the unconscious engrams
are sitting.

Even though you consciously know that smoking is injurious to health, when the data moves to the
ego, when the file takes a quantum leap, you just decide to smoke. Maybe some memory, or some
experience which you had in the past must have made you feel relaxed when you smoked. Or maybe
when you smoked during your youth, you may have felt like a hero. So these engrams have been
associated with this habit, and suddenly, because of this engram you decide to smoke, even if you
consciously know that smoking is injurious to health.

In the same way, many times in your life, even if you know what is right, simply you decide
unconsciously because of your engrams. Your life is under the control of unconscious engrams, it is
not under your control. You may think that you are taking the decision, but your unconscious engrams
are taking the decisions!

These samskaras or engrams are the root cause of our behavior. They are the reason why we behave
in a certain way with certain people. The engrams tend to cloud our judgments when we have to take
decisions. They influence how we accomplish our tasks in an organization. It is these engrams that
dictate our productivity, interpersonal skills, teamwork, judgment and all our responses and behavior.
But engrams are never understood and more importantly given any importance in the field of
corporate training and leadership development.
The Eastern mystics and inner scientists have spent thousands of years developing tools and
meditation techniques to cleanse us from these engraved memories. These samskaras can be
effectively erased through meditation techniques.

Recently I visited one of my devotee’s houses and saw a beautiful one-liner in the living room: ‘I am
the boss of this house, I have my wife’s permission to say so!’

Similarly, you may think you are the boss, but your unconscious engrams are leading you! As long as
you are caught by these unconscious samskaras, you can never achieve the state of a leader. You may
achieve the status of a leader with a lot of suffering and struggle.
Be very clear, if you sit in the leader’s chair with a lot of suffering and struggle, you will tend to
create the same suffering and struggle for your subordinates!

Again, and again, your mind will say, ‘When I suffered and struggled so much, why not them!’ You
will just reproduce your old mental setup on others. This can be a very de-motivating factor in
organizations.

Productivity
Definitions and understanding
A small story:
Once a boss asks his employee, ‟Why did it take you six months to complete such a simple task?‟
The employee replies, ‟Because of your confusing directions, continuous changes and short work
days!‟
The boss replies, ‟I was looking for something like you being lazy!‟
So much has been written and said about productivity in organizations. Productivity has become the
mantra in organizations for the last two or three decades. As a result of invention of computers and
new communications technologies such as the internet and cell phone, the world has become a much
smaller place. While there has been an increase in productivity in companies, it has often come at a
huge price on the health (physical and mental) and wellbeing of the employees. Let us now start to
understand what is productivity and how productivity can be enhanced without the side effects of
stress.

In simple terms, productivity can be measured as:

Productivity = Output / Input
The measure of output may be certain number of tasks completed by a particular individual or team or
revenue in the case of a manufacturing company. The measure of input may include the number of
hours worked on a particular project, manufacturing costs etc.

Understanding from Eastern mysticism - impact of engrams on

productivity

Billions of dollars are spent by companies globally to enhance human productivity. Most of these
efforts are centered on providing new skills specific to training in a particular area of the
organization’s focus or improving technology such as use of computers, internet or other forms of
media and communications. Some companies also invest in developing ‘softer skills’ such as
interpersonal skills, team- building skills, etc. But most of these trainings tend to address the
conscious mind - actions, behaviors and perceptions that are just on the surface. But over 90% of our
emotions and behaviors reside deep under the surface of our mind. This is what the psychoanalyst,
Sigmund Freud, calls the unconscious mind.
If we look at the mind, there are thoughts and perceptions which are accumulated in our mind at a
conscious level. But there are deeper memories and stored knowledge that we use to help us solve
problems. Then there is a whole range of emotions and experiences that are embedded in the
unconscious level. This is where the samskaras or engraved memories reside.

Most corporate training programs focus on the conscious mind to impart knowledge or particular
skills. But actually it is as though we are sitting on a volcano of emotions that is just waiting to burst
and erupt any time! These hidden emotions are what make us behave inefficiently and even illogically
at times!

So samskaras or engraved memories interfere with the decision-making process, these can be called
the inefficiencies present in the mind! The more the number of engrams, the more clouded is our
thought process, and the lower is the output. In other words, to produce a particular output, having
more samskaras will require more time or people or costs. So this results in lower productivity.

Freudian representation of the unconscious mind

Most readers who have studied psychology are familiar with the Freudian interpretation of the mind.
Traditional training and skills development in various organizations address only the conscious mind
which is just ten percent of your potential. Ninety percent of the potential can be actualized only when
we address samskaras. This huge potential can be experienced through meditation techniques.

To give you an example of what I just described, I would like you to take fifteen minutes of your time
on a simple exercise. Take a white sheet of paper and just write down whatever comes to your mind.
Please do not edit, filter or pass judgment on any of the thoughts that come to your mind. Just behave
as though a ‘thought recorder’ (just like a voice recorder) is attached to you and you are jotting down
whatever comes to your mind. Now after fifteen minutes put the pen aside and read what you have
just written.

If you have honestly recorded whatever came to your mind, you will realize the kind of stray,
unconnected, illogical thoughts that go through the mind. These thoughts are like friction in a
machine. They make the machine very inefficient and unproductive. This is the root cause of low
productivity.

Several of my disciples, who have gone through this process and consciously worked on eliminating
their samskaras, always come and tell me that they are now finding so much time in their busy lives
since they are no longer troubled by the wavering mind and illogical thoughts.

The tool for elimination of these stray thoughts arising from samskaras is what I call meditation. Once
these thoughts are eliminated, it is like reducing the friction in a machine and allowing the machine to
be more efficient, samskaras that may be ‘haunting’ us.
Without the load of these samskaras, you will find that your innate intellect and the skills you have
developed through your education, training or life experiences will directly be used more productive.

Thousands of people from all races, nationalities, social and economic background have gone through
this process of eliminating samskaras in our meditation programs. Thousands of people come and tell
me that in addition to improving their overall productivity, they are able to maintain better
interpersonal relationships, feel less stress, and be more creative and innovative in their personal and
professional lives. I have also had interesting conversations with leading corporate leaders and Nobel
Laureates on this subject where they have shared amazing evidences of improved innovation and
intuitive skills developed as a result of becoming free of samskaras.

So, we can now elaborate on the equation to describe productivity. We can restate the equation as
follows:
Productivity = Output/Input
Input = (Intellect + Technical Skills +Samskaras)
As you know, we live with our mind 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For most people, the mind is
constantly running, analyzing, passing judgment on individuals, having various emotions and
responding to situations, all of which is dependent on the level of in delivering the output instead of
being knocked around by your mind. You will see the productivity simply shoots up!

This is an area that has mostly not been looked at by companies and organizations. But there are
simple tools and techniques from the Eastern mystics who have developed techniques to cleanse the
mind of these samskaras.

Sometimes people ask me, If we are free of samskaras, will we stop thinking? Will we become lazy
and complacent?’ I tell you, it is actually the opposite. Please refer again to the experiment I gave you
a while back on jotting down your thoughts on apiece of paper for fifteen minutes. If the mind is free
from the effects of samskaras, you will see a quantum jump in intelligence and you will be creative
and a whole new zone of intelligence will emerge. You will see that all of a sudden you will be able
to develop skills of intuition and innovation that emerge from your being.

Understand, this is not a mystical zone you are going to enter into. Be very clear, the skills of intuition
reside in all of us. They have been clouded by the impact of samskaras. Let me now describe how a
mind-body system that is free from samskaras will improve intuition and innovation.

Impact of samskaras on intuition and innovation

Intuition is a wonderful subject. If you ask modern day CEOs how they took major decisions in their
lives, what caused the turning point in their lives, again and again their answer surprises us. Again
and again they tell us that their success came from something beyond their intellect that gave them the
energy or the guts to take the decisions. This is not just the case with successful CEOs, it is the same
with scientists also.

The other day I had a chance to have lunch with Dr Charles Townes‘, Nobel laureate in the field of
Laser and maser. I asked him, ‘Sir, how did your discovery happen? How were you able to do it?’ He
answered in a beautiful way, ‘I was just sitting in a park in Washington DC and suddenly something
happened. The conclusion was there in me. Suddenly the conclusion was revealed to me. I penned
down what I experienced. Now I had a big difficulty. I had the conclusion but not the steps. I was not
able to present this to anybody else because I knew only the conclusion but I didn’t know the steps.’

This happened not only with Charles Townes*, it had also happened with Albert
Einstein*. He says, ‘Whatever new happened to me, came through intuition and not through intellect.’
He summed it up beautifully, saying, ‘The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, the rational mind is a
faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.’

Whether we believe it or not or accept it or not, there is something called intuition. Of course, even
Einstein* says this is a gift, because we are not sure when it will come and whether it will come or
not.

But yogis, the mystics, say again and again, you can work for it and you can be sure about it. You
don’t have to think that intuition is a gift. You can work for it. It can become a part of your life.
Whatever new things have happened, have happened only through intuition, only when something has
happened beyond your intellect and your whole being is integrated.
When you are at your peak, something opens. You may call it revelation or intuition, which happens
beyond intellect. Mystics have again and again said that it is a science. If you can tune yourself to this
intuition or this energy, which is continuously available in your being, you can use this in your regular
life. Mystics again and again say it is an incident and you can make it happen. They know how to
make it happen. We will see how you can awaken that power inside your being. We will see how the
intuitive skills can be linked to the workings of the mind which I discussed earlier.

Before we discuss intuition in greater detail, let us first dispel the myths that intuition is some kind of
a fluke of nature. I would like you to understand that intuition is a skill, That can be developed just as
any other skills that you acquire. It comes from you, from no one else! Because we have not
experienced that zone, that part, that dimension of our being, we have forgotten it.

Someone asked me in a meditation program, ‘I remember someone and the next moment the phone
rings and he is there on the line. I remember someone at a party and next moment I see him.’ I asked
the people in the program if this kind of an incidence had happened to them at least once in their
lifetime. More than seventy percent of the people said this had happened! If it happens in one
person’s life once, you can say it is a coincidence. But if it happens with seventy percent of people, it
cannot be called a coincidence! There is more to it. There is some logic behind it.
We may not be able to know logically but we cannot brush it aside. When you know the logic, you
call it an incident. When you don’t know the logic, you call it a coincidence. Nothing can happen
without a cause on planet earth. It is always cause and effect. When you know the cause and effect
link, you call it an incident. When you don’t know, you call it a coincidence.

In trying to understand the process of intuition, let us refer back to the mind map we discussed
earlier. We talked about how the process of taking information from a sense such as the eye works
through chakshu' (Digital Signal Processor), chitta (memory), manas' (mind) and then takes a
quantum jump to the ego where the decisions are clouded by samskaras or engraved memories. The
process in the gap between the eye and mind is conscious. You are aware of this process. It happens
with your awareness. But the mind to ego process — you are not aware about it. Many a time, the
process happens without your awareness. You decide against your logic. You decide against your
thought process. For example, according to the data that you have collected, you know that smoking
is injurious to health, it is not good for your body or mind. But when the mind takes an unconscious
leap to the ego, you simply take the decision to smoke! The conscious process says, ‘No, it is not
good for health.’ But the unconscious process says...it doesn’t even say, it just takes the decision and
you execute. These decisions are not under your control because the unconscious is very
powerful.The unconscious can be used in three ways at the instinct level, intellect level and intuition
level. As long as the unconscious is filled with negative memories and restlessness, it works at the
instinct level. You decide just instinctively. You don’t even know why you are angry. Suddenly you
burst. Sometimes, when you see some activities or some words that you speak, you feel it is not you.
You do something and then you think, ‘This is not me, how did I do it? How did I allow this to
happen?’ This happens because the unconscious is working in the instinct level.

Many times, you just associate things without even any logical connection. For example, if you have
been disturbed by somebody who was wearing a white dress, the moment you see somebody wearing
a white dress, the past memory comes up and you feel the anger. This is the instinct level. Without
your conscious mind, without even you understanding, just like that it happens.

If your unconscious is loaded with samskaras, if your unconscious is restless, you will be at the
instinct level. The next is the intellect level. You are conscious but you don’t have enough
enthusiasm. You just go with a conscious mind but you are not creative, not innovative. You don’t
take big steps, you don’t grow. It is just like a faithful servant as Einstein’ says. The intellect is a
faithful servant. You can be a servant throughout your life. You can be just a servant, but nothing
more or big can happen through you. You will be collecting the data, processing it and delivering it
— nothing more than a computer. If you are standing only at the intellect level, you are not using
your potential to the maximum, to the extent to which it is supposed to be used.

The next is intuition. To understand intuition, you need to go deep into the whole science; only then
you will be able to understand what I mean by the word ‘intuition’. Intuition is something which
happens to you beyond your intellect. Suddenly you know for sure that this is the right thing and you
have enough energy also to do it but you don’t know the step how you came to the conclusion but you
know for sure this is right.
This energy is needed whenever you are faced with a situation where there is no precedence - when
you are stuck with minimum data and you need to take decisions or you have a lot of choices and you
are not able to decide what you are supposed to do. In these types of situations, the intuition energy
can help you. The intuitive power can give you the courage or give you the right choice. Intuition
again and again gives you the energy not only to decide but to execute what you have decided.

People ask me, ‘How do I find out whether I am having intuition or I am just intellectual? Sometimes
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 experience intuition,
not only you get the intellectual clarity, the answer, but you also get enough power to execute it. The
potential power which is inside your being is just unleashed. You open up and just like that you start
expressing it, executing it.

Now the next question: How to awaken the intuition? How to awaken the intuitive power? If you can
consciously give rest to it for a while, the energy which is in that unconscious level will open up.
And usually when the unconscious level energy opens up, first whatever we suppressed will come
out. Next, a pure energy which we call intuition will start to express.
When pure energy starts expressing from the unconscious level, you don’t use the unconscious at the
instinct level or intellectual level. You use it for intuition. The higher level energy starts happening in
you. And of course, above all, the mystics demonstrated to us over thousands of years that the higher
level energy heals you physically, mentally and emotionally. Apart from healing, this can help reduce
the stress and help decide spontaneously.

Spontaneity has nothing to do with data which you collect; it is something to do with the way in
which you process the data. The same data, same information can be processed in many ways.
Intuition is all about how you process and how you come to the conclusion beyond your intellect.

We can prepare ourselves, we can tune ourselves to this intuitive energy through techniques and
methods which we call meditation. In the East we use the word ‘meditation’ to tune ourselves with
the higher energy, which is in our being, which continuously invites you again and again to
experience it. Whenever we find time, sit by yourself. You can always see, we give appointment to
everybody, but never give appointment to ourselves. If you have given appointment to yourself, you
can always see that some part of your being wants to express, wants to do something more, but we
never give chance or time to that part, to that portion of our being. We are so caught up with our
intellect. We think that our intellect is the ultimate, but again and again mystics prove something
more than intellect is possible.
In any discovery or invention, you can see that the role of intuition is always there. Whether it is
Albert Einstein or Issac Newton*, they have had something beyond intellect. Something beyond
intellect has happened in them. This same energy exists in all of us. This energy can also express in
all of us if we can tune ourselves to that energy. Tuning ourselves to that energy is what I call
meditation.
Meditation Technique
Mahamantra meditation

The Mahamantra meditation is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist technique to awaken the anahata
chakra‟, located at the heart center.

This meditation makes your mind firm and stable. Your mind is all the time oscillating with thoughts.
This meditation makes your mind still by making it enter into the zone of no-mind. It is like a
jumping board into infinity.
It should be done on an empty stomach, preferably early in the morning, or two hours after any meal.
It can be done either alone or with a group. When done with a group, it effectively energizes the place
where it is done.

Instructions:
Total Duration. 30 minutes
Step 1: Duration: 20 minutes

Sit cross-legged in a comfortable position on the floor. Your head, neck and spine should be in a
straight line. If you are not able to sit on the floor, you may sit on a chair. Feel relaxed and close your
eyes. Even after we close our eyes, we see forms and images from behind the eyelids. To handle this,
imagine that your eyeballs have become stone-like. Just harden them with mental pressure, then the
images will die. The movement of our eyes is very closely related to the movement of thoughts in our
mind. That is why you are asked to arrest the movement of your eyeballs. Don’t be too worried about
keeping them arrested. Just proceed with the meditation.

Keep your lips together and produce the sound ‘Mmmm...’ from inside. If you were to put your face
inside an empty aluminum vessel and make a humming sound, the sound generated would be like
this. Note that this is not ‘Hum...’ or ‘Om...’, it is simply keeping your lips together and producing the
sound ‘Mmmm...’. This humming should be as lengthy as possible before taking the next breath. It
should also be as deep as possible, from the navel center, and as loud as possible.

Don’t make an effort to take in a deep breath after every ‘Mmmm’. The body itself will take breaths
when needed. Don’t become tensed. Put in your whole being and energy into creating this vibration.
Just become the humming. Let your whole body be filled with the vibration of the humming. After
some time, you will feel that the humming continues without your effort and that you have become
simply a listener to it!

The humming is a powerful means of bringing your awareness to the present moment. If you hum
intensely, you cannot have any thought at that time. So your Thoughts Per Second (TPS)
automatically comes down. The energy generated by the humming cleanses the energy blocks in the
mind-body system.

When you are intensely humming, all the ideas which you have about you will be completely shaken.
Like an earthquake, this is a technique for a ‘mind-quake !

Step 2: Duration: 10 minutes

After stopping the humming, keep your eyes closed and remain silent and inactive with a smiling face
and blissful mood. If any thought comes to you, let it come. Simply watch your mind as if you are
watching television, without resisting your thoughts or passing any judgment on them. Remain silent
and blissful. During this time, the energy created by the humming will enter all the corners of your
being and awareness is all that is needed to dissolve the cleanse it deeply. It establishes you in the
negativities, bring clarity and enable you to awareness of the present moment. This experience your
true potential.
Intensity is the Unfailing Way
Whether we lead or whether we follow, in order to be fulfilled in whatever we do, we need to be
intense.

A small story:
A Zen master and a disciple were walking along the banks of a river. The disciple, as he had done a
few times before, asked the master very longingly, ‟Master please give me enlightenment. ‟Suddenly
the master turned, held the disciple’s head in his hand and pushed it into the river. The disciple was
shocked and started struggling to get his head above water. The master continued to strongly hold his
head in the water. Now the disciple started gasping for breath. The master then released the surprised
and completely shaken disciple.
The master asked, ‟Do you feel you want enlightenment with the same intensity that you felt you
needed air to breathe when your head was in the water?‟

Only when the urge becomes urgent, when the question becomes a quest, does the Ultimate happen.
The key factor needed for enlightenment to happen is intensity.

What is Intensity
You see, usually we feel a terrible restlessness towards the outer world, ‘I have not done this, I have
not done that’ and so on. The same restlessness when directed to the inner world is called intensity.

You do not know what is happening, you do not know what should be done, but the deep
dissatisfaction about what is there in the inner space is what I call intensity.
You may be wondering why I am teaching dissatisfaction. I am supposed to teach satisfaction, right? I
tell you, your dissatisfaction, which is now directed towards the outer world, has to turn towards the
inner world, and only then it will lead to satisfaction.
First thing which needs to happen is not satisfaction but the turning of direction, the psychological
revolution. Restlessness should become intensity. If it is towards the outer world, if your
consciousness is constantly moving towards the outer world, it is called restlessness. If it is moving
towards the inner world, it is called intensity.

The meaning of intensity is that desperate feeling that something needs to be done
immediately, to break free from the clutches, or to break free in the inner world Intensity is not
emotion. When you are intense, one part of it may be emotional. But intensity cannot be called
emotion. It is like heat. The part of intensity that melts and comes out can be called emotion. For
example, when you integrate yourself with intensity, one part of you melts. Let us say the heart melts,
then that can be called emotion. Along with your heart, your intellect will also melt, your being will
also melt. The side-effect of intensity is emotion.

Do not bother about what your intensity should be about. Do not bother about ‘towards what’. It
should become a quality. Anything you do, whether you touch something or somebody or some
object, let the intensity be there, even in that touch.

If you are talking, let the intensity be there. In your relationships, in your decisions, in your memory,
in your thinking, in your desires, even in your fears, be intense without escaping from this moment.
That is what I call intensity.
Intensity means radiating the energy that does not create any conflict inside and outside. Intensity is
intensely being inside you. Intensity does not create conflict inside or outside. It flows smoothly and
yet very strongly. We always think if it is flowing smoothly.

We always think if it is flowing smoothly like a river, it will not have intensity, and if it is intense like
a stone it will not be flowing freely. No. Intensity is like a flood which is intense and flowing.

I have seen some people intensely creating conflict every moment! Anything you tell them to do, they
will be ready to create a conflict.

A small story
A prisoner escaped from prison after twelve years and reached his home. The moment his wife opened
the door she started shouting, ‟How dare you come so late! You escaped from prison twent y four
hours before. Where have you been? You should have come straight back home!‟

All that the woman was bothered about was why he was not back home right after he had escaped.
She certainly was intense, but only in creating conflicts.

Real intensity does not create conflicts. It is flowing but intense.

Intensity is integration. Intensity is focus. Intensity is sincerity.

Usually intensity leads to a solid feeling. You may be intense but you may have lost the ability to
flow. Or you may be flowing but may have lost the intensity.

See, you may be intense but you may have lost the ability to flow - because you are driven by your
ego. You are determined to achieve what you want but you have your own rigid ideas about how to
get there. You fail to understand then that Existence can make events happen in a much more
beautiful and effective way than you can plan.

I tell my disciples, plan in the best way to the best of your ability. Then, leave it. It may seem that all
your plans are being completely trampled - don’t get frustrated at that point, something much more
beautiful than what you had planned will come to life.

The other possibility is that you may be flowing but may have lost the intensity. This is the case with
people who have no focus and waste their energies getting distracted by anything that comes by.
Understand, water becomes steam only at 100 degrees Celsius. Even at 99 degrees C, it is still water;
it does not transform to steam. Same way, if you are not integrated in seeking, all your energies are
not integrated. The total transformation cannot happen.

Take up something and follow it with full intensity. Intensity does not mean acting rigidly without
scope for updating and change. Only when you are open to change you can make your way like the
river flowing intensely towards the ocean.

‘Being’ is Intensity
What is being? Being complete, total, integrated, expressing your full energy, is what I call ‘being’. If
you are partial in your experience or expression, be very clear you are being hypocritical.

Intensity in anger
Even your anger is hypocritical.You just choose whether to express your anger or not. Your anger is
also directly related to your logic.

You never get angry beyond your logic. It is always managed by your logic. You analyze, am I going
to lose anything here in this situation?’ If you are sure you are going to lose something, you just
suppress your anger. If you are clear, I am not going to lose anything. I can shout at this person. What
can he do?’ then you just explode and express much more anger than what is necessary. Whatever
you have stored in stock, you open up everything and give!

Not expressing, not suppressing — just be and get liberated

Be very clear, when your logic manages your anger, you will have two problems. First, you
unnecessarily shout or unnecessarily show your anger when it is not necessary. Second, even when
you are not expressing, you will be suppressing it.

First, if you are expressing, you will be expressing too much, much more than what is necessary.
Next, if you are not expressing, you will be suppressing it. Be very clear, both are wrong.

Suppressing and expressing both are not going to help. You may ask, ‘Then what are we supposed to
do?’ You are not asked to do anything, just be.

Modern mystic, J. Krishnamurthi, says beautifully, whenever an emotion overtakes you, if even once
you can just be without moving your body, without co-operating with your emotion, you will be
liberated from that emotion.

If you stay without moving your body when you are flooded or overpowered by any emotion, even
once, immediately you will be liberated from that emotion. I am not saying you have to constantly
practice this. No, just once, only once, and you will be liberated from that very emotion.

Intensity is independent of the nature of the work

Intensity does not depend on the nature of the work or action. It can be as complex as running a
billion dollar company or as simple as cleaning the floor. It is not the ‘what’ that is important, but the
‘how’ that is important.

If you can do what you are doing with a totality and intensity that you are completely lost in the
action, you have caught the thread of intensity.

The moment you are lost in the action, you become like a flute on the lips of Existence itself. The air
that goes into the flute comes out as music because you become a channel for the energy of Existence
to flow through you. Be total and intense. That is all that is needed for the arrow to hit the target,
whatever it may be.

Interest Vs Intensity
What qualifies to be called as intensity? What is the difference between intensity and interest?
An interest can be lost, but never the intensity. Interest comes from the mind. Intensity comes from
the being.
After a while, maybe short or long, you get fed up with your own interest. With intensity, it is a thirst
of your being. It transcends the rationale of your logic. Intensity is a call from deep within. The more
you have to wait for it, the more the thirst grows, the more the fire flares up.
See the difference between light and laser. Both are made up of the same light rays but the single-
pointed intense focus of the laser comes from the coherence and the common frequency of the light
rays.

The power of this intensity is what gives the laser the tremendous power to even burn a hole through
metal. At the same time it is a controlled focus. This is what gives it the power to do even a delicate
task like removing a cataract in the eye.

If in a desert your thirst for water becomes really intense, you are ready to pay with your life for a
glass of water. When your thirst for realization becomes that intense, you are ready to pay with your
life for the Truth.

A beautiful Zen story:

A student approached a Zen teacher to learn Zen. The teacher told him, ‟Hear the sound of one hand
clapping. ‟The student tried for three years and did not succeed. He was depressed that he could not
do what his teacher had told him. He came in tears to the teacher saying he had to leave because he
could not do what he had been told. The teacher said, ‟Wait for one more week. Meditate constantly.
‟The student stayed for one more week and meditated. Nothing happened. The teacher said, ‟Try for
five more days.‟ When your whole being is burning with the single intense desire to realize the
Ultimate, you will simply absorb the master's instructions. The magic of transformation is bound to
happen. Only then will you be open to receive him. Till then it is just an interest.

The student stayed further. yet nothing happened. The student came in despair begging to be released.
Then the teacher said, ‟Meditate for three more days. If you don‟t get enlightened, you had better kill
yourself.‟ The second day, the student was enlightened.

When your whole being is burning with the single intense desire to realize the Ultimate, you will
simply absorb the master's instructions. The magic of transformation is bound to happen. Only then
will you be open to receive him. Till then it is just an interest.

Be intense in whatever you do

Tantra’, the mystical science of meditation techniques, says that to know the truth one needs only one
condition — intensity. Be total in what you are, what you do.

Live intensely in the moment and taste the real life. Otherwise, you are not living. You are just
waiting for death.

When you eat, intensely eat. Let your whole attention and energy be on the food. Do not divert your
attention and thoughts to what you need to get done at work tomorrow or where you want to go for
your next vacation.

Enjoy the food with all your senses. Taste the food in your mouth, enjoy the feast in front of your
eyes, touch the food with love, and smell the aroma of the food. When you eat this way totally, you
will enjoy every morsel and you will actually feed into your system the living energy the food is
meant to give.

If you are drinking water, drink it intensely. Become the thirst. Feel the coolness of the water going
into your mouth, throat and down your food pipe. Let each drop of water that goes into your mouth
give you the feeling of fulfillment.
The Tamil classic, Periya Puranam‟, describes the stories of the Nayanmars‘, the ardent devotees of
Lord Shiva*. There are so many instances of the devotees realizing the Ultimate by simple activities
like making garlands for the Lord. An example is Gananaatha Nayanaar, a devotee of the Lord,
engaged in simple services like plucking flowers for worship, making garlands for the Lord, sweeping
and washing the floor of the temple and keeping the lamps in the temple burning. Just this simple life
led him to reaching the Ultimate and brought him his name Gananaatha’ meaning the chief of the
ganas (attendants) of Lord Shiva.

When you pray, be real and spontaneous. Whatever you feel, feel totally and offer it to the Divine.
Don’t cheat yourself and be hypocritical by not admitting what you feel. You cannot hide anything
from the Divine. He knows you better than you know yourself.

Your intensity is the only thing that decides when your object of seeking will happen. If the intensity
is total, it will happen that moment. If the intensity is not integrated and total, it will take more time
because the intensity has to gain strength in that time.

If you are intense enough, it does not need time to reach the Ultimate. Where you are, who are you is
irrelevant. You can reach here and now.

A beautiful story:
There was a dreaded bandit who was a terror in the kingdom. After looting a large number of people,
he started feeling restless and uncomfortable with his actions. He approached a master and asked
hinn, ‟Master I am a sinner. Is there any way out for me? Can I be liberated?‟ The master looked at
the bandit and asked him what he was good at. The bandit replied, ‟Nothing.‟ The master asked,
‟Nothing? You must be good at something!‟ The bandit thought for a long time and then said,
‟Master I only know stealing, that is what I have done all my life.‟ The master smiled and said,
‟Good! Then you will use exactly that now. Go to a quiet place and rob all your perceptions and
ideas and opinions. Steal all the trees and rocks and rivers on planet earth. Steal all the planets and
stars in the sky. And dissolve them in the vast emptiness inside you.‟ The bandit sincerely followed
exactly the instructions of the master. Within 21 days, the bandit realized his true nature — he
became enlightened.

Intensity and the four states of

consciousness
Four states of consciousness

There are four states of consciousness.

When you have ‘I’ Consciousness and thoughts, you are in the waking state, the state in which you
are right now. In this state, ‘I’ has more frequency than your thoughts. So you can control your
thoughts.

When you are without ‘I’ consciousness but having thoughts, you are in the dream state. In the dream
state, your thoughts are at a higher frequency than your ‘I’ consciousness. That is why you have
thoughts in your dreams but you are not able to control them.

When you are without ‘I’ Consciousness and not having any thoughts, you are in the deep sleep state.
Normally, we are aware of only these three states — waking, dream and deep sleep. The fourth state
is where you have I consciousness but no thoughts – Turiya
Intense seeking - awareness in the three states

Intensity means being intense every moment in whatever you do. So first you need to be aware of
yourself in all the states. Then only you can be intense throughout.
Now you experience who you are with awareness only during the waking state. You feel, ‘I am a
doctor’, ‘I am a lawyer’, ‘I am an engineer’ and so on. Only if we are aware of the identities that we
carry and enjoy in all the three states, we have caught the thread, the center line of all the three states
of waking, dream and deep sleep. When we catch the thread of all these three states, suddenly we
realize our identity in all the three states.

Somebody asked me, ‘I don’t think that in the deep sleep state I am aware.’ Then who is the person
who comes back and says it was deep peace during my deep sleep? Who is the person who is
reminiscing about it saying, ‘It was filled with darkness. It was as if I was not there at all’? Who is
coming back and remembering even this idea, ‘I was not there at all’?
If the person is not there in that state, then who is coming back to connect all these three states? No,
we cannot say we were not there in the deep sleep state. We were there, but we were not aware of the
identity that we had in that state.

Understand, a person who is aware of all these three states is conscious. If we are aware of the
identity in all these three states, then we are conscious enough, our seeking is intense enough to be
answered, we are intense enough to be initiated and blessed.

If we are not already aware of all these three states, if we have not experienced all these three states
with the same identity, then naturally we need to now intensify our seeking.
An intense seeker will carry the identity about himself throughout all these three states. If even once
or twice you have experienced your waking identity in the dream state then you are intense.

In the dream state suddenly sometimes you remember that you are beyond the identity which you
think as you in the dream state. I have seen seekers going through this experience in the dream state.
They will be dreaming and suddenly they will identify themselves with their identity of the waking
state. Then they will think about the dream state, ‘Hey, this is too small. This is nothing.’

If you have had the experience of your waking state identity in the dream state, understand, then you
have the intensity. Your seeking is intense.

How to get enlightened? I want to...real bad and urgently

Understand: Question is a word. Quest is a feeling.

Man is born as a quest. The rest of Existence cannot reflect the Divine like man can. Man is like a
mirror. He has the choice to face and reflect the Divine or to turn away. Man can make a conscious
choice, which is why he can grow. Man can choose to realize the Divine through his human form. No
other being in Existence has this choice.

If these words, How do I get enlightenment? I want to... real bad and urgently, have come out, if this
question has come out as a deep quest, then you don’t need anything.
Just boil, let the whole being burn with this quest. That is enough. Nothing else needs to be done. Let
this boiling be intense.

Allow this boiling. Allow this burning. Allow this intensity. Allow this urgency.
Let the urge become urgent. Let the question become your quest. Let it just eat your ego, eat your
inner space.
People ask me, Have you been enlightened by the divine grace or by your effort or by your quest?’

I tell them, your having the quest is the first sign that you are having the divine grace. Unless you
have the divine grace, you will not have the quest.
Understand, the quest or seeking is like a seed. It is a seed feeling suffocated inside the shell. See, the
life that is inside the seed, unless it feels suffocated inside the shell, it won’t open and become a tree.

The moment the seed starts that it should open up, the moment it starts feeling the seeking, the
urgency and the quest to open up to become a tree, it means that already the tree inside the seed has
started expressing itself.

If you have the feeling that you should get enlightened, the Buddha in you has opened his eyes. The
Buddha in you has started waking up. All you need to do is open your eyes!
Allow this seeking. From morning till night let it boil, let it create a deep dissatisfaction in you. Let
every pore in your skin, every nerve in your body, every cell in you vibrate with that intensity. Let it
swallow all your depressions you may have in life. In life you may have so many other depressions
and sufferings of not having so many things. Let all those sufferings be swallowed by this one
suffering.

A beautiful Zen story:

A Zen student was intensely studying under her master but she was not able to experience true
meditation for a very long time. One full moon night, she was carrying a bucket of water suspended
on a bamboo stick. She saw the rejection of the moon in the bucket. Suddenly, the bamboo broke. The
water fell out of the bucket. The rejection of the moon disappeared and so did her ego

When the seeking is intense, it will remove the juice from your ego. The green grass becomes like a
haystack. Just a match is enough to bum the whole haystack down. The Ultimate can happen in a split
second through a simple happening.

So understand, let this seeking, let this quest, your saying, ‘How to get enlightened? I want to...real
bad and urgently’, let this seeking burn all your other sufferings, all your other depressions, all your
other desires, all your other concerns about life.

Let it happen and suddenly you will see that the seeking suddenly disappears, it is not there. When the
seeking disappears, you are enlightened. You have achieved what you are seeking.

Intensity prepares you for the

ultimate
Initiation
The Upanishads, the ancient vedic texts by the sages and mystics that happened as revelations, say
that for the person who is initiated the whole world is heaven. Understand the word ‘initiation’. It
does not mean doing some ceremony or ritual.

Initiation means that click happening in you. When a master expressed the truth, if the click, the
realization, happens in you and if you suddenly feel, ‘O god! What he says is right. I was always
thinking exactly this. He put it in the right way, that is what initiation is. If you feel whatever I am
speaking is what you always thought about but I am verbalizing it and properly putting it in words,
the initiation has happened.

Please understand, only after all the preparation is done and only when you are in the state of high
intensity, the truth uttered by the master just clicks.

When the master says there is no need for any seeking any more and just liberate yourself right now,
you will be able to do so only if you have done enough of seeking and created the intensity. That is
the paradox!

The technique is to get the right attitude of intensity. Actually, if you have high intense energy, you
will automatically have the right listening. You will be just waiting to catch one glimpse. You will be
just waiting to listen. You will be just waiting to imbibe.

That is why masters speak again and again and again for years over years. I started speaking only a
few years ago. Buddha spoke for over forty years. But, the message was the same. His first sermon
and the last sermon are almost the same.

You may then think why thousands of disciples sat everyday and heard the same sermon again and
again. Because, the click happens only when you are in intense energy. Only with intensity it clicks.
You just catch the flame and the awakening happens

The deep spiritual experience

Requirements for spiritual experience

For the spiritual experience to happen, two conditions need to be fulfilled. One is that you must be
completely open and available to the surroundings. The other is the intense energy field.
Sometimes even if you are open, if you are not in the intense energy field, the first cracking of the
coconut of your ego does not happen. The first spiritual experience is just like breaking open a
coconut. Once the first opening happens, it is not difficult to break the rest of the coconut. The first
opening needs an intense spiritual energy field.

These two factors are what resulted in my first spiritual experience. I was open and available to the
surroundings, and I was in the intense energy field of Arunachala.

Fortunately, I was attracted to the beauty of that hill. Normally, if you see a hill or a river or an ocean
every day, you will take it for granted. Somehow I never took that hill for granted. I never thought I
know about it. I was continuously open, available.

Understand, being open and available every time, seeing it every morning with the eyes of freshness
or with the mind of openness is what I am calling ‘being open and available’. Many times, we
completely close ourselves to the society.

We just come to some conclusion, some understanding and after that we never update our
understanding or our effort with the result.

Every day, the Arunachala hill was living for me. Everyday it was never the same old hill that I saw
yesterday. I had a very funny routine. In the morning when I got up I would not open my eyes. I
would slowly walk from my room to outside the house holding the parapet wall. I would come out
and stand in a place from where I knew the hill could be seen. Only then I would open my eyes so that
the first thing that I saw in the morning would be that hill.
Somehow my brothers knew that the first thing that I wanted to see was the hill. They would want to
have fun teasing me. When they knew that I was out from my bed and slowly walking, they would
come and stand in front of me.

If I opened my eyes and did not see the hill and instead saw their faces, I would go back and lie down
again. I would lie down again, sleep for half an hour, then again get up and slowly walk back to see
the hill and open my eyes. Only if I saw the hill the first thing in the morning, I would carry on with
my routine.

It may look funny and superstitious but I always felt I took birth, I took this body, because of that
attraction and pull that hill has got for enlightened beings.

There is a very beautiful verse in Tamil that describes the hill as ‘the hill that attracts enlightened
beings around it’. The hill is especially respected for attracting enlightened beings not only from this
planet earth, but also from other planets and spaces, towards planet earth. I never took the hill for
granted. It was an ever-living presence.

Encounter with the Divine

One day I was trying to sit and meditate. It was a full moon day (Poornima) and the moon was rising
as the sun was setting. I was just sitting on a rock on Arunachala hill, trying the meditation technique
that the disciple of Ram ana Maharishi and enlightened master Annamalai Swamigal', had initiated
me into.
I was sitting on the rock trying to find the source from where the feeling of ‟I‟ was rising. On that
day I was sitting for a particularly long time trying to find the source in a deep way.
Suddenly something happened and I felt like I was being sucked inside, pulled inside. I was sitting
with closed eyes but I saw very clearly that something opened inside. The moment that opened inside,
I was able to see whole 360 degrees around me. My eyes were closed but I was able to see complete
360 degrees, whatever was happening in all the directions - front, side, back, up, and Not only was I
able to see, but I was also able to feel very clearly with the same intensity how we all feel alive inside
our skin, that I was alive in everything I was able to see.

I was able to see whatever was around me — the plants, rocks, trees and everything. I was able to feel
that I am alive in everything. In the same way you, all feel you are alive inside your body I felt alive
with the whole cosmos, with the whole Existence.
Till then I was just a mere body. After that, I realized I am body also. Understand, ‟I am body also‟.

It was a very deep experience. If it was just a word or imagination, it won’t have that much impact on
the inner space. It was an intense conscious experience.
You see, now you know you are inside your skin. Now you will listen to anything as long as it does
not disturb you. Naturally you know how to protect yourself because you are alive inside your body
and that is your conscious experience.

No matter however many people teach you that you are not just your body you will only listen but
you will not allow them to work on you! Because your conscious experience is your body.

My experience that ‘I am this whole Existence’ became my truth. That is why I started living
according to that.
People are surprised that I lived such a strong intense life in such a young age. They feel that it is very
difficult and unimaginable. It is unimaginable for you because it is not your conscious experience. It
is easy for me because feeling the whole cosmos is me became a very solid experience.

The Intensity of Buddha

Look at the biography of enlightened master and founder of Buddhism, Gautam Buddha. He searched
for six long years. He tried various paths but the beauty is that in every attempt he put in his whole
being.

Whatever he decided to follow, he did with complete, unwavering intensity. He tried various
techniques such as fasting, continuous penance, chanting and many such methods. He tried all
possible techniques but nothing worked.

During his seeking, a teacher told him to eat only one grain of rice per da Or three months. Buddha
sincerely followed his instructions. He was reduced to skin and bones and became extremely weak.
One day, he stepped into the river to bathe. He had become so weak that he couldn’t even move his
legs and was being swept away by the current. He caught hold of a tree branch and while hanging
onto it he suddenly realized the fruitlessness of all his efforts. He had been mortifying the body but in
the process, he had only lost his bodily strength.
He felt a deep depression that he could not achieve anything in the inner world and he had nothing
meaningful in the outer world.

He came out of the river and sat under the tree. He was frustrated but the difference between ordinary
frustration and Buddha’s frustration was he was complete and intense in his frustration as well.

There was not even a grain of hope he had. He completely gave up. There was nothing to achieve,
nothing to look forward to.

It is said that on that night as he looked at the sky ready to sleep, he attained nirvana'.
The one factor that resulted in Buddha achieving It is intensity. So many of us claim we are doing
everything but nothing is happening. Look little deeper and see how integrated you are in your thirst
and seeking. Whatever you may seek, integrate your energies completely and go for it. You will then
see the universe open up to you completely.

Intensity for my deep spiritual

experience
I had mentioned about my deep spiritual experience where I felt one with Existence and had a 360-
degree vision of everything around me. There are so many people practicing so many different
meditation techniques. What is the difference, what is the reason why the experience happened to a
small boy?

I can say that one important reason is that my whole inner space was ripe, ready for this small
technique to awaken and open it. Constantly I used to be in that high frequency of the masters without
even my conscious awareness.

See, especially in the young age, whoever inspires or impresses you becomes the hero of your inner
space. These great masters impressed me so much that in every situation I would think, How would
these great masters behave?’ For example, if I had some fear, I would remember, ‘How will
Annamalai Swamigal face this fear? He won’t bother. He is enlightened. Let me also be like that.’

The inner space was so inspired and impressed by these great masters, that before every step I took in
my life I would think, ‘How will he behave? Let me also do that.’ The inner space was so pure also at
the young age and I had no heroes other than the masters. At every step I used to think, ‘How will he
behave? Let me behave like that. How he will do? Let me do like that.’

Walking in burial grounds

I used to go for a circumambulation of the Arunachala hill. It is more than 12 kilometers around the
hill. I used to go late at night. When I had a little fear I used to say, ‘How will
Annamalai Swamigal’ behave? He won’t bother about fear. Then let me also be like
that.’

Let me tell you about one incident.

It was raining heavily that night as I went around the hill. I had some fear seeing the heavy rain,
thunder and lightning. Immediately I thought, ‟How will Annamalai Swamigal behave? He won‟t
bother. He will just walk. Let me also do the same way.‟

I was walking through the traditional crematorium. In India both cremation and burial are done in
the same place. I was walking in that place because when you go around the hill the path goes
through that crematorium.

Suddenly I saw a dog biting something and eating. When I went near the dog started barking at me. At
first when the fear came up I though t, ‟How will Annamalai Swamigal behave? He won’t bother. Let
me just go. “I started moving. Anyhow when I started moving the dog got scared and ran away.

When I got nearer, I saw that it was a dead body which was not completely buried. It had come out in
the rain and it was lying on the road. Just imagine a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy, alone at
midnight, seeing a dead body without a head, since the dog had the head in its mouth.

The fear started but it did not even reach my being completely. The shock, the fear stroke did not even
happen completely. As soon as the first thought started coming up, with intense awareness I thought,
‟How will Annamalai Swamigal react now? He will just walk around and go. Just walk around and
go. ‟

I continued to walk. That’s all. I took a detour and walked away. I did not even turn back and see. The
[ear stroke, which was like a bubble, which was about to start, did not even open up, did not even
reach my body. The heat or the shivering from fear was not even there in the body. It just died.

Intensely, the whole conscious inner space was ready. That is the reason, just a punch, just a small
inspiration was able to put me into that experience. That is what I call ‘Living Enlightenment’.
Intense, innocent inner space
When you live the master’s body language you live enlightenment.
Whenever any thought came into my inner space, whether it was related to clothes or food or
anything, the first thing I would think was, ‘How will Annamalai Swamigal behave?
Naturally he won’t have any desire. Then forget about it!’

If I felt a little lazy to meditate or to circumambulate the hill, I would think, ‘How will Annamalai
Swamigal think? How will he handle this situation? Naturally he will not bother about this laziness.
He will just get up and meditate, that’s all! So just do that!’ So constantly, from morning until night,
these masters became the reference. They became my life center.

I asked Annamalai Swamigal once, ‟I saw Devi' in my dream. Do you also see her in the dream?
Annamalai Swamigal replied, ‟No, I don’t have dreams. “I was shocked, ‟You don’t have dream!
Then how can I have dream! ‟

That night I said to myself, ‘Now, no dream. Annamalai Swamigal said ‘no dream’ so I cannot have
dream.’You will be surprised, that night when some dream started happening, I said clearly from
inside the dream, ‘No! Annamalai Swamigal doesn’t have dreams. How can I have dreams?’

The dream disappeared. Just the dream disappeared. The inner space was so thorough, so innocent, so
direct, it just happened.

Even if I felt cold or anything, I would remember, ‘How will Annamalai Swamigal behave? He won’t
bother. Then don’t bother. That’s all.’ There were no further questions or arguments inside.

Message of living enlightenment —

‘How will master behave?’
You can also use this simple, powerful technique. It is so simple your mind cannot find any excuse to
escape.
In any situation, ask yourself, ‘How will master respond? How will master face this situation?’ Do the
same. You will see that a new door opens. This is what I call ‘Living Enlightenment’. You don’t need
anything else. This one thing is enough.

Even if you are sitting, if thoughts come up, ask your mind, ‘If master is sitting what will be coming
up? Naturally silence. Then why are you thinking? Silent!’ That’s all. Nothing else.
If your mind says, ‘No, no, I know it is true. I know this but it is too much.’ Then think, If master’s
mind says this, how he will behave?’ He would have finished the mind that moment! That’s all. Just
be very clear.
Take this one message and let this message become life in you, the message of Living Enlightenment.
Understand, from the age often when I was inspired and impressed by Annamalai Swamigal, I started
doing this technique. I didn’t even know then that it was a meditation technique.

It just started, ‘How will Annamalai Swamigal behave in this situation?’As a boy,many times in my
homeI have seen my brothers or family fighting for some share in something and I would think, ‘How
will Annamalai Swamigal behave? He won’t even bother! Forget about it. Let them have.’ That’s all
True relationship with the master
Actually, this is what I call relationship with the master. Relationship with the master is not just doing
some worship or putting some flowers or worshipping him once in a while. No!
Relationship happens when you are thoroughly impressed by the master. Whenever anything comes
up, say fear or insecurity or greed or anger, just see, ‘How will master behave?’ Simply it will
disappear. It will just disappear.

Many times I tell people, just feeling strongly connected with the master is enough. You don’t need
anything else. It is not just your ordinary relationship. In an ordinary relationship, you neither try to
understand nor imbibe the master. Just some feeling is there. I can’t even call that as a relationship. It
is an ordinary, regular interaction.

Feeling connected to the master means just living him. When you live the master, then you feel
intensely connected to him. Only then you are expanding. Only then something is happening to you.
This has not happened in most of us because of so many other relationships. So many other persons
occupy your inner space and so many others have inspired you or impressed you or given the idea that
they are heroes. Just fil1 your inner space with the master and watch your problems simply dissolve.

Intensity - the ultimate technique

Be intense in whatever you do. Whether you eat, sing, dance, pray or work, be completely into that, in
the moment.

Intensity is enlightenment. As of now, some part of you is intense while some part of you is lazy.
Being hundred percent intense is enlightenment.
The first thing you need for living enlightenment is intensity. Intensity is the sword with which you
can break the mind.

It is just like awakening from the dream. The first thing you need is the intention, the idea that you
should wake up. So now you need to have the intense idea to wake up.
Understand, the intensity with which you work towards wealth, relations etc., if you just turn a little
towards enlightenment, you will awaken.

Intensely decide, ‘I will wake up from this life that I call life.’ Create an intense will or prayer. When
you create a will and direct it towards you, it is called a will. When you create a will and direct it
towards the Divine, it is called a prayer.

Intensity is a strong intention to wake up, the strong intention for fulfillment, for living enlightenment,
for eternal bliss. The only gap between you and enlightenment is intensity.

How to get Intensity

Remember how intensely and anxiously you run behind things that give you joy. Suppose I tell now
that whoever prays intensely will get a ten-million-dollar prize, you will show the intensity of your
life, is it not? Just because you think there is some product that will fulfill you, you are intense. With
money you know it is going to add something to your life. In the same way, enlightenment is also
going to add something to your life.

In order to have intensity towards enlightenment, you can start by creating intensity towards things
that you have experienced a desire towards. For example, if you desire health or wealth, be intense
about that. That yearning will become integrated and will get directed to the unknown, to
enlightenment. Not only that, your unfulfilled desires can be simply burnt with the intensity.

Whatever you experience as fulfillment, yearn for that. The intense yearning is enough, it will
evaporate you. And the fulfillment you experience will be many times more than the fulfillment you
may have ever experienced before.

Meditation techniques to be intense

This is a very powerful technique from the Shiva Sutras. The aphorism or sutra says,
Die into the infinite void where you are no more Moving beyond the senses into Shiva Consciousness
This technique is called the Shanmukhi Mudra'.

As it will be difficult to maintain this posture for a long time, you may sit on the ground and support
your hands on a chair to maintain comfort. You can put a chair in front of you and turn it facing
towards your side to support your hand. Alternatively, you may sit in a chair and support your hands
using the chair in front of you. By supporting your hands on a chair, you will avoid shoulder ache.

This technique closes the doorways to your senses. This should only be practised by people who have
some experience in meditation. As in all meditations sit comfortably cross legged or in a chair with
back, neck and head in one vertical line.

When you are in Shanmukhi Mudra‟, the energy flow to the outside world through the seven
openings of the face (two ears, two eyes, two nostrils and one mouth) is blocked and turned inwards.
Your hands are very powerful. The energy centers in the hands are so powerful that they can stop the
energy flow, turn it into a concentrated beam of energy and direct it towards the ajna chakra' or third
eye.

Normally our breath goes in and out chaotically. By closing the nostrils partially with your fingers,
you can reduce the air flow and balance it.

The Shanmukhi Mudra‟ firstly stops the energy flow towards outside.
Secondly, we are turning the senses inwards.

Thirdly, we concentrate them towards the third eye.

Instructions:

If you wear spectacles, remove them. Place your fingers as follows:

Thumbs pressing down on the short ear lobes till you hear a humming sound.
Index fingers lightly on both the eyes. Middle fingers on the bridge of nose.
Ring fingers lightly under nostrils.
Little fingers on lips.

For the next 21 minutes, follow the steps given below:

Close the nose partially. Just reduce the prana Row. When your mind settles down by itself, the prana
flow will reduce. Be in the Shanmukhi Mudra and inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as
deeply as possible. Keep your mouth shut tightly. Visualize that both your eyeballs have become
stones and let them not move.

Intensify your awareness. Do not create stress — try to penetrate with deep awareness. Don’t create
pressure, create only awareness. Visualize intensely as if you are penetrating your third eye. Visualize
deeply as if you are penetrating your third eye with a drill bit.
Relax. Open your eyes slowly.

It is important to make yourself comfortable by supporting yourself properly to be in Shanmukhi

Mudra. You will see tremendous energy created in your third eye, to awaken your intuition. When
you are comfortable, you will see that you are entering into deeper energies or higher consciousness.
Innocence Regained Opens Many Doors
to Life
It may seem strange to speak of innocence after talking about intensity, but in the truest sense, you
cannot be intense in anything you do unless you are innocent of other agenda. The innocence I speak
of may not be what your own dictionary defines as innocence. What I speak about is the innocence of
a child. A child IS intense about anything that it does. Adults have lost that power, but it can be
regained.

What is Innocence?

Innocence means purity of the inner space, not being affected by the thoughts or the engraved
memories. Let you be very clear, even if you are not expressing your emotions like anger, greed and
lust, if they are present in your inner space, you are not as yet a total and innocent person. Socially
you may be pure, that’s all. On the other hand if you express your anger, lust and greed but nothing
touches your inner space and you live like an innocent child, then be very clear, you are a pure being.

You can see children get angry. Children are greedy also. They build their personality mostly on
greed. That is why they are so aware and conscious of ‘mine’ attitude. Try to take away a toy from a
child. The child will behave as if his life is taken away. He will scream and shout. This is because his
whole personality is built upon ‘mine’ attitude. Children have greed and anger, but you cannot call
them impure. This is because whatever you may think as impurity does not affect their inner space.
They will sit and play with their toys and after a few hours they will throw them and go away. They
don’t carry anything in them. Their inner space is beautiful and pure.

Innocence is directly related to the inner space. It is in no way related to the outer world. In the Shiva
Sutras’, Shiva gives us techniques to achieve this innocence. If you follow Shiva’s life as is described
in the Hindu mythological stories, you will not be able to see any social or traditional innocence in
him. But there will be the pure and ultimate innocence. The place where he lives or the way in which
he lives is not directly related to his purity or innocence. Shiva lives in a cemetery where bodies are
cremated, surrounded by spirits and ghosts.
The word Shiva in Sanskrit means causeless auspiciousness. This causeless auspiciousness, the
energy to create bliss wherever he is, wherever he happens, arises out of his innocent inner space.

In the vedic tradition, there are scriptural writings called Upanishads. The word upanishad in Sanskrit
refers to teachings of a master to his disciples as they sat with him. There are 108 such Upanishads.
They are the essence of the enlightenment science handed down by the great masters of the vedic
times. One of these, the Chandogya Upanishad’ describes a beautiful story:

A boy by name Satyakama goes to a master seeking enlightenment. The master gives him four
hundred cows telling him, ‟Take these cows. Go live in the forest and look after them. When these
multiply into a thousand cows bring them back to me. ‟ Satyakama goes to the forest and lives with
the cows, waiting for them to multiply. It takes many years for the cows to multiply to one thousand.
For all those years he sits not talking to anybody, just being with the cows. Soon, he forgets the
human language. In deep silence, not relating with any human being, he slowly loses his outer world
identity.
By the time one thousand cows happen, he forgets how to count. He simply sits waiting, with a
beautiful feeling of ecstasy. Finally, a cow comes to him and says, ‟Sir we have become one thousand
now. We can go back to master. ‟ He replies, ‟Is that so? Alright. ‟ Satyakama is in ecstasy. He has
forgotten the way back. The cows lead the way. On the way back, animals, birds and even the fire that
he kindles to cook his food instruct him on the nature of the Brahman„, the ultimate Truth.

When Satyakama returns to the master the master looks at him and smiles. He says, ‟You look so
radiant like the knower of the Truth, Satyakama. Who taught you? ‟Satyakama tells him how he had
understood the Truth through animals and birds and requests the master to teach him the Truth in his
own words.

The master says, ‟You already know the Truth, and blesses him.

The story says that just by being, just by listening to what nature has to say, Satyakama established
himself in the Truth. He became enlightened.

Total innocence leads to enlightenment.

Satyakama asks the master for enlightenment and the master asks him to multiply cows! Many of you
will ask, what do cows have to do with enlightenment? Fortunately, Satyakama was not so
intellectual. Fortunately, he did not receive formal intellectual education. So he did not ask this
question! He was simple, innocent and humble, ready for the transformation to happen. He had no
logic to use.

Understand, unless you are without logic, or tired of logic, you cannot be ready for the
transformation. Logic cannot help you understand even your own life. Logic cannot help you look
even into your own mind. How can it help you change?

People ask me, ‟Swamiji, why are you against logic?’ I am not against logic. I am only telling you
that all your suffering is because of logic without intelligence. Your logic creates so much politics
inside you from morning till evening.

What is politics? It is nothing but differing opinions on the same subject, is it not? Now watch your
mind. It says one thing in the morning and a different thing in the evening on the same subject. This
creates the dilemma in your mind. Your mind itself is such dilemma.
People say that in all spiritual organizations there is so much politics. I ask them, ‘What do you
mean?’ There is politics inside the very persons who make this statement! To create politics, you
don’t even need two people. One person is more than enough. One single person with logic is enough
because in the morning his logic will say something and in the evening it will say something else!
And naturally the fight between you and you is politics! Am I right? Then why are you making the
statement that even spiritual organizations have politics?

If you place the decisions that you make in the morning and the decisions that you make in the
evening together in front of you, you will see a politician sitting inside you!

Logic does not allow you to be simple and innocent. It does not allow the transformation to happen
easily. Logic has to be overcome for the transformation to happen. Only when there is no logic there
can be innocence. Innocence is the space for transformation to happen.
In the case of Satyakama, fortunately he was not bitten by logic. The disciple goes to the master for
enlightenment and the master tells him, ‘Alright, take these cows, go to the forest and stay there till
they become one thousand cows. Then come back!’ If today’s seeker was in that disciple’s place he
would have said, ‘I think the master is trying to exploit me. He wants a thousand cows, which is why
he is telling me to do this work. He is using me to get his work done.’ Innocence is lost to logic! That
is why no modern day seeker receives such amazing techniques.
Understand, this is not a mere story. It has got a great truth behind it. With innocence, Satyakama
simply followed what the master said. Further, he lost his logic of counting. He was completely lost in
ecstasy and joy. The mind stopped functioning. He didn’t care about one thousand or two thousand.
Just the innocence and acceptance caused the greatest happening in him — enlightenment! When you
completely accept, you don’t need the mind. The mind is necessary only when you live with
struggles, only when you are fighting. Just this moment accept yourself in the outer world and the
inner world. You will go out enlightened.

For so many years, completely accepting what the master said, Satyakama just was. What else can
happen to him but enlightenment?

You may think, How can simple acceptance do such a big job?’ The problem is that even spiritual
knowledge is approached by us with the space of an intellectual mind. It is from that intellectual space
that we ask the how’. Intellect always questions. Innocence straightaway starts practicing what the
master says. That is the difference.
When you are utterly innocent and open, initiation is enlightenment. Just a word is enough to
enlighten. Shiva says in the Shiva Sutras’, ‘Just listen while the master is expressing the truth, and
become enlightened!’

How can mere listening lead to enlightenment? Why did it happen to Satyakama when it is not
happening to us? First thing: he was innocent and therefore intelligent to receive the master’s
instruction. Second: he was courageous enough to live with it. He had complete trust in the master.
Innocence always comes with trust.

I am not asking you to get me a thousand cows. No! I am asking you to come with the same mood as
Satyakama. Come with the same innocence. You don’t have to do exactly what Satyakama did. But
you have to be like Satyakama. If your being is like that, in this moment the transformation can
happen. Just in this moment the transmission of light can happen.

Remain empty
The word upanishad means ‘sitting at the feet of the master’. In ancient India, there was the gurukul„
tradition of masters and disciples. Children were left with the master at the age of seven and they
grew up centering beautifully in their consciousness. Masters are living embodiments of the scriptural
truths. Their thoughts, words and deeds stem from the ultimate Truth. Disciples pick up the truth just
by living around them.

Swami Sri Yukteshwar Giri, an enlightened master from India says, ‘Sitting with the master is not
merely being in his physical presence, but keeping him in your heart, being one with him in principle
and tuning yourself to him.’ This is the whole technique of upanishad. The master is superconscious
energy. When you tune to him, you tune to that energy. You can tune only through innocence,
openness.

Openness is emptiness. Let not knowledge fill you. Knowledge is but a mere tool, not your substance.
Reject all knowledge as ‘not this’, ‘not this’. When I say reject, I mean don’t settle for any
intermediate knowledge except the ultimate Truth. Because when you drop everything that
continuously arises in you, then you have no other go. You are thrown back into yourself and it is
there you will find the ultimate Truth. It is then you are ready to be filled with the Truth. That alone
can make upanishad happen.

If you watch children, their eyes will be filled with wonder and freshness all the time. They are so
empty inside. They don’t hold any opinion about anything. They are ready to receive. Their readiness
is expressed in their eyes. Have you ever seen an adult with such eyes? The eyes lose their glow as we
grow older because we become dulled by what we start knowing. Knowledge makes us dull. We may
know many things, but the knowing should not dull us in any way. We should remain empty in spirit
always.

If you just look at life without any opinions, without any words of description, without any fixed
ideas, then you are like an empty teacup into which the brewed tea can be poured. You receive
because you hold nothing, because you are empty. Then you never lose your enthusiasm. You are
never bored. You are like a child, innocent and fresh.

A young girl was writing something on a piece of paper. Her father asked her what it was.
She said, ‟I am writing a letter. ‟ He asked, ‟To whom? ‟ ‟To me, “she replied.
‟What does the letter say? ‟ He asked.

She replied, ‟How do I know? I have not mailed it and I have not received it yet.‟

There is so much freshness behind innocence. Life becomes an unfolding mystery every moment with
it. That is the truth. Life is an ever unfolding mystery. It is the mind that typecasts it. The mind always
wants life on its own specific terms. Innocence embraces life with life’s own terms.

If you play hide and seek with children, you will see that they will hide in the same place as you hid
the last time! Not just once but most of the time! How is this possible? Because of one thing: they
move with innocence. They don’t have any idea in their head. They simply follow their heart. They
have great trust in you, so they simply hide where you hid, not even suspecting you will look there!
That is the beauty.

Innocence trusts. Innocence does not worry about being exploited. Neuroscientists have explanations
for this now. They say that till about the age of five or six, a child’s brain wave patterns are in the
theta and delta states. These are extremely impressionable states of mind in which we dream and
sleep. These are states of no identity. Till the age of twelve they say that brain waves are in alpha
state, still very impressionable. This is why children believe most of what adults say to them. In their
innocence they trust.

When you see with empty eyes, everything you see goes deep and causes fresh insight. Life becomes
an eternally unfolding mystery. The very nature of your questioning changes. The nature of the
questioning reveals the depth of innocence of the questioner.

There are three ways to ask a question: you can ask out of innocence, or you can ask out of
knowledge to show that you too know, and third, you can ask to confirm that what you know is
correct. When you ask out of innocence, you are completely ready to receive the answer. When you
ask out of knowledge, you completely miss the answer. When you ask for confirmation, you simply
resist the answer. The fundamental secret of proper learning and knowing is to function from a state
of innocence.

The problem is that those who are not empty never recognize that they are not empty. You cannot tell
them they are full. They will neither understand nor accept it. But a man of innocence can say,
‘Because of my knowing I missed it. I actually don’t know. I am now eager to know.’ The moment
this space is created, the learning continues to happen. In this space there is no ego of knowing. The
resistance is dropped and there is pure receptivity.
J. Krishnamurti‘, the great philosopher, beautifully says, ‘There can be freedom from knowledge only
when the motivation for gathering of knowledge is understood.’
What is generally the motivation for knowledge? You see: the present is an unfolding miracle and
mystery of Existence. We try to grasp it with the net of knowledge. That is the motivation for
knowledge. But it can never happen! The unknown can never be trapped with the known. The
unknown can be known only by surrendering to it. That surrender is what is called intelligence!
Intelligence recognizes the mystery of the present moment and surrenders to it joyfully. That joy is
the joy of innocence.

Knowledge on the other hand denies the mystery of the present moment. It tries to ascertain it every
minute and the present can never be ascertained. So you continuously remain with what is called fear
of the unknown’. It is through the process of trying to ascertain the present moment that the fear of
the unknown takes root. Otherwise, you have no fear! You are very clear that the present moment is a
mystery!

Through knowledge, you somehow try to escape from the ‘not-knowing’ of the moment. To the ego,
not-knowing means being nothing. It cannot handle being nothing. But innocence is being nothing
and enjoying the present! The present is an unopened gift. But knowledge robs it of its suspense.
When knowledge understands that the ways of the Self are yet to be discovered, then it doesn’t hinder
the process of the ultimate Knowing. Then it behaves as a tool that comes into play when actually
required and does not stand in the way of embracing the mysteries of life.
Once knowledge solidifies in the being there is no space left for experiencing. There is scope only for
replay of knowledge. Everything becomes a reflection of some past knowledge or some past
conclusion. The future becomes a continuation of the past patterns and experiences. You already
know the fragrance of a flower. You already know the sound of the waves.

Existence is not a continuation of anything. It is fresh every minute. So it is not possible to know
anything. What do you know of what will happen the next second? If this is understood, all knowing
can be dropped. Then there is only wisdom and wisdom is innocent intelligence. It allows the
experience to happen without knowledge hindering. Then the great discoveries of the Self and that
which is around the Self as well as the mysteries that link both happen.

J. Krishnamurti rightly says that belief discards so many possibilities and urges you into one
particular activity. Since the mind is constantly looking for activity you go behind belief. We base our
whole life on beliefs. Because of this we are immersed in activity, but not action. Activity needs
constant fueling through beliefs. Activity cannot afford to stop. If it stops, the mind falls into
depression. Action happens as and when required and stops. Activity happens out of belief. Action
happens out of understanding. Activity causes fatigue while action creates energy and inspiration.
What you need is action, not activity.

Just understand that belief is nothing but your own understanding of something and not the truth. In
any given situation, four different people can conclude differently with four different beliefs. There is
no absolute reality in belief. It is merely an individual perception. But innocence keeps the perception
open. That is the beauty of it. It doesn’t conclude and close the doors on anything.

There are innumerable interpretations to anything. Not holding onto any one interpretation is the
essence of innocence. Then the spirit is kept alive.

Grasp with Innocence

When you are with innocence you simply enjoy the moment. If you watch innocent people, they will
never appear to be with any great purpose. They will simply revel in the moment with a totality, with
simplicity. Innocence grasps the moment while knowledge misses it. Knowledge knows only purpose
while innocence knows the beauty of purposelessness.
If you set aside your knowledge, you are ready to grasp the moment and the Truth. The present holds
the truth in it. The problem is that today education teaches only knowledge and how to be clever. It
doesn’t educate on innocence. Where in the universities do they teach innocence?
There is such a pressure to be clever today. Children lose their innocence to the conditioning that they
receive in the name of ‘how to be clever’. Over time, like this small boy, even innocence is used only
to make up for cleverness!

A father introduced his son proudly to his colleagues at office for the first time.
All his colleagues were standing around the boy and the father said, ‟Son, why don‟t you tell them
how old you are?‟ The child promptly said, ‟When I am at home I am seven. But when I am on a bus,
I am five.‟

This is how children are trained today. They are trained to see utility in everything. Education
evaluates you by your own utility. But you are not your utility. You are your being. The being can
never be evaluated. Only the mind can be, and mind itself is a myth! Society creates a myth, which is
your mind, and holds it as the yardstick to evaluate you.
That is the reason why knowledge is so popular today.

A small story:
Four friends lived in a town. They spent a lot of time together. Three ofthem were very learned. The
fourth was not as learned but he was wise.
One day, they decided to travel to other lands to exhibit their learning to men and earn money.

The fourth friend had nothing to boast of, but expressed his wish to accompany them.
The first friend said, ‟You don‟t know much. If you accompany us, we will have to unnecessarily
share our money with you.‟

The second friend said, ‟Yes, that is true. It is better you stay back.‟ The third friend was more kind.
He said, ‟We grew up together all these years. It is not right to tell him to stay back. He should come
along.‟

So the four of them started their journey.

They passed through a dense forest. They saw many wild animals and experienced many exciting
moments. Suddenly one day, they came across a heap of animal bones.
One of them said, ‟I think this is a wonderful way to put our knowledge to test. Let us bring this
animal back to life.‟

The two other friends agreed, but the fourth one said, ‟I feel these are the bones of a very big animal,
so we should not attempt to do such things.‟ The other three laughed at him and called him a coward.
They said, ‟If you had knowledge like we do, you will not feel so afraid of such things. Keep quiet and
watch us. The three proceeded with the experiment.
One of them arranged the bones in a way that it looked like a proper animal. Then he chanted some
verses, sprinkled holy water on it and the bones suddenly took the shape of a skeleton. They were
amazed by the power of their knowledge.

The second one came forward, chanted a few more verses and sprinkled more water on it. The
skeleton suddenly got covered with muscles, fiesh, blood and a coat of fur. It was a lion and lacked
only life.

The friends were amazed at themselves.

The third friend came forward and said he would infuse life into it.
The fourth friend gave another warning but they laughed at him. He then slowly 6'lfmbed up a tree
and sat there watching.
The third friend waved life into the lion‟s body and the lion came to life.
With one roar the lion advanced towards the three of them. They looked up to see where the fourth
friend was. He was perched up on the tree watching the whole scene.

The lion made short work of them. Knowledge is a tool. It doesn’t directly lead to intelligence. It is
just a tool. As long as we use it as a powerful tool where needed, it is good. It can do amazing things.
The mistake we do is giving our whole lives to the hands of knowledge. On the other hand, innocence
leads directly to pure intelligence.

Innocence grasps dimensions that cleverness misses. Innocence may miss the facts but it catches the
Truths. Cleverness is too busy with facts. When cleverness combines with innocence, it becomes a
rare combination of intelligence and innocence. Setting aside knowledge for the sake of innocence is
intelligence. I don’t mean that you have to stop gathering knowledge. Just understand that knowledge
cannot substitute innocence.
If you observe villagers who are not educated you will see that they exhibit pure intelligence! That is
why you will find that when you are stuck, a villager effortlessly pitches in and helps you out!
Innocent intelligence has that capacity.

Today all universities work on sharpening the intellectual faculty of the individual. They teach us how
to make ourselves more useful to society and how to be productive or effective. There is nothing
wrong in being productive and effective, but in the process we forget how to be innocent and
receptive. We forget how to open up to the cosmos, to Existence. We forget how to move in
synchronicity with the cosmos, how to make productivity happen in tune with the cosmic plan, which
is the source of all productivity. This happens because we are caught in ‘doing’ and ‘having’, we
forget the ‟being‟.
There are three important states: being, doing and having. Right now, we move from doing to having.
We continuously ‘do’ things. We learn and we put the learning into useful action. We then ‘have’
what we want, whether it is money, relationships, comfort, and what not. Then we want to have better
things or have more things and so we continue doing. We are all the time between doing and having.
In the process, the being is forgotten. Our real restfulness lies only in the state of being. Because of
this, however much we do and have, we still search for restfulness. This feeling is the ‘call of the
being’.

If we nurture the being and cause the doing to happen from the quality of the being, then we don’t
have to work so much for the having. That will simply happen as a byproduct. This is the secret of
Existence. But this is not seen as a direct utility to society by the universities. That is the problem. But
this is what gives the real utility of every individual, not only to society but to the whole of the
cosmos. We should always be concerned about the Whole.
In the ancient Indian universities like ‘Takshila and Nalanda’, the preparation of the students was
always at the being level. Outer world learning happened as a natural consequence. India has always
focused on nurturing the innocence of the being because only that will lead to strength of the being.
When there is strength of the being, anything can be achieved.
Paramahamsa Yogananda beautifully describes the intent of spiritual learning. He says, there are
trillions of cells in the body. Every cell is like an intelligent being. Every cell has the DNA* substance
in it which has the information and intelligence to grow a whole new body and brain. This dormant
intelligence needs to be awakened so that the mind doesn’t move towards suffering and remains in
bliss.

He goes on to say that spiritual education magnetizes the cells by sending life current around the brain
and spine, ensuring evolutionary advancement of the individual. With this divine magnetism, every
cell becomes a brain alive and ready to grasp every bit of knowledge. With these awakened brains, the
mental capacity of the individual multiplies multi fold and all sorts of knowledge can be effortlessly
comprehended! Such is the impact of spiritual learning.
Alexander the emperor of Greece, had conquered three fourths of the world and traveled downward
to Asia to conquer it. He settled down in the banks of the river Sindhu to conquer India.

On the banks of the same river lived a hermit.

As Alexander and his army passed by, the hermit was meditating and did not stand up to salute him
Alexander felt humiliated and shouted at him, ‟How dare you do not salute me!‟And he took out his
sword to chop his head off.

The hermit looked at him and laughed.

Alexander was shocked. He asked,‟I am going to kill you and you are laughing? ‟
The hermit said, ‟I wonder what you are trying to kill! I can never be killed. I am inn mortal, eternal
and imperishable. Weapons cannot cut, fire cannot burn, water cannot wet, wind cannot dry up this
soul.‟ He quoted from the Bhagavad Gita. Alexander dropped the sword and saluted the hermit
saying, ‟India has such great people who are [earless about death. after my salutations to this great
country. ‟ He retreated from the Indian soil a wiser man.

The teachings of olden day universities created the possibility for supreme knowledge and confidence
to flower in individuals, at the same time preserving their innocence. Then every student acquired the
quality of a sage. A sage has the vast knowledge of the outer world and the utter innocence of the
inner world.

A person may go on and on reading something here and there, and entertain himself. If his intention is
just reading books it can be good entertainment, but not enlightenment. Entertainment is different
from enlightenment. Just because he has been entertained by some good books, it doesn’t mean that
he is enlightened. The books which help you sharpen your logic give you the feeling that you know.
There starts the problem.

One more thing: one cannot blame modernization for loss of innocence also. Lord Krishna says, “I am
Time.” When Krishna says that, you need to understand that modernization is also the divine play of
Existence. Man should understand modernization in the right light and not take it as a replacement to
the ancient foundation of growing.

Be vulnerable
When you are innocent, you are vulnerable to everything that Existence wants to teach you! If you are
closed, you create a wall around you. The wall neither allows fresh breeze to touch your being nor
does it allow you to step out and touch the cool breeze. Vulnerability is breaking the wall and inviting
the cool breeze to touch your very being every time it blows.
Vulnerability is allowing everything to touch your being. The entire cosmos comes to you when you
are vulnerable.

Vulnerability is not weakness. The wall when broken will not cause you danger. The wall itself was
built out of a deep fear of exposing your reality. Your reality is your vulnerability and you are so
afraid of opening it to the cosmos. You know deep down that if you let go and open up you will
simply be swept away in innocence. So you close yourself up. But it is suffocating to be in there
because it is the same air that IS circulating. You experience the same patterns that the mind knows.
Then of what use is the wall? When the wall is broken, you will realize that nothing leaves you.
Instead, you only gain freshness of life.
Two astrologers met on the road on a beautiful autumn day. One of them commented, ‟Beautiful
autumn. It is something we have never seen earlier.‟ The other replied, ‟True. I am reminded of the
autumn of 2070.‟

When you are vulnerable, you experience everything at the being level. Otherwise, it becomes an
experience through the head. The being is poetry, the head is prose. Life is poetry.
One night a wife found her husband standing over their baby‟s crib.

As he stood looking down upon the baby in the cradle, she saw his face assuming a mixture of
emotions of disbelief, awe, skepticism, doubt, amazement and what not. She slowly went up to him,
put her arm around him and said, ‟A penny /or your thoughts. ‟The husband replied, ‟It’s
amazing. I can’t imagine how anyone can make a crib like that for just 45 dollars! ‟

With the head you cannot be vulnerable! And when you are not vulnerable, you are sitting behind the
great wall of your house. Life has not yet started. Life happens with vulnerability.
With vulnerability you move towards the truth in a different path, in a joyful path because every
moment you are receiving directly from Existence. Existence is able to give you because you are
vulnerable and ready to receive it! Existence has its own ethics. Enlightened masters have their own
ethics. When there is vulnerability, they can simply shower on you. When there is a wall, it becomes
difficult. Their ethics does not permit them to penetrate. So they wait for the wall to break.

When you become vulnerable, you are saying a ‘yes’ to Existence. Existence is the greatest mystery
and the eternal teacher. When you say yes to it, your energy starts moving in a new direction. It
moves from the head to the heart and you start receiving the teachings from your very being.
Whatever you said ‘no’ to earlier will start becoming a yes. Then you will see that the world is very
different from what you thought.
People ask me how to ‘be’ in my presence. Just be completely vulnerable and innocent. With
openness, you can receive the truth directly in your being. The master is a pure expression of
Existence. By allowing him, you are allowing Existence to enter into you. When Existence enters it
leaves an impression of the truth in your being. With every darshan or touch from the master, the
impression becomes deeper. This impression is greater than any teaching he can impart to you.

A master can’t teach you spirituality, but you can learn by being open and trusting towards him.
Spirituality has nothing to do with words. It is an experience. You need to imbibe it by watching the
master’s body language, by smelling the enlightenment that radiates from him. You can catch it if you
are aware.

When you are vulnerable, you are open in your entire response system. You are not in a hurry to ask
your questions. You give space for the intelligence of the cosmos to act through you.

To just express with vulnerability is to be free like a bird, not worried about any past or future, to just
be. That is what Zen masters taught their disciples.

Surrender with trust

Immense trust leads to surrender. Surrender is simplicity of the heart. It is the knowing that you do
not have to decide about the Truth, that you just have to go by it. When you awaken to the powerful
presence of the Truth, surrender happens.
If you observe your pet dog, you will find that even if you cheat him once in a while, he will come
back to you with utmost trust. His trust is absolute and innocent. The trust comes with no reason. He
has no questions, so no answers need to be given. He sees no utility in anything. He just exists like an
open book, that’s all.

Two gold fish were in a water tank. One asked the other ‟Do you trust in god?‟ The other replied,
‟But of course. Who do you think changes our water everyday?‟
It is only innocence that is capable of taking the leap into trust and surrender. Knowledge somehow
sees utility in everything. It looks for reason in everything. Surrender and reason are mutually
exclusive.

possible only out of innocence, because out of innocence arises trust.

Out of surrender arises deep relaxation. Out of surrender arises a fresh intelligence that knows on a
different plane. On this plane, there is no worry of result, there is only action driven by pure energy.
And energy is intelligence. Trust does not mean inaction. It means continuing to be in action with
intelligence instead of intellect. It is having trust in thought, and intelligence in action.

A disciple came riding on his camel to the tent of a Sufi master. He dismounted from the camel,
walked into the master‟s tent, bowed down low andsaid, ‟Master so great is my trust in god that I
have left my camel outside untied, convinced that god protects the interests of those who love him.‟
The master shouted, ‟Go tie your camel you fool! God cannot be bothered doing for you what you are
perfectly capable of doing yourself.

Trust is an attitude. It is not a substitute for appropriate action. The spirit of trust is the essence of life.
It leads to innocence, surrender, relaxation and bliss. If it is followed out of complete understanding,
there is nothing to lose in its path. Until then, you are still on the path to trust.

Enlightened masters are established in the knowing that nothing is impossible in the space of
Existence. They are living embodiments of trust. Their bliss is an expression of this. They have access
to all the knowledge of the world but are yet utterly innocent. They know that their knowledge is the
knowledge of Existence. Their knowledge is not knowledge but a flowing experience of the truth of
the moment.

We too have knowledge. But the problem is that we think our knowledge is the only right knowledge
and all other knowledge is wrong. Understand: the ultimate knowledge is the same for everyone.
Anything in between is just a bunch of borrowed ideas. If this is known clearly, surrender will happen
and we will drop the burden of knowledge and become innocent.

How to start knowing that we don’t know? Mere clarity that we don’t know is enough. Just meditate
on Existence, the source of all knowledge. Be in a prayerful and surrendering mood to it all the time.
Be firm in surrendering to the knowledge of Existence. You will see that miracles start happening
around you.

There is a story about Hanuman', the monkey god in Hindu mythology who was a devout disciple of
Lord Rama‟. Hanuman„was once asked what day of the lunar month it was.
He replied, ‟I don‟t know anything about the day of the month or the positions of the stars. I think of
Rama‟ alone.‟

When you are established in the wonder of the Truth, you become so innocent, that your very life
becomes meditative and miraculous. It was Hanuman* who crossed the ocean from India to Sri Lanka
with just one leap by chanting the name of Rama‘. Rama himself had to build a bridge to cross over
with his army! Such is the power of innocent surrender to Existence and all its forms.
One more thing: when you are trusting and surrendering, it becomes difficult to cheat you. Innocent
trust always protects from deceit. It radiates that kind of energy.

There was a great Sufi Saint by name Habib Ajami. He went to bathe in the river one day leaving his
coat on the bank of the river unattended.

One man passed by at that time and saw the coat. Thinking someone had left it there carelessly and ff
had to be protected, he decided to stand guard over it till the owner came by.

Habib came back looking for his coat. The man asked him, ‟In whose care did you leave the coat
when you went to bathe?‟ It might as well have been stolen!‟

Habib replied, ‟I left it in the care of Him who gave you the task of guarding over it!‟
When trust happens with the utmost understanding, nothing can be lost. In the quality of trust is its
true essence. I always tell my disciples about the monks I have seen in the Himalayas during my
spiritual wandering days. The monks come to the Himalayas to meditate leaving everything behind.
But there they fight for their small water pots! Just the object of possessiveness changes, that’s all!
Understand this. When you trust, all material possessions will seem like they belong to Existence. The
very attitude of possessing then drops. That relaxes the mind. That is the space for relaxing.

In the year 2004, we went as a small group to the Himalayas. In a lifetime at least once you should
visit the Himalayas. We went to Gomukh*, which is the source of the sacred river Ganga. The trek is
on mule back taking almost five hours up and five hours down. The path is just four feet wide. If you
miss your footing you will go into the gushing Ganga river beneath! Once we reached Gomukh* we
spent some time there, and the group returned while I stayed back with a few disciples.

The group that returned started at dusk. I told them not to worry and that Existence will take care.
Through pitch darkness, not knowing if the mule was taking the bend of the mountain or going
straight ahead into the darkness, the entire group made its way back. The next day, I asked them how
the experience was. One of them said, ‟Swamiji, we experienced what blind trust means!’ If those
trusting moments could be extended, they can be the very essence of your life. Then, you can simply
do,leaving the result to Existence.

Another important thing is unless innocence happens, intimacy cannot happen. Intimacy is the
language of Existence. The mind doesn’t know intimacy. Only the being knows it. With intimacy
there is openness and you can say and do everything that you feel genuinely and earnestly about.
There will be authenticity in your words and actions. You will radiate energy that spurs the others
around you to be innocent and open. Then the real beauty of Existence can be experienced.

Surrender with trust

Immense trust leads to surrender. Surrender is simplicity of the heart. It is the knowing that you do
not have to decide about the Truth, that you just have to go by it. When you awaken to the powerful
presence of the Truth, surrender happens.

If you observe your pet dog, you will find that even if you cheat him once in a while, he will come
back to you with utmost trust. His trust is absolute and innocent. The trust comes with no reason. He
has no questions, so no answers need to be given. He sees no utility in anything. He just exists like an
open book, that’s all.
Two gold fish were in a water tank. One asked the other ‟Do you trust in god?‟ The other replied,
‟But of course. Who do you think changes our water everyday?‟ It is only innocence that is capable
of taking the leap into trust and surrender. Knowledge somehow sees utility in everything. It looks for
reason in everything. Surrender and reason are mutually exclusive.

Surrender is to do with trust. Surrender is possible only out of innocence, because out of innocence
arises trust.

Out of surrender arises deep relaxation. Out of surrender arises a fresh intelligence that knows on a
different plane. On this plane, there is no worry of result, there is only action driven by pure energy.
And energy is intelligence. Trust does not mean inaction. It means continuing to be in action with
intelligence instead of intellect. It is having trust in thought, and intelligence in action.

A disciple came riding on his camel to the tent of a Sufi master. He dismounted from the camel,
walked into the master’s tent, bowed down low and said, ‟Master so great is my trust in god that I
have left my camel outside untied, convinced that god protects the interests of those who love him.‟
The master shouted, ‟Go tie your camel you fool! God cannot be bothered doing for you what you are
perfectly capable of doing yourself.

Trust is an attitude. It is not a substitute for appropriate action. The spirit of trust is the essence of life.
It leads to innocence, surrender, relaxation and bliss. If it is followed out of complete understanding,
there is nothing to lose in its path. Until then, you are still on the path to trust.

Enlightened masters are established in the knowing that nothing is impossible in the space of
Existence. They are living embodiments of trust. Their bliss is an expression of this. They have access
to all the knowledge of the world but are yet utterly innocent. They know that their knowledge is the
knowledge of Existence. Their knowledge is not knowledge but a flowing experience of the truth of
the moment.

We too have knowledge. But the problem is that we think our knowledge is the only right knowledge
and all other knowledge is wrong. Understand: the ultimate knowledge is the same for everyone.
Anything in between is just a bunch of borrowed ideas. If this is known clearly, surrender will happen
and we will drop the burden of knowledge and become innocent.

How to start knowing that we don’t know? Mere clarity that we don’t know is enough. Just meditate
on Existence, the source of all knowledge. Be in a prayerful and surrendering mood to it all the time.
Be firm in surrendering to the knowledge of Existence. You will see that miracles start happening
around you.

There is a story about Hanuman', the monkey god in Hindu mythology who was a devout disciple of
Lord Rama‟. Hanuman„was once asked what day of the lunar month it was.
He replied, ‟I don‟t know anything about the day of the month or the positions of the stars. I think of
Rama‟ alone.‟
When you are established in the wonder of the Truth, you become so innocent, that your very life
becomes meditative and miraculous. It was Hanuman* who crossed the ocean from India to Sri Lanka
with just one leap by chanting the name of Rama‘. Rama himself had to build a bridge to cross over
with his army! Such is the power of innocent surrender to Existence and all its forms.

One more thing: when you are trusting and surrendering, it becomes difficult to cheat you. Innocent
trust always protects from deceit. It radiates that kind of energy.
There was a great Sufi Saint by name Habib Ajami. He went to bathe in the river one day leaving his
coat on the bank of the river unattended.
One man passed by at that time and saw the coat. Thinking someone had left it there carelessly and ff
had to be protected, he decided to stand guard over it till the owner came by.

Habib came back looking for his coat. The man asked him, ‟In whose care did you leave the coat
when you went to bathe?‟ It might as well have been stolen!‟

Habib replied, ‟I left it in the care of Him who gave you the task of guarding over it!‟
When trust happens with the utmost understanding, nothing can be lost. In the quality of trust is its
true essence. I always tell my disciples about the monks I have seen in the Himalayas during my
spiritual wandering days. The monks come to the Himalayas to meditate leaving everything behind.
But there they fight for their small water pots! Just the object of possessiveness changes, that’s all!
Understand this. When you trust, all material possessions will seem like they belong to Existence. The
very attitude of possessing then drops. That relaxes the mind. That is the space for relaxing.

In the year 2004, we went as a small group to the Himalayas. In a lifetime at least once you should
visit the Himalayas. We went to Gomukh*, which is the source of the sacred river Ganga. The trek is
on mule back taking almost five hours up and five hours down. The path is just four feet wide. If you
miss your footing you will go into the gushing Ganga river beneath! Once we reached Gomukh* we
spent some time there, and the group returned while I stayed back with a few disciples.

The group that returned started at dusk. I told them not to worry and that Existence will take care.
Through pitch darkness, not knowing if the mule was taking the bend of the mountain or going
straight ahead into the darkness, the entire group made its way back. The next day, I asked them how
the experience was. One of them said, ‟Swamiji, we experienced what blind trust means!’ If those
trusting moments could be extended, they can be the very essence of your life. Then, you can simply
do,1eaving the result to Existence.

Another important thing is unless innocence happens, intimacy cannot happen. Intimacy is the
language of Existence. The mind doesn’t know intimacy. Only the being knows it. With intimacy
there is openness and you can say and do everything that you feel genuinely and earnestly about.
There will be authenticity in your words and actions. You will radiate energy that spurs the others
around you to be innocent and open. Then the real beauty of Existence can be experienced.

Spirituality — the way to innocent

obeisance
There is a famous saying, ‘If you worry, then you didn’t pray. If you prayed, then don’t worry.’
Spirituality is a straight path to surrender worry and be free. It is a tremendous relief for the modern
day man. It is a proven science. In today’s world of science and knowledge, the call of the being
needs to be addressed compassionately and immediately.

Spirituality is the way. Spirituality restores the cosmos with its sanctity and mysticism. It reminds
man that he is not the greatest creature on the planet. It reminds him of the powerful Existential
Energy that pervades the universe. It creates not-knowing and innocent surrender in the mind.

Spirituality is not a ritual. It is the science of merging with Existence. From time immemorial, the first
thing that all world religions did was to create a space for the Divine to become a part of life. A
temple is a space to reconnect with the cosmic energy and be restful in it. That was the core purpose
of all world religions. And when the connection deepened, it became a blissful space within oneself.
Religion was a clear stepping stone to spirituality.
When man pursues science alone, he becomes too knowing because his inventions and discoveries
seem to be his own findings. Everything seems to fall under the purview of his intellect. Spirituality
on the other hand keeps the mystery of the cosmos alive. It creates humble obeisance towards a life
force that is mightier than the intellect. That is why spirituality can restore innocence.

There is an immediate need to pay obeisance to the cosmic force and calm the intellect. With
obeisance comes fresh intelligence that sees the cosmic consciousness as the central core of activity.
Then, man will no more be afraid of the unfathomable cosmos. He will simply fall in tune with it with
deep devotion, love and in ecstasy.

The greatest saints of India who had the power of willing the cosmos to lovingly respond achieved
this power through spirituality.

There was a man by name Muruganar who was an ardent devotee of Shiva. Every day before break of
dawn he would bathe in the cool waters of the river gather flowers from trees, fields, the river and
creepers and make garlands for the Shiva deity in the temple.
He would walk to the temple every day taking care while walking not to disturb the flowers in their
setting in the garland! After offering them to the deity he would chant sacred verses for long hours.

It is said that he attained enlightenment through just this innocent worship.

Today he is worshipped as one of the 63 saints called Nayanmars‘ who attained enlightenment
through innocent devotion to god.

Those who shun spirituality are those who have not tasted its transforming sweetness. They are the
ones who think spirituality is seriousness. No! God is always an embodiment of bliss, then how can
spirituality be seriousness? Man has made it serious by reducing it to mundane rituals.

Our masters have even specified the times in which to connect to the deeper realms of our being
through prayer. They have said it is good to pray in the early morning. What is the reason for this?
The intellect has rested well in the night and does not as yet start functioning in the morning. When
spirituality is practiced at that time, the impact on the mind is greater. The impact is made while the
mind is still fresh and innocent, while the mind has not yet started chewing on the intellect. Not for
nothing have the great masters gifted spirituality to us. When the intent is understood, spirituality
becomes a straight route to restoring innocence and trust.

A small story:
One evening, a farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book. The
wheel of his cart came off right in the middle of the woods and he felt sad
that the day should pass without having said his prayers.

So he made up a prayer to god. He spoke aloud, ‟Oh god, I have done something very foolish. I have
left behind my prayer books today. And my memory is so poor that I can’t recites a single prayer
without the book. So this is what I am going to do. I will recite the letters of the alphabet five times
very slowly and you, who knows all the prayers, please put the letters together to form the prayers I
can’t remember.‟ And god said to his angels that day, ‟Of all the prayers I have heard today, this
one was undoubtedly the best because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere.‟

Spirituality is an opening to express innocence in its purest form. Innocence itself is an offering to
god. Innocence itself is the greatest prayer to god.

Religion is by itself not any belief as it is made out to be. Every religion is the result of the deep
spiritual experience of the great master who founded it. What they experienced, they gave as a
religion to humanity, through which humanity can get the same experience. There was no other intent.
If this is understood, any person can practice any religion. That is the beauty of all original religions.

The same is true when you are around a master. Be in a mood of innocent surrender.
When you are innocent and prayerful, the master’s silence penetrates your being. The religion of
silence is the greatest religion. It is the religion of the great masters and disciples. That is true
spirituality also.

Innocence, Totality Maturity

Dhamma- pada* says:
Light the lamp within, strive hard to attain wisdom. Become pure and innocent, and live in the world
of light.

When you came into the world, you came as an innocent infant. You radiated the beauty of your
innocence until society gave you the mind. Now, you want to get rid of your mind and become
innocent again. The regained innocence is what is called maturity. It is possible to regain it. Just
believe that you were innocent once upon a time. Trust that the innocence is still within you. Then it
is possible to start radiating it again. This understanding will start the process again.

Maturity causes us to live in totality. Totality is functioning out of immense innocence and giving
your whole to the moment. There is no opinion, no judgment, no fragments within you. There is only
intense enthusiasm for the moment. The openness to the moment is the innocence.

To become mature, you need to go in first, because maturity is all about falling at ease with your true
nature with no pretensions. Making your natural self to be your very nature is maturity. The best way
to become your natural self is to keep your core at ease.
Let the core of you be at ease all the time, irrespective of where you might be or what you may be
doing. Then you can retain your purity. Always feel your natural self at your core with no strain, with
no effort or pretensions.

The problem of falsity comes because society teaches you to be someone special all the time. There is
no need to be someone special all the time. It is an immature idea to be someone special all the time.
Once this idea is renounced, the mind relaxes. It feels no pressure to be shrewd. This relaxation gives
birth to innocence.

To feel the urge to regain your innocence you may have to go astray, because when you go astray and
face the consequences, introspection starts. The introspection triggers the need to regain innocence.
Don’t condemn yourself for going astray. Just bring in the awareness to integrate yourself into the
right path forever. If maturity is going to happen this way it is definitely worth it.

Maturity is taking a strong decision not to delude yourself anymore. It is to awaken to the
consciousness within. It is to integrate yourself with honesty. When this happens, you start to become
a child again. As a child, you were innocent but not with awareness. Somewhere in the process of
growing up you lost the innocence. You are regaining it now. The new innocence will be with full
awareness and that is the real innocence.

When you regain the innocence, you flower with the understanding that there is nothing more
priceless than becoming childlike again. That is the process of enlightenment.
That is why a child’s innocence is to be nurtured with utmost care. For every innocent observation
that a child makes, if we can be without imposing our knowledge on it, the child will grow up
preserving its innocence. For example, if the child asks, ‘Why is it that the sky is blue sometimes and
white sometimes?’ just tell the child that the sky is blue sometimes and white sometimes. He will
anyway learn that in his lessons in school. But if you can tell him they are just the way they are, he
will straightaway understand the spontaneity of nature. He will not be looking for further knowledge
to feed himself with. The universities take care of that anyway.

At home, when you are still the most influential person in his life, if you make him understand that
this is the way things are, that there is no need to know it all with knowledge, the innocence in him
survives. He doesn’t catch the thread of passing judgment on nature. He learns to see without bringing
words in. He learns to just see and be. The moment words are brought in, the innocence is lost. Then
it is no more seeing. It becomes looking. The whole beauty of it is then lost.

Growing up is always considered to be a serious thing. If you grow up in seriousness you only grow
old. If you grow up in playfulness, you remain young! It is a good thing to see what children, animals
and other creatures are doing at times because they all live with innocence and playfulness. It will
help understand and reconnect with innocence.
Childlike innocence discovers many things but cannot understand most of it. It enjoys it at the level of
its innocence, that’s all. Whereas innocence regained not only discovers these new things, but also
understands all of them. That is the difference.

Childlike innocence is beautiful but not enough. It has to be lost to life and regained with complete
awareness and maturity.

It is said that a mad man and a mystic look alike. Both of them will be eccentric in their ways,
laughing abruptly and doing things incomprehensible. But they are actually at the extreme two ends
of the same spectrum! Extremes always look alike. Outwardly they appear to be the same, that’s all.
Similarly, a child and a saint may look alike in their innocence, but they are actually at the two
extreme ends of the same spectrum. The child has not even started its achievement of regained
innocence, while the saint has finished it.

The innocence of the child is still the god given innocence he came with, not the innocence that he
regained through life. The innocence of a child can be easily disturbed, whereas the innocence of a
sage can never be disturbed. Getting the innocence disturbed and working to regain it permanently is
the process of maturity. That is the travel through to the other end of the spectrum in becoming a
saint.

With innocence regained, you will once again be able to look into the eyes of the other.
Your innocence not only makes you vulnerable, it also makes you integrated. With knowledge, you
are fragmented within you. With regained innocence, you are integrated and honest to yourself and to
others. That honesty will radiate from your eyes and touch the other. That honesty is maturity.

Just the longing to become innocent again is enough. It will start destroying all that is not you inside
you. After all, it is just layers of conditioning. But it is important to hold your will strong until the
process is complete. The will is a constant reminder to be sincere and honest without cunningness.
Decide not to rest until the de-conditioning is total.
The beauty of maturity is that it allows you to function as a mature person when required and as a
child at all other times. It easily allows you to flow from one to the other so that you are in perfect
harmony with the Whole.

When you regain your innocence, you are called dvija, reborn, mature. The key is not to give up in
your effort in regaining your innocence. The journey may be frustrating at times, because it is taking
time and not happening. It is so because society has conditioned you with many layers. The onion has
to be peeled layer after layer to reach the center. Frustration is a precondition to burst open with
transformation. So don’t relax, that is enough. It will happen. Remember, innocence is already in you.
It is not about any end objective outside. Just this remembrance will give you the relaxation after
every frustration.

Everyday just sit for a few moments, sit by yourself and calmly go into your innocence. Feel the
innocence in you. Feel the purity in you. Feel the overflowing from within you. Let it spread through
your body, mind and being. Feel how beautiful you are in your innocence. Do this every day. Soon
you will see that you will awaken to it as your very nature. All that is not you will be burnt and the
real you will emerge.

Innocence has a totality about it. This totality is called grace. That is why enlightened masters appear
to be so graceful and beautiful all the time. Innocence manifests itself as wondrous beauty to the eyes
of the beholder. It is so total that even the most cunning mind cannot deny it. It simply defies all logic
and touches you.

We always think children are immature. We think that the grownups who cry are immature. We are
conditioned to believe that expression of any emotion is immature. Expressing the emotions in an
unfiltered way is a sign of innocence. The cunning ones edit even their emotions. Once in a while it is
good to cry in front of people. What is wrong with it? What are you trying to hide? By crying you are
only expressing your true feelings. What is there to hide? The problem is that society has always
taught us to hide our true nature and show only our projected personality. That is why with time we
forget what our nature is. We forget how to be innocent.

One teacher told the parent during the parent teacher meeting, ‟Your daughter is very good in all her
activities. She is just a little emotionally immature. But she will be alright.
“The parent looked at her in a puzzled way and asked, ‟At three, how else do you expect her to be?”

Just by being with children as their friend, as their playmate, it is possible to get back in touch with
the innocence. When you are with them don’t pretend to be like a child. Take it really seriously and
become a child! It is the greatest favor you can do to yourself.
There are umpteen ways to rediscover the child hiding in you. Just play hide and seek with children or
learn how to make cookies or watch Tom and Jerry cartoons or eat different color cotton candies or
make mud dolls! All these will bring out the child in you. Your solid identity will dissolve. You will
become fluid like a river and flow. The weight of your seriousness will drop and you will become
light and blissful.

Seriousness is ego. When you are afraid of getting hurt, when you are afraid of losing your control or
power, you become serious. When you are too centered on yourself this happens. When you let go
and play and touch your innocence again, you will suddenly enjoy a break from yourself. That break
is the falling of your seriousness. In that gap you will realize there is nothing to hold on to. There is
only free spirit. When you become aware of this you can work on it consciously and move towards
becoming completely innocent and sincere.
Innocence is keeping the consciousness at the level of the heart, not allowing it to settle in the head.
You Are Part of the Collective
Consciousness
We now move to a slightly more complex subject. It is about the relationship that we have with the
world around us. Why do we see what we see? How do we see what we see? How do we fit into the
scheme of Existence?

Matter, energy and beyond

What is this world made up of? Our five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are our
gateways to perceiving this world. They tell us that this world is made up of matter — objects in
various forms, shapes, colors and qualities.

We see ourselves living in a three dimensional world fundamentally made up of the five basic
elements - earth, water, fire, air and space. We see all the objects in this world undergoing change
with time. They all undergo creation, sustenance and dissolution with the passage of time.

Classical physics tells us that matter is governed by the laws of physics like the three laws of motion,
the law of gravity, the laws of fluid dynamics and so on. All objects are considered to be made up of
molecules, which are made up of atoms, which in turn are made of three types of particles - protons,
neutrons and electrons. We learned all these fundamental things in school.

But according to modern science, the world is not fundamentally made up of matter; the fundamental
particles are not protons, neutrons and electrons. Modern science says matter itself is actually energy!
Albert Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc° (where E is energy, m is mass of the object and c is the
speed of light) proves the equivalence of matter and energy. I was reading a very recent article, also
published in the US Journal Science (http:// www.physorg.com/news146415074.html), on a research
that proved Einstein’s equation. The fundamental particles in the nucleus themselves are considered
to be made of smaller particles called quarks, which are bound by gluons. The surprising thing is the
mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five percent. The study says, the missing 95
percent comes from the energy of the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons. So, energy
and mass are equivalent. gross body. An important thing to be understood here is that the
perception of the world varies from person to person because the functioning of the mind varies from
person to person!

Even interactions between people are only energy interactions. For example, an atom that
This truth discovered by science a few decades ago, was declared by the Eastern rishis' in the
Upanishads' - the essence of the vedic knowledge. The very first line of the Isa Vasya Upanishad„,
written thousands of years ago, declares, Isavasyam idam sarvam which means all that exists is
energy!

Matter is vibrating energy

Matter is actually energy vibrating at various frequencies and manifesting itself in various forms. We
are not able to see this vibration with our eyes because the frequencies of vibration are too high. It is
just as when movement is too fast, the eye cannot perceive the moving objects as independent frames.
The eye sees the objects merging into each other continuously.
In the same way, the vibration of energy cannot be perceived by the eye. It appears to be solid matter!
Energy in gross form is matter. Matter in subtle form is energy. The body is the gross manifestation of
the subtle mind. The mind is the subtle manifestation of the body. The atom consists of a nucleus with
a cloud of electrons around it that can be compared to a football field. The nucleus is like a peanut in
the center of a football field and the cloud of electrons is like the empty space in the field. Another
comparison I came across is, if you were to remove all the space between all the atoms on planet
earth, the remaining matter would come to just about the size of a sugar cube!

What we see as solid matter, as the football field in this example, is actually the electron clouds - huge
empty spaces - interacting with each other. In the same way, our interactions and contact with other
people and objects are also only interaction of energies. There is an exchange of energy that happens.
You give some of your energy and you get energy from that person or object!

The world of infinite possibilities

Now, what is the origin of matter and energy? What is the origin of the body and mind? From where
does the energy in all objects arise? What then is the reality behind this perceived world? If we are not
able to see reality as it exists through the senses, what is the nature of reality?

This question is asked in the Shiva Sutras, an ancient vedic scripture on the science of enlightenment.
Shiva’s consort Devi asks Him, ‘What is the nature of this wonder-filled universe?’ As a response,
Shiva delivers 112 enlightenment techniques which, when practiced, give the answer as a direct
experience!

This question about reality leads us to a world beyond matter and energy, beyond the limitations of
space and time. This is the world where all the possibilities exist as seed. It is the essence and the
origin of thoughts, and it is the essence and origin of events in the material world.

In this world-beyond, ordinary logic does not exist. Cause and effect relationships do not exist. The
happening of one event does not cause another event to happen, but it is correlated with the other
event that happens. This correlation has no dependence on space and time. So what we call the seed is
the ocean of infinite possibilities from which the waves of events arise.

This whole Existence and all its events happen as causeless auspiciousness, like waves arising in an
ocean. Existence is an ocean of bliss and ecstasy. Out of the causeless, overflowing ecstasy, the wave
of Creation rises in the ocean of Existence! That is how things happen. The Divine, playing with its
infinite manifestations in innumerable universes is called sustenance. Dropping from the play and
relaxing into Itself is called dissolution. Dissolution is the settling back into the Absolute or
Parabrahma‟ state. Then... for no logical reason, the play starts again.! This continues. What we see
as results are the infinite happenings in the universe.

The real nature

We see this causeless and ecstatic play of Existence through our own individual perception! Our very
perception collapses the beautiful happening into a localized reality. Each individual ‘boils down’ the
beautiful happening into his own individual reality.
Someone asked me, ‘I see this table here. All the people in this room see this same table. Then how
can you say that this table is not a reality?’ Please understand that what you see as this table here is
not the same as what the other person sees! Each person in this room sees this table differently! That
is the truth. That is what I am trying to explain here.
As long as the mind tries to perceive, what is perceived is not the ultimate reality. Only an infinite
being can perceive Reality exactly as it is happening. He cannot explain it in words because words
cannot describe what is beyond space and time. He can only tell you to wait for it to become your
own experience! That is why Shiva answers not with philosophy but with techniques. He directly
gives techniques for Devi ‘to experience the Reality— the nature of the universe.

Let me explain this concept based on the energy-matter idea. We saw that matter is actually energy.
Classical physics said that the electron is a particle. However, quantum physics says that it is a wave.
Actually, the electron exhibits the properties of both a particle and a wave in different situations.
Physicists have now concluded that the electron has a dual nature as a ‘particle- wave’!

The act of observation collapses possibility into reality

Since the electron is a particle, what is the location of the electron? Since it is a wave, what is the
momentum of the wave? The answers to these questions lead to a very surprising discovery that the
particle-wave can be either a particle or a wave or even both at the same time. But you cannot
determine both the location and the momentum of the electron at the same time, because the very act
of observing the location of the electron will change its momentum, and the very act of determining
the momentum of the electron will change its location! This is what is known in science as the
Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.
The particle-wave is both a particle and wave at the same time until the act of observation comes into
play. This act of observation can now be connected with our act of observing the causeless
happenings of Existence. When we observe, we observe through our own set of conditioning or what
we call engrams which are preconceived and deeply engraved memories and conclusions. Each
individual’s act of observation is colored by his own conditioning or engrams. Based upon that, he
boils down the happening to suit his own experience of reality!

In the case of the particle-wave, the very act of observation collapses’ the wave- particle to a particle
or wave. This leads us to a deep understanding that both possibilities exist simultaneously, and it is
the very act of observation that changes the possibility into a particular reality.

Let me give another scientific experiment that highlights how the very act of measuring distorts the
beautiful reality. You may have heard of the double-slit experiment with light.
In this experiment, a beam of light is aimed at a barrier with two vertical slits. On the other side of the
barrier is a photographic plate that is used to record the light as it falls on it after passing through the
barrier. If only one slit is open, the pattern on the photographic plate is as expected, which is a single
line of light aligned with the slit. If both the slits are open, we would expect two lines of light on the
plate aligned with the slits, but what is observed are multiple lines of light and darkness in varying
degrees. This is the principle of interference where light beams behave as waves that interfere with
each other.
Now, if the light beam is slowed down enough so that instead of a stream of light particles or photons
hitting the plate, each photon individually hits the plate, then there should be no interference and the
plate should show a light pattern aligned with the slit. But, the resulting pattern still showed
interference!

How is this possible? There is only this one photon, what can it be interfering with... other than itself?
It was concluded that each photon not only goes through both the slits, but also simultaneously takes
every possible path on the way to the target!

To see how this can occur, experiments were done to track the individual photon paths. But what
happened was that the measurement in some way disrupted the paths of the photons. Whenever an
attempt was made to observe, there were only two bright lines on the photographic plate aligned with
the slits! If they didn’t attempt to measure, again the pattern became the multiple lines of light and
darkness!
Understand each photon moves simultaneously in a number of paths. But an effort to measure the
paths causes it to collapse to a single path! In the same way, our very effort to perceive the infinite
risings of the ocean of Existence causes it to appear as what our limited mind perceives!

Once a student asked a Zen master ‟What is the path? “The master replied, ‟Everyday life is the
path.‟ The student asked, ‟Can it be studied?‟
The master said, ‟If you try to study, you will be far from it. ‟ The student asked, ‟If l do not study,
how can I know it is the path?”

The master said, ‟The path does not belong to the perception world. Neither does it belong to the
non-perception world. Perception is a delusion and non-perception is senseless. If you want to reach
the true path beyond doubt, place yourself in the same freedom as the sky. You name it neither good
nor not-good.”

Physiology of perception

Let us start with what really happens on a physical level when we perceive things.
When there is a perception of physical reality, the various parts of the brain show a change in neural
activity as the neurons, which are the basic building blocks of the nervous system, fire in
synchronicity. This results in the random visual patterns of light being perceived as specific shapes
and forms. This is how the input from each of our senses is perceived, as an experience of particular
sound, touch, smell, taste or sight.
If you now step back and look, you can see that before the observation or the perception, both the
world as well as you, that is the seen and the seer, existed in a dynamic and chaotic state of activity.
The act of perception changes that chaotic state into some sort of an order that becomes both, the seen
in the outside world and the process of seeing in the seer (as the activity in the nervous system) at the
same time. At the moment of seeing, the probability of what is seen collapses into a specific form.

In the Bhagavad Gita‘, Krishna, the lord and master, chooses to give Arjuna* the experience of
Krishna’s cosmic form. Until then, Arjuna had seen Krishna only as the six foot tall, handsome friend.
But upon Arjuna’s request, and after Krishna sees that Arjuna is ready to receive the cosmic form
experience, He decides to give it to him. Arjuna then sees Krishna as the manifestation of the entire
cosmos — in all its seeming chaos.

He cries out, ‘O Lord! I can see all the gods and deities in Your body. I can see all the sages and
divine serpents. O Lord of the Universe, I see many arms, stomachs, faces, eyes and your limitless
form. O Universal Form, I cannot see your beginning, middle or end.’
Arjuna is unable to bear the experience because he loses his intellectual control over things! He begs
for equilibrium, meaning he wants his mind to be under his intellectual control again. He wants to
know the cause and effect of things and feel that they are in his control, because the experience rips
him away from his perception of the cause-and- effect logic itself.

As long as cause and effect logic is under your control, you feel you are perceiving reality! Your ego
is strong and steady. But the moment the logic is shaken, you feel tremendous fear. You feel you are
just a drop in an ocean. What Arjuna sees is the absolute Reality, but he is afraid of that very Reality
because it doesn’t conform to his logic. He begs to revert to the earlier state of perception through his
five senses alone, through his own solid identity, his own solid ego.

Perception of space-time

Let us analyze what space is.

The 1D, 2D and 3D worlds
Take a basic element, a point, a one- dimensional object. When a point traces across a direction, it
generates a line.
Now, let us trace the motion of a line, a two-dimensional object. If it moves in the same direction as
it is in, of course it will just continue to be a line. If it moves in a direction not contained in it, it traces
a surface or a plane.

Similarly, if a surface or a plane moves in a direction not contained in it, it will trace a solid, a three-
dimensional object.

So, a line is an infinite number of points. A surface is an infinite number of lines. A solid is infinite
number of surfaces. Similarly, we can imagine a four dimensional space as an infinite number of three
dimensional spaces.

Now, just as we built up these higher dimensions from the lower dimensions, we can also see the
lower dimensions as parts or sections of a higher dimension space.
For example, a point is the intersection of two lines. So, a point is a section of a line.

A line is a section of a surface. A surface is a section of a solid.

Extending this, we can say a solid is a section of a four-dimensional body. Our three dimensional
space is a section of a four dimensional space. P.D.Ouspensky, in his book Tertium Organum,
explains these very beautifully. He extends this to say that many separate three dimensional bodies,
like humans for instance, may actually be the sections or parts of one four dimensional body!

He explains this with a simple example. Suppose a horizontal plane intersects the top of a tree,
parallel to the surface of the earth. Now, on this plane, the sections of branches seem to be all
separate, not connected to each other. But, from the three-dimensional space, we can see that these are
all sections of branches of one single tree.

The four-dimensional world of space-time

In our four-dimensional world, the maximum dimensions in space can be only three. We can call this
fourth-dimension time. So, the four-dimensional world can be looked at as a space-time continuum. It
can be said that time is the fourth dimension of space.
We understand time in three forms — past, present and future. We think that the past is over and does
not exist anymore. The future has not yet happened; hence it does not exist. The present thus happens
at the transition of the non-existent future to another non- existence, the past.

In the three-dimensional world, we see that the seemingly separate sections of the tree in the two-
dimensional world are actually joined in the third dimension. In the same way, if we imagine a
consciousness that can rise above our plane of living, this consciousness can also see the continuity in
the fourth dimension of time - past, present and future all existing simultaneously. This consciousness
sees the simultaneous happening of events, which the ordinary consciousness sees as distinct events
separated by periods of time.

A three-dimensional body, moving in time, traces a four-dimensional body. Across time, we can see
the motion as we grow from a child to youth, to adult, to elderly person. But we are not able to see or
feel this four- dimensional body’ because of our limited perception. Being in the same three-
dimensional world, we see only the section of the four-dimensional body that is the normal three-
dimensional body. It is like one of a series of pictures on a cinema roll.

To understand how a four-dimensional world is perceived in three-dimensional form, let us first see
how a three-dimensional happening is seen in a two-dimensional world.
Suppose you are in a two-dimensional world, the world of planes and surfaces. Your life, your
perception is restricted to a plane, like a vertical wall. Now, imagine a wheel with each of its spokes
painted in a different color is rotating perpendicular to the plane in which you live.

How will you perceive the motion of this wheel? When a spoke of the wheel intersects the plane, you
will see a line of a certain color at the intersection of the wheel and the plane.
Then, after one spoke passes, there will be a gap when you will not see anything. Then, the next spoke
ofa different color will pass through the plane. So, you will perceive the motion of the wheel as lines
of different colors happening at regular intervals of time.

What is happening is that the limited perception in a lower dimensional world is changing the
perception of space to a phenomenon in time!

Since you can see only two of the three dimensions of space, you see the third dimension only when it
becomes manifest on your plane over time. Hence, you see it as unrelated to your two dimensions of
space, and you call it a phenomenon in time.

Now, imagine when a green spoke passes through the plane, simultaneously another independent
phenomenon occurs, say the barking ofa dog. In the two dimensional world, it will be seen as a
correlation between the appearance of the green line and the sound of a dog barking, when in reality it
is not!

It is not possible for the two-dimensional being to believe that there can be a rise of events outside his
plane of perception. That means, to understand the three-dimensional world, he cannot be in the two-
dimensional consciousness, he has to rise to the three- dimensional consciousness. Similarly, to
understand the four-dimensional world, we have to be in the fourth-dimensional consciousness.

Is this possible? Is it possible for us to go beyond the perception of the senses which give us only a
three dimensional view? Can we actually see reality instead of mere glimpses of reality as phenomena
in the time? The answer is YES.

Through in depth research and development, the Eastern mystics and sages have discovered that it is
possible to understand Reality as it exists and to experience it also. This can happen as a natural way
of life, not just as a chance happening. This experience has happened in them.

Through meditation, it is possible for us to experience this same state of awareness.

A beautiful Zen story:

Once, two soldiers were looking at a flag flying in the wind. One of them said, ‟The flag is moving. ‟
The second one said, ‟No, it is the wind that is moving. ‟
A Zen master passing by saw the argument going on. The soldiers requested the master to help them
resolve this serious issue.

One of the soldiers asked, ‟Master I say the flag is moving. But he says the wind is moving Which is
correct? ‟

The master says, ‟Neither is correct. Only consciousness is moving. ‟

As of now, what we feel as reality everyday of our life is also a ‘virtual’ reality. It is only a perception
of things being separate in space and time. If you look deeply, you can see how our very perception of
the world itself is questionable. From whatever quality of consciousness, we see, THAT appears as
our reality, not the absolute Reality.
Reality consists of eleven dimensions
We think we live in a world of the three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension of time.
However, there are actually eleven dimensions. The fundamental dimensions are length, breadth,
depth, time and consciousness. The higher dimensions are combinations of these fundamental
dimensions.

For example, a stick has length, breadth and depth. It is in time and space. Now, if we keep length and
breadth and just remove the depth, the stick will be seen, but the hand will pass through the stick. You
can also keep the depth and remove the length and breadth. Then nothing will be seen, but the hand
will hit something if you try to pass it through.
In this way, there are various combinations leading to the eleven dimensions that make up the
universe. When you are in a plane above the four dimensional space-time you can currently perceive,
you can see these eleven dimensions, you can see Reality as enlightened beings can.

Chaos is order - order is chaos

Whether it is the energy in the atom or the energy in the cosmos, there is a big chaos in the energy
play. Within that chaos, there is an order that you cannot even imagine.

Chaos is energy

Anything in chaos is wild and energetic. Anything that has order is dull. Any rule curbs freedom,
reduces the energy. Any regulation brings your energy down. Even in your house, if somebody says,
‘Do not sit in that place, you will feel like sitting only in that place. But until that rule is made, you
will never even bother to sit there!

Even habits like smoking are maintained for the subtle mental satisfaction that you are wild, that you
are not bound. If you scan yourself consciously, you will understand that almost all of your happiness
comes only when you break some rules, when you are chaotic!

Chaos is order
The whole of Existence is chaos. In the universe, so many planets are moving. There are no traffic
signs or cops or sign-boards! Yet, the planets are moving so beautifully in order. In the same way, in
quantum physics, the smallest elements are not even particles; they are both particles and waves, and
a multitude of probabilities! But there is an order in that chaos.

If the universe is chaos without any order, it will head toward destruction. ‘Chaos in order’ is what I
call ‘cosmic intelligence’. I had an opportunity to meet Dr. Charles Townes’, the Nobel laureate and
physicist, who is well-known for his work on the laser and maser devices. He told me so beautifully,
‘I feel the whole universe is something special, the whole universe is a spiritual being. It has its own
intelligence. Even though I am not able to specifically prove it with mere words, I feel it is an
intelligent and spiritual being.’

The cosmos is not just a force. It is ‘force plus intelligence . It responds to your thoughts, to your
prayers, to your being - because it is intelligence. Once somebody asked Buddha, ‘Who is the creator
of this universe?’ Buddha replied, ‘The universe itself is its creator.’
If the creator and the created are two separate entities, it means only the creator is intelligent and the
created is not intelligent. The cosmos itself is the creator because it has its own intelligence. The
cosmos is a living energy. You are sitting inside a living energy.
Believing the world is just matter is the basic mistake. This belief is the root of all terrorism and
violence on planet earth. As long as we believe the universe is just dead matter, it is going to create
only more and more thirst for power.

Only when we realize that the universe has its own intelligence, when we realize the universe is a
spiritual being, the seed of peace is sown. Only when we understand that our thoughts are responded
to, our way of life is rewarded, our prayers are answered, there is a living intelligent force and there is
an order in the chaos, only then we can realize and work for peace, bliss and spirituality. Then,
instead of trying to own or expand our boundaries and borders, we will try to expand our
consciousness. The moment we start believing or trusting that the universe is intelligence’, we can
simply relax, trusting It.

Order is chaos
There is a beautiful Zen story:
A disciple goes to a Zen master and asks,
‟Master, please explain to me how you started, how you traveled the path, how you attained the
ultimate experience. ‟ The master says, ‟When I started, mountain was a mountain, river was a river
and tree was a tree. When I was traveling, mountain was not a mountain, river was not a river and
tree was not a tree. Again, when I attained, mountain is a mountain, river is a river and tree is a
tree.‟
Before achieving, even though you think you are extraordinary, you are ordinary. After achieving,
even though you are extraordinary, you understand you are ordinary.

You are not just a simple body. You are not just a microcosm. You are the macrocosm in miniature
form. You realize you are the ultimate, endless ocean of potential energy just like the universe. Only
when you realize the cosmic consciousness in your body, the macrocosm in your microcosm, you will
really become orderly, you will really learn how to be orderly without reducing your energy. As long
as you try to become orderly, you will not only suppress your energy, and you will also be
suppressing everyone else.

First, when you realize the order in the chaos, you will become a spiritual being, you will experience
love and bliss. When you realize the chaos in the order, you will become a compassionate being.
When you realize the order in the chaos, you will experience the experience part of love, bliss. When
you realize the chaos in the order, you will express the expression part of love which is compassion.

Seer-seen-seeing
We see two things in the process of seeing’ - the seer and the seen object. Actually, what is happening
in the process of seeing? (Though the example of eyes is taken here, it applies for all the senses.)

From the seer, consciousness takes a jump continuously to the seen, because it is not able to relax into
the seer itself. Because of its restlessness, it gives life to the seen.
The continuous jump that happens between the seer and seen - from the seer to the seen, from the
seen to the seer, again from the seer to the seen and again from the seen to the seer - is what is
SEEING.
When the seer is not completely in bliss within himself, he starts becoming restless - and jumps.
When he jumps, he gives life to the seen. Because he gives life to the seen, the process of jumping
becomes SEEING.

There are two ways to drop this process of seeing. Either the seer or the seen has to drop for the
process of seeing to stop.

When the seen is renounced, it loses its power over the seer. There is no point in jumping because
there is nothing to be seen. When there is no place to jump, the seer relaxes in the seer himself, then
seeing does not happen. When seeing is not there, the seer is enlightened
A person who stops this jump by dropping the ‘seen’ is a renouncer, a sannyasi. He takes away all his
desire to see things, to believe that any of the sense objects hold value for him. The seen becomes
unexciting, and the jumping stops. He becomes enlightened through renouncing. This is true self-
knowledge — gnana'. In the path of gnana‟, the seer experiences detachment and a complete
witnessing of life. In this way he tries to discover Reality. The main objective is the development of a
sharp and pure intelligence through which Reality can be experienced.

On the other hand, when the seer himself drops, what remains is the seen, and again the jumping
between the seer and the seen stops. Reality is seen.

The seer becomes enlightened through devotion or bhakti„.

When the identity of the seer drops, dissolves into the seen, deep devotion to Existence happens!
Everything becomes an exciting manifestation of Existence for him! His identity is no longer there.
He merges into Existence itself. That is why enlightened saints like Meerabai’ from India, who went
on the path of bhakti, were in a trance all the time, merged into the god consciousness, forgetting their
own identity. Meerabai just sang praises of god and walked around on the streets, with no self-
consciousness whatsoever. So, in some way, either the seer or the seen has to drop. Only then the
jumping between the seer and the seen will stop. When the jumping stops, the process of seeing also
stops.
Whether you are stuck with the seer or with the seen, get completely stuck - and you are enlightened!
If you are jumping between the seer and the seen, not relaxed in either, you are under the illusion of a
separate existence of the seer and seen. This jumping is what manifests as your individual seeing.

When the frequency of the seen is more than the seer, the seer can be changed or manipulated by the
seen. When the frequency of the seer is more than the seen, the seen can be changed or manipulated
by the seer.

Collective Consciousness

We are not disconnected and separate islands as we think. Maybe in the physical layer, we all seem
like individual islands. But whether we like it or not, whether we accept it or not, whether we want it
or not, we are all interlinked by the collective consciousness.

It is like this: if the food is poisoned, only the person who eats it will suffer, not everyone. In this
sense, you can think of yourself as an individual. But as you move towards the subtler levels of
Existence, you can see our interconnectedness more clearly. For example, if the air is poisoned,
whoever is breathing it will suffer, even if they are a long distance from each other. This connection is
at the breath level. This means that in the subtler energy layers, the distance between us is reduced.
Even more than the physical and breath levels, we are connected more closely at the mental level.
When I say mental level, I mean the level of thoughts. Our thoughts affect not only us but also
everyone around us and beyond. Your thoughts are more infectious than your cold. In fact, people
may escape from your cold, but they cannot escape from your thoughts.

If an individual mind is polluted, not only the individual, but a much bigger group suffers. For
example, if one person who has a disturbed mind sits as a leader of a city, the whole city will be
affected by the decisions that he makes! His disturbed thinking will result in wrong decisions and
hence will be harmful for the whole city.

Going a step further, if one corrupted visualization leads to a particular action, the action can have
tremendous impact on a huge population, not just on that person with the corruption.
For example, take the case of the atom bomb. It is nothing but a ‘visualization’ of the nuclear theory!
The basis of the nuclear bomb can be found in the famous formula E=mc2 that was discovered by the
physicist, Albert Einstein. But corrupted visualization of this formula led to disturbance of the whole
planet earth. We are all now threatened by this one theory, by this one invention. Today, planet earth
has enough atomic weapons to bum itself 700 times, over and over again.

Just see this diagram here. I shall try to explain the truth on the basis of this diagram.
These seven circles represent the seven energy layers in us. The first layer is the physical body, the
body that you can feel as your hands, legs, etc. The second layer is pranic body, the body in which
your prana or life energy or breath circulates. Like this, there are seven energy layers that make up
the total body, with the physical body being just one of those layers.

Now, in the physical layer, you, god and I can be represented as three different points in the circle. In
the physical level, the distance between us is great.

If you go inward a little to the pranic level, the distance between us is reduced. If you go in deeper to
the mental level, the distances are further reduced. When you go deeper and deeper, it finally merges
into one. You can see that at the innermost point of all these layers, god, you, and I are one. There is
no distance. That is the Truth even at the gross level! It is only your perception that causes you to
think you are a separate entity. Once you become aware and realize that you are a part of the
collective consciousness, that you don’t have an individual identity, that you don’t have a separate
ego, you don’t suffer.

Coincidence of thought

If you have observed a school of fish swimming or a flock of birds flying together, you will see a
fleeting synchronicity in their motion. There may be hundreds of birds flying together in a V-shaped
formation, but when they have to change direction, they will all do so at the same time, with no
confusion or time delay! Scientists have been trying to understand how this is possible. Even studies
of insects and animals have shown that when faced with threats, their responses are so fast that they
cannot be explained by normal methods of communication.

An interesting experiment was done to study the power of thought on dogs. The dog owners were
asked to leave the house with no intention of going to any particular place. After leaving the house,
they were given instructions to go to specific places and then at random times, they were asked to
come back. It was found that at the time the owner started back home, almost always at the same
time, the dog would go to the door and wait for the owner.

In the huge tsunami that rocked the Andaman and Nicobar islands of India, it was found that before
the tsunami hit the islands, all the animals, including the huge ones like elephants, had all moved to
higher grounds, safely away from the ocean. There have been a number of accounts of animals and
insects being aware of upcoming earthquakes minutes before the earthquake actually strikes. What is
the difference between these animals and us? It is their connection with nature! Being in tune with
nature enables them to sense nature’s signals. In the case of humans, because of our false sense of
identity and ego, we have lost touch with nature and have become insensitive to the direct signals of
nature.

Tuning into the higher intelligence

You can see so many instances in history where the same discovery was made at about the same time
by people in different parts of the globe and by people who did not even know each other. The reason
is that the ideas are floating in the collective consciousness. It is like this: there are hundreds of
electromagnetic waves in the air but your television set picks u only the waves of the frequency to
which it 1S tuned. Similarly, the minds that are ready and waiting for the floating ideas will tune in
and convert that potentiality into reality!

Just as the universe gives us so many hints of its existence as one being, we can find hints from nature
about the nature of reality. In a series of experiments in the 1920s, it was found that no matter what
portion of a rat’s brain was removed, the rat still retained its memory of how to perform complex
tasks it had learned prior to the surgery. The rat’s brain actually showed holographic memory.
Scientists proposed that memories are encoded not in neurons, but in the patterns of nerve impulses
that crisscross the brain, similar to how a hologram is formed by various patterns of laser light
crisscrossing each other. This might explain how the human brain can store up to ten billion bits of
information in the brain, which is the small size of two fists!

The universe is a hologram and we are a part of that hologram. In a hologram, every single part of the
hologram, even if split, reflects the totality of that hologram. Likewise, we too reflect the totality of
the universe. The universe is not an assortment of living and dead matter. It is a huge interconnected
Whole. You are very much connected to your fellow beings around you and the trees, animals, birds
and rocks on earth, as well as the planets, stars and galaxies in the universe. Whether you perceive it
or not depends on the plane of consciousness from which you perceive it all.
Global Peace Begins From You
When we realize our role in the Existential scheme of things, we can no longer feel separate from all
those around us. We can only feel separated when we feel unconscious of our role, when we are
unaware.

The time has come to create a critical mass of enlightened people on planet earth. Only by creating
more and more people who are awakened, who are enlightened, can the collective influence of
individual negativity be destroyed. All calamities around the world are created only by unconscious
human beings. Global warming, HIV, religious terrorism, fanaticism, and piles of atomic weapons,
are all because of this negativity. Today we are facing so many dangers that unless we create a
peaceful, blissful, joyful, and enlightened society, we will not be able to preserve this beautiful planet
earth.

My mission is to create a peaceful, joyful, blissful, conscious, enlightened society.

Global Peace — a byproduct of

individual bliss
Self-contradictory thoughts

Actually, a majority of us are caught up in fighting with our own selves. We are caught in a web of
self-contradictory thoughts and desires. Our thoughts and words are so powerful, but we use them so
casually.

For example, say you have a headache, what do you do? You tell yourself, ‘How I wish this headache
would go away!’ By uttering these words, you give as much power to the word ‘headache’ as you
give to the words ‘go away’. This is what I mean by self- contradictory thoughts. By your very
thought, you contradict your original desire. Even your positive intention is caught in the fight, the
dilemma of your own thoughts and words.
You will then ask, ‘How do I get rid of this headache?’ Just say, ‘Let me be healed!’ that’s all.

When we infuse healing thoughts into our system again and again, we give power to positive words
and thoughts. They get embedded in our very muscle memory. So at times of low mood and
depression, these healing thoughts will automatically come up in our inner space and pull us out of
the low mood.

Individual peace by its nature touches the world

A beautiful story from the life of Buddha:

Devadatta, a cousin of Buddha, joined Buddha‟s order of monks. He was hungry for power and
status. He wanted to become the head of the order of monks. But Buddha would not allow such an
immature person, who was running after status instead of enlightenment, to lead his mission. So
Devadatta harbored jealo usy and ill feelings towards Buddha and even made several attempts to kill
him.
Once Devadatta persuaded the royal elephant-keepers to release a fierce elephant on to Buddha‟s
path. The elephant was intoxicated and let loose on the streets where Buddha used to walk regularly.
The mad elephant ran wildly. People panicked and fled in all directions.

The elephant came upon Buddha. Buddha kept walking, radiating the same peace and calm even in
the face of this danger. His bliss and peace was not at all affected by the threat of the wild elephant.
The elephant came rushing towards Buddha in a mad fury. Once it reached Buddha, it immediately
calmed down completely. Its wild nature simply dissolved in Buddha‟s enlightened presence. Buddha
touched the elephant‟s forehead and stroked it gently. Calmed by the patting, the elephant bent on its
knees and bowed down to Buddha.

The people watching the whole scene were simply shocked!

The waves of bliss radiating from a peaceful person naturally and automatically touch the people,
animals, trees, and rocks and affects everything nearby.

To make the whole world blissful and happy, you don’t have to do anything. Just change your center.
When you are seeing a horror movie, your world will be filled with fear. But if you just change the
channel to say a comedy movie, you can see how your whole world changes!

When the inner awakening happens, the higher emotions happen. It all finally boils down to your own
experience of what is happening. If you want to save the world, all you need to do is save yourself!

Everything is actually happening in this world — great spiritual sessions where enlightenment is
being shared and at the same time terrorist training camps where violence is being shared. According
to what you tune with, the world that you attract and see will also appear to be. You will attract the
same type of people and situations in your life
Even one person struggling for enlightenment, seeking, raises the consciousness of at least a million
people.

How to handle the suffering in the

world
First, we have to understand that every major decision taken at the higher level of power and
governance is an expression of collective positivity or collective negativity, because it is the mass
consciousness or collective consciousness that creates the leaders. So before blaming others, be they
leaders, politicians, or officials, if we can put a little bit of energy towards ourselves and start working
to create more positive consciousness in our inner space, we will be doing something really useful.

It is time...
Let us create more positivity from our side.
Let us bring more love to our actions.

Let us increase the frequency of our individual consciousness.

Instead of getting upset or disturbed by negative decisions, just create positive energy so that the
people around you and around the world are also affected by this positive consciousness. Then you
will see that it radiates through the leaders also. When more and more people begin to transform
themselves, the collective positivity has to express itself through the right politicians and the right
leaders.
If you get upset and disturbed, what is going to happen? Nothing will happen except that you will
have a little more depression, a little more negativity. And because of that, you yourself will add more
negativity to the world, you will add more mass to the negative consciousness.

So revolution is not the way. Evolution is the way.

Every revolution promised the truth or the ultimate solution. But what do we see if we look back? In
the last 3000 years of the history of planet earth, we have had 5000 recorded wars! Researchers have
estimated that in the last 3000 years of the history of planet earth, there have been at least 9000 peace
treaties, and the average life span of these treaties was just 8 years!

Just create positive energy so that the people around you and around the world are also affected by
this positive consciousness. Then you will see that it radiates through the leaders as well.

Studies of the effects of meditation

on peace
Various studies have been done to measure the effects of group meditation on communities. Some
studies observed the effect of a critical mass of people who meditated using the technique of
Transcendental Meditation TM. These studies showed an eight percent decrease in the crime rate in the
cities where group meditation was conducted. Other reports showed a significant seventeen percent
reduction in acts of violence and a thirteen percent increase in cooperative, helpful acts. In war-
stricken areas there was more than fifty percent drop in daily war deaths and more than twenty five
percent drop in war injuries. The overall statistics showed reduced crime rates, fewer hospital
admissions, and reduced violence, leading to an increase in the overall quality of life.

Global Peace meditation

21 September is observed as the International Peace Day. Millions of people worldwide come
together in prayer, meditation, celebration and collaboration for world peace and global harmony.
On this occasion every year, Nithyananda Mission’s centers conduct collective group meditations
worldwide. The collective consciousness is raised in a much more powerful way when meditation is
done as a group.

When matter is shared, it reduces in size. For example, if an apple has to be shared by four people, it
has to be cut into four pieces. It reduces in size. When it comes to electrical energy, when the voltage
is shared, it does not reduce, it remains the same. For example, if we have ten volts of electricity in a
wire, one person touching the wire will feel ten volts, and four people touching the same wire will
also feel ten volts.

But it is different in the case of the powerful, subtle energy of meditation. When meditation is done
by a group of people, it multiplies! Rather than diminishing or staying the same, the benefit is shared
and amplified among the entire group and beyond. If one person meditating generates 10 ‘volts’ of
energy, then 100 people sitting together in a collective meditation generates 10 x 100 or 1000 ‘volts’
of energy. Just imagine! The strength of energy that is generated will simply cleanse the entire space
where the meditation is done. That is why collective, group meditation is encouraged.
The unavoidable loving touch of
enlightened beings
A story from the life of Buddha:
Th ere was a bandit by the name of Angulimala. He used to live in a forest that many people had to
cross. He used to ambush the people and rob them of their valuables. Then he would cut off the little
finger of the person and make a garland of all such fingers. That is why he was called Angulimala —
garland of fingers.
Once when traveling, Buddha was about to cross the forest. People warned him about the terrifying
Angulimala. But Buddha was unperturbed and continued walking. Deep inside the forest, Angulimala
jumped out of the bushes and shouted threateningly at Buddha, ‟Stand still!‟

Buddha stopped and replied, ‟I am still.

May you be still.‟Angulimala for the first time in his life was shaken to his very being. Something
about Buddha touched him deeply. He could not even force himself to attack Buddha. His hands froze.
He just fell at the feet of Buddha crying and begging for forgiveness!

This story illustrates one of the truths of the impact of enlightened beings. Without effort or intention,
an enlightened being simply radiates tremendous peace and compassion which has the power to
simply transform others.

This effect is not limited just to human beings. Even animals are touched by the pure love and
compassion radiated by an enlightened being. Everything is changed when it is exposed to that high
frequency energy field.

There is a beautiful story from the life of Adi Shankara, an enlightened master from ancient
India:Shankara was wandering in South India in the town of Shringeri. One day, a strange and
beautiful scene happened in front of him. Two frogs were sitting on a rock. It became very hot, so the
frogs were about to jump into the water. Just then a cobra raised its hood and spread it over the two
frogs giving them shade. The frogs enjoyed the cool shade and sat back for sometime. After sometime,
they plunged into the water. The cobra also folded back its hood and went away.

Shankara was watching this and was amazed. He was a very sharp intellectual person. He did not
leave the incident at that. He immediately recognized that unless the place was sanctified in some way
by some higher energy, it was not possible for animals to forget their enmity and co-exist in such a
beautiful fashion. He went around and asked for details about the place. He learned that some time in
the past, a great enlightened sage had established his ashram, there for many years!

Shankara was so moved by the whole incident that he decided that someday he too would be set up his
mission in that very place. Years later when he was passing by the same place, he stopped and
established his first ashram there, called Shringeri Math. To this day it stands as one of the key seats
of spiritual wisdom in the world!
An enlightened being effortlessly radiates his all-encompassing inner space, which create a collective
positivism.

As Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras, ‘In the presence of an enlightened being even natural enemies
lose their enmity
The Nithyananda Mission
My advent on the planet earth is to create a new cycle of individual consciousness causing Collective
Consciousness to enter the Superconscious zone.

To achieve this, One hundred thousand people will be initiated to live as Jeevan Muktas – liberated
beings experiencing “living enlightenment”.

One billion people will be initiated into Nithya Dhyaan – Life Bliss Meditation – designed to cause a
positive shift in the individual consciousness on planet earth.

Meditation Technique for Global

Peace
The way to achieve global peace is to create individual peace. The meditation for global peace is a
collective meditation. This is a very simple but very powerful meditation.
Sit in one circle or concentric circles hold hands so that you hold the hand of the person on your right
with your right hand – palm facing down – signifying ‘giving’ peace and bliss, while you offer your
left hand – palm facing up – to ‘receive’ peace and bliss from the person on your left. This connected
circle of people generates a powerful energy cycle. The meditative energy of one person is shared by
all others. This meditation can be done for at least 21
Sannyas is the Ultimate Gamble
Our ability to be in tune with others and Existence depends entirely upon how we conduct ourselves.
It depends on the priorities we choose in life. What if we do not choose? What if we accept things as
they happen to us?

It is time to talk about renunciation. Renunciation is not running away from life. Renunciation is
flowing with life without resistance. The Sanskrit word sannyas refers to this state of trust with
Existence that allows us to let go all other things in life.

Sannyas...
There is a beautiful story from the life of Buddha:
After enlightenment, Buddha visited many places preaching his dhamma or teachings, and initiating
people into spiritual life.

On his way, he entered Kapilavastu, his birth place. He walked on the streets with his disciples,
wearing the saffron robe.

Everyone watched him with great wonder. Buddha’s wife, Yashodhara, heard the noise in the street
and asked what it was. Her maids told her that it was none other than her own husband who had
returned as the Buddha, the enlightened soul. She did not go to meet him. Instead, she called for her
son Rahul. Rahul was born the night that Buddha left home in search of enlightenment.

She asked Rahul, ‟Do you see that radiant figure there who holds a begging bowl and yet looks like a
king? He is your father. Go and ask him for your inheritance. ‟
The young boy ran downstairs and pushed his way through to where Buddha stood.
He fell at Buddha’s feet and boldly repeated what his mother had told him.
Buddha lifted him up gently with a smile and looked at him. He simply removed the gold hemmed
cloth the boy was wearing and replaced it with a saffron one.

The boy, seven years of age, was given his inheritance. He was the first and only child allowed into
the monastic order of the Buddha.

Someone asked me, If everything in life is evolving naturally by the process of evolution like monkey
into man, and bad into good, would man not ultimately evolve into god?
When then is the need for the meditation, sannyas…where then is the need for inspiration?’

I replied, ‘It took five thousand It took five thousand years for the monkey to become man, and it
would take equally long for man to become god. If you are willing to wait that long, it is alright with
me!’

On the other hand, you can decide to live consciously with a clear understanding about life, the laws
and structure of the universe, and meditation. You can revolutionize the process of your evolution.
The right revolution leads to evolution or enlightenment. That is sannyas, the greatest revolution of an
individual. It is to live like a Paramahamsa, like an enlightened being.

Adi Shankara, the enlightened master from India, beautifully says in his work Vivekachoodamani*:
For all living creatures, a human birth is rare, and even rarer is to have a sattvic [goodness] attitude,
and more so to have steadfastness on the path of spiritual activity as explained in the Vedas„...
These words had a very powerful effect on the life of Swami Vivekananda, an enlightened master
from India who lived thousands of years after Adi Shankara. When Swami Vivekananda was
preparing for his law examination, these very words landed on him like a thunderbolt. He could not
read further. He left his books and started running along the road. He was running to his master,
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. While he was running, the truth of Adi Shankara’s words was ringing in
his very being. He thought to himself, ‘I have gained all these three: I have been born as a human
being. I have gained the desire for liberation. I have got a great master. then why am I still wasting my
life?

Why am I still wasting my life?’ Again and again, these words were haunting him. Swami
Vivekananda went on to become enlightened and spread Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s mission
worldwide.

Sannyas is the path for those who want to win over themselves, who want to be free of the clutches of
jealousy, anger, stress and depression forever. People think sannyas is chosen by losers. No. Of
course, sometimes those who don’t know what to do with their lives take up sannyas. But that is not
the spirit of sannyas.

Sannyas is the effort to become conscious for the first time, conscious of the mechanism that
surrounds you as a human being. You are part of Existence. Existence moves with its own
mechanism, with its own music. Falling in tune with it is the science of sannyas. Sannyas is a being
level relationship, being in tune with the whole of Existence. That is the shortest path to success in
life.

To hear the song of Existence, you need to start moving in the right space. To find that space, you
need to first drop any other thing you know, and listen to the song with deep awareness. You will find
it. In that space, life will flow like a river moving towards the sea. Any other path will take longer.

When life becomes a flowing river, it has to merge with the sea. There is no other way. Sannyas is the
science of flowing with the natural course of Existence and finally merging with it.

Flow like a river

The river heads only towards the sea. It does not stagnate anywhere. A sannyasi heads only towards
his goal of enlightenment. He knows no distractions. The river flows blissfully, whatever be the
things thrown into it on its way. So many things are thrown into the river — flowers, twigs, food,
animals, birds, dead bodies, etc. But the river flows, not bothering about anything.
Similarly, a sannyasi moves blissfully, untouched by anything that comes his way.
The current pulls the river over its obstacles, and it gurgles with a constant music, moving towards the
sea. The cosmic intelligence pulls the sannyasi over obstacles as he moves towards the ultimate goal.
He knows not what obstacles are. For him, they are all stepping stones on the path to bliss.

One Zen master was asked, ‟What is Zen?‟

He replied, ‟Walk on!‟

Zen Buddhism beautifully says, life is like the river that flows and fills each form, and bursts its own
limitations to expand its capacity. This is the essence of life, and sannyas. Sannyas is learning in
action as life moves, not philosophizing. It is a force, not a dogma. For a real sannyasi, life simply
moves in the right direction. The learning happens during the movement, not as a separate thing.

Sannyas is nothing but straightaway practicing the truths every passing moment. There is enough
philosophy in the world but no one to follow it. Sannyas is simply a conscious decision to live the
truth immediately in your life.
A Zen master tells his disciple very beautifully, Studying the truth as a philosophy is just collecting
preaching material. Remember that unless you practice constantly, your light of truth may go out.’

Practice is nothing but continuously flowing in the right direction without stagnating. Even in
stagnation there will be movement around the obstacle-trying to find the flow again. There is no
stopping.

A sannyasi continuously moves with the intelligence of Existence with an attitude of surrender. By
surrender, I don’t mean inaction. I mean action with an attitude of surrender. There is no stopping. He
lives in the moment, spontaneously and according to the need of the moment, which is what is called
fluidity.

Sannyas Is not renunciation

Sannyas has always been wrongly associated with renunciation. You don’t have to renounce anything.
You just need to understand that you are a temporary custodian of some wealth, which is a part of
Existence, just as you are as well. Then you won’t need to renounce because you never possessed
anything in the first place! Even if you have to part with wealth, you will not feel that you are giving
away or losing your possessions. The problem starts with the attitude of possessing, with the feeling
of ‘mine’.

Neither does a sannyasi need to renounce the world nor does a samsari need to be afraid of
renouncing. Just the plain understanding that Existence gives and takes at the right moment is enough.
Then you know that what is happening is the right thing for the moment and life is flowing as it
should. This creates a mental gap between you and your wealth and that gap is called renunciation! It
is just a gap, a break in the attitude of possessing, nothing else. It has been wrongly used in the
context of sannyas.
A small story:
Two monks were traveling together. One of them strongly believed in acquiring wealth. He practiced
spirituality through it. The other strongly followed the path of renunciation. They were discussing the
two ways of life. As they were discussing, it became nighttime and they reached a river that they had
to cross.

The one who believed in renunciation did not have money with him. He said, ‟We don’t have money
to cross the river. Let us spend the night here and someone will take us across the river tomorrow
morning. ‟

The other one replied, ‟That is not possible. We will be eaten by wild animals if we spend the night
here. I have money with me. Let us pay the boatman and cross the river. ‟
Once they crossed the river safely, he asked his companion, ‟Now do you understand the value of
money? Ifl too had been a man o[renunciation, what would have happened to us?‟

The first one re plied, ‟It was your renunciation that brought us across safely. You parted with your
money to cross the river!‟

Renouncing is ‘having’ without the idea of having, and ‘parting’ without the idea of parting.
Otherwise, by merely renouncing outer wealth, you will not gain anything. You will only feel the pain
of sacrificing the ‘mine’. Sannyas is not escaping from the ‘mine’. It is going beyond the ‘mine’. And
that is possible only through a proper understanding. If you renounce with understanding, it is okay.
Otherwise, the ‘mine’ will simply persist wherever you go. Not only that, if you renounce with the
idea that you are renouncing ‘yours’, it becomes the right action but for the wrong reason! By merely
renouncing outer wealth, you can never be a sannyasi. Sannyas is a change in the inner mental setup,
not a change in the outer material setup. Renouncing outer wealth to be a sannyasi is like doing the
right action but for the wrong reason.

Wealth and sannyas are not mutually exclusive. In fact, sannyas is the art and science of creating
wealth flawlessly.

If you read the vedic scriptures you will see that they always talk only about the abundance of life.
They never teach escaping from it. They teach loosening the attachment over possessions, not
renouncing or hating it. Sannyas is seeing the vast abundance of life as one whole, and therefore not
being attached to your own small possessions. It is knowing that wealth is also a manifestation of
Existence and not the essence of life itself.
Sannyas is not suicide. It is life. Sannyas is living in tremendous beauty, both inside and outside you.

Understand, outer beauty and wealth are not enemies to the path of sannyasi. They are
complementary. Sannyas adds inner wealth and beauty to your outer wealth and beauty. It gives us
the intelligence to handle the outer wealth and beauty without any suffering related to it.

Samsar and Sannyas

Samsar literally means the ‘world’ or the ‘path’. It refers to the worldly life that causes endless cycles
of birth and death.

There are two ways to move in any path: either with baggage and people or by yourself. In the first
case, you may have to wait for a long time. In the second case, you can reach even this very minute.

Sannyas is the decision not to carry any baggage while moving. You can have everything, but you
don’t have to carry it. When you don’t carry anything, Existence brings to you what you need for the
moment. That is sannyas!

There is a beautiful story from the life of Buddha. . .

Buddha’s disciples gathered around him one day and asked him to teach them the essence of sannyas.
He told them a small story
One man was living on an island by himself. Suddenly he got the feeling it was time to move from the
island. He did not have a boat. So he made one with some twigs, branches, leaves and whatever he
could find. It was a difficult journey but somehow he crossed and reached the other side.

Buddha asked the disciples, After reaching the other side, should the man keep the boat or discard
it?’

The disciples came out with different answers.

Buddha continued, ‟The man of sannyas discards the boat knowing that he will be provided for as
needed in the future. The man of samsar keeps it so that his effort doesn’t go waste if he wants to
journey back!‟

A sannyasi walks with his thought on Existence. A samsari walks with his thoughts on how to exist.
A sannyasi uses the boat to cross the ocean of life. A samsari carries the boat even beyond the time it
is needed, not knowing he can drop it. That is the difference. There is nothing right or wrong in this. It
is just two different ways to live.
Let me explain sannyas in the context of karma because sannyas is the shortcut to exhausting karma.
Karma is nothing but the unfulfilled actions of your past that pull you again and again to take birth to
fulfill them. It is the very cause of the cycle of birth and death. It makes you take birth again and
again in this world until it is exhausted.

There are three types of karma sanchita', prarabdha and agamya„. Sanchita' karma is your entire
bank balance of unfulfilled actions {karma) accumulated over many lives. Prarabdha karma is that
portion of sanch ita that you bring and come to exhaust in this one birth. Every time you take birth,
you bring with you a small portion of sanchita as your prarabdha to exhaust. It includes all your
unfulfilled desires, lust, anger, fear, and such things. The third or agamya„ karma is the new karma
that you create in this birth because of new, unfulfilled actions.
Ultimately, these three things need to be done in order to exhaust all karma completely. First, the new
agamya' should not get created because it only adds to the bank balance or the sanchita at the end of
the lifetime. Second, the prarabdha with which you came should get exhausted, or fulfilled, in this
life completely without a trace. Third, the volume of the sanchita itself should somehow be burnt so
that the number of times you take birth reduces. This happens by fulfilling the prarabdha without
accumulating the agamya in a lifetime.

If the prarabdha is exhausted in the right way, agamya will not get created. The same intelligence
that properly exhausts the prarabdha will take care of not creating new agamya. The sanchita itself
can be exhausted only by the grace of an enlightened master.
Now understand clearly: if the fantasy of your prarabdha is greater than your intelligence, then
samsar (marriage) is the path for you. If the fantasy of your prarabdha is lesser than your
intelligence, then sannyas is the path for you! In the path of sannyas, your intelligence wins over your
prarabdha and brings it to control and exhaust it. In the path of samsar, life teaches you in different
ways and you exhaust your prarabdha through millions of births.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras’, there is an eightfold path to enlightenment. All eight parts have to be
followed simultaneously. Three of the parts are pratyahara, dharana and dhyana. Pratyahara is
drawing the mind inwards, away from the five senses. The next is dharana, the merging of the mind
with the inner Self. The third is dhyana, meditation.

Withdrawing the mind from the five senses itself can happen only when the mind merges with the
inner Self! For example, you can release the foot from the lower rung of the ladder only after
establishing yourself in the higher rung, is it not? You can let go of the lower branch of the tree only
after clinging to the higher branch. We all think that only after renouncing worldly attachments, we
can attain god. No! The truth is, only after attaining god can you really shake off the worldly things.

Only after you experience Nithyananda or eternal bliss, you can shake off mithyananda or worldly
fantasies.

If you can become aware of and hold on more firmly to the higher rung you may let go of the lower
rung more easily. That awareness is called sannyas. It is the process of understanding and moving to
the higher rung and leaving the lower rung. As you move, renunciation happens as a byproduct.
Because you realize that to climb higher you don’t need anything but yourself! Anything you take
with you is only going to make it more difficult to climb.

A samsari moves to pursue his fantasies. He goes to places to see the beauty of Existence. A sannyasi
sees everything around him as already divine and beautiful! He is fantasized by what he sees! When
the samsari starts turning inward, he becomes a sannyasi. Until he finds the burning need for that, it is
better for him to continue with what he is doing. For a sannyasi, the mind is happy all the time. What
he gets is what he wants. He is always living in the mood of grateful and welcome acceptance. For a
samsari, the mind is occupied with too many conflicts. He keeps trying to get what he wants. With
intelligence, the samsari can awaken to the truth, that what he is getting is what he needs for that
moment and for his ultimate fulfillment.
The samsari is concerned with material things and living life in a limited way. The sannyasi is
concerned about death — death of all that is not him, which is his ego, possessiveness, lust, anger,
fear, jealousy and discontent. He knows he is something beyond all this. His whole quest is to find
this, because once he finds it, he has found the higher rung of the ladder and he can leave the lower
rung where the constant push and pull of all these emotions and material things reside.

Sannyas is the search to answer the question ‘Who am I?’ A sannyasi puts his whole energy into
discovering the answer to this question. If people ask you, ‘Who are you?’ you will generally reply, ‘I
am so-and- so’s son, I am an engineer, I am a professor.’ But those words describe who you are in
your relationships with the world. If there were no world, then who are you?

The great enlightened masters who founded the world religions have said repeatedly, ‟Aham
Brahmasmi meaning, ‘I am That’ in the Hindu tradition, or ‘Be still and know that I am god’ in the
Christian tradition, or Anal-Haq meaning ‘I am the Truth’ in the Islam tradition. Experiencing that
you are god is the purpose of human life.

Once this purpose is experienced, the inner bliss that all these great masters talk about starts
happening. Then you understand that the outer world is a beautiful stage where the divine play is
happening. There is ultimate freedom from all worldly difficulties. You do, and yet you don’t do, you
speak and yet you don’t speak. You cry and yet you don’t cry.
Your inner Self remains untouched. You are in ‘eternal bliss’ — nithya ananda.
The problem is that people generally think sannyas is a hindrance to worldly life. They think sannyas
is seriousness. No! Sannyas is a certain quality for living life to its optimum. Seriousness will never
help one live life to its full potential. Only sincerity and laughter will help. Laughter is the greatest
spiritual quality.

A master was seated with his disciples. He was in an expansive mood and his disciples decided to ask
him about the various stages he passed through to reach the Divine. The master beautifully started
explaining...

‟God held me by the hand and first took me to the Land of Action. I stayed there for several years.
Then god returned and took me to the Land of Sorrow. I fell into deep sorrows but eventually went
beyond them. I felt happy. Then, suddenly I found that god put me in the Land of Love. I went through
burning emotions and %und myself cleansed thoroughly. Then, he took me to the Land o[ Silence.
There I learned the mysteries of life and death.‟ The disciples asked, ‟Was that the final stage of your
quest?‟
The master said, ‟No. One day god said, Today I will take you to my very heart... and he led me to the
Land of Laughter. ‟ Sannyas is your very energy. How can it be a hindrance to anything? Not only
that, with the energy o sannyas, you are always young. With the energy of sannyas, you are ready for
the challenges of life.

People ask me, ‘Why can’t we continue in samsar and live with the consciousness of a sannyasi? ‟
You see, the nature of man is such that unless a conscious decision is taken, it is difficult to bring
about a permanent transformation in the consciousness. Sannyas is a conscious decision to transform
the consciousness. Sannyas is a conscious decision. That is why sannyas needs to be taken. With a
conscious decision, there is continued awareness. Continued awareness decreases the chance of
slipping back. Without it, there is nothing binding one to keep on the path. It becomes easy to slip.

With sannyas, you will continue to do what you are doing but in a much better way. With sannyas,
you start watching everything. You become a witness. Because of this witnessing, a gap is created
between you and the other person. That gap is misunderstood as renunciation’. If you notice, the gap
was not there earlier. Each one was suffocating the other. Now the gap is there. The gap is not a gap
of distance but a gap of awareness.
Sannyas is also living without the burden of the inner woman or inner man. What is meant by inner
woman or inner man? It is nothing but the lust hidden in your mind, the fantasies that you have
created in your mind.

Shiva says beautifully in the Tantra’, ‘A man who has abandoned the woman in him, in his inner
mind, is a sannyasi, even if he is still in the family.’ On the contrary, if thoughts of a woman persist in
a sannyasi s mind, he cannot be called a sannyasi. This is the scale to measure if a man is a sannyasi.

In Buddha’s teaching, The Four Noble Truths, the second truth deals with the cause of suffering. He
beautifully says that suffering is because of the demands we make on life every moment. It is like
asking a banana tree to bear mangoes! We will understand this habit only when we bring in
awareness.

Not only that, when you watch, you start seeing exactly how transactions are happening in
relationships. You see how expectations are driving the whole thing. You see the ulterior motives in
everything.

The responsibility of a sannyasi

There is a little-known truth about a sannyasi, that a sannyasi takes responsibility for the whole of
Existence. He doesn’t know the difference between his family and the rest of the world. All are the
same. He wishes for the liberation of anyone who comes his way. On the other hand, a samsari takes
responsibility for one family or maybe for a few organizations. This taking of responsibility is always
towards a definite cause. It is either to accumulate the credit of serving, to fulfill some obligation, or
to co-exist easily with the people around him.

The nature of a sannyasi s responsibility is completely different. For him, the whole world is his
family. There is no obligation driving him. Responsibility happens completely out of the quality of his
inner space. Also, a samsari can rest after fulfilling every duty at that stage in life. A sannyasi
continuously works, because people are constantly in need of truths in their life.

A sannyasi is established in rich relationships. People think sannyasis run away from relationships. A
young girl asked me while I was addressing a college gathering, ‘Was it failure in love that caused
you to become a sannyasi? ‟
I told her, ‘It was success in love that caused me to become a sannyasi!’ Actually, sannyas is what
softens you into real love; love towards not just one person but towards the whole of Existence.

Ordinary love comes with a reason, or with lust. Real love knows no reason. It is just a causeless
overflowing energy towards everything in Existence.

In reality, sannyas is living like a king. Sannyas is the beginning of a kingly life because when you
have cleaned yourself of all your suffering, then you have gained everything you can ever gain! You
gain far more than mere wealth can give you.

A sannyasi recognizes the unending abundance of Existence. His vision is oceanic. He is not stuck in
narrow perceptions. He perceives the whole of Existence as one. He feels part of the whole. That is
why he is rich. A rich man who feels he owns a few acres is not really the rich one. The man who
feels the abundance of Existence is really the rich one.

Understand that the very word ‘rich’ has been misinterpreted. How can a person who is enjoying just
a few bungalows be rich? He cannot be! The rich person is the one who is enjoying everything around
him continuously. His richness is the richness of the whole Existence. He enjoys everything with no
attachment to anything.

Integrity — the trait of a sannyasi!

The word ‘penance’ means nothing but integrating yourself, making yourself a single entity. You may
ask, ‘Are we not like that now?’ If you look closely, you will see that we exist as different entities,
never as one. There is everything else in our life except integration.

If you look deeply inside, you will understand that there are hundreds of voices continuously talking
inside you. The moment the mind says, ‘Let us do this, the very next moment the thought will arise,
‘No. Let us not do it!’ After thinking of the side effects and after effects, the mind starts oscillating.
Integrating the fragmented parts of the mind is the very essence of life. Integrating the feelings and
the mind, integrating your face and your mind, ensuring that your face shows the same thing as what
your mind thinks, is the essence of life.

If you study the lives of great masters and try to search for one basic essence in all of their lives, you
will find that it is not knowledge or devotion. It is integrity! What they believed in, they lived. That’s
all! Their integrity was solid. They were ready to lose even their very lives, but not their integrity.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’, the great enlightened master from India, used to move around on the streets
just singing devotional songs. He never bothered about what others said about him. What he felt, he
expressed. To be like this requires a deep sense of sacrifice. It takes courage to sacrifice anything to
live with integrity!

That is why anything that these great masters did in their lives always culminated in eternal
auspiciousness! Everything they did was an effort to integrate themselves with deep sincerity and
devotion. The intense effort to integrate oneself completely is what is called penance. Penance always
ends in auspiciousness. There will be innumerable things happening in your life all the time. Enduring
all those things and intensifying your integrity with them is called penance. On the other hand, if you
allow life’s happenings to shake you, then you land in disgrace. What way you wish to go is up to
you.

Adi Shankara was a great enlightened master from India. As a young boy, he was caught in a
dilemma when he wanted to pursue the path of sannyas. He wanted to leave home with the permission
of his mother but she was unwilling to let go of him.

One day, he went to bathe in the river. Suddenly, his mother heard him crying out loud for help. She
ran out and saw that a crocodile had caught his leg. He was struggling to be free.

Suddenly, by a flash of thought, he cried to her ‟Mother, if you give me permission to become a
sannyasi, I will be freed from this crocodile now to continue with my life.‟
The mother was surprised and asked how. He explained, ‟According to the Vedas, if I enter a new
ashrama' or stage of life, it is equal to being born again. So, if you give me permission to enter into
sannyas, then maybe god will give me a fresh lease on life!‟

The mother was totally helpless. She quickly made up her mind. It was better to have her son as a
sannyasi than see him dead. She agreed. Immediately the crocodile released the grip! Adi Shankara
ran to his mother with great joy. He had lived the truth he sought at that moment... and it worked.
See, there are three things:

Thinking the Truth

Speaking the Truth
Living the Truth

The first two are easy to follow. But the third, living the Truth all the time, is difficult. It is very rare.
Sannyas is the courage to live what we think is the Truth. We give importance to speaking the Truth.
But living the Truth is most important. If you start living your Truth, your respect for yourself will
increase. That is the beauty of it.

When you integrate and live the Truth, you drop hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is pretending to be what you
are not. Hypocrisy is hiding in many places so people can’t see who you really are. The fragments in
you dominate over each other and make you hypocritical. When you fight with your own fragments
and win, you are a dheera, a courageous one! It is easy to fight with others and win. When you fight
with others and win, you are a veera, a warrior. But fighting with yourself requires more courage.
You don’t fight unless you are tired of yourself. Only when you are tired, you accept that you need to
start the fight.

Once you integrate, for the first time, you know who you really are. All the masks drop. You are
ready to expose yourself in relationships. You become more authentic. You suddenly realize that you
were missing things because of you! Sannyas is all about becoming more authentic. When I say
authentic, I mean that you will radiate your individuality instead of your personality. With fragments,
you are a personality. With integrity, you are individuality. Individuality is seeing your authenticity
through your own eyes. Personality is a built-up image in the eyes of society. The master’s work is to
create a space in you where you don’t have to guard your personality, where you can be free, where
just understanding can cause transformation.

Buddha used to tell his disciples, ‘Count your life only after you have taken sannyas. ‟
Someone asked me if taking the vow of brahmacharya or sannyas will lead to enlightenment.
Whether taking the vow leads to enlightenment or not is secondary. But if you observe the vows
strictly for one month, successfully, the respect you have for yourself will tremendously increase.
That is enough! It is called asatya sadhana or doing the seemingly impossible task successfully. It is
making you do whatever your mind says you cannot do! Techniques like fire-walking are in this
category. Ordinarily, the mind will say that you cannot walk on a fire bed. Once you do it, the respect
you have for yourself will increase! Then you will come into integrity.

Integrity needs to be understood in two ways.

The first part is integrating the fighting parts of the mind into one. See, the very life gets wasted in the
oscillation of the mind. If you can follow any one path, you will attain it. For example, let us suppose
there are two paths to reach Bangalore. One path is 30 kilometers while the other is 30,000
kilometers. You are oscillating between these two paths not knowing which to choose. If you choose
any one path and proceed, you will reach Bangalore.

But if you keep oscillating, if you go on one path for half hour, and then change your mind and go on
the other path for the next half hour, what will happen? You will never reach Bangalore! At least if
you decide and take the 30,000-kilometer path, you will reach Bangalore, even if it takes you one
year! But if you keep oscillating between these two paths, even if it takes thirty years, you will not
reach Bangalore.

Even if the chosen path is wrong, the one who moves with integrity automatically comes to the
correct path. He achieves what needs to be achieved. There are only two types of people on planet
earth — those who live with integrity and those who live without integrity, that’s all! The scale to
measure a person is not the path on which he went but whether he lived with integrity or not.

Integrity is the strength to live your belief, come what may.

Second, not getting diluted by external influences is also integrity. It is the ability to not alter our
integrity or dilute ourselves due to inner confusions or outer influences. The person who lives with
integrity, even if he dies on the train platform, will die with the satisfaction that he lived completely.
The person who lives without integrity, even if he dies in the best hospital, will die with
dissatisfaction. The scale to measure the quality of a person’s life is to see how much he lived in tune
with what he felt was life. For example, if he is an atheist, if he lived as a strong atheist and died as a
strong atheist, there is nothing wrong. He will attain! That very strength, when it goes deeper and
deeper in him and searches, will show him the truth!
Integrating the mind is the essence of life. Decide you will always say and do only what you feel is
right. Then, you will come to tremendous clarity and conviction in the inner and outer worlds.

Swami Vivekananda recounts in his life that his master, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa™, died leaving
him the responsibility of the mission. At the same time, Swami
Vivekananda’s father died leaving behind a family of utter poverty. Swami Vivekananda was the only
hope for his family. He stood between saving his family and saving the world. No one recognized the
mission he spoke of. He says beautifully, ‘Who will sympathize with the imaginations of a boy?’ He
was, after all, a young boy!

He describes those few days as ‘unimaginable hell’. He was with a small group of boys, with no
money, with only one thing: the integrity to live the life they believed in, the life taught by their
master. Ten years later, he says, ‘Ten years ago, I could not get one hundred people to celebrate
master’s birth anniversary. Today there are fifty thousand!’ Sannyas is taking a strong decision not to
allow the unconscious to hinder the consciousness and to establish consciousness firmly on the master
and his words.

Swami Vivekananda was questioned as to how he could desert his family at that time. He beautifully
replied, I believed that Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s teachings could rationalize India and many
foreign races. With that belief came the realization that it is better that a few persons suffer than for
such ideas to die out of the world. What if a mother or two brothers die? It is a sacrifice. Let it be
done. No great thing can be done without sacrifice. The heart must be plucked and the bleeding heart
placed upon the altar.

Then, great things are done!’

Such was his integrity.
Not only that, those who said that Swami Vivekananda deserted his family do not know the correct
facts. He continued to fulfill his duty by giving them the bare minimum requirements. He also went to
the court of law to attend to some legal issues they faced.

A small story:
During the civil wars in Japan, an invading army entered a town and took control of the whole town.
Before the army arrived in one particular village, everyone fled except a Zen master.

Curious about this master the general went to the temple to see what kind of a man the master was.
The master did not even acknowledge the general. The general became very angry when he was not
treated in the usual respectful way to which he was accustomed.
He took out his sword and shouted, ‟You fool! Don’t you realize you are standing before a man who
could run you through without blinking an eye?‟

The master remained calm and asked, ‟And do you realize that you are standing before a man who
can be run through without blinking an eye?‟
With the strength of integrity comes utter freedom and bliss. With freedom and bliss there is no fear
in the inner or outer world!

Life is for enlightenment!

The very goal of life is enlightenment. You may have other goals, but knowingly or unknowingly,
they are just different names that we give to the goal of enlightenment. In the same way, whatever
else you may seek, what you actually seek is sannyas itself. But you don’t know it. That is the
problem!

You may think your goals are to have more money and more relationships. The truth is that even the
one who searches for money actually searches only for enlightenment! See, there are only two things.
One is money, and the other is name and fame. Name and fame mean nothing but to have more
relationships. Whatever experience you feel you are going to get through money or relationships, you
will only get through enlightenment!

That is why the soul never rests until enlightenment happens. No amount of money satisfies the soul.
No relationship satisfies the soul. When money and relationships don’t give satisfaction, it is called
the ‘depression of success’. This is what happens after reaching the peak of our career. People come
to me and say, ‘I have achieved all that I wanted to achieve, but what for I wanted to achieve, I have
not achieved. I feel incomplete.’ Understand that this is the call of your being that seeks no other goal
except enlightenment. The response to it is sannyas.

Not properly understanding the goal of life is the root cause of all problems. Sannyas is recognizing
the goal properly and integrating to achieve it. Whatever goal you may be running behind in your life,
be it money or relationship or whatever, your end goal is only bliss. There is no other separate goal in
life!

There are only two types of people. One group knows the word bliss or
‘enlightenment’, and the path to it. They live their life according to that. The other group does not
know the word or the path, so it comes around in circles. That’s all! The former is sannyasi, the latter
is samsari.

You have achieved the human body which gives you the highest possible to take the jump in
consciousness. The glass is already reflecting the sunlight. Now all that the glass needs to do is to see
the source of the reflection. That’s all! Merging with the Source is what I call enlightenment. It is
merging of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness.

If this happens, then the goal of life, the purpose for which the glass was created, is achieved. Then,
even if the glass breaks, there is no problem. But without achieving that, if the glass is broken, it is the
greatest loss ever.

If the human body perishes before enlightenment, there cannot be a greater loss than that.
Sannyas is the means to this achievement. Sannyas is not the end of life. It is the beginning of life.
Sannyas is moving towards enlightenment, the only and permanent purpose of life.

Conditioning is the culprit

If the purpose of life itself is enlightenment, where are we stuck right now? In what areas of our lives
are we moving in the wrong direction? Understand that the problem is in recognizing the correct goal.
If the goal is right, you have achieved it. If your goal is right, it means you are already living it.

Conditioning is the reason that you miss the goal. When you are born, you came as a free bird, a
Paramahamsa or the supreme swan, to flit and fly blissfully around and enjoy the whole of existence.
But after coming, not only did you fly around, but unknowingly you also landed on planet earth. That
was the problem. There are many people waiting to catch birds that land! Society waits to fit you into
the frame of country, religion, caste, community and creed.

You were a sweet soul when you landed on planet earth. You were not a Hindu, or an engineer or a
worker. But understand that society wants engineers and workers. It is not bothered about your
consciousness. Actually, neither your parents nor society are aware that there is something called
consciousness. They themselves don’t have that intelligence. They teach you what they were taught.
That’s all. Their conditioning is not a deliberate attempt to restrict or condition you.

Conditioning is the unwanted dowry that has been handed over for generations and lives, from person
to person. First, there is parental conditioning. Then there is societal conditioning. Based on these
two, you create certain ethics for yourself. This is the self-imposed conditioning, your own dharma‟,
your own path of righteousness.

Because we create so many layers of conditioning, we are unable to see the truth directly. We are not
able to perceive the goal directly. We are not able to live the goal directly. We are caught in the
conditioning and forget who we truly are. The conditioning creates certain limitations in us, and we
start thinking that the limitations are the real us. Even the clothes that we wear condition us to believe
we are the clothes!

Many of the conditionings are created in society in order to peacefully co-exist. For example, for easy
communication, many languages are taught. There is nothing wrong in learning a language, but taking
it up as a conditioning and making the language your very life, and creating sorrow for yourself and
others is wrong. That mental attitude is wrong. So many people have sacrificed their lives for the sake
of language. If the conditioning were not there, so many deaths would not have happened! The very
history of mankind would have been written differently. Conditioning is the reason for terrorism
among human beings. Today, conditioning-based-divisions go right down to the level of belonging to
specific political parties!

By taking sannyas, you are taking the first conscious step to drop the past and enter a new world. The
past is familiar, so you like to carry it. The mind always likes familiar patterns. Also, society teaches
you to carry the past so that it can put guilt and fear in you that are based upon the past incidents. The
past is unwanted baggage. Sannyas is disconnecting from the past. When you disconnect from the
past and move to a new future, initially, there is utter insecurity. Sannyas is utter insecurity. In utter
insecurity, there is nothing else to hold on to, so you will find god!

Why do you think I give you a spiritual name? I give you a spiritual name to help you more easily
disconnect from the past. The new name that I give you will constantly remind you of the
psychological revolution that has happened in you, the new understanding that has happened in you.
The name also indicates your individual spiritual path, according to your own innate nature, which
will lead to the ultimate flowering of your consciousness.
A sannyasi works for the present moment. He works to give his whole life to Existence and doesn’t
care about the results. The results take care of themselves. That is his way. He knows only the
moment, nothing else. Therefore, he learns directly from Existence every moment. That is why he has
no doctrine, no religion. He moves in synchronicity with the whole of Existence and learns through it.
There is a Sufi saying, ‘The Sufi is the child of the moment.’ In Sufi texts, every moment is called a
breath. And the Sufis are called ‘the folks of the breaths, because they live in full awareness of every
breath, of every instant. According to them, every moment, a new Self arrives. That is the spirit of
Sannyas, it is being fresh every moment. A person of the moment learns from the moment. For him,
Existence is his teacher.

When the great Sufi mystic Hasan, was dying, somebody asked, ‟Hasan, who was your master?‟ He
said, ‟I had many masters. If I relate their names it will take months or even years, and it is too late
now. I am going to die any time. I will tell you about three masters.
The first one was a thief. Once I got lost in a desert, and when I reached a nearby village, it was late
and everything was closed. At last I found a man who was trying to make a hole in the wall ofa house.
I asked him where I could stay and spend the night. He said, ‟At this time of night it will be difficult.
If you don’t mind staying with a thief, you are welcome to stay with me.‟

I stayed with this man for one month. Each night he would tell me, ‟Now I am going for my work. You
take rest and pray for me.‟ When he came back, I would ask him, ‟Did you get anything?‟ He would
say, ‟Not tonight. But tomorrow, god willing, I will try again.‟ He was always happy and hopeful
never in a state of hopelessness!

When I was meditating for many years, and nothing was happening, many times the moment came
when I was so desperate, so hopeless, that I thought I should stop all this nonsense. And sudden 1y I
would remember the thief who would say every night, ‟God willing, tomorrow it is going to happen‟

My second master was a dog. One day, I was going to the river to quench my thirst. A dog came and
he was also thirsty. He looked into the river and saw another dog there, which was his own image. He
became afraid. He would bark and run away, but his thirst was so much that he would come back.
Finally, despite his fear, he jumped into the water and his own image disappeared. I realized that the
message had come from god to me.‟ one has to jump in spite of the fear.
The third master was a small child. I went to a town where a child was carrying a lit candle. He was
going to the mosque to put the candle there.

I asked the boy, ‟Have you lit the candle by yourself. “He said, ‟Yes. ‟Then I asked him, ‟There was
a moment when the candle was unlit, and then there was a moment when the candle was lit. Can you
show me the source from which the light came?‟

The boy laughed, blew out the candle, and said, ‟Now you have seen the light going. Where has it
gone? You tell me!‟

My ego was shattered and my whole knowledge was also shattered.

It is true that I had no master. That does not mean that I was not a disciple. I accepted the whole of
Existence as my master. I trusted the clouds, the trees. I learned from every possible source.

Sannyas is the joyful awareness that the ‘moment’ is guiding you closer to your enlightenment. All
you have to do is be vulnerable, that’s all.

Tomorrow also comes in the form of today. So why not focus on just today? When you are in the
moment, there is no space for pain or suffering. Only when you live in the past or future, you create
the space for suffering. When you live in the moment, you automatically create a space where
everything is beautiful. Life itself becomes a romance with Existence! You resonate with the whole
thing. You are in love with everything and everyone for no reason at all. That is sannyas. Then you
don’t amass. You don’t fear. You don’t worry. Things happen around you like a beautiful dream.
A sannyasi is an eternal wanderer in spirit. Even if he is in one place, his spirit wanders without any
pattern, touching so many things far away. He doesn’t care to accumulate anything. He gives away
whatever comes his way. He receives much more than he needs. He lives like a king.

Enjoy the transience!

Sannyas is the understanding of the transient nature of everything. All desires, possessions, and
emotions are moving and changing. Everything is changing and moving. Nothing is permanent. If you
analyze your own desires, before a desire is fulfilled, it looks like a mountain, a huge goal. After
being fulfilled, the same desire looks like a molehill. Before being fulfilled, it will seem like your
very life. After fulfilling one desire, you simply move to the next desire! Understand that the process
itself shows that desires are neither solid nor permanent. They are just changing fantasies of the mind.

Sannyas helps you see the temporary nature of desires. Slowly, desires stop getting created then all
the energy that was locked up in desires is freely available to you. Automatically, your potential will
take a jump. You are ready to do anything. Although you live in it, nothing in the material world
really pulls you. Even if you see something beautiful, you don’t wish to possess it. You just enjoy it
and move on. That’s all. That is sannyas.
Sannyas works like a of wood that is used to burn the dead body and finally gets thrown in the same
pyre. It burns out all the fantasies in you and finally give itself to the same fire. It is a tool.

Adi Shankara beautifully says in his famous song, Bhaja Govindam,

Even when days and nights,
winters and springs have gone,
and life almost comes to an end,
the grip of desire is still there!
Desire has such a pull at the unconscious level that liberating oneself from it is the greatest liberation.

A small story:
Once there lived a stone cutter. He was not satisfied with his position in life. One day he was passing
through a wealthy merchant’s house. Through the gate which was open, he noticed many possessions
and important visitors in the merchant’s house. He thought that the merchant must be very powerful.
He became jealous and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, the stone cutter suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and
power that he had ever imagined.

One day, he was standing on the road when he saw a high official pass by. He was carried in a
beautiful chair accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no
matter how wealthy, has to bow down before the procession.

He thought, ‘How powerful that official is! I wish I could be a high official!’
Immediately, he became the high official and he carried everywhere in his beautiful chair.
One day it was extremely hot, and he felt very uncomfortable in the sticky chair. He looked up at the
sun. It was so bright and beautiful in the sky. He thought, ‟How powerful the sun is! I wish that I
could be the sun!‟

He became the sun! And he enjoyed his powerful position over everything.
One day, a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine
on everything below. He was surprised. He thought, ‟How powerful that huge black storm cloud is!
How I wish I could be a Cloud!
He became the storm cloud, flooding the fields and villages.

Soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind.
He thought, ‟How powerful the wind is! I wish to become the wind!‟
He became the wind and powerfully blew over the roofs of houses and through forests.
One day, he came across something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it.
It was a huge and towering rock. He thought, ‟How p that rock is! I wish to become the rock! ‟ Then
he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the
sound o[ a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. He
thought, ‟What could be more powerful than a rock?’‟ He looked down and saw a stone cutter far
below him!
This story clearly illustrates how the mind always thinks that which has not yet been achieved is
greater than that which has been achieved. The grass on the other side is always greener. But when we
go to the other side, what happens? We feel the grass on the opposite side is greener! We jump from
one thing to the other, from one desire to the next, from one point of view to the next, but we are
seldom happy.

A Sannyasi is one who clearly sees that everything is changing all the time, and everything is
beautiful just the way it is. He also knows that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That is why he
sets out first to clean his eyes. Eyes are the windows of the soul, so his work is at the core level. If
you see the world through a red colored lens, everything appears red. If you see with a green colored
lens, everything is green. If you see with clear eyes, everything looks clear and beautiful. Existence
has always been beautiful, but we missed seeing it. Sannyas is the decision to see with clear eyes.

If life itself is changing all the time, then why are we trying to frame it? Buddha says in his
Dhammapada‘, ‘Life is like a flash of lightning in the sky.’ Life is transient. Then what are we trying
to do? We are trying to do an impossible job. Our job is to see, enjoy, and move on. If everything is a
passing manifestation of Existence, then where is the scope for ego or fear or greed? Sannyas, as
such, doesn’t change anything. Everything remains the same. But it changes the way you see things.
Sannyas happens in you. Sannyas has nothing to do with the outer world.
Sannyas is awakening the charioteer. Man’s body is like a chariot and his consciousness is the
charioteer. The charioteer is fast asleep, and the chariot is moving according to the horses. The five
horses are the five senses, each with its own different idea. Not one of them is the truth. They are just
transient ideas!

Even in the most difficult times, a sannyasi remains with the awareness that life is a fleeting dream!
He carries a completely different definition for success and failure. He doesn’t carry success or failure
itself. A samsari on the other hand carries success and failure with him wherever he goes. There starts
the problem.

Surrender, love, compassion,

sannyas

Sannyas is saying ‘yes’ to Existence. Saying ‘yes’ is surrender. Saying ‘yes’ is love and compassion.

The human mind is trained to always say ‘no’. Saying ‘no’ boosts the ego. ‘Yes’ makes the ego
vulnerable, so the mind continues to say ‘no.’ Sannyas is saying ‘yes’ to Existence. Existence created
you. It is waiting to express its divine play through you. By saying ‘yes, you allow the divine play to
happen through you. When the divine play happens, things happen exactly according to the flow of
Existence. Then, everything becomes auspiciousness!

In the effort to say ‘yes, you start softening. Sannyas is about becoming soft.
As long as you say ‘no, you remain hard. When you make an effort to say ‘yes, you start softening.
When you make a conscious decision to say ‘yes, it starts. That is where the master plays a role.
Sannyas is saying ‘yes’ to the master without asking for an explanation. When you start trusting the
master completely, sannyas starts happening in you. Somewhere you get the click that the master
knows better than you. Then you start letting go of your hold over your mind and start holding the
hands of the master. The master’s hands are always stretched out, but you were not ready to hold
them. Once the ‘yes’ starts happening, you hold his hands.

Then a space is created where love starts happening. Love happens only when you start saying ‘yes.’
By saying ‘yes, not only do you start loving, you allow the other person to love you as well. Then
your inner space that was like a rock earlier, starts becoming like cotton! It becomes soaked with love.
The love is not just towards one person or for any reason. It is an overflowing energy. It is towards
the whole of Existence for no reason. You start communing with the trees, with everything around
you. You feel that life is a song, the song of Existence of which you are a part. You are in a deeply
resonant mood with everything and everyone around you, including yourself. Your actions simply
become an outpouring of the joy and ecstasy that is enveloping you all the time.

A small story:
A Zen master arrived at the meeting place of the Cambridge Buddhist Society. He found everyone
dusting and cleaning the whole place in anticipation of his visit.
They were surprised to see him because he was not supposed to arrive until the following day. He
simply tied back the sleeves of his robe and joined the preparations. They could not believe that he
wanted to help. He asked, ‘Why can’t I also prepare for the grand day of my arrival!’

When you are resonating with Existence, you enjoy everything, including yourself. You don’t see
yourself as separate from anything else. You see no separate reason for anything. There are people
who commune with nature but fail miserably when it comes to people. Then, even their communion
with nature is not real communion. Feeling only for nature is not a scale by which to measure love.

People tell me that they are already communing with Existence. Trees and animals don’t create
trouble for you. That is why you claim to commune with them! They keep quiet. You can simply
express anything to them. You can thrust your feeling on them, pull it out, and feel good, that’s all. It
is just an ego trip. The essence is in the ability to commune with the whole of Existence, even when
faced with trouble! If you can create that space of love under those conditions, then you are
communing.

A poet once wrote a love song and sent it to his friends. A few days later he received a letter from a
lady to whom he had sent the poem.

She wrote to him saying, ‟I am so touched by your poem. Please come home, meet my parents, and
ask them if you can marry me.‟ The poet was surprised. He wrote back to her ‟That was a poem of
love from my heart that I wanted to sing to a few souls. It was nothing more than that! ‟
She replied, ‟You are a hypocrite. Because of you, I will never again entertain a poet in my life.‟

The problem is, everything happens with the reason of the intellect. Love has been reduced to mere
lust for the other person’s body. That is the problem. Real love is an expression of the overflowing
energy that starts happening in you when you start saying ‘yes’ to Existence.
The famous poet Kabir says that when love possesses you, don’t even think twice. Just dive into it. If
you start thinking, it is like arranging your pillows when deep sleep of rest has come to your eyes. He
says, ‘Even though the head itself must be given, why should you weep over it!’

The master waits many lives for you. But you have to say ‘yes’. Remember, the master is a
gentleman. He gives you the freedom to remain in bondage. He waits. Once you say ‘yes, he takes
you in his arms. The master is the only one who can show you the power of love.
An enlightened being’s love and compassion is boundless. Sannyas is living like an enlightened
being. It is living enlightenment.

A sannyasi is one who is established in love and compassion in the inner world, while being
established in concentration and precision in the outer world. A real sannyasi has the precision of a
sword. When he closes his eyes, the outer world is no more. When he opens his eyes, his work is
perfection, perfection not only in work, but in relationships also! He is a father, a mother, a brother
and a friend, all at the same time.

He moves, guided by inner intelligence. That is why he is in the present moment all the time. He
responds to the moment. That is the ultimate sense of responsibility responding to the moment
spontaneously. True love and compassion are spontaneous responses to the moment. That is why they
surface irrespective of people or situations.

A small story:
One man went to a Zen monastery and told the master ‟Master I wish to practice Zen for the rest of
my life but I have never stuck with anything for very long. I always look for shortcuts to everything Is
there a shortcut to enlightenment? ‟ The master told him, ‟You are accepted into this monastery for
two days. In these two days, you will be taught the shortcut to enlightenment. Is there anything that
you like to do in particular?‟

The man said, ‟Since I don’t stick to anything for a long time, I am unable to tell what I like to do
most. But I like to play chess‟ The master called for a young disciple who was supposed to be a good
chess player. He asked the two of them to sit down and placed a chess board bet- ween them.

He then took out his sword and placed it in front of the two of them and said, ‟Both of you have to
play. The moment one of you loses, the loser will have his head cut off.”

They were shocked at the master’s words! They started the game and played.
They concentrated on the game like they had never done before.
Initially, the young monk made good moves, and it looked like he was going to win. Then suddenly he
made a mistake. The man took the opportunity and took over the game. Soon, he was clearly on the
way to winning.

Suddenly, he looked at the young monk and thought with what dedication and devotion the monk lived
his life with the master at that young age. Then he thought about his own life and how he had wasted
it. Suddenly he decided, if at all anyone should die, it should be himself. He deliberately made a
wrong move. The young monk saw that and took over the game again.

The master was watching the whole thing. At that point, he took the board away, and the coins fell in
the air. He said, ‟Nobody wins. Nobody loses. The game is over. There are only two things needed for
enlightenment, they are concentration and compassion. Today, you learned both. Stay with me and
study the way you have played chess today. Enlightenment will be yours!‟
Sannyas is bringing together concentration and compassion. With concentration, you never forget the
goal of life, which is enlightenment. With compassion, you are ready to sacrifice your very life so that
the other may reach the goal! When both are there, both you and the other will reach! That is the
greatness of sannyas. That is the space of sannyas.

The greatest quality of a sannyasi is his immense trust in Existence. Society trains you to always
protect yourself from everything. That is the problem. You are made to believe Existence is the
enemy from which you have to protect yourself. You apply the same rule and protect yourself from
the master also. The master happens in your life with just one intention - to destroy your ego and
allow the attitude of sannyas to flower in you.

Sannyas is nothing but finding out exactly where you are going wrong. That exact place is known as
nothing but the ego. If you understand this, you will simply open up to the master and allow him to
strike the ego. You will simply drop all your defenses and open up. Being closed to the master’s
presence is like closing your nose with your fingers when there is a fragrant breeze blowing. When
you open up to him with trust, you will see miracles happen all around you.

Trust has amazing power. It works beyond logic. Anything that works beyond logic is the direct truth.
It never fails. When you trust the master, when you surrender to the master, you are giving him the
responsibility of you. He never fails! It does not mean you can surrender to him and then do foolish
things. No! The first thing to realize is that when real surrender happens, it will never prompt you to
do foolish things. Only surrender in the name of surrender will attempt to do foolish things. Real
surrender is a consciousness, not a concept for trial.

Sannyas is a consciousness that flowers in groups of people in the presence of the master. Over the
years, sannyas has always happened in groups. All the great masters have ordained groups of
sannyasins. When a group of people start dissolving in love, when a group of people start melting,
sannyas starts happening. Suddenly, so much beauty radiates. Suddenly, Existence appears to be
profoundly mystical and beautiful. The power of coincidence becomes a way of life. Tremendous
energy starts flowing. For no reason, life looks tremendously beautiful. Everything seems to be
perfect. There is an inexplicable feeling of blossoming all round.

It is not that Existence has become more beautiful. Existence is always the same. You have started
responding to it, that’s all. Your own human qualities have enriched tremendously. That is sannyas!
When you start responding to Existence with enriched qualities, when you start melting into
Existence, when you start yearning for it, sannyas starts happening to you.

When sannyas happens, you automatically add more beauty to Existence. You become a creator.
People think sannyas is renouncing creativity. No! Sannyas is moving one step closer to god, and god
is the ultimate creator. The very energy of Sannyas is creation. This is a little-known fact about
sannyas.

When sannyas happens, the moment

is right ...
A small story:
One day a young man approached Socrates', the Greek philosopher and said, ‟0 great Socrates', I
come to you for knowledge. ‟ Socrates' took the man to the sea and pressed his head down into the
water for a few seconds.

When he released him, the man came up gasping for breath. Socrates asked him to repeat what he
wanted. The man said, ‟I want knowledge. ‟

Socrates put him under the water again, this time for a longer period. Then he released him and
asked, ‟What do you want? ‟ The man replied, ‟Knowledge ‟.
Socrates repeated this a few times.

After a few times, Socrates asked again, ‟What do you want?” The man gasped, ‟Air. I want air! ‟
Socrates said, ‟Good. When you want knowledge as much as you wanted air you shall have it.‟

Sannyas is a deep urge that rises from within you. It is a deep yearning. Even if the longing is not
completely consistent overtime and space, it is alright. You can take the jump. It may not become
consistent. But becoming consistent is not the criterion needed. When it takes root, that alone is
enough. You are ready. Once you jump in, everything takes care of itself.

One man was walking towards the Himalayan mountains in the winter months. An old man saw him
and asked, ‟It is so cold in the mountains. Are you sure you can make it? ‟ The man replied, ‟My
heart is already there. So it is easy for the rest of me to reach there. ‟

The initiation itself will trigger the process. The outer adornments of sannyas will take care of the
inner adornment. That is why, with the initiation, a new name and saffron clothing are given. They
will do most of the job for you. They will keep the awareness alive every moment.

But if you start analyzing the decision to take the jump, you will miss it. Sannyas is linked to your
energy. Just by seeing your energy, I can tell you are ready for sannyas! You cannot analyze energy
with logic. Energy is beyond logic. When you take sannyas, the moment is right, that’s all. Even if
you drop it later, have no regrets. The seed has been sown. Once a sannyasi, always a sannyasi. It will
happen again at the right time. That time may be the final time.

Sannyas is a decision taken by intelligent people. When life comes to the boiling point, to a peak of
depression, to a point where you feel the outer world is of no use, when there is nothing further that
can be done to help your situation, there are three choices you can make.

The first choice you could make is suicide. Suicide appears to be immediate freedom but actually it
creates terrible suffering. People think that suicide takes courage. Courage is a beautiful word
wrongly used here. Do you need courage to rub chili powder in your own eyes? No! It is simple
foolishness. In the same way, it does not require courage to commit suicide. It is simply foolishness.
There is nothing courageous about it.

Understand the science behind suicide. Suppose your normal life span this birth is ninety years of age
and you commit suicide when you are forty-five. For the remaining forty-five years, you have to wait
as a spirit. Only at the end of ninety years can you choose the next body to take birth. These forty-five
years will be the worst hell you can ever experience. It will be worse than the struggle that happened
when you were in the body. Suicide is not the relief you think it is.

The second choice is to resort to some sort of addiction, like drugs or alcohol, and slowly poison the
system until it dies. This is equally as foolish because you are knowingly abusing the body.
The third and most intelligent path is to look into yourself. When the outer world seems to be over in
your mind, the time has come to look inwards. Sannyas happens when you decide to look in and
introspect. Sannyas is the alchemy of transforming your entire lifestyle, directing your whole energy
towards enlightenment. When the first thought to look in comes, when the first thought to embrace
spirituality happens, the intelligent one takes the jump into sannyas. Sannyas is the shortcut.

A small story:
A fifty year old student of enlightenment approached a Zen master and said, ‟I have been studying
spiritual studies since I was a small boy. I have learnt that even the grass and trees will become
enlightened. This seems very strange to me.‟
The master asked, ‟Of what use is it to discuss how grass and trees become enlightened? The
question is how you can become enlightened. Have yo u ever considered that?‟
The old man answered, ‟I never thought of it in that way.‟
The master said, ‟Then go home and think it over.‟

Sannyas is a focused appointment with yourself. It is a conscious commitment to yourself that you are
going to destroy ‘all that you are not’, and cleanse yourself completely.

Once you make the commitment, your seeing, hearing, talking and feeling will start being different.
The same things will cause a new understanding in you. That is what commitment to sannyas does to
you. Sannyas is going to be the only solution for the future, because it is the only thing that teaches
you to be established in yourself and yet learn to act in the outer world in a playful, joyful, ecstatic
way. Sannyas allows you to play any number of roles without identifying with any of them. It keeps
you in continuous excitement and ecstasy all the time. It makes you experience the very essence of
taking birth on planet earth.

Real love doesn’t stand in the way

A true mother is one who lets go of her child when the time is right. A mother who is too possessive
of her child should probably hesitate to give birth in the first place! Even living birth is a form of
letting go because she 1S allowing the child to leave her body! Only a mother who is ready to allow
the next level of explosion to happen, a mother who is ready to let go, can only be a real mother.

If you are possessive, if you feel sad just thinking about separating from the child, then you should
not even give birth to the child! You should continuously feed him through the umbilical cord. The
umbilical cord connection should be continuously kept alive! Just as the child grows physically only
after you deliver him into the outside world after nine months, likewise, he can grow psychologically
only if you allow him to break from you.
Physical disconnection is birth.

Psychological disconnection is sannyas.

In that way I am very fortunate. When I went and told my mother that I wanted to leave home for
sannyas, it was late at night, around eleven o clock. I went to the temple, spent some time as usual,
and came home at my regular time. I opened the door with my key and walked in. I wore wooden
sandals, normally worn by wandering ascetics. They made a loud noise on that granite floor! My
mother’s usual custom was to wake up, prepare the food of my choice, and serve me the moment I
entered. If I had finished my dinner at the temple, I would tell her and both of us would go to sleep.

That particular night, she got up and was about to prepare food. I called her and told her, ‘I have
decided that I am leaving home for sannyas. You can give me food tonight, even though I have
already eaten. I will eat now because tomorrow I will be leaving.’
It was a very casual announcement from my side. Of course, she was shocked, but she did not say
anything. One thing is that all of my family knew from the beginning that talking and trying to
convince me to do otherwise would never work. They knew that before saying anything, I would be
very clear about it inside. Only after knowing what to do would I say it out loud. When I say
something, it means it is going to be done - that’s all!

Tears started pouring from her eyes. I looked at her and asked, ‘What do you mean by crying? Do you
mean that I should not go?’

She shook her head and said, ‘No, I am not saying you should not go. I am crying because I am not
able to control myself. I am not able to accept it. I can’t say that you cannot go.’

She knew all along that one day this would happen. One day or the other I would leave. It was
predicted in my horoscope. The beauty of it was, she never said ‘No!’ Not only did she not tell me I
couldn’t go, she broke the news to my father as well. My father thought she had shouted at me and
created some problem and that was the reason I had decided to go. He asked her, ‘Did you shout at
him? Did you create any problem?’

My mother said, ‘No, I did not shout or say anything. He came of his own accord and told me this.’
Then my father calmed down.

It was a straight and simple declaration. My father came to me, sat down and asked, ‟Swami, your
mother is saying a few things as your words. Are these things true?’
Funnily, they used to call me “Swami even in those days!

I told him, ‘Yes. I have decided to leave home to pursue sannyas and become enlightened.’
It was a shock to him. But he saw that I was very clear, balanced, cool and relaxed. He made only one
statement. He said, ‘If you fall sick, please inform us. We want to take care of you.’ That’s all. He
simply said, ‘If you ever fall sick anywhere during your travels, please inform us. We want to take
care of you. That is the only thing we want, nothing else. Otherwise, do what you want.’

My parents never stood in my way. Understand: any relationship, including the parental relationship,
is a healthy relationship, only when the person is ready to allow the next phase to happen. I have seen
thousands of youngsters who are so inspired, who are bold enough, who are courageous enough to
take up this path of seeking. However, they don’t even give themselves a chance to explore because
of their parents.

Parents simply fall into the regular way of life, living to satisfy other people’s ego, and bringing up
children. Very rarely, a few souls get the inspiration and courage to explore. Try to understand that I
am not asking you to train your kids or force your kids to become sannyasis. No! I am saying that if at
all they feel that click towards sannyas, do not stand in their way. You will be blessed if you do not
stand in their way.

Have the intelligence to see the path the child has chosen. He has chosen the ultimate path. Even if he
cries and struggles and becomes a failure, there is nothing wrong — if that is your fear. I might have
been a failure in my previous ten births. That is why this time I am successful! Understand, when the
struggle is for sannyas, even if enlightenment does not happen, it is not a failure. It is a great success
because you lived with integrity and that too in the conscious field. In the conscious field, Existence
watches over you completely. You are taken care of at every step. So, understand that any
exploration, any research, any adventure in the conscious field should be encouraged, allowed, and
supported.
I feel eternally grateful to my parents for not standing in the way.
Enlightenment is the Key to Your
Kingdom
We now reach the ultimate, or what I call the peak experience. Realization of who we are and our role
in this universe is the ultimate knowledge and experience that we can have. From the darkness of
ignorance, we move into the light of truth. We become enlightened.

Why enlightened beings happen on planet earth

When you see somebody swimming, you understand three things. The first thing is that swimming is
possible, that a man can float on water. Secondly, you have a tremendous urge: ‘If he can do it, why
not me? Why can’t I? I can too.’ The third thing is, ‘Let me jump in!’ You get inspiration and
courage!

In the same way, when you see an enlightened being walking on planet earth, when you live around
him, you also understand three things. The first thing is that enlightenment is possible. You can live
like a god on this planet earth. The next thing is, ‘If he can attain enlightenment, why not me?’
because he radiates such simplicity and ordinariness, which is close to your own human nature. You
naturally get confidence that it is possible for you too. The third thing is courage, ‘Let me jump
in!’All these three will happen only if you live around an enlightened master and continuously watch
his body language. Nothing else can trigger this in you.

Enlightenment is...
1. Experiencing the limitless continuum
Living with the limitless continuum is enlightenment. The limitless continuum will happen when you
relax from the identities you hold of yourself in the outer and inner worlds.
If you are settled in that limitless continuum and are able to be active, you are living enlightenment. If
you are not able to settle down in it, but you had at least one experience of it, then you have
experienced satori.

2. Realizing the self, world, and god

The basic thing needed for enlightenment is a ‘psychological revolution’, a new clarity about the self
(Jeeva), world (jagat), and god (Ishwara).
How you think, why you think, how you are driven, what is your inspiration, what motivates you in
life - this understanding is the clarity about the self or Jeeva*.
How to achieve your desires in the world, how you avoid fears and other things forced upon you by
the world - this understanding is the clarity about the world or Jagat’.
Clarity about Ishwara or god means understanding the source of both the individual self and the
world. Achieving the source, knowing all these three, is enlightenment.
When you have a clear understanding about you think how you think, this very understanding gives
you the clear experience of the self. When you understand how to connect with the world, achieving
what you want, and avoiding what is not needed, you gain a clear experience of the world. The third
is experiencing god, Ishwara', the source of the self and the world.

Gaining a true understanding of the self, world and god is enlightenment.

3. Intense excitement for no reason

People ask me, ‘After enlightenment, can enlightened beings enjoy?’ I tell you, only after
enlightenment can you enjoy! Before that, you can only think or imagine you are enjoying.
After enlightenment, you don’t even need sense objects to enjoy. You will simply be enjoying all the
time. There will be such an intense excitement for no reason.
If I have to define enlightenment in two words, I will say it is ‘intense excitement’ for no reason,
intense passion directed towards no object. There is no object, but there is intense passion. There is no
reason, but there is intense excitement. That is what I call enlightenment. Enlightenment does not
mean esca ing somewhere. Tasting life here and now 1S what I call enlightenment.

4. Seeing others as you see yourself

What I call enlightenment is experiencing the same intensity of life that you feel inside yourself,
outside your skin also. You are not alive just inside your body, but you are also alive inside every
other individual, tree, and rock. Your hold over your physical body is transformed into a hold over the
cosmic body! You are alive in every cell in the cosmos. Every cell is a complete, fulfilled part of the
commos.

Understand, I am alive as much outside as I am inside my skin. So, I am alive in all the millions of
heads, eyes, and feet and all the millions of beings in the cosmos.
To achieve this, start seeing everything as if you are seeing for the first time, without bringing in your
engrams, your past engraved memories. Then you will start experiencing the same life and intensity
that you experience inside your skin, outside also. Try this for ten days. Once you get a glimpse, you
will never miss it! You will see you are in ecstasy for no reason. You are in excitement for no reason.
You will never take things for granted again.

You will always be in joy.

5. Being unclutched

As of now you connect all the past experiences of your life and create a shaft. All your future
experiences depend on how you have created this shaft. They depend on which words from the past
you have picked, and how you have formed the shaft. Your future emotions, reactions, thoughts, and
words depend entirely on this shaft. But after enlightenment, life is very different from this. Thoughts
arise, and if they want to work, the body pursues the thoughts. Once the work is done, the thoughts
disappear. Then the next time something needs to be done, thoughts arise again, and the process
continues. The whole thing happens beautifully by itself. There is no shaft at all.

Currently, we all carry constant irritation from the moment we get out of the bed until the minute we
go back to bed. Constantly we carry some irritation or other. We are waiting to jump on people. We
only need some excuse. After enlightenment, the constant fear or guilt or desire, something that
constantly irritates is not there. When you unclutch from the shaft for even one moment, you get a
glimpse of enlightenment.

The shift from the shaft happens in a fraction of a second. If you are deeply aware, you can catch that
precious moment when the unclutching happens. All our tapas, spiritual training, is only preparing us
to catch that shift. The shift happens many times. You just need to be really aware and you can catch
it. When you permanently unclutch from the shaft, you are enlightened.

6. The four permanent changes

I can say that a few changes happened permanently in me when I became enlightened.
The first thing was that all inner chatter disappeared. By inner chatter, I mean the constant chatter of
words that goes on inside us normally. In the gap between my words as I talk now, even in those few
seconds, there is no chatter inside. It is simply pure space, silence. The second thing is that the idea
that my boundary ends here at this body, and there starts the rest of the world disappeared. Border
consciousness dissolved.

I don’t feel I am just this six-foot form. I see and feel myself in everything. If you watch me, I will be
the first one to enjoy all my photographs after a photo shoot or on the book covers! I will just play
with them for four or five days.

The third thing is that even though the body is a male body, the inner identity of male or female
disappeared. The psychological idea that ‘I am male’ or ‘I am female’ doesn’t exist in me anymore.

And the fourth thing is that there is a constant excitement within, everything excites. Even small
things give big excitement. Even a simple thing creates intense excitement and joy.
I can say that these four changes are permanent things that happened in me after enlightenment.

7. Ultimate but not final

Be very clear, enlightenment is not the end. It is the ultimate experience, but not the final experience.

You need to understand these two words

‘final’ and ‘ultimate’. They are very different. For example, after the first day of discourse in a series,
one person came to me and said, ‘You have said everything. Why do we need one more class?’ The
next day, another person said, ‟Swamiji, on the first day, I thought you could not take us any deeper;
it is over. And today, suddenly I felt that you have taken us deeper than yesterday, and you cannot
take us any deeper than this. Every day I feel that you cannot take us much deeper than this, but we do
keep going deeper.’ Every day the person felt that the experience was the ultimate.
Ultimate means living every moment totally, completely. Ultimate is not final. It can be updated.

There is a big difference between these two words, ultimate and final. If it is ultimate, it is happening
every moment. It is not final.

When a being becomes enlightened, not only does he experience his potentiality, but he also starts
creating more enlightened beings. He starts creating the possibility of more enlightened beings.

8. No verbalization, visualization

When you are enlightened, there will not be any movement of letter or word or thought between your
navel and throat. Words will come only from the throat. I can say this is one of the precise
descriptions of enlightenment. There will not be any word, thought, syllable, or sound movement
between the navel and the throat.

Words will be there only when you are talking. When you are not talking, there will not be any words
inside. Only the energy movement will be there. There will be no thought, no verbalization, no
continuous inner chattering.

Understand, when you don’t have inner chatter, it is not dead silence. It is intense energy! From that
energy, whatever needs to be done will come out as a complete visualization. If you have inner
chattering, it will come line by line like, ‘In the morning, I have to wake up. Then, I have to go to
office. There I will work on the new project. In the evening I will come back. Then I may go out for
dinner...’ In a linear manner, one by one, thoughts and words come out.

When you don’t have inner chatter, when you are just with yourself, the whole visualization comes
out as one package, one piece of information. That is what we call intuition. When you go through the
logical process, it is called inner chatter, it is intellect. But when you don’t have that inner chatter,
things start expressing in you intuitively. Straightaway, you know.

9. Integrated inner chatter and outer words

The person who has removed hypocrisy from his inner space will experience enlightenment.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the enlightened master from India, says beautifully, ‘Integrating your
inner chatter and your spoken words is enlightenment.’ He says, just integrate your inner chatter and
the words that you utter. Let both of them be integrated and you are enlightened

10. Research & Development from superconscious awareness

After someone achieves enlightenment, they have a very sharp superconscious awareness. With that
superconscious awareness, it is easy to do research, experiments and analysis. Even after
enlightenment, I have been doing so many experiments, so many practices along with scientists and
researchers of the outer world and inner world, and by myself.
Understand, when an enlightened being does spiritual practices it is not just for him. It is to create the
right formulas for the disciples, so that he can reproduce the same experience in them.

11. Transcendence of the human state

Someone asked me, ‘Is enlightenment the natural human state or is it a transcendence of the human
state?’
Surely, enlightenment is the transcendence of the human state. Whatever you think of as the human
state is not complete. You are only a seed, a potential, a possibility. You are not a tree. You are not
actuality. Your actuality is enlightenment.
You are called a human being in your potential state. In your actual state, realized state, you are called
an enlightened being. Be very clear, you are not a human being with a spiritual experience. You are a
spiritual being with a human experience!

12. Beyond yogic powers

When you meditate, you can get various yogic powers or siddhis„. But enlightenment happens when
you go beyond these powers also. Enlightenment is having the capacity to handle the powers, as well
as the intelligence to drop them when necessary.
The other day I read an interesting article about a book ‟Occult Chemistry based on research done by
the theosophists Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater on the molecular structure of various elements.
It said that even long before physics discovered that an atom has a nucleus, the theosophists had
determined the atomic structure of many elements, and that too down to the ‘quark’, the most
fundamental particle known today in quantum physics!

How did they find this out with no modern scientific equipment, before even quantum physics was
born? The report says it was through the siddhi, or mystical power, known as anima that has been
described in the Yoga sutras by the sage Patanjali, and enlightened master from India and father of the
science of Yoga’. Patanjali described anima as ‘the ability to acquire knowledge of the small, the
hidden, or the distant, by directing the light of superphysical faculty’.
With yogic training, they could experience visual images of minute objects too small to be seen by the
normal eye. They found five new elements through these yogic powers. They even went beyond the
quark as well as its detailed structure, into the sub- quark, which science is yet to find. These very
same findings have also been made by at least three other people from different places in the world at
different times, through such occult capacities.
They concluded that all matter is like bubbles in space, just like pearls on an invisible string. The
report says that the researchers not only ‘saw’ the subatomic particles, but they could also see inside
the atom down to the sub-quark, for which science needs a very powerful particle accelerator that
costs billions of dollars!

There are many yogis who have these kinds of siddhis or powers that come about as a result of
meditation. They are good as long as you don’t get caught in them. Otherwise, you will lose sight of
the ultimate goal of enlightenment

13. Clear, undisturbed peace

Enlightenment is having such a strong and clear sense of peace inside you that even your thoughts
cannot disturb you.

Do not think enlightened masters don’t have thoughts. It is just that their inner space is so big that the
mind is a negligible part. For you, if you have a ten-acre mind, all ten acres are like a zoo. With an
enlightened being there are a million acres, but still only a ten-acre zoo. In a million acres, if there is
some movement in ten acres, can you consider it as something disturbing? No! It is negligible. It is
practically not there. That is why an average person feels ‘I am the body’ but an enlightened being
feels, ‘I am the body also.’ It is not that the idea I am body’ disappears. It just expands to ‘I am also
the body.’

14. Beyond bliss

‘Always being intense’ is the main mark of an enlightened master. When you see that, you understand
it as ‘bliss’ or ‘happiness’. To tell you honestly, I myself do not feel that I am a separate blissful
being. All I know is that something extraordinary is constantly happening in me, very intensely. Only
an outsider feels it is ‘bliss’. Actually it is not even ‘bliss’. It is the quality that cannot be described,
that cannot be conceived by the mind.

15. Merging of the experience, experiencer, and experienced

As of now, you see three separate things: the experiencer, the experience, and the experienced. For
example, you are reading this book now. You are the experiencer that is the reader, the experience is
of reading, and the thing being experienced is the book. When you get enlightened, all these three —
experiencer, experience, and the experienced, become one. You are only the experiencer having the
experience of you, who is also the experienced!

Living enlightenment
1. Enjoying the chaos of the cosmos within the frame of the body
As of now, you are not mature enough to hold the chaos, the cosmos, inside the frame of your body.
You need to put the chaos in order because you are not able to handle the cosmos as is. The six feet
frame of your body is not mature enough to hold the chaos as is, to experience and enjoy the cosmos
as is.

The body, mind and brain being awakened, tuned to experience the cosmos as is, is what is living
enlightenment.
For this, the body, mind and brain need to be prepared. The body can be prepared with techniques like
Nithya Yoga.

The mind is like the software. It consists of the conscious mind and unconscious mind. The conscious
mind can be cleared by teachings, removing the wrong ideas and taking in the clear, correct ideas.
The unconscious mind can be cleared by meditation techniques.
But ultimately, for the software change to be permanent, the hardware also has to change. Your very
brain grooves have to change to hold the experience of and radiate living enlightenment. This can
happen through initiation, through the touch of the master. Initiation is directly transmitting the
energy after which different dimensions of you will start getting awakened

2. Living a conflict-free life

Living enlightenment has nothing to do with married life or celibacy. It is just living a conflict-free
life where your actions and knowledge are in tune with the desire.

3. Reduced number of thoughts

Not being in the extremes of anything, not being caught in the extremes of emotions is what is called
the Middle Path. Being in the middle path, the madhyapantha„, suddenly you see a reduction in the
number of thoughts that arise before any action starts. That is the period called ‘living enlightenment’.
When thoughts completely drop and you are able to do all your activity without thoughts, you are
enlightened.

4. Awakening of the non- mechanical parts of the brain

When you are centered in sattva', positive energy, you have a clear understanding of the je eva‟, the
self. You have the clear understanding of how to relate with the jagat, the world. Because of the
clarity of the self and the world, naturally you will fall into the source, Ishwara', god.

The very understanding will give you clarity. That clarity will automatically awaken the non-
mechanical parts of your brain. When that awakening happens, a chaos will start happening in your
routine. Your routine will start getting re-arranged by itself. Just cooperate with it. That is what I call
‘living enlightenment. Cooperating with the awakening that happens in you is what I call being a
disciple or living enlightenment.

5. Living the great Truths

‘Living enlightenment’ is the right word. When you are living these great truths you are enlightened,
that’s all.

You are supposed to live the truths. Living

the great truths in your life is enlightenment. Enlightenment does not mean you will leave your body
and die. No! You will live in a center that is beyond the five senses, but with the five senses. Only
your center will be shifted. The cognitive shift will happen within you. This is what I call Jeevan
mukti, living enlightenment.

Ego Vs Enlightenment
Your ego is not powerful enough to take away your enlightenment! Understand, your ego is not so
powerful that it can take away your enlightenment.
You need to stop thinking that you have an ego. Even your ego is not as big as you think. You are not
as big as you always think! So even your ego cannot take away your enlightenment.

Whether you believe it or not, experience it or not, you are eternal Consciousness.
Your logic is also not as strong as you think. I always tell people, your ignorance is not so strong as to
take enlightenment away from you. Even in your ignorance or ego you are not that big a person, and
that is the truth!

For the Sheer Grace and Blessing -

deep want, no qualifications
People ask me, If a master wants, whether a disciple is qualified or not, can he give him
enlightenment?’

An enlightened master can enlighten anybody just by one touch — not even touch, just a thought is
enough. Nothing else is necessary. He can liberate anybody.
The greatest happening on planet earth is an un-enlightened being sitting with an enlightened being
and becoming enlightened.

The master can simply download the software of an enlightened physiology into anyone. When you
are completely open, the software of an enlightened physiology can be downloaded into your system.
Your body learns that it can be better than what it is now. Your bio-memory learns the lesson of the
possibility for a better existence.

A small story from the life of the enlightened master Buddha:

Buddha was once asked, ‟Why don’t you give enlightenment to everybody? “He said, ‟Please ask in
the village who wants enlightenment. Bring them to me and I shall give.”
The man went through the whole village that day asking who wanted enlightenment.
Buddha asked him, What happened? Nobody wants enlightenment, is it?‟
The man replied a little cheerfully ‟No, no, two people want enlightenment.‟ Buddha replied, ‟Ok,
get them right now. I will give them enlightenment.‟
He came back to Buddha in the evening with a low face.

Buddha asked him, What happened? Nobody wants enlightenment, is it?

The man replied a little cheerfully ‘No, no, two people want enlightenment.’ Buddha replied, ‘Ok, get
them right now. I will give them enlightenment.’
The man replied in a low voice, ‟No, they don’t want to come here. If you send it to where they are,
they will take it! ‟
Nobody really wants enlightenment in the real sense! They just want it as a utility or to keep in their
showcase! Understand, god gives you the freedom to be in bondage also. Enlightenment can never be
forced on you. If it is forced, even freedom will become bondage.
There are two things: qualification and wanting.
There is no qualification needed for enlightenment, but the deep feeling, the deep wanting that ‘I want
it’, should be there.

Please be very clear, I also had ALL the problems that you are having like not being able to trust
Existence or not being able to trust myself. All I can say is, there is no qualification for
enlightenment. For somebody to become enlightened, they do not need any qualification.

Enlightenment can be had by giving yourself to Existence. Giving yourself is not an equal thing for
what you receive. Even if you give your life, it is nothing more in effort or value than buying a lottery
ticket.

After it happens, you will understand that the whole thing is nothing but the pure grace and blessing
of Existence. The result or the transformation will be so big, so great that you can’t think of a reason
why you were chosen for it, wh’ it was showered on you! No qualification is necessary, but the deep
need, the seeking is necessary. Fulfillment is always a gift. To receive a gift, there is no such thing as
being worthy. Ramakrishna used to say, ‘Suppose you are living in poverty, dying with no food and
no clothes. But somehow you know that there is a lot of wealth kept locked in the next room. Even if
you take it nobody will know. Will you be able to sleep restfully now? Either you will try to open the
door or you will break down the door. Unless you have that wealth under your control, you will not be
able to sleep.’

In the same way, you should know you are in spiritual poverty right now. You should know that
inside you there is a room in which there is immense wealth that is kept under lock and key. That
knowledge, that attitude, that intensity, that mood is a basic necessity. With that, the seeking can
simply transform your whole life.

Your dedication is powerful enough to lead you to enlightenment.

Actually, enlightenment is practically like cooking. Something has to be added, something has to be
removed. You have to add the intense seeking. Whatever is unnecessary, like restlessness, etc, will
come out automatically, and enlightenment will happen!

Enlightened society
During the vedic times in India, the whole life, the whole society was based on enlightenment where
seventy percent of the people were enlightened and the remaining thirty percent were seeking,
working towards enlightenment.

Arts, sciences, education, lifestyle and every sphere of life, every action was directed towards the
ultimate experience of enlightenment. Classical dances like Bharatanatyam, traditional vocal and
instrumental music, traditional architecture of temples and sculptures, classical paintings and art
forms, the science of languages like Sanskrit, the sciences of astrology and vaastu„, the unique
gurukul„ system of education, traditional ceremonies right from birth through marriage to death —
every single activity in every dimension of life was an expression of the enlightenment of the great
seers, as well as a means to get enlightened

The Ultimate energy that can stand

the test of Time
There can be nothing more than the enlightenment experience on planet earth. No philosophy, no
system, no theory, no ideology, stands, survives, or thrives for more than one generation if it does not
have an enlightened base or the base or inspiration from an enlightened being.

In ancient India, there were at least 3000 kings ruling at different times. Not a single king or kingdom
that was not guided by an enlightened master was able to flourish. Even today if you go to South
Indian villages, you will see huge temples built of stone, installed by enlightened masters. But the
palaces that were constructed by the same kings for themselves no longer exist.

Understand, the same king and the same architect who built the temples to hold the enlightened
energy, also built the palaces for the king to stay. One might think the king would have used better
material for his own palace! But today, if you see, the temples are still standing while the palaces
have disappeared with time.

In my own village Tiruvannamalai in South India, the village in which I was born and brought up, we
have a temple that has twenty acres of built up area. The palace built by the same king is not there. It
is just ruins. But the temple built by him is still alive because the enlightened master’s energy is there.

The greatest service to mankind -

keeping the science of enlightenment
alive
The biggest service you can do in your life, the best use you can make of your life is to keep this
science of enlightenment alive on planet earth. Planet earth is alive today in spite of all the atomic
weapons we have piled up, all the depletion of forests, minerals, and natural resources. It is so
because of the presence of enlightened masters. As long as there are enlightened masters on planet
earth, planet earth can never be destroyed!
Why Meditate?
In the following four chapters as well as those on meditation techniques that follow in a later section,
I give you the pathways to experience the truths we talked about. By now, you have the intellectual
understanding about what needs to be done and why.

We now come to the part of how. All the understanding will remain only theoretical if it is not
converted into experience.

What is the real aim of life?

What is your ultimate aim in life?

To earn more... ? To stay forever young, healthy, beautiful...? To have better, longer- lasting
relationships...? To improve your personality. . .?

Each of us is actually searching for bliss, but we search in many different ways. But ninety-nine
percent of us are not even aware that bliss is our true goal! We search everywhere in the outside world
for something which is there within us, just waiting to be discovered.

A small story:

One evening, a man was searching hard for something in the courtyard in his house. His wife asked
him what it was. He replied that he had dropped a gold coin. His wife also joined in the search. Soon,
others gathered and practically the whole neighborhood was searching for the lost coin.

Suddenly one neighbor asked the man, ‟Where exactly did you drop the coin? How come we still
haven’t found it?”. The man replied, ‟Oh, I lost the coin inside the house.” Everybody searching
became angry and asked him, ‟Then why are we searching here?”
The man replied, ‟The problem is I have no lights inside my house. So, I started searching by the
light of this streetlamp here!”

This is exactly what we do in our own lives. We are all experts in searching for answers in the wrong
laces. We search for bliss everywhere, be 1t in money, power, relationships or ideologies. But we
don’t move in the one obvious direction which is inwards.

What is bliss?
In life everyone has experienced some moments of great happiness. But it has always been for a
reason. The state of that happiness does not seem to remain forever. It is there temporarily, and when
it changes or goes away, once again you feel pain. Only the happiness you experience for no reason at
all, which does not die for any reason, is real and permanent happiness. This is what is called bliss.
Such happiness doesn’t depend on anything outside of you.

The word ananda itself means, ‘that which cannot be reduced, which cannot be lost’. Ananda does
not translate into ‘happiness’. You will be surprised to know, it simply means ‘that which cannot be
reduced or lost’. And bliss is that thing which does not reduce for any reason.

What is meditation?
Technique to raise consciousness

Any technique, any method which raises your consciousness is meditation.

Meditation can even be a simple breathing technique. It can be a simple repetition of a word or simply
sitting. In the Zen tradition, just sitting is meditation. You may think this is the easiest thing to do but
in fact, just sitting is the most difficult meditation. Anything can become meditation if it raises your
consciousness.

Intensely blissful in the present

Meditation is just being blissful in the moment. When you are at complete peace in the present
moment, you are already in a state of meditation.

Recall any moment in your life when you have experienced extreme beauty. Maybe it was the sun
rising suddenly from behind a mountain, or the first time you heard a lovely piece of music. Suddenly
you became totally still, wordless. In the presence of that beauty you couldn’t think any more. You
were just silent, relaxed, in thoughtless awareness. You were completely dissolved in that beauty.
That moment was meditation!

After a few moments your inner chatter started again. Your mind said, ‘What a beautiful sunrise!’ The
moment the words appeared; you were out of meditation! You can either think or meditate. You can
never do both. Meditation is just being. It is experiencing the present moment without resistance.

What is the right way to approach

meditation?
The first thing is, be sincere. Keep an open mind. Have the openness to experiment. Be enthusiastic.

There is a beautiful term in the Zen tradition to describe the attitude — the beginner’s mind. It means
looking at every single thing in life as new, so everything in life excites you.
The second thing is, be optimistic. Bliss is a perfectly realizable goal for you, even if you are
completely unfamiliar with meditation.

Once a man approached the great enlightened master Ramana Maharishi and asked him, ‟Bhagavan,
am I qualified for spiritual life?” Bhagavan answered him with a question, ‟Are you alive?” The man
was startled. He said, ‟Yes, of course!”
Bhagavan replied, ‟That is enough. You already have the necessary qualification for spirituality!”

The very aim of human life is enlightenment. The possibility of becoming enlightened lies in the
Kundalini shakti, an extraordinary potential energy which is hidden inside every human body. If it can
be awakened, it will take you to a different plane of consciousness, a different plane of Existence. The
possibility to become a different conscious being is present only in human beings. Animals don’t have
this potentiality to become enlightened, to become different conscious beings.

The third thing is, be playful! Meditation is a big adventure. To become serious about meditation is to
miss the whole point. Celebrate meditation. Simply enjoy it!
The fourth thing is, have patience. Don’t start worrying about results the moment you start
meditating.

The possibility to become a different conscious being is present only in human beings.

A small story:

Three monkeys once found a ripe, juicy mango. Like all monkeys, they fought over the mango for a
while. Then somehow, they had a moment of clarity, a moment of intelligence. Instead of eating the
mango right away, they decided to sow the mango. They knew that once the mango seeds sprouted
and grew into a tree, there would be more than enough mangoes for all three of them.

Each of them decided to take up one part of the task of caring for the mango plant. The first monkey
said, ‟I will water the plant every day!”
The second monkey said, ‟I will keep the soil healthy and rich, add fertilizers and ensure that the
plant grows well.”
The third monkey said, ‟I will guard the plant carefully and protect it from harsh weather and other
animals.”

One month passed, then two, then three. There was no sign of any plant growing out of the soil. The
three monkeys called for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue.
The first monkey declared, ‟As promised, I have been watering the seed every single day.”
The second monkey cried, ‟As promised, I have been adding fertilizer and making the soil rich.”

The third monkey said, ‟As promised, I have been guarding the seed very carefully. Not only that, I
have been taking the seed out every single day to check whether it has sprouted or not!”

If you are greedy for instant results, you actually prevent the process from settling down in your
system. You yourself block the whole process.

The fifth thing is, enjoy solitude. Give yourself a chance to experience your inner environment. When
meditation becomes a part of you, bliss will flower naturally.

Why Meditation?
There are three states that we constantly experience in our lives – the waking state, dream state and
deep sleep state. But there is a fourth state that we have not experienced. It is called turiya. In this
state the ‘I’ consciousness exists but without thoughts. It is called thoughtless awareness. Very few
people experience this in their lives. Some people experience this for a few seconds and then go back
to their regular waking state.

If you get a sudden shock or if you are sitting with nature in a completely relaxed state and in deep
silence, it is possible that for a few moments you experience this thoughtless awareness. The identity
is alive, the ‘I’ consciousness is alive, but there are no thoughts. This is the fourth state of turiya.

All our physical and mental illnesses take root in the dream state. The dream state starts penetrating
and overlapping the deep sleep and waking states.

If our waking state is penetrated by the dream state, it is called daydreaming. We fantasize or imagine
endless things that we wish to do. If our deep sleep is penetrated by dreaming, it is called disturbed
sleep.

Continuously during the day or night, our dream state disturbs us. When our deep sleep state is
disturbed by dreams, it results in problems like chronic fatigue and insomnia. When our waking state
is disturbed by dreams, we will be daydreaming with much less awareness of the world around us.

The more the dream state penetrates the waking state, the more the frequency of our consciousness
decreases. We may be living in the human body, but we will not be living a truly human life. When
the frequency of consciousness comes down, we will not be fully aware about the decisions we make.
We will not be aware of the kind of words we are thinking. We will not be aware of what is going on
inside of us. It will be as if we are living in a house, but we do not know everything that is happening
inside that house.
You ask, ‘Why should I meditate?’ Meditation is needed to infuse deep awareness into both your
waking state and the deep sleep state. Instead of the dream state penetrating the waking and deep
sleep states, with meditation the turiya or blissful state will start penetrating the waking and deep
sleep states!

The purpose of meditation is to experience this fourth state at least once. Once we experience this
fourth state, we can bring the influence of it more and more into our waking and deep sleep states. If
our waking and deep sleep states are completely influenced by the fourth state, turiya, that is what we
call jeevan mukti or living enlightenment.

Benefits of meditation
Physical health

Meditation has the power to transform you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

See, physical health means digesting whatever you eat and having that food become part of your
body. Mental health means digesting all the ideas and problems that you encounter and forming a
clear solution. In other words, it is living without conflict. Spiritual health means receiving all the
great teachings and energy, digesting them and living a liberated life. Having all three is total health.

Meditation is also a complement to medication. Through meditation, you can regulate your blood
pressure and blood sugar and you can increase your body’s resistance to disease. Through meditation,
it is possible to heal even chronic problems like skin allergies, asthma and arthritis. No disease can
escape the power of meditation.
Mental health - awakening of intelligence and flowering of
intuition

On the mental level, meditation enhances clarity of thought. Meditation is also a proven way to
improve concentration and memory power. Above all, meditation leads you from intellect to
intelligence to intuition.

With meditation, you go beyond the mind, into the being. In the being no rules exist. You become
free to explore your full potential. That’s why with meditation you will suddenly find yourself at ease
with your surroundings, easily able to cope with new situations. You rediscover your spontaneity.

Self-healing thoughts

You may have a medically fit body. That does not mean you are completely healthy. Of course, I can
say from my experience of having seen millions of people, ninety-nine per cent of those who do not
have the ‘self-healing clarity’ in their system are never able to maintain even physical health.

When I say ‘self-healing clarity’, I mean the clarity and understanding to bring yourself out of
depression whenever it tries to grip your consciousness.

Knowledge-weapons to combat depression

The knowledge of the Truth is what I call ‘knowledge-weapons’ or shaastra-shastra. Shaastra means
Truth, knowledge. Shastra means weapons. Knowledge-weapons are the
weapons of Truth that can destroy the depression of your being. The more knowledge-weapons you
have, the more depression will be afraid of you! If you have a huge army, naturally the enemy country
will be afraid of attacking you. Just by seeing your pile of weapons, the other country will think twice
before attacking you. In the same way, the more you accumulate the self-healing thoughts, the
knowledge-weapons, inside your being, the more depression will fear to come near you.

Freedom

With meditation, you can live your life in a much better way with greater clarity and greater intensity.
You will be more aware, more creative. Yet internally, you will experience a deep and undisturbed
silence.

You will no longer be doing, you will only be watching the doer. This is the whole secret of
meditation — to become the watcher, to become the witness of your own actions and emotions.

Once you become aware that the real you is not the one who acts, that the real you is not the one who
feels angry or hurt or depressed, then you experience a tremendous sense of freedom. This will
happen through meditation. And this is real freedom.

All our life we are searching for freedom. Whether we realize it or not, every single one of us is
searching for freedom. We think our freedom is dependent on others. This will happen through
meditation. And this is real freedom.

All our life we are searching for freedom. Whether we realize it or not, every single one of us is
searching for freedom. We think our freedom is dependent on others. Now you
know that the other person is in no way connected to your freedom.
Love and joy for no reason

With meditation, for the first time, you will understand what it means to love for no reason. For the
first time you will not be giving something in order to receive. You will give love simply because you
have so much to give! You will shower love upon the world in the same way that a rain cloud
showers upon the earth or a flower spontaneously spreads its fragrance all around. You will love
because you are so full and overflowing!

Work as play

Just try this: whatever you do, act with awareness. If you are eating, eat with awareness. No extra
time is needed to do this. In fact, it will take less time to eat because when you eat with awareness,
you will eat just the amount your body needs rather than stuffing food down your throat thoughtlessly.

Awareness has tremendous knowledge. Awareness can do better miracles than all your planning.
Awareness doesn’t contradict, it complements the plans. It will add to the potentiality.

With meditation, for the first time, you will understand what it means to love for no reason.

When you are aware, you are absent. When awareness is present, your ego can’t exist. When your ego
exists, awareness can’t be present. ‘Your absence’ will make you live enlightenment.

When you are aware, you will work optimally and use your energy efficiently. So at the end of the
day you are just as fresh as in the morning. You see, it is not the work that exhausts you; it is your
mind, your attitude. The whole game of meditation is to get out of the work-oriented mind and look at
every moment of life as a beautiful Divine play.

When to do meditation?
The next question is when to meditate. This is always a controversial question! All the youngsters
think, ‘I can do this in my old age after I have lived my life fully and I don’t have anything else to
do.’ All the elderly people think, ‘I should have done this in my young age when I was fresh and
energetic.’

So the question is not just how long to meditate everyday, but also when to make the decision to enter
into meditation. Please understand, meditation is the basic need for every person. It is not an option. It
is a very basic need.

Benefits of Meditation
Health
Meditation results in holistic health. It gives good health on the physical, mental and emotional levels.
Specific health benefits reported by some who meditate are:
1. The stabilization of high or low blood pressure, blood sugar, body heat and heartbeat.
2. The balancing of mind/body rhythms.
3. Reduction of muscle tension, stronger bones, immunity from disease.
4. Cleansing - quicker elimination of toxins and body waste.
5. Overcoming insomnia and improved quality of sleep.
6. Enhanced energy, increased work capacity.
7. Longer life span - improved body metabolism and body cells with a longer life span.
8. Secretion of healthy body chemicals - increased secretion of natural anti- depressants,
enhanced secretion of endorphins, the body’s ‘happy chemical’s’.
9. Relationships - Meditation inherently puts you in tune with yourself and others. The direct
result of this is deeper, more meaningful interpersonal relationships with family, friends and with
everyone you encounter in your daily life.
10. Intelligence - To work efficiently, one needs intelligence. Meditation ignites your innate
intelligence making you more aware and sharp. The natural result of this is improved, efficient and
effortless performance in whatever you do.
11. Creativity - Each of us holds within us an undiscovered treasure of talent and potential.
Meditation reveals and helps you realize your inner talents and latent creativity. 12. Authenticity -
Meditation allows you to touch base with the real you, and makes you realize your uniqueness. Self-
confidence then becomes a natural by-product.
12. Balance - Most of us live life as a roller-coaster ride, held in the sway of emotions like worry,
jealousy, discontentment, fear, anger, guilt, etc. over which we have no control. Meditation enables
you to be centered in yourself, have a solid inner balance and thus, be the master of your own self.
13. Relaxation, peace, bliss - A natural byproduct of meditation is something we spend almost a
lifetime trying to attain inner relaxation and peace. With meditation, you automatically drop out of the
vicious cycle of fear, greed and stress, and enter the virtuous cycle of bliss.
14. Holistic spiritual growth - To measure intellect, we have IQ or Intelligence Quotient, which is
measured by many standardized tests. Of late, another measure is gaining importance, especially in
the corporate world, namely EQ or Emotional Quotient. However, the most important factor of our
lives which is inner satisfaction and fulfillment, is what matters at the end of the day. Meditation
enhances this very important factor of life, SQ or Spiritual Quotient, besides also increasing IQ and
EQ.
15. Life - As of now, our mental setup is rigid and reflects our personality. Because of this self-
image we carry in our minds, we face a lot of troubles in life and are not able to enjoy life completely.
Meditation simply reprograms the software of the mind so that we can live life completely.
16. Ultimate potential - You are like an airplane with the potential to fly, but you think you are an
ox-cart because you have not actualized your potential. Meditation simply makes you realize and
experience who you really are and the enormous capabilities you have been born with.
17. Ultimate potential - You are like an airplane with the potential to fly, but you think you are an
ox-cart because you have not actualized your potential. Meditation simply makes you realize and
experience who you really are and the enormous capabilities you have been born with.

Kinds of meditation
There are three kinds of meditation.

The first is bringing the truth or awareness into your life.

This meditation is supposed to be done all twenty-four hours a day. Breath-related techniques like
vipassana or techniques where you bring your awareness to the present moment all the time belong to
this category of meditation. It is not a part of your routine. It should become the very quality of your
routine. You may be doing anything like writing, reading, cooking, discussing, but this thread of
meditation should be happening simultaneously like an undercurrent.

With the second kind of meditation techniques, you need to spend a particular time, like one hour in
the morning or one hour in the evening, or any other convenient time.

The Mahamantra' meditation technique, where you hum for a few minutes and then remain a witness
for a few minutes, can be given as an example for this category of meditation. Nithya Dhyaan is
another example of this type of meditation, since it is practiced for a specified time each day.

Then there is the third kind of meditation techniques, where just the very remembrance of the
technique is enough.

Examples of this are the statements of the great timeless truths. When you are in a highly mature
state, you don’t need any separate technique. You don’t need to practice the whole day or at any
particular time. Just the very remembrance of these truths will put you in the elevated state. This is the
third type of meditation. Examples of this are the beautiful Zen koans They are profound truths
written in a concise way. Just the very remembrance of them will transport you to the zone of truth!

There is a very beautiful story in the Upanishad‟ where a disciple comes to the master and asks for a
technique or a method for enlightenment. The master just says, ‟Tat tvam asi, Tat tvam asi, Tat tvam
asi - ‘Thou art that, Thou art that, Thou art that’, and the story says, the disciple became enlightened!

It seems like a very strange story. The master just repeats a few words and the disciple is suddenly
enlightened. How is it possible? It seems unbelievable! Actually it is not so. If we have done the first
two types of techniques, the technique that needs to be done the whole day and the technique that
needs to be done at a particular time, then the very maturity that happens out of that practice will
cause you to experience the Truth the moment you hear it from the master!

Reality as dream
You may wonder, ‘How is it that every day when I come back to the waking state, I see the same
world but every night when I go back to the dream state, I don’t see the same world? So, can this be
used as a scale? With this can we say that this waking-state world is real?’
Let us analyze one night’s dream. For example, let us say that you go to sleep on the night of the
fourteenth, and on the morning of the fifteenth, you wake up. You sleep for around ten hours. I am
sure many of you have had experiences of having lived around ten to twenty years of your life in one
night’s dream, in just ten hours’ time.

Perhaps the dream starts in your college days and moves slowly, step by step, up to your marriage,
your having a son, your son’s marriage, etc. In this way, you live even twenty years of your life in just
one night’s dream, am I right? If you have experienced this at least once, you can follow very closely
what I am going to present now.

You see, while sleeping, we go through the dream state and the deep sleep state. Maybe for half an
hour, you fall into the deep sleep state. Then you go to the dream state and have some dreams. Again
you fall back into the deep sleep state for perhaps twenty minutes, and then once again, you come
back to the dream state. In this way you keep moving from the dream state to the deep sleep state and
back.
Understand: in one night, you dream that you have lived twenty years of your life. In the first episode
of your dream, you are in college. In the second episode, when you come back to the dream state after
a gap of deep sleep, you are getting married. In the third dream episode, you have a son. Maybe in the
fourth episode, you see your son getting married.

An important thing you need to understand: when you fall into the deep sleep state and then come
back to the dream state, and then repeat this process, in these different episodes, you do see the same
world even in your dream state. Am I right? Sometimes you do see the same world even in the dream
state.

Understand, it is a very subtle point, a very subtle understanding. If you can catch this, it will lead to
very great clarity, which can really revolutionize the way in which you think about your life, the way
in which you try to solve the problems of your life.

Imagine a man is dreaming. In the dream he sees a tiger chasing him and he starts shouting, ‘Oh, a
tiger is chasing me! Save me, save me!’ His wife is sleeping next to him. She wakes up and sees the
husband shouting! The wife is confused, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ She just needs to tell him,
‘Hey, wake up!’ Instead of that, if she tries to supply some weapon to kill the tiger in the dream, what
will happen? He may kill himself or he may kill her! Any other solution she may try to find will only
lead to more problems, more difficulties. All the husband needs to do is wake up.

If you understand these basic things, suddenly you will see that your very decision- making is
revolutionized. The cognitive shift happens in you. The way in which you think and the way in which
you make decisions, the way in which you find solutions for your problems, will be entirely different.
You will start working towards the right solutions.

When you are dreaming, in a span of ten hours, you can easily live twenty years. You fall into deep
sleep and come back to the dream state many times. Whenever you come back to the dream state from
deep sleep, even though there was a break from the last dream, you see the same world. So, you have
to understand clearly that just seeing the same world after the break in the dream state cannot be the
quality to define it as reality. Only when you wake up from sleep, do you realize you have ‘lived’
twenty years of your life in a mere ten hours.

In the same way, only when you wake up from this ‘waking dream’ in which you are living now,
suddenly you will realize you have dreamt maybe ninety years of your life in a few hours! This life in
the waking state may be another long dream!

When you are in a dream, you think the dream is reality. Where you are, that is reality for that
moment. There is no other scale. In the dream you can never imagine, ‘It is a dream.’ In the reality,
you can never think, ‘It is one more dream.’ When you come out of the dream, the dream looks like a
dream. But when you are in the dream itself, it will not look like a dream.

In the dream,even if you remember about your real life, you think it is a dream. In the reality, even if
you remember about the dream, you think it is a dream. So it just depends on the frequency in which
you are. There is no other scale to explain which is reality or dream.

Realizing and understanding there is a possibility that this very waking state could be one more long
dream will turn much of your attention and awareness to the center, to the consciousness, to the
ultimate reality. When you go beyond the frequency of this waking state, it will also look like one
more dream.

This is the first step in spirituality. This is the first step in psychological revolution.

Again and again, your suffering gives you a clear statement that you are not living in reality.
Many times I am asked another question along the same lines, ‘Not only am I seeing this world, even
the people who are living around me are seeing the same world. How can you say it is a dream?’

Understand, in a dream if you are seeing a particular city, and if in that dream you are going to that
city with your whole family, then not only you, but the family with you inside your dream, will also
see the same city, because they are also projections of your mind! So, just because the people around
you see the same scene as you do, it does not mean that the scene is reality. Those people around you
might be a projection of the same scene!

The ultimate truth is that the stuff out of which your dream world is made is the same
as the stuff out of which this waking world is also made.

If your attention is centered on the stuff, naturally the inner healing cannot happen. If your attention is
equally distributed on the consciousness and the stuff, that is what I call healthy life or balanced life.
You will have physical health, mental health and a vibrant life.
If your attention is totally centered on the consciousness, not on the stuff with which these worlds are
made, that is what I call ‘living enlightenment’ or jeevan mukti.

Whether you want jeevan Mukti or not, whether you want enlightenment or not, is secondary. But if
you can turn a little bit of your attention towards the ‘I’ consciousness, towards the Truth, towards the
center, suddenly you will see that a tremendous inner healing happens.

For example, if you are facing some big difficulty or depression, if you realize very clearly and
consciously that this whole thing is a dream, you will experience such a relaxed feeling or the inner
healing happening in you. That inner healing is what I call meditation. That restful awareness that
happens in you is what I call satori, the first glimpse of samadhi.

A basic cognitive shift or a basic psychological revolution, with the simple understanding that what
you are seeing may not be reality as you think, can bring tremendous inner healing inside you, can
bring a great restful awareness inside you.

Glimpse of scientific research on

meditation
Science is just now getting glimpses of the tremendous power of meditation to completely change the
entire body-mind structure itself. The benefits of meditation are countless and across all planes, be it
physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Meditation can simply change the very quality of life.

Increased brain power

Until recently, it was believed that in the brain, the connections among the brain nerve cells were
fixed in childhood and did not change, so the brain growth stopped early in life. Now scientists are
finding that the brain actually grows and forms new connections all throughout life, they call this
neuroplasticity.

The other day I was reading in the papers Washington Post, January 3, 2005), about research done by
the University of Wisconsin to study the effects of meditation on the brain. The study was done on a
group of Tibetan monks who had been meditating for years, and also on a group of students who were
new to meditation but had been taught how to meditate.

They found that the awareness was more and the brain activity was faster and much better organized
and coordinated in the meditating monks than in the students who were new to meditation. Not only
that, the brain region associated with happiness, positive thoughts and emotions, was also much more
active in the monks than in the students.

One more important thing, the researchers found that the brain activity of the meditator monks was
more intense and organized (than that of the students), even before the monks started meditating. So
the benefits of meditation are actually permanent. Meditation can simply change the very circuitry
and the inner workings of the brain.

Many top universities in the USA like Yale, Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology), have also studied* the effects of meditation.

Studies using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) showed that meditation actually increased the very
thickness of the brain in areas related to awareness and attention, as well as cognitive processing and
emotional wellbeing.

The researchers found that the blood vessels become wider, the support structures also increase in
number and they have more branches and connections.

Meditation Vs Sleep
There was another research done at the University of Kentucky where they studied the effects of
sleepiness on a person’s awareness. A group of people was made to look at a screen and they were
supposed to press a button as soon as an image came on the screen.
Normally a person who has had less sleep takes much longer to respond to the image than a person
who has had normal sleep. Sometimes they even completely miss seeing the image coming up.

The researchers tested the participants before and after forty minutes of sleep, meditation, reading or
some light activity.

They found that with meditation, the response was the fastest for every single participant, even though
the participants were not experienced in meditation. In fact, their response was even better after
keeping awake the whole night!

Improved concentration and speed

of response
There have been many studies to learn the effect of meditation on the speed and correctness of
perception and response

A couple of studies were done at Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, England. In one
study, the participants were given lines of letters with different numbers of dashes marked above the
letters. They had to cross out the letters with multiple dashes, as quickly as possible.
In another study, the participants were shown the words like ‘RED’, ‘BLUE’ or ‘GREEN’ printed in
different colored inks. They had to quickly name the color of the ink the word was written in.
Normally, this is difficult because your brain tends to read the word rather than look and identify the
color of the ink that the word is written in!

They found that the meditators were much faster and made about half the number of errors as the non-
meditators.

Meditation directly and significantly improves awareness, attention, memory, concentration, response
time, visualization, emotional wellbeing, and general health.

Science has just started exploring the vast dimensions of the effects and benefits of meditation. But
for thousands of years, right from the vedic times, man has been enjoying the benefits of meditation
which is the ultimate way to the Ultimate! It is a foolproof, time- proven technique to realize oneself.
 Part II
Bhagavad Gita Decoded
 vasudeva sutaṁ devaṃ kamsa cānūra mardanam I
devakī paramānandaṁ kṛṣṇam vande jagad gurum II

‘I salute unto you Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, Guru (master) of the world,

son of Vasudeva, supreme bliss of Devakī, destroyer of Kamsa and Cāṇūra’

Srīmad Bhagavad Gītā is the ultimate sacred scripture of yoga, Yogaśastra and the pristine glory of the
Vedic culture, the eternal living tradition called sanātana-dharma. It belongs to the whole Universe for it is
delivered to the Universe by the source and embodiment of the Universe. We salute and bow down to
Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who spoke the Bhagavad Gītā out of His infinite love and compassion for all beings.
Whenever unrighteousness, adharma becomes predominant and dharma, righteous living declines and the
Yoga of Enlightenment is lost, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Consciousness appears again and again to
revive this sacred yoga, to protect and to enrich the devoted beings; and destroys adharma to re-establish the
pure and everlasting dharma—the Science of Enlightenment. dharma saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge
yuge—this is Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s promise and the essence and spirit of the Gītā.
Gītā is also called Brahmavidyā—the Knowledge of Brahman, the supreme absolute truth; it is Jīvan Mukti
Vijñāna—the Science of Living Enlightenment. As with all scriptures, it is the knowledge and experience that
is transmitted verbally as Śri Krṣṇārjuna Saṁvād, an intimate dialogue between Master of the world,
Jagadguru Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His dear devotee and disciple, Arjuna. It is called śruti in Saṃskṛit, meaning
something that is heard.
Gītā, as Bhagavad Gītā is generally called, translates literally from Saṃskṛit as ‘Sacred Song of God’.
Unlike the Vedas and Upaniṣads, which are stand alone expressions of Truth, the Gītā is written into the
greatest Hindu epic, the Mahābhārat, called a purāṇa, an ancient historical happening. It is part of the recorded
history of the greatest tradition, the paramount civilization in all its Divine grandeur and its human complexity,
so to speak.
As a scripture, Gītā is Gītāśastra, the essence and the most important part of the ancient knowledge base
of the Vedic tradition, which is the expression of the experiences of great sages. Vedas and Upaniṣads, the
foundation of śruti literature, arose from the insight, vision and the consciousness of completion of these great
sages when they were raised into a no-mind state of Advaita (non-duality). These are as old as humanity, as
eternal as truth, and the first and truest expressions in the journey of man’s search for truth.

Unlike the Vedas, which were revealed to the great Sages or the Upaniṣads,
which were the teachings of these great Enlightened Sages, Gītā is part of
the great Bhārata’s (India’s) history narrated by Śrī Veda Vyāsa or Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Dvāipāyana Vyāsa, one of the great Enlightened Sages and the compiler of
all scriptures and hymns. Gītā is scribed by Śrī Ganeṣa, the elephant God
who embodies pure wisdom and joyful spontaneity. It is narrated as the
direct expression of the Divine Himself. It is because of Bhagavān Śrī
Kṛṣṇa’s direct presence that the Mahābhārat and jeweled in it, the Bhagavad
Gītā is the indisputable authority of the greatest revelation of Truth. The
Gītā is the sacred text incarnation of the Absolute Divine.
Living Enlightenment. As with all scriptures, it is the knowledge and experience that is transmitted verbally
as Śri Krṣṇārjuna Saṁvād, an intimate dialogue between Master of the world, Jagadguru Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and
His dear devotee and disciple, Arjuna. It is called śruti in Saṃskṛit, meaning something that is heard.
Gītā, as Bhagavad Gītā is generally called, translates literally from Saṃskṛit as ‘Sacred Song of God’.
Unlike the Vedas and Upaniṣads, which are stand alone expressions of Truth, the Gītā is written into the
greatest Hindu epic, the Mahābhārat, called a purāṇa, an ancient historical happening. It is part of the recorded
history of the greatest tradition, the paramount civilization in all its Divine grandeur and its human complexity,
so to speak.
As a scripture, Gītā is Gītāśastra, the essence and the most important part of the ancient knowledge base
of the Vedic tradition, which is the expression of the experiences of great sages. Vedas and Upaniṣads, the
foundation of śruti literature, arose from the insight, vision and the consciousness of completion of these great
sages when they were raised into a no-mind state of Advaita (non-duality). These are as old as humanity, as
eternal as truth, and the first and truest expressions in the journey of man’s search for truth.

Unlike the Vedas, which were revealed to the great Sages or the Upaniṣads,
which were the teachings of these great Enlightened Sages, Gītā is part of
the great Bhārata’s (India’s) history narrated by Śrī Veda Vyāsa or Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Dvāipāyana Vyāsa, one of the great Enlightened Sages and the compiler of
all scriptures and hymns. Gītā is scribed by Śrī Ganeṣa, the elephant God
who embodies pure wisdom and joyful spontaneity. It is narrated as the
direct expression of the Divine Himself. It is because of Bhagavān Śrī
Kṛṣṇa’s direct presence that the Mahābhārat and jeweled in it, the Bhagavad
Gītā is the indisputable authority of the greatest revelation of Truth. The
Gītā is the sacred text incarnation of the Absolute Divine.ītā arose from
the super consciousness of Śri Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme God, the
complete Incarnation Purṇāvatār, and is therefore considered
Gītāśastra—the essential scripture, knowing which, one is liberated from
all incompletions, yaj jñātvā mokṣyase asubhāt (9.1) and Gītopaniṣad the
essence of all Upaniṣads, the purest and highest knowledge to be ever
known and cognized because it gives the direct experience of the Self—
pavitram idam uttamam pratyakṣāvagaṁ dharmyaṁ (9.2).
 Life is expansion

The art of Listening

Through the entire opening chapter of the Gītā, it is Arjuna who continuously speaks, while Kṛṣṇa listens,
listens and listens!
Only an intelligent man will allow the other person to speak. We all continuously speak to each other, but
a ‘real’ conversation does not happen. We simply carry out simultaneous monologues with each other. We are
polite enough to pretend that we are listening, so that we will, in turn, be heard. You need intelligence to allow
the other person to speak. You need intelligence to listen!
When you listen to others, you listen to yourself. And when you don’t listen to others, you also don’t
listen to yourself. Are you getting it? Only when you listen to you, you will be able to listen to others. When
you listen to others, you will also listen to YOU! Because any listening that happens, happens from the space
of completion. Please understand, you can only listen when you are complete. If there is any incompletion in
you, you will not be able to listen.
What is incompletion? For example, you are sitting here right now, hearing me speak, but you are not
listening to me, you are thinking—‘I have not done this, I have not done that, this has not happened, that has
not happened, I am restless’–that is incompletion. If you have such incompletions inside, be very clear, you
will not be listening to me. You may be sitting here out of compulsion or some other reason, but you will not
be listening to me. And when you don’t listen, more and more incompletions happen. It is a vicious circle.

If you listen, especially to the words that come out of the space of completion
of an enlightened being, you will suddenly see that the energy of those very
words goes and changes your inner space.
See, when you come to me and tell me about your problems, I give you my authentic listening. That is
why you suddenly feel light; you suddenly feel that all your problems are not big anymore. It is the power of
listening. Listening awakens your intuition. Listening awakens your innermost intelligence. Listening is GOD!
By His very listening, Kṛṣṇa is able to heal the restlessness in Arjuna, the incompletions in Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa
is showing us the power of His completion, the power of His listening. He just listens while Arjuna empties
himself. He allows Arjuna to speak into His pure listening. Now, the real Gītā can start!

Arjuna’s root pattern

Please understand, when Kṛṣṇa listens to Arjuna, He is interested in Arjuna’s real problem, not what
Arjuna is complaining about. And He is not interested in just expressing what He knows. He allows Arjuna to
speak into His listening, so that He can go to the root of the problem and address the issue. He knows that
once He allows Arjuna to express his problems, Arjuna himself can find a solution to them. And as Arjuna
continues to speak, he exposes the root of his problem—his root thought pattern.
Let me define root thought pattern.
The first strong cognition you receive in your life, which influences you to continue to
function based on the same cognition, is a root thought pattern! It is the pattern you develop
when powerlessness takes you over for the first time in your life. Your pure cognition is
imbalanced and your mind is born!

Listen! The way you behave, feel and respond, all come from this root thought
pattern. It is the limiting cognition that happens in you and fills you at a very
young age, overpowering you. Sometimes it is fear, sometimes it is greed,
sometimes it is jealousy and sometimes it is the decision to prove yourself.
Sometimes, it is just plain confusion and worry!
Throughout the initial chapters of the Gītā, Arjuna is operating out of his root thought pattern—his
parental and societal conditioning— struggling with all the dos and don’ts that he learnt from society. The
moment he sees that the enemy he has to fight are his own extended family, he is overcome by powerlessness
and refuses to fight, lamenting, ‘svajanam, svajanam!’—my people, my people! The bonds of family were
rooted in his very identity, and to Arjuna, to cut these bonds was to destroy himself! This was Arjuna’s
dilemma.
It is here that the Gītā begins, as Kṛṣṇa finally begins to speak.
In the succeeding chapters of the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa compassionately guides Arjuna, releasing him from his root
thought pattern, guiding him to completion, and leading him to the ultimate knowledge—the knowledge of
the Self, ātmajñāna. Arjuna is re-established in jīvanmukti, Living Enlightenment; the space of living Advaita.

Understanding the essence of KṚṢṆA’s teachings

through the four tattvas
The essence of Kṛṣṇa’s teachings in the Gītā can be understood through four simple but powerful
Universal principles, the four tattvas—Integrity, Authenticity, Responsibility and Enriching. These four
principles awaken the four innate great powers within us.

Let me define these principles.

Integrity (sampūrti) is you fulfilling the word and thought you give to yourself and to others,
and experiencing a state of ‘pūrnatva’—completion with yourself and with life.
Authenticity (śraddha) is you being established in the peak of your capability, and responding
to life from who you perceive yourself to be for yourself, who you project yourself to be for others,
and, what others expect you to be for them.
Responsibility (upāyanam) is living and responding to life from the truth that you are the
source of, and therefore, you are responsible for all happenings in and around you.
Enriching (āpyāyanam) is you taking responsibility with integrity and authenticity, that you
are committed to continuously enriching, which is expanding yourself and life, in and around you.
Any problem or conflict you have in your life can be handled very practically, efficiently and skillfully
with these four principles. I can say with my entire experience that these four principles are the essence of all
spiritual scriptures! They are the essence of life.
These four spiritual principles awaken four great inner powers in you. Each tattva is the key to unlock a
corresponding power in you. Now, I will reveal these four inner powers that manifest when Kṛṣṇa’s message
is internalized and lived.

Tattvas, your Keys to four Inner Powers

Listen! You actually have the power to simply manifest the reality of your choice!
Whether you know it or not, whether you believe it not, in each one of you is an enormous potential
energy that expresses as four great powers.
To be able to unlock these great powers inside you, you must first understand a little more about yourself.
They are related to the four major dimensions of your life—your words, your thinking, your emotions, and
your living. When you awaken your peak possibility in each of these dimensions, it becomes a great power
and support in your life.
These four inner powers are…
The power of words or vāk śakti. The power of words will be available to you when you practice
Integrity.
The power of thoughts or mano śakti. The power of thinking will be open to you when you
practice Authenticity.
The power of feeling or prema śakti. The power of feeling will be possible when you practice
Responsibility.
The power of living or ātma śakti. The power of living will be established in you the moment
 you Enrich others.
Now, I will summarize Kṛṣṇa’s teachings through these tattvas and their powers.

Integrity the strategy for success

Listen!
Your words are your life. Integrity is the key that unlocks the power of words.
We all know honesty. Honesty is more like ethics, morality. But with the tattva of integrity, you are taking
a step deeper than honesty. With honesty, you only have to honor the words that you give to others. With
integrity, you also have to honor the words that you give to yourself. Honesty is not integrity. Integrity is
honesty also.
It is very unfortunate that society teaches you to honor the words that you give to others, but forgets to
teach you to honor the words that you give to yourself. The words you give to yourself are as important as—
or more important than—the words you give to others. Because the flow of your life—the amount of
contentment that you feel in your life, the degree of fulfillment that you feel in your life and the experience of
fulfillment that you feel in your life—everything depends on the words that you have given to you!
Please understand, the words you give to yourself form the bone structure of your life. If you commit with
yourself that you will become a doctor and you don’t honor that word, and you don’t even bother to complete
that word inside your heart, then that word hangs inside you as a broken commitment given by you! Integrity
is you not carrying the hangover of the commitments you have made, either to yourself or to others.
When you break the commitments you give to you, you lose self-confidence. The more commitments you
give and break, the more your self-confidence is lost. You lose confidence in you! When you break the
commitments you give to others, it takes away their confidence in you. When you break the words you have
given to yourself, you lose confidence in yourself. When you don’t honor the words you give, and don’t even
bother to complete with them, the broken commitments that hang in your heart take away your self-confidence
in life!
This is what happens to Arjuna on the battlefield.
Arjuna is a kṣatriya by birth, a warrior, a Pāṇḍava prince. When the Pāṇḍavas decide to wage war against
their Kaurava cousins, Arjuna is perfectly aware that this includes a large part of his extended family! Yet he
makes the decision to fight as per his dharma, as per his path as a kṣatriya. But when he enters the battlefield,
he only sees ‘friends’, ‘teachers’, ‘uncles’ and ‘relatives’ leading the army, not the evil men who snatched
away his kingdom and publicly insulted his brother and wife! Caught in the clutches of his parental
conditioning, Arjuna instantly becomes powerless and decides to leave the battlefield.

By trying to escape from the battle, Arjuna falls completely out of integrity
with his dharma as a warrior; he has slipped from his dharma. As a
kṣatriya, he should have fulfilled the words he gave to himself, to his family,
and to his Master; and he should have had the courage to face his decision of
waging war against the Kauravas. Otherwise, he should not have taken the
decision for war! But by becoming powerless and preparing to leave the
battlefield, Arjuna is out of integrity with his dharma. This is what happens
when you function out of your root pattern. You fall out of integrity with
the words you give to yourself and others, and the root pattern takes over
your response to life!
Understand, taking responsibility for your words is practicing dharma, the right living. In Mahābhārat,
dharma is defined as ‘This is the essence of dharma. Do not do unto others that which would cause pain when
done to you.’
The only way to come out of lack of integrity is through completion.
Through His dialogues with Arjuna on sāṅkhya yoga and karma yoga, the nature of life and the purpose
of action, Kṛṣṇa helps Arjuna find the right understanding to complete with the limiting cognition created by
his root thought pattern. Kṛṣṇa teaches Arjuna two key concepts— Nityam (the nature of the Eternal) and na
tvam śocitumarhasi (the pointlessness of grieving). By revealing to Arjuna the truth about his true eternal
self, Kṛṣṇa helps him with the right understanding to go beyond all the arguments of his logic and complete
 with his root pattern.
Arjuna then awakens his power of words that brings him the spontaneous intelligence and the
clarity to use the right words to verbalize his real self-doubts. His initial powerless words of grief such as,
‘katham bhiṣmamahaṁ saṅkhye dronaṁ ca madhūsudana (2.4)—O Madhūsudana, how can I oppose
Bhīṣma and Drona in the battle who are worthy of my worship?’, now turn into words of enquiry such as,
‘sthitaprajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhistaye keśava (2.54)—What are the descriptions of the steady one who
is merged in the awareness of truth and wisdom? How does he speak, how does he sit and how does he walk?’

Now, Arjuna is ready for the next lesson—Authenticity, the power of thinking.

Discover your peak capacity through

authenticity
With authenticity, you open the power of thinking in you!
When you unlock the power of thinking, you will be able to spontaneously focus your thoughts to
achieve your highest potential.
Kṛṣṇa now initiates Arjuna into the path of authenticity in action and the path of knowledge in renunciation in
Karma Yoga and Jñāna-karma-sannyāsa Yoga. ‘Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam—Yoga is authenticity in action,’
declares Kṛṣṇa.

karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana I

mā karmaphala hetur bhur mā te saṅgo’stv akarmaṇi II 2.47

yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tvaktvā dhanañjaya I

siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga ucyate II 2.48

The entire teaching of Bhagavad Gītā can be summarized in these two verses. Nothing more can be said
or ever needs to be said about why and how one should perform.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘You have the right only to work, but never to the results of that work. Let not the outcome
be your motive; but do not move into inaction. Do what you have to do with a complete inner space centered
on yoga. Be balanced in success and failure. Evenness of mind is yoga.’
He emphasizes again and again to be complete in yoga and drop all attachments—‘Act without
attachment. Do not worry about the success and failure in results of your actions. Surrender yourself to the
wisdom of completion.’
I am going to share an important concept here.
Listen! You don’t have just a single identity, as you imagine. You have four identities!
Please understand, what you consider as you has four dimensions.
1. Mamakāra—what you believe as you or inner image.
2. Ahaṁkāra —what you project to others as you or outer image.
3. Anyakāra—what others believe as you or others’ image.
4. Svānyakāra —what you believe life to be for you or life image.

All these identities put together is YOU.

Authenticity is nothing but keeping your four identities in tune and being at the peak of all four dimensions of
you.
Usually, what you think as you—your mamakāra, inner image is always less than what you are, and what
you project as yourself to others—your ahaṁkāra, outer image is always more than what you are. For example,
you may experience yourself as a very fearful person, but you will always project yourself as strong and
powerful. Rarely, some people have a high mamakāra, but they project a low ahaṁkāra to others. And many
times, the others’ image or anyakāra that others have about you will be completely different from both your
mamakāra and your ahaṁkāra!
When one identity is fighting with another identity, how can your thinking be focused? All your energy
is going to be used in reconciling your fighting identities. When all your identities or ‘images’ are in tune, all
your thinking will be aligned in one direction. Your thinking becomes clear and sharp, like a laser beam. You
will awaken the power of thinking.
Authenticity is not just you living at what you think as your peak, or what you project as your peak, but
also at what others think as your peak and what you experience life to be for you. Only when you stretch
yourself to others’ image and expectations about you, you express extraordinary capacities and miracle
powers.
Every time you raise yourself and stretch yourself to fulfill others’ anyakāra, you achieve completion.
You achieve fulfillment. You achieve union. Liberation from your individual identity happens to you only
when you raise yourself to others’ anyakāra. When you stretch yourself to others’ anyakāra, liberation from
ahaṁkāra and mamakāra happens!
You may think, ‘I am responsible for what I feel as me, and what I project as me to others. But why should
I take responsibility for others’ expectations about me?’
As long as you think that you are stretching just because of others’ expectation, you will carry continuous
irritation, agitation and heaviness. Understand this important truth—It is YOU who is sitting in the inner
consciousness of those who have expectations about you, and making them expect things from you!
Listen: when you are not ready to listen to your own heart and expand, the Divine helps you by creating
the same expectation in others, so that you can expand! It is some part of you which is suppressed by you,
which wants to realize itself, that goes and sits in another’s heart and becomes their expectation about you, so
that the suppressed part is realized!
At the root of mamakāra is your jīva—your soul, in which all of us are one. If you suppress it in one body,
it simply comes out in another body. When you are suppressing your expectations (mamakāra) about you in
your own body, it simply comes out as anyakāra in another’s body. Nobody else is forcing you. It is your own
expectation about you, giving you one more chance! Now, it is no more somebody else’s anyakāra. You are
simply expanding to fulfill your own mamakāra and ahaṁkāra.
Others’ expectation about you is nothing but a reminder, another chance that Bhagavān (Divine) gives
you to realize yourself. When you realize that this is also your own expectation about you, you will have
fulfillment!
The Bhagavad Gītā is the manifestation of Arjuna’s suppressed longing to realize his own divine self.
With authenticity, Arjuna discovers his power of thinking. He is now able to dive deeper into his suppressed
thoughts and allows them to surface in Kṛṣṇa’s Divine presence!
In the early chapters, Kṛṣṇa shares His anyakāra for Arjuna. He urges Arjuna to realize his eternal blissful
self. He gives him an intellectual understanding of this truth. Through the chapters of Jñana-karmasannyāsa
Yogaḥ and Sannyāsa Yogaḥ, Kṛṣṇa guides Arjuna on the ways to achieve this.
Kṛṣṇa gives the ultimate winning strategy of life to Arjuna—to stand up with the courage of authenticity in all
his actions—yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam. He urges Arjuna to devote himself to yoga to expand himself to his
peak energy. Kṛṣṇa then deepens Arjuna’s understanding by revealing to him the deeper truths of death,
renunciation and sannyāsa.
Once this understanding has settled in Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa leads him to the next tattva, Responsibility, the
power of feeling.

Responsibility—Waking up to your highest

possibility
Kṛṣṇa’s teachings in the next chapter, Dhyāna Yoga, can be summarized in these words—‘Look in’ and
‘Take responsibility to raise yourself ’.
Listen! Responsibility is the key that awakens the power of feeling. The power of feeling is unlocked
when you recognize yourself as a leader and take responsibility for everything in and around you!
Here, Kṛṣṇa teaches Arjuna the techniques to go beyond the mind and senses and become liberated. He
guides Arjuna to rise to the level of Īśvaratva, leadership consciousness and become like Himself.
That is why Kṛṣṇa says,

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānaṁ avasāyadet I

ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ II 6.5

‘You are your own friend; you are your own enemy. Evolve yourself through the Self and do not degrade
yourself.’

By this Kṛṣṇa means—if you know the technique of how to raise yourself by yourself, you are the friend
of your Self. If you let yourself down, you are the enemy of your Self!
Listen: Responsibility means thinking, feeling, acting and cognizing life from the truth that YOU
are the source of everything; therefore, you are responsible for all happenings inside you and
around you.
I know the big question you will all have now! You must be thinking, ‘How can I be responsible for everything
happening around me? I can be held responsible for what is happening inside me. How can I be held
responsible for what is happening outside me? For example, if an accident happens in my life, how can I be
responsible?’
Everybody asks this question. Let me answer you.
• A person who does not feel responsible even for his own actions is an animal. He lives at a very low
level of consciousness!
• A person who feels responsible for his own actions is a human being. He lives at the middle level of
consciousness.
• A person who takes responsibility even for others’ actions is Divine. He lives in leadership
consciousness, Īśvaratva.

Please understand, only when you feel that you are responsible for everything happening in and around
you, you will start looking into the truth and start seeing the possibility for a solution. Only when you take
responsibility will you even find the solution!
Listen. When you take responsibility, the higher energies express through you. Even if you take one step
towards responsibility, the Cosmos takes a thousand steps towards you, taking responsibility for you. When
you are in the space of responsibility, both your inner space and your outer space support you. The whole
Universe supports you, because the Universe experiences its fulfillment through the cognition of those who
feel responsible.
Take responsibility in every situation. When you don’t feel responsible, you are a drop in the ocean. When
you feel responsible, you are the ocean in a drop! When you take responsibility, Īśvaratva, leadership
consciousness starts happening in you.
The power of feeling is nothing but your ability to realize yourself as the source of all the happenings
in your life. This understanding gives you tremendous control over your own life and gives you the power to
be a positive influence in the life of others.
With responsibility, life happens to you. But life always demands your expansion, because expansion is the
natural flow of life. The more you engage with life, the greater the expansion that will be demanded of you.
When you take responsibility for whatever is seen and experienced by you, that which is unseen and un-
experienced by you takes responsibility for you! If you take responsibility for the known part of God and the
world, the unknown part of God and the world takes responsibility for you. When God takes responsibility for
you, you are God. You are an Incarnation!
Kṛṣṇa guides Arjuna to realize Kṛṣṇa consciousness through the tattva of responsibility. Kṛṣṇa’s teaching
of responsibility culminates in Viśvarūpa Darśan, where He blesses Arjuna with a glimpse of His Cosmic
dimension, His infinite expansion—a foretaste of Arjuna’s own Enlightenment.
Listen.
Your expansion frightens you. Whenever bigness is demanded of you, whenever you feel you are being
‘forced’ to expand, you shrink even further into your comfort zone. Your tiredness, your weakness, your
powerlessness all these are nothing but the resistance you have to seeing your own bigness!
That is what becomes of Arjuna after Viśvarūpa Darśan, the fear of expansion overtakes him. But being
devoted to Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of Cosmos, Arjuna responsibly expands and awakens his Enlightenment
with the next tattva of enriching, the power of living. Kṛṣṇa assures him after the darśan that only by taking
the responsibility to enrich others—by doing His work, by being undividedly devoted onto Him, can Arjuna
expand himself into his highest possibility—madkarma-kṛn mad-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ (11.55)!

Enriching With Enlightenment

We now come to the fourth tattva—enriching. Enriching means infusing all these three tattvas
continuously, in your life and others’ lives! You may ask, ‘I can understand why I should enrich myself. But
why should I enrich others?’
Listen. Life happens to you with others! The purpose for which you are born is for enriching yourself and
others. When you operate from this understanding, you are most alive, you are at your peak and living
enlightenment.
Enriching is the key that unlocks the power of living in you!
Please understand, every relationship you experience is just one dimension of you. It is your son who
makes you a father, it is your wife who makes you a husband, it is your followers who make you a leader.
Each significant relationship in your life is one dimension of you. And unless you fulfill all your dimensions,
how can you be fulfilled?
Again and again, the ego forgets, the ahaṁkāra forgets, that all its joy comes only when it stretches itself
to others’ anyakāra (expectations), not when it fights with others’ ahaṁkāra! You very conveniently forget
this important fact and take life happening to you with others for granted. You think, ‘My brother has to behave
like a brother! My father has to behave like a father! My teacher has to behave like a teacher,’ without taking
the responsibility or understanding that you should also fulfill your role! Why should the teacher enrich the
student, if the student does not take the responsibility of enriching the teacher?
Kṛṣna beautifully enriches Arjuna—‘If you don’t do yajña (enriching sacrifice) and give back to
the Divine for what you receive, you are a thief!—yo bhuṅkte stena eva saḥ (3.12).’ It means that anything
you receive from the Cosmos without enriching in return, is stolen!
Please understand, enriching means taking responsibility for everyone. I tell you, when you take responsibility
for others, extraordinary powers start flowing through you! When you start enriching others, the whole
Cosmos starts expressing through you. Whenever you enrich others, the energy that flows through you is
cosmic energy. If you want to taste and experience cosmic energy, just start enriching others! The excitement
you feel, the freshness you feel and the readiness, the joy and the inspiration that happens in you is all Cosmic
energy, pure Cosmic energy.
Just see Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa! He is the ultimate embodiment of enriching. His very presence is enriching.
Throughout the Gītā, He takes responsibility for Arjuna’s inauthenticity, for Arjuna’s confusion, without
giving up on him. The entire Gītā itself is the manifestation of His enriching expression. Bhagavad Gītā is
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s gift to the world, enriching generations with its timeless truths. Lord Kṛṣṇa blesses Arjuna and
humanity with the ultimate tools to look inward and explode in Divine Consciousness.
Again and again, Kṛṣṇa beautifully says—‘To know your Self is to know God.’
What Kṛṣṇa says is true for everyone. Whether you accept it or not, any idea that you have about yourself,
other than the understanding that you are God, is low self-esteem! What you are lacking is just the awareness
of the truth. Once you realize the truth that you are God, there is no difference between you and Kṛṣṇa. You
are enlightened.
Kṛṣṇa is so compassionate that He expresses the whole Bhagavad Gītā just to prove this. That is what
Kṛṣṇa came to prove. He has no need to prove that He is God. His mission is to prove that you are God! His
mission is to enlighten Arjuna and through Arjuna, the rest of humanity. Kṛṣṇa’s expression is the ultimate
enriching, because he takes responsibility even for your enlightenment! That is why He concludes the
Bhagavad Gītā with the importance of completing with one’s root patterns and joyfully surrendering to Life.
Kṛṣṇa showers Himself on Arjuna, waking him up to the experience of the Whole. He simply says, ‘Drop
everything and surrender onto Me. Drop everything you know as dharma, whatever you think you know as
life, just drop it! I will liberate you from all sinful reactions. Do not worry.’

sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja I

ahaṁ tvām sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā sucaḥ II 18.65

The Enlightened Master is nothing but concentrated Life! When you drop your conflicts, your root
patterns and surrender to His wisdom, He liberates you. This is the ultimate enriching!

Tattvas, the natural flow of Life

Please understand, these four tattvas are the very nectar pot of spirituality. They exist in our very DNA.
They are the natural flow of life and they can solve any problem.
When you live these tattvas, you will find that

• With Integrity, the innate intelligence to expand is straightened and the space of positivity is awakened
in you.
• With Authenticity, life continuously oozes in you. You experience the space of possibility.
• With Responsibility, you awaken to your true nature. Īśvaratva— leadership consciousness blossoms
in you.
• With Enriching, you establish your Existence into everything and ultimately experience yourself as
Brahmanyam Bahuputratām— the favorite inheritor of the Cosmos!

These four Universal principles will continuously inspire, encourage and make
you experience your ultimate possibility. When you live these tattvas, you
will constantly expand and fulfill the very purpose for which the Bhagavad
Gītā was delivered!
 BEYOND SCRIPTURES

There are millions of scriptures and books on planet Earth. From time immemorial,
human beings have created scriptures and still continue to create spiritual books. But
Bhagavad Gītā is incomparable. Unlike any other, this book has penetrated human
consciousness so deeply. No other book has contributed to the preparation of so many
Enlightened Beings on planet Earth. Bhagavad Gītā is the unabridged dictionary and
encyclopedia of spirituality.
Spiritual literature can be classified into three categories. First we have śāstras: Sāstras give us clarity
about the goal of human life. They give intellectual understanding about the ultimate truth of man and God.
Śāstras are the scriptures which guide us to have the right cognitions of life. They logically and
intellectually answer all major questions so that we can be logically convinced to follow the ultimate path.
There are many examples. The śṛutis and smṛtis of sanātana-hindu-dharma, the sacred scriptures such as the
Vedas and Upaniṣads, the guidelines such as the Manusmṛti and Itihās, and the great epics, historical
happenings such as Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārat, are śāstras.
The second category of literature is stotra. It is the expression of someone who has realized the ultimate
Truth; who has had the glimpse of divine love. When such a person expresses his joy, the expression is stotras.
When we worship and surrender ourselves to the Divine, the form of expression is stotras, devotional
compositions.
The literature from the heart is stotras; literature from the head is śastras. The third type of
literature, called sūtras, gives us techniques to realize the state of uniting with the Divine.

Śāstras give us intellectual understanding, stotras give emotional feeling connection, Sūtras give the being
level experience. Śāstras are like signboards, intellectual scriptures that explain the basics of life. They alone
cannot lead us to enlightenment; although they can take us to an Enlightened Master. Stotras enrich us to
surrender to the Divine. The glory of the Divine is expounded on by the stotras. Sūtras give us techniques to
achieve devotion or Enlightenment.
Stotras are spoken from the level of emotion, feeling. Sūtras mean the technique that helps us achieve the
goal of the śāstras and the stotras.
People who are intellectually oriented, need śāstras—intellectual scriptures. They do not do anything
unless they are intellectually convinced. We cannot say that because of this attitude, they should not seek
spirituality, the path of living the highest potential and expanding with peak possibility. Listen, we should look
at man with more compassion. We can’t put faith as the main criterion to enter into spirituality, then we are
refusing spirituality to almost 90% of humanity. We should create a system through which we can reach and
enrich every individual with the science of completion and creation.
Our Vedic seers created śāstras—the absolute science of living in completion while creating our peak
possibility. They logically taught us the path and the goal—why we are asked to do what we do, why we need
spirituality in our day-to-day living. All these major questions are proven logically in śastras and the
conclusions are given. Understand, śāstras completely take away our doubts. Doubt is a devil. Once a doubt
enters our mind in the form of self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial, we can’t sleep, we can’t rest until we
clear and complete with it. Śāstras help us get rid of these doubts intellectually, scientifically!

Unless we have complete intellectual clarity, complete cognition, our belief

will be a pseudo belief; anyone can shake our faith as it will be rooted in
self-doubt. Our cognition is not complete cognition till the śāstras of
integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching become the basis of our
cognition. Till then our cognitions are nothing but confusions, self-doubts.
Our faith does not have a strong base, it is like a building without a
foundation. It will collapse. The same will happen to us if we don’t have the
base of śāstras.
Next are the stotras. Stotra means expressing our experience, our deep love or devotion to our Master
or God. Many people ask, ‘Swamiji, why does Hinduism have idol worship?’ Listen. Hinduism does not have
idol worship. We don’t worship the idol; we worship through the idol. When we stand in front of the idol, do
we say, ‘Oh stone! Give me a boon. Oh stone! Please save me?’ No! We say, ‘Oh God, please save me.’ We
don’t worship the idol; we worship through the idol. So we are not doing idol worship. In Vaiśnavism, the
devotional stream of Hinduism, there is a beautiful word Arcāvatār. This means the idol worshipped in the
temple is the Incarnation of God, it is not just a stone.
Incarnation means the Divine descending on planet Earth, just like the ten Incarnations of Viṣṇu.
All these idols are like these ten Incarnations. Just like these Incarnations, the stone, the idol that we
worship to relate with God is called Arcāvatār.
When we stand in front of the idol and pour our heart out through verses, this enriching expression is what
is stotras. All the songs written by great devotees like the Alvars, Nayanmars, Mīrā and Caitanya, are stotras.
People ask me, ‘Swamiji, sometimes I don’t feel like chanting these stotras. Should I do it mechanically even
if I don’t like doing it?’ I say, ‘Do it with integrity and authenticity. You may feel it is a mechanical exercise
for one or two days. But, it will become your being once you start enjoying the meaning and experiencing
what you express. It will become your feeling that enriches you deeply.’ The reason I allow these stotras to
be chanted is this—I can see thousands of people, when they have feeling connection with the Divine, they
flower and become enlightened. So, when you express your heart, it becomes stotra.
Understand, in Vedic tradition, even God is a stepping-stone for Enlightenment. All the forms and names
of the Gods, everything is used for attaining Enlightenment, for nirvikalpa samādhi, for living advaita. When
the devotion, the feeling connection is awakened in you, you automatically go towards enlightenment.

Next are the sūtras. Sūtras give us the technique to reach enlightenment.
Sāstras are from the intellectual level. Stotras are from the emotional level.
Sūtras are from the being level.

There are three kinds of human beings: head oriented, heart oriented and being
oriented. To fulfill everyone, our enlightened sages have created three kinds
of literature—śāstras, stotras and sūtras. Bhagavad Gītā is the only book
that is a combination of śāstras, stotras and sūtras, with something more!
 PLANET EARTH IS A

BATTLEFIELD

1.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, assembled on this righteous holy land of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, what
did my sons and those of Pānḍu, eager and ready to fight, do?
1.2 Sañjaya said:
O King, seeing the Pāṇḍava army in full military formation, Duryodhana went to his teacher, and
spoke the following words.
1.3 My teacher, behold the great army of the sons of Pāṇḍu,
Expertly arranged by your intelligent disciple, the son of Drupada,
1.4 , 1.5, 1.6 Many are the heroes and mighty archers equal to Bhīma and Arjuna in war;
Yuyudhāna, Virāta, and the great warrior Drupada, Dṛṣṭaketu, Cekitāna, and the heroic king
of Kāśī; Also Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and the great man Śaibya; the valiant Yudāmanyu, the
formidable Uttamauja, the son of Subhadrā, and the sons of Draupadī, all great warriors.
1.7 Best of the Brāhmaṇas, let me tell you, who are the powerful warriors on our side—the generals
of my army, for your information, I mention them.

It is significant that a blind man gave the opening statement of this great scripture. Not only had he lost
the power of sight, but also the power of insight, the wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s brother Pāṇḍu handed over to him his throne, as well as the care
of his five children. From the point of view of any righteous person, these
five Pāṇḍava princes were Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s responsibility as well. However, the
separation born out of the self-doubt in Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s mind was clear when
he said, ‘My sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu.’
‘What are they doing?’ he asked Sañjaya plaintively, ‘These sons of mine, the hundred Kaurava princes,
and those five sons of Pāṇḍu, the Pāṇḍava princes?’ He claimed no ownership or responsibility of the Pāṇḍava
princes or concern for their welfare. His concern was for his own sons.
 Dhṛtarāṣṭra is the embodiment of self-doubt which is always blind! His attachment to his sons, especially
the crown prince Duryodhana, had blinded his powers of reasoning. Whatever his son did received his
endorsement. From early adolescence, Duryodhana had been plotting to kill his Pāṇḍava cousins. Although
Dhṛtarāṣṭra pretended ignorance of his son’s evil deeds, he was aware of what his son was up to. Even when
Duryodhana and his brother Duśśāssana went to the extreme of disgracing Draupadī, the wife of Pāṇḍavas,
trying to disrobe her in public court, Dhṛtarāṣṭra seemed powerless to act. When Duryodhana finally refused
to give the Pāṇḍavas even a needlepoint of land, still Dhṛtarāśṭra kept quiet, ensuring that blood would be
shed.
Dhṛtarāśṭra was fully aware that he was non-integrated and inauthentic, following the evil path of
adharma and that it would result in the destruction of his clan. Yet he seemed powerless to act otherwise.
Dhṛtarāśṭra’s tale is common to humankind. Often, we follow wrong paths even though we know it is wrong,
we go out of integrity and authenticity almost as if under a hypnotic spell of doubting ourselves. Gītā,
therefore, begins from this premise of blinding self-doubting pattern, the primal pattern that invokes all other
patterns in us!

Mahābhārat is not merely the fight between good and evil. Far from that, it is
about our root patterns, our inner conflict in being unable to do the right
thing, not being courageous enough to stand for what is right, and not taking
responsibility to be complete. It is about the lack of awareness, clarity and
courage to follow the path of righteousness, dharma of integrity,
authenticity, responsibility, and enriching. It is a fight between good and
evil within us, not merely outside of us. It is actually a fight between the
completions and incompletions within us, between possibilities and patterns
within us.
Kṛṣṇa, the Superconscious, constantly looms over our being, eternally reminding us of our space of
highest positivity, possibility, divinity and enlightenment with His tremendous patience and infinite
compassion. Yet we ignore this divine call within us, caught in self-doubting illusion that what we choose
instead will make us happy.
Listen. I tell you, all wars between countries are nothing but triggering the collective root patterns of that
society. Whether it is war at home, or war in the communities, or war between the countries, the root pattern
is responsible.
Incompletion at the level of a single individual piles up and becomes the incompletion at the level of
society. Incompletion in the level of society piles up and becomes the incompletion in the level of large
communities. Incompletion in the level of large communities piles up and becomes the incompletion in the
level of the whole country. Incompletion in the level of countries leads to and causes wars.
War is the result of incompletions. Whether it is war between you and you, or war between a country and
country, it is the result of incompletions, which is there in a single human being. Kurukṣetra war is the ultimate
war of the collective root patterns of humanity itself.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra refers to Kurukṣetra, the site of this world war, as a holy land or place of righteousness,
dharmakṣetra.

dharmakṣetre kurukṣetra samavetā yuyutsavaḥ I

māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva kim akurtava sañjaya II 1.1
People ask, ‘How can a battlefield be called a holy land?’ If you study the history of humanity, you find
that it has always been a battlefield. Whether these wars were morally guided or misguided is a matter of
opinion. What is right for one need not be right for another.

Listen! Mahābhārat beautifully says, ‘Let the fight be in kurukṣetra!’ In

Saṃskṛit, kurukṣetra means space of creation. Kuru means doing. Let the
fight be in the space of creation. The whole place of fight should not be with
the lowest realm, but with the highest realm! So, you will always be in the
middle. In the fight itself, you will always be in the middle, and in the end
you will be at the peak.
Life is a fight till you are enlightened. But, let your fight be in kurukṣetra, the field of creation, not in
the field of losing. Don’t be constantly fighting with, ‘Will I get heart-attack and die?’ ‘Will my health
collapse?’ ‘Will others leave me?’ ‘Will I become bankrupt?’ No! The ground on which the battle happens
decides your existence and expansion. Let your visualization be—‘Will I become CEO or not?’ ‘Will I become
a yogi or not?’ ‘Will I become jñani or not?’ ‘Will I become rich or not, leader or not?’ ‘Will I become
enlightened or not?’
I tell you, if your fight is in the direction of kuru, you will win the game very easily with least or no stress.
It does not take more than forty-eight hours to convince yourself to shift the battleground. You just need to
complete some of the self-doubts that you got from your elders, family and societal conditioning. Complete
with them! So, all you need to do is just shift your core visualization, your core cognition, your core energy.
Change the battlefield and enter the energy-field of dharma, led and controlled by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, immediately
you will experience so much of completion. Kṛṣṇa is the epitome of dharma (righteousness), and Kṛṣṇa was
on the side of the Pāṇḍavas, then how could they lose? The tragic fate of Dhṛtarāṣṭra was that he knew that the
destruction of his clan was inevitable, and yet his self-doubts had turned into self-denial, making him
powerless and deny the obvious path of dharma.

Listen. The moment you change the battlefield from adharma to dharma, you
may even become enlightened; because it is your default parking spot that
decides whether you are enlightened or not. Otherwise you ARE
enlightened! You just need to remember and reclaim it. The best way to
remember and reclaim it is to complete with your self-doubting patterns and
shift the battlefield itself. See, now your battlefield is—‘any one day I am
going to become bankrupt. Let me delay it as much as possible!’ Instead, let
it be—‘any one day I am going to become the richest being. Let me do it as
early as possible!’
 EGO NEEDS SUPPORT

1.7 Your goodself, Bhīṣma, Karṇa, Kṛpa, who are ever victorious in battle, an even so
Aśvatthāma, Vikarṇa and the son of Somadatta.
1.8 Many other heroes there are who are prepared to lay down their lives for my sake; all are well-equipped
with different weapons, and well experienced in warfare science.
1.9 The strength of army of ours, protected by Bhīṣma, is invincible whereas the strength of their army
carefully protected by Bhīma is limited.
1.10 Stationed in your respective divisions on all strategic fronts, all of you must give full protection
to Grandfather Bhīṣma.
1.11 Bhīṣma, the mighty patriarch of the Kuru dynasty, their glorious grandsire, then blew upon his conch
loudly, roaring like a lion and Duryodhana was joyful.

Duryodhana was a coward by nature. Cowardice is the smell of inauthenticity. Courage is the
fragrance of authenticity. He was inauthentic as his mamakāra, what he perceived as himself, was
much lower than his ahaṁkāra, what he projected as himself to others.
Understand, when one is in denial, suffering is naturally going to be there. His root pattern of self-denial,
of deep fear and insecurity had always made him feel threatened by the fact that his Pāṇḍava cousins especially
Arjuna and Bhīma were far more superior, physically stronger and skilled than him.

Duryodhana felt secure only when surrounded by cronies. His strength and valor arose from the feeling of
being supported by his clan and the army around him. On the positive side, Duryodhana was an extremely
generous friend who gave his all for the sake of someone he trusted. This quality had attracted strong men like
Karṇa to him who swore undying loyalty. Even though Karṇa knew that Arjuna was his own brother, all he
could say to his mother Kuntī was that she would finally be left with five sons, implying that one of her sons,
either Arjuna or Karṇa, would perish in the war. Such was the loyalty that Duryodhana evoked in his friends.
Duryodhana now rightly went on to claim that there were a number of people, who were great warriors,
who would willingly lay down their lives for him. He then began to boost his own morale by saying that the
power of the Kaurava army led by Bhīṣma was immense, whereas the Pāṇḍava army with Bhīma as one of the
commanders was limited in power. Duryodhana’s reference to Bhīma alongside Bhīṣma was due to the fear
pattern that he had, of the oath that Bhīma had taken—to break Duryodhana’s thigh and drink his blood to
avenge the insult to Draupadī. Duryodhana knew that the only factor that could prevent it would be the
protection of Bhīṣma.
Duryodhana then addressed the Kaurava army, exhorting them to support their Commander-in-Chief,
Bhīṣma. In response, Bhīṣma blew his conch like a lion, making Duryodhana joyful. Bhīṣma was the first
Kaurava Commander-in-Chief and Duryodhana wanted to make sure that the entire Kaurava army was
committed to his leadership. Bhīṣma, the greatest warrior either side had known, was leading the Kaurava
army. Duryodhana wanted to take no chances that his past hatred towards Bhīṣma would affect his assembled
supporters. Though he knew that Bhīṣma and even Droṇa would have gone with the Pāṇḍava princes and
Kṛṣṇa, had it not been their strong bonds of duty, he could not afford to antagonize them.

The Qualities of Dharma

Bhīṣma is the embodiment of dharma, righteousness. He is the Pitāmaḥ, the great-father of Mahābhārat, the
grand sire and patriarch of the Pāṇḍavas and Kaurava clan. Bhīṣma was born to Gaṅgā as Devavṛata. He was
the only surviving son of eight sons whom Gaṅgā had given birth to. So, Gaṅgā, the sacred most river energy
is the great grandmother of Mahābhārat. When Bhīṣma’s father king Śāntanu wanted to marry Satyavatī, a
daughter of a fisherman, Devavṛata swore to remain as a brahmacāri, never to marry, so that his stepmother
Satyavatī’s children could have access to his father’s throne. Satyavatī was the grandmother of both Pāṇḍu
and Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Bhīṣma was highly respected for his valor and sagacity. It is one of the greatest ironies of
Mahābhārat that wise men like Bhīṣma and Droṇa chose to be on Duryodhana’s side, knowing fully well that
whatever path Duryodhana was following was not only morally incorrect, but also against dharma, the cosmic
law.
In the highest spiritual sense there is no right or wrong morally. Everything is neutral. Bhīṣma and Droṇa
were not ordinary people, they were highly matured souls, adept in living the scriptural truths. Moreover, they
were fully aware that Kṛṣṇa is a divine Incarnation, and the very fact that Kṛṣṇa sided with the Pāṇḍavas was
a clear indication to them as to how the war would unfold. As great warriors themselves, they had no fears
about their own deaths; and more importantly they had no guilt, no incompletions about what they had
embarked upon.
Great men like Bhīṣma, Droṇa, and Kṛpācārya, trusted their inner space. Duryodhana was their prince
and they were committed to him. Not attached to the result of the war, they were certain that Duryodhana
would perish and they would too, along with him. In fact, at one point in the war when Kṛṣṇa was greatly
angered at the rout that Bhīṣma was causing in the Pāṇḍava army, Kṛṣṇa got down from Arjuna’s chariot that
He was driving and advanced menacingly towards Bhīṣma. Bhīṣma instantly laid down his arms, joined his
palms in prayer to the advancing Kṛṣṇa who was wielding a chariot wheel as His sudarśana cakra, the divine
discus weapon on His finger, and greeted Him. ‘Lord, it will be the greatest blessing for me to die at Your
hands.’
To these great warriors, dying on the battlefield was the duty of a kṣatriya, a warrior. They weren’t
concerned with the righteousness of Duryodhana’s motives. Their integrity transcended the moral rights and
wrongs established by society and religion.
What is morality? In a given society, in a given era, morality is generally the accepted standards of what
is desirable and undesirable, what is considered right or wrong conduct and good or bad behavior of a person,
a group or an entity. Morality is about good and bad, right and wrong. It changes from time to time, era to era.
When time changes, all this changes!
Please understand, integrity is not morality or ethics of the society.
Integrity is a spiritual value. Integrity is you fulfilling the word and thought you give to yourself
and others, and experiencing a state of pūrṇatva, completion with yourself and others.
Integrity is not ethics. Ethics is different, integrity is different. Morality and ethics vary from time to time.
Integrity is absolute. These warriors disapproved of Duryodhana’s insult of the Pāṇḍava princes and Draupadī
in the court but did not protest. They disapproved of Duryodhana’s instigation of this war and yet took his
side, knowing fully well that what lay ahead was destruction.

Flow with Nature

This was not foolishness or resignation from the powerless space. This was surrender to the inevitable,
surrender to the Divine. At the level of their consciousness, these great Masters allowed Nature to take its own
course. To relax and allow whatever happens to happen is the sure sign of an evolved spirit. Ordinary humans
have the freedom to think, choose and act. As a result, they think they are in control of their destinies. In a
sense they are; they make their decisions and act upon them. But it is their unconscious root patterns that drive
them to all these decisions.
A cycle is created as the root thought patterns lead to certain incomplete actions and those incomplete actions
in turn mold their mental set-up and lead to more and more incompletions. Yet, a human has the choice to
break out of this cycle of incompletions and live in freedom. This freedom is the space of completion. And
the science of completing with this incomplete cycle of root patterns is the science of completion, pūrṇatva.
This is the dharma taught in the Gītā scripture.
Listen! There are two ways to live life.
One is to accept the world and life as it is, as we perceive it without any resistance being complete, to see
the reality as IT IS—what in Saṃskṛit is termed Sṛṣṭi Dṛṣṭi. The other way is to try to make circumstances
evolve according to our viewpoint, to create the reality as we want to see, called Dṛṣṭi Sṛṣṭi. The first attitude,
one of acceptance out of completion brings happiness; the second, one of resistance, brings suffering. No one
can change the world according to his viewpoint. It is an exercise doomed to encounter failure. At best, we
can transform ourselves, that’s all. And when we do transform ourselves, we are also empowered with the
great inner powers to create the reality as we want, for ourselves and others!
No revolution has ever succeeded in bringing about any significant, positive change. Revolutionaries who
claim that they are against dictatorship become dictators themselves. That has always been history. Ironically,
an Enlightened Master has no such freedom. He is a faithful channel of the universal energy, Parāśakti, the
Divine Existence. Every move, every thought is at the behest of the Divine. An Enlightened Being is beyond
choice; He is in complete surrender to the Divine.
Bhīṣma was of pure divine origin, the son of Gaṅgā. Gaṅgā is the embodiment of pure inner space. Bhīṣma
had the gift of icchā-mṛtyū, self-willed death. His dharma, his integrity and authenticity were the standard for
his era. Yet Bhīṣma kept quiet when Draupadī was attempted to be disrobed and insulted. Because he had the
wrong association with self-denial, Duryodhana and being in integrity to his huge vow to always protect the
kingdom’s royal seat, he did not act when Duryodhana denied the Pāṇḍavas even a patch of land the size of a
needle tip.

He chose to fight for Duryodhana. However, when Duryodhana requested him to lead the Kaurava army,
Bhīṣma told him that the Pāṇḍava princes were as dear to him as Duryodhana was, and while he would wage
war against their army, he could not take their lives. This was the condition under which Bhīṣma agreed to
fight against the Pāṇḍava army on Duryodhana’s behalf.

Yet, in this instance, Bhīṣma’s compassion for Duryodhana overcame his

distaste for his actions and behavior. Bhīṣma understood the desperate fear
running through Duryodhana’s mind, and he felt the need to reassure him. In
response to these exaggerated claims of Duryodhana, Bhīṣma blew his
conch as a sign of resounding affirmation of whatever had been said by
Duryodhana. Sañjaya said that Bhīṣma’s conch sounded like the roar of a
lion, coming from the oldest and the bravest of all the warriors assembled on
the battlefield. It was also an affirmation of Bhīṣma’s own support to the
Kaurava prince and the signal for the war to begin. Bhīṣma’s conch was a
celebratory signal, seeking victory.
 The WAR BEGINS

1.12 Conches, bugles, trumpets, drums, and horns all suddenly sounded; Their combined sound
renting the skies.
1.13 Then, seated on a magnificent chariot drawn by white horses, both Mādhava (Kṛṣṇa) and
Arjuna sounded their divine conches.
1.14 Hṛṣikeśa (Kṛṣṇa) blew on His conch, the Pāñcajanya; Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) sounded
the Devadatta and Vṛkodara (Bhīma) sounded his mighty conch called Pauṇḍra.
1.15 1.16 1.17 King Yudhisṭra, the son of Kuntī, blew his conch, the Anantavijaya; Nakula
and Sahadeva blew the Sughośa and Maṇipuṣpaka. That great archer, the king of Kāśī, the
great fighter Śikhaṇḍi, Dṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa and the invincible Sātyaki, Drupada, the sons of
Draupadī, and the others, such as the mightyarmed son of Subhadrā, all sounded their conches.

Conches, called śankha in Saṃskṛit, are the shells of mollusks that live in the sea. From time
immemorial, Hindu scriptures have referred to the use of conches during ritualistic, devotional and
celebratory occasions. In general, a conch is blown to signify obeisance to
the Divine, or in celebration of an auspicious, victorious occasion.
Each of the great warriors in the Mahābhārat war had his own conch with its unique sound signature.
Most of the great warriors also had their own chariot flags and their weapons, especially their bows, had great
spiritual significance. It is said that Arjuna’s presence in any part of the battlefield would be known by the
sound of his conch and the twang of his bow!

When Bhīṣma blew his conch in support of Duryodhana, the response was tumultuous on both sides. Every
warrior on the battlefield took out his conch and blew his signature note. Of all the sounds that emanated at
that moment, a few were heard above the rest. Kṛṣṇa sounded His Pañcajanya, the conch of Viṣṇu, which
drowned out all other sounds. It was the victorious announcement for all that the Divine was already present
with the Pāṇḍava army.
Vyāsa, through Sañjaya, attributes divinity only to Kṛṣṇa’s conch, not to anyone else’s. He refers to Kṛṣṇa
as Mādhava, and later as Hṛiṣīkeśa. Mādhava signifies that Kṛṣṇa is an Incarnation of Viṣṇu, the husband of
Lakṣmī, goddess of wealth and fortune. In this context, it signifies that whoever Kṛṣṇa sides with would be
invincible. Kṛṣṇa is then referred to as Hṛiṣīkeśa, controller of the senses, the superconscious, who has created
the māyā, the illusion that is this great war of Mahābhārat. Vyāsa implies that all that happens is a creation of
Kṛṣṇa. For what purpose? He alone knows. The Divine truly has no purpose. The Divine IS, that’s all.
Kṛṣṇa was Arjuna’s charioteer. Arjuna’s chariot and his bow, Gāṇḍīva were a blessing from Agnī, the fire
god. The chariot was capable of traversing all three worlds. The chariot flew the flag of Hanumān, the monkey
god, the close confidante, disciple of Lord Śrī Rāma, the earlier Incarnation of Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa. Hanumān had
blessed Bhīma that he would be with the Pāṇḍava princes at all times, and he himself would ride upon Arjuna’s
chariot flag. Wherever Hanumān is, Śrī Rāma is present. So Arjuna is accompanied not only by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but
also by His earlier Incarnation Śrī Rāma! Arjuna and the Pāṇḍava princes were twice blessed! Arjuna is
referred to as Dhañanjaya, winner of wealth, in reference to his ability to generate the wealth needed by his
brother Yudhishṭra.

Not to be outdone, Bhīma, also called Vṛikodara blew on his conch Pauṇḍra, a
fearsome sound that invoked dread amongst the Kaurava army. Bhīma was
feared by his enemies for his strength and anger. The other three Pāṇḍava
princes, Yudhiṣṭra, Nakula and Sahadeva and then by the great warriors,
Drupada, Virāṭa, Sātyaki, Śikhaṇḍī, Dṛṣṭadyumna, Abhimanyu and others
followed, all blowing their conches in celebration of their impending
victory.
Each of these warriors had a great history. Yudhiṣṭra, the eldest of the Pāṇḍava princes, was born to his
mother Kuntī through the grace of Yama, the god of justice and death, and was universally known as
Dharmarāja, the king of truth, as he was established in dharma, an embodiment of integrity with the power
of words, never known to tell a lie. Nakula and Sahadeva embodied enriching, the power of living who were
born to Mādri, the second wife of Pāṇḍu, through the grace of the Aśvini Kumāras, celestial beings.
 Drupada, the king of Pāñchāla, was the father of Dṛṣṭadyumna and Draupadī, wife of the Pāṇḍavas. Virāṭa
was the king in whose kingdom the five Pāṇḍava princes and Draupadī spent a year in hiding. His daughter
married Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son by Subhadrā, Kṛṣṇa’s sister. Śikhaṇḍi was born as Bhīṣma’s nemesis, when
Ambā, a princess whom Bhīṣma captured as a bride for his stepbrother Vicitravīrya, immolated herself to be
reborn to avenge her shame.
It is as if Sañjaya, the narrator of the war, repeatedly tries to impress upon the blind king Dhṛtarāśṭra the
caliber of the Pāṇḍava warriors. Sañjaya specifically refers to these warriors as ‘aparājita’, invincible, ever
victorious in whatever task they undertook, implying that they would be victorious in this war.
It is significant that Bhiṣma’s conch, sounded by him as the Commander-in-Chief of Kaurava army, to
signify the war opening, was responded to by Kṛṣṇa, and not by Dṛṣṭadyumna, the Pāṇḍava Commander-in-
Chief, or any of the other Pāṇḍava princes. Kṛṣṇa’s was a response of victory, not a reaction to the challenge
issued by Bhiṣma.

Law of Cosmos is Responsibilism

Understand, if you feel that you are not responsible, you react. If you feel that you are responsible, you respond.
When all your actions are responses and not reactions, you are a karma yogi; no karma binds you—you are
living in completion and expressing completion. The cosmic vibration of Kṛṣṇa’s Pañcajanya conch was a
declaration of His responsibility for everything in and around Him, an acceptance of the fact that whatever
was thrown at the Pāṇḍava army was being accepted by Him, Divinity Incarnate.
Kṛṣṇa, as the Superconscious guide of the Pāṇḍavas, the five embodiments of dharma, absolves them of
any incompletions, any guilt or wrongdoing by taking upon Himself the responsibility for everything
happening and is to happen.
The biggest question we have in our mind is, ‘How can I be responsible for everything happening around
me? I can be held responsible for what is happening inside me. How can I be held responsible for what is
happening outside me? For example, if an accident happens in my life, how can I be responsible?’ Everybody
asks this question! Let me answer you.
Listen: there is an important difference between being the cause for something, and being responsible for
it! Sometimes you may not be the reason for a certain happening, but if it is affecting your life, you ARE
responsible for that happening. For example, you may not be the cause of political corruption in your country,
but as a citizen of the country, you ARE responsible for it! You may not be the reason for it, but that doesn’t
mean that you are not responsible in truth.
You need to know that unless you take responsibility, you are neither going to improve the situation, nor
you are going to expand your inner space.
• A person who does not feel responsible even for his own actions is an animal. He lives in a very
low-level consciousness!
Duryodhana along with the Kaurava army represents this low-level consciousness.
• A person who feels responsible for his own actions is a human being . He lives in a middle-level
consciousness! There were many warriors who felt responsible for their actions, their duties and even
supported Duryodhana, they represent this middle-level consciousness.
• A person who takes responsibility even for others’ actions is Divine.
He lives in leadership consciousness, Īśvaratva. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Īśvara, the leader of the Universe,
responsible for the whole Cosmos, with the ability to do anything with the Cosmos.
We always feel that responsibility is a burden. NO! It is a power! Responsibility makes you powerful.
Responsibility directly leads you to leadership consciousness, Īśvaratva. As long as you feel responsible only
for your family, you remain as the head of just your family. When you feel responsible for the community,
you become a leader of the community. As your feeling of responsibility expands in you, your leadership
quality also expands as a power.
The decision to feel responsible for the whole Cosmos is Enlightenment! Feeling responsible for the
Whole and declaring to live by your feeling is responsible declaration, known in Hindu spiritual practice
as nididyāsana. Responsible declaration unlocks the power of feeling or prema śakti in you.
Listen. Cosmos functions on ‘responsibilism.’ The law of Cosmos, the natural law of Existence, dharma
is responsibilism. The law of nature is responsibilism. Kṛṣṇa leads the whole war with this one truth, satya of
‘responsibilism.’
The whole Mahābhārat war is Kṛṣṇa’s expression of the power of His responsibilism, Īśvaratva.
Even though Kṛṣṇa or His actions are not responsible for the war, even though He is not the reason for the
war, He takes the responsibility even for others’ inauthenticity and others’ irresponsibility and reestablishes
dharma, the cosmic law of responsibilism. This is the job of an Incarnation.

The rest of the Pāṇḍava army, including Arjuna, follow Kṛṣṇa’s lead by
blowing their divine conches.
 ARJUNA FALTERS

1.19 This tumultuous sounding of the conches reverberated in the sky and the earth, and
shattered the hearts of the sons of Dhṛtarāsṭra.
1.20 Then, seated in his chariot, which bore the flag of Hanumān, Arjuna lifted his
bow, fixed his arrows and looking at the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra spoke to Kṛṣṇa.
1.21, 1.22 Arjuna said:
O Acyuta (Infallible One), please position my chariot between the two armies and let me see the
warmongers gathered here with whom I must wage this battle.

When Bhīṣma sounded his conch, it invited back the resounding response of the conches of the
Pāṇḍava warriors.
There is no mention by Sañjaya that Bhīṣma’s conch or the accompanying sounds of drums and
trumpets from the Kaurava army caused any concern amongst the Pāṇḍava army.
What he says now is different. With the roar of the conches of the Pāṇḍava warriors, led by Kṛṣṇa and
Arjuna, Sañjaya says that the hearts of the sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra were shattered.
The words used here are significant. He says that the blowing of the conches created vibrations in the sky
and upon the earth. The conches of the Pāṇḍava princes and other great warriors were not mere musical
instruments; they were filled with great spiritual power and divine presence. They were in fact mantra or
sacred sounds, which created powerful vibrations affecting the environment. That is the uproar Sañjaya was
talking about.
In the Hindu Purāṇas, epics, one finds references to weapons called astra. An astra is not a physical weapon.
It is a thought, a word that was given enormous power by its creator to destroy, even to the extent of a nuclear
device. Later in the Mahābhārat war, power nuclear weapons like Brahmāstra, deadliest of all the astras,
capable of delivering destruction were attempted to be used. Just by the power of thought and words,the
nuclear energy was invoked in the warrior’s mounted arrow. Kṛṣṇa received the Brahmāstra on Him before it
could do any damage.
The conches that the Pāṇḍava warriors used were not meant to destroy physically, but they were clearly
successful in destroying the fantasies of the Kaurava princes. The purpose of sounding conches was to set the
stage for the battle and to define its boundaries. The Pāṇḍava princes and warriors had the comfort of knowing
that they were doing what was right, both in their own hearts and in the eyes of God, since they had the
association and support of Kṛṣṇa Himself. The Kaurava princes were afraid. All that motivated them was greed
and envy. They did not have divine purpose as their motivation.
Sañjaya, with his powerful ājña, third eye vision, was able to see far beyond the superficial responses on
the battlefield. He was able to unravel the unconscious, deep rooted patterns, emotions and responses of the
warriors. Whatever may have been the perceived reaction of the Kaurava army to the response from the
Pāṇḍava warriors, Sañjaya concludes that the Kaurava princes were demoralized, imbalanced. The armies
went face-to-face in military formation. The conches had sounded in anticipation. The warriors on both sides
were waiting for their commanders to signal the first move in offense.
Arjuna was at the forefront of the Pāṇḍava army. He had blown his conch, Devadatta, at the same time as
Kṛṣṇa sounded His Pañcajanya. Arjuna had taken up his divine bow Gāṇḍīva, and had fixed the arrow to the
bow. However, instead of releasing the arrow, Arjuna looked at the Kaurava army amassed in front of him,
with all the Kaurava princes, his cousins, facing him. He then addressed Kṛṣṇa, his friend, mentor, divine
guide and charioteer.

For the first time in this scripture, Arjuna speaks. Arjuna is not the mere hero of Mahābhārat in this Gītā
scripture. He is the embodiment of all humanity. He is Nara, the human aspect of Nārāyaṇa, Lord Viṣṇu, who
in turn is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, as Nārāyaṇa and Nara, as the Divine and human, is the theme that runs
throughout Bhagavad Gītā and also much of the epic Mahābhārat.
‘Achyuta, O Infallible One,’ said Arjuna to his friend and mentor, ‘Please take me to a vantage point
between the two armies so that I can see for myself who I am fighting with. Let me see who is assembled here
on this battlefield,’ he says. ‘Kṛṣṇa, please show me who I must vanquish.’
Arjuna already knew to the last man, each one who was on that Kurukṣetra battlefield. He had no
confusion about whom he was fighting. All these decisions, negotiations, changing of loyalties, dropouts, all
these happened in the days before the war. The lines had been drawn very clearly, even if unwillingly in some
cases.
It made no sense at all for Arjuna to ask Kṛṣṇa at this last minute to show him clearly who he was fighting
against. It was as if he was hoping that at the last minute something would occur to change the course of
events. If that were to happen, he knew that it could only take place through the grace of his charioteer, friend
and guide, Mādhava.

It is as if Arjuna was making a desperate plea to Kṛṣṇa, ‘Please show me

something that I do not know. Show me something that You alone know, Oh
Achyuta (Infallible Divine). Take me there, where You will, and show me.’
 INTELLIGENCE QUESTIONS

1.23 Let me see these well wishers in this war of the evil-minded Duryodhana,
who have come together here to fight.
1.24 Sañjaya said:
O descendant of Bhārata, being thus addressed by Guḍākeśa (Arjuna), Hṛṣikeśa Kṛṣṇa
then drew up the fine chariot in the midst of both armies.

Arjuna starts out on a challenging note. He says he would like to see all those who had assembled
to fight him, in support of the evil minded Duryodhana. Accordingly, Kṛṣṇa drew up the chariot
between the two armies so that Arjuna could have a good look at all those who had gathered.
Arjuna is being called Guḍakeśa in this verse—Guḍakeśana Bhārata, the one who has transcended sleep
or the need to sleep. Sleep, here, also refers to the unconscious mind, the incomplete inner space. Please listen.
Sleep is nothing but the rest we need to give to our tired inner chatter. Sleep is related to the incompletions of
the mind. All our incompletions, that drive our actions, reside in our unconscious space as root thought
patterns. Only thing we need to go beyond sleep is a complete inner space. Integrity brings deep sleep to us,
makes us conquer tiredness and ultimately conquer sleep.

Arjuna’s Integrity, the Power of Words

Let me define Integrity, the first spiritual principle. Integrity is the key which unlocks the power of words,
or vākśakti.

Integrity is you fulfilling the word or thought you give to yourself and to others, and
experiencing a state of completion, pūrṇatva with yourself and with life.
Integrity has two dimensions—honoring the words you give to yourself and honoring the words you give
to others. Integrity means not just fulfilling, but honoring the word you give to you and others as your very
life, is Integrity. Listen. Honoring the word you give to you—that is the key point.
Who is the first person to hear the words you utter? YOU! When you honor the words you give to yourself,
your confidence in yourself grows and your self-doubt melts away. YOU become powerful! When you honor
the words you give to others, others’ confidence in you grows. Your relationship with that person becomes
powerful!
The words you utter are YOU! You become the words you speak to yourself and others. If you go on
saying, ‘I am sick, I am sick’, you simply will become sick. In the same way, if you constantly tell yourself, ‘I
am healthy’, your energy will wake up. You will be very healthy! Cosmic energy awakens in your system and
makes your declarations a reality. It is important to choose the right words, because you can create your reality
with the power of your words!
A small story about the power of words, vāk śakti.
Once, a small town was visited by a saint. As the saint passed by a small hut, a woman
came to him and begged him to pray for her dying child. Since the saint was new to the town,
a crowd gathered around him, curious to see if he could do anything. The woman brought the
sick child out to him and he said a prayer over her.
Do you really think your prayer will help the child, when even medicine has failed? After
all, they are just some words!’, yelled a man from the crowd.
The saint turned and started shouting at the man, ‘You idiot, you don’t know what I am
doing! Just shut up!’ The man was furious! His face grew red and hot. ‘How dare you insult
me,!’ he shouted at the saint.
The saint smiled at him calmly and said, ‘If one word has the power to make you so angry,
may not another word have the power to heal this child?’
That is the power of words!
Listen: every thought we complete is the word we give to us. We have to honor it. The first step of
integrity is completing all the negative words we created within us about us and life, and completing all of
them. With integrity, our inner chatter disappears, it never becomes tired.
 By bringing integrity to his thinking and words, Arjuna had conquered his tiredness, his boredom, his
powerlessness and conflicts. When we have integrity and authenticity, when we give our life to fulfill our
words, Cosmos intervenes to fulfill our words and makes them into reality. Arjuna is being referred to here as
one who has conquered sleep, as a result of tirelessly doing pūrṇatva, completion with all the negative words
he carried. Because of Arjuna’s integrity, the power of words or vākśakti became available to him. To fulfill
the words of Arjuna, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Cosmos Himself becomes his charioteer, leading him to his total surrender
to Divine.
Kṛṣṇa has been called Hṛṣīkeśa, one who controls the senses from His powerful space of completion.

A person who does not have even one moment of powerlessness or

incompletion in his life is an Enlightened Being. A person who never had
any patterns, any incompletions in his life, right from his birth, is an
Incarnation. Physically, mentally, and spiritually, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the space of
eternal completion. His senses are complete as He knows what He
experienced through them is not the source of happiness. The relationship
between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna is the highest form of interaction between the
Divine and the human.

Stages of Surrender
This surrender happens in three stages. At the first level it is an intellectual surrender, the intellectual
acceptance of what the Master represents and what he means to you. A true seeker reaches this stage when he
encounters the real Master, Sadguru destined for him. The seeker sees in the Master, qualities he has been
searching for. His questions start dying down and answers come even before questions happen.
Intellectual surrender to the Master replaces inadequate questions with adequate doubts. Doubts are not
violent like questions as they do not arise from the root patterns or ego. They arise from a genuine, authentic
need to know, to create adequate, complete cognition. Despite his high level of surrender, one does see Arjuna
initially in this state of questioning, perhaps as a lesson to us.
At the next level, one reaches the state of emotional surrender. From śāstras one moves to stotras, from
the head to the heart. It is like coming home when the heart surrenders. One feels a deep connection with the
Guru and constantly remembers Him. It is impossible to forget Him. His memory brings tears to one’s eyes,
tears of gratitude that are impossible to hide.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says so beautifully, ‘When thinking of the Divine or your Guru, Master, if
you have tears streaming down your cheeks, be very sure that this is your last birth.’ Emotional
surrender leads one close to liberation.

At the final level, is surrender of the senses. One truly realizes Hṛṣīkeśa,
Master of senses, and gives up one’s distorted, incomplete sense of reality
and embraces the Truth of the absolu reality of Advaita, non-duality that the
Master and every Incarnation have expressed. Ultimately, we must move
beyond both doubt and faith to completion that creates a deep trust in the
Master, recognizing that everything the Master expresses is for our
liberation. As Arjuna progresses through the Gītā, layers of his
incompletions peel off, and he travels into deeper stages of surrender.
Please understand, when we are driven by root patterns, we don’t even know what we do, why we do—
why we are making money, why we have married, why we are living. Nothing! The Kaurava warriors blindly
driven by Duryodhana, did not know—why they are fighting, why they want power and exactly what is going
to happen? With such an unconscious, incomplete space, Duryodhana and his allies did not suffer from any
doubts. When our root patterns are driving our life, we may believe that we are winning, but we will never be
driven to victory. If your enemy is driving you, will he be driving you towards victory? Mired totally in self-
denial patterns, these Kaurava warriors followed Duryodhana blindly, unaware that the person they followed
was blind himself.

Arjuna, on the other hand, is in turmoil. He is driven by Hṛṣīkeśa, the Master of senses, who can control and
complete any root pattern. Arjuna’s charioteer is Kṛṣṇa Himself, whose very life is a living science of
completion. As Kṛṣṇa brings the chariot to a stop between the two armies, in a metaphoric sense, He brings
Arjuna’s inner space to a steady state to drive him to completion.
 With Duryodhana’s self-denial root pattern of saying ‘no’ to life, cloning itself into the manifold Kaurava
army of conflicting patterns, even if Duryodhana won any war out of that pattern, he would never achieve
satisfaction or completion. Because the reason he is fighting for power is to feel secure from his fear. He will
feel secured only when he breaks that pattern, not by winning the war! It is the wrong strategy, for the wrong
reason!
Arjuna, unlike Duryodhana, has become aware of his root patterns, he is exposed to his inauthenticities,
and is working to free himself from their bondage. However, he is not in the zone of light yet. The conflict
between Arjuna and Duryodhana is the conflict that all humans face within themselves—a conflict between
their possibility and patterns, their deep unconscious desires, the incompletions driven by their root patterns,
and the possibility of completion, consciousness. Completion is consciousness! Which part wins depends on
one’s ability to complete and surrender to the superconscious Divine or the Master, Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
As long as one is in darkness, one does not miss light. But, Arjuna is in the state of a person who has had
sight and has now lost it, who was in the light of completion, but fell into the darkness of incompletion. Yet,
only in its own light, can a moon even see its dark patches. And so is Arjuna now seeing his incompletions
face-to-face and is blessed to have the source of light, Jagadguru Kṛṣṇa to enlighten him. He is an intelligent
man, but suddenly wondered whether what he was doing might be wrong and evil. So he is disturbed.

Duryodhana, on the other hand, has a mind that is always in darkness, He has
never experienced true intelligence or completion. Therefore, words like
‘immoral’ or ‘non-integrity’ or ‘inauthenticity,’ ‘dharma’ or ‘adharma’
would make no sense to him.
 ARJUNA’S DILEMMA

1.25 to 1.30
In the presence of Bhīṣma, Droṇa and other rulers of the world, Hṛṣīkeśa said, Pārtha, behold all
the Kurus who are assembled here. There, Arjuna could see within the armies of both parties,

His elders, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, cousins, sons, grandsons

And friends, as well as his fathers-in-law and well wishers.

When Arjuna, the son of Kuntī, saw all these friends and relatives present there,

He was overwhelmed with deep pity and said:

Kṛṣṇa, seeing my friends and relatives present before me, eager to wage war,

I feel my limbs trembling, my mouth drying, and my hair standing on end.

My bow, Gāṇḍīva, slips from my hands, and my skin burns. I am unable to stand here any
longer.

I am forgetting myself, and my mind reels.

I foresee only evil omens, O killer of the Keśī demon.

Kṛṣṇa parked the chariot between the two armies and said to Arjuna, ‘Here are the people you wished
to see.’ Arjuna wanted to see those who were about to fight him and die, and Kṛṣṇa, with
no mercy at all, showed him that these were Arjuna’s near and dear ones.

Kṛṣṇa Himself was related to Arjuna. Kuntī, Arjuna’s mother, also known as
Prithā, was Kṛṣṇa’s aunt, sister of Kṛṣṇa’s father Vāsudeva; so He addresses
Arjuna here as Pārtha, the son of Prithā, emphasizing their relationship.
Kṛṣṇa is also referred to in Gītā as Pārthasārathi, the charioteer of Pārtha,
Arjuna.
Assembled in front of Arjuna were compatriots of his father Pāṇḍu, grandfathers and great grandfathers
such as Bhīṣma, his own teachers such as Droṇa and Kṛpa, uncles such as Śakuni, brothers and cousins as all
the Kaurava princes were, friends and well wishers. At one time or another, each of them had been an object
of affection and respect to Arjuna. Now, they were part of this enemy army.

Arjunaviśāda, root pattern of a thinking Man

The expression of Arjuna’s dilemma starts here.
The theme of Gītā is the story of Arjuna’s dilemma, his incompletion and its completion by Kṛṣṇa.
As a warrior, as a kṣatriya, Arjuna was used to killing in battle. He was no stranger to death and violence.
As long as those who faced him were his enemies Arjuna had no difficulty in carrying out the execution.
However, those in front of him now were his svajanam—his relatives, people who actually were like his father,
grandfathers, uncles, brothers, sons and grandsons, tied to him with bonds of blood. Many others were his
friends with whom he had previously enjoyed bonds of loyalty.
Arjuna’s dilemma was not one of nonviolence, ahiṁsā. As a kṣatriya, this word had no place in his
dictionary. His dilemma was one of violence, violence born out of his ego, his identity. He could kill people
he did not identify with, but he could not bear to kill those whom he could relate with himself in one way or
another. The bonds of family were far stronger than Arjuna had imagined. These bonds were rooted in his ego,
and to cut these bonds was to destroy himself. This was Arjuna’s dilemma.
What follows now is a bunch of fantasies, inauthenticities that Arjuna’s mind weaves in an attempt to
justify his dilemma. It is what the human mind conjures up time and again as its projection of the unconscious
root thought patterns, trying to justify as authentic action.

Sañjaya says that Arjuna was overwhelmed with pity. Some translate this as
compassion. Compassion, true compassion, which is the hallmark of an
 Enlightened Being, is non-discriminatory; it does not differentiate.
Please listen. When responsibility expresses through your heart, it is compassion. To the truly
compassionate person, the whole world, of both living and nonliving beings, is an extension of his own self.
Anything that hurts any object around such a person would hurt him, and he too would feel the pain.
However, Arjuna’s emotion was discriminatory, inauthentic. He felt pity only because they were his
kinsmen, only because he identified with them, not because of his authenticity and responsibility to enrich
them, not because he felt that all of them were his own extensions, and so by not fighting them he would in
turn not fight himself.
This was not compassion born out of ahiṁsā, nonviolence, but pity born out of hiṁsā, violence. Arjuna’s
emotions arose from his root pattern, his ego.True compassion arises from a state of integrity and authenticity,
the absence of ego where one’s inner and outer identities are aligned, and one expresses peak of one’s
positivity and possibility. It arises from a state of responsibility, out of no-mind and no-thought, where the
feelings of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ have disappeared and one realizes that one is the Source of everything and so one is
responsible for everything. True compassion is a state of completion and bliss, one of true surrender to the
Universe.

Our four great Inner powers

Please understand, the four spiritual principles of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching are
the four Vedas, caturveda to experience surrender to the Cosmos and to have the power to simply manifest
the reality of your choice!
Listen! Whether you know it or not, whether you believe it not, you have four giant powers sitting inside
you. Though you use these powers everyday in your life, you don’t use them consciously, with a clear
intention. Please understand, all these powers are great energies, just like electricity or wind power. If you
handle them properly, they can shower you with everything you want. But if you don’t handle them properly,
they will continue to impact your life in negative ways.

These powers are related to the four major dimensions of your life—your words, your thinking, your emotions,
and your living. When you awaken your peak possibility in each of these dimensions, it becomes a great power
and support in your life.
Each of the four powers is guided by a spiritual principle known as
tattva. The tattva is the key to unlock the corresponding power in you.
First spiritual principle is Integrity. When you practice integrity, the power of words or vāk
śakti will be available to you.
Second tattva is Authenticity. When you practice authenticity, the power of thinking or mano
śakti will be open to you.
Third tattva is Responsibility. The power of feeling or prema śakti will be possible when you
practice responsibility.
And the fourth tattva is Enriching. You will have access to the power of living or ātma śakti the
moment you decide to enrich others.
The foundation for these tattvas is pūṛṇatva—completion of all the patterns we carry.
When we live these spiritual principles and express these four great powers, the individual self merges
with the universal Self, and true compassion happens out of the space of completion with the Cosmic
Consciousness; from the experience that one is part of that Brahman.
Listen. Arjuna’s pity arose out of fear of losing his identity, his fear of expansion, his root pattern or ego.
Arjuna was mortally afraid. He claimed that his throat was parched, his hair was standing on edge and his
divine bow was slipping from his sweaty hands. If one did not know Arjuna better, one would have considered
him a coward.
Arjuna was no coward. He had no fear for his own physical safety. He was not concerned that he might be
injured or that he might die. As a warrior of warriors, these feelings were beneath him. But, Arjuna was afraid
of breaking social and ethical laws. His values and beliefs, his bio-memories, his root thought patterns, told him
that what he was doing was wrong and unacceptable. So powerful was this feeling that he was reeling, quivering,
dazed and unable to think or function.
 Can something like this really happen? Can a hero lose his composure and exhibit the physical symptoms
of a frightened coward? A true hero to whom death is play, who is trained from childhood by the greatest of
Masters not only in the control of his body, his sleep, but of his mind as well? Arjuna’s situation shows how
the mind can play games with the best of us, how the root patterns can take over the mind in so powerful a
manner as to make us powerless, without our awareness.
Arjuna was frightened that he would be held responsible for the death of his kinsmen, people who were
father, grandfather and other such important figures to him. He was afraid that even if others did not blame
him, he would suffer the guilt and regret for his actions for the rest of his life. So great was this fear root
pattern of potential guilt, that it drove Arjuna into behaving inauthentically like a coward. All he could foresee
was disaster and evil all around him. At another, far deeper level, Arjuna was terrified of his own destruction.
The moment one starts identifying with svajanam, kinsmen, family, friends and relatives, it is a material
identification, born out of possession arising from one’s ego, the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’
Possession is born of attachment, and leads to attachment as well. There can be no feeling of possessing
something unless one is attached to it. People speak of attachment, liking and love. All these are valid only as
long as a sense of possession exists. The moment the object of love turns around and displays independence
and unwillingness to be possessed, the liking and the love disappears.
Possession arises out of our survival need, from our mūlādhāra cakra, an energy center located at the
base of the spine. It is a primal feeling that yokes us to mother Earth. Out of the need for possession, feelings
of lust, greed and anger arise. Often what one cannot possess, one wants to destroy.

‘What I cannot have, let no one have,’ we often feel, out of our incompletion. Possession leads to violence. It
is also the deep-rooted desire for possessions, the feeling of ‘mine,’ that gives rise to your identity ‘I.’ The
need to possess does not stem from your identity. It is the other way around. ‘Mine’ leads to ‘I,’ not ‘I’ to
‘mine.’ This is why you cannot eliminate your identity till you renounce your attachment to all your desires
and possessions. You need to get rid of the ‘mine’ first. Only then the ‘I’ disappears.
Understand, incompletions will make you feel the whole world should be yours. Incompletions will
continue to make you feel you can own, possess the whole world. Incompletions continuously make you
exploit others.
Arjuna is in this mood and frame of mind. It strikes him at the moment of waging war, that what he is
about to destroy are his own possessions, his own identity. If he were to destroy them he will be destroying a
part of his own self, his own mind-body system. It is true that when someone dear to us dies, a part of our
mind-body system dies with them. Arjuna knew that the destruction of so many of his near and dear ones, his
kinsmen, would take a massive toll on him, akin to committing suicide.
Arjuna’s dilemma was an existential one. What is the point of eliminating others, if it results in one’s own
elimination? It is a dilemma born out of partial understanding, an incomplete cognition, a peek into the truth
of collective consciousness. If Arjuna were to be as unaware as Duryodhana, this doubt would have never
entered his mind. Were he enlightened as Kṛṣṇa was, the answer would have been obvious. Arjuna was in
between, hence his dilemma.
Why should I destroy myself? What for? These are the questions that naturally follow this line of
reasoning. Arjuna was far wiser than many modern philosophers in posing this as a doubt, without venturing
into any answers himself.
Listen. Utter confusion, dilemma is the first thing any person has to face in his life for
Enlightenment. If we have not yet faced the dilemma, the possibility for transformation has not yet opened.
When we are in dilemma, be very clear, the seeking has started in us.
Arjuna has become a seeker of Truth. He was no longer satisfied with what he had imbibed all these
years—śāstras, stotras and sūtras. He wished to go beyond. He questioned them, as he had doubts. He was in
a dilemma.

Arjuna-viśāda-yogaḥ is the name given to this first chapter of Gītā. Viśāda can
mean many things in Saṃskṛit—grief, sorrow, despondency, despair,
depression, powerlessness, dilemma and such. Here what we see is the
dilemma that Arjuna was in, not knowing whether what he had been taught
all his life, and what he had believed to be true, was really true after all.
 RIGORS Of INCOMPLETIONS

1.31 I foresee only evil omens, O Kṛṣṇa, I do not see any good coming out of killing
one’s own kinsmen [svajanam] in this battle.

I do not covet my dear Kṛṣṇa, victory or kingdom or pleasures.

1.32 What use is kingdom, pleasures or even life, Kṛṣṇa?

1.33 Those for whose sake we seek kingdoms, enjoyment and happiness Now are arrayed
in this battlefield ready to lose their lives and wealth.
1.34 , 1.35 Even if I am about to be slain by my teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers,
maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and all relatives,
I would not like to slay them even to gain control of all three worlds. Why then, Madhusūdana, would
I wish to kill them for control of this earth?

Arjuna now started developing his theme in detail. He started expressing his doubts with clarity. One
may ask, ‘How can such doubts be clear?’ Doubts need to be clear if they are to be resolved.
Thoughts need to be integrated if they need to be complete.
Listen. A clearly expressed word is fulfillment. The word which constantly keeps you in completion
and expands you is Integrity. Everything starts with the word. Unclear doubts lead only to more
confusion.Thoughts and words lacking integrity lead to incompletions. Unintelligent beings that lack integrity
have unclear doubts.

Integrated Listening to yourself

Arjuna’s doubts were precise. Arjuna started listening to himself. Listening to you is the first step to spirituality.
Constantly listening to your inner space is the beginning of integrity.
Listening brings integrity into our words. We never ever really listen, either to ourselves or to others.
When you really start listening to yourself, you will naturally become more aware of the words you give to
yourself and others. You will also have the ability to listen to others’ words with integrity.
Listening is directly connected to your ability to handle reality as it IS, without creating your own
unconscious ideas and conclusions. When you don’t have listening, you always come to a conclusion even
before the information is cognized in you. That is why the very first step of Hindu spiritual practice is
Śravana, Integrated Listening.
Because Arjuna was listening to himself, he started thinking with integrity. When we bring integrity in
our thinking, the first thing is that we will know what is happening inside us. Arjuna has clarity about the
doubts arising inside him, and is now exposed to his own inauthenticies. How could he seek happiness through
destruction of his kinsmen, he asked. How could any good come out of this action? How could he desire
power, possessions and pleasures through such action? And if he did gain those things as a result of killing his
family, of what use would such a life be to him?
Though Arjuna was in a dilemma, it was a dilemma born out of intelligence, not out of ignorance. Arjuna
had been taught all his life to seek power, possessions and pleasures, and he had done it. Up to this point, he
had not come across a single situation where the cost of acquiring these had seemed to be greater than the
accruing profit, the resulting enjoyment. Perhaps he had never bothered to evaluate the cost and benefits.

For the first time in his life, he has faced a situation that forces him to evaluate
his options. ‘Do I forge ahead and destroy what is dear to me so that I get
more power and possibly more pleasure?’ he asks. What a fundamental
question, one that each one of us should ask ourselves. How often do we
lack integrity and go behind activities that promise us more material
benefits, even though we know that these may in some way damage our life
or the lives of those we care about?
‘What Is the Why of My Life?’ cries Arjuna
It takes a lot of courage of authenticity to bring integrated listening to our thinking, to stop and question
our lives, our actions and society’s plan for us. Understand, the attitude of asking ‘WHY’ needs awareness,
but we forget to ask the ‘why’. We don’t take our thoughts, words and deeds to the logical conclusion. It takes
authenticity, the power of thinking, the inner strength to say to the world, ‘Stop, I want to get off; I want to
know why am I doing, what I am doing? I want to seek true inner bliss!’
It takes tremendous courage of authenticity to recognize the transitory nature of life and its limited offer
of happiness, to say—‘I want something more.’ It takes enormous courage to complete with the materialism
of the world to seek one’s true purpose in life.

I tell you, if just the ‘why’ is kept alive, ‘why am I feeling powerless?’, ‘why
am I feeling tired’, ‘why am I feeling sick?’, ‘why am I depressed?’; just if
the ‘why’ is strong enough to take you to the logical conclusion, our
problems will be solved. If we just keep this one question alive, ‘Why am I
doing what I am doing?’ and are able to take this one question to the logical
conclusion in our life, I tell you, we will be enlightened. You will radiate
enriching!
‘What is the purpose of my life, Kṛṣṇa?’ wailed Arjuna.
Arjuna is now thinking with integrity and questioning himself, his training and his purpose when faced
with the task of fighting against his kinsmen. The scene from his chariot has taken him off balance! In his
heart he knows that what he is about to do is correct. All of his training as a kṣatriya confirms this as well. But
when faced with the reality of actually killing those who have been near and dear to him, he loses his will. He
is feeling completely powerless. Why?
Arjuna is a courageous man. Only a courageous person will have the confidence to open himself up so
transparently and expose his innermost fear patterns, his lack of integrity and inauthenticities and seek help.
Arjuna was not depressed, he was confused. He could certainly differentiate between right and wrong. His
sudden confusion grew out of his awareness of his parental and societal patterns that what he had been taught
throughout his life, might be wrong! Fortunately for Arjuna, his charioteer is none other than Kṛṣṇa Himself,
Lord of all beings and knower of all! Only He can see what is at the heart of Arjuna’s grief. Only He could
provide answers to Arjuna’s doubts and completion to his dilemma.
Arjuna argues that the reason one would fight to gain power and wealth was for the sake of one’s near
and dear ones. However, his near and dear ones were the people with whom Arjuna should fight! Even if they
killed him, he would not consider killing them at any cost, ‘If I would not kill them for all the riches of the
three worlds, why would I destroy them for the sake of earth, this one world, alone? Arjuna questioned Kṛṣṇa.
When asking, Arjuna calls Kṛṣṇa as Madhusūdana, which means the slayer of the demon Madhu. Arjuna
implies that Kṛṣṇa may be a destroyer, but Arjuna himself would not like to be one like Him.

Arjuna’s dilemma had now become deeper and more complicated. He had now got into justifications as to
why he should not kill; he began to justify his lack of integrity and authenticity. To any observer, his dilemma
had validity. This is a common cunning, safe game we all play with ourselves. When the stakes are high in
any competitive environment, when we don’t want to expand to our peak capability, we play this inauthentic
game. We fantasize about rewards far greater than what could possibly materialize. The more unrealistic and
unlikely the reward, the easier it is to refuse it.
Arjuna is playing this same safe, inauthentic game. Understand, when we are authentic, we will commit
words which express our maximum peak capacity, as per our understanding, and as per others’ understanding
of our peak capacity. When we unlock the power of thinking, we will be able to spontaneously focus our
thoughts to achieve our highest potential.
Constantly functioning at your peak possibility is Authenticity. Authenticity is the key that unlocks
the power of thinking, mano śakti.
Arjuna said he would not kill even if he were to be killed. This is just a spontaneous lie. I tell you,
spontaneous lying means you feel powerless. You are inauthentic to yourself. It is Arjuna’s own loss of identity
that is bothering him, the loss of identity that would result from the destruction of his lineage. Arjuna then
says that he would not consider killing his kinsmen and teachers, even if he were offered all the three worlds
of Universe in return. Why then, he queries, would the reward of just this planet Earth be attractive to him?
 Who was offering Arjuna the three worlds anyway? The notion was a figment of his overexcited
imagination born out of his powerlessness. If Kṛṣṇa had turned around and offered Arjuna the control of the
Universe, Arjuna’s dilemma would have actually become far worse! However, posing it as a symbolic question
as Arjuna did, made him look noble.
Arjuna is consoling himself with the idea that the rewards of winning this battle are too small and that
even if he were to be offered control of the Universe, he would not be tempted. It is a safe position he is taking,
since the chances of his being offered the control of the Universe are infinitely small. What matters is that it
calms his bruised, powerless mind and keeps the focus off the real source of his fear.
Time and again, people play this safe game with themselves and others. It starts when we cannot face the truth
with integrity and authenticity and therefore cannot tell the truth. We just give up on ourselves and go out-
of-integrity with our words and become inauthentic with our thinking. For the majority of us, our identity
lies in the roles we play, the responsibilities we have, the worrying we do and the acceptance that we receive
from others. Without these possessions and relationships to form the foundation of our personalities, without
the foundation of ‘mine,’ we feel lost and have no ‘I.’ Like us, Arjuna found it better to invent a host of other
inauthentic reasons to avoid facing the truth.
We create illusions in our mind about the situations we face, about how critical they are to our existence.
Then we create fantasies in our minds about what is going to happen to us, be it an imagined good or difficulty.
We do everything except being in integrity and authenticity with our space of positivity and possibility, and
facing the present moment with completion.
As we will see later, facing the present moment with the space of completion, pūrṇatva; living the four
spiritual principles of life— integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching, and awakening the four great
inner powers is precisely what Kṛṣṇa forces Arjuna to do.

When Arjuna is able to surrender to Kṛṣṇa’s teachings and brings completion to

his root patterns, then his self-doubts and illusions dissolve. Arjuna then
realizes the truth, satya of these sacred tattvas and reaches his highest
possibility—living enlightenment, jīvan mukti. He understands what he
needs to do and becomes a spiritual warrior, a pure instrument of Kṛṣṇa and
goes about powerfully radiating responsibility, enriching himself and the
world with Divine purpose.
 GOOD MEN Do Not KILL

1.36 What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Janārdana? Only
sin will overcome us if we slay these wrongdoers.
1.37 It is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and our friends. How
could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen, Mādhava?
1.38, 1.39 O Janārdana, although these men are consumed by greed and they see no fault in
killing one’s family or quarreling with friends, Why should we, who understand the evil of the
destruction of a dynasty, not turn away from these acts?

Here is Arjuna’s dilemma spoken plainly. He had two options and is looking to be convinced of
one or the other. The first was that going to battle was wrong, especially against his kinsmen.
Therefore he should cease and resist, walk away from the war before it starts. All his arguments up to this
point were in this line of thinking. At the same time, Arjuna was open to the possibility that what he had set
out to do was indeed correct, in which case he would go back into battle mode, as a true kṣatriya would do.
To begin with, had Arjuna been totally convinced that war against his kinsmen was wrong, he would not
have come to the battlefield. It was his lack of integrity that raised within him the question of retreat from his
duty. To Arjuna’s credit, he listened to himself, to what his mind had to say and turned to the Master for
guidance. He allowed Kṛṣṇa to speak into his listening. Understand, the whole spiritual life starts with
authentic listening.
Arjuna’s mind now brings up one more argument. Arju na agreed that Duryodhana and his allies were the
aggressors and wrongdoers. Whatever they had done to him, his brothers and his wife was not pardonable,
and they needed to be punished by the laws of the land. By all rights Arjuna was quite justified in killing those
wrongdoers. ‘But,’ Arjuna asked, ‘Would one wrong be corrected by another wrong? How can I be happy
killing my kinsmen, however justified I might be in doing that? Their misdeeds cannot be remedied by my
misdeed and that would only make me miserable.’

Arjuna’s Violence erupts

There are two incompletions central to Arjuna’s dilemma.
The first incompletion is that of relationship. The problem that Arjuna faced is one that we all face when
asked to do unpleasant things to people we know. It is always easier to criticize and punish people one does
not know. To be faceless is to be fearless. With people one knows, there is a danger of breaking the relationship
through perceived negative behavior, even when it may be fully justified. To face this incompletion in one’s
relationships, one must first develop detachment that allows action without worrying about the consequences.
This detachment only comes from completion with every relationship with oneself and with others in one’s
life. One follows the path of completion and leaves the result to the process. As long as the path is right,
whatever destination the path takes one to, will also be right.
Listen. Vedic civilization is established on completion. You realize your potentiality, you establish
yourself in the space of completion, you are God! Understand, only if we start living completion, we will
understand the quality of life. I tell you, when there is incompletion, your life is stolen away from you.
Let me define Completion.
Completion is removing the delusion of incompletion, which makes you cognize that the other
is separate from you. Understand, incompletion has no existence; it is only a delusive cognition.
Incompletion is the delusive cognition that stands between you and the Whole. Complete with
everything.
To overcome this isolation, this incompletion we need to realize that no man is an island. We are all
connected at the spiritual level.
When we complete with everything, animate and inanimate, we will experience the space of non-duality,
advaita, where there is no one, no two but infinite, everything is infinitely powerful. See, relationships are
nothing but our own extensions. Relationships are not outside; they are just our own extensions. The ‘you’
extended outside you is our relationships. Completing with all our extensions,we will learn to complete the
incomplete ‘you,’ if present in other.
When we arrive on planet Earth, we are complete, integrated beings. We are open to all possibilities. Over
time, we build walls believing that these walls will keep us safe and that the connections that we have
established inside the walls are ours to keep. We create a delusory cognition that we possess everything within
the wall. Slowly, the open space we started with becomes a maze and we are lost inside! The islands need to
be bridged. We need to complete with everyone, with everything instead of isolating them and competing.
Competition does not ensure survival; completion does. Understand, with competition you may have survival
success, but you will never expand. Success in crisis moments is only survival success, not life success.
Success in life happens only with completion.
The other incompletion that Arjuna faces is the problem of directness of action. In a war of this type,
Arjuna faced transparent consequences of his action. If he shot an arrow and killed a kinsman, death was a
direct result of his action. Arjuna did not have the luxury of remote destruction. He had to look the victim in
the eye before releasing his arrow. He was aware of whom he was killing and why. He felt the destruction
within himself when he killed someone else.
Please listen! Life is continuously happening in front of us. Arjuna is frightened in front of the eyes of life;
from his disowned self, his relationships which are his forgotten extensions. This anxiety, fear, shivering is
nothing but the expression of the incompletions Arjuna was carrying.
Arjuna was affected by the combination of these two delusory incompletions: that of being connected by
kinship to his enemies and the fact that he had to kill them directly and personally. It affected him because he
was not a Duryodhana, who was in self-denial about the consequences of his actions. It affected Arjuna
because he was not a Kṛṣṇa who would have taken responsibility for his and everyone’s good or bad actions,
being in the powerful space of completion at all times. Arjuna was neither Kṛṣṇa nor Duryodhana. His mind
was doubting that he might be doing wrong, but his mind had not yet ascended to be able to complete with his
kinship bonds. This was Arjuna’s dilemma. This was Arjuna’s incompletion.
Earlier Arjuna said that even if his kinsmen had made big mistakes, he should not repeat the same
mistakes; even if offered the entire Universe. He said that his kinsmen blinded by greed for power, were in
darkness that saw nothing wrong in destroying one another and their own kinsmen. He asked Kṛṣṇa, ‘Shouldn’t
we be distancing ourselves from these people and their attitudes, we who are not ignorant, not in darkness and
not blinded?’
Now, he condemned the same kinsmen, his svajanam that he had referred to so passionately a few
moments earlier; the same people who he claimed to hold in great respect and affection and therefore did not
wish to kill. He shifted gears now and moved from the position of not killing them because they were his flesh
and blood to a greater moral position of not wishing to kill them because it was morally reprehensible.

Arjuna said that destruction of the lineage, the dynasty, is evil, and that he recoiled from such a deed even
though his opponents had no such compunction, blinded as they were by greed. Arjuna’s dilemma now jumps
to a larger arena. It was now a matter of tradition and respect for the lineage that could be traced back to the
moon and divine beings, and an old, established tradition that would be a sin to dismantle and destroy. It’s no
longer about individuals; it is about the destruction of a race that had existed for thousands of years. How
could he be expected to carry out such a horrible act, he pleaded.
In Arjuna’s mind this was a big self-doubt. Killing a few individuals, even if kinsmen, was a mistake.
Killing a whole generation was a far bigger sin, and now he was expected to destroy a whole race, the
foundations of a proud and legendary dynasty. How could the future generations forgive him? This was how
the argument of Arjuna’s dilemma shifted. His incompletions led to greater delusory incompletions, from
individual to racial destruction. When Arjuna talks about the threat to his dynasty, it arises out of a fear of his
own mortality.
He has asked, ‘Even if I am to die, as I must, should I not ensure the continuance of my dynasty that bears
my signature, my identity, my DNA?’
Arjuna is pleading with Kṛṣṇa, ‘Please tell me, am I right? Please tell me, should I withdraw from this
battle?’ Arjuna is now violently asking for a single instruction to escape the fear of losing his identity on which
his mamakāra, inner image is built. Understand, Arjuna’s identity is based on his kṣatriya up-bringing, the
mentality of a warrior. Asking for one single instruction comes from his mentality of fighting, of violence that
always excludes. In a fight who is the winner? Only one. In survival instinct, who is the winner? Only one.

As we will see, Kṛṣṇa never gives him a single instruction but gives him
inspiration. He gives him the whole inspiration based science of Gītā śāstra,
so he can find his own answers and he raises himself by himself!
 The BREAKDOWN INTO POWERLESSNESS

1.40 With the destruction of dynasty, the eternal family tradition is destroyed too,
and the rest of the family becomes involved in immoral practices.
1.41 When immoral practices become common in the family, O Kṛṣṇa, the women of the
family become corrupted, And from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vṛṣṇi,
arise social problems.
1.42 As these social problems increase, the family and those who destroy the family
tradition are cast in hell, As there is no offering of food and water to their ancestors.
1.43 Due to the evil deeds of the destroyers of family tradition,
All kinds of rituals and practices of caste and family are devastated.
1.44 O Janārdana, I have heard that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.
1.45 Alas, we are preparing to commit greatly sinful acts by killing our kinsmen, driven by the desire to
enjoy royal happiness.
1.46 I would consider it better for the Kauravas to kill me unarmed and unresisting, rather than for
me to fight them.
1.47 Sañjaya said: Having said this on the battlefield, Arjuna cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down
on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief.

By now, Arjuna had become desperate. His arguments seemed weak, even to him. They include the
tragic impact this war would have on future generations and the entire Kuru race. Arjuna starts quoting
the scriptures of social laws to explain to Kṛṣṇa the evil his destructive actions would bring to the noble
lineage, which would lead to the decline in commitment to the rites and rituals that make society
civilized and moral. He then elaborated upon these immoral and unrighteous acts.
He said that women in the family would become unchaste and result in children of mixed castes, which
would be undesirable. Those who destroy family traditions would ruin all sacred practices and such people
had no place to go but hell. To understand what Arjuna said, it is important to understand the origin of the
caste tradition in Hindu religion.
At the age of five, a child was given to the care of a spiritual Master by the parents in the ancient Indian
education system called gurukul. The Master became mother, father and teacher to the child. In the gurukul
itself, the science of completion was taught to the child. The child grows up as a complete being. The child’s
natural aptitudes formed the basis for the caste classification, varṇāśrama. Brāhmaṇas (priests/teachers),
kṣatriyas (kings/warriors), vaiśyas (tradesmen) and śūdras (service) are these four classes.
The Vedic gurukul system was not concerned with whether the child’s parents were brāhmaṇa or vaiśya.
Irrespective of parentage, children were taught the Gāyatri mantra at age seven, which allowed their natural
intelligence to blossom. If the Guru found that the child had the natural aptitude to learn the scriptures, he
would be trained as a brāhmaṇa. Others were trained to enrich through materially relevant arts and sciences
to re-enter the world with a mature and complete personality.
Over time, this caste system was corrupted through human greed. Those who believed that they were
doing more responsible work, and therefore were more respected, such as the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas,
decided to pass on their caste qualification to their children as if it was their birthright. Such a practice had no
scriptural sanction.
Arjuna’s doubts about caste pollution had no scriptural base or merit. What he referred to became the societal
norm because of human greed, the collective root patterns of society. There were many instances of caste
mixture even in the great Kuru lineage that Arjuna claimed would be destroyed. Satyavati, his great
grandmother, was a fisherman’s daughter. Arjuna himself had wives who were not of kṣatriya lineage by birth.
He talked as if mired in total confusion when he linked practice of rites and rituals with morality and chastity.
His logic was distorted.
Rites and rituals, as prescribed in the scriptures, are an expression of one’s inner completion. Completion
is not created by blind practice of rites and rituals. Arjuna voiced the sentiments of organized religion and
priesthood, which derive their power and monetary base from such rites and rituals. This is how, in each
culture and religion, the power of the priestly class was established, as if they were the sole mediators to God.
Arjuna talked about ancestral worship and implied that the offspring of mixed caste have no right to make
offerings to their ancestors, leaving them lost in the realms beyond death. It is the confusion that has prevailed
over the ages that Arjuna captured and presented. He raises doubts on behalf of mankind and seeks
clarification. There are no ancestral spirits waiting to be pacified by us. If the spirit is enlightened it merges
with the infinite energy. If not, it gets reborn within three kṣanas, three moments.
Hell and heaven are in our minds. They are psychological spaces, not geographical places. We are in hell
when we are depressed, guilty, and in suffering and incompletion. We are in heaven when we are in completion
and feel and express love, joy and gratitude.

Arjuna is not a fool; he understands all this perfectly. Yet, he voices his doubts
as if ignorant, as if confused. He acts out of compassion for humanity when
he articulates these self-doubts so that the Divine, Kṛṣṇa can answer and
destroy the root of the self doubt. A thoughtful man of integrity like Arjuna
cannot talk about the lack of chastity of women without blaming the men
who are equally responsible. He reflects here the superior attitude of men
over the ages, those who have treated women with undue superiority. The
doubts he voices are those of the society he lives in, and those doubts have
not changed in thousands of years.
Now, Arjuna was ready to give up on himself. He had collapsed both psychologically and physiologically.
His cognition was totally imbalanced and he was now completely powerless. He was all set to run away from
the battlefield and escape from the reality of his responsibility. He had convinced himself through his own
illusory arguments that what he had embarked upon was evil, nothing but evil, and therefore he wanted no
part of it. He said, ‘I am ready to lay down arms and be defenseless. Let Duryodhana and his men kill me.’
For a kṣatriya to say this means one of two things: His act is one of total surrender, or powerlessness of
extreme confusion. A kṣatriya warrior, a supreme warrior such as Arjuna knows no fear. It is neither fear of
death nor fear of injury that compels him to say what he did.

Arjuna was not in a space of total surrender yet. Nor was he in the space of
ahiṁsā, nonviolence. He was not in tune with the Cosmic Consciousness—
the space of non-duality, advaita, the experiential expression of infinity to
say that—‘Killing others is killing myself, as I feel they are one with me.’
His arguments about not killing his kinsmen being like killing himself were
born out of his incompletions,and not out of self-realization or completion.
Arjuna’s desperation was becoming extreme. He was an intelligent, thoughtful man, who was torn
between his responsibilities as a kṣatriya prince, and the scriptural codes of morality. His distress, his delusion,
his powerlessness was now complete. He sat down, unable to bear the weight of his emotions. He put down
his bow and arrows, which signified that he was out of the battle. He was as far away from reality as he could
possibly get.
Arjuna, the greatest of warriors and men of his time, Bharataṛṣabha, was in the depths of despair due to
the conflict between his inner and outer identities, his upbringing and value systems, his root patterns. Arjuna,
at this point, was no example of a true kṣatriya. Arjuna, now being human, was a true example of mankind.
He was torn between darkness and light, between patterns and possibility. He was experiencing deep conflict
between the unconscious patterns that were driving him and the possibility, the reality of what he ought to do.
The clarity that would come about with the grace of the greatest Master, would be his Enlightenment, his
complete Completion.
The darkness that surrounded Arjuna at this stage was māyā, the illusion that prevents us from perceiving
the Truth of Reality that pervades all our experiences. Yā mā iti māyā—that which is not real but appears as
absolute is māyā. Māyā is not unreal in the sense that it does not exist. Māyā truly exists as reality. It veils, it
covers reality, the ultimate Truth—the truth of our inner divinity, our infinite powerfulness; and therefore it is
unreal, an illusion.
Had Arjuna been enlightened as Kṛṣṇa, he would not have been tormented by the play of his māyā. Had
Arjuna been a Duryodhana, or even a Bhīma, whose individual consciousness was not awakened, he would
have accepted the māyā without question. But, Arjuna is Nara, he is intelligent, partially awakened, he is a
seeker. He is in the presence of the greatest of all Masters. He is struggling to rid himself of his māyā and seek
clarity.
 It is Arjuna’s root pattern that created the māyā of powerlessness in him. His
own unaligned identities and his own identification with who he was, along
with his conviction that he should preserve his lineage— all these delusory
incompletions created the illusion in him that he was something other than
who he was. These gaps between his identities created the self-doubt in him
that he should do something other than what he was there to do.
Ādī Śaṅkara says beautifully: If you imbibe even a little of Bhagavad Gītā, if you drink even a drop of
Gaṅgā water, if you think even once about that great Master Śrī Kṛṣṇa, you will never have to face death.

Thus ends the first chapter named Arjunaviṣāda Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Arjuna’s
Dilemma,’ of Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the
scripture of yoga dealing with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī
Kṛṣṇārjuna-saṁvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna.
 You Are God

It is here that we enter into the real Gītā. It is from here that Bhagavān or God, Nārāyaṇa starts
speaking and singing the Gītopaniṣad into the listening of Nara Arjuna, and through Arjuna into
the listening of the whole of humanity.
Until now Kṛṣṇa was speaking as a man, as Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, in His human form, but it is only
from here that Kṛṣṇa sings as Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, in His divine state as Bhagavān, the universal
Kṛṣṇa.

Understand, only an intelligent man will allow the other person to speak. Only
a man of completion will provide integrated listening to himself and others.
We all speak continuously to each other, but a conversation does not really
happen. When the other person speaks we do not listen; we are busy
preparing our own reply. We never speak into the listening of others, we just
speak into the non-listening of others! We need intelligence; we need
integrity to allow the other person to speak into our listening.

In the first chapter, Kṛṣṇa does not say a word to interrupt Arjuna. He allows
Arjuna to speak fully into His listening for one whole chapter of
Arjunaviśāda Yogaḥ. He keeps quiet, even on seeing the depth of Arjuna’s
confusion and depression. He consciously analyzes the root of Arjuna’s
thoughts, his root thoughts patterns to determine the platform of
powerlessness upon which Arjuna is standing.
Listening is directly connected to your ability to handle reality as it is, without creating your own
unconscious ideas and conclusions.
Please listen, the moment you start talking to somebody, when you don’t have listening, you start coming
to your own conclusion even before the information is cognized in you, either by rejecting that person or
taking that person as a big threat. Both will lead you to suffering.
That is why the very first step of Hindu spiritual practice is Śṛavana, Integrated Listening. It is possible
to become a successful businessman just by studying the first few chapters of Gītā. You can reach the peak
possibility of your profession and of your life just by learning the art of integrated listening from Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Once you provide your integrated listening to yourself and others, you will automatically be able to speak into
the listening of others and thus communicate to enrich yourself and commune to enrich others as well.
When you experience the words you utter to you and to others as the extension of your life, they directly
affect you. When the words uttered by you are not listened to, the completion is disturbed. I tell you, if the
person to whom you are talking to is not in the space of listening, the ideas you want to express will never be
delivered. It may lead to an argument, but it may never lead to intelligence transfer.

Listen! Information transfer is argument. Intelligence transfer is Listening. In

arguments, information can be transferred, but never intelligence. Only in
integrated listening can intelligence be transferred.
In Vedānta, the first principle is Śṛavana—Integrated Listening; the second principle is Manana—
Intranalyzing, meaning analyzing the truth for the sake of internalizing it not for rejecting it; and the third
principle is Nididhyāsana—Living and radiating the truth!
Any transmission of knowledge, energy or experience happens between a Master and disciple only when
the disciple gives his or her listening! Even Vedic Ṛṣis start with this chant: śrunvantu viśve amṛtasya putrāḥ—
Oh! Sons of Immortality, please listen to me!
Here, Kṛṣṇa is giving His integrated listening to Arjuna! He is interested in the real problem and not in
expressing what He knows. He wants Arjuna to learn the ability to give integrated listening to himself, to have
the clarity of mind. He is interested in enriching him to find a solution to his own problem. He allows Arjuna
to speak so that He can listen and transmit the ultimate knowledge and experience of completion to him.
One needs intelligence, or I may say enlightenment, the space of completion to listen. Unless you start
living completion, you will not even be able to maintain listening. Even listening is achieved with completion.
Completion brings listening to you. Only an Enlightened Master, an Incarnation like Kṛṣṇa can listen, only He
can speak into the listening of others. In the first chapter He listens fully and completely. Even in this second
chapter named Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ, He allows Arjuna to speak into His listening in many verses.
Please understand the definition of Listening. Let me define what Right Listening is, śravana.

Right listening means allowing the words to enter your inner space
automatically; letting them cognize, without you constantly interfering
with your incompletions, is Listening.
You can open up to the Master at three levels. You can converse and convey through words and the Master
will listen. At the next level you can communicate from the heart in silence; you can visualize instead of
verbalizing in speech. Finally, you can commune in silence through Upaniṣad and the Master will grasp this
even more powerfully.

Here Kṛṣṇa allows Arjuna to verbalize, He allows him to speak into His pure
listening, so that to begin with, Arjuna himself will develop the ability to
have integrated listening and understand his problem. Once Arjuna cognizes
and expresses his confusion, he can relapse into silence and commune with
the Master of completion in the space of Upaniṣad.
 DROP The POWERLESSNESS AND STAND UP

2.1 Sañjaya said:

As Arjuna’s eyes overflowed with tears of pity and despair, Madhusudana (Kṛṣṇa)
spoke to him thus.
2.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says:
Where from have these impurities descended on you at this critical time,
Arjuna!

You behave unlike a nobleman and

this will keep you away from realization.
2.3 Do not yield to fear, Pārtha! It does not befit you. Drop this powerlessness of heart
and stand up,

O Parantapa, destroyer of enemy.

Arjuna was distraught with pity and despair. His pity was for his opposition that consisted of his
svajanam, kinsmen, elders, teachers, relatives and friends. He despaired at the thought of
what would happen if he did have to kill them. He had collapsed in his chariot and his bow and arrow had
slipped from his hands.
Kṛṣṇa allowed Arjuna to exhaust himself, physically, emotionally and spiritually. He listened to him
carefully, completely. Kṛṣṇa wanted to give Arjuna time to open his mind, heart and being to Him, Arjuna’s
friend, guide and master, so that His answers would penetrate Arjuna’s very being.

Then He spoke for the first time, as if opening His being directly. Bhagavān
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘My dear Arjuna, how have you acquired these impurities? They
do not at all befit a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher
planes but to infamy, akīrti karam arjuna.’
śrī bhagavān uvāca
kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam I
anārya juṣṭam asvargyam akīrti karam arjuna II 2.2
This verse is connected to the next one.
‘O Pārtha! Do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not befit you. Give up such petty
powerlessness of heart and arise, O Parantapa, destroyer of enemy.’

klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate I

kṣudraṁ hṛdaya daurbalyaṁ tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa II 2.3
Kṛṣṇa gives the direction to the whole Gītā with this one truth to awaken Arjuna from his delusory
incompletions. Kṛṣṇa is the true Master and does not beat around the bush. Understand that Kṛṣṇa is not a
philosopher; He addresses the dilemma of Arjuna straightaway.
Kṛṣṇa asks Arjuna directly, ‘How did such impurities, such incompletions come upon you? They are not
for a man like you. They will not lead you to higher planes but only defame you.’ In the next verse He asks
Arjuna to give up this powerlessness and asks him to arise, addressing him as ‘Parantapa, destroyer of the
enemy.’
Kṛṣṇa knows Arjuna’s root thought pattern. Please understand that Arjuna is not depressed because of a
spiritual search. It is just that he does not want a solution; he wants only support.
Understand, asking for solutions and asking for support are two different things. What Arjuna needs is
support, not a solution. This is why Kṛṣṇa does not speak of spirituality in these two verses. Arjuna’s root
thought pattern originates from fear and worry. His maṇipūraka cakra (navel center) and svādiṣṭhāna cakra
(being center), energy centers that get locked due to worry and fear, are now completely locked! Because of
his fear pattern, he has deep seated incompletions, stress and worry.
Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s deep fear and powerlessness straightaway without any philosophy, and asks him to
give up his foolish weakness and get up and fight—tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa. He does not offer any
consolation, just a straightforward scolding, and a slap to awaken him!

KṚṢṆA hits Arjuna’s root pattern

If Arjuna had been in a mood of stotra, meaning devotional surrender that he reaches only later on, these
two verses would have served as sūtra or techniques for him. Had he been without fear and expressed full
faith and devotion in Kṛṣṇa, these two verses would have been enough to wake him up and stand powerfully.
At this point, Arjuna is in the state to be intellectually convinced and Kṛṣṇa employs śāstra as the right
approach. Since he was not in the mood of stotra, not yet ready with devotion and faith, Kṛṣṇa had to create
the śāstra or method, to bring him to the stotra state. The whole issue was due to his root pattern of fear plus
worry and powerlessness because of this fear.
All our depression, worry patterns are nothing but the root``` pattern of a deep fear of life, a deep self-
doubt, fear of expansion and fear of losing something. You need to stand up and complete with your root
thought patterns to be rid of them. Please understand, even your ignorance is nothing but your fear of
expansion. Many times, you continue to pretend to be in ignorance, because of your fear of failure.
There are many levels of fear: fear of losing our wealth and status, fear of losing a limb or our health, fear
of losing our near and dear ones and fear of the unknown or death. That is why Kṛṣṇa says that Arjuna is not
behaving as an ārya, a word that can be interpreted as a nobleman; an integrated human, not a particular race
or caste. Vedic literature says that an ārya is one who is evolved, cultured, integrated and authentic, a prince
amongst men.

Arjuna is confronted with all the four fears: fear that he may lose whatever he
possesses, that he may be maimed in the war, that he may lose his near and
dear ones, and fourth, that he may lose his very life. These fears have in turn
led to his powerlessness of heart. Understand, all your fears, all your
anxieties, all your patterns are directed only in one line—fear of your
possibilities!
Your bigness frightens you. You always believe that you are suffocated by your smallness. NO! You are
suffocated by your bigness! Whenever bigness is demanded of you, whenever you feel you are being ‘forced’
to expand, you shrink even further into your comfort zone. Arjuna’s tiredness, his weakness, his powerlessness
all these are nothing but the resistance he has to seeing his own bigness!
That is why, when someone tells you that you are weak, poor and a sinner, it is so easy to accept it. But
if someone tells you that you are Divine, you are powerful, you are complete, your whole identity starts
trembling with fear! Arjuna trembles and collapses totally fearing his bigness, shrinking into his weak-
heartedness!
But life always demands your expansion, because expansion is the natural law of life. Here, Kṛṣṇa, the
source of life, demands Arjuna to stand up and expand into his powerfulness, and give up his degrading
powerlessness unbefitting an ārya prince, who is also famous as parantapa, conqueror of enemies.
But Arjuna is carrying such a deep fear of life, especially fear of life in the form of other people—because
people are the most living expression of Life! The whole Kaurava army and his dear ones are the people who
now represent his deepest fears of life.
Listen! The more you engage with life, the greater the expansion that will be demanded of you. Whenever
you are feeling weak, tired, and powerless, the first thing you should do is this: immediately take on ten
responsibilities and commit to fulfill them within an impossibly short time! Shake your inner space so
powerfully with that commitment that there will be no way for weakness and tiredness to grow inside you.

Kṛṣṇa directly addresses this weakness, powerlessness in Arjuna and the fear of life in the form of
his kinsmen with the śāstra, the explanation of wisdom that is directed to the head, the intellect. He
shakes Arjuna’s inner space demanding of him to take up the responsibility to stand up and commit
to powerfully uproot all his impossibilities, and fight— tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa!

Continuously human beings resist expansion. Incarnations happen on the

 planet to remind human beings about their possibilities, to expand
human consciousness. That is why again and again they are doubted.
Arjuna is Nara, human being who resists his expansion, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa is
Nārāyaṇa, Divine Incarnate who reminds him of his highest possibility of
expansion—that he is God, that Nara is the reflection of Nārāyaṇa, who is
mirroring the infinite inner space of God!
It is the authority with which Kṛṣṇa is seen transmitting the Gītā that makes it a scripture. ‘I am the
Divine,’ says Kṛṣṇa. ‘If you believe in Me, you too shall realize your inner divinity.’ It is this profound
and yet simple message that has resounded so deeply in the hearts, minds and beings of generations of Hindus,
in turn establishing the scriptural sanctity of the Gītā.

Possibility of Sudden Enlightenment

Here all the verses of the Gītā are reduced to just two verses by Kṛṣṇa.
He straightaway addresses and completes the root pattern where Arjuna is stuck, that is in his need for
name and fame or rajas. A man who is centered on satva, goodness, who has neither greed nor lethargy but a
neutral attitude, will work out of compassion. A man who is centered on rajas will work only for name and
fame. A man who is centered on tamas, lethargy, will work only for sensual pleasures.

Duryodhana works only through tamas, which explains his cruel and gross
behavior. Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭira works on satva, out of compassion. Here
Arjuna is centered on rajas, therefore he is working only for name and
fame. This is why Kṛṣṇa asks him not to work in this way as it would
ultimately bring Arjuna a bad name, akīrti karam arjuna. This is how He
straightaway puts His hand on the tumor, the tumor that is the subtle root
pattern working within Arjuna.
All Western philosophies begin with logical analysis and end with the conclusion. All Eastern processes
begin with the conclusion and then give the analysis. Eastern masters are compassionate. They first give us
the option of grasping the solution, if we have the intelligence. They expect us to transform with just the trust
in them. If we don’t have this qualification of grasping and trusting, they have no other option but to go into
detailed explanation, they start the regular process.

Here Kṛṣṇa tries the first method of sudden enlightenment, the immediate
liberation, the ultimate possibility but Arjuna is not mature enough to
receive it or comprehend it. So Kṛṣṇa now starts the process of explaining it
to him stepby-step.
 Surrender Is Not Based On Powerlessness

2.4 Arjuna says:

O Madhusūdana (killer of demon, Madhu), how can I oppose in battle, Bhīśma and Droṇa,
who are worthy of my worship?
2.5 I would rather beg for my food in this world than kill the most noble
of teachers.

If I kill them, all my enjoyment of wealth and desires will be stained with
blood.
2.6 I cannot say which is better; their defeating us or us defeating them. We do not wish to live
after slaying the sons of Dhṛtaṛāṣṭra who stand before us.
2.7 My heart is overwhelmed with pity and my mind is confused about what my duty is. I beg of You,
please tell me what is best for me.

I am your disciple. Instruct me, as I seek refuge in You.

2.8 Even if I were to attain unrivalled dominion and prosperity on Earth or even lordship
over the Gods,

How would that remove this sorrow that burns my senses?

Despite what Kṛṣṇa had said with total clarity, that Arjuna should get up and fight, Arjuna now
recounts all his previous arguments. It is as if he had not listened to Kṛṣṇa at all.

He once again implores Kṛṣṇa, ‘You, as the Lord of the Universe, have the
right to destroy what you please. As the Lord, You destroyed the demons
Madhu and Keśin and many other enemies. How can I, a mere mortal, be
bold enough to wage war against my grandfather and my teacher, with the
intent to kill them? They are ones I should worship, not destroy. I shall be
condemned if I fight them.’

Take Decisions out of Completion

Arjuna is now pleading Kṛṣṇa, ‘Oh Lord, leave me now! I will beg and eat becoming a Sannyāsi.’ He
continues, ‘It is better for me to seek alms as an ascetic or even a beggar than kill these elders—śreyo bhoktuṁ
bhaikṣyam apīha loke (2.5). Once my hands are stained with their blood, how can I enjoy worldly pleasures?
I am confused as to which would be better, for them to slay me or for me to slay them, yadvā jayema yadivā
no jayeyuḥ (2.6). How can we live after slaying our kinsmen and elders?— yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas.’
Understand, Bhagavān is not against Arjuna’s Sannyāsa. He does not want Arjuna to take Sannyās out of
powerlessness.
Arjuna says, ‘Oh Lord, leave me. I will beg and eat—bhoktuṁ bhaikṣyam.’ No! I tell you, Arjuna would
not have become a sannyāsī. He would have gone and asked for food in a royal way, ‘Hey, give me food.’ If
somebody doesn’t give, he would have picked up his gāṇḍiva bow and arrow to shoot the person for his food.
To become a Sannyāsi, Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Go to Sannyāsa out of completion.’ Bhagavān is only saying one
thing, ‘Out of completion, take any decision. Out of completion, take any decision!’
Listen. Bhagavān denies Arjuna even his decision to take Sannyāsa because Arjuna takes that decision
out of powerless pattern. He accepts Arjuna’s decision to fight, because he took the decision out of
powerfulness, completion! Whether it is Sannyās or fight, powerlessness never leads your life to any next
steps.

Arjuna says further, ‘Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all
composure because of misery and weakness—kārpaṇya doṣhopahata
svabhāvaḥ (2.7). I can see no solution to my dilemma. Even if I slay these
people and gain control over the earth, or even control over the heavens,
 what good will it do me? In this condition, I ask you to tell me, for certain,
what is best for me, yat śreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tanme. Now I am your
disciple and the soul is surrendered unto you. Please instruct me—śiṣyas
te’haṁ sādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (2.7).’
I must now tell you an important truth.
Here Arjuna says, ‘My soul is surrendered unto you—māṁ tvāṁ prapannam.’ This is a lie. Had his soul
been truly surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, he would simply have followed what Kṛṣṇa said and would not have waited
for an intellectual explanation.
Arjuna says his soul is surrendered to Kṛṣṇa but when Kṛṣṇa asks him to do His bidding, he is not ready
to do so and is confused! Surrender out of confusion is not surrender, as you do not even know if you are
doing the right thing.
Understand that surrender after clarity, intelligence of śāstras, out of completion, is true surrender.

Here Arjuna surrenders only verbally as he says that he is confused, that his
mind is bewildered, sammūḍha cetāh. You must either do what you think is
right or do as the Master instructs. Here Arjuna wants the Master to say
what he wants to hear, not what the Master wants to say. So, although
Arjuna says he has surrendered, he has not done so.

Kṛṣṇa, fully aware of Arjuna’s dilemma, moves forward in his mission to

destroy Arjuna’s identity, the root pattern. The Guru, Master is a surgeon
who removes the cancer of ego, the root thought pattern. This is what Kṛṣṇa
does throughout the Gītā dialogue. To give Arjuna credit, he stays through
this surgery. Many weaker men would have run away from the operation
theatre, this battlefield, with no desire to let go of their identities. Arjuna’s
greatness lies in his integrity, his powerful determination, his decision to
listen to his Master and be guided by Him.

Arjuna decides to surrender Powerlessness

So, Arjuna implores his Master, ‘Kṛṣṇa, please tell me what to do. I am your disciple. You are my refuge.’
Arjuna’s integrity lies also in not making any decision when he is feeling powerless. When you are in the
space of powerlessness, the only one decision you have to make is to come out of powerlessness. No other
decision should be made. When you are in powerlessness, any decision made leads to more and more
powerlessness, more and more suffering.
In his deepest powerless moments, the only decision Arjuna takes is to come out of his powerlessness.
He declares to Kṛṣṇa that he is His disciple and exposes his inauthenticies to Kṛṣṇa. It is this readiness to
surrender to the Master that brings completion to Arjuna and enriches him to take the responsibility to win the
war, which in reality is the war within himself. This is the war that each one of us is fighting each day with
our powerlessness, if we are truly aware. This is the war that we need to fight to drop our root pattern, our
mind, and the identity that binds us to all the bondages upon this earth.

Listen! Whatever you think is yours and whatever you think is you, is different from the truth. It is the
Master who can lead you through the path of self-completion, as Kṛṣṇa is now leading Arjuna. To be
led, you need the attitude of surrender, the decision to surrender your powerlessness.

We NEVER CEASE To Exist

2.9 Sañjaya said:

Guḍākeśa (Arjuna) then said to Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛsṇa), ‘Govinda, I shall not fight,’
and fell silent.
2.10 Then, Hṛṣīkeśa, Kṛṣṇa smilingly spoke the following words to the grief-
stricken Arjuna, as they were placed

in the midst of both armies.

2.11 Bhagavān said:
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for and yet, you speak words of wisdom.

The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
2.12 Never was there a time when I did not exist; nor did you, nor all these rulers,

And nor shall any of us ever cease to be hereafter.

2.13 Just as the spirit in this body passes through childhood, youth and old age, so does it pass
into another body; the man centered within himself does not fear this,

or deluded by this .

Even though it is written here in the past tense, I feel Kṛṣṇa should always be addressed in the present
tense. He is still relevant, present to each of us today. We cannot say, ‘Kṛṣṇa was’ but ‘Kṛṣṇa is’, not
‘Kṛṣṇa said’ but ‘Kṛṣṇa says.’

Once again, having lamented about what he is being forced to do, and not
wishing to do what he is expected to do, Arjuna, like a petulant child sits
down saying, ‘Govinda, I am not going to fight, na yotsya iti govindam
(2.9).’ It is as if Arjuna is waiting to be persuaded. He is seeking an
explanation.
Kṛṣṇa says to him gently and smilingly, ‘While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not
worthy of grief—aśocyān anvāśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase. Those who are wise lament neither for
the living nor for the dead—gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ (2.11).’
Again, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s incompletion directly, ‘O Arjuna! You speak as if you are intelligent,
enlightened, prajñā-vādāṁś.’ You speak the words without having experienced them. Therefore, your words
do not carry conviction. Your emotion, your being, shows that you are not enlightened, that you have not
understood. A truly enlightened person will never worry for the living or the dead.’ If you worry for somebody
living or dead, you cannot be an intelligent person. What is death and life after all? There are thousands, rather
millions, who have lived and gone.

KṚṢṆA’s first Enriching Words are Sānkhya

See the brilliance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa! He is so soaked in the space of completion. The moment Kṛṣṇa opens His
mouth, the first truth that comes out from Him is Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ. I can be sure that Kṛṣṇa is filled with Kapila.

Kṛṣṇa is the greatest follower of Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ. Please understand, when you
are in a crisis, the first few words you utter are the words with which you
solve your own problem. When somebody asks you for advice, what comes
up first? The words that you use to enrich yourself, will only come out to
enrich others.

You exist in past, present and future

Sañjaya says Kṛṣṇa was smiling as He uttered these words. Kṛṣṇa must have been laughing at Arjuna.
‘You fool; you pretend to be wise and quote the scriptures.Who do you think you are quoting the scriptures
to? What can you understand of what I Myself have said?’
Kṛṣṇa continues: ‘Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you and all these kings, and never in
the future shall any of us cease to be.’

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ I

na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ paraṁ II 2.12
With this verse begins the essence of the whole Gītā. This is ātmajñāna, Self-Realization, the knowledge
of completion. If you can understand this one verse, you can become enlightened straightaway and enter into
eternal bliss.
 If you think our souls will also die with our bodies, you are wrong. We were there before our birth and
will remain after death. It is not true that any of us will not be in the future.
Listen. You existed in the past, exist in the present and will exist in the future. Your face and body may
change but you continue to exist. Then why do we think we will die and why do we fear death? If what Kṛṣṇa
says is true, why are we worried about this life and about death? You need to first understand the concept of
the past, present and future to enable you to understand what Kṛṣṇa says.
Let me explain this concept of time first.Time is like a shaft continuously moving from the future on the
right into the past on the left (see diagram). The future is on your right and the past is on your left. The
future is continuously moving into the past; every moment and every second it is turning into the past. The
present is the point where the future and the past meet.

Present Moment
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40 TPS

20 TPS

0 TPS

Past Time Shaft Future

Each Moment Slipping
from Future to Past

Your mind as such is nothing but movements between the past and the future.
You cannot have any thoughts if you stop thinking about the past and the future. Your thoughts consist of
nothing but the constant movements between the past and the future. The more your thoughts shift from
past to future or future to past, the higher the frequency of thoughts. The less you shift from past to future
or future to past, the lesser the number of thoughts. Try to think of something in the present, you will find
that you cannot. You can think of it only by taking it into the past or future. You are either worrying about
the future or remembering the past.
The higher the frequency of thoughts, the more you are caught in the physical and material world. For
example, if you have 100 Thoughts Per Second (TPS,) it means you have jumped 100 times back and forth
between the past and future in one second! If you have 80 TPS, it means you have jumped 80 times between
these two dimensions. The higher the frequency, the more you will be away from the present and more
problems you have. If the number of thoughts reduces, you fall into the present moment.

The past, present and future, all the three put together are eternal, Nitya or Ātman. Only when you come
to the present moment do you experience Ātman—your true Self, but as of now you are constantly shuttling
between the past and future. When the number of thoughts reduces, you will not even be aware of the passage
of time. For example, when you are with someone you love, even two or three hours will seem like a short
while. But, when you are with someone whose company is boring, even a short time seems very long.
Time is more psychological than chronological. That is why, in our scriptures or Vedas, we have the word
kṣaṇa to describe the unit of time. Kṣaṇa does not denote one second, but is defined as the gap or time interval
between two thoughts. The larger the kṣaṇa or the gap between two thoughts, the more in the present we are.
Each person’s kṣaṇa will be different depending on how busy his mind is! When our TPS is lower, we will
naturally be in completion, in ecstasy, in bliss.
Kṛṣṇa says beautifully, ‘You were there in the past, you are in the present and you will be in the future;
you do not die. You existed before birth and will remain after death. Whatever dies, can never live. Whatever
lives can never die.’ When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘You are the eternal soul,’ He means that as a being, you are beyond
time.
Here, your deep consciousness says that something is living in you. This quality you wrongly attribute to
your body and mind. You are not the body or the mind. As long as you are caught in the past and the future
incompletions, you think that you are the body-mind. The moment you come down to the present moment,
you are in the eternal space of completion, you experience that you are beyond the body, beyond the mind.
The gist of the second chapter, Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ is that you are the soul, that you are complete, that
you are divine and that you are God.
Completion is the only methodology where you can complete with your past and future incompletions.
You need to know that when you do completion now, don’t think that only your future will be in completion
and complete. No! Even your past gets altered. Even your past becomes complete! The moment you create
the space of completion, what Kṛṣṇa declares, ‘you are the eternal soul, beyond your body and mind,’ becomes
reality in your life.
Kṛṣṇa is established in the space of Sāṅkhya knowledge. Kapila Muni, the founder of Sāṅkhya, does not
elaborately talk about God, but he talks about the methodology to reach God. Sāṅkhya does not speak about
God, because completion itself is given the place of God. Please understand, Sāṅkhya does not have the system
of God because the methodology to reach God is made as God. It is a lifestyle. The methodology of completion
is God. Completion is God!
 The ONLY REALITY Is IMPERMANENCE

2.1 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), contact with sense objects causes heat and cold, pleasure and
pain, and these have a beginning and an end. O Bhārata, these are not permanent; endure them
bravely.
2.2 O Purṣurṣabha, chief among men, these surely do not afflict the brave person who is
centered and complete,

Pleasure and pain are the same to him and

he is certainly ready for immortality, amṛtatvā.
2.3 The non-existent (asat) has no being;
that which exists (sat) never ceases to exist;
This truth about both is perceived and concluded by the Seers of Truth.
2.4 Know It to be indestructible, by which all this body is pervaded. Nothing can destroy It, the
Imperishable.
2.5 These bodies of material energy are perishable.
The energy itself is eternal, incomprehensible and indestructible. Therefore, fight, O Bhārata.

Kṛṣṇa says here that the sensory experiences, mātrā-sparśhaḥ are all temporary. Feelings of hot and
cold, śītoṣṇa, sweet and sour, wet and dry, experiences of pain and pleasure, sukha-duḥkha, as well as
other experiences of like and dislike are all temporary, anityāḥ. These experiences do not affect the
centered person who is qualified to be enlightened, so amṛtatvāya kalpate.

Make your perception pure and patternless

Nitya and anithya do not translate into real and unreal. In the same way māyā , loosely translated as
illusion, is not unreal. Māyā and anitya are real and perceived by our senses but they refer to things that are
not true, that are not lasting. They are factually real but truthfully unreal! That which is true will always be
true; it cannot cease to exist. Truth here refers to the state of permanence, of being eternal.
I tell you, if there is fire burning and you sit at a distance and just go on gazing at the fire, you will feel
the heat in your body! If you just turn your eyes away while maintaining the same distance—you will not see
the burning and no more experience the burning in your body! How? The seeing has reduced the distance
between you and the fire! That is perception and reality!
This is what Śrī Kṛṣṇa means when He says, ‘O son of Kuntī, contact with sense objects causes heat and
cold, pleasure and pain, and these have a beginning and an end.’
Understand, a pattern is any action that is unfulfilled as per your fantasy, either because of an
outside hindrance or an inside hindrance, and is in incompletion!
Please listen! Now, I am defining perception.
The way your patterns react and respond to the facts is perception. Perception is nothing but
processed facts. There are three levels of perception:
• No pattern, no perception—that is the worst.
• Pattern with perception—that is okay.
Perception but with no pattern—that is the best.
If only facts are playing a hundred percent role, you don’t have any pattern. These are the non-responders
who are soaked in dullness. They neither have patterns nor have consciousness. The vast eleven lakh (one
hundred and ten million) army of Kauravas signifies this dull unconscious space of ‘no pattern, no
perception.’ They lived in stupid materialism with their life philosophy as stupid atheism. That is why
Duryodhana is never attacked by any pattern or dilemma that overpowers Arjuna.
Then, there are responders who have ‘patterns with perceptions.’ The moment Arjuna sees the vast
Kaurava army, his whole body and being shiver with the fear pattern. His patterns do not let him see the army
as army and just fight as per his natural perception of himself as a warrior. No! He sees relatives, friends and
teachers and wants to escape the war; he wants to shrink from life!
Ultimately, we have the Lord of all perceptions, the one with complete consciousness, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa
Himself! His very existence is the pure space of perception. He is the destroyer of all patterns, who enriches
Arjuna in destroying and completing with the army of root patterns by transforming Arjuna’s own perception!
As long as we are in this present moment, we have a pure perception without any patterns, only then we
are truly complete and integrated. The present moment never ceases to exist. In fact, that is all that does exist.
The present moment alone is sat, truth, everything else is asat, untruth.
The process where we perceive or receive information through five senses, internalize it with our
root thought patterns, and respond based on our patterns is Cognition. Now it is proven that it is our root
thought pattern that leads to our cognition and thereafter determines our genetics.

In these verses, Kṛṣṇa says first that the spirit pervades the body— avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ
tatam. His definition of body is the body-mind system. Secondly, He states that the body and mind are
destroyed at death—antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śārīriṇaḥ. Thirdly, He declares that the spirit does not
die at death—vināśam avyayasyāsya na kascit kartum arhati. Fourthly, He explains that the spirit is beyond
our mental comprehension—anāśino prameyasya.
When death happens, bodily functions stop and the senses, which are a function of the mind, stop working.
The entire body-mind system is then left by itself and it degenerates. This part is clear to all of us who have
seen death. What is unclear or unknown to us is that there is something within us that does not perish at death.
Kṛṣṇa clarifies here that this is the Self, Ātman, the energy that never dies.
Kṛṣṇa urges Arjuna to fight saying, ‘Therefore, fight, O Bhārata, tāsmad yudhyasva bharāta’, with the
full understanding that what he thinks of as real is unreal, that what he thinks of as permanent, Nitya is
impermanent, Anitya and what he thinks he is about to destroy can, in truth, never be destroyed.
Kṛṣṇa tells him to open his eyes and see with pure pattern less perception; that what he is about to do will
only destroy that which is going to perish anyway. Even if he wants to, Arjuna cannot destroy the imperishable,
avināśi spirit that lives on.
Arjuna’s concern about the death of his kinsmen and elders arises out of his root pattern of fear and
insecurity about his own death. He does not realize his true imperishable nature and therefore he is afraid of
dying. By extension of this fear, he is afraid of others’ deaths as well, especially at his own hands. Kṛṣṇa tells
him that there is no such thing as death and that death is unreal, anāśinaḥ.
Sāṅkhya is reality. What exists as reality is perceived by you without the interference, perversions created
by your powerless patterns. Sāṅkhya is the philosophy of reality—ultimate existentialism. Completion will
lead you to experience that Sāṅkhya, the reality, existential reality—Tattva Satya, Satya Tattva!
 You ARE IMMORTAL

2.14 Neither understands, he who takes the Self to be slayer nor he who
thinks he is slain.

He who knows the Truth understands that the Self does not slay, nor is
It slain.
2.15 The Self is neither born nor does It ever die. After having
been, It never ceases not to be.

It is Unborn, Eternal, Changeless and Ancient. It is not killed when the body is
killed.
2.16 O Pārtha, how can man slay or cause others to be slain, When he knows It to be
indestructible, eternal, unborn, and unchangeable?
2.17 Just as man casts off his worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, The Self casts off worn-out bodies
and enters newer ones.
2.18 Weapons do not cleave the Self, fire does not burn It, water does not moisten It. And
wind does not dry It.
2.19 The Self can neither be broken, nor burnt, nor dissolved, nor dried up.

It is Eternal, All-pervading, Stable, Immovable and Ancient.

The Self is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable and unchangeable and able. Knowing this to be such, you
should not grieve.
Understand, the moment Bhagavān is opening His mouth, you are given an amazing introduction about
you!

Kṛṣṇa is one of the greatest followers of Kapila, the celebrated

Incarnation of Mahādev and Viṣṇu in Śrimad Bhāgavatam. Kapila is
the first thinking man on the planet who experienced completion, the
founding father of this great Sāṇkhya philosophy, the founder of
Mahānirvaṇi Pīṭha. That is why even when Bhagavān addresses His own
glory later, when He introduces Himself, He says, ‘siddhānāṁ kapilo
muniḥ (10.26) - Among the great perfect beings, the complete beings, I am
Kapila.’ ‘I am Kapila among the siddhas, the great incarnations!’
Siddha means a complete being. This means that in Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s time, Kapila was the star of the spiritual
world. That is why He remembers Kapila. That is why I say that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is also the
Mahāmandaleśvar (spiritual head) of Mahānirvaṇi Pīṭha. Śrī Kṛṣṇa also studied Sāṅkhya; He is a follower of
Sāṅkhya philosophy.

There is no Death in Reality

Kṛṣṇa directly addresses some of Arjuna’s earlier doubts in these verses. Arjuna has claimed that
destroying his people, svajanam will bring him untold grief, not only in this world but in future births as well.
Kṛṣṇa explains to Arjuna that all his fears are misplaced. There is no death in reality. What is seen as death is
the destruction of the impermanent body. No one therefore can kill another person or be killed by another
person. Both are illusions.
Here Kṛṣṇa is talking to someone who has witnessed death. So, He has to explain to him that death does
not exist. It is the individual’s attachment to the body that creates the illusion that the individual also perishes
with the body. Attachment to the body is the most intense of all attachments. We also get attached to material
possessions as well as our relationships. The potential loss of these leads to fears similar to that of losing one’s
body. One who understands that all these attachments are temporary and are the cause of all our suffering,
understands the truth. Understanding this truth removes all fears.
 In some cultures, people are bred on the pattern that one’s life ends at death. This pattern leads to desperate
inadequate cognition, as if there is no further time to seek happiness. Once a person understands that death,
like birth, is merely a passage, and sees the continuity of being, the fear of losing one’s identity disappears
along with fears of sin and hell.
This is why religions that accept the continuance of life after death, as Hinduism and Buddhism do; breed
a culture of tolerance amongst their followers. There is no rush to live and extract the maximum juice out of
one’s life in a single birth. They propound that we all come from a common energy source and we go back to
this source, and the cycle continues. Those who understand this spiritual truth teach completion, inclusion and
compassion, and they have no desire to convert others to their beliefs.
Here Kṛṣṇa reveals to him a more subtle level of truth that he hasn’t yet grasped. Arjuna shies away from
killing, not because of his conviction of ahimsā, non-violence, but because of his root thought pattern that he
identifies with the people he has to destroy. His hesitation is from his delusory incompletions, ignorance,
attachment and fantasy, not from the wisdom of non-violent compassion.
You may ask, ‘If nothing is destroyed and nothing can be destroyed, is there no sin in killing at all? So
Kṛṣṇa is indifferent to mass violence? No, He is not. For one thing, Kṛṣṇa speaks as an enlightened Master
from an existentialist perspective and declares that, even when the body perishes, the spirit lives on, and
therefore, there is no death.

Completion with Violence

Violence and killing are not merely physical acts. They are psychological compulsions acted out of
incompletion in the physical realm. The ruler of a country who orders warfare against others is the violent
one, even if he hides behind his throne. Violence of the mind carries on as the vāsana or desires; the essence
of the spirit, that incarnates from birth to birth. That is the horror that does not end with death. The spirit is
violated, degraded, and degenerated by this attitude of violence.
A violent man is always a coward, an inauthentic person who does not have the courage to face the truth.
He does not have the sensitivity to treat others as he expects to be treated. He goes out-of-integrity, losing his
power of words, isolating himself in a cocoon of lies, using the excuse of defending himself, and commits
violence against others.

When we become aware and conscious that the person next to us is actually an expression of the energy of
God, how can we possibly respond with violence? It has nothing to do with whether someone is family, part
of our culture, religion or nation; or part of our history, habits or beliefs. The other person may oppose all that
we believe in. Yet he is as much a part of this Universe as we are.
If this message of Kṛṣṇa is truly understood, there can be no violence in this world, no self-hatred and no
killing at all. You will not even kill an insect. You will not kill even in self-defense because once you are in
completion, your space of completion is transmitted to the other being and that being will not even attack you.
One of the important secrets I want to share with you.
Any root pattern you carry can be destroyed if you just have love for people. Decide to go on
enriching everyone who is happening in your life. When you enrich others, be very clear, you are constantly
getting enriched. Decide life is for others. Life is for enriching. Enriching is life!
Enriching is you taking the responsibility with integrity and authenticity that you are continuously
committed to enriching, which is expanding yourself and life in and around you.
Listen! The purpose for which you are born is enriching yourself and others. When you operate out of
this understanding, you are most alive, at your peak and living enlightenment!
Just decide that life is for others! All the best things will be showered on you. You will get back to the
space you were in when you were born— the purest space of life, the imperishable space! This is the jumpstart
technique for enlightenment. Decide from this moment, ‘Life is for Others! Life is for Enriching!’ All your
insecurity, fear, anger, greed, all your root patterns will become rootless patterns. Kṛṣṇa is giving this jump-
start technique of enlightenment to Arjuna so that he enriches himself and others and fights to destroy the very
root of his root pattern of fear and violence .
Do not fear Death, you are Imperishable
Kṛṣṇa continues with Sāṅkhya, the knowledge of completion:
Just as man casts off his worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, the Self casts off worn-out bodies
and enters newer ones, anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī (2.22).Weapons do not cleave the Self, fire does not
burn It, water does not moisten It, and wind does not dry It. The Self can neither be broken, nor burnt, nor
dissolved, nor dried up. It is eternal, all pervading, stable, immovable and ancient.

nainaṁ chindanti saśtrāṇi nainaṁ dahāti pāvakaḥ I

na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ II 2.23
These verses are amongst the most quoted verses of Bhagavad Gītā. Here, in very few words, Kṛṣṇa
expounds upon the entire truth of life and death, mind, body and spirit. He clarifies why we should accept
death gladly, as a matter of fact and course, instead of grieving over it. He says this so simply that even an
innocent child can understand this truth.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘O Arjuna, the Soul is not destroyed at all. No astra, no brahmāstra, no nuclear weapon can
destroy the energy within the body. Fire cannot burn It, water cannot wet It, and air cannot dry It. It is not
made of the elements and cannot be destroyed by the elements. It is the energy behind the elements that creates
the elements. How can It then die?’
‘It cannot be disintegrated in any manner, by breaking, dissolving, burning or drying, acchedyo ’yam
adāhyo ’yam akledyo ’soṣya eva ca. It is eternal. It transcends all the elemental powers. It pervades the
Universe, nityaḥ sarva gataḥ sthānuṛ (2.24). It has been there always, sanātanaḥ. Therefore, It never can be
destroyed.’
 Death Is But A Passage

2.20 O Mahābāho (mighty-armed), even if you should think of the Soul as being
constantly born and constantly dying, Even then, you should not lament.
2.21 Indeed, death is certain for the born and birth is certain
for the dead.

Therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.

2.22 O Bhārata, all beings are unmanifest in their beginning, seemingly manifest in their
middle, and unmanifest again in their end.

So, what need then for grieving?

2.23 One sees It as a wonder, another speaks of It as a wonder, another hears of It as a wonder.

Yet, having heard, none understands It at all!

2.24 O Bhārata, This that dwells in the body of everyone
can never be slain; Therefore, do not grieve for any living being.
Death is inevitable for the born, jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur; and birth is certain for the dead, dhruvaṁ janma
mṛtasya ca. Whether the spirit lives on after the body perishes and locates itself in another body may be a
debatable point to some. Kṛṣṇa says that this is not a reason to lament death, na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi (2.27).
In either case, death can be a passage that one can look forward to.
Bringing the dead back to life is not a wonder or miracle. The real wonder and mystery though, is the
transformation of individuals instilling in them the truth of completion to live integrity, authenticity,
responsibility and enriching, and causing these four powers of words, thinking, feeling and living as reality.
This indeed is the miracle that only a true Master can perform.
I tell you, mystery school is nothing but the Master’s inner space with his vast responsibility—whoever
comes inside, in whatever form is processed, transformed and released!

Fear of Unfulfilled Desires

The illustrious King Yayāti lived for hundreds of years.
Bhāgavatam, the great Hindu epic, says that when Yama, the god of death, came to Yayāti at his appointed
time of death, Yayāti begged to be allowed to live on. Due to his deep incompletions with life, he said he had
not lived life enough and he needed more time. Yama relented and said that if one of his sons would give
Yayāti the rest of his life, then he could live that long. Using the life span of his son, Yayāti lived many more
years but with more and more incompletions.
Finally the realization dawned on him that no matter how long he lived, his incomplete desires would never
cease and that his completion would never happen through material enjoyment. Yayāti completed with his
root pattern and gave himself up to Yama once he realized this truth.
It is not death that frightens us. It is leaving our incomplete desires and unlived life that frightens us. The
problem is that we do not know how to live a fulfilled life in the space of completion. All our desires are
partially fulfilled or incomplete because, before they are fulfilled, we move on to other desires. The hangover
of that past incomplete desire continues to chase us as a pattern in the present. The simple fact is that we do
not know how to be complete, joyful.
Please listen. Every thought, every desire you have is a commitment you have given to yourself. Every
thought you complete is a word you have given to you. You have to honor it. You cannot entertain any thought
of fear or greed, doubt or denial because you are literally sitting under a kalpataṛu, a wish-fulfilling tree, all
the time!
Completion means feeling empowered, feeling powerful, without any hangover, without feeling
powerless, during and after every situation in your life! If you are powerful, you won’t be violent. You
will not be in guilt, fear or carry incomplete desires.
Kṛṣṇa reveals that to be truly complete, joyful, to be eternally blissful, is to cognize the truth that you are
indestructible, that your spirit lives on, and that life and death are but a mere passage. When you cognize this
truth and start living it with integrity and authenticity, you will be living death. If not, you will be dead living.
Kṛṣṇa declares to Arjuna, ‘O Bhārata, whatever is permanent and real was unmanifest before it became
manifest in the middle—avyaktādīnī bhūtani vyakta-madhyāni bharāta and again it will become unmanifest—
avyakta-nidhanāny eva. Therefore, what is the need to lament, tatra kā paridevanā (2.28).’
Everything is in a state of becoming something else. At every moment we die and are reborn; millions of
cells in our body-mind system die every day and are reborn. Yet, through all this change there is continuity.
There is a continuity that we cannot see, touch or feel. What we see as manifested, as this body and mind,
hides from us the process of constant change that happens within us, as well as the continuous thread that
holds the whole process together.
 RESPONSIBILITY Of The KS.ATRIYA

2.25 You should look at your own responsibility [svadharma} as a kṣatriya.

There is nothing higher for a kṣatriya than a righteous war. You ought not to hesitate.
2.26 O Pārtha, happy indeed are the kṣatriya who are called to fight in such
a battle without seeking;

This opens for them the door to heaven.

2.27 If you will not fight this righteous war, then you will incur the sin of having abandoned
your own responsibility [svadharma], and you will lose your reputation.
2.28 People, too, will remember your everlasting dishonor, and to one who has been honored,
dishonor is worse than death.
2.29 The great generals will think that you have withdrawn from the battle because you
are a coward.

You will be looked down upon by those who

had thought much of you and your heroism in the past.
2.30 Many unspeakable words would be spoken by your enemies reviling your power. Can there be
anything more painful than this?
2.31 Slain, you will achieve heaven; victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore, O Kaunteya (son of
Kuntī), stand up determined to fight.
Pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat—treat them all the same. Do battle for the sake of
battle. You shall incur no sin.
Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s fears about killing his svajanam, his relatives, elders and teaches him that what
he considers to be the end of life for these people is just one step in their journey.
Kṛṣṇa then descends to the practical level at which Arjuna exists and begins addressing his svadharma,
Arjuna’s own dharma, the natural path of his responsibility. Kṛṣṇa explains to Arjuna why, from a societal
point of view, he should not run away from the battlefield, but instead, stay on and fight as behaves a warrior.
Kṛṣṇa here addresses Arjuna as kṣatriya, the warrior.

To Fight Is Your Responsibility, O Arjuna

When Kṛṣṇa refers to Arjuna as a kṣatriya, he is referring to the entire personality of Arjuna, the great
warrior, which has been decided only partly by birth and mostly by training based on his aptitude. Arjuna is
the quintessential warrior who knows no fear, and yet is now disturbed by issues of whether he is doing right
or wrong by fighting against his kinsmen.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Fight! You are a kṣatriya. By fighting as your own responsibility demands,
svadharmam api cāvekṣya (2.31), you earn merits and go to heaven. If you run away from this war, you
commit a sin for being out-of-integrity with your responsibility, hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi (2.33). You will
also be termed a coward and people who know you will laugh at you, akīrtiṁ cāpi bhūtani kathayiṣyanti te
‘vyayām (2.3). You will be dishonored, and for a kṣatriya, dishonor is far worse than death, sambhāvitasya
cākīrtir maraṇād atiricyate (2.34).

‘Do not worry about victory or defeat. If you are defeated and slain you will ascend to heaven. If you are
victorious, you will enjoy material benefits in this world itself. Therefore, O Kaunteya, fight as it is your
responsibility as a kṣatriya.’

hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm I

tasmād uttiṣṭha kaunteya yuddhāya kṛta-niścayaḥ II 2.37
Kṛṣṇa says to treat pain and pleasure, gain and loss, victory and defeat all the same. He says to fight
without worrying about the outcome. To fight is your responsibility. You shall incur no sin.
 sukha-dukḥe same kṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau I
tato yuddhāya yujyasya naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi II 2.38
Kṛṣṇa’s exhortation is beyond human rationale. It is not what you do that matters; it is who you are being
that matters. It is your space that matters.
Kṛṣṇa is not worried about what you do, He is concerned only about who you are being. If your actions
are from completion, if they are innocent of motives, whatever you do is right. If what you do is motivated by
patterns of fear and greed, pain and pleasure, victory and defeat, you can do nothing right. Whatever you do
for gain is sinful.
Understand, if the gap between who you are and who you want to be is without responsibility, it is greed.
If it is with responsibility, it is possibility! When there is no responsibility-bridge, it is greed. When you are
building the responsibility-bridge to achieve what you want to be, then it becomes a possibility; it is no more
greed!
We always feel that responsibility is a burden. NO! It is a power!
Responsibility directly leads you to leadership consciousness. As long as you feel responsible only for
your family, you remain as the head of your family. When you feel responsible for the community, you become
a leader of the community. As your feeling of responsibility expands, your leadership quality also expands.
The decision to feel responsible for the whole Cosmos is Enlightenment! Feeling responsible for the
Whole and declaring to live by your feeling is responsible declaration, known in Hindu spiritual practice
as nididhyāsana.
Responsible declaration unlocks the power of feeling, prema śakti in you. But the moment you hear
that you are responsible for everything happening around you, you think, ‘If I feel responsible for all the
garbage on the streets, I will be stuck cleaning it up the whole day! I will not be able to do anything else!’
Please listen!
I am not saying that if you feel responsible for the streets, you will need to clean them yourself. I am also
not saying that you will NOT clean them yourself. Anything may happen, but don’t be afraid to dive into the
feeling of responsibility just because of your imaginary complications. Don’t stop yourself from feeling it at
all.
Understand the science of feeling. You can feel anything as joy or anything as pain—it is your freedom!
Even the greatest achievement can bring pain to you, and even the worst experience can be a joyful learning.
You have the ability to decide how you want to feel!
All your suffering pain, anger, guilt, fear, jealousy, frustration is nothing but powerlessness expressing in
different ways! When you feel responsible for everything that happens in your life, you will feel that
everything is joyful—because nothing can make you powerless. So, empower yourself with responsibility and
unlock the power of feeling.
When you take responsibility to fulfill what others expect from you, the whole Cosmos expresses through
you! You will have extraordinary powers, because it is directly seva, enriching others. Whenever you enrich
others with a feeling of responsibility, without having any other motive, the Cosmos celebrates your Existence.
It just celebrates your Existence!
Kṛṣṇa, as the transcendental Parabrahman, is not concerned about the practical and societal consequences
of Arjuna walking out of the battlefield. He is only concerned about what that would do to Arjuna’s inner self.
He wants Arjuna to reclaim his inner space, which is occupied by his self-doubt.
 EXPERIENCE MATTERS Not KNOWLEDGE

2.32 Thus far, what has been taught to you concerns the wisdom of Sāṅkhya. Now,
listen to the wisdom of yoga [buddiyoga].
Having known this, O Pārtha, you shall cast off the bonds of action.
2.33 There is no wasted effort or dangerous effect in this path of yoga. Even a little
knowledge of this, even a little practice of this dharma, protects and releases one from very great
fear.
2.34 O Joy of Kuru, on this path (of yoga), the intelligence is resolute with a single-
pointed determination. The thoughts of the irresolute are many, branched and endless.
2.35 Men of little knowledge, who are very much attached to eulogizing the flowery words of the Vedas,
O Pārtha, argue that, ‘there is nothing else’; these advocates of Vedas (vādīna) look upon and
recommend various fruitful actions for elevation to heavenly planets, resulting in high birth,
power, and so forth. Thus being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there
is nothing more than this to living.
2.36 Those whose minds are attached to sense pleasures and lordship, who are diverted by such
teachings, for them, the determination for steady meditation and samādhi, fixed intelligence does
not happen.
2.37 O Arjuna! Be you above the three guṇas (attributes) that the Vedas deal in: free yourself from the
pairs-of-opposites and be always in satva (goodness), free from all thoughts of acquisition (yoga)
or preservation (kṣema), and be established in the Self.
The Brāhmaṇa (sage), who has known the Self, has little use for the vedic scriptures, as these are like a
pool of water in a place that is already in flood, overflowing with a great water reservoir.

All the great scriptures, Vedas, Upaniṣads and Gītā, exist at different levels of understanding, seven
levels, to be precise, depending on the energy level that one dwells in. At the highest level one understands
that all that there is, is INFINITE, each one infinitely powerful. There is no experiencer, experienced or
experience as separate entities at the highest energy level; ALL is INFINITE.
Kṛṣṇa refers to that truth here in these verses, the truth of the highest energy. ‘Do not be carried away by
the apparent ritualistic approach of the Vedas as propounded by half learned scholars,’ the Master says, ‘go
beyond; go beyond duality, nirdvando. All these seem to bring joy but are transient; that joy is the brief
intermission between periods of sorrow. Go beyond the three attributes, nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna and seek
the firm truth of the Infinite, the Union, that is Yoga,’ He says to Arjuna.
 Act Without WORRY ABOUT RESULTS

2.44 You have a right only to work,

but never to the fruits (outcome) of action. Never let the fruit of
action be your motive; and never let your attachment be to inaction.
2.45 O Dhanañjaya!
Do your actions dropping all attachment to the outcome, being centered and
complete in Yoga.

Be balanced in success and failure. Such evenness of mind is Yoga.

The entire teaching of Bhagavad Gītā can be summarized in the above two verses. The sheer brilliance
of the wisdom of the Universal Master is reflected in these verses. Whenever I get a
chance I refer to these verses to explain how one should lead one’s life.
Kṛṣṇa says many, many things in these few words. He says, ‘You have the right and responsibility to
work. You have no responsibility or right to the results of that work. Do not focus on the result and make it
either a pattern of greed to chase or fear to stay away from. Do what you have to do with a centered mind, a
complete inner space without worrying about whether you will succeed or fail.’

karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana I

mā karmaphala hetur bhur mā te saṅgo’stv akarmaṇi II 2.47

Nothing more can be said or ever needs to be said about why and how one should perform.

Many people wrongly communicate and misunderstand these verses. There are people who stay away from
work that they fear may end in adverse negative results. As long as the results can be positive either to
themselves or others, they will carry out and complete what they are assigned sincerely. But when they think
that something bad may happen, that they may fail, they will stop doing whatever they are doing.
One of the biggest problems human beings have is this—you love to be successful, but you deeply believe
that you are a failure. This is one of the biggest paradoxes. This shows the lack of integrity in your thinking.
Understand, some of your actions may be a failure, some of your decisions or dimensions may be a failure,
but YOU are never failure, because you are still breathing!
Do what you have to do as your right and responsibility, without worrying about the results. Do not act
with hopes of a certain reward. Do not stop doing what you need to do because you are afraid of what may lie
ahead.
Constantly bring integrity to your thinking, authenticity to your feeling, responsibility to your actions,
enriching to your lifestyle!
With integrity, you will literally clean your inner space of the constant unwanted beliefs that you carry,
like the strong belief that you will be a failure. This continuous belief holds you from taking responsibility for
your actions, makes you worry about the results, and leads you towards failure! When you start thinking with
integrity, you will diagnose those self-fulfilling negative prophecies that you constantly give to yourself.
If you have a strong idea or self-doubt what you are doing is going to be a failure, the moment you think
that it is a failure, it is a commitment and word you are giving to you. Do you understand? So if you give that
word, you naturally have to fulfill it. Do you want to fulfill that word? No. Then tell yourself that I am not
going to fulfill it. It means that whenever you have a thought, ‘I am a failure,’ you should know—this is a
commitment I am making to me, and I have to honor it. You may say that it comes on its own. Then complete
it! Consciously disown and complete with it.

Integrity teaches Responsibility In Action

When you clean your inner space with the power of integrity, you will realize that all the contradictions,
conflicts and confusions you carry are responsible for your whole life, for all reactions you attract from others
and society. You are responsible for all your actions, the reactions you attract from others and the happenings
of life. Integrity will automatically teach you responsibility. You will understand that for everything happening
in and around you, you are responsible.
Integrity is the first lesson of spiritual life. Integrity is not just a simple vow, a simple word. Integrity is
all about ironing out your thinking, aligning your thinking. If you bring integrity to your inner space, you will
realize that even accidents are attracted by you. You are attracting everything in your life, whether it is wealth
or poverty, right or wrong. You are responsible for your life.
When you are in completion, with integrity, without internal conflict or contradictions, whatever you
project on the cosmos is a project for the cosmos! Simply cosmos does it. When you are integrated, the outer
world obeys you just like that. That is the power of integrity! Please listen: nothing is political or accidental
on the planet Earth. Everything runs on the natural law of life, dharma of these four principles.
Yoga is union, union of man and Divine. Yoga is completion with the Divine.
Yoga is your realization of your own Self, your realization that you are divine. It is the state of completion,
the state of truth, the state of the present, when all that you do will be in righteous consciousness, dharma.
When you perform with this completion, and with no expectations, you will do what is right and just.
 Be STEADY With AUTHENTICITY IN ACTION

2.44 O Dhanañjaya, beyond the action with selfish motive is Yoga (of action) in
wisdom [buddhiyoga].

Wretched are those whose motive is the fruit (outcome); Surrender yourself fully to
the wisdom of completion.
2.45 Endowed with the wisdom of evenness of mind, move away from both
good and evil deeds in this life; Therefore, devote yourself to Yoga. Authenticity in
action is Yoga.
2.46 The wise, having abandoned the outcome of their actions and possessed of
knowledge of completion, are freed from the cycle of birth and death. They go to the state that
is beyond all sorrow.
2.47 When your wisdom takes you beyond the delusion, You shall be indifferent to all what
has been heard and what is yet to be heard.
2.48 When you are not confused by what you have heard and your wisdom stands steady and unmoving in
the Self, You shall attain Yoga, Self-realization.

He says, ‘Act without attachment. Do not worry about success or failure in results. Center yourself in
wisdom of completion

that takes you beyond action and the desire for fruits of action. Once you are centered in wisdom
of completion you will act wisely. Once you give up attachment to results, you will be freed
from the cycle of birth and death and you will be beyond sorrow.’
In the next verse, Kṛṣṇa begins initiating Arjuna into yoga with the second tattva of authenticity or
śraddha. Kṛṣṇa is the greatest strategist of life.
Here, He begins revealing the truth of authenticity, the strategy of life, the strategy that will make Arjuna
succeed and expand!
Kṛṣṇa declares, ‘yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam.’ Please understand, I first want you to understand these words:
‘yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam—yoga is authenticity in action.’ Not just ‘perfection in action’ but I am translating
it as ‘authenticity in action.’

buddhi yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte I

tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalaṁ II 2.50

Let me define Authenticity.

Authenticity is you being established in the peak of your energy, the peak of your capability, and
responding to life from who you perceive yourself to be for you and who you project yourself to
be for others, and what others expect you to be for them.
Listen, the moment I say ‘expanding you more and more, continuously,’ do you feel, ‘Oh, God! Then it
is unending process? I will never be able to rest at all!’ If you cherish this idea in you, then you are death-
oriented; you are entertaining death in your heart. The idea you entertain in your life invites different
happenings of life. So, don’t blame, if you get any killer diseases in your life, because you invited them.
Understand, first thing you need to do is break that pattern.

Every time inauthenticity is allowed in you, it leaves a powerful fear in you. Arjuna’s
inauthenticity in not raising himself to his responsibility and to others’ expectation of him as a
warrior, led him to be death-oriented and collapse with fear.

Whenever you need more time to do more work, stop the time, complete the work, and allow
time to move. You can do! Listen. Something has to grow in your body—either life or death.
Life has no pause button. Either life has to grow in your body or death has to grow in your
body. The inauthenticity, which you entertain, is death for you.
 Pick up authenticity as your strategy plan in every moment of your life. Whether it is to do with health,
creativity, solving relationship problems, creating wealth or achieving inner fulfillment, have authenticity as
your strategy plan.
Kṛṣṇa then adds, ‘When you are centered in wisdom of completion you will no longer be deluded by what
you hear. When you are no longer deluded by what you have heard, you are liberated.’ Kṛṣṇa’s immediate
reference here is to the scriptures, the Vedas. He chides Arjuna and says, ‘Don’t be confused by what you
hear, even if it is supposed to be divine knowledge, the Vedas. Remember: If you are really centered in
wisdom, you can never be deluded; you will be in completion.’
Vedic scriptures are not dead knowledge that is a burden upon us to abide by. The Vedic scriptures, the
śrūti, divine in origin, and the smṛti, rules and regulations laid down later by Manu and other sages, make no
such claims. They are the living guidelines that lead us into wisdom and liberation. In fact, Hindu scriptures
have both the humility and the power to challenge us to transform ourselves according to the needs of the day,
but stipulate that we first experience what is said.
‘So,’ Kṛṣṇa says, ‘let the Vedas say what they want, but put what you hear, see, and read to the test of
wisdom to go beyond delusion.’ Kṛṣṇa is the Vedas, the source of all knowledge. He himself declares this in
Gītā and yet He asks Arjuna to experiment and be guided by his inner wisdom, not by what he merely hears.
What courage, what authority! Only one who is so sure about the truth can say, ‘Do not listen to what I
say and how I act, but listen to your inner voice of truth born out of your own experience.’
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Don’t be inactive, do what you need to do. Do it with no expectations and no attachment to
results. Do it with a centered mind, and in wisdom of your own inner calling, and not because of something
you have heard. You will then go beyond all suffering and be liberated.’ These steps are so simple that
everyone can practice them; in fact everyone should practice them. Stay fully in the space of completion, and
based on the truth of integrity and authenticity, act. You can never go wrong. I promise you that.
With integrity you experience the space of positivity. With authenticity you experience the space of
possibility. Only a man who lives authenticity is a liberated one, a yogi, the one devoted to authenticity
in action. Only when you surrender yourself to practice integrity in thinking and authenticity in
action—yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam, you will realize that you are responsible for success and failure, for good
or bad, for everything you experience. You drop your attachments and your fear patterns, and
experience self-realization— tadā yogam avāpsyasi (2.53).
 FOLLOW THAT COMPLETE MAN

2.44 O Keśava. What is the description of Sthitaprajña,

one who stays fixed in completion and is merged in the restful awareness of truth and
wisdom? How does one of steady wisdom speak, how does he sit, how does he walk?
2.45 Śrī Bhagavān says:
O Pārtha, a man who casts off completely all desires of the mind and is satisfied
in the Self by the Self,

He is said to be Sthitaprajña, one of steady wisdom in completion.

2.46 He whose mind is not disturbed by adversity, and who, in prosperity
does not go after other pleasures,

He who is free from attachment, fear or anger is called a sage of steady

wisdom.
2.47 His wisdom is fixed on one who is everywhere without attachment, Meeting with anything good or bad,
and who neither rejoices nor hates.
2.48 As the tortoise withdraws its limbs from all sides, when a person withdraws his senses from the sense-
objects, His wisdom becomes steady in completion.
Though for the embodied, the sense enjoyments may be restricted, the taste or desire for sense objects
remain; but, such tastes or desires also leave him on seeing, experiencing the Supreme.
For the fifth time Arjuna expresses authentic interest in what Kṛṣṇa is saying. Arjuna has realized that
whatever he said earlier had arisen from his confusion, his patterns. Arjuna is intelligent enough to know that
he does not know.
When Kṛṣṇa tells him to behave in a manner befitting the code of the warriors, this piece of advice
certainly makes good sense to Arjuna. However, what Kṛṣṇa says further confuses Arjuna. Kṛṣṇa says to do
what you have to do without being concerned about the outcome. This is a strange idea to Arjuna. He has
rarely done anything in his life without thinking about the result of his action.
Arjuna, the greatest of marksmen, is conditioned with the pattern to first define his target and then act.
Kṛṣṇa has confused him totally now. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Release your arrow; where it lands is my business.’ At least,
this is how Arjuna understands what Kṛṣṇa says. Arjuna has enough trust in Kṛṣṇa not to ignore this instruction
from the Divine.
So he asks, ‘Tell me who is it who acts without any interest in the outcome? Who is it who is not concerned
about the result, whether it is good or bad, painful or joyful, and how do I identify such a person?’
Kṛṣṇa responds, ‘This man is free from desires and emotions. He has neither greed nor fear. He has no
patterns. He is always complete in himself. Pleasures through the senses do not interest him. He has withdrawn
his senses from the external or outer world and has integrated them inwards into his inner space, directed them
towards that Supreme Truth that is beyond all pleasures, attachments, emotions and sense objects.’ Kṛṣṇa thus
describes the Realized Yogi, the Sthitaprajña to Arjuna so that he too may emulate him and realize himself.

seeK the unattached

‘Nirmohatve niścalatatvaṁ,’ says Ādī Śaṅkarācārya, taking a cue from the Master. It means: Absence of
desires leads to a clear and still mind and inner space, steeped in the wisdom of completion. When there are
no desires, there are no emotions such as joy, depression, sadness, anger, disappointment, jealousy that
normally arise from the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of such desires. When the mind is without fear and
anger, without expectations of success and failure, the unattached mind seeks that which is unattached. First
the objects drop, then the desire for the objects disappears as truth dawns. This may sound complicated, but is
as simple as counting ‘1, 2, 3.’
The macrocosm and microcosm are just mirroring each other’s possibility. When we feel the
responsibility for existence, we become existence and existence feels responsible for us. When we let go of
our patterns, when we listen to the Universe and feel responsible, the Universe feels responsible for us and
gives us all that we need to live with abundance.
 MONKEYS IN The MIND

2.44 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), the turbulent senses carry away the
mind of a wise man,

Though he is striving to be in control.

2.45 Having restrained them all, he should sit steadfast, intent on Me. Whose senses are
under control, his mind is steady in the present.
2.46 When a man thinks of objects, it gives rise to attachment for them. From attachment,
desire arises; from desire, anger is born.
2.47 From anger arises delusion, from delusion, loss of memory, from loss of memory, the loss of
discrimination, from loss of discrimination, he perishes.
2.48 The self-controlled man, moving among objects with his senses under control,

free from both attraction and repulsion, attains peace.

2.49 All pains are destroyed in that peace, for the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon
becomes steady.
2.50 A person not in self-awareness cannot be wise or happy or peaceful. How can there be happiness to
one without peace?
2.51 He loses his awareness of the present moment when his mind follows the wandering senses,
Just as the wind carries away a boat on the waters.
Kṛṣṇa says that our senses are turbulent, and however much we try to control them, they stay
out of control. He says that the only way is to integrate and fix one’s mind on Him once the senses are under
control and the mind is steady. The mind cannot be stopped. Thoughts cannot be stopped as long as the body
exists. You can bring integrity to your thinking by doing completion with your root patterns. Thus integrating
your mind on something that transcends sensory pleasures, it will become quiet by itself. Once the mind
discovers the bliss of this completion, it will never want to stray again.

Each one of us develops attachment, liking, hatred and dislike for many things through our experiences.
These likes and dislikes stay in our unconscious memory as root thought patterns and even without any
conscious awareness on our part, drive us into actions through desires or into inaction through fears. When
the desires are fulfilled, there is temporary satisfaction; then the desires grow. When the desires do not get
fulfilled we are disappointed, we get angry.
We should be angry with our own selves for having had the desires or for not having worked with
authenticity, wholeheartedly at the peak of our capability towards fulfilling the desire, but we actually get
angry with other people who we think are responsible for our failures. We do not realize that blaming others
will make us feel more and more powerless!
Kṛṣṇa reveals two very important truths here in the last two verses. One is that you can never be
peaceful unless you are complete, conscious. The other is that you cannot be complete if you are led by your
senses. Therefore, as long as your senses lead you into what you think is a pleasurable journey; you cannot
really be happy or peaceful. It is just another trick your mind is playing on you. Your happiness is not real
happiness. It is just a gap between two periods of sorrow. What you hear, what you think you hear, what you
see, what you think you see, and so on, all these sense inputs are unreliable, incomplete cognitions.
Understand, you can make whatever you can visualize as reality. With integrity and authenticity,
visualize yourself in the space of non-falling, moving only from completion to completion, fulfillment to
fulfillment. Your past is history. Your past record is the dumping ground of all your regrets and guilt. There
is no greater sin that you can commit than carrying past records of these regrets and guilt.
 WAKE UP

2.44 O Mahābāho (mighty-armed one), his knowledge is therefore steady whose

senses are completely detached from sense objects.
2.45 The self-controlled man is awake in that which is night to all beings. Where all beings
are awake, it is night for the sage who sees.
2.46 Just as all waters enter the ocean, which, though always being filled from all
sides, remains unmoved; likewise, he, into whom all desires enter themselves, remains
unmoved, undisturbed, can alone attain peace; not the one who desires to fulfill desires.
2.47 The man who moves about abandoning all desires, without longing,
without the sense of ego—‘I’ and ‘mine’, attains peace.
2.48 O Pārtha, this is the state of Brahman, Brāhmī-sthiti; none is deluded after attaining
this.
Even at the end of life, one attains Brahmanirvāṇa, oneness with Brahman, when established in
this state.

We all think we are awake; are we really? We live in daydreams even if we are awake. The only occasion
when we are truly awake is when we are in the space of completion. A person in such a space of completion
is whom Kṛṣṇa calls a ‘Muni,’ a realized being living in the present. Such a person is always awake, having
experienced his inner awakening, whether physically awake or asleep.
Kṛṣṇa says that such a person is in sleep when others are awake, yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato
muneḥ (2.69). The realized person, although he may appear to be living and actively participating in the
activities of the same world that we live in, is in reality, in a state of passive alertness or restful awareness.
This means that his senses are not immersed in worldliness and he is centered and complete in his Self.
He is dead and asleep to this world because he has moved beyond his senses. A truly realized person is also
awake when others are asleep, yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgrati saṁyamī (2.69). Even in his sleep
he is aware, in what is called the state of supta chittam.
A person who is in the space of completion is still as the waters in the bed of the ocean. Though
there are waves in the surface, they do not disturb the bed of the ocean. Even when desires assail him, they are
mere waves in the periphery of his consciousness, and do not disturb him at all. He has abandoned all
attachment to ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ He is without thoughts and desires and when thoughts and desires come to him,
they merge into him without disturbing him.
We are all enlightened because we are all a hologramic part of the reality of the Universe,
Brahman. All that we lack is the awareness of the truth of our Enlightenment. What prevents you from
realizing that you are enlightened is your root pattern, ego. This ego is not necessarily about any arrogance. It
is the perception of who you think you are, your inner image; what you project yourself to be for others, your
outer-image; and what others expect you to be for them, others’ image. It is the collection of thoughts,
experiences and emotions that go to make up that ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ This identity is that of the body and mind,
not of your spirit. Therefore, it perishes with your body and is transient.
People with a strong consciousness of ‘I’ live out of their blocked mūlādhāra cakra, the root
energy center. They are at the very beginning of their spiritual evolution. Their main concerns will be about
their own survival, and they are caught in lust, anger and greed. The person with a strong attachment to ‘mine,’
the possessions belonging to the ‘I,’ constantly lives in fear of losing these possessions. Such people live out
of their blocked svādiṣṭhāna or spleen cakra—the energy center that gets locked due to fear. They live in
insecurity of losing possessions, of losing identity, and finally, of death.
Energization of the mūlādhāra and svādiṣṭhāna cakra and moving the energy up through the anāhata or
heart cakra to the ājña or thirdeye cakra (energy center between eyebrows) opens us to completion, the reality
of looking at others, at Universe as our own self and finally dropping the root pattern—one’s identification
with ‘I’ and ‘mine.’
Listen! Completion can make you experience Advaita (nonduality), the ultimate space of
Consciousness, immediately. Then, true surrender to the Universe and identification with one’s true
nature occurs, and Enlightenment happens. You then become God!
 The science of completion is the essence of Sāṅkhya Yoga. Completion makes you experience the
Sāṅkhya of life. In this second chapter of Gītā on Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ or Transcendental Knowledge of
Completion, Śrī Kṛṣṇa who is the space of completion Himself, sets Arjuna on the path of completion. May
all of you travel that path too!
Let us pray to the ultimate Existence, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to give us all the experience of eternal bliss,
Nityānanda. Thank you!

Thus ends the second chapter named Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Knowledge of
Completion,’ of the Bhagavad Gītā Upaniṣad, Brahmavidyā Yogaśāstra, the scripture of yoga dealing
with the science of the Absolute in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇārjuna-saṁvād, dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa,
Arjuna.
 To Act OR Not To Act

3.1 Arjuna says:

O Janārdana, Why do You urge me engage in this terrible war, If You think that
knowledge is superior to action, O Keśava?
3.2 My intelligence is confused by Your conflicting words.
Therefore, please tell me certainly what is most beneficial for me.
3.3 Bhagavān says,
O sinless Arjuna, as I said before, in this world there are two paths of firm faith;
jñānayoga, the path of Self-knowledge for the intellectual and karmayoga, the path of
action of the knowing.
3.4 A person does not attain freedom from action by abstaining from work, nor does he attain fulfillment
by giving up action.

Fulfillment In Purpose, an Illusion!

Your whole life is purposeless, but again and again, you are conditioned to run towards something—whether it
is in material life or spiritual life. Some goal is always put in front of you. The so-called goals in material life or
spiritual life continuously make you feel you are not good enough.
If we spend that time enjoying and being enriched by the journey, any destination we reach will be the right
destination. The destination is not important; the journey is. The goal is not important; the process, the path is.
Root thought pattern is nothing but this first social conditioning, this strong cognition which
imbalances you from your purposeless space and gives birth to the mind, the idea that there is some
purpose to life. Life has no purpose. Even if you achieve whatever you want, you can’t take it with you. You
can’t carry even a single dollar when you leave. Nothing will come with you.

Life has no purpose, only Meaning

Life has no purpose, but it has meaning. Purpose means goal orientation. You always think about the goal;
you keep running and one day you just drop dead! The more goal-oriented you are, the more you will miss
life and the more you will be incomplete.
Purpose is different from meaning. When I say ‘meaning’, living itself becomes meaningful. Come to this
present moment of completion and the path itself is life; the path itself is meaningful.

Your Inner space Is the Space of Completion

Two things you need to understand from this: One, He says, let your inner space not be contaminated by the
purpose of life. When I say inner space, I mean your mind and how you feel about yourself, about things and
life inside you. When you close your eyes, what comes into your mind is your inner space. If your inner space
is filled with the purposes of life, be very clear you are running behind something which will never give you
completion. He says, ‘Let your inner space not be disturbed or filled with purposes or incompletions.’
By nature, your inner space is the space of completion, it is filled with energy; your inner space, what you
refer to as ātman, spirit or soul, is filled with blissful energy. The more you empty yourself of goals or
incompletions, the more the space for completion and bliss.
Completion will clear out all unnecessary things from your inner space. It will get you all that you need
in the outer world. Don’t furnish your inner space. Let your inner space be empty. Of course then, it will never
be empty. It will be filled with completion, pūrṇatva. It will be filled with bliss! The more complete inner
space you create, the more blissful your life will be. That is what Kṛṣṇa means by saying, ‘Don’t be attached
to results.’
If you continuously think about the result, you will never be able to perform your action with completion.
You will always be goal-oriented and you will never enjoy and enrich the path of completion. Not enjoying
 and enriching the path is the worst hell you can be trapped in.
You can easily miss life’s possibility by having a purpose to Life. Unless your thinking itself
becomes integrated to your positivity, unless your working itself becomes authentic to the peak of your
possibility, unless your life itself becomes the responsibility to enrich yourself and others, unless that itself
becomes completion and bliss, you cannot experience what Kṛṣṇa says in this verse: karmaṇy evādhikāras te
mā phaleṣu kadācana (2.47).
Purpose can be fulfilled, but through purpose, your life can never be fulfilled. When you carry purposes in your
life, you are not living; purposes are living through you, that’s all.
Abstaining from work or moving away from work cannot give you freedom from action. It puts you in the
biggest bondage. To have freedom from action, your inner space needs to be purified. Your inner space should
become empty to allow the natural space of completion in you.
What is authenticity? Building your own identity to the peak possibility and renouncing the identity built
on purpose.
 To Act Is HUMAN NATURE

3.5 Surely, not even for a moment can anyone stand without doing something.
He is always in action, despite himself, as this is his very nature.
3.6 He who restrains the sense organs, but who still thinks of the objects of the senses, is deluded
and is called a hypocrite.
3.7 He who begins controlling the senses with the mind and performs selfless work through
the organs of action is superior, O Arjuna.
3.8 Do your prescribed work, as doing work is better than being idle. Even your own
body cannot be maintained without work.

Here, Kṛṣṇa assures you, ‘By your very nature, your body and mind will work. If you just keep quiet, it is
enough.’
‘By nature,’ He says, ‘sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair-guṇaiḥ—by their very nature your body and mind know the
right thing to do.’ The problem is that you never trust your body and mind. You always trust your ego and it
finally dumps you! Yet you never trust your body and mind. Be very clear, your body and mind will do their
work. All you need to do is keep quiet and relax from your ego. Don’t think your inner space is needed for outer
work. The person who understands what nitya (eternal) is, and what anitya (ephemeral) is relaxes into Existence
and is always in eternal consciousness. He always resides in nitya ānanda—eternal bliss!
Taking the risk and jumping into the space of completion, and living without worry and self-doubt
is what I call courage of authenticity, the courage to enter spiritual life.
When you take the jump, you will naturally make some small mistakes. Don’t worry about them. Putting up
with that mistake is what I call penance, tapas. Penance is nothing but accepting and completing with the small
mistakes you make and restoring your integrity and authenticity when the conscious transition happens in your
being.
A man who keeps his senses under control but who is not able to keep his inner space under control by
completing with his patterns related to senses is called a hypocrite, indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa
ucyate (3.6), says Kṛṣṇa.

Master your Senses

Please be very clear, again and again Kṛṣṇa declares:

karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya ya āste manasā smaran I

indriyārthān vimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate II 3.6
If you can’t create completion in your inner space, even if you control your body or your senses, you are just a
hypocrite. Your life will not be a complete, blissful life. Not only will it not be a spiritual life, it will not even be
life! The meaning of living is bliss, but there is no purpose.
The moment you experience, in your inner space, that nothing is going to be with you permanently, a deep
healing, a breeze enters your consciousness. Your whole inner space is healed. You have so many wounds of
incompletions in your inner space. Wounds created by your incomplete desires, by your failures, and by your
near and dear ones. All these wounds will be healed with this one medicine. This one understanding that life is
purposeless, that whatever you achieve is just nothing, and that nothing is going to be with you, is enough.
Mind is nothing but dilemma. Whatever you choose, whether material life or spiritual life, you will always feel
you are missing the other part. You will continuously feel you are missing something. As long as you think you
are the mind, as long as you live with the mind, you will have this problem of material life verses spiritual life.
Mind you, it is not inspiration; it is just perspiration that you give up! The moment all respect for the
purpose is gone from your life, you will simply fall into your being. One important thing: The moment you
fall into your being, you explode! Whatever you can imagine and whatever you can’t even imagine will start
happening. Only then do you become a truly multi-dimensional being.
every single inch of your body. Every moment will become meaningful.
When you think that life as a whole has a purpose, the individual moment will lose its meaning. If you
think one month of your working time is worth 50 thousand dollars, you will judge the value of that one month
as being only 50 thousand dollars. Suddenly, if someone says, ‘I will give you 50 million dollars, give me
 your life,’ will you be able to give him your life? No! But, this is the way you are calculating and working!
We are ready to sell our mind, our moments, our inner space by calculating the value of our lives. You forget
the work itself or living itself.
If you think the whole has a purpose, then the part loses its meaning. When you realize that the whole has no
purpose, the part will become meaningful.
Kṛṣṇa says, your senses, by nature are programmed to go out! You are programmed to work, to go out.
Going out can happen only in two ways: either to enrich or to swindle! Surely, swindling others is not going
to transform you. Only enriching others is going to transform you.
The choice is really about how to work. Here, Kṛṣṇa gives the answer to that. He says that we should perform
work with devotion with authenticity in our actions, only to enrich, and without attachment to the results,
karmendriyaiḥ karma-yogam asaktaḥ sa viśiṣyate (3.7). Work without unnecessarily being bothered about
whether or not it will fetch the results that you expect.
You see, there are two things: chronological planning and psychological planning. Chronological
planning is planning on a timescale. You decide you to get up at a particular time, finish the list of tasks you
planned at the office by a certain time, and so on. This is a practical way to organize your work in a way that
it can give the best results. This is fine.
But what do we do? We don’t stop at this. We review the plan in our head over and over again, thinking
in different ways, internally preparing for eventualities, expecting results from our plan even before the action.
We keep supposing, ‘What if this happens? What if that happens?’ Psychological planning boosts your ego,
your root pattern. It makes you feel great and worthy. It makes you stay serious and feel that you are handling
great things.
It is very unfortunate, but we carry a strong pattern that we should be ready to accept failure, because failure is a
part of life. Then you are constantly giving a commitment to you that there is going to be failure. You always
internally prepare yourself for failure. When you prepare, you usually remind yourself of the worst possibilities
and then prepare tools and weapons to handle it. In the name of contingency planning, we just worry and give a
commitment to failure. Instead, if we apply our awareness to the problem with integrity in thinking and
authenticity in action, the solution will be visible.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘One who does devotional work with authenticity, without attachment, and controlling the
senses—yas tv indriyāṇi manasā niyamyārabhate arjuna, is superior to one who merely pretends to be in
control of his senses and acts in renunciation, karmendriyaiḥ karmayogam asaktaḥ sa viśiṣyate (3.7).’
There are intellectual type of people, the philosophers, well versed in the scriptures, who look down upon the
devotional and emotional practitioners! Intellectuals believe that their dry understanding of the non-duality of
the Self is superior to that of those who fall at the feet of the Divine. Kṛṣṇa firmly says, ‘No, it is not so!’ Kṛṣṇa
says that what makes the difference is your space of completion that brings lack of expectations of either failure
or success, the sense of purposelessness that defines your state.
Sannyāsa, renunciation, is a state, not a label. The state of renunciation is not a state of doing nothing. You can
never sit without doing anything. Even if you sit still in one place, you are sitting, you are breathing, is it not?
The internal functions in your body are happening. Maintaining this very body requires that work be done. The
breath that you take in carries prāna, the life energy that sustains you. So, you cannot say you are not doing
anything.
Be aware that when you are in action, it is the senses acting. Then you will not get attached to the action or its
result. Then you are free; you are liberated from the bondage of action. Action binds you only when you
consider yourself ‘the doer’ and have expectations about things being a certain way.

SELFLESS ENRICHING LIBERATES

3.9 Work has to be performed selflessly; otherwise, work binds one to this world. O son of
Kuntī, perform your work for Me and you will do it authentically, liberated and without
attachment.
3.10 Brahma, the lord of creation, before creating humankind as a selfless sacrifice
said, ‘By this selfless enriching, be more and more prosperous and let it bestow all desired
gifts.’
3.11 The celestial beings, pleased by this sacrifice, will also nourish you; with this
mutual nourishing of one another, you will achieve supreme prosperity.
 3.12 Satisfied with the selfless enriching, the celestial beings certainly bestow upon you the desired
enjoyments of life. He who enjoys the things given by them without offering anything to the celestial
beings is certainly a thief.
3.13 Those who eat food after selfless enriching service are free of all sins. Those who
prepare food for sense enjoyment do grievous sin.

There are two techniques by which one can liberate oneself from attachment to work.
One is by telling oneself, ‘I am not the doer.’ By continuously reminding yourself that it is the senses and not
you who is doing something, you distance yourself from the action. This is what Kṛṣṇa explains in the previous
verses. The other way is by surrendering the fruits of one’s work to the Divine to the ultimate life force that is
conducting this Universe. This is the technique that Kṛṣṇa talks about here.
When you do work as a sincere, humble offering to the Divine, the very attitude of this surrender will make you
do the job authentically to your peak capability and you will be liberated. When you are excessively bothered
about the results, you actually think you are the doer of the action!
When you see that Existence is purposeless and you are living in the loving, caring arms of Existence, you will
relax and surrender to that very Existence. When you are in this relaxed mood, you can function at your best and
enjoy every moment of life without feeling like the doer and therefore not worrying about making small
mistakes. Real surrender happens when this understanding becomes your experience.

3.14 All beings grow from food grains,

from rains the food grains become possible,
the rains become possible from selfless sacrifice of enriching.
3.15 Know that work is born of the Creator and
He is born of the Supreme. The all-pervading Supreme is eternally situated in sacrifice
of enriching.
3.16 O Pārtha, he who does not adopt the prescribed, established cycle lives a life full
of sins. Rejoicing in sense gratification, he lives a useless life.
Our relationship with the activity of Nature is a very deep one. Our actions are like
oblations offered in a fire sacrifice. Our activities are not just movements of the limbs.
When we perform a yajña, a fire sacrifice of enriching the Source, the Cosmic Energy
we pour various offerings into the fire. We do so to tap the Cosmic Energy and to flow
in tune with Existence, with Nature.
The subtlest, most powerful and all-pervasive Cosmic Energy is invoked through the slightly less subtle
air element when we chant the mantra and we connect and enrich the still, less subtle fire energy through the
fire ritual. Energy is then transferred to water, a grosser energy, and then the water in the pots is poured over
plants, idols and humans as well as the earth, which is the grossest form of energy.

enrIch to reLate WIth expressed and unexpressed god

Enriching is the way in which you relate with the expressed component of God, the expressed part of
God. Integrity and Authenticity are the ways in which you relate with the unexpressed, avyakta part of God.
Responsibility and Enriching are the ways in which you relate with vyakta, the expressed part of God.
When we perform a sacrifice, we perform certain invocations to the higher energies. So, we attract
corresponding effects for our actions. Our actions are like offerings in a sacrifice. When the actions are in tune
with tattvas of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching, which is the flow of Existence, it is like
offering ghee (clarified butter) into the fire. When we do not flow in tune with Existence, it is like offering
mud into the fire. You know the kind of smoke comes out of the fire when you offer ghee and the kind of
smoke that comes out when you offer mud. Just like you can determine the quality of the offering you gave to
the fire from the quality of the smoke, the result of your actions can be determined from the quality of your
actions. The quality of the end result is based on our input, our offerings, our enriching.
Integrity and Authenticity are the right ways to relate with the unexpressed part of God, avyakta.
Responsibility and Enriching are the right ways to relate with the expressed part of God, the world,
vyakta. If you do not enrich, you actively create a selfish pattern and your offerings bring that same
result. Be very clear, either you give or you swindle. There is no middle.
 Kṛṣṇa says that rains become possible from the enriching sacrifice
Rain is a grosser form of energy that is activated by the subtler unexpressed energies which are influenced
by our authenticity in actions and integrity in words, thoughts and vibrations.
Rain is the cause, the source which is responsible for the growth of food grains. Food is the enrichment needed
to sustain our bodies and minds, which give rise to further authentic action and integrated thinking. So, you see
this cycle now, of how the subtle energy, avyakta, the unexpressed part of God manifests itself in the grosser
world as vyakta, the expressed part of God, and how the actions in the grosser world affect the subtler elements.
Understand, this is what Kṛṣṇa says, ‘O Pārtha, he who does not adopt the prescribed, established cycle
lives a life full of sins, aghāyur idriyārāmo. Rejoicing in sense gratification, he lives a useless life, moghaṁ
pārtha sa jīvati (3.16).’
When you do not enrich every person with the fruit of enriching after constantly being enriched by the sacrifice
of the Existence, the Supreme, your life becomes full of sins and you live a useless, incomplete life. That in turn
brings the cycle of more and more incompletions!
The Universe is a huge wave of ‘Tathāstu!—so be it!’ So everything is as you create, as you organize, as you
arrange! Put a little intelligence, time and energy into creating the right space in you.
3.17 One who takes pleasure in the Self, who is satisfied in the Self and who is content in his own Self, for
him certainly, no work exists.
3.18 Certainly, he never has any reason for doing his duty or not doing his duty in
this world. He does not depend on any living being.
3.19 Therefore, one should work always without attachment. Performing work without
attachment, certainly, man achieves the Supreme.
3.20 King Janaka and others attained perfection by selfless enriching. To guide others, you too
must act selflessly.

Existence has provided, is providing and will provide for each and every one of your needs. Your
suffering, your struggle, your incompletion is only because you don’t trust that you are being provided all that
you need; because you carry a deep self-doubt and consider yourself separate from Existence, who you think
is your enemy.

Selfless, Unattached Enriching

Here Kṛṣṇa says a beautiful thing:

King Janaka was a beautiful example of a true karma yogi, a man of selfless authenticity in action
with a continuous commitment to enriching life in and around him. He was a king. He ruled a
kingdom and yet was unattached, liberated. Just like Kṛṣṇa who ruled a kingdom and yet was
a Sannyāsi in the truest sense of the word, Janaka was a model king who was complete unto
himself, untouched by the external world.
Only when you are completely detached can you be completely involved. Otherwise, your very sense of
ownership and emotional attachment will be a hindrance to plunging headlong into the task. Only when you
work without any incompletion, can you perform the task authentically to your peak possibility, without
expectation and without being concerned about the results.

3.21 Whatever action is performed by a great person, others follow. They follow the example set by
him.
3.22 O Pārtha, there is nothing that I must do in the three worlds. Neither am I in want of anything nor
do I have to gain anything. Yet, I am always in action.
3.23 If I did not engage in work with care, O Pārtha, certainly, people would follow My path in all
respects.
3.24 If I do not work, then these worlds would be ruined.
 I would be the cause of creating confusion and destruction.
3.25 Even the ignorant do their work with attachment to the results, O Bhārata, the wise do so without
attachment, for the enrichment of the people.
There is a difference between the state of a leader and the status of a leader. Most of us want to attain the status
of a leader but not the state. The state of the leader is something totally different. It is the state of the leader
born from the principle of responsibility that enriches people to become responsible. Problems of all kinds,
ranging from stress to discontentment and violence, result because the leader has achieved the status and not
the state.
Responsibility is thinking, feeling, acting, responding and cognizing from the truth that you are the
Source of everything!
It is responsibility that makes you realize all possibilities. It is leadership consciousness that brings not
just success, but fulfillment in you.’ Kṛṣṇa, who owns responsibility, the space of leadership consciousness,
Īśvaratva, is making Arjuna own responsibility. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Whatever action is performed by a great person,
others follow. O Pārtha, there is nothing that I must do in the three worlds. Neither am I in want of anything.
Yet, I am always in action.’
There are only two types of human beings on planet Earth—those who feel responsible for everything and
those who don’t feel responsible for anything. People who feel responsible become leaders. People who don’t
feel responsible continue to be slaves.
Deep understanding and experiential expression of the truth happens only with taking responsibility for
all your actions. Only when the space of leadership becomes your own experience does the responsibility
become complete. Otherwise, if the understanding is just based on someone else’s words and experience, then
there is always the possibility that anyone can come and shake your belief and you will either hold the situation
or others responsible. The roots of responsibility, in this case, are not deep and strong enough to withstand all
kinds of questions. Others’ questions are nothing but your own unanswered questions that you chose to
suppress within you!
That is what happens to Arjuna as kurusattama, the leader of all Kuru warriors, as bharataṛṣabha, the
best of Bhārata. Even though he takes the responsibility to fight and avenge the collective irresponsibility of
the Kauravas, he falls from his space of leadership and gives reasons to escape his responsibility. Arjuna, the
one of taintless, pure fame, becomes a slave to his incompletions. Only when he allows the Master to enrich
him does he surrender to the Master of all masters, Jagadguru Kṛṣṇa as His disciple!
Unless we enrich ourselves and allow ourselves to be enriched by the Master, nothing good can happen to us.
Allowing the Master to enrich you is the best way of enriching yourself.
There are three types of people: the disciples (or the followers), the Masters, and the leaders (or guides).
The disciple is one who has not yet experienced and enriched himself with the teachings of the Masters,
but who is authentically interested and has responsibly embarked upon the path. He needs some guidance on
the path. He does not yet know how to practice what is being taught.
The Master is one who is in the eternal space of Īśvaratva, leadership consciousness and is in the ultimate
experience of Enlightenment. Out of compassion, He enriches by showing the path of responsibility to reach
His state to all those who would like to be in that state. It is not necessary for the Master to practice what He
preaches because he is beyond the common rules of conduct. Masters need not follow what they tell you to do
to reach their state. They understand the illusion of the physical plane that their body-mind system operates
in. Whatever they may do physically is in a state of complete awareness.
A leader or guide is someone who is a spiritual activist, he is between the Master and the follower. He has not
yet reached the ultimate state of the Master but he has had glimpses of that state. He is not as inexperienced as
the follower. He is the bridge of responsibility to lead the follower to the Master.

Nothing binds Me, yet I engage In Responsible

Work
In these verses, Kṛṣṇa beautifully explains what walking the talk means through His own example. He
says there is nothing in the three worldsthe nether world, earth or heaven, for Him to achieve. There is no duty
that binds Him. Even though He has nothing to gain, lose or even to do, He is constantly engaged in action
 and enriching the three worlds. Why?
Because people look up to Him as God, they would obviously follow the path He sets. People’s anyakāra,
the expectation that world has from Kṛṣṇa is that He is God, He is Bhagavān. They would simply follow
what He does. He is now responsible to fulfill even others’ image about Him for leading them on the correct
path. That is Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s authenticity and responsibility!
When responsibility expresses through your head, it is leadership. When responsibility expresses
through your heart, it is compassion. When responsibility expresses through your being, it is
Enlightenment, Sātori.

StretchIng to Others’ expectatIons Is

Authenticity
Please understand, what you feel as you, the idea you believe as you, is mamakāra. For example, I can
very authentically say I feel that I am a pure empty space.
There is something in front of the pure empty space which operates to create the Sangha. I believe myself
as a pure space, I project myself as an Incarnation who wants to give this pure space to you. My belief as me,
my cognizance of me as a pure space is my mamakāra. My decision to project myself as an incarnation who
shares this space to be experienced by others is my ahaṁkāra.
What others believe and perceive as me, is anyakāra. When somebody looks at me as Śiva, I need to take the
responsibility of Śiva and do for him whatever Śiva will do for him by stretching my ability. He may expect
some boons from Śiva. So now it is my responsibility to stretch my super-consciousness to give him those
boons. That is authenticity.
It is the energy behind the action, the energy of the being that decides the quality and hence, the effect of the
action. It is not the action itself that decides the quality.
I always tell people, ‘When I am compassionate, I cheat you. When I scold you, I teach you. Either way, you
grow.’ When I scold you, you are jolted into the present moment. Suddenly, in a flash, you get the awareness
that you have been missing your natural space of completion. The energy behind my words is purely for your
transformation. There is only pure compassion.

3.26 Let not the wise disturb the minds of the ignorant who are attached to the results of
work. They should encourage them to act without attachment.
3.27 People, confused by ego, think they are the doers of all kinds of work while it is being done by
the energy of nature.
3.28 One who knows the Truth, O mighty-armed one, knows the divisions existing in the attributes
of nature and work. Knowing well about the attributes and sense gratification, he never
becomes attached.
3.29 Fooled by the attributes of nature, those people with less wisdom or who are lazy become
engaged in actions driven by these attributes. But, the wise should not unsettle them.
We are all governed by our basic nature, attributes, or guṇa. The mental set-up, patterns from
previous births, called vāsana determines what we are, what we do in this birth, and also what
happens to us in our future births. The desires born out of vāsana carry their own energy for
fulfillment. If you are conscious, you will be able to fulfill them. Once fulfilled, these vāsana and
karma get dissolved. One who reaches this state of completion with desires also realizes that he is
not the doer.
Karma is nothing but the unfulfilled or incomplete patterns and desires, which are inside
your being, that constantly make you travel in the same path again and again, trying to give
the experience of completion in your inner space.
Then when you do not take responsibility for these actions, the very actions and their effects bind
you into further incomplete actions or desires. Please listen! Any karma left incomplete, any
action done out of incompletion is pravritti—incompletion leading to more incompletion. It is
more and more dangerous, and makes you more and more powerless.

You are Not the Doer

To understand, ‘I am not the doer,’ this concept of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ needs to be understood. Śiva
says that the concept of ‘I’ itself comes from the concept of ‘mine.’ We think, when the sense of
‘I’ happens, the sense of ‘mine’ happens. But if you look deeply, our idea of what we think of as
‘ours’ is what defines what we think of as ourselves. Just imagine, if your possessions, your status,
your wealth, your relations all are taken away from you, what will you think of as you? How will
you define yourself? Your idea of ‘I’ is also relative, is it not?

3.30 Dedicating all actions to Me, with consciousness filled with spiritual knowledge of Self, without
desire for gain and without sense of ownership, without being lazy or agitated, fight.
3.31 Those persons who execute their duties according to My teachings and who follow these teachings
faithfully with authenticity without envy, become free from the bondage of fruitive actions.
3.32 But those, out of envy, who do not regularly perform their duties according to My teaching, are
considered all-ignorant, enseless and ruined.

Kṛṣṇa says: Those persons who execute their duties according to My injunctions and who follow this teaching
faithfully with authenticity, without envy, become free from the bondage of actions.
Understand, as long as you follow the goals set by society, you will be carrying a social conscience. The moment
you drop social conditioning, the purposes taught to you by society, you will drop conscience and start living
with consciousness. Please listen, conscience will become consciousness the moment you bring responsibility
to it. Conscience means struggling with do’s and don’ts, guilt and desires. Consciousness means the pure flow
of life. As long as you do not take the responsibility, you will be struggling with goals, with do’s and don’ts. If
you live with goals, you will carry a social conscience in your life. If you realize the beauty of purposelessness
you will carry spiritual consciousness in your life.

śraddha, your Peak Possibility

‘The man who lives according to his consciousness, believing in and having śraddhā towards these teachings...’
Why does Kṛṣṇa ask for śraddha here? This is the first time Kṛṣṇa says ‘śraddha. Why? Śraddhā cannot really
be translated as faith. It means faith plus the courage of authenticity to execute the highest level of possibility.
The courage of being established in the peak of your capability, and responding to life from who
you perceive to be for yourself, who you project yourself to be for others, what others expect you to be
for them and what you expect them to be for you is what is called śraddhā, Authenticity.
When you enter into your being, when you experience the purposelessness of life, the so-called material life and
spiritual life both drop you and you enter what I call ‘Quantum spirituality’ or Eternal Consciousness. You are
then in eternal bliss. Only then you will understand you don’t need worries to live. You don’t need your mind.
Until you reach the being, you need to have śraddha.
The next word is a beautiful word: ‘anasūyanto,’ which means ‘without envy.’ This is important. We all think,
‘My brother has purchased two houses. My sister is getting a big new car. How can I live like this?’ The moment
you get such thoughts, ‘He has that, she has this,’ what happens? All your spirituality, all your authenticity, all
your purposelessness, everything just disappears. You are again in the same rat race. If your neighbor buys a
new air-conditioner, the temperature in your house shoots up.
The man who lives in eternal consciousness, Nityānanda, and allows his body and mind to work according to
their nature is centered in eternal consciousness. He is called a karma yogi, one who has espoused authenticity
in action without attachment as the ultimate renunciation. But the man who acts out of jealousy, enters his lower
dimensions of social conditioning. He is caught in the rat race, and is called a karmi, one who is focused on
inauthentic action arising from patterns of greed.
All your joy, the very bliss of living is swallowed by this one illusion called comparison. Just like the
Earth is destroyed by the ocean at the time of the final deluge, pralaya, your whole life is destroyed by
comparison.
Jealousy and comparison have no absolute existence, they are delusory patterns. There are two levels of
reality: comparative reality and existential reality. If you build your life based on existential reality, you will
 never suffer. If you build your life based on comparative reality, you will continuously suffer till death. Not
only at the time of death, even after death.
Constantly practicing authenticity brings you to the space of possibility. Śraddha or Authenticity
continuously connects you with yourself and your highest possibility. Life is for realizing that possibility. Life
is for realizing the Self. Life is for realizing itself.
Authenticity is Life! Life is continuous expansion! Add authenticity to your thinking in every step.
Constantly go on expanding! Don’t settle down with the lower perception. What you know about humans,
what you know about the world, what you know about you is all imperfect perception, comparative reality.
When you settle down with comparative reality, you make the most horrible mistake of your life. Don’t build
your inner space on comparative reality. Let your inner space be built on existential reality which is the space
of highest possibility. If you build your life on existential reality, you will live your life blissfully in eternal
consciousness, as a karma yogi.
By nature, a person with a body and mind has to act in one way or the other. If you follow your nature
with authenticity, you can be comfortable and flow in tune with Existence. When you are relaxed, when you
are blissful, you express yourself beautifully.
Authenticity is the key. If you bring authenticity to what you perceive as you, to what is happening within
you and what you project yourself outside you, you will not be controlled by your unconscious patterns. You
will be able to see clearly when lower emotions arise or unconscious reactions arise. The awareness of your
inauthenticity will itself bring you to your peak capability. Then, you will naturally drop all your lower level
emotions and live what Kṛṣṇa calls as śraddhāvanto anasūyanto, authenticity without envy, the space of
possibility.

3.33 Even the wise person tries to acts according to the modes
of his own nature, for all living beings go through their nature. What can restraint of the senses do?
3.34 Attachment and repulsion of the senses for sense objects should be put under control.
One should never come under their control as they certainly are the stumbling blocks on the
path of self-realization.
3.35 Better it is to do one’s own responsibility, even if done faultily, than to do someone else’s
responsibility perfectly.

Death in the course of performing one’s own responsibility

is better than doing another’s responsibility, as this can be dangerous.
3.36 Arjuna says, ‘O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, then, by what is man forced to commit sinful acts, even without
desiring, as if impelled by force?’
3.37 Bhagavān says, ‘It is lust and anger born of the attribute of passion, all-devouring and sinful, which is
one’s greatest enemies in this world.’
We have always been trained by society to consider certain acts as duty; some as good and others as bad. Duty
and responsibility are totally different.
What Kṛṣṇa talks about here is not socially defined duty or conscience. He is talking about responsibility, the
leadership consciousness, the law of the cosmos. The Cosmos functions on responsibilism.

The Natural Dharma

Each of us is unique in our capabilities and interests. Accordingly, our responsibilities are different. If you try to
imitate others, thinking their responsibility appears more attractive, you will be making the mistake of following
somebody else’s path. Comparison literally rules our lives. When we use our energies with authenticity for our
peak growth without comparing ourselves with others, we do our responsibility according to our nature.

The Alchemy of Possibility into Reality

These four principles of integrity, authenticity, responsibility and enriching exist in our very DNA.
As of now, man is only a possibility. Only when these four principles become reality do you experience your
actuality. Then the base energy of lust can be transformed into the higher energy of love. It is an alchemic process
of changing any base metal to a higher metal. Similarly, changing our base emotion, lust, to the highest emotion
we are capable of, love, is alchemy.
First, the impurity, an animalistic emotion, should be removed from lust. Your lust is contaminated by all kinds
of fantasies, feelings of guilt and desire we have picked up from the society and media.
First, the impurity in lust needs to be removed so that a deep friendship at the being level and not just at the
physical or mental level can be added. When you feel deeply connected to a person, there will be no need for
physical proximity to that person. You will feel happy and satisfied with just the feeling connection. For the
final transformation of lust into love, the relationship needs to go through the process of patience and
perseverance. You need to be patient for the other person to accept your transformation. Then he or she will
automatically be transformed as well.
Here Kṛṣṇa refers to lust and anger, both born out of passion. Anger is also an emotion born out of lust. When
the other person rejects your lust, it turns into anger towards that person. Anger is a tremendous energy we
misuse because we do not understand and respect it. Greed, anger and lust are all rajasic qualities that arise from
passion and aggression from the blocked mūlādhāra cakra, the root center.

3.38 As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered
by the womb,

So also, the living being is covered by lust.

3.39 The knowledge of the knower is veiled by this eternal enemy in the form of lust,
Which is never satisfied and burns like fire, O Kaunteya.

3.40 The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the locations of this lust, which confuses the embodied
being and veils the knowledge.
3.41 Therefore, O Bharataṛṣabha, chief amongst descendants of Bhārata, in the very beginning, control the
senses and curb the symbol of sin, Which is certainly the destroyer of knowledge and consciousness.
3.42 It is said that the senses are superior to the body. The mind is superior to the
senses.

The intelligence is still higher than the mind and the consciousness is even higher
than intelligence.
3.43 Knowing the Self to be superior to mind and intelligence, by steadying the mind by
intelligence, Conquer the insatiable enemy in the form of lust, O Mahābāho (mighty-armed
one).

Once a person reaches physical or sexual maturity at adolescence, it is very difficult to control the effects
of lust arising out of the mūlādhāra. One needs to be spiritually awakened before sexual maturity so that the
energy can flow upwards towards the sahasṛāra or the crown cakra. The mūlādhāra cakra is the seat of all
fantasies, primarily sexual fantasies. These fantasies are the ones Kṛṣṇa says are like dust on the mirror,
completely clouding our judgment.
We live by templates that we carve out in our mind based on these fantasies, and live towards fulfilling
these fantasies.
Completion in the present moment is the key to unlocking the mūlādhāra and dissolving lust. It is only
completion that brings you in touch with reality as it is and dissolves your fantasies.
Kṛṣṇa closes his dialogue with Arjuna in this chapter with these words, ‘Be aware that you have a higher
intelligence. Use that intelligence to control your senses and curb your lust, which is your most dangerous
enemy on the path to completion.’ Please note that Kṛṣṇa does not say, ‘Arjuna, come here, I shall help you
dissolve the lust in your body and mind. You can then be at peace.’
Arjuna started the dialogue saying he was confused by Kṛṣṇa’s words about action and inaction. Kṛṣṇa
then told him to carry out his own responsibility with authenticity and without worrying about the result of his
actions. He guides Arjuna to lead a purposeless life, free from obsession with the final goal and to be detached
from the result of action. ‘Authentic action is our nature,’ He says, ‘not inaction. Act, work, but surrender the
result of action to Me.’
Now, Kṛṣṇa says clearly, ‘Control your senses, be aware, be complete living in the present moment and
give up lust.’ Lust, here, not only refers to sexual desire but also to all desires related to the outer world. It is
our sense of identity, the sense of possession that drives us to acquire and enjoy. The truth, however, is that
acquisition only leads to the desire for more acquisition, not to enjoyment and fulfillment.
When we realize that life has no purpose, that the meaning of life is to enrich others and ourselves and to
enjoy the path, we learn to give up attachment to end results. We drop expectations. We move into the present
moment and live in the space of completion.
This is the whole essence of Karma Yogaḥ. Be complete and drop your attachment to the goal and the
fruit of your actions, and live an enriching life with integrity in words, with authenticity in thinking and action,
and with responsibility in feeling. Live life blissfully. You will achieve the Supreme. You will achieve the
space of Enlightenment.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘You will achieve the Supreme.’ You will achieve the eternal consciousness, Nityānanda,
eternal bliss.
 4 Jñānakarmasannyāsa Yogaḥ

The PATH Of KNOWLEDGE

I TAUGHT This SCIENCE To SUN

4.1 Bhagavān says:

I taught the Sun god, Vivasvān, the imperishable science of yoga and Vivasvān taught Manu,
the father of mankind and Manu in turn taught Ikṣvāku.
4.2 The supreme science was thus received through
the chain of master-disciple succession and the saintly kings understood it in that way.

In the course of time, the succession was broken and therefore the science as it was
appears to have been lost.
4.3 That ancient science of Enlightenment, is today taught by Me to you because you are My devotee as
well as My friend. You will certainly understand the supreme mystery of this science.

You need to understand that Kṛṣṇa is just thirty-two years old when He makes this statement! Physically His
body is only thirty-two years old. But He says, ‘I gave this imperishable
knowledge to Sūrya, the Sun god—imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (4.1).’
With logic, you cannot understand this statement. With ordinary logic, which you use in your daily life,
you cannot make any meaning out of this statement. In the next statement He says: The supreme science, this
yoga as it was, appears to have been lost in course of time.

These two verses should be understood clearly. The first thing is that the truth is not new. It is eternal;
neither new nor old. Eternal means it is there forever. It never becomes old. It was never new.
When you are in completion, anything you create stands for eternity. It is immortal and eternal.

See, for a religion or any civilization to be alive, three things are important. First, the knowledge
and the science of lifestyle, Upaniṣad— what is birth, what is death, why life, what is the purpose
of life—the answer to all questions of living and leaving. Second, the buildings— architecture and
arts. And third, the language. All these three are made out of the magnetic field of completion in
sanātana-dharma. That is why these three things can never be destroyed, no matter how much
anyone tries.

The architectural wonders and monuments created out of completion, and the linguistic monument
and wonder, Saṃskṛitaṁ born out of completion—these can never be destroyed. Just like the
wonders of the world, if you analyse the linguistic wonders of the world, Saṃskṛitaṁ, the
devabhāśā—language of Divine, will be the first and only linguistic wonder of the world.
Understand, the word Saṃskrit means well done, refined, perfect.
 And the great science of lifestyle is the Upaniṣads. All three are created out of the magnetic field of
completion. That is why nothing could destroy or kill it.

This yoga is imperishable as Kṛṣṇa declares, avyayam. Anything created out

of the space of completion stands forever, stands eternally. Completion
is eternal, Nitya.

‘In course of time, the science was lost.’ Kṛṣṇa uses a beautiful phrase, ‘the supreme science was taught
by Me, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ and the supreme science was received through lineage, evam paramparā
prāptam.’ You don’t lose that supreme science in just one generation. In course of time, even a single
unenlightened disciple is enough to destroy the whole science.
The problem is, your Master creates a big movement and you succeed him without the necessary
qualifications. People who simply ascend the throne only because they are the successor are the most
dangerous people. They have everything except Enlightenment. One who creates a spiritual movement, creates
it only out of the energy of Enriching with Enlightenment, from his love and compassion. For the person who
succeeds the founder, the whole movement is a gift.
When you get somebody’s throne as a successor without the energy of responsibility, you will be filled
with ego. You will create damage. You carry just the book and not the knowledge. Responsibility is the energy
in which your life flowers and blooms. First learn to think with these four tattvas as reality. That is why our
Vedic Masters always transmitted and mirrored the truths through the oral tradition of disciple succession from
the enlightened Master to the disciple. The disciple sits in Upaniṣad at the feet of the Master.

Upaniṣad means sitting with the Master.

One cannot tell this ultimate truth to a person who is not ready. I repeat, this truth cannot be delivered
to a person who is not ready to listen. And truth told to a person who is not ready creates danger
for everyone.

The ultimate truth is beyond logic. Initially when you start to teach the truth, it always starts with
logic. Words go logically. But after some time, you have to leave logic behind. Otherwise, you
can’t reach the Divine. You can’t talk to God through logic.

If you want the divine relationship to happen, you need love. You need the language of poetry. Here,
only a person who understands, who has become a part of the Master can receive the Master’s
experiences. Unless you become part of the Master, it is very difficult to understand his message.
When you speak the ultimate truth to a person who is not ready, it leads to many troubles.

A wrong person can never understand the truth told by Kṛṣṇa. For example, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am God. I
am everything. Surrender unto me.’ If the person is not completely devoted to Kṛṣṇa, if he has not
understood Kṛṣṇa, what will he think? ‘What an egoistic person he is! How dare he tell me to
surrender to him?’

Beyond Logic Lies Devotion

Here, the qualification to receive the truth is devotion. If you have heard all the things I have said in
the other three chapters of the Gītā, it is expressed logically. Until this point, I am able to bring
both logic and spirituality together. Now, the time has come when I have to give you the pure truth
as Truth. Understand, great truths can never be expressed by logic, because logic is not sharp
enough!

Here, Kṛṣṇa is going to talk about something that is beyond logic. This is where you leave your logic
behind, become completely open, sit in a totally passive mood, and be ready to receive. With logic, either you
will understand everything or you will not understand anything. There is no other danger. When it comes to
the deeper level teachings, either you understand, or you misunderstand. The teachings which Kṛṣṇa is going
to deliver now are much deeper, much subtler than the teachings delivered earlier.
 That is why He says, ‘Now I am telling you these secrets just because you are
my devotee and friend, just because you are near and dear to me.

4.4 Arjuna says:

‘O Kṛṣṇa, you are younger to the Sun god Vivasvān by birth.
How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?’
4.5 Bhagavān says:
Very many births both you and I have passed.
I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O Parantapa!
4.6 Although I am unborn, imperishable and the Lord of all living entities,

By ruling My nature I reappear by My own māyā.

4.7 Whenever positive consciousness declines, when collective negativity
rises, O Bhārat, again and again, at these times, I appear Myself.
4.8 To protect the pious and to annihilate the wicked, to re-establish dharma
(righteousness), I Myself appear, age after age.

Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa are almost of the same age. Suddenly, Kṛṣṇa says He gave this science to the Sun
god thousands of years ago! Moreover, Arjuna lived with Kṛṣṇa for a long time. He knows and has
seen the human side of Kṛṣṇa, all of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā (plays), all of Kṛṣṇa’s moods. So, now, it is very
difficult for Arjuna to believe Kṛṣṇa’s words.

Bhagavān says, ‘O Arjuna, many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of
them but you can’t.’ Then He says, ‘Although I am unborn, imperishable and the Lord of all living
entities, I reappear by my original māyā, by controlling my nature.’

He says, although I am unborn and my transcendental body never deteriorates and although I am the
Lord of all living entities, I still appear in every millennium in my original transcendental form.

Three things we need to understand here. First He says, ‘I am unborn, ajopi. I never take birth. I am
the ultimate Parabrahma. I am the ultimate energy.’ I don’t think anyone else has declared it so
clearly. Here, Kṛṣṇa straightaway declares the truth. ‘I am God, bhūtānām īsvaro’pi san,’ He
says.

KṚṢṆA Promises to Happen Again and Again

The next two verses, if they are understood, then not only the whole
Gītā but all the spiritual scriptures can be realized. Here He declares:

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata I

abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmyaham II 4.7

paritrāṇāya sadhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām I

dharma saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge II 4.8
Whenever there is a decline in individual consciousness, whenever the collective unconsciousness increases,
to establish the righteousness of the eternal consciousness, the science of eternal bliss, dharma
saṁsthāpanārthāya, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium—sambhavāmi yuge yuge.

Only a Master like Kṛṣṇa can declare the truth so clearly. Here Kṛṣṇa
declares, ‘I come down again and again, to set right the wrong.’

4.9 One who knows or experiences the reality of My Divine appearance and activities does not, upon
leaving the body,
 take birth again in this material world, but attains Me, O Arjuna.
4.10 Being freed from attachment, fear and anger,
being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many beings in the past have
become purified by the knowledge of Me, and thus they have realized My being.
4.11 I reward everyone, I show Myself to all people, according to the manner in which they
surrender unto Me, in the manner that they are devoted to Me, O Pārtha!
4.12 Men in this world desire success through activities and therefore they worship the
gods. Men get instant results from active work in this world.
Here, when He says, ‘I am God, I am the Ultimate,’ He says there is a possibility, ‘When I can achieve,
why can’t you?’ He shows the space of possibility, He gives us the courage of authenticity, He encourages us.
Here He says, ‘When I can achieve, why can’t you?’
It is like a seed is always afraid of rupturing to become a tree. The seed always feels, ‘If I break and the
tree doesn’t happen, then what will happen? I will die.’ But the tree tells the seed, ‘Unless you open, I cannot
happen.’ The seed says, ‘No, let the tree happen, then I will open.’ But the tree says, ‘No, no, first you have
to open, only then I can happen.’ The problem between the tree and the seed continues endlessly.
It is necessary for somebody to give a little courage to the seed. A tree that was a seed once can say, ‘Be
courageous. Be authentic to your highest possibility. Don’t worry. You will never perish. Open. Just like me
you will become a tree.’ In the same way, Kṛṣṇa gives courage of authenticity to us, ‘You can also become
God, like Me. You can also experience the truth like Me.’

Here, when Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I,’ there is just the Divine that is speaking. There is nobody inside. It is pure
emptiness. Just the Divine, the pure Existence speaks through Him. He has become a hollow
bamboo. That is why He can courageously declare in a battlefield, bhūtānām īsvaro’pi—I am the
Lord of all beings. Sitting comfortably at home where you have all the security and protection and
declaring ‘I am God’ is very easy, because there is nothing to risk. You don’t need to prove
anything. But Kṛṣṇa is making this statement in a place where He needs to prove it. He is making
this statement in a battlefield, where His life itself is at risk. One arrow is enough to finish His
body. Yet He boldly declares, ‘I am God.’ What courage and energy behind His words! It can
come only from a solid experience, a deep conscious experience.

See, when you leave the body, the moment the physical body dies and relaxes, that very moment the soul
leaves the body. At that time, what you perceived as the highest pleasure in your life surfaces. If you thought
eating was the highest pleasure in your life, naturally while leaving the body, you will think, ‘I should take a
body which will continuously help me to eat. You go through all the choices and you decide to take a pig’s
body. Whatever you think is the greatest experience in your life, whichever experience occupies your
maximum inner space, you decide your next birth based on that desire. Please listen, nobody else decides your
birth. It is simply you who chooses. It is clearly the conscious decision of your soul.
Here Kṛṣṇa says beautifully, ‘I am telling you the secret of things.’ Kṛṣṇa says, ‘rahasyaṁ hy etad
uttamam.’ ‘I am telling you the mysterious ultimate science, Oh, my dear devotee and friend, bhakto‘si me
sakhā ceti.’
I made a few statements: ‘You take birth based on your desires, based on how you lived in the previous
birth. Birth and death are your conscious decisions.’ We will now analyze these statements. Only then will we
be able to intranalyze and powerfully live them.

The moment this truth is understood, you will immediately see that Life is a blessing. This life is
your decision, please be very clear about it. Including poverty, everything is your decision. Don’t
think poverty has been forced upon you. Even that is your decision. When we take birth, we take
birth based on our fear and greed. On one side, greed pushes us, ‘Let me become the son of a king,
let me become the son of a rich man.’ On the other side, our own fears say, ‘No no, I can’t take on
so much responsibility.’
 Yoo too can Happen as Divine
Here I am giving you the straight technique to become Kṛṣṇa, how to enter Kṛṣṇa consciousness, how to
become an Incarnation. The man who assumes the body out of love and compassion is an Incarnation. If you
assume the body out of greed or fear, you are a man. If you assume the body out of love and compassion, you
are an Incarnation and you are divine. Your whole life will become pure eternal bliss. Your whole life will be
a happening with a different consciousness.

Here Kṛṣṇa gives us a technique to attain Him, to experience janma karma ca me divyam. If we are
able to live in such a way as to be free from the attachments born out of anger and fear, then we
can be absorbed in Him, we can attain Him. All actions create their own reactions. When we sow a
seed, the action, though it may appear to be complete, is in reality not so. We have set into motion
a cycle, a chain of events. The seed sprouts and becomes a plant or tree. Thus it is in the order of
Existence that every action or cause has its own reaction or effect.

Here Kṛṣṇa gives a technique to cut these kārmic bonds, to be complete and realize the reality. Actions
that are complete and free from fear and anger do not create bonds, vītā-rāga bhaya krodhā. They lead us
towards elevated consciousness. Fear and anger that arise out of greed pattern are two of the most provocative
emotions, the root patterns that create incomplete action, and lead to bondage.

Attachments are our bondage to the future based on experiences of the past. We have unfulfilled
desires that we hope to fulfill. We look for results. When the results happen the way we wish them
to, there is temporary satisfaction. More wishes arise. More attachments are formed. When things
do not happen the way we want them to, we feel sorrow, we are depressed. We strive again. Either
way it is a never-ending cycle that brings sorrow in the end. When we let go of attachments and
perform complete actions with no expectations, we enjoy the path of action. There is no stress
regarding what must happen, since there is no attachment.

Kṛṣṇa offers a way to be in His space of completion. He says, ‘Be drowned in Me, man-mayā mām
upāśritaḥ; you will have no anger, no fear. All actions will thus be without bondage. In this
manner, you can be purified and realize Me, pūtā mad-bhavām āgatāḥ (4.10).’ He gives the
assurance that having followed this path, many people in the past have achieved Realization.

All your actions, Kṛṣṇa says, are based on material success, and He says such activities bear instant
results in this world, kṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke (4.12).Whether you understand it or not, all
these prayers and actions do produce instant results. This does not mean whatever you pray for is
instantly granted by the God you prayed to. God, fortunately, has far more wisdom than we have.
God uses His buddhi, wisdom, to grant what He deems appropriate. However, the result of your
actions is instant. The karmaphala is immediate.

4.13 Depending upon the distribution of the three attributes or guṇas and actions, I have created the
four castes. Yet, I am to be known as the non-doer, the unchangeable.
4.14 I am not affected by any work; nor do I long for the outcome of such work. One who
understands this truth about Me also does not get caught in the bondage of work.
4.15 All the wise and liberated souls of ancient times have acted with this understanding and
thus attained liberation. Just as the ancients did, perform your duty with this understanding.
4.16 What is action and what is inaction, even the wise are confused. Let Me explain to you what
action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all ills.

There are three basic guṇas: satva or purity, rajas or activity and tamas or inactivity. People quote this verse
whenever they want the support of religion for making the caste system more solid.
They say, ‘Kṛṣṇa Himself has sanctioned it’ or, ‘This system has been given by the Incarnation
Himself.’ Listen, Kṛṣṇa uses the words, ‘depending upon the distribution of the three guṇas.’ He
does not say, ‘depending upon birth.’
Every person is unique and possesses a unique ratio of the three guṇas. There are basically four
kinds of people; based on the more dominant guṇa in them. He says, ‘Based on the guṇa one is
born with, I decide his varṇa, his caste.’ The varṇa system was four-fold. Brāhmaṇas were the
scholars and priests, intellectually inclined. Kṣatriyas were the soldiers and kings, ambitious and
physically strong. Vaiṣyas were the business community with strong commercial acumen. Śudras
were the workers, physically able and skillful. Based on their guṇas, their skill sets and not birth,
the children in ancient Gurukul were trained into their vocations, their varṇa or caste.
Kṛṣṇa, the ultimate Master, is always conscious and complete. He has no karma, no unfulfilled
desires, no incompletion, and no attachment. So it is with every enlightened Master. His so-called
desires get fulfilled as they arise. When I desire food, it appears. When I feel the need to sleep, I
rest. There is no gap between my desire and its fulfillment. There is no trace of that desire after it is
fulfilled. The fulfillment is complete. The attachment is zero. Therefore, there is no karma. This is
the lesson every Master teaches his disciples. Work from your needs, not from your wants. Act
without attachment. You shall attract no karma and you will be liberated.

4.17 The complexities of action are very difficult to understand. Understand fully the nature of proper
action by understanding the nature of wrong action and inaction.
4.18 He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is wise and a yogi, even if engaged in
all activities.
4.19 He who is determined and devoid of all desires for sense gratification, he is of
perfect knowledge. The sages declare such a person wise whose actions are burnt
by the fire of knowledge.
4.20 Having given up all attachment to the results of his action, always satisfied and
independent, the wise man does not act, though he is engaged in all kinds of
action.
When you see that it is not the ‘I’ in you that is doing the activities, but it is the senses following their nature;
when you see that it is the mind that is creating the false sense of identification of you with the action, then
you have realized; you have attained completion because you are now no longer in the clutches of the mind.
For example, the eyes see, the ears hear, and the nose smells. Yet, you are free from the bondage of action
because you do not have any identification or any emotional attachment to anything. So naturally, you are
liberated and you can do actions most beautifully without expecting any particular result. This is what it
means to be ‘Unclutched.’

By your very Nature, You are Inclutched

Being ‘Unclutched’ is the state where you are free and liberated. Let me expand on the word
‘Unclutching.’ If you observe your mind keenly, you will see that you are constantly connecting all your
thoughts and creating links in your mind.
For example, the headache that happened ten years ago, five years ago and yesterday are all independent
experiences. For easy reference, you categorize all these into ‘headache,’ just like you file documents in your
office. By and by, you start believing all these experiences are connected. When you start believing they are
connected you create a shaft.
You connect all painful memories, create a pain shaft and conclude, ‘My life is suffering, my life is pain.’
Now when you start believing your whole life is suffering, you have created a pain shaft and you are waiting
only for painful incidents in your life so that you can elongate that shaft. First understand, whatever you believe
is what you create within you and outside you. You will see that manifesting in your life over and over again.
That is why vedic ṛṣis, sages, say that you create what you want. By seeing, you create. You will wait
unconsciously for painful incidents to strengthen that belief, that life judgment.

Second thing, whenever you add the painful incidents unconsciously, you will be elongating that shaft, even
though you may want to consciously end the pain by breaking it. If you believe your whole life is a shaft of
joyful experiences, which we do very rarely, constantly you are in fear about whether the joy will continue. If
you believe life is a shaft of painful incidents, you do two things: Unconsciously you gather more and more
incidents and strengthen your faith about how your life is painful, and consciously you try to break the pain
shaft! If you believe life is a chain of joyful incidents, unconsciously you will be in fear that it will end, and
consciously you will try to prolong it. Understand these are two big dramas we are continuously enacting with
ourselves.
You forget that you can neither break the shaft nor elongate it because the shaft itself does not exist! The
shaft itself is your own imagination. Just try this experiment:
Sit down for ten minutes with a pen and paper. Now, just start jotting down whatever thoughts come to
your mind. Please do not edit your thoughts; write them down as they are. Do not judge yourself and do not
try to control what comes to your mind. If you try to judge, you are playing a hypocritical game with yourself.
Now, read whatever you have written. You can see for yourself how unconnected and illogical your thoughts
are! One moment you would think, ‘I think I should go to my office tomorrow,’ then the next minute, ‘No I
should just wake up and decide then,’ then, ‘What should I do about dinner tonight?’
Have you seen how the bubbles rise up in a fish tank? There is a gap between one bubble and the next.
But the gap is so small that it looks like a continuous stream. Similarly, there is a gap between one thought
and the next thought in your mind. Your thoughts are independent like the bubbles. By their very nature, your
thoughts are independent.
For example, if you see a dog in the street, suddenly you remember the pet you used to play with as a
child. Then you will remember the teacher, then the place where your teacher used to stay, and so on! The dog
and the teacher are not connected in any way, but your mind simply flows. Look a little deeply, you will
understand that your thoughts are illogical, independent and unconnected.
When you believe that your mind is logical, you have created the first ‘original sin’ for yourself. Understand,
by your very nature you are unclutched. Every moment you are renouncing the thoughts by your very nature.
A new thought can appear only when the old thought has been renounced. But even after renouncing them
you try to pick up the thoughts from the dustbin and try to create a shaft with them.
Listen, first understand consciously that you are creating a shaft of pain or a shaft of joy and trying to fight
with it, by either trying to elongate it or break it. Second, you don’t even have to unclutch yourself from the
shaft because the shaft is imaginary. By your very nature, if you stop creating a shaft, you are Unclutched.
That is what Kṛṣṇa means by action, karmaṇi and inaction, akarmaṇi. You cannot be inactive by nature.
You will daydream, clinging on to fantasies. You will try to escape from reality by deluding yourself, because
your mind is clutching onto a soft and easy dream shaft.
When you truly Unclutch, without any attachment to the past and future, you will realize that you are full of
energy. You will have to do something. That ‘something’ will be dictated by your present moment
completion, not by fantasies. What you think of as ‘you’ is not necessary to run your day-to-day life. This is
the basic truth.
In the process of Unclutching, you transcend both action and inaction, karmaṇi and akarmaṇi. You
successfully destroy the false cognition of the connection between the thoughts and rest in the present
moment, the space of completion, the state of no-mind, the state of dropping thoughts. In this unclutched
space, you are active and yet not attached to any activity. You are truly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
That is what Kṛṣṇa says here: Be involved completely in the action yet be detached, independent and satisfied
within. Then you can function spontaneously, flowing in tune with Existence. Life then becomes a
celebration. Every single thing you do is an act of joy and an expression of the loving energy in you.
4.21 The person who acts without desire for the result; with his consciousness
controlling the mind,

giving up all sense of ownership over his possessions and body and only working, incurs
no sin.
4.22 He who is satisfied with profit which comes of its own accord and who has gone beyond duality,
who is free from envy,

Who is in equanimity both in success and failure, such a person though doing action, is never
affected.
4.23 The work of a liberated man who is unattached
to the modes of material nature and who is fully centered in the ultimate knowledge, who
 works totally for the sake of sacrifice, merges entirely into the knowledge.
4.24 The offering, the butter offered to the Supreme in the fire of the Supreme is offered by the
Supreme.

Certainly, the Supreme can be reached by him who is absorbed completely in action.
4.25 Some yogis worship the gods by offering various sacrifices to them,
While others worship by offering sacrifices in the fire of the Supreme.
This very prāṇa, the life breath going inside your body is not your property. It is the property of Existence.
Your very life is a sheer gift to you from Existence. When you realize this, you will immediately see that all
your fears and worries and greed are so baseless.
The space you carry, the attitude, the intention, and the thoughts behind the action actually decide the energy
behind the action. The power of space and thought is immense. In fact, some of the latest research shows how
our DNA can be influenced and reprogrammed by words and frequencies.

If you can complete with your greed and fear patterns, which is what we have normally, and create the space
of bliss or Ānanda, then your energy flow will start brimming and your thoughts will be authentic, your words
will be integrated and you will be more in the space of completion. When you do this, you have every power
to control outer world incidents because you and Existence have a very deep connection at the energy level.
When you are blissful, when the space you carry is not one of worry, fear and greed but one that is in the
present, always complete and joyful, you will automatically attract all good things to yourself.
When you practice Integrity with integrity, Authenticity with authenticity, Responsibility with
responsibility, and Enriching with enriching, you will simply have the four great powers—the power of
words—vāk siddhi, the power of thinking—mano siddhi, the power of feeling—prema siddhi, and the
power of living—ātma siddhi.
When you unlock the power of words, you will have the spontaneous intelligence to use the right and
most effective words towards yourself and others. Next, what is Authenticity? The decision of
authenticity has to come from your very soul. Your soul has to awaken. Till then, you may be
practicing a little authenticity in your yoga, or in your waking hours. But that is not completely
authentic. When your soul wakes up, only then do you become a completely authentic soul. When
you start practicing authenticity, your soul wakes up. Your being wakes up. When you discover
the power of thinking, you will be able to focus on your thoughts to achieve success in your job,
relationships, education, finances and life itself!
Authenticity is nothing but remembering that all powers are at your disposal. You can just
possess and express any power you want. With responsibility, the power of feeling, you will
learn to express these powers. The power of feeling teaches how to launch yourself to the next
level of life through empowered responsibility. And with enriching, you will truly be enjoying the
power of living when you realize that the greatest rewards come when you live your life for others.
Kṛṣṇa says here, ‘One who works for the sake of enriching sacrifice, merges into the knowledge—
yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate (4.23).’ Enrich just for the sake of enriching. All these parasite
patterns of jealousy and envy come when you think life has a goal and somebody else has been given
something more than you to reach the goal. When you understand that you are unique and Existence has
equipped you with all that you need to fulfill all your desires, you will actually be able to live life in completion
and work sincerely for the sake of enriching. Otherwise, you will only be running behind some goal or the
other. You will envy others who you think are closer to that goal towards which you are running. You will be
caught in this roller coaster of success and failure.

4.26 Some sacrifice the hearing process and other senses in the fire of equanimity. And others offer as
sacrifice the objects of the senses, such as sound, in the fire of the sacrifice.
4.27 One who is interested in knowledge offers all the actions due to the senses, including the action of
taking in the life breath into the fire of Yoga, and is engaged in the yoga of equanimity of the mind.
4.28 There is the sacrifice of material wealth, sacrifice through penance, sacrifice through yoga and
other sacrifices, while there is sacrifice through self-study and through strict vows.
4.29 There are others who sacrifice the life energy in the form of incoming breath and outgoing breath,
 thus checking the movement of the incoming and outgoing breaths and controlling the breath.
4.30 There are others who sacrifice through controlled eating and offering the outgoing breath, life
energy. All these people know the meaning of sacrifice and are purified of sin or karma.
4.31 Having tasted the nectar of the results of such sacrifices, they go to the supreme eternal
consciousness.
This world is not for those who have not sacrificed. How can the other be, Arjuna?
4.32 Thus, there are many kinds of sacrifices born of work mentioned in the Vedas.
Knowing these, one will be liberated.
‘Sacrifice’, it is not just the act of giving, but the attitude of giving. Otherwise, you may do
everything, following all rituals according to the scriptures, but you will miss out on the real
intent for which the act had to be done.
Kṛṣṇa mentions many forms of sacrifice here. He talks of sacrifices of material wealth, yoga and
penance—a combination of material, physical, mental and spiritual sacrifices. When a person does
these at some cost and pain to himself, they would be genuine sacrifices. Otherwise they would
merely be meaningless rituals. However, even that which is given away by someone who can
afford what he is giving, if done with good intentions of enriching, would result in gains to that
person. His very intention to enrich will alter his mindset and liberate him. A person who does not
believe in sharing his wealth will not only suffer in future births as a result of his mental makeup,
but he will also be unable to enjoy his own wealth in his present birth.

4.33 O Parantapa (conqueror of foes), the sacrifice of wisdom is superior to the sacrifice of
material wealth.

After all, all activities totally end in wisdom.

4.34 Understand these truths by approaching a spiritual Master, by asking him your questions,
by offering service.

The enlightened person can initiate you into wisdom because he has seen the truth.
4.35 O Pāṇḍava, knowing this you will never suffer from desire or illusion,

You will know that all living beings are in the Supreme, in Me.
4.36 Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners,
You will certainly cross completely the ocean of miseries with the boat of knowledge.
Kṛṣṇa advises the seeker to sacrifice one’s knowledge and one’s intellect at His feet, at the feet of the
Master, to experience the ultimate Truth. Beautifully He says, ‘tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā (4.34).’ A Master is one who has experienced the truth and who can simply
transfer his experience of truth to you. He communes with you.
In Saṃskṛit, there are three beautiful words to describe this. You are born in the bhū garbha, the
womb of the mother; this signifies your physical birth. The teacher with his love and teachings
gives birth to you in the hrid garbha, the womb of the heart. The master gives birth to a completely
new you, a transformed being in the jñāna garbha, the womb of knowledge. You then become re-
born, dvijā!

Surrender Transforms
Understand, Masters have no vested interest for themselves; they have no karma to exhaust. They descend
on this planet Earth out of sheer love and compassion for humanity. Just like a low-pressure region attracts
winds, a depression created in the world attracts the formless energy of Existence. This energy is what is
known in different forms like Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Buddha etc.
Actually, the Master lives in three dimensions of energies: the body, His teachings and His mission.
Masters come to dispel the ignorance of seekers, to show them the path. Only one third of the Master’s energy
 is in the physical body. The other third is in the teachings and another third is in the mission.
Nithyananda is nitya-dhyāna-ānanda, all in one. Nithya, the Master in the body as Nithyananda,
dhyāna, my teaching and message of meditation and ānanda, my mission of bringing forth the
fountain of bliss that is lying latent in you, all the three together constitute the energy called
Nithyananda.
The moment you surrender to the Master and his mission and you stand up taking responsibility, you will
find that the divine energy simply flows through you and you just flow effortlessly and express yourself most
gracefully and powerfully.
All you need to do is to be stable and available, and the divine energy will make you able! On the mental
level, you surrender your intellect, your mental pursuits, your incompletions to serve the Master and the
mission. You become like a liquid, flowing into the shapes and moulds created by the Master. The Master
knows the best way in which you can grow. He creates the moulds for each of you according to your needs
and abilities. Trust him, drop your solid ego and become fluid so you can fill in the spaces he creates for you.
At the being level, when your very being surrenders to the Master, your being clearly recognizes the
call of the Master. You become a part of the Master. You no longer carry any separate identity.
This process of transformation automatically happens when you surrender to the Master, his
teachings and his mission. The water is converted into formless steam. Like steam, you now
explode in all directions. There are no limitations because all limitations exist only in the mind.
You now transcend the mind and express your peak potential. The Master tirelessly and
compassionately pushes you in different ways so you can also experience and be in the same state
of eternal bliss as he is. The only emotion that a Master knows is love.
Here, Kṛṣṇa says beautifully, ‘Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners—sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-krt-tamaḥ,
you will certainly completely cross the ocean of miseries with the boat of knowledge—sarvam jñāna-
plavenaiva vṛjinaṁ santariṣyasi (4.36).’
At the spiritual level, the concept of sin does not exist. It is a creation of man-made institutions, of
societal and political organizations to control others through fear. When you have the true
knowledge, the intelligence of why you are doing what you are doing, the very knowledge will
make the action divine, the act will no longer be just a ritual but a means to reach the Ultimate.
Automatically, you will cross the ocean of miseries because misery itself is a result of ignorance
of your true self. When ‘spirit’ is added to a ‘ritual’, it becomes ‘spi-rituality’.

4.37 Just as a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna,

So does the fire of wisdom burn to ashes all actions, all your karma.
4.38 Truly, in this world, there is nothing as pure as wisdom.
One who has matured to know this enjoys in himself in due course of time.
4.39 A person with śraddha (courageous authenticity) achieves wisdom and has control over the senses.
Achieving wisdom, without delay, he attains supreme peace.
4.40 Those who have no wisdom and authenticity, who always have doubts, are
destroyed.

There is no happiness for the ones who doubt the self, either in this world or the next.
4.41 O Dhanañjaya (winner of riches), he who has renounced the fruits of his actions, whose doubts are
destroyed, who is well established in the Self, is not bound by his actions.
4.42 O descendant of Bhārata, therefore, stand up, be established in yoga. Armed with the sword of
knowledge, cut the doubt born of ignorance that exists in your heart.

śraddha Enriches You with Knowledge

In the next verse, Kṛṣṇa uses the word ‘śraddha’ again. What a beautiful verse, ‘śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ—
the one established in authenticity is enriched with knowledge.’
Actually, śraddha means faith plus the courage of authenticity to live to your highest possibility; the
courage to be established in the peak of your capability. Understand, continuously committing
 with words that express your maximum peak capacity, as per your understanding and as per
others’ understanding is what is referred to as śraddha, authenticity.
Kṛṣṇa declares the power of authenticity here, ‘śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ (4.39).’ Only the
authentic one is enriched with knowledge. When you have the knowledge and the courage of
authenticity to follow and live the teachings, then you can achieve the ultimate knowledge, the
knowledge of enlightenment.
Of all religious and spiritual doctrines, it is only the scriptures of the sanātana-dharma, the eternal path
of righteousness, as the Hindu philosophy is called, that allow themselves to be updated. The Vedas and the
Upaniṣads, which we believe are the voices of Nature, are not rules and regulations. They are truths to be
understood and followed only in awareness. There are no punishments if one does not follow them, nor is one
condemned as a sinner if one doesn’t follow them.
This is the greatness and pristine beauty of sanātana-dharma, the eternal path of living. We are the
most powerful, most sophisticated, most intelligent, most cutting-edge presentation of the Truth
left with the possibility to evolve more and more, open for the possibility of being updated!
Nothing was sacred just because it was uttered.

coMpLetIng seLf-doubt In any fIeLd Is educatIon

In the next few verses, Kṛṣṇa says that there is no happiness for those who always have self-doubts and
who have no knowledge and authenticity. He uses the word ‘always.’ He does not say that from the beginning
itself you should not have any doubts. Having doubts is natural; as long as you have the mind, you will have
doubts. But you can go beyond it by completing with your self-doubts.
Kṛṣṇa warns, ‘The one without the wisdom and without authenticity, who always has doubts, is
destroyed. There is no happiness for the one who doubts the self, either in this world or the next.’
Self-doubt destroys you—saṁśayātmā vinaśyati and the one who has the self-doubt is never
happy anywhere—na sukhaṁ śaṁsayātmanaḥ (4.40).
First, we need to understand what self-doubt is! What is the root of this self-doubt? In your life, when the first
root incident happens, you make your inner image, you project the outer image, and you create the life image
to protect yourself for survival reason. For example, at the age of three or four, you run around and play in the
rain. Your mother sees you and strongly pulls you into the house and gives you a slap saying, ‘Don’t go out
in the rain! You will catch a cold! Your health will be spoiled!’ She screams at you. For a child, getting
slapped, being pulled inside the house and locked up is too much. The child will not understand that it is only
a slap. The child will literally feel he is going to die!
At that moment, the child will create the inner mage, mamakāra: ‘I am helpless.’ He will create the outer
image, ahaṁkāra: ‘I am powerful,’ because he cannot survive with the idea, ‘I am helpless in the society. I
am helpless in life.’ So, naturally, he will create a compensating outer image, ‘I am powerful,’ and he will
create the life’s image or svānyakāra, the image about his mother and life, that life is cruel.
So, when this root pattern is formed, you start living and you naturally project your pseudo outer
image: ‘I am powerful.’ If you are not able to convince others with the pseudo outer image, it is
good for you. But if you convince them with the pseudo outer image, when you come back to your
private space like your bedroom, you will start thinking, ‘Oh God! I made every one believe my
outer image as the truth, but my inner image is different from my outer image!’ So, this clash is
self-doubt. This clash is what Kṛṣṇa calls as saṁśayātmā.
If root pattern is the root of a tree, lust patterns are the parasites of the tree, every day suffering and
powerlessness are the leaves of the tree, self-doubt is the fragrance of the tree.
So, please understand, when you convince others with your strong outer image, and your inner
image starts questioning you; your inner image questioning you is self-doubt. That is where
the self-doubt starts. This is where your root of unhappiness grows—na sukhaṁ
śaṁsayātmanaḥ (4.40).
Completing with your self-doubt in any field is education. In any field, whether it is self-
transformation, cooking, medicine, law, or construction, in any field, complete with your self-
doubt. Your kuṇḍalini energy, your innate potential energy will flow in that direction and you will
excel in that field.
Here, Kṛṣṇa refers to the stages in the Master-disciple relationship.
There are many levels.
The first level is purely intellectual, doubt-based. ‘Doubt based’ refers to the negative self-
doubts, which are purely intellectual. It is like you are telling yourself on seeing the Master,
‘What is he going to do? Let us see. How is he able to mobilize such a big crowd at such a
young age? He seems hardly thirty. What is going on here?’
The next step is intelligence; from intellect to intelligence. You tell yourself, ‘Why not attend
this program and see what he is really doing?’ By this time, it has changed from, ‘What is he
doing!’ to ‘Oh, I think He means something. But I neither believe nor disbelieve Him. Ok, let
us check it out.’ The intellect is becoming intelligence. You are giving a little space for the
Master.
Then, if you continue to start looking in, first from intellect to intelligence, then from
intelligence to intelligence with emotion, like 60% intelligence, 40% emotion, that is the time
you will feel like a friend towards the Master. After that, it becomes 60% emotion and 40%
intelligence. That is the time you will feel like the Master is like an elder, like a father or mother
or lord or teacher. You feel respectful towards him. And then, the relationship becomes pure
emotion. You will feel a deep connection like a mother and son.
Then, after that, it is neither emotion nor intellect nor intelligence. It is a being-level
relationship. It is the deep connection of a beloved, the madhura bhāva.
And suddenly, you will see, he is not even the beloved, he is beyond the beloved. You start
experiencing the mahā bhāva, what I call the Guru-disciple experience, experiencing
yourself as the Master. That is what I call— ‘Tat Tvam Asi.’ Tat Tvam Asi means That art
thou. It means you are the Master.
Thus ends the fourth chapter named Jñānakarmasannyāsa Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Action In
Knowledge And Renunciation,’ 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.
 C HA P T E R 5
Sannyāsa Yogaḥ

5.1 Arjuna says:

Oh Kṛṣṇa, you asked me to renounce work first and then you asked me to work
with devotion. Will you now please tell me, definitely, which of the two will be
more beneficial to me?
5.2 Bhagavān says:
The renunciation of work [sannyāsa] and work in devotion [karmayoga] are both good for
liberation. But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work.
5.3 He who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities has renounced. Such a person,
free from all dualities, easily overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, Oh
Mahābaho (Arjuna)!
5.4 Only the ignorant, not the wise, speaks of the path of action [karma-yoga] to be different
from the path of renunciation [sāṅkhya yoga]. Those who are actually learned say that one
who is firmly established in either of the paths, achieves the fruit of both.
Before measuring life in terms of success or failure, one should know how this success is to be
measured in the first place. If we are going to measure our life on a scale of dollars, then we have
to work only for dollars. So, from morning to evening, we need to work only for that goal. Based
on this, we can conclude whether we are succeeding or failing in our life. It is fortunate that the
scale changes with maturity. If we grow with every mistake in life and complete with it, then the
scale with which we measure success in life should also change. If it does not change, we will
start our next life from ground zero.

Karma or Sannyāsa, What Is My Path?

Here, Arjuna asks: ‘Kṛṣṇa! Now, will you please tell me surely, which of the two: karma, action or
Sannyāsa, renunciation is more beneficial— sannyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛṣṇa punar yogaṁ ca saṁsasi (5.1)?’
Again and again, all of us ask ourselves this question. The mind is in dilemma! The mind asks
for a single instruction! Our mind will be alive as long as we are caught between any two
extremes. The moment we come to any single conclusion we will be liberated.
Life has no separate benefit. Life itself is a benefit. There are people who have achieved all that they
wanted in life. But they feel a deep void, a deep incompletion in them. This is what I mean by the term
‘depression of success.’ They feel something is deeply lacking and are unable to comprehend what it could
possibly be.
This is because they ran the rat race of life without carrying the space of completion, without
stopping to complete with their root patterns of desires, of fear and greed, without any self-
inquiry.
 Do something enriching just for the sake of enriching, not for any purpose. Enrich just for the sake
of enriching. You will see that during that half hour, you will fall into your very being; which is the space of
completion!
You can also enrich at some place of worship by cleaning it without expecting anything in return. Engage
yourself in any form of selfless enriching activity. Serve food to people. Even while volunteering, we do it so
that we can tell others about it and get applauded for it. So now at least for 30 minutes, authentically enrich
with responsibility, without the cognition of getting yourself any benefit. No money or name and fame should
come to you from that half an hour. If you can just do this, you will start tasting the real power of life. Enriching
is the power of living, ātma śakti.
I always tell people, if you just allow a single instance of depression, powerlessness to work on
you and you face it consciously with the process of completion, in the process you will become
enlightened. Nothing else is necessary. A single instance of depression is enough. It will
completely burn you and you will become enlightened. But we never allow anything to work on
us completely. We are scared to confront our own selves. We just allow the unconscious space of
powerlessness to overpower us instead of boldly facing it with power and joy, and seeing it
through its completion.
We mark our patterns, not our possibilities. We never mark where we should in the bigger
picture of our lives. We are so caught up with marking our small desires and goals fueled by our
incompletions. We never mark the spot of our peak possibilities. These markings of desires and
worldly goals continuously get washed away and new markings are made. They update
themselves based on inputs from the world around us, based on what society has to say. We
forget that these markings are temporary and do not reflect the space of possibility within, which
comes only from completion.

Surrender to Experience Karma-Sannyāsa as

one
Let us deeply analyze these paths of Karma and Sannyāsa. Karma is normally out of greed and desires.
Sannyāsa is always invariably out of fear, bhaya. There is a fear of life. When you are not ready to take the
risk, you renounce everything. The fear of getting hurt is the first reason for Sannyāsa. Sannyāsa is a way of
escapism, turning away from the responsibilities that life presents. When a person is bogged down by
responsibilities of life, he takes Sannyāsa as an easy escape route. In the name of renunciation, he covers his
deep fears. This is not true Sannyāsa.
Then we have people running after material wealth in the name of karma. On one side are the people who
are running away from fear. On the other side are those who are running towards their greed. Both categories
of people are not going to achieve eternal bliss or consciousness. Both are not on the right track of completion.
In the entire world, only three types of human beings exist: One who has surrendered to greed,
one who has surrendered to fear and the one who has surrendered to the supreme intelligence,
divine consciousness. The person who has surrendered to greed gets lost. Such a person runs
after many things in life to possess them, which in turn leads to more greed. He literally becomes
a slave to greed.
In the same way, as long as you are a jīvātman, an ordinary soul, you struggle between fear and greed.
You go from one extreme to another. The moment you realize there is something inside your being that is
untouched by your greed and fear, you start traveling towards it. When you get closer to it, you realize you
are that Consciousness.
Here, Kṛṣṇa explains the same thing, we are caught between fear and greed. Either we constantly
surrender ourselves to fear or we surrender ourselves to greed. Very rare individuals surrender to
intelligence, to Divine Consciousness.
Our whole life is spent running behind greed or fear. The path of Karma Yoga, seeking liberation
through action or responsibility, happens because of greed. The path of sannyāsa yoga, seeking
liberation through renunciation, happens because of fear. Neither the path of karma (action) nor
the path of sannyāsa (renunciation) will enrich us unless we complete with our greed and fear
and transform our very space into the space of completion. If we change the incomplete space to
that of completion, karma or sannyāsa or anything can enrich us.
Sannyāsa is you living in the space of completion and constantly enriching everyone to be in the
space of completion.
Again and again, Kṛṣṇa is placing the emphasis on the space of completion, on the being. If we
don’t know the root cause of our actions, why we are living with karma or why we pick up
Sannyāsa, we will not be able to solve our problems. Our suffering is neither because of karma
nor because of Sannyāsa. Suffering is because of our wrong attitude of incompletion.
With the wrong space of incompletion, if you take the path of karma or sannyāsa, you will
struggle and suffer, and make others suffer as well. If you decide to enter karma, drop the goal.
Just enjoy doing the karma and don’t worry about the goal. Living itself is beautiful. Realize
that life itself is beautiful. On the other hand, if we decide to take up Sannyāsa, again drop the
goal. The goal of a Sannyāsi (monk), which is renunciation, is also a goal and it must be
dropped. The karma yogi runs towards the goal, the Sannyāsi runs away from the goal.
These three words should be understood: being, doing and having. If we are continuously doing
only for having, we will never have it. Even when we are having, we will be doing. The man
who is doing just for having will never be able to experience or enjoy life because even when he
is having, he will be doing. The man who is established in his being will enjoy both doing and
having at the same time. By just being, he will enjoy doing and having.

5.5 He who knows, knows that the state reached by renunciation [sāṅkhya] and action [karma]
are one and the same.

State reached by renunciation can also be achieved by action, know them to be at the same
level and see them as they are.
5.6 Renunciation without devotion afflicts one with misery, Oh mightyarmed one. The wise person
engaged in devotional service attains the Supreme without delay.
5.7 The person working in devotion, who is a pure being, self-controlled and having conquered the
senses, identifies his Self with the Self of all beings. Though engaged in work, he is never entangled.
5.8 ,5.9 One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going,
dreaming, and breathing, always knows within himself that—’I never do anything at all.’

While talking, letting go, receiving, opening, closing, he considers that the senses are engaged
with their sense objects.

Not all of us are karma yogi or doers and not all of us are Sannyāsis or monks. No Sannyāsi is a
Sannyāsi for 24 hours. When he surrenders himself to the greed, he is a doer. No karma yogi is a
doer for 24 hours. When he surrenders to fear, he is a Sannyāsi. So, whenever we make an
optimistic decision, we are a karma yogi. Whenever we make a pessimistic decision, we are
Sannyāsi. It is we who play both the roles.
Please listen: Whenever we move our body while feeling a particular emotion, that emotion gets settled
inside our system. That emotion will become part of us and get created again and again in our system. Jiḍḍu
Kṛṣṇamurti, an Enlightened Master from India, made a wonderful statement about emotions. He says, ‘If you
can, try to remain centered, silent, without moving your body when a particular emotion rises in you, without
co-operating with it. Within eleven times, or I can say within eleven emotional upsets, if you have managed
to be this way, you will be liberated from that emotion.’
For example, if you are caught in an emotion, say lust or fear, then for eleven cycles, whenever
that emotion rises in your being, don’t allow your body to co-operate. Don’t allow your body to
flow or move with that emotion. Within eleven cycles, I assure you, you will be liberated from
that emotion. You may think, ‘What is this, Swamiji? Just eleven times! Is it so easy?’ It is easy.
All great things are easy. Only we complicate them because we don’t believe that anything is
easy.
I can tell you with integrity and authenticity, eleven times is too much. When that emotion rises
in you, don’t cooperate. Let your body not go after that emotion. Don’t be taken away by that
emotion, whether it is anger, irritation, depression, lust, fear or anything else. Just decide, ‘I am
not going to be taken away by this emotion. I am completing with it.’
Whether it is anger or fear or greed, it gets more power and strength if your body cooperates with
it. With whatever emotion your body moves, that emotion gets recorded inside your system. And
that emotion will happen again and again, and much more intensely. Both frequency and
intensity of that emotion will increase.
An important truth is that the basic quality of life is reproduction and expansion. This is the
survival instinct governed by the svādiṣṭhāna cakra, the fear energy center within our body.
Reproduction is governed by the mūlādhāra cakra, the sex energy center in our body. These
cells that catch the anger emotion start reproducing and each cell creates five or six more cells.
Next time, when the anger shower happens, all these cells will also catch the same emotion.
They grow to the same original size. Now these cells also start reproducing. The third time, when
the shower happens, all these cells catch the emotion and start storing it. That is why, every time
we experience the same emotion, it becomes stronger and stronger.
In our being, again and again, when we cooperate with these negative emotions, we create the
same type of mood, the same type of pattern and lifestyle in us. Not only will this emotion get
recorded in us, but we will express the same thing to others also. What we have within us is what
we will vomit on others also.

Drop greed and fear, Live Power and Joy

When you come down to this planet, you bring enough energy to live all your desires or to
achieve whatever you want to achieve in this life; to create your reality as you want. You have
already brought enough fuel. You don’t need fuel from fear or greed. You always think, ‘If I stop
fueling myself with fear or greed, I may stop working.’ No. There is enough reserve fuel in you.
That is why here, Kṛṣṇa beautifully says—‘yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati’. The man who is beyond the
pull of fear and greed is the only one who can see things as they are. If you are caught in fear or
greed, you will see things only as you want, never as they are. For example, on seeing a
beautiful, tall building, a man who is caught in greed will think ‘If I have at least one building
like this, how nice it will be!’ The man caught in fear will think, ‘I should not see these things.
They stress me out. I should go and live in the forest.’ But only a person who is liberated from
these two emotions will see it as it is.. His seeing will be a pure perception of seeing, beyond any
patterns.
Just decide, ‘For the next ten days I will trust the words of Kṛṣṇa. I will practice this truth with integrity and
authenticity. I don’t need fuel from fear or greed because I have brought enough energy.’ When the Divine
sends you to earth, He sends you with whatever you need. In Vedānta, that is what we call prārabdha karma.
When you come down you bring enough of energy for your senses and body to acquire whatever it needs to
live life blissfully. The only problem is you don’t trust that you have brought everything. And after coming
down, you accumulate more and more desires from others and then you try to fulfill all those desires too.
Work only for your desires. Don’t waste your life working for others’ desires. Decide clearly, ‘For the next
ten days, I will work only out of my power, my joy and bliss. I will do everything out of my completion.’ I
can assure you, it will transform your life. This one idea can liberate you straightaway from all bondages.
Don’t be bothered about the initial feeling of emptiness. It is like this: If we don’t have anybody to nag us we
will feel we are missing something! So, when you practice this, you will feel you are missing that constant
nagging. Don’t worry. You will settle into that new consciousness. Your whole being will become new.
Remove the tremendous stress and load from your inner space. Decide, ‘For ten days, I will do all my
actions out of deep bliss, out of a settled mood of powerfulness and joy.’ If you practice this, the constant
irritation that remains in you will disappear.
In Saṃskṛit, ‘Śiva’ means causeless auspiciousness, reasonless energy. It is possible to live with that
reasonless, unmotivated energy. Only two things are needed for that. The first thing is trust that you have that
energy. The next thing is starting to live it. Only these two things are needed to reach the Divine
Consciousness. When we start working with the causeless auspicious energy, we become Śiva. Otherwise, we
are Śava (dead body).
Just sit down for five minutes and be aware of how you perceive situations. With completion and awareness,
look at everything you think and do, and you can understand what I mean. When we come to an
understanding of our own self and are able to live as a witness to everything that goes on around us,
unaffected by situations and people around us, we become a realized soul, living enlightenment. If we do
things fueled by fear and greed, we become hypocrites.
You see, renunciation, Sannyāsa is going beyond desires, including ‘desirelessness.’ Apart from material
desires, the desire to be spiritual and attain God is also a desire. The mind always hankers after something in
the future. Only when we drop all desires, when we are completely at ease and ecstatic in the present moment
of completion, we have gone beyond the clutches of the mind. Only then do we see reality as It exists here and
now.
Seeing this reality as It exists is what Kṛṣṇa beautifully calls—yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati. Otherwise, we always
live in our world of illusion, māya, because the future is unreal; it is an illusion. The real, the present, can
never be perceived by the mind because it is beyond logic. That is why Existence can never be understood
and experienced by the mind. The truth can only be experienced.

Experience your True Nature

When we allow ourselves to be our true nature, to be bliss, we live spontaneously and respond with
intelligence instead of programmed unconscious reactions. Then there is no need to control the senses
because they are under the control of the ultimate Existence. There is no question of having to control them.
We have programmed reactions, default cognitions about everything. We see a situation and we react
based on others’ expectation from us, anyakāra and our expectation from others, svānyakāra. We can only
react by looking up our database of the past records, referring to the reaction of people then. If what we did
was appreciated, we will react the same way. If we are not appreciated and there is a gap between others’
expectation from us and our expectation from others, we create a self-doubt and feel uncomfortable and
restless. And to remove the discomfort, we now react in a different manner, one that we think will be
acceptable to others.
Existence is energy. It can never repeat itself. Every moment is unique.
Have the courage to live life with intelligence, with consciousness and completion, with spontaneity. Just this
small shift in your space can do wonders for you; every moment will then be a celebration! When the
intelligence happens, the compassion also descends. Compassion for the whole world automatically happens
in you because you see yourself in every one.These verses of Kṛṣṇa are very powerful, but often
misinterpreted.
‘One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, dreaming,
and breathing knows that he never does anything.’
It is like you commit a murder and then claim you didn’t do it but your hands did it! Be very clear: Not being
the doer does not mean we give up responsibility for our actions. It means exactly the opposite. When we are
so involved in the action, when we are completely relaxed, we are overflowing with compassion and love,
and we just do out of the blissful energy in us.
Listen. When we are complete and total in what we do, our whole intelligence, our whole energy will be
behind the act; we become the action. The action and we are no longer separate. Energy is intelligence. So,
when our energy is not total, our intelligence is not completely behind the action. When the energy behind the
action is total, whatever we do will always radiate the blissful energy that is behind the action.
Another important understanding from this verse: Every moment, every action, whether it is talking or
breathing or seeing, should be done with awareness and completion.

5.10 He who acts without attachment, giving up and surrendering to the eternal consciousness, he is never
 affected by sin, in the same way that the lotus leaf is never affected by water.
5.11 The Yogis, giving up attachment, act with the body, mind, intelligence, even with the senses for the
purpose of self-purification.

5.12 One who is engaged in devotion, gives up attachment to the outcome of one’s actions and is centered,
is at peace. One who is not engaged in devotion, attached to the outcome of one’s action, becomes
entangled.
5.13 One who is controlled, giving up all the activities of the mind, surely remains in happiness in the city
of nine gates (body), Neither doing anything, nor causing anything to be done.

This is the whole essence of the Gītā. This detachment is renunciation. Renunciation of attachment is
true renunciation.
Kṛṣṇa says here, ‘saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ (5.10)—Action without attachment is renunciation.’ It is
only this renunciation that leads to liberation.
If you see the lotus flower, it grows in a dirty pond; its stalk is completely inside the dirty water. The flower
is so beautifully above the water and the dirt around it is hardly noticed! Similarly, when you are neck-deep
in the activities of the world and yet unaffected by what goes on, when your core is undisturbed, you have
reached the goal of renunciation.

The basic truth behind creating this space of centeredness and completion is really this: Existence is a
loving Mother caring for us every moment, providing all that we need. When this understanding happens, we
surrender to Existence. The wave drops into the ocean, blissfully aware that it is a part of the ocean. It no
longer feels it is a separate entity trying to fight Existence, thinking that the ocean, the Whole, is its enemy.
Surrender needs to happen out of a deep understanding, not out of a superficial acceptance of the inevitable.
If it happens out of acceptance, it will be just a compromise out of fear. There is no point in saying, ‘Oh, it is
destiny. It is written on my forehead and it is foretold by the stars.’ This is not true. We have free will and we
can do what we want. We neither have to accept nor reject, but surrender to the flow of life with the true
understanding that we are being taken care of. When this completion happens out of deep understanding, it is
beautiful, total and it is true.
One more important truth. To whom or to what we surrender is not important. What is important is the
surrender itself. Swāmi Vivekānanda says that all our prayers to God do only one thing: they awaken our own
inner potential energy. When we pray intensely, our own inner potential energy is awakened and it showers
its blessings on us in the form that we believe as God, irrespective of what form we worship. Having the
wisdom or buddhi to understand that Existence cares for us, and surrendering to Existence is the ultimate
intelligence. Realizing that Existence is not just a brute force or power but that it is intelligent energy is the
key to a life of bliss.

Witness and be Complete

Again and again, Kṛṣṇa is repeating a single point in various ways: action without attachment—saṅgaṁ
tyaktvā karoti yaḥ (5.10). He emphasizes that life happens only when we live as a witness to everything that
happens, when we do not identify and attach with external incidents. We just have to watch what is happening
in and around us without letting what happens outside affect our inner space.
Here, Kṛṣṇa gives us a technique to realize who we are. By giving up attachment to the sense objects, by
dropping all false identifications with the body, senses and mind, we can live life with intelligence and this
leads us to self-purification, self-completion.
Kṛṣṇa tells us that our job is only to do the work, not to be concerned about the results. He beautifully
says, ‘brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi (5.10)—do the work surrendering to the eternal consciousness.’ We need to
keep doing things because we have so much loving energy inside us. We can just exude energy without any
reason or any expectation. When we are like this, we are not bothered about the results. When I say we are not
bothered about the results, I don’t mean that out of a frustrated or cynical conclusion. What I mean is that we
don’t even know to expect results because we are continuously moving and expressing our blissful inner
energy, that’s all.
We are just living in the space of completion and doing whatever that comes in our way to do. We are just
flowing joyfully, that’s all. We flow with the Universal energy. This flowing energy is real love.
When we work without unnecessarily thinking about the result, all our energies will be used towards realizing
 the goal. The energy will not be dissipated in imagining the results. The power of desire, icchā śakti, will be
converted to the power of action, kriya śakti. The desire may initially be a goal, but what is important is the
path and not the end result. The goal is merely a byproduct.

The City of Nine Gates

In these verses, Kṛṣṇa refers to the body, which has nine gates to the external world: the two eyes, two nostrils,
two ears, mouth and the two organs of evacuation.
Here, Kṛṣṇa does not refer to not doing anything out of laziness and indulgence. Actually, if we can become
intensely lazy, we can be in meditation! Here, the laziness is a deep mental laziness where the mind has been
stilled. It has stopped all activity but the body moves according to the will of the divine. We are in the midst
of intense activity and yet are not doing anything. The mind separates the doer from the action.
Kṛṣṇa is talking of being so completely involved in something that we become the very action itself. First, we
become the witness to the action, only then we can become completely involved in it. When we start distancing
ourselves and become a witness, only then we can be completely involved in the action and then the doer and
the action merge into each other. It is not the action that gives us the joy but the conscious experience of the
bliss within us through the action that actually gives us happiness and bliss.

5.14 The Master does not create activities or make people do or connect with the outcome of the actions.
All this is enacted by the material nature.

5.15 The Lord, surely, neither accepts anyone’s sins nor good deeds. Living beings are confused by the
ignorance that covers the knowledge.
5.16 But, whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge, their knowledge, like the rising sun lights up
everything, throws light on the Supreme Consciousness [tat param].
5.17 One whose intelligence, mind and faith are in the Supreme and one who has surrendered to the
Supreme, his misunderstandings are cleansed through knowledge and he goes towards liberation.

Understand, nothing in this Universe can be created or destroyed. When I say, nothing, I
mean nothing. Everything that exists has always existed in some form or the other. It
will continue to exist in some form or the other.

The End or the Beginning?

The Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad opens with the words—Īśā vāsyaṁ idaṁ sarvaṁ—meaning, ‘all that exists arises
from energy.’ Now after so much scientific research, quantum physics has concluded that matter and energy
are one and the same. But thousands of years ago, this was the first statement in the Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad, which
says everything is energy.
People ask me, ‘Who created this Universe?’ I tell you, the Universe itself is the creator, the created and
the creation. If the creator and the creation were different, it means that the Creator is more intelligent than
the creation. But the creation and the Creator are one and the same; they are both divine. That is what is meant
by līla, the divine play. The unmanifest, avyakta, the formless Energy made itself manifest, vyakta in the
creation. The Universe created itself.
What does it take for the hand to understand that the other hand is actually a part of the bigger whole called the
body? It takes the cognition that the entire body is a single entity with the different parts of the body being
integrated in it. Similarly, it takes the understanding of our consciousness to see that we, the individual
consciousness, are a part of the Whole and are an integral and connected part of the collective
consciousness. The individual ego can never understand the truth that it exists as a part of the Whole. The
ego has to dissolve for the truth to be revealed and understood.
What Kṛṣṇa teaches here is actually a sūtra, a technique. Understand, when you are disturbed or angered
by anything, the disturbance cannot disappear suddenly because it is a physiological happening. Your
hormones have been released into your system; the body has been poisoned. But when you remain in the space
of completion as a witness, even though the anger cannot go away immediately, there is the awareness in you
that will dissipate the effect of the anger that remains in the periphery. The center, the core is untouched. You
are now aware of these two points, the core and the periphery as two distinct identities co-existing.
This one glimpse will enrich you and become the strong support for you. The next time you see that you are
being swayed by incompletions, you will remember this and such awareness will make you conscious and
complete.

Surrender Leads to Liberation

Kṛṣṇa gives us another technique to liberate ourselves. He says surrender leads to liberation, and happens
when one’s intelligence is focused on Him.
When we believe and cognize that there is a life force that is conducting this Universe and is taking care
of us, we relax. When we relax, we can live and function at our peak potential. We can express our creativity
and live spontaneously. We experience great freedom and liberation. This is surrender. This is true knowledge
too. This is the knowledge that cannot be taught or picked up. The Master can simply transmit it when our
being is ready to receive it.
All we need is the faith, the courage of authenticity to allow the supreme intelligence to
guide us, to surrender our mind that oscillates between the extremes.
In times of extreme self-doubt, doubt your ego. Never doubt the Master. The Master is the only truth
you can cling to when all else gives way. The Master is the only one who can guide you when everything
seems to be confusing. So, first of all, you need to complete with this self-doubting pattern of constantly
doubting yourself. Because you constantly doubt yourself, you doubt the truths of completion, the four tattvas
(principles), you doubt everything. You doubt you. Because you doubt you, you doubt me.
Please listen, if you doubt you, you will doubt me also because I am inside you more than you exist in
you! If you are occupying twenty to thirty percent of you, I am occupying sixty to seventy percent of you. So,
naturally if you doubt you, you will doubt me. And, if you have anger towards you, you will have anger towards
me!
The Master has no vested interests, no desires to fulfill in life. Masters come out of sheer compassion for the
whole of mankind, to dispel the ignorance of seekers, to show them the light.
5.10 One who is full of knowledge and compassion sees with equal vision [samadarśinaḥ] , the
learned brāhmaṇa, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the dog-eater.
5.11 In this life, surely, those whose minds are situated in equanimity have conquered birth and death.
They are flawless like the Supreme [Brahma] and therefore, are situated in the Supreme.
5.12 One who does not rejoice at achieving something pleasant nor gets agitated on getting
something unpleasant, who is of steady intelligence, who is not deluded, one who knows
the Supreme [brahmavid], is situated in the Supreme.
5.13 One who is not attached to the outer world sense pleasures, who enjoys in the Self, in that happiness,
he, having identified with his Self by engaging in the Supreme [brahma-yoga], enjoys unlimited
happiness.

Kṛṣṇa says there is no difference between a human and an animal, and that there is no difference between
those we consider to be saints and those we consider to be sinners. A learned scholar, the priest and the
brāhmaṇa should be seen as equal to an animal or a person who eats dogs. Even more dramatically, He says
that one in full knowledge sees the dog and the dog-eater as the same—śuni caiva śva-pāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-
darśinaḥ (5.18).

death, onLy a passage

Can you look at death and birth in the same manner? We celebrate birth, we condole death. Why? Both
are passages. Neither is a beginning nor an end. The cycle of life is continuous. We move seamlessly from
birth through living into death and again into birth. It is just that in this life, we do not remember what happened
in the period between our death in our previous birth and our birth this time. That loss of memory is for our
own safety. We are perturbed by that loss of memory.
What we do not know frightens us. If we understand that death is no different from birth and that life after
death may be no different from our current life, there will be no fear. This can happen when we have the
experience of death while we are still alive. This is what we teach in our programs. An important thing: How
we look at death reflects a lot of the way we look at life. I can say our perception of death changes our way of
life.
 Death is feared by most of us because it is considered a discontinuity. When we realize that death is just a
continuation in some other form, we will not fear death. Then the joy of birth and the sadness at death will
both be seen as the same. Our idea of birth and death is direct evidence of how we look at various situations
in life. That is why understanding about birth and death is actually fundamental to leading a life of realization.

Steady your Intelligence, Go beyond Opposites

Kṛṣṇa goes on to explain the characteristics of one who is Supreme. He says that one who is of steady
intelligence, sthira buddhir asammūḍho; one who does not get caught in the play of opposing emotions or
patterns like pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, is truly not deluded and is established in the truth, and
in the Supreme, brahma-vid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ (5.20). He is Supreme himself.
Beautifully, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘An object of enjoyment that comes of itself is neither painful nor pleasurable
for someone who has eliminated attachment and who is free from the dualism of self and the other and
therefore, from desire.’
This is actually a sūtra, a technique that Kṛṣṇa gives. If we put our attention neither on pleasure nor on pain,
but between the two, we actually go beyond both and transcend the play of the mind. What do we normally
do? If we are in pain, we try to run away from it. If we are in pleasure, we try to cling onto it. Understand that
both pleasure and pain are of the mind. They are based on our saṁskāras, root thought patterns from our past.
They are not of the being. Instead of trying to hold onto pleasure or running away from pain, just be with it,
just witness it. The nature of the mind is to move to the opposites. Using this technique, we can transcend this
nature of the mind.
Be involved but be aware without resistance to life, neither rejecting nor accepting anything. When we
are aware and do not resist anything, we can never be unconsciously pulled into it. Then desire cannot
overcome us. We are always the Master. When we are not conscious, then we either start resisting or accepting
and we get caught in the cycle of guilt and desires. After the desire gets fulfilled, we go through guilt for
having succumbed to the desire. But we did not live the desire fully with completion, so we can’t get out of it
either. Next time, the desire happens and again we go through it incompletely and then feel guilty. The only
way to get out of this vicious cycle of desire and guilt is to go through the desire with completion without any
resistance to it.

Karma is nothing but unfulfilled desire that makes us repeat the same experience again and again,
simply because we do not have the intelligence to enter into that experience with complete awareness.
Once we experience the situation with awareness and complete with it, we will experience what Śaṅkara
experienced. We will not be the doer, the deed or the doing. We will transcend all three. We will transcend our
karma. We will be supreme.

Tune In to Eternal Bliss

Kṛṣṇa advises us to turn inwards. Move away from your senses, move into your Source, He says. By nature, by
our very being we are tuned inwards. By conditioning, we lose the capability to turn inwards.

5.10 The intelligent person surely does not enjoy the sense pleasures, enjoyments, which are sources of
misery and which are subject to beginning and end.
5.11 Before leaving this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of material senses and check
the force of desire and anger, he is well-situated and he is happy in this world.

5.12 One who is happy from within, active within as well as illumined within, surely, is a Yogi and he is
liberated in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa], is Self-realized and attains the Supreme.
5.13 Those, whose sins have been destroyed, who have dispelled the dualities arising from doubts,
whose minds are engaged within, and who are working for the welfare of other beings, attain the
eternal liberation in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa].

5.14 They who are free from lust and anger, who have subdued the mind and senses, and who have known
the Self, easily attain liberation [brahma-nirvāṇa].
The event and the person do not cause happiness and sorrow. It is caused by our sensory perception and by the
judgment based on this perception. That is why the same event that may be joyful to one is sorrowful for
another, and would leave a third one undisturbed. It is our attachment to that person or event and our
judgment based on our patterns that creates the sorrow or happiness. The incident by itself is neutral.
Happiness or sadness happens because of our sensory pleasures that are again a result of our mind and
ego. Our ego, our false association of ourselves with various emotions is actually the cause of our misery. At
the core of our beings is pure bliss. But we are functioning at our periphery and are not able to see this core.
The ego is what is really meant by māyā or illusion. Yā mā iti māyā—that which does not exist but which
troubles as if it exists is māyā. We don’t see reality as it is because we are all the time looking at life through
glasses tinted with our biased perceptions, through our limited view of life.
When we start watching these sources with awareness and complete with our root patterns, we break the
chords of attachment of our state of joy with these external sources and desires. When we are aware of
what we really want, this dependency on sensory pleasures breaks. When we are centered and complete in
ourselves, we start taking things as and when they come.
Man whose consciousness is complete can never experience tiredness. When I was in college, I used to
sit and meditate for four hours every morning and evening. My roommates would ask me, ‘How are you able
to sit for so many hours?’ And I used to tell them, ‘Why not? It is my body, my mind. If you want, can’t you
sit? If you can’t even sit with your body and mind, what are you going to achieve?’
Why do we feel tired? We feel tired when we are not integrated within ourselves. One half of our being that
wants to express itself but we have suppressed it for various societal reasons. The other half of our being is
what is expressing itself in the manner that we are forcing it to. Because we constantly have to put in an
inauthentic effort to be what we naturally are not, we become tired at some point. When we become tired,
the suppressed, unconscious half of us becomes more powerful than the conscious, pretentious half, and it
starts dominating.

Why to Feel Responsible?

This is what Kṛṣṇa says: When we are tuned fully inwards, we no longer have any attachment to what
happens outside; we are one with the All, the Existence, and we have transcended all karma. We are then in
brahma nirvāṇa—the ultimate liberation, one with Existence, and we are in nityānanda, eternal bliss. When
we feel genuine love for others, we feel responsible for everyone, and we take up more and more responsibility.
We want to enrich others and share that love with as many as people as possible.
When we are tuned inwards, we live in the present; the past and future do not exist for us. When we are
in the present, we are one with Existence. I call this All-one-ness. We are All-in-One. We are in the space of
Advaita, non-duality. We encompass everything. In this state, we are at the height of spontaneity; we are at
the peak of our possibility. Spontaneity does not mean creativity. Creativity is a byproduct. Spontaneity is
being in the present, being responsible for everything. Nothing is excluded. We flow out, we expand and
cover.
The more responsibility we take up, the more we expand. Responsibility is something that can be easily
shrugged. But if we don’t shrug it and keep on shouldering it with the right reason, we will expand and the
divine energy will automatically flow in us. And we can take up more and more responsibility only when
we feel overflowing energy in us.

5.27, 5.28 Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision concentrated between the
two eyebrows, Suspending the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus controlling
the mind, senses and intelligence,

The transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from desire, fear and the byproduct
of desire, fear and anger, all three. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.
5.29 One who knowing Me as the purpose of sacrifice and penance, As the Lord of all the worlds and the
benefactor of all the living beings, achieves peace.

For the first time, Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful technique to move your energy from fear and greed to divine
consciousness, eternal consciousness. Your fear is rooted in the svādiṣṭhāna cakra, the energy center situated
two inches below the navel. Your greed is rooted in the mūlādhāra cakra, the energy center that is in the root
 of your spinal cord.
Kṛṣṇa gives us the technique to elevate ourselves from these two cakras to the eternal consciousness, the ājñā
cakra at the brow center, where the eternal consciousness resides. When we have elevated our self to ājñā,
we go beyond our ego or mind.
We will be continuously holding our mūlādhāra and svādiṣṭhāna tightly. Now, just feel yourself in your
mūlādhāra area. You will see that you are tightly holding yourself in tension.
Kṛṣṇa explains how to relax that area, how to stop the fuel coming from greed and fear, and get the amṛta-
dhāra (flow of nectar) from the eternal consciousness. Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes
and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and outward breaths within the
nostrils and thus controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendental who is aiming at liberation,
becomes free from desire, fear, and the byproduct of desire, fear and anger—all three. One who is always in
this state is certainly liberated.
First, He gives the technique to enter that state. Then He says if you can stay in that state, you are liberated.
Now, at least let us try to have a glimpse of this state that Kṛṣṇa explains in this verse. I will guide you step
by step through this meditation. Please try to enter that state.

Meditation
Please sit straight and close your eyes. Let your head, neck and backbone be in a straight line. Intensely
pray to that ultimate energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to give us the experience of this meditation.
First, visualize all your senses completely shut; your eyes are completely closed. Don’t allow any
visualization to happen inside your being. You should close the eyes too, because we continue to see things
from behind our eyelids even though we shut our eyelids. Visualize that your eyeballs have become completely
dark. You are seeing only darkness in front of you.
Visualize your ears are shut. Visualize your sense of touch is shut. Visualize your smelling capacity is shut.
Visualize your face to be shut. Feel deeply that all the five senses have been shut down.

Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible. Slowly, let your nostrils blow the air. Let your consciousness
reside between the two eyebrows. In a very relaxed way, be aware of the space between your two eyebrows.
Don’t concentrate; don’t tense yourself. Just be very relaxed, have a deeply relaxed awareness.
Let your mūlādhāra cakra, located at the base of your spine, be relaxed. Let your svādiṣṭhāna cakra,
located just below the navel center, be relaxed. Let your whole consciousness come up to the ājñā cakra,
which is between the eyebrows.
Concentrate on the space between the eyebrows.
Visualize cool, soothing light in the ājñā cakra, in the space between the eyebrows. Relax in the ājñā
cakra. Forget all other parts of your body. Forget about the body, mind and the world; remember only the ājñā
cakra, the space between the two eyebrows.
Go deeply into the ājñā cakra, in the space between the two eyebrows. Visualize a beautiful, cooling,
soothing light in the ājñā cakra. Let you experience beautiful, blissful light in the ājñā cakra. Don’t tense
yourself; let your awareness be in the ājñā cakra in a very relaxed way; let your consciousness rest in the
space between the two eyebrows.
Relax in the same space of eternal consciousness. Let you be beyond the body and mind. May your
intelligence be awakened. Let you work from your eternal consciousness. Let you have the pleasant awareness
of the ājñā cakra. Let you all have the grace of the divine consciousness. Let you be established in the eternal
consciousness. Let you all be in, with and radiate eternal bliss, nityānanda.
Om śānti, śānti, śāntihi…
Om tat sat.

Relax. Slowly, very slowly, you can open your eyes.

Try to remain in this mood at least for the next ten days.
Understand: Don’t concentrate by force. Have a pleasant awareness. When you keep the pleasant awareness
around your ājñā cakra, your whole energy will be directed towards the Eternal Consciousness. You will
receive energy from Eternal Consciousness, from immortality, amṛtatva. You will be driven from above by
the Eternal Consciousness. If you are driven from below by fear or greed, you are man. If you are driven from
above, you are God.
Let you learn the science of how to connect yourself with the Divine energy, how to be driven by the
Divine Consciousness. Let you live all your possibilities. Let you function through the Eternal Consciousness.

Thus ends the fifth chapter named Sannyāsa Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Renunciation,’ 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.
 HAPTE
R6
6.1 Bhagavān says:
One who performs his actions without being attached to their fruit (outcome) of his work is a
Sannyāsi, and he is truly an ascetic; a Yogi also.; not the one who renounces to light the fire
and performs no action.
6.2 O Pāṇḍava, what is called renunciation, or sannyāsa, you must know to be the same as yoga, or
uniting oneself with the Supreme., for never can anyone become a yogī, until he renounces the
desire for self-gratification [saṅkalpa].
6.3 A one desirous of achieving the state of yoga or no-mind state, action is said to be the means and
for the one who is already elevated in yoga, cessation from all actions is said to be the means.
6.4 Any one is said to have attained the state of yoga when, having renounced all
material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in result-
focused activities.
Please understand, karma—the state of action, or sannyāsa—the state of renunciation, is not related to your
doing. It is directly related to your being. Being a sannyāsi, a renunciate monk, is not a status, it is a state of
mind. Whether you are doing karma yoga or you remain a Sannyāsi is in no way going to affect you. If one is
a karma yogī, one goes about doing the work that is allotted to him without attachment and without
expectations.
People repeatedly ask me, ‘Swamiji, should we renounce everything to achieve Enlightenment? How can we
lead our day-to-day life and yet hope to achieve spiritual progress?’
I tell them, ‘No! Just renounce what you don’t have. That is enough. You don’t have to renounce what you
have.’ I tell them to live with completion with whatever they have, and to just renounce what they don’t have.
We fantasize about all that we do not have, that is the problem. There are thousands of things that we don’t
have, but we live with all those things mentally. The problem is not what we have, we have got used to those
things anyway. That is our reality. It is what we don’t have that creates problems. Just renounce what you don’t
have. That is enough to solve all the problems. Then you will start living intensely with what you have.

Live With Reality, Live like God

Brahmacharya is nothing but being authentic with high energy happening in you. Here, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Just
renouncing the sacred fire and not performing one’s duty does not mean one is an ascetic or sannyāsi.’
Understand, the Vedic Masters knew how to use fire to communicate with the higher energy, just like how we
use the cell phone to communicate. All of science is based on using light particles, whether it is electricity,
atomic energy, or other forms of energy, but with different formulae. Our eastern sages worked with sound
energy and created all these products. We really had the pushpak vimāna (flying chariot) and we did really
have the brahmāstra (nuclear weapon). They were able to relate with higher energies and were able to
communicate just with the vibrations through fire.

Be Complete and Renounce your Thoughts

So here, Kṛṣṇa says that just by renouncing fire, a person cannot become a Sannyāsi. Similarly, here I can say
that just by renouncing our cell phone in life, we cannot become a sannyāsi. The space needs to be transformed.
To truly renounce, the mind has to renounce thoughts. Usually, wherever our body is, our mind is not.
To bring the mind to where the body is to renounce the inner chatter by completing with thoughts patterns.
This is the starting point of renunciation.
Renunciation of the past and the future, by bringing our mind to focus on the present space of completion, is
true renunciation.
You have to renounce fantasies. These fantasies are the creation of the ego, mind, identity, root patterns—
whatever name you wish to call it. This self creates up all these unreal fantasy visions, to keep you occupied
and under control.
. Only when we renounce the mind’s control by going beyond the senses can we become a true renunciate.
‘Control your senses and still your mind so that you can reach Me,’ Kṛṣṇa says in earlier chapters.
Renunciation of these fantasies that we feel we need for self-satisfaction is Yoga. Yoga is the state when
our desires, expressed through sensual pleasures, dissolve. We unite with our true Self in this state. In this
state, there is no gap between the Divine and us.
In Saṃskṛit there are two terms, ‘dṛṣti sṛṣti’ and ‘sṛṣti dṛṣti’. Dṛṣti sṛṣti means to look at the world as it is and
take life as it comes. Sṛṣti dṛṣti is just the opposite, when we want to create the world as we would like it to be,
as we want to see it. We want the world running according to our fantasies, instead of coming to terms with the
reality of the world.

Yoga - Uniting the Body and Mind

This is the state of yoga that Kṛṣṇa talks about—yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate (6.3), the
state of true renunciation where there is no suppression. Instead, there is transformation into completion.
Kṛṣṇa says next, ‘A person who initially wants to start practicing a yoga system laid down by the sages
should carry out all activities in line with that system. Activities for all other reasons will then cease.’
Yoga is a straight technique to achieve the Divine experience. This formula cannot be modified or altered
or practiced in parts and pieces. This formula has to be practiced with this right reason as prescribed for one
to realize the divine nature of one’s Self, asserts Kṛṣṇa. Yoga is a formula in which there are techniques that
can be practiced to reach the Divine.
Learning yoga means bringing integrity to your body. Once we become intensely tuned to the eight-fold
formula, it will become such an integral part of our being that it will become difficult to forget it even for a
minute. When we practice yoga to meet with the Divine we will not treat yoga as an activity to be performed
at a particular time of the day. We will live and breathe yoga.

6.5 You are your own friend; you are your own enemy.
Evolve yourself through the Self and do not degrade yourself.
6.6 For him who has conquered the Self, the Self is the best of friends. For one who has failed to do
so, his Self will remain the greatest enemy.
6.7 For one who has conquered the Self, who has attained tranquility, the Supreme is already reached.
Such a person remains in this state, in happiness or distress, heat or cold, honor or dishonor.
6.8 A person whose mind is contented, because of spiritual knowledge, who has subdued his senses and
to whom stone and gold are the same, and who is satisfied with what he has, He is said to be
established in self-realization and is called an enlightened being.
6.9 A person is considered truly advanced when he regards honest well-wishers, affectionate
benefactors, the neutral, the mediators, the envious, both friends and enemies, the pious and the
sinners with equality of mind.

You are your own friend; you are your own enemy. Evolve yourself through the Self and do not degrade
yourself.

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānaṁ avasāyadet I

ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ II 6.5
 In my discourses, if I have quoted any Gītā verse more than twice, it is this one. I can
say this single verse provides the essence of the whole Gītā.
In the last chapter we learned the technique from Kṛṣṇa for moving from fear and greed into Divine
consciousness and bliss.
In this verse, Kṛṣṇa says:
‘One must raise himself with the help of his own being and not degrade himself. The being is the
friend of the conditioned soul and his enemy as well.’ You are your own friend and you are your own
enemy. If you know the technique of how to lift yourself by yourself, you will become a friend of your Self.
If you let yourself down, you will become an enemy of yourself.
When we start anything new, we will always have three phases. The first is resistance. The second is
avoidance. We just avoid, neither caring nor resisting. The third is acceptance.
First, resistance: we will repeatedly fall. We will forget. Our system will resist. We will try to create
complications and complaints and all possible arguments.
When we can’t practice these teachings, we start justifying ourselves. Since we are unable to follow, we
start criticizing Kṛṣṇa. This is the best way to escape and avoid the teachings of Kṛṣṇa. When our being resists,
if we allow the resistance to grow, we are our worst enemy. This is what Kṛṣṇa means by saying, ‘May you
lift yourself by yourself. May you raise yourself by yourself ’ If we don’t, we will be our worst enemy. It is
up to us to enrich ourselves as best friend or to hurt ourselves as our worst enemy.
Please listen: Nobody can hurt you unless you allow him or her to. Nobody can help you unless you allow him
or her to.
If you have fallen, if you have failed while practicing these words, the teachings or the meditation
techniques, if you have forgotten, don’t worry. Again and again, lift yourself. Don’t give up on you. Don’t
feel depressed and don’t have guilt. Don’t get dejected thinking you will not be able to do it. Don’t doubt your
self. Again and again, lift yourself.
Here Kṛṣṇa says, ‘May you lift yourself by yourself. Nobody can do anything unless you lift yourself—
uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānaṁ avasāyadet.’
Don’t give up on you and people! Internalize this important truth— do not give up on yourself and
people! Even if people fail a hundred times, continue to work with them. When you are frustrated at other
people’s failure, understand that it is nothing but your frustration towards your own failure. If we turn our back
on people, we are not living dharma, because when we give up on others, we have also given up on ourselves!
When we conquer the mind, happiness and distress are both one and the same and we are not touched by
it. Now, Kṛṣṇa has an important point here. He says, ‘For one who has conquered his Self, has already attained
the supreme bliss, jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ, for him happiness and distress, heat and
cold, honor and dishonor are all the same, śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ (6.7).’
Throughout this chapter Kṛṣṇa emphasizes this one idea—senses. Kṛṣṇa speaks about the senses.
How can happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor be the same for a man? How is it
possible?
The first thing is that when our senses do the work, we decide ‘yes’ or ‘no’ only based on our past experiences,
the experiences with which we have grown or the words with which we have conditioned our mind and memory.
Here Kṛṣṇa says the person who has achieved bliss is not affected by heat or cold and joy or sorrow—śītoṣṇa-
sukha-duḥkheṣu. How do we reach that state? First, understand that when I say conquering the senses, I don’t
mean controlling the senses or destroying the senses. If we try to control or destroy the senses, we will only
struggle and suffer more and more. If we try to control our body, that is not going to work either.
Kṛṣṇa says beautifully, ‘For one who has conquered the self, jitātmanaḥ.’ When He says self, He means the
whole cognition where the decision-making happens. Mind-Intelligence-Ego is the spot where the decision-
making is happening. The ego or root patterns or the intelligence, the place from where we make decisions, is
continuously supplying energy to our senses. So all we need to do is to work at the level of the mind and not at
the level of the senses to become jitātmanaḥ. If we try to work at the level of the senses, we will create only
more and more perverted desires, leading to more and more incompletions.
See, I initiate thousands of people into a powerful spiritual process called Nirāhara Saṁyama, liberating
them from their food patterns. Listen. It is awakening, rekindling the power of your bio-memory to produce
energy and food directly from air, water and space. It is not fasting. An important rule in this process is the
moment one feels hungry or tired, one has to start eating. One cannot use his or her willpower. Understand, if
you fast, in the dream you will be dreaming as if you are feasting, eating! But, not a single one of my Nirāhara
Saṁyama participants has a dream of eating food and feasting! Why? Because they are initiated into the most
practical method of completing with all the root patterns. They don’t suppress their hunger, they just go beyond
it, they go beyond their senses!
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘One who has conquered the mind achieves the Paramātman (divine Self), jitātmanaḥ
praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ (6.7).’ We don’t need to achieve bliss. It is always there within us. If it
has to be achieved, there is every possibility it can be lost. If it can be lost, what is the guarantee it will be
there forever? Anything, if it has to be specially achieved, is not worth achieving. But if it is our very nature,
then it becomes easy. Kṛṣṇa says that all we need to do is conquer our mind. We don’t need to achieve
anything.
The fountain of bliss is continuously happening in us. Our very life energy is bliss. Unless we have the
bliss energy in us, we cannot inhale and exhale. But we are stopping the bliss fountain again and again. All
we need to do is stop the stopping process. That’s all. We don’t even need to create anything or achieve
anything. Kṛṣṇa says that we just have to conquer the mind because the Self has been already achieved and
we are with it. All we need is completion with our Self.
Understand, our thoughts create our senses. Don’t think we are living with what we have. We create what
we want to have. Our thoughts are so powerful that they can just change the whole body. For example, just
think of one thought that creates disturbance inside you. Or think of a person who took money from you and
has not returned it. Immediately, we experience the change happening in our system. Our blood boils, our
blood pressure rises, our heart rate and pulse rate rise. A single thought can change the whole body chemistry.
Our body is created only by our thoughts. In India there is a great science called sāmudrikā lakṣaṇa. Just by
seeing the body-language—the face, the body, the way of standing, sitting and walking, the trained sage can
tell everything about the person’s mind. This is because he knows the secret that the mind creates the body. The
body is the outer expression of the mind. The mind is the inner experience of the body. If our mind changes,
our body can be changed and our whole system can be changed.
Kṛṣṇa says one more important thing about heat and cold. Let me tell you very clearly: I lived in the
Himalayas and I used to sleep on the snow with this same cotton dress. It may be very difficult to believe but
it is the truth. All we need to do is stop resisting. Just try this experiment: the moment you feel the cool breeze,
don’t create the idea, ‘It is cold, I may catch a cold, I may have wheezing or sinus problem.’ Just don’t create
such words.
The words you give to yourself can be nectar or poison. The words you constantly repeat to yourself, have
to be enriching you, exciting you and enlightening you. The words you give to you are āhara (food), what you
consume to create life in you. The words you give to yourself are more important than the words you give to
others. Because the flow of your life–the level of contentment that you feel in your life and the experience of
fulfillment that you feel in your life, everything depends on the words that you have given to you. Whenever
we repeat something, we create that quality in us.
He says one more important truth, ‘Honor and dishonor will be the same—māna-apamānayoḥ.’ This is
very difficult to believe. Cold and heat or hot and sweet can be the same. We can even accept that. But honor
and dishonor, how can the two be the same? A single word thrown at us is enough to anger us and hurt our
honor.
A thought pattern is a pre-defined way of responding to any situation based on a powerful past experience like
failure, rejection, being punished, being subjected to abuse or witnessing the death of a loved one. During such
moments of crisis, you create an idea about yourself and life—like ‘I am weak’ or ‘I am a failure’ or ‘Nobody
loves me’ or ‘Life is dangerous, so I have to be very careful.’ Almost all root thought patterns are negative,
even the ones which may lead to success in your life, because they are born out of your feeling of powerlessness.
You have many thought patterns, but a root thought pattern is one of the few defining thought patterns that are
continuously running your life without your knowledge!

Align your Images and Go beyond Duality

In the Inner Awakening Program, the first session is about the understanding of root thought patterns. It
is about why we get depressed, why we are in conflict, why we repeatedly fall into a powerless state. It is
because our energy source is others’ certificates. We don’t have any self-respect and self-completion. We
constantly live in self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial. If others’ opinions about us are good, we think we
are great. If others’ opinions about us are not good, we immediately lose self-completion and fall into self-
 denial. If our idea about ourselves is ‘nobody loves me’, then we project the outer personality of ‘I am a very
loving person’ or ‘I am a very friendly person.’ This is inauthenticity.
But our root pattern is—we don’t even love ourselves. That is why there is so much of self-hatred. We
don’t have any self-respect, only self-hatred, self-denial. That is the reason for the wars within and around us.
Living is a power. If we want to live, we must learn how to stand on our own two feet, learn how to be
complete with ourselves, how to raise ourself by ourself without giving up on us and others. This is the science
of completion that is taught and transmitted experientially in the Inner Awakening program.

Winner of Senses Is the Self-Realized One

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘A person whose mind is content because of spiritual knowledge, who has subdued his senses
and to whom stone and gold are the same, and who is satisfied with what he has, is said to be established in
Self-realization and is called an enlightened being’
jñāna-vijñāna tṛptātmā kūṭa-stho vijitendriyaḥ I
yukta ity ucyate yogī sama-loṣṭrāśma-kāñcanaḥ II 6.8 II

There are three things we need to understand here: First, experience comes out as expression. Second, the
quality of experience and the quality of expression, are very closely associated with one another. And third, a
very important thing, is that if you concentrate on the expression, you will reach the experience. Here, again
and again, Kṛṣṇa speaks about how an enlightened person lives and the qualities that an enlightened person
expresses, so that we can meditate on it. When we begin internalizing these ideas in our lives, we can reach
the consciousness of an enlightened being. When we contemplate upon these ideas, we start expressing them
naturally and they sink into our being.

6.10 A Yogī should always try to concentrate his mind

on the Supreme Self; situated in a secluded place, he should carefully control his mind without
being attracted by anything and should be free from the feeling of possessiveness.
6.11 In a clean and pure place, one should establish his seat by laying kuṣa grass, a deerskin and a
cloth one over another, neither too high nor too low.
6.12 Sitting firmly on that pure seat, the yogi should practice the purification of the self by
controlling the activities of the mind and the senses.
6.13 Holding the body, head and neck steady, looking at the tip of his nose without looking in any
other direction.
6.14 Let him sit with an unagitated mind, free from fear and in tune with Existence, controlling the
mind, focusing it on Me and making Me the Supreme goal.

Unclutch and Become Liberated

Controlling the senses requires controlling the mind. Controlling the mind requires control of thoughts.
Controlling the thoughts requires integrity. When we continuously live integrity, we will become aware of the
thoughts and processes happening in our inner space.
And constantly listening to our own inner space is the beginning of integrity. If our inner space says that
there is nothing more to listen, if only silence is there, then we have achieved integrity.
We need to do two things to control our thoughts. First, we need to stay in the present moment by refusing
to move to the past and future and second, we need to disconnect thoughts. I call this Unclutching.
I am not saying to stay without thoughts. That is not possible; just witness thoughts. Understand that thoughts
are unconnected. Detach yourself from the emotional baggage of the thoughts. If we detach ourselves from the
regrets of the past and the speculations about the future we will automatically rise into the present.
That is what Kṛṣṇa talks about here—dropping the attachment and possessiveness to desires, not the desire itself.
It is the feeling of ‘mine,’ the desire to possess, that creates the feeling of ‘I,’ not the other way around. Our
identity is made up of all the things that we want, that we desire, that we are attached to. These constitute our
mental make-up. The seeds of desire and embedded memories are the stuff our package of ‘I’ is made of. Once
the feeling of possession, the feeling of ‘mine’ disappears, it is possible to shed our identity as well.
Here Kṛṣṇa updates the technique that He gave earlier. Here He gives three more instructions:
1. Head, spine and neck should be in a straight line.
2. We should fix our eyes on the tip of the nose. If we look at the tip of the nose, naturally, our awareness
will settle on the third eye. Our concentration will settle on the ājña cakra (the brow energy center).
3. We should meditate on ‘Me’ as the supreme goal.
Firstly, it prevents us from dropping off to sleep. Whether we close our eyes fully or half close them, it is
important that we disconnect from the external world. When the eyes are focused on the tip of the nose, they
are not looking at external objects and ninety percent of sensory inputs are cut off. In addition, the focus is on
the third eye between the brows, which, when energized, dissolves the ego block.
Finally, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Focus on Me—manaḥ saṁyamya mac-chitto. Make Me the Supreme goal—yukta āsīta
mat-paraḥ (6.14).’ He means our true Self.

6.15 Always practicing control over the mind and established in the Self, the yogi attains peace, the
supreme liberation and My kingdom.
6.16 Yoga is neither eating too much nor eating too little;
It is neither sleeping too much nor sleeping too little, O Arjuna.
6.17 One who is regulated in food, rest, recreation and work, sleep and wakefulness can reduce misery.
6.18 When the mind is disciplined and one is established in the Self, free from all desires, then one is
said to be established in yoga.
6.19 As a lamp in a place without wind does not waver, so also the yogi whose mind is controlled remains
steady, engaged in yoga, in the Self.
We have two lives in us. One is the life we want to live–the dream. The other is the life in reality–the
life we are living. The meeting of these two lives is what I call Yoga.
You can unite the two either by reducing the depth of fantasies or by increasing the expression of your
energy so that reality can come closer to the dream.
Bliss is beyond attachment to any object, material or spiritual. Bliss is beyond the pairs of opposites.
When we are happy due to some pleasurable event or person, the momentary joy comes because the
number of our thoughts comes down when we meet the person. When the number of our thoughts
comes down, bliss happens in us. But the bliss itself comes only from our own being, not from the
person who we met. In fact, it continuously happens within us, irrespective of anything that goes on
outside. Then why do we not feel the bliss continuously? It is because we are under the control of the
mind, which needs the pairs of opposites to survive. We can go beyond the mind.
Being in the present is what eternity is. The present blissful moment gives birth to the next moment,
which will be blissful. But if we try to look for bliss in the future, thinking that we can do various
things to create a blissful future, it will never happen. When we are not in reality now, we are creating
the blissful future from our fantasies. So come to terms with reality here and now and be blissful;
automatically the future will also be blissful.
When Kṛṣṇa talks about the mind and the senses being controlled, He is not talking about suppressing the
mind and the senses.
To be balanced in whatever we do and to act without attachment is the path of a Yogī. Whether it is eating
or sleeping or working, we should be sensitive to our body’s intelligence.
The main aim of all our yoga and meditation techniques is to reach the level of our being. When we reach
the being, we are in ‘nitya ānanda’ or ‘eternal bliss’. We are in union with the Divine. Bliss is actually
what we are running after but we think it can be achieved through money, comforts, relations and what
not.
 Be In the Present to be Complete
When we exist with responsibility without taking in the poison or throwing it out, meaning without
running towards the desires or running away from the fears, we become Śiva and live life blissfully
as Nityānanda, irrespective of what comes our way.

6.20 In yoga, the mind becomes quiet and the Self is satisfied by the Self in the Self.
6.21 Supreme bliss is grasped by intelligence transcending the senses. The person who knows this is
based in reality.
6.22 By attaining that Supreme, one does not consider any other gain as being greater.

By being established in the Supreme,

one is not shaken by the greatest of misery.
6.23 When yoga is practiced with determination without deviating, the misery by contact with the
senses is removed.
6.24 Giving up completely all the fantasies born of the mind, one can regulate all the senses from all
the sides by the mind.
Kṛṣṇa talks about two important things: practice with determination and practice without deviating
from the prescribed way. Both are key elements to experience yoga.

After a few days of practice it is easy to fall into inertia, tamas, and give up on ourselves. Our mind has been
programmed with our old routine for years and will draw us back to the old ways. This is where determination
is needed. Determination driven by curiosity and the quest to see and experience the truth is what will give us
the energy to practice yoga.
The other important element is practice without deviating from the prescribed way. All eight parts of yoga
need to be practiced, simultaneously. Even one part of Patañjali’s Aṣtāṇga Yoga will take many lifetimes to
achieve, given the modern man’s mindset.
Please understand, Patañjali’s Aṣtāṇga Yoga, eight organs of yoga or aṇga has unfortunately been
wrongly translated by the English yogis as ‘eight steps of yoga’. Because of this, it has become just a
small few techniques or methods to make your body flexible and a little healthy. That is a disgrace
done to yoga.
Satya, truth, is a part of yama, the first of the eight steps of Aṣtāṇga Yoga. If we consistently practice
truthfulness alone, we will reach samādhi, the state of liberation. Our thoughts, words and actions become
pure and truthful only when we are enlightened; only when we bring integrity in our words, authenticity in
our thinking and actions, responsibility in our feeling, and enriching in our living.
Please listen! Yama is Integrity. Niyama is Authenticity. Āsana, Prānāyama, Prayāhara, Dhārana
are Responsibility. Dhāyana and Samādhi are Enriching.
This is what Kṛṣṇa means when He says, ‘Self is satisfied by the Self in the Self, yatra caiva
ātmanātmanaṁ paśyann ātmani tuṣyati (6.20).’ All of this has to happen together, not part by part.
When one aspect is complete, all others also become complete. This is the state of pūrṇa, complete
completion. Nothing can be taken away from it. Nothing can be added to it that would make any
difference to its state of completeness. No joy can make it more blissful, no sorrow can make it less
blissful. One becomes centered in bliss.
The senses and the mind wander aimlessly. We cannot suppress desires, because anything suppressed
will surface with more intensity. We might have experienced in our own lives that a desire may be
satisfied momentarily, but soon afterwards, it arises again. Instead we need to understand what is
happening and how it is happening. The way out of the mind is also through the mind and not by
avoiding it. Completion process is the key through which all our emotions can be handled. They
basically originate from the root patterns of greed and fear. As we witness and do completion with our
root patterns, the fear and greed lose their grasp on the mind.
6.25 Gradually, step-by-step, one should become established in the Self, held by the conviction of
intelligence, with the mind not thinking of anything else.
6.26 From wherever the mind becomes agitated due to its wandering and unsteady nature, from there,

one must certainly bring it under the control of the Self.

6.27 The yogi whose mind is peaceful attains the highest happiness;
His passion is pacified and he is free from sins as he is liberated by the
Supreme.
6.28 The yogi always engaged in the Self and free from material contamination is in touch with the
Supreme and attains the highest happiness.
6.29 The yogi sees the Supreme established in all beings and also all beings situated in the
Supreme. One established in the Self sees the Supreme everywhere.

Kṛṣṇa says that we need conviction and intelligence to be established in the Self. Why does He talk about
conviction?
Understand that intelligence cannot happen without a strong conviction, a strong intellectual base.
There are different ways to learn and develop clarity and conviction. We can learn from our experiences as well
as from others’ experiences. For example, when we touch the flame of a candle, we learn that it burns. When
we touch a burning gas stove, we learn again that fire burns. One by one, we can experience and learn that all
fires burn. Or, when we touch the first form of fire, immediately we can learn that all fires will burn! Coming
to a conclusion and a clear understanding that all fires burn, after just one experience, is intelligence!

Persevere and See Me In Everything

Now, Kṛṣṇa is emphasizing an important spiritual quality perseverance. In the previous verse, He spoke about
conviction. Now, he talks about persevering with that conviction. What happens most of the time to most of us
is that when we realize we need to transform, we try a few times and then we give up on ourselves thinking we
cannot do it.
Strength is Life. We should just decide that we will not be trapped in this cycle of guilt and desire. We need to
measure ourselves by our strongest moments, our greatest moments of powerfulness, when we have displayed
extraordinary awareness, courage, compassion, love and such other divine qualities. A human being is the sum
of his greatest moments of completion.
Understand that you attract ‘like’ incidents in your life. ‘Like attracts like.’ The energy of one frequency attracts
the similar frequency. This is what is meant when Kṛṣṇa says the true yogi reaches the state of ultimate
happiness, the state of eternal bliss and divine consciousness by his identification with the Absolute.
In the next verse, Kṛṣṇa talks about passion and sins.
Passion is nothing but a deep attachment to something for the pleasure that it gives. Usually we associate
passion, sin and such terms with deeds that we classify as right or wrong. But here, Kṛṣṇa does not talk about
sin in the way society teaches us. It is not morality that He is talking about. I tell you, there is no sin except
the sin of connecting thoughts and thinking that we are logical beings.
So, the key is to be in the space of completion every moment. The solution is not to condemn ourselves as
sinners and expect some external force to bring completion to us. It is we who choose everything in our lives
and how we want to live.
I tell you, live according to your intelligence and awareness. If you depend on others, even after becoming an
adult, it means you are not mature. Anything done out of conscience does not have the conviction of experience
to back it. That is why it is never done whole-heartedly, because your energy, your intelligence is not behind
the action.

Realized One Sees the Supreme Everywhere

Kṛṣṇa says that the realized person, yoga-yuktātmā, sees the Supreme in everyone and everything. He
 sees everything situated in the Supreme and all beings situated in the Supreme. The yogi is in touch with the
higher Self and is in bliss.

sarva-bhūta-stham ātmānaṁ sarva-bhūtāni cātmani I

īkṣate yoga-yuktātmā sarvatra sama-darśarsanaḥ II 6.29
When we experience the Truth, we see everything in ourselves and ourselves in everything. In fact, in my first
spiritual experience at the age of twelve, this is what I clearly saw.
When I was twelve, I was playing with this technique of just watching where thoughts came from, the
source of my thoughts. At that age, I didn’t even realize it was meditation. One day, at the foothills of
Arunachala, in my hometown of Tiruvannamalai in South India, I was sitting on a rock, just playing with
this technique that I had been practicing for two years.

Suddenly, something happened; something opened within me. I felt as if I was being pulled inside.
Suddenly, I could see 360 degrees in all directions. My eyes were closed but I could see everything in
front of me and behind me. Not just that, I felt that whatever I was seeing, was all me. I could see
myself in everything—in the trees, in the rocks, in the ground, in the hills, everything!
The Viśvarūpa Darśan, vision of the cosmic form, that Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna is the glimpse of the same
Truth, where Arjuna sees that Kṛṣṇa is one with the Universe.
In the ultimate sense, the moment we understand that we are deeply, totally and intensely connected to the whole
Universe, not only do we start experiencing bliss, we really start living in the space of completion. Many
dimensions of our being start opening. Right now we are stressed out and disturbed continuously because we
think of ourselves as individual egos. If we disappear into this collective consciousness, we will experience so
many dimensions and so many possibilities that we simply cannot imagine right now!
6.30 For one who sees Me everywhere and who sees everything in Me, for him I am never lost nor is he
lost to Me.
6.31 He who is in oneness with Me in all respects, worships Me situated in all beings and remains present
in Me.
6.32 One who, by comparision to his own Self, sees the true oneness of all beings, in both their
happiness or misery, is Supreme Yogi in My opinion, Arjuna.
6.33 Arjuna says: O Madhusūdana, this system of Yoga as described by You, appears
unendurable to me, for the mind being restless and unsteady.
6.34 O Kṛṣṇa, the wavering mind is agitated, strong and firm. I think it is difficult to control the mind like
it is difficult to control the wind.
6.35 Bhagavān says:
O mighty-armed Kaunteya, it is undoubtedly difficult to control the wavering mind but by
practice and detachment, it can be controlled.

Kṛṣṇa gives a promise. He says that for anyone who sees Him in everything and who sees everything in Him,
He is always available. Neither Kṛṣṇa is lost to him nor he is ever lost to Kṛṣṇa.
When we realize the sense of non-duality and infinity with the entire Universe, we experience a tremendous
overflowing of love and compassion for every being without discrimination, because we realize that everyone
is a part of the same Whole. That is why we can see that Masters are such an ocean of infinite love and know
only how to give. They are Existence itself. They shower love without asking questions because they feel a
constant devotion towards the entire Universe or life force or Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa. They cannot see anyone as
a separate entity because there is no separateness.
Just as the fingers on the hand and the toes on the feet belong to the same body, we will be able to see
that everyone is a part of the same Universal Energy. This is when true compassion, empathy and sincere
service towards enriching everyone can happen. Until then we will only be using our logic, mind, ego and
conditioning, to enslave others.
When we realize the infinity of everyone, we will express our unconditional love and compassion towards
everyone without discrimination, because we know that all discrimination is baseless and false. Our very walk
and talk will start radiating so much bliss that our very presence will start healing others. We will become a
blessing for planet Earth and the people who experience our presence.
 A Yogī in the state of super-consciousness will just watch everything in Existence without judging or
labeling it. He will be in a state of complete celebration of life. Existence is love and nothing else. Yet, the
compassion of the yogi, the Master, is such that he feels the experiences that others undergo and he empathizes
with them. The Master’s state of equanimity is not disturbed and yet he feels the pain and joy of others.
This expression of collective consciousness is what Kṛṣṇa has described elsewhere as Vasudaiva
Kuṭuṁbakaṁ. It means that the world is our family and we should feel the rest of the world as we would for
our immediate family. When we exist in this state of consciousness, we are true Yogīs.
Arjuna introduces the word ‘difficult or su-duṣkaram’ here. Be very clear, the moment we categorize
something as easy or difficult, we have made it that way. Understand that the ego can be fulfilled only through
difficult things. Simple things cannot satisfy the ego.
Here, Arjuna addresses to Kṛṣṇa his concerns about the mind being so strong that it sometimes overcomes the
intelligence. The first and foremost thing is to accept that we have a problem, we have a root pattern. The next
thing is to understand how the root pattern is created. That is what Arjuna does here. It is only then that we
can overcome the root pattern. If we ignore or run away from the pattern we can never resolve and complete
with the pattern. So, the first thing to accept is that our mind does oscillate, then to understand how it
oscillates. For this we need to watch the mind and do completion with the thought patterns. This is meditation.
The very act of watching, being aware of the mind, and completing with it will take us beyond the mind.

The Path to Self Realization

Masters give meditation techniques so that we try all these and ultimately realize we are bliss, and that
meditation is our natural state, and that there is nothing to be achieved. But, if I tell you that right away, you
will not believe me. The mind cannot believe something so simple. It will create all kinds of contradictions
and self-doubts as to why it cannot be so simple. Kṛṣṇa also has to give a solution for the doubting mind. He
emphasizes perseverance and penance. Don’t think penance means leaving home, going to the Himalayas and
sitting in meditation while fasting. Penance is persevering with authenticity until we experience the Truth.
Kṛṣṇa also reveals the root of the problem of controlling the mind and gives the technique to complete with it
through unclutching.
The mind becomes so attached to these identities that it is constantly reviewing the past incidents or it is
constantly planning the future to either protect or develop these identities. This constant pre-occupation of the
mind with the past and future is the root cause of the oscillation of the mind. If we look deeply, staying in the
present moment of completion means total insecurity. It requires us to be ready to embrace the present without
planning for the future or reviewing the past. This seems like a great danger for our ego.
Listen. I tell you, any identity that we create about ourselves that is less than the idea of our being
God, is a false identity. If we consider ourselves to be anything less than God, we suffer from an inferiority
complex. If we have the courage to detach ourselves from the certificates of society, if we have the courage to
drop these false identities, then we can embrace the Divine.
Detachment is the direct technique that Kṛṣṇa is suggesting here. Detachment at the root level will lead to
detachment from everything else. Detachment from the ego or the identities will lead to detachment from
desires. This is detachment from the past and future. This is being ‘Unclutched’.
6.36 For one whose mind is uncontrolled, it is difficult to attain yoga in My opinion.
But, it is practical to achieve control over the mind by appropriate means.
6.37 Arjuna says: O Kṛṣṇa, if a person is engaged in yoga with faith but does not attain completion in
yoga, because of the wavering mind, what destination does he achieve?
6.38 O mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa, does not such a person, who is deviated from the path of Absolute
Consciousness [Brahman], perish like a scattered cloud without any position?
6.39 This is my doubt, O Kṛṣṇa and I request You to dispel it completely. Certainly, there is
no one to be found other than You who can remove this doubt.
6.40 Bhagavān says:
O Pārtha, the person engaged in auspicious activities for good, does not meet with destruction either in this
world or the next life; he never faces degradation.

Kṛṣṇa assures Arjuna by saying that there is no destruction either in this life or the next life for one who is on
the right path, the path of yoga. Kṛṣṇa is giving a wonderful assurance for all of us that even a small amount
of practice of this yoga will save us from the cycle of birth and death. Any yoga practiced will give us
tremendous benefit. The very intent to practice yoga itself means that we have gained knowledge about the
problem of the mind.
Listen, any movement of the body with a strong intention will cause that intention to get deeply inscribed into
our bodies and muscles. If the intention is wanting to become one with our true identity and wanting to drop
our false identity, it will get deeply inscribed or recorded in our body and will remain there and automatically
the body will start moving towards that one goal.

6.41 The person who has fallen from yoga {yogabṛasṭa] after many years of living in the planets of the
pious and doing virtuous deeds, takes birth in the house of the virtuous and prosperous.
6.42 Or the Yogī certainly takes birth in a family of wise people. Certainly, such a birth is rare
in this world.
6.43 O son of Kuru, on taking such a birth, he revives the intelligence, consciousness of
the previous body, and tries again to attain complete success [yoga].

Our choice of the next body is based on the way we have lived our life in this body.
For example, if we live to eat rather than eat to live, at the time of death, we will still have the desire to continue
eating. So, we will design our next body to fulfill this desire. We might choose the body of a pig. Or, if we
have lived our life only for sleeping and doing no creative work, we might choose the body of a buffalo. So,
based on the attitude we have lived with, we choose the next body. This is the basic idea on which our janma-
maraṇa cakra (cycle of life and death) revolves.
Here, Kṛṣṇa gives the assurance to Arjuna and to the whole of humanity that a person who has performed
virtuous activities takes birth in a family of wise people or in a prosperous family. His pious activities will
earn him a place among the higher worlds. After dwelling there for a while he will take birth in the family of
righteous people to once again enable his spiritual seeking.
Once we leave the body, in three kṣaṇa, three moments, we get into a new body and we are reborn. Kṣaṇa in
Saṃskṛit does not mean ‘seconds’. It means the gap between two thoughts. If we have been constantly running
behind desires, the gap between two thoughts will be really small for us. When we learn to relax into the
present, the gap between two thoughts increases and the three kṣaṇas can be a long time. In three kṣaṇas, we
take on the new body to fulfill whatever desires were unfulfilled when we left the previous body. Here, Kṛṣṇa
says that on taking birth, we gain the intelligence of the previous body and continue the journey where we left
off.
Early morning, the thought with which we enter into the body, which makes us assume the body, is going to
play a major role in our consciousness. The first thought is going to play a major role in our consciousness
throughout the day.
Kṛṣṇa is actually giving a technique on how to become Kṛṣṇa, how to enter into Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, to
become an Incarnation. The man who assumes the body out of love and compassion is an Incarnation.
If we assume the body out of greed or fear, we are human. Early morning, let the first thought be gratitude.
Let it be out of love and compassion. Our whole life will become pure eternal bliss, Nithyānanda.

6.44 Due to the practice in his previous life, he certainly gets attracted automatically to Yoga
and he is inquisitive about Yoga and transcends the scriptures.
6.45 And when the Yogī engages himself with sincere endevour in progressing fruther, being
cleansed of all incompletions, then ultimately, achieving perfection [saṁsiddhi] after many
births of practice, he attains the highest state [parām-gati].
6.46 A Yogī is greater than the ascetic [tapasvi], greater than the wise [jñāni] and greater than the
fruitive worker. Therefore, Arjuna, do become a Yogī.
6.47 Of all Yogīs, one who always lives in Me, thinking of Me within himself, who worships Me in full
faith, he is the most intimately united with Me in Yoga and is the highest of all Yogīs; that is My
opinion.

Why do we assume the body? We think that we can experience bliss through the body and mind; that
 is why we assume the body. When we
realize that bliss cannot be experienced through the body or mind, we know that going beyond the body is the
only way to experience it. Then we will not assume the body. Assuming the human body is simply our choice.
In these verses, Kṛṣṇa promises a few things. He says that whatever we have learned in one life does not
get wasted. We do not start from ground zero in the next birth. We start from where we left off. Our vāsanas,
our mindset in one birth, continues into another. He also promises that if we keep practicing, if we keep trying,
we will be cleansed of all sins and reach the highest state. Such a person, Kṛṣṇa promises, will reach Him.
At the end of the day, what Kṛṣṇa implies is this: We need to do our bit. We need to practice yoga, the path
that leads to self-awareness, to self-completion, the path that leads to Kṛṣṇa, with dedication, perseverance,
with integrity and authenticity. There is no other way. There is no short cut. Once you do your bit, the Master
promises deliverance. He promises that you will be one with Him. We will enter into a technique given by Śrī
Kṛṣṇa to go beyond the mind, to awaken our senses, to look in.
Please sit straight and close your eyes. Keep your head, neck and spine, all three in a straight line. Inhale
and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible.
Slowly, in a relaxed way, bring your awareness to your ājña cakra. Concentrate between the two eyebrows.
Bring your awareness between the two eyebrows.
Meditate on the pure light energy. If your mind wanders here and there, don’t worry. When you remember,
bring it back again and relax in your ājña cakra, between your eyebrows. Don’t concentrate. In a very relaxed
way, be aware of the ājña cakra, the space in between the two eyebrows.
Slowly, very slowly bring your mind to your heart and meditate on your heart center. If you want, you
can touch your heart center with the hand and feel it. Try to bring your awareness to the heart center. Try to
remember the heart center. Forget all other parts of your body; forget your mind. Just become the heart center.
Just be in the heart center. Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible.
May you experience your pure inner space. May you experience the eternal bliss, Nityānanda.
When we start acting from the heart, we don’t calculate. The very calculation disappears, the ‘I, I, I’ disappears.
And naturally our senses become sensitive.
So try to continuously remember this heart region, anāhata cakra.

Naturally, we will have awareness in the ājña also. In the last session, Kṛṣṇa gave the technique to be in the
ājña. Today, He says start with the ājña and come down to anāhata. This is because in the heart, there is a
possibility of much more happening. The possibility of reaching is easier and greater in the heart. Kṛṣṇa says,
‘Let you be in the heart.’
Look in! You will realize ‘You are That.’ Just look in, you will experience the eternal bliss, Nitya-ānanda.
Let us pray to that Ultimate Energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa to give us all the Eternal Bliss, Nityānanda.

Thus ends the sixth chapter named Dhyāna Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Path of Meditation,’ 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
 CHAPTER 7
Jñānavijñāna Yogaḥ

7.1 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says,

Pārtha (Arjuna), now listen to Me, you can know Me completely, without doubt, by practicing yoga in
true consciousness of Me, With your mind attached to Me.
7.2 Let Me explain to you in full this phenomenal knowledge [jñāna] of the Absolute along with its
conscious realization [vijñāna]; by knowing which, there shall remain nothing further to be
known.
7.3 Out of many thousands of men, hardly one endeavors to achieve the perfection of self-realization; of
those so endeavoring, hardly one achieves the perfection of self-realization, and of those, hardly one
knows Me in truth or reaches that state of oneness with Me.
7.4 Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego, all together these constitute
My external eightfold energies.
7.5 Besides these external energies, which are inferior or material in nature, O mighty-armed
Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine. This comprises all the embodied souls of all the
living entities [jīvabhūta] by which this material world is being utilized.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Listen, Arjuna, by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to
Me, you can know Me in full, without doubt.’

The Manifest and the unManifest

Puruṣa and prakṛti are considered the operative principles of the Universe in the Hindu philosophical
systems of Sāṅkhya and Vedānta. Puruṣa and prakṛti are unmanifest energy sources, puruṣa being inactive
and prakṛti capable of being active. Everything else arises from these two elements when they operate
together.
Prakṛti gives rise to the Cosmic and individual intelligence and the five natural elements. The Taittreya
Upaniṣad explains that the Cosmic energy gave rise to etheric energy or the energy of space, ākāṣa, which
pervades the Universe. This is the largest and subtlest quantum of energy that pervades the Universe. From
etheric energy the energy of air arises. It is this energy of air, or vāyu, that sustains us in our body-mind system
as the carrier of pranic or life energy.
From the energy of air arises the energy of fire, agni. Many salutations in the Ṛg Veda, the first of
the Hindu scriptures, are addressed to the fire. Almost all Vedic rituals are performed for the fire
god. Āpas, the energy of water, arose from the energy of fire. Pṛthvī, the energy of earth arose from
the energy of water. The Taittreya Upaniṣad goes on to say that it is from the earth energy that
plants, herbs, food were created, from which came humans. Within the human is the intelligence
that is a hologram of the Cosmic intelligence. The energy cycle is now complete.
The Cosmic intelligence is reflected in the human as the mind. The mind in turn uses the senses to access
the external world. Each of the senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are related to the natural elements.
Ether is linked to sound or the ears; air is linked to touch and the skin; fire is linked to color and form, and
hence to sight and the eyes; water is linked to taste and the tongue; earth is linked to smell or the nose.
 Here, Kṛṣṇa refers to ego as ahaṁkāra. It is our identity that we project outwards, which is always in
excess of what we think of as ourselves. There is another side to our ego, called mamakāra, which we project
inwards; what we think of as us inside us. This mamakāra is always lower than what we think ourselves to be.
The perpetual gap between this outer projection and inner projection creates self-doubt, stress, suffering and
dis-ease within us. When we realize our Self, we realize that we are Divine and nothing less.

7.6 Know for certain that everything living is manifested by these two energies of Mine. I am the
Creator, the Sustainer and the Destroyer of them.
7.7 O Dhanañjaya, there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are
strung on a thread.
7.8 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), I am the taste of water, the radiance of the sun and the moon, the sacred
syllable Oṁ in the Vedic mantras. I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
7.9 I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire.
I am the life of all living beings, and I am the penance of all ascetics.
Kṛṣṇa says, He is the unseen thread—sūtre maṇi gaṇā, without which no rudrākṣa can exist. He says He
is the unseen essence—mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ, without which there can be no substance. He says He is the
unseen ultimate energy without which there can be no Universe— mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti
dhanañjaya.
Can you imagine the intelligence that controls multiple Universes? How is there such discipline and order
in that seeming chaos that no one is in charge of? No one is responsible, or is someone? On the other hand,
within this small body of ours we try to control everything. We control the food we eat, how much we exercise,
how much we play, etc. Yet we can predict nothing about it. Despite all the order that we impose, there is
chaos sometimes! Control does not bring about order; it never can. Freedom brings about order. Chaos is
freedom. Chaos is choice. The ultimate chaos is the cosmic Kṛṣṇa; He is also the Ultimate order too. Life, any
form of life in this and any other planet, cannot exist without this energy of cosmic Kṛṣṇa.

7.10 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), know Me to be the eternal seed of all beings, the intelligence of the
intelligent, and the brilliance of all those who are brilliant.

7.11 I am the strength of the strong, and I am the procreative energy in living beings, devoid of lust
and in accordance with dharma, the religious principles, O Bharataṛṣabha (lord of Bhārata).
7.12 All states of being—be they of goodness (sāttvika), passion (rajas) or ignorance (tamas)—
emanate from Me. I am independent of them but they are dependent on Me.
7.13 The whole of this creation is deluded by the three modes or guṇas (goodness, passion and
ignorance), and thus does not know Me. I am above the modes and inexhaustible.
7.14 My Divine energy, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult
to overcome. But those who surrender unto Me can cross beyond it with ease.

7.15 Those miscreants who are foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by
māyā, illusion, and who have taken shelter in demonic nature, do not surrender unto Me.

Beyond the Gunas

Kṛṣṇa talks about the guṇas, the natural attributes in these verses.
Prakṛti, the energy that manifests in the Universe, has three elements called guṇas. When prakṛti is in
equilibrium, it is pure potential energy. When it is disturbed, the guṇas come into operation. Like building
blocks, they combine in many ways and create, sustain and destroy.
The three guṇas that Kṛṣṇa refers to are satva, rajas and tamas, commonly translated as goodness or
calmness, passion or aggression and ignorance or inaction. The interplay of these guṇas creates the functioning
of the mind and through the operation of the mind, activity. Guṇa does not refer to the state a person is in.
Guṇa causes that state to happen. Satva by itself is not goodness or calmness. It is the building block that leads
to calmness.
No living being influenced by the mind is beyond the influence of the guṇas. When one transcends the
guṇas, as Kṛṣṇa says about Himself, one becomes a triguṇa rahita, one who has transcended the three guṇas.
Such a person is no longer influenced by the mind and its actions.

7.16 O Bharatarṣabha, best among Bhārata, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional
service unto Me.

They are: the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive seeker of knowledge, and the wise
knower of the Absolute.
7.17 Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge and ever united with Me through single-minded
devotion is the best.

I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.

7.18 All these devotees are indeed noble; but the wise one who knows Me, dwells in Me is My very
Self, this is My opinion.

Being merged in My Consciousness and engaged in My mission, he is surely established in Me,

the highest destination.
7.19 After many births and deaths, he who knows Me surrenders to Me, knowing Me to be the cause of
all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

The Indian Community System

The Vedic Ṛṣis at least created the community and caste system based upon intelligence and wisdom. In other
cultures, the community system was created based upon money and power. The countries where the rulers are
kṣatriyas (warrior class), are the ones who create the community system based upon power. The more powerful
a person is, the more respected he is. In other countries, people who do business, the business class people,
control the whole system. There the wealthy people are respected more.
India is the only country where people who respected intelligence and wisdom created
the whole system. The system was created based upon intelligence, based upon
wisdom. So that is why, in India, the more wisdom a person carries, the more
spiritual he is, the more he is respected.
The whole social system was created based upon sharing from an enriching consciousness. Understand,
you can create anything only when you see it and experience it from the state of enriching consciousness. Man
must contribute something to enrich the community by doing actions in the enriching state.
Let me describe the spirit with which the whole system was created, and how we abused it. First, the
whole system is not based upon our birth. It is based upon our character.
Kṛṣṇa says again and again that it is based upon our guṇas (nature), based upon our attitude towards life.
A person who works driven by fear, one who works out of fear, belongs to the working class called śūdra. A
person who works out of greed, belongs to the merchant or business class called vaiśya. A person who works
to get attention or to prove that he is superior, belongs to the kṣatriya community. A person who works out of
gratitude from the enriching consciousness, expressing his bliss, is a brāhmaṇa. This was how people were
categorized in those days.
Everybody must contribute something to enrich the society. A person may enrich by sharing his time if
he has nothing else. A person who shares his time is a worker, a śūdra. He belongs to the working class. A
person who enriches by sharing products, has time and a little bit of intelligence to create products, is a vaiśya,
a merchant. A person who enriches by sharing confidence, who gives courage to the whole community, is a
kṣatriya, a warrior! He unites the whole group as a community in a solid way by giving confidence, by sharing
his confidence. A person who enriches by sharing his knowledge, bliss or spiritual wisdom, is a brāhmaṇa.

caturvidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ sukṛtino’rjuna I

ārto jijñasurartharthī jñānī ca bharataṛṣabha II 7.16
 ‘O best among the Bhārata, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me: the
distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who searches for knowledge of the Absolute.’
Here Kṛṣṇa talks about those who approach the Divine and the ways in which they approach the Divine. Man
is centered on seven basic emotions. Basically we live and work based on these seven emotions: greed,
fear, worry, attention-need (name and fame), comparison and jealousy, ego and the last one, the seventh
emotion, deep discontentment.
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 Paramahamsa Nithyananda. 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.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
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.
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 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.

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.
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.
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.
I tell my disciples to practice Iśṭa niṣṭa, with the whole Existence cognizing—‘I bow down to Nithyananda
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 Nithyananda who is in your ānanda gandha.’
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, iśṭa niṣṭa. The fourth level of completion is realizing that the verses are
more powerful than rituals, and you start chanting the name of your iśṭa. 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.
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!
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!
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.’
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.
This is an important sūtra, a technique. It says:

antavattu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpamedhasāṁ I

devān devayajo yānti madbhaktā yānti mām api II 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.

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.
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.

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.

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 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.
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.’
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.
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.

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 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.
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.
 CHAPTER 8
Akṣarabrahma
8.1 Arjuna says:
Yogaḥ
O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the Self? What are
result-based actions?

What is this material manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain all this to me.
8.2 How does this Lord of sacrifice live in the body, and in which part does He live, O
Madhusūdana? How can those engaged in devotional service know You at the time
of their death?
8.3 Bhagavān says:
The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman and His eternal nature is called
the Self.
Actions pertaining to the development of the material bodies is called karma, or result
based activities.
8.4 Physical nature is known to be endlessly changing.
The Universe is the cosmic form of the Supreme Lord, and I am that Lord represented as the
Super Soul, dwelling in the heart of every being that dwells in a body.
8.5 Whoever, at the time of death, quits his body remembering Me alone, attains My nature
immediately. Of this there is no doubt.
8.6 Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, It is that state one will attain
without fail.

The key is to create the right space inside you to express your greatest and highest possibility. When you
create the right space inside you, all the events of your choice will simply flow into your life without any
effort! Everything you do will be successful. When you learn to use these powers in the right way, you will
immediately transform not only your own life, but the lives of all those living around you.

To be able to unlock these great powers inside you, you must first understand a little more about
yourself—the way you live and the way you leave! As I told in earlier chapters, your four inner powers
are: the power of words or vāk śakti; the power of thoughts or mano śakti; the power of feeling or
prema śakti; and the power of living or ātma śakti.
The same Supreme Soul lives in everything. When we understand this, we see the truth that we are a part of
everything around us and we complete with everything. There is no difference between you and me. There is
no difference between this chair and me or this tree and me. We see ourselves in everything.
When we understand this great truth, a new dimension of ourselves is revealed to us. When we see
ourselves in everything around us, our compassion towards everything grows a thousandfold. By being
compassionate to others, we are being compassionate to ourselves because everything is one.

Please listen! This is what I mean when I say, ‘Enriching others enriches you.’ Enrich yourself and
enrich everyone. Then, experientially you understand that you are one with others, others are one with
you. Please understand this great truth of enriching, the space of Enlightenment, the power of living.
This changes the way we look at life and everything around us. This completely changes the way we
perceive our desires, our fantasies. Kṛṣṇa answers all the questions with a single sūtra, a single
technique.

The Secret of Death

Now we enter the main subject. Here, Kṛṣṇa reveals the secrets of death.
He says, ‘Whoever dies remembering Me alone at the time of death will attain Me at once.’ What does
He mean when He says, ‘remembering Me alone?’ He says, ‘Whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body
remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.’

Kṛṣṇa says: nāsty atra saṃśayaḥ, because He is going to speak something that is beyond logic. When
we want to understand the outer world, we need logic. When we want to know about the inner world,
we need a Master who takes us beyond logic. Logic gives us the outer world; it cannot give us the
inner world.

What you Remember at Death, so you Attain

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O Kaunteya, that state he
will attain without fail.’

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram I

taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva bhāvitaḥ II 8.6

What exactly happens at the time of leaving the body? We should understand that. When a person
leaves the body, he goes through seven layers of his being. The first and the outermost layer is the
physical layer. When a person leaves the body, it creates tremendous pain in his whole system, what
the Upaniṣads liken to ‘thousands of scorpions stinging at a time.’ What happens is, the moment the
pain becomes unbearable, we fall into coma. If we fall into coma, we will not experience pain. But the
big problem is that we die in unconsciousness when we die in coma. That is the worst thing, because
we remain unaware of why we took this birth, and we will not be able to make the decision about the
next birth consciously.

That is the reason Kṛṣṇa says: yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ—in whatever state you are at the time
of leaving the body, you will achieve that state without fail. If we are unconscious at the time of
leaving the body, we naturally take lower level bodies in our next birth; we come back as beings,
which do not have a high level of consciousness.
At the time of death, the moment we leave the physical body, we go to the next level, the prāṇic body or
the prāṇic layer in us. The prāṇic body refers to the layer responsible for the inhaling and exhaling of prāṇa,
the life giving energy in our body. The prāṇic body is filled with all our desires. Please understand, our prāṇa
and desires are closely related. If our desires change, immediately the circulation of our praṇa changes.
Similarly, if we change the circulation of prāṇa, our whole mind changes. Our mind and prāṇa are closely
connected. That is why people inhale and exhale, pull and push with their breath at the time of leaving; they
suffer. The body says, ‘I can’t host you anymore; relax, go out.’ But the being says, ‘But I have so many
desires. I must live in this body. I must enjoy this body.’ The tug of war happens between body and being.
Next we move to the mental layer, mana śarīra. All the guilt that we harbored throughout our lives, stays
in this layer. Desire is expectation about the future. Guilt is regret about the past. Guilt is: I have not lived in
this way—thoughts about the past. Desire is: I should live like this—a thought about the future. Understand,
guilt is nothing but the emotion created in our being when we review our past decisions with updated
intelligence. When we review past decisions with updated intelligence, we create guilt. Never make that
mistake. If we create guilt, the whole thing sits in the mental body and when we leave the body it becomes a
big obstruction.
The next layer we cross in the process of death is the etheric body.
Here, all the painful experiences that we had in life are stored.

These four layers are hell. When the energy crosses these four layers: physical body, prāṇic body,
mental body and etheric body, the being undergoes hell.

During our life in the body, if we have kept these four layers clean and complete, we never enter hell.
 That is, if we can technically clean these layers; when I say ‘technically’, I mean through meditation,
through the process of completion. If we keep these layers clean with the proper meditation
techniques, we will never have a problem at the time of leaving the body.

After these first four layers, the three inner layers where all our blissful memories are stored are called
heaven. Even if we are stuck there, we need to move on. Please be very clear, even our puṇya, merits,
are karma. Even that will not allow us to become enlightened. We may feel good, ecstatic, for a few
days. After that our mind takes that also for granted. In the case of heaven also, we will take it for
granted after a few days. When you take it for granted, you have to come back to take another body,
another birth.

8.7 Arjuna, think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa always, while continuing with your prescribed
duty of fighting.

With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind

and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.
8.8 He who meditates on the Supreme Person, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me,
not deviating from the path,

O Pārtha, is sure to reach Me.

8.9 One should meditate on the Supreme as the one who knows everything, as He is the most
ancient, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of
everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is
always a person.
He is luminous like the sun and, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.
8.10 One, who at the time of death, fixes his mind and life breath between the eyebrows
without being distracted, who by the power of yoga and in full devotion engages himself
in dwelling on Me, He will certainly attain Me.
One important question we may ask, ‘Anyhow, I have to think of Him only at the time of leaving the body, so
why bother doing that now? Right now, let me lead my life. At the time of death, I will think about Him.’
Please be very clear, these verses answer that question.
We cannot think about Him then unless we think about Him now.
At the time of our death, automatically the totality of our whole life will come up. The whole file
will come up. Whatever we spent the maximum energy on, that file will automatically come
up first. That’s all. We can’t do anything in that moment. Don’t think that we can forget
about it now and tackle the issue of our last thought at the time we leave the body. It does not
work that way! Only the thought that we lived with intensely throughout our life will come
up at that moment. That is why He says, ‘Even when you do your duty, may you be absorbed
in Me.’ This means that when we live, we should try to continuously be in thoughtless
awareness, the witnessing consciousness, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The Supreme Witness

The next question: ‘How can I be in the witnessing mode when I live my regular life?’ Start in a
simple way. When you drive, when you sit, when you talk, see what is happening inside and
outside you. You don’t need to close your eyes. At least while driving, please don’t close
your eyes! Just move away from your body. See what is going on in your mind and what is
going on outside your being.
In the next verse Kṛṣṇa says, ‘At the time of death, fix your mind between the eyebrows.’ He adds,
‘without being distracted and with devotion.’ See, all this is not in our control at the time when the life force
is about to leave the body. We cannot decide at that time, ‘Ok, let me focus between the eyebrows, let me
think of devotion, let me not be distracted.’ But if we have led a life in such higher consciousness, this
automatically happens at that time! When Kṛṣṇa talks about the space between the eyebrows, He speaks of the
higher cakra or energy center in the body, related to higher consciousness.
Our mind is nothing but a bunch of conditionings. All these conditionings influence us at the
time of death. If we are taught that eating is the greatest pleasure in life, we see only all kinds
 of food when we leave this body. Then the last thought will be, ‘Let me take birth in a family
where I will be given food and nothing but food, where I will not have any other
responsibility.’
While still in the body, if we have experienced ‘thoughtlessness’ at least once, (thoughtlessness means
being alive without a sense of body and mind), if we have experienced thoughtless awareness, if we have been
in Universal consciousness for a single moment without the body and mind, that is what I call Samādhi.

Four States of Consciousness

Here is a small diagram to explain what exactly I mean by the word ‘thoughtlessness’.

In our life, we experience two states of being and two levels of mind. For example, now, while we are
awake, we have thoughts. In deep sleep, do we have thoughts? No! So the two possibilities for the mind are
with thought and without thought.
In the same way, in the being, there can be ‘I’ consciousness and no ‘I’ consciousness. As of now, while
we are awake and talking and moving, we have the idea of ‘I’ all the time, that of ‘I’ consciousness. In deep
sleep, do we have this consciousness? No. The ‘I’ consciousness does not exist at that time. So the two levels
of the being are: with ‘I’ consciousness and without ‘I’ consciousness. These two levels of consciousness and
the two levels of mind and thought overlap each other and create four states of being in us.
In jāgrat, we live with the body that we have now—the sthūla śarīra or gross body. In svapna, we live
with the sūkṣma śarīra or subtle body; please understand in the dream state also we assume a body. That is
why we are able to travel in our dreams. For example, we fall asleep in Los Angeles but suddenly dream we
are in India! It means we travel with a body, a subtle body called sūkṣma śarīra. In deep sleep, we assume a
body called the causal body, kāraṇa śarīra.
In turīya state, we experience boundarilessness, bodylessness. There we have pure ‘I’ consciousness, with
‘I’ but without thoughts. Vivekananda says, ‘If you experience even a single glimpse of this consciousness
when you are alive, the same thing automatically repeats when you leave the body. You leave the body in
samādhi.’
If we have not lived a single moment of our life without the feeling of being the body and mind,
we cannot be without the body and mind once we die. So once we die, we immediately try to
catch hold of another body. Because we have never lived a single moment without body and
mind, the moment we die, we will not bother about which body we are getting into. We rush
as fast as possible.
After coming down, we again forget the supreme purpose of assuming the body; this is the biggest
problem. If we have experienced a single moment of complete rest and thoughtless awareness, the state of
restful awareness, then naturally at the moment when we leave the body, we will be in the same state. This
state is also called ‘bodyless’ awareness because when we are in turīya state, all the three bodies do not touch
us; neither the gross body nor the subtle body nor the causal body touches us.
We experience awareness that is beyond the three bodies. If we have experienced this thoughtless restful
awareness for even a single moment earlier, we will have the required clarity in the end. If we have experienced
that we can exist without the body and mind, we will have the patience to work with our data files before
 assuming the next body. We will go through the data line carefully and decide, ‘Should I take birth at all?
What is the need?’ Sometimes, if we decide to take birth, we can even take a conscious birth, like the great
Masters!
Kṛṣṇa says yogabraṣṭha. We take birth in a family that will be conducive to our spiritual growth, which
will not create obstacles to our spiritual practices. Kṛṣṇa says that only very rarely do souls take birth in this
type of family. I have rarely seen parents who do not object when the son does spiritual practices. If your
family does not object, if they do not disturb you, please be very clear, there is every chance of your being a
yogabraṣṭha!
In the next step, Kṛṣṇa explains how to achieve thoughtless awareness and gives a deeper understanding
about death and the art of leaving.

8.11 Persons who are learned in the Veda and who are great sages in the orders of renunciation,
enter into the Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one practices brahmacarya.

I shall now explain to you the process by which one may attain liberation.
8.12 Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind in the heart and the life breath at
the top of the head, one establishes oneself in yoga.
8.13 Centered in this yoga practice and uttering the sacred syllable Oṁ, the supreme combination of
letters, if one dwells in the Supreme and quits his body, he certainly achieves the supreme
destination.
8.14 I am always available to anyone who remembers Me constantly Pārtha, because of his constant
engagement in devotional service.
If someone is completely immersed in the scriptures, his thoughts will continuously be along those lines. That
is what Kṛṣṇa means by His words ‘Immerse yourself in the scriptures’. Keep reading some scripture or the
other and imbibe its truth. It will have a tremendous impact on you.

Even if we do not understand the deeper meanings of these scriptures, it is ok. These scriptures are energy
hubs. When we read them, the sound that is generated is enough to cleanse our inner being. That is the power
of those verses. They will transform you. If you listen to vedic chants, you will find that they are chanted in a
specific tone and pitch. When they are chanted, they completely cleanse our system, our inner being.
We cut the continuous flow of inputs from our senses when we increase our awareness. The number of
thoughts slowly drops as awareness rises. As we increase awareness, our thoughts per second, TPS, drops.
This is what Kṛṣṇa means by closing all the senses. When we do this, our awareness becomes more and more
concentrated on the present moment. When we shut our senses and remain in pure awareness, we focus on
our divinity. We keep a single-minded focus on the divinity resonating in us. We automatically fall into
the present moment. Awareness of our breath becomes more acute. We feel life energy or prāṇa filling
our system. This is called dhārana, single-minded focus. We can focus on the life force energizing our
system when we increase our awareness and close all the inputs from our senses. We automatically unite
mind, body and spirit. This is yoga.
Our thoughts are generally related to greed and fear. We keep piling up desires because our root thought
patterns are of greed and fear. When we die, our soul re-experiences these desires. Attachment to these desires
makes our death painful. An Enlightened Master has seen this process and speaks from experience. He is pure
compassion and He wants everyone to know the secret of mastering the art of leaving.
That is why Kṛṣṇa says again and again: When we direct our thoughts to the Divine, greed and fear are
completely wiped out. Our whole being is filled with gratitude to the Divine. One more thing, many
people think of God because they want to go to heaven. Some people are afraid of death so they think of
God. Both are only because of greed or fear.

8.15 After attaining Me, the great souls who are devoted to Me in yoga are never reborn in this
world.
This world is temporary and full of miseries and they have attained the highest
perfection.
 8.16 From the highest planet in the material world [brahmaloka] down to the lowest, all are
places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place.

One who reaches My abode, O Kaunteya, is never reborn.

8.17 By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma’s one day.
His night is just as long.
8.18 From the unmanifest all living entities come into being at the beginning of Brahma’s
day.With the coming of Brahma’s night, they dissolve into the same unmanifest.

The understanding of this science, the very intellectual understanding, gives the inspiration to experience truth
and naturally leads us to the ultimate Truth.
Here Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If you achieve this state, you never come back.’ He inspires us; He persuades us to enter
that state, to enter thoughtless awareness.

Beyond Karma
In the next verse, Kṛṣṇa talks about the misery-filled world and we see how good deeds cannot get us out
of the cycle of birth and death.
Kṛṣṇa says here:

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ‘rjuna I

mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate II 8.16

‘From the highest planet of Brahmaloka in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery
wherein repeated birth and death takes place. But one who attains Me, one who attains My being, one who
attains My consciousness, never takes birth again.’

If we achieve that one glimpse of consciousness, we achieve what has to be achieved. If we have not had
that, whatever we achieve is a pure waste. All merits and sins—nothing comes with us. We will not be judged
by anything except this glimpse of samādhi, the ultimate truth.
Samādhi in Saṃskṛit means: being in our original state. Once we realize this state, we have arrived.
Vivekananda says, ‘If you achieve even a single glimpse, you leave your body in that experience.’ It is
because this intense experience of Self-realization will come up at the time when we leave the body. At
the time of death, our whole life is played back to us in a fast-forward mode in a few seconds. And only
the important scenes appear in multicolor again and again; all other scenes appear in black and white.
They become the background. If we have had thoughtless awareness, the samādhi experience when we
were alive, that alone will appear in multicolor; all other things will fade away in the background.

Experience His LīLā, Cosmic Play

As of now, understand this one thing: Throughout this chapter Kṛṣṇa conveys the single message:
Experience His consciousness, the thoughtless awareness or the witnessing
consciousness in which Kṛṣṇa stays and plays the whole game of life, how He lives
through the whole of life. That is why Kṛṣṇa’s life is called līlā—cosmic play,
Kṛṣṇa līlā. It is not history. It is līlā; it is a Cosmic play.
Kṛṣṇa conveys one thing: All we need to do is work to achieve a glimpse of thoughtless awareness, the
space of completion. In the next few chapters, He speaks deeply, intensely about how to open every layer,
how to progress, how to clean and complete with every layer and how to achieve the conscious glimpse or
thoughtless awareness. He says further:
‘By human calculation, the thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahma’s one day and such
also is the duration of his night.’ For Brahma, a thousand ages are taken as one day. Only when we
achieve the consciousness of nirvāṇa—thoughtless awareness, will we not take rebirth.
When we are in the body, if we have had a single glimpse of thoughtless awareness—the experience of
 meditation, then automatically this consciousness comes up at the time of leaving the body and we will
have two benefits. We can choose to become enlightened and not take another birth, or we can choose the
right place to express and work out our karma, to live as we want. We have both choices if we experience
thoughtless awareness while living.

8.19 Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; And again the night falls, O Pārtha,
and they are automatically annihilated.
8.20 Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is beyond this manifested and
unmanifest matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated.

When all in this world is annihilated, that remains the same.

8.21 That Supreme abode is said to be unmanifest and indestructible and is the Supreme destination.
When one gains this state one never comes back. That is My supreme abode.
8.22 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), the supreme person, who is greater than all, is attainable by undeviating
devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated
within Him.
During a single ‘blink of Brahma’—the Lord of creation, so many things change. In our concept of time, we
see things as permanent, but when we operate in a different zone of space and time, all this becomes temporary.
Our ignorance makes us think that all that we see is real and permanent. Once we understand
that this entire life and the world around us is impermanent, we see everything from a
completely different space.
Kṛṣṇa says that in all this creation and destruction, only one thing is neither created nor
destroyed and that is the ‘Ultimate Consciousness’! What we think of as an age is a fraction
of a second to Brahma and everything we see as permanent is being made and destroyed
every time Brahma blinks.

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.

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.

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.
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.
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.

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.

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. 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.
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.

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.
 9
Rājavidyā Rājaguhya Yogaḥ

9.1 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says:

Dear Arjuna, because you trust Me and you are not envious of Me;
I shall therefore impart to you this profound and secret wisdom and experience;

This will free you of all miseries of material existence.

9.2 This knowledge is king of all knowledge and the greatest secret of all
secrets.

It is the purest knowledge, sacred, and because it gives direct perception of

the Self by Self-realization, it is the perfection of religion, dharma. It is
eternal, easy, and it is very joyfully performed.
9.3 Those who have no faith in this knowledge cannot attain Me, O Parantapa, conqueror of foes;
They will return to the path of birth and death in this material world.

The Ultimate Secret

The very idea that Arjuna might be envious of Kṛṣṇa may surprise us. Understand, whenever the Masters were
in the body, people never respected them. This problem always existed. Only after they left the body did people
accept and worship them. Actually, it is easy to worship a photograph. There is no sacrifice or transformation
required. However, it is never easy to worship a living being. The living person will always be questioned and
envied.
Kṛṣṇa is giving the ultimate secret, guhyatamaṁ. Once we know this secret, then there is no difference between
the Divine and us. Here He gives us the straight, ultimate secret.

Rājavidyā, King of All Knowledge

Yoga means achieving. Kṣema means protecting. Both are miseries. Whether we have or not, it is misery.
Kṛṣṇa says that the miseries of having wealth and not having wealth, both miseries that are caused by
material existence disappear by knowing this secret. And I tell you honestly this is the ultimate secret that
needs to be understood. Knowledge of this secret liberates you.
He says, ‘This knowledge is the king of all knowledge. The greatest secret of all secrets, it is the purest
knowledge and because it gives direct perception of the Self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It
is everlasting and it is joyfully performed.’

Now He lets Arjuna know what kind of people can know the secret. He says people who do not have śraddha,
faith in dharma or His teachings go back to the path of rebirth without Enlightenment, without attaining Him.
He says the qualification required is to have faith in His teachings. Only those people can come out of the
vicious cycle of birth and death.
You see, having authentic faith, śraddha is one of the most important things, especially in the spiritual
path. Whenever an Enlightened Master speaks, every word he utters is the Absolute Truth. That is why I
always add the words, ‘Whether you believe it or not, accept it or not, understand it or not’, whenever I talk
about some Truth. When I say we are part of the same Consciousness, when I say that we are all one, and each
one is infinitely powerful, our mind cannot accept it because it tries to find a logical solution, an intellectual
answer to everything. So you must have śraddha, faith in me to understand what I speak.

śraddha, Authentic Faith In Master

There are three possible levels in which you can put faith in what a Master says.
With the first level or group, you can have doubt. That is obvious. You doubt what I say, what an enlightened
Master says, because you can’t comprehend what I say. See, you can have doubts. In fact, you should have
doubts, only then you question what I say. However, you should look-in to find out if those doubts are genuine.
If they arise out of ego, then it is your mind playing a game. Your mind creates a wall between you and Me.
The second group or level is when you believe whatever I say. This is dangerous. Believing whatever I say
without intranalyzing, cognizing, and experiencing it for yourself is dangerous. When I say that ‘you are God’,
if you just straightaway believe me it is dangerous, because you have not experienced it. If someone questions
you on your belief, you will be unable to stand by it. You will stammer and stumble and do yourself harm.
The third approach is trust. When you trust me, you accept what I say. You still have doubts. However,
you are willing to break that wall and try to see and experience what I am saying. You build your foundation
and you make it strong because you trust me. This is the way authentic faith, śraddha should develop. Faith
should arise from a strong foundation of integrity and authenticity. First you trust me, then you try exploring
the truths I share and when you have a glimpse of the truth, you believe me with a stronger foundation. Now
nobody can shake you because you have developed a strong base. You have done the work yourself.
So, Kṛṣṇa gives a technique. He says, ‘Have śraddha, faith in dharma and it will lead you to the Ultimate.’

9.4 By Me, the entire Universe is pervaded in My formless form. All beings are based in Me, but
I am not in them.
9.5 And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Look at My mystic powers! Although,
I am the Creator and Sustainer of all living entities, I do not depend the Cosmic
manifestation; for My Self is the very source of all creation.
9.6 As the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, always rests in eternal space, All beings rest in Me.
9.7 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), at the end of every age all beings merge into Me, At the beginning of
every new Age I create them again.
9.8 The whole Cosmic order is under Me and My material nature creates the beings again and again, and
it is controlled by My material nature.
The whole Universe is pure intelligence. The whole Universe is not dead matter. The Universe is not an
accident. It can respond to our thoughts. Please understand, the whole Universe, planet Earth, air, oceans,
rivers, earth, fire, or the space, sun, moon, this whole Universe, is intelligence. It can reciprocate. It can
respond. It can react to our thoughts.
The moment we understand that we are this energy that is intelligence, the moment we are aware that we are
inside the energy that is intelligence, at that moment, we immediately settle into a deep relaxation. The
moment we experience, we understand: we are under the guidance of an intelligent energy. We are taken
care of by an intelligent energy, we are part of the Cosmic intelligence and we don’t need to struggle or
stress ourselves. We don’t need to torture ourselves with insecurity problems, unnecessary worries.
When we enjoy the process and trust the Universal intelligence, thoughts arising out of fear and greed
will disappear. We will enjoy the process of doing and we will let the Universe take care of the results. Kṛṣṇa
says elsewhere, ‘You do what you have to. Do it, but surrender the results to Me.’ When He says ‘Me’, He
refers to the Universal consciousness or intelligence.
This is what Kṛṣṇa means in the next verse when He says that the beings do not depend on Him, nor does He
depend on them. Of course, it is clear that the Universe does not depend upon us; yet how can He say that
we, the beings created and sustained by the Universe, do not depend upon it? What He means is this: it is not
a passive and lazy dependence of letting everything happen while we sit idle. It is an active understanding.
One does what one must do as part of his life process but without attachment and ownership.

Levels of Space, ākāśa

There are three levels of space.
The first level is when we are limited to what is inside this skin. This is Ghaṭākāśa, what is contained
within our body. We limit our whole understanding of everything around us to this body. We become
conscious of how this body should look, how it should be maintained. We think we are only this body and
nothing else. This is the lowest level.
The next level is Cidākāśa. This space refers to what our mind perceives as the world. Let’s say we are
sitting here but our mind is in Los Angeles. Then that (Los Angeles) becomes our cidākāśa, the space
perceived by our mind. The next moment our mind shifts to Bangalore. Then that becomes our cidākāśa. The
space that our mind operates in is cidākāśa.
The third and final level is Mahākāśa. The whole Cosmos, everything that is outside and that is inside
forms mahākāśa. This is the ultimate level. This is the level where everything that we see as different becomes
One.
Please clearly understand these three spaces. Our body, everything that is inside this skin is ghaṭākāśa.
Next, the space governed by our mind, by our thoughts, is cidākāśa. Finally, the whole Universe, the whole
cosmos, forms mahākāśa.
Now, if something happens inside our body, we immediately feel it. If we are hurt, we clearly see the
blood flow. We see a rash or a cut. We clearly see and feel any disturbance or event in ghaṭākāśa at a gross
level.
When we go to the next level, cidākāśa, events that disturb or change this space are subtle. Our thoughts
affect cidākāśa. Listen! Whether we believe it or not, our thoughts have a huge effect on the external world.
Whatever thought comes, don’t think that it simply comes and goes. Every thought is energy. It manifests as
something in the external world. The problem is that we are unaware of the effect. The effect is subtle so our
mind cannot see that what happens is because of those thoughts we entertained.

Our mind thinks something. It affects this cidākāśa, our inner space. These changes are projected into the
external world, yet our mind is unable to recognize that all it sees is because of itself.
So, as we advance one level higher, the changes become more subtle but the effect is more powerful. In
ghaṭākāśa, the effect is limited to our body. In cidākāśa, our thoughts affect the space around us. The effect
is seen in a bigger space. The effect is more widespread.
Now the highest level is mahākāśa. This level is subtler than cidākāśa. Any change here affects the whole
Universe. When something happens in this space, the whole Universe responds. When we enter this space, we
realize the ultimate Truth. We merge with everything, with the whole Cosmos.
Kṛṣṇa says that only He can create and destroy this Universe at His will. This whole Universe is a
manifestation or a projection of our own self. Please listen: We make our own world. We create the reality
what we want. We create our world through our needs or desires. We don’t see what IS! We are only seeing
what we want. Only an Enlightened being sees the real truth, as it IS. Once we understand everything is a
mirror image of our own self, we become enlightened. Once we realize that we, along with everything else
around us, are part of the same energy or Consciousness, we become enlightened.
In these two verses, Kṛṣṇa says this truth clearly. Every material manifestation is created by Him and goes
back into Him. He says only He can create and destroy it at His will, which means the world that we see, the
Universe that we perceive, is a projection of our own Self.

9.9 O Dhanañjaya, all this work does not bind Me.

I am ever unattached from these activities, seated as though neutral.
9.10 The material nature or prakṛti works under My direction, O Kaunteya, and creates all
moving and unmoving beings through My energies. By its cause, this manifestation

is created and annihilated again and again.

9.11 Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form.
They do not know My transcendental nature as
the Supreme Lord [maheśavara] of the entire creation.
9.12 Those who are thus deluded are demonic and atheistic. In their deluded condition, their
hopes for liberation, their result-oriented actions and their culture of knowledge become
false and useless.
Kṛṣṇa speaks of a divine play. He talks in terms of the Universe being created and destroyed
from Universal consciousness. If we understand His words, we can apply them to day-to-day
activities.

Drop your Attachments, Be Unclutched

Our material possessions create greed and fear in us. We are either in fear of losing them or we want to
get more and more of them. We attach so much importance to them that getting more and more of them
becomes our only goal. Naturally when we have so much, we create a fear of losing them. The problem is we
associate ourselves with material possessions. Again and again, we run after them and forget who we are. So
many people are in the rat race. They spend their lives accumulating money, bungalows and cars. And at the
end of their life, they regret; they wonder what they have done in their lives. We are in a state of continuous
fear.
This is one kind of attachment. There is another kind of attachment. We are attached to people. We create
strong bonds in relationships. These are also attachments. We start possessing people. The possessiveness
grows so strong that we suffer when someone leaves us or dies. We become so dependent on persons that our
whole life seems to lose meaning when they die.
Actually, in this kind of bondage we define ourselves based on the opinions of other people. So we
constantly hold on to that relationship because it gives us energy; that relationship helps us define ourselves.
So when a person dies, we feel depressed because whatever we were holding to very tightly was the source of
energy for us. That was defining us till now and now it is no longer there. It has disappeared. So our whole
system is shaken.

Now there is the third kind of bondage or attachment. It is related to our thoughts and emotions. Whenever
something happens, we start linking it with our past and start fantasizing about the future. Be very clear, a
thought arises because our mind jumps from the past to the future. When a thought arises, we link up that
thought with other thoughts and create thought patterns.
None of the thoughts are linked to each other. We create a shaft binding all these thoughts. Each thought
is like a bubble in a fish tank. If you see bubbles rising in a fish tank, they are unrelated, unconnected and
disjointed. However we create an illusory shaft and link them up. We attach ourselves with that shaft and start
experiencing them. We let the thoughts control us.
In the same way, we deal with our emotions also. We create a shaft of all our pains and all our joys and
associate with it. If we see that our pain shaft is longer than the joy shaft, we conclude that we had a painful
life; we had a miserable life. Otherwise, we say we have a happy life. Yet if we look deeply, each of the pains
is completely unconnected, disassociated, and disjointed.
For example, the headache that you experience today is not associated to the headache that you had one
week ago. The headache that you had one week ago is not associated to the headache that you felt one month
ago. But what do we do? We associate and connect all these and say we have always had headaches or
migraines. We fail to see that all the events were independent events. We create a shaft through all these pains
and come to a conclusion.
In the same way, if we have a joful experience, we want to hold onto it. We want to experience
that joy again. We look for that source of joy and continuously run after it. This again leads us
into the rat race.
Disowning incompletions is complete Completion! If you are convinced you have disowned these
incompletions, you are complete!
Here Kṛṣṇa says He is neutral. Kṛṣṇa is in the space of complete completion, the eternal completion!
How do we get ourselves unconnected from these attachments? Please understand that being unconnected
from material possessions does not mean you leave everything and go away. Being unconnected from
relationships does not mean breaking your relationships, forgetting your children, parents and others.
Please understand this very deeply. Being neutral or unconnected has a deep meaning. Being neutral
means being a spectator. It is like this: When you watch a movie, you watch something on the screen. Do you
become an actor in that movie? No. You watch it and let it go.
In the same way, we need to watch attachments. When we watch them as a spectator, we get
detached from them and complete with them. What do I mean by that? When we watch our
materialistic wealth, we will not run after it. We do our job because we love it, not because we
want to accumulate wealth.
In relationships also, we must be a spectator. When we stop seeing someone as a possession and when we
become a spectator to the relationship, our dependency on that person and expectations from that person drop.
When dependencies and expectations drop, there is no give and take in the relationship. There is only giving,
only enriching. The relationship becomes stronger and completion with other happens.
When we become a spectator to our thoughts and emotions, we feel a great sense of liberation. All we
have to do is break the shaft that we create between different unconnected thoughts and emotions. We have to
‘unclutch.’ When we see thoughts like passing clouds in the sky, we stop associating ourselves with them. We
are no longer controlled by them.
Listen, being a spectator to thoughts does not mean that we suppress or destroy thoughts. We are not
Brahma, the Creator, or Viṣṇu, the Sustainer, or Śiva, the Rejuvenator. When we become a spectator, we go
beyond these three states. We transcend the trinity. By being a spectator, we remain unaffected and unattached
to what happens in and around us. This is the truth. If we can internalize this completely, we will be enlightened
this very minute!
Kṛṣṇa says that although He is a mere spectator, everything happens under His supervision.
Here He shows His authority. He says the material world is created and annihilated according
to His will through the power of prakṛti, Nature and the energy of māyā, Illusion.

Fools Deride an Incarnation

In the next verse Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My
ultimate nature, eternal nature, as the supreme Lord of all that is.’

avajānanti māṁ ṁūḍhā mānuṣiṁ tanum āśritam I

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta maheśvaram II 9.11
Here Kṛṣṇa uses a strong word: ‘Fools, ṁūḍhā’. Incarnations, Enlightened Masters don’t edit their words.
They speak the truth as it is. Usually, normal people edit because they fear others’ opinions. See, normally in
all your minds, three processes happen: first, words are created, then edited and then finally presented. In
Masters, these three processes don’t happen. Straightaway what is created is presented. That is why, whatever
words they utter become reality.
Listen. The world does not create words in them. Their words create the world around them. They express
integrity, the power of words, vāk śakti. The words you utter towards you and towards others can do so much
to your life. If you want to harness the power of words, the practice you need to do is integrity. Bring Integrity.
Align all your words more and more towards completion.
Integrity means aligning your words, internal and external, more and more towards
completion; that is integrity. Aligning the words you utter inside and outside you towards
completion is integrity.
Only for an integrated person whose inner chatter has become pure, not only his words, his
thinking becomes pure. That person can talk in a relaxed way for hours in public. To speak in
public, that too in a relaxed and casual way, we need our inner being to be in pure integrity
with our words and pure authenticity with our thinking. Only then can we talk whatever comes
and be relaxed and complete.
When we practice integrity, we will experience the power of words. But the power of thinking
is deeper than the power of words. The power of thinking will be available to us when we
practice authenticity. Masters don’t edit; they express whatever they think. With authenticity,
their thinking has become so pure, they simply harness the power of thinking and words, and
so they don’t need to edit. Even if they use sharp words, they are spoken to awaken you.

Why Masters Descend?

When an enlightened Master is in human form, we do not accept him as a Master. Only after the Master
leaves the body do we pay our respects to the Master. Why do people again and again do this?
You see, when the Master is in his body, in human form, our mind sees him as another human being.
Then our ego comes between him and us. It reasons, ‘He is another human like me. Why should I listen to
him?’ All these questions come. We decide we don’t have to follow another human being and go back.
A simple act of ego makes us miss a living enlightened Master. Our being wants it; however
our mind and ego create a strong wall of questions between the Master and us. We miss the
opportunity. And one more thing, some people know that a person is a Master and what he says
is good for them, yet they escape. This is because they know that the Enlightened Master can
see through them. They do not want anybody to know what a mess they have created in
themselves.
9.13 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), the great souls, who are not deluded, are under the protection of My
Divine nature.

They are fully devoted to Me with a single-pointed mind

as they know Me as the origin of all creation, the unchangeable.
9.14 Always chanting My names and glories, fully striving with great determination, bowing down
onto Me, these great devotees of firm resolve, perpetually worship Me with devotion.

9.15 Some worship Me by acquiring and spreading wisdom of the Self [jñāna-yajña]. Others worship
Me in My non-dual form in oneness, in My infinite form as many, and in My Universal form.
Kṛṣṇa speaks about bhakti or devotion in these verses.
Prayer should express our devotion, gratitude, and love to God. All great devotees of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma
showed complete gratitude and love. When devotion reaches that state, they reach the Ultimate Consciousness.
Kṛṣṇa continues to explain to Arjuna the ways in which people worship Him. Here he talks about the path
of jñāna, knowledge: Those following the path of knowledge try to worship Me by acquiring and propagating
knowledge.
Understand that mere accumulation of knowledge only increases ego. It does not give enlightenment.
Internalize the knowledge by authentic listening, by meditation, and contemplation, and by enriching others
and yourself with the experiential wisdom. Then the breeze of joy will flow into your life.
How can we internalize knowledge? Do meditation. When you are alone, think and contemplate upon
great truths. Deeply immersing ourselves in contemplation is a meditation. Question those truths and try
to find answers within yourself.
Meditation enriches us here, especially in the path of jñana or knowledge. You see, the path of knowledge
is not an easy path. In the path of devotion, all we have to do is pray to some form: either Kṛṣṇa or Rāma or
someone, have complete devotion to that chosen God. We must completely surrender. Actually, total surrender
is difficult; however, in the path of devotion, at least we have someone to talk to, pray to and look up to.
However in the path of knowledge, there is no reference point. No one is in front of us. In this path, there
is nothing called you and He. In the path of devotion, there is a clear separation between Kṛṣṇa and us. In the
path of knowledge, Kṛṣṇa says that everything is Kṛṣṇa. There is no duality.
When we meditate, we experience the great truths. Through meditation we connect to our inner space
and learn to create the space of completion. All the knowledge in the scriptures, the Upaniṣad, talks
about microcosm and macrocosm.

9.16, 17, 18, 19

I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the offering, I am the herb, I am the mantra, I am the
clarified butter, I am the fire,
 and I am the oblation.
I am the supporter of the Universe, the father, the mother, and the grandfather.

I am the object of knowledge, the sacred syllable “OM”, and also the Ṛg, the Yajur, and
the Sāma Vedas.
I am the goal, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend, the
origin, the dissolution, the foundation, the substratum, and the immutable seed. I give heat. I
send, as well as withhold the rain. I am immortality as well as death. I am also both the
Eternal and the temporal, O Arjuna.
We are all Brahman; we are all divine. God is everywhere. Divine energy fills and overflows in all the
places. This is what Kṛṣṇa says in these verses.
This is the basic truth. Whether we believe it or not, accept it or not, understand it or not, this is the truth.
We can call ‘It’ God—Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Universal Energy, Cosmic Energy, Parāśakti or Brahman. Whatever we
may call It, It is present everywhere. When we worship some idol or form, we actually worship the formless
energy behind that idol. People ask me, ‘Why do we keep your photo in front of us and pray to it? Why can’t
we meditate on the formless?’

I tell them, ‘First start meditating on the form, then you can go to the formless.’ Our mind is
continuously jumping everywhere. In such a state, we first need a form to bring our mind to the
present. A form is necessary in the initial stages for the mind to calm down. Once we Master this,
meditating on the formless becomes easier. We should understand that we are worshipping
through that idol and not the idol itself.

9.20 Those who practice the vedic rituals and drink the soma juice, worship Me indirectly seeking
the heavenly pleasures.

They go to heaven and enjoy sensual delights.

9.21 Once they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasures, they are reborn on this planet
again.

By practicing vedic rituals as result-oriented actions, they are bound by the cycle of
birth and death.
9.22 When you reside in My consciousness, always fixed in undivided
remembrance, whatever you lack I give [yoga].

And whatever you have, I preserve [kṣema].

9.23 Even those who worship other deities with faith, they actually worship Me, O Kaunteya, but
without the true understanding.

9.24 I am the only enjoyer [bhokta] and the only Lord [prabhu] of all sacrifices. Those who do not
recognize My true transcendental nature are born again and again.

Kṛṣṇa says that people who read scriptures, the Vedas, and who perform pious ritualistic activities based on
scriptural injunctions with the aim of acquiring merits, enjoy heavenly pleasures; however they fall back into
the cycle of life and death after they finish enjoying these pleasures.

Kṛṣṇa speaks about the attitude or the context from which we read Vedas and Upaniṣads or how we perform
rituals. Scriptures have immense knowledge. Rituals have immense power. They are meditations; however
they are useless if done with the wrong context of fear and greed.

When we perform certain rituals, be it pūjā or prayer or reading scriptures, it should become a meditation. It
is the experience of you that you are having about you. Our ego, our fear and our greed should not come in the
way. It is like this: when we perform rituals, do them with integrity and authenicity, out of the right context of
completion.
 What you Lack I give, What you have I Preserve
Now, please come to the space of listening.
The next verse is the main core that reveals the secret of secrets. Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna and all of us:
‘Those who always worship Me, those who always reside in Me, those who have ananyāś cintayanto—
means the non-dual mood, the space of Advaita, means those who have become Me, people who have
experienced eternal consciousness, those who reside in eternal consciousness—to them, I carry what they lack
and I preserve what they have. I personally take care of them.’

ananyāś cintayanto mām ye janāḥ paryupāsate I

teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yogakṣemaṁ vahāmyahaṁ II 9.22
Please be very clear, no other Incarnation has revealed this truth so clearly. He says, ‘If you reside in
eternal consciousness, divine energy, bliss consciousness, I take care of you in all ways.’
Yoga and kṣema: I give them whatever they want spiritually and materially and I take care that it
stays with them. I take care that nobody takes it away from them. This is a beautiful statement and
assurance.

Please understand, it is not only an assurance; it is a promise. Kṛṣṇa gives a promise, ‘If you reside in My
consciousness, if you reside in eternal consciousness, whatever you lack will be given and whatever you
have will be preserved.’

Again and again, Vedānta says, dṛṣti-sṛṣti, we create what we see. We create the Universe from the angle of
our vision. When our dṛṣti (vision) changes, the sṛṣti (world around us) changes too. We project our world
and see. It is the truth.
I tell you, this is a promise by the Divine. Nine years I lived in utter insecurity. I know Kṛṣṇa still proves
His words. His words are guaranteed—yogakṣemaṁ vahaṁyahaṁ, He does!

I can quote thousands of incidents from devotees’ lives. From so many devotees’ lives, Tukarām, Tulsidās and
so many masters’ lives I can quote to support these words. I can quote numerous incidents from my own life,
from the life of people I have met.

Let me tell you a small incident that happened in my own life during my days of spiritual wandering before
the happening of enlightenment.
I was staying in Hardiwar at a place called Kankhal. I was doing spiritual practice. Every day morning, I
went for alms to places where they feed monks. In so many ashrams, they give alms to monks. I used to
get my food, eat two or three rotis (Indian bread) and then start meditating.
Suddenly, one day, I fell sick. I had a high temperature and diarrhea. I was unable to walk. I thought, ‘What
can be done? Alright! Let it be.’
Suddenly, a young Sannyāsi came from nowhere and gave me food. Not only for one day but continuously
for three to four days, he came; he brought food for me. Not only food, he brought medicine also. I asked
him, ‘Who are you? Where have you come from?’ He said, ‘Oh, my name is Śaṅkar. They call me Śaṅkar
Mahārāj. I stay at a nearby ashram called Sādhana Sadan.’ He pointed towards a distant place and said that
is where he stayed.
Everyday he brought me food and medicine till I recovered. He came for at least four days. Because he
came everyday, I talked with him. We became acquainted.
I saw that he wore a beautiful pen with a diamond in it. I was surprised at how a monk got a diamond pen.
I asked, ‘What is this, Swami?’
He said, ‘This is a diamond pen. Some devotee gave it to me. It looks nice, so I wear it.’ Anyhow, I did
not bother about it.
After several days, when I returned to normal, he stopped coming. By then, I was okay. Then
I thought, ‘I must go and see him. Now I can walk and move, so I should go and see him.’ I
felt a little connected to him because he served me. I felt I must thank him. After a week, when
I became completely alright, I started walking.
I went to this ashram and asked an elderly person sitting there, ‘Swamiji, I want to see Śaṅkar
 Mahārāj.’ The Swami said, ‘Śaṅkar? Who are you talking about?’ I said, ‘I want to see Śaṅkar,
a young swami. I met him two to three days ago. He came everyday and brought me food. Is
this Sādhana Sadan?’
This Swami replied, ‘Yes, this is Sādhana Sadan. In our ashram, there is only one Śaṅkar. Go
to the temple and see. He is the only Śankar Mahāraj we have!’ He pointed towards their
temple.
I tell you, what I am telling is the truth. When I entered the temple, I saw a Śiva deity as a
white marble statue with a cloth draped on His upper body, and wearing the same diamond pen
on Him!
Of course, tears rolled down from my eyes. So much gratitude overflowed. Later, I asked the
temple priest, ‘How did this pen come to Śiva? Who put a pen on Śiva’s statue?’ He said, ‘One
week ago, a devotee came and offered the pen. It looked nice and he said it was a diamond pen.
We just wanted to decorate Śiva with diamond jewelry. So we put the pen on Him.’ It was the
same pen! The very same diamond pen!
I asked, ‘Who gave a pen to Śiva?’ Other jewelry, we can understand, but a pen?
He replied, ‘I don’t know. A devotee came and offered this pen.
I asked, Why should a Sannyāsi have a diamond pen? I will give it to God instead. So I put it
on Śiva. I just inserted it into Śiva’s clothes.’

He then continued, ‘For the last few days all the food of fering, prasād that we place in front of
Him, disappears. I suspect that rats have been eating the food. So now I am careful. I sit for a
while after placing the food for Śaṅkar Mahārāj.’
I did not want to tell him that I was the rat who ate Śaṅkar Mahārāj’s food!

During the 2006 Himalayan trip I searched for this ashram and Śankar Mahāraj’s temple with my
devotees. After many years, it was still the same, the same temple and the same Śankar Mahāraj; but
no diamond pen now!

Bliss Attracts Fortune

There is a beautiful mantra in tantra śāstras: ‘ānanda kamaprānaḥ’ that means ‘bliss attracts fortune.’
When we create a blissful inner space, automatically we attract external wealth. We need three things: clear
integrated thinking, a creative authentic mind that aligns our thoughts and words, and the ability to make
spontaneous decisions. The ability to respond spontaneously to any situation with the truth, that we are
responsible for everything happening inside and outside us, is responsibility.

Just let your inner space be completely integrated with the words you utter. If we are able to respond
spontaneously to any situation standing with the strength of integrity and authenticity, we take that
responsibility. We need integrity, the power of words that brings the experience of completion with ourselves
and with life. We need authenticity, the power of thinking that expresses as the peak of our creativity and the
power of feeling to take responsibility.

All we need to do is transform our inner space to the space of completion, the space of eternal bliss. The first
thing is to understand this secret. Whether we believe it or not, it is the truth: a basic secret. Once we enter
spiritual life, once we decide we want to lead a spiritual life, all our worldly things are taken care of by the
Divine. It responds to whatever we need and it takes care of whatever we have.
When we understand that we are a friend of the whole of Existence, even after death we will not disappear
because we know we will be there in the Universe in some form; that there is nothing to worry about.

I tell you this from experience: It is practical. From experience I tell you, we never perish. We continue to
exist, in some form, somewhere. Even if we become enlightened, we become a pure conscious energy. We
will be there, everywhere. We never die when we understand that Existence is intelligence.

9.25 Those who worship the deities will take birth among the deities; those who worship ghosts and
spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors
 Those who worship Me will live with Me.

9.26 Whoever offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept and
consume what is offered by the pure-hearted.
9.27 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away,
as well as all austerities that you may perform, give them as an offering to Me.
9.28 You will be freed from the bondage of work and its auspicious and inauspicious results. With
your mind fixed on Me in this state of renunciation, you will be liberated and come to Me.
Kṛṣṇa talks about the kind of life that we lead now. The last thought that we have at the time of
death determines our next birth, next life. Please listen, our next life is completely dependent upon
our last thought at the time of our death.
When we sleep at night, we actually change bodies. We are not aware that this happens. When we
dream, we see ourselves doing various things in the dream. We run, talk, eat, and do everything in
the dream. In our dream, we have created a world in which we live. If our body is on the bed, then
who is this body in the dream? Our gross body is on the bed, while our subtle body is active in the
dream. In the same way, the causal body is active during the deep sleep state.
This is the reason I tell anyone who think that they are following me or want to follow me: do
completion for forty-two minutes before you sleep every night. Always sleep in the space of
completion. If you have a dreamless sleep, I guarantee, you will have birthless life! If you have
dream-free sleep, you will have birth-free, death-free life.
Every night do completion and every morning do heavy weight-lifting and yoga! I tell you, just these two
will make you enlightened. Because, every night completion will lead to vedic mind and every morning heavy
yoga will lead to yogic body. And these two will take care the whole day that you will have enlightened living.
That’s all! You don’t need any other spiritual practice.
Exactly what happens everyday during sleep is exactly the same thing that happens during the time of death.
Be very clear, the process of sleep and the process of death are not different. During the process of death, the
soul passes through seven energy layers. The next body it enters depends on the vāsana, or the carried-over
desires, the root patterns that it comes with, from the previous life. It takes up a body that can help shed that
vāsana in the next life. Our soul always tries to merge with the colorless and formless universal consciousness.
However, the vāsana creates a slight tinge on the soul and it cannot completely merge with the Universal
consciousness. So the soul takes up another body that can help remove this tinge and help it merge.
Now it is up to us how we make use of this lifetime. We can either fulfill our unfulfilled desires of
the previous life by completing with our root patterns or we can build new desires in this life and
stay in the cycle of birth and death. The kind of life that the soul chooses in the next life depends
entirely on the vāsana and the last thought at the time of death.

In Simplicity Lies Greatness

He says next: ‘If one offers Me with love and devotion, a leaf, flower, fruit or water, I will accept it,’ He
says, ‘The Existence, the Divine is so alive that It responds to even simple things.’
Listen, He doesn’t say, I accept only big things. He says, even simple things, I accept.

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati I

tadahaṁ bhaktyupahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ II 9.26
‘If one offers Me a leaf, flower, fruit or water with love and devotion, I will accept it.’ This is the greatness
of the Divine. The greatness of the Lord is that He is simple. Simplicity is the greatness of the Lord. Listen,
simplicity is the real greatness. To be big, you don’t need intelligence. Any one can show himself as big.
Simplicity is the great quality of the Divine. He says, ‘Just a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a little water... simple
things are enough. I accept it. I am pleased. I respond to it.’
He says in the fourth verse of this chapter:
mayā tatam idam sarvaṁ jagadvyaktamūrtinā
I am all-pervading, great, ultimate, divine.
 Now, He says even though He is all-pervading, even though He is big, He accepts any small thing
given with love and devotion. One major problem: Even if we know somebody is big or great, we
can’t relate with him unless he relates with us, unless he comes down to our level. Real greatness is
not only being great. He must be able to relate with everybody.
Here, Kṛṣṇa creates a way, even for ordinary people to relate with Him. On the one side, He shows
His greatness. He declares with authority His greatness. On the other side, He shows us how to
relate with Him. He says, ‘Even if you offer a leaf, flower, fruit or water with love, I accept it. I
relate with it.’
First thing Kṛṣṇa reveals is: He proves that the whole Cosmic energy, the whole Universe is intelligence.
Next, the moment we understand it is intelligence, we relax from all tension, worry, fear and insecurity. He
makes us understand that He is next to us and we can relate with Him easily.
See, as long as we think the world is material, matter, we feel like protecting ourselves from it. We feel
that is the Whole and we are part. We fight with the Whole. That is why we feel deeply uprooted. We don’t
feel connected and relaxed. We don’t feel homely because we fight with the Whole. The moment we
understand we are part of the Whole, the Whole is the intelligence that responds to our thoughts, to our being,
which responds to our consciousness, we relax into enlightenment!
Next, He says, ‘When you drop yourself into the Eternal Consciousness, I take care of your yoga
and kṣema. I take care of whatever you lack. I will supply what you lack and preserve what you have.’
Next He says, ‘Even a simple leaf, water or a fruit or flower when you offer with love and devotion, I
accept it.’ Please be very clear, He is not asking because He doesn’t have these things.
He is the one who gives everything to us in the first place! But when we offer, we show to the Divine: I
want to connect to you. We show the Master, ‘Oh Lord, I want to connect to you.’ And the Master feels,
‘When he wants to connect to Me, let Me connect to him.’ We show a green signal for the Divine to enter into
our space.

Levels of Surrender
There are three levels in which we can surrender to the Existential energy.
The first level or basic level of surrender, is that of our actions. Whatever we do, whatever our actions
are, surrender them to the Universal energy. All our actions, whether good or bad, when we surrender, will be
taken care of. This is the basic level. Kṛṣṇa clearly says this in these verses, ‘All your reactions to good and
evil will be taken care of, if you offer all your actions, all your austerities to me.’
When we surrender our actions, we are not bothered about what will happen in the future. We know that
now the ball is in His court; He will take care of whatever is going to happen; He knows best. When we
surrender our actions, we put our entire burden on His shoulders. Whatever good or bad happens, He is now
responsible and we also know that He can never do anything wrong.
The second level of surrender is that of intellect and mind. The first level is easier compared to
this. When I say surrender our actions, we can say, ‘Okay, I have done it.’ But surrendering our
mind is more difficult because it is not in our hands.
The third and the most difficult level of surrender is that of the senses.
A history from Mahābhārat illustrates this:
Once, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna were walking outdoors. While they walked, Kṛṣṇa suddenly pointed at a crow on
the tree and told Arjuna, ‘Hey Arjuna, can you see that green crow?’ Arjuna replied, ‘Yes Kṛṣṇa, I see it.
I see the green crow.’
After some time, Kṛṣṇa pointed to another crow and said, ‘Arjuna, can you see that black crow?’ Arjuna
immediately replied, ‘Yes Kṛṣṇa, I see the black crow.’
Kṛṣṇa asked Arjuna, ‘Are you a fool? Earlier when I showed a green crow, you said you can see a green
crow. Now when I showed a black crow, you say you can see a black crow. Are you a fool? How can a
crow be green?’
Arjuna replied, ‘O Kṛṣṇa, I don’t know all that. When you asked me to see a green crow, I saw a green
crow. Now when you asked me to see a black crow, I saw a black crow.’
This is surrender of the senses! Arjuna had surrendered completely to Kṛṣṇa. He had surrendered even his
 senses to Kṛṣṇa. If the Master says something, the disciple takes it as it is. That is the level of surrender. When
we reach this level of surrender, we are one with the Divine. The Divine takes cares of us.
Kṛṣṇa says this clearly. Every Enlightened Master makes this promise. When we surrender ourselves to
the Master, to the Divine, to the Universal energy, it takes care of us. When we offer all our actions to the
Universal energy, It takes care of us. The entire burden on our shoulders is offloaded. This is the promise of
every Enlightened Master.

9.29 I am equal to all beings. No one to Me is hateful or dear. But, whoever worships, offers
enriching service onto Me in devotion, is in Me and I am also indeed in him.
9.30 Even if the most sinful person engages himself
in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in
his determination.
9.31 He quickly becomes a righteous being [dharmātma] and attains lasting peace.
O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.
9.32 O Pārtha, anyone who takes shelter in Me, women, traders, workers or even sinners can
approach the supreme destination.
9.33 How much easier then it is for the learned, the righteous, the devotees and saintly kings, who in this
temporary miserable world engage in loving service unto Me.
9.34 Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me, and bow down to Me. Thus, uniting yourself with
Me by setting Me as the supreme goal and the sole refuge, you shall certainly come to Me.
Ramaṇa Mahaṛṣi says beautifully, ‘The Universe has enough to satisfy each man’s needs; however it does not
have enough to satisfy a single man’s wants.’ Our needs become wants when we look at others and accumulate
their desires into our own list. If you notice in life, most of our actions are governed by comparing our lives
with others. Buddha says, ‘Nothing exists but in relationship.’ See, all adjectives of good, bad, tall, thin, ugly
or beautiful, come when you compare with others, right? Something is good because something else is bad in
comparison to that. So, our lives are run by constant comparison with those around us. When we have a clear
context about what we really want, then we will spend all our energies in fulfilling those needs, without
worrying about what others want or think.
In this verse, Kṛṣṇa says that he does not dislike anybody. He also says that He is not partial to
anyone. Normally, in our lives we are partial to those who are helpful to us. From childhood, we
are taught to love those who are potentially useful in our lives, based on what we get back in
return.

My Devotee Never Perishes

An Enlightened Master wants nothing. He gives constantly. He radiates love because that is his true
nature. He does not care who receives it; he simply gives.He says in the verse:

kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvac-chāntiṁ nigacchati I

kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati II 9.31
‘He who quickly becomes righteous and understands this truth, enters into eternal bliss, eternal
consciousness, O Kaunteya; declare it boldly, pratijānīhi means ‘declare it boldly’, that my devotee
never perishes, na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati.’
Let me tell you from my personal experience.
I can quote so many great devotees’ lives, where the Divine came down and served them, where the Divine
took care of them. When Mirābāi was poisoned, Sri Kṛṣṇa came and protected her. So many millions of
stories I can narrate!
But let me tell you about my own life. Since I left home, when I was seventeen, I have lived without
touching money. With one water pot, with this two-piece robe, walking the length and breadth of India,
living under trees, begging and eating, I have lived. I tell you, whether you want it or not, accept it or not,
believe it or not, the Divine always protects. This is the solid truth.
When we understand this truth, not only in this world, wherever we go, we are protected. We relax into
the consciousness that Existence continuously protects us, takes care of us.
When devotion matures, consciousness flowers. Devotion may seem different from knowledge when it is
not ripe. Kṛṣṇa says that His devotee never perishes. Devotion is not simply offering worship daily to Kṛṣṇa’s
photo, lighting camphor, lamps and offering garlands. When one is a true devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he becomes Kṛṣṇa.
He experiences Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The ultimate consciousness is where no good, bad, evil or virtue exists.
Devotion, knowledge and wisdom appear to be different when they are not ripe. When they mature, they
become the same. One experiences true wisdom at the peak of devotion or peak of knowledge.
The last two verses can be misunderstood if misinterpreted. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Anyone can reach Me through
devotion, whether they are women, traders or workers, or even sinners.’ He makes a point that there is no pre-
qualification. Even in the age of Kṛṣṇa, there was a distinction between various trades as well as between men
and women.
In the Vedic system, the caste system was a scientific practice to enable each one’s potential to radiate.
The varṇa or caste system practiced by Hindus from time immemorial had its roots in the gurukul education.
Actually varṇa meant vocation, which was determined by the Master for each child. It was not based upon
birth as birthright, rather it was based upon aptitude. Unfortunately, over time this practice became a birthright.
This corruption of such a scientific practice has led to many social inequalities and injustices. The son of a
brāhmaṇa has no right to call himself a brāhmaṇa, unless he has the aptitude. In our ashram, we have
brahmacāri priests, who are of faiths other than Hindu. In no way are these young priests inferior to any
brāhmaṇa.
The point Kṛṣṇa makes here is that irrespective of caste, a person who has faith and devotion to Him can attain
Him. Even if a person does not lead the life of a brāhmaṇa, he can reach and experience the ultimate
consciousness. A person may follow any profession; however, if his inner space is cleansed, he can attain and
experience Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Always Think of Me
In the last verse of this chapter Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Engage your mind, always thinking of Me.’ Please understand
that the whole Universe, the whole Cosmos is intelligence and it responds to our thoughts, it responds to our
consciousness, to our very being.

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru I

mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ II 9.34
Let me narrate an incident from my life:
Some time after Enlightenment, I was sitting in a forest in Tamil Nadu. There was a big snake lying just
next to me. I had my eyes open but was resting in the universal consciousness, in a meditative mood of
restful awareness. Several hours must have passed before I came out of my meditative state and the first
thought that came to my mind was, ‘Oh, it is a snake.’ As long as I was in the meditative state, I did not
think of the snake. You will be surprised that as soon as the thought of the snake came to my mind, the
snake began to realize that I was a man! It looked up, put down its hood and moved away. The fear in me
triggered the fear in the snake.
The entire Universe responds to each and every thought that we have. It is pure intelligence. So we must
be careful and integrated to what we think. When you start listening to you, integrity happens in you.
We are careful when we talk to others to make sure nobody is hurt. However when it comes to ourselves, we
treat our inside worse than a garbage can. Almost all the time, you use very loose words inside you and outside
you. A continuous stream of random thoughts, worries, fantasy, etc. goes on all the time. It is like a continuous
television going on inside and we have misplaced the remote control to stop it!
Please listen! Integrity does not mean only fulfilling the word you utter in front of people. Integrity is
honoring the words and thoughts that happen inside you, even when you are in your bedroom or bathroom.
For example, suppose you utter a word, ‘I commit with me that I will do morning yoga properly.’ Then, you
should give your life to fulfill it. Listen, the commitment you make to others is word, the commitment you
make to yourself is thought.
 The moment we relax into eternal bliss, the Divine takes care of us. Whatever we lack is brought to us
and whatever we have is preserved for us. Naturally, we will experience, enjoy and enrich both the inner space
and the outer space. This is the ultimate secret that Kṛṣṇa reveals to Arjuna.
Let us pray to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Divine consciousness, the Cosmic intelligence to make us
understand this secret of all secrets and experience the outer space and the inner space with eternal bliss,
Nityānanda.

Thus ends the ninth chapter named Rājavidyā Rājaguhya Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Supreme
Knowledge and Supreme Secret,’ 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.
 CHAPTER 10
Vibhūti Yogaḥ

10.1 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says:

Listen carefully again, Oh mighty-armed Arjuna! Because you are My dear friend, I
shall speak further on the Supreme knowledge for your welfare.

śri bhagavān uvāca

bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ I
yat te ‘haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyami hita-kāmayā II 10.1 II

Master’s relationship with his disciple is in many forms. Usually it is described in five forms.
The most basic relationship between a Master and disciple is that of a Master and a servant, dāsa bhāva. The
relationship of Hanumān with Rāma represents this type. Another is the relationship of a mother with her child,
vātsalya bhāva, as in the case of Yaśodā to infant Kṛṣṇa. The third is the relationship of a child with the mother,
mātru bhāva, like the relation of Rāmakṛṣṇa to Ma Kālī.
The fourth relationship is that of friendship, sakha bhāva, feeling that the Master is the closest friend. The fifth
is that of the beloved, madhura bhāva, like the relationship of Radhā to Kṛṣṇa.
Here, Kṛṣṇa refers to the fourth relationship, sakha bhāva, as exemplified by His friendship with Arjuna.
He is the Master to His disciple Arjuna as well as Arjuna’s friend.
Usually, as an individual ego, we see the Whole as our enemy. We are like small waves in a big ocean.
However, suddenly, the wave starts thinking that the ocean is its enemy. When it is created, while it exists or
when it drops, the wave is connected to the ocean. However, the wave thinks that it is in some way different
from the ocean. Not only that, the wave starts fighting with the ocean. For the wave to realize that it is fully
connected to the ocean, it must be consumed by the ocean. The ego must dissolve. The individual identity of
the wave must disappear. This is the first step to Enlightenment.
We live in the illusion of our self-created identities. Each wave relates to another wave but not to the
ocean. It adopts another wave as its father, mother, wife or child and relates with them. However, ultimately,
each one of these related waves disappears into the ocean just like the wave itself.
If we look at the human body, we can see this oneness so beautifully exemplified. The human body
consists of trillions of cells living in total harmony. The individual cell, though it has intelligence by itself,
can survive even if its center, the nucleus, which is considered the central intelligence of the cell, is removed.
However, when it is a part of the whole body, it is not the intelligence of the individual cell alone that is at
work, but the collective intelligence of the body-mind system that governs. This collective intelligence ensures
that this remarkable system of the human body-mind works smoothly.
We are waves of the Divine. We are part of this Whole. We cannot be an isolated existence. We exist in
the cosmic Whole just as the wave exists in the vast expanse of the ocean. The ego gives us the feeling that
we are individual, separate and isolated whereas the reality is that we are a part of this Existence, in It and
supported by It.

Existence is Your Friend!

There are two ways in which we can live. First, we can embrace and welcome reality, in which case our
ego or root pattern must dissolve because only then can we face reality. Please understand that this reality is
 God. God is not some entity hidden in some remote corner of the Universe or in the sky. He is the reality
around us.
The second way of living is how most of us live: We create a shell, a dream world around ourselves to
defend a false ego which has no substance in reality. This is what is meant by māyā—illusion. Since we are
hidden in this capsule of our unreal world with our ego as the center, we cannot feel the immediate presence
of God, who is actually the closest to us.
The prāṇa (vital energy), the air that we breathe, which is going inside our body and coming out, is not
our property. It is the property of Existence. We do not need air to survive. We need prāṇa to survive.
Constantly, we take prāṇa through the air from the Cosmos. If the incoming breath carries more prānā than
the outgoing breath, we are going towards life. Then, we expand, we strengthen our body, our energy. If the
outgoing breath carries more prānā than the incoming breath, be very clear, we are going towards death.
Understand that whatever we think of as our being cannot function, if prāṇa doesn’t go in and come out.
The first thing Kṛṣṇa teaches as rājavidya rājaguhyaṁ (secret of all secrets), is that Existence is not your
enemy. It responds to your thoughts. It continuously cares for you. It is intelligence.
If you live with the attitude of enmity with the Whole, even when you live, you will constantly be tortured. When
you live with the feeling of friendliness or sakha bhāva, with the attitude that Existence is your friend, that
Existence is your own, you feel a deep easiness.
Above all, more than the easiness, you will feel deeply connected to Existence. Even if the wave thinks that it is
different from the ocean and starts defending itself from the ocean, ultimately it will fall into the ocean, however
much it tries to defend itself! By its very nature, the wave starts in the ocean, exists in the ocean and falls into
the ocean. If it understands that it is a part of the ocean, it will be utterly relaxed. It will live a blissful life. If it
fights the fact, it will fight with the ocean. But eventually it has to fall into the ocean.
The ultimate secret that Kṛṣṇa wants to reveal is that Existence, Parāśakti, Brahman, is your friend,
not your enemy. It is intelligence and it responds to your thoughts. This is the first understanding.
Next, in this chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am That.’ He says, ‘I am the whole of Existence.’ In the next
chapter, He gives the experience of the Cosmic consciousness to Arjuna. These chapters lead Arjuna step-by-
step to an elevated consciousness.
In the previous chapter, rājavidya rājaguhyaṁ yogaḥ Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Drop your enmity with Existence,
against the Universal energy, Brahman and Ātman.’ In this chapter, Vibhūti Yogaḥ, He says, ‘I am the same
energy. Not only you don’t need to have enmity, you can have deep love.’ Now, He explains how to feel
connected to Existence. In the next chapter, Viśvarūpa Darśana Yoga, He gives the Cosmic experience to
Arjuna that He is in the whole Cosmic consciousness.
First, He removes enmity, then, He creates the feeling of connectedness, deep friendliness. Finally, He
gives the advaitic (non-dual) experience. These three chapters lead Arjuna step-by-step. They elevate Arjuna
from a low level to a higher level.
Let us study this scripture, Yogaśāśtra, with intense devotion and deep sincerity. Along with
Arjuna, we will grow into completion. We will not miss it.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘For your benefit, because you are My dear friend, I shall speak to you further, giving
knowledge that is better than what I have already explained.’ Kṛṣṇa explains His glory not for His own sake
but for Arjuna’s sake. Kṛṣṇa does not explain His glory to show His ego.
Here, Kṛṣṇa does not speak about Himself out of ego. Whether Arjuna accepts it or not, Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa was in a blissful state even before Arjuna became His disciple. Kṛṣṇa will be in a blissful state even
after Arjuna becomes His disciple. Irrespective of whether Arjuna is His disciple or not, Kṛṣṇa is in the same
blissful consciousness.
Even with all His glory, He allowed Arjuna to call Him by His first names. He never said, ‘Don’t you
know who I am? How dare you call me by my first name?’ He never carried a business card!
Even when Arjuna was talking to Kṛṣṇa in a friendly way, He was humble. Kṛṣṇa responded to Arjuna in the
same way that Arjuna spoke to Him. Kṛṣṇa is simple and humble. Before the Gītā started, at the time of the Gītā
and after the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa is the same, eternally.
He explains so that Arjuna will understand, intranalyze and experience Him. When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am,’ He means
the cosmic consciousness, the egoless being and the enlightened energy. Again and again, He expresses the glory
of enlightenment, the glory of ātmajñāna (knowledge of the Self). That is why He is so complete and confident.
With such clarity, with such integrity and authenticity, He explains, ‘I am Everything.’ Even to utter these words,
you need courage.

Trust God has Intelligence, and Surrender

Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa’s disciple, is totally in love with Kṛṣṇa. He has totally surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He is not ready
to suspect anything. By now, he is clear. His head has stopped working. His logic has stopped analyzing.
This truth should be declared only to a person who is totally, intimately related and feeling connected to
the Divine. Arjuna has completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. What is surrender? When we hear the word
‘surrender’, we think that it is the easiest thing to do since we don’t need to do anything. For example, if we
meditate, we need to do something. But if we need to surrender, we think we don’t need to do anything. Hence,
we think it is easy.
This is because we think about surrender in a totally different way compared to what the Masters mean
by the word ‘surrender’. When we use the word ‘surrender’, we only say that we have surrendered. We do not
really surrender.
Our faith and surrender are mere words. We delude ourselves thinking we have surrendered. In fact, we
have not. Our faith, our surrender is never total surrender. There are three levels of surrender: Surrendering
the ‘I,’ surrendering the mind, and finally, surrendering both the ‘I’ and the mind. Surrendering the ‘I’ is
surrendering the individual ego. Surrendering the mind is surrendering the mental setup, the root thought
patterns.
When you truly surrender to the Divine, surrender can work miracles on you. When you offer yourself at
the feet of the Master, your ego disintegrates.
The ultimate intelligence is first understanding that Existence cares for us, and secondly, surrendering to
that Existence. Realizing that Existence is not a brute force or power but an intelligent energy, is the key to a
life of bliss.
When we surrender the mind, we go from ‘mind’ to ‘no-mind’ state. The mind actually arises from
possessiveness. Tantra says that the ego is based upon possessions. Look deeply and we will see that the origin
of our mind lies in whatever we think of as ours. Our idea of ‘mine’ creates the sense of ‘I’. Most of us think
that from ‘I,’ the ‘mine’ arises. No! It is from the sense of ‘mine’ that ‘I’ arises. The root of the tree of ‘I’ is
‘mine’.
Total surrender with total responsibility is Living Enlightenment. If we look into our lives, we see
that our relating with God is never true surrender. Most of the time, we beg God to give us what we want. The
next stage is when we bargain: If you give me this, I will give you that. The third stage is blaming God: I went
to this temple so many times; yet, God has not listened to me. Understand, we don’t have the intelligence to
know what we want. If God were to listen to our requests and desires, this world would have perished a long
time ago! This game of begging, bargaining and blaming in the name of praying has nothing to do with true
devotion.
If we trust God has only power, śakti, we never win in life. When we trust He also has intelligence,
buddhi, we surrender. Only then things can start happening. When we surrender, we believe that God has
power and intelligence. When we believe God has only power, religion starts. When we believe He has
wisdom, spirituality starts.
Decide consciously that from this moment, you will surrender everything at the feet of God, to the energy
that runs this whole world. We don’t need to believe in any name or form. Trust the energy pervading the
Universe and trust it to run your life.
Now, even after we surrender, at some time, a doubt will naturally arise in us whether we have totally, actually
surrendered. Understand that the divine intelligence gave us the intelligence to surrender in the first place and
that same divine intelligence has given us this doubt to doubt our surrender. Surrender the doubt also at the
feet of the divine energy. So, do not wait to change and become perfect before surrendering. No! Surrender
yourself as you are, consciously, totally. Surrender deeply and your whole being will be flooded with new
bliss.
 True Love Is Divinity
Kṛṣṇa says, Because you are My dear friend, you are deeply connected to Me, I am revealing this truth to
you.

bhūya eva mahā-bāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ I

yat te ‘haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyami hita-kāmayā II 10.1
Let me explain a few basic things. Actually, when we feel deeply connected to some person, the person
will almost look like God. Whether it is our spouse, kids, parents or our Master, he will look like God.
Whatever he does, we will feel that he is divine.
In Saṃskṛit, we have two beautiful words: pravṛitti and nivṛitti.
Pravṛitti means the incompletions that you carry, leading you to more and more incompletions. The
incompletion you carry makes you do many actions, which lead you to do more and more incompletions.
That is pravṛitti.
Nivṛitti means the completion that you carry, leading you to more and more completion.Your
actions should be nivṛitti based not pravṛitti based.
What is the difference between intellect and intelligence? Intellect is always prejudiced. Intelligence is
always fresh. When we pass judgment and collect evidence to substantiate our decision, it is intellect. When
we first collect evidence and pass judgment without bias or prejudice, it is intelligence.

Feel Deeply Connected to KṚṢṆA

Now, all we need is the mood of being deeply in love with Kṛṣṇa, deeply connected to Kṛṣṇa, deeply
related to Kṛṣṇa. If we can open ourselves to Kṛṣṇa when He describes His glories, His vibḥūti, it will not be
words. We will feel it.
First, Kṛṣṇa removed the enmity between jivātma (Self) and paramātma (supreme Self). Arjuna is the
jivātma. Kṛṣṇa is the paramātma.
We may not be aware but we continuously maintain enmity with paramātma, Existence. That is why we
suspect life. We have fear about what will happen in the next moment. We are afraid of life because we don’t
believe what is going to happen the next moment will enrich us. We don’t trust Existence.
First, Kṛṣṇa removes the enmity between the individual Self and Existence. Now, He explains the glory
of Existence. Next, He gives the experience that the individual Self and the supreme Self are the same.
Step-by-step, He leads Arjuna from viśiṣiṭādvaita (a school of thought which says that the individual self is a
part of Existence, with its own attributes) to dvaita (duality, a school of thought which says that the individual
self is separate from Existence), to advaita (non-duality, truth that the individual self is Existence), to beyond
advaita into anubhūti, experience.

jīva—individual Self; jagat—the world in which this self lives, and

Iśvara—creator of jīva and jagat, or in other words God.
Initially, we see these three as separate entities, just as the water drop sees itself as separate from the
ocean. There are different approaches in Hindu philosophy as to how the individual Self can reach the Creator,
the Divine. The concepts of viśiṣiṭādvaita and dvaita are based on a separation between the Self and the
Creator, with deep devotion connecting the two. Devotion leads the Self to the Divine and an understanding
of the Divine. Yet they remain separate. It is like the water drop realizing it is part of the ocean and yet separate.
Advaita philosophy integrates the Self and the Creator into one non-dual entity, of which jagat, the world,
forms a part. So the three seemingly separate entities merge into oneness. Advaita says that separation is an
illusion, māyā, and that true realization of the non-dual aspect of the Self and the Divine leads to liberation
and Enlightenment. These are different ways of looking at the same truth. None of them is wrong.
Kṛṣṇa leads Arjuna from the concept of separation into the understanding of integration. Kṛṣṇa makes
Arjuna understand that nothing stands between him and Kṛṣṇa, except his level of understanding of the space
of completion.
 Trust Existence and Radiate Divine Grace
Be very clear: There are two kinds of lives. One is living completely with trust and the other is living completely
with an insecure feeling.
On the other hand, the person who lives with deep trust in Existence may have less comfort but he never
misses that comfort. People who trust Existence are always showered with blessings. They will live like God
on planet earth. They will be a blessing for the whole planet. The Earth is alive because of a few people who
live radiating this trust, who live radiating the divine grace.
We should trust, even if we are exploited. After all, we are going to live on this earth for a maximum of seventy
to eighty years. In those years, why should we continuously suffer? If we defend ourselves because of our
insecurity, we will not only offend others but we will also miss the joy of living on planet Earth.

I am asking you to trust Existence, not based upon my intellectual knowledge but from my personal
experience. If you trust my words, when you trust Existence and relax from your tensions, headaches, worries
and problems, be sure that you will be taken care of. Miracles will happen in your life. When you put your
energy totally on trust, an alchemy takes place in you.
Understand, when you surrender, there is utter relaxation in you and your responsibilities are shifted to a
higher authority. This is surrender. Do your duty and leave all of the responsibility to Existence. She will take
care!
So we have two choices: We can live offending and defending continuously. Even if we have comfort,
our being will carry a wound. Or we can lead a totally relaxed life with utter freedom and complete trust in
Existence. We can have physical, mental, emotional and psychological freedom. We can have liberation here
and now.
The moment we live with trust, we are liberated. Nothing hurts us anymore. If we live with the truth, we
beautifully live even our death because we trust that Existence will take care of us even then. If we live without
trust, we will be killed by the fear of death. Every moment, we will be dying. With trust, even in our death,
we will be living, celebrating!
Here, if we can relax and feel deeply connected to what Kṛṣṇa says, we will experience the state that Kṛṣṇa is
now going to express about His glories in Yoga of His Divine Manifestations, Vibhūti Yogaḥ.

10.2 Neither the hosts of deities nor the great sages know My origin, My opulence.
I am the source of the deities and the sages.

10.3 He who knows Me as the unborn,

without beginning, and Supreme Lord of all the worlds,
Only he, who has this clarity, is wise and freed from all bondage

I AM Everything
Kṛṣṇa explains, ‘Oh my dear! Understand, I am everything—vetti loka maheśvaram (10.3). I have come
down. I have happened in this body to liberate you.’
Continuously, I receive emails from all over the world, ‘Swamiji, you gave me darśan (vision) and
removed my sufferings. Swamiji, you appeared in front of me and answered my question.’ Then they ask,
‘Swamiji, are you aware of the times when you appear and give darśan to us?’

Now, let me tell you clearly, honestly: I do not know when the darśan is happening. Let me break the business
secret. Let me tell the whole truth as it is. Just because of your trust, deep love and devotion, the cosmic energy
guides you by giving darśan using this form, that’s all. I rent this body to the Divine. Because I disappeared,
because my ego disappeared, the Divine uses this form to guide you. Over! Otherwise, it is totally between
you and the cosmic energy. I cannot involve myself. I have no say. I cannot appear for any specific person and
say, ‘He is my favorite!’ No! I cannot show favoritism. It is not under my control.
It is between your inner space and the Divine. It is your ability, your attitude to receive, that creates the
bridge. Again and again, I tell people: All I can do is, go back and download the information regarding the
 darśan that you had, and tell you what exactly happened and what instruction was given to you. That’s all.
With all enlightened people, this is what happens. The moment I claim that I gave darśan, the whole thing
is over. Then, the Divine will stop using this form. As long as I am clear that this is not me and it is Parāśakti,
Existence, using this form, She continues to use this flute to play Her songs. She continues to use this form to
carry on with Her mission. She continues to use this form to bless Her devotees.
All you need to do is—just get out of your system. The Divine will get in. If you get out of your
system, the Divine will get in.
A deep, passive waiting without knowing what is going to happen is passive surrender. That is total
surrender. The moment you decide, ‘I will wait forever,’ things happen.

The first chapter of the Gītā is Arjuna Viṣāda Yogaḥ. Arjuna’s dilemma was so great, yet he was willing to
trust Kṛṣṇa and let go. In such a powerless situation, no mental decision taken is correct and when the Master
guides you, you must be ready to let go and follow what he says completely, implicitly.
Arjuna had the courage to believe totally in Kṛṣṇa and let go, which was why he had the Viśvarūpa
Darśan, the cosmic vision of Kṛṣṇa. We must have the energy to let go, to allow the dark night to happen to
us. Only if we have trust in the Master can the ultimate gain happen to us.
We need to trust in order to experience the unknown space. At that moment, we have only the Master to
hold onto. We must accept the new experience happening to us, and deeply trust that the energy to transcend
our old personality is entering us.
Kṛṣṇa emphasizes the feeling of connectedness. Feeling deeply connected to the Master is the basic need to
understand this Truth. That is why the East gave so much importance to the Guru, the Master.

10.4 Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of
the senses, control of the mind, happiness, distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, non-
violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy, all these qualities of
living beings are created by Me alone.

10.5 The seven great sages and before them, the four great Manus, come from Me, they arose
from My mind and all the living beings populating the planet descend from them.

10.6 He who knows all this glory and powers of Mine, truly, he is fully united in Me; of that there
is no doubt.

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Whatever you have, whether you have a good name or a bad name, it is created by Me.’ Then be
certain that whatever you have is a gift from the Divine.
Kṛṣṇa asks us to complete with life as it is. Only when we accept ourselves as we are, can we accept others.
Only then we will feel deep friendliness with others. Deep friendliness with others is spirituality.

I am Everything, Complete With Everything

Love is the flowering of our consciousness. Whenever our consciousness expresses itself through the heart,
compassion happens, lust becomes love. The touch will become so vibrant, so soothing. I firmly believe
that love is the greatest healing power on planet Earth. I tell my healers, ‘If you can’t spread love, you
can never heal.’
Spirituality means flowing. Spirituality means radiating, spreading love and compassion. Whenever we
enrich out of compassion, we never feel that we have served. We feel that we have been given an opportunity
to serve, to enrich.
Whether we believe it or not, as of now, we have a deep enmity or hostility towards others and ourselves.
We live in constant self-doubt, self-hatred and self-denial.
To correct this, the first thing you need to do is completion with yourself and accept yourself as you are.
 Some people tell me, ‘I am unable to accept myself as I am, Swamiji. What can I do?’ I tell them, ‘At
least accept that you are unable to accept yourself, that is enough.’ If we accept that we are unable to
accept ourselves, it is enough. We will drop from the mind. That very acceptance will bring completion
in us and open a new consciousness in us.

When we try to poison others, there will be a deep sense of guilt in us because the same mind is working
in our inner space. We use strong words when we are angry. And once the anger dies down, the sharpness that
had been emitted outward turns inward to create a deep guilt. The height of the anger and the depth of the guilt
are equal. If the height increases, the depth increases as well.
When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Happiness and distress, birth and death, fear and fearlessness, non-violence and
equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, name and fame, fame and infamy, all these various qualities of
living beings are created by Me alone,’ He means be complete with life as it is, be authentic to all aspects of
your life: your inner image, outer image, others’ image and life’s image. If all the four images reach their peak
possibility, it is Enlightenment.
The moment we create the space of completion and complete with life as it is, we experience divinity in
everything. We don’t exclude anything. The moment we complete, a cognitive shift happens in us. As of
now, the cognitive process happening inside our mind, is centered on enmity. The moment we declare
completion with ourselves and with life, we complete with the whole world.
When you are complete with you, the Universe will be complete with you. When you are incomplete with
you, the Universe will be incomplete with you. Completion with you is sātori. Completion with the
Cosmos is samādhi.
10.8 I am the source of all the spiritual and material worlds. Everything arises from Me.
The wise, who know this, are devoted to Me and surrender their heart to Me.
10.9 With mind and lives absorbed on Me, always enlightening one another and talking about My
glories, the wise are content and blissful.
10.10 To those who are always engaged in Me with love, I give them enlightenment by which they
come to Me.
10.11 Out of compassion to them, I destroy the darkness born out of their ignorance by the shining
lamp of knowledge.
Let us enter into meditation, because all the following verses in this chapter must be experienced. They
cannot be understood.
Later Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Amongst the Ṛṣi, I am Nārada. Among the months, I am Margazhi. Among the rivers,
I am Gangā. Among the fish, I am Makara.’ He explains His glories at length.
We may think, ‘Why does He explain these things in a detailed way?’ He makes us understand,
wherever we see the glory, wherever we see the Divine radiating, there lies the greatness.
We experience life as divine and a blessing when we understand these things. It happens when we connect
with the Divine, when we trust, when we completely open up, when we don’t have other vested interests and
when we do not beg for anything from life.
As long as we are begging for things in the hope that, ‘with this, I will feel blissful,’ or ‘with that, I
will feel blissful’, we will ask only for this or that. Only when we understand, ‘I want just Him,
nothing else. I want the pure experience of the Divine, nothing else,’ we experience the whole of
Existence in a totally different way. The cognitive shift starts happening in us.
In the same way, Arjuna already felt deeply connected to Kṛṣṇa as his friend. Now, he understands the
glories of Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa reveals His glories and expands, Arjuna also expands. He says, ‘Oh
God! I am a friend of such a great person. Oh Kṛṣṇa, You are a great person. I am your friend. I am
deeply connected to You.’

Always Engage in Me
Kṛṣṇa explains inch by inch. He reveals who He is and how He is shining. He talks about Līlā dhyāna,
meditating on the divine play of the Lord. What the eyes see intensely gets registered in the mind. What gets
 registered in the mind, the eyes see intensely. When the mind is engaged in the Divine, when the heart is
captivated by the Divine, we automatically live every moment remembering the Divine. We enjoy talking to
each other about the Divine glories because all around us, we see these glories. We are so full of Divine ecstasy
and bliss, so fully complete and not wanting anything, because we see life overflowing with Divine bliss and
glory.
This was the state of the gopīs, the blessed girls who tended cattle in Kṛṣṇa’s home Briṇdāvan. They
constantly played with Kṛṣṇa from the time of His infancy. Their entire world revolved around Him.
Their minds and hearts were filled with Kṛṣṇa, with no intellect filtering their emotions.
Viṣṇu, whose incarnation Kṛṣṇa is, wanted to teach a lesson to his disciple, Nārada. Nārada considered
himself to be Viṣṇu’s greatest devotee. Kṛṣṇa played His līlā (divine play) and pretended he had a
headache. His devotees brought him all kinds of medicines, which he tried and pronounced useless.
He told them, ‘The only substance that will cure my malaise is the dust from the feet of a true devotee.’
Nārada and the great sages were shocked. How could they allow the dust of their feet to fall on their
Master’s head? ‘It will be a sacrilege,’ they argued.
One day Viṣṇu pretended to become annoyed. He told Nārada, ‘Get out of My sight. Go to the gopīs in
Briṇdāvan and tell them what I said and seek a solution.’
When Nārada reached Briṇḍāvan, the gopīs were so busy with their chores that they would not talk to him.
Nārada explained, ‘I have come from Vaikunṭa.’ They were not impressed. He told them, ‘Vaikunṭa is the
home of Viṣṇu.’ ‘Who is Viṣṇu?’ they asked. Nārada said, ‘Viṣṇu is Kṛṣṇa.’
As soon as he uttered the word Kṛṣṇa, they gathered around Nārada and asked him in one voice, ‘How is
our Kṛṣṇa, our darling?’ Nārada said, ‘He is suffering from a headache.’ They asked, ‘What can we do?
We cannot let our Kṛṣṇa suffer.’ Nārada told them that Viṣṇu had asked for the dust from the feet of one
of his true devotees.
One gopī immediately removed her upper cloth. She placed it on the ground and all the gopīs danced upon
this cloth to collect the dust from their feet. Folding the cloth, not worried that she had nothing covering
her breasts, the gopī said, ‘Here take this to our Kṛṣṇa. We do not know which of us is his true devotee.
So this has all the dust from all our feet. Go now and give it to Him.’
Nārada asked, ‘Aren’t you worried that you are giving Kṛṣṇa the dust from your feet to put on His head?’
In one voice, the gopīs answered, ‘Are you crazy? He, our Lord and Lover, is suffering and has asked for
the dust from our feet. If it would cure Him, we are ready to dance on His head! We shall give our lives
for Him.’
Nārada, humbled, returned to Vaikunṭa with the gopī’s upper cloth filled with dust from their feet. Viṣṇu
took the cloth in His hands, smelled the dust and pronounced Himself fully cured. The sages, devas and
Nārada watched in amazement.
‘What did they tell you, Nārada?’ He asked. ‘Did they give useless reasons and advance futile
arguments as to why they could not apply the dust from their feet on their Lord and Master, as you all
did?’

Nārada hung his head in shame.

Even to this day all main entrance steps to Viṣṇu temples have the imprint of feet carved upon them.
These imprints represent the feet of devotees whose feet dust Viṣṇu covets more than all the crowns He is
adorned with!
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘With mind and lives absorbed on Me, always enlightening one another and talking about My
glories, the wise are content and blissful. To those who are always engaged in Me with love, I give them
enlightenment for which they come to Me.’

teṣāṁ satata yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ pṛīti pūrvakam I

dadāmi buddhi yogaṁ taṁ yena mām upayānti te II 10.10
Kṛṣṇa here talks about satsang, the collection of people whose hearts, minds and bodies are immersed
in Him. They are the ones who can talk about nothing except Him, who are filled with bliss and love
for their Lord and Master. He promises He will provide them the intelligence to enlighten them and
bring them to Him.
Master Destroys Ignorance
An ashram is an intensified satsang that is forever, twenty-four by seven. That is why I motivate groups
of people to form ashrams, spiritual communities, where they can follow their spiritual quest with one-pointed
minds.
We are eligible to be part of an ashram community when we are deeply in love with our Master. The
motivation to live in an ashram is neither fear that he will hurt us if we leave, nor greed that he will
take us to a non-existent heaven if we stay. Rather, it is love born out of this present moment of
completion.

10.12 You are the supreme Truth, supreme sustenance, supreme Purifier, the Primal, Eternal and
Glorious Lord.
10.13 All the sages like Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa have explained this.
Now you are personally explaining to me.

10.14 Oh Keśava, I accept all these truths that You have told me. Oh Lord, neither the gods nor
the demons know You.
10.15 Surely, You alone know Yourself by Yourself,
Oh Perfect One, the origin of beings, Oh Lord of beings, Oh God of gods, Oh Lord of the
world.
10.16 Only You can describe in detail Your divine glories by which You pervade this
Universe.
10.17 How may I know You by contemplation?
In which forms should I contemplate on You, Oh Lord?
10.18 Tell me in detail of Your powers and glories, Oh Janārdana. Again, please tell for my
satisfaction as do not tire of listening to Your sweet words.
Whatever Arjuna says is merely to keep his end of the dialogue going. Arjuna knows that there is no
need for Kṛṣṇa to say anything now. Yes, he would be delighted if Kṛṣṇa were to speak of His
glories, His līlā. However, Arjuna is in such a state of meditation, ready for his ultimate experience,
that whatever his Master says or does would not matter to him.

10.19 Kṛṣṇa said, ‘Yes, Oh Kurusreśta, I will talk to you surely of My divine glories;
But only of the main ones as there is no end to the details of My glories.
10.20 I am the Spirit, Oh Guḍākeśa, situated in all living beings. I am surely the beginning,
middle and end of all beings.
10.21 Of the Āditya, I am Viṣṇu. Of the luminaries, I am the bright sun. Of the Mārut, I am Māricī. Of the
Nakṣatras, I am the Moon.
10.22 Of the Veda, I am the Sāma Veda. Of the gods, I am Indra. Of the senses, I am the mind and
in living beings,

I am the consciousness.

10.23 Of the Rudra, I am Śaṇkara and of the Yakṣa and Rākṣasa, I am Kubera, god of wealth.
Of the Vasu, I am fire and of the peaks, I am Meru.

10.24 Of the priests, understand, Oh Pārtha, that I am the chief Bṛhaspati. Of the warriors, I am
Skanda.

Of the water bodies, I am the ocean.

10.25 Of the great sages, I am Bhṛgu. Of the vibrations, I am the OṀ. Of the sacrifices, I am the
chanting of holy names. Of the immovable objects, I am the Himālayas.
Kṛṣṇa declares that He is everything that really matters. Kṛṣṇa says that He is the ultimate consciousness
in all beings and He is the beginning, middle and end of all beings. He declares that He pervades the
entire space and time and beyond.

aham ātmā guḍākeśa sarva-bhūtāśaya sthitaḥ I

aham ādiś ca madhyaṁ ca bhūtānām anta eva ca II 10.20
Kṛṣṇa is both the macrocosm and the microcosm: the Brahmāṇḍa, Cosmos and the pindāṇda, individual
being. His energy permeates all living and non-living entities and He decides upon their nature.
A Master is one who can transcend time and space and reach consciousness. Kṛṣṇa, the great Master, is
in the twelfth plane, that of pure consciousness. He is beyond all dimensions, beyond time, and beyond space.
He is the beginning and He has no beginning. He is the end and He has no end.
He is the Creator. He is the Created. He is also the Creation. In this huge canvas of the Universe, He is
the canvas. He is the paint. He is also the strokes and He is the painting. There is nothing that He is not.

I am VIṢṆU. I am śankara. I am OṀ
Kṛṣṇa declares that amongst the Vedas, He is the Sāma Veda. The Vedas are the timeless truths expounded
by the ṛṣis (sages) as the expressions of truth experienced by them. These are the revelations of the truth
experienced through intuition by the seers. There are four Vedas: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda and
Atharva Veda.
Each Veda consists of four parts: mantra-saṁhita or hymns, brāhmaṇa or explanations of mantras (or
rituals), āranyaka, forest books which give the philosophical meaning of rituals, and the Upaniṣads, essence
of the Vedas.
The Sāma Veda is a collection of hymns in praise of agni (fire), Indra (king of the gods) and soma (drink
of the gods). While the Ṛg Veda is the oldest Veda, Sāma Veda is the basis for all musical systems of India.
The basic notes of all music, not just of Indian music, originated with Sāma Veda. The seven notes, which are
the fundamentals of all music all over the world, were derived from Sāma Veda, which even today is sung,
and not recited.
The Ṛg Veda and other Vedas may be recited only by a few scholars today, but Sāma Veda is heard
everywhere. It is the essence of Carnatic and Hindustani music forms, the two major classical music forms of
India. As the essence of music, Sāma Veda is also the essence of dance forms. One does not need to understand
music and dance. It is enough to indulge and experience. So it is with Kṛṣṇa. All we need to do is experience
Him.
Among the gods, Kṛṣṇa says He is Vasava (Indra), the king of gods.The five senses, jñānendriya, namely
sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, originate from the mind and are of the mind. Without the mind, the
senses cannot function. He says He is the subtlest and most powerful, the mind. In living beings, He is the life
force, the consciousness, not merely body and mind.
Rudras are the elemental powers worshipped by the Ṛg Veda. The word Rudra means to cry.
Metaphorically the Rudras were worshipped to obtain some gain. When in deep anguish, if one prays to
one of the Rudras in awareness, it was believed to bring results. There are eleven Rudras: Aja, Ekapāda,
Ahirbudhnya, Vīrabhadra, Girīśa, Śaṅkara, Aparājita, Hara, Anakaraka, Pināki, Bhaga and Śambhu.
Śankara is the doer of good. Śankara is also the precursor to Śiva in the evolution of the Hindu
constellation of divinity.
Śiva means causeless auspiciousness; auspiciousness born without a reason. Wherever Śiva is, good
happens for no reason. Of the Rudras, Kṛṣṇa says He is Śankara, rudrāṇāṁ śankaraś cāsmi (10.20).
Yakṣas are celestial beings considered to be the creators of wealth. The king of the Yakṣas is Kubera, the
god of wealth. Rākṣasas too are celestial beings of a negative nature of hoarding power and wealth. Yakṣas
and Rākṣasas are keepers of wealth. They do not enjoy wealth. Of the Yakṣas and Rākṣasas, Kṛṣṇa says He is
the god of wealth, the king Kubera.
The Vasus are the attendants of Viṣṇu. They represent various aspects of Nature. The Brihadāraṇyaka
Upaniṣad mentions eight Vasus: agni (fire), pṛthvī (earth), vāyu (wind), antarikṣa (space), āditya (light), dyaus
 (sky), candramas (moon) and nakṣatrāṇi (stars). Kṛṣṇa says among the Vasus, He is the formless fire.
Meru is the golden peak, the metaphoric abode of gods, and its foothills are the Himalayas. It also
represents the human spine. Amongst the peaks, Kṛṣṇa says He is the majestic Meru.
Bṛhaspati is the priest of the gods. He dispels darkness and ignorance and destroys the enemies of the
gods. Among the warriors, Kṛṣṇa says He is Skanda, the supreme General of the forces of gods. Skanda
is the son of Śiva and Pārvati, who destroyed Tārakāsura, the demon who, along with his hordes of
demons, tormented the devas. This is a metaphysical representation of the Divine as the Supreme
General of the being, vanquishing the senses, desires and ego.
Of the great sages, Kṛṣṇa says He is Bhṛgu, one of the Saptaṛṣis (seven sages who form the cosmic
energy). Bhṛgu is believed to have been created by Brahma to aid him in the creation of the Universe.
Of the vibrations, Kṛṣṇa says He is the transcendental OṀ—girāṁ asmy ekam akṣaram (10.25). OṀ is
the primal sound from which the Universe manifested itself. It is the praṇava, the mystic symbol.
Of the different types of sacrifices, Kṛṣṇa says He is the japa or chanting of holy names—yajñānāṁ
japa-yajño ‘smi (10.25).
Of the immovable objects in the world, He says He is the mighty and majestic Himalayas. The Himalayas,
literally meaning ‘the abode of snow’, is home to hundreds of peaks, including the highest peak in the world.
Some great rivers originate in it and flow through it, including Gangā, Yamunā, Brahmaputra and Indus.
The Himalayas have a great unique spiritual significance as well. Kailasa, abode of Śiva, is the earthly
representation of the metaphorical Meru. The Himalayan mountains are the spiritual incubator of the
world. The Himalayas are truly a powerful energy field.

The Himalayan Mountains are home to me. I never believed, when I left home to travel to the Himalayas,
that I would return to South India. It was in the Himalayas that I met Mahāvatār Bābā, the great Master
who has been living in these mountains for thousands of years. You may believe it or not believe it, but
that is the Truth.
On the way to Kedarnath, Mahāvatār Bābā called me by the name I am now called. He walked into me
after calling me ‘Paramahamsa Nithyananda’. I thought he was asking me to look for a master named
Nithyananda!
So I went searching for this master. More than a year later, at Calcutta, on the banks of the river Hooghly,
a tributary of the river Gangā, an old Sannyāsi insisted on giving me Sannyāsa before he died. I was not
keen to take Sannyāsa. I was looking for Enlightenment. But he insisted. So I agreed.
To my utter surprise he gave me the name - Paramahamsa Nithyananda.
I asked this Sannyāsi, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I do not know. This is what I was asked to do.’ He did not explain
who asked him to give me the name and initiation. So, I tell my disciples that Mahāvatār Bābā is our
Kulaguru, Master of our lineage, and Kedar is our kṣetra, our spiritual location.
When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am the Himalayan Mountain out of all unmoving things, sthāvarāṇāṁ
himālayaḥ (10.25).’ I can feel the energy of Kṛṣṇa in these mountains. Everyone who has been with me
on these trips have felt it at some point. They are blessed. They have been in Kṛṣṇa consciousness!
10.26 Of all the trees, I am the Banyan tree and of all the sages of the gods, I am
Nārada. Of the Gandharvas, I am Citraratha.

Of the realized souls, I am the sage Kapila.

10.27 Of the horses, know me to be Ucchaiśravas born of the nectar generated from the churning of
the ocean.

Of the elephants, Airāvata and of men, the king.

10.28 Of the weapons, I am the thunderbolt. Of the cows, I am Kāmadhenu;

For begetting children, I am the god of love. Of the snakes, I am Vāsuki.
10.29 Of the serpents, I am Ananta. Of the water deities, I am Varuṇa.
Of the ancestors, I am Aryamā and
of the ones who ensure discipline, I am Yama.
10.30 Of the Daitya (demons), I am Prahlād and of the reckoners, I am Time. Of
the animals, I am the king of animals (Lion) and of the birds, I am Garuḍa.

Kṛṣṇa says among the trees He is the banyan tree, aśvatthaḥ sarva vṛkṣānāṁ (10.26). The banyan tree
develops its root-like structures from the branches. These grow into the earth as secondary roots. The
metaphysical meaning of the banyan tree is that just as the banyan tree grows its roots upside down unlike
other trees, the spiritual person shuns the illusory outer world, the world that most people run after. Instead,
he goes inwards towards the Absolute.

In a later chapter Kṛṣṇa says that the leaves of the banyan tree are the Vedas. He who knows this tree is
the knower of the Vedas.
Of all the spiritually enlightened Masters, the Ṛṣis, Kṛṣṇa says He is Nārada. Nārada is considered the
greatest of all devotees. His mind is immersed in remembering Viṣṇu, forever chanting ‘Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa’.
Kṛṣṇa identifies Himself with His greatest devotee.
Of the Gandharvas, the celestial beings, Kṛṣṇa says He is Citraratha. Gandharvas are celestial beings
skilled in music and they are guardians of the soma juice—the nectar of the divine beings. Citraratha is the
king of the Gandharvas.

I am the Complete Being

Among the Siddhas, the complete beings, the Self-realized persons, Kṛṣṇa says He is Kapila, the complete
sage. Kapila is the author of the Sāṅkhya Yoga system of philosophy, which deals with the elements of the
physical Universe and the spiritual world. He is also the founding father of Mahānirvāṇi Pīṭha—Kapila
Sarvajña Pīṭha. Kapila is considered an incarnation of Viṣṇu and Mahādev.
There is a beautiful book called Kapila Gītā, Kapila’s teachings to his mother, Devāhuti recorded in Śrīmad
Bhāgavatam and other books Kapila’s Sāṅkhya Sūtra and Sāṅkhya Kārika based on his philosophy. When I
was studying them, I found such beautiful expressions! If you read Kapila, you won’t find a single moral
lesson or even a definition of morality or immorality. But, the followers of Kapila will be the most beautiful
moral beings on planet Earth, because He just puts you into the natural flow of your being. You don’t hide
anything from others and yourself. You are not afraid of anything that is within or outside you.
What pristine purity! Kapila is the definition of the natural law of Existence, the innate intelligence. I tell
you, Kapila is as beautiful as the gopikās of Bhāgavatam, as intelligent as Kṛṣṇa’s Gītā, and as natural as
Dharmarāja (name of Yudhiṣṭra, the righteous king). Only with certain completion, can you understand the
intelligence, beauty, and naturalness, all that can flow together in one space, that is Kapila.
Next, Ucchaiśravas is the legendary snow-white horse that emerged during the churning of the ocean of
milk described in the Bhāgavatam.
According to the history, the devas, the good, oppressed by the asuras, the evil, appealed to Lord Viṣṇu
for help. Viṣṇu directed devas to churn the ocean of milk upon which Viṣṇu rests, using Meru, the mountain,
as the staff and Vāsuki, the serpent, as the rope. Viṣṇu became the base as a tortoise upon which Meru rested.
Since the devas did not have the strength to do the job alone, they took the help of the asuras promising them
a share in whatever materialized.
During the churning, various divine entities emerged. Among these were the divine horse, Ucchaiśravas,
and the four-tusked king of the elephants, Airāvata, whom Indra took as his mount.
As part of the churning process, a deadly poison hālahāla also emerged that threatened to take the lives of the
devas and asuras. Śiva came to their rescue and drank the poison. Finally, the nectar of immortality emerged.
Viṣṇu, in the form of a beautiful damsel Mohini.kept the asuras occupied, while He allowed the devas to drink
the amṛta, nectar of immortality, and become invincible.
This is a metaphysical representation signifying how we are pushed and pulled by desires in our lives.
From this churning in our life, various products emerge. The nectar of immortality emerges when we offer our
entire being to the Divine, as we go beyond the push and pull of desires, beyond life and death. Then we dwell
in ultimate bliss. There may be obstacles in the path. Yet, the Master supports and protects us during our
churning, as we endeavor to realize the ultimate state. Just as Śiva drank the poison that came out as a result
of churning the ocean, the Master holds the disciple steady as the unconscious root patterns, saṁskāras rise to
the surface during our spiritual maturing.
 Kṛṣṇa says, among the weapons, He is vajra, the thunderbolt. This is the weapon of Indra, king of the
demigods. Viṣṇu is considered to be present in the vajra. Indra was specifically given this weapon—the
thunderbolt, for a purpose. Kṛṣṇa does not choose His own weapon, the cakra, the mighty discus. Instead he
used Indra’s vajra that was made from the bones of the great sage Dadhici, who gave up his life to destroy the
evil Vṛtāsura.
Among the cows, He says He is the sacred cow, Kāmadhuk or Kāmadhenu, which also emerged during
the churning of the ocean. In the Hindu way of life, the cow is worshipped for her essential utility. Kāmadhuka
is considered to be the cow that grants all wishes and is the mother of all cows.
Kṛṣṇa says, for begetting children, He is the god of love, the basis for procreation. He says He is the
Vāsuki of serpents. Vāsuki is the king of snakes. Vāsuki was used as the rope and he wound himself around
Meru, the staff, for churning the ocean of milk.
Kṛṣṇa says, among the nāgas, non-poisonous snakes or creatures of the nether world, He is Ananta, the many-
hooded serpent who forms the bed of Lord Viṣṇu. He is said to support all the planets on his various hoods,
including the Earth.
Among the water beings, Kṛṣṇa says He is Varuṇa, the god of the mightiest water body, the ocean.
Among the ancestors, Kṛṣṇa says He is Aryamā, one of the Ādityas, who presides over a planet occupied
by the energy bodies of our ancestors.
Of the ones who ensure discipline, Kṛṣṇa says He is Yama, the Lord of death. Death is the perfect equalizer
of all beings. Death is the only certain thing in the life of all beings and it treats everyone exactly the same
whether they are big or small, rich or poor. So the Lord of death, Yama, ensures perfect discipline. The
Saṃskṛit word yama means both discipline and death. Yama is the first of the eight limbs of Patañjali’s
Aṣṭāṅga Yoga.
Of the Daityas, Kṛṣṇa says He is Prahlād—prahlādaś cāsmi daityanāṁ (10.30). The Daityas are
considered to be a race of beings that warred against the demigods. Prahlād was the son of a powerful Daitya
King, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Prahlād was a pious child, an embodiment of integrity. The young Prahlād is a supreme
example of devotion. His life is the example that total surrender to the Divine is possible and that such
surrender leads the Divine to completely care for His devotees, in all situations and at all times.
Of the reckoners, Kṛṣṇa says He is Kāla, Time itself—kālaḥ kalayatām aham (10.30). Time is the ultimate
reckoner. No being exists who can beat Time. Irrespective of who it is, Time always moves on. It cannot be
stopped by anyone.
Of the animals, Kṛṣṇa says He is the Lion, king of the jungle. Among birds, He says He is Garuḍa, king of
birds, the eagle who is the mount of Lord Viṣṇu.

10.31 Of the purifiers, I am the Wind.

Of the wielders of weapons, I am Rāma.
Of the water beings, I am the Shark and
of the flowing rivers, I am Jāhnavi (Gaṅgā).
10.32 Of all creations, I am surely the Beginning and end and the middle, Oh Arjuna. Of all knowledge, I
am the Spiritual knowledge of the Self. Of all arguments, I am the Logic.
10.33 Of the letters, I am the ‘A’. Of the dual words, I am the Compounds and surely I am the never-ending
time. I am the Omniscient who sees everything.
10.34 I am the all-devouring Death and I am the Creator of all things of the future. Of the feminine, I am
Fame, Fortune, Beautiful speech, Memory, intelligence, Faithfulness and Patience.
10.35 Of the Sāma Veda hymns, I am the Bṛhat Sāma and of all poetry, I am the Gāyatrī. Of the months, I
am Mārgaśīrṣa and of the seasons, I am Spring.
10.36 Of all the cheating, I am Gambling.
Of the effulgent things, I am the Effulgence.
I am Victory, I am Effort, I am the Goodness of the good.
10.37 Of the descendants of Vṛṣṇi, I am Vāsudeva Kṛṣna. Of the Pāṇḍava, I am Arjuna.
Of the Sages, I am also Vyāsa and of the thinkers, I am Uśāna.
 10.38 Of rulers, I am their Scepter. Of the victorious, I am Statesmanship. Of all secrets, I am also Silence.
Of the wise, I am Wisdom.
Of the purifying elements, Kṛṣṇa says He is the formless and pure wind—pavanaḥ pavatām asmi (10.31). The
wind pervades the other elements such as earth, water and fire and removes impurities.
Of the wielders of weapons, He says He is Rāma, the seventh incarnation of Viṣṇu—rāmaḥ śastra-bhṛtām
aham (10.31). Śrī Rāma defeated Rāvaṇa, the demonic ruler of Lankā who abducted his wife, Sīta. Rāma was
a righteous ruler and chosen heir to his father’s throne. Yet, Rāma went into exile to uphold his father’s vow.
Rāma is considered the greatest archer ever known. Of the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu, Rāma is the incarnation
just prior to Kṛṣṇa. Of the aquatic beings, the fish, He says He is the Shark, the most powerful and feared.
Of the rivers, He says He is Gangā. The river Gangā is worshipped in India as goddess Gangā.
Millions of people pray in the waters of the Gangā everyday. On its banks, millions of people
gather everyday to offer pūjā to Gangā and to take a holy dip in the waters.

Of all the creations, Kṛṣṇa says He is the beginning, the middle and the end, thus establishing that He is
all that existed, exists and will exist. He is the creator, created and creation—sargāṇāṁ ādir antaś ca madhyaṁ
caivaham arjuna (10.32).
Of the various branches of knowledge, He is the ultimate spiritual knowledge, Self-realization—adhyātma
vidyā vidyānāṁ (10.32). Other branches of knowledge result from intelligence. Only Self-realization requires
intuition and something beyond.
Of all arguments, He says He is the logic that binds everything together. Of the letters, Kṛṣṇa says He is
the first letter, ‘aksarānāṁ a-kāro ‘smi’, the origin of all that is spoken and written. Of the dual words, a class
of words in Saṃskṛit, He is the compound word.
He affirms He is never-ending time and the Creator of this Universe, Brahma. Kṛṣṇa says He is the Creator
and Destroyer.
Of the feminine qualities, He says He is the seven Devīs, goddesses, who impart fame, fortune, beautiful
speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience. In Saṃskṛit all these qualities have feminine nouns
to represent them. He says these attributes in women come from Him.
Kṛṣṇa said in an earlier verse that among the Vedas, He is the Sāma Veda that contains beautiful
songs and hymns. Now, He says, among these hymns, He is the Bṛhat Sāma, a unique melody.
Of all poetic meters, He says He is Gāyatrī—gāyatrī chandasām aham (10.35). Various invocations
and prayers in the Vedic literature are set to Gāyatrī meter, including Devi Gāyatrī, Rudra Gāyatrī,
etc. This chanda, meter is 24 syllables, usually in 3 or 4 lines.
. Here, Kṛṣṇa states that Gāyatrī is the greatest of the mantras. Its popularity has been evident from the earliest
Vedic times. This was the first mantras taught when the child entered a gurukul, the traditional Cedic schools
of Enlightened Masters.
Gāyatrī literally translated means ‘the song that liberates’. Gāyatrī is an invocation to the ultimate
intelligence. This prayer creates self-awareness, self-completion:

Om bhūr bhuva suvaḥ tat savitur vareṇyam bhargo

devasya dhīmahi dhiyo yonaḥ prachodayāt

Freely translated, this means:

We bow to You, that Ruler of physical, mental and spiritual planes, That which is beyond all, the supreme
Brilliance, May You kindle our inner awareness! It is a prayer to the supreme intelligence to awaken our
inner intelligence.
Among the months, Kṛṣṇa says, He is the month of Mārgaśīrṣa, November and December in the Gregorian
calendar. In India, these months bring joy to people as they are the time when grains are collected from the
fields. Also, the month has a lot of spiritual significance because the auspicious days of Vaikunṭa Ekādasi fall
in this month. This month in the divine calendar is the early morning time, the brahma muhūrtaṁ, the most
auspicious part of the day. This is the time recommended to focus on worship.
Among the seasons, Kṛṣṇa says, He is spring. Nature is at the pinnacle of Her creation in spring with new
blossoms on trees and pleasant weather, which is neither too hot nor too cold. Spring thus signifies life, growth
and the beginning of the cycle of life.
Kṛṣṇa declares that of all vices, He is gambling. Even in the vices He says He is present! Anybody
who deludes himself by thinking that He is not present in ‘unvirtuous’ activities should realize that
the Divine exists everywhere and in all activities and things.
Kṛṣṇa says, He is the effulgence that is the essence of all radiant things. He declares He is the Victory of
the victorious, the effort needed to succeed, and satva, Goodness, amongst the attributes.
Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vāsudeva, was a member of the Vṛṣṇi or Yādav race.
Amongst the Vṛṣṇis, Kṛṣṇa says He is the ultimate, Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa. Amongst the Pāṇḍavas, He says He
is the arch bowman, Arjuna.
Of the sages, He says He is Vyāsa, author of the great epic Mahābhārat that includes the Bhagavad Gītā.
Vyāsa is also referred to as Veda Vyāsa, the compiler of the Vedas who split one Veda into four Vedas so that
the common person could understand the knowledge in the Vedas.
Of the thinkers, Kṛṣṇa says, He is Uśāna, also known as Śukra, guru of the asuras, celestials with a
negative bent of mind.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘I am the scepter, the daṇḍa, the rod of punishment of the King.’ As a Master, Kṛṣṇa
wields the yoga daṇḍa, the divine staff of wisdom. A ruler is not merely a refuge for his subjects,
but also the rule giver, the disciplinarian. So is the Master.

10.39 Also, of whatever beings exist, I am the Seed, Oh Arjuna.

There is nothing that exists without Me in all creations, moving and unmoving.
10.40 There is no end to My Divine glories, Oh Parantapa.
What has been said by Me are examples of My detailed glories.
10.41 You should know that whatever glories exist or anything beautiful and glorious that exists, all that
surely is born of just a portion of My splendor.
10.42 Of what use is it to know about the many manifestations of this kind, Oh Arjuna? I pervade this
entire world with just a part of Myself.
Now, let us also experience these words of Kṛṣṇa in a mood of absolute surrender and total gratitude.
Close your eyes, and meditate on the divine glory of Kṛṣṇa.
Express deep gratitude for whatever way your life has been elevated. Express deep gratitude to whoever has
helped you achieve health, wealth and education. Each and every one of these are expressions of the Divine.
Remember every one of them for the reasons they were in your life. Remember all of them who helped you
to flower in your life. Remember all of them with love and respect, with love and gratitude.
Remember your mother who gave you this body. She is the embodiment of the Divine, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa.
Give her your gratitude. Remember your father who gave you life. Feel him and give your gratitude to him.
Remember all the teachers and professors who gave you education. They are embodiments of the Divine. Feel
deeply grateful to all of them for enriching your life and to your being.
Whoever has helped you to grow economically, whoever contributed to your economical growth, directly or
indirectly, remember all of them and give your gratitude to them. Feel deeply connected to all of them.
Whoever gave you mental strength and understanding about life when you needed it, whenever you were
depressed whoever gave you courage, remember all of them. They are embodiments of the Divine,
representatives of the Universal Consciousness. Remember all of them and give them your gratitude.
Whoever helped you grow spiritually, whoever helped you grow in spiritual understanding, remember all of
them. Give them your gratitude. They are representatives of the Divine.
Whoever helped you with understanding on the level of material wealth or spiritual growth, remember all of
them and offer them your gratitude.

Ultimately, give gratitude to the divine energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, who gave this intelligence and
understanding to us in our life.
Just drop yourself and become one with the Cosmic energy. May you become part of the whole Universe,
part of the energy that is moving the sun, moon and planet Earth.
 Oṁ śānti, śānti, śāntihi...
Relax. Now open your eyes. Continue to spend at least the next few hours in this mood of surrender. Drop
yourself. You will see this experience works miracles in your being. It can transform you.
Forget about yourself. Drop yourself and let the Divine, let this Cosmic energy prevail. Let Him be. Let
the Divine be. This surrender mood can transform your whole consciousness. It can make you experience the
ultimate truth that Kṛṣṇa explains here: His glories, His vibhūti, His Divine glory.
When you are blissful, whatever you see looks divine and glorious.
May you reach that bliss.
Let us pray to Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Universal energy, Existence, to guide us all and to give us all the
experience of eternal bliss, Nityānanda.

Thus ends the tenth chapter named Vibhūti Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Divine Manifestations,’ 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.
 C H A P T E R 11

Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ

11.1 Arjuna says: O Lord! By listening to Your wisdom on

the supreme secret of Existence and Your glory, I feel that my delusion has
disappeared.
11.2 O Lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa! I have listened from You in detail about the creation and destruction
of all living beings, also Your inexhaustible greatness.
11.3 O Parameśvara, Lord Supreme, though You are here before Me as You have declared Yourself,
I wish to see the Divine Cosmic Form of Yours, Puruṣottama, Supreme Being.
11.4 O Prabhu, my Lord, if You think it is possible for me to see Your Cosmic Form, then please, O
Yogeśvara, Lord of Yoga and all mystic power, kindly show me that Imperishable Universal Self.

Can Universal Consciousness be Experienced?

Step by step, Kṛṣṇa clears Arjuna’s self-doubts. First, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna’s doubts of the intellect.
Kṛṣṇa explains to him the misconceptions that Arjuna has from the literal reading of the scriptures and what
he has understood to be right and wrong. ‘All the people in front of you are already dead,’ says the Lord, ‘I
eliminated them long ago; why are you then worried? Do what you need to do.’
Kṛṣṇa then clears any lingering emotional doubts that Arjuna may have by explaining to him what He,
the master of the Universe, is all about. He tells Arjuna who He really is. After detailing all His glories, Kṛṣṇa
says that there is no end to His divine manifestations, His vibhūti. Wherever there is something glorious,
powerful and prosperous, Kṛṣṇa is in existence. Kṛṣṇa concludes, saying that there is no need for detailed
knowledge, as He supports all of Existence within just a fragment of His divine Self.
And now, finally, the time has come for Arjuna to see Kṛṣṇa as He truly is. Arjuna is standing on the last step.
He beseeches, ‘My delusion has been dispelled and I am now aware of Your divinity. Please show me now
who You really are.’
And yet, Arjuna still hesitates. He wants to know, but he is not sure if he can bear to experience the truth.
He says one phrase clearly, ‘If you think I can behold Your form,’ which indicates that there is already some
fear in him. He also has self-doubts. Yes, Kṛṣṇa said that He had already destroyed all of Arjuna’s enemies.
But physically they are in front of Arjuna. He believes what Kṛṣṇa says. But his senses tell him a different
story.
It is not important what others think; what is important is what we think. We should be ready to take the
responsibility and face whatever comes. Even simple truths or experiences cannot be given so easily, since the
receiver must have the maturity to hold what he has received.
Many of you are like Arjuna. In fact, all of you are like Arjuna. You do not wish to take any risks. The
Master has to calculate all the risks for you. You want the Master to make the experience risk-free, safe and
pleasant. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Yes, the experience is bliss, it is liberating, but that blissful
experience destroys your identity, kills the ego and recreates the Divine in you.
There is no such thing as partial surrender to a Master. There is no such thing as, ‘Please give me what I
can take. Let me take a sip and see if I like it. If I do, I shall ask You for more. If not, I shall not take anymore.’
Of course, the Master knows your readiness far better than you do. That is why I work on you in stages. As
 long as you are not ready, what I give you is brain and eye candy, that’s all. You can gaze in happiness and
go away. The form is all that you can take.
Arjuna is an evolved disciple. What he says only seems to reflect what an ordinary person would have said.
In fact, what Arjuna implies here is far more. I have no right to ask all this of You. It is not any penance I may
have done that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached a level of intellectual understanding of You
that makes me deserve this. It is not that I have reached the peak of devotion that makes me deserve Your
vision. I have no right to demand. However, in all humility, as Your devotee, as one who surrenders to You, I
ask of You to show me who You really are. Please show me Your entire splendor, Your valor, Your wisdom,
Your truth and all that You really are!’
11.5 Bhagavān says:
O My dear Pārtha, behold now My hundreds and thousands of forms, of infinite divine sorts, of
infinite colors and shapes.
11.6 O Bhārata, see here the different manifestations of the Āditya, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Aśvins,
the Māruts and all other gods. Behold the many wonderful forms which noone has ever seen
before.
11.7 O Arjuna, see at once now in this body of Mine,
the whole Universe completely in this one place, all the moving and the unmoving, and see
everything else you desire to see also.
11.8 But you cannot see Me with your own physical eyes. Let Me give you the Divine
eye;Behold My Divine power and opulence!

Kṛṣṇa says, ‘O Pārtha, behold the hundreds and thousands of my Divine forms. These are infinite Divine
forms, of diverse colors, shapes and sizes. O Bhārata, see the different manifestations of Āditya, Vasu, Rudra,
Aśvini Kumār, Mārut and many wonderful beings whom no one has ever seen before.’
But before He gives darśan of the Universal form, He makes an important and beautiful statement, ‘O
Arjuna! You cannot see my form with ordinary eyes. To behold this form, you would need divya netra,
the third eye or the divine eye.

Darśan, Seeing the Divine Form Is Possible

Here again are the three questions that are the essence of the whole chapter.
Can the Divine form be seen?
What is the qualification to see the Divine form?
What really happens when you see the Divine form?
I tell you categorically—it is possible to see the divine form. There are many enlightened Masters who
have experienced this consciousness.
Let me give you an instance from my life.
After nine long years of penance, I was completely frustrated at one point. I wondered if I was wasting my
whole life reading books, following what the earlier Masters said and applying them in my life. I wondered,
was there really something called enlightenment or was it a waste of my whole life?
At one point I began to fear that I had wasted the very essence of my life, my youth, by pouring all of it
into tapas or penance. Was it really worth the sacrifice?
All of a sudden at one point in time, I felt myself going into deep depression. Actually, I later realized that
this was not depression. It was a desperate situation, a deep personal quest, and an urge to do or die. Now
I know that one needs to reach this stage before one can realize the truth.
Whatever had to be done as spiritual penance, I had done and had not left even an inch untried. For
example, at one point in time, I created a wall of fire six feet in diameter, sat inside it and chanted
continuously so that I would not fall asleep. In this way, I had tried hundreds of techniques to the best of
my ability. Since nothing was still happening to me, I concluded that there was either no such thing as
enlightenment or it was something I could not achieve.
I strongly began to think that Enlightenment was simply something that some people were cheating
humanity with, for their own ego-fulfillment. I began to doubt and lose faith in the whole system. The
photo of Rāmakṛṣṇa, who had all along been my inspiration, the photo I used to worship everyday, I threw
away in disgust, depression and anger and with such force that the glass frame broke.
At that time I was staying in Omkareshwar, in a forest in Madhya Pradesh, on the banks of the holy river
Narmada. I had my rosary, with which I used to say my prayers and do my penance for hours together. It
was my constant companion and was something to which I had given utmost respect, almost like my life-
line.
In my anger and depression, I threw the rudrākṣa (sacred energy beads) into the river Narmada and cast
the mantra out of my mind.
I decided, ‘No more meditation, no more spirituality. Enough!’ I had had enough of the game being
played by the so-called Enlightened Masters. I simply threw everything away, dropped everything.
I then walked into the river Narmada with my eyes closed. The river was at least sixty feet deep at that
point. I just kept walking with my eyes closed. Fear gripped me but I continued. When I opened my eyes,
I was on the opposite bank of the river! Till date I have no idea what happened. I have no idea whether
there were rocks all along the path I walked on the river, or whether I floated or whether the river parted.
But I did not have the resolve to walk back through the river again, that much I know! To return to the
point I started from, I had to walk to the nearest bridge, many miles away!
The seventh day after this incident, I joined the Masters in their game! The experience of Enlightenment
and Cosmic consciousness simply happened to me. It never left me thereafter.

Who can see the Divine Form?

Next, what is the qualification?
Basically, by giving this experience to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa proves that there is no need for any qualification
because Arjuna himself has no qualification. Arjuna neither took the responsibility nor understood fully
the teachings of Kṛṣṇa. He was simply fortunate to be in the presence of Kṛṣṇa, that’s all.
In fact, you are the Arjuna who missed Kṛṣṇa in an earlier form. You are here now, listening or reading,
not by any mere accident or Divine coincidence. You are here now for a reason. That is qualification enough.
Make sure that you do not miss Kṛṣṇa again this time!
One of the problems is that even if you are qualified, you do not have the trust or belief that you are
qualified! This is because society and religious preachers have blamed you continuously for many things and
created a kind of guilt and self-doubt in you.
Because of this you have lost faith and confidence in yourself. Now, after having listened for all these
days, your still being here is proof that your unconscious mind has accepted and enriched by these ideas. Your
conscious mind may struggle with the question of why you are here, but the fact that you are here shows that
unconsciously you have allowed enriching yourself and begun enjoying these ideas. Understand, allowing the
Master to enrich you is the best way of enriching yourself.
You are fortunate to fall in tune with the great thought of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. After understanding the verse, we
will enter into a meditation to have at least a glimpse of what the Cosmic Kṛṣṇa gave Arjuna. Arjuna had no
qualification to receive what he got from Kṛṣṇa. When He could give it to Arjuna, why not to us?
Somebody once asked Bhagavān Rāmaṇa Maharṣi, Enlightened Master from India, what was the
qualification for enlightenment. Bhagavān replied that merely being alive, simply existing, was the only
qualification required!

The Divine Eye, Divya Caksu

Next, what happens when you have the experience?
Kṛṣṇa’s words:

na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā I

divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogam aiśvaram II 11.8
‘Arjuna, you cannot see Me with these ordinary eyes. You need the divine eye, the third eye, divyacakṣu.
 To see My Cosmic form, I give you the divine eye.’
What is this divine eye?
Let me tell you my experience that happened when I was twelve years old.
During that age, I used to do a particular meditation, or rather I used to play with a technique given to
me by a master. When I was about ten years old the great Master Annāmalai Swamigal, disciple of
Rāmaṇa Maharṣi, first taught me the technique of exploring to see where thoughts originated.
Once when I visited him with my parents, he was addressing a group of seekers and was saying, ‘We are not the
body, we are ātman, the spirit. No pain or suffering touches us.’
I wondered how this could be, for if my mother beat me, I could feel the pain! (In India, if kids were
mischievous, they would be roundly beaten, you could not call 911!) To experiment, I went home and cut
my thigh with a knife to see if I had pain or not. I bled profusely.
Naturally, it not only hurt me, but I had to be taken to the hospital for the wound to be stitched, with more
scolding from my mother! I had both pain and suffering. I wondered why this Swami had taught us such
a thing as ‘no suffering or pain’!
Experimenting on others was easy. Arjuna was intelligent. After understanding everything, he started
killing others; he never experimented on himself!
I approached the Swami and related what had happened to me.
First he asked me, ‘Did I ask you to go and cut yourself?’
He then made a profound statement that transformed my life.
He said, ‘You may have pain and suffering now, but do not worry. Your attitude of analyzing and searching
for the truth, your courage to experiment with truth, will liberate you from all pains, so go ahead!’
He then advised me to start searching for the source of my thoughts. Of course, at that age I was only
irritated by his comments and my attention was on the fruits and sweets that devotees had brought him. I
was hoping he would give me some in consolation! Honestly, I neither understood nor was convinced of
what he said.
However, after a few days I began to playfully and casually try out the technique of trying to see the origin
of my thoughts. I did not do this with any expectation or idea. All I knew was what the Swami had told
me—that I would go beyond pain or suffering if I did this technique. I had no concept of God, Brahman,
ātman or jñāna.
One evening, at the foothills of the sacred Arunachala hill, I was sitting on a rock known locally as pavala
kundru, the Coral Rock, trying out the same technique with eyes closed. I had fallen into deep meditation.
After some time, suddenly something opened, something seemed to happen inside my being, a feeling of
being pulled or sucked inside.
The next moment it was as if a door had opened inside me, and I had complete 360-degree vision, both
laterally and vertically. I could see on all four sides – the temple that was behind me, the hill that was in
front of me, and the city that was on my left and right. I could see vertically too— the sky, the rock on
which I was sitting, again the temple behind me.
For normal people who have only a maximum of 120-DEGree vision, I know this is very
difficult to comprehend. All I can do is promise solemnly that it did happen! No other intellectual
explanation is possible. Not only was I able to see all around, I was also able to feel that whatever I was
seeing was Me. Whether they were plants or rocks or the city or the hill, whatever I could see, I felt they
were all just Me. The experience was so intense and ecstatic that it was more than three or four hours
before I opened My eyes. I felt feverish with bliss and this mood continued for three days.
But after this I was overtaken by a fear that there was something wrong with me. I thought a ghost had
possessed me and I decided never to go to that rock again. I even began to avoid that route, which I
normally took.
I related my experience to an elderly Sannyāsi, Mata Vibhudānanda Devi (Kuppammal), who was my
mentor. She held my hand and seeing the energy, exclaimed, ‘You are not possessed by any ghost. You
are possessed by God!’ She encouraged me to continue with meditation but I never dared to do so for the
next six months and was even afraid to close my eyes!
I also related my experience to a close friend of mine. I told him about my 360-degree vision and my not
knowing what was happening to me, etc. He did not believe me until I proved it to him by telling him about
 an ant climbing up the tree behind me, and correctly telling which side of the coin that he hid in his hand was
exposed. He ran away from me in terror!
He came to the ashram and said to one of the ashramites, ‘I was the first person to receive energy darśan from
him, but I missed it!’
But despite the fear I experienced, the whole body was bubbling with joy and ecstasy.
So welcome was the feeling that I had a small temptation to go to the rock again. I never really understood what
had happened. A year later another enlightened person gave me the explanation; the seeking, however, started
after this experience. Nine years of penance followed. All this penance was in order to have this experience
again. When it did come the next time, both body and mind were ready and the experience stayed within my
being.
The vision of 360 degrees is what Kṛṣṇa means by divyacakṣu, trinetra, divine eye or third eye, also called ājñā
cakra. When this eye opens you will see 360 degrees not only in the horizontal but in the vertical dimension too.
You will see the whole Existence as You and experience it as You. This experience is what Kṛṣṇa calls Cosmic
consciousness.
11.9 Sañjaya said:
O King, having spoken thus, the great Lord of Yoga, Mahā Yogeśvara Hari (Kṛṣṇa),
showed to Arjuna His supreme Cosmic form.
11.10 Infinite mouths and eyes, with infinite wonderful sights, infinite divine ornaments, with numerous
divine weapons uplifted.
11.11 Arjuna saw this Universal form wearing Divine garlands and clothing, anointed all over
with celestial fragrances. All wonderful, brilliantly resplendent, endless, with all-
pervading faces on all sides.
11.12 If the splendor of a thousand suns were to blaze all together in the sky, it would be like the
splendor effulgence of that Great Supreme Lord.
11.13 There, in the body or Universal Form of the God of gods, the Pāṇḍava then saw the whole Universe
resting in One place, while all its infinite expansions divided into many, many thousands.
11.14 Then, Dhanañjaya, filled with wonder and astonishment, his hair standing on end, then
bowed his head to the Supreme Lord and began to pray with joined palms.

In the body of the supreme Lord, Arjuna saw the whole Universe divided in different ways and at the same
time united in one form. The Universe is divided into many parts such as the sun, moon, earth, planets and
other bodies in space. Here he sees all of them as one form. You need to understand this description, which is
so beautiful. Later we shall enter into a meditation and pray to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa to give us all a glimpse
of what Arjuna received.
Arjuna is able to see the whole and at the same time all the parts. Even the word hologram that we now so
commonly use to describe the totality of something preserved in a fragment does no justice to Arjuna’s
vision. In a hologram, one needs to make the effort to see the whole in the fragment. In this divine
vision granted to Arjuna, the whole existed with the part, with no separation, no discontinuity. The
whole was part and the part was whole.
11.15 Arjuna says:
O dear God, I see all the gods assembled in Your body and various other living beings too. I see
Brahma, the Lord of creation, seated on the lotus, as well as Īśam (Śiva), and all the sages and
celestial serpents.
11.16 I see Your infinite form on every side, with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes; Neither the
end, nor the middle nor the beginning do I see, O Viśveśvara, O Lord of the Universe,

O Viśvarūpa, Cosmic Form.

11.17 I see You with crown, club and discus; a mass of radiance shining everywhere, difficult to look at,
blazing all round like the burning fire and Sun in infinite brilliance.
11.18 You are the imperishable; the Supreme Being worthy to be known. You are the great treasure house
of this Universe. You are the imperishable Protector of the eternal order. I believe You are the eternal
being.
11.19 I see You without a beginning, middle or end, infinite in power and with many arms, the sun
and the moon being Your eyes, the blazing fire your mouth, the whole Universe scorched by
Your radiance.
11.20 This space between earth and the heavens and everything is filled by You alone. O Great being,
having seen Your wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds tremble with fear.
11.21 Many celestials enter into You; some praise You in fear with folded hands; Many great masters
and sages hail and adore You.
11.22 The Rudra, Āditya, Vasu, Sadhya, Viśvadeva, Ashvin, Marut, Uśmapa and a host of Gandharva,
Yakṣa, Asura and Siddha are all looking at You in amazement.
11.23 Having seen Your immeasurable form with many mouths and eyes, with many arms, thighs and
feet, with many stomachs and frightening tusks, O Mahābāho, Mighty-armed, the worlds are
terrified and so am I.
11.24 Seeing You, Your form touching the sky, flaming in many colors, mouths wide open, large fiery
eyes, O Viṣṇu, I find neither courage nor peace; I am frightened.
As a matter of fact, when you begin to see 360 degrees in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, there really
is no beginning, middle or end to see. It is a continuum. It is like seeing one of these special movies on a
circular screen. It is an infinite circle. The Divine is an infinite circle, with no beginning, no end and therefore
no middle. Without a beginning and an end, to talk about the middle makes no sense.
The form is difficult to see in its sheer glowing radiance, spreading on all sides like blazing fire or the
immeasurable brightness of the sun. Yet Arjuna sees this glowing form everywhere adorned with various
crowns and discs. He sees Kṛṣṇa wearing the diadem, holding the mace and discus.
Arjuna says, ‘Your magnificence is shining everywhere, from all sides, difficult to see. You are blazing
from all sides with the luster of the sun, limitless.’
Part of what Arjuna sees here is the traditional representation of Lord Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is always depicted
with His weapons of mace and discus, the gada and cakra, and wearing the jewel-studded crown. Viṣṇu is
also depicted resting on the ocean of milk upon the giant serpent Adiseśa, with Brahma rising from Viṣṇu’s
navel upon a lotus flower.
Some of what he sees is formless energy. He perceives radiance more powerful than a thousand suns,
blazing and dazzling, impossible to look at even with his newly endowed divine eye. What Arjuna sees is
beyond any sensory perception, something that could be experienced in that moment in time, impossible to
express.
Suddenly the scene changes in these verses. Arjuna is terrified. What he is seeing now is quite different
from what he expected when he asked to see Kṛṣṇa’s divine form.
Arjuna is now incoherent. What he keeps saying is neither logical nor well thought out. What he sees he
reproduces to the best of his mental abilities. Arjuna is convinced, seeing the Universal form of Kṛṣṇa, that
what he sees is the supreme being, the puruṣa, the imperishable, the very origin of all, the Eternal. O supreme
soul, Paramātman, after having seen your wonderful form, all the worlds and the whole universe is trembling
with fear. All the celestial beings are shuddering before this form and entering into this formless form, some
of them afraid, offering prayers with folded hands, along with hosts of realized sages praising this form in
silent acceptance and wonderment.’

11.25 Having seen your fearsome mouths with blazing tusks like the fire of the end of the
Universe,

I know not the four directions nor do I find peace.

O Lord of the Deva, O Refuge of the Universe, be gracious.
11.26 All the sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra with many kings of the earth, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, the son of the
charioteer, Karṇa,

with our warrior chieftains

11.27 Into Your mouths with terrible tusks, fearful to behold, they enter. Some are seen caught in the
gaps between the tusks and their heads crushed.
11.28 Even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean, so too these warriors in the world of
men enter Your flaming mouths.
11.29 Just as moths hurriedly rush into the fire for their own destruction, so too these creatures rush
hastily into Your mouths of destruction.
11.30 Swallowing all worlds on every side with Your flaming mouths, You lick in enjoyment. O Viṣṇu,
Your fierce rays are burning, filling the whole world with radiance.
11.31 Tell me who You are, so fierce in form; salutations to You, O Supreme; have mercy. Indeed I
know not Your purpose, but I desire to know You, the Original being.

Fear, the Destroyer of Ecstasy

There are two things that make you a human—the instinct to possess and the instinct to survive. The instinct
to survive arises out of fear, from the svādiṣṭhāna cakra (fear energy center in your body), and the instinct to
possess comes out of greed, from the mūlādhāra cakra (greed energy center in your body). This sums it up.
Here the instinct to survive has appeared and he has become Arjuna, the man. We do not understand that when
we drop the instinct to survive, we become Kṛṣṇa; we exist forever. We become Bhagavān, the Universal
consciousness. But most often, we hold onto the instinct to survive. Now Arjuna slowly comes down and
becomes Arjuna, the man.
In the beginning Arjuna sees what he wished to see. He sees what he believes to be the Cosmic form of
the great Viṣṇu in His traditional attire and weapons, surrounded by Gods and sages. The form changed
suddenly into a terrifying one of death, all-consuming and terror-inspiring, to which the entire Universe bowed
down in fear.
From this macro perspective, Arjuna comes down to see the same destruction being played out at the level
of the battlefield at Kurukṣetra. His enemies, the great warriors arrayed against him in battle, fly into the
gaping mouth of destruction like moths into fire. Arjuna sees with convincing reality, the destruction of all the
great warriors who would have been expected to give him trouble.
One thing, Arjuna does not expect the Cosmic form of Kṛṣṇa to be anything but loving and compassionate.
Kṛṣṇa can be the friend, the master, the beloved, the child, the mother and all combined. In every one of these
moods, in each bhāva, Kṛṣṇa is still lovable, still reachable. However, in the form that Kṛṣṇa has presented
now, the all-devouring monster as it were, Arjuna is unable to comprehend any aspect of Kṛṣṇa that he has
known.
For the first time, Arjuna realizes that the Master cannot be predicted! He now knows that the Master
cannot be put in a frame. The primal energy that the Master is has to be experienced in whatever manner it is
presented, without expectations and fears.
Nature and Existence are neither cruel nor kind. The very term ‘compassion’ has a different meaning in
the Cosmic dictionary. It is not the sympathy offered by each of us to another with or without any real feeling.
It is not kindness. It is not the desire to be doing ‘good,’ whatever that looks like to us. True
compassionistheresult of experiencing that we are one with all of Existence. There is no ‘other’.
11.32 Śrī Bhagavān says:
I am the mighty world-destroying time. I am now destroying the worlds.

Even without you, none of the warriors standing in the hostile armies
shall live.
11.33 Get up and gain glory. Conquer the enemies and enjoy the prosperous
kingdom.

I have slain all these warriors;

you are a mere instrument, O Savyasācī (Arjuna).
11.34 Droṇa, Bhīṣma, Jayādṛta, Karṇa, and other brave warriors have already been slain by Me;
destroy them. Do not be afraid; fight and you shall conquer your enemies in battle.
For the first time, He takes off His mask and says matter-of-factly, ‘I am the Destroyer.’ He pulls no punches
in responding to Arjuna’s query, ‘Who are you, and what is your purpose?’
‘I am kāla, time,’ says the Lord, ‘and I destroy.’
 Time never stands still. It moves on. Nothing can stop the flow of time. Nothing can bring back time. Nothing
can move time forward. Time destroys.
The future constantly moves into the present, and then into the past. At the frequency of our life, we
can only see the present, and remember what we can of the past.
Kṛṣṇa is stating a simple fact here. ‘With or without you,’ He says, ‘all these warriors will be dead. As
Time, I shall devour them. It is not you who are the cause. You can be the superficial reason. By being the
instrument of their destruction, be the gainer of fame, wealth and power.’
When Kṛṣṇa speaks of destroying and wiping out the world, He is talking about the destruction of the
illusory physical and material world. He is the destroyer of fantasies, He is the destroyer of identities, He is
the destroyer of egos and He is the destroyer of all that is unreal.
As He has said earlier on, what gets destroyed is the shell, the perishable body-mind, not the imperishable
ātman. What the Mahākāla, time, destroys, is the psychodrama that is being played out on the battlefield.
11.35 Sañjaya said:
Having heard this speech of Keśava, the crowned Arjuna with joined palms, trembling,
prostrating himself,

Again addressed Kṛṣṇa, voice choking, bowing down, overwhelmed with fear.
11.36 Arjuna says: O Hriṣikeśa (Kṛṣṇa), it is but right that the world delights and rejoices in Your
praise. Rākṣasas fly in fear in all directions and all hosts of sages bow to You.
11.37 And why should they not bow to Thee, O Great Soul,
greater than all else, the Creator of even Brahma the Creator? O Lord of Lords, O Infinite
being, O Abode of the Universe,

You are the imperishable, that which is beyond both the seen and the unseen.
11.38 You are the primal God, the ancient being, the Supreme Refuge of the
Universe.

You are the Knower and the One to be known.

You are the Supreme Abode, O being of Infinite forms, by You alone is the Universe
pervaded.
11.39 You are Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the Moon, Prajāpati and the great-
grandfather of all. Salutations unto You a thousand times, and again
salutations unto You!
11.40 Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You on every
side! O All! Infinite in power and Infinite in prowess, You are
everything and everywhere.
In the first stage, Arjuna’s expectations of the glorious Universal form of Kṛṣṇa were fulfilled. He saw Kṛṣṇa
the way He expected: with His crown, discus and mace, with Brahma rising on a lotus flower from Viṣṇu’s
navel.
Even as he was getting used to the enormity of the vision that he beheld, Arjuna found this form replaced by
a terrible, all-devouring form of Kṛṣṇa that filled Arjuna with fear. Arjuna cries out: ‘Who are you? Why are
you here?’
Kṛṣṇa explains who He is; that He is the all-devouring time. Still overcome with fear, but recovering from the
primal fear that had overcome him a few moments ago, Arjuna now surrenders himself to Kṛṣṇa.
At this stage, Arjuna understands who Kṛṣṇa is. He understands what Kṛṣṇa’s purpose is. Arjuna’s devotion is
at its peak. He salutes Kṛṣṇa as the source of all beings, the creator of Brahma, who in turn created Prajāpati
from whom all beings originated. He salutes Kṛṣṇa as the elements of Nature. Since Kṛṣṇa extends
everywhere and there is no place where He is not present, Arjuna salutes Him in all directions. Arjuna now
truly appreciates the unfathomable magnitude of Kṛṣṇa.

11.41 Arjuna says: Whatever I have rashly said from carelessness or love, addressing You as Kṛṣṇa,
Yādava, my friend
 regarding You merely as a friend, unaware of this greatness of Yours.
11.42 In whatever way I may have insulted You in fun, while at play, resting, sitting, or at meals, when
alone with You or in company, O Achuta, O Immeasurable One, I implore You to forgive me.
11.43 You are the Father of this world, moving and unmoving. You are to be adored by this
world.

You are the greatest Guru; there is none who exists equal to You. O Being of unequalled power,
how then can there be another, superior to You in the three worlds?
11.44 Therefore, bowing down, I prostrate my body before You and crave Your forgiveness,
adorable Lord. Even as a father forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, You
should, O Deva, forgive me.
Arjuna’s worry is not fear of any reprisal, now that he knows who Kṛṣṇa is. It is guilt that bothers him.
‘I called You by Your caste name, Yādava,’ Arjuna cries out, ‘I called You, ‘Hey
friend, Hey Kṛṣṇa’. I knew not Whom I was addressing, Whom I was dealing
with. Please forgive me.’
‘How could I have done this? Please forgive me for the love I had for You that made me careless in
addressing You. Bear with me; forgive me as a father would a son, a lover, his beloved and a friend, his mate.

Completion with Master is Enlightenment

As his friend, Kṛṣṇa was the reality to Arjuna. He took liberties with his friend because He was so real to
him. But his updated intelligence of Kṛṣṇa’s Cosmic form shook him up so badly that he was now consumed
by guilt. It was because of the intense devotion that Arjuna had for Kṛṣṇa, that Kṛṣṇa gave him the invaluable
gift of His divine form. Had Kṛṣṇa not considered him worthy, Arjuna would not have seen his Cosmic form.
All our life, guilt rules us from our past. Whatever we do, we do with the intelligence available to us at
that point in time. Often, what we did before seems wrong to us and we feel guilty. We start doubting our self
and doubting others. There is no greater sin than carrying such guilt and self-doubt. What we did was not
sinful; to carry the guilt with us is sinful. When complete with the guilt pattern, we drop the guilt and self-
doubt. With the power of completion, a deep imprint is made within our self which is far more powerful than
carrying the guilt and doubt.
Arjuna is demonstrating to the rest of us the power of completion with the Master, the ultimate
relationship; in this case his incompletion is the guilt that seems to arise from the deepest of love.
Please listen. One of the important complications you carry in your life is doubt about yourself and doubt
about your Master. You will project that self-doubt on your Master. Listen! Complete with that self-doubt.
Only then you will have complete relation with the Master.
In one sense, Arjuna does not wish to carry that self-doubt and guilt with Kṛṣṇa. With integrity and
authenticity, he completes with his guilt, his self-doubt and drops it in front of his friend, Lord and Master
saying, ‘Forgive me.’
Fear concerns the future. We can never be afraid of the past; it is dead and gone. Guilt and remorse plague
us from the past. We need not have done it or we could have done it differently are the incompletions that we
carry in the present.
I tell you, completion with Master is enlightenment! If you just have completion with the Master, nothing
else is required! His space will just gush into you. His space will just raise your inner space.

From Friendship to Enlightened Relationship

Arjuna is one of the greatest examples of sakha bhāva, friendship relationship between master and
disciple. It is the immediate effect of realizing the true nature of Kṛṣṇa, especially in His destructive form, that
terrifies Arjuna, that makes him afraid.
Sakha bhāva is not a relationship of equals. A disciple cannot be equal to the Master. Even when a disciple
becomes enlightened and in that sense at the same level as the Master, the mood of the disciple would be one
of sheer gratitude. It is after Enlightenment that a disciple realizes the true nature of the Master and the real
 master-disciple relationship flowers. The disciple imbibes the nature of his Master, he communes with the
Master and this is how the lineage of great Masters is sustained.
In true sakha bhāva, everyone is a friend, not just the Master. One turns non-judgmental and respects
everyone around as an expression of divinity. In one sense this is the problem that Arjuna has in waging war
with his clansmen, who are his enemies. As an extension of his sakha bhāva relationship with Kṛṣṇa, he finds
it difficult to hate his clansmen enough to fight and kill them. He gives many reasons but these reasons are
only excuses.
Arjuna is no coward. He is the greatest warrior. Killing is second nature to him. But destroying a friend is
not. His innate devotion to Kṛṣṇa extends to the Kauravas and he finds it difficult to keep this friendship feeling
aside on the battlefield. In these verses, Arjuna also expresses the fear that his space of friendship may have been
tinged with dislike or enmity or anger at some time. Though he seeks forgiveness for having called Kṛṣṇa his
friend or a Yādava, etc., these are not really good reasons for a good friend to apologize, even if the friend turns
out to be God.

11.45 After seeing this form which I have never seen before, I am filled with gladness but at
the same time I am disturbed by fear. Please bestow Your grace upon me and show me
Your form as the Supreme Personality, O Lord of Lords, O Refuge of the Universe.

11.46 O thousand armed Universal form! I wish to see Your form with crown, four-armed
with mace and disc in Your hand. I yearn to see You in that form.
11.47 Bhagavān says:
Dear Arjuna, I have favoured you with this Transcendental form within the material world
of My internal power.

No one before you has seen this unlimited, brilliant form.

11.48 O best among Kuru warriors, no one has ever before seen this Universal form of Mine, for
neither by studying the Vedas nor by performing sacrifices or charities, can this form be seen.
Only you have seen this form.
11.49 Do not be disturbed any longer by seeing this terrible form of Mine. Dear devotee, be free
from all disturbances. With a peaceful mind, you can now see the form you wish to see
Kṛṣṇa is clear on this point. It is He who decides how He reveals Himself to His devotees and disciples. It is
a gift from the Master, from the Divine. It is not earned through effort. Of course, effort prepares one for the
receipt of this great gift, but it is not the only necessary condition for the gift to be showered.

11.51 Arjuna says: Seeing this wonderful human form,

My mind is now calm and I am restored to my original nature.
11.52 Bhagavān says:
The four-armed form that you have seen is rare to behold. Even the celestials are forever aspiring
to see this form.
11.53 The four-armed form that you have seen with your transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply
by study of the Vedas,

nor by undergoing penances or charity or worship; One cannot see Me as I am by

these means.
11.54 My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service can you understand Me as I am, standing
before you, being seen directly. Only in this way can you reach Me.
11.55 My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged entirely in My devotional service, who surrenders to Me as
the supreme, free from attachment, full of love for every entity, surely comes to Me.
Kṛṣṇa now appears in front of Arjuna first in His four-handed beautiful divine form that Arjuna is
comfortable with, and finally as Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, in His gentle human form that Arjuna is so familiar
with. But the familiarity ends there. Having seen what Kṛṣṇa really is through His divine form of
Nārāyaṇa, with four arms bearing the discus and mace, and also in His terrifying Cosmic form as
Mahākāla, Arjuna now has an understanding of the unlimited magnitude of the personality in front of him.

Experience You as Universe and Universe is You

Kṛṣṇa concludes this chapter with a clear direction of what a devotee should do to reach Him. It is as
simple as 1, 2, 3.
‘Work for Me,’ He says, ‘work for My mission, mat karma kṛn. Surrender to Me as the supreme with no
reservations, mat paramo mad bhaktaḥ. Have no attachment to whatever you do, leave the results to Me,
surrender the fruits of your action to Me, sanga varjitaḥ. Look upon everyone as your own Self, without
dislike and hatred, nirvairaḥ sarva bhūteṣu.’

Meditation
Pray intensely to the Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, Universal consciousness, in whatever name you know, in
whatever form you know. Pray to that energy to give a glimpse of His being to you, a glimpse of the experience
that Arjuna received and which all the enlightened masters experienced.
Pray to the Universal energy. It responds to your thoughts. Don’t think your prayers are dead words. They
are living communication.
Inhale and exhale as slowly as possible and as deeply as possible. Concentrate and bring your attention
between your eyebrows, on your ājña cakra. Slowly, but very deeply concentrate on your ājña cakra. Without
forcing yourself, put your awareness naturally on your ājña cakra.
Slowly start visualizing the whole Universe moving inside your head.
Feel this clearly inside your head.
The space that is in front of you, in your inner space, the whole Universe is moving. See the sun, moon
and all the planets. Visualize this clearly, intensely. Slowly relax the body, be one with the Universal
consciousness. Feel the experience of being one with the Universe.
You are seeing clearly the sun, moon, stars and planets. Just disappear into the Universal consciousness.
Forget your name, your form, all the conditionings, your profession, your gender and your country, everything
about yourself. Forget your identity and see the whole Universe intensely. Just see the moving Universe
intensely, all the planets, the stars, all the suns, moons.
Disappear into the Universal consciousness. Lose the identity, the root cause of all the thoughts; let it
disappear into the Universal consciousness. Experience the bliss, the fulfilling bliss of the whole Universe.
Expand and disappear into that Universe.
Dissolve into the Universal consciousness. Be in Nityānanda, eternal bliss!
Thus ends the eleventh chapter named Viśvarūpa Darśan Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Cosmic Vision,’ 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.

CHAPTER 12
Bhakti Yogaḥ
 12.1 Arjuna asks, ‘Who are considered perfect, those who are always engaged sincerely in Your
worship in form, or those who worship the imperishable, the unmanifest formless You?’

Experience or Expression? Completion or

Enriching?
Arjuna asks, ‘Is it good to be established in the experience of the Divine consciousness, just to stay in it and
enjoy the eternal bliss that flows from that experience? Or is it better to express that love and gratitude created
by the conscious experience towards the whole world and every living being? Which is correct? Which one is
preferred?’
Kṛṣṇa’s answer is that both paths are the same. The paths are intertwined. The first one leads to the second
one and the second one leads back to first one. We have heard the term vicious circle. First one leads to the
second and the second one leads back to the first one.
Now, I want to introduce another word, ‘virtuous circle.’ Vicious circle leads to low energy or lower level
of consciousness. Virtuous circle leads to high energy, a higher level of consciousness! Bliss leading to
devotion and gratitude, devotion and gratitude leading to bliss: these two form the virtuous circle that lead us
to higher consciousness.
Bliss means the experience of completion that leads us to the expression of gratitude and enriching. Again,
the expression, the gratitude of enriching, leads us to bliss, and bliss leads us to deeper completion. One leads
to the other and therefore it is a virtuous circle.

12.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says,

Those who fix their mind on Me eternally and those who are steadfast in worshipping Me
with supreme faith, I consider them to be perfect in yoga, ready to be united with Me.

Real Completion Expresses as Enriching with

Love
You need to know that relationships are not something external. It is an expression of yourself, how you
feel about you. The relationship you carry with you is projected as the relationship with the world! I tell you,
when you bring integrity in your relationship with others, honoring the words you gave or completing the
words you gave, the way others look at you will be transformed immediately.
Being established in that consciousness of completion or expressing it towards enriching the Universe
is the same. When a person is merged, when a person is established, he automatically radiates. If
the love is not happening, if the expression is not happening, the person has not experienced.
When the real experience of completion happens, it automatically expresses as enriching.
Kṛṣṇa says that a person established in the consciousness of completion is great; however, the person
who expresses, who shares, who automatically radiates the power of living by enriching is as great
as the one who is established. The truth is that if a man is established in consciousness, he will
radiate, he will enrich, and he will sing.

12.3 – 12.4 But those who worship the imperishable, the unmanifest, that which lies beyond the perception
of senses, the all pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, the non-moving and permanent; those who
worship by restraining their senses, and are working with even mind for the enrichment of mankind,
they too attain Me.
The Divine is imperishable. It is akṣaram. Everything else in this material Universe may come and
go, appear and disappear, while the Divine remains forever. It is unique and incomparable and
cannot be benchmarked against anything, as it is supreme. It is avyaktam, unmanifest and
acinytam, inconceivable, and therefore cannot be comprehended by the senses. It cannot be
grasped by thoughts and mind, which is why one’s mind-body needs to be transcended to glimpse
the Divine. The Divine resides everywhere and is omnipresent.
12.5 For those whose minds are set on the unmanifest, the formless, it is more difficult to advance;
attaining the formless unmanifest is difficult for the embodied.
In one’s search for the truth, the Divine, the unmanifest, avyakta, which is what the intellectual seeker is
focusing on, the intellect, the mind or ego will be the block that makes the path difficult to traverse. The
individual carries not only the body but the mind as well. And with the mind, it carries the ego. As Kṛṣṇa
points out—avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ (12.5). Unless the mind-body is transcended by the process of
completion and surrender, spiritual advancement is difficult.
12.6 – 12.7 But those who worship me with single-minded devotion, renouncing all activities
unto Me, regarding Me as their Supreme goal, whose minds are set in Me, O Pārtha, I
shall deliver them soon from the ocean of the birth and death cycle.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If you surrender to Me, surrender all your actions and the fruits of those actions to Me, do
my service, meditate upon Me, remain single-minded upon My consciousness, I shall then liberate you. I shall
make sure you never need to be born again.’ It is the roar of a lion. It is the roar of the King of this Universe.
‘Surrender to Me and I shall liberate you. Serve Me and I shall liberate you.’
Surrendering to the Divine is not conditional. It must be total. There can be no ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, or ‘buts’. It
cannot be, ‘If you grant my prayers, I shall be devoted to you.’ That is business. Most of our relationship with
God is business.
There are three kinds of surrender. First, there is surrender of one’s intellect. For many, this is possible.
Once we understand that there is a Universal energy far greater than us, most of us can accept and surrender
intellectually to that supreme power. At least we can say, ‘I surrender.’ That’s how many of us prostrate in a
temple or before a master. The entire body touches the ground signifying our surrender. For that moment, our
ego takes a vacation.
Surrender at the next level is emotional. One can melt at the thought of God or master. There is love, there
is gratitude pouring out of our hearts and we feel tears streaming down. We become bhaktas, devotees.
Rāmakṛṣṇa said, ‘If you have tears in your eyes when you think of God or your Master, be very clear, this is
your last birth! You are ready for liberation.’ We are ready but not liberated until we reach the last and third
step. This step of surrender is the surrender of one’s senses. Our surrender is total at this stage: complete,
spontaneous, instant and natural.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘When you surrender to Me, I shall liberate you.’ To reach Him, we must surrender totally without
deviation. Our senses must be surrendered to Him. Our entire consciousness, our complete awareness must
only be of Him and nothing else. Nothing else needs to be done. The technique is so simple. ‘Surrender and I
shall save you,’ says the Master. ‘I shall save you without delay, immediately—bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha mayy
āveśita cetasām (12.7).’ The Lord has made it so simple. Yet, we find it so difficult to believe Him.
12.8 You fix your mind on Me alone, establish your mind in Me. You will live in Me always.
There is no doubt in it.
There are two kinds of love, horizontal love and vertical love. Let me explain. Horizontal love is like a
horizontal line, flat. It is related to time: it starts and ends. Anything that starts must end. If it takes more time
to end, don’t think it is permanent. Anything that starts must end. It may take a few years or a few months, but
it ends. It is impermanent and time bound. This is horizontal love. Horizontal love is related to time.
Vertical love is related to consciousness. Vertical love neither starts nor ends. It does not discriminate. It is
our very quality. It flows. If we discriminate and love, it cannot be love. It is an infatuation. As long as the
other person fits into our frame, our love grows. The moment the other person doesn’t fit into our frame, our
love disappears.

Real Renunciation Is Completion With the

Whole
When we experience ecstasy and bliss within, we don’t feel we are missing anything from the outside
world. Real renunciation is not about our renouncing the world. It is about the world renouncing us. When we
have that completion, joy, ecstasy and bliss, we automatically radiate that bliss. We never feel that we miss
anything or that we have lost something.
I tell people not to renounce the world unless they feel completion and ecstasy inside. Never renounce.
Work towards completion and ecstasy. When that happens, renunciation automatically happens. If you
renounce the outer world without having established the inner world with completion, you will fall into
depression.
 When you are complete with you, the world will be complete with you. When you are incomplete
with you, the world will be incomplete with you! Completion with you is Inner Awakening. Completion
with the whole Universe is Sannyāsa. Sannyāsa means completion with the Whole. You are clear with
your accounts and there is no incompletion!
I tell you: dharmo rakśati rakśitāḥ
When you protect dharma, it protects you. When you excite dharma, it excites you. When you enrich
dharma, it enriches you. When you are integrated to it, it is integrated into you. When you are authentic with
it, it is authentic with you. When you take responsibility for it, it takes responsibility for you. Only when you
enrich it, will it enrich you. Dharma means the natural law of the Cosmos. It is an independent
intelligence.
. I tell you, in every situation take the responsibility. You will have leadership consciousness happening
in you, īśvaratva. Our brains are hardwired to experience higher possibilities and higher consciousness. It is
this part that I call as non-mechanical parts of your brain.
Just take in this one truth that Kṛṣṇa speaks of, ‘Establishing your intelligence in Me.’ Please understand
that whatever you take in as your inputs, you establish your mind only on that. So let your inputs be purified.
Let purification of your sensory inputs, happen to you. Your consciousness will automatically be established
in the Divine.

12.9 – 12.10 If you are not able to fix your mind upon Me, then O Dhanañjaya (Arjuna), with the
constant practice of yoga you try to attain Me. If you are not able to practice even this yoga,
then performing your duties and surrendering all your actions to Me, you will attain perfection.

Here Kṛṣṇa talks about Abhyāsa Yoga. What is Abhyāsa Yoga? Abhyāsa Yoga is the practice or method of
yoga of holding the mind constantly in a state of union with Divinity. It is the state of
complete immersion in the consciousness of Kṛṣṇa.
Why does Kṛṣṇa speak about Abhyāsa Yoga? In the last chapter, Kṛṣṇa gives Arjuna a glimpse of the
universal consciousness, Viśvarūpa darśan. However, Arjuna is unable to stay in that state permanently.
Arjuna comes out of the experience because of fear or old saṁskāras, root thought patterns of past desires. He
slips from that state of consciousness. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa speaks about Abhyāsa Yoga, how to establish oneself
in that consciousness. That’s why He speaks about abhyāsa, which means practice.

Since He knows that we may not be able to lose ourselves in devotion to Him, He offers this as an
alternative. ‘If the mind cannot be focused on Me,’ says the Lord, ‘try this. Practice again and again uniting
with Me through meditation.’ When neither seems possible, Kṛṣṇa offers one more way. ‘Do whatever you
must. Do your duty as you need to and are able to. But then, surrender what you do to Me. Do what you do
for My sake, mat-karma-paramo bhava.’ By performing whatever we do with total faith in Him, and with a
deep feeling of surrender to Him, we reach Him.

12.11 If you are not able to work even this way, surrendering unto Me, give up all the results of your
actions to Me without ego.
Kṛṣṇa brings in the core concept of the Gītā, that of ‘renunciation’. He says, ‘Do what you
must do with an attitude of surrender to Me and sacrifice the results of your actions to Me,
with complete control over yourself, your ego.’
We feel responsible for the results of our actions. Whether we succeed or fail in what we do, either proud and
happy, or guilty and sad, our ego makes us feel responsible. We identify ourselves with what we do and the
results of what we do.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If you cannot do whatever else I have told you to do, do this. Drop your ego. Drop the fruits of
your actions and renounce them to Me.’
The freedom that results from what Kṛṣṇa advises is true liberation. Once we realize that we no longer are the
masters of our destiny, decision makers of the results of our actions, we feel a weight lifting off our shoulders.
It is He who is now responsible for the results of our action. We still are the ‘doers’, but no longer the ‘owners.’
We just need to let the Universe, Kṛṣṇa, the Divine, decide what is best for the rest of humanity and us.
12.12 Knowledge is better than mere practice. Meditation is superior to knowledge. Renouncing the
fruit of actions is better than meditation. After renunciation of fruits of actions, one immediately
attains peace.
Here Kṛṣṇa gives four different instructions. Either you can establish yourself in Bhakti Yoga – Path of
Devotion, or live a regular life of spiritual routine, or sacrifice all the fruits of action to God, or live in
consciousness and act. You can do whatever you want.
Here, with these four options, Kṛṣṇa is expressing spiritual freedom for us. He says that there are so many
paths, and tells us to choose whichever one suits our mentality, and to practice at least one option. It is not so
important which option that we choose. It is essential only that we choose something!
Eastern traditions offer many choices. If you are an intellectual person, then Śiva could be your choice
and you can continuously sit and meditate. If you are inclined towards devotion, then Viṣṇu could be your
choice. The path includes singing and dancing like the great masters Caitanya. Just sing the glory of the Lord
like the Alwars, devotional saints of Tamil Nadu, related with Viṣṇu. If you are inclined towards yoga, if you
are a yogi, then Devi is the one for you. Meditate on Her, offer worship and tantric practices.
There are many different kinds of techniques, and the options are many. You have customized ways,
customized paths for your personal growth. Thus, naturally wherever one is, one can grow and reach the level
one is supposed to reach. You are continuously given choices, given options. Naturally, one tends to take up
something or the other.
Surrender is liberation. Surrender is the expression of choicelessness, of leaving the decision to the Divine
after doing what one can do. Unless we let go of our expectations and our attachment to the results of our
actions, we will continue to build unproductive stress and incompletions within us that will not raise us to our
peak possibility.
When we learn to focus totally on what we need to do and work on the process, without worrying about
the destination, whatever we do is done better, faster and more effectively. Kṛṣṇa’s teaching is not merely
spiritual. It is highly practical. It is not only after-life enhancing, but it is present-life enabling.

12.13 – 12.14 One who has no dislike or envy for any being, who is friendly and compassionate to
everyone, free from the sense of I and mine, the ego, maintains equanimity of mind both

in joy and sorrow, forgiving, ever satisfied, united with Yoga, has a strong commitment to Me
and has fixed his mind and intellect upon Me, such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.

Important Qualities of Enriching

Understand here, He says, ‘Who is not envious and a kind friend to every living entity.’ These are
important qualities. Let us analyze our minds. When we honestly analyze our mind, we realize that if
somebody came to you and told you he loved you, you wouldn’t believe it. The first thing you would do is
figure out what he wants from you. You don’t believe you are worthy of being loved. Next, you don’t believe
that somebody can honestly love you, because you don’t love anybody honestly. Because you are calculative,
you expect the other person also to be calculating. All our love is skin deep and you know how deep skin is!

Meditation for Devotion

I give people a simple meditation technique to experience Bhakti Yoga–the Path of Devotion. Just practice
the technique of radiating pleasantness and friendliness. How does one do it? From morning till night
whenever you remember, inhale, inhale, and inhale only the pleasant qualities of bliss. Visualize you are
inhaling bliss and exhaling bliss. Your whole being will be filled with joy. In the beginning you will be
visualizing, imagining. But in a few days you will realize it is your quality.
One more thing you should know is that imagination and visualization are two different things.
Imagination translates into kalpanā in Saṃskṛit, while visualization translates into bhāvanā. Bhāvanā is
different from kalpanā. Kalpanā means imagining things that are not there. For example, if you think of an
elephant with ten trunks, that is imagination, kalpanā, that which is not there. But bhāvanā means visualizing
that which is present but maybe eluding you.
 If you sit during the day and visualize stars in the sky, that is not imagination. It is visualization. Because
stars are in the sky even though you are unable to see them. So visualizing stars is not imagination. Perceiving
what is there but what you are unable to see at this moment is visualization. Trying to perceive what can never
exist is imagination.
So understand that meditating on gods and goddesses is not imagination. It is visualization. They are
there. You cannot see them; that is all. You are supposed to fall in tune with them, like tuning your television.
Similarly, visualization is tuning yourself. Just continuously visualize inhaling and exhaling bliss. Visualise
prāṇa – the life giving energy—going inside and coming out. Prāṇa is energy and bliss. Prāṇa is not merely
air. Prāṇa is the energy that goes through air. For example, a truck comes up to your house and unloads
luggage and leaves. The truck is air and the luggage is prāṇa. Using air as a medium, prāṇa enters. Prāṇa-
śakti is the subtle part of air. Prāṇa-śakti is bliss energy, ānanda-śakti.
So whenever you inhale, visualize yourself inhaling bliss. When you exhale, visualize yourself exhaling
bliss. Inhale light and exhale light. Think that your whole body is a beanbag filled with light. Imagine your
body is a beanbag filled with bliss and light. You will automatically start radiating bliss instead of irritation.
Instead of vomiting the poison of anger and jealousy on others, you will radiate love and bliss.

‘Such a devotee of mine is very dear to Me, yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ.’ Kṛṣṇa says
that if somebody lives in this manner, that devotee is close to Him.

12.15 He, by whom the world is not affected adversely, and who in turn does not affect the world adversely,
and he, who is free from joy, anger and anxiety, he is dear to Me.

froM IncoMpLetIons to core of coMpLetIon

Here Kṛṣṇa is saying that the persons who are expressing from their core, unaffected by the happenings around
them, are dear to Him because they are centered on Him—mukto yaḥ sa ca me priyaḥ.

Anxiety lives and breeds in thoughts about the future. Its source is our ego. Ego creates expectations.
Expectations related to ‘I’ and ‘mine’, ‘identity’ and ‘possession’ create the fear that what is expected may
not happen. To move out of anxiety, we must move into the present moment of completion. That is the only
point at which our inner chatter stops and anxiety disappears.
When Kṛṣṇa says, ‘He who is without anxiety will reach Me,’ He says that he who is in the present
moment will reach Me. In the present moment our thoughts cease and we are in the space of completion, and
we can see with clarity the truth of our Existence, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and then we are one with Him.
Anger is often the product of guilt. We move into a defensive position. We feel guilty when we realize
we did wrong. But instead of completing with that action, we become angry. In a sense, this anger is also
directed at ourselves. The guilt we feel is the result of the internal rage against our own weakness. Guilt is the
biggest sin we commit. Whatever we do at a point in time, we do with the knowledge and awareness we
possess at that time. Once we have done what we have done, there is nothing within our power to change it.
Anger breeds anger. It is a vicious cycle. If however, we express anger and express it fully against the incident,
event, or issue, without personalizing it, we can let go of that anger without harm to others and us. It is possible.
You need to practice, that’s all.

12.15 He, by whom the world is not affected adversely, and who in turn does not affect the world
adversely, and he, who is free from joy, anger and anxiety, he is dear to Me.
12.16 He who is free from wants, who is pure and skilled, unconcerned, untroubled, who is selfless in
whatever he does, he who is devoted to Me, he is dear to Me.

Once you let go of joy, anxiety and anger, once you transcend these emotions, you reach a state of calmness
that takes you close to Him. Now, He moves from ‘nissaṇgatvaṁ’ to ‘nirmohatvaṁ,’ from emotional non-
attachment to non-attachment to desires.
We need to understand the difference between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’. Needs are necessary for us to survive on
planet Earth, like the basic needs of food, shelter, etc. The great Jain master Māhāvira says, ‘The moment you
are born on this planet, the Universe sends everything with you that you need.’ We just need to trust the
Universe and we shall get what we need to live. We shall not want anything else.
However, we end up seeking more. Basic needs are no longer enough. Everything we have is a match for what
others have. It is a constant cycle of ‘What next? What next?’ Even before we start enjoying what we have
got, we make a plan to get more. There is no joy in having, the joy is in chasing. There is no end point to this
chase.

12.17 He who does not rejoice or hate or who does not grieve or desire, and who renounces both good
and evil and who is full of devotion, he is dear to Me.
To transcend love and hatred which are two different expressions of the same perceived reality, we need
to drop expectations. We need to develop a sense of non-attachment. We need to be complete in our love.

We all go through several stages of relationships in our lifetime. As children, we are totally dependent upon
parents. Our parents influence us and our love for our parents is conditional. We love them only because there
is no option. To survive, a child must depend upon its parents. As we grow into adolescence, we question
many things we took for granted as an infant or a child; therefore, teenagers rebel. They wish to be
independent. They break rules.
In adulthood, we learn that to survive and coexist, we need to follow societal rules and regulations. The
single most important lesson that people learn in adulthood is that it is important to relate with people
meaningfully.
As we grow and mature, and the spirit and its development become important, we seek guidance. We look
for a Master. With the Master, the relationship that we need with the Master is one of absolute dependence
once again, but with a difference.
The only relationship that will work with the Master is total and unconditional love out of completion. It
is absolute surrender. Surrender transcends love and hate. When one is in a mood of total surrender to the
Master or the Divine, both being one and the same, the concept of good and evil, sin and merit disappear.

12.18 -12.19 One who treats friends and enemies the same, who faces in the same manner honor
and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and sorrow, fame and infamy;

One who is always free from attachment, always silent and satisfied with anything,
without a fixed home, who is fixed in mind and who is devoted to Me,

such a person is very dear to Me.

12.20 Those who truly follow this imperishable path of righteousness with great faith, making Me the
supreme goal, are very dear to Me.
Let us pray to the ultimate energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, to make us all experience the truths of Bhakti Yoga,
that love is our very life. Let us pray to Him to give us the conscious experience of bhakti, devotional love,
and make us experience and radiate eternal bliss, Nityānanda.
Thus ends the twelfth chapter named Bhakti Yogaḥ, ‘Union through Devotional Love,’ 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.
 CHAPTER 13
Kṣetra Kṣetrajña Vibhāga
Yogaḥ

13.1 Arjuna says:

O Keśava, I wish to know and understand about prakṛti and puruṣa,
passive and active energies. The field [kṣetra] and the knower of the field [kṣetrajña], and
of knowledge [jñānaṁ] and of the end of knowledge [jñeyaṃ].
13.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa replies:
This body, O Kaunteya, is called the field, kṣetra. Anyone who knows this body is called the knower of
the field, kṣetrajña.
13.3 O Bhārata, know that I am the Knower in all bodies [kṣetrajñā], the Creator. In my opinion,
knowledge means the understanding of this body or the field of creation as well as the Creator, one
who knows this field.
Whatever you know is not you. If you know something, it is not you. For instance, you can read this book
because it is separate and apart from you. Similarly, if you can know your body, then it is not you. If you can
know your mind, then it is not you. If you can know your thoughts, then they are not you. Whatever you know
is not you. You are separate from that or above that. That is why you are able to know it. Whether it is the
body, thoughts or emotions, whatever you know is not you.
Our consciousness is God and there is no separate thing as God. The problem arises when we start carrying
an inadequate cognition thinking that we are the body and the mind. A person who carries the right cognition
and understands that he is consciousness liberates himself. He is enlightened. He becomes the Buddha.
Consciousness is God.

The Equation is: God + body mind = man

Man – body mind = God!
13.4 Understand my summary of this field of activity and
how it is constituted; what its changes are, how it is produced,
Who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his influences are.
13.5 That knowledge of the field of activities and of the knower of activities is described by
various sages in the scriptures. It is presented with all reasoning as to cause and effect.
13.6 ,7 The field of activities and its interactions are said to be:
the five elements of nature, false ego, intelligence, the mind, the formless, the ten senses of
perception and action, as well as The five objects of senses and desire, hatred, happiness,
distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions.
Thousands of years of research done by millions of inner scientists, Ṛṣis, in millions of inner science
laboratories have led to the same truth: The true nature of man is pure consciousness, kṣetrajña, and man is
the knower or witness of the field, kṣetra, the body-mind.
Kṛṣṇa talks about the five great elements, the false ego, the intelligence or the mind that makes decisions and
all ten senses. Please understand, He says, ‘ten senses, indriyāṇi daśakaṁ ca’. We think we have five senses.
No. We have five karmendriya and five jñānendriya. Karmendriya are the senses or organs responsible for
actions such as talking, walking etc and they are the mouth, hands and feet, organs of excretion and
reproduction. Jñānendriya are our five senses that receive knowledge such as smell, taste, sight, touch, and
 hearing and they are the nose, tongue, eyes, skin and ear. So, all the ten senses, plus attachment, aversion, joy,
sorrow, the body, mutual attraction and the consciousness contribute to the field of activities.

13.8 – 13.12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened
spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense
gratification; absence of ego, the perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age
and disease;

Non-attachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and even-mindedness amid pleasant
and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places,
detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self realization,
and philosophical search for the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge
and anything contrary to these is ignorance.

In these five verses, Kṛṣṇa gives a beautiful technique. Until this point He gave us an intellectual
understanding. Now He gives the technique and technology to realize and experience what He says. I call
these five verses the inner science technology to liberate our inner space! It is a precise technique to liberate
oneself from the kṣetra.
Kṛṣṇa mentions a long list of things in these verses with many instructions. Let me be very clear that if
we straightaway try to practice all the qualities He has given here, we will feel we are going mad! We cannot
really practice these qualities. All we can do is help the consciousness to happen in us so that we start radiating
these qualities. These qualities simply happen in us.
With books we learn through verbal language; with a Master we learn through his body language. He is
a living example that proves the truth can become a reality for us in our life.
Listen. Three things happen when we meet an Enlightened Master:
First, we see in front of our own eyes that it is possible to live in eternal bliss or in bliss
consciousness all 24 hours of the day. The assurance and inspiration to achieve that state is there. We
understand the possibility.

Next we ask, ‘All right, it is possible for the Master. But is it possible for me?’ That assurance is also
given when we reach the Master. The Master instills the confidence in us by showing us, ‘If I can
achieve, why not you?’

It is like this: the seed is afraid to sprout and thinks, ‘I may die if I rupture and sprout.’ But the tree says, ‘No,
you must break open. Only when you break open can I happen.’ A Master represents the tree in the analogy.
The Master has already become a tree. He gives confidence to the disciple. He says, ‘Don’t worry. I also
struggled like you. Look at me, I have flowered. I have not died. I have become a tree. If you open, you will
also become a tree.’ He sits with us and assures us that he will take care. He creates the energy and gives
confidence to open and become a tree. He reminds us, ‘When I have achieved, why not you?’

Third, the Master creates the right space or technology for the tree to happen. He creates the right
conditions, the right soil, water, etc. All that we need to do is trust the master and break open. That is why
Masters create ashrams. An ashram is a space that allows the seed to open so that the tree can happen. The
ashram is a space where the conditions are controlled, and in a secure and safe way we can enter into the
consciousness.

Fourth, he ensures that we are established in that consciousness. These are the responsibilities of an
Enlightened Master. That is why the vedic way of life insists that we reach a living Enlightened Master.
This is what Kṛṣṇa calls ācāryopāsana. He gives the important guidelines for us to experiment with the
technology.

13.13 I shall give you the full understanding about the knowable, with which one can taste eternal
bliss or the being or the consciousness that has no beginning. A life beyond the law of
cause, effect and the material world.
13.14 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere,
He exists in the worlds, enveloping all. The Paramātman (supreme spirit) is all pervading. He
 exists everywhere.
13.15 The Paramātman is the original source of all the senses. Yet, He is beyond all the
senses. He is unattached.

Although the consciousness is the maintainer of all the living beings, yet He transcends the
modes of nature and at the same time He is the master of the modes of our material nature.

13.16 The Supreme Truth exists both internally and externally, in the moving and nonmoving. It
is beyond the power of the material senses to see or to know Him. Although far, far away,
He is also near to all.
13.17 Although the Paramātman appears to be divided,
He is indivisible Whole. He is situated as one. Though He is the maintainer of every living
entity, it is to be understood that He consumes and creates all.
13.18 He is the source of light in all-luminous objects.
He is beyond the darkness of matter and is formless. He is knowledge, He is the
object of knowledge, and He is the goal of knowledge. He is situated in everyone’s
heart.
13.19 Thus the field of activities, knowledge and the knowable has been summarily described
by Me.

It is only when we can understand the true nature of our Supreme Self and the material
world with which we have created false identities that we can go beyond this and attain the
Supreme Self itself.

13.20 Prakṛti or the field and its attributes and Puruṣa or the knower or the Supreme
Consciousness are both without beginning.

All the transformations of nature that we see are produced by the field or
prakṛti.
13.21 In the production of the body and the senses, prakṛti is said to be the cause; In the experience of
pleasure and pain, puruṣa is said to be the cause.
13.22 The living entity in the material nature follows the way of life, enjoying the moods of nature.
Due to association with the material nature, it meets the good or evil among various species.

13.23 Yet, in this body there is a transcendental energy.

He who is divine, who exists as an owner or the witness, supporter, enjoyer and the pure witnessing
consciousness, is known as the Paramātman.
13.24 One who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living entity and the interaction
of the modes of nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his
present position.
Kṛṣṇa says that we need to understand what kṣetra and kṣetrajña to realize the truth. Until then we blindly
believe that the projection of our mind, the drama, is reality. We have created our own drama and are acting
in it. By and by, we forget that we created the drama. We forget that we are not the roles or characters we
enact onstage. We start judging and reacting to everything about it.
You go on believing that because you are seeing from the time of your birth, seeing is hardware of you
like the eyes. You don’t separate eyes and seeing, you don’t separate ears and hearing, you don’t separate
tongue and tasting. You don’t separate kṣetra and kṣetrajñya , the one watching the kṣetra. You think that if
it is there, it is there, which is not the truth. Cognition is changeable. Cognition is transformable. With this
clarity that the cognition is transformable, now decide and be liberated. Just an understanding that our
cognition is changeable and transformable, that we are beyond material pursuits is enough to liberate us.
I tell you, just know your incompletions with this clarity that cognition is changeable, the incompletions of
kṣetra will lose power over you. Incompletions will have power over you as long as you feel cognition is not
changeable. With this understanding of kṣetrajña, start living and thinking. Regardless of your present
position, your very thinking will be completion. This is the science of spontaneous completion, instant
completion.

Technique for Spontaneous Completion

Completion does not mean blindly accepting everything that happens in your life, in the kṣetra. It simply
means not resisting life as it happens to us. The root of all our incompletions is the idea we carry— Life should
not be this way.
That is why we spend our whole life asking, ‘Why, why, why? Why is life so bad? Why did this happen
to me? Why do bad things happen to good people?’
Spontaneous completion or instant completion means simply dropping the wrong understanding that is
creating conflict for you in a particular situation.
Each time you face a crisis or conflict in life, don’t ask, ‘Why is life this way? Instead, decide: this is life,
so now what? Do I want to accept it and move on? Do I want to reject it and move on? Or do I change it the
way I want?
Whatever decision you make out of this cognition will be right for you. When you act out of completion, you
are empowered to resolve any conflict that happens inside you or outside you.
13.25 Some perceive the Paramātman in their inner psyche through mind and intellect that have
been purified by meditation

Or by metaphysical knowledge [sāṅkhya yoga], and others through working without

fruitive desire [karma yoga].
13.26 There are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme
personality upon hearing about Him from others.

Through the process of hearing about the Supreme Self, they also transcend the path of
birth and death.
13.27 Bhārata, know that whatever you see in Existence, both the movable or the immovable,
comes into being only by the union of kṣetra, the field and kṣetrajña, the knower of the
field.
Kṛṣṇa gives a wonderful technique. He gives the ultimate technique, the technique of surrendering. He says,
‘Surrender the outcome of your actions to Me.’ This is the most effective technique. He talks about it
throughout the Gītā.
Just surrender the fruits of your actions to Him, the Universal
Consciousness. Most often, we take responsibility for the outcome of our
actions. That is when our tensions and problems start. Just surrender
everything to the Cosmic energy of Kṛṣṇa. Once we do, we will feel
liberated. We will feel free. This is the easiest path to reach the truth.

The whole Universe is seen as kṣetra and kṣetrajña, māyā and ātman, prakṛti and puruṣa, matter and
energy, body-mind and consciousness. Existence as we see it cannot be with only one of them. If we believe
that what we see is simply matter, we are in illusion or māyā.
Kṣetra is the body that we associate ourselves with and kṣetrajña is the consciousness. What we see as a
human body is a combination of both. If there is no consciousness, the body is useless. The matter that we call
a body comes to life because of consciousness. Both must be there.
Prakṛti is the manifest and puruṣa is the unmanifest. Kṣetra is like prakṛti. It is the manifested, that which
we can see. Along with what you see, there is something behind its existence. It is puruṣa or the unmanifest,
the energy behind the matter, which we do not normally see.

13.28 One who sees the Supreme Spirit accompanying the individual soul in all bodies, who
understands that neither the individual soul nor the Supreme Spirit is ever destroyed, he actually
sees.
13.29 When one does not get degraded or influenced by the mind and when he can see the Supreme Spirit
 in all living and non-living things, one reaches the transcendental destination.
13.30 One who can see that all activities are performed by the body, which is created of material
nature,

Sees that the Self does nothing, he actually sees.

13.31 When a person can see the Supreme Self in all living entities, then he will cease to see the separateness
among the living entities. He will see that the whole Universe (Brahman) is an expansion and
expression of the same truth.
The mind is the only obstacle on the path to reach the ultimate goal. In the previous verse, Kṛṣṇa tells us
how we can see the truth. Here Kṛṣṇa talks about the hurdle that we must cross. He says that when we are not
degraded or influenced by the mind, we can see the supreme spirit in everything. Only when we can do that,
can we reach the final destination.
Here Kṛṣṇa says, whatever we think we are enjoying, actually it is the body that
is enjoying—prakṛtaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ.

Our body enjoys all the material comforts. Our soul can live without them. Our soul is pure consciousness. It
does not need anything external to keep it happy.
Kṛṣṇa gives us a technique here. He says, when we watch our body enjoying the sense pleasures, when
we watch only our body being associated with the external material comforts and not our soul, we see the
truth. Just witness the body. Be aware of your body. Observe the body when it reacts to external things. You
will notice a sense of separation from the body. You will see what your body is. You will see that your soul
has nothing to do with the pleasures you are enjoying.
When you do this, you witness your body and mind as if you are an outsider. It is like watching a movie.
When you watch a movie, you watch what happens on the screen. In the same way, when you watch your
body and mind, you understand what Kṛṣṇa says. Only when you witness that the body experiences material
pleasures and it is the body that does everything and the soul does not need anything, you see the truth.
Kṛṣṇa gives the great truth of advaita in this verse. He talks about collective consciousness. He
says when we see the Supreme Soul in all living beings, we no longer see the separateness. We
see everything as one single entity. We see the whole Universe as one single body, as one entity
expressing the same truth of oneness.
When we see that the Supreme Soul resides in each of us, we see that all of us are connected to
each other. When we see this, we see the truth of living Advaita. We see that the whole
Universe is the expansion of the same consciousness—tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma
sampadyate tadā (13.31). The whole Universe is the expression of the same truth.
13.32 Those with the vision of eternity can see that the soul is transcendental,
eternal, and beyond the modes of nature.

Despite contact with the material body,

O Arjuna, the soul neither does anything nor is attached.
13.33 The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with anything, although it is all pervading.
Similarly, the soul, situated in Brahman, does not mix with the body, though situated in that
body.
13.34 O son of Bhārata, as the sun alone illuminates the entire Universe, so does the
living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire consciousness.

13.35 Those, who see with the eyes of knowledge, the difference between the body-mind, kṣetra and the
Knower of the body-mind, kṣetrajña, can understand the process of liberation from the bondages of
material nature and attain Paramātman

.Kṛṣṇa uses the word nirguṇa meaning beyond the three attributes— nirguṇatvāt.
The three attributes of satva (calmness), rajas passion and tamas (inactivity) are
related to the mind and body. The soul is free from these attributes.
Kṛṣṇa gives an example to make this point clear. He says the space that is everywhere is unaffected by
anything that is in that space. The subtle energy, space or ether, is present everywhere. Every molecule and
atom has this subtle energy. Though it is present in everything that we see, it does not inherit the properties of
what it resides in. Even if it is in a flower, it does not take up the scent of the flower.
In the same way, the soul is not affected by where it resides. People think that their soul will go to hell if
they have committed sins. They think if they have lived a pious life, their soul will go to heaven. They think
that the soul is affected by the deeds of the body. Our sins do not affect the nature of our soul. Please understand
that by infusing awareness into what we do, we realize that the body does whatever we do. The soul is
completely free from it. The soul is not affected by it.

Kṣetri is the Self. This Self illumines all the kṣetra, all the bodies. Not just our body or kṣetra is illumined
but all the kṣetra are illumined. The consciousness present in each of us is the hologram of the supreme Self.
So there is no separation between the consciousness present in our body and the consciousness present in a
plant or a rock. Everything is the same energy.
Witness the mind like a friend with integrity. Let whatever is inside come out with friendliness. There’s
nothing wrong. Neither support nor suppress. If we support, we will go after the garbage. If we suppress, we
will end up analyzing the garbage and pushing it aside. Neither approach is going to work. Just witness and
be complete.
When we do completion, creation simply happens. Enriching will just be our lifestyle. When we are
in the space of completion, we will simply create and enrich everyone. All great things are achieved from the
consciousness and intuition that is beyond the body-mind. They are products of the witnessing consciousness.
Let us pray to the Parabrahman, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the ultimate Universal consciousness, to give us the
inner space of completion or the pure witnessing consciousness; to give us the ultimate experience and
establish us in eternal bliss, Nityānanda.
Thank you.

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter named Kṣetra Kṣetrajña Vibhāga Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of
Discrimination of the kṣetra, the field and kṣetrajña, the knower of the field,’ 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 Arjun
 CHAPTER

14
Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ

14.1 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says,

I will declare to you again the Supreme wisdom,
The knowledge of which has helped all Sages attain Supreme perfection.
14.2 By becoming fixed in this knowledge,
one can attain the transcendental nature, like My own,
And establish in his Eternal Consciousness, that one is not born at the time of creation, or
destroyed at the time of dissolution.
14.3 The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth,
It is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of
Bhārata.
14.4 Arjuna, understand that all species of life are made possible by birth in this material nature,
and I am the seed-giving father.
Right inner space means where all the root thought patterns of suffering are destroyed. All the
root thought patterns are destroyed where your inner space is fertile for experiencing the higher
ideal and ideas.
Listen! Inner space means when you close your eyes and look inside, how you feel and what you
feel as you, that is your inner space. In that inner space, if you suddenly feel as if you have taken
bath in the cold water and the whole thing inside is in eternal peace, and there is no agitation; it is all
completely in peace, in restful awareness, in completion, that is what I call inner silence or the right
inner space. It means the space where all your root patterns of suffering are destroyed.
For the first time, Kṛṣṇa says that we will reach His state. So far He said, ‘Worship Me. Surrender unto
Me.’ Now He says, ‘You will achieve the same state in which I am. Anyone can attain the transcendental
nature like My own, mama sādharmyam āgatāḥ.’
Kṛṣṇa is the first Master who showed how to achieve Enlightenment. He showed the exact Science of
Enlightenment. We can experience it through our conscious decision to create the space of completion.
There are very few concepts Kṛṣṇa repeats in Bhagavad Gīta. One concept is, ‘understand me, you will
become God’. It may look very arrogant for an onlooker. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘understand my Divinity, you will
become God’; ‘understand Me you will become Me!’; ‘understand My inner space, you will achieve that
space’.
Personality of the enlightened being is not a person, it is personification. When you grasp the
personality of an enlightened being, suddenly you know why you are the way you are, why you behave the
way you behave. You know all the possible confusions and incompletions. And you will see, you will simply
know the methodology to experience completion, pūrnatva.
You can be complete now! By declaring that you are complete, just once in the present, you can finish
off all your millions of declarations in the past. Because when time and space cross, the declarations you make
are alive and powerful! Time and space always cross in the present moment. In any legal system, the latest
order will be the order that will be executed. Even in your life, only your latest declaration will be executed.

14.5 Material nature consists of the three modes: goodness, passion and
 ignorance.

When the living entity comes in contact with nature, it becomes conditioned by these
modes.
14.6 O Sinless One, the mode of goodness, satva, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it
frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode develop knowledge, but they
become conditioned by the concept of happiness.
14.7 Kaunteya, know that the mode of passion, rajas, is characterized by intense craving and is the
source of desire and attachment. Rajas binds the living entity by attachment to work.
14.8 Know, O Arjuna, that the mode of ignorance, tamas, the deluder of the living entity, is born of
inertia. Tamas binds the living entity by carelessness, laziness, and excessive sleep.

Material nature consists of three modes or attributes: goodness, passion and ignorance. These are called Guṇas
in Saṃskṛit.
Kṛṣṇa explains how we operate through three different types of root thought patterns. One is satva, the other is
rajas and the third is tamas. These are translated as goodness, passion and ignorance; however, these are not
exact translations.
Let me explain these concepts: Satva refers to the root patterns that lead us to bliss, the space of completion.
These root patterns lead us to joy and ecstasy. Rajas refers to the root patterns that lead us to restlessness,
excitement and to work intensely. They make us active and materially productive. The third attribute, tamas,
refers to the root patterns that lead us to depression, laziness and to dullness. Root patterns that lead to ecstasy
and bliss form satva. Root patterns that lead to restlessness, anger and emotional imbalance form rajas. Root
patterns that lead to depression, dullness and low moods form tamas. Those root thought patterns that
automatically arise and imbalance our cognition, and lead to depression are called tamas.
When we entertain and associate ourselves with powerlessness, powerlessness is so powerful that it can destroy
us. Powerlessness is worst than alcohol and poison. Poison destroys our physiology. Alcohol destroys our
psychology. Powerlessness destroys both our physiology and psychology.
Once the cognitive shift takes place, we receive data, process it and go inside instead of outside. We respond
from the complete cognition we carry inside and create more and more completion outside also. As long as we
operate from the incomplete cognition, we react externally and we work towards depression, powerlessness.
However, once we go in and complete with our root patterns, and associate ourselves with powerfulness, we
move into bliss.

How the Mind and Senses Work

Kṛṣṇa explains how root thought patterns disturb our inner space and through this understanding, we can
transform our being.
Cognition is the process of receiving information through our five senses, processing that information
internally, relating with it based on our root patterns, and responding to life based on our patterns. This is
known as cognition.
 First, we see something through the eyes. I have taken the example of sight but we can replace it with any
other sense: like hearing, smelling, tasting or touching.
There are five jñānendriya and five karmendriya (senses of action) that are the means of communication
between the external world and us. Jñānendriya are the senses of perception, the five senses of smell, taste,
sight, touch and hearing. The karmendriya are five actions of elimination, procreation, locomotion, grasping
and speaking. Each sense is related to one of the energy centers (cakras) in our body-mind system.
First your eye captures this whole scene like a picture and this picture goes to the cakṣu (the energy behind
the eyes). Understand, we don’t see with the eye, we see through the eye. There is an energy that is inside or
behind the eye that actually sees.
The whole scene is converted into a file like in a digital signal processor in a computer so that our mind
can process the data.
The cakṣu is almost like the digital signal processor or DSP in electronics. In a computer, whether it is an
audio or visual file, it must be converted into a digital file. In the same way in our inner space whatever we
see or hear is converted into a bio-signal file like a digital file.
The file goes to citta, the place where past bio-memories are collected. Citta means mind, inner space.
This area is where the work of excluding happens as—‘Na iti, Na iti’—this is not, this is not. The process of
neti neti (this is not, this is not) takes place in this area. Upon seeing this file, our citta starts eliminating
whatever the object is not.
Take the example of this scene: First you see me, the whole scene is photographed. It goes to cakṣu and
becomes a bio-signal file. The file is then taken to citta, bio-memory. Citta says, ‘This is not a tree. This is not
an animal. This is not a plant. This is not this. This is not that.’ The excluding process happens in citta.
Next, the file goes to manas, another part of the mind. The manas tries to positively identify, ‘This is a
human being. He is wearing a saffron robe. He is standing on a stage.’ The identification process, ‘iti, iti’ (this
is it, this is it) identification process happens in manas. In citta, ‘neti, neti’ or the ‘not this, not this’ elimination
happens.
Once this positive identification happens, the file goes to a third part of the mind called buddhi or
intelligence. Buddhi is where the trouble starts. Here the analysis starts, ‘How am I related to this file? How
am I connected to this scene? How is it relevant to me? How should I respond to this scene?’ If past bio-
memories about me have been good or pleasant according to your intelligence, you cognize and respond in a
positive way. You immediately refer to those past memories and review, ‘It was so good at yesterday’s
discourse.’
Your intelligence refers to the past bio-memory and muscle-memory and makes a decision based upon
your cognition of these experiences. If your cognition about the past experiences with me has been positive,
your intelligence tells you to stay and listen. If your cognition of the past experiences has been inadequate,
unpleasant and you felt bored, your intelligence tells you that this is not the place for you and that you should
leave. These are logical decisions based on conscious memories retained by your mind.
Up to this point, your cognition, the transmission of what is perceived by the senses and what is the
response based on that pattern is relatively straightforward. It is a conscious process.
From the conscious mind, the information is passed to the unconscious space of the mind, the ego. I call
this unconscious space of the mind as the ego, not because it is arrogant, but because it provides you the
identity of who you are.

All the major decisions that shape your life are consigned to this unconscious space. This is the repository of
all those emotionally-filled memories, the root thought patterns and beliefs about yourself; which constitute
what you believe as you, what you project as you, what others expect you to be, and what you expect others
or life to be for you and therefore, create your identity. This is what I call the ego.

Root pattern means the first time in your life when your cognitions were imbalanced, disturbed by some
external force; and your terrorized being started defining yourself with a disempowering word and started
defining the world in that disempowering powerless state; and to compensate from this death, the
disempowering inner identity—the inner image, you create a pseudo alternative compensating cognition—the
outer image. This is what I call root pattern.
When your root pattern starts, that is moment you feel yourself as an individual identity. If it starts in an
accidental moment, your life will be an accident forever. It is an eternal accident. Till you complete with that
root pattern, you will continue to have accidents in your life.
Completion takes away the agitated confusion and the alternative compensating image we create in
our life. Because we have a very disempowering cognition about ourselves, we go on creating an alternative
compensating cognition to compensate with our inadequate cognition. It is like you first declare you are a
beggar, forgetting the billions of dollars you have in your bank balance, and then you yourself try to project
the rich image to cover your belief that you are a beggar.
To compensate the inadequate cognition which got created unconsciously inside you, which is your inner
image, mamakāra, you create an alternative compensating cognition which is your outer image, ahaṁkāra.
Till the end you never feel satisfied, because you feel the guilt you showed, which is not true, without
realizing your true identity is much more than what you can imagine and show. So, your whole life ends in
deep incompletion and the trial and error methods you do with these incompletions.
If you complete now, the first thing you will realize is that the alternative compensating cognition is a lie
and it will melt down. Second thing, your disempowering cognition about yourself will melt down. Third, you
will realize that your original self is much more than what you projected as your outer image, the alternative
compensating cognition. And you will have complete easeness between what you feel as you, what you show
as you, and what you are as you.
The conscious mind does not make important decisions. It makes a few decisions that can be reached by
its limited intellect. Anything important moves to the unconscious ego or root patterns. Our unconscious
handles all life-threatening situations with the disempowering cognitions, the so-called fight-or-flight
decisions. Our conscious mind is too slow to handle them.
The effects of your root pattern are your conflicting patterns. Conflicting patterns are the branches which
sprout from the root pattern.
When the file reaches the ego, the ego comes to a conclusion based on all the ‘yes’ responses and all the
‘no’ responses based out of your conflicting patterns. Yes or no is not a problem; however, we have wasted
so much time and energy on this small decision. Not only that, any decision you take out of powerlessness,
restlessness, will lead you to more and more powerless space.
Kṛṣṇa speaks of satva guṇa saṁskāras that lead us to bliss and peace, rājasic guṇa that lead to restlessness
and violence, and tamasic saṁskāras that lead to depression. He further explains how these saṁskāras
influence our decision-making process.
When we try to work with different types of conflicting patterns, satva, rajas and tamas and all three
cross each other, they create hell in our lives. We need intelligence to even look into our lives to find our root
pattern, and see how many times we have carried the same pattern. We usually react out of arrogance or guilt.
We say, ‘So what if I made a mistake?’ We brush it under the carpet leaving it incomplete. This is one kind
of attitude, the attitude of might is right. The other attitude is that of suffering from guilt.
Understand, the first lesson you need to learn is the ability to trust the power of integrity.
If you say, ‘I am free,’ then, you are free! If you say, ‘I am a liar,’ then, you are a liar! If you say, ‘I am
powerful,’ then, you are powerful! It is just you! The words you utter to yourself and others is life. What a big
relief! It can be great news for you if you start living it. It can be good news for you if you start believing it.
It can be bad news for you, if you start worrying about it. But the words you utter towards yourself and to
others is you, you, you!
One word can make us do whatever we want. Words that appear in our inner space are mantra (sacred
sounds). When put together, all the words that appear in our inner space form our life, especially the words
that we repeat unconsciously.
Thoughts that we repeat unconsciously are more powerful than words we use consciously. Your inner
space is nothing but the words you repeat, again and again within you. So, now decide consciously that you
will repeat the right words within you. Whatever mantra or word we use in our inner space, that dhyāna or
meditation automatically happens in our unconscious. If we use the word ‘headache’ again and again, we will
be meditating on the headache. If we use the word ‘health’, again and again, we will be meditating on health.

Completion with Rajas pattern

Next, let us see how two desires conflict one another. We want to lead a peaceful life and we want wealth.
With wealth comes responsibility as well. If you actually analyze your attitude towards wealth with integrity,
you will understand that you are actually afraid of wealth. You hate wealth!
The fear of responsibility and the greed for wealth always go hand in hand. If you look in, you have greed for
wealth, but you are not ready to take responsibility that comes with wealth. This is the self-conflicting desire.
Either decide to take responsibility or decide to relax from that desire and restore your integrity by completing
with it and accept whatever happens.
Only one thought should be strengthened when two desires conflict. When we have both, we have a self-
conflicting mental setup. In the satva space, when we create self-conflicting patterns, we are automatically
thrown into rajas.
Let me describe what Kṛṣṇa says about rajas. The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and
longings. This is a beautiful verse.
Kṛṣṇa says, because of this rajas, mode of passion, born of unlimited desires and longings, the embodied
living entity is bound to doing result-oriented actions.

rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi tṛṣṇā saṅga samudhavam I

tan nibadhnāti kaunteya karma saṅgena dehinam II 14.7
He talks about desires and longings. What is the difference? Desires and longings—rāga means desire;
tṛṣṇā means craving, longing. Some memories have our emotional support whereas some memories have been
inserted into our being by advertisements.
How to complete with the rajas patterns? The first truth you need to know about completion—do
completion just to be in the space of completion. All other reasons lead to more and more incompletions.
Completion done in the space of completion transforms your personality, transforms your being; the intense,
constant agitated violence you carry towards you and others due to rajas patterns.
See, there are only three ways to handle your incompletions.
One, by pushing them under the carpet.
Second, by trying to forget them either by alcohol or by other entertainments.
Third, by completing them and liberating yourself.
I tell you, all vengeance is rooted in incompletion. Complete it. Trust the Cosmos and complete it. Once
we do completion with the rajas patterns, we can make one thousand decisions without any stress, violence
or suffering. That is why Kṛṣṇa says that when we don’t expect the result, when we don’t think of karma phala
(result of the work done), we can do the work intensely.

Consciousness can never Be Tired

In the next verse Kṛṣṇa talks about tamas.
He addresses Arjuna, ‘Oh son of Bhārata, know that the mode of darkness, tamas, is born out of ignorance
. It is the delusion of all embodied living entities. The result of this mode is madness, indolence and sleep,
which bind the conditioned soul.’
This is a beautiful explanation of tamas.

tamas tv ajñānajaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarva dehinām I

pramādālasya nidrābhis tan nibadhnāti bharāta II 14.8
If there are more vāsanas or patterns, the file does not reach the ego easily or even fully. A powerful
pattern may make the decision on the way. Why does this happen? Why do you decide unconsciously and
regret later?
This unconscious space is filled with negative bio-memories, and powerlessness, restlessness. All our past
bio-memory or root thought patterns are stored in your inner space as files without any logical connection
between them.
Sometimes, people start enjoying even the self-sympathy, the victim mood, the depression! Even for that
reason they start drinking alcohol! How do you think I liberate so many people from alcohol and smoking just
through meditation, through the Inner Awakening program? Because, first I attack that mood pattern. I make
sure neither they feel that elated pattern nor they feel that depressed pattern. When you break the pattern, they
don’t feel inspired to drink. Then addiction disappears.
 Listen. When there are no patterns, there will be no need for the file to drop into the unconscious inner
space for a decision. It straightaway meets the buddhi and ego after the mind. There are no blocks. The time
taken for the unconscious process will be less than the conscious process. We will be intuitive or at the level
of God.
The level of an animal is the level of instinct; the level of man is the level of intellect; the level of
God is the level of intuition. The level of instinct is the level of tamas; the level of intellect is the level of
rajas; the level of intuition is the level of satva.

14.9 The mode of goodness, satva conditions one to happiness, passion, rajas conditions him to
fruits of action, and veiling of knowledge , tamas binds one to madness.
14.10 Sometimes the mode of passion becomes prominent, defeating the mode of goodness,
O son of Bhārata.

And sometimes the mode of goodness defeats passion, and at other times the mode of
ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for
supremacy.
14.11 When the light of Self-knowledge illuminates all the senses (or gates) in the body,
Then it should be known that goodness is predominant.

14.12 O Bharatarṣabha, chief of Bhārata, when there is an increase in the mode of passion, the
symptoms of great attachment, uncontrollable desire, hankering, and intense endeavor
develop.

Desire and Guilt Patterns

Desire and guilt are two forms of the same energy. One is related to the future. The other is related to the
past. Desire is related to the future. Guilt is related to the past. ‘I should have done that’ plays a major role in
our ‘I should do this.’ ‘I should do this’ is determined by ‘I should have done that.’
Guilt that is created by rules handed down to us by our elders creates hell in our life and leads us to tamas.
Kṛṣṇa says we are led to antaḥ (the end). We fall into ignorance or into the end.
Kṛṣṇa says the manifestations of the modes of goodness can be experienced
when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge.
Kṛṣṇa gives one technique, one suggestion: Protect the five senses from negative ideas of powerlessness,
the incompletions and infuse positive ideas of completion through the five senses. Whatever we feed upon
becomes our being and we radiate that energy.
14.13 O son of Kuru, when there is an increase in the mode of ignorance, madness, illusion, inertia and
darkness are manifested.
14.14 When one dies in the mode of goodness [satva], He goes where the realized
souls are.
14.15 When one dies in the mode of passion [rajas], he takes birth among those
engaged in activities. When he dies in the mode of ignorance [tamas], he takes
birth in the space of the ignorant.
14.16 By acting in the mode of goodness, one becomes purified.
Work done in the mode of passion result in distress, and actions performed in the mode of
ignorance result in foolishness.
14.17 From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops; from the mode of passion, greed
develops; From the mode of ignorance develops foolishness, madness and illusion.

Here Kṛṣṇa explains how that last thought is not an accident. It is based on one’s guṇa, nature, his patterns.
The mental setup, the conditioning, the mūla vāsanā with which we led life and with which we leave our life
as well. When we are reborn, our spirit finds another body to occupy.
 Kṛṣṇa says that a person living in satva goes to higher spaces, the abodes of the realized sages. He becomes
divine, tadottama vidāṁ lokān amalān pratipadyate (14.14). When we are steeped in satva, we live in restful
awareness, the space of enlightenment. We live in the present moment. We are no longer attached to the results
of our action and we are no longer controlled by fear and greed root patterns. We stop thinking about ourselves
and we start living for others.
When one is in tamas, in deep ignorance and darkness, one sinks lower in rebirth. Kṛṣṇa says such a
person is reborn as an animal. The lowest energy center of a human being is the mūlādhāra cakra, the root
center.
We are not human beings striving for a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings enjoying a human
experience. That is the truth. We can be in this state only when we are in satva. When we are in tamas, we
forget our spiritual nature. When we are in rajas, we have a vague idea; however, even that spiritual experience
becomes an attachment, another pattern, goal and desire. We become attached to something that is beyond
attachment. Kṛṣṇa says that we are reborn into this human form, back into this cycle of life and death, this
cycle of saṁsāra, with all its suffering.
It is our choice to be instinctive and unconscious, in deep tamas, like an animal, or to be logical and
chasing objects out of rajas. The third choice is to be beyond attachments, in a super conscious state of
completion, in an intuitive state, in tune with our sublime satva nature. This choice determines our next birth.
In fact, it determines whether we will even be born again.
The movement towards our core, our true self, ātma is driven by satva. The movement outwards is driven
by rajas. When we are fully settled in the periphery, we are caught in tamas. We are no longer human. When
we settle into the center which is the space of completion, we go beyond the three guṇas. We become the
triguṇa rahita, the Divine one who is beyond the three attributes, who is pūrṇa—complete.
14.18 Those situated in the mode of goodness, gradually go upward to the higher planes; those in the mode
of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the worlds
below.
14.19 When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities and that the
Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then you can know, attain My spiritual nature.
14.20 When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes, he can become free from birth,
death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

Step one is when we realize that each of our thoughts, words, and activities arises from one of the three
root patterns, guṇas—satva, rajas and tamas.
Step two is the understanding about which guṇa, root pattern it is and exactly what that guṇa is doing to
us; what disempowering cognition that guṇa is building about our inner image (mamakāra), our outer-image
(ahaṁkāra), others’ image (anyakāra), others’ expectation about us, and life’s image (svānyakāra).
Step three is to do the completion and the creation process; do completion with that guṇa or root pattern and
do creation of the satva guṇa, the right inner space to create the reality that we want. Finally we transcend
satva guṇa and enter into nirguṇa or ‘no guṇa state’.
Every one of you has a fantasy deep down about you becoming all-powerful, all-knowing, sarvajña, that’s
all. I tell you, living as per the expectations of you, behaving as you expected about you, is the greatest joy
you can experience in life. Completion does that to you! I tell you, nothing else can do that to you.

14.21 Arjuna inquires:

O my Lord, by what symptoms is one known who is transcendental to those modes? What
is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?
14.22 ,23,24,25 Śrī Bhagavān says:
He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for
them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these
material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are
active;

He who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of
 gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is
unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all
result-based undertakings, such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.
We create pain and pleasure through association with powerlessness, through conditioning. We create
greed and fear through association. Our root patterns, our conditioned muscle-memories and bio-memories,
create pain and pleasure.
Light and darkness, good and bad, right and wrong are based on root patterns. Our inadequate cognitions,
the civilized education and refinement tells us that a person dressed in a particular manner is acceptable in
society and another dressed differently is not.
No scripture ever said that one person is inferior to another. All scriptures affirm that every human being
is a spiritual being; all of us carry the seed of Divinity in us.
When you complete with everything, animate or inanimate, you will experience the space of non-duality,
Advaita. Relationships are nothing but your own extensions. Relationships are not outside; they are just your
own extensions.
14.26 One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at
once transcends the mode of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.
14.27 And I am the basis of Brahman, which is the rightful state of ultimate happiness, and which is
immortal, imperishable and eternal.
The faith and the surrender help us transcend the nature of all activities. We surrender the result of our actions
to that Master, whomsoever He may be, whomsoever It may be. We do everything meditating on that Master
and surrender it all at His feet. That space of completion alone liberates us.
This is what Kṛṣṇa means by devotion, bhakti-yogena sevate (14.26), which is unfailing in all circumstances.
Nothing more is needed. Kṛṣṇa is not talking about the flute-playing, yellow-robed Kṛṣṇa. Anyone that we
surrender to totally, is Kṛṣṇa and we then fall into Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the Consciousness of Completion.
Let us pray to Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Universal Consciousness, the Ultimate Energy, to give us all this
understanding in our life, to make us experience the truth that He teaches and to establish us in Completion,
make us radiate Eternal Bliss, Nityānanda.

Thus ends the fourteenth chapter named Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ, The Yoga of Division of
the three Guṇas,’ 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.
 CHAPTER 15
Puruṣottama Yogaḥ

15.1 Śrī Bhagavān says,

The imperishable banyan tree of life, symbolized by the Aśvattha, has its roots above, with the leaves
and branches spreading below the earth. The leaves are said to be the Vedic hymns.

One who knows this eternal tree becomes the knower of the Vedas.

15.2 The branches of this tree extend below and above the earth, nourished by the three human
attributes, guṇas.

Its buds are the sense objects. This tree also has roots going down and these are bound to the
resultant actions of humans.
The totality of the seven layers is our body-mind-spirit system. The second layer is the prāṇic body, the
body that controls air movements inside our physical body. In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa explains that this
prāṇic layer is filled with desires. He further explains how we create conflicting desires and suffer with rajas
(restlessness) and forced into tamas (inactivity or depression).
The fifth layer is the causal body. It is where all saṁskāras, our root patterns, are stored in seed form.
Every night we enter the causal body in deep sleep. We take saṁskāras out from this layer and create the
world.
In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa reveals the secrets of this causal layer.
Desires are caused by saṁskāras, root thought patterns or bio-memories of experiences and sense
perceptions. Saṁskāras are stored in our unconscious mind layer. Root thought patterns, saṁskāras, drive our
actions. The Bṛhadaranyaka Upaniṣad says, ‘We are our desires. Desires shape our will. Our will shapes our
actions. Actions make us what we are.’
Now, Kṛṣṇa moves on to the next layer, where saṁskāras are stored in the seed form. Even if we move beyond
the three layers of desire, restlessness and depression, these root patterns, saṁskāras in seed form, called bīja
saṁskāra (bīja meaning seed), need to be cleared and completed.
Kṛṣṇa speaks of techniques to destroy these bīja saṁskāras. These may not express themselves in us right
now. Yet if they are allowed to be there in seed form, at one time or another, they will exploit us.
form, called bīja saṁskāra (bīja meaning seed), need to be cleared and completed.
Kṛṣṇa speaks of techniques to destroy these bīja saṁskāras. These may not express themselves in us right
now. Yet if they are allowed to be there in seed form, at one time or another, they will exploit us.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘The roots of the tree are on the outside; the branches are inside.’ From the causal body, if the
roots are taken to be outside, it should be in the earlier three layers ending with the physical body. In a tree,
the roots feed nutrients to the tree. The tree takes water and minerals through the roots. The roots decide the
condition and growth of a tree. That is why Kṛṣṇa says the roots of the tree are in the physical body. The tree
of saṁskāra is watered by the five senses of the physical body and our actions. The saṁskāras in seed form
in the causal body are formed and watered by the five senses of the physical body.
Understand, when your words are rooted in integrity, the word is Brahma. If it is rooted in Viṣṇu or
integrity, it just becomes reality. Integrity is capable of maintaining creation. Viṣṇu maintains creation.
Creation is possible only when you are established in the state of integrity and utter your words. When you
utter your words from the space of integrity, creation is possible, creation happens!
 However, if we constantly complete with the negative words that we use towards ourselves and others to
express our feelings, we will get rooted in integrity—Viṣṇu, the space of positivity. From this positive space,
we will express the power of words and Brahma, creation happens! With completion the creation of space
happens for whatever we want to make as reality.

the transIent and the perManent

This tree of saṁskāras, which is in the causal body, lives mainly due to the five senses. Kṛṣṇa uses the
word aśvattha which also means that which is transient, that which is not today as it was yesterday and which
will not be tomorrow as it is today. It refers to material life where nothing is what it seems to be. Everything
is temporary.
Kṛṣṇa says the roots go upwards as well as downwards. He says the leaves of the tree are decided by the
tricks of the five senses and the resultant action of mankind. The roots are not only in the physical body, but
also in the action. Kṛṣṇa says the tree is deeply rooted because the action of the entire mankind is always
result-oriented. It is always guided by greed and fear.

Enrich and be free from Kārmic cycle

Understand this truth: Whenever life energy expands in you, it happens only through enriching. If we are able
to create this right space of enriching, we will find a true liberation within ourselves. We will experience the
power of living, constantly expanding! A load will be lifted from our shoulders. The anxiety of constantly
looking over our shoulder to peep into the future will be gone. We look at past results to define what needs to
be done for the future.
15.3 The real form of this tree cannot be perceived. No one can understand where
it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is.
But with determination one must cut down this strongly rooted tree with the weapon of
detachment.
15.4 One must then seek that place from which having gone, one never returns, and surrender
to the Supreme Being from whom all activities started in ancient times.
Kṛṣṇa explains that after cutting the tree of root patterns, surrender to the space of eternal silence, from
where there is no coming back, tam eva cādyaṁ puruṣaṁ prapadye (15.4). This is the space in which
the whole of Existence is established.
One’s identity is the collection of one’s root patterns, saṁskāras, past bio-memories and incomplete
desires that are stored in the unconscious mind. This is in the causal layer of our energy. Through deep
and focused meditation, we can access this unconscious causal layer and dissolve the saṁskāras stored
here. Once done, we no longer return as the same person. We are free of saṁskāras and liberated.
15.5 Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who
are complete with lust, who are free from the dualities of joy and sorrow, not confused,
and who know how to surrender to the Supreme Person, attain the eternal consciousness.
15.6 That supreme space of eternal consciousness, My consciousness, is not illuminated by the Sun or
the Moon, or by fire.

Those who enter that space never return to this material world.
Vairāgya means beyond attachment and detachment. Rāga means attachment. Arāga means detachment.
Virāga or vairāgya means beyond attachment and detachment. It is non-attachment.
That is why Kṛṣṇa uses fitting words: vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ, those who are ‘complete’ with lust. Nivṛitti is the
completion you carry that leads to more and more completion.
Hence, Kṛṣṇa utters the following words to program the causal layer. He gives techniques to create the
space of completion and creation in Arjuna.
He says: ‘Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment, those who dwell in the Self, who are
complete with lust, who are free from the dualities of joy and sorrow, who are not confused, and who know
how to surrender to the supreme person, attain eternal consciousness.’
Lust is difficult for a man to shed. Even the greatest of sages have succumbed to lust. Lust is of the body
and as long as body consciousness remains, lust will stay. Only a person who has gone beyond body
consciousness can drop lust.
Those who go past the causal layer, this layer of energetic darkness, where neither the sun nor the moon
shines, nor fire warms, progress onwards to the Cosmic layer and then to the nirvanic layer, which signifies
true liberation.
One can meditate upon this technique, upon this truth expounded by Kṛṣṇa, through the darkness
meditation in some of our meditation programs. This meditation, which focuses on darkness, liberates one
from the fear of death and the fear of loss of identity that causes the fear of death.

15.7 The living entities in this conditioned material world are a portion of My eternal Self.
In this conditioned material world they are attracted by the six senses, which include the
mind, dwelling in prakṛti, the active energy principle.

15.8 The spirit in the body-mind living in this material world moves from one body to another
carrying these just as wind carries fragrance.
Here Kṛṣṇa says, ‘conditioned world, jīva-loke’. Everything is conditioning. Right and wrong, honor and
dishonor, are all conditioning, all are patterns. We think of honor or dishonor because we are taught that way.
When the spirit leaves one body and moves to another body, it carries the six senses, ṣaṣthānīndriyāṇi,
the five physical senses and the mind, in the same way as the wind carries fragrances, vāyur gandhān ivaśayāt
(15.8). Just as the wind carries fragrances, consciousness carries saṁskāras, causal level imprints, from body
to body.
We have the freedom to act: the free will to decide and act. Ironically, only an enlightened Master has no
freedom. Enlightened Masters are driven by Parāśakti’s will; they are guided by Her, that universal power,
into doing what they must do. Understand: I cannot take a single step on my own. My limbs move in
accordance with Her wishes.

15.9 The living entity, the spirit, leaves one body, takes another body and gets new eyes, ears, nose, tongue
and sensing body according to the saṁskāras it had in its causal layer and enjoys the new mental
setup.
15.10 Fools in ignorance do not perceive the spirit being united with the guṇas or modes of nature, as it
enters, enjoys and leaves the body. The one whose inner eyes of knowledge is open can see
everything.
Kṛṣṇa says that we create our sensory organs, according to saṁskāras in our causal layer. Kṛṣṇa says that
living entities create all five senses through the mind or mental setup. This happens not only when we take
another body. Every day when we wake up from deep sleep, our senses are recreated. If we change our mental
setup, within a short time, our face changes.
. I tell you, just by completing with your past lifestyle, you can get out of all your sufferings of the past.
Just by declaring completion with all the past mental setup, you can get out of all the side effects, after-effects,
and impact of the past over you. So, completion forms the basic truth, the basic principle. The whole energy
field supports you to fulfill your life as you want.
Just for twenty-one days, every night before sleeping do self-completion with all your incompletions for at
least forty-two minutes; reliving and relieving your past sufferings and root patterns. This completion process
will directly work on your causal layer.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Only those whose eyes are trained by knowledge can see the truth of this science, paśyanti jñāna
cakṣuṣaḥ (15.10)’. The whole science of completion is before you. He says fools cannot understand and only
those with eyes of knowledge, can see. The choice of being a fool or a man with eyes of knowledge, jñāna-
cakṣu is left to us. The choice is completely ours.
15.11 The serious practitioner of Yoga, with an understanding of his Self, can see all this
clearly. But those who do not have an understanding of the Self, however much they try,
cannot see.
15.12 The light of the Sun, the light of the Moon and the light of fire, all their radiance is also from
Me.
15.1 Entering into earth, I support all beings with My energy; becoming the watery Moon, I
nourish all plant life.
15.14 I am the fire of digestion in every living body and I am the breath of life, exhaled
and inhaled,

with which I digest the four-fold food.

Master—the Dispeller of Darkness

You are vibrating a magnetic field. There are two frequencies inside you.

There is a self in you which has a frequency of its own, this is what I call the energy of possibility of
enlightenment. In Saṃskṛit we use the word jīvātma—individual soul. Then, there is the mind in you which it
has the frequency of its own, this is the energy of the pattern and suffering present in you, which derived energy
from the ātman.
First, you have a frequency of consciousness in you. Second, you have the frequency of mind in you. The
frequency of the mind is the pattern, incompletion, suffering present in you. Third, at any given point in time,
you are either used by the frequency of your soul, ātman, consciousness or the frequency of your mind, the
patterns.

From Me Comes Light, Fire, Life Energy

Kṛṣṇa further expands on His pervasiveness. In the form of light and heat, He is the Sustainer of all beings
within this Universe. He says that He is the energy of the watery moon and through this energy He is the life
energy within plant life, puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ (15.13)’.
Kṛṣṇa affirms that He is Brahman and through His manifestation of the various natural elements of space,
air, fire, water and earth, He is responsible for plant life and therefore for food and human beings.
What Kṛṣṇa implies here as well is that food is divine since it has His imprint on it. We tend to take food for
granted. Offering food to other living beings has been considered a form of worship in Hindu tradition. Food
has always been considered the repository of the Divine.

15.15 I am seated in everyone’s heart and from Me came memory, knowledge and their loss. I am
known by the Vedas; indeed, I am the creator of Vedānta and I am the knower of the Vedas.
15.16 There are two things, the perishable and the imperishable, in this world. There are the
living beings who are perishable while there is the unchangeable, the imperishable.
Kṛṣṇa says that there are two kinds of puruṣa: one is eternal, akṣara and one perishes, kṣara. The puruṣa
that perishes is the body-mind energy embedded in all beings, including humans. This energy has a definite,
limited lifetime. It is always changing. There is nothing permanent about it. It is programmed for deterioration
and destruction.
The puruṣa that is kūṭastha is the imperishable aspect of this energy. It is the energy of the spirit that is
indestructible, akṣara. It is the Soul that is forever, that which cannot be destroyed.

15.17 Besides these two, there is the Supreme Puruṣa,

the Lord Himself, who pervades and sustains these three worlds.
15.18 As I am transcendental, beyond both the perishable and
the imperishable, and the best, I am declared both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme
Person, Puruṣottama.
15.19 Whoever knows Me as the Supreme, without a doubt, is to be understood as the knower of
everything, and he worships Me with all his being, O son of Bhārata.
15.20 This is the most confidential teaching disclosed by Me, O Sinless One, and whoever knows this
will become wise and his actions will bear fruit.
Puruṣa is the energy that pervades us. Puruṣottama is the energy that pervades the entire Universe. Puruṣottama
in that sense is no different from Parāśakti, the cosmic energy. It is only a play of words to separate Puruṣa as
male and śakti as female, while describing the ultimate Cosmic Consciousness.

KnoW Me as the supreMe and KnoW everythIng

Now, Kṛṣṇa presents the great truths about His true representation as the collective consciousness, the
Supreme Self.
The first Truth:
All our minds are not individually separated pieces of the Universe. They are all one and the same. All
our minds are interlinked. Not only interlinked, they directly affect each other. This is what I call collective
consciousness. Anything we think affects people around us. Not only are those near us touched by our
thoughts, so is everyone living on planet Earth.
The next Truth:
Not only at the mental level, even at the deeper level of consciousness, the deeper we go, the deeper we
are connected. In Existence, there is no such thing as a separate individual identity. Once we know this truth,
we will go beyond pain, suffering, depression and disease.
You see, we are a part of the Whole. If we fall in tune with the Whole, the Whole behaves as a friend.
The moment we think, discriminate or behave with the Whole in the opposite way, it acts like an enemy. Be
very clear, the Whole is not here to kill or destroy us.
The third Truth:
At the ultimate level, at the spiritual level, the moment we understand that we are deeply connected, totally
connected to the whole group, to the whole Universe, not only do we experience bliss, but we really live,
opening many dimensions of our being.
When we complete with everything, animate and inanimate, we experience the space of non-duality, Advaita,
where each one is infinitely powerful and infinitely intelligent. Completion should be carried till we become
enlightened. Understand, till we feel we are one with the space of Nithyānando’ham (I am Nithyānanda, Eternal
Bliss); till we experience the space of Nityānando’ham.
Let us pray to Puruṣottama Kṛṣṇa, the Ultimate Energy, the Universal Consciousness, the Cosmic
intelligence, to give us the experience of Eternal Consciousness; to make us beings with jñāna cakṣu,
eyes of knowledge, and establish us in Nityānanda, eternal bliss.
Thank you!

Thus ends the fifteenth chapter named Puruṣottama Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of the Supreme Being,’
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.
 C H A P T E R 16

Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ

16.1 – 16.3 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says,

Fearlessness, purification of the being, cultivation of
spiritual knowledge, charity, and being centered on the being, performance of
sacrifices, and accumulation of knowledge, austerity, simplicity, non-violence,
truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, aversion to fault finding,
compassion for all living entities, freedom from covetousness, gentleness, modesty,
studied determination, vigor, more forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from
envy and from the passion for honor, these transcendental qualities, O Son of Bharata
(Arjuna), belong to Divine men, endowed with Divine nature.’

Living the Divine

Here Kṛṣṇa gives all the divine qualities, one by one. It is not necessary to explain all the qualities. Let us
take a few. Let us take fearlessness, abhayaṁ for example.
Most of your sufferings are because you are afraid to think about some parts of your life, some components
of your life. You are afraid of thinking. You always think that because you are thinking, you are getting fear.
No! You are actually afraid of thinking. That is why those thoughts may cause fear in you, you think and then
you stop thinking!
Ironing out your thinking and not being afraid of thinking about anything, taking any thinking to the
logical conclusion is Integrity.
See, all the things that you want in your life, you think that you won’t get them, even if you work for it. But
all the things that you don’t want, you are afraid that you will get them, even if you just think about them.
Life is not that unfair with you. Anything happens only when you take the responsibility of inviting it and
making it happen. You should know very clearly and see your own hypocrisy.
First thing you need to do—sit with yourself and list out all the areas of your life that you are afraid of.
Whatever you are afraid of, write it down and logically think about it. Allow all of them to surface. Let your
mind face the fears. Let your mind speak everything. Think intensely and logically about the fears. Give it
half an hour. You may feel afraid, tears may roll and your whole body may shake. Let everything come out. I
tell you, anything that stays in your unconscious as a weight and makes you brood over it, bring all of them
out and consciously think through them to the logical conclusion. With integrity, fear of thinking will
disappear, and once fear of thinking disappears, they cannot cause fear to you.

16.4 Pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness or cruelty, and ignorance—these qualities belong
to those born with demonic nature, O Pātha (son of Prithā).
16.5 The transcendental qualities are conducive to liberation, whereas the demonic qualities
make for bondage.

Do not worry, Pāṇḍava, you are born with Divine qualities.

16.6 Pārtha, in this world there are two kinds of created beings, one is divine and the other,
demonic.

I have explained at length to you the Divine qualities.

Now hear about the demonic qualities also, so that
you will understand and live your life blissfully and happily.
16.7 Persons with demonic nature do not know what is bondage and what is
liberation; nor what is cleanliness; truthful behavior is not in them.
Kṛṣṇa says that all actions done out of arrogance, out of pride, out of ego, for name and fame, and for power,
are demonic in nature.
If you thing you are really a seeker, then do this one spiritual practice for seven days. Work based on this
single statement: instead of deciding based on the default root cognition of ‘me, me, me’, decide based on the
new root cognition of ‘You, You, You’.
Here, Kṛṣṇa gives the technique to change the master, the ego or the root patterns that makes decisions. He
gives the straight technique for the cognitive shift to happen. At present, the root cognition happens in us
keeping the ‘I’ as the center; He gives a simple technique to replace the ‘I’ with ‘You’ so that the cognitive
shift happens.
Enrich others with the space of ‘You’ which will naturally make you express these divine qualities in life.
Enriching will be just your lifestyle. You will understand that enriching the ‘You’ enriches the ‘I’ back.
Enriching others enriches you back. Experientially you will understand that ‘you’ is one with others, others
are one with you. Automatically you will become blissful, free from anger and full of dhārmic (righteous)
qualities.

There are four muktis or levels of liberation:

sālokya mukti, sārūpya mukti, sāmīpya mukti and sāyujya mukti. Sālokya means ‘same place’; it means
we will be allowed to stay in Vaikunṭa, Viṣṇu’s abode. We will have a residence in heaven. Sārūpya means
we will have the same form as the Lord. For example, we can see Jaya-Vijaya, the gatekeepers of heaven; they
have the same ṣankh (conch), cakra (discus), gadā (mace), padma (lotus)—all the accessories of Viṣṇu in the
same svarūpa (form).
Sāmīpya (being near) is being in the inner circle; the cakra that Viṣṇu is carrying has achieved sāmīpya
mukti! Becoming enlightened oneself is sāyujya mukti. Sāmīpya mukti is the best Enlightenment because we
can enjoy Him forever! It is like an ant forever enjoying the sugar candy.
Sāyujya mukti is like becoming the sugar candy. This is for all the ṛṣis. For devotees, the ultimate state is
sāmīpya mukti.

Are you Divine or Demonic?

Now, here is another important point. After hearing about ‘You’ and ‘me’, the next thought that may
come to our mind is, ‘Swamiji, I do not know whether I am working based on root cognition of ‘You’ or based
on ‘me’. I am worried about whether I am a demon or divine. Please guide me, tell me, based on which quality
I am working.’
Let me assure you that if this fear arises in you, you are divine. The person who is ready to look into his mind,
the person who is afraid about whether he is living rightly or wrongly, always lives rightly. Only the person
who is arrogant is demonic.

Now Lord Kṛṣṇa explains that living with transcendental qualities, that is the right space of ‘you’, one
achieves liberation or Enlightenment— nivṛitti. By living with the space of ‘I’ we create more bondage. The
demonic qualities make for bondage, meaning pravṛitti.
Kṛṣṇa says that one with a demonic nature is not aware of what bondage is and what liberation is. People
of this nature are so deeply immersed in their attachment and aversion that they no longer feel themselves
separated from these qualities. They are so much in bondage to their senses that they can no longer know they
are in bondage.
16.8 People with such demonic qualities think there is no ultimate energy or intelligence, which is
running this planet Earth, which is running the Universe, and that this whole creation is produced
 out of lust and desire, and is unreal.
16.9 Following this material view of creation, these degraded souls with small intellect, lost in
themselves and committing cruel deeds, are engaged in the destruction of the world.
Kṛṣṇa says that when we are unable to recognize this energy, we are demonic. We do not believe
everything operates out of this energy; instead we believe we make things happen with our greed, lust and
desires. We believe we run this world with our puny intellect that we consider intelligence.
Kṛṣṇa says firmly that when we believe that we are the cause of this Universe, this Existence, we are so
deluded and locked in our own little identities, with small intelliegence, we destroy the world and ourselves
as well.
16.10 Filled with insatiable desires, hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance; holding wrong views due to
delusion, they act with impure motives and for impermanent objectives.
16.11 ,12 Obsessed with endless anxiety lasting until death, considering sense gratification
their highest aim, and convinced that sense pleasure is everything;

bound by hundreds of ties of desire and enslaved and filled with anger, they strive to obtain
wealth by unlawful means to fulfill sensual pleasures.
In the earlier verse, Kṛṣṇa explained how a person with demonic nature could destroy this world. Here, He
shows how such a person can destroy himself. Out of pride, arrogance and hypocrisy, such a person moves in
a path directed by purely selfish and material objectives, and derives results that produce suffering.
The nature of the unconscious mind is to react to the senses. We may think we respond consciously. But
almost all the time our reactions are instinctive, decided by vāsanās and saṁskāras, conflicting patterns and
root patterns, rather than by conscious application of our rational mind. This is what Kṛṣṇa refers to as the
nature of a demonic person. Instinct is the nature of animals, and because it is their nature, it works well for
them. They flow with nature.
Instinct is not the nature of humans. Human consciousness can rise to the intuitive level, in which
awareness results in high action. This is the potential of the Divine inherent in all of us. Instead of rising to
the intuitive level, the super conscious level, most people find it easier to descend into the instinctive or
unconscious level.

16.13 They think: This has been gained by me today;

I shall fulfill this desire; I have this much wealth and will have more wealth in
the future;
16.14 That enemy has been slain by me,
and I shall slay others also. I am the Lord.
I am the enjoyer. I am successful, powerful, and happy.
16.15 I am rich and born in a noble family. Who is equal to me?
I shall perform sacrifice, I shall give charity, and I shall rejoice. Thus deluded by ignorance;
16.16 Thus confused by various anxieties and caught in a net of illusions, one
becomes too deeply attached to sensory pleasures and falls into hell.
Every sensory organ has its own āhāra, inputs, upon which it feeds. Based on these inputs, the eye, ear, tongue,
nose and skin develop their desires and convey these desires to the body-mind system. Control of these senses
and the desires that they weave is what Sage Patañjali prescribed as pratyāhāra, one of the eight methods of
his Aṣṭāṇga Yoga.
Once we allow our mind to get driven away by the senses, there is no stopping. We won’t know how to make
it stop either. So we continue with our fantasies. We are driven by comparison and envy. We are not merely
fulfilling our needs, we are actually fulfilling other people’s wants and desires.

16.17 Self-complacent and always conceited, deluded by wealth and false pride, they perform
superficial sacrifices in name only, without following the vedic rules or regulations.
16.18 The demonic person, consumed by ego, power, pride, lust and anger, becomes envious of Me
 (Supreme Divine),

who is situated in his own body and in the bodies of others, and blasphemies against Him.
16.19 Those who are envious (of Him) and cruel, who are the lowest among men, I repeatedly cast into
the ocean of material existence, into various lowly, demonic forms of life.
16.20 These foolish beings attain repeated birth amongst the species of demonic
life. Without ever achieving Me, O Kaunteya, they sink into the most
abominable existence.
The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad puts it so well:
As are your thoughts, so is your will; as is your will, so your action, as are your actions, so is
your destiny.
Destiny is nothing but the end result of how we exercise our free will. The problem is, we have no will;
in the morning we want to do one thing, by noon it is something different, by night it is totally different. So,
if our will keeps changing, how can it ever be converted into action?

Create the Space of Surrender

People tell me, ‘Swamiji, you say creating the space by visualizing it in the present helps make things
happen in reality; we have tried: nothing happens.’
Nothing happens because you are full of self-contradiction, self-doubt, self-hatred and impossibilities. If
we wish to get rid of back pain, and we keep saying, ‘Let this back pain go,’ it will never go. Every time we
utter the words back pain, our mind latches more firmly onto the past hangover of pain. If we want to get rid
of pain, we must complete with all self-doubts and create the space for health visualizing it in the present; not
pain, not getting rid of pain, but feeling healthy.
When you create the space to make something into reality, complete with all the doubts, complete with all the
impossible ideas that come to you, complete with your ability to even create the space.
Bringing your past hangover into the present is incompletion. Bringing your future possibility into the
present is Space.
When we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, our surrender must be total. We must take the responsibility to fulfill the
space of surrender. There can be nothing between Him and us. Then, He surely liberates us. Because then we
are already liberated, we are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Meditation leads us to surrender. Meditation is the process of creation of the space of completion.
Completion is the knowledge that we are one with the Universe. It is then about ‘you’ instead of ‘me’. The
feeling of ‘you’ and the absence of ‘me’ dissolve the idea of ‘I’ as identity. This is the foundation of surrender.
When we are one with the Universe, one with Kṛṣṇa, there is nothing else we need to look up to. There is
nothing else to look for. We have reached eternal bliss—Nityānanda.

16.21 There are three gates leading to this hell: lust, anger and greed. As they lead to the degradation
of the soul, these three are to be abandoned.
16.22 Those who have escaped these three gates of hell, O Kaunteya, behave in a manner beneficial
to the (evolution of the) soul, and thus (gradually) attain the supreme destination.
16.23 But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his base impulses attains
neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.
16.24 By the regulations of the scriptures, one should understand what is duty and what is not
duty. After being versed in scriptural injunctions, one should act accordingly.
Krodha, anger, arises out of suffering. We feel thwarted and we feel angry. The cycle goes on. When these
three combine, they create moha, or delusion.
Lust can be transformed when it is expressed in an unselfish and unattached way. Lust will then totally
disappear. Compassion and caring will be in its place. Lust is one aspect of the broad spectrum of desires.
Unending desire is greed. When a desire is truly fulfilled, it leaves us. Karma is unfulfilled desires that goad
us into action. We can never fulfill our desires because many of these desires are not truly ours. We borrow
these desires from other people. There is never contentment. Each desire is the seed of suffering.
Anger and guilt are byproducts of desires. What we cannot acquire makes us angry. Anger produces guilt.
Being angry towards a person is fruitless. Much of the negativity expressed towards others comes back to us.
It depletes our energy. Anger or even guilt is also often an expression of one’s inability to do something. It is
a self-centered emotion born of one’s weakness, powerlessness.
Don’t be identified with the body. Don’t be identified with your mind, country, race or religion. Don’t be
identified with anything. Don’t think, ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’. Remember, neither ‘this’ nor ‘that’. That is
one of the secret teachings of the mystics: neti-neti, neither ‘this’ nor ‘that’. If you can avoid both polarities,
day and night, life and death, body and mind, then slowly a third energy arises in you, a third force arises in
you. That is consciousness. That’s your reality. That is freedom—freedom from fear, anxiety, misery, freedom
from the world, freedom from the wheel of life and death. Then you are a witness, watching, a mirror reflecting
but not getting caught in any reflection.
When you are a witness, the ‘me’ and ‘mine’ drop. What remains is identification with your energy, with
your state, not your status. In that state, you are one with all. You are in the space of Living Advaita, oneness—
living the truth that everything is ‘you’ and ‘you’ are everything. Because ‘you’ is ‘me’, ‘me’ is ‘you’, ‘you’
‘me’ becomes ‘you-me’. It is ‘you-me’ that becomes the center, no longer ‘me’. You become Divine, daivic.
Let us pray to the ultimate energy, Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the Divine Consciousness, to bless us all with
‘daiva saṁpat’ and establish us in eternal bliss, nityānanda.
Thank You.

Thus ends the sixteenth chapter named Daivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of
Divine and Demonic Nature,’ 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.
 CHAPTER

17
17.1 Arjuna says:
What is the mode of devotion of those who perform spiritual practices with
authenticity [śraddha],but without following the scriptural injunctions, O Kṛṣṇa? Is
it in the mode of goodness [satva], aggression [rajas] or ignorance [tamas]?
Arjuna asks: ‘Kṛṣṇa, those who discard the ordinances of the scriptures, śāstras and perform sacrifices, what is
their position? Is it sātvic, rājasic or tāmasic? What is the state of people who don’t follow the instructions of
the scriptures, the ancient books, and instead worship with śraddha, authenticity according to their own beliefs?
Is it rajas, tamas or satva? Are they in a peaceful (sātvic) state, restless (rājasic) state or an ignorant (tāmasic)
state?’
Worship can occur at many levels. Arjuna’s question is based upon the three attributes or guṇas. Worship is also
dependent on our energy levels. Many people are comfortable worshipping at the physical level, the gross level,
through techniques such as pūjā, going to temples to worship the deities, bathing in holy rivers, etc. From an
energy point of view, these are linked to the earth energy and the water energy.
At another level of energy, one may perform fire sacrifices such as yajña or homa. These are related to the fire
energy.
The energy of air, vāyu can be accessed through breathing techniques such as prāṇāyāma or chanting of verses.
It is possible to access the etheric energy, ākāśa through meditation, though this requires understanding
and awareness.
Each form of worship or sacrifice is based upon one’s aptitude and inclination.

17.2 The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa says:

The natural authenticity (faith) of embodied beings is of three kinds: Goodness, aggression,
and ignorance.

Now listen about these from Me.

17.3 O Arjuna, the authenticity of each is in accordance with one’s own natural
disposition.

One is known by one’s authenticity, śraddha. One can become whatever one
wants to be.
17.4 Men in the nature of goodness worship the deities; those in the nature of aggression worship
the demons and those in the nature of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.

17.5 , 17.6 Ignorant persons of demonic nature are those who practice severe
austerities without following the prescription of the scriptures, who are full of
hypocrisy and egotism, who are impelled by the force of desire and attachment
and who senselessly torture the elements in their body and also Me who dwells
 within the body.
When we are born, we carry within us the vāsanā, the essence of the mental cognition or bio-memory from our
past lives. This comes with the prārabdha karma (unfulfilled actions from past lives) and the saṁskāras (root
thought patterns), that drive our mental makeup and actions throughout our present lives. In turn, guṇas or the
attributes we are born with are determined.

. According to Kṛṣṇa, the attitude, the space or the last thought with which we left our body carries over
to our next birth and the next body that our spirit moves into.

Hence we are born with a natural inclination based upon our last life and attitude. Depending on the
attitude, we may have the attribute of satva, goodness, rajas, aggression, or tamas, ignorance as our driving
nature.
Śraddha here refers to the faith that comes out of authenticity in action or good work. Yet pure goodness
goes beyond all material acts. It is transcendental. Hence there is nothing like fully good, completely good in
material life.
An Enlightened Master goes beyond the three guṇas of satva, rajas and tamas. He transcends these attributes
because he burns out all his vāsanās, saṁskāras and karmas, of which these triguṇas are a product. An
Enlightened Master has no bondages. He is not bound by desires, greed, fear or attachment. He is beyond the
illusion of material existence.
Kṛṣṇa says that our style of worship depends upon our nature— sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati
bhārata (17.3). A person established in satva worships devatas (deities, gods) who are peaceful— yajante
sāttvikā devān. A person established in rajas worships yakṣas (supernatural beings) and rākṣasas
(demons)—yakṣa-rakṣāṁsi rājasāḥ. A person established in tamas (ignorance) worships pretas (spirits of
the dead) and bhūtas (ghosts)—pretān bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ (17.4).

Do not Abuse your Body, I reside in You

In the last verse, He says, ‘Please do not punish your body. You not only punish yourself, but you also
punish Me because I reside in you— mām caiva antaḥ śarīra-stham’.
17.7 Food that we consume is of three kinds, according to the three types of material
nature. These are the sacrifice, austerity and charity. Listen to the difference
between these three.
Before we discuss these verses, let me explain the three different types of śraddha based on what we are.

āhāras tv api sarvasya tri-vidho bhavati priyaḥ I

yajñas tapas tathā dānaṁ teśāṁ bhedam imaṁ sṛṇu II 17.7

Please understand that one group of people is completely negative. They lack integrity, the space of positivity.
They only doubt, doubt and doubt. They doubt themselves and others. They have decided not to believe in
anything. They have decided not to raise themselves in their lives. They remain dumb in self-doubt. We can’t
do anything with them. This is the first group.
The second group consists of people who positively believe, who are integrated, but do not practice
authenticity, the space of possibility. They build the pattern of impossibility. They continuously resist
expansion. Understand, while on the surface they believe that they are confronted by patterns and limitations
imposed by their patterns, deep down inside them, they actually resist expansion. Just see, look around the
society. Everything is nothing but the resistance to expansion.
The third group of people believes and practices authenticity, the space of possibility with responsibility.
For them, life is all about making the impossible into I-M-Possible.
There are three groups. One group is in self-doubt. Even the word doubt is too good to describe it. They
are in self-denial. They are prejudiced. This group is in tamas. The next group is the believers. They are in
rajas. The third group is authentic. This group is in satva. Kṛṣṇa beautifully explains the differences between
the prejudiced group in self-denial, the believers with positivity and the authentic group with possibility. He
then talks about their ways of life, character and how we can achieve the authenticity of satva and imbibe the
truths explained in the Gītā.
Technology to Experience Authenticity
Now, we will enter into the technology of experiencing the
authenticity, the technology of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The result of my words on your consciousness decides whether what I spoke is the truth or
a lie. Understand, you don’t need to do it completely or perfectly. Having the courage
of authenticity to experiment with a clear decision that you will expand your possibility
is enough.
Practicing integrity creates the space of positivity in you, and practicing authenticity
creates the space of possibility in you. The clear decision that you will continuously
expand your possibility for you and you will not be satisfied with what you are now, is
more than enough! You do not need any other separate practice.
Please understand, the gap between your desire and your responsibility is your inauthenticity. Bring
more and more authenticity. Take more and more responsibility. So, when you take responsibility, sit by
creating the space and be ready to sacrifice. The world will simply move based on your word! The world will
move as you want!

17.8 The foods that promote longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness and joy are juicy, smooth,
substantial and nutritious. Such foods are liked by persons in the mode of goodness.
17.9 People in the mode of aggression like foods that are very bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry, and
burning, and which cause pain, grief and disease.
17.10 People in the mode of ignorance like foods that are stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, refuse
and of impure energy.
Kṛṣṇa explains here about the energy of various food substances. Generally, all food that
is not from plants i.e., from animal origin, has negative energy. Food that is hot and
spicy tends to aggravate desires. Vegetarian food that is fresh and not spicy is ideal for
spiritual practices.
In our Nithya Spiritual Healing system, it is essential that the healers become vegetarians and give up
substances such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, etc. I have nothing against alcohol or meat. I have no theories
about cruelty to animals and so on. Plants also have life, just perhaps not at the same frequency. So if one
argues from the point of cruelty to animals, eating vegetables also is cruelty to plants. This system is based on
deep meditative techniques. For the meditative energy to be effective, negative energy substances should not
be used. I have seen that these meditations do not go together with meat as well as with tobacco and alcohol.
If healers eat meat, smoke or drink, they are affected physiologically and psychologically.
Any serious meditation technique requires one to be in the energy field. The word āhāra used by Kṛṣṇa
can be expanded to mean food for all senses, not merely for the tongue. All sensory inputs need to be of the
same description that Kṛṣṇa uses here, promoting ‘longevity, virtue, strength, health, happiness and joy’ to aid
one’s progress in one’s spiritual path by the sātvic route.
Kṛṣṇa outlines a more general classification based upon the purity and nature of food. Kṛṣṇa explains that
tāmasic food, putrid and stale, is forbidden for consumption by vedic tradition. The injunction is to eat food
within a few hours of cooking. Beyond that, the food should be discarded.
Eat fresh food in silence and with completion and gratitude. Pay attention to each morsel
of food and eat with gratitude and love.
17.11 Sacrifice without expectation of results, as stipulated in the scriptures, with a firm belief and
conviction that it is a duty, is in the mode of goodness.
17.12 O Arjuna, that sacrifice that is performed with expectation of result or for show out of pride, is
of the nature of aggression.
17.13 Sacrifice that is performed without following the scripture, in which no food is distributed,
which is devoid of mantra, authenticity, and gift, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.
Please understand that an enriching sacrifice is not measured by how much we give. It is measured by
how much we give that we cannot afford to give. It is measured by how much we give when it hurts us to give
and that too without any expectation in return. Such an enriching sacrifice straightaway leads to liberation.
That vāsanā of generosity stays with their spirit. There is no doubt in this.
However, that charity will be in the mode of rajas, not satva. When people move from this rajas state of
giving to the satva state of giving, wealth seeks them out. Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth comes to them
without being asked!
17.14 The worship of deities, the priest, the Guru, and the wise; purity, honesty, living in reality,
and nonviolence are said to be austerity of deed.
17.15 Speech that is non-offensive, truthful, pleasant, beneficial, and is used for the regular study
of scriptures is called austerity of word.
17.16 Serenity of mind, gentleness, equanimity, self-control, and purity of thought are called
austerity of thought.
17.17 The above mentioned threefold austerity (of thought, word and deed), practiced by Yogīs
with supreme authenticity, without a desire for the fruit, is said to be in the mode of
goodness.
17.18 Austerity that is performed for gaining respect, honor, reverence, and for the sake of show,
yielding an uncertain and temporary result, is said to be in the mode of aggression.
17.19 Austerity performed with foolish stubbornness or with self-torture or for harming
others, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.
Bhagavan Kṛṣṇa says that the people who are in rajas carry out sacrifices for the sake of respect, honor
and worship. When they do penance or sacrifice in this manner, it is unstable. When people don’t respect
them, they stop doing it. They do it as long as people fall at their feet. If the respect is lost, they stop their
tapasyā.
Penance performed with the view of obtaining any result, even a noble ideal like Enlightenment is a
result...is in the mode of rajas, aggression or passion. Only when it is in the nature of total surrender, with no
expectation of any results, it is in satva and of spiritual value.
Bhāgavatam says that people who explain or enrich others by sharing the Truth, such as Śrī Kṛṣṇa,
are Incarnations. Incarnations still landing on planet Earth to make all of you enlightened is nothing but the
Universe practicing responsibility. Even after so much torture and abuse by human beings, enlightened beings
and Incarnations are continuing to enrich planet Earth; this is nothing but the cosmos deciding to do whatever
it takes to enrich all of you.
Listen, only my integrity and authenticity makes me an Enlightened being. Only my commitment
to taking responsibility and enriching all of you, makes me an Incarnation!
Sukha Brahma says beautifully: Soundaryatva, Tejavastva, Sārasvatya, and the power,
lakṣmitva. Soundaryatva means that if we see them, we will automatically feel like sitting and
listening to them. We will automatically feel like turning around once more to capture their
grace! That which simply attracts our mind is soundaryatva.
The next attribute is tejas, a sharp radiating energy and clarity. The third is sārasvatya. This means that
no matter how difficult a concept or idea is, they can explain it in a simple way. It merely flows from their
tongue where Sarasvatī (goddess of knowledge) resides.
Above all is Lakṣmītva. This means that just by their thought, wealth and work will happen. Everything
happens according to how they want it to happen. When somebody radiates all four of these qualities, he is an
Incarnation.
Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says a spiritual person should use pleasing words and not agitate others. When we do not
agitate others, we will not be arrogant. See, this is not even a social morality. This is a spiritual practice.
Kṛṣṇa says to study spiritual literature regularly. By regularly studying scriptural literature, these ideas go
again and again into our brain. Consequently, we acquire the courage to experiment and live the truth.
Kṛṣṇa talks about austerity in action, śarīraṁ tapa as well. He speaks about the five conditions that are
also in Patañjali’s Aṣtāṇga Yoga as the five disciplines of yama: satya, ahiṁsā, asteya, aparigṛha and
brahmacarya. These mean truth in thoughts, words and deeds embodying nonviolence, non-covetousness,
simplicity and living in reality with the focus on the Supreme as the ultimate in any kind of penance.
17.20 Charity that is given at the right place and time, as a matter of duty to a
deserving candidate who does nothing in return, is considered to be in the mode
of goodness.
17.21 Charity that is given unwillingly or to get something in return or to gain some result is in the
mode of aggression.
17.22 Charity that is given at a wrong place and time to unworthy persons or without paying respect to the
receiver or with ridicule is in the mode of ignorance
Dāna, charity is sharing out of the space of enriching. It is not done with the attitude of giving. It
is done with the attitude of sharing and not expecting good results because of it or some easy route into heaven
because of it. Charity is done out of love and gratitude.
There are three kinds of dāna.
Understand, annadāna means giving to enrich with food, clothes and whatever is related to someone’s physical
needs.
Next is vidyādāna. This means giving to enrich with education and also whatever someone needs for
mental growth. For example, when somebody is depressed, if you enrich him with some consoling ideas, this
is vidyādāna. If somebody does not know how to clean a room and you teach him, this is vidyādāna. If
somebody does not know how to cut grass and you teach him, this is vidyādāna.
And the third kind is jñānadāna, giving to enrich with spiritual knowledge.
If we give annadāna, we satisfy a person for three hours. After three hours, again he needs food. If we give
vidyādāna, education or knowledge, he will have food for himself for one life. If we give education, he can
earn food for himself. He will make money and buy food for himself. If we give jñānadāna, we will satisfy
that person birth after birth!
One more point is that the person who gives loses nothing with jñānadāna. With all other dāna, the person
who gives has a little less. In annadāna, he who gives will lose and he who receives will gain. In vidyādāna,
the giver does not lose. He retains the same level. In jñānadāna, I tell you a secret, the more you share, the
more it grows in you! The more you enrich others with the science of completion, the more you grow in
completion. It is a win-win situation. Here, you receive automatically. It grows in the person who shares and
enriches.
There are others whose charity it is better not to accept. Kṛṣṇa refers to this as giving in ignorance, tamas.
People will come with money not declared for tax as earned income and gift that to the ashram. They will use
it as a tax saving strategy. What for?
Often, disciples ask why I am not accepting donations from very wealthy people who come to the ashram
seeking help. Unless the person stays with me for a year or more and shows his integrity, authenticity and
responsibility towards enriching the mission, it is difficult to accept anything from that person. Why become
bonded to people whose motives are not merely selfish but self-defeating?
17.23 ‘Oṁ Tat Sat’ is said to be the threefold name of the Eternal Being (Brahma).

Persons with good (brahmanic) qualities, the Vedas, and the selfless service (seva,
yajña) were created by and from Brahma in the ancient times.
17.24 Therefore, acts of sacrifice, charity, and austerity prescribed in the scriptures are
always commenced by uttering ‘Oṁ’ by the knowers of the supreme being.
17.25 Various types of sacrifice, charity, and austerity are performed by the seekers of liberation by
uttering ‘Tat’ (or He is all) without seeking a reward.
17.26 The word ‘Sat’ is used in the sense of Reality and goodness. The word ‘Sat’ is also used for
an auspicious act, O Pārtha (Arjuna).
17.27 Authenticity in sacrifice, charity, and austerity is also called ‘Sat’. Selfless
enriching for the sake of the Supreme is, in truth, termed as ‘Sat’.
17.28 Whatever is done without authenticity, whether it is sacrifice, charity, austerity, or any other act
is called ‘Asat’. It has no value here or hereafter, O Pārtha (Arjuna).
Please understand that all kinds of food, penance, sacrifice or charity fall into the basic three categories
explained by Kṛṣṇa—sātvic, rājasic and tāmasic. These translate as the modes of goodness, passion
and ignorance. But the important thing is that as long as they are done in the materialistic world, they
are conditioned. When they are done from the space of completion with the attitude of gratitude to the
Divine and Existence, only then you encounter spiritual progress or spiritual elevation. Our scriptures
explain that anything done in the nature of rajas or tamas cannot give the ultimate result. Only the act
done from the space of satva or goodness gives the final result. One who does such acts without this
awareness has temporary results but not the final result.
Commit to complete with yourself and others. When I say ‘others’, I don’t mean only the friends and
family and relatives who are present in your life. Complete with your kula devatā (family deity), complete
with your kula guru (family guru), complete with your house, complete with the plants with which you are
living, complete with your pet, complete with the different energies of the Cosmos, complete with everything!
Continuously complete and continuously enrich others!
The real scale and measure of your completion is whether you are able to move the others’ space and
enrich others and life continuously. If you are not enriching constantly, be very clear, the completion has not
yet happened in you.
I tell you, when completion happened in me, I just realized the authentic selflessness, śraddha. All our
selflessness is also packed in our selfishness. All our selflessness is packed in our selfishness. When I
completed, I discovered the authentic selflessness and enriching which never tires me. If you are getting tired,
please be very clear, still you have incompletions in you. You have to complete! You have to complete!
Listen! This is the scale—having a tireless mind. The being happened in me is just because my
enriching is out of pure selflessness. I tell you, once you complete, you will suddenly realize, ‘Why
should I live now?’— ‘For enriching! Nothing else...Nothing else!’ Complete! Complete! Complete!

The three words ‘Oṁ Tat Sat ‘are the words of the Divine.
• ‘Oṁ iti etat brahmano nedisthaṁ namaḥ’, shows the first goal, the beginning.
• ‘Tat tvam asi’ indicates the second goal, the continuation.
• ‘Sat eva saumya’ is the third goal or final result. All three combined give the
words: Oṁ Tat Sat.
This is why these words have such great importance or significance. Any person doing enriching or
working with the space of addressing Oṁ Tat Sat will be with Existence, the Divine consciousness.
These three words simply imply: ‘I offer all to that Truth. I surrender everything to that Divine. Let that
be the Truth.’ This is the Mahā-vākya, the great truth, handed down by the Master to Arjuna as the
technique to ensure śraddha, authenticity in all activities of sacrifice, austerity and charity.
Let us all experience Śraddha, the authenticity and imbibe and experience the truths of Parabrahma
Kṛṣṇa.
Let us pray to Him to give us all the authenticity and experience of the truth that He is teaching through
the Gītā, to all of us, and let Him make us experience and establish ourselves in Eternal Bliss, Nityānanda!

Thus ends the seventeenth chapter named Śraddhatraya Vibhāga Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of
Discerning the Three-Fold Faith,’ 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.
 CHAPTER

18
Mokṣa Sannyāsa Yogaḥ

18.1 Arjuna says,

‘O mighty armed Kṛṣṇa, I wish to understand
what is the essence, tattva of renunciation, tyāga and the
renounced order of life, sannyāsa, and the difference

between the two, O Hriśikeṣa, O Killer of the demon Keśī.’

18.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says,
the renouncing of all selfish work based on desire, is what the learned ones call as sannyāsa,
the renounced order of life.

And renunciatig the attachment to fruit or result of one’s actions is what the wise ones call as
tyāga, renunciation.
18.3 Some learned men say that all kinds of result-based activities are faulty and should be given up,
but there are yet other sages who maintain that acts of enriching sacrifice [yajña],charity
[dāna] and austerity [tapaḥ] should never be given up.

18.4 Arjuna, best of Bhāratas, now listen from Me certainly about renunciation or tyāga; O
tiger among men, renunciation or tyāga is declared to be of three kinds.
18.5 Acts of enriching sacrifice [tyāga], charity [dāna] and austerity [tapaḥ] are not
to be given up; they should be performed. Indeed, even the Sages are purified by
enriching sacrifice, charity and penance.

18.6 O Pārtha (Arjuna), all these activities must also be performed without any attachment or any
expectation of fruit or result. They should be done as an act of responsibility.

That is My final and ultimate opinion.

Renunciation can be of three types: enriching sacrifice, charity and penance; yajña, dāna, tapaḥ. These
purify even those who are already evolved and pure.
Kṛṣṇa says that any sacrifice done for the welfare or enrichment of humanity is not to be given up. As enriching
sacrifices, yajñas are meant to achieve the supreme, performing charity, dāna is recommended to purify one’s
heart and put one on the path of spiritual progress. Sacrifice is normally understood to be rituals such as yajña
and homa, etc. These are the fire rituals prescribed in Vedic literatures to propitiate the deities. When carried
out with integrity and authenticity, these powerful techniques link us to the Cosmic energy.
Understand, responsibility is the fruit. Enriching is sowing the seed for the fruit to happen. Enriching is
sharing the fruit to create more fruits. Every person who eats the fruit is responsible for sowing the seed for
more fruits to happen.

Surrender both Inner and Outer Space

Let me explain what I mean by the word surrender. Then you can understand better. Think of two
intersecting lines, axes.
The vertical axis is spiritual life. The horizontal axis is material life. The point of intersection is your
being. This is the goal you have. You have some goal in your material life and also in your spiritual
life. To achieve your goal in your material life, you are continuously struggling and working. You are
somewhere on the horizontal axis. To achieve your spiritual goal, you are again working intensely
doing yoga, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, etc. You practice spiritual techniques. You are somewhere on the
vertical axis. So when you struggle with material goals, you are on the horizontal line whereas when
you struggle with spiritual goals, you are on the vertical line.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Relax from both.’ You may think, ‘What is this funny instruction He is giving!’ You
think that if you relax in both you will lose both. However, the truth is that when you relax in both, you
fall into your inner consciousness, your being or your inner space. When you experience this inner
space, this inner consciousness, you will suddenly realize that you can explode in all directions. You do
not need to choose between horizontal and vertical lines. You can travel on both lines at the same time!
Not only that, you can explode in all directions. The only difficulty is that you must surrender at least to
your own being. You do not need to surrender to somebody else. To whom you surrender is
unimportant. Just relax into your own being. Just relax into your inner space, into your inner
consciousness. Just surrender to your own inner space. Stop your struggle in the material world and the
spiritual world.
For the first time, Kṛṣṇa gives the ultimate technique for Quantum Spirituality. He is the first quantum
scientist of the inner world. He says relax and surrender and you will experience the completion of your inner
consciousness. You will understand that you do not need to choose between the horizontal and vertical lines.
You can explode in all 360 degrees. You need not make a choice. You experience choicelessness.
Choicelessness does not mean that you do not choose anything. When you stop choosing, you will choose
everything.

18.7 Prescribed duties should never be renounced. If one gives up

his prescribed duties through the illusion of renunciation [tyāga], this is said to be in the state of
ignorance or tamas.
18.8 Anyone who gives up prescribed duties as troublesome,
or out of fear of bodily discomfort, his renunciation [tyāga] is said to be in state of
aggression [rajas],

Such action never leads to gaining the fruit of renunciation.

18.9 But he who performs what is prescribed, as a matter of responsibility, without expectation or
attachment to the results, his renunciation [tyāga] is said to be in the nature of satva, goodness, O
Arjuna.
18.10 One who neither hate disagreeable work nor is attached to pleasant work, is in a state of
intelligence, goodness and renunciation, having cut-off all doubts.
18.11 Embodied beings cannot give up all activities.
Therefore, the one who has renounced the fruits of action is called the tyāgī, one who has
 truly renounced.
18.12 For one who has not renounced, the three kinds of fruits of action, desirable, undesirable and
mixed, accrue after death, but those who are in renounced order of life, sannyāsa, have no
such result to suffer or to enjoy.
Many times the idea of dropping our responsibilities and taking up a different role is more attractive than
growing in completion so that we can perform our own responsibilities well and without attachment. Be very
clear, without the right cognition of completion, no role that we take up will work out for us.
When you don’t take responsibility for anything, you live as slave, śūdra. When you take the responsibility
for the money of the society, you become vaiśya. When you take the responsibility for weapon of the society,
you become kṣatriya.When you take the responsibility for knowledge of the society, you become brāhmaṇa.
When you take responsibility for everything, you become Sannyāsi.
One of the biggest problem we have is—‘let me have the power first, let me have the status first, let me
have the position first, then I will take the responsibility.’ No! That does not happen in life. Take the
responsibility to build the state inside you. Then, after you are tested by the Cosmos, it gives you the status.
That status can never be taken away.
Kṛṣṇa says that doing what needs to be done because that is what is our responsibility, without attachment
to the action and without desire is the ideal condition of satva.
Kṛṣṇa has said this many times in the Gītā. He repeats it again so that the message sinks in our muscle-
memory and bio-memory. Do what must be done. Do what your responsibility is, based on your societal or
religious beliefs and codes. However, do it with integrity and authenticity without attachment and expectation
of results.
The consciousness of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, in terms of the performance of the activity should be absent. The
consciousness of ‘feeling responsible in your being’ should be present. Restricting your being in feeling
responsible is what I call conditioning. Responsibility in your being means the space from which you cognize,
from where you make decisions, carrying responsibility in that zone.
Kṛṣṇa says that a person in the sātvic space of completion, calmness and awareness is undisturbed by
external conditions. He is not bothered whether someone appreciates or condemns what he does. He just feels
responsibility in his being. He is clear what he should do and he carries on with excitement.
Renunciation is in the true spirit of completion and is done out of goodness, only when a person
renounces the expectation of result.
Karma is nothing but unfulfilled, incomplete desires. As long as we have attachment to the action as
‘doer’, which in turns creates an expectation of reward or punishment, we are caught in the cycle of karma
and saṁsāra. Our concern about whether an action or the result is good, bad or a mix of both, follows us as
our mental patterns or vāsanā after death.

18.13 ,14 Learn from Me Arjuna, there are five causes that bring
about the accomplishment of all action, as described in Sāṅkhya philosophy. These are: physical
body that is the seat of action, the attributes of nature or guṇa that are the Doer, the eleven organs
of perceptions and action by the life forces and

finally the Divine.

18.15 These five factors are responsible for whatever right or wrong actions a man performs by
deed, word and thought.
18.16 Therefore, one who thinks himself, his body and spirit, as the only doer [kartā], is
certainly ignorant and foolishly does not see things as they are.

These two verses can be called techniques. Kṛṣṇa lists five factors from Sāṅkhya philosophy responsible for
our activities. These are the body-mind system, the operator of the bodymind system (that is the individual),
the senses, different efforts causing the activities and finally the ultimate power of God. All activities, right or
wrong, good or bad, are caused by these five factors. If however, the individual considers himself to be the
doer, his body and mind, he is not aware.
Kṛṣṇa uses the word ātman while saying that one who perceives one’s spirit or Self as the agent, the doer, or
 the performer, does not see and is not aware. Kṛṣṇa draws a distinction between the individual Self and the
cosmic energy. He differentiates between ātman and Brahman, mānava and Deva, nara and Nārāyaṇa, self and
Parāśakti.

Final Surrender itself Is Enlightenment

In the inner world, the first and last tool you need is complete surrender. Only then can you wake up to
the Truth. If Arjuna had trusted only his senses, he would have been at best a good warrior and king.
Instead he trusted Kṛṣṇa more than his senses and became enlightened. He experienced the truth of Kṛṣṇa.

You can experience Kṛṣṇa consciousness not just by surrendering the intellect and emotions but also by
surrendering the root of the intellect and emotions, that is the senses. The senses supply the data. When you
surrender them, the source of the data is surrendered.
When I say surrender, I mean wake up to the truth that you are in the ocean. When you are born,
when you think you are an individual or when you become enlightened, you are always in the
ocean. Just wake up! Waking up to this ultimate Truth is surrender. Surrender these small ideas
about yourself and wake up to reality. As a result, surrender automatically happens in your inner space,
your inner Consciousness.

18.17 One who is egoless, whose intelligence is not of attachment, though he may kill, is not the
slayer and is never bound by his actions.
No master except Kṛṣṇa can make such a courageous statement. Kṛṣṇa makes a bold statement here. One who
is not motivated by ego, whose intelligence is not based on attachment, though he may kill many men in this
world, he does not kill, nor is he bound by his actions.
Of course, one who has reached that level of completion does not think of killing. As long as we have the idea
of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, we attack or kill. When we exclude, we kill. On the other hand, when we surrender, we learn
to include everything.
Kṛṣṇa emphasizes here: May you be liberated from entanglement. May you liberate yourself from ego, yasya
nāhaṅkṛto bhāvo. He does not ask Arjuna to kill.
Kṛṣṇa makes this statement to drive the point home to Arjuna that it is his responsibility to stand up and fight
instead of running away from the battlefield.

18.18 Knowledge, the object of the knowledge and the subject of the knowledge, the knower, are the three
factors that stimulate action; the senses, the action and the performer comprise the three
components of action.
18.19 According to the science of guṇa or attributes in Sāṅkhya, there are three types in knowledge,
action, and performers of action. Now Listen as I describe them.
18.20 That knowledge by which the one imperishable reality is seen in all Existence, undivided in the
divided, you should undrestand to be the knowledge in the state of goodness.
18.21 The knowledge by which one sees different realities of various types among all beings as
separate from one another,

such knowledge is in the mode of aggression.

18.22 The irrational, baseless, and worthless knowledge by which one clings to one single effect as if it
is everything;such knowledge is in the mode of darkness or ignorance.
18.23 Obligatory duty performed without likes and dislikes and without selfish motives and
attachment to the fruit,is in the mode of goodness.
18.24 Action performed with ego, with selfish motives, and with too much effort, is in the mode of
aggression.
18.25 Action that is undertaken because of delusion, disregarding consequences, loss,
 injury to others, as well as one’s own ability, is in the mode of ignorance.
18.26 The performer who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with resolve and
enthusiasm, and unperturbed in success or failure is called good.
18.27 The performer who is impassioned, who desires the fruits of work, who is greedy, violent, impure,
and affected by joy and sorrow,is called aggressive.

18.28 The performer who is indisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, wicked, malicious, lazy, depressed, and
procrastinating is called ignorant.
In these verses Kṛṣṇa explains the nature of man, the human.
Kṛṣṇa has already said that the final performer is not man, nara, but the Divine,
Nārāyaṇa. Even so the human is still the subject, the medium that we are dealing with.
All the frailties that we have are inherent in our nature. These are the guṇas or attributes
that define our behavior.
The guṇas are of three kinds: satva, rajas and tamas. Satva is defined as calm, peaceful,
spiritual and good, etc. This is generally the attribute of spiritually inclined persons. Rajas
is translated as aggressive, passionate and active, etc. This is the primary attribute of
kings, warriors and business people. Tamas is lazy, ignorant and passive, etc.
I want you to know a very important fact. Never, ever will you be free by your efforts to
be free. Freedom will happen to you only by the right knowledge about freedom, never by
your efforts towards freedom.

18.29 Now hear Me explain, fully and separately, the threefold division of intellect and resolve, based
on modes of material nature,

O Dhanañjaya.

18.30 O Arjuna, that intellect is in the mode of goodness that understands the path of work and the
path of renunciation, right and wrong action, fear and fearlessness,bondage and liberation.

18.31 That intellect is in the mode of passion that cannot distinguish between principles of right conduct
and wrongdoing, and right and wrong action, O Pārtha (Arjuna).
18.32 That intellect is in the mode of ignorance that accepts unrighteousness as righteousness
and thinks everything to be that which it is not, O Arjuna.
18.33 Consistent and continuous determination in controlling mind, breath and senses for uniting with
the Divine is goodness, Pārtha
18.34 Craving for results of action while clinging to goals of proper conduct, pleasure and wealth is
the state of passion., Arjuna.
18.35 Ignorant resolve that cannot go beyond dreaming, fear, grief, despair and delusion—such is
in darkness, Pārtha.
Dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are the four puruṣārtha. These can be translated as
righteousness, wealth, desire or lust and liberation.
Puruṣārtha provides four meanings to life:
Dharma is right conduct or virtue. Dharma means the natural law of the cosmos. The very DNA structure with
which human consciousness is built, the natural law of human life, the dharma are these four principles.
Constantly give life to the four dharmas of authenticity, integrity, responsibility and enriching. When you
protect dharma, it protects you. When you are integrated to it, it is integrated to you. When you are authentic
with it, it is authentic with you. When you take responsibility for it, it takes responsibility for you. When you
enrich dharma, it enriches you. Only then it is possible that your energy is awakened. Only then is your energy
awakened.
Artha is the stuff that we pick up on our path and journey, the material things that we need to sustain
ourselves.
 Kāma is the pleasure of the senses we experience and enjoy on this journey. These are rightful acquisitions
and pleasurable experiences. Do not feel disturbed by the need for these. But do not become caught up in them
and forget to move on the path with completion and enjoy the journey to the fullest.
Mokṣa or liberation is the ultimate meaning to life. The meaning of human life is you experiencing
completion, and working, radiating, showering others also with the same space of completion. This is the
culmination of the liberation from expectation, desires, greed and fear, and liberation from attachment to
desires. This understanding that experiencing completion with non-attachment and absence of expectation
leads to liberation can fill us with bliss.

18.36 ,37 And now hear from Me, O Arjuna, about three kinds of pleasure. The pleasure
that one enjoys from spiritual practice results in cessation of all sorrows.

The pleasure that appears as poison in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end,
comes by the grace of Self-knowledge and is in the mode of goodness.
18.38 Sensual pleasures that appear as nectar in the beginning, but become poison in the end, are
in the mode of passion.
18.39 Pleasure that is delusion from beginning to end and born out of sleep, laziness and illusion is said
to be of the nature of ignorance.
18.40 No one, either here or among the celestials in the higher planetary systems, is free from these three
states [triguṇa] of material nature.
Kṛṣṇa says that spiritual practice, that is the state of satva, is difficult in the beginning, and it is like poison;
however, it becomes life-giving nectar in the end.
Sensual pleasures born out of rajas, on the other hand, seem like nectar in the beginning but become
poisonous. In the tamasic state, Kṛṣṇa says, one is deluded as if in sleep, laziness and illusion.

18.41 Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and sūdras are divided

in the work they do based on their nature, Parantapa (Arjuna).
18.42 The nature of Brāhmaṇa is characterized by calmness, discipline, austerity, tolerance, honesty,
knowledge, wisdom and belief in God.

18.43 Kṣatriya are characterized by their qualities of heroism, vigor, firmness, dexterity, and
steadfastness in battle, leadership and generosity.
18.44 Those who are good at cultivation, cattle rearing and trade are known as Vaiśya. Those
who are very good in service are classified as Sūdra.
18.45 One can attain the highest perfection [saṁsiddhi] by devotion to one’s natural work. Listen to
Me how one attains perfection while engaged in one’s natural work.
18.46 One attains perfection by worshipping the Supreme Being,
from whom all beings originate and by whom this entire Universe is pervaded, through performance
of one’s natural duty for Him.
18.47 It is better to engage in one’s rightful conduct [svadharma], even though one may not perform
it to perfection, than to accept another’s conduct and perform it perfectly. Responsibility
prescribed according to one’s nature is never affected by sinful reactions.
18.48 Every work has some defect, just as fire is covered by smoke. One should not give up the work
that is born of his own nature, even if such work is full of fault, O Kaunteya (Arjuna).
Kṛṣṇa says it is better to do one’s assigned work imperfectly rather than do another’s work perfectly.
It is possible that one can perform elements of another’s work well. A brāhmaṇa, being a schoar,
may excel as a vaiśya in commercial calculations; however, he will have neither the heart nor the
head to be a businessman. In this Gurukul system, along with the Master, the child also was allowed
to select his vocation. The child could express its passion and decide.
18.49 One whose intelligence is always free from selfish attachment, who has controlled the mind
 and who is free from desires,

by practicing renunciation [sannyāsa], attains the ultimate state of perfection of selfless work or
actionlessness [naiṣkarma siddhi].
18.50 Understand from Me, how one who has achieved this perfection, can attain the Supreme state of
Truth, Brahman, by acting in the way I shall now summarize, Kaunteya.
18.51 ,52,53 Endowed with purified intellect; subduing the mind with firm resolve; turning away from
objects of the senses; giving up likes and dislikes; living in solitude; eating lightly;

controlling the mind, speech, and organs of action;

being ever absorbed in meditation; taking refuge in detachment, and relinquishing egotism,
violence, pride, lust, anger, and proprietorship, one becomes peaceful, free from the notion of ‘I’
and ‘mine’, and fit for attaining oneness with the Supreme Being.
Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Settle the mind and control the senses.’ Can you do that while sitting in the middle of a traffic
junction? No. That is why He says go into solitude and cut yourself off from disturbances. Go into meditation
and shut your senses to external objects. These are the clearest instructions on how to meditate. Prepare
yourself to be away from potential sensory disturbances. There is no point in meditating when you are sure
the phone will ring or a guest will be arriving. Fix a time and place when you will be alone, undisturbed.
Closing the eyes is insufficient. Your eyeballs will still move and inner television will still play. Mentally
freeze your eyeballs, think they are made of stone and still them. At the same time place your tongue on your
upper palate and lock it. If there is movement of the tongue, that creates verbalization, then visualization is
difficult. These two tools of mentally freezing your eyeball movement and locking your tongue, substantially
reduce the wandering of the mind due to sensory disturbances.
Meditate on an empty stomach or eat little. A full stomach makes us sleepy. Ideally one should meditate
in the same location regularly to preserve the energy raised in meditation. These are the physical requirements.
Next Kṛṣṇa repeats what He has been emphasizing all along.
Complete and drop your personality, He says, drop your ego or root patterns, your attachments, your
ideas of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ as well as the emotions that bind you to survival and possession. Then you
will be liberated, you will be in the space of completion and ready to reach the Supreme Being.

18.54 Absorbed in the Supreme Brahman, the serene one neither grieves nor desires.
Becoming equally disposed to all living beings, one obtains My highest pure
devotional love [madbhakti].
18.55 Only by devotion one truly understands Me as I am and My tattva, essence. Having
known Me in Truth in full consciousness of Me, one immediately merges with Me.
18.56 My pure devotee, though occupied in all kinds of activities of everyday life, under My
protection, still reaches the eternal, imperishable ultimate abode through My Grace [mad-
prasād].
18.57 While being engaged in activities, just depend upon Me, and being fully conscious of Me,
work always under My protection [matparaḥ].

18.58 When your mind and inner-space becomes fixed on Me, you shall overcome and cross all
difficulties by My Grace. But if due to ego, you do not listen to Me, you shall perish.
Developing the state of non-attachment, being equally disposed to all beings, being unconcerned
by success and failure, fully absorbed in Godhood, one becomes His devotee. In that state alone
does one understand the essence of Kṛṣṇa. Once one understands this, one merges into Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. When one is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the devotee, even if he is engaged in worldly
activities, is protected by the grace and compassion of Kṛṣṇa.

Devotion and Knowledge are not Separate

Kṛṣṇa says that ‘having known Me in essence, one merges in Me’ and refers to this as devotion.
 bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś c’āsmi tattvataḥ I
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram II 18.55
Please understand that bhakti (devotion) and jñāna (knowledge) are not separate. Where there is devotion,
there is knowledge and where there is true knowledge, there is devotion.
The entire purpose of Gītā is to enrich you to complete with your root patterns and drop the ego!
All you need to do is understand one verse of Gītā, one statement of Kṛṣṇa, in its entirety. That is
enough to enlighten you.
Every word of Gītā, every word of Kṛṣṇa, is energy. That is the knowledge that you need to
imbibe and experience. This is what the ‘knowing, tattvato jñātva’ that Kṛṣṇa refers to. Once you
‘know’ this energy, you reach this energy. You become Kṛṣṇa. You are not only devoted to
Kṛṣṇa, you become Kṛṣṇa.

There are two paths. One way is to ‘know’ the truth so clearly and completely that there is absolutely no
doubt about your trust in the Master. There is no doubt that you are the same consciousness as the Master.
Once you know this, there is no duality, there is the space of advaita, non-duality. You and the Master are the
same. This is the height of devotion.
The other way is the deep surrender that happens within, the unbridled love that arises within you and
through which you merge with the Master. Along with the merger, comes the knowledge that you are no
different. Seemingly, knowledge comes from devotion; jñāna comes from bhakti. The truth is that both happen
simultaneously.
18.59 If, due to ego you thus think: ’I shall not fight,’ your resolve is useless, and your own nature
will compel you.
18.60 O Kaunteya, you are controlled by your own natural conditioning. Therefore you shall do, even
against your will,

what you do not wish to do out of delusion.

18.61 The Supreme Lord resides in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the activities of
all living entities,

who are placed on a machine under His illusive material power.

‘Whether you like it or not, Arjuna,’ He says, ‘you will fight. In seeming intelligence, your ego
tells you that you should not fight.
You are under the illusion of your superficial knowledge that it is not right to wage war against friends,
relatives and teachers. But you forget that your nature and your conditioning as a warrior drive you. You are
a puppet in the hands of Existence, prakṛtis tvāṁ niyokṣyati. You will fight.’
These are extraordinary words. Whether we like it or not, whatever our intelligence may be, and whatever
our will may be, Kṛṣṇa says we will be driven by our root patterns, saṁskāras. The Divine power drives the
machine that is the kārmic cycle. There is no escape.
18.62 Surrender unto Him completely with all your being, O Bhārata. By His Grace you will attain supreme
peace and the eternal abode.
Throughout Bhagavad Gītā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been saying, surrender to Me. He has been saying ‘I’ and ‘Me’,
meaning that He represents the Divine. Now, suddenly, He changes that and says surrender unto Him (tam) as
a third person. For the first time He refers to the Divine in this way. This means that He has expanded beyond
the body. He now speaks as Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the universal Kṛṣṇa. He speaks from the eternal
consciousness. That is the reason He says surrender unto Him and not surrender unto Me. Earlier He used the
word ‘I’ or ‘Me’. This change means that He is in an expanded state to put Arjuna into the experience. In order
to give a disciple the experience, the Master must be in the same state, too. That is why Śrī Kṛṣṇa went into
that expanded state. He has expanded into that consciousness and is about to give energy darśan. He is ready
to shower His energy on Arjuna.

18.63 Thus, I have explained to you, the knowledge that is the most secret of secrets. After
fully reflecting on this, do as you wish.
18.64 Because you are My dear friend, I am speaking My Ultimate words with you. This is the most
confidential of all knowledge. Hear this from Me. It is for your benefit.
18.65 Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your
homage unto Me. Thus you will certainly attain Me.

This I promise you because you are My very dear friend.

18.66 Abandon all principles and concepts of right conduct and simply surrender unto Me. I
shall liberate you from all sinful reactions. Have no worry.
Now He comes to the ultimate teaching. This is the essence of all His
teachings, the quintessence of Bhagavad Gītā. He wakes up Arjuna with
this verse and puts him into Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Kṛṣṇa showers Himself on Arjuna, waking him up to the experience of the Whole.

sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja I

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ II 18.66
He says, ‘Give up everything, whatever you know as dharma, the rules and regulations of the outer life
and of the inner life. Drop everything that you know and surrender unto Me. I shall liberate you from
everything. Do not fear.’ Kṛṣṇa gives him abhaya, complete protection.
He liberates Arjuna with these words. He gives the ultimate experience to Arjuna. With this verse, Kṛṣṇa
makes Arjuna drop everything and liberates him. He gives him a conscious experience of the ocean. He asks
Arjuna to drop his ideas about being a separate bubble, relax and realize the truth. Even the idea of the ocean
or of God are simply our ideas. Kṛṣṇa makes Arjuna drop those ideas and makes him explode into Kṛṣṇa
consciousness, the eternal consciousness.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is triguṇa rahita: beyond the attributes of nature and kārmic influence. Merging with Him,
surrendering to Him takes you beyond all kārmic bondages.
If you understand this verse and act accordingly, you will be liberated.
That is Kṛṣṇa’s promise.
Take a few moments now to pray to Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa, the universal Kṛṣṇa, who showered
enlightenment on Arjuna and gave him the ultimate experience. Pray that He may shower the same experience
on us or give us a glimpse of the ultimate Truth. Take a few moments to pray. Please close your eyes and pray
intensely to Him. Do not think that He is unavailable now. He is always available to everybody on planet
Earth. He may not have the body, but He is available in the form of energy. The deities in the temples are
called arcāvatār. That means ‘incarnation of the Divine’. He is available to us all the time, whenever we call
Him. Close your eyes and pray intensely to Him to shower us with the same experience He showered on
Arjuna.

18.67 This knowledge should never be spoken by you

to one who is devoid of austerity, who is without devotion, who does not desire to listen, or
who speaks ill of Me.
18.68 One who communicates the supreme secret to the devotees performs the highest devotional
service to Me, and, at the end he will without doubt, come back to Me.
18.69 No other person shall do a more pleasing service to Me, and no one on the earth shall
be more dear to Me.
18.70 I declare that one who studies this sacred dialogue of ours, worships Me with the sacrifice of his
intelligence [jñāna-yajña].
18.71 One who listens with faith and without envy becomes free from sinful reactions and
attains to the planets where those of merit dwell.
18.72 O Pārtha, did you listen to this with single-minded attention? Has your delusion born
of ignorance been completely destroyed, Dhanañjaya?
Only one who is in deep devotion to Me should read this. I have conveyed here that which is most beneficial,
the secret of how to live and how to reach Me. One who understands this and drops his mind with his focus
entirely upon Me, shall reach Me without a doubt. This is Kṛṣṇa’s promise. He blesses the whole Universe
with His grace and compassion. He showered His blessing on Arjuna and made him merge with Him. The
same consciousness is being showered on the whole Universe.
Until the end He is the teacher. He is full of compassion. His concern is only for Arjuna and the rest of
humanity. ‘Have you understood?’ He asks. ‘Have your doubts disappeared? Do you need anything more?’
This is the greatness of Masters. Nothing concerns them except the deliverance of their disciples. That is
why they have come here. Otherwise why should they waste their time on planet Earth? They can be immersed
in the blissful energy that they are part of without disturbance.
My disciples understand when I tell them that the only time I feel anything like sadness is when a disciple
leaves me. It saddens me because he is losing a great opportunity. His spirit brought him to me for completion.
If the body-mind does not cooperate, the spirit must live again and again until it gets the opportunity to be
liberated. Each cycle of birth that the spirit undertakes, it suffers and regrets not having taken that final step.
No one who has crossed my ashram gates can ever leave me. Even if they leave, I shall not leave them. I
shall be with them. That one moment of intelligence that brought them in is enough for me to care for them.
Those who have understood the formless form that resides in Me know that I am part of them. Wherever they
are, I am part of them.
This is Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s promise: Listen to Me, understand Me and come to Me; then you are a part of Me.

18.73 Arjuna says: O dear Acyuta (infallible lord), my illusion is now gone. I have regained my
memory by Your Grace,

and I am now firm and free from doubt, and ready to act as per your
instructions.
18.74 Sañjaya said: Thus have I heard the conversation of two great souls, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. And so
wonderful is that message that my hair stands on end.
18.75 By the mercy of Vyāsa, I have heard these most confidential words directly from Yogeśvara Kṛṣṇa,
the Master of all mysticism,

who was speaking personally to Arjuna.

18.76 O King, as I repeatedly recall this wondrous and holy dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, I
take pleasure,

being thrilled at every moment.

18.77 O King, when I remember the wonderful form of Lord Kṛṣṇa, I am struck with even greater
wonder,

and I rejoice again and again.

18.78 Wherever there is Yogeśvara Kṛṣṇa, the Master of all mystics, and wherever there is Pārtha, the
supreme carrier of bow and arrow, there will certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary
power, and morality. That is my opinion.
Now Sañjaya comes back into the picture. Neither Kṛṣṇa nor Arjuna can speak since both of them are in a
different mood. Arjuna has disappeared and Kṛṣṇa is in ecstasy. Both are in no mood to speak. Sañjaya started
speaking when Arjuna was in depression and Kṛṣṇa had nothing to say at that time. Then when Kṛṣṇa was
giving the first experience to Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa was in the higher consciousness and Arjuna was in ecstasy.
Sañjaya came in to speak at that time because both were not in a mood to speak. Now Sañjaya comes back
again. Not only are Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna not in a mood to speak, they are both no longer there. Arjuna has
disappeared into the pure consciousness of Parabrahma Kṛṣṇa.
‘Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the Master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer,
there will certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power and morality. This is my opinion.’
 yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanurdharaḥ I
tatra śrīrvijayo bhūtir dhrūvānītir matir mama II 18.78
He ends the whole thing with a beautiful auspicious blessing. Wherever the name of Kṛṣṇa, the divine
energy of Kṛṣṇa is present and wherever Arjuna dwells, there will also be victory, prosperity, wealth and
morality. All the divine positive energy will shower there. He concludes with this beautiful blessing, this
beautiful verse.
Let us give our gratitude to the entire Guru Paramparā, the lineage of Gurus.
Please close your eyes and remain in silence for a while.
I bless you all. Let you all radiate with completion. And, let you all radiate with integrity, authenticity,
responsibility and enriching with Eternal bliss, Nitya ānanda.
Thank you.

Thus ends the eighteenth chapter named Mokṣa-Sannyāsa Yogaḥ, ‘The Yoga of Liberation by
Renunciation,’ 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.
 Part III
Brahma Sutras
 Brahma Sutras
Aphorisms of Existence

Introduction
Bowing down to the great soul, mahapurusha - Vyasa, giving our humble respects, devotion and salutations to
Bhagavan Veda Vyasa. We will enter into his great gift to the world. The book is called ‘Brahma Sutras’.

This great work ‘Brahma Sutra’ can never be introduced. In your brain, at least a trillion cells are there, connecting
with trillions of planets, stars and in existence. When all the trillion cells are awakened, the whole Cosmos is
experienced inside the body. The Brahmanda is experienced in Pindanda. Methods for awakening those trillions of
cells vary. Yogis try to awaken the trillions of cells by kundalini awakening via the breathing process, visualization
methods, verbalization and sounds. Devotees who practice devotion try to awaken those trillions of cells by deep
surrender and feeling connection to the highest consciousness in the form of chosen Deity or God. Karma yogis try to
awaken the trillions of cells through continuous creativity. There were thousands of methods, systems, techniques,
technology to awaken the trillions of cells.

On the banks of Saraswati, a unique experiment was done by some of the great inner scientists. They tried and
succeeded, awakening the trillion brain cells and leading a human being to the enlightenment experience, just by
imparting an understanding. You can awaken your kundalini shakti, non-mechanical parts of your brain, trillions of
cells by pranayama, yoga, dharana, dhyana, samadhi kind of techniques or through deep devotion, feeling connection,
surrender to the chosen deity as God through bhakti or intense constant creativity without reason. It is an extraordinary
self sacrifice - constantly being creative without bothering why you are being so creative. A man who works all the
time, never even thinks he is working.

Real Karma Yoga means continuously working, being creative, not only without asking why you should be creative
while working for so many hours, but even without thinking. When you are creative, all the non-mechanical parts of
your brain awaken. The moment you think, “Why should I be creative?” you are back to being a human being. The
moment you ask, “Why should I work? Why should I be creative?”, you ask for a salary, you are a worker. You are
no longer God. You fall from the state of God to the state of human being. One of the great things or I can say the
greatest thing in the world is being creative not only without asking, “Why should I be active?” but also without
thinking “Why should I be creative?” Then your very breathing becomes creative. When you don’t even think about
why you should be creative, you expose yourself to hundreds of methods to awaken the human consciousness to its
peak.

Hundreds of methods for inner awakening were experimented, researched, developed and experienced by the great
rishis, the inner scientists, in various parts of the Vedic civilization. This unique experimentation was being done on
the banks of Saraswati, where Saraswati lands on the Earth. If I have to give you the geographical place, it is near
Mana, little North of Badrinath, in the Himalayas, almost near the border of India. Still there is a cave where Vyasa
lived and compiled all his works, where he wrote Mahabharata, where his unique transcriber Mahaganapati stayed.
That is also the place where Bhagavan Veda Vyasa compiled this great work - Brahma Sutras.

It is one of the greatest experiments and greatest successful experiments - awakening the non-mechanical parts of the
brain, awakening the kundalini shakti, just by giving you an understanding. I can say, it is one of the most difficult
paths, if you have to do it by yourself, but also one of the simplest paths if an incarnation is there to do it for you -
opening the non-mechanical parts of your brain, awakening trillions of cells in your brain, awakening your kundalini
shakti, just by deeper and deeper and deeper understandings about existence.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

1
If you have to do it by yourself, it is almost like having a matchstick and trying to measure the whole world with the
matchstick. The moment you awaken one cell and go to another cell, this first cell is already sleeping. Let me exactly
define what awakening is. The experience which you carry about you, that existing ‘I’, should function and connect
with the reality. So what you think as you, the individual self, should function through all trillion cells and directly
relate with reality. This is the exact definition of ‘awakening’. Now, if that pratyakatma chaitanya, the individual
consciousness is functioning through the eyes and relating with the reality, already the tongue is sleeping or slipped
into falsehood. If that ‘I’ is related with reality through the skin, the ears are sleeping or slipped into falsehood.
Understand, any part in you or any cell in you which is not connecting with the self and the reality is not being bridged
with it, is either sleeping or slipping. All sleeping is slipping into falsehood.

For example, your ears are functioning, your eyes are functioning, but if you are not completely aware about the
changes you are experiencing in your skin, the skin part is not in reality. Those cells are in falsehood, slipping into
falsehood. So you are not completely enlightened. All trillions of cells, connecting with the self and the reality means
all three are in tune. This experience is what I call ‘inner awakening’. If you have to do this by yourself it is almost
impossible. Only a person whose all trillions of cells are awakened can be a person established in satya, truth. Till
then, everything is mithyā - falsehood.

A man who can lie through the teeth knowing he is talking about something other than what he knows, what objectively
is, or what he believes as his, will never be able to even realize the depth of falsehood in which he is slipping into.

The most unfortunate thing that can happen to a human being is landing in a profession where you need to lie
constantly. I can tell you, I am not making this statement as per law, I am making this statement as per the Cosmic
law. Even the worst professions, like prostitution and all, does not damage your consciousness so much. It damages
your body. You get all kinds of STDs, suffer, and damage your body, but even those professions do not damage your
consciousness as much as an eternally lying profession. I can say, there are some professions where lying and success
is equal. I always tell people, “If you are a seeker, pick up the practices which do not damage your consciousness.”
Pick up such a lifestyle. There are millions of ways to make money. There are millions of ways like say real estate. In
real estate you don’t need to lie. You can say, “This is the value of the land. I will give now, otherwise I don’t want
to give.”
Because land has no value basically. It is a value you fix, so there is no lying in that. “What rate I bought, you don’t
need to bother. If you give this much money, I’ll give you this land, otherwise no.” So there is no lying involved. It is
outright straightforward. So take up professions where you don’t need to constantly lie. I tell you, if the part which
goes on creating lies awakens in you, all other parts will be dead, not only sleeping - dead. Because this lying part
gives tremendous confidence to your brain, “You are not needed. I will run life, I can keep the whole thing alive,
because for every moment, I will cook up a story and keep things alive.” It acts almost like a security agency, army
telling civilians to sleep and slip off. Army is good in some situations, but sleeping because the army is there, is not
the right thing. Sleeping away from responsibilities because the army is there, is not the right thing.

This great experimentation of keeping the whole brain alive just through deeper understandings was experimented
successfully by Vyasa. Understand. If you don’t have a master, this can never be done. Without a master, you can
succeed in yoga, through the yogic techniques you can create kundalini awakening, you can have inner awakening.
Without master, you can be successful in bhakti yoga, you can feel connected to some God or deity, achieve
enlightenment. Without a master you can go on being creative. However, the awakening of all trillion cells through
deep understandings without a master, just by yourself, is impossible. When you have a master, this is the easiest path.
In yoga, even if you have a master, you need to do it. In bhakti path, even if you have a master, you need to have that
feeling connection. You need to connect with him. You need to be in physical presence. In karma yoga again, you
need to work, be creative. But in this path of understanding, Jnāna Yogā, you just sit in His presence, listen; listen
through every understanding. He opens various parts of your brain, non-mechanical parts of your brain and the inner
awakening happens. And He awakens your kundalini just by giving you deeper and deeper understandings, nothing
else. This was the greatest experimentation done in the Saraswati civilization.

I bow down to the great Saraswati, in whose lap this amazing experimentation was done. I can see the perfection and
how that great successful experiment is now getting repeated. It is repeating itself. Understand, the moment any
experiment in any field becomes successful, it becomes an independent intelligence. It goes on repeating itself in

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

2
history. For some reason, even if all the aircrafts in the science of making aircrafts disappear from Planet Earth, after
10,000 years, a new man exists, he will try, discover, rediscover the whole science of flying.
Because once something is experimented and succeeded, it becomes an independent intelligence in the Cosmos. It
becomes an energy center. It repeats itself in the flow of time again and again, including the experiments like Hitler.
Please understand, Hitler is an experiment. Unfortunately successful. So these experiments also repeat in time again
and again, because it becomes an independent intelligence once it becomes successful. That is why in the Vedic
tradition, we say - Hiranya, Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, then Ravana, Kumbhakarana, then Kamsa and Shishupala
- these are some of the negative but successful experiments. They become independent intelligence. They go on
repeating. They go on repeating in the flow of time again and again. These are unfortunately successful experiments.
Any successful experiment repeats itself in the course of time. To which experiment you open up and become part,
you become part of that experiment.

You can open up for politics and become part of the repetition of the successful experiments of politics; you can open
up your life for wealth and become the successful repetition of wealth; you can open up just living in a low-minded
way, running around irresponsibly and being part of the mass unconsciousness which is another independent
intelligence; or you can open up and be part of the great repetition of the greatest conscious experimentation that has
happened in the Cosmos regarding Inner Awakening.

If you are feeling connected and connecting with the group, working with the inner awakening and being part of that
repetition, you are a Brahmana. If you are opening up to the group which is doing the political revolutions, you are a
Kshatriya. If you are opening up to the groups doing the accumulation of the wealth, you are a Vaishya. If you are
going around irresponsibly with the group, creating these fan clubs, irresponsible life, you are a worker class, fourth
class. If you are going around connecting with the groups which destroy others, and you are being part of those
experimentations repeating, you are a chandalā.

I can see honestly, the great successful experiment done by Bhagavan Veda Vyāsa, with group of seekers, awakening
the kundalini shakti and non-mechanical parts of the brain, just through understanding without anything being done
by the disciples as a great successful process, unfolding and repeating itself here, now. That great successful
experiment, which awakens the non-mechanical parts of the brain, the kundalini, just by widening the understanding
again and again and again. That process became successful maybe 10,000 years ago when for the first time Bhagavan
Veda Vyasa did it, and it became an independent intelligence. That happening has become independent intelligence
much like a conscious star rolling around in the Cosmos. Whenever a right muhurta hits that star, that star opens itself,
then that happening repeats itself. I can see, from today, that happening is repeating itself.

When Vyasa did this greatest successful experiment, he left a few code words in the Cosmos for the next generation
of incarnations to pull out and make that successful happening repeat itself. Those code words are only called Brahma
Sutras - Aphorisms on Existence. I can say, “Aphorisms of Existence”. Honestly, I know in My heart now Bhagavan
Veda Vyāsā, Saraswati and that great happening that has become a successful experiment, the Brahma Sutras , the
whole thing is going to repeat itself again from today.

Let Vyasa and Saraswati flow in this tongue and liberate all of us, enlighten all of us. Let the great successful
experiment Brahma Sutra repeat itself.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 athāto brahma jiñyāsā

Enquiry into Existence

One great thing about this Brahma Sutra is you don’t need to practice anything. It’s completely My responsibility. All
you need to do is to sit and understand the words I utter as per your dictionary, that’s all. Nothing else. You don’t need
to bother about My dictionary. You understand as per your dictionary. It’s My responsibility to create the right words,
which will lead you to inner awakening as per your dictionary.

First choice will be physical presence. If it is really not possible, at least sit as groups. Third choice only, sitting in
your bedroom all alone and watching. Gather as groups, because with a group of seekers around you, you are more
attentive, awakening is more possible, especially when you are initiated into levitation or kundalini awakening and

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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experiencing it already. You will create My presence there. I tell you, in your satsang group, if there is one levitator
whose kundalini is awakened, at least 7 people will have the effect of it. So look around, see the proportion in your
satsang center. Try to sit as groups.

I tell you, nothing else is required. In other systems, like yoga, bhakti, karma yoga, you need to do some sādhanā. For
Brahma Sutrā, no sādhanā is required, so the only sādhanā you need to do is assemble as a group, connect through
video conferencing and sit in front of the Master. That’s all. Take up this as sādhanā. Don’t try to do it from your
bedroom. So take up this as sādhanā, assembling as a group and sitting for this great repetition, one of the greatest,
successful conscious experiments of enlightening beings just through understanding.

Throughout this book, there is no technique. The only techniqueless spiritual book in the world is Brahma Sutrās.
Nothing needs to be done. Nothing, nothing at all. I promise, I will not give you any homework from Brahma Sutrās.
There will not be any technique, there will not be any method, there will not be any homework. Vyāsa does not believe
in homework. He just believes in being homeless. Not only does he take away the homework, he takes away the very
idea of home. He leads you beyond home, the ultimate homeliness. He can make you feel homely with the whole
Cosmos. He can make the Cosmos as home for you. I have somehow introduced what is going to happen, that
happening which is going to repeat itself, now I’ll have to introduce Vyāsa, the first inner scientist who successfully
experimented and made this happen. I want to tell you, in this happening you are not even asked to sit in padmāsanā
to awaken kundalini.

This is the most successful and powerful happenings. I tell you, if you still think you have not experienced levitation
or kundalini awakening and you are a strong intellectual, you are going to experience now with this happening. This
is specially for you. If you are a type where the Yoga Sutrās, Shiva Sutrās, Nāradā Bhakti Sutrās did not create that
inner awakening or happening in you, it’s time for you. You will not miss it now. Nobody will miss it now, because
just by understanding Vyāsa can make it happen.

I can say, Vyāsā is the modern man’s Guru. Because modern man does not want to do anything, except sitting in front
of a computer. I can say, Vyāsā is the only practical guru, the oldest yet most modern, because he does not ask you to
even sit straight. You can just relax on a couch, only thing you should not sleep; you should try to have the cognition
of what I am talking, that’s it. Just like how you sit and listen to the news in the TV channel or sit and watch cricket
on TV, or something on the computer, same way sit and watch. Understand. That’s enough.
The inner awakening simply happens, because Vyāsā does surgery on trillions of cells of your brain, by using the right
words. When certain cognition happens in you, certain part of your brain is awakened and acts as the bridge between
the self and reality. Vyāsā is such a great inner scientist, he uses powerful right words constantly and makes that
awakening happen and keeps the bridge alive and goes on awakening all the parts and keeps the bridges alive and
makes the ultimate inner awakening.

To show the power of this Brahma Sutrās, I can throw at least three challenges. One, anybody who sits and listens,
continuously, allowing this to happen in them, understanding this - first thing, in a measurable way, your brain will
show intense high quality activity, mitochondria cell energy increasing and deeper strands of DNA awakening.

Next, in a visible way, your skin color will change and a shine will come in your eyes and skin color. Please understand,
visible change in your eyes and skin color will happen, just by understanding Brahma Sutrās. These are all side effects
of the Brahma Sutrā happening in you.

First thing, a visible quantifiable, measurable, high positive activity in your brain, non-mechanical parts of your brain
and intense increase in mitochondria cell energy and awakening of deeper strands of DNA. All these three I classify
as ‘one’. Second, visible differences in the shine in your eyes and skin.

Third, it may look too much, but I have to mention, you will have the ability to understand and live with anything in
life. Anything in life. Nothing will give the surprise of ignorance. See, when you are ignorant about something, a
certain surprise or certain unknown feeling you experience.

I tell you, after age twelve, not even once I have had that ‘unknown surprise’ feeling about anything. Even now, I do
not even remember how that feeling will look or will feel. For example - you do not know who is on the other side of
the curtain, you are ignorant and you have something unknown. After moving the screen, it becomes known. So you

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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know the difference between the known and unknown. I wanted you all to know, after the age 12, I do not know the
difference between the known and the unknown. I just know what is there. Not only beyond the screen, inside the
screen and the person who is inside, beyond the screen, what is inside him. The idea of having something unknown
will disappear from your brain center.

The idea of the unknown is in your brain center, not in reality. In reality, everything constantly reveals itself to you.
It just goes on revealing itself to you. You will not have that tiredness of living. If you are having too much unknown
in your brain centers, you will be tired of living. Brahma Sutrā will take away that tiredness to live.

The modern day youngsters have so much tiredness to live. They plan about their retirement by 35. By 35, they have
started calculating the property they have, the money they can accumulate, when they can retire. The idea of retirement
enters into modern youth’s mind too early, because of the ignorance centers being intensely active in the brain. Brahma
Sutrā will remove that. So Brahma Sutrā is a happening. I know, it is going to be an auspicious happening. Saraswati
energy flowing through Vyāsā as Brahma Sutrās is one of the greatest conscious happening and by Their grace and
compassion, They are repeating it again for modern humanity now through Me. It is a happening. First, let this happen,
let’s enter into the happening.

First Sutrā - ‘athāto brahma jiñyāsā’. Bhagavan Veda Vyāsā straightaway starts the subject - deliberation on reality.
He is not starting with a shānti mantrā, he is not starting with some prayers, he is not starting with even an introduction,
he is straight to the subject - ‘athāto brahma jiñyāsā.’

Let us see some existing translations. Swami Gambhirānandā translates as ‘hence thereafter a deliberation on
Brahman’. Swami Vireswarānandā translates as ‘now after attainment of requisite spiritual qualities therefore as the
result obtained by sacrifices etc, whereas the result of knowledge of Brahman is eternal, the enquiry into real nature
of Brahman’.

Let’s listen to what Saraswati translates - ‘athāto brahma jiñyāsā’. Of course, as you all know, I neither studied Sanskrit
nor studied English. So I am also listening as It reveals ‘athāto brahma jiñyāsā’. Now enquiry into the reality. Enquiry
into existence. Cognition into existence. I can say, this Sūtrā means, now let us understand existence. It means you
need to understand all the understandings you had till this moment is not existence, is not the truth. The ability to let
go is what you need to know, you need to understand from this Sūtrā. The sacred secret you need to catch from this
Sūtrā is now let us enter into existence. All the understandings you had about your body, mind, life, death, about life,
is not reality. You need to move into reality.

I was explaining the three major visible changes I can challenge, I told only about two, third I did not tell. Now I am
telling you. I said, first, you will have the visible awakening and activity in the brain and mitochondria cell energy
and deeper strands of DNA awakening. Second, the skin color and shining in the eyes will drastically improve. Third,
this happening, this understanding which I am sharing with you, will directly become part of even your dream and
deep sleep states of consciousness.

If you leave your college and take up a job, it takes at least 2 years for your dream state to realize, you left your college
and you are in a job now. To stop creating dreams related to college, it takes at least 2 years for your brain. Sometimes
even after 20 years, you will be having some dreams about college. Now, this understanding will be so deep and so
sharp, from tonight this understanding will be part of your dreams. Even in dream states, this will be part of your
understanding, your dreams. Even in dreams, you will be hearing and understanding Brahma Sūtrās.

‘Athāto brahma jiñyāsā’. Let us enquire into the nature of reality, into existence. Saraswati does two jobs. One, She
lands on the Earth, flows over the Earth as a river. Second, She lands on the Earth, goes into the Earth as an understream
and spreads all over the Earth and stays as underground water. Understand. All underground water is Saraswati. That
is why, all the underground streams are called Saraswati in Vedic tradition.

So I’ll do two things. One, after uttering the Sūtrā, I’ll expand like Ganges, flowing river. Then, I’ll utter the Sūtrā
and add more and more words to make you understand. That is the outer flowing part of Saraswati. Second, I’ll remove
words one by one and drill the Saraswati into your inner being. If it is Yoga Sūtrā, if the Sūtrā is uttered and added,
expanded with more words, it is done. It is like Ganges, created in Ganges civilization. I can say, Yoga Sūtrā is created
in Kaveri civilization in Chidambaram - Kaveri Delta. Upanishads are created in Ganges civilization. If I am

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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commenting on Yoga Sūtrās, if I just add more words to the Sūtrās and expand like a flowing river, it is done. If I am
working on Upanishads or Yoga Sūtrās, this method is enough, because they all happened in Ganges civilization or
Kaveri civilization.

But Brahma Sūtrās happened in Saraswati civilization. Saraswati has two jobs, two ways. One, She flows as a river
on the Earth and another one, she gets into the Earth and stays as underground water all over. So whoever wants water
wherever and drills, She comes out. All underground borewell water is Saraswati. So now, Saraswati will flow into
you. One, more and more words I add and give you the understanding that will stay in you like an open river,
transforming your life, the way in which you live. The second part of Saraswati, which is drilled into your unconscious,
gets into your system, stays there as underground water, will come out whenever you need, whenever you ask,
wherever you drill. Wherever you drill, whenever you ask, means whenever need arises in your life, it just comes up.
So I’ll do the process. One, when I repeat a Sutra, I’ll go on adding more words and give you an understanding, then
again I’ll repeat the Sutra and remove each word and give you a different understanding.

“Athāto brahma jiñyāsā”. Let us now enquire into the nature of reality and existence. This is the overflowing river,
commentary, open. Then the second part is, why so many words? Let’s remove the words “Let us”. Why existence,
reality, nature? One word ‘reality’ is enough. Then, how can you enquire into reality, it is there. So remove the word
‘enquire’. Finally what word is there - ‘reality’. Why do you even need a word ‘reality’, when what is, is reality?
Relax!

The sacred secret in this sūtrā is, let us enter into reality, so be ready to discard, let go, all the ideas you had about
everything including reality and what you call life. That readiness makes you ready for Brahma Sūtrās, the greatest
happening, repeating itself. I bow down to that great Saraswati flowing on Neelakanteshwara. On Neelakanteshwara
hills only Saraswati is flowing and Vishnu is in Yoga Samādhi sitting there. That place is called Badrināth. Near
Badrināth only Vyāsa stayed and that is the space where Saraswati is landing on the Earth, Vishnu is meditating and
in Yoga Samādhi. Let that energy repeat itself on all of us. Let us all enquire into reality - “athāto brahma jiñyāsā”.

Saraswati flows in modern day, not only underground, above ground also, in the sky also! Now she is flowing in three
ways. One, as a river: those who are directly sitting and experiencing in My physical presence. The other, as the
underground energy: even if people remember and meditate on Me, they can start getting these understandings inside
them. And the third, above ground energy, through the satellite waves and wherever you drill up, through the internet
connection you receive Saraswati in your house!

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 Brahma Vidya Sampradaya

Before entering into today’s sutrās, I wanted to remember with deep respect the whole tradition of Brahma Vidyā. In
the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, the Guru transmits understandings that are irrevocable. In the path of devotion, God,
your chosen deity, plays a major role. In the path of Yogā, the technique plays a major role. In the path of meditation,
the technology plays a major role. When I use the word ‘technology’, I mean all the things around meditation, around
the technique. With Yoga, you may not need music. In the path of Yogā, you may not need other accessories for the
technique. But in the path of meditation, it is not just technique, it is the technology also; you need some more
accessories. In each path, you need some things for the ultimate to happen in you. But in the Brahma Vidyā
Sampradāya, the one and only requirement you need is Guru, that’s all. You and Guru, both of them are lost in some
forest, where nothing else is available, that’s enough for you to get enlightened. If both of you are lost in some forest
where nothing else is available, the enlightenment will be very easy and quick, because you will not have anything
else to do. No other entertainment is possible. That is the reason, always the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, the Guru
and Disciples, get lost in the forest.

Before entering into today’s sutrās, I wanted to share some more truths related to Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya. As I
was expanding yesterday, awakening your complete understanding, awakening your complete life, awakening your
complete existence, fulfillment in awakening. This fulfillment happens through so many ways. I was describing only
a few examples yesterday, like yoga, meditation, dhyāna, tantrā or karmā. But the uniqueness of this Brahma Vidyā
Sampradāya, means the tradition of Vedānta Vidyā, is the tradition of sitting and listening to these great truths. It is

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somehow unique, because just by the proper understanding, the deepest possibilities of your inner space are awakened,
the deepest possibilities are your inner space are brought to life.

And you are fortunate, you have somebody or some energy, that is the right word I will use, which chooses perfect
words, which is master in choosing words. Because in Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, the words play a major role. It can
bring tremendous understanding. It can move mountains literally. It can put you in the restful awareness very casually.
Nothing is required, nothing at all. That is why, the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya is always misunderstood and many
times lost. Because in this Sampradāya, the one and only thing you need is an awakened Guru. When the awakened
Guru is there, no tool is required, because no tools are used, nothing is left. Birds do not leave footprint in the air, but
buffaloes always leave a deep footprint in the sludge. If you are travelling in the path of buffaloes, it is very easy
because there will be a deep footprint in the sludge. Techniques, methods, methodology, path, the path travelled will
be there. You can easily catch it, leave it, and travel that direction again.

But the unique thing in the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, in Vedānta Sampradāya, is no footprints left. No techniques
are left, no methodology. If you analyze, analyze, analyze exhaustively all the Vedānta literatures, you will see only
3 advice - Shravaṇa, Manana, Nidhidhyāsana - listen, imbibe, express. What to listen to? There is no answer. Whom
to listen to? There is no answer. What to imbibe? There is no answer. What to express? There is no answer. Brahma
Vidyā Sampradāya does not leave footprints. It is an ecstasy. Birds do not leave footprints in the sky. Paramahamsas
do not leave technique trails in the conscious inner space. This is one of the great advantages in the Brahma Sutrā in
the Vedic tradition, Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya. Same way, the big disadvantage is it is completely Master centric.

I wanted to tell you all, all Hindu Sampradāyās are either cult or culture. How you look at it is the only difference. All
Hindu Sampradāyās, all Vedānta Sampradāyās, can be considered a cult or culture. If you say, some sampradāyās are
a cult, then you should understand, all sampradāyās are cult. If you think some sampradāyās are culture, then all
sampradāyās are culture. Because in Vedānta sampradāyās, there is nothing else left, no technique, no chosen deity,
no karmā, nothing needs to be done. All you need is a Master in front, who goes on giving understanding - deeper and
deeper and deeper layers of understanding, who goes on peeling you. So in this whole Vedānta Sampradāyā, the only
requirement is a proper Guru.

Beautifully Vedānta Sampradāya describes how to catch the right Guru. Peel all the things which are common. For
example, if I have an organization, somebody else is also having organization. There are so many spiritual
organizations. Remove that part from My glory. If I have a body, then many of you also have a body. Remove that
part from My glory. If I have amazing orating power, many of them are also having. Remove that part from My glory.
So go on peeling, peeling, peeling. Finally, at some point your logic will not be able to peel further, but still you will
feel, “He is something more than all these things.” When your logic feels, “I cannot peel any further, I have peeled
everything. Even after all these things are removed, He has something more than all these things put together.” When
you feel this understanding with somebody, He is your Guru. If that does not happen, if you feel, “No, no, no, after I
peel 3-4 things, He is not worthy,” then forget about Him. He is not worthy of being your Guru. You are not worthy
of being His disciple.

The Guru-Disciple relationship is sacred, it should be started after thorough study and research and should never be
ended. I tell you, ending the Guru-Disciple relationship in your life is the worst crime you will do to yourself, the
worst punishment you can impose upon yourself, and the worst conspiracy against yourself. One more thing I want to
tell you, change of Guru is perfectly alright, nothing wrong. For example, you go to one Guru. After some time, you
grow out of him or you get more matured, you feel connected to some other Guru, that is perfect, nothing wrong. At
some point if you feel you have grown out of Me, please carry on with your life if you are feeling connected to
somebody. But dropping from the Guru and not having some other Guru is the crime. It means, you did not drop from
this earlier Guru because you are advancing, you dropped because you have fallen. Your arrogance, ego, hatred, has
come in between. In the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, a disciple is sent to another Guru by Gurus. It is traditional and
accepted, or the disciple himself goes to another Guru, it is accepted and traditional. No problem, but when you drop
from a Guru, for some other reason - useless, foolish, dumb reasons - then something is seriously wrong. Unless you
are ready to jump out of the junk logic, stupid logic and have certain maturity, you are not for Brahma Vidyā.

In Brahma Vidya, you are not even asked to surrender. In Brahma Vidyā, there is no sharanāgati. There is no surrender.
The funny thing in the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya is, once you are initiated, the Guru has to do pujā to you. He has
to worship you. If you see in all the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāyās, once a disciple is initiated, he will be made to sit in

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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the seat and Guru will do aarti. Because here, the knowledge, the vidyā, holds the center. Nothing else matters. Brahma
Sutraās does not start with yāma, niyamā, āsanā, prānāyāma. The original Vedānta sampradāya tradition does not talk
about any prerequisite. The one and pre-post all requisites is an enlightened Master for you to sit and understand his
words. That’s all. Nothing else. Very beautifully Shankarā puts it, manus̖ yatva - human body, mumukshatva - seeking,
and the nearness of Mahāpurusha - enlightened being. That’s it. Nothing else is needed.

The Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, Vedānta sampradāya, I can say, is the easiest path, because you don’t need to do
anything except listen. In all other traditions, you need to do something after listening. For example, in bhakti tradition,
you need to listen about the bhakti, then you need to practice it. In the yogā tradition, you need to listen about yogā,
then you need to practice it. But in Vedānta sampradāya, just listen, that’s all. No need for any practicing, that’s why
I said, I will not give you any homework. No homework. The listening becomes so powerful, the listening is so intense,
when an incarnation expresses these great truths, it is said that even devās (gods) come and listen. And not only that,
even the deities shake their head and listen. There are thousands and thousands of stories how when a Master expresses
the great truths, Gods and Goddesses come and sit and listen. And deities will stay there with their intense presence.
All you need is to listen, listen, listen. That is why J Krishnamurthi, whom we consider from Brahma Vidyā
Sampradāya although he denies all sampradāyās, says he does not need to accept he belongs to Brahma Vidyā
Sampradāya, but we accept him because we know from where he is coming. He goes on repeating, ‘Listening is God.
Listening is God. Listening is God.’ Because nothing else is required for you to experience God. And I tell you, even
Gods listen.

As I said yesterday, when a Master expands on the truth, it is not just words. See, in the Cosmos there are so many
great happenings, floating like a bubble, balloon, they are all floating. I can say, the happening of Jesus, because it has
become a successful experiment, it is an independent intelligence. Happening of Krishna, happening of Rama. So all
these things have become an independent intelligence and they are floating around in the Cosmos, in the Space. To
whatever bubble you tune yourself, that opens in your life and happens in your life. You become part of that happening,
that happening becomes part of your life. So Bhagavan Veda Vyāsa sitting and transmitting that extraordinary
understanding of Cosmos and Brahman and reality and enlightening disciples has become a huge successful
experiment and thus, an independent intelligence. It is floating around. When somebody raises themselves to that
frequency without any gap between time and space, that experience again expresses. It just opens up and expresses.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 janmadasya yatah

The Whole Universe came from Existence

In the first chapter, second sutra - “janmadyasya yatah”. I’ll give you the translations by various Swamis. Swami
Gambhirananda translates as - “that is Brahman from which are derived the birth, etc of this Universe. Swami
Vireswara translates as - “Brahman is the omniscient, omnipotent, form which proceed the origin of this world.” Let’s
see how Saraswati translates. I dedicate this whole translation and commentary of Brahma Sutras to Saraswati, mother
Saraswati. ‘Janmadyasya yatah’. This whole Universe, came from the Existence. Now, you need to understand, the
sacred secret in this sutra. The sacred secret in this sutra is, nothing can come out of anything. Yesterday I was telling
you, when I expanded on yesterday’s sutra Athāto brahma jiñyāsā - let us enquire into the reality of existence. It
means, you are ready to drop all the ideas you have about reality. Only then you will be able to enter into reality. You
should be ready to drop the ideas you have about reality.
Now I am taking you into the reality. ‘Janmadyasya yatah’, means from the Cosmos, from Brahman, this Universe
originated. I wanted all of you to know, if something can come out of something, the thing which came out, how can
this be something other than something from which it came out. If this world has come out of the Brahman, then how
can this world be something other than Brahman, the existence? No! It cannot be something other than Brahman.
Then, Brahman cannot be causing you illusion or delusion or suffering or pain. Then how am I having illusion,
delusion, suffering, pain, pleasure? So somewhere the logic is hitting. It is not matching, the equation is not working
out. So before understanding this sutra, you need a certain understanding about the impossibility of logic. There are
some things impossible for logic, to grasp or express. I’ll give you one simple example. A normal simple

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understanding. A rope can be used only for pulling, not for pushing. A bar can be used only for pushing, not for
pulling. There is no arithmetic logical calculation to come to this conclusion in any robots.
Understand. It is such a simple understanding. Still the scientific community is struggling, how to make this
understanding to a robot. Because there is no logical calculation, arithmetic calculation, which can be fed into the
robot where the robot can come to the conclusion - “rope can be used only for pulling, not for pushing. Bar can be
used for pushing, not for pulling. When a robot sees, it only sees the lines and circles. It cannot come to that
comprehension. Understanding the logic and arithmetic calculations, which you believe as the base of life, does not
have a solution for the cognition of this simple fact. Just this simple fact. Yesterday I was looking into a very wonderful
book - Physics of the Impossible. It is such a simple understanding - ‘rope can be used only for pulling, not for pushing.
Bar can be used only for pushing, not for pulling.’ No robot can come to this conclusion. Because there is no logical
formula to feed this information or come to this conclusion. The whole Greek civilization is built on arithmetic logic.
The whole modern civilization is standing on such a loose shallow one dimension of existence.
That is why I am telling you, building life on just logical arithmetic calculation is the most dangerous thing. Any fort
can stand only on a few thousands of pillars. These guys are trying to make a huge palace on one pillar. Your life is a
huge palace. Humanity is a huge palace. But this Greek civilization is trying to make that huge palace stand on only
one part of life, the arithmetic logical calculations. The Saraswati civilization, the Vedic civilization, is trying to build
the civilization on reality. When you start your education, reality is taught to you - Athāto brahma jiñyāsā - let us
enquire into reality. Not, ‘let us enquire into arithmetic mathematical logic.’ No! But unfortunately, the whole thinking,
the fuel of the Greek civilization, the driving force of Greek civilization, and the driving force of the Western
civilization is very primitive. That’s the right word I’ll use - ‘very primitive’. Very, very primitive. Even this idea of
‘one God’ is nothing but the arithmetic logic and insecurity. In arithmetic logic, two is always against one. Zero is
always against one. The insecurity of the arithmetic logic is responsible for monistic religions.
All Ganges civilizations are based on reality. Religions evolved from the realizations that do not talk about one God.
I want all the Hindus who are feeling shy about their roots and trying to project Hinduism by saying, “God is one”.
No! Hinduism actually says Gods are many. These guys go on saying, “No, no, Hinduism also says - ‘ultimately God
is one and many forms are there’. I tell you, Hinduism does not say God is one. God is beyond duality. That’s all -
advaita, that’s it. Never ekatva. Come on, this is the reality. We are not arithmetic logic based religion. We do not
have insecurity based on arithmetic logic. Our tradition is based on arihantas, which means enlightened ones, not
arithmetic. How many trillions of cells are there in your system, that many trillions of Gods are there. Each cell in
your brain is a God. We have an understanding on how to awaken each cell. The understanding which awakens each
cell is mantra. So you need to look within. The deepest truths should be heard from a person who has travelled to the
depths.
So the arithmetic logic cannot explain all the questions on reality. You need to use that logic in the initial level and
then hit the reality as it is. Janmadyasya yatah. This whole Cosmos comes out of this reality. Whatever is - is reality!
Then if you are having fear, pain, pleasure, greed, suffering, through any of this, look into the pleasure, look into the
pain, look into the suffering, look into the fear, for solution not into the reality. Reality is from reality, in reality, to
reality. Creation - sustenance - dissolving - destruction - all three happens in reality, by reality, for reality. If you touch
and see the wall of the room in which you are sitting, it is reality. But if the wall gives you the problem of - it is yours
or not yours - and all problems come because of you owning it or not owning it, then analyze that problem not based
on the wall, but based on your mind which creates all those problems. The person who is sitting next to you is reality.
Then if you have the problem of friendliness or enmity, analyze the problem in the friendliness or enmity, not on that
person.
Arithmetic logic goes on inspiring you, impressing you, to find out the problem in terms of reality. But the first sutra
of the Brahma Sutra makes you understand that problems should be analyzed, understood, solved not in reality but
where it is felt. A complete shift in the understanding of life. Janmadyasya yatah. Reality - Cosmos is the origin of the
world. I think these two words - Cosmos, world - looks like too many words. I can say, these are attributions. For
example, the man who is wearing a yellow dress is an attribute. The man who has seen the ocean is an attribution. If

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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I say bring that man who has seen the ocean, only the man can be brought, the attribution cannot be brought. Same
way, ‘the world came out of Cosmos’, these words are all attributes and the whole problem boils down to your
dictionary and My dictionary. I make a statement - ‘World comes out of Cosmos’ and you ask, “What is world and
what is Cosmos?” Then Cosmos comes out of the world. Both are one and the same. So ‘janmadyasya yatah’. Origin
happening, ending is - is.
There is no change. Anywhere you feel change, find out the problem where you feel the change. Not in what is. What
is - is. Where the problem is, should be looked upon. So the solution comes, when you analyze the feeling. The healing
happens when you analyze the feeling of pain or pleasure or fear or sorrow or suffering. Healing does not happen if
you try to peel the wall. Peel the feeling, not the reality. But you go on trying to peel the reality. Janmadyasya yatah.
It means, reality comes out of reality. The Origin of reality is reality. Naturally, reality cannot be giving any suffering.
Reality cannot be giving any fear for you. You cannot be greedy in reality. Because in reality, how can you be greedy
of you? How can you be afraid of you? How can reality be greedy of reality? How can reality be afraid of reality?
Then if you feel, “No, I am having greed. I am having fear.” Then look into where you are having it. Not what is.
When you look into where you are having it, only you will understand the idea ‘having it’ is only having it. Not, you
are having it. If there are a few moments in your life without fear, then how can fear happen in you?
You see, anything that happens should be eternal. If something is not eternal, it has not only not happened once, it
never happened! If illusion cannot be eternal, not only it cannot be ephemeral, it cannot even exist. If there is a feeling
of, “Till yesterday, it was there,” forget about it.
A brahmachari asked me, “How can maya be destroyed?” I told him this understanding which will really help all of
you. Maya never gets destroyed. We were all sitting on the banks of the Vaidya Sarovar, where there was a flower
floating. I said, “Does that flower in any way affect us?” No!
Because that does not affect us, we have grown beyond it, it is not only not affecting us, it does not practically exist
for us. But a small ant, floating in the water, trying to survive, for that ant that flower can either be a boat or a hindrance
to cross. For that ant, that flower is a maya. But for us, not only it is not maya, it does not exist for us. Then he asked,
“Oh, we overgrow, we outgrow maya. Then does it mean, when I outgrow my maya, maya does not exist for me?” I
said, “No. When you outgrow even the people around you, your friends, your family, your circle, your relationships,
everything will be in such frequency, even for them maya does not exist. So, you don’t even feel, not only for you
maya does not exist, you will understand that even for the whole world that maya does not exist.”
The frequency in which you exist, even for all of them, maya does not exist. I was giving him the same example. Now
we are all sitting. Not only is the flower insignificant and non-existent for Me, for all of us also who are in the same
frequency, it is insignificant - the same way, the reality I know. I lost 10 kg by reading a book. I tell you, Brahma
Sutra is the sure technique for weight loss. Your whole logic has to grind it, grind it, grind it. It is like Navapashana,
chewing the stone. See, before this Shivaratri, we did some cleaning work in that Shiva Linga. We did a traditional
repair to perform Kumbhabhishekam again on this Shivaratri day. So at that time, I told them to drill one part and see,
because we added some stones inside the Navapashana, we saw those stones had become powder. They are no more
stones. Just they have become powder. The power of Navapashana, the medicine, the herb, the stones have dissolved
and it has now become one single piece. That is supposed to happen within a year. It has happened. So now this Shiva
Linga, does not need any repair for next 1000 years. Because it has now become a single piece.
And not only that, anything you apply on it, because that Shiva Linga continuously inhales and exhales, breathes - no
paint will stick on it. How many times these guys tried to put some color or coat, nothing stands on it. Immediately
the bubbles will be formed. By the time they apply, in 2 minutes bubbles will be formed. They came and asked Me,
“What is this Swamiji, how many times we try to color or clean, we are not able to do?” I said, “Go and keep a thread
near that Shiva Linga, you will feel that Shiva Linga inhaling and exhaling very beautifully.” The thread will go in
and come out, very rhythmically. Because it is an independent intelligence. The stone loses its existence into
Navapashana. Same way, your ordinary arithmetic logic will lose its power into reality when you deeply understand
this Brahma Sutra.
So the sacred secret from this sutra is - reality is reality is reality.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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It comes from, stays and merges back into it. Then why this suffering, bondage, liberation? These are all just the
foolish words taught to you. Just junk those words, and be liberated now. “Wow, that is true. Then what about my day
to day problems, food, shelter, name and fame, prestige, society, money?” Come on! Look into those problems where
they exist. They don’t exist in reality. When you understand ‘the reality comes out of reality and goes back to reality’,
all these problems become a small flower floating on the water. They become insignificant to you. Go on increasing
your understanding again and again, establishing yourself into reality - Brahma Vidya. I’ll go on everyday with
different dimensions of reality. Today one dimension of reality: reality comes from, stays in, goes back to reality;
which can never cause any fear, greed, or suffering to you. If you are having fear, greed, suffering or anything, then
be very clear, you are supposed to work on the feeling, not on reality. The arithmetic logical civilization is trying to
build the whole palace on one pillar, that is why it is constantly tumbling and falling.
Tumbling down and falling is what is the depression of the great civilizations. I wanted the Western civilization to
understand, with My deep love, please understand that unfortunately, you build your civilization on a wrong, single-
pillar arithmetic logic. That is why you go on suffering in deep depression and emptiness. Here is a solution. Come
on! Build and re-strategize. Fortunately, the Western mind is open, curious, inquisitive and ready to imbibe great
truths. I am telling you, catch it. Build, re-strategize, replan, review, rethink your basic understandings based on reality,
not on arithmetic logic. The understandings of intelligent ones taught as a faith for the ordinary ones later gets
developed as a religion in course of time. So the understandings of the intelligent ones need to be reviewed, revised,
replanned - and when those understandings are reviewed and replanned, reviewing will change the religion. Whatever
is handed over to the common ones as religion, like science, is a religion.
Each department is a religion. It is a religion. So, each religion needs to review, relook, replan, re-strategize all the
understandings they have about reality, based on this one great revelation - life cannot be built on logical arithmetic.
It has to be built on reality, which comes from, stays in, and goes back in reality, which cannot cause fear, greed,
suffering. So anywhere fear, greed, or suffering is felt, you need to attend and look into that part - not the reality.
These understandings will change the very way we look and perceive living, life.
I know for sure, these words will ring in your ears, even in your dream. I am going to be a nightmare for millions of
people. I can say, not in a bad way, but more so a nightmare which awakens you from dreams. Listen, listen, listen. I
wanted to warn all the people, the ex-disciples. If you are ex-disciples and do not want to connect with Me again while
secretly watching this Brahma Sutras on NTV, I want you to know, you're entering into the non-return zone. You
cannot be, you will not be able to separate Me and these words.
Do not think that you can just see these discourses and steal the ideas and live. You will not be able to stop. I will be
entering into your inner space again, and you will be in big trouble. You’ll neither have the capacity and intelligence
to drop your ego, and come back, nor you will be able to forget Me because I’ll be haunting you in your dreams. So I
wanted to remind all the ex-disciples who are secretly watching these sessions on the NTV. Either have the guts to
come to reality by dropping your arithmetic logic or switch off the video and save yourself. Because the words I am
coining and designing and it is expressing, I am seeing very clearly, when I utter those words, I see very clearly those
parts of My brain are just opening up and I can see very clearly - all the people who are listening, even in their brain,
those parts are popping up, opening up. So the great transmission is happening here. If you are sitting with the mood
of restful awareness, you are Gods standing in the queue to receive the amrita from Narayana.
If you are sitting there secretly saying, “let me steal some words and use for my great books or for my classes or for
some other purpose, let me see what he is saying,” you are a Rahu and Ketu standing in the line for amruta. Not only
you will not get the amruta, I want you to know you are entering into the non-return zone.
I bless you all, to imbibe this great reality. Just sit now for a few minutes. You don’t need to meditate, you don't need
to contemplate, you don’t need to do any technique. Techniques are for ordinary people. Just sit. These understandings
which I gave you now, will go on in your system by itself. Let the Upanishad happen. Just sit. No technique, no
meditation, no process - just sit, you will see the kundalini awakening happening. You don’t even need to close your
eyes. Just sit.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 Shāstrayonitvāt

Source of the Shāstras

I respectfully remember the Brahma Vidya Sampradaya. Today we are entering into the third sutra, in the first chapter
third sutra - “Shāstrayonitvāt.” The sutra is just this much - “Shāstrayonitvāt.” That’s all.

Translation says - “Brahman is omniscient because of its being the source of the scriptures. Swami Vireswara
translates as “the omniscient and omnipotent of the Brahman being the source of scriptures.” The meaning, the
translation of this sutra is - “Brahman is omniscient because of its being the source of scriptures.”
“Shāstrayonitvāt.” Just two words. Source of the Shāstras. This is the source of the Shastras. Understand. First let us
understand the word ‘Shāstra’. Shāstra means truth about reality. In the commentary, each explains differently. The
Vedicas are saying, “Brahman is great because it is a source of Rigveda, Yajurveda, all Vedas.” Naturally the
Vaishnavites say, “No, because it is the source of Bhagavata and all the Vaishnavites scriptures.” Each one debates
on the word ‘Shāstra’.
Shāstra means the truth about reality. Truth about reality. Only the omnipotent, omniscient intelligence will have guts
to reveal its quality. Please understand. Only the ultimate will have the strength, to reveal its qualities to you, to reveal
truths about itself to you. I wanted all of you to understand the word ‘Shāstra’, does not mean just some book. Shāstra
means truth about reality. Only truth has the capacity to reveal its truth. Nothing else can reveal about its truth. Please
understand. Leading somebody in the path of truth is very dangerous unless you are established in it. If you are not
established and you are leading, a disciple will find out your falsehood. That’s one of the very important truths you
need to understand. What is enlightenment? If you ask Me now, I will tell you, “Fan is moving. TVs are functioning.
People are sitting. I am talking.” This is enlightenment. That’s all. If you ask Me, “Swamiji, please teach Brahma

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Sutra for this moment”, I will say, “I am sitting on a gold plated throne. Brahmachari is using a camera and clicking
Me. Time is 6:55 as per this clock. People are sitting in front of Me, with a lot of anticipation. Many have gathered
around the world to watch what I am talking about.” This is Brahma Sutra, that’s all.
Only truth has innate intelligence to reveal itself. Shāstra means truth about reality. Existence is great because it reveals
all the truths about its reality. All the psycho drama you add on the things and persons and situations, if they are
deducted, truth is revealed. The moment you start the psycho drama of Me being Guru, I start the psycho drama of
you being a disciple. The moment you start the psycho drama of friendliness towards somebody, that person starts the
psycho drama of friendliness to you. The moment you start the psycho drama of enmity with somebody, the person
starts the psycho drama of enmity towards you. Psychodrama of pain, pleasure, love, anger, towards persons, objects
or reality, is corruption. Otherwise in truth, in reality, shastrayonitvāt. If I have to translate this sutra - shastrayonitvāt-
reality is the origins of the truths about reality, because it is origin about the truths, about the reality, because it has
the capacity to reveal the truths about itself, it is great. I tell you, anybody who has the capacity to reveal the truths
about himself, will go to the deeper and deeper truths about himself.
Today, learn this lesson. Don’t miss it. People whose breathing space you enjoy, who enjoy your breathing space. Just
completely reveal yourself to them, even if the relationships are breaking, it’s okay. What you are, what you feel as
you are, the truths about you, reveal it to them. I can tell you, even if your relationships are breaking in your life, you
will roll in life so beautifully, you will attract the deeper and deeper personalities who are ready to radiate your reality.
People who are ready to radiate your reality are eternal companions. You will attract eternal companions in your life.
Not only that, you, yourself will experience deeper and deeper realities about you. In West Bengal, there is a great
spiritual tradition called ‘Bauls’. The word ‘Bauls’ means in Bengali - Pagal - mad. They stay usually as couples.
Couples are not necessarily to be one male, another one female. No! They stay as pairs. Sometimes both will be
female or both will be male, sometimes one will be male, another one will be female.
The Bauls take a vow - “We will share the deepest truths about ourselves to each other.” And they take a vow - “We
will not allow anybody else to be in their breathing space and they also will not enter anybody else’s breathing space.”
It’s a very beautiful tradition in West Bengal. They will have a long stick on which they will have a begging bowl.
Even while they beg, they will stretch and tell that person not to enter the breathing space, “Put the food from there.”
Try this, it actually works. Anybody who enters your breathing space, with whom you share your breathing space,
means your friend, family, first circle - the warm circle, show utter naked truth about you to them - what is your feeling
about life, about you, about them. You are afraid, I know. So many people come back to the ashram to stay permanently
if you do this I know! But sometimes, as I said, Vyasa doesn’t give any technique, he doesn’t give any homework. He
just takes away the home from you. So that there is no homework. Vyasa is a dynamic, dynamite diamond. That is
why Vedantis have to always move out of the society, because it is a high measure of truth.
The other day, I was reading a slogan on a T-shirt - “Truth is a disease that happens to you because of alcohol
deficiency.” Reality is the illusion created by alcohol deficiency. Reality is too much for society, but I tell you, fruit
is too much for the root. But the foolish root does not understand, fruit is the life for the root. Enlightened master is
too much for society but they don’t understand, it is for My sake they are still alive. It is the fruit which justifies the
existence of the root. It is for fruit the root exists. Reality is too powerful for society, but the groups, small groups
which hold this reality as a stream in their life, or the juice of the Earth, they are the salt of the Earth. It is these kinds
of groups for which humanity is still kept alive without being destroyed. I tell you, decide strongly, “Anybody with
whom I share my breathing space or who shares my breathing space, I will be completely open and naked and truthful
to them, in all possible ways, even if it brings dire consequences in my life.” I can tell you one important thing. It can
surely bring only auspicious consequences. Either you will, and if the other person is understanding, you will become
so intimate. If the other person is arrogant, unconscious, at least you will not have that person in your life.
You are free, liberated. Liberation from illusory relationships is liberation from illusion itself. Liberation from illusory
relationships is liberation from illusion itself! At least the people who stay in the monastery should practice this. I
should make this law for all the people who reside in My ashrams and temples, who dedicate their life for
enlightenment at My feet. Whoever dedicates their life should take this risk. After all, all the people who stay in the
ashram as couples, rishis, both have dedicated their life to Me, so they should have patience to see the reality of the
other person and show the reality of yourself. If you are a Brahmachari or a single, naturally all your friends have also
dedicated their life to Me. Unfortunately, if you still have some friendship outside secretly, then it’s dangerous. It is
good, while revealing that friendship will drop by itself. So anything, any truth, you feel about you and the person
should be revealed. And another one important thing, within a few days, the truth you feel about the other person and
you will change. Again reveal that change.
What you feel at this moment honestly about you, about that person, about your relationship - reveal. After 10 days,
you may suddenly have a different understanding - reveal that, have guts! Have guts to face the reality of you in front
of you. Have the guts to reveal the reality knowing whatever you reveal as reality now is going to change in a few

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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days, few hours or few minutes. This will make your relationship deeper, honest, truthful. If it breaks your
relationships, good for you. You will grow. Only truth has the capacity to reveal itself. So decide to reveal yourself
completely open to everything. Know very clearly, the chair on which you are sitting and telling a lie to somebody,
that chair will be a witness. When somebody else comes and sits in front of the chair and if you tell another lie, that
chair will actually tell that person unconsciously, “Don’t believe this idiot”, it will send the message very clearly inside
his bio-memory. When he goes out, he will not believe you. Everything around you, records what you are talking,
records what you are. Reality is ease-ness. What you think as reality - reveal, reveal, reveal. Your thinking about
reality will deepen and deepen and deepen.
Shāstra means truth about reality. Only the truth has the capacity, intelligence, courage, to reveal the reality about
itself. Only the reality has guts to reveal the truths about itself. Only Brahman reveals the truth of its existence. In
Sanskrit, we have a very beautiful word, “Svayam Prakāsha” - self-shining, self-effulgent. By its existence, it reveals
its nature, its presence. Only the chaitanya reveals its presence by its own existence. You cannot hide chaitanya. How
can you hide? Self-effulgent cannot be hidden. Decide this as a first step - “I will live like Brahman, reality. All the
truth about me will be completely open and anybody comes will be able to read it. My life will be an open book.”
When your life is an open book, you become a shāstra for others and you. When you reveal the truths about you to
others, completely and honestly, understand you will learn more than others about you. Start talking, start opening up,
you will see. Suddenly, you will start radiating so many wonderful, amazing auspicious energies and characteristics.
And not only that, when a stone gets rotated in the flow of Ganges, it gets beautifully moulded as Shiva Linga. When
your Being gets beaten and rotated, by telling the truth honestly and living the truth, it becomes a Shiva Linga,
existence. In the beginning, it is a courageous job. “No, no, I will tell 4 truths about me to her, not the fifth one - that
is dangerous.” “Ah, as if he tells everything to me or what?!” But he is not asking for enlightenment - you are asking!
Come on, you be honest. If he is asking for enlightenment and he is not revealing, then he is not going to have and
that is different. You are asking for it. You wanted it, then it became your responsibility. So anybody whom you feel
as a friend or relative, completely be open to them. I tell you, you will imbibe the qualities of existence in you -
Brahman. The delusion and illusory layers will be peeled off. “Shāstrayonitvāt”. Truth has the capacity to be the origin
of revelations about itself. Sun shines and radiates because it does not have any dark patches inside. Moon is afraid to
shine and radiate because its own dark patches will be shown. Shine like a Sun. Don’t be afraid of dark patches which
you carry.
When you shine like the Sun, the dark patches will also be burnt. Only consciousness will have the ability to reveal
its nature. Matter does not reveal about its nature. The fan cannot reveal about its nature, but electricity will reveal
about its nature. Touch it and see. Because electricity is life inside this fan. Same way, the matter does not reveal its
truths to you. Consciousness reveals its truths to you. Be conscious. Reveal your own truths about you to you and to
everybody - radiate. Whatever you have as truth about you, don’t hide - be that. Share. If the other person is capable
or matured enough to be associated with you, let the relationship grow. Let it be make or break. “No, no, no, what will
happen?” Being stuck in a relationship for any other reason than growing together - is prostitution. I am defining it.
Being in any relationship other than the reason for growing together is prostitution. I am defining not only as per Me,
as per Vedic tradition. Courageously I am taking the name of Vedic tradition, because when you are getting married
you take this vow, “Let’s help each other to reach fulfillment.” I am giving one example of a husband-wife relationship.
But in every relationship, radiate this truth. What you know about you - radiate it. Ordinary stone is a matter. It is not
shāstrayonitvāt, means it is not self-effulgent, self-revealing about its existence and truth. But diamond is self-
effulgent. It reveals about its own truth and existence. In all of you, there is a part of diamond, covered by ordinary
stone. Polish that part, let that ordinary part disappear till the diamond part is revealed completely. The whole ordinary
part let it disappear. Use the diamond which is already shining to polish the diamond which is in you. That is what
happens when in Upanishad with the master. The master is a dynamic dynamite diamond. All the stone part of you is
blasted out. Only the self-effulgent part, shāstrayonitvāt, the parts in you which reveal about its own existence are
only left to be. Don’t be stuck in any friendship, any relationship, other than the reason for growing together. It’s a
very courageous truth, a very strong truth, but I need to tell. Another one important thing, when you courageously take
this step of revealing all your truths to the people with whom you are living, I can say, it will only lead to more and
more auspiciousness because if the other person is understanding, the relationship will become deeper and greater.
It will grow together. If not at least you will be rid of it. A reality is great, because it reveals all the truths about its
existence. Anything which reveals all the truths about itself, by its existence, is reality. It is great! Have this scale in
your life. Anything which reveals all the truth about itself by its existence is reality - great. An enlightened being by
his very presence and existence reveals all the realities about Himself. In you there is a part of you, which reveals all
the truths about itself to you. That part is reality, consciousness, enlightenment. Shāstrayonitvāt - that part is God,
Brahman, existence. In you there is some part, which hides the truths about its reality, that is matter. This Brahma
Sutra is almost like a fruit juicer. How the fruit is put on the juicer and you press it to take the essence out of the fruit.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Same way, you have to put this Brahma Sutra and press, press, press, on your system. I’ll sincerely recommend taking
this dry fruits and nuts, like badam, cashew, ghee, all these things because your brain needs an intense energy and
cooling lubrication, to grasp this.
When I am putting these ideas, anything which reveals its existence and truth to you, is God and you have this part in
you, many parts of your brain will catch fire. “Wow, yes, right!” It will just click, open up. “Yes, many times, many
moments, some parts of me, reveals its existence to me and others. Right, those moments, I am always in restful
awareness. Other times where I am not revealing myself to me and to others, I am suffering.” If you are not revealing
your existence to all the people in your breathing space, slowly slowly you will hide it from you also. That is what we
call self-ignorance - ātma ajnāna. The failure of life is when the self-ignorance becomes too much and you give up.
That is what we call ‘breaking down’. That is what I call ‘breaking down’. Break down in front of your reality. So
that you will stand up. When you reveal all the truths, which you know about you, to all the people around you,
suddenly you will be revealed deeper and deeper layers of truth about you to you by you. Those deeper and deeper
realities revealed to you by you to you, will take you to higher and higher spaces. You become shāstrayonitvāt. You
become the origin of the shāstra.
Shāstra means truth about reality. When you become shāstrayonitvāt, the origin of the truths of the reality, you are
enlightened, that’s it. What am I doing everyday? I just come and sit and go on revealing truths about Me. I want all
of you to know, I am not talking about Brahma Sutras. I am using that as one tool, that’s all. I am just talking about
Me. I go on revealing truths about Me. Whatever I feel about Me, I go on talking, go on revealing. That’s all. So I
became a shāstrayonitvāt. I become the origin of the truths about reality. That is why everyday I go on talking, still
you feel I am talking something new. Because I have become the origin of the truths about reality, everyday all I do
is just come and sit and open one window for you to see the inner space where I am living. The next day I come and
open another one window. That’s all. That is why, it has just become like breathing for Me.
I am not really doing any big thing in morning satsang or evening satsang. I just come and sit and open a window,
that’s it. For you to have the glimpse of Cosmos. Existence reveals its truth about its existence continuously in reality.
Go on grinding this truth in you today. It will not be even simple like fruit juicer. No! That is a simple example I gave.
It will be more like a diamond cutting. Go round and reveal all the truth about you to all the people with whom you
are living. Boldly, courageously, revealing the truths about you, you become shāstrayonitvāt. You become the source
of truths about reality, origins of truths about reality. You will have a kind of a tremendous restful awareness and
freedom. Let the Upanishad happen in all of us. Let the truth shāstrayonitvāt be drilled into all of us. Just sit in
Upanishad. No technique, no meditation, no process, no mantra, no japa, no visualization, no need even to close your
eyes. If you feel like it - close or just sit with open eyes. Let the Upanishad happen.
Drill this truth into you - shāstrayonitvāt. Be the origin of the truth about the reality of our existence. Be the truth to
everything and everything will be truthful to you. What you understand as truth, be honest to it. Deeper and deeper
layers of truths will be revealed to you. One important thing in the Brahma Vidyā Sampradāya, the path of Vedānta is
- you should go out and start relating it with people. Start telling this truth to the world. Start working on it. Otherwise
you will forget it, because it is such a strong truth. If you don’t drill it inside your inner space, you will forget it. So
when you go out, go on talking to people, share with the people what you heard now. Transform others, convince
others about these truths. You will be convinced in the deeper levels. Transform others, in that process you will be
transformed. You don’t need any other technique, practice, method, but you have to be talking about it to others.
Otherwise what you heard now, will be forgotten in you. At least with few people, talk. Don’t think by writing, you
will be able to remember. No! Talk, only then you will understand how the truth gets customized for you, for your
situation. Now go out and open one window of you and show to the whole world, to everybody - your inner space. If
they are ready to look in, it is worthy of looking in. If not, make it worthy of looking in.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 Tat tu samanvayāt

That should be known only by personal

experience, through Upanishad with the Master

“Tat tu samanvayāt”. Just two words. The world is reduced to these two words - ‘tat tu samanvayāt’. The English
translation by Gambhirananda - “But that Brahman is known from the Upanishad, it being the object of their fullest
import.” Swami Vireswarananda translates as - “But that Brahman is to be known only from scriptures and not
independently by other means is established, because it is the main purport.” I’ll translate this sutra as “That should
be known only by personal experience, through Upanishad with the Master.” Please understand. I am revealing a
sacred secret in this sutra. It can be realized not by any written Upanishad - Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka,
Mandukya…. No!

Through those Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya,Taittirîya, Narayana, 108 Upanishads, you
can grasp a kind of an intellectual understanding. Only by sitting in Upanishad, the Brahman can be experienced, as
it is the main object of the fullest import. Please understand. The purpose of Upanishad is experiencing existence and
the most important thing to be realized through the Upanishad is existence.
In Zen, they have a process called Zazen. Just they sit, sit, sit. Not just hours, not just days, not just weeks, not just
months, but not even just years - but decades. The Zen Master’s story says, “Sometimes these masters sit in Zazen for

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

19
40 years.” Zazen means just sitting. When you sit, so many years, naturally the mind has become a useless unnecessary
part of you. It withers away, will withers away. Just to eat and do your basic activities and sit, you don’t need Will,
you don’t need mind. Will withers away. Mind withers away. I can say, in My Parivrajaka time, that is what exactly
happened. Nothing much to be done. If you can break insecurity, Parivrajaka is the best life to live. All embodied
Beings, means not just human beings, all the Beings who assumed the body, should experience the homelessness at
least one year in their life. Just homelessness. Not having a particular address, a particular safe place or security.
Living like somewhere you sleep, somewhere you walk, somewhere you eat, somewhere you are living. I can say,
Parivrajaka teaches thousands of things, thousands and thousands of things.
Will withers away, whether it is the complete Zazen or complete insecurity. See, any security will remind and poke
you to go back to security only for 3-4 days. If you can manage Parivrajaka for one week, after that insecurity will not
hit you. Insecurity happens only for the first one week, not more than that. Then Vedanta vijñānam starts happening
in you. What do I mean by the word ‘Vedanta vijñānam? Withering of the Will and ability to do everyday action
without bringing your Will for supporting, justifying, analyzing, adding, commenting. These are activities your Will
goes on doing and destroys the whole juice of your life. And the modern day youngsters are again and again
brainwashed about the need or the importance of the Will. Again if you are intensely creative without asking the
question - why should you be creative? the Will withers away. Will can wither away in so many ways. Some of the
beautiful Zen koans and stories are of this, withering away of the Will. A monk was sitting under a tree and meditating.
He saw the breeze due to a leaf falling from the tree. He was just floating with that falling leaf. The leaf did a zig-zag
- moved, moved, moved, slowly landed on the ground and the monk became enlightened.
How will you logically describe it?! He was in such extreme restful awareness, that movement has beautifully moved
his inner space, resting in withering away of the Will. Modern-day youngsters are again and again brainwashed about
the importance of Will for the everyday action, which is not required. I tell you, put yourself in a highly challenging
situation, where your Will cannot solve the issues, where your Will is let to boil. That is also a powerful process to
make the Will wither away, because the modern day youngsters don’t have patience to sit for 40 years. Forget about
40 years, 40 minutes itself is impossible. So for you, the other way is just to put yourself in situations which cannot
be solved by the Will. Will will wither away. First time, not only the youngest master is talking about Brahma Sutras,
the youth is listening about Brahma Sutras. I don’t think anywhere in the world, any time in the world, so many youth
are sitting and listening to the Brahma Sutras. I am seeing around the world that the average age will be 33. Not only
the teacher, even the students. Even when Shankara describes the scene of Brahma Sutras, he says, “Master is young
- . Guru is Yuva - young,” but he doesn’t say, “Disciples are young.”
You see, Guru if He is an incarnation, He can be young and He can teach. Even in the history of Dakshinamurthy, Adi
Shankara, Ramana Maharshi, even in all their histories, the master was young but disciples were always old people.
For the first time, the young master is talking to a crowd of disciples with an average age of 30 - 33. Now for the first
time, the disciples are also young. That is why I say, we are heading towards a great evolution and revolution. Just
yesterday, one couple from Dubai wanted to pack up and come back and settle in the ashram, in the Rishi order. I was
telling them, “We should set a trend of enlightenment being a career in the modern life, working for conscious growth
and achieving enlightenment should be a modern day career.” So we have to make some way, where people contribute
to society because we use the infrastructure of the country, we use the road, airport, dam, all the country’s
infrastructure like electricity. Because we use all that, we need to give back. We need to contribute something back to
them. So we should evolve a system, where we add something to them. It is not that we just suck, we are parasites -
No!
We will add something to them by awakening our intelligence and radiating enlightenment. This should become a
career. This should become a new way of living. First time in the world, the youngest master is talking about the oldest
scripture to again, the youngest disciples. I am seeing it on the screen. The average age will surely be around 30 only.
At 30, if we can inspire people to wither away the Will, even if they contemplate on that idea and just casually practice,
by 40 we can expect at least 80% of the people would have achieved the result. The withering away of the Will would
have happened, the raising of the frequency in their inner space will happen. The sutra, today’s sutra, gives the
importance of personal experience through the Upanishad. I want you to know, here the Upanishad does not mean

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some written works in those days. Because the words and the meaning attributed to the words goes on evolving every
second generation.
Two sacred secrets - one, existence, reality, can be realized only by sitting in Upanishad with the master. Not by any
written book - Upanishad in those days. No! Second, second is a very important truth. Sitting with the master should
be only for realizing the existence. Not for any other purpose, because that is the most important thing in life. The
Upanishad should happen only for enlightenment.
Because the Upanishad can bring so many extraordinary powers, energies, experiences. Upanishad can add so many
qualities to you. Upanishad means sitting with the master. But that is not the purpose of Upanishad. Sometimes people
come to see, check out, “Let me see what He is talking.” Nowadays people come to see the models of earrings or the
energy beads. Those things cannot be the purpose of the Upanishad. Upanishad, the purpose of Upanishad should be
only experiencing existence, experiencing reality, experiencing life. Thousands and thousands of spiritual experiences
may and can happen during Upanishad, but that is not the purpose or in part of Upanishads. It is experiencing the
existential reality, experiencing the reality of the existence is the purpose of Upanishad. “Tat tu samanvayāt” - that
Brahman being the object of the Upanishad fullest import, it should be known from the Upanishad, through the
Upanishad, in the Upanishad. I can tell you, sitting in Zazen, Zazen means just sitting, for 40 years will make your
Will wither away.
The same sitting, if you do it with a master, in His presence, He knows how to boil your engrams and get them out. I
can say, if you are in the ashram, listening to what I am saying and falling in tune - your whole day is Upanishad,
because the whole day I am continuously focusing you. See, whenever focusing happens, it’s like a churning of your
inner space. When the churning happens, the resistance gathers as poison and the acceptance gathers as a butter, nectar.
The resistance poisons will be constantly taken out by the other people who are resisting. That’s what I do.
Extraordinary experience of Upanishad is imbibed incorporated by the muscle memory, while all the negativities are
churned out and removed from the system. Whole thing, I can say, boils down to Upanishad. If you do yoga, your
body will be ready for Upanishad. If you have the devotion, feeling connection, bhakti, the Upanishad will be very
juicy, so you can sit for a long time.
If you do karma, all your negativity will be taken out, your body will be completely trained, the withering away of the
Will will happen, so that when you sit in Upanishad, you will have the deep settled restful awareness. So everything
finally boils down to Upanishad. It is Upanishad which is the essence of life. “Tat tu samanvayāt”. Brahma Sutras are
not the place where too big words are used or long sessions of discourses are given. These whole Brahma Sutra, if
you write the original sutras, you can finish it 3 or 4 sheets, that’s all. 3 or 4 sheets! 555 sutras, at the most it will be
1500 words, that’s all, because no sutra is more than 2 or 3 words. Maximum 1500 words, that’s it, one article that’s
all. This book is the inspiration, essence, quintessence, abridged dictionary of world philosophies, very human
thinking. I can say, not just the world's spiritual philosophies or religious philosophies, or atheist philosophies. It is
the quintessence of very human thinking. Upanishad, sitting with the master is for experiencing Brahman,
experiencing the reality should happen by Upanishad, experiencing reality can happen only by Upanishad. The only
purpose of the Upanishad should be experiencing the reality and existence, because experiencing the existence is the
real purpose of Upanishad and your very existence and master’s very existence.
Master exists to transmit the experience of existence. You exist to experience existence. Upanishad happens to transmit
the experience of existence. Don’t go and sit in the master’s presence to remove your physical disorders. Don’t use
Him as a replacement for Anacin or Metacin. Don’t use Him as a replacement for antidepressants. Don’t use Him as
a replacement for ordinary simple things. Use His presence to experience the very existence. Upanishad, I can go on
expanding the stories. All Upanishadic stories talk about this power of Upanishad - sitting with the master. In old
Upanishadic stories, a disciple was asked about by a master. Master gives a few cows and says, “Go to the forest and
come back when you have 1000 cows.” This guy goes to the forest and grazes the cows and takes care of them. They
just continuously multiply, multiply, multiply. The whole day he sits in silence, because with cows you don’t need to
talk, you can’t do anything. Whole day he sits. That sitting, that sweet silent sitting, naturally withered away his will.
After the cows have become 1000, the funny thing is he even forgot to count. He forgot how to count.
So he did not even realize, it is time to go back. One cow comes and tells, “Sir, we became 1000, let’s go to the
master.” Very beautiful story, because Will withered away in him, he even forgot how to count. The cow comes and

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21
tells, “We have become 1000 now, let’s go back to the master. It is time.” Then he comes. When he enters the ashram,
the master says, “Oh, 1001 cows have come.” You should know that in India cows are considered holy. Very symbol
of sacrifice, love and compassion. So he says, “The disciple has also become love, compassion, sacrifice, and sincerity.
The symbol of sincerity.” Upanishad, Upanishad, Upanishad. I can say, that is the essence of life. That is the essence
of all teachings. That is the essence of all techniques. That is the essence of all processes. That is the essence of
everything. Again and again, day in and day out, I am talking, talking, talking, just leading you to Upanishad, nothing
else. If you see My words, from the day I started talking and till the last word, everything will be directing you to
Upanishad, that’s all. I talk so that you stop talking. Nothing else. I go on adding words just to enrich the silence, not
to break the silence.
Sometimes, music can enrich the power of silence, experience of silence. I go on talking, to enrich the power of
Upanishad. In Zen, there is a beautiful saying - “Grass grows by itself.” When you sit in Upanishad, consciousness
grows by itself, Will withers away by itself. Just close your eyes, don’t move the body. The moment you move the
body, you are preparing, your to be Will awakened. Over! You missed it! Just close your eyes. Just sit, no meditation,
no mantra, no technique, no japa, no process - just sit. Let the Upanishad happen.

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 īkṣaterna aśabdam

Universe does not Exist

Today’s Sutra: 1st chapter, 5th Sutra.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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ईक्षतेर्न, अशब्दम् ॥ ५ ॥
īkṣaterna aśabdam
As I said, just two words, not more than two words. Just two words and now we will have to break our heads! Just
these two words. Actually, when you are in such a deep Samadhi, you utter as minimum as possible. Sometimes you
can’t even utter. Yesterday, after the Brahma Sutras, I was just sitting in Samadhi. All the Ashramites were around
me. One of our devotees had a fit in the hall. I said, “I’ll take care,” and I told them to bring her. Then I said, “I’ll take
care, don’t worry. Give the medical care.” I was in a very strong Samadhi, especially after the strong Brahma Sutras.
But suddenly, late in the night I remembered, I did not even tell them why I did not come out; why I did not run
towards them.
Later on I thought, of course they are devotees, they won’t mistake why. I only used the words, “I’ll take care, don’t
worry. Take them to medical care.” I should have told them why I did not come out; why I did not get up from the
seat and go there. Sometimes in deep Samadhi, the words become so minimal, it doesn’t come out when it is not
required. Actually, it is my deep trust that they are devotees, they will not mistake why I don’t personally come down
and go there. They trust my word. That trust, that trust that they have in me took care of the extra words that were not
uttered. But if I did not have that trust that they are devotees, they may mistake why I did not even come out to heal
and only then, immediately, maybe I would have explained the reason, or even if the body is in Samadhi, I would have
run maybe to physically touch, to give them the confidence that I am really healing them, healing that person. So when
there is a deep trust, words do not come out.

ईक्षतेर्न, अशब्दम् ॥ ५ ॥
īkṣaterna aśabdam

But one of the world’s biggest problems is analyzed just in this Sutra. Usually when I am going to speak on some
Sutras, I will see those great Masters’ energy landing, and preparing the disciples to receive the expression. And they
themselves start expressing themselves through my tongue, through my being, through my presence and all that. Now
the last 2-3 days, I am seeing all the big big philosophers are landing here. See, some enlightened philosophers are
landing just to enjoy the Brahma Sutra happening and some unenlightened philosophers but evolved beings, Ganas,
Munis - evolved philosophers but not enlightened are coming and sitting here to catch the glimpse and get the click
so that they can become enlightened.
Understand, whenever you get one valid click, one big engram is relieved. You are free from one big engram. So for
the last few days I am seeing all kinds of philosophers are moving around. Some enlightened philosophers, some
unenlightened - Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purva Mimamsa, Uttara Mimamsa; all philosophers. The whole Ashram is now
filled with the philosophers’ energy for this great happening of Brahma Sutras. Bhaktas are very auspicious people,
devotees are very auspicious, whether they are enlightened or unenlightened.
One young lady of little loose character goes to Vivekananda. Vivekananda with such a deep love and care receives
her and initiates her into Sannyas. Not only does he initiate her, he completely gives her the promise that “I’ll liberate
you.” And as usual this orthodox Vedantic Sannyasis sitting around him, looking at him with lots of suspicious eyes
said, “What kind of a Sadhu you are? Not only you accepted her as a disciple, initiating her into Sannyas and promising
that you will liberate her. What do you mean?” Then he gives his own explanation and finally he says, “Even all the
things you guys say are accepted and true, who else can save these people except me? If I say no, who is going to say
yes for them?” So if I say no to philosophers, then who will say yes to them!

ईक्षतेर्न, अशब्दम् ॥ ५ ॥
īkṣaterna aśabdam
Swami Gambhirananda’s translation goes as “the Pradhāna of the Samkhyas is not the cause of the Universe, because
it is not mentioned in the Upanishads, which fact is clear from the fact of seeing”.”So Swami Vireswarananda
translates as “on account of thinking, being attributed to the first cause by scriptures of Pradhāna, is not the first cause
referred to by them; Pradhāna is based on the scriptures. God!”

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I don’t know how many of you understood. It’s one of the important analyses. One of the great things in the Brahma
Sutras is in analyzing the greatest problems like, what is the distance between sun and the moon; moon and the earth;
and earth and the sun. All these kinds of high level things are discussed in the same equal importance. Please
understand, Brahma Sutra is a very paradoxical book where in the same Sutra it analyzes why the distance between
sun and the moon is this much, and why the rice price is rising, both are discussed. An extraordinary philosophical
discussion which is directly affecting the way you think about you, life, and your very existence.
Here the important problem which is being discussed is, whether origin is Consciousness or matter. Sānkhyas: I can
say, the first human beings who started thinking are Sānkhyas. First man who started thinking is Kapila, who is the
Master of Sankhya philosophy. But unfortunately in course of time the Sānkhya took the original spirit of Kapila, and
created a deviated system. So here, Vyāsa is supposed to reveal the original truth to the Sānkhyas.
See always, when Shankara comes, he teaches the right Buddhism to Buddhists. When Nagarjuna comes, he teaches
the right Vedanta to Shankara's followers. In course of time, Buddhists had started moving out of Buddha’s teachings.
So Shankara comes and teaches the right Buddhism, to Buddhists.
Here, the Sānkhyas have moved out of Kapila, I want all of you to know. We, the Nithyānanda Sampradāya, originally
belong to Kapila’s Sampradāya, Nirvāni Akhāda. We are older than Vedic tradition. Understand, the Vedānta
Sampradāya is Uttara Mimāmsa. These Brahma Sutras are called Uttara Mimāmsa Sutras. Before this, there is a Purva
Mimāmsa. Sankhya is an earlier philosophical system. I can say philosophy is not the right word. Philosia. Because,
the word “Darshanā” cannot be translated into philosophy. It can only be translated to Philosia. Darshanā means what
is seen. In your inner awakening, what you experience becomes Darshanā. So when each Master has become
enlightened, what He experienced, He pens it down, transmits as a Darshanā.
So the first Darshanā is Sānkhya - the senior most Darshanā, the oldest Darshanā - oldest thinking system, oldest
cognition system, where the understanding about life, death, beyond life, after life or personal existence. Jīva means
individual Self. Īshvara, the ultimate Self or God. Jagat, the world, is two parts: nature and manmade society. All these
understandings and better ways to relate with all these and coexist in a very friendly way - this is the purpose of all
Darshanās. All Darshanās are created to know the deeper truths about these major subjects, with this understanding -
flow with life.
First Darshanā is Sānkhya. Unfortunately, followers of Sānkhya philosophy have started moving out of Kapila.
Whenever the followers move out of the founder, again the founder happens in another one form and teaches the truth.
Followers go and prosecute the founder who is in another form. It is eternal foolishness! I am working very sincerely
so that should not happen to My commune and the followers. Of course, one fortunate thing is, whatever I am talking
about is getting video recorded. So losing the spirit can never happen. And not only that, because I am going to be
sitting in the body for a long time, the reproduction of the completely spiritually mature people is possible.
Unfortunately the followers of Kapila started moving out of Kapila. So, Vyāsa has to give clarity. You need to know
the background, only then you will understand why these Sutras, because this Sutra is directly hitting Sankhya
philosophy. It is directly attacking Sankhya philosophy. Then you may be surprised, what is this? And, Vyasa is
attacking Kapila. Now what to do? Both of them are Incarnations of Vishnu.
Very beautifully Krishna says in Gita, “Among the Munis, I am Kapila!” And in the Stotra, Padmapada sings about
Vyāsa.

शङ्करं शङ्कराचार्यं केशवं बादरार्यणम् |

सूत्रभाष्यकृतौ वन्दे भगवन्तौ पुर्ह् पुर्ः ||

śaṅkaraṃ śaṅkarācāryaṃ keśavaṃ bādarāyaṇam |

sūtrabhāṣyakṛtau vande bhagavantau punah punaḥ ||

Shankarācharya who is the Incarnation of Shankarā, both are one and the same. Shankarācharya who is Incarnation
of Shankara, Vyāsa who is incarnation of Nārāyan̩a, if both of you are fighting, who is going to win? There was a
debate. Vyasa Himself comes down to test the strength of Shankara. The debate starts on Brahma Sutra. Author and

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

25
commentator are fighting. Vyasa is the author, Shankara is the commentator; both of them are arguing. Of course,
nobody can judge. But if I can take the liberty, I’ll vote for Shankara, because he has given a real meaning to the whole
Sutras. All the one or two uncut parts which Vyasa left Shankara has polished it. I can say, He made it pure gold. He
made it more user-friendly.
So both of them are arguing. It goes on and on for three days. The poor disciples are sitting without food. So
Padmapāda suddenly realizes, what is going on? And the old man who is arguing is Vyāsa. But Vyāsa did not reveal
His identity, and this young man who is not ready to give up is Shankarā, who has Lakshmi in His hand and Saraswati
in the tongue, and Devi in His body language. How could Shankara lose? No way! Padmapada sings:

शङ्करं शङ्कराचार्यं केशवं बादरार्यणम् |

śaṅkaraṃ śaṅkarācāryaṃ keśavaṃ bādarāyaṇam |

Shankara Himself auditioned, Shiva Himself has come down as Shankaracharya. Vishnu Himself, Keshava Himself
has come down as Bādarāyaṇa. Vyāsa, You are a Sutrakāra and He is a Bhāshyakāra. The origin, the man who wrote
the Sutra and man who is writing the commentary, both of them are fighting. Where is it going to end? So, Padmapāda
falls at the feet of both and says, “I bow down to both of You.” Then immediately Shankarā realizes, the person who
is sitting in front of Him is Sutrakāra Himself, Vyāsa, Bādarāyaṇa Himself. Then He withdraws from the debate.
Vyāsa blesses Him and says, “My son, I have come to test You, Your capacity to establish the truth. I see You are a
qualified person. I give You sixteen more years from My life.” See the beauty when an honest teacher comes to test
his successor, when He sees the strength, immediately He says, “From My life, I give You sixteen more years. You
live for sixteen more years and establish the philosophy, Your teaching.”
This is the way our Hinduism was spreading. It was completely based on a friendly, convincing debate. No fight. No
sword. No bread, butter, just killing through kindness. Very cunning way of destroying, killing through kindness.
Nothing was used. Simple, straightforward understanding and analysis. So Kapila is also Incarnation of Vishnu; as
Krishn̩a says, “Among the Munis, I am Kapila” And Vyāsa is also Vishnu’s Incarnation. So Krishn̩a is Vishnu’s
Incarnation, and Krishn̩a says, “I am Kapila among the Munis.” And here, Vyāsa is Vishnu’s Incarnation. Naturally
then, Vyāsa is attacking Kapila! It’s almost like 2 Incarnations attacking each other. It cannot be. You need to
understand, our Sanyās Sampradāya belongs to Nirvāni Akhāḍa, Kapila’s tradition, and all our practices belong to
Vedānta Sampradāya, Shankara’s tradition. There cannot be any fight between these two. How can there be any fight
between Kapila and Vyāsa, because both of them are Incarnations of Vishnu. Surely Vyāsa is not against Kapila, but
Vyāsa is against the misunderstanding of Kapila’s followers.
One of the important questions: whether the origin of the Existence is Consciousness or matter? Sānkhya takes the
stand. See Kapila took the stand: origin of the Universe is matter, because, once you are made to understand whatever
you call as Universe is from matter, you will renounce that you will not be attracted too much towards it and go
towards Consciousness. That idea was given more as a technique than as a fact.
So when Kapila says, “The origin of the Universe is matter,” He wants you to lose interest over the Universe. He does
not want you to bother about it too much. But, when Vyāsa says, “The origin of the Universe is Brahman, Existence,
Consciousness,” He means there is no Universe, relax in Existence. Because out of Existence, nothing can come, and
become something else. If you are seeing something else, then relax from seeing. Final purpose of both: Vyāsa and
Kapila are relaxed from being distracted. That’s it. Nothing else. So to serve that purpose, how to put the words? I can
tell you from my experience, the Universe is neither from matter nor from Consciousness because it is, it does not
come out. It never comes out. It does not exist. If you think you are seeing, something is wrong with your seeing. If
you think something is going on in front of you now, something is wrong inside you. If you think something other
than you exists, something is wrong inside you.
Sānkhya: Kapila says, “Universe comes out of matter, don’t bother about it - Pradhāna. Forget about it.” Vyāsa says,
“Origin of the Universe is Existence, so the Universe cannot be as you think other than Existence. So stop seeing it as
other than Existence. Come back.” I am telling you, neither the origin of the Universe is matter nor it is Consciousness,
it is just your illusion. I don’t even want to coin the word “illusion,” then you will think there is something illusion; I

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

26
need to attack it. No. The Universe does not exist! “Oh God, then what are we seeing?” You are not seeing anything!
“No, no, no, I am seeing.” No! You are not!
See in many places I proved my words are more real, more truthful than your words. With that clarity, authority; I am
telling you, “You are not seeing. It is not there.” Now our mind starts spinning theories, “Yes, yes. What He says is
true; I am, it is not there but I am seeing. What practice should I do not to see? What practice should I do to achieve
Enlightenment?” Come on, stop this nonsense of practice! The moment you start planning for practice, you accept the
illusion and delusion. Now it is never going to be successful! Don’t think, “No, no, no, we can take care later on.” No!
The very acceptance of illusion, or the cause creates so many complications which you will never be able to get out.
You go on believing so strongly you are seeing while you are dreaming, what happens to the whole scene? It just
melts down! Like as if the whole thing was painted in the canvas, and the canvas is rolled, and you wake up! Where
does the rolled canvas go? You also don’t know. When you can accept that transition, that illusion; why can’t you
understand this is also an illusion! “No, no, here we make money and put it in a bank balance. There, it is not there.
Here, ninety years we can have. There, it is not there.” Years is a delusion. Time is delusion. Time is illusion.
The origin of Existence is Existence. Pradhāna: origin of Universe is Universe. Some commentators on this Sutra are
saying, “Origin of the Universe cannot be matter, because Upanishad declared it to be a Consciousness,” because
many Upanishads say in the beginning, it was conscious Existence and all that. I wanted you to know, it is not only
the Upanishads written; we don’t need to think only because Upanishad says, even if you sit in Upanishad with the
Master, you are not falling into matter. You are falling into life, Existence! So that itself proves the base or the origin
is not matter. Of course, if you sit in Upanishad with the Master, and you fall asleep, then you can say your origin is
matter. You sit in Upanishad with the Master, and that Upanishad leads to the conscious space, then origin is
Consciousness. So sit and decide for yourself whether your origin is matter or Consciousness?

ईक्षतेर्न, अशब्दम् ॥ ५ ॥
īkṣaterna aśabdam

Now we ask one more thing, “Alright whether the Source of the Universe is Consciousness or matter, what way is it
for me? What is the direct utility for me? If you understand the origin is Consciousness, there will be a huge correlative
shift in you which actually improves your day to day balance sheet. The other day I was reading a book: Can God
improve my balance sheet? He can. That is why He is conducting wealth programs.
Understanding, relaxing into the truth that the origin is intelligence gives you tremendous freedom from the feeling
you always carry: “you are not given justice”. Please understand in the whole world, every person who has a mind
feels he is not given justice. Don’t think, How can you say statements like this? Every person?” I tell you every person,
I mean it. I am not exaggerating. I am making it very clear. I am not saying, whether you are feeling you are not given
justice can be justified by your logic or not. That is dependent on your logic which can support that argument. But
anybody who has a mind feels he is not given justice. If you think origin is matter, you will never be able to heal that
feeling “you are not given justice,” “you are not given all the chances you are worthy of,” “you are not shown all the
possibilities you needed to be.” You always grudge, grumble, and suffer!
I tell you, if you understand it is independent intelligence which is Source. Suddenly the healing effect, “Eh, whatever
is happening is justice. Don’t worry.” I am telling this especially at this moment after being persecuted so much. After
this whole persecution, I am telling you, in My inner space, I am completely relaxed, because I know the Source is
intelligence, not matter! It is not dead matter, which is running based on some arithmetic automated computer or
arithmetic logic. No! It is intelligence. So when you know it is intelligence, which is Source of the Universe, origin of
your Existence; that tremendous healing in your feeling, that tremendous trust to live, that tremendous trust to exist,
tremendous joy to be; I tell you, that is the greatest thing which can happen to any human being. Joy to be, joy to exist,
feeling you are given the worthy justice!
Your Source is an intelligence. It is not a dead matter or a chaotic happening. Understand, what I am talking about is
not a belief or a fate. Again and again, when you hear, it becomes almost like a hypnotized theory. No! Source is
matter is hypnotizing theory, not source is Consciousness. Source is Consciousness is experiential theory. That

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

27
existential theory, that existential truth is, Source is Consciousness, independent intelligence. Intelligence which is
alive, which is sacred, which is not understood by all ordinary arithmetic, logical mind. Because of that, it is a secret.
A living, sacred secret that a logical arithmetic mind is not able to grasp. It is like you have a small net with which
you catch fish, you are trying to catch a huge shark with that net. When an Incarnation lands on the planet earth for
the ultimate happenings, you can’t catch a huge shark with a small fishing net. It is not even a fishing net, fishing rod.
Not only can you not catch the shark, the shark will just catch that pin and pull it. That fellow who is holding the
fishing rod, the whole thing has to go into the ocean. Just because your logic cannot capture, you can’t call it
nonexistent. Because your logic can’t capture, it is considered a secret.
Origin is intelligence. There is no injustice done to you in body, mind, relationships, wealth, or spiritual
Enlightenment. Understand this truth. Don’t try to understand this truth thinking that you’ll get Enlightenment
afterwards. No! Understand now, or get lost! There is no reward Enlightenment waiting for you later on. Understand
now, and live. You may think why should I believe this? Why should I understand? You don’t need to believe, get
lost! I am sharing the straight truth. Sometimes these fellows get into a mood, “Yes, yes. If I believe all these things,
one day I’ll become enlightened.” No! There is no salary of Enlightenment; I am not giving you any practice. As I
said in Brahmavidyā Sampradāya, there is no Enlightenment!
I am telling you very clearly, anybody who listens to My Brahma Sutra will not get enlightened. Because Brahma
Sutra has nothing to do with Enlightenment. It is something to do with enlightening. Every moment it enlightens you.
There is no promise that one day, you will receive the whole paycheck. No. If you think one day you will be receiving
the paycheck, no. It will be a check that will bounce. Nothing else. So Brahma Sutra is enlightening, not towards
Enlightenment. Now I am telling you clearly: open your ears, open your brain, stretch your brain, receive the truth
now. Don’t keep your head as an inverted pot; where anything poured, goes down. Make it as a begging bowl to
receive. In the Nirvān̩i Sampradāya, they use the skull as a begging bowl. To remind themself continuously they use
their skull also to receive knowledge from the Master. Use your skull to receive while you are alive. Otherwise it will
be used by somebody else after your death to receive food. Let it receive when it is alive.
Basic truth of origin is Consciousness. In every moment, right justice is given to you physically, mentally,
economically, socially, and spiritually you are rewarded for your worth. In every step you are rewarded for what you
are asking. You are showered with compassion.
When you listen to this truth, Source is Consciousness, the tremendous healing in understanding you are given justice
lands on you. That understanding directly makes you live Enlightenment. The enlightening sacred secret from this
Sutra is two. One, you are not handled by the dead and lost. You are handled by a compassionate, independent,
intelligent judge who is not even interested in judging you, who is interested only in making you grow. That’s the first
sacred secret. Second, the origin or the Source is not matter and law, it is Existence which is intelligent. Naturally this
sacred secret when it sinks inside you, gives tremendous restful awareness. Now, rest in that restful awareness. Sit in
Upanishad and see for yourself whether the origin of you is matter, or life - Consciousness. Let you sit and see.

gauṇaścet, na, ātmaśabdāt

Source is Intelligence

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 गौणश्चेत्, र्, आत्मशब्दात् ॥ ६ ॥
gauṇaścet, na, ātmaśabdāt

Again, just two words. Translation of Gambhirananda says, “If it can be argued that the seeing is in a secondary sense,
we say not so, owing to the use of the word ‘Self’.” Translation of Swami Vireswarananda says, “If it be said that
thinking is used in a secondary sense, we say not so, because of the word “Self” by which the first cause is referred to
in scriptures.”

This is one of the deepest philosophical problems responsible for our very way of thinking. There can be arguments.
See, this is actually a continuation of yesterday’s Sutra. Yesterday, the Brahma Sutras’ essence is: Source of you,
Source of the Universe is an independent intelligence, not a dead matter or a dead law. You need to understand, the
Source of existence is not a dead matter. It is you! The Source of the Universe which is you, it is life! It is an
independent intelligence, a living mechanism. This truth is established through logic, because all experiences are
happening in you, which is a living Self, the Source is a living Self. Please understand, only when you know the
Source is living intelligence, you will be honest. In every step you take in your life, you will be honest.

One of the biggest problems I find in so-called spiritual seekers is, when they lose trust over the law of the land and
law of society, they lose integrity. Understand, losing integrity is not spirituality. Just because you have lost respect,
usually these seekers tend to lose respect for the law of the land or law of the society. Because when you are a seeker,
you would evolve to a certain level; your hypocrisy goes away. When your hypocrisy goes away, hypocritical laws of
the society and the law of the land loses its power over you. You just realize, social laws are nothing but social
hypocrisy. Usually the law of land is exploited by the people who are in power. When somebody realizes this truth,

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

29
they tend to lose respect for the social laws and social rules and country laws - law of the land. But unfortunately when
you lose respect for the law of land, you become hypocritical. The integrity is lost. The honesty is lost.

Understand, for an ultimate Enlightened being and for a terrorist; for both, the social law and country law do not bind.
But an Enlightened being retains his integrity; a terrorist does not have integrity. I can say many seekers who lose
their integrity almost become terrorists.

The other day, I was watching the CNN channel biography of Bin Laden. The amount of austerity in his life; 14 years
he slept in a desert, just on an ordinary mat without any mattress, praying to Allah. It’s not the information from me,
it’s information from CNN. CNN channel said so and they presented his whole biography. I was shocked! The tapas,
austerity in his life! Being a wealthy, rich person, he is not a wandering Sadhu of India who doesn’t have wealth, no!
Being a very rich, wealthy man creating so much wealth all over the world; I don’t know how many billions of dollars
of wealth he has in the US, or he had in the US before the attack. Anyhow, when I saw his whole life, I was shocked!
The amount of austerity, I can say, if I have to classify based on austerity, I’ll classify him much more than any Hindu
Sadhu living in the body. Then what happened? Where did things go wrong? Why did he become a terrorist instead
of becoming an Enlightened being? Why did the tapas he practiced not invoke compassion in him? How did he get
the feeling to kill people?

It’s almost the last philosophical miss, when you lose respect for social law and country law. You are supposed to
have that deep respect and that true experience, at least an unshakeable cognitive factual clarity that existence is
intelligence and everything goes as per the justice of the intelligence. If you have that one clarity, you will not become
a terrorist. You will not become a terrorist if you have that clarity.

Understand, an ordinary man is a man who is bound by social law and the law of the land. An Enlightened being is a
person who is not bound by these 2 laws but he has a clarity of the Cosmic law; it is intelligence which is doing
everything, so he rests in peace. He will be deeply compassionate and non-violent. He will have that complete restful
awareness and peace. He is an Enlightened being. Then there is another classification. A person who does not have
respect for social law or the law of the land and does not have the cognitive factual clarification that the Whole is
independent and intelligent. He thinks the Whole is just a dead matter, so anybody can do injustice to himself or his
group. Then naturally what he thinks is, “Come on, let me take a weapon in my hand, and take revenge by myself.”
That is where that deviation happens. That is a road where an Enlightened Master takes one path and a terrorist takes
a different path. Otherwise till that point, both travel together. Whether you are going to become an Enlightened being
or a terrorist will be defined just on this one Sutra.

I am afraid for the seekers who do not have integrity because they are not bothering about doing anything. Sometimes
you will see the people who come here and pose as seekers. I’ll try to get rid of them as quickly as possible, because
these fellows have lost respect for the law of the land and the law of society. They do not have integrity. The Cosmos
is intelligence, the existence is from intelligence. That is why again and again, the Masters insist on receiving the
truths completely. If you just miss this one point, think the Cosmos is matter - you’ll become a violent terrorist. That
is what I am seeing is happening by the people who have power. Now I am seeing the whole infrastructure established
by people who have so much power and how they misuse and abuse it. How each one who is vested with the power
is abusing and misusing it because they think the Cosmos is not intelligent. Cosmos is intelligence. Violent terrorists
all have a complete underground belief, the basis of life is dead matter and anybody who can bully is a successful
man. No, that basis is completely wrong!.

There is an argument by the materialists and different groups saying, “No, no, just because we are seeing, we are
thinking, we cannot say our Source is consciousness. It may be secondary sense.” Brahma Sutra breaks that argument
saying, “No; if it is secondary, then the first person should not be able to perceive it. The perception itself is done in

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

30
consciousness.” I wanted all of you to understand, the seeing, the thinking and all cannot be done by the arithmetic
logic or mathematical logics; still no robot is able to take cognisance of even simple happenings.

Two days before I was saying a rope can be used only for pulling and not for pushing. A bar can be used only for
pushing and not for pulling. Just this cognisance cannot be taken by any mechanical robot available on planet earth
till now. Just this much of cognisance. There is no arithmetic, logical, mathematical Sutra or formula to take
cognisance of this information, this simple conclusion. To come to this conclusion, we still do not have a logical,
mathematical, arithmetic formula which can be fed to a robot and that robot comes to a cognisance, “Yes, this is a
rope, it can be used only for pulling, not for pushing and this is a bar which can be used only for pushing, not for
pulling.” No, it means, seeing or thinking cannot be a secondary sense. The screen on each seeing and thinking is
happening is where the cognisance is taken which is the conscious shaft. It is on the conscious shaft this cognisance
is taken. Seeing and thinking happens on cognition on the conscious shaft. Cognition cannot be taken by the secondary
sense, because all secondary sense is reproducible.

I can use a thousand forms of logic but just the actions cannot show whether the Source is matter or intelligence.
Because the Source where the cognition is taken about the action - seeing or thinking - is conscious shaft and is an
independent intelligence. Without independent intelligence, without the presence of independent intelligence, without
the presence of Pratyakātma Chaitanya - the individual self-reflection, cognition cannot be taken. So the Source is
life!

Through all the logic which hides your knowledge, through all the arguments which hide your knowledge and
highlights your ignorance, you need to analyze and imbibe this truth. Please understand, when you listen; Shravaṇa,
the ultimate truth is done by you, few things happen. A sincere seeker analyses the truth because it is truth and receives
it. A profit oriented seeker thinks, “If I believe these truths, I may get spiritual experience or Enlightenment, so let me
believe this truth.” The moment you have an idea, “I will get something if I accept this truth” and start accepting, you
miss it. Then there is another set of people, “Maybe because this man says, it must be true. It goes above my head. It’s
okay; I think it is true.” Again, you miss it.

You may have it by the grace of the Master in course of time when he repeats the same truth at some other later time
because you have trust in the man, you have little possibility but you miss now! There is another one set of people,
“No, no, what he says is true but I need to practice and then it should become experience, then I’ll become
Enlightened.” Better you disappear into wherever you can. Truth has to be analysed and imbibed just for the sake of
truth. When you analyse and imbibe just for the sake of truth, only then Enlightening happens in you. I am changing
my brand, it is no more Enlightenment, but Enlightening! The eN-Effect happens on you, if you sit and listen to the
truth and analyse, imbibe just for the sake of truth.

Now I am saying, Source is intelligence. Means the Source of the Universe, Source of your individual self, Source of
God, Source of human society, Source of nature, everything is intelligence. It is not dead matter or dead laws. I am
telling you the honest truth, there is no such thing as injustice. I know for sure that Source is intelligent. It will not
allow any injustice. Now when it is happening, superficially when you look in a very hurried way, you want to come
to the conclusion, it will look like injustice. Relax and wait a few days, wait and see how the Cosmos unfolds and
rolls. All you need is a little bit of restful awareness during the time when you are made to believe injustice is being
done to you.

For that restful awareness, you need to have a clear cognisance of factual reality that Source is intelligence. If you
think Source is law, dead law, or matter, you will become a terrorist. Naturally I can see very clearly a mental setup
of an Enlightened being, a mental setup of a common citizen. I can see the whole thing. That is why I am telling you,
the truth is, Source is intelligence; there is no injustice on planet Earth, in the Cosmos anywhere. Now, it should be
analysed for the sake of truth, not for the sake of any other reason.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

31
You should have a solid debate which does not raise the heat of your body. Each Satsang Centre, I request you to form
two groups. The groups should be Shankara and Vyāsa in all of our Temples and Satsang Centres from today, who
are attending Brahma Sutras. These two groups - Shankara and Vyāsa where you should analyse all the truth I am
revealing for the sake of truth, not even to justify what I am revealing. No!

Analyse with all the logical doubts you have because the logical doubts you have are responsible for not awakening
the non-mechanical parts of your brain. So, no Sadhana for the Brahma Sutra participants, but Vādaprativāda should
be done. Shankara and Vyāsa - two teams should be created. It is not necessary that two teams should have equal
numbers. But both teams should be honest about the truth. It is not necessary that you need to come to the same
conclusion which I am giving to you. At the end of the debate, the level you are able to reach, stop with it. The
condition should be that your body heat should not increase. If your body heat is increasing, you are not basing your
debate on truth, it is being based on violence so you are not becoming Enlightened. These few points will really help
you.

Maybe we can get some high quality monitors that show even a slight increase in the body temperature. It should be
tied to your body, in your hand and the debate should start. I wanted at least all our major Temples to do this practice.
Then you will experience authentic truths in a very clear way, as a cognisance of factual reality. When the cognisance
of factual reality does not happen in you, the non-mechanical parts of the brain remain closed even if you do any kind
of practice. Because the place where you begin is wrong.

Understand, if you start travelling towards Bangalore in the opposite direction, you will never reach Bangalore. Same
way, if you start going towards Brahman thinking you are matter, all your efforts will be wasted and you will never
reach Brahman. A basic mistake has happened, the basic cognisance of factual reality where the truth is missed.
Honesty cannot be acquired by practice, it can be acquired only by understanding. Any number of years you play with
any toys, any techniques, any Kriya - unless the understanding is happening, Enlightening is impossible, the eN-Effect
is impossible. So the truth should be analysed, debated, imbibed, incorporated just for this sake of truth!

Create 2 groups: Shankara and Vyāsa. The first, basic guideline is, body temperature should not increase during the
debate. Anger, violence, logically trying to rape others should not happen during the debate. Third, you will talk only
about things which you are able to understand logically. You will convince others about the facts only which you are
convinced as a strategy for your day-to-day life.

For example, if you convince others that Source is intelligence; you should be convinced about it and you should not
have stored, or retained violence in the corner of your space about some relationship you are having in your life. If
you have stored violence in your inner space about some relationship, you are not truly believing Source is intelligence.

If you feel Source is brutal power, if you believe the rule is survival of the fittest, might is right, if you are functioning
only on that law, then don’t convince others as you stand for that law. Stand for the law with which the cognition is
taken. Cognisance into the factual reality is taken in you because you do not need to reach the conclusion which I am
giving, though you need to dig for the truth. You see, if you are honest and integrated about the truth then you can
grasp the cognisant fact, cognisant factual reality. The factual reality which you are able to take cognisance of, if you
are honest about it as that very honesty and integrity will help you to click with the next Sutra I may be teaching.
However, if you patched up or overlooked, compromised on the cognisance; the factual reality which takes cognisance
in you and says, “No, no, no, because Swamiji says Source is intelligence, I also say Source is intelligence.” No. That
is good for faith, not for Enlightenment.

Brahma Sutras has nothing to do with faith and I am not asking you to have faith. I am asking you to dig! Same way,
I am not asking you to have violent disbelief. No, I am asking you to consciously debate because when you debate

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

32
consciously, every logic which does not allow the non-mechanical parts of your brain to function, gets broken. The
non-mechanical parts of the brain start to work and function.

Here Bādarayana, Mahapurusha Bhagavān Veda Vyāsa, starts the debate in this 6th Sutra. He throws an argument,
the Source is intelligence just because seeing and thinking is a secondary action, don’t think the Source is matter. The
secondary action can happen only on the predominant primordial conscious independent intelligent presence. The
presence of the matter cannot be Pradhāna, origin or the alchemical agent for seeing and thinking and cognisance to
happen.

Cognition does not happen in the presence of matter. Then the next point starts; alright, we agree cognition happens.
Cognisance is taken in the presence of consciousness but how do we know consciousness is an independent
intelligence? And it is all about compassion and equal justice? It is not unjust, how can we know that? Have this
question or this debate; nothing wrong!

Shankara, Bādarayana comes next. In next Sutras, He comes up with these arguments. Actually, I am taking out the
essence of Bādarayana Sutra, Shankara’s Bhāshya, Rāmānuja’s Bhāshya, Sureshwarāchārya’s Vārtika, Atmānanda
Saraswati’s Tikā and Bhāmati’s Bhāshya. Almost 50 different commentaries of Brahma Sutrā of which I am culling
out the essence and of course finally burning the whole thing with My inner experience and giving you the Vibhuti
Prasāda of that.

So now, a further argument starts. We can understand because the cognition cannot be taken, the cognisance cannot
be taken; the cognition cannot happen without the conscious presence. The Pradhāna cannot be matter. The Source
cannot be matter. We accept but how do we know the Source is intelligence? Source is compassionate. Source is just
and does not do injustice. How can we know those truths? You can start the argument. The argument analysis and the
understanding for these doubts Bādarayana continues in the next Sūtrās. But first, let us analyse and have a complete
debate on this Sūtrā.

Very beautifully, Ramana Maharshi sings, “Ulladhu Alladhu ulla porul ulladhal ullathe.” It’s 40 verses on reality by
Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. He starts with a beautiful introduction: because you exist, you can think about existence
and non-existence. Because you have the capacity to think about existence and non-existence, you exist. Only the
consciousness has a capacity to think or take cognisance on matter. Matter cannot take cognisance of the presence of
consciousness, about the qualities of consciousness; but consciousness can take cognisance about the quality of matter.
Because you can take cognisance on the presence and practicalities, factualities, qualities and realities of matter - you
are consciousness.

The non-mechanical parts of the brain should be boiled by this truth again and again and again, so that not a single
logic which loves to retain your ignorance is left to live in your brain. Any logic which is not convinced by the power
of truth uttered by the rishi, that logic should be destroyed by the debate with the disciples. When a rishi repeats the
Sūtrā, just by the power of the sound - one part of your non-mechanical part of the brain awakens whereas the other
part argues and finally awakens after he finishes his argument. The third part remains unawakened, that should be
awakened by the Vādaprativāda - debate among the disciples. And the fourth part will be awakened only when you
start teaching.

So if you are interested in having the complete Enlightening Nithyananda Effect, eN-Effect of Brahma Sūtrā - do all
these four. First, listening to the truth and the arguments about the truth by the Master. These 2 parts I Myself do.
Nothing is to be done by you for these 2 parts. But, the third part, the debate, you need to do. It is not homework,
understand. It’s a work of people who are homeless. I am not giving you homework, I’m giving you homeless work.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

33
Debate the truth to the level your cognisance believes as factual reality, to the level your cognisance believes as factual
reality. After the debate, whatever conclusion you came to, go out and teach at least 5 people. I tell you, when you
teach, your understanding suddenly develops. The fallacy of your logic is understood when you teach. For example,
you have a hundred reasons for saying, “You are matter, Source is matter; It is not consciousness.” When I utter the
truth, 25 of the logic will die. When I give the arguments supporting the truth, 25 more logic will die. When you do
the debate, 25 more will die. When you go out and inspire 5 people, the last 25% will die. Only when you do all these
four, the fallacy of your logic will be realized by you.

Understand, only when you go out and talk, start teaching and suddenly you will understand some parts of your brain
which were not completely imbibing this truth, are now imbibing. “Yes! I had this doubt, only when I was teaching
him, that doubt cleared. Yes, that logic was wrong, which is why I was stuck. Now I understand.”

So now I did 50% of the job and I have given you the truth, your Source is intelligence and consciousness. I have
given the truth and logical arguments where 50% of the job is done. You start the next job of having Vyāsa and
Shankara batch and debating. Then, before you come back for tomorrow's session, go and talk to 5 people, teach this
truth to 5 people. Source is consciousness, so it is not dead law or dead matter. Teach based on the logic you
understood. Now, I gave you many logical arguments. When you do the debate, you will get many arguments and
logic. Go out and teach and even if you fail, don’t worry, come back. I’ll give you more arguments. Failing is not
wrong, but not trying is something seriously wrong.

Things you are stuck with are happenings. A high achiever is a person who is not bothered about any happening and
is centered on life. Enthusiasm means not being bothered about happening but centered on excitement. Being bothered
about happenings is Rajas. Being not bothered about happenings but being centered on dumbness is Tamas. Not being
bothered about happenings but being centered on enthusiasm is Sattva. Happening brings you down to its frequency
when you put awareness on it; any happening.

If you are bothered about the happenings in the field of business, whose share value has gone up, whose name is
appearing on Fortune Magazine, whose name is appearing on Forbes Magazine; it may be successful or failure but
you will be stuck in the frequency of business. A man who looks beyond the happenings will be the achiever. Actually,
if you see the achievers even in that field, they will not be bothered about the happenings. They will just look beyond
the happenings. Achiever’s life is an intense happening where he is never bothered, while others are bothered about
it.

A man who creates history will not be bothered about his history because he lived it. His very frequency will not be
bothering about those happenings. Even now, I tell you, when people read My life, “Wow!” They say, “What an
achievement! What He has done! How much has happened!” But, not even once was I bothered that there is so much
that has happened in My life. I am not concerned about what is happening, that is why My life is celebrated by so
many people. Achiever is a man who is not bothered about happenings but established in enthusiasm.

When you are not bothered about happenings and established on the factual reality that Source is intelligence and all
your cognisance are taken based on the factual reality - Source is intelligence, you are a high achiever. You are Ishvara.
You are a leader. Leadership is nothing but not being bothered about the happenings, but being centered on the high
enthusiasm. The Source is high enthusiasm, intelligence, consciousness, excitement, bliss, Suddha Svayamprakāsha,
Jyoti ātma, Chaitanya, Nirlipta, Nirālamba, Nirāmaya, Nirvikalpa, Niranjana, Nishchala, Nijānanda, Tattvabodha,
Sukha, Sakāra, Ananta Guṇa Kalyāna, Shānta Sarvasvarūpa, Sahajānanda Māya.

The experience of the Source in the very Source is an intense excitement not bothered about the happenings. A villager
who is bothered so much about the happening in his village will never rise to the level of town. A man who is living
in the town who is bothered too much about the happenings in his town, will never raise himself to the level of a city.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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A man who is bothered too much about the happenings in his city, will never leave or raise himself to the level of the
cosmopolitan city. A man who is too much bothered about the level of the cosmopolitan city will never raise himself
to a capital. A man who has raised himself to a capital will not be bothered too much about the happenings in the
village. Not being bothered about the happenings but being centered on the high enthusiasm is being a leader.

Realizing the Source is intelligence makes you a leader. It takes away the unnecessary botherations you are having
about the mediocre happenings. Seekers are interested in Yoga Sutras because you will come to know you can predict
your death. But here Vyāsa does not bother about your death; He says you are not living. When you are going to die
who cares! He just says, “Realize you have no death, no life, or just at least die quickly.” Vyasa is not bothered about
how to predict your death. That is why people are not much interested in Brahma Sūtrās. It is more for the trendsetters.

I tell you, Brahma Sūtrās is a book to create leaders. Leaders, that is the main thing. It is for the leaders, not for
followers. Aphorisms on existence are for the people who are going to create the history of existence. If you just look
at 3,000 years of recorded history of humanity; the whole 3,000 years of recorded human history of humanity is created
by a handful of people - Jesus, Buddha, Hitler. Good or bad but a handful of people created the history of 3,000 years
of humanity. So the history is not created by followers, but by leaders. Good or bad, but leaders. Anyone who catches
the truth of Brahma Sūtrās will become great leaders. If you miss it, you become a bad leader. Brahma Sūtrās is for
good leaders, it is for the great leaders and not for common man. A common man neither accepts, nor denies Brahma
Sūtrās; he just dumps it and does not even look into it. A good leader accepts and realizes Brahma Sūtrās. A bad leader
looks at it and rejects it, but he looks in and rejects it.

No leadership seminar can be successful until he makes you understand the Source is intelligence; until it gives you
the cognisance of factual reality that Source is intelligence; Source is intelligence. Don’t bother about the happenings.
Be centered on the intense excitement. Unless these three have become a factual reality in your cognizing mechanism,
the leadership qualities can never happen in you as quality. It can be added to you as a quantity like makeup. It can be
like a fairness cream and can never be like a permanent tan.

Source is intelligence; start the debate on this truth.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 tanniṣṭhasya mokṣopadeśāt

Origin is Always Liberated

7th Sūtra in chapter 1, section 1:

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

36
तन्निष्ठस्य मोक्षोपदे शात् ॥ ७ ॥
tanniṣṭhasya mokṣopadeśāt

The translation by Gambhirananda says: Pradhāna is not the meaning of the word “Self,” because Liberation is
promised for one who holds on to That. Swami Vireswarananda translates as the Pradhāna, that Pradhāna cannot be
designated by the word “Self,” as it is established because Liberation is declared to one who is devoted to that Sat.

So today, we are entering into the next level of argument - vādaprativāda, khaṇḍana maṇḍana. That’s the right word.
Khaṇḍana maṇḍana means breaking the ignorant, narrow logic through understanding, and adding the Amrita which
happens in your brain when you have a complete understanding. When the cognition of the factual reality happens in
you, the Amrita Nādi flows; Amrita means the ecstasy, joy, flows like a liquid inside your brain, awakening non-
mechanical parts of the brain. Actually, logic functions like a tube in your brain. If it is shrinking to narrow and
narrower understandings, it starts experiencing depression. And if it expands more and more to the broader and
broadest understanding, the Amrita - nectar, flows from the brain which leads to Enlightenment.

When I explain certain truths, for a moment you may feel, “Wow, that is true,” your ignorance and logic gives way
with the logic tube just expanding through the Amrita Bindu. The nectar drop flows through that logic tube. If more
and more Amrita Bindu, nectar drops, flow through the logic tube - it becomes permanently opened and established
in Enlightenment. All your cognition happens in factual reality based on existence. That is what I call Enlightening
Nithyananda Effect - eN-Effect. If you are experiencing levitation or Kundalini awakening, Yoga Sūtra is great for
you. For some reason if the physical levitation is not happening, don’t worry at all. Brahma Sūtrās is for you. Because
Brahma Sūtrās is a blessing given to all human beings; all human beings are basically logical. Only rarely are few
beings centered - emotion-centered, heart-centered or being-centered.

Basically, humans by nature are logically centered. Because upbringing makes them logically-centered. So Brahma
Sūtrās is for people who are logically centered. Brahma Sūtrās is for the mass but unfortunately, this was never told
to the world. The only thing is, you need to spend a little time to grasp this. I don’t know why unfortunately the
intellectual community did not recognize the greatness of Brahma Sūtrās internationally. Perhaps it is because of the
religious connotation given to it. There are thousands and thousands of interpretations completely contradicting it, to
each other. A logical mind always wants a clear set of irrefutable, non-misrepresented aphorisms or formulas but the
greatness of Brahma Sūtrās is anybody can interpret and misinterpret as they want.

If the logic is pure diamond, I can say Brahma Sūtrās is a jewel made out of a pure diamond stone without adding any
metal. It is not jewels studded with diamond stones, it is made out of diamond stone. A huge diamond stone that has
just been drilled, carved and made into a jewel. That’s a description of Brahma Sūtrās.

I am just downloading the Sūtrā. Because this Sūtrā is established on twelve logics, I am releasing each logic, one by
one, on which this Sūtrā is built. Let me read out the Sūtrā to you. Now I am going to show you how this one Sūtrā
needs to be understood in the twelve-logic way.

तन्निष्ठस्य मोक्षोपदे शात् ॥ ७ ॥

tanniṣṭhasya mokṣopadeśāt

Pradhāna is not the meaning of the word “Self,” because Liberation is promised for the one who holds on to That.

See in the earlier Sūtras, there was an argument presented: Source, Pradhāna, origin, is not made up of matter. But the
opponents in the vādaprativāda, one group says: “Why? Why should it not be made up of matter? Why Pradhāna is

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

37
not Self?” Because Pradhāna itself does not get liberated. It is eternally liberated. Liberation is for the Self; I can say
it is identity which is trying to hang on to the Pradhāna.

Understand, this whole thing is a psycho drama. If you feel you are poor, you will feel the rich man is greater than
you. If you feel you are powerless, you will feel the powerful man is greater than you. So when you become rich, who
is liberated from poverty? The person who feels himself as poor, that identity is liberated from poverty. When you
become powerful, the identity which feels you are powerless is liberated from powerlessness. If you feel you are
ignorant, during Enlightenment, the identity which feels it is ignorant is liberated from ignorance. But the Pradhāna
itself is neither bound nor liberated. That is why when you are enlightened, you don’t feel something new has happened
in you. I tell you, I never felt something new has happened in me. I only felt I had something which was lost.

I’ll tell you exactly what happens and what you feel. When you become twenty five, suddenly one day if you see all
the toys which you had played with, you feel, “Oh God, these toys meant so much to me at that young age. It was
almost my life, but now they don’t mean anything to me. They neither bind me nor liberate me.” Do you think at age
twenty five that toys are giving you liberation? You are beyond the liberation granted by toys. Same way I suddenly
felt, I am beyond the liberation granted by ignorance. I just felt: “Eh, you are not even qualified to give liberation to
me. Get lost!” If you have some mud toys with which you played at a young age, for which you are even ready to kick
your mother, ready to give up anything else except those toys; at the age of twenty five, do you look at those toys and
say, “No, no, no, I was bound by you at some time, please give me liberation. No, I don’t want to get caught with you
again at all. No, no, no, I am afraid I may get interested in you after three or four years. Please liberate me. I should
go and sit and listen to some Sūtrā which says: “Toy Brahma Sūtrā” which teaches me how to disconnect from toys
so I do not remember the toys, do not see the toys and do not hear about them, keep them away from the country where
you are living or move them out of the country”? No!

Even if the toy suddenly becomes alive and says: “Oh my son, don’t worry; I give you the liberation. You are liberated
from me.” What are you going to say? “Eh, get lost! Who cares for the liberation you give.” That's what exactly I felt.
At the age of twenty two, in 2000, suddenly I felt that even if the Maya ignorance appears in front of me and says:
“Oh my son, I liberate you.” “Ah, get lost, who cares.” I felt the ignorance and the bondage which can be added by
the illusion and delusion has not only disappeared from my inner space, it just does not make sense anymore. Suddenly
you feel you have grown out of it. I wanted to let you know that when you grow out of something, you will not
experience hatred. Do you hate those toys? “How dare these toys bound me once upon a time! I’ll break all of them!”
No, unless you are psychologically sick. You won’t break them and you won’t make them. Just you are beyond the
liberation granted by the toys. Now they can’t even say, “I liberate you.” No!

It’s like a Ramakrishna story, a beautiful story in the Puffed Rice Festival. In West Bengal, there used to be a very
great village festival - Panihati Puffed Rice Festival - where devotees buy the puffed rice and offer it to the deity. So
one man was selling puffed rice to merchants and even when the Deity is taken in the procession in front of this man,
he will not offer one handful of puffed rice to the Deity. He’s such a miserly man. One day, there was a heavy breeze
and all the puffed rice was blown in the air causing them to fly everywhere. Then suddenly the man got a great devotion
and said: “Narayana paramastu, Narayana paramastu, Narayana paramastu, let all these be offered to Narayana!” Now
he knows he can’t hold. But who wants his offering! Narayana will be standing and laughing somewhere.

Same way, when the toys give you liberation, you will be standing and laughing somewhere. Liberation offered by
toys is no way useful for you. That is the moment you are liberated from toys. That is what I call Māyātītā. That was
one of the names I used during my wandering. It’s my favourite name - Māyātīta. I used fifty four names. The fifty
fourth name is Paramahamsa Nithyananda. I used fifty four names during my wandering as it’s a rule of wandering
so as not to use the same name when you go to different places. Because, in one place if you get a good name, devotees
identify your greatness and they should not inform the other cities to receive you and take care of you. You should go
as a beginner and be able to inspire people by your very radiance and presence and body language.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

38
I have seen in many villages and usually in all villages in North India that there is a huge banyan tree in the center of
the village or a neem tree, under which there will be small deities or elderly people will be sitting and talking. But one
good thing in North India is, I have always seen the elders sitting and talking about philosophy or Bhāgavatam or all
those things.

So usually, this is the way I’ll typically start in any village when I enter. I will find out about that solitary temple or
the tree to go and sit under and this is usually on the first day when people will look up and down at me and walk
away. On the second day, they will see that without having changed in posture, I am just sitting and they will look
curiously. By the second evening, they'll ask [sign language - have you eaten?]. They will not know whether I speak
their language or not, so they will ask through action. “Baba, khana?” I’ll say showing hand action. If I say, then
they’ll walk. By the third day, usually morning, I’ll see that they will not even ask. They will be there with a little
food or fruit or usually only uncooked items they will bring because there is an apprehension that sadhus may not eat
the cooked food which is cooked by somebody else, hence uncooked food they’ll bring. But when I eat the fruits,
they’ll know, “Oh, he will accept cooked food.” Then by the third day, it’ll be a feast.

If I stay there for a week and leave, I’ll see at least some twenty people will be walking with me till I go to the next
place. They’ll walk with me for at least three to four hours. This is the usual drama. This is the usual drama even when
I was travelling in the US to teach. When I land, nobody will be there to welcome me. Then after a three day public
satsang and one Ananda Spurana Program, when I leave, some forty people will be standing at the airport with tears
to bid me farewell. It’s the usual drama! If you're an old devotee, you can remember the good old days. It’s the usual
drama.

Māyātītā, means even if Māyā appears in front of you and says, “I liberate you.” You’ll say: “Who are you? Ah, relax.
Go and take care of your job.” So Enlightenment is not for your original existence. It is for the identity in you which
feels it is bound. See, a man who is working for wealth, feeling consciously poverty is the first important problem in
his life as he does not feel the necessity for Enlightenment. He does not suffer so much with his ignorance because he
is suffering with his poverty. His whole inner space is occupied by poverty. So for him, the rich man is a liberated
man; he is God. That is why, he worships the rich man, runs behind the rich man and tries to become like him but
always underground, there is a strong jealousy and vengeance towards the rich man.

Same way, with an intelligent man; when an ignorant man looks at the intelligent man, he worships him. He feels he
should become like that intelligent man and runs behind him literally ready to do anything to become intelligent. In
the same way, a powerless man sees powerful people who can do anything. He runs behind them. It's a very important
truth to know what all parts of you feel you are lacking something. Does a part of you feel poverty? Does some part
of you feel powerless? Does some part of you feel ignorant? Does some part of you feel the emptiness of not having
Enlightenment? Dig out. Actually, liberation means all these things not only do not touch you, even the liberation
from all these things do not matter anymore for you.

Ashtāvakra very beautifully says, “Who is bound? Who is liberated?” There is a beautiful Zen koan. One man goes to
the Master and says, “When can I become enlightened?” Zen Masters are known for strong sudden reactions and he
just slaps the fellow who is then completely shaken. It’s like you go to a Master and say, “When can I get enlightened?”
and he slaps you. You cannot expect this from an enlightened being as especially Zen people are supposed to be such
beautiful people. Zen people are rich in vitality. Tibetian Buddhism is more systematic but Zen is very vibrant and
rich in vitality and the people are joyful. Zen people have the kind of, “Ah!” That sound belongs to only Zen, to
nobody else. Even in Brahma Sūtrā, nowhere you will find that “Ah!” It’s all like a cookie cutting - straight, straight,
straight. But Zen people have that undercurrent: “Ah!” in anything they do.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

39
You see, if you observe deeply, anything I do, you will see that Indian temple lifestyle. In the morning, the first thing
I do when I get up is to go and fall in front of Anandeshwara. Last thing I’ll do is go and have darśan of Anandeshwara.
Anything I do if you see, somehow I will not compromise on that one thing, that temple. Whether the buildings I tried
to build, or the books I tried to write, or anything, even the paint I tried to paint, that underline of the temple will be
running. Same way in Zen, anything they do whether their garden, or their books, or the way they teach, or their
techniques, in anything - you will find that underlying tone of “Ah!” That’s one great thing.

So the disciple is shaken, “Wah! What is this?” And when Zen Master slaps, they really slap. It’s not like a pseudo.
Fortunately, they are in the country where you can’t sue them as they really slap because they are very strong people.
They are also well built and when you have that “Ah!” in your mood and lifestyle, you will never have arthritis or
osteoporosis as your bones will be very strong. That “Ah!” gives you a kind of tremendous strength and nothing
touches you. That is why the Zen and martial arts are connected so much. Their core never gets affected by any
depression. The core is established on “Ah!” The disciple is shaken after being slapped. He stares, looks into the eyes
of the Master and you can’t even ask, “Why did you slap me?”

With the Zen Master, that is another big problem. You can’t question them or you can’t say, “Eh, why did you slap
me?” No. He’ll slap you once more and he will beat you with a stick! Not even slapping because at least slapping is
okay but he will beat you with a stick. The disciple just stares. In his eyes the question is being carried, “Why did you
beat me? Can you use a few words and explain to me, so that I can understand, and develop myself?” Master himself
says, “If a horse comes and asks me, ‘How can I become horse? What to do?’ I have to beat it, to tell it is already a
horse.” You can’t even question, “Can’t it be done in a loving way?” You can ask all those things to gurus like me
who are silent and a little polite but not with Zen Masters!

The materialistic people give liberation to people who feel poverty in their consciousness. Powerful people give
liberation to people who feel powerlessness in their consciousness. So each darśana, each way of life, philosophy,
each philosia, liberates a certain group of people. Brahma Sūtrā takes you beyond all those liberations. Understand,
Brahma Sūtrā takes you beyond all those liberations.

तन्निष्ठस्य मोक्षोपदे शात् ॥ ७ ॥

tanniṣṭhasya mokṣopadeśāt

The origin is not your identity. Origin is always liberated. Only your identity needs liberation now. How can identity
be liberated? Now I’ll give you twelve logical trends. You need to do that homeless work. Homework means work
you do while sitting in the home. Homeless work means work you are supposed to do not by going home, but by not
going home or being home. And I am very happy, today I received so many emails. Many countries have participated
and many of our satsang centers have started creating their own groups, eN-debate on Skype. Each one of them had
by analysing and having the vādaprativāda of yesterday’s subject. Yesterday I said one subject: Source is intelligence.
Source is consciousness; not dead matter or dead law, not dead arithmetical logical rhythmic calculation.

Very beautifully Ramana Maharshi sings in a song called Upadesa Undiyar:

கன் மம் பயன் றரல் கர்த்தன தாணையாற்

வுந்தீபற கன் மங் கடவுள ா வுந்தீபற

kaṉmam payaṉḏṟaral karttaṉa dāṇaiyāl

vundīpaṟa kaṉmaṅ kaḍavuḷō vundīpaṟa

The actions give results because the ultimate Source orders it. The actions by themselves cannot bring results because
they are not independent intelligence.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

40
Imagine signing a cheque to receive your own money from the bank, the manager being the decision-making authority
has to pass it. So even if you send the karma cheque to God, the decision making authority has to pass it and usually
it passes it. That does not mean just because you send the cheque, you will always get the result. It does not become
eternal when you send money, the cheque you will receive at some time may say it has bounced, get lost! Or they may
say the bank itself is closed. But of course here, banks cannot get closed, they are eternal. But the cheque can be
bounced. Usually, you think the identity can be Master eternally. That is the mistake.

Today’s logic trend is supposed to be this only. Who is getting liberated? Who is bound? What ignorance and bondage
do you feel; how is liberation felt? How does ignorance and bondage feel, liberation and Enlightenment? Who feels
ignorance? Who feels enlightened? Who feels bound? Who feels liberated? It is the dust which is in one corner of
your body that feels bondage and feels liberation. But you are neither feeling bondage nor feeling liberation.

Somebody goes and asks a Zen Master, “How can I be liberated?” Master looks in and says, “Who has bound you?”
It is the psycho drama which you create that is bondage. I tell you, when suffering starts in you and when the feeling
of bondage starts in you and the feeling of ignorance starts in you; if you can just destroy it and say, “Ah! What is
going on? What is this? Is this true?” and get out of it, you don’t need methods, techniques or technology for liberation,
Enlightenment.

Now drill, “Who is feeling bound? What is bondage?” Define bondage as per your understanding. Define liberation
as per your understanding. Analyse bondage and liberation in all dimensions like a wealth line, health line, power line,
in the line of relationships, in the line of not having love; any line you feel deficiency or feel bound. Define that
bondage and liberation. So today’s vādaprativāda should be on this line. Please understand the truth is neither you are
bound nor liberated. One part of the dust settled on you feels bound and other feels liberated.

When you don’t even care about the liberation given by the dust to you, you are liberated. That’s what exactly
happened in me. Don’t think at the age of twenty two, in 2000, somebody appeared in front of me and said, “Oh my
son, you are liberated from that date, from today.” No. I just felt so high and above, even if this whole Universe binds
me, it cannot bind me. Even if the whole Universe blesses me with the liberation, it cannot liberate me. Neither the
bondage from the Māyā and the liberation from the Māyā makes any sense to me. I even lost the idea it has some
existence. I can’t even say disrespect. Respect and disrespect both disappeared. “Ah, okay. Oh, you are Māyā. Emm,
what do you do? Your professions? Please have food in the kitchen and go. Have darśan in the temple and go.”

For example, if somebody comes to the hall and says: “Oh Nithyananda, I have come here to give you liberation.”
Forget about what I will do, you know what you will do! Same way only, suddenly one morning, I saw that I had
become so distant. It’s like when you are on a flight, two hands are fighting on the ground. One says, “I will bind this
fellow.” Another says: “No, no, I will liberate that fellow.” What will you do about both the hands? In the same way
only the bondage and ignorance do not have any meaning for Pradhāna.

I tell you, parivrājaka helps you to understand this because when you do parivrājaka, in different situations, with
different people and everything, you should do it with high awareness, not with a beggar consciousness. I have seen
people start parivrājaka in a spirit. By the time they end, they have some twenty lakh rupees in their bank balance, two
cellphones and few passbooks. And they will know thoroughly which Ashram gives what kind of food. No, I have
seen in Haridwar and Rishikesh, the Sadhus will talk early morning about which Ashram is serving which menu on
that day. Then they will choose where to go for bhandāra. I have seen annadātās getting beaten in Haridwar-Rishikesh
Akhadas for not giving proper food for begging. When sādhus come for begging, if you don’t give them proper food,
annadātās will be beaten. I am not telling you to do this kind of parivrājaka.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Parivrājaka with awareness brings a very powerful transformation where the utility of that concept of bondage and
liberation is no more useful for you. Any utility you get by the concept of bondage or liberation is no more useful to
you. Because all bondage has utility for you, feeling poverty has a utility for you to become rich; that needs to
constantly poke at you, only then you will become rich. You’ll plan, plan, plan and finally become rich, and get into
a bigger mess. Feeling powerless has a utility value for you so that you will plan to become powerful. Feeling ignorant
has a utility value for you, so that you’ll work for Enlightenment. So the feeling of ignorance and Enlightenment
should lose its utility value for you. That’s what has happened in me.

I suddenly felt the utility value of me feeling ignorant or me feeling enlightened is no more useful for me. Sometimes
you try to feel you are enlightened so that you can influence and inspire people and have the by-products of
Enlightenment. It doesn’t work because by-products of Enlightenment have to always be a by-product and can never
be a main product or can never be induced or infused. It can only happen by enthuse, by your presence some
enthusiasm will happen; in that the by-products of Enlightenment can happen. It can never be induced, infused,
intenduced. It can only be enthused. I am coining a new word “enthuse” which means by your presence if you create
an enthusiasm in people and something happens, it is a by-product which does not bind you. See this whole sangha I
built by the enthusiasm, as a by-product of Enlightenment. That’s why it’s not binding me if it’s there or not, I am not
bound and if it’s there, great, so many people are enjoying these great truths and values. That’s all!
So today, vādaprativāda should be: who is bound? Who is liberated? Where is bondage? And where is liberation?

Śaṅkara Bhāṣya very beautifully describes that the person who is feeling bound can never be liberated. The only way
is that identity which feels bound should be destroyed or outgrown. It should disappear. Disappearance of the part of
the identity which feels bound, is liberation. That disappearance of the part of you which feels poverty is richness.
Disappearance of part of you which feels powerless is power. Disappearance of the part which feels you are ignorant
is Enlightenment. Otherwise, there is no powerfulness, richness, Enlightenment for your Pradhāna or for you as you
are.

I can see very clearly, Bādarāyaṇa - Vyāsa, Bhagavān Veda Vyāsa is drilling all your brains. Because for the last one
hour, I am not giving any second statement. If you watch this discourse again on YouTube, you will understand, or if
you download this discourse, you will understand. I have not made a second statement. If you think I made a second
statement, you are in ignorance. Download this and watch and you will understand I have not made a second statement.
I am going on drilling the same thing in different angles. I am drilling based on different darśanas.

The darśana of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā; you see, Pūrva Mīmāṃsā darśanas is all based on power: “I am powerless, let me do
the rituals and have power.” That’s all. Uttara Mīmāṃsā is all about Enlightenment: “I am ignorant. I don’t have
Enlightenment. I need to practice some things and get knowledge and get enlightened.” Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika is all
about intelligence: “I am not having enough logic to express my beliefs, faiths, the way of life and understanding to
others; I am only being influenced and I need to influence others, catch and find out all those methods and become
the intelligent man.” Sāṅkhya and Yogā is all about the different mystical powers which you feel you don’t have and
which can be grabbed, grasped by the the saṃyama. So through different darśanā, I am making you understand the
bondage and liberation.

Ultimately, if you ask me as per my darśanā, as per my experience, I am telling you that suddenly at one time in my
life, I realized the bondage, any bondage created, can be created by this Universe; any liberation can be granted by
this Universe - both of them have become useless in my life, useless for me. I am not interested in it. I’ll call this
Mokṣa, Ultimate, Nithyananda state.

Catch the satya, the sacred secret in this aphorism of existence is: who feels bound? Who feels liberated? Look into
you what part of you feels bound in all ways and which parts of you have felt bondage in which fields and when you

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

42
felt liberated in those fields. How do you feel bound now? How do you feel liberation should be? Dig out. Let the
vādaprativāda start and you will have the prasāda.

I bless you all to achieve, experience, live, express, radiate and share the eternal bliss - Nithyananda.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 heyatvāvacanācca

Source and Origin cannot be Spoken

We’ll enter into the Sūtrā.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

44
हे र्यत्वावचर्ाच्च ॥ ८ ॥
heyatvāvacanācca

Just 2 words. This is the greatness of these Masters. They uttered two to three words and we have to break our heads
for years to understand; sometimes a lifetime to understand.

हे र्यत्वावचर्ाच्च ॥ ८ ॥
heyatvāvacanācca

Swami Gambhirananda translates as “Pradhāna has not been spoken of even indirectly because there is no subsequent
mention of its rejection; because that militates against the assertion of at the beginning.” And Swami Vireswarananda
translates as “And because it is not stated by the scriptures that it has to be abandoned, Pradhāna cannot be denoted
by the word “Sat.”

Before entering into the Sūtrā, I wanted to tell you an interesting incident; I received a message from a senior Swami
of one of the Hindu Mission Orders. Some of those Swamis in the monastery were talking that Nithyananda is talking
on Brahma Sūtrās and in their discussion, one group of Swamis said, “How dare He talk about Brahma Sutras?! What
does He know about Brahma Sutras?” And the other group said, “No, no, no, you should see at least one of His
discourses. He is really making sense.” Some intellectual group said, “We don’t even understand, what will He
understand?” The other group said, “No, no, no, listen at least just to one discourse. He makes sense.” You can
understand this went on and on. Finally the Head of that Monastery secretly logged into the Brahma Sūtrās discourse,
heard one discourse and openly sent Me a message, congratulating and giving His complete support saying that first
time He understands Brahma Sūtrās. First time even He understands Brahma Sūtrās. I wanted to thank Him for secretly
logging in and finally sending His support.

I tell you really, if you try to study Brahma Sūtrās by yourself, there are only three options. One - you should just stop
reading because of the sheer tiredness it brings on your physical body. Anybody who tries to study Brahma Sūtrās
lands having a physical disease, I have seen, because your head will suck the whole energy, even after that, you will
not be able to grasp. Second, there is every possibility you will fall into depression because when the head sucks the
energy completely, the only next step the head knows is depression. Understand, any step you take based on the head,
the only step the head knows is depression. Nothing other than that. The third important truth is there is every
possibility you can go mad.

It’s the most difficult Shāstrā. Thousands of ways this Sūtrā can be translated and thousands of ways it can be
interpreted. Every time it takes at least twenty-one full seconds, a full twenty-one seconds for Me, for My brain itself
to grasp each Sutra. I am telling you very clearly: to grasp the flow of each Sūtrā, it takes at least twenty-one seconds.
It means it’ll take at least twenty-one hours for you, if not years.

But I tell you, if you want to exist, you need to know the formulas for Existence; aphorisms on Existence. If some
way, when the kids start growing, if we can teach this aphorisms on Existence saying, “Eh, your Source is
consciousness. The whole thing is based on the flow of compassion and the deep conscious, deep engrams and
sufferings are created in you because currency is not practical, or factual or real life.”

I wanted all of you to know, I am using the word “practical.” One of the worst things that can happen to human beings
is thinking that wealth alone is a practical part of life. Whether it is relationships, wealth, infrastructure, or power;
these are not just practical parts of life. The practical part of life itself is aphorisms on Existence - Brahma Sūtrās. It
is a basic need to exist. Just to exist, nothing else. If these aphorisms on Existence are imbibed as a basic decision-
making mechanism in your system, the highest breakthrough in the human consciousness can happen. Life can radiate
itself in its peak possible form on planet earth.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ll repeat the Sutra:

हे र्यत्वावचर्ाच्च ॥ ८ ॥
heyatvāvacanācca

Pradhāna has not been spoken of even indirectly because there is no subsequent mention of its rejection; because that
militates against the assertion at the beginning.

About the Source or consciousness: the Pradhāna, Self - even in the beginning, there is no mention. Because bondage
and liberation are both the identity you carry; not for the Pradhāna. Bādarāyana, Bhagavān Veda Vyāsa is very clear
in these Sūtrās: We need to talk about only what we have - the individual identity we carry. There is no way talking
about Self is going to help. All the talks about Self, consciousness, intelligence, compassion only misguide you.

That is why Buddha completely stops talking about Self, and He goes on creating a new term called Shūnya. Talking
about the Self is only understood by the identity you carry which anyway, cannot give any proper complete view about
any subject. I think if you do the Vādaprativāda on this Sūtrā, it means the debate in almost all the problems your
mind and all human minds are facing about the ultimate state of consciousness, religion and spirituality will be sorted
out. The Vādaprativāda is a very juicy way of internalising these great truths. I tell you, I am really, really, really
happy I started this subject - Brahma Sūtrās because now only I feel I am talking about something which I wanted to
speak of from my level. I always used to feel the PhD Professor is made to take LKG, UKG content classes, nursery
classes.

Only now I feel I am talking about something worthy. No, I am not disrespecting Shiva Sūtrās or Patanjali Yoga Sūtrās
or Bhagavad Gītā for which I have tremendous respect; they are taking you to Enlightenment through different paths.
Yoga Sūtrās need not necessarily be strong intellectual because it is just a manual. Yoga Sūtrās is a technique manual
for you to read, practice and get enlightened because you need to practice; it needs to be a very simple, clear manual
language. The purpose is, you are expected to practice because it’s like an owner's manual for a particular car or a
computer. That does not necessarily need to talk about the whole mechanism with which the car is functioning. It
needs to tell you which button to operate and what to do to use that machinery completely. So you have certain powers
in your body, mind, consciousness. You need a manual. Yoga Sūtrās is more like an owner’s manual for body and
mind.

Shiva Sūtrās is more like an owner’s manual for enlightenment, consciousness. Your own enlightenment has a manual
and knows how to radiate it. Bhagavad Gītā is more like an owner’s manual for a successful social leader. Brahma
Sūtrās is not just an owner’s manual, it is the pure science, the basic technology, the basic understanding, aphorisms
on Existence. I can say, talking about the other Sūtrās I don’t need to use My whole system to talk about the other
Sūtrās but for the Brahma Sūtrās I have to use almost whatever is available to Me. All the intellect, intelligence, logic,
the power of Vāk, Saraswati, and the highest possible consciousness and language power, I have to use practically
everything to speak on Brahma Sūtrās. That is why I am feeling so fulfilled.

And if you observe, I never rest My body during the discourses. You will see in the last few days, I will be leaning
and resting because every word I am uttering from that pure Existence plane. I am not even keeping a little bit of mind
even to keep My body straight; I am just resting it. Let the words flow like Saraswati. I am programming the whole
thing to radiate the Existence intensely.

So all talk about Self is useless. All talks about intelligence are useless. It only leads to more and more disturbance,
disruption, misunderstanding, manipulation, morphing, and misrepresentation. Because bondage and liberation, both

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

46
are experienced by the identity you carry, not by the Pradhāna or the original Source. There is no mention about
Pradhāna.

You can never experience a breakthrough with the same old identity. For example, a follower type of personality, a
slave type of personality can never experience leadership consciousness, with the same identity he is carrying. When
the identity has no possibility for a strong breakthrough, quantum leap does not happen. Same way here also, unless
you decide to be a high achiever, Existence is not for you; please understand. Aphorisms of Existence are not for you,
if you are not interested in being a high achiever. Understand, now itself I am telling you, this book is only for high
achievers. If you are a failure then it’s really better to log out, I am telling you. Aphorisms on Existence is only for
high achievers where the complete transformation is required which challenges your very Existence. As I said
yesterday, there was a moment in My life where all the bondages which can be created by the Universe and all the
liberation which can be given by the Universe have become meaningless for My Existence.

Brahma Sūtrās says, “Pradhāna, Source and origin cannot be spoken. Any speaking you do, any understanding you
try to achieve, any word you try to bring in, any concept you try to adopt, any belief you try to establish only creates
more lines and layers of dust on the possibility of experiencing Pradhāna.” That is why I am saying in Brahmavidyā
Sampradāya, we don’t have Enlightenment. We make you Enlightened but we don’t have a concept of Enlightenment.
We emphasise a cognitive shift.

The identity which feels ignorance should stop taking decisions based on its ignorance or feeling it is intelligence. The
factual reality becomes a base for taking cognisance of any idea, understanding and decisions. It is almost like pure
Existence in its purest form becomes a basis or basic ground on which you stand. I am really feeling happy for the
kids who are sitting and listening all over the world.

Brahma Sūtrās should be heard, debated before the age of 42. After 42, certain parts of the brain due to the length of
time unused can never be retrieved or used. These are some of the hard disks which have not worked and can never
be retrieved. Sometimes if the hard disk is repaired, there is a possibility you can retrieve it. If it is not functioning for
a long time and you did not bother to look into it, to awaken it, then it can never be retrieved. If you send it to the
forensic laboratory means the Master’s monastery, there is a possibility that he may be able to retrieve and make it
active.

Buddha goes on saying, “Pradhāna, origin is Shūnya - nothingness, no thoughts.” Actually, I agree with Buddha’s
nothingness because that stops the whole confusion which can be created by the jugglery of the words about the Self
and Pradhāna. See, small subjects which do not mean much to you and to your life can be confused. You can afford
to get confused in those lines but the major important truths like Self, Pradhāna, origin, you can’t afford to get
confused. It has to be a clear authentic drilling without leaving any room for confusion, contradiction, commotion and
chaos. That is why Buddha has taken a great step of not talking about the Pradhāna, origin of God. I can say that this
is one of the main reasons why Buddhā is able to make thousands Enlightened.

So Bādarāyana, Bhagavān Veda Vyāsa is very clear: any discussion about the Pradhāna can only be destructive. Then
what is the use of talking? Talking is constantly removing the identity with which you are working, the identity which
feels the bondage, which feels the liberation.

I’m saying, if you don’t create concepts and ideas about Existence and origin, it is easy for you to take the jump into
the experience when it happens. When you go on having certain concepts about Existence, when it happens in front
of you, you miss it. When you have a strong concept about Krishna and when He comes back in front of you, you will
miss Him. If you have a strong concept about Jesus, if He comes back in front of you, you will miss Him. Because
how do you know Jesus had a long beard and Krishna was clean shaved? But you go on carrying this image. There is
every possibility, Krishna could have had at least a short beard, just to experience, who knows! He was very vibrant

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

47
and colourful. Maybe a few months He could have tried maybe a french beard or all other possible beards, who
knows! There is every possibility at some time Jesus would have been clean shaven, who knows? But when you go
on carrying some idea, you miss the Existence of it because of the idea about that Existence.

In the same way, when you carry too many ideas about the Brahman, Existence, you miss the experience of Existence
when it hits your base of cognisance. That is what I’m actually doing now. I am hitting on the base of your cognisance.
That is why you are feeling so much of silence and bliss even though you don’t understand a single word I am uttering.
No, I challenge you! Come on, try to recall all that I’ve spoken. Immediately after the Brahma Sutra Satsang, try to
have a debate and recall what I have spoken. You can’t recall everything. I can't even recall anything! I only know
that I allowed Saraswati to express Herself honestly as it is, to hit the basis on which you are making cognisance. Let
Me tell you about the whole drama exactly.

You see, basically one line of your logic due to some reason suddenly strongly believes that you are in bondage, you
are not worthy of life, you are not worthy of anything great, you are not worthy of you. So that logic goes on interfering
in all aspects of your life as in health, wealth, relationships, satisfaction, fulfillment, fear, greed, pleasure and pain in
all dimensions and aspects of your life. This logic jumps in and makes the whole thing hell. When again and again,
the basis on which you take cognisance, the basis on which this logic which goes on reminding you that you are
unfulfilled or telling you that you are unfulfilled, is shaken.

The mud on which this root of imperfect logic - I can call this as an imperfect logic because it goes on reminding you
that you are imperfect and repeating you are imperfect. I am removing that very sand or the ground on which this logic
is rooted. I am removing that very sand, the very ground so that the logic which goes on saying about the imperfection,
takes a different cognisance; stops taking cognisance based on imperfection, or the idea of imperfection.

The first thing you need to know is there is no Enlightenment for you so you do not need to worry or work for it. All
the ideas you carry are psychodrama. Understand, for example, only when you look at that idol as higher than you, it
looks like a deity. If you look at the idol as a statue, it is just a stone. It is your own psychodrama which adds sacredness
to the idol and makes it a deity. It is just a kind of training. Understand, looking at anything as unholy is very easy but
looking at anything as alive or sacred is the most difficult job. Looking at anything, experiencing anything without
sacredness is very easy. To throw a stone at something, to throw a slipper at something is not a difficult thing. Only
to offer flowers at something with a deep overflowing love and gratitude, you need to evolve. It is not a joke to melt
a man’s consciousness and raise him to a level where he can see sacredness in a stone or a statue or a living person. A
stone and statue is a little difficult; on living person, most difficult.

Psychodrama of adding sacredness to a deity or an idol is used to shake your logic which goes on reminding you that
you are imperfect. If you feel the sacredness on any one thing, immediately that sacredness hits the very root of the
imperfect logic. That is why we say:

ब्रह्मन्नवद् ब्रह्मैव भवन्नत

brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati

By knowing Brahman, you become Brahman. By having the sacred experience to a deity or Guru, you experience that
very sacredness in the root where the psychodrama starts in your life. I can equate the Sanskrit word “Māyā” for
psychodrama.

Everything in your life is a psychodrama. You feeling Me as Guru, you feeling yourself as a man, you feeling you are
a disciple, you feeling your neighbour is spiritually grown or he is spiritually less, all wives feel husbands are
spiritually less, all husbands feel wives are spiritually more rich, etc. All husbands have a problem, “My wife is

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

48
spiritually grown, I am not up to her.” All wives feel, “My husband is not spiritual enough, he’s a headache for me.”
And I wanted all of you to know this is a psychodrama. And I wanted all of you to know it is an important factual
reality. If you start taking cognisance of this factual reality, you will be helped. If you think I am spiritually more
grown than you, it is a lie. It is a psychodrama. I am equal to you in spirituality. You may think then why am I sitting
on the highest pedestal? Because I need to tell you this, you need to see Me when I am telling you. If I sit on the
ground, on the same level, you may not be able to see Me. So just for the sake of utility, I am sitting on the stage.

You looking at Me with love or gratitude or respect is just the psychodrama which will shake your imperfect logic or
logic which goes on telling you that you are imperfect. Because when you see sacredness in something, the jolt happens
in the root of the logic which goes on disgracing everything including you. And I wanted all of you to know, this is
one of the important aphorisms in reality. There is no difference between love and lust.

Your cognition about you is very sacred. So remove the thorn by needle. If you project sacredness on your deity, it is
like removing a thorn by another thorn. If you project sacredness on your Guru, a living person, it is removing the
thorn by needle. It’ll never get stuck. It is a psychodrama. Psychodrama where you learn the habit of looking at the
things sacredly so that you can experience that sacredness in the root, in the Source where cognisance is taken in your
life about everything. The Source where the cognisance is taken in you about everything is Hiraṇyagarbha. That is
what is the Source of the Existence.

However, I wanted all of you to know: in existence, in factual reality, Rama, Krishna, Shankara, Buddha,
Ramakrishna, Ramana, you, Me - none of us have any basic difference. The possibility of basic difference cannot even
be conceived. It is the identity you carry which creates a psychodrama with which you feel the bondage, by
disappearance of which you feel the liberation. So end of the show, it is like you are liberated from created suffering.
There are some meditation programs, education programs which create suffering for you and then liberate you from
that and people go and pay for it. They create the suffering which is not there and then make people feel liberated
from that suffering. Because that is what you are doing for yourself and you are happy about that game. You feel your
life is useful.

The other day, I was reading a one-liner. Woman says, “Husband is a man who will stand by you during all the
problems, struggles, chaos you will go through in your life which may not happen if he is not there in your life to
begin with.” I tell you, courage is the quality which makes you stand in your life throughout the problems, low curves,
and disturbances which may not be there, if that is not there in the initial level. You feel your life is useful if you create
a lot of problems in the end. If you relieve yourself from all those problems; you say, “Wah, see what I have achieved
in the last 70 years?” What have you achieved? Nothing but creating some foolish problems and sorting it out. At the
end of the day, neither the problem nor the solution is worthy.

You need to lose respect for all the problems you have. That is the essence, the sacred secret from this Sūtrā. You
need to lose respect for anything you consider as the identity. Pradhāna cannot be understood as Existence; He’s
beyond anything you understand as Existence. Anything which can be understood by your logic is not Pradhāna.
Pradhāna can never be understood by your logic.

So all we are talking about is, stopping the yellow journalist who is sitting inside you and goes on writing disgracing
articles about you, to you and to others. He writes, disgracing you to you, and sends the same articles to others also
through your own mouth. And then writes about others to you and makes you believe and makes you tell that same
idea to others from your own mouth. These are the great four activities of the amazing logic which you carry in one
corner of your brain. First, he writes disgracing articles about you and makes you believe them. Then, he makes those
ideas come out through your mouth to others and makes them believe. Then he writes about others’ disgracing articles
to you, making you believe and makes you tell these same ideas to others also creating irritation and anger and fight
from others to you.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

49
All we need to do is bring that logic to factual reality, meaning transforming. That is what we call in the Hindu
tradition, Kāma Dahana - burning of Manmathā which you do on MahaShivaratri. We burn the Māyā, Manmathā,
delusion. It’s a Hindu tradition, Hindu practice in all temples, usually on Mahashivaratri or Panguni Uthiram and the
Chitrā Pūrnimā, they burn this effigy of collective delusion.

So the essence of this Sutra is, discussion about Pradhāna: not only is it useless, but dangerous, so avoid it. All
discussions are supposed to be the identity you are carrying and all liberation is for the identity you are carrying. The
ability to look at the sacredness of the deity or the Guru is a psychodrama which helps shut the yellow journalist who
is sitting inside you; the logic which goes on imposing imperfection on you, even though you are perfect.

So today, I wanted the Vādaprativāda to continue in the eN-Debate, on these 3 aspects. Only the identity you feel as
bondage and liberation; not the original Source, Self you have. Second, original Source or Self cannot be understood
by words so it is good not to talk about it. Third is very important and amazing: the ability to project the sacredness
on a deity or Guru. This psychodrama helps you remove the logic which goes on saying, you are imperfect and
disgracing, even though you are perfect and how that psychodrama can be used to experience sacredness in you and
so put an end to this yellow journalist who is sitting in you. These are the 3 major subjects I want Vādaprativāda to
happen in eN-Debate. I wanted the whole social media and the internet, Twitter, Facebook, Orkut, YouTube;
everything to be flooded with Brahma Sutras on this great Vādaprativāda. The Internet is being used too much for low
level usages, like shopping, games, or entertainment. Make the whole internet sacred by using it for sacred sentiments
and sacred secrets - Brahma Sūtrās. Let everywhere the eN-Debate happen with Vādaprativāda. Like in those days
they say, if you enter Varanasi, even the bulls, buffalos, birds, and parrots living in the Varanasi can give you any
answer about any Vedantic question. Because so many pandits are sitting and arguing continuously, they know
everything about Vedanta thoroughly.

Shankara goes to find Mandana Mishra’s house. It’s a nice scene. There are pedestrians on the road and the traveller
says, “Go to a village where the poor women, low caste women will be taking water from the village well, the common
well. They will be talking about the highest Vedānta, highest truths and giving clarity to you. Go to that village. That
is the village of Mandana Mishrā and ask anybody in that village about Mandana Mishrā’s house, they will show you.”
Shankara goes village by village where he saw many villagers where people talk about Vedanta but not beyond this
level. In one village, he finds the women who are taking the water from the well during their debate, Vādaprativāda;
they gave some clarity and click even to Shankara. He got some clicks, sacred secrets. Then he decides, “Wow, this
is the village of Mandana Mishrā.” He asked those ladies, “May you tell me the house of Mandana Mishra, where is
it?” They say, “Go straight. Outside one house, parrots will be sitting and discussing all the great truths and
philosophies. That is Mandana Mishra’s house.” Shankara goes; there is a great discussion on whether the Uttara
Mīmāmsā is complete or Purva Mīmāmsā is complete. Between two parrots, the Vādaprativāda is going on. Shankara
was shocked - parrots sitting, discussing, and debating, then what will be the knowledge of the person from whom
these parrots have learned!
So today continue the Vādaprativāda on these three sacred secrets.
Let you all achieve, experience, live, express and radiate the eternal bliss, Nithyananda.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

50
 svāpyayāt

Because of the merger of the individual into his

own Self

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

51
Today is the 1st chapter, 1st section. 9th Sūtra :

स्वाप्यर्यात् ॥ ९ ॥
svāpyayāt

Just one word.

स्वाप्यर्यात् ॥ ९ ॥
svāpyayāt

Swami Gambhirananda translates this Sūtrā as: because of the merger of the individual into his own Self. Swami
Vireswarananda translates as: on account of individual Soul merging in his own Self, or the universal Self referred to
as the Sat. In the deep sleep the Pradhāna cannot be denoted by the word “Self.”

The uniqueness of Bādarāyaṇa, Bhagavān Veda Vyāsa is through each Sūtrā, he creates a complete new thought trend.
Unimaginable, incomprehensible, unimaginable and incomprehensible. Those are the two words I can say.

स्वाप्यर्यात् ॥ ९ ॥
svāpyayāt

Because of the merger of the individual into his own Self.

The last Sūtrā which we saw yesterday, he is talking about the different aspects of ignorance, the possibilities of
ignorance. In this Sūtrā, suddenly he takes a complete turn because the identity which you carry merges into the
ultimate Existence by its own Self, by itself; you can’t speak even about the individual identity. See yesterday's Sūtra,
he was saying: “You can’t speak about the Self, Pradhāna, the Existence, because bondage and liberation are only for
the dust, only for the small identity you have.” The Pradhāna neither experiences bondage nor experiences liberation.
It is only the identity you carry, the dust you have which experiences bondage or liberation.

However, in this Sūtrā, Bhagavān Veda Vyāsa takes us to a space completely different; he says one step further: “Even
the individual identity cannot be defined because it merges on its own internal Pradhāna.” Pradhāna means the origin,
the main subject, the Brahman, Cosmic experience. That is what is meant by the word “Pradhāna.”

Here’s a question, “Can you offer a definition on critical terminology like Pradhāna?” Pradhāna means Brahman,
Existence, the Soul, Cosmic Self. Today Vyāsa goes one step further: “Even about the identity you cannot talk. Even
about the identity you cannot make any understanding. Because, the identity merges onto Self on its own.” It merges
onto Self on its own. He is taking us step by step to the deeper and deeper silence.

Vyāsa, I can say is a very practical philosopher. Being practical and being philosophical, both have happened in Vyāsa.
Vyāsa is a high achiever. The high achiever mentality always makes you highly practical. High achiever mentality is
such that it makes you highly practical. A philosophical mind which does not achieve is the most cunning and crooked
mind. Most cunning and crooked mind. Impractical philosophers will always be losers in life. Impractical philosophers
will be worse losers because they have not touched the reality. Still they are stuck in one layer.

A small story: One man and a great philosopher having three doctorates go on a camping trip. After finishing their
dinner, they retire for the night and go to sleep. Some hours later, the man wakes up and nudges his philosopher friend,
“Look up at the sky and tell me what you see.” “I see millions and millions of stars, my friend,” exclaims the
philosopher. “And astronomically, what do you deduce from that?” asked the man. Immediately the philosopher

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

52
ponders for a minute and says, “Well, astronomically it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially
billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is
approximately quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the Universe.” “What
does it tell you?” the philosopher asked the man. The man says, “You idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!”

Philosophers are great losers. That is why in India, we never had philosophy. Philosia means Darshana. In India, all
philosophers are supposed to be seers. Seeing, not thinking. In the Indian tradition, we insist on experiencing. It is
philosia, not just philosophy. Philosophers suffer. Rishis are not philosophers; they are philosias, seers. Vyāsa is not
adding more and more words to us. He is taking more and more words away from us. He is making us more empty.

Yesterday itself I was thinking, “What can I comment on this Sūtrā because he says nothing can be spoken about the
Pradhāna, Source?” Suddenly now he is telling, “Even about the identity you can’t speak anything.” Nothing can be
spoken about the identity. Even about the identity, you can’t say anything. He uses a very beautiful word “on its own.”
Please understand, your identity by its very nature, winds up all the drama of seeing the forms and names, retires itself
into its inner space once in every twenty one hours. See, the individual Self creates this whole drama; creates this life,
world, society, whatever you see, touch, experience, smell, think. But the greatness of the Pradhāna, Source, is just it
sucks the identity. How much ever you try, your identity cannot be separated from the Source. Once in twenty one
hours, it feels tired of all this drama, dumps everything, retires and just goes back to its Source.

The automatic resting mechanism, automatic retiring mechanism: every day by its nature, Self settles into the Source.
It rests into the Source. Nothing much needs to be done. Even if you do anything or don’t do anything, every night
your individual Self retires into the Pradhāna, the Ātman, Self, Consciousness, Sat, Existence. Because by itself, the
Self rests into the Pradhāna, even that quality of the identity you carry is not consistent or consistently based on certain
factual realities, you need to understand that.

I am just seeing clearly, whatever I am uttering is just going over. I am saying something, by the time I utter the second
statement, all the fellows have gone somewhere and are coming back. Almost between every gap, you all go to the
Existence, Source and come back. It’s like awakening the non-mechanical parts of your brain which is almost like
keeping a hundred dogs’ tails straight. So first, I make one dog’s tail straight and hold it in two hands. Then I catch a
second dog’s back and hold the second tail front in one hand, the second in the other hand. Now I have two dogs in
my hand. Then I slowly run around and catch the third one by the tail and front and then the fourth. By the time I
caught the fifth one, the first dog ran away!

Somehow I made you understand one full day on Pradhāna. Pradhāna means the Source. Pradhāna is the primal Source,
origin. Somehow yesterday I logically made you understand, you can’t speak about the origin because the liberation
and bondage is only for the identity you feel, not for the origin. So origin cannot be expressed by any word because it
is beyond your intelligence. It is beyond comprehension.

Now Vyāsa is taking us a step further saying, “Even about the identity you cannot grasp anything, because the identity
also is not disconnected. It basically gets sucked into the Source every day without even your intention.” Even if you
tried to keep your identity away, seeing these names and forms, at one point it just renounces this whole thing, retires
into the Self, every day in deep sleep. He just takes away all the words. As identity does not have its own existence
and gets sucked into the Source again and again and again. Even your identity is not a consistent individual
independent entity. But by force and pressure, because you needed something to hold on to make your life meaningful,
you love to give meaning to things. When you walk, there is a beautiful garden with roses growing and birds are there;
why should you even give the meaning “beautiful?” It is there, that’s all. The moment you give the idea of “beautiful,”
the neighbour also tries to create a garden the same way. The original sin is trying to add meaning to what is happening
in front of you, that’s all. If you stop that one thing, this nonsensical habit of trying to give meaning to everything,

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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trying to add juice to everything; if you can retire just from that one thing, you stop adding meaning, then suddenly
you will understand your identity which you think as very consistent every day is not consistent. That will be one of
the major realizations to achieve the source of Existence. Buddhā gives a powerful example. If you light a torch and
rotate it at a high speed, you will see a fire circle. There is no fire circle. Every inch the torch is moving looks like a
fire circle. Same way in your identity, you see a solid existence; it is not. The high speed movement makes you feel
like it has an individual existence. The high speed movement is responsible.

One year before the identity with which you woke up in the morning, today with which you woke up are not consistent
though you force yourself to believe it is consistent. Because if it is not consistent, suddenly the base on which you
are building your life loses value, meaning. Knowing that nothing has value, you want to hold on to something, like a
consolation. You know at the end of the day, money has no value, relationships have no value, your body has no value.
If you peel, peel, peel, finally nothing has value. But it makes you feel like an orphan, “No, no, no, no, no…” We
can’t directly face that reality. So we need to add value to something to keep ourselves alive. But I tell you, when you
understand there is no value in anything, you will become a high achiever, creator and leader. However, a normal
mind tends to superimpose value. A normal mind tends to impose value. Trying to impose value is the reason why
you feel the identity is a consistent, comprehensible individual character. Actually you do not have an individual
quality or a character or identity. But this truth seems to be too much. You need to project yourself with some
consistency. So what to do? You try to give meaning to it. When you try to give meaning to something to make it look
consistent, the ignorance becomes alive.

The sacred secret in this Sūtrā is to stop giving meaning to things. Understanding the identity you are getting every
morning when you wake up is not consistent with yesterday's. Just new, new comes; meaningless. If there is meaning
in anything, there will not be excitement in that. Excitement to exist happens only if it is meaningless. If there is a
clear meaning, definition, you will be completely bored. Because you know everything, what to do? If you are bored
of unclutching, understand you are not doing it. You are not, you made a meaning out of unclutching. If you are every
moment practicing, it’ll be intensely exciting, never boring. Understand, life is meaningless. That is the only way to
live in an exciting way. If you try to find a consistent meaning, the excitement from life is taken away; you are a poor
philosopher!.

I am trying my best to catch some ten-twelve dogs’ tails in two hands. By the time I catch ten, already three to four
have run away. Just to understand my situation: first, catch one dog and catch one edge of the tail and you know where
it will be and the other edge of the tail and hold it straight. Run behind another one dog. Then catch that dog and
include his tail front and end in two hands - keep it tight. Then run around and catch the third. Each Sūtrā is almost
this for me. Teaching each Sūtrā is adding one, one dog’s tail and keeping it straight. By the time I add the fifth to
sixth dog, the first three dogs have run away!

The sacred secret from this Sūtrā is: because the identity merges on its own into the Self, origin, you can’t even grasp
or understand the identity. Second, because the identity is not consistent, do not try to give meaning to it or build
buildings on it to keep itself meaningful or consistent. Identity being meaningless is okay. That will keep the
excitement of life in life. Don’t try to know everything. So now neither can you speak about the Pradhāna which is
Source, nor can you speak about the individual identity which feels the bondage or liberation because that doesn't
exist. Understand, see the individual identity which you think you have, if it exists, it should be able to retain its
presence; it does not. Even if you try not to get enlightened, within twenty four hours you are sucked into it. You get
into that space and you try to jump out but within a few hours, you are called back.

Even the identity you carry is not as solid as you think. Then why do we feel it is solid? It is because we want to give
meaning to it. Without meaning, it will naturally lose its solid feeling. When you understand your identity is not solid,
you will be more aware, alive and ready to live. Because you are more alive, aware and ready to live spontaneously,
you will naturally become a high achiever. High achiever is a man who is ready to go through any complication in

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life's ups and downs. That ability will happen in you only when you are clear about not giving a consistent identity or
meaning to the identity you are carrying. If you have enough guts to live the identity which is changing every day,
knowing this whole thing is meaningless, you develop a powerful energy which makes you a high achiever.

Anybody who is lying down on the couch and says he is enlightened, never believe it. Ramana Maharshi was never
lying down on the couch. All his photographs are taken when he was lying down on the couch. That does not mean
his whole life he was lying down on the couch. No. He used to cook and grind flour using the old traditional stone
grinding machine. In those days Indian villages used to have grinding machines. Women used to grind rice and
everything. Ramana Maharshi used to grind rice every day. Once Tapasyananda Swami, a Mahāpuruṣa from
Ramakrishna Mission; he was Vice President of Ramakrishna Mission; he translated Bhāgavatam, an amazing English
translation. Mahāpuruṣa, he goes to see Ramana Maharshi. He asked somebody, “Where is Bhagavān?” They said:
“Go to the kitchen, he will be there.” He entered the kitchen, he saw some ten men were working washing the vessels,
cooking, one was grinding, another one was cutting vegetables. He couldn’t understand or catch the identity of Ramana
Maharshi. He went to the man who was grinding and asked, “Who is Ramana Maharshi?” Bhagavān looked at this
side and that side and showed one big brass vessel and said, “Ramana.” He pointed a finger and said, “Ramana.”
Tapasyanandaji could not understand. He looked and said, “This is Ramana?” Bhagavān said, “At least on that, the
name Ramana is written, so that it can be considered as more, it’ll be more Ramana than this body!” Because in that
vessel, the name Ramanashram is written, He said, “If you give that title ‘Ramana’ to that vessel, that will be more
apt than giving the title ‘Ramana’ to this body because it is not written on this body.” Then immediately
Tapasyanandaji understood He is Ramana Maharshi and fell at His feet.

Ramana Maharshi was never a couch potato. Understand, a man who has merged into ecstacy, Existence, experienced
Existence can never be a couch potato; he will be naturally a high achiever, maybe in different dimensions. High
being, high achiever is one of the important irrecoverable qualities of an enlightened being. If you are not a high
achiever, forget about Enlightenment. Bhagavān is a high achiever. His ability to inspire a few thousands to the core
and transmit that highest Vedantic cognition, cognitive shift is unimaginable.

I bless you all, to achieve, experience, live, express, radiate and share the eternal bliss, Nithyananda.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 gatisāmānyat

Brahman is Intelligence and that is the Source

Tenth Sutra - in the first Chapter, first section.

Tenth Sutra - “Gatisāmānyat”. Again just one word.
“Because the knowledge gathered from various Upanishads is the same as regards consciousness being the cause”
Swami Gambhirananda translates this sutra as this.
And Swami Vireswarananda translates as: “Because of all the Vedanta connected to uniformly referring to an
intelligent principle as the first cause, Brahman is to be taken as that cause.”
Each sutra in Brahma Sūtrās is a source of an independent philosophical system, thought trend. By its capacity, each
single sūtrā can lead to a complete understanding about existence. For example, this sūtrā is a very interesting sūtrā.
It says as, “All the Upanishads declare the cause to be the intelligent source, Brahman is intelligence and That is
source.” Without any difference, everybody declares this. The words with which this sūtrā is created, needs to be
understood very deeply.

Earlier in the beginning, in the first two to three sūtrās, a thought trend of supreme intelligence where the pradhāna
was established. Now, the other aspects of pradhāna are being expressed. It’s like a deeper dimension of the same
principle. If you remember, when I was talking about those sūtrās which I was talking about pradhāna is intelligence,
meaning the source is intelligence. I made a few points and questions, “Alright, how do we know it is the cause? How
do we know it is compassion? How we do know it is running the whole thing in a balanced way?” I said, “All those

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sūtrās are all those questions that are being answered in the coming sūtrās.” Today, Vyāsa is analysing one part, a very
beautiful part. He is establishing pradhāna as the causal material for existence, for the happening. Pradhāna as the
cause - “Gatisāmānyāt”. Actually, even a single sūtrā can lead you to liberation if you can sit and debate on the sūtrā
and transmit the understanding about that sūtrā to others.

If cause is intelligence, the effect also has to be intelligence. Please understand, the cause is nirmala, niranjana, which
means pure and cannot be contaminated or adulterated with anything. So, the cause is pure unadulterated content. If
the cause cannot be adulterated, then the effect also has to be the exact version of the cause. For example, if you can
add some material like copper into the gold, then the effect can be less quality gold. But the copper cannot be added
at all into the gold, nothing can be added to the gold, it is pure. That is cause. If nothing can be added to the gold, then
anything made out of gold also will be pure. The effect also will be pure. In this angle, cause is pure intelligence. So
anything which you think is not intelligence, does not exist. How can the effect be different from the cause? It’s
impossible!

Our mind continuously denies, “No!” The effect has some impurity. But Bādarāyaṇā says, “No, cause is intelligence.”
The big problem is, if you hear these truths from Me and after half an hour go for your dinner and your routine, it
cannot lead you to enlightenment. It cannot lead you to the awakening of the non-mechanical parts of the brain. It
cannot lead you to the higher existence, higher quality of consciousness, higher way to exist, higher possibility. No, it
cannot! Why will it, how will it? But instead, if you form two teams - Shankara and Vyāsā, honestly start debating to
understand, it can lead you to the realization. Debating does not necessarily lead to non-acceptance of each other’s
idea or acceptance of each other’s idea. Debate does not mean you have to fight and debate does not mean you have
to accept others’ ideas. It is about analyzing. Now I am introducing a thought trend to you all. The essence of the
thought trend is - The sacred secret from this sūtrā, the essence of the thought trend is: cause is intelligence. He gives
one example, as all the Upanishadic texts declare.

I can say, the translation should not be Upanishadic text, it should be the effect of all Upanishad. Whenever you sit
with the Master, the experience always leads to more and more intelligence. So naturally, if the experience is
intelligence, the intelligence only has to be caused. You need to understand the meaning and how I give meaning to
these words. Sometimes the same word itself can create confusion. If you are not catching it or reading it properly,
like this morning I said, ‘the blind change’. If the same word is not read or understood properly, it can create a big
mess and confusion. If you understand the words of the Upanishads only as a text and say, “Because the text says”,
you can end up getting confused because there are some Upanishads that can say, “No, cause can be matter.” You
could misinterpret or you could twist some Upanishad texts. So the right understanding is required, I am translating
these Upanishad parts as sitting with the Master; whenever you sit with the Master, it leads only to an intelligent space
in you. So naturally, cause is intelligence.

If the word is not properly understood then you could be in big soup. Cause is intelligence. You can think, “We know
this, why should you repeat it again and again?” No! You don’t know and that is why I am repeating it. You are
adamant not to get enlightened and Vyāsā is adamant to make you enlightened. It is like any concept shared, your
brain opens to that idea for ten minutes and it closes again. By the time you go to the dinner, it is over. You miss the
bank of the name or name of the bank. You miss the name of the bank, then again Vyāsā starts. And not only that,
source may be intelligent, may not be cause, maybe something else also can be added to the cause. So the effect may
not be as pure as the cause or it can be little adulterated. There can be thousands of questions, thousands of doubts.
Somehow Vyāsā wants to handle all the questions, all the doubts and insist that you understand it thoroughly,
completely. You are guiding yourself, guiding the people around you with a clear understanding. That’s why
Bādarāyaṇā insists on understanding this in a different, different, different dimension, in a deeper, deeper and deeper
dimension.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Cause is ultimate intelligence. Cause is Brahman. Cause is truth. Cause is source. Cause is compassion. I am making
so many statements so that without doing any technique or method, this thought trend is established in you. You see,
if you strongly understand, cause is intelligence, then you will not have boredom to fall into enlightenment. You will
not feel bored to fall into a meditative mood. You will not feel bored to unclutch. If you are feeling bored, you need
to be told again. That is what Vyāsā is doing. We are neither interested in listening nor interested in meditating. See,
if you are not interested in meditating, then what is the only way? Again and again, tell it, till the truth becomes part
of your life, till that becomes the essence of your life, till that becomes understanding from which decisions are made
in you, even while in the dream. See, the understanding with which you make decisions in the dream, I can say, is the
essence, that is the basis on which you take cognisance of your daily life. Life by its very nature and flow, upgrades
the understandings on which you take your next decisions.

Every night, even the incidents in your dream, make you upgrade your understanding, make you develop the
consciousness from which you make decisions and make you feel more than what you were. So now, hit all the
difficulties and pain points of your life with this understanding. Ask: “If source is intelligence then how are these
politicians made? If cause is intelligence, why are these third rate sadist officials created? If cause is intelligence, how
are these terrorists created? If cause is intelligence, how are what we call, ‘bad people’ made? If the cause is
intelligence, how is your spouse made! If the cause is intelligence, how are your enemies made?” Because everybody
thinks your enemy is a dull, dumb guy, not intelligent. “If cause is intelligence, how is the other party made?”
Question! My answers will not be answers for you. I am telling you honestly. All My answers you will label, “Eh!
Swamiji’s answers.” Put it in the dustbin. No! You have a doveholing system in your brain. You may not have a
dustbin for Me, but you will have something called a ‘respected dustbin’, which means, it will neither be emptied nor
be used.

That's what we call ‘respected dustbin’. “Eh! He says, but that is not for me, it is all impractical. He says all this but
it’s okay, next.” This is what I call ‘respected dustbin’. So each one of you has a respected dustbin for My ideas, for
the ideas I expressed. Your ego will grasp or grab any idea, only when you debate. When you shout ideas at others,
suddenly your ego gets associated with them and that foolish ego does not understand whenever you associate with
these big ideas, they become nectar to them. Nectar to you and poison to your ego. Understand, whenever you get
associated with some great spiritual idea, debate for some great spiritual idea, without your knowledge, you will
imbibe that idea into your life. Suddenly, your ego would have been eaten by that idea. If I tell you to follow it, it will
never happen, because you have a great respected dustbin. “Swamiji’s ideas, great, great. We can’t use them, you
know. Let us be practical.” You have some method, a very intelligent method. To dump them but you can’t put them
directly in the dustbin. That is too disrespectful. No, no, no, your mind won’t agree for that. So you have a very
technical dustbin. Understand. Now, the technical dustbin, just like yesterday, I introduce the yellow journalist’s
problem, today I am introducing the technical dustbin problem, respected dustbin. Sometimes you put a beautiful
garland into that dustbin and put a little sandalwood and even do aarti but never pick up the ideas and use them. In
your doveholing system, you have that. You see, any idea you know how to dovehole it. The respected dustbin. Now,
if you start debating, your ego gets associated with that idea and if others are not convinced, you are going to fight for
the idea. If others are convinced because you are able to convince others, you will also be convinced. It is like having
a clay ball that’s your ego and the diamond that is the sacred truth I am giving you. The diamond is just kept on the
clay ball. Now I am asking you to start the debate. Debate is like hitting with another stone. Naturally what will
happen? The diamond will nicely get embedded in the clay ball and stick to it.

If I tell you directly to imbibe that diamond, you will say,” No, no, no, it’s difficult, very difficult.” But now, slowly
the diamond is getting embedded into that clay ball. Not only that, the diamond is such, when it goes inside, inside,
inside and all the clay in your hands starts going away. Finally in the hand, only the diamond is standing because you

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

58
are hitting continuously. When you continuously hit a stone wall, with a clay ball and diamond, what will happen?
The diamond will be in your hand and the clay will leave your hand. This is the exact process of debate. Your ego will
imbibe any spiritual idea only when you debate on it and when you take that side. You see actually our whole life is
nothing but taking a certain side and going on justifying that side, that’s all. Now in the debate, very beautifully you
will take the side of spiritual truth and without your knowledge the spiritual truth will swallow you. That is why I am
encouraging the debate. Debate is a highly ego fulfilling activity. I am using that very ego fulfilling activity to remove
the root of the ego.

Shiva’s words will have the nectar of making you enlightened and will have the poison for ego, because in His throat
there is a big stock of poison. That gets added into His words and comes to you so that when you imbibe that, that
poison works on the ego and destroys it. Now all My words have the component of nectar and poison. The nectar
component is for you, the poison component is for your ego. All My words, because the throat has the stock of poison
to release along with the words, whenever required. So, when you start debating these truths, My answer will not work
for you. I’m saying, you will put My answer in the dustbin, respectful dustbin or respected dustbin. You start debating
and creating deeper and deeper thought currents.

What is the format of debate? Your body temperature should not increase, meaning no anger or violence. Second, talk
only based on the ideas which you make decisions. See and talk about ideas only based on which you make decisions
everyday or you are going to make decisions from today on. You have full freedom to declare you are enlightened
from today but you have to live like that. Define that and start living like that, then you have the freedom to declare.
Actually, nobody else can declare your enlightenment, only you can declare your enlightenment.

I was staying in a monastery where I was in the habit of doing puja to Devi everyday. In that monastery, even though
they show themselves outside as Hindus, there is a strict ban, you can’t worship any Hindu deities except their
Founder. So, that manager one day called Me and said, “I heard you are worshipping Devi!” I said, “What is wrong?
I am not doing any crime. After all, I am doing puja to Devi.” He said, “No! Then you will not be given
Brahmacharya.”

I said, “What do you mean? Whether I am Brahmachari or not, I am supposed to declare, not you. You cannot declare
whether I am Brahmachari or not. Even if you declare, I cannot be Brahmachari and whether I am Brahmachari or
not, I should declare. So Brahmacharya cannot be given.” He was shocked! He said, “What do you mean?” I said,
“What do you mean? Even if you declare me as Brahmachari, if I decide not to be, then you can’t do anything. If I
declare and even if you don’t say, I am Brahmachari, I am Brahmachari that’s it. As I said, whether I am Brahmachari
or not, others cannot declare, only I can declare.” Same way, whether I am enlightened or not, others cannot certify,
only I can certify, I can declare. You have the full freedom to declare, “I am enlightened,” perfectly alright, I encourage
it, but live up to it. Declare and live up to it. No problem, but all these fellows who want to be enlightened, they are
waiting for Me to declare. Why? Then all their faults and problems, they can put the responsibility on Me and I have
to go on justifying their enlightenment. I am not interested in that. No, that is the basic problem.

Everybody expects that I will suddenly call them and make them sit next to My throne, “Here it is, please be seated -
you are enlightened!” So all the nonsense this fellow does, I have to justify. All their idiocy, I have to make it a legacy.
I am not interested in that. Come on, you declare your enlightenment and stand up to it. So you have the freedom to
talk based on which you make decisions or you are going to make decisions. So that is the second rule of debate.

Third, a very important thing. You neither need to agree nor disagree. If you don’t agree, you can say, “No, I am not
interested in agreeing. Get lost.” If you are agreeing, you can say, “Yes, I am interested in agreeing.” If you are not
interested in both, you can say, “No, I am neither interested in agreeing nor interested in disagreeing, we need to dig

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deeper.” You can take all three stands. No problem, but I highly recommend and inspire you to create this debate
because these sūtrās are such, it is like a key. You need to use this key to open some two thousand doors.

I will not be able to customize this master key for all two thousand doors. You need to go and open all the doors, all
the problems of your life, through this key, this debate. Create it, very strongly create this debate, then you will
understand each and every idea which gets into your system deeper and deeper, forming the base for your higher
consciousness. Every action out of higher understanding, every thought out of higher understanding and every feeling
out of higher cognition is a wealth you are accumulating. Understand. I am using a new word, higher cognition which
means the cognisance is taken in you based on the higher understanding like a sacred sentiment. You suddenly develop
a strong love for your Guru because of the higher understanding, “Wow, all the ideas He gives me are raising me so
much, then what state He must be in!” With this higher understanding, the cognisance you take is what I define as
‘higher cognition’. Same way, the more and more higher cognitions you take, the more and more time you start staying
in higher space.

I can say, that is the real wealth you are accumulating. How much time in a day do you spend in a higher cognitive
state; that debate will help you to keep yourself in a higher cognitive state continuously. Especially on Facebook,
recently I have started looking into Facebook, because of this debate. I am just going around and seeing, who is
commenting on Facebook and this N-debate. It’s a very innovative way of debating on this thought trend - Today’s
thought trend, the sacred secret. You see, actually everyday I wanted to only introduce these thought trends based on
every sūtrā. Because it is such a strong philosophical truth, you will imbibe only when you debate it. When you debate,
one thing you will have is a better understanding from others' view. The second thing is many of your smaller
understandings can be cleaned. And third thing, when you stand for some idea, you start assuming that idea as life and
even unconsciously you see life is nothing but taking certain stands and justifying those stands till death.

Just today when I was washing My face, I suddenly remembered the stand I took for the sake of this organization in
2001. It was a very simple casual stand, whether to have organization or not to have organization.

When you take up one side of any idea, not only you take it up, you decide to justify it, that’s it. So now you have two
sides. Cause is intelligence, this means you are declaring your enlightenment, “Eh! If my cause is enlightenment, the
effect also has to be enlightenment because the cause cannot be polluted.” Cause is niranjanā, nirāmayā, nirālambā,
nirvikalpā.

If the cause is intelligence, then come on, effect is also intelligence. If cause is enlightenment, effect is also
enlightenment. That’s it. Or you can take the other side, “No, no, no, no. There are so many things in front, how can
this be true?” You can take any side. Start the debate. If you take a side, talk only about the honest truth with which
you make decisions or you are going to make decisions. You have the freedom to declare, “Aye, I declare cause is
intelligence, so I am enlightened.” You can declare, then start living up to it. That’s it!. Even if you stand on the side
of idiocy, you have the intelligence to make it a legacy because there is no such thing as idiocy. All the source is, the
cause is legacy, everything has to be legacy. There is no follower because everybody’s source is the leader. Then who
is a follower? Till he who has not realized his source is a leader, is a follower. If you have not realized your cause is
intelligence then your cause is dumbness. It is just your choice now on which side you want to debate, which side you
want to take. Unfortunately, you are afraid to debate with Me. That’s a big problem.

Also, any idea I finally convince you of, you will also dump in the respectful dustbin or respected dustbin. That is the
reason, I am asking you to debate. Cause is intelligence so effect has to be intelligence. You are surrounded by
intelligence, filled by intelligence, preceded by intelligence, succeeded by intelligence, run by intelligence, running
into intelligence, running towards intelligence, running in intelligence. The cause is intelligence. Source is

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intelligence. Not only as per the Vedantic text, āpta pramāṇā even as per the ātma pramāṇā. Not only My own ātma
pramāṇā, you see for Vedantic texts are āpta pramāṇā for Me and My experience is ātma pramāṇā. When I transmit
that to you, My experience becomes āpta pramāṇā for you. When you have the debate, it will become ātma pramāṇā
for you, when you take the stand, when you take the side. It’s like now you have a chance. You can take a stand - you
are not enlightened and go on justifying it for your whole life and be very tightly attached and very loving and cosy
with that idea, or you can take a stand as I am enlightened and go on shining, burning with that idea. Take that stand,
justify it and live for it as you have a choice but both are simple debates that’s all, nothing else. Today you can have
a debate.

How many wanted to say, I am enlightened? How many wanted to say, I am not enlightened? It should be honest. If
you say, “I am enlightened”, you should already be taking all the decisions based on that concept of enlightenment.
Define enlightenment very clearly. Don’t give vague ideas. Define it and give your own definition, not My definition.
Define it. “This is what enlightenment is, so I am enlightened.” Either you should be taking all the decisions based on
that enlightenment or from this moment you declare, “I will take all decisions based on this.” Debate, declare, then
live up to it or say that, “No, I am not enlightened”, and live up to it. No problem. It is a simple debate, that’s all
nothing else. There is no such thing as a big difference.

Now you have the possibility of taking a certain stand. Now we can say whether cause is intelligence or cause is
dullness. Take a stand. If the cause is intelligence, then effect also has to be intelligence. Understand. If you declare
‘you are enlightened’, you have to digest the hard truth ‘your spouse is also enlightened’. Because both come in the
same package. You cannot say, “Your cause is Brahman and his or her’s cause is somebody else.” No! For both causes
are one. I have to be very clear. Me and all the people who tried to destroy Me are both from the same cause. If I am
enlightened, they are equally enlightened. Both of them from the same cause, then the effect has to be the same. Now
comes so much confusion, “Oh God, what is this? Then how is it possible?” Vedanta should become Vyavahārikā.
Vyavahārikā means practical day to day. These truths should become practical day to day applied science. That will
happen only by debate. The debate will have a deep clarity.

With the deep clarity, the functionality will arise. Understand. First, listening to the truth - Shravanā. Imbibing and
arriving to clarity is Mananā. Then expressing from the imbibed clarity the functionality will evolve, that is
Nididhyāsanā. Listening, imbibing clarity, evolving functionality, that’s the essence. So now, I have already
planted the seed. I am declaring the basic thing, the listening. Cause is intelligence. Cause is intelligence.
This is the base, but now, you have to arrive at the clarity. You can start the debate on this truth. Get to
clarity, then the functionality will evolve. So today, whoever wants to declare their enlightenment, define,
declare and start living up to it. We can celebrate the mass enlightenment day. Whoever wants to declare;
can declare. Post on Facebook - “This is enlightenment and as per this rule, I am enlightened.” Don’t put it
in a vague way, define it so you take decisions exactly on that understanding. “I am enlightened. I am That.
Aham Brahmāsmi.” Maybe you can have this as a caption. Create a huge wave - Aham Brahmāsmi group.
Define your understanding of Aham Brahmāsmi, that’s it. Based on that “I am enlightened.” Nobody else
needs to give a certificate. You declare,you live. The functionality will evolve based on these great truths.
You can just sit with this one truth: ‘you are not enlightened’. That is also okay, anything is okay though you
have to be very honest to what you declare in your debate. Sit, you can have your eyes open, just relax -
define and plan - what am I going to define? How am I going to define? It has to be put on Facebook and
you have to live it. And if you are not living it, people are going to laugh at you. If you decide one day, “No,
no, I don’t want to be enlightened anymore”, you can withdraw it, then you have to live it. You have the
freedom to upgrade or downgrade your enlightenment but you have to define it. So define with clear words,
How do you want your enlightenment to be? How do you want to be enlightened? There should not be any
grey area.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Let you all achieve, experience, live, express, radiate and share the eternal bliss - Nithyananda.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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 śrutatvācca

Cause is Intelligence

Before entering into today’s Sūtra, I thought I’ll just share one or two of this eN-Debate sharing. It’s from the France
group. They have started the eN-Debate in Guadeloupe and France. Through Skype, they started the debate. Every

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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individual declared: “I am enlightened. The Source is intelligence; the Cause is intelligence. Therefore the effect is a
manifestation of intelligence. And, their writing: first we discussed this philosophically. Then we emphasized about
how we are living this truth in our day-to-day life. So the devotees had a long debate and they have sent the essence.
I wanted to read out the essence to all of you, because it'll give you all a wonderful idea, an example.
“Our meeting with Bhagavan is a crucial point in our realization of this truth. This truth was already there before.
Since it is eternal, but till then it was a concept, not an experiential truth. Bhagavan taught us the technique to unclutch
and initiated it in our day-to-day life. The unclutch state happens every moment, and deepens more and more since
we know Him. Chronologically we evolved from an intellectual understanding of unclutching a few years back to a
living experience of it. Manifesting itself by itself and through itself every moment. Mind gets absorbed in the now
due to Bhagavan’s grace alone. When we say Bhagavan’s grace alone, we really mean it. This very acknowledgement
of our Enlightenment comes from Bhagavan’s initiation, teachings, our deepening relationship with Him through the
years and His blessings towards us. Through the Master the experience which declares “I am perfect,” Existence is
perfect, all is perfect, is a reality every moment. And this very fact brings the highest contentment to us. Having
Bhagavan in our life is indeed Enlightenment. All devotees here are sending their eternal gratitude and love.” Blessings
to the Guadeloupe group.

So this is another one wonderful sharing, “Dear Bhagavan, this morning I woke and my mind was on its own going
through all the reasons why I had declared myself as enlightened in yesterday’s debate. The yellow journalist was
giving reasons as to why it was not true and each step, I saw the mind counteract him. And slowly the journalist in the
mind could find fewer and fewer reasons. And the me who was watching all this suddenly felt “Wow, damn it! I am
really enlightened.” This is it. It’s the real thing. It’s not just the mind game or playful exercise. I really cannot think
of a reason as to why I am not enlightened. Sweet! Here is the thesis I had yesterday as to why I am enlightened. I am
enlightened because anything I can see is outside of me including pain, sorrow and all mental thoughts and moods
they will change. So my Enlightenment does not have to tie up with any particular way I feel inside my body or mind.
So I don’t need to wait for any particular experience or deny Enlightenment because the body or mind is not in some
imagined pleasurable state.”

“I have found that whatever I want comes true. The only reason it may not is because it is harmful to me, and in time
I always realize the reason why it could have been harmful. So eventually in one way or another, all my desires become
fulfilled. I am eternal and have no death. Across different bodies, I am still there. And I have infinite time to get
fulfillment of any desire, including the imagined sensations of how Enlightenment would feel, Siddhis, etcetera. And
however long that takes, it’s a blip in the infinite time. I am going to be in a state of bliss whatever experience people
are, talk about. Given the certainty of the fact that I and everyone else will eventually experience whatever they want,
and this will happen in almost an instant in Cosmic time. And in reality, all experiences are transient and don’t matter.
I conclude that I am enlightened.”

See, I wanted all of you to learn an important lesson from this. Through this debate when you come to some conclusion
and create like this some writings, it’ll become “My Book.” I used to have 10 bound volume notebooks called “My
Book.” Unfortunately we lost many of them. We could get only one small diary where 3 pages I have written. Even
the 3 pages show such a valuable treasure. In my biography, it shows very clearly the path I travelled. See actually I
used to do this: whatever I am giving you as a process now - eN-Debate, I used to do this. We used to have a big book
called Ātma Purāṇam. That is the Tamil translation of 4 major Upaniṣads - Isha, Aitareya, Kena, Katha; 4 Upaniṣads.
Still we have it. It was owned by Bhagavan Isakki Swamigal. He was a great Siddha. He was an old man, but so
graceful he used to be. He was such a graceful person with the long jata and a big belly; he would stretch his leg in a
very nice way. And he will put his hand on the cheek, to support his cheek, still I remember. And, one side I’ll sit with
his wooden pad with the big book. And the other side Kuppammal will sit fanning him. And, I’ll read the original
Sūtrā, and the translation from that book. And he will always take the opposite side. He will not talk, talk for Sūtrā;
he will talk opposite. Then Kuppammal will have to take the side of a Sūtrā. Both of them will do the debate. Then,

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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they’ll drag me in. Sometimes I’ll have to side with Kuppammal; sometimes I’ll have to side with Isakki Swami. But
whichever side I side, end of the session, end of the day - I will have my own understanding and clarity. Especially at
that age around 13-14 and all, it is such a strong experience. When I remember now, I feel like all the kids below 14,
I should just gather them, force them to stay in one campus and go on teaching them Brahma Sūtrā. It can create such
amazing human beings, graceful, powerful, eternally clear, intelligent.

Then, I would go back to the house, start writing, penning down. The habit of penning down has started in me because
of them. And I remember very clearly every day what I used to sit and discuss with Arunagiri Yogishwara also I pen
down. And not only that, I read one incident in Ramana Maharshi’s life. He had a disciple - Muruganar. Whenever
Ramana Maharshi speaks something when Muruganar will pen down, and take it back to Ramana Maharshi; he will
purposely make some mistakes, so that Ramana Maharshi will correct it in his own pen - handwriting. So two things;
one, Ramana Maharshi’s handwriting will be recorded. Second thing, all other words are authenticated now. When
you correct one mistake, then all other words have been authenticated as without any mistake.

I tell you, I can say the notebook is at least some 192 pages: I had the recording of Arunagiri Yogishwara’s teachings
at least in 10 places, I have His own handwriting. Unfortunately, we are not able to retrieve them. I am trying to trace.
I am sending people to all the friends’ houses, relatives’ houses in my native place, and all the devotees’ houses where
I stayed. Still we are not able to track the 10 bound volume notebooks, bound by me personally. The 192 pages is a
regular notebook I bought. Then I made a hardcover with satin cloth. I bound it. I called it “My Book.” That’s the
title. I can say the first book I wrote in my life - My Book, at least 10 volumes. Everything in that My Book is my
Ātma Pramāṇā to the level in which those truths have penetrated me. That’s it.

Whenever I want to read, I’ll just brush and go through. I’ll know how I evolved to certain understanding. You see,
one of the biggest problems a seeker faces in his life is forgetfulness. We go on reinventing the solution for the same
problem every day twelve times. You may say: “Not twelve times; maybe 2-3 times.” No, you forget. Same problem
you will be reinventing the solution 12 times a day. And then again the next morning when you have that problem,
you will have the same problem and you will not find a solution. Half an hour your mind will struggle then you will
find the solution. Simple problem: worry. Tell me how many thousands of times you found a solution and decided not
to worry anymore. And all it takes is, only five more minutes of a betel nut chewing time, again you are in worry.
Forgetfulness.

Sometimes when you hit the right click, you are very clear: “Even if death comes I will not worry.” In the next half
an hour you don’t need death, just the shadow of your spouse or just one small word, one small practical problem -
you are there back again in worry. You need to understand, not having Smaraṇa - remembrance, is one of the biggest
problems. Biggest problem. All of you should have that habit of a My Book. You should have your own book. Once
in a while pen down, so that you will stop wasting the time in reinventing the same solution. You see for example:
you have a worry. You catch a certain thought trend: “No, how can this, how can this, how can this?” Then you say:
“Eh foolishness, this worry is useless.” You come out of it. But the next morning again you are in the same worry.
But you forget that thought trend which you came out of. Because you forgot the thought trend, now you will waste
your time worrying for at least two hours. And after two hours, you will catch the thought trend, “Oh God! I should
have remembered this half an hour before.” Not having Smaraṇa - remembrance, not hitting the right click when
required is one of the major problems seekers face in their life on the path of Enlightenment. That problem can be
sorted out with this great solution - My Book. Have this attitude and habit of My Book. After a debate, create My
Book. You can do it even on your Facebook, so the whole world can read it, not just by yourself, whole world can
read it.

I had such amazing Masters in my life. My Masters and my mentors and my teachers, every day is exciting to live
around them. Of course, when Mahadeva, Shiva comes down in the physical body, and lives around you, naturally it
would be. Especially Arunagiri Yogishwara, I still remember, once He was teaching about this Samānā, sharing a few

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

65
words. And He was telling Samānā is sweetness. If your Samānā is active, your body will have sweat with a sweet
taste, not salty. It will be very sweet. I said: “How can that be?” Then He was very playfully showing that if you
remove a hair from the root, there will be a small wax in that edge of that hair. He removed one hair from my body,
and asked me to taste that wax. It was very salty. Then He removed one hair from His body, and asked me to taste
that wax. It was very sweet.

And not only that, He was showing me another method to see the power of your lungs. If your Samānā is active, if
you remove one hair and just stick that hair in that, when that wax on your hand or on any object and blow - if you are
not able to blow it away, your Samānā is not active. You can experiment actually. Just remove that one hair from the
root along with the root, you should just stick that with that wax. That wax you have to stick it on a paper, or on your
hand. Try to blow with your full force. You can keep it any closer. If you are not able to blow that hair away, if that
hair is not flying - your Samānā is not active. If that hair is flying, your Samānā is active. I tried my best, I was not
able to blow the hair. You can experiment. At least 80% of you will not be able to blow.

It was so exciting that My Book is filled with all these things which directly helped my life. You all should start the
habit of maintaining My Book. It’ll really awaken your whole life, transform your whole life, help you for higher
consciousness.

Let me enter into today’s sūtrā. The My Book can be a very powerful method to kill your ego. See, we read in the
newspapers, terrorists used to have cyanide in their body continuously. So whenever they are caught by police and
when they need to lose their life, if they feel that living any longer is going to be dangerous and torturous, they will
just swallow the cyanide poison and die. Same way, this My Book can be the poison for your ego. So whenever you
have the dangers of life, read this My Book - ego will die, you will be in peace and you can live life joyfully. Of
course, it’s a wrong equation. You cannot equate the My Book and cyanide. My Book is a nectar. I can say, the
ultimate nectar.

I have a story about cyanide for you. A lady walks into a drug store and tells the pharmacist: “Sir, I need some
cyanide.” The pharmacist said, “Why in the world do you need cyanide?” The lady then explained very coolly, she
needed it to poison her husband. The pharmacist’s eyes got big, and said, “Lord have mercy.” And he said, “I cannot
give you cyanide to kill your husband. That is against the law. They will throw both of us in jail and I will lose my
license.” Then the lady reaches into her purse, pulls out a picture of her husband in bed with the pharmacist’s wife,
and hands it to the pharmacist. The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, “Oh well, you did not tell me you
had a prescription!”

Sometimes, the right prescription. Let’s enter into the Sūtrā.

श्रुतत्वाच्च ॥ ११ ॥
śrutatvācca

Again in 1 word.

Swami Gambhirananda translates as “And because Brahman is revealed as such in the Upaniṣads.” Swami
Vireswarananda translates as “That all knowing Brahman alone is the first cause of this world, because it is so known
directly from the Vedas also.” And Swami Sivananda translates as “And because it is directly stated in the Śruti,
therefore the all-knowing of Brahma alone is the cause of the Universe.”

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Yesterday we were discussing about the Cause. Today, one step deeper. The Sūtrā if you translate, you can translate
in two ways: one, you can say, because the Vedas also declare Cause is the intelligence. The other way because
hearing. Śruti means hearing from the Master. Hearing also declares: “Cause is the intelligence.” And the other way
it can also be translated: in the Upaniṣad means sitting with the Master. This is what the realization we experience
from inside. So in all three ways, you can look in.

Let me give you the sacred secret: the thought trend I want you to catch from this Sūtrā. Cause is intelligence. Not
only the Upaniṣads says - Śāstra Pramāṇa; not only the Āpta Pramāṇa - the Master’s experience, and when we sit in
Upaniṣad with the Master - that is Ātma Pramāṇa also. So I am drilling the same truth.

श्रुतत्वाच्च ॥ ११ ॥
śrutatvācca

Sometimes we do not know the reason why they repeat. There may be subtle blockages inside our system, which may
not be grasping the truth. For example: the same truth if you debate second day, third day - the deeper doubts and
blockages will be removed, deeper problems will be removed, deeper understandings will be revealed. That is why
sometimes it feels like a Master is nagging you with the same truth but there is a big difference.

Today’s thought trend: go to thoughtlessness. Today’s eN-Debate for realization is three trends.

श्रुतत्वाच्च ॥ ११ ॥
śrutatvācca

Because of Upaniṣad, Cause is intelligence. So I am translating this into three ways, 3 sacred secrets in this Sūtrā.
Because Śāstra Pramāṇa says, “Cause is intelligence.” Because Āpta Pramāṇa - Guru’s words, says, “Cause is
intelligence.” Because when we sit in Upaniṣad with the Master, our own Ātma Pramāṇa says, “Cause is intelligence.”
So have these three as sacred secrets for your eN-Debate.

Sometimes, nagging ourselves with the great truths is good. I have a story for you about nagging. A man comes from
home after an exhausting day at work, plops down on the couch in front of the television and tells his wife, “Get me
a beer before it starts.” The wife sighs and gets him a beer. Fifteen minutes later he says, “Get me another beer before
it starts.” She looks cross but fetches another beer, and slams it down next to him. He finishes that beer, and a few
minutes later says, “Quick, get me another beer. It’s going to start any moment, minute.” The wife is furious. She yells
at him, “It’s that all you are going to do tonight, drink beer and sit in front of the TV? You are nothing but a lazy
drunken fly… fat slob and furthermore.” The man sighs and says, “It has started.” So I tell you, start the eN-Debate
before it starts.

Because the same word ‘Pradhānā’ has been translated as ‘intelligence’ by one Swami; it has been translated as
‘insentient’ by another one Swami; but both make sense if you fit in the same Sūtrā. That is the beauty of Sanskrit. I
was shocked. How can both make meaning? When I studied, both made meaning. It’s like the same line, you give a
complete opposite translation. The final conclusion is the same. That’s the beauty of Sanskrit poetry.

So let us enter into these three thought trends. Cause is intelligence because of Śāstra Pramāṇā. I’ll give you the
reference of one or two Śāstra Pramāṇās. Like, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad says in the 6th chapter, 9th Sūtrā: “He is the
cause, the Lord of the lord of the organs. He is, He has neither parent nor Lord. He refers to the all-knowing Lord
described in the chapter. Therefore it is finally established.” So, Vyāsa Bādarāyaṇa, Bādarāyaṇa Vyāsa refers to this
Sūtrā. And, again the Taittirīya Upaniṣad: “The wise one, who having produced all forms and made all names, sits

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calling the things by their names.” Taittirīya Āraṇyaka in the 3 rd Khanda, the 12th Chapter, 7th Sūtra. Again
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad goes on: “It is neither coarse nor fine, neither short nor long; defective in one place, perfect
in the other” in the 3rd Khanda, 1st Chapter, 8th Sūtra. “Who is without then again,” this is from Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad.

I just wanted to put all these things on record for the future. I am not asking you to remember all these; don’t worry. I
am not going to nag you by asking you to remember. I am just doing my own homework. I wanted to speak on Brahma
Sūtrās for three purposes. One: I wanted this science of these aphorisms on Existence to be established with the
complete technical background, means the spiritual Śāstrā knowledge. Second, to make this as a living life solution,
to make you as a leader, to make you as Īśvara, to make you experience. Third, do all possible scientific studies and
record it for posterity. So this part I am doing, giving all the references of all the Upaniṣads and everything, so that it
will be on record forever. So later on when the pandit philosophers want to do some research, they can study and find
more and more, deeper and deeper truths.

So this Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, 6th Chapter, 19th Sūtra: “Who is without parts, without actions; tranquil without false,
without taint; the highest bridge of immortality, like a fire that has consumed its fuel.” And, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad,
4th Chapter, 4th Canto, 5th Chapter in 15th Sūtrā declares: “For where there is duality as it were, then one sees the other.
But when the Self only is all this, how should he see another, where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else,
understands nothing else. That is the greatest.” And again Chāndogya Upaniṣad, 7 th Canto, 24th Chapter, 1st Sūtra:
“Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else, there is a greatest infinite bhauma where
one see something else, hear something else, understands something else. That is the little finite. The greatest is
immortal and the little is mortal.” So see these are the some of the Śāstra Pramāṇas.

You may not be able to do debate on these Śāstra Pramāṇās, because most of you are not well versed in the Śāstrās.
But if you can, any of you are well versed then do the debate on Śāstra Pramāṇā, nothing wrong. The rules to do Śāstra
Pramāṇā debate is you should not twist or torture the rules, torture the text. Otherwise you can question the authority
of it; no problem. You have the right to question. In Hindu tradition and Vedic tradition, we have the right to question
the authority of even the Śrutis, even the Vedas. You have the right to question the authority. In Vedic tradition, we
don’t believe in the religion by birth. No. We believe in the religion you discover. We always insist we have so much,
you please discover your own religion.

The book which I wrote for myself - My Book, is my religion. That is my Bhagavad Gītā, my Bible, my Quran, my
Brahma Sūtrā. So Hinduism insists, Vedic tradition insists on you discovering your own religion, you finding out your
own religion. Discovered religion only will be life for you, not the religion in which you are just born or brought up.
Of course, if you discovered the same religion, okay. But whatever is said and done, only when you discover religion,
you will live it; not before, not otherwise. So, if you have the ability or the introduction to the Śāstrās, do debate. You
have all the right to question the authority. You have the possibility of discovering the religion.

On the second, Āpta Pramāṇā, the Master’s words, I have already declared, “Source is intelligence. Cause is
intelligence. Cause cannot be adulterated. Because it cannot be adulterated, effect is also intelligence. Because the
Cause and effect is intelligence, you are intelligence. Because you are intelligence, you are enlightened. Because you
are enlightened, you are compassionate. Because you are compassionate, you are all-powerful. Because you are all-
powerful, you are all-knowing. Because you are all-knowing, you are all-pervasive. Because you are all-pervasive,
you are all-powerful. Because you are all-powerful, you are you.

Śuddha Svayamprakāśa Jyoti, Nirlipta, Nirālamba, Nirvikalpa, Nirañjana, Sat-Chit-Ananda, Akhaṇḍa Paripūrṇa,
Anādyanta: these are some of the thought trends which you are supposed to debate. So now I declared the Āpta
Pramāṇa for you. Now, you start the debate and make it as a Ātma Pramāṇa. Maybe you need to see this discourse
once more. For all the lines now I declared, pick up each line and start the debate. And one more thing: when you

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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debate on My ideas, you don’t need to associate any sacredness to it because it is from Me. No! When any idea is
debated, it can be hit from any corner. The Vedic tradition gives you complete freedom to hit even the Vedas and
Upaniṣads. So you have all the right to hit all the statements I made from any direction.

You do not need to associate sacredness to My words just because it is My word. The sacredness is attributed to that
word when you click with it. When “My Book” becomes “Your Book,” it is sacred. Somebody else’s book has become
“My Book,” and “My Book” has to become “Your Book,” only then it is sacred; till then, it is not sacred. Please
understand, in Vedic tradition, we encourage you to discover your own sacred book, your own sacred secrets, your
own sacred truth. So I give you only the rough idea where to churn, and you start churning. Only when you churn, it
becomes yours. Only when you start churning, it becomes yours. So understand the truth as it is, and the experience
as it is.

Actually I can tell you one simple straight fact with a straight turned out, ironed out brain: if you just see around, you
are enlightened, nothing else. If you just see all these things with an ironed out brain, whatever knowledge you receive
and pen down, that is Brahma Sūtrā - aphorisms on Existence. With a straightened brain if you see this: wall is wall
is a wall. It is named as a wall because it needs some name now. There is no other purpose for why the name “wall”
is given to it. Now whatever I said is aphorisms on Existence on wall. So many thousands of people are sitting in front
of me: some are listening, some are debating, some are not listening, some are resisting, some are in depression. Why?
Neither I know nor they know. This is the aphorism on Existence on the people who are sitting in front of me. That’s
all.

Understand, I am revealing Brahma Sūtrās and everything. One TV in front of me is working, the other TV is not
working. Why? Neither I know nor the people who are working know. They may know, may not know, may not even
know why they don’t know, may know why it is not working; and may not want to repair and may want to repair and
may not be able to repair. This is the aphorisms on Existence on the TV in front of me. That’s all. See, Brahma Sūtrā
is nothing but looking at the reality with simple eyes. Whatever happens in your inner space as an understanding is
Brahma Sūtrā, that’s all. What is Brahma Sūtrās? Existed aphorisms of Existence. Certain work does not happen even
if you tell a person a hundred times. It is an aphorism on Existence. Nothing can be done about it, is the next aphorism
on Existence. That’s it.

“No, I will try to do,” is an aphorism on anxiety. “Why he is not doing?” Aphorism on frustration. That’s all. It is your
choice. “Alright, nothing can be done. Leave it.” Aphorism on restful awareness. “Let us divert our energy in some
other direction.” Aphorism on Vairāgya. That’s it. That’s all is the whole Brahma Sūtrā. Brahma Sūtrā is nothing but
simple reality straight away from the ironed out brain. You need to learn the simple art of how to keep a hundred dogs’
tails straight. Actually, whenever your brain says one idea: “Yes, Cause is intelligence.” One dog’s tail in your brain
is straight. The next line when we jump: “Cause is compassionate.” The other old tail, what happened? It has become
round. And you say: “No, no, no, Cause is intelligence. Cause is compassionate. Source is just. Source is living.” Then
by the time you come to the fourth-fifth, the dog ran away. You run behind that dog.

Aphorisms on Existence means looking at the Existence with a completely awakened brain, whatever knowledge
reality reveals to you is Brahma Sūtrā. The Zen saying: “That mountain is a mountain is a mountain. Tree is a tree is
a tree. River is a river is a river, ” is a Brahma Sūtrā, that’s all. The awakening intelligence. So go on drilling, debating,
analyzing various dimensions of truth, various aspects of truth, various expressions of truth - you will see, you are
awakened.

So today’s sacred secret, the thought trend:

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

69
श्रुतत्वाच्च ॥ ११ ॥
śrutatvācca

Three sacred secrets: because Śāstra - ancient Masters’ experience, Śāstra declares: “Cause is intelligence,” because
the Āpta Pramāṇa - your own Guru who is talking to you, He also declares from His own experience: “Cause is
intelligence.” Now third, because even your experience when you sit in Upaniṣad with the Master, says: “The Cause
is intelligence.” The Cause from which you are happening is intelligence. Start the debate on these three. Go on, go
on, go on, you will experience the greatest truth “Cause is intelligence” from all different dimensions and all different
angles.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

70
 vikāraśabdānneti cenna prācuryāt

Existence is Bliss; Existence is Constant Expansion

The 1st chapter, 1st section, 13th Sūtrā:

न्नवकारशब्दार्् र्ेन्नत चेर्् र् प्राचुर्यान त् || १.१.१३ ||

vikāraśabdānneti cenna prācuryāt || 1.1.13 ||

Gambhirananda translates as, “If it be argued that the blissful One is not going to the use of a word, suffix denoting
modifix say no; for the word is used in the sense of abundance.”

I am speaking on these Sūtrās for various reasons. One, to make this whole Brahma Sūtrās a life science. Second, to
make this whole Brahma Sūtrās as a scientifically proven life system. I’ll do thorough study on all these truths,
concepts, techniques, methods expressed in Brahma Sūtrās; scientifically record them, validate them through scientific
research. Of course, we are nobody to validate. Let us study and record it.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Who can validate Bādarāyana! Who can validate Vyāsa! No one. I can say study and record the scientifically
researchable parts. For example, when you go through a certain understanding of a certain Sūtrā, certain non-
mechanical parts of your brain get awakened. This we can record and present it to the world in a very proper way.
This way we can do a lot of work, a lot of good things.

Swami Vireswarananda’s translation goes, “If it be said that Brahman is not spoken of as an independent entity in the
passage on account of a word - tail, denoting part; we replied not so on account of abundance of terms denoting parts.”
Swami Sivananda translates as, “If it be objected that the term Anandamaya consisting of bliss cannot denote the
supreme Self because of its being a word denoting a modification or transformation or product; we said that the
objection is not valid on account of abundance which is denoted by suffix Maya.” As I said, I am putting it all in
record, so that later on when people see these discourses, it’ll be used as a research material also. That’s the reason I
am presenting them, some two-three persons’ views.

Another one important thing you need to know, the latest Incarnation always has the benefit of upgrading all the old
ways of translating, interpreting, arguing. Now I have that big benefit, I can upgrade. I can take you a little further. I
will be able to take you a little further if I translate and present to you how the orthodox commentators, the earlier
commentators, My predecessors have presented this to you. That’s it, nothing else. So if you know how our
predecessors have presented it, I can upgrade.

Please understand, I wanted to tell you all: I offer My humble respects to all these great Sadhus. I am not anyway
disrespecting them. I am only doing My work. I am expected to upgrade. Any Incarnation in Hindu tradition, He is
expected to take you deeper steps than the earlier Masters, than the earlier spiritual interpretations. So I am doing My
profession with all My humbleness and respects to the earlier Masters. No way I am disrespecting them. It’s like
research. You see, for their period and time, how people in front of them will understand, they expressed that much.

And I am fortunate for the first time, youngsters are listening to Brahma Sūtrās. Not only young Guru is talking, young
disciples are listening. “Gurur yuvāha shishya yuvāha.” That is happening for the first time. It was always “Vriddhā
shishya guru yuvāha,” or “Guru vriddhā shishya yuvāha.” Sometimes the Guru is old and disciples are young.
Sometimes disciples are old and Guru is young. For the first time we are making a unique combination. We are making
a unique combination where an able young intelligent Guru and able young receptive disciples are sitting together. So
we are creating unique combination. So naturally we can upgrade ourselves; go up next level, next level, next level. I
can say, only when a right team sits, right things are also expressed. I was trying to express Brahma Sūtrās for the last
three years. But I don’t know why it never happened. Now suddenly with the small team of disciples, it is flowing! It
is just happening! I think, right people, right time; things are really ripe and right.

न्नवकारशब्दार्् र्ेन्नत चेर्् र् प्राचुर्यान त् || १.१.१३ ||

vikāraśabdānneti cenna prācuryāt || 1.1.13 ||

One of the greatest powers of the Brahma Sūtrās is, it just fits into the context of the Master. See I wanted all of you
to understand 2-3 important, very important truths. Whenever a Master leaves a footprint, it’ll be a half truth. Half
truth will always be much worse than a lie. Whenever a Master doesn’t leave a footprint, like birds don’t leave
footprints in the air, in the sky, there is the big problem, you can’t use the path it travelled. There is no guidance from
Him. There are no tips from Him. There is no way He can help you.

Buffaloes leave footprints but it only leads to more and more muddy areas, because buffaloes go and land in mud
only. Birds don’t leave footprints even though they fly in high zones; they don’t leave footprints. Now what to do? If
you want to follow the bird, there is no way. If you want to follow the buffalo, it’ll only lead to mud. It's a big conflict.
People who leave footprints are always buffaloes. It’s a basic rule. Please understand, it’s a basic rule. Because all

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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footprints get muddy. In course of time, it gets muddy. It’ll be used based on opportunist opportunities. An opportunist
will torture all the spiritual text. They will twist, turn, disturb, misinterpret, manipulate, misrepresent, morph all the
sacred scriptures. What to do? It’s impossible for a common man to follow the path of birds which don’t leave
footprints, and it is useless to follow the footprints of buffalo. So somewhere a bird needs to leave a footprint. Of
course, birds can’t leave footprints. It just leaves a smell streak, a strong smell in the air; the line through which it
flew.

I can say, Brahma Sūtrās is a smell line left by Bādarāyana Vyāsa. Words can’t describe. Here Bādarāyana brings a
unique context. In some of the Upanishads, the description about the Source and the bliss is done by the abundance of
words. Because of that, bliss and Brahman are one and the same. There can be another one understanding and
translation, a sacred secret you can dig out from this Sutrā. Brahman is abundance. Brahman is life. Existence is life.
By very nature, it goes on expanding, expanding, expanding. Understand, I will present the interpretation of this Sutra.
I will present this Sutra, maybe in this angle. Existence is bliss. Existence is constant expansion.

Please understand, bliss constantly expands in all dimensions. If you are experiencing levitation, automatically you
will see, you are expanding in the dimension of health, wealth, and relationships in every dimension. Please
understand, if you are levitating and your wealth is not expanding, your health is not expanding means something is
seriously wrong. It’s not levitation, you are jumping around. Brahma Sutrās are aphorisms of Existence, Cosmic law.
Existence is abundance, constant expansion. Whether it is in the level of understanding, in the level of love, in the
level of life, in the level of health, in the level of wealth; whatever it may be, the truth of Existence is expansion. Very
essence of Existence is expansion.

Essence of Existence is bliss. Essence of Existence is expansion. I wanted all of you to know these two-three sacred
secrets as today’s flow for vādaprativāda, debate. Today's flow for eN-Debate should be: Existence is constant
expansion. So if you are living life, existing, you should be expanding. Let me give you some understandings. When
you die, even though you think you are losing something, you don’t understand now you have the experience of the
next death. You are richer than the last moment. Till the last moment, you know only say eight deaths. Now, you are
Master of 9th death. Then the next birth happens. Then you are Master of one more birth. Then life happens. You are
now rich with more and more experience. Now, you master the next life.

I wanted to reveal an important sacred secret to all of you from my personal experience. I think, even though it is too
mystical, I can reveal it. Whoever is My disciple and able to connect with what I am saying, you connect. Others it’s
okay. When I assumed this body, I collected biomemory from Arunagiri Yogishwara, Meenakshi, and little bit from
Swami Vivekananda. When I collected the bio memory and made this body, and assumed the body, took birth; I saw
suddenly, I have updated even My Meenakshi bio memory. Understand, bio memory of Meenakshi continues to grow.
You may think, “Are they not perfect?” They are perfect but not an end, understand. Enlightenment is ultimate but
not final. Meenakshi is ultimate, no doubt; but not final. The ultimate goes on exploding into ultimate. It is a constant
expansion, constant expansion, constant expansion.

Constant expansion of a certain flow is what I call abundance. Life is abundance. Existence is abundance. You go on
creating. Understand, you are a creator. If you want to spend time on wealth creation, you will do that. If you want to
spend time on peace creation, you will do that. If you want to spend time on creating spiritual bliss, you will do that.

Life is expansion.We’ll go on expanding, expanding, expanding. Life is abundance. By its very nature, Existence goes
on expanding; even scientists are saying the whole Cosmos is continuously expanding. The very quality of Existence
is expansion. Be consoled, life is not for death. Be consoled, Existence is not sadist. There is no negativity. It is a
causeless, reasonless expansion in understanding, in wealth, in life, in bliss. It is expansion, expansion, expansion.
This should be today’s thought current - continuous expansion. Source, Cause, Existence is bliss. Source, Cause,
Existence is expansion, abundance. Yesterday’s Sūtrā is: Source is bliss. What I said yesterday, “When you realize

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Source is bliss; bliss attracts fortune.” Today’s Sūtrā, the essence is, Source is expansion. Source is not just bliss.
Source is bliss and expansion.

So today, have your debate, vādaprativāda, in these lines: how is Source expansion? How by being in Source or being
in Existence, you can go on creating. Understand, every thought which happens in you, itself is abundance. Thinking
is abundance. Thinking is wealth. I tell you, if you are having poverty by thinking, you want poverty as your wealth!
Whether it is poverty or wealth, it is your abundance.

Understand, poverty is your choiceful negative abundance. You go on planning. And I have seen people feeling very
proud about their poverty. And they spend so much time making it sacred, like slowly the garbage can become a deity.
Sometimes in the Hindu villages, you will be shocked, even if the garbage can look like a Shiva Linga, they put that
upside down. If you put it upside down, it’ll look exactly like Shiva Linga, and start putting a cloth and start the pūjā.
Sometimes it happens. But anyhow, that is another one dimension: we can worship anything.

If we were not in the space of worshipping all the milestones installed by British, we would have been in the space of
British which was destroying everybody. They don’t even bother to destroy human beings. How many millions of
people they killed to colonize the whole world! You need to be cultured to see God in the small roadside milestone.
You don’t need to be cultured to use the bullets and birangi to kill innocent people in Jallianwala Bagh. For that you
don’t need to be cultured. But you need to be cultured to worship the roadside milestones as God. Still we are carrying
the intellectual wound they inflicted on us. I have come to heal that wound, the intellectual wounds they inflicted on
Hindu tradition.

We are not bothered about all the gold they swindled from here and took. We are not bothered about all the wealth
they grabbed and sucked from our country and took to their country. I am not bothered about that. Because, consciously
we are rich; we will go on creating richness. I have studied: I tell you, the most stable economy on the planet earth is
Indian economy. During the worst global crisis, eight out of ten Indians did not even know that a big global crisis was
going on. Eight out of ten Indians did not stop buying or purchasing anything because we have a second, third
economy! See, we had a gold-based economy. Go to every middle class house, you will see at least 100 gm gold. If
it's an upper middle class, you will see at least 1 kg gold. We had a gold-based economy, saving-based economy.

By our religion and faith, we believe you need to make wealth for your kids, grandkids, only then they will give you
Shrādha and Pinda tarpana. So just for that, you have to save. We are saving-based civilization. The idea that my last
check should bounce will not sell in India. In the West, ask any middle class man, he will say, “My last check should
bounce.” If that much is said then enough. But in India, it’s not like that. Save, save, save; we are a saving-based
civilization. Only in India, the maximum percentage of the people own their house, own their car; it is a very stable
economy.

I went through all the statistics. It is a wrong idea of economy which the Western countries are using, or the wrong
scale to show themselves in a higher place and India in a lower place. Otherwise I tell you, we are rich. That is why I
am telling you, I am not bothered at all about the wealth they sucked from India and took. We give it for many beggars,
but they cannot be forgiven for the intellectual wounds they inflicted on My Vedamātā. I’ll heal the wound, and make
them understand so that they don’t repeat these kinds of things on any other civilizations.

Constantly in you every moment, thoughts are happening; it is life. Understand, thoughtless space is your inner wealth;
thoughts are your outer world wealth. So both are your abundance, don’t abandon thinking. I am giving you new
clarity. Resting in no mind state does not mean, you will hate thinking. I wanted all of you to know, don’t think I don’t
have thinking; I am beyond thinking and thinking is also happening in Me like a blood circulation. Are you worried
about the blood circulation happening in your body? No. Then why should you be worried about thinking happening
in your system? How the blood circulation happening in you is not disturbing you; same way, thinking happening in

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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Me is not disturbing Me. This is one of the important sacred secrets. It was always misunderstood that the Enlightened
person will not have thinking.

I am telling you very clearly, I have at least forty-two times more independent thinking files happening than any one
of you. For example, if you can remember about particular department work, and follow it up, think further about it,
update that file and maintain it; I can maintain forty-two files - two cycles than any normal man. I can say, the most
intelligent normal man. Only thing is, like blood circulation is not disturbing you; My thinking circulation is not
disturbing Me, that’s all. People who live around Me are shocked by My memory power, or the remembrance, the
maintenance of the old files. I am telling you, forty-two independent logic are functioning in My system. I am not
disturbed by that thinking, that’s all.

So, thinking is abundance. Don’t hate it. If you are thinking about poverty, you will create the abundance of poverty.
If you are thinking about wealth, you will create the abundance of wealth. You will create the abundance what you
want, that’s it. For example, now you decided to sit with Me, go on listening and expanding about your understanding
of Brahma Sūtrās. So naturally, this is the abundance you are accumulating. So everyday, you are becoming richer in
your inner space. The abundance is happening. If you decide to accumulate wealth, then spend time to find out the
ways of creating wealth, you will accumulate that.

Zero one, zero one, zero one, zero one is your inner space. The zero is restful awareness, one is start. Just because I
am using the word - zero one, zero one, zero one, don’t think it is against each other. No! Both are happening in you.
The restful awareness is the inner wealth and the thoughts are the outer wealth. Thoughts are abundance, restful
awareness is bliss. It’s like the inner bone in an elephant is called teeth, the extended teeth is a tusk. Same way, inner
peace is bliss and extended bliss is thought. Stop hating thought. By hating thought or trying to stop a thought, you
will only suffer more and more. It is life destructive. You will never be successful.

So understand, be not disturbed by thinking. That happens by practice of unclutching; nothing else, or even decision.
Just the conscious decision also can make you realize. Understand and look, live life's abundance. Life is abundance.
Life is rich. Life is Enlightenment. Life is life. Life is abundance means Existence is abundance. And thinking is not
opposite to restful awareness or Enlightenment. Real Enlightenment is not being disturbed by thinking. Blood
circulation, heart beating, breathing; all these things are happening in you, you are not disturbed by it. And why should
you be disturbed by thinking? Being beyond thinking is Enlightenment. So use thinking for abundance. Don’t
disrespect thinking or misuse thinking, or abuse thinking. Think and create abundance, wealth. Existence is expansion.
Yesterday, the sacred secret is, Existence is bliss. Today’s sacred secret is, Existence is abundance!

We’ll spend a few minutes with this truth: thinking is not against Enlightenment. Just sit now, as Enlightened being
without being bothered about thinking, by thinking - just like blood circulation, breathing, air circulation. Thinking is
happening in you. See in your system - one side digestion is going on in the stomach; in the lungs their system is going
on; in the heart blood pumping is going on; in the whole body blood is getting circulated; Samānā Vāyu is getting
circulated. Just the same way, thinking is going on. Why should you be disturbed by it? Just sit, like breathing, blood
circulation, digestion is thinking. Sit and relax in this truth. Let the inner awakening, being beyond thinking happen
in you all.

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taddhetuvyapadeśācca

Flow with the Master

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Today, the Sūtrā which we are going to discuss is a very important concept, very subtle concept, almost impossible to
grasp. And I wanted to tell you honestly: today at noon when I was resting, before entering into Samādhi, I just saw
the Sūtrā and put it under My head and literally the downloading happened the whole night. In that Samādhi, the
revelation about the Sūtrā happens.

I read this Sūtrā, today’s Sūtrā and I was resting. It is mystical but truth. Suddenly I saw two intense thought flows,
argument flows for this Sūtrā and it just hit My inner space. Two thought flows about this same Sūtrā: how this Sūtrā
can be understood and debated in two thought flows. Just both of them hit My inner space and became almost the
juice of My inner space. I just looked up and saw how these two thought flows are happening in Me. I saw an Akashic
record of Shankara and Vyāsā’s arguments.

Today I am going to tell you exactly what Shankara and Vyāsā argued on this Sūtrā. I can actually repeat the whole
thing in Sanskrit. But because you would not be able to understand, I’ll repeat in English, exactly the arguments, style
and structure which Vyāsā and Shankara had when they argued. I do not know whether any book exists on it. As of
now, I have not read any book. But, I’ll express today whatever got downloaded in Me. If there is any book, you can
find out and verify. I challenge it’ll be verbatim. It will be verbatim because I saw very clearly the argument flow of
Vyāsā and argument flow of Shankara, both landing.

All of you should be aware that Vyāsā Himself came down to check Shankara’s strength on this philosophy, and to
bless Shankara. The argument went on and on, how can it end? And who can win between Shankara and Vyāsā?
That’s why Padmapāda sings the great song, a great verse saying, “Shiva is sitting here as Shankara and Vishnu is
sitting here as Vyāsā. How can this argument end? I bow down to both of You.” Suddenly Shankara realizes, “Oh, it’s
Vyāsā who is sitting in front.” And Vyāsā realizes it is Shankara who is sitting in front. Then both of Them end the
argument. Vyāsā blesses Shankara saying, “I’ll give you 16 more years of life.” Then He blesses Shankara and leaves.

Let Me enter into the Sūtrā. Shankara adds some deeper understanding and Vyāsā adds deeper understanding. Then
Shankara goes to the next level of understanding and Vyāsā goes to the next level of understanding. It goes on and on
and on; there is no argument and nobody is agreeing with each other. That is the most funny thing. I’ll present to you,
you will be shocked. How can this kind of argument go on? Neither of Them are disagreeing with each other nor They
are agreeing with each other.

तद्धे तुव्यपदे शाच्च ॥ १.१.१४ ॥

taddhetuvyapadeśācca || 14 ||

I’ll directly give you the Akashic records, the Cosmic reading - Akashic record of Shankara and Vyāsā.
I cannot find a single translation which even connects with Shankara and Bādarāyana’s thought flow.

In the first chapter, first section, Sutra no.14.

Shankara starts saying, “As the bliss is the cause, abundance is effect. The abundance can be considered as Māyā.”
Vyāsā replies, “If something can be an effect of the bliss, how can it have some other quality than bliss? But by the
word “Maya,” a common perception can be something other than Brahman - cause.” Shankara continues, “The
attribution of something other than Brahman is Maya, itself is not complete factual cognition. As the bliss and the
abundance cannot be separated by its existence and action.” Vyasa starts, “The action and inaction; both penetrate
certain personality existent, you cannot attribute the personality change during action or inaction.” Then Shankara
continues, “The action naturally expresses the intensity of the personality, so you cannot say the inaction or the action
can represent the same personality.” Then Vyasa continues, “As Dharma and Moksha in inaction - same personality
is in Moksha. In action, He shows the Dharma, so action and inaction - both exist in the same space.” Then Shankara
continues, “Even though action and inaction exhibits itself in the same space, Dharma is surely one step different.

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Other than Moksha’s very existence, it is a line moving in love, in the love, in the flow. The very essence of the
Source, even though it is love, the flow of the love is Dharma. So the Dharma and Moksha cannot be, may not be
equated for common understanding.”

I have clearly, just clearly repeated the flow as it landed in Me. Now I’ll comment on it. It’s an exact flow. Now, what
will we make out of it? I have not changed a single word. I just repeated the flow as it is. I think still the thought flow
is not completed, it’s just oozing out. I’ll do one thing, I’ll completely record it. Whatever comes out, let it be recorded.
Then I’ll come comment on it.

Shankara’s flow: as the being and doing expresses and intensifies the flow of the original existence, being and doing
consists of the original Source. Vyāsā’s flow: even though being and doing consists of the original flow; original flow
is not just being and doing, something more than the being and doing. Shankara’s flow: as the Mokṣā when moves is
considered as Dharma; the Source - Dharma and Mokshā, may not become equivalent, so we have to look into the
subtle possible difference between Māyā and Brahman. Vyāsā flows: words like Dharma, Arthā, Kāmā, Mokṣā can
be different but the original flow - the Mokṣā when it vibrates in the being by the doing in a majority space, it is called
Arthā - the wealth. But, when the doing is reduced by the push of the being, it is called Kāmā - pleasure. When being
and doing completely overtakes the other, it is called Dharma or Mokṣā. So because all the four flows with the very
Source, on the very Source; even though all the four are considered to be different, it cannot be different as the Source
and the flow is one and the same - like water and the river.

Shankara flows: whether water and the river flows or stays as the Source and flow, it can be different, it can change
by its very quality, by the flow or by being stagnant. As the Dharma which does not constantly upgrade itself, does
not lead to Mokṣā. So the Mokṣā which is not directly useful to the common man can never become Dharma. The
words go on denoting the same but the very flow differs based on the time and space and requirement which is the
influence of Māyā. So, you cannot say the Māyā and Brahman do not have any gap.

Vyāsa starts: if you accept the gap between the Māyā and Brahman which creates too many complications and
questions which cannot be solved, sorted out by any argument - the flow of the Māyā into Brahman, and Brahman
into Māyā has no boundary which can be experienced by the Upaniṣads, or the inner space of your very experience as
per the ātmā, āptā, ṣāstrā pramānā. The differences are never felt except by the different usages of the word. You
cannot grasp Brahman-Māyā's independent existence or even a slight difference.

Then comes Shankarā’s flow, Shankarā’s argument: if there is no difference between the Brahman and the Māyā’s
flow; if there is no addition or deletion between these two, then the Dharma and Mokṣā is supposed to be one and the
same. How can Dharma and Mokṣā be one and the same as they have to be dropped for the sake of other at a particular
point? Dharma has to be dropped for Mokṣā. If you are interested too much in Dharma, Mokṣā cannot be achieved.
This is the revelation not only of ṣāstrās but also of the ātma pramāṇā - the personal experience.

Then comes Vyāsā: there is a space where the Dharma and Mokṣā cannot be dropped for the sake of another. As
enlightenment or the ātmānubhavā is always transmitted only by a personality where the Mokṣā and Dharma has met
one another - merged into that completely. So that transmission happens only by a being in which both have merged.
You don’t need to drop one another when you have the direct Master who is transmitting that experience. After all, it
never gets transmitted without a personality where the Mokṣā and Dharma has never become one. So, that necessity
to drop the Dharma for Mokṣā or for the necessity to drop the Mokṣā for Dharma does not exist when the real
transmission is happening.

Now I’ll have to translate. I can promise the whole thought flow is not Mine. At least, the close disciples can find out
My thought flow. My thought flow can be easily found, you can find out.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

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I saw very clearly when the last argument was put because it touched the Guru’s sentiment, Shankarā fell into the
reminiscence mood of Govindapāda, and did not present any argument. That’s where it ended. Just He fell into that
loving mood of being cared for by Govindapāda. So He did not continue the further arguments on this sūtrā. The
further exploration did not happen. It just stopped with it as it landed on the Guru’s sentiment, where the Dharma and
Mokṣā merge into one personality. The requirement for renouncing one for the other does not exist, when the
transmission is happening through the Master.

When you are living and following, flowing with the Master, you don’t need to renounce Dharma for the sake of
Mokṣā; Mokṣā for the sake of Dharma because the idea you carry about Dharma is not the ultimate Dharma. It is not
Dharma at all. Forget about ultimate, it’s not Dharma at all. When there is Mokṣā alive sitting in front of you, to
describe Dharma every moment to you - just go with it. You don’t need to even renounce what you may think. If you
are just flowing with the Master’s experience and flow and by His words and by Himself, along with Him - you are
not renouncing Dharma. Even if you renounce all the ideas of Dharma, whatever you think as Dharma; even those
ideas are taken away from you. You are asked to do something opposite; even then, the very renunciation of Dharma
does not happen in you as the Dharma itself is expressing itself directly in your life through a person who is established
in the ultimate Dharma and Mokṣā.

So with this word, Shankara just somehow relaxes into the deep love - Bhakti, the Guru Bhakti. So he stopped or
relaxed from presenting further argument, because any argument Shankara will present for this thought trend will be
disrespectful to the Guru Bhakti, His own Guru. So, He just rested.

Shankara - Shiva, who came down as Shankarāchārya. Keshava - Vishnu, who came down as Vyāsā. I bow. Shankarā
starts saying, “As the bliss is the cause, abundance is effect. The abundance can be considered as Māyā. Vyāsā
replies,. “If something can be effect of the bliss, how can it have some other quality than bliss? But by the word
‘Māyā,’ a common perception can be something other than Brahman - cause.” Shankara continues, “The attribution
for something other than Brahman is Māyā, itself is not complete factual cognition. As the bliss and the abundance
cannot be separated by its existence and action.” Vyāsā starts, “The action and inaction, both penetrate certain
personality existent, you cannot attribute the personality change during action or inaction.” Then Shankarā continues,
“The action naturally expresses the intensity of the personality so you cannot say the inaction or the action can
represent the same personality.” Then Vyāsā continues, “As Dharma and Mokṣā in inaction, same personality is in
Mokṣā. In action, he shows the dharma, so action and inaction - both exist in same space.” Then Shankarā continues,
“Even though action, inaction exhibits itself in the same space, Dharma is surely one step different. Other than
Mokṣā’s very existence, it is a line moving in the flow.” The very essence of the Source, even though it is love, the flow
of the love is Dharma. So the Dharma and Mokṣā cannot be, may not be equated for common understanding. I have
clearly, just clearly repeated the flow as it landed in Me. Now I’ll comment on it. It's an exact flow. Now, what will
make out of it? I have not changed a single word. I just repeated the flow as it is.

Shankarā’s flow: as the being and doing expresses and intensifies the flow of the original existence, being and doing
consists of the original Source. Vyāsā’s flow: even though being and doing consists of the original flow; original flow
is not just being and doing, something more than the being and doing. As Shankarā’s flow: as the Mokṣā when moves
is considered as Dharma; the Source - Dharma and Mokṣā, may not become equivalent, so we have to look into the
subtle possible difference between Māyā and Brahman. Vyāsā flows: words like Dharma, Arthā, Kāmā, Mokṣā can
be different but the original flow - the Mokṣā when it vibrates in the being by the doing in a majority space, it is called
Arthā - the wealth. But, when the doing is reduced by the push of the being, it is called Kāmā - pleasure. When being
and doing completely overtakes the other, it is called Dharma or Mokṣā. So because all the four flows with the very
Source, on the very Source; even though all the four are considered to be different, it cannot be different as the Source
and the flow is one and the same - like water and the river.

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Shankara flows: whether water and the river flows and moves or stays as the Source and flow, it can be different, it
can change by its very quality, by the flow or by being stagnant. As the Dharma which does not constantly upgrade
itself, does not lead to Mokṣā. So the Mokṣā which is not directly useful to the common man can never become Dharma.
The words go on denoting the same but the very flow differs based on the time and space and requirement which is
the influence of Māyā. So, you cannot say the Māyā and Brahman does not have any gap.

Vyāsā starts: if you accept the gap between the Māyā and Brahman which creates too many complications and
questions which cannot be solved, sorted out by any argument - the flow of the Māyā into Brahman, and Brahman
into Māyā has no boundary which can be experienced by the Upanishads, or the inner space of your very experience
as per the ātmā, āptā, ṣhāstra pramāṇā. Those differences are never felt except by the different usages of the word.
You cannot grasp the Brahman-Māyā’s independent existence or even a slight difference.

Then comes Shankarā’s flow, Shankaraās argument: if there is no difference between the Brahman and the Māyā’s
flow; if there is no addition or deletion between these two, then the Dharma and Mokṣā is supposed to be one and the
same. How can Dharma and Mokṣā be one and the same as they have to be dropped for the sake of other at particular
point? Dharma has to be dropped for Mokṣā. If you are interested too much in Dharma, Mokṣā cannot be achieved.
This is the revelation not only of ṣāstrās and ātma pramāṇā - the personal experience.

Then comes Vyāsā: there is a space where the Dharma and Mokṣā that cannot be dropped for the sake of another. As
enlightenment or the ātmanubhāvā is always transmitted only by a personality where the Mokṣā and Dharma has met
one another - merged into that completely. So that transmission happens only by a being in which both have merged.
You don’t need to drop one another when you have the direct Master who is transmitting that experience. After all, it
never gets transmitted without a personality where the Mokṣā and Dharma has never become one, never merged. So,
that necessity to drop the Dharma for Mokṣā or for the necessity to drop the Mokṣā for Dharma does not exist when
the real transmission is happening.

Now I have to translate.

You should be in a space where you can never be praised. That is such a wonderful space. You can never be defamed.
See, how will you praise Me for this? Will you call Me a Sarvajna or will you call Me as Smritikārā? You cannot be
praised. Being in the space where people cannot praise you at all, is the safest space - you cannot be defamed at all.

Let Me start one by one. When Mokṣā and Dharma overlaps on each other or pushes each other, the being and doing
- if there is more being, less doing - it is called pleasure. If there is more doing, less being - it is called wealth - arthā.
The whole life science is over. And if completely being takes over - Mokṣā. If completely doing takes over - Dharma.

The aphorisms of existence. This is what is Brahma sūtrās. Understand, aphorisms of existence: how do you exist? I
never realized in my life sitting and talking can be so tasty. I used to hear when people say, “People sit and talk for
hours together. Sitting and talking is so tasty - some stories, rumours, gossiping.” Gossiping can be so tasty I never
felt. Now I am feeling the gossiping can be so tasty, because this is more than a gospel, it’s more like gossiping. It’s
more like gossiping only. I can say, it’s not debate between Shankarā and Vyāsā; gossip between Shankarā and Vyāsā.

I’ll dig out the sacred secrets from this sūtrā. You see as the cause is bliss, effect is abundance. Maybe abundance can
be considered as Māyā - illusion. No! It is not! As the cause creates effect without any gap, without any reason; it can
never be separated and has an innate experience and tendency. The cause is inbuilt with effect. Bliss is inbuilt with
abundance. Abundance cannot be Māyā. Then finally whole thing boils down to whether Dharma is important or
Mokṣā is important. Naturally everybody will say Mokṣā only is important.
Then why are Dharma and Mokṣā different? Then it boils down to Mokṣā can never be tasted, unless a person in
whom Mokṣā and Dharma has merged in his life, transmits it to you. Dharma can never be lived unless a person in
whom the Mokṣā and Dharma has become as one, teaches you. Mokṣā can never be tasted unless He transmits. The

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being who experienced both together in Him, both have merged in Him. Same way, you can’t live Dharma unless He
teaches.

When I use words, it can be considered as Dharma. When I push energy, it can be considered as Mokṣā. If you are
sitting and grasping words, you are grasping Dharma. If you are sitting and grasping energy, you are grasping Mokṣā.
But both are from same Source where both have become one and the same. In some body, both have become one -
only that body can transmit even one to you. Because it can be transmitted only from a body, where both have become
one - you don’t need to renounce one for the sake of other. If you catch this energy, naturally you will go off with
these words. If you go off with these words, naturally will catch the energy. That’s all.

I can give you these three sacred secrets: Is abundance and bliss different? Is Dharma and Mokṣā different? Is the
Master the Source of both? You can honestly debate. Sometimes you can have a different view. You can say, “I can
understand Master is Mokṣā but I don’t think He is Dharma.” You can present your own arguments. You can say,
“No, no, I think Master is Dharma. He may not be Mokṣā.” Or you can say, “I think He is not both, neither Dharma
nor Mokṣā.” Or you can say, “He is both but He transmits only one - Dharma or Mokṣā.” Or you can say, “No. He is
both and He transmits both.” You can take any flow. The sacred secret can be easily Source of Dharma and Mokṣā.
Does He transmit both? Who gets which? Or who receives which? Who receives what? You can explore.

Let Vyāsā and Shankarā bless all of us to understand their very thought flow. Let them bless us to experience their
very energy flow, the ultimate Brahma sūtrās - the ultimate aphorisms of existence, the ultimate existence itself.

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 māntra māntravarṇikameva ca gīyat

Source is Intelligence. Source is Bliss. Source is

Existence

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Q: Bhagavan, in the thought flow of Sage Vyāsā and Shankarā, at one point you mentioned that only when Dharma is
given up, can Mokṣā be attained. You had in an earlier discourse mentioned that Karnā, the character in Mahabharata
was stuck in Dharma. And only when Krishna in the guise of Brahmin took away his Dharma as a charity, Karna
could be Enlightened. Is the understanding of the thought flow appropriate? How do You explain next statement - that
Dharma and Mokṣā get integrated in a being? Please clarify.

This a huge subject. You should know the ultimate truth. Ego can destroy itself 99.9% but not 100%. The last 0.1%
will not be able to commit suicide. For example, if you take up a technique, for example mantra. With that one thought,
you will be able to destroy all ten million thoughts you have. But finally that one thought, you will not be able to
destroy. So the thought on which you built your whole life on mind is called Dharma.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, if you see his life: he built his whole life on that one concept - Kali. He was
able to give up everything. Finally, Kali he’s not able to give up. Totapuri had to come and break and push
him beyond Kali. Karna built his whole personality on charity - giving. That was the base for which he is
ready to compromise to everything. So with that one thing, he almost killed 99.9% of his thoughts. But that
last moment, he was unable to take the jump from that thought, from that mental setup. It is a very sensitive
and very subtle subject.

If you have found your Master, be very clear - don’t bother about Dharma. His words are Dharma. When He asked
you to step out of Dharma, do it gladly. You will be falling directly into Mokṣā. But you need a tremendous trust. I
have seen people can easily give up their money, family all other things for the sake of Master. But giving up what
they think as Dharma is the most difficult thing. They will be caught there. They will die in the 13th day of the war.
All the people who died under the army of Karna were the people who could not jump out beyond Dharma and get
into Mokṣā.

Karna was stuck on that one Dharma, one concept. And another one important thing you should know, if you like him,
the King is called as a God and saviour. If you don’t like, the same guy is called as dictator. That’s the mind. Same
way, this truth which I am going to express now: if you like, you can take this as a compassionate revelation or you
can say rule for exploiting. It’s your mind. But, as a factual reality, it is a compassionate revelation.

Enlightenment or any spiritual growth is discretionary gift by Master. There is no law with which you can earn it. To
a certain level, that feeling good can be earned by some laws, rules, Sādhanās and all. But that solid experience itself
is a clear discretionary gift from the Master. When you stand by Me, or do what I am saying based on some of your
understandings or your own concepts all these time - you lived based on your concepts. You did not do because I said.
You did it because it matched with your ideas. Only when you do something which I am saying, which does not match
your idea - you take the jump into the surrender - Bhakti, and Enlightenment happens in you. You put your feet directly
into Enlightenment. Always the guidance from the Master will be Dharma in the large picture. Unfortunately, you
don’t get to see that large picture before you enter into that Enlightened state, space.

So this is a fight that goes on for ages. And again and again it repeats: few people not even standing by Dharma, few
people getting caught in what they call as Dharma, few people jumping beyond that and entering into Mokṣā. These
are the three groups. Few people who are not bothered at all even about basic Dharma, they are destroyed - demons.
Few people who are bothered about something called Dharma which was expressed in the earlier versions; it is like
last year’s train time table, if you try to use this year - it is called Dharma. For last year, it was Mokṣā. For this year,
it is Dharma. That’s all.

You go and stand on the railway station saying that this time table says very clearly at 7.30 this train is supposed to
come. But you forget the train time table is last year’s time table. So if you are standing with last year’s time table,

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that is what we called - stuck with the old rules. That kind of people will neither be punished nor be rewarded. They
will be just wasting their time, stuck. But the people who are ready to update their time table with their open eyes,
when the Master happens, ready to enter into the next space are given Mokṣā. They experience Mokṣā.

Karna’s story is the right example. Krishna goes and lifts him out of that mental setup in which he is caught, on which
he built his whole life, which is his very being. Shankara gets lifted out of his Dharma by Vishwanatha. He is caught
too much with the “jāti Brāhmana” identity. He was able to give up everything just on that one pride - upper caste.

Then Sadāshivā, Viṣwanātha appears in Varanasi, initiates him. He comes as a Panchama, Chandāla who eats dog or
pig, carries the pig flesh and Devi Annapurni, Mahadevi walks as an assistant carrying the dead pig’s body and four
dogs. Chaturveda - all the four Vedas come down as four dogs, having the piece of flesh and bones in the mouth. The
worst, dirtiest scene. And Shankara is taking bath in the Ganges. After the bath, he comes out from that sacred water
body in a deep sacred joyful mood.

Taking bath in a sacred water body is a great experience, a powerful spiritual practice. I’ll sincerely recommend all of
you, as much as possible, take bath in the sacred water body. The spiritual vibrations can be transmitted, infused into
your body through water much more than through air. For example, now I am sending the vibrations through air to all
of you. But if all of us are sitting in the sacred water body, the levitation effect will be 10 times more. Only
Enlightenment gets transmitted through the space. But the levitation experience, all these energies get transmitted only
through air.
Now whatever I am transmitting to you, if this same thing, if we sit in the water body it will be 10 times more powerful.
That is why always initiations are supposed to be held in water body. All initiations in Vedic tradition, whether it is
Gayatri Initiation or sanyas initiation, you are supposed to be standing in neck level water, and the Master will put His
foot on the water and initiate you. In sanyas initiation you are supposed to completely drown yourself in the water,
just raise your neck, that’s all. Because the whole, whole dress has to be left as it is. You should be standing naked
inside the water, only your neck should be seen. Master will put that Kavi on your shoulder. Then you should take
that cloth and tie it around your hip, come out of the water.

Siddha tradition says, if you take bath in a water body that is 100 times more than the volume of blood in your body,
the pressure of that water which works on your body will take care that the whole blood circulation is purified,
intensified, properly happens. You will not have any disease related to blood circulation or hypertension. I have used
this concept to heal many people. This is from Siddha tradition and I verified this. If the volume of your blood is 1
unit, 100 unit water should be there, means a river or a huge tank. The pressure created on your body will intensely
make the blood flow happen.

This is just the physical level. But in the sacred level, a spiritual level if it is energized water body, sacred water body
- never miss a chance. It’ll really do so much good to you. All our ashrams should try to have basic things: temple, an
Akhada, sacred water body, open Anna Mandir serving anybody who comes and Siddha Aushadhalaya, Siddha
Vidyalaya to provide a basic home remedy and Siddha care for all the diseases.

Shankara after completing his bath comes out with all the sacred feeling and mood. Poor Shankara was able to give
up everything. But that orthodoxy, the upper crust - that did not leave him. So when Mahādevā Viṣwanātha comes
down, Shankara sees, and, immediately all his sacred feeling went away. He gets so irritated, he looks at the disciples.
They just immediately acted like an arrow came out of the bow, jumped on Viṣwanāthā and said, “Get out! Get out!
Move out! Move out of the way! Master is coming!” Then the Chandālā, Viṣwanāthā who came down in the form of
Chandālā, very gracefully looks, and stares at the disciples first, and then looks into the eyes of Shankara, “Who should
move? Body or consciousness? Body does not have anything great. This body and that body, both are same.
Consciousness cannot move. It is always pure. Body is always impure. Consciousness is always pure. Because body

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is always impure, this body does not move for the sake of that body. Because consciousness is always pure, there is
no question of moving. Should consciousness move or body move?” Very beautifully He questions.

Shankara is an intelligent person. Immediately he jumps out of his Dharma in which he was caught, falls flat at the
feet of Chandālā. If you can take me one step further than my understanding; if you can give one strong click, we
don’t care which community you are, who you are; we are ready to surrender. That is the intensity, attitude of
Shankara. Because of that intensity, he just jumped out of that Dharma, that samskārā. He fell flat and got out of that
engram, expressed the ultimate, received the ultimate. Then Chandālā disappears and appears as Viṣwanāthā, blesses
Shankarā.

All people who hold on to some Dharma, some integrity, will grow very fast. They will drop everything else. But,
going beyond that, jumping that, is the real strength or the spiritual courage, guts. Blessed are those who are directly
asked to do the things which are not Dharma, as per your understanding by Guru. I am telling you, if your Guru says,
“Do something which is not Dharma as per you,” and you do it, you are blessed!
I still repent for not smoking when Yogi Ramsuratkumar gave me that beedi. I still repent but I missed it. I missed the
chance. Now how many times I smoke, nothing can happen. That won’t liberate Me. Anyhow I struggled myself; I
can say, if I would have picked up that beedi from his hand that day and smoked, I can say at least I would have
reduced 2 years of my struggle in my journey.” 2 year struggle could have been sorted out in 2 seconds. I am very
clear, I still repent for not picking up the beedi from Ramsuratkumar when he gave.

Maybe many of you may not know that incident, let Me describe. I am brought up from a very orthodox family. My
grandfather was a great inspiration for me but highly orthodox. You can’t even talk about non-vegetarian food or
alcohol or cigarette, beedi in the house. Forget about having, you can’t even talk. Even in the television, if some scenes
come as if smoking, he will switch off the TV. I was brought up by him.

One day I was sitting in the Tiruvannamalai cremation ground with Yogi Ramsuratkumar. Usually he would sit there
in the night time. Whenever I asked him, “Why do you sit here?” He would say, “This is a calm place. Only dead
people will not disturb us!” He will be happily sitting. I went and sat with him. I used to enjoy his company. He was
a chain smoker. One day, suddenly He picked up the beedi from His mouth and stretched to me. My love for him and
my parental conditioning, both were having war literally. It is like Krishna got down from the chariot and picked up
the wheel as a Sudarshana Chakra to kill Bhishma. Krishna is Guru, Bhishma is parental conditioning. Krishna picked
up the Sudarshana Chakra, “Come on, it is time. Unless I get down, the parental conditioning will not die.” Krishna
has promised though He will not take any weapon and fight in the war. Guru always promises He will not directly kill
parental conditioning. That is why I always tell, “Get your parent’s letter of consent and come.” I cannot directly kill,
It’s a rule parental conditioning cannot be killed directly by Master.

I’ll have to only play around. I can inspire you to come out of parental conditioning, but I cannot directly instigate.
See the whole scene. Krishna could have just taken the Sudarshana and sent, it would have killed Bhishma. No, He
cannot. He has taken the vow. So He is taking the wheel of a chariot and goes. In my case also, I can see exactly
Krishna standing there; only difference was instead of the chariot wheel He was with beedi! And my Bhishma was
struggling and I neither moved my body to the front nor said no. Saying no was too much but moving the body and
picking up was also too much. I was just frozen. But the beedi was burning, time was running.

Not deciding is deciding not to decide. I was not deciding but naturally it means deciding not to decide. Then the fire
went and touched Ramsuratkumar’s finger. He just dropped the beedi when the fire came near His finger. He dropped
the beedi, He just caught both ears. But fortunately, I had such a deep surrender to Him, and He was able to force me
and I am blessed He forced me. But still I missed for not taking the decision voluntarily. He just caught my ears and
blew the smoke from His mouth on My face. I don’t know what happened. For three days whatever was happening
around me was like a soundless movie. In those days the movies used to come with no sound, no volume, just the

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scenes would go. Same way, soundless movie. Everything happening around me was without background noise. I can
see temple Aarti is happening but no bell sound. Everything was such peace.Of course after that, never I smoked, not
even once. But I repent for not picking up when He gave, when He stretched His hand.

Gladly jump beyond Dharma when Master asks you. That is the best thing you will do for yourself and for your
Enlightenment. I can say only to ask you to do something which is not Dharma as per you, Master happens in your
life. Because that is the only thing which you can’t do by yourself. See, what you think as Dharma, may not be Dharma.
Master is needed just for that. You see for Ramakrishna till the Savikalpa Samādhi, he did not need Totapuri. But
without Totapuri, Ramakrishna would have never become Enlightened.

I tell you if you go as per some rule, you will reach all the benefits from that rule. But the last push is always a
discretionary power gift. Gift by the Master as His simple discretionary power - will. So Totapuri was needed to take
Ramakrishna beyond Dharma. What Totapuri says, he tells, “Cut Kali!” Sacrilegious, the most sacrilegious act,
especially a person like Ramakrishna who built his whole personality and life on Kali! He eats Kali, breathes Kali,
sleeps Kali! He wakes up, He wakes up Kali! I am not saying wakes up with Kali, no! He wakes up Kali! He breathes
Kali! He eats Kali! He lives Kali! Totapuri is telling, “Cut Kali!”. But, Ramakrishna had the guts!

I tell you, Master happens in your life just to tell you to do something which you think is not Dharma. For other things,
you don’t need Master. All Totapuri did in Ramakrishna’s life is making Him do the most sacrilegious act, that’s all.
Only for that, Totapuri was needed. For anything else, you don’t need Totapuri. When Ramakrishna did, He just
became Enlightened. If Master happens in your life and asks you to do something which you think as not Dharma,
understand He is helping you exactly. He is now doing His Avataric mission. Now it is your choice whether to take
the jump and get enlightened or not. If Ramakrishna says, “No, I am not interested, leave me,” no problem, Totapuri
would have just left. But Ramakrisha would have missed it, like I missed once when Ramsuratkumar gave. Of course
I worked on myself and then broke the parental conditioning. When I left the house, it broke. That is different.

I still remember, when I was sitting with the Naga Baba in Uttarkashi, who used to smoke marijuana continuously, he
would put the copper coin in his chillum pipe. After smoking marijuana, he would empty that. That would have
become a gold coin. I used to feel, “Will he not stretch his chillum to me?” I missed already once with Ramsuratkumar.
This time I should not miss. I’ll be just waiting. Once he stretched his hand, I just thought he is stretching towards me
only; I stretched my hand to receive. He said, “No. You already missed once.” I was shocked, something which had
happened in Tiruvannamalai cremation ground so many years before, which nobody else knows except me and
Ramsuratkumar he knew. Don’t miss when Master stretches His hand. Don’t miss when He asks you to do something
which you think is not right or Dharma. Catch it! You will just jump into Enlightenment and higher consciousness,
higher experience.

Let Me enter into today’s sūtrā. First chapter, first section, 15th sūtrā.

मान्त्र मान्त्रवन्नणनकमेव च गीर्यते ॥ १.१.१५ ॥

māntra māntravarṇikameva ca gīyate || 1.1.15 ||

Swami Gambhirananda translates as: “And the very Brahman spoken of in the Mantra is declared in the Brahmana.”
Swami Vireswarananda translates as: “Moreover that very Brahman which has been referred to, in the Mantra portion
is sung in this Brahmana passage as the tale.” Swami Sivananda says, “Moreover that very Brahman which has been
re-referred to, in the Mantra portion is sung, proclaimed in the Brahmana passage as Anandamaya.” This is actually a
discussion on Shāstra Pramānā.

Sometimes the word “Self” itself is used to deny the Cosmic Self and individual self. Same way, the verbal confusion,
same word is used in a different place should not make you think that Brahman is not Source. Here Vyāsā is clarifying

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wherever the words denoting the existence is spoken - you should look as per the context and understand Source is
Brahman, Cause is existence. For example, even in my own discourse you will see, when I say Self, Self is Cosmic
Self. When I say self, it is individual self. Without video, it is very difficult to find out which “self” I am referring.
Nowadays, we started using with capital letter “S” means Cosmic Self, small letter “s” means individual self.

So don’t create or get into these kind of doubts. Look at the context and understand Source is existence. This sūtrā is
more like clarifying the Shāstra doubts - how it is presented in scriptures.

Whether in Upanishads or Vedas or Brahmanas, the different words might have been used due to different reasons,
but, understand everything should be understood as per the context and final scale in which you need to measure. The
final truth is Source is existence. That is the truth. So anywhere you have the disturbance or discrepancy you are not
able to make the meaning, understand this is the meaning you are supposed to arrive at. This is the conclusion.

So Bādarāyanā Vyāsā puts an end to the verbal dictionary confusion. He ends the confusion once for all. He says,
“Come on, stop all this nonsense. Whether it is a Veda, Aranyaka or Brahmana, wherever it is, this is the truth. Source
is existence. Cause is bliss. Cause is intelligence. You have to come to this conclusion only. For that only, everything
is used, expressed. If you are misinterpreting, you “miss interpreting,” you are missing it. The truth is, Source is bliss.
Cause is bliss. Cause is intelligence.”

So now, that today’s thought trend for vādaprativāda, sacred secret for vādaprativāda is, create sentences where the
self means individual self and the Self means higher Self, and you yourself create the confusing statements and
clarifying statements. And understand, the final conclusion is, however it might have been expressed - the essence is,
cause is intelligence. Source is intelligence. Source is bliss. Source is existence.

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 netaro'nupapatteḥ

Individual Soul is not Intelligence

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In the 1st chapter, 1st section, 16th sūtrā.

र्ेतरोऽर्ुपपत्ेः ॥ १.१.१६ ॥
netaro'nupapatteḥ ॥ 1.1.16 ॥

Very simple sūtrā. Swami Vireswarananda translates as: Brahman and not the other - the individual soul is meant here,
on account of the impossibility of that assumption. Swami Gambhirananda translates as: the other is not the supreme
Self because that is illogical. Swami Sivananda translates as: Brahman and not the other individual soul is meant here,
on account of the impossibility of the latter assumption.

First, the positive affirmation: Cause is Existence. Source is Existence. And, negative clarity: the individual soul is
not, not only Source of Existence. It is not filled with bliss. See the khandana mandana: expressing the truth in an
affirming way and discarding the non-truth in a strong way.

Vyāsā very beautifully puts it: Source is intelligence, and the individual soul is not intelligence. Cause is intelligence.
Individual soul is not the Cause. He goes to the extreme of saying, do not assume the individual soul is source of
happiness because it is illogical. It says the assumption cannot be maintained. Even in one step, the assumption cannot
be maintained. It is utterly illogical. The basic truth experienced by the individual and the Cosmic truth experienced
by Cosmos continuously - these two have a big gap. Most of the time, you are a casual visitor when it comes to facing
the reality. We don’t give much attention to it. We don’t give much interest.

Reality reveals its reality to you when you are interested in it. Please understand, reality reveals its reality to you when
you are interested in it. Just for the sake of reality, not any benefit it may bring. Please understand, many people go
behind reality expecting it may bring bliss. It brings bliss not as you ask but as it wants. Sometimes people go behind
reality thinking they will be more spiritual. It makes you spiritual but not as you think but as it thinks. Some people
go behind reality, thinking that they will become more moral. It makes you moral not as you think but as it thinks.
The time you spend for reality matters. When I say quality - asking for reality just for the sake of reality. Not for the
sake of if I get reality, I’ll become enlightened; I’ll have a golden throne. No! You lost it.If I get reality, I’ll become
more blissful. No! You lost it. Reality is supposed to be, has to be just for just reality.

See, having certain image gives you always a kind of a cozy feeling, that you are not orphan; you can always think
Krishna will come and stand in front of you and protect during your death. And Shiva will appear and say: “Oh my
son, please come to my lokā.” No, I am not saying they won’t come. They may come, but you will not be able to be
eternally with them. Because any form, any name, including my form, I, my name cannot be eternal. There is a space
where almost eternal but not eternal. It’s like a door. Almost you are out if you are on the door but not out. So all
name, all form, should be used as a door to jump from what you call as Dharma to Mokṣā.

The basic understanding, which we want to bring in is Source is Existence. Individual soul which you experience is
not Existence. Even by mistake, you cannot assume individual soul as the source of Existence, or as the source of any
bliss, or any eternal, auspicious expression.

I can say there are so many eternal auspicious expressions. Guṇā is not right word, so that is why I am using the word
“expression.” Nirantaratva, Nityatva, ānandatva, Sattva, Cittva, Svayamprakāṣatva, Tejomayānandatva - these are all
the eternal expressions, eternal auspicious expressions of the Source. These expressions cannot be part of the
individual soul. Only when the individual soul turns back and merges into the Source, this can be the experience, not
otherwise.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

89
I can say, Vyāsā is hitting us again and again and again, in so many different angles. He’s preparing us. He’s making
a strong solid foundation. He is not making foundation in exactly on the spot where He is going to build the wall. He
is making a huge concrete pad. Because how the building is going to come up even He doesn’t know. That is why,
you see for example: if he is going to make you only blissful, then if he makes you understand Source is bliss,
individual soul is not the source of bliss; if He makes only that one line foundation and builds the whole sūtrā, that’s
enough. He says Source is intelligence. Your individual soul is not intelligence. So merge the individual soul into the
Source which is intelligence. If he puts only that foundation and builds the building, that’s enough. Understand, He is
not making foundation only where He is going to build the wall, where the main weight is going to sit. He is just
making a huge concrete pad, because He doesn't know where the wall is going to sit. He doesn’t know where the
weight is going to sit. So He is making the whole thing out of stone. He is going to hit us in so many hundreds of
expressions.

Just today, I was doing a scientific study. When you put weight on certain muscles, how the prānā moves and Kundalini
awakens. Today two hours research I was doing. We had one doctor and another one sports medicine doctor, and with
the whole video crew. I started lifting each and every weight. I started doing different movements as per the Western
methods and Indian Yoga methods. And, scientifically, spiritually scanned each exercise’s ability to awaken
Kundalini, or what happens during those exercises as far as the Kundalini energy is concerned. I saw very clearly,
when you work on the shoulder muscle and hand muscle both together, Kundalini awakens. If it is only one part,
nothing happens. When you are lifting weight with both hands, working on the shoulder - any word you hear becomes
your bio memory. When you are working out, any scene you see never gets into your system. When you workout, you
can see anything but don’t hear anything. If you are working out on your thigh muscles, Kundalini doesn’t awaken.
It’s useless. If you are working out on your abdomen muscles, straight away Kundalini gets awakened. Immediately
the Kundalini is awakening. If you are doing some weight lifting by standing, Kundalini not only goes to the higher
chakras, it hits the lower chakras also. Means, even the lower chakras get cleansed. Lower chakra means below
Muladhara also, where there are 7 chakras. Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Pātāla, Talātala - below Mulādhāra, 7 chakras. Below
Mulādhāra, there are 7 chakrās, 7 lokās. Energy flows even into those lower areas.

When I was doing all these research on Kundalini, I was able to scan different things. How the Kundalini awakens
and the non-mechanical parts of the brain get hit, and intelligence opens up. I wanted all of you to know, what happens
by the intense weight lifting, and Yogā in your brain, exactly same thing happens just if you contemplate on one
Brahma Sūtrā. I can say lazy man’s guide to become enlightened is Brahma Sūtrā. The non-mechanical parts of the
brain can be awakened, you can become enlightened just by contemplating on Brahma Sūtrās.

One, intense physical working out like Yogā and heavy weight lifting. Second, contemplating on the most subtle
truths, and awakening the non-mechanical parts of the brain. If you do both only complete Enlightenment happens. If
you are just body building, then you are just weightlifter, the bodybuilders. They don’t get enlightened. If you are just
sitting on the ideas without doing anything, you may have big pot belly. Even actually just sitting on the ideas also
doesn’t happen in practical way. I saw people don’t do. Half an hour they sit and after half an hour, they will be sitting
but sleeping. And not only non-mechanical parts of the brain are not awakened, even the mechanical parts fall asleep.

These two sacred secrets: Brahman is Source. The individual soul is not the Source. Brahman is ultimate. The
individual soul is not the ultimate. Understand, He is making the foundation very clear. Bādarāyaṇā is making the
foundation very clear, because He doesn’t know where all He is going to put His foot, put His weight, in future when
He is going to awaken your non-mechanical parts of the brain. That is why now itself He confirms everything. You
see for example: in the basic foundation statements, if He says Source is bliss, but if He forgets to say Source is
compassion, later on He says bliss is compassion; you may ask: “No, no, no, you did not tell at that time.” So in the
initial level itself, He is very clearly putting the foundation by teaching all the basic truths. Source is bliss.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

90
So today’s thought trend for the vādaprativāda, logic, argument: individual soul is not Source. Existence is Source. So
this you have to prove in positive and negative - both senses. The vādaprativāda should happen in both senses, not just
in one sense. Vādaprativāda is a powerful meditation process by itself. It can awaken so many of your non-mechanical
parts of the brain. Contemplating, analyzing, logically digesting the great truths of Brahma Sūtrās directly awakens
your Kundalini.

So now, I am giving you the sacred secret for vādaprativāda: Source is not individual self. Source is Cosmic existence.
Don’t say: “Ah, I know this already. Why should I argue?” No! You don’t know. If you know, by now then you should
know. It has not become your experience. Then, come on start doing vādaprativāda, so that it can become your
experience. Remove all the doubts one by one. Drill yourself. Why is Source not individual self? Why is Source the
Cosmic intelligence? Drill!

One more thing, when the Kundalini is awakened, naturally you will levitate. The levitation melts all the bad
cholesterol; your belly will come down. You will not have belly. In the last Inner Awakening, we proved all
participants who participated in the Inner Awakening lost two and a half kg bad cholesterol because of Kundalini
awakening, levitation. So I tell you, even if you are sincerely reading and contemplating Brahma Sūtrās, you will lose
weight. Lazy man’s technique for Enlightenment and losing the pot belly!

So now, start the vādaprativāda. You can sit within you. I think each one of you should do vādaprativāda between
your own buddhi and dhi. Buddhi means the power of cognisance. Dhi means after you take cognisance, the reaction
you do, the response you do. So your buddhi and dhi, that is what is Vyāsā and Shankara. Vyāsā is buddhi; Shankara
is dhi. Inside you this argument, vādaprativāda should start. See, the vādaprativāda between Atman and mind is
Shankara and Mandana Mishra. The vādaprativāda between buddhi and dhi is Vyāsā and Shankara. You should have
your own arguments. You should be courageous enough to argue inside your mind. No! Source is not Cosmic
existence. Source is me only. How do I know beyond me something exists? You should have the guts to drill yourself,
ready to take both stands, and then finally boil down to what you feel as a factual reality as per your cognisance. Sit
for a few minutes with this one sacred secret. Source is Existence. Source is not individual self.

© 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved.

91
 Part IV
Kailasa - Contributions to Hinduism
 The Freedom Struggle of
Kailasa
The story of the world’s only Hindu nation

The Big Picture

Kailasa & Vision-Mission Modern revival Vision

What is Hinduism? Hindu holocaust Take Action

Hinduism’s contributions Modern persecution Team

Who is the Supreme Pontiff of Need for a Hindu nation

Hinduism Bhagavan Sri
Nthyananda Paramashivam?

2
 Kailasa & Vision-Mission

Kailasa
KAILASA is the only macrocosmic, ancient, Hindu enlightened civilisational nation to serve the religious
and spiritual needs of two Billion Hindus (https://kailaasa.org/) and the whole of humanity.
KAILASA creates a safe haven to live, practise, express and radiate the peaceful lifestyle of extraordinary
powers as per Hinduism regardless of race, gender, caste, or creed. Kailasa is the homeland and
civilizational nation for Hindus on par with Israel for Jews, Vatican for Catholics and Tibet for Buddhists.

4
 Kailasa
KAILASA was created with the determination to not just preserve and protect Sanatana
Hindu Dharma and share it with the entire world, but also to share the story of
persecution that is yet unknown to the world. Towards this goal, KAILASA is dedicated
to the preservation, restoration and revival of an enlightened culture and civilization
based on authentic Hinduism.

Mission of Kailasa
KAILASA is a nation created by dispossessed Hindus from around the world who lost the right to practice
Hinduism authentically in their own countries.
Though the KAILASA movement is founded in the United States, and spearheaded by members of the Hindu
Adi Shaivite minority community, it is created for, and offers a safe haven to all the world’s practicing, aspiring
or persecuted Hindus, irrespective of race, gender, sect, caste, or creed, where they can peacefully live and
express their spirituality, arts, and culture free from denigration, interference and violence.

6
 Vision of Kailasa
The vision of KAILASA is enlightened living for all of humanity which is rooted in the fundamental principle of
Advaita or Oneness – the idea that all beings can live in peace and harmony, and that all human beings are
equal and divine, and can reach their highest potential irrespective of their color, nationality, religion, gender,
sexual orientation, caste, creed or race.

About Hinduism

8
 What is Hinduism?
Hinduism represents the world’s most ancient yet progressive indigenous spiritual tradition. It is an open
framework model of civilization that stands for nonviolence, vegetarianism, worship of nature, organic
lifestyle, temple-based living, yoga, manifesting spiritual powers, and the inherent divinity of every being.
Hinduism comprises many indigenous spiritual traditions coexisting peacefully for millennia.

The Hindu Holocaust - Persecution of Hinduism

The Hindu Holocaust is a stark epitome of a ‘‘campaign of race extermination’’ through a systematic,
egregious and ongoing ethnic cleansing, forced relocation, double killing through genocide and genocide
denial over the last 5000 years on the most ancient living civilization on the planet. Denied by the historians
and untold by its victimized survivors, the Hindu holocaust is one of the biggest “crimes against humanity” in
world history.
Hindus have time and again suffered religious persecution in the form of forceful conversions, massacres,
demolition and desecration of temples, confiscation or destruction of property, incitement to hate,
imprisonment, torture, murder, destruction of universities and schools and crimes against women and children.

10
 The Systematic Elimination of Hindus
Hinduism was once practiced freely in over 56 nations across the continent from Afghanistan, India, Nepal,
Burma, Sri Lanka, all the way to Singapore, Malaysia, and Cambodia and Indonesia, and in 200 states, 1700
samasthanas (provinces) and 10,000 sampradayas (traditions). Over several centuries the combined forces of
foreign invasion, political upheaval, colonialism and religious persecution systematically ended millennia of
Hindu Swarajya, or self-rule. Today Hindu temples remain in few countries but the Hindus who worshipped in
them have been ethnically cleansed.

11

Double Killing - Holocaust and Its Denial

Hindus are the victims of the double killing of Holocaust and denial of Holocaust. Denying the largest
Holocaust which has been shockingly going on since 5000 years of history will continue to go on in the future
unless cognized first and corrected thereafter.
The denial of the Holocaust through distortion of history and ideological indoctrination is the last act of a
crime in the Holocaust and the heralding of the next crime. The strategy is to first obfuscate and obliterate a
people; then obfuscate and obliterate their memory; and, finally, seek to obfuscate and obliterate the memory
of the obfuscation and obliteration. This strategy has been successful as today nobody knows or speaks of the
unbroken continuum of annihilation of the Hindus?

12
 100 million killed, Over a billion ideologically enslaved
Be it by the invading Mughals or the colonial forces, be it in the name of their race or color or religious faith or
cultural roots or ethnicity or some other distinction, Hindus have over the past over 2000 years been subject to
mass murder, multiple perpetrator rapes, forced indoctrination, artificial famines, child abuse, identity
distortion, resulting in a systematic physical elimination of over 100 million Hindus and ideological slavery of
over a billion Hindus across all sampradayas (traditions) on all levels – physical, mental, emotional, cultural,
religious, political, economical, social, and much more.

13

100 million killed, Over a billion ideologically enslaved

Be it by the invading Mughals or the colonial forces, be it in the name of their race or color or religious faith or
cultural roots or ethnicity or some other distinction, Hindus have over the past over 2000 years been subject to
mass murder, multiple perpetrator rapes, forced indoctrination, artificial famines, child abuse, identity
distortion, resulting in a systematic physical elimination of over 100 million Hindus and ideological slavery of
over a billion Hindus across all sampradayas (traditions) on all levels – physical, mental, emotional, cultural,
religious, political, economical, social, and much more.

14
Massacred by Man Made Famines Temples Destroyed Imposition of Universities And
Invaders Slavery Libraries

1971 Hindu Genocide in 1700 to 1950 500 BC to 1800 CE 997 Mahmud Of 1193 Nalanda
Bangladesh 80 million starved to India Ghazni University and library
30 million Hindus 2000 temples 2,000,000 Hindus 9 million books burnt
death
displaced. destroyed enslaved down by Baklitiyar Khilji
3,000,000 Hindus 1100 to 1700 Mughal
1992-1993 1388 Massacre by 1800 to 1900 CE
massacred era
Bangladesh Timur 1,000,000 Gurukuls
1947 India Partition 18 million starved to
1,000 temples 750,000 Hindus (Hindu Schools)
14 million Hindus death
destroyed enslaved. destroyed.
displaced. 1783-84 Chalisa
1567 Inquisition of Goa 1556 Abdullah Uzbeg 500 CE to 1900 CE
2,000,000 Hindus famine
massacred 600 temples destroyed 500,000 Hindus 10,000 Peetams
11 Million starved to (Hindu Universities),
1950 Riots Of East Feb - May 2018 enslaved.
death Mutts (Colleges) and
Bengal 7 major South Indian 1830 East India
1100-1600 The 11 Agraharams (Diploma
4.5 million Hindus Company colleges) destroyed.
Famines temples intentionally
displaced.
set on fire, but shown as 6,30,000 Hindus 500 CE Takshasila
500,000 Hindus 10 Million starved to
an accident. enslaved.
massacred death University and library
1600-1800 Three Destroyed during
1000 to 1525
Toramana invasion
Massacres during Mughal other famines
Invasion 10 Million starved to
400 million Hindus death
killed.

15

Ongoing Hindu Holocaust

Thousands of documents totaling 2,42,000 pages and 14000 hours of video recording in the National Archives
of Kailasa support the truth: Hindus in just the last two decades under the regime of His Divine Holiness
Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism and the reigning Emperor of the
17 Hindu kingdoms today, were persecuted, subjected to inhuman physical, mental and emotional abuse and
slavery, violently deprived of their cultural and religious identity, and systematically exterminated by the anti-
Hindu terrorist forces and atheist sympathizers.

16
 Contributions of Hinduism

17

Hinduism’s contributions
01 Spirituality
A Comprehensive Science of Enlightenment:
Hinduism as revealed in the Vedas and Agamas offers
mankind a perfected science for attaining the state, space,
being, powers, consciousness of Paramashiva, the Adi Guru
of humanity.
The open architecture framework of Hinduism reveals the
core truths of the self, universe, and divine.
It empowers every individual to have the freedom to
customize their own personalized God, personalized
lifestyle, and personalized spiritual practice as per their
needs and disposition.

18
 Hinduism’s contributions
02 Economics
Material abundance without exploitation:
Hindu economic policy resulted in India becoming the
world’s wealthiest country. Prior to British rule, India
represented a whopping 25% of global GDP. If we include
civilizations that emulated Hindu economic policy, the
number jumps to 60%.

Material abundance was the lifestyle of all Hindus and

fundamental needs such as food, education, and healthcare
were offered to all citizens free of charge as a basic right.

19

Hinduism’s contributions
03 Governance
The roots of modern democracy:
Hinduism established a decentralized, republican system of
governance that emphasized democratic principles and
self-rule at the local village level.

Those at the governance layer were held accountable to a

Constitution, a code of universal principles of human rights
and proper governance as aligned to Dharma Shastras.

20
 Hinduism’s contributions
04 Technology
Ancient precursor to computer science:
Hindu philosophers were the first to discover the binary
number system, algorithms and the Nyaya system of logic
which was a major influence on George Boole and Charles
Babbage, the founders of modern computer science.

21

Hinduism’s contributions
05 Medicine
The most comprehensive indigenous system of
medicine:
Hinduism is responsible for the world’s first holistic plant-
based system of medicine, Ayurveda.

Ancient Hindu civilization also had a detailed knowledge of

anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology,
genetics, immunity, anesthesia, and cosmetic surgery.

22
 Hinduism’s contributions
06 Yoga
Preparing the human body for enlightenment:
Yoga is a comprehensive system of physical, mental and
spiritual practices designed to give human beings a
superconscious breakthrough. Practices like asanas,
pranayama, japa and dharana tune the body to the space of
Oneness, or union with Paramashiva.

23

Hinduism’s contributions
07 Mathematics
Basic to Advanced Mathematics:
Hindu civilization innovated the modern numeral and
decimal system, the concept of zero, arithmetic,
trigonometry, algebra, combinatorics, the basic elements of
calculus and accurately calculated the value of Pi.

24
 Hinduism’s contributions
08 Physics
Breakthrough discoveries millennia before Newton:
Hindu philosophers conceived of the atom, the laws of
motion, and quantum superposition thousands of years
ago in addition to accurately calculating the speed of light.

25

Hinduism’s contributions
09 Astronomy
A deep understanding of the cosmos:
Hindu civilization developed an elaborate understanding of
astronomy, including a heliocentric model for the solar
system millennia before Galileo. It also developed a theory
of gravity, accurately calculated the Earth’s orbit around the
Sun and created precise star/planet charts thousands of
years before European astronomers.

26
 Hinduism’s contributions
10 Architecture
Monuments that stood the test of time:
Hindu civilization built elaborate, highly durable structures
that exhibit fractal geometry, well-planned cities with
complex drainage systems, and huge rock-cut temples
carved from a single stone.

27

Hinduism’s contributions
11 Art
The perfect harmony of form and substance:
Hindu culture recognized 64 traditional arts including
dance, painting, singing, instrumental music, sculpture and
many other forms of expression. Each art form embodied
aesthetic beauty while conveying deep spiritual truths and
motifs.

28
 Hinduism’s contributions
12 Linguistics
The world’s oldest yet most complex language:
Sanskrit has a vast vocabulary and adaptable grammar, so
that words can express any nuance of an idea. Sanskrit
possesses technical and philosophical terms unknown in
any other language.

Modern Indian scholars of Sanskrit note that many of the

new concepts of nuclear physics or modern psychology are
easy for them to grasp, since they correspond directly to
familiar notions of Sanskrit terminology

29

Hinduism’s contributions
13 Literature
A storehouse of knowledge and culture:
Hindu literature consists of innumerable rich and diverse
textual sources that cover all facets of the human condition,
including the world’s longest and oldest works of epic
poetry - the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

30
 Hindu Holocaust

31

Phase 1: Islamic Invasions

800-1700 A.D.
The physical destruction of Hindu civilization

“The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the

bloodiest story in history. The Islamic historians and scholars
have recorded with great glee and pride the slaughters of
Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and
children to slave markets and the destruction of temples
carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 A.D. to 1700
A.D. Millions of Hindus were converted to Islam by sword
during this period.” Millions more were raped and murdered
and dismembered,

Will Durant, The Story of Civilisation: Our Oriental Heritage (1935)

32
 “The conquering armies burnt villages, devastated the land, plundered
people’s wealth. Took Brahmins and children and women of all classes
Islamic Invasions captive, flogged with thongs of rawhide, carried a moving prison with them,
and converted the prisoners into obsequious Turks.”

-Kanhadade Prabandha, 1456 A.D.

200 M 100 K 1M
Hindus slaughtered by Temples destroyed Deities and sculptures
Muslim invaders destroyed

33

The Rape of a Continent

Genocide endorsed by Islamic law
“If the infidels, upon receiving the call [to convert to Islam], neither consent to
it nor agree to pay capitation tax, it is then incumbent on the Muslims to call
upon God for assistance, and to make war upon them, because God is the
assistant of those who serve Him, and the destroyer of His enemies, the
infidels, and it is necessary to implore His aid upon every occasion; the
Prophet, moreover, commands us so to do. And having so done, the Muslims
must then with God's assistance attack the infidels with all manner of warlike
engines (as the Prophet did by the people of Ta'if), and must also set fire to
their habitations (in the same manner as the Prophet fired Baweera), and
must inundate them with water and tear up their plantations and tread down
their grain because by these means they will become weakened, and their
resolution will fail and their force be broken; these means are, therefore, all
sanctified by the law.”

Al-Hidayah (1197), one of the most influential works of Sunni jurisprudence

34
 The Rape of a Continent
“Hindus are like the mud; if silver is demanded from them,
they must with the greatest humility offer gold. If a
Mohammedan desires to spit into a Hindu’s mouth, the Hindu
should open it wide for the purpose. God created the Hindus
to be slaves of the Mohammedans. The Prophet hath ordained
that, if the Hindus do not accept Islam, they should be
imprisoned, tortured, and finally put to death, and their
property confiscated. To keep the Hindus in abasement is
especially a religious duty, because they are the most
inveterate enemies of the Prophet. ”

Abdullah Wassaf, Tazjiyat-ul-Amsar (1606), describing the

Islamic law prescribed for Hindus as conveyed to Alauddin Khilji Hindu women forced to wear garlands
by his qazi, or legal adviser. made from the bodies of butchered
children

35

The Rape of a Continent

“The Raja of Nagrakote, after sustaining some loss, submitted,
but was restored to his dominions. The name of Nagrakote
was on this occasion changed to that of Mahomedabad.
Sultan Feroze, on this occasion, broke the idols of Nagrakote,
and mixing the fragments with pieces of cow’s flesh, filled
bags with them, and caused them to be tied round the necks
of Brahmins, who were then paraded through the camp. It is
said, also, that he sent the image of Nowshaba to Mecca to be
thrown on the road that it might be trodden under foot by the
pilgrims.”

Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Firishta, Tarikh-i Firishta (1606)

36
 The Rape of a Continent
“The Hindu prisoners were divided into four sections and
taken to each of the four gates of the great catcar. There, on
the stakes they had carried, the prisoners were impaled.
Afterwards their wives were killed and tied by their hair to
these pales. Little children were massacred on the bosoms of
their mothers and their corpses left there.”

Ibn Battuta, Rihla (1354), describing the torture and massacre of

Hindus by Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghani of the Madhurai
Sultanate

37

Phase 2: British Occupation

1700-1947 A.D.
The economic and psychological destruction of
Hindu civilization

“I have seen a great people starving to death before my eyes,

and I am convinced that this exhaustion and starvation are
due not, as their beneficiaries claim, to overpopulation and
superstition, but to the most sordid and criminal exploitation
of one nation by another in all recorded history.”

Will Durant, celebrated historian, commenting on British rule in

India (1930)

38
 “The British came to one of the richest countries of the world...Over 200
years of exploitation, looting and destruction reduced it to a poster child of
British Occupation third world poverty.”

Shashi
Tharoor, MP Indian Parliament

$45 T 45 M 680
Looted from India over 200 Hindus dead due to famines Native kingdoms usurped
years and poverty imposed by by the British Raj
British policies and reprisal
killings for 1857 Mutiny

39

Colonial Subjugation
British Master Race Theory
Using theories of scientific racism and social
Darwinism, the British justified their conquest and
oppression of dark-skinned peoples as a
humanitarian, civilizing mission even though it was
mere cover for racial oppression and economic
exploitation:

“Do you not see, then, that by following these studies

you are walking in the very path to which England
owes her wealth....the glorious work which God seems
to have laid on the English race, to replenish the earth
and subdue it?”

Charles Kingsley, celebrated professor, historian, friend

40
 Colonial Subjugation
200 years of intense racial hatred
towards Hindus
“The Hindus are full of dissimulation and falsehood, the
universal concomitants of oppression. The vices of falsehood,
indeed they carry to a height almost unexampled among the
other races of men. As for religion, no people … have ever
drawn a more gross and disgusting picture of the universe
than what is presented in the writings of the Hindus….Very
few words are required [regarding Islam]; because the
superiority of the Mahomedans in respect of religion is beyond
all dispute. In truth the Hindu, like the eunuch, excels in the
qualities of a slave … the Mahomedan is more manly.”

James Mill, celebrated author of the seminal work, The History of

British India, and intellectual leader for a generation of East India

41

Colonial Subjugation
The Catholic Church performs 250
years of ethnic cleansing in Goa
“The fathers of the Church forbade the Hindus under terrible
penalties the use of their own sacred books, and prevented
them from all exercise of their religion. They destroyed their
temples, and so harassed and interfered with the people that
they abandoned the city in large numbers, refusing to remain
any longer in a place where they had no liberty, and were
liable to imprisonment, torture and death if they worshipped
after their own fashion the gods of their fathers.”
Hindus, accused of being heretics, burned
Filippo Sassetti, Italian traveler and merchant, describing the alive en masse in an auto-da-fe
Goa Inquisition (1578)

42
 Colonial Subjugation
Divide and Rule

“The British had been horrified, during the Revolt of 1857, to

see Hindus and Muslims fighting side by side and under each
other’s command against the foreign oppressor. They vowed
this would not happen again. “Divide et impera (“Divide and
Rule”) was an old Roman maxim, and it shall be ours”, wrote
Lord Elphinstone. A systematic policy of fomenting separate
consciousness among the two communities was launched,
with overt British sponsorship.”

Shashi Tharoor, MP Indian Parliament, Era of Darkness (2016)

43

Colonial Subjugation
The British Empire used all possible means to
destroy Hindu civil and cultural institutions in order
to delegitimize and demoralize the indigenous
peoples of India so they would become slaves in
their own homeland:

01 | Discriminatory laws to instill feelings of racial inferiority

02 | Engineered famines to starve natives into submission

03 | Annexed Hindu kingdoms to undermine native rule

04 | Mistranslated Hindu scriptures to instill anti-Hindu

narratives
05 | Destroyed indigenous gurukul education system

06 | Destroyed local industries and forced importation of British goods

07 | Banned Indians from owning or producing firearms

44
 Colonial Subjugation
Engineered famines to break the spirit
of a people
“I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly
religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like
rabbits.”

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1943)

Harsh British tax and export policies and poor infrastructure
management caused multiple famines in India claiming tens
of millions of lives, most recently in Bengal in 1943. Indians
were forced to eat leaves, grass and human flesh and
parents threw their starving children into rivers and wells
while others committed suicide to escape their living hell.

Madhusree Mukerjee, Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire Aftermath of Bengal famine of
and the Ravaging of India during World War II (2011) 1943

45

Colonial Subjugation
Destroying local industry to ensure
dependence and poverty

Prior to colonial rule, India was the world’s leading textile

manufacturer and produced the finest fabrics. The British
engaged in a systematic campaign to destroy the local
handloom industry through harsh taxation and export
policies that forced India to import British-made textiles and
banned Indian textiles from being sold in foreign markets.
Within a generation, Indian weavers were turned into
beggars and their indigenous skills were lost forever.

46
 Colonial Subjugation
Destroying local industry to ensure
dependence and poverty

By 1878 Indian railway mechanics in Jamalpur in Bengal

and Ajmer in Rajputana had become so proficient at
maintaining locomotive trains that they started
designing and building their own models at a fraction of
the cost of imported British trains. The British Parliament
responded by passing an Act in 1912 banning all local
manufacture of trains to ensure India’s economic
dependence on their colonial masters and destroy native
technological know how.
Jamalpur locomotive workshop (1897)

Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India (2016)

47

Colonial Subjugation
Seizure, Taxation and Ruin of Hindu
Temples
“It was a strange but determined piece of policy when
throughout the country the pagoda lands were resumed
by the [East India Company] and tusdeck allowances were
granted in their place… Now let us contemplate the result
of this plan. From one end of the country to the other, the
pagodas are ruined, unmaintained…The revenues of
Tripetty are on a gradual decline and will die in the lapse
of years a natural death. Some of the most celebrated
temples in the country are worse off. But there are still,
alas, many more strongholds of the devil.”

Asiatic Journal (1831)

48
 Colonial Subjugation
False Anti-Hindu Narratives

British rulers perpetuated the narrative that Indians were

generally illiterate and education was restricted to high-caste
Hindus, but their own surveys revealed that every village had
at least one school and Sudras and other low-caste children
constituted 70-84% of students. In contrast, a century of
direct British misrule of India left the population with a
dismal 12% literacy rate.

Survey of Indigenous Education in Madras Presidency

1822-1826

49

Colonial Subjugation
Creating a class of Brown British
natives
“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be
interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a
class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in
taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class, we
may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to
enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the
Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit
vehicles for
conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.”

Thomas Macaulay, East India Company, Minute on Education

(1835)

50
 Colonial Subjugation
Creating a class of Brown British
natives

Despite their best efforts to adopt English language, clothing

and mannerisms, the Anglicized Brown British native clerks of
India were often viewed with contempt and ridiculed as
‘Bengali Baboos’ by their White masters for their ornate
speech, self-importance and fawning attitude towards any
Westerner they met.

51

Colonial Subjugation
Converting native Hindu Rajas into
proper British gentlemen
“Concerned at the rising awareness of nationalism after the
Indian Mutiny of 1857, the British realized that to strengthen
their hold in India they, being just a handful, needed to widen
their political and psychological management of India and the
Indians. Thus they began to focus on the education of Native
Princes and the pursuit of the objective in Macaulay's Minute
on Education of 1837 ‘to create a class of people-Indian in
Blood and Color but English in opinions, in morals and in
Intellect’ became the cornerstone of their strategy.” Before:
After:
Mayo College, The Eton of India

52
 Criminalizing Indigenous
Communities
Criminal Tribes Act of 1871
The British government passed the Criminal Tribes Act where
various ethnic communities were deemed subversive to
colonial authority simply because they did not conform to
their idea of ‘civilized living’. Targeted populations, such as
sadhus, sanyasis, tribals, nomads, gypsies and sudras, were
presumed guilty by birth, murdered, raped, arrested, had
children separated from parents, and held in penal colonies
or quarantined without conviction or due process. Upon
release from British custody, targeted communities were
subject to surveillance and given tattoos to stigmatize them
and make them easier to track.

53

Criminalizing Indigenous
Communities
Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts
In an effort to demonize Hindus and feed the stereotype of
the savage oriental, British authorities and media
sensationalized stories of bloodthirsty thuggees, or bandits,
who would offer human sacrifices to the wicked and
fearsome goddess Kali. The image of the thuggee was
promoted worldwide as an example of all that was wrong
with India.

In addition to denigrating Hindu culture, the narrative of the

thuggee menace was also used to justify colonial rule,
suspend civil liberties and target subversive elements that
challenged British hegemony.
54
 “Secular” India
Hindu Temples Looted and Neglected

Post-Independence, the Indian State continued the British policy

of taxing and managing the wealth and properties of all major
Hindu temples despite claiming to be a ‘secular’ state. Their
governance of Hindu temples has been fraught with
mismanagement, neglect corruption, theft of jewels and deities
and alienation of temple land:

“Many temples constructed at least 1,500 years ago or much before

the temples recognized by UNESCO are in ruins. Even the daily
rituals are not performed. Some temples remain closed throughout
the day with no one to even light the lamps.”

Madras High Court, citing a UNESCO report highlighting

government incompetence and corruption in temple
management
55

“Secular” India
The Case of Sabarimala - Anti-Hindu Activism

The Sabarimala temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa in Kerala, South India represents
one of Hinduism’s unique spiritual ecosystems. The form of the Ayyappa worshipped Lord Ayyappa
at Sabarimala is Naishtik Bramhachari, a strict celibate. As such, women of
reproductive age are forbidden to enter the temple out of respect for Ayyappa and
to maintain the sanctity of the spiritual ecosystem. Otherwise, in the almost 1000
other Ayyappa temples across India, men and women are equally allowed access
while Sabarimala is the single exception.

Ayyappa devotees undergo a 41-day period of celibacy, fasting and other penances
prior to making the pilgrimage to prepare their bodies and consciousness for the
spiritual ecosystem present in Sabarimala temple. Scriptures and oral tradition explain
that the celibate male energy present at Sabarimala is actually harmful to the fertile
Ayyappa devotees on pilgrimage
female body.

56
 “Secular” India
The Case of Sabarimala - Anti-Hindu Activism

Visited by over 50 million devotees a year, Sabarimala is one of the world’s largest
pilgrimage sites, exceeded only by Mecca. Given its prominence the Sabarimala
temple has been targeted by Anti-Hindu social activists for years as part of a broader
campaign to delegitimize Hinduism as sexist and patriarchal.

The temple was forcibly entered, vandalized, its deity broken and burned down in
1950 by Syrian Christian provocateurs. At the time of the arson, the Marxist atheist
Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin, C. Keshavan, famously stated:

“If a Hindu temple is destroyed, that much superstition is destroyed”

and since 1991 a group of activist lawyers have sought to force Sabarimala to accept
The remains of Sabarimala after it was burned
women by judicial fiat. down in 1950

57

“Secular” India
Media narratives used to stereotype
and demoralize Hindus
Psychological warfare: "the use of propaganda against an
enemy, supported by such military, economic, or political
measures as may be required. Such propaganda is generally
intended to demoralize the enemy, to break his will to fight
or resist, and sometimes to render him favourably disposed
to one’s position. The communications media most
commonly used in psychological warfare are the same as
those used in civilian life; radio, newspapers, motion
pictures, videos, books, and magazines form a large part of
the output. Psychological warfare need not be subtle or
sophisticated in conduct and execution.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica

58
 “Secular” India
Media narratives used to stereotype
and demoralize Hindus
PK (2014)
Bollywood and other mainstream media outlets
consistently portray Hindu gods and gurus as
cartoonish, dishonest, corrupt, sex fiends in a manner
similar to British imperial propaganda.

59

“Secular” India
Media narratives used to
stereotype and demoralize Hindus

India Today denigrates the Hindu sari while praising

the Muslim hijab. The glaring double-standard only
makes sense in light of the anti-Hindu colonial
stereotypes perpetuated in modern India.

60
 “Secular” India
Hindu Self-Hatred

The relentless campaign of psychological warfare

waged on Hindu minds by the British and their
brown successors post-Independence have resulted
in a Hindu population that is demoralized,
delegitimized and without a sense of identity
except to pathetically ape the West. This is a
textbook case of internalized racism.

Result: Indians spend billions annually on fairness

cream to lighten their skin to be more like their
former British masters. A 2014 marketing study
found that almost 90% of Indian girls cite skin
lightening as a “high need.”

61

About The Supreme Pontiff

of Hinduism (SPH)

62
 Who is Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam?
His Divine Holiness Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam is Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) and the
reviver of KAILASA – the ancient enlightened civilization, the great cosmic borderless Hindu
nation. HDH is an Avatar as per Hinduism and is the Supreme Pontiff (Jagadguru
Mahasannidhanam) of Hinduism.

His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam represents the last lamp of a Hindu
civilization nearly exterminated over the course of a thousand years of invasion, occupation,
persecution, and genocide. He is single-handedly reviving the authentic teachings, rituals, culture
and lifestyle of Hinduism as described in its source scriptures, the Vedas and Agamas.

63

SPH’s Contributions
01 Authentic Hinduism
A Comprehensive Science of Enlightenment:
Hinduism as revealed in the Vedas and Agamas offers
mankind a perfected science for attaining the state, space,
being, superconsciousness and powers of Paramashiva, the
Adi Guru of humanity. By rediscovering and revealing
orthodox Hinduism as described in its source scriptures,
SPH is demonstrating its relevance to the world and its
potential to transform humans into divine beings capable of
achieving superconsciousness and manifesting
extraordinary powers.
SPH initiating a disciple

64
 SPH’s Contributions
02 Gurukul Education
Indigenous Hindu Education System:
The gurukul, or traditional Hindu residential school, was the
very backbone of Hindu civilization. Open to all members
of Indian society, it offered a nurturing, nature-based
environment where the guru could guide and train his
students in both worldly arts (e.g., mathematics, literature,
and martial arts) and spiritual arts (e.g., yoga, meditation,
and power manifestation). The gurukul system was the key
mechanism for knowledge transmission and preservation in
Hindu civilization. SPH has established the world’s only
gurukul that is completely aligned to the original teachings SPH conducting a class at the Nithyananda Gurukul in Bengaluru
Adheenam
of the Vedas and Agamas.

65

SPH’s Contributions
03 Preserving Scriptures
Collecting and Preserving Hinduism’s Sacred Scriptures:
Of the 10 million sacred scriptures produced over 5000
years of Hindu civilization, 80% have been lost to Muslim
invaders and European colonial forces bent on wiping out
the ‘heathen’, ‘infidel’ Hindu religion. SPH has established
the Nithyananda Jnanalaya, the world’s largest Hindu
library where Hindu religious books and palm leaves have
been collected from all across India to be translated, copied,
digitized, distributed, and preserved for future generations.

Palm leaf scriptures undergoing restoration at the Nithyananda

Jnanalaya in Bengaluru Adheenam

66
 SPH’s Contributions
04 Sacred Arts
Preserving Hindu Temple Art and Architecture:
Hindu temples and the deities, sculptures, paintings, and
jewelry contained therein are unsurpassed marvels of art
and engineering. Unfortunately, much of the skills and
know-how to produce traditional Hindu art per the Agamas
has been lost due to temple destruction, heavy temple
taxation and economic and legal restrictions that have
ravaged indigenous artisan communities. SPH has
established a large scale sacred arts facility in Bengaluru
Adheenam where Hindu arts and artifacts are collected and
preserved from all over India, artisans are trained, and
deities and other artwork are produced for distribution to
Hindu temples in 33 countries. Sacred Arts facility at Bengaluru Adheenam

67

SPH’s Contributions
05 Temple Rituals
Reviving Hindu Temple Rituals as a Lifestyle:
Modern Hindus tend to dismiss ancient traditions such as pujas,
homas, and abhishekhams as mere rituals. SPH has explained that
Vedic worship or rituals are a collection of powerful
transformative meditation techniques designed to connect the
participant with the divine and experience intense bliss. Vedic
rituals, when performed with the proper context and devotion, are
outwardly beautiful and can directly put you in-tune with the
universal energy or God. One of SPH’s core missions is to
reestablish the importance of rituals as a daily lifestyle for Hindus.

Sanyaasi performing Rudrabhishekham

ritual
68
 SPH’s Contributions
06 Authentic Yoga
Restoring Yoga’s Spiritual and Cultural Heritage:
Authentic Yoga was revealed by Sadashiva himself in order to
give humanity the techniques to develop the physique and
physiology to manifest the superconscious state and express
extraordinary powers. Modern Yoga is merely a diluted form of
physical exercise with little connection to its Hindu roots beyond
a few Sanksrit terms for asanas. SPH has rediscovered the original
Yoga taught by Sadashiva grounded in the Shastra Pramana, or
Agamic scriptural references, and designed to give the
practitioner the experience of superconsciousness.

Yoga acharya performing Shivastambha (pole yoga) in

Bengaluru Adheenam

69

SPH’s Contributions
07 Rudrakanyas
Sacred Women of Hinduism:
Rudrakanyas were trained dancers who dedicated their lives to
cultivating the 64 indigenous Hindu arts and devotedly serving
the Gods residing in their local temple. Forsaking a traditional
family life, they were the ultimate embodiment of beauty and
chastity. Heavy taxation of temples as well as scandalous
colonial narratives by British authorities destroyed the
rudrakanya community and they are now remembered as little
more than salacious court dancers. SPH has reestablished the
rudrakanya sampradaya and its members have dedicated their
lives to preserving and cultivating traditional Hindu arts. Rudrakanyas performing traditional dance in Bengaluru
Adheenam

70
 SPH’s Contributions
08 Female Empowerment
Elevating the Role of Women:
The Sanyaas Sampradaya (monastic order) established by SPH
is unique in that it freely ordains women and allows women to
perform temple rituals. Moreover, women constitute the
majority of the senior leadership in SPH’s mission, thereby
establishing his vision of Hinduism as not just orthodox, but
also highly progressive and committed to gender equality.

Female monks performing dance as ritual in

temple

71

SPH’s Contributions
09 LGBTQ Rights
A Culture of LGBTQ Inclusiveness:
SPH has revealed that the Agama scriptures recognize eleven
genders and prescribe specific temple rituals to solemnize gay
marriage, which is otherwise considered taboo in mainstream
Hinduism. Moreover, he has declared that he himself
transcends gender and consequently suffered vicious
persecution for his bold progressive stance on LGBTQ issues.
By rooting the legitimacy of gays, lesbians and transgendered
people in ancient Hindu scriptures, he is single-handedly
changing the LGBTQ discourse in India.

SPH in traditional Hindu female clothing

72
 “I want the whole world to know, Hindus have something great to contribute to the world.
We have something great to contribute to the world...let us do That.”
-The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH)
Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam (JGM)
His Divine Holiness (HDH)
Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam
73

The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism

(SPH), Jagatguru
Mahasannidhanam (JGM), His
Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Sri
Nithyananda Paramashivam is the
reviver of KAILASA – the indigenous,
ancient enlightened civilization - the
borderless Hindu nation.

74
 Committed to the individual
transformation of Humanity, the
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism
has contributed tirelessly in all
walks of life - serving as an
inspiration for continuous,
selfless contribution.

75

The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH), Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam has been trained since birth by the Enlightened
Masters of Thiruvannamalai (one of the last remaining indigenous Hindu ecosystems) for the sake of reviving the indigenous
knowledge-based tradition called Hinduism.

Alongside this - recovering the lost knowledge, literatures, and lifestyles which are being destroyed over centuries of relentless
persecution and genocide.

76
 Through the revival of KAILASA, the
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Bhagavan Sri
Nithyananda Paramashivam aims not only
to revive this Ancient Civilization,
but also through this to serve all kinds of
people, from every walk of life

77

78
79

Ministries of KAILASA
The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam reaching the world in all its
forms, through the Ministries of KAILASA

80
 Ministries of KAILASA
The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam reaching the world in all its
forms, through the Ministries of KAILASA

81

Ministries of KAILASA
The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam reaching the world in all its
forms, through the Ministries of KAILASA

82
 Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)
Red Om: Blue Om: Working
Saffron Om:
Providing relief for animal rights
Working for world
work for natural & and prevention of
peace, conflict
man-made cruelty towards
resolution and
calamities, working animals
religious freedom
to eliminate world
hunger

Yellow Om:
White Om: Providing Providing Satvidya –
psychological healing, Yogic, ayurvedic
Green Om:
spiritual counselling solutions and medical
Working for
and a superconscious care including access
protecting the
breakthrough to libraries and
environment
knowledge

83

Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)

Saffron Om: Working for world peace, conflict resolution and religious freedom

Picture shows Peace Walk by millions of peacekeepers of KAILASA (Thiruvannamalai, India)

84
 Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)

Red Om: Providing relief work for natural & man-made calamities, working to eliminate world hunger
The SPH personally organizing relief efforts and free, organic food distribution for the Thane Flood relief in Pondicherry Region (India, 2012)

85

Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)

Blue Om: Working for animal rights and prevention of cruelty towards animals

In Hinduism, cows are worshipped and endeared as Gau Mata, who embodies 330 million Deities and is a form of the Cosmic Mother.
Picture shows Gau Mata with Her calf, spending time with Balasanths (Child Saints) of the Nithyananda Gurukul (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

86
 Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)

White Om: Providing psychological healing, spiritual counselling and a superconscious breakthrough
Engineering college students attending a meditation program organized by KAILASA’s White Om (Karnataka, 2008)

87

Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)

Yellow Om: Providing Satvidya – Yogic, ayurvedic solutions and medical care, including access to libraries
and knowledge

Top: One of KAILASA’s many medical camps set up during relief efforts for Thane Flood in Pondicherry region (India, 2012)
Bottom: Free yoga classes held around the world organized by Yellow Om, for people of all ages

88
 Global Services (under KAILASA’s Dept. of State)

Green Om: Working for protecting the environment

Organic fruits, vegetables, and grains cultivated by the Peacekeepers of KAILASA, led by the SPH
The produce is offered as Annadhaan (charitable service of providing free organic meals to everyone) through various embassies and centers of KAILASA.

89

“...I started organized public life in 2000. But my public life started when I was 12! How I started my public life?
One person at a time!
I’ll from walk village to village, sit, spend some time- and small boy, naturally people will become curious, all
alone! They will come and try to talk to me. Then I’ll start talking to them and start enriching, whatever little way I
know! It was a raw, crude, ground-level way,
One Person at a Time.”
- Autobiography of the Avatar, the SPH Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam

90
 Over 26+ years of untiring contribution, delivering more than 18,000 hours of public discourses, designing and
conducting over 100 types of meditation workshops, and serving more than 1 billion people through free,
organic, vegetarian food distribution (Annadhan), the SPH is bringing both the lifestyle and knowledge of
Hinduism to the world in a grand scale.

Left (19 Oct 2002): Ananda Spurana Meditation Workshop in AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India
Right (26 Feb 2020): Public Presidential Address to the Global Hindu Diaspora

91

KAILASA’s
Temple Ecosystems

92
 “KAILASA is a place where everything
related to Superconsciousness is
revived.

All the sampradayas*, all the spiritual

ecosystems created for Enlightenment
will be revived and established in such a
way, it never gets lost again, there
forever serving the humanity”
- The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam
(6 Jan 2019)

*Sampradaya: The multiple arms/sects of Hinduism, each exploring the science of awakening the individual’s peak possibility, in a unique, time-tested, fool-
proof way

93

The adulation of violence in recent lifestyle has

enabled disruption in several nations - affecting
millions of lives with mental distress, physical
health ailments, defalcation of food supply, and
pinpointed destruction to the infrastructure of
several countries.

The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, Bhagavan Sri

Nithyananda Paramashivam, has dedicated His life
and made it His mission to bring global peace from
the ground-level, through the KAILASA’s Dept. of
Religion & Worship, and Dept. of Human Services.

To bring harmony in humanity, to create a life of

freedom and peace for every individual on the
planet, through the revival of the Temple
Ecosystems.

Arunachaleshwara Temple (Thiruvannamalai, India)

94
 “...Joshua Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), pointed out that environmental factors present
both risk and protective influences on mental health. He grouped such factors into three types.

● Individual factors such as the microbiome.

● Natural and built components include green spaces, housing, and highways, which may play a role in health disparities.
● Social factors like family structure, poverty, and other social determinants of health...”

- National Institute of Environmental Health Studies, March 2021

95

From 1994 to this date, the Supreme Pontiff of

Hinduism has worked tirelessly in the revival of
Temple Ecosystems globally.

Through KAILASA’s Dept. of Religion & Worship,

and Dept. of Human Services led by the SPH, this
life-long commitment to the mission and vision of
bringing global harmony, sustainable living, and
reproducible ecosystems has been proven in
building active, contributing Temple Ecosystems
around the world.

1994: The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (Thiruvannamalai)

96
 21 Oct 2006: Following a meditation under the sacred Banyan Tree in AdiKAILASA, peacekeepers of KAILASA along with
children of the Nithyananda Gurukul celebrate the auspicious occasion of Deepavali (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

97

22 Dec 2018: Peacekeepers of KAILASA and participants of the Paramashivoham Meditation Workshop take part in the
celebrations of a traditional flag-hoisting ceremony. (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

98
 14 Dec 2006: The SPH conducting the Nithyananda Spurana Convention (Life Bliss Program Level 2) - a meditation
workshop (Chennai, India)

99

17 Dec 2006: The SPH conducting the Nithyananda Spurana Convention (Life Bliss Program Level 2) at St. Peter’s
Engineering College (Chennai, India)

100
 26 May 2006: Peacekeepers of KAILASA and the SPH embark on the Himalayan Yatra - the traditional sacred pilgrimage
to the Himalayan Mountains, and up the river Ganga. (Harsil, India)

101

20 Dec 2011: The Temple Ecosystem of Thiruvannamalai serves as the driving factor in maintaining the lifestyle of health,
wealth, and well-being for the denizens of Thiruvannamalai, one of the remaining living temple ecosystems. (Thiruvannamalai,
India)

102
 31 Dec 2018: Peacekeepers of KAILASA and participants of the Paramashivoham Meditation Workshop take part in
morning meditation, and traditional puja, or ritualistic worship. (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

103

17 Aug 2014: The distribution of sweet butter as part of the Krishna Janmashtami Celebrations - the celebration of Lord
Krishna’s birth (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

104
 17 Aug 2014: Playfully colourful celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

105

17 Aug 2014: As a part of the Krishna Janmashtama Celebrations, peacekeepers of KAILASA distributing free organic
food to the public (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

106
 11 Sept 2016: The peacekeepers of KAILASA, led by Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, take part in Kara Séva - the voluntary
contribution of physical service towards the cleaning, or construction of the sacred Hindu temple. (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi,
India)

107

2 Jan 2013: The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam arrives with volunteers and
KAILASA’s peacekeepers, to provide relief efforts to the cyclone-hit Pondicherry region through distribution of food,
water, and basic necessities, medical camps, and clearing the local roads for further relief efforts. (Pondicherry, India)

108
 4 Jan 2012: Thane Flood Relief Food Preparations (Pondicherry, India)

109

4 Jan 2012: Thane Flood Relief Food Preparations (Pondicherry, India)

110
 3 Jan 2012: Pondicherry - Thane Flood Relief Medical Camps

111

4 Jan 2012: Pondicherry - Thane Flood Relief Medical Camps

112
 KAILASA Ecosystems around the World

113

(Left) 1994: KAILASA in Thiruvannamalai is traditionally passed on to the hands of the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan
Nithyananda Paramashivam
(Right) 2017: KAILASA in Thiruvannamalai receiving visitors and delegates for the Kalpataru Meditation Workshop, and
Shiva Deeksha*

*Shiva Deeksha: one of the primary initiations of Hinduism

114
 6 Jan 2013: KAILASA in Thiruvannamalai traditionally celebrates the birth date of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam

115

Jan 2011: KAILASA in Thiruvannamalai

The SPH Himself directly serving Annadhan, and traditional temple services

116
 2006-2008: KAILASA in Thiruvannamalai

117

11 March 2017: KAILASA in Thiruvannamalai

Thousands arrive to celebrate the Enlightenment Ecosystem, and to traditionally meet the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan
Nithyananda Paramashivam

118
 Tiruchengode Sarvajnapeetham - Adi Nithyananda Peetham
The first temple ecosystem established by the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam at the age of 23, on
the banks of the sacred Kaveri River (2001).
This was the start of the borderless Hindu Temple Ecosystem we know today as KAILASA.

119

AdiKAILASA Nithyananda Peetham in Bidadi

After having a vision of the sacred Banyan Tree, the SPH had established the AdiKAILASA Temple Ecosystem with this
same Banyan Tree at its heart - the main headquarters of KAILASA (2003).

120
 AdiKAILASA Nithyananda Peetham in Bidadi
Through the livestream of the sacred Banyan Tree and deities, the temple ecosystem of AdiKAILASA is continuously available to
all - from wherever they are.

121

AdiKAILASA Nithyananda Peetham in Bidadi

The continuous flow of worship and temple services.

122
 KAILASA in Columbus, Ohio (USA)
The first temple established by the SPH outside India. The temple physically came to life in just 9 months.
The chief presiding deities of the temple are Sri Nithyanandeshwara and Nithyanandeshwari. The deities are 7-feet tall granite,
weighing 6 tons, and their divine faces have been directly hand-carved by the SPH.

123

KAILASA in Los Angeles, California (USA)

The Los Angeles temple, first inaugurated in 2005, then established in its permanent location in 2007, houses the largest Shiva
linga and Rajarajeshwari Devi in North America.

124
 KAILASA in Los Angeles, California (USA)
As a 25’000 square ft temple-complex, housing 80+ deities, it is one of the largest Hindu Temple ecosystems in the West.

125

KAILASA in Seattle, Washington (USA)

Housing the blissful dancing form of Ganesha, and the largest living Nataraja deity outside of India, KAILASA in Seattle is also
known as Chidambaram* of the West.

*Chidambaram Temple: The ancient Hindu temple where Paramashiva resides as Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer and expression of Akasha/Space. The big toe of Nataraja has also been
revealed to be the centre of the Earth’s magnetic equator.

126
 KAILASA in San Jose, California (USA)
Inaugurated in 2009, KAILASA in San Jose radiates the energy of the 'Madurai' Meenakshi Temple*.
The chief presiding deities of the temple are Devi Meenakshi, the Shiva Linga, Lord Sri Nithyanandeshwara and Devi
Nithyanandeshwari (Lord Shiva and the Cosmic Mother) which have been created, installed and energized by the SPH
Himself.

*Madurai Meenakshi Temple: Home to Devi Meenakshi- the Divine Cosmic Mother, and the consort of Lord Sundareshwar, the most beautiful and blissful form of Lord
Shiva.

127

KAILASA in St. Louis, Missouri (USA)

Alongside the Shiva Linga and Nithyananda Ganesha, KAILASA in St. Louis carries the energy of Tirumala Tirupati* of
South India and houses the one of the tallest Venkateshwara deities in North America, along with His consorts - Sridevi
and Bhudevi. The beautiful landscape nestled among the woods and rolling hills of Missouri stretches for 20 acres.

*Thirumala Tirupati is one of the most beloved of Lord Vishnu, whose temple is the most visited (of any religion) in the world

128
 KAILASA in Phoenix, Arizona (USA)
Home to over 21 deities and with a temple structure of 2500 square feet, KAILASA in Phoenix has been directly
established by the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam - serving as an energy field of worship, meditation, and celebration
for over 7 years

129

KAILASA in Houston, Texas (USA)

Formally inaugurated in 2017, the SPH has declared KAILASA in Houston as the Parihara Sthala for all the Navagraha
doshas*

*The space in which all ill-effects of the 9 celestial bodies are removed

130
 KAILASA in Toronto, Canada
Inaugurated on July 2011, KAILASA in Toronto is the only Hindu temple in the West with all 63 Nayanmars*, and 18
Siddhas* residing as deities. The temple deities here are seated exactly as they existentially preside in Kailaasa around
Paramashiva, the Primordial Deity of Hinduism

*Nayanmars: The most endearing, and notable Saints of Hinduism

*Siddhas: Literally meaning “the accomplished/perfected one”

131

KAILASA in Toronto, Canada

Active and alive from 2011 onwards, KAILASA in Toronto has been blessed to radiate the superconscious energy of
Kailaasa. This temple ecosystem goes on providing various temple services to the community such as Annadhan, and
traditional Hindu ceremonies.

132
 KAILASA’s Dept. of Religion and Worship,
Dept. of Human Services, and each of
KAILASA’s Temple Ecosystems consider the
Right of Happiness to be the highest
fundamental right of all humans - in fact,
all beings.

The ultimate goal for Hinduism and

KAILASA, led by the SPH JGM HDH
Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, is
the material and spiritual well-being, and
prosperity of humanity.

133

KAILASA’s
Annadhan

134
 Annadhan - the traditional
distribution of free, vegetarian,
organic food for people of all
caste, creed, religion, race,
gender, social standing

135

“We will revive the food supply system of Kailaasa … Before you get hungry, food will be ready. Continuous annadhan.
I am not giving any fantasy. It is already becoming reality.”
- The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam (17 June 2019)

136
 The developmental, economic, social, and
medical impacts of malnutrition and famine
have a critical impact on the individual,
familial, community, national, ultimately on
the global level.

With the on-going COVID-19 pandemic

triggering an alarming spike in food insecurity,
the United Nations have given warnings of
famines of biblical proportions. In 2020 alone,
690 million people were estimated to be
pushed into food insecurity.

The access and availability to organic food has

become of utmost importance.

137

Through KAILASA’s Department of

Agriculture, the Supreme Pontiff of
Hinduism Jagat Guru
Mahasannidhanam His Divine
Holiness Bhagavan Nithyananda
Paramashivam, has committed to
the distribution of free, organic
food to everyone - not just since
the beginning of His public life, but
from His very upbringing itself.

138
 22 Nov 2002 - The pictures show the early days of KAILASA’s spiritual mission, where the SPH is offering
Annadhan (providing a free, organic, vegetarian meal), on Kartikai Deepam. (Thiruvannamalai, India)

139

2013: Even with a fractured hand, the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam engaged in selfless work day and night,
inspiring the peacekeepers of the Sovereign Order of KAILASA to engage in selfless service, leading the nation of KAILASA by
example.
In 2011, the SPH had a multiple compound fracture with the bone protruding out of the skin.
In 2013, two steel implants that were fastened in 2011 were removed as the bones had healed completely.
This picture is after that surgery.

140
 3 Jan 2012: Pondicherry - Thane Flood Relief

141

3 Jan 2012: Pondicherry - Thane Flood Relief

142
 3 Jan 2012: Pondicherry - Thane Flood Relief

143

9 Sept 2011: Nithyananda Annalaya Inauguration (Thiruvannamalai, India)

144
 25 Nov 2005: Arogya Yoga Health Workshop (Tamil Nadu, India)

145

12 Dec 2007: Nithyananda Spurana Meditation Workshop (Salem, India)

146
 20 Sept 2012: Nithyananda Spurana Meditation Workshop (Thiruvannamalai, India)

147

27 Nov 2012: Karthikai Deepam Celebrations (Thiruvannamalai, India)

148
 10 May 2017: Inner Awakening Meditation Workshop (Thiruvannamalai, India)

149

10 April 2017: Kalpataru Meditation Workshop (Thiruvannamalai, India)

150
 5 May 2016: Bhandara feast served for Respected Spiritual Leaders and Hindu Monks (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

151

28 April 2016: Kalpataru Meditation Workshop (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

152
 11 March 2017: Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham, Thiruvannamalai, India

153

18 Aug 2019: Thiruchengode Sarvajnapeetham, India

154
 6 July 2019: Annadhan distributed during Guru Purnima - the traditional celebration of Guru (KAILASA in Houston)

155

8 Dec 2016: Sadashivoham Meditation Workshop (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

156
 30 May 2020: Annadhan service continues in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis (Madurai, India)

157

1943 – 1944: In the man-made famine of Bengal, as per existing records 3+ million were murdered. The Prime minister of the world’s biggest
empire controlling 1/3rd of mankind claimed they could not do anything about the people dying of hunger because - “Hindus bred like rabbits
and the famine was their fault”.

2016, Ujjain : In Ujjain Kumbh Mela, the peacekeepers of KAILASA served organic food to over 3+ million. Peacekeepers of KAILASA under the
leadership of the SPH Nithyananda have served more than 1 billion free meals in past 26 years and are determined to end hunger and poverty in
all its forms.
KAILASA, with 200 peacekeepers at any given time, can deliver what even one of the biggest countries could not deliver. KAILASA is not driven
by war, fear or greed - it is an enlightenment based nation - driven by selfless service.

158
 The Vedagamas, the source of Hindu Scripture,
declares :

|| अ म् ब कुव त ||1
“Annam Bahu Kurveetha”

which means, “Let us produce food in large

quantities”.

Through the widespread distribution and promotion

of free, healthy, organic food, KAILASA’s global
peacekeepers led by the SPH serve such that we may
achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote
sustainable agriculture globally.

Annadhan is the vision to end poverty and hunger, in

all its forms.

(1) Taittiriya Upanishad, Brigu Valli, Chapter 3 Verse 9

159

KAILASA’s
Libraries

160
 Hinduism, Sanatana Hindu Dharma, is a knowledge-based tradition.
What was once passed on orally from time immemorial, has in the last few thousand
years begun being transmitted through written word in the form of palm-leaf
scriptures, books, and libraries.

161

“Only if you read the original Upanishads,

Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, you will
understand the Reality, the Truth, what I
stand for.

Jnanalaya, Grantha Samadhi, Hindu

Traditional Library has principles like books
are the living representative of Saraswati
and Dakshinamurthy, meaning they
express the Authenticity of the Truth.”
- The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam
(10 Nov 2019)

162
 “Centuries of history of discrimination, exploitation,
dispossession and colonization have led to the loss of
traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge is under
threat and is being misused and misappropriated …

Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge has been

developed over generations through daily life practices
and a close understanding of local environments. It can
offer valuable responses to climate change, food
insecurity, reducing inequalities and other challenges
that we are trying to resolve …”

18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)

163

From the original 100 million source books of

Hinduism, barely 20% remain today.

Through KAILASA’s Dept. of Enlightened

Civlizations, the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism has
committed His life to ensure the preservation,
protection, and transmission of the age-old,
authentic, time-tested Hindu knowledge.

The SPH serves to not only protect the branches of

knowledge remaining today, but also to revive this
vast knowledge which has been lost over years of
genocide, and persecution.

28 Feb 2020: Public Presidential Address to the Hindu Diaspora, by The Supreme
Pontiff of Hinduism

164
 Zero
The Rig-Vedas, one of the fundamental source
scriptures of Hinduism, expresses a concept
known as the Hiranyagarbha, or the “Universal
Womb”.

From the concept of Hiranyagarbha, comes

the understanding of the space out of which
everything comes forth, Zero.

From India to Persia, then onto Arabia through

the Hindu scholar Kanaka, this knowledge is
today the cornerstone of everything
considered as binary logic.

165

Ayurveda
The traditional Hindu form of medicinal
diagnostics and treatments. With its roots
in Hindu scriptures and reference in
chapters of the Rig-Vedas, it stands as the
oldest living medicinal system still being
used and practised today.

This includes the use of copper in medical

instruments for its antibacterial properties,
and the use of Ayurvedic methodology in
treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and
Osteoarthritis

166
 Surya Siddhanta
An ancient Hindu literature,
detailing the science of astronomy -
including the speed of light,
distance from the sun, diameter of
the Earth, and planetary orbitals,
long before the recent
understanding of modern optics.

167

Yoga
The age-old science and practise of
Yoga has direct reference and origin
in the Hindu Agamas, Patanjali
Yoga Sutras, Joga Pradipika,
Rudramalayam of Uttara-Tantram,
Gheranda Samhita, and countless
other Hindu scriptures.

168
 Kashmiri Shaivism
The Hindu science of consciousness
and awareness, extending its
application through the form of
mental, emotional, physiological,
neurological, and physical freedom.

169

The Lost Knowledge of Kashmir

Hindus have lived in Kashmir for more than 10,000 years.

The name Kashmir derives its origins from the name of
Rishi Kashyapa, one of the Sapta Rishis, or 7 Great Rshis,
as described in Vedas (Sama Veda verse 2.218-221).

Over the course of repeated and systematic genocide,

persecution, and invasion which continues to this day,
Hindus were mercilessly killed and their knowledge burnt
to ashes.

Today Hindus in the valley of Kashmir are less than 2% of

the total population.

170
 The Lost Knowledge of Kashmir

In the recent forced Hindu Exodus in Kashmir:

Hindus population in Kashmir

Before the exodus of 1990
160,000
2016, 30 years after the violent exodus
2000-3000

With this, an unprecedented volume of Kashmiri Shaivism’s

scriptures, literatures, scholars, and saints have not only been
lost forever, but continue to wither away to this date.

Source: "Kashmir: Outrage over settlements for displaced Hindus". BBC 15-06-16.

171

Nalanda University: Served as the global hub of knowledge for nearly 800 years.
The temples, laboratories, monasteries, and 9-storey library of Nalanda University (also known as the
Dharma Gunj, or Mountain of Truth) attracted scholars from across the globe.

172
 Nalanda University: Burned continuously for 6 and a half months in 1193.
Thousands of students murdered, thousands more beheaded.

Millions of manuscripts and thousands of sincere scholars, who can never be replaced.

173

The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam has taken up
the mission to revive the world’s lost wisdom, ancient sciences, and indegenous knowledge
traditions, for the benefit of humanity through KAILASA’s Nithyananda Hindu Library (NHL).

174
 From 2003 onwards, the SPH has been a source of
continuous contribution to the preservation,
protection, and transmission of knowledge in all its
forms, through KAILASA’s Nithyananda Jnanalaya
(Library)

● Collection of 100,000+ physical literature on

Hinduism

● 400,000+ digital literature, more than 240

million pages of indigenous Hindu knowledge

● Collaboration with 5 traditional libraries,

including the most ancient Hindu monasteries,
and preserved personal collections

● Over 3 Terabytes Yoga scriptures collected

● World’s largest collection of Shaiva Agamas

● World’s largest collection of Kashmiri Shaivism

scriptures

175

Collection of 31,000+ traditionally preserved palm-leaf manuscripts, and in-house palm-leaf printing for
translating digital literature to traditional palm-leaf script

176
 Thousands of recovered ancient scriptures translated in a user-friendly way for the modern man- through more
than 500 publications (both printed and digitized), translated into 27 different languages.

177

Digitization of 600,000+ pages of Indigenous Hindu literature, setting in-house server & storage to host over 120
Terabytes of Digitized literature

178
 Mission and Vision of KAILASA’s Nithyananda
Jnanalaya (Library):

● Housing 50 million Books,

3 million manuscripts on Hinduism,
2 million source books on Hinduism,
and the world’s largest Grantha Samadhi
(living Deity in the form of Scriptures)

● State-of-the-art library spread over 10

million square feet (230 acres), using
software-based automated library
management

● Establishing World’s largest Digital library of

Hinduism Books and Manuscripts

179

KAILASA’s
Education

180
 “The whole Gurukul, real Hindu
Gurukul, Hindu University
atmosphere I had in
Thiruvannamalai in 1970’s is what I
am trying to reproduce all over the
world through Nithyananda Gurukul
and Online E-Gurukul”
- The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam
(17 Nov 2019)

181

Today, Education is known to be the key factor to

enabling upwards socioeconomic mobility, and the
strongest means of removing poverty. The right
education is crucial to the well-being, stability, and
growth of not only every child, but to humanity as a
whole.

The Gurukul System is known to be the knowledge-

transmission system of Hinduism - one of the pillars
which kept Sanatana Hindu Dharma alive and
standing, as the world’s most ancient, living
civilization.

Through KAILASA’s Dept. of Education, the Supreme

Pontiff of Hinduism, JGM HDH Bhagavan Sri
Nithyananda Paramashivam, the Gurukul System is
being revived in its entirety.

182
 Gurukul - “Living in the Guru’s
Home”

The Gurukul System is rooted on

the “guru-shishya sampradaya”, or
the living lineage of the Guru-
disciple relationship.

183

After decades of study on the physical,

chemical, and biological uniqueness of
meditative states and Enlightened beings, it
has been found that in the normal waking
state alone..their brainwaves show that they
are in a complete meditative state, despite
being fully active and engaged.

In the world of athletics, this state is known

as the “being in the zone” - a GLIMPSE into
the peak of focus, cognitive function,
attention, and coordination, to name a few.

Rather than a glimpse, Enlightened beings

casually walk, talk, and engage with life
settled in this peak.

184
 Recent studies have also found that we
imbibe the body language, behaviours, and
patterns of those in our environment- not
just on the behavioural level, but to the
depths of the neurological layer.

This is also known as the “mirror-neuron

effect”.

In this way, there is no better teacher than

the Enlightened Guru, who (as per modern
science) exists as the superconscious,
biological, reproducible anomaly.

185

However, through centuries of Moghul

Invasions, Colonialism, and continued
persecution against Hinduism and Hindu
Tradition, this science of knowledge
transmission has been diminishing at an
unprecedented rate.

After careful study in the Colonialism Era, it

was found that the Gurukul System was
standing as the backbone and stability of
the Hindu Civilization.

The Macaulay Education System was

imposed on India after this revelation.

186
 13,000 Universities across Bharat, and 200,000 Gurukuls were Destroyed in Bengal and
Bihar alone

187

With the systematic destruction of Hindu Universities and Gurukuls, goes also more than 80%
of Hinduism’s Indigenous knowledge.

188
 “Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully … The effect of this
education on the Hindoos is prodigious.
No Hindoo who has received an English education ever continues to
be sincerely attached to his religion ...

The Hindoo religion is so extravagantly absurd that it is impossible to

teach a boy astronomy, geography, natural history, without completely
destroying the hold which that religion has on his mind. ...

It is my firm belief that, if our plans of education are followed up,

there will not be a single idolater among the respectable classes in
Bengal thirty years hence.

And this will be effected without any efforts to proselytise, without the
smallest interference with religious liberty, merely by the natural
operation of knowledge and re(f)lection.

I heartily rejoice in this prospect....”

- Thomas Macaulay (12 Oct 1836)

189

KAILASA’s Nithyananda Gurukul

The grand revival of Hinduism’s Gurukul and Universities

190
 2 Oct 2006: Official Inauguration of the Nithyananda Gurukul (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

191

2008: Students of the Nithyananda Gurukul practising yoga and meditation, under the sacred Banyan Tree (AdiKAILASA -
Bidadi, India)

192
 50% of Gurukul Balasanths (Child-Saints) study 1-3 years ahead their age group, scoring in the top 10-20% of MENSA
at age 14.

193

Gurukul Balasanths learning standard Academics, along with the indegenous Hindu Scriptures

194
 Gurukul Balasanths practising Shivastambha* Yoga under the guidance of Trained Shivasatmbha Yoga
Acharyas (Teachers)

*Shivastambha: Traditional Pole Yoga

195

20 May 2018: Gurukul Balasanth demonstrating the ability to perform Kundalini Rajju*, even through
blindfold (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

*Kundalini Rajju: Traditional Rope Yoga

196
 22 May 2018: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam personally teaching the once lost
science of Dhanur Vidya* (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

*Dhanur Vidya: The Ancient, Hindu Science of Archery

197

30% of Gurukul Balasanths (Child-Saints) demonstrating capacity to spontaneously play instruments without
formal training (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

198
 Gurukul Balasanths living the Agamic Shastra*-based lifestyle (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

*Agamic Shastras: One of the fundamental source scriptures of Hinduism, revealing the why and the how for lifestyle best practises, solutions, and
standards

199

5 Oct 2018: Balasanths (Child Saints) of the Nithyananda Gurukul demonstrate the ability to read blindfolded*
(AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

*Through the initiation of the Guru whereby the Guru awakens the non-mechanical parts of the brain, hundreds of Balasanths & Peacekeepers of KAILASA today express
powers such as (but not limited to) reading through the Third Eye (Ajna Chakra)

200
 11 Oct 2015: Gurukul Balasanths participating in Vaakyartha Sadhas* (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

*Vaakyartha Sadhas: The Think-Tank of Hinduism

201

11 March 2017: Balasanths of the Nithyananda RajaGurukul* addressing Kailasian delegates

(Thiruvannamalai, India)

*Nithyananda RajaGurukul: The Traditional Hindu Finishing School, training for leaders graduating from Gurukul

202
 20 May 2018: Balasanths of the Nithyananda RajaGurukul* after successfully hosting the worldwide
webinar on the highlights, and science, of the Nithyananda Gurukul (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

*Nithyananda RajaGurukul: The Traditional Hindu Finishing School, training for leaders graduating from Gurukul

203

Impact of Gurukul
• Whole brain learning

• Stress-free living

• Zero teen violence or aggression

• Quantum Memory Activation - recalling

verbatim after a single hearing (called
Ekashantagrahi in the vedic age)

204
 KAILASA’s Nithyananda Hindu
University (NHU)
● World’s largest Hindu University, established
around the globe

● 450+ campuses in 150+ countries

● Available to the public from 2003 onwards

205

KAILASA’s Nithyananda Hindu

University (NHU)

● Reviving and presenting the world’s most

ancient, lost knowledge, in a user-friendly way

● Ancient truths taught in a way directly

applicable for the modern man’s personal,
practical, and professional life

206
 KAILASA’s Nithyananda Hindu
University (NHU)

● 20 Million enrollments, and counting

● 7000+ courses available

● Delegates and teachers from 50+ countries

directly contributing to NHU

19 Jan 2008: The SPH confers the first Honorary Doctorate to Jagatguru Sri Sri Sri
Balagangadhara Natha Mahaswamiji

207

Standard academics taught, along with:

• Vedic chanting (Veda Parayana)

• All forms of traditional performing arts and

fine arts (Natya- Natakasangeeta-Shilpa-
Citrakal)

• Spiritual discussions for life solutions

(Vakyartha Sadas), worship, and rituals
(Puja Vidhi)

• Lifestyle as per the Agamic Shastra (Hindu

Scripture)

• Science of Power Manifestation (Shakti

Avishkarana)

208
 Despite the relentless attacks against the
life, character, and image of the Supreme
Pontiff of Hinduism, He goes on sincerely
contributing everything He has for the
world.

From the field of nutrition to education,

from protection of religious freedom to the
revival of Indigenous traditions, the SPH has
sincerely contributed in every facet.

This has not gone unnoticed by the world’s

dignitaries, leaders, and multi-faith diaspora.

209

22 Jan, 2008: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam with World Leaders at GFCH (Global Foundation
for Civilizational Harmony).
Left to Right: Sri Sri Ravishankar, H.H. Dalai Lama, Hon. Dr. A.P. Abdul Kalam, President of India, Baba Ramdev, the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam (New Delhi, India)

210
 Sept 2009: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, receiving commendation from Hon. Jim
Karygiannis, Canadian Member of Parliament, for the SPH’s contributions as a Humanitarian Peace Ambassador
(Toronto, Canada)

211

15 April 2005: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, with Francis G.Slay, Mayor of St Louis, USA,
who welcomed the SPH with a commendation message for his contributions to Global Peace

212
 19 Dec 2016: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, with Shri Rajiv Malhotra - researcher, writer,
speaker on current affairs as they relate to civilizations, cross-cultural encounters, religion and
science.

213

The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, with with Sri Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the President of BAPS
Swaminarayan Sanstha

214
 18 Oct 2004: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, with Hon. Dr. Abdul Kalam and Dr. A.P. J.Kalam,
Former President of India

215

The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, receiving Proclamation from Governor’s Office (Columbus,
Ohio, USA)

216
 27 Dec 2014: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam, with honoured Cambodian dignitaries: His
Excellency Khim Bansong, Governor of Siem and Governor’s esteemed Advisor, Noo Phalla (Cambodia)

217

18 Oct 2017: Declared as Paramahamsa Nithyananda Day – by the City of Montclair, California, USA in recognition of the
SPH’s contribution to the superconscious evolution of humanity.

218
 11 Dec 2007 : Certificate of recognition – The Mayor of Poway City expressed his sincere gratitude to Life Bliss Foundation
(an earlier namesake of KAILASA and its peace ambassadors) for coming to the aid of firefighters and evacuated residents
during the Witch Creek Fire on October 22, 2007, and the days to follow.

219

22 March 2007 : The California Legislature Assembly, Norwalk, California, USA recognized the Supreme Pontiff
of Hinduism as an enlightenment master, modern mystic, and greatest saint of modern India who has taught
the science of attaining endless happiness.

220
 9 Nov 2007 : The Senate of the State of California, USA recognized the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda
Paramashivam for His spirit, dedication, and efforts to raise awareness of the Vedic tradition, and to usher positively on
Global Peace and Universal Brotherhood.

221

29 March 2009 : California Legislature Assembly recognized the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam of
his leadership and outstanding commitment to communities around the world, service and selfless devotion to students
of the International Vedic Hindu University.

222
 1 Sept 2009 : Hon. Jim Karygiannis, P.C., M.P., Scarborough-Agincourt, Toronto, recognized the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan
Nithyananda Paramashivam for His contributions as a humanitarian peace ambassador.

223

6 Oct 2009 : Oklahoma City, USA acknowledged the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam for His
unselfish service to the people of Oklahoma City while serving for their spiritual well-being.

224
 11 Oct 2015 : Nithyananda University was authorized by Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad as the only organization that can
conduct this festival outside India.
Kumbh Mela is the largest human gathering on planet Earth.

225

1 Jan 2012 : The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam was named among the World’s 100 most
spiritually influential personalities by renowned esoteric magazine – Body Mind Spirit.

226
 31 May 2018: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam conferred with the Doctorate of Humanities
(Honoris Causa) by the Commonwealth University (Belize) for His immense contribution in reviving the Ancient Vedic
Sciences across the globe.

227

25 April 2019: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam conferred with the Honorary Doctor of Sciences in
Hinduism by The Azteca University in Mexico, for His work in establishing the possibilities and powers of superconscious
breakthrough & scientifically demonstrating, validating and explaining its working.

228
 29 Oct 2018: The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam conferred with the International Peace and Spiritual
Award by United Nations Global Development Organization (incorporated in U.S.A.), recognizing His contribution to the
Superconscious evolution of humanity.

229

5 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from Mayor of Montclair (Los Angeles, USA) to the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan
Nithyananda Paramashivam

230
 21 Dec, 2020: Proclamation letter from the Honorable Mayor Rich Tan (USA) to the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan
Nithyananda Paramashivam

231

4 Jan 2021: Proclamation letter from Former National Secretary (Malaysia) to the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda
Paramashivam

232
 1 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from Vice President of SalesForce (USA)

233

1 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from CEO of ExpertusONE (USA)

234
 5 Jan 2021: Proclamation letter from Head of Enterprise Database Services (Canada)

235

2 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from Dentist, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist (USA)

236
 4 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from President of Valen Media INC (China)

237

4 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from Senior Journalist, Filmmaker, Poet, Artist, Cartoonist (India)

238
 28 Dec 2020: Commendation letter from Academy Award Winning Actress and Renowned Activist (USA)

239

1 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from founders of Elite MD Institute (USA)

240
 3 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from esteemed Dental Surgeon (Canada)

241

2 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from Doctor and Clinical Professor of University of California Irvine (USA)

242
 23 Dec 2020: Proclamation Letter from President of Heritage Conservation Society (Nepal)

243

5 Jan 2021: Proclamation letter from Esteemed Swamiji of Adipeeta Sri Kolada Mutt (India)

244
 24 Dec 2020: Commendation letter from Chief High Priest of Malaysia Buddhist MahaVihara (Malaysia)

245

4 Jan 2021: Commendation letter from the GuruMahaSannidanam (Pontiff) of one of the main 18 Adheenams in Tamil
Nadu (India)

246
 4 Jan 2021: Proclamation letter from GuruMahasannidhanam (Pontiff) of the DharmaMukthi Swargapuram Adheenam
(India)

247

In 2012, recognizing His untiring commitment to Humanity, The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam
was declared as the 293rd JagatGuru MahaSannidhanam (Supreme Pontiff) of the Kailasonnata Shyamalapeetha
Sarvajnapeetham* (Madurai Temple Ecosystem) on April 27th, 2012.

*Kailasonnata Shyamalapeetha Sarvajnapeetham: the oldest papal state, and monastic kingdom in the World

248
 Recognized for His immense contribution to Humanity and Hinduism, the SPH was officially coronated as the
youngest MahaMandaleshwar (spiritual head) of the MahaNirvani Akhada - the most ancient, apex body of
Hinduism, in Kumbh Mela* of 2013.

*Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of human beings on the planet Earth, held every 3 years

249

Despite the sudden, sharp false media slander against the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism during Kumbh Mela* of
2016, The SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam and KAILASA’s Dept. of Religion & Worship went
on to serve more than 3 million visitors, disciples, and honoured guests over the course of this indegenous, age-
old celebration dedicated to the evolution of Humanity.

*Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of human beings on the planet Earth, held every 3 years

250
 Due to the sincere, tireless, unending contributions of the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Bhagavan Nithyananda
Paramashivam, He has been bestowed the crownship and responsibility of 19 of the ancient kingdoms of
Hinduism - the most ancient, living civilization.

251

The greatest contribution of the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, JagatGuru MahaSannidhanam

His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam
Inspiring the individual transformation of millions of lives

One Person at a Time

252
 19 May 2016: Kumbh Mela - the largest gathering of human beings on planet Earth (Ujjain, India)

253

27 Feb 2016: Devotees and Disciples showing reverence to the Main Deities of AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India

254
 27 Feb 2016: Kailasians having the Darshan* of the Sacred Banyan Tree and Sri Dakshinamurthy* (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi,
India)

*Darshan: Receiving a glimpse of the Divine

*Sri Dakshinamurthy: The Primordial Diety of Hinduism, Paramashiva, expressing as the divine vibratory truths and reality

255

The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism and KAILASA’s Dept. of Human Services serving millions through Meditation
Workshops and Spiritual Retreats

256
 26 June 2018: Gurukul Balasanths (Child Saints) experiencing the depths of celebration and devotion, without gap.
(AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

257

8 July 2017: Gurukul Balasanths creating lifelong friendships in the space of Guru (AdiKAILASA - Bidadi, India)

258
 20 May 2018: Inspiring and training the leaders of tomorrow through the Nithyananda RajaGurukul (AdiKAILASA -
Bidadi, India)

259

“I want the whole world to know, Hindus have something great to contribute to the world.
We have something great to contribute to the world...let us do That.”
-The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam

260
 Part V
The Hindu Holocaust
THE HINDU HOLOCAUST
THE DESTRUCTION OF HINDU GURU SHISHYA PARAMAPARA AND
THE PERSECUTION OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM
JAGAT GURU MAHASANNIDHANAM HIS DIVINE HOLINESS
BHAGAVAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
 CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION 5

II. HISTORY OF 56 HINDU NATIONS 7

III. STATE PERSECUTION OF HINDU RELIGIOUS MINORITIES 13

A. Origins and History of anti-Hindu law and policies in the Indian sub-continent 13
The Colonial Era Laws and Policies on Hindu temples 16
Pre-Independence Era Diarchal Government 17
The origin of the anti-Hindu caste system in India – a colonial-era census 20
The anti-Hindu laws of 1925 for State take over of Hindu Temples 25
The Genesis of anti-Hindu DK/DMK terrorist 27
The Genesis of anti-Hindu neo-Hindutva extremists 34
Targeted persecution of minorities of Tamil origin in Karnataka 40

B. The incarnation and lineage (Guru Parampara) of the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism 41
Why the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism was targeted. 48

C. The Incitement of violence by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu 61

D. Destruction of more than 50 ASMT temples, rapes, and assault of monks by militants and
State Police 63

E. Kailaasa Paramparagatha Kanchi Kailasa Sarvajnapeetham Thondaimandala Adheenam 67

F. Kailasounnata Shyamalapeetha Sarvajnapeetham Madurai Adheenam 77

G. The five Spiritual Kingdoms 88

H. Kailasa Paramparagatha Arunagiri Yogishwara Adi Arunachala Sarvajnapeetha Samrajyam 92

Tiruvannamalai Aadheenam 92
Pavazhakundru 94

I. The Incitement of violence by the Chief Minister of Karnataka 95

J. Attacks in State of Uttar Pradesh 98

K. Attacks on Nithyananda Gurukul in Karnataka and Nithyananda University Yogini

Sarvajnanapeetha Gujarat 101

IV. ATTEMPTS TO KILL ASMT LEADER THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM 112
Early attempts to assassinate the SPH. 112
Attempts to burn the SPH. 112
 Use of State intelligence department to frame and unlawfully arrest the SPH. 113
Attempts of the State to kill the SPH by cruel-and-inhumane medical torture 114
Torture of witnesses and destruction of CCTV evidence by the State Police 115
Fatal potency test in secrecy and destruction of evidence by the State 116
Invasive endoscopy, waterboarding, other inhumane medical torture 116
Gag order by the Court to stop the SPH from speaking about the police torture. 117
Attempts to kill the SPH for entering into Temple. 118
Unlawful arrest and attempts of the State to kill the SPH by poisoned food. 119
Death threats to the SPH on national television by Neo-Hindutva extremists 120
2014 - Cruel, Inhuman, degrading murder attempt by the State in the guise of a second
‘Potency Test’ 121
Assassins enter the residence of the SPH to kill Him with a sword. 125
Systematic targeting of Hindu spiritual traditions by the State 125

V. OBSERVATIONS BY THE INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES 126

VI. CONCLUSIONS 127

 I. Introduction
1. Religious freedom has long been recognized as a fundamental human right both at the national
level in various countries’ constitutions as well as at the international level by the United Nations
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international conventions, treaties, and
declarations. Religious freedom extends not just to the individual right to conscience, belief,
religious practice, but also the institutional right of religious communities to organize their
adherents, adopt common rules, doctrines, and scriptures, and appoint clergy and leadership
through various succession processes.

2. Freedom of religion or belief is guaranteed by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights1, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights2. Freedom of religion
or belief has many dimensions, and it intersects with other human rights. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights sets forth, in Article 18, the principle that “everyone has the right to
3

freedom of thought, conscience and religion”, and clearly states that such a right “includes
freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others,
and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practise, worship and
observance”.

3. A fundamental element of any religious community’s freedom is its ability to independently

appoint clergy and leadership. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 36/55,
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion
or Belief, Article 6 (g)4 states: “the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief
includes the freedom, to train, appoint, elect or designate by succession appropriate leaders...” .
Religion is not merely scripture, rituals, and doctrine but also includes infrastructure and
governance: the practice and teaching of religion and belief include acts integral to the conduct by
religious groups of their basic affairs, such as, inter alia, the freedom to choose their religious
leaders, priests, and teachers, the freedom to establish seminaries or religious schools.

4. Over the years, significant instances of government interference in religious communities have
been documented by media and human rights organizations ranging from the persecution of Jews
and Christians in the Middle East, Falun Gong in China, and the people of Tibet. A much-needed
area of focus for the international human rights community is government interference in
religious leadership succession processes intended to usurp control of religious communities and
institutions by state actors for political purposes. The most well-documented occurrence of this
phenomenon involves China’s interference in the Dalai Lama succession process5 whereby the
Chinese Communist Party has openly attempted to install its own chosen successor and
delegitimize the current 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso6. In a similar way, since 19257 the Indian

1
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
2
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx
3
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
4
(i) 25 Nov 1981, UN General Assembly Res. 36/55, Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Article 6(g) (ii) Human Rights Committee general comment 22 Para . 4
5
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-14/who-will-be-the-next-dalai-lama-u-s-india-china-try-to-control-process
6
https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/biography-and-daily-life/brief-biography
7
The Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act, 1923 (Act I of 1925)
www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1687/Constitutional-Validity-of-the-Hindu-Religious-and-Charitable-Endowment-
Act.html
 State governments have been interfering with and politically controlling minority religious sects in
India mainly so by nationalizing8 Hindu temples and religious institutes, arbitrarily nullifying and
overriding Hindu religious appointments outside the scrutiny of international media and human
rights watchdogs, and politically determining who can and cannot be appointed religious leader
or ‘Gurumahasannidanam’.

5. India’s constitution guarantees the freedom to practice religion as a fundamental right both for
individuals and institutions, respectively in Articles 25 and 26. Article 259 of the Indian constitution
states that “all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to
profess, practice and propagate religion” in a manner that does not adversely affect public order,
health, or morality. Furthermore, Article 2610 of the Indian constitution provides that all religious
denominations can “manage their own affairs in matters of religion”, thereby ensuring not just
individual but collective freedom of religion for institutions.

6. Despite these legal guarantees empowering religious groups to freely and independently select
their leadership, certain state actors in China and India have sought to undermine, usurp, and
assimilate religious institutions they deem to be subversive to their political power base by
improperly interfering in their leadership succession processes.

7. Religious freedom and civil liberties in India have deteriorated sharply in the past few years as per
various international reports such as - the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom11.
Sweden-based V-Dem Institute has downgraded the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi led
Neo-Hindutva12 government as an "electoral autocracy”.13 The Economist Intelligence Unit in its
latest Democracy Index classified India as ‘partially free democracy’14 and downgraded India to the
53rd position. There has been increased suppression of freedom of speech and increased attacks
against religious groups, especially against minorities by the State agencies, violent militant mobs,
and lawfare (malicious prosecution and vexatious litigation by the state).

8. As per the preamble of the Indian Constitution, the State of the Republic of India is a Secular
state15. It is an established international tenet of secularism that religious institutions may not be
singled out for special burdens, in that governments may not impose special restrictions on
religious activities that do not also apply to similar nonreligious activities 16. However, in India, state
and religion are not separate 17. Various State governments of India have nationalized religious
worship places18, and politically control matters of belief. The Supreme Court of India has made
three judgments directing the State governments to withdraw themselves from administration

8
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/why-government-officials-are-managing-religious-
places-and-temples-supreme-court/articleshow/68778685.cms
9
Article 25 in The Constitution Of India 1949 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/631708/
10
Article 26 in The Constitution Of India 1949 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1858991/
11
www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/04/28/india-receives-low-rating-us-government-watchdog-religious-freedom
12
https://southasia.ucla.edu/social-life/various-articles/hinduism-versus-hindutva/
13
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56393944
14
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2021/democracy-under-siege
15
The Constitution of India (Forty-Second Amendment) Act, 1976
16
https://www.fsb-law.com/freedom-of-religion-and-covid-19-can-state-government-close-churches/
17
https://www.hindujagruti.org/hindu-issues/save-temples/free-hindu-temples-from-government
18
livemint.com/Sundayapp/FU6sreM7t13piRRwkvdKfP/Secularism-and-principled-distance-How-Hinduism-was-
nationa.html
 and control of Hindu temples19. This has not remedied the situation and the State governments in
India continue to control and administer more than 400,000 temples of the country 20. Various
State governments of India use vexatious litigations targeting minority indigenous spiritual
traditions, by taking over their temples, misappropriating their temple funds21, misappropriating
their temple land22, kidnapping and trafficking 23 their worshipped Deities24, destroying their
heritage and religious structures using heavy earthmovers 25, and interfering with their religious
appointments by means which are not just unconstitutional26, and not just against international
standards on freedom of religion or belief27, but also against the ancient indigenous laws and
customs. Since 2020, the situation has worsened as the apex courts have upheld the State
takeover of temples from traditional trusts and imposing special burdens on these temples 28
destroying vulnerable native traditions irreversibly.

9. This report presents the historical and ongoing egregious attempts by the State governments of
India to undermine, usurp, and destroy millennia-old Hindu monastic institutions in direct
violation of India’s constitution as well as international treaties, conventions, and norms.

II. History of 56 Hindu nations

10. Contemporary studies based on the carbon dating done on some of the earliest and exceptionally
preserved human fossils suggest that the first modern humans (Homo Sapiens), evolved from
their early hominid (monkey-human) predecessors between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago 29.
Based on such studies scientists have identified a hundred significant human settlements. Out of
these hundred settlements the Hindu civilization, the Mayan Civilization, the Egyptian civilization,
and a few others, have been described as some of the most advanced ancient civilizations.
Amongst all these ancient civilizations, only the Vedic civilization is still alive even today. All other
civilizations have become extinct. Based on various pieces of evidence such as astronomical,
literary, and archaeological, the Hindu civilization is known to be an unbroken continuum of more
than a few hundred thousand years of history.

11. Ancient Hindu astronomers have recorded some of the earliest planetary observations in the
Hindu Sacred texts, such as the Sūrya Siddhānta. Sūrya Siddhānta records the astronomical data
for the end of the 28th Krita Yuga30 based on which some scholars31 have established the epoch of

19
https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/demand-free-temples-government-control
20
jagran.com/jharkhand/ranchi-vishva-hindu-parishad-prepares-to-free-4-lakh-temples-from-government-controls-in-india-21485552.html
21
newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2018/aug/01/top-official-of-hr-and-ce-held-for-swindling-gold-1851502.html
22
thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/high-court-raps-hrce-department-for-failing-to-protect-temple-land/article33050098.ece
23
https://stolengods.org/country/india.html
24
swarajyamag.com/news-brief/madras-high-court-is-upset-with-what-the-tamil-nadu-police-has-been-doing-on-idol-theft-cases-and-its-
investigation
25
(i) https://twitter.com/upword_/status/1415944019641651200 (ii) www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/Blame-
game-on-over-temple-demolition/article14588712.ece
26
AIR 1983 Mad 72 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/651773/
27
(i) 25 Nov 1981, UN General Assembly Res. 36/55, Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Article 6(g) (ii) Human Rights Committee general comment 22 Para . 4
28
indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-the-padmanabhaswamy-temple-case-and-what-verdict-means-for-
travancore-royal-family-6503543 ; hindustantimes.com/india-news/uttarakhand-hc-upholds-constitutional-validity-of-
uttarakhand-char-dham-devasthanam-management-act/story-2uN3FHHxImID6j1oj0ORKO.html
29 Walter, Robert C. (1994). "Age of Lucy and the First Family". Geology. 22 (January): 6–10.
30
A Yuga is a cyclic time period used in Hinduism, it spans from several thousand to million years.
31
Vedveer Arya, From Manu to Mahabharat.
 the current Vedic Yuga calendar as being around - 15,962 BCE. Around 11,000 BCE32 - The previous
ice age (Holocene era) came to an end, and “the Holocene glacial retreat” was completed. As per
Hindu History (the Puranas), this era is seen as an era of the deluge. It is during this period (11,200
BCE), King Vaivasvata Manu rescues different species of plants, animals, and humans in a boat to
restart the civilization of KAILASA. The Vedas - the most ancient source scriptures of Hinduism,
name several kingdoms that existed even before this period (11,000 BCE). Subsequently, the later
Hindu scriptures (Puranas and Smritis) also record the several Hindu nations that were present
during the last ten thousand years.

12. KAILASA is the union of the Hindu Kingdoms, mentioned in the Hindu Cosmic Constitution (Vedas
and Agamas). The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam His Divine Holiness
Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam is the sovereign head and reigning emperor of
seventeen of these ancient Hindu Kingdoms. These are listed below:

(1) Hindu Kingdoms mentioned in Vedas : Bharata, Kuru, Pañchala, Krivi, Tritsu, Matsya,
Srinjaya, Saalva or Shaalva, Pārāvata, Bharadvaja, Vasa, Uśīnara, Chedi, Kunti, Bodha,
Rušama, Varasikha, Ambastha, Shvilena, Kesin, Nişada, Aja, Shigru, Yaksu, Bheda,
Kashi, Kosala, Videha, Magadha, Kikata, Anga, Kirāta, Varga, Pundra, Andhra, Polinda,
Mutiba, Sabara, Vidarbha, Satvanta, Anu, Druhyu, Turvasa, Yadu, Paru, Gandhari,
Paktha, Bhalana, Alina, Siva, Vishanin, Vrichivanta, Parsu, Prithu, Uttara Kuru, Uttara
Madra, Kamboja, Balhika, Vaikarna, Mūjavan, Mahaavarsha.
(2) Hindu Kingdoms mentioned in Puranas : Kuru, Panchala, Salva, Jangala, Surasena,
Bhadrakara, Bodha, Patachchara, Matsya, Kiraata, Kulya, Kuntala, Kashi, Kosala, Avanti,
Kulinga, Andhaka, Vrishni, Vatsa, Maadreya, Magadha, , Northern, Vahlika, Vatadhana,
Abhira, Kaalatoyaka, Aaparita, Sudra, Pahlava, Chamakhandika, Gandhara, Yavana,
Sindhu, Sauvira, Madraka, Shaka, Kuninda, Paarada, Ramatha, Kekaya, Dashamaalika,
Haarahunaka, Aatreya, Bharadvaja, Prasthala, Daaseraka, Lampaaka, Jaguda,
Kaamboja, Darada, Barbara, Tusaara, Girigahvara, Pallava, Abhisaha, Tomara,
Hamsamaarga, Kashmira, Tangana, Chulika, Ahuka, Huna, Darva, Satadruja, Kuluta,
Ijika, Anga, Vanga, Mudgaraka, Antargiri, Bahirgiri, Pravanga, Malavartika,
Brahmottara, Pravijaya, Vangeya, Malada, Pragjyotisa, Pundra, Videha, Taamraliptaka,
Malla, Gomanta, Bhargava, Jneyamarthaka, Pandya, Kerala, Chola, Setuka, Musika,
Kumaara, Vanavasika, Maharashtra, Mahishika, Kalinga, Vaisikya, Atavya, Sabara,
Pulinda, Vindhyamulika, Vaidarbha, Dandaka, Aabhira, Paurika, Maulika, Ashmaka,
Bhogavardhana, Andhra, Udbhida, Nalakalika, Nairnika, Konkana, Puleya, Sirala,
Rupasa, Tapasa, Taittirika, Paraskara, Naasikya, Antaranarmada, Bharukachchha,
Maaheya, Saarasvata, Kaachchhika, Suraashtra, Arbuda, Surpaaraka, Kolavana, Durga,
Kaalitaka, Vindhya Region, Maalava, Karusa, Mekala, Utkala, Dasharna, Bhoja,
Kiskindhaka, Toshala, Koshala, Traipura, Vaidisha, Tumura, Tumbura, Naishadha,
Satpura, Anuupa, Tundikera, Vitihotra, Uttamarna, Nigarhara, Kurava,
Kushapravarana, Urna, Udaka, Trigarta, Mandala, Taamara, Khasa.
(3) Hindu Kingdoms mentioned in the Mahabharata: Mauka, Sauvalya, Kasikoshala, Chedi,
Yungandhara, Saudha, Bhujinga, Aparakaashi, Jathara, Kukkusa, Sudasharna, Kunti,

32
"Holocene relative sea-level change and deglaciation on Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula, from elevated lake
deltas". Geomorphology. 112 (1–2): 122–134.
 Aparakunti, Mandaka, Sanda, Pamsurastra, Goparastra, Adirastra, Balirastra, Suhma,
Yakrilloman, Vaahika, Marubhauma, Kuttaparanta, Saamudranishkuta, Mahyuttara,
Praavisheya, Bharga, Nishaada, Nairta, Paarasika, Madhumanta, Shaivala, Darvika,
Kulindyopatyaka, Vaanayu, Gopaalakachchha, Siddha, Ostra or Odra, Paarvatiya,
Dravida, Praachya, Sarvaseni,

During different eras, these individual sovereign nations had slightly different names
and slightly different boundaries. Many of these merged into other bigger nations, and
many newer nations were also created at various times. There are several Hindu
nations, which stood the test of time. These were directly established by Paramashiva
in one of His incarnations. Kashi is one such example. Paramashiva declared that even
during the time of deluge, Kashi will always be protected, because Kashi is seated on
His Trishul.

भूमिष्ठामि न यात्रभूस्त्रिमिवतोप्युच्चैरधः स्थामि या या बद्धा भुमव िुस्त्रििास्युरिृतं यस्यां िृता जंतवः ।।

या मनत्यं मत्रजगत्पमवत्रतमिनी तीरे सुरैः सेव्यते सा काशी मत्रिुराररराजनगरी िायाििायाज्जगत् ।। २ ।।

Even situated on Earth it is disconnected from it and even connected with the Upper
Lokas it is situated in the lower Lokas, the City of Kasi provides salvation to all the Lokas
even while it is set up in the ‘Panchabhoutika’Bhu Loka, whose dead persons
attain divinity since Kasi Nagar is Maha Deva’s Capital, where Sacred Ganga flows
Always.
~ Skanda Purana, Kashi Khanda 2nd verse ~
(4) Hindu nations of South-East Asia: Jawa Dwipa, Champa, Dvaravati, Funan, Gangga
Negara, Chenla, Kalingga, Kutai, Majapahit, Langkasuka, Pagan, Pan Pan, Singhasari,
Srivijaya, Tarumanagara, Devaraja, Harihara, Angkor, Borobodur. Some of these find
mention in the Vedagamas (Hindu Cosmic Constitution).
Map showing a few of the individual Hindu nations of Kailasa for the period before 7000BCE.
 A map showing the total combined area of the individual Hindu nations of Kailasa after the
Mahabharata war. (> 3100 BCE )

Color Legend
Code

Indicates the Indian subcontinent as spanned by the major Hindu nations of Kailasa,
which are described throughout the period starting from 10,000 BCE.

Indicates the kingdoms of Afghanistan (Gandhara), Philippines, Tibet, Yunnan where

Hinduism existed with other ancient religions of the time.

Indicates the south Asian Hindu nations that were mentioned in Ramayana ( 5600 BCE )
and where Hinduism was revived later again by Chola Empire (around 1000 CE).

Indicates the Hindu kingdom of Parshu and other Kingdoms of present-day Iran, which
find mention in the Rig Veda (Rigveda VII. 83, 1.) and other Hindu scriptures (Pāṇini, V, 3,
117.), and thus are older than 10,000 BCE.
14. Some of the advanced ancient civilizations of the world:

a. Ancient Egyptian (3150 BCE – 332 BCE),

b. Mesopotamian (6500 BCE – 539 BCE),

c. Jiahu civilization (7000 BCE – 5700 BCE)

d. Mayan civilization (1200 BCE – 250 BCE)

e. Greek and Roman (2700 BCE – 465 CE),

f. Hindu Civilization (> 10,000 BCE – ongoing)

15. Amongst the ten most advanced ancient civilizations and 100 most ancient civilizations, the only
one to survive is the Civilization of Sanatana Hindu Dharma. This shows truly there is something
unique in Hinduism that has enabled it to be eternal, and survive across time for thousands of
years. Indeed Hinduism is Sanatana (eternal/without a beginning or end), however, it can be wiped
from the geography.

The Mahabharat war ended at around 3200 BCE. The map in saffron is of the Indian
subcontinent around 3200 BCE - 56 Sovereign Hindu nations spread across an area of more
than 60 million km².

However, by 2007 CE, zero Hindu nations exist on planet Earth spanning 0 million km². Indeed,
Sanatana Hindu Dharma is eternal but it can be wiped off the geography.
 III. State Persecution of Hindu religious minorities
A. Origins and History of anti-Hindu law and policies in the Indian sub-continent

16. China’s persecution of, and interference in Tibetan Buddhist institutions is relatively well-known
thanks to the tireless efforts of human rights organizations, the United Nations, the Tibetan
diaspora, and the efforts of His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself to bring it to the attention of the
international community. However, a very similar, albeit virtually unknown destruction has been
done by state actors in India to undermine and control ancient Hindu religious institutions for
political purposes. This assault on religious freedom is part and parcel of broader authoritarian,
anti-democratic trends taking place in India that have only recently been acknowledged by the
international community.33

17. Hinduism is a vast and heterogenous religion that comprises various spiritual traditions and
lineages referred to as sampradayas. Many of these Sampradayas (religious Sects) date back
thousands of years and are led by individuals who are regarded to be Avatars, or incarnations of
divine beings, in an unbroken succession whereby a new leader or Gurumahasannidanam is
selected and coronated by his immediate predecessor, the current Gurumahasannidanam. In this
regard, these Hindu Sampradayas operate in a manner very similar to the Tibetan Buddhist
tradition of ritualistically selecting and installing new Guru Mahasannidhanams who are believed
to be reincarnations34 and living manifestations of divine beings.

18. In Hinduism spiritual lineage35 can be passed to the next generation only through lifelong, multi-
generational36 spiritual practice, mentoring, and initiation by the Guru 37 (or
Gurumahasannidanam). Hindu spiritual practices involve yogic processes which cause a conscious
mutation at a physical, physiological, psychological, and neurological level, allowing practitioners
to maintain meditative states of consciousness (Samadhi 38) for prolonged durations.39 These
meditative states are essential for the Hindu religion. Some short-duration experiences of these

33
(i) https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CEDAW/DGD24June2021/51.docx (ii) “Electoral autocracy: The
downgrading of India's democracy” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56393944 (iii) “Textbook Authoritarianism
Is Playing out in India” https://thewire.in/politics/india-modi-authoritarianism (iv) “Authoritarianism Is Winning on Every
Front in India” https://reason.com/2019/11/22/authoritarianism-is-winning-on-every-front-in-india/
34
Srimad Karana Agama, Purva bhaga (Part), Patala (Chapter) 71 , (Section) Sakalotpatti Vidhi, Shloka (Verse) 8-9, "इत्येवं
मनष्कळं प्रोिं िरं भावमिमत स्मृति्। सृमिस्थं लोकरक्षाथं लोकस्योत्पमिकारणि्॥ साधकानां मिताथं तु स्वेच्छया गृह्णते तनुः ।", "In this way (Shiva) who
is Nishkala - without any body and parts, who is the Ultimate Supreme Being, who is established in the Creation, who is
the Cause of the creation of the Universe, assumes a body out of His Free Will for the protection of the Universe, and for
the welfare of the Spiritual seekers and Devotees."
35
Kularnava Tantra, 14th Ullasa, verse 8 – “तस्मात् सववप्रयत्नेन साक्षात्परमशवोमिति्। सम्प्रिायिमवमिन्नं सिा कुयावत् गुरः मप्रये ॥ ८॥“ -
“Therefore, O My Beloved! One should seek with all efforts to have a Guru of unbroken tradition originating from Para
Siva Himself.”
36
Early Life Exposure to Environmentally Relevant Levels of Endocrine Disruptors Drive Multigenerational and
Transgenerational Epigenetic Changes in a Fish Model https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00471/full
37
(i) Kāmikāgama Uttara Pada Chapter 25 verses 5-7, 8-11, 39-41
docs.google.com/document/d/1UB40gY9qADTdH5VrjleejlesaDqzdX5nXxHaaXZQe3U
www.himalayanacademy.com/media/books/kamika-agama-uttara-pada-part-2/kamika-agama-uttara-pada-part-2.pdf
(ii) Regarding ādiśaiva the Kāmikāgama says that they are born in the family of sages such as Kauśika who were initiated
directly by Śiva immediately after the creation of the world. Therefore, they are qualified to undertake all the rites [as
prescribed in the āgamas] such as consecration, installation [in the temple], worship in public and expounding the
[āgamas] (vyākhyāna). The Kāraṇāgama and the Santānāgama also state that only the ādiśaiva is qualified to do these
rites and if the rites are done by others it will bring only calamity. www.wisdomlib.org/definition/adishaiva
38
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi
39
Mystic Phenomena Scientific Data - ISBN: 978-1-934364-45-1 books.nithyanandatimes.org/product/mystic-phenomena-scientific-
data
 meditative states are studied by contemporary western scientists in various groups of
meditators40, martial artists41, and athletes42. Hindu spiritual processes and initiation by the
enlightened Guru make the attainment of these meditative states of consciousness accessible to
every practitioner, and not just to an accomplished group of people. As per the Hindu religious
laws prescribed in Veda-Agamas (scriptures), only the ordained supreme pontiff (Guru or
Gurumahasannidanam) can initiate their native Hindu community members into the practice of
these yogic sciences, lifestyle sciences, knowledge system sciences, and sciences of ritual 43.

19. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 8 (2) declares, “States shall
provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for: (a) Any action which has the aim
or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic
identities;”. 44 Killing the Gurus (or Gurumahasannidanam), or breaking the lineage of Gurus,
irreversibly disrupts the continuation of the spiritual tradition to the next generation, destroys the
distinct identity of indigenous Hindu traditions, and leads to their permanent destruction. This is
how the majority of the 8,000 of the 10,000 45 indigenous enlightenment ecosystems were
destroyed, and less than 2,000 of them remain now. The distinct religious practices of the ASMT
are extremely vulnerable to this irreversible destruction. Just like the destruction of Lamas in
Buddhism is the destruction of Buddhism as the yogic bodies of the Lamas are the repository46 of
Buddhahood47, Hinduism in its entirety and not just some traditions of Hinduism will permanently
be destroyed after the extermination of the lineages of the Gurus.

1948 UN-Res.-260(III) Prevention of Crime of Genocide, Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Ref: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml

20. Destruction of the lineage of Gurus does not only destroy the religion but also the entire Hindu
society in totality. The Agama scriptures are voluminous48. As per Hindu scriptural records, there

40
Veltri, Michael (2017). The Mushin Way: How the Power, Clarity and Mindfulness of Aikido Can Bring Success in
Business and Life. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. ISBN 9781119285267.
41
Hyams, Joe. Zen in the Martial Arts. New York: Bantam Books, 1979
42
(i) Young, Janet A. & Pain, Michelle D. "The Zone: Evidence of a Universal Phenomenon for Athletes Across Sports".
(ii) ‘Do Top Athletes Experience the State of Pure Consciousness? Going Beyond Tiredness and Boredom ’ - youtu.be/tNRUKLy0PMw
43
Pauskara Agama Vidya Pada, 1 Pati Patalah, 1 Chapter, 2nd Verse, www.himalayanacademy.com/view/pauskara-
agama-vidya-pada_v2. docs.google.com/document/d/1UB40gY9qADTdH5VrjleejlesaDqzdX5nXxHaaXZQe3U
44
UNDRIP http://un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/01/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf
45
PARAMANANDA-TANTRA, Chapter 2, verses 7-10
46
https://tergar.org/about/tergar-lineage/
47
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhahood
48
Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-7082-4, pg. 49–50
 are 10,000 Agamas for the ASMT alone49. In totality, all Agamas and sourcebook scriptures of
Hinduism put together are more than 100 million, of which only 20 million remain today.

“Centuries of history of discrimination, exploitation,

dispossession, and colonization have led to the loss of traditional
knowledge. Traditional knowledge is under threat and is being
misused and misappropriated …”

“Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge has been developed

over generations through daily life practices and a close
understanding of local environments. It can offer valuable
responses to climate change, food insecurity, reducing
inequalities and other challenges that we are trying to resolve …”

18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

(UNPFII)

21. The mastery over the magnanimous volume of Veda-Agamic scriptures is achieved by specializing
in a branch of Veda-Agama scripture over multiple generations. Hindu sects and schools specialize
and systematically practice a particular branch (Shakha) of the Veda-Agamas and continue the
tradition over thousands of years.50 It is considered nearly impossible for a single group to master
the Veda-Agamas (Hindu scriptures) in its entirety, and thus each Hindu sect or school (Shakha or
Sampradaya) is interdependent on other schools (Shakha) for practice and application of the
entirety of Hinduism. The loss of one lineage, or school (Shakha or Sampradaya) is not just a loss
for the respective Hindu sect but entire Hinduism. Therefore, the persecution of a Hindu Guru is
not limited to the destruction of His lineage alone but of an integral body of Hinduism in its
entirety.

22. The destruction of the lineage of Gurus destroys several thousands of years of scholarly research
and practice of the Veda-Agamas. The Veda-Agamas is not just the repository of ancient spiritual
and religious knowledge, they are a repository of a phenomenal volume of ancient Human
knowledge and expertise, in various fields such as State Policies, Politics & Statecraft 51, Law52,
Banking & Accounting53, Architecture & Civil Engineering54, Performing Arts55, Medicine56,
Surgery57, Botany58, Chemistry and Metallurgy59, Music60, Agriculture61, Astrology62, Shipbuilding63,

49
Paramananda Agama (2nd chapter, Verse 7-10)
https://archive.org/details/64.tantraparamanandatantraraghunathmishra/page/n29/mode/2up
50
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakha
51
Samrajya Laxmi Pithika, Niti Shashtra, Artha Shashtra, Manu Smriti
52
Dharmashastra, Manu Smriti, Parasara Smriti, Yagya Valk, Gautama, Mitakshara
53
Arthashashtra, Krisi-Parasara
54
Kamikagama, Mahaagama, and Suprabhedagama
55
Pancharatra Agama
56
Charaka Saṃhitā, Sham Raj, Nighant, Bhashya Parichehed, Madhava Nidan, Vagbhat
57
Sushruta Samhita
58
Vrukshayurveda, Bruhat Samhita, Sarngadhara's Vrukshayurveda, Parasara’s Vrukshayurveda
59
Rasahrudaya Agama, Rasendra Mangala, Rasarathnakara, Karshaputa, Lohasastra
60
Gandharva Veda
61
Krishi Parasara
62
Siddbant Shiromani, Nil Kanthi, Mahurta Chintamani, Brihat Jatak, Shighra Bodh, Parasariya
63
Yukti Kalpa Taru
 Manufacturing64, Food sciences65, etc. The entire Hindu education is done and supervised by the
enlightened Guru. The Hindu knowledge in various fields is unique, unlike their modern
counterparts. The Veda Agamas (Hindu scriptures) enable not just excellence in the profession but
the attainment of spiritual liberation even through the mere practice of the profession 66. This is
why, for example, the science of archery in Hinduism (Dhanurvidya), does not just deal with
archery alone but also with the attainment of liberation. The Acharyas (Hindu scholars and
teachers) can transmit some portion of the domain expertise, but only the Guru guides into the
science of liberation67 that is even realized while practicing a particular trade or profession68
without necessarily mandating additional spiritual practices. The destruction of the Guru’s lineage
destroys this possibility for every Hindu.

23. Two such ancient Hindu sampradayas are the Madurai Adheenam of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, and
the Thondai Mandala Adheenam of Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. Thondaimandala Aadheenam is
one of the oldest Shaivite Mutts (monasteries), established originally by Paramashiva Himself, in
the form of Adi Nathar, and 5000 years ago69. Madurai Aadheenam was established by
incarnations of Paramashiva and Devi themselves as Lord Sundareshwara and His consort Divine
Mother Meenakshi.

The Colonial Era Laws and Policies on Hindu temples

24. In 1817, the colonial government of India enacted the Madras Regulation VII70 and nationalized
temples of minority Hindu sects taking over their wealth and assets. However, in 1840 71, Christian
missionaries lobbied and forced the government to issue a directive to return the Hindu temples
to their trustees. By 1845, the responsibility of the management of temples was returned to
traditional trustees and in the case of prominent temples to Mutts (monasteries). The State Board
of Revenue, however, supervised the administration of large temples. In 1863, the Religious
Endowments Act was enacted which completely handed over temple administration to the
trustees from the State and subsequently, the government played little or no role in supervising
them. Trustees ran the temple following the tenets applicable to the temple. The colonial
government also recognized the sovereignty of the heads of Hindu monasteries – for example on
3 Jan 1893 the Guru Maha Sannidhanam of Madurai Aadheenam was conferred with the title of
Rao Bahadur 72, a title given to Kings by the British Empire, and also had sovereign immunity from

64
Nagalingayna-Kutha, Vishvakurma-Poorana, Kumalesherra Kalikamahata
65
Bhaga Shashtra
66
Ishavasya Upanishad, verse 2
67
Guru Gita verse 1 to 11, https://www.hardlight.org/wordpress/images/Guru-Gita-complete.pdf
68
Bhagawat Gita Chapter 3 verse 9,17-20.
69
சைவ ஆதீனங் கள் (History of Śaiva Ādīnams), by முசனவர் தவத்திரு ஊரான் அடிகள் (Professor Ūrān Adigal),
வர்த்தமானன் பதிப்பக வவளியீடு (Vardamāna Publishers), 2002, pp. 545–550
70
Madras Endowments and Escheats Regulation, 1817 http://www.bareactslive.com/TN/tn421.htm
71
(i) http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1687/Constitutional-Validity-of-the-Hindu-Religious-and-Charitable-
Endowment-Act.html (ii) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/charge-of-temples-state-citizens-need-to-find-
a-fine-balance-together/articleshow/82154364.cms
72
Viceroy and Governor General’s letter dated 3 Jan 1893, To Saiva Samayyachariyar, Thirugnanasambhandha Pandara
Sannathi Head of the Madura Saiva Samaya Chariar Thirugnana Sambhadha Disika Swami Adhina Mattam in Madras. “I
Hereby Confer Upon you The Title of ‘RAO BAHADUR’ as a personal Distinction.” மதுசர ஆதீன வரலாறு – History of
Madurai Aadheenam - drive.google.com/file/d/1ZsfdTQkOXPWQAJxBmWKmpOn6WZJtecFu/view
 arrests and appearances in the court.73 Thus, the religious rights of Hindus to manage their
temples and religious succession rights were by large74 protected during colonial rule.

Pre-Independence Era Diarchal Government

25. The British colonial era in India was brutal, wherein the government created several man-made
famines that killed more than 35 million people in India by starvation and starvation-related
diseases.75 It was a silent holocaust forgotten just like much of the Hindu Holocaust. June 1918,
the Spanish flue spread in India with at a scale and severity not to be seen again until the next 101
years with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic76. The famines, the Spanish flu, the cruel-and-
inhumane government policies had completely broken the backbone and spirit of the people of
India. In 1914, during World War 1, the British colonial empire in India promised to give self-
governance (Swaraj) at the end of the war like Canada or Australia with the status of "dominion"
within the British Empire.77 India supported the British Colonial Empire during the First World War
with 1.3 million soldiers and vast sums of money collected from a country completely broken by
the famines inflicted by the colonial government and Spanish flu. 11 November 1918 Kaiser
Wilhelm of Germany abdicated on 9 November and Germany signed an armistice on, ending the
World War I. Contrary to fulfilling their commitment of giving self-governance to the people of
India, the British colonial government chose to reimpose the wartime era prohibitions on freedom
of the press freedom of assembly freedom of speech and declared Martial Law.

26. On 13 April 1919, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place.
A large but peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to celebrate the Hindu
festival of Baisakhi (solar new year) which is celebrated in several states of India. A British
Brigadier-General Dyer surrounded the Bagh with his soldiers and decided to punish the people
for breaking the martial law which did not allow more than five people to assemble. He did not
order the people to disperse, did not even fire a warning shot, he just ordered his soldiers to
assemble at the gates – the sole entrance and exit to the garden and to open fire on these
unarmed civilians. The troops kept on firing until their ammunition was exhausted – a total of 1656
bullets.78

73
Judicial Department proceedings of Madras Government, Letters from the Collector of Madura, dated 4 Sep. 1880; No.
2712; order thereon 15 Sep 1880, No. 2240, "Under Section 641 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Governor-in-Council is
pleased to exempt Saiva Samayachariar Tirugnana Sambanda Pandara Sannadhi Avergal, the Saiva High Priest of
Madurai from personal appearance in the Courts of the Presidency." G. Stokes (For Chief Secretary) – மதுசர ஆதீன
வரலாறு – History of Madurai Aadheenam - drive.google.com/file/d/1ZsfdTQkOXPWQAJxBmWKmpOn6WZJtecFu/view
74
With few exceptions such as in Indian Rebellion of 1857 which got incited because State forced
75
(i) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-35-million-deaths-britain-shashi-tharoor-british-empire-
a7627041.html (ii) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug/24/india.randeepramesh
76
(i) "Pandemic Influenza Risk Management WHO Interim Guidance" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2013. p. 19.
Archived (PDF) (ii) Spreeuwenberg P, Kroneman M, Paget J (December 2018). "Reassessing the Global Mortality Burden of
the 1918 Influenza Pandemic". American Journal of Epidemiology. Oxford University Press. 187 (12): 2561 - 2567.
doi:10.1093/aje/kwy191. PMC 7314216. PMID 30202996. (iii) Rosenwald MS (7 April 2020). "History's deadliest pandemics,
from ancient Rome to modern America". The Washington Post.
77
"History of the Commonwealth". Commonwealth Network. Commonwealth of Nations.
78
"Jallianwala-Bagh-Massacre". Britannica.
27. During an inquiry, Brigadier-General Dyer even boasted that not even a single bullet was wasted
because he had surrounded all the exits. At least 379 people were killed79 and over 1,200 other
people were injured of whom 192 were seriously injured.80 The people were left to die in the hot
April sun for 24 hours. Those still alive or wailing piteously for water were ordered to crawl on their
bellies on a side lane. There was an uproar during a colonial government commission of inquiry
in the House of Commons which censured Brigadier-General Dyer, but the House of Lords did not
only exonerated him but also praised him with some members of parliament addressing him as
the man who saved India. Brigadier-General Dyer was awarded a quarter of a million pounds and
a bejeweled sword. The Human rights of citizens were grossly violated during the British colonial
era. Despite this, the religious rights of Hindus to manage their temples and religious succession
rights were by large81 much more protected during colonial rule than after the upcoming era after
World War one, when the colonial government created the Diarchal form of Government.

28. Diarchy is a form of government characterized by co-rule, with two people ruling a polity together
either lawfully or de facto, by collusion and force. The leaders of such a system are usually known
as co-rulers. Historically, diarchy particularly referred to the system of shared rule in British India
established by the Government of India Acts 1919 and 1935, which devolved some powers to local
councils, which had included native Indian representation under the Indian Councils Act 1892. This
group of native Indian representatives were extremely intolerant towards Hinduism and started
the destruction of Hindu temples. The anti-Hindu sentiment amongst the political circles that still
prevail in the entire Indian subcontinent took roots during this era.

79
Nigel Collett (15/9/2006). The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer. A&C Black. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-85285-575-8.
80
(i) India. Committee on Disturbances in Bombay, Delhi, and the Punjab (1920). Report; disorders inquiry committee
1919-1920. pp. XX - XXI, 44 - 45, 116 - 7. Retrieved 8 September 2018.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (ii) Dolly,
Sequeria (2021). Total History & Civics 10 ICSE. New Delhi: Morning Star. p. 71.
81
With few exceptions such as in Indian Rebellion of 1857 which got incited because State forced
29. In 1917, following the Bolshevik Revolution82 the State of the USSR deprived the formerly official
church of its status of legal personhood, the right to own property or to teach religion, especially
in schools83. During 1921 – 1928, there was another anti-religious campaign against churches and
believers by the State of USSR, wherein the State terrorized certain religious sects with policies to
deprive them of legal means of existence84 aimed at the elimination of most religions and its
replacement with the atheistic world view of the state. 85 Though the State of USSR never made it
illegal to be a believer or to have religion, the activities of this campaign were often veiled under
other pretexts that the state invoked or invented to justify State-sponsored religious persecution.86
The Bolshevik revolution and developments that followed were much admired by several Indian
political leaders of the time, some of whom even went to Moscow, and met Russian leaders to
greet them following the revolution.87 Similar anti-religion88 laws were implemented in India
during this same period. On 18 December 1922, during the colonial diarchy, the Hindu Religious
Endowment bill was introduced by the government of Madras Presidency led by the Chief Minister,
Ramarayaningar, to bring all religious institutions under State control. Ramarayaningar was one
of the first native Indian Chief Ministers ruling the State of Madras Presidency under the
Government of India Acts 1919 and the Indian Councils Act 1892. In 1925, the bill was enacted as
“The Madras Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (1925)” . Similar to the anti-religion
campaigns in the USSR, wherein the State of the USSR made policies that suppressed and
persecuted various forms of Christianity to different extents only depending upon State
interests89, the anti-religion laws in India, targeted certain religious communities more.
Immediately after the Act (1925) came into force, Muslim and Christian communities massively
protested, challenging the legislature citing that it was not validly passed, and forced the anti-
religion act of 1925 to be redrafted. The act was redrafted as “The Madras Hindu Religious and
Endowments Act (1927)” to be made applicable only to Hindu places of worship, it also excluded
few other religious sects for which the State had a different set of laws90 allowing these religious
communities91 to self-regulate their religious institutes and temples. Some Hindu religious leaders,
that had their religious institutes out of the purview of the Act, though expressed apprehensions
on some of its provisions, also supported the bill.92 Religious institutes of minority Hindu sects,
such as the Adi Shaivite Minority Tradition (ASMT)93 that were unable to escape falling into the

82
Samaan, A.E. (2013). From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848. A.E. Samaan. p. 346. ISBN 978-0615747880.
83
"Soviet repression of the Ukrainian Catholic Church." Department of State Bulletin 87 (1987)
84
Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Policies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 33
85
(i) Dimitry V. Pospielovsky (1987) pg 34 (ii) Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, The Attitude of the Workers' Party to Religion. Proletary,
No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm
86
Letters of Metropolitan Sergii of Vilnius
87
M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. Communist Parties and United Front – Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad:
Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 82 – 83
88
Anti-religion – opposing or hostile to religion or to the power and influence of organized religion https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/anti-religious
89
"Revelations from the Russian Archives: ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGNS". Library of Congress. US Government.
90
Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 http://www.bareactslive.com/ACA/ACT1096.HTM
91
Nesbitt, Eleanor (2005-09-22). Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction - Eleanor Nesbitt. ISBN 9780191578069.
92
Sri Sambamoorthi Shastrigal, Kuppuswamy Iyer, "Sollin Selvan" P. N. Parasuraman. Pujya Sri Mahaswamy Divya
Charitram (PDF). Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. p. 48. (Original pdf link, Alternate link)
93
ASMT (Adi Shaiva Minority Tradition) is the sect of Hinduism which worships Lord Paramashiva, as per the Hindu
scriptures (Vedagamas). The most ancient Agamas - the Kāmikāgama, known to be more than 60,000 years old mentions
that Ādiśaivites are born in the family of sages such as Kauśika who were initiated directly by Śiva (Paramashiva)
 ambit of the Act were nationalized and forcibly brought under State control to be headed by a
politically94 nominated state executive officer called the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious
Endowment Board.

30. The political leaders that ruled the Madras Presidency, such as Panaganti Ramarayaningar (1920-
26), during the colonial rule of India and such as Karunanidhi subsequently after the independence
of India, had antagonistic views on indigenous Hindu culture such as Hindu feminism, Hindu
worship of divine as Mother, indigenous Gurukul education 95, and traditional decentralized self-
governance institutes that administered villages and temples. As the Chief Minister of Madras
Presidency, Panaganti Ramarayaningar banned the distribution of poems on indigenous forms of
governance, Hindu education, Hindu feminism, women empowerment, and religious freedom. 96

The origin of the anti-Hindu caste system in India – a colonial-era census

31. The cause of Hindu antagonistic views of Indian leaders of the pre-colonial (and even post-
independence era) such as Ramarayaningar or Karunanidhi can be understood by a study of the
setting under which they grew. From the 1840s up until 1925, the Indian State under the colonial
government evolved a pseudo-identity framework which faultily generalized the demographic
census data into what was called castes, a Spanish word “casta”, used to mean a “lineage, tribe or
class”.97 This categorization of colonial citizens based on a faultily generalized identity that has
resulted in violence is a global phenomenon as seen in the Rwanda Genocide which killed 500,000
to 800,00098 Tutsis with total estimated death at 1,100,000. 99 The origin of this classification both
in India and Rwanda was not native to these countries, but a colonial trope 100. The Rwanda
Genocide that involved Hutu and Tutsi people, for example, was caused by a faulty classification
system developed during a colonial census. The definitions of "Hutu" and "Tutsi" people have
changed through time and location. Even during colonial times under Belgian rule, social
structures were fluid throughout Rwanda. The Tutsi aristocracy or elite was distinguished from
Tutsi commoners, and wealthy Hutu were often indistinguishable from upper-class Tutsi. When
the Belgian colonists conducted censuses, they wanted to identify the people throughout Rwanda-
Burundi according to a simple classification scheme. They defined "Tutsi" as anyone owning more
than ten cows (a sign of wealth) or with the physical feature of a longer nose, or a longer neck,
commonly associated with the Tutsi. The Hutu and Tutsi spoke the same language, practiced the
same religion, and participated in the same government, and having lived together for at least 400

immediately after the creation of the world, and therefore they are qualified to undertake all the rites as prescribed in the
āgamas, such as consecration, installation in the temple, worship in public and expounding the āgamas (vyākhyāna). The
Kāraṇāgama and the Santānāgama also state that only the Ādiśaiva is qualified to do these customary rites. The Adishaivas
run and administer ancient temples and monasteries, some of which are more than 3000 years old.
94
Encyclopedia of Political Parties, Pg 148
95
Eugene F. Irschick (1969). Political and Social Conflict in South India; The non-Brahman movement and Tamil
Separatism, 1916 – 1929. University of California Press.
96
Parthasarathy, R. (1979). Builders of modern India:S. Satyamurti. Publications Division, Government of India. p. 43.
97
"caste". Oxford English Dictionary
98
Guichaoua, André (2 January 2020). "Counting the Rwandan Victims of War and Genocide: Concluding Reflections".
Journal of Genocide Research. 22 (1): 125-141 doi:10.1080/14623528.2019.1703329. ISSN 1462-3528.
99
Reyntjens, Filip. ESTIMATION DU NOMBRE DE PERSONNES TUÉES AU RWANDA EN 1994. Available
at:https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/oldcontent/container2143/files/Publications/Annuaire/1996-1997/10-
Reyntjens.pdf
100
Wylie, Lesley. “Colonial Tropes and Postcolonial Tricks: Rewriting the Tropics in the ‘Novela De La Selva.’” The Modern
Language Review, vol. 101, no. 3, 2006, pp. 728–742. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20466906.
years, had considerable intermingling and intermarrying, such that ethnographers claim that the
two groups "cannot be called distinct ethnic groups".101 Rather, the two terms in the contemporary
setting merely referred to a colonial pseudo-identity framework in which the Hutu were primarily
farmers and the Tutsi were primarily herdsmen.102 In a similar way, until the colonialization of
India, the word caste in the present context was unknown to not just India but also the world. Until
1569, the Spanish word casta implying “lineage, tribe or class”, did not even exist in English103, and
was used only to describe mixed-race individuals in New Spain.104 In 1844, the word “caste” in India
meant indigenous social structures that were seen by foreign evangelicals as “a wonderful
institution” of guilds “merging in the wisdom and craft of man” 105
. In 1871, the word “caste” was
used by the colonial government to force-fit people groups in a pseudo-identity framework based
on surname, appearances, facial features, etc. 106 The 1871 census data was used to create
legislatures such as the Criminal Tribes Act (1871) 107 that made prejudicial negative stereotypes,
which arbitrarily declared any person a criminal by the very nature of his birth in a certain people's
group, or by his professing a certain surname. The Criminal Tribes Act (CTA 1871) deprived several
people groups of their inalienable universal human right to be presumed innocent until proven
guilty (UN UDHR Article 11). While the four Varnas that are defined based on Karmas (actions
motivated by individual worldview and pursuits of life) and Gunas (activism, that is, number of
active working hours per day) 108 are a form of self-declaration and subjective fluid109 classification,
and the 3000 Jatis are endogamous people groups with 25,000 Upjatis 110 that include exogamous
Gotra groups, the 1871 census and later literature faultily generalized 111 the 25,000 people groups
into a force-fitted classification using the same verbiage as of four Varnas which was contrary to
both practical indigenous lifestyle experience and written scriptures.112 This faulty generalization
is described by William Robert Cornish, who supervised colonial government census operations in
the Madras Presidency in 1871, as ”Whether there was ever a period in which the Hindus were
composed of four classes is exceedingly doubtful".113 Such faulty generalizations coupled with

101
(i) Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. 1998. (ii)
"'Indangamuntu 1994: Ten years ago in Rwanda this ID Card cost a woman her life' by Jim Fussell".
102
https://www.beyondintractability.org/casestudy/fornace-rwandan
103
Dictionarie in Spanish and English (1599 & 1623), an augmented version of Bibliotheca Hispanica (1591) by Richard
Percyvall (1993 reprint: ISBN 3-89131-066-8)
104
Ares, Berta, “Usos y abusos del concepto de casta en el Perú colonial”, ponencia presentada en el Congreso
Internacional INTERINDI 2015. Categorías e indigenismo en América Latina, EEHA-CSIC, Sevilla, November 10, 2015.
105
"Caste, In Its Religious And Civil Character Opposed To Christianity", Joseph Roberts (1857), An address delivered in the
Wesleyan Mission Chapel, Madras by Rev Joseph Roberts of the Royal Asiatic Society on 4 Jan 1844, page 10.
106
https://censusindia.gov.in/DigitalLibrary/data/Census_1881/Publication/India/1A-
Memorandum%20on%20the%20census%20of%20British%20India,%201871-1872.pdf
107
Text of the Criminal Tribes Act 1871 at Columbia University
108
चातुववर्ण्यं िया सृिं गुणकिवमवभागशः ॥ तस्य कतावरिमि िां मवद्ध्यकतावरिव्ययि्॥Bhagavata Gita Chapter 4 verse 13॥
109
Dirks 2001. Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press;
2001.
110
(i) https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/young-angry-and-untouchable-indias-low-caste-
threat-to-modi/articleshow/67589578.cms , (ii) https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/08/17/india.caste/
111
Dumont, Louis (1980), Homo Hierarchicus: The caste system and its implications, University of Chicago Press, pp. 66-
67 ISBN 0-226-16963-4
112
Mahābhārata (Vana-parva, chapter 177, verse 20), “śūdre caitad-bhavel-lakṣma dvije tac ca na vidyate। na vai śūdro
bhavec-chudro brāhmaṇo na ca brāhmaṇoḥ॥” “If someone born a śūdra possesses the characteristics of a brāhmaṇa and
someone born a brāhmaṇa does not, that śūdra should not be known as a śūdra, and that brāhmaṇa should not be
known as a brāhmaṇa.”
113
Cornish, W R (1874): Report on the Census of the Madras Presidency, 1871, with Appendix (Madras: The Government
Gazette Press), p 121, 122. https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/33/special-articles/census-colonial-india-and-birth-
caste.html
negative stereotypes were applied to various people groups such as to Hindu scholars and priests
who were presumed to be nepotistic by the virtue of their birth, surname, or profession114 , and
similarly, all Hindu monastic orders (Sanyasis) were presumed to be criminal by birth as per
CTA(1871). Though the fight against discrimination, is a worldwide cause115, as much as in the
Indian sub-continent, the faulty generalization of Hindu social constructs coupled with negative
stereotyping of Hindu communities had a severe irreparable negative effect in multiple
dimensions depriving various people groups of their basic human rights in front of the law by
mere definition. The pre-colonial indigenous education system was widespread116 imparting
education to every person even in the remotest village 117, it was economical118 and inclusive,
catering to boys and girls119 of all sections of society with as many as 70% of students being from
impoverished communities120 that now are recognized121 as OBCs, SCs, and STs122. The pre-
colonial indigenous gurukul education system encouraged harmony amongst all social
communities by recognizing the dignity of labor and respect for all professions, for example, the
second verse from an ancient treatise on agriculture says, “Despite being learned of four Vedas
(core Hindu scriptures) if a Brahmin considers agriculture inferior he is bound to be stuck in a cycle
of poverty.”123 The Hindu scriptures taught to respect each human being without discrimination
as not just an equal human being but a divine manifestation of God - "Whether a woman or a man,
a Cāņdala or a high-born Dvija, there is absolutely no discrimination in the Cakra. Everyone here
is considered like Śiva (Primordial Hindu Divinity)" 124 . Despite the inclusive nature of pre-colonial
indigenous education and fluid nature of pre-colonial indigenous social structures, the Chief
Minister of Madras Presidency, Ramarayaningar, a strong advocate of westernization parroted a
colonial trope125 in one of his most cited interviews stating – “What did the Brahmans do for our
education in the five thousand years before Britain came? I remind you: They asserted their right
to pour hot lead into the ears of the low-caste man who should dare to study books. All learning

114
Diehl, Anita (1977). E. V. Ramaswami Naicker-Periar: A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South
India. Sweden: Scandinavian University Books. ISBN 978-91-24-27645-4.
115
With the adoption of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, 193 United Nations Member States pledged to
ensure “no one will be left behind” and to “endeavour to reach the furthest behind first”.
116
House of Commons Papers, 1831-32, volume 9, p.468, Presidency of Bombay, G.L. Prendergast ‘there is hardly a
village, great or small, throughout our territories, in which there is not at least one school, and in larger villages more .’
117
House of Commons Papers, 1812-13, volume 7, evidence of Thomas Munro (Governor of Madras Presidency 1819-
1827), p.127, The Beautiful Tree, Dr. Dharampal, (ISBN No.: 81-85569-49-5 republished ISBN-10: 8175310952), page 26.
118
Collector of Bellary (A.D. Campbell) to Board of Revenue, 17 August 1823 (TNSA: BRP: Vol.958 Pro.25.8.1823 pp.7167-85
Nos.32-33), para 16. “The economy with which children are taught to write in the native schools, and the system by which
the more advanced scholars are caused to teach the less advanced and at the same time to confirm their own knowledge
is certainly admirable, and well deserved the imitation it has received in England.”
119
The Beautiful Tree, Dr. Dharampal, (ISBN No.: 81-85569-49-5 republished ISBN-10: 8175310952), Chapter IV,
“Education of Girls” page 43
120
(i) The Beautiful Tree (Dharampal), Chapter IV, Table 3 - Caste-wise division of male school, student, republished here,
(ii) Ibid see also pg 29, “while the Soodras and the other castes ranged from about 70% in Salem and Tinnevelly to over
84% in South Arcot” (iii) TNSA: Revenue Consultations: Vol.920: dated 2 July 1822
121
Ibid Chapter IV page 22 “this included most such groupings which today are listed among the scheduled castes”
122
OBCs – Other backward castes, SCs – Scheduled Castes, STs – Scheduled Tribes are some of officially designated
groups of people in India that are considered disadvantaged and marginalized by the State of Republic of India.
123
"चतुवेिान्तगो मवप्रः शािवािी मवचक्षणः । अलक्ष्म्या गृह्यते सोऽमि प्राथवनालाघवास्त्रितः ॥२॥" कृमििराशरि् https://sa.wikisource.org/s/d9w
124
"खी वाथ िुरिः िण्डचण्डालो वा मिजोसिः । चक्रेऽस्त्रस्मन्नेव भेिोऽस्त्रि सवव मशवसिाः स्मृताः ॥९७॥“ verse 97 and “जामतभेिो न चक्रेऽस्त्रस्मन् सवे
मशवसिाः स्मृताः । वेिेऽमि स्त्रस्थतिेवं मि सवव मि ब्रह्मा चाव्रतीत्॥१०१॥“ verse 101, etc., Kularnava Tantra, 8th Ullasa
https://archive.org/details/Kularnava/mode/2up
125
Wylie, Lesley. “Colonial Tropes and Postcolonial Tricks: Rewriting the Tropics in the ‘Novela De La Selva.’” The Modern
Language Review, vol. 101, no. 3, 2006, pp. 728–742. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20466906.
belonged to them, they said.”126 The dangerous colonial caste constructs as seen in the Rwanda
Genocide are also the basis for depriving Hindus of their religious rights, marginalization of various
Hindu people groups, and the destruction of Hindu temples and monasteries. The indigenous
Gurukul education system were not limited to imparting spiritual and religious knowledge, they
contributed a phenomenal volume of ancient Human knowledge and expertise, in various field
such as State Policies, Politics & Statecraft 127, Law128, Banking & Accounting129, Architecture & Civil
Engineering130, Performing Arts131, Medicine132, Surgery133, Botany134, Chemistry and Metallurgy135,
Music136, Agriculture137, Astrology138, Shipbuilding139, Manufacturing140, Food sciences141, giving
breakthrough contributions to humanity such as – knowledge, and application of zero, binomial
theorem142 (200BCE143), calculations with zero144, positive numbers, negative numbers,
generalization of Fibonacci identity, Euler's four-square identity, Lagrange's identity145, knowledge,
and application of infinity146 (300BCE), average values147 (1150 CE), fractions148 (628 CE),
arithmetical and geometrical progressions, plane geometry, angular dimensions, solid geometry,
simple, quadratic, simultaneous, and indeterminate equations149, Baudhayana-Pythagoras
Theorem150, Madhava–Leibniz infinite series for the value of pi (Π)151, trigonometry, infinite series
for calculating value of a sine function, Nilakanta-Taylor series (1685 CE), Govindaswami-Newton-
Gauss interpolation (1670 CE), calculus152. Somayaji-Newton Power series (1660 CE), Madhava-
Gregory’s series for inverse tangent (1632 AD), astronomy, Velocity of Planets (Puthumana

126
Mayo, Katherine (1937). Mother India. New York. p. 178.
127
Samrajya Laxmi Pithika, Niti Shashtra, Artha Shashtra, Manu Smriti
128
Dharmashastra, Manu Smriti, Parasara Smriti, Yagya Valk, Gautama, Mitakshara
129
Arthashashtra, Krisi-Parasara
130
Kamikagama, Mahaagama, and Suprabhedagama
131
Pancharatra Agama
132
Charaka Saṃhitā, Sham Raj, Nighant, Bhashya Parichehed, Madhava Nidan, Vagbhat
133
Sushruta Samhita
134
Vrukshayurveda, Bruhat Samhita, Sarngadhara's Vrukshayurveda, Parasara’s Vrukshayurveda
135
Rasahrudaya Agama, Rasendra Mangala, Rasarathnakara, Karshaputa, Lohasastra
136
Gandharva Veda
137
Krishi Parasara
138
Siddbant Shiromani, Nil Kanthi, Mahurta Chintamani, Brihat Jatak, Shighra Bodh, Parasariya
139
Yukti Kalpa Taru
140
Nagalingayna-Kutha, Vishvakurma-Poorana, Kumalesherra Kalikamahata
141
Bhaga Shashtra
142
(i) Plofker, Kim (2009). Mathematics in India. Princeton University Press. pp. 54-56. “Pingala’s use of a zero symbol as a
marker seems to be the first known explicit reference to zero.” ISBN 0-691-12067-6. (ii) मिङ्गलिन्दः सूत्रि्
143
(i) R. Hall, Mathematics of Poetry, has "c. 200 BC" (ii) Mylius (1983:68) mentions "very late" within the Vedānga corpus.
144
The Siddhanta-Sekhara of Sripati: A Sanskrit astronomical work of the 11th century : Cambridge University Press.
145
Henry Thomas Colebrooke. Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration, from the Sanskrit of Brahmegupta and
Bhaascara, London 1817, p. 339 (online)
146
(i) Ian Stewart (2017). Infinity: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-19-875523-4. (ii)
वधािौ मवयत् खस्य खं खेन घाते खिारो भवेत् खेन भिश्च रामशः ॥2.18॥ अस्त्रस्मन् मवकारः खिरे न राशावमि प्रमविेष्वमि मनः सृतेिु। बहुष्वमि स्यात् लय-
सृमिकाले अनन्ते अच्युतेभूतगणेिु यित्॥2.20॥ Bhaskaracharya’s Bijaganita
147
Plofker, Kim (2009). Mathematics in India. Princeton University Press. page 71, ISBN 0-691-12067-6.
148
Bhāskara II's treatise on mathematics, Līlāvatī
149
B. S. Yadav (28 Oct 2010). Ancient Indian Leaps Into Mathematics. Springer. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-8176-4694-3,
Aryabhatiya
150
Thibaut, George (1875). "On the Śulvasútras". The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 44: 232–238
151
(i) Edwards (1994), The historical development of the calculus, Springer Study Edition Series (3 ed.), Springer, p. 247,
ISBN 978-0-387-94313-8 (ii) ഇരിഞ്ഞാറ്റപ്പിള്ളി മാധവൻ നമ്പൂതിരി Madhava of Sangamagrama discovered before
Leibniz
152
(i) "Neither Newton nor Leibniz - The Pre-History of Calculus and Celestial Mechanics in Medieval Kerala". MAT 314.
Canisius College. (ii) "An overview of Indian mathematics". Indian Maths. School of Mathematics and Statistics University
of St Andrews, Scotland.
Somayaji 1450 CE), Gravity (1114 CE), freely available organic antibiotic remedies153, free and
affordable154 healthcare, vaccination155 procedures, surgical156 procedures including plastic
surgery, etc. The State of the Republic of India however, considers indigenous heritage, knowledge,
and acumen in poor light. In India, the interference of the State is not limited to Hindu religion and
Hindu temples alone, but various fields like business and even science. C V Raman, the first Indian
and first Asian to win Nobel Price, in one of his lectures about a series of experiments that required
platinum, remarked that he had found his first sliver of platinum, when he, in a fit of rage against
the government’s ill-conceived policies on science, had smashed his Bharat Ratna medal (highest
civil honor).157 Raman was outraged at what he felt was the government’s use of power to grant
funds as a means to establish control over research institutes.158 In his twilight years, he said in
frustration, “My life has been an utter failure. I was the first Asian to bring home the Nobel Prize
in the scientific field. I thought I would bring true science in our country.” Similarly, the interference
of government on the economy was devastating, often termed – License Raj – referring to the red
tape of the State that hindered the setup and running of businesses in India between 1947 and
1990.159 During this era, based on political interest160, the banking sector in India was nationalized.
This brought down their profitability161 and viability162. Five decades later, the government was
forced to pump in INR 2.5 trillion to counter the effect of several scams163 that had resulted in a
high level of non-performing assets standing at around INR 7.5 trillion164. The government had
also nationalized the airline industry. Before the nationalization of the airline company Air India,
its owner JRD Tata would take interest in minute details like cleanliness and even clean dirty toilets
inside aircraft by himself to set an example for his staff to follow165, after nationalization over
decades of destruction166 the airline gathered a total of INR 500 billion in debt, with the

153
https://www.nature.com/articles/37838
154
Gopinath BG. Foundational ideas of Ayurveda. Medicine and Life Sciences in India. In: Subbarayappa BV,
Chattopadhyay DP, editors. New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilizations; 2001. pp. 59–107. History of Science,
Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization; Part 2. Vol. IV.
155
J. Van Alphen; A. Aris (1995). "Medicine in India". Oriental Medicine: An Illustrated Guide to the Asian Arts of Healing.
London: Serindia Publications. pp. 19-38 ISBN 978-0-906026-36-6.
156
Kansupada, KB; Sassani, JW (1997). "Sushruta: the father of Indian surgery and ophthalmology". Doc Ophthalmol. 93
(1-2): 159-67. doi:10.1007/bf02569056. PMID 9476614. S2CID 9045799.
157
(i) Parameswaran, Uma (2011). C.V. Raman : a biography p. 222. OCLC 772714846. (ii) Malhotra, Inder (2014). "C. V.
Raman and the Bharat Ratna". www.freedomfirst.in
158
(i) "The ups and downs of a science city". (ii) Krishna, V.V.; Khadria, Binod (1997). "Phasing Scientific Migration in the
Context of Brain Gain and Brain Drain in India". Science, Technology and Society. 2 (2): 347 - 385.
doi:10.1177/097172189700200207. S2CID 143870753. (iii) Krishna, V. V. (1 June 2001). "Changing policy cultures, phases
and trends in science and technology in India". Science and Public Policy. 28 (3): 179 - 194.
doi:10.3152/147154301781781525.
159
(i) Mathew, George Eby (2010). India's Innovation Blueprint: How the Largest Democracy is Becoming an innovation
Super Power. Oxford: Chandos Publishing. pp. 13 ff. ISBN 978-1-78063-224-7. OCLC 867050270. (ii) Nehru, S., ed. (2019).
Economic Reforms in India: Achievements and Challenges. Chennai: MJP Publisher. p. 271. ISBN 978-81-8094-251-8. OCLC
913733544. (iii) Street Hawking Promise Jobs in Future Archived March 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Times of
India, 2001-11-25
160
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/view-indias-leap-to-nationalisation-as-world-jumped-
over-the-moon/articleshow/70402194.cms
161
https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/50-years-of-nationalization-119071801749_1.html
162
https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/opinion-the-1969-bank-nationalization-did-india-more-harm-than-good-
1563295097940.html
163
https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shekhar-gupta-dump-it-sell-it-forget-it-118021601397_1.html
164
(i) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1064657/india-gross-npa-public-sector-banks-india/ , (ii) https://www.business-
standard.com/article/politics/here-s-why-communist-party-of-india-opposes-privatisation-of-psbs-118022200476_1.html
165
https://www.livemint.com/Companies/rLr3BwZ3II8vk5j8xI8ypJ/air-india-tata-air-india-flights-air-india-sale-airline.html
166
https://www.firstpost.com/business/the-praful-patel-guide-to-destroying-ai-revised-edition-34635.html
 government determined to sell it off and privatize it again by December 2019.167 Similarly, the
government had nationalized various companies and organizations which over decades
underperformed for various reasons linked to the economy in general and also because of red
tape, and lack of accountability. The same is the fate of Hindu temples that were nationalized by
the State governments of India. Madurai Temple for example used to offer Anna Daan (free food
as a charitable service) to everyone irrespective of their status, religion, or caste. After State take
over of the temple, not just Anna Daan several important services were stopped. In 1990, India
faced a severe balance of payments crisis and as a part of a bailout deal with the IMF, India was
forced to pledge 20 tonnes of gold to the Union Bank of Switzerland and 47 tonnes to the Bank of
England and Bank of Japan and subsequently, liberalized the economy ending the red-tapism to
some extent.168 Despite the lessons learned from the past, several political groups in the State of
the Republic of India, are determined to nationalize and usurp ancient wealth and gold of several
Hindu temples and loot it in the guise of greater interest of the nation – the prime example being
the gold monetization169 scheme planned for the Padmanabhaswamy Temple – the largest
collection of items of gold and precious stones in the recorded history of the world. 170 Though the
State of the Republic of India got political independence in 1947, and economic liberalization in
1990, there is a long way to go, especially in terms of religious rights more so for minority Hindu
religious sects.

The anti-Hindu laws of 1925 for State take over of Hindu Temples
32. The Hindu Religious Endowment Act (1925) set the precedent for several later anti-religion laws
such as the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR & CE) Act, the policy of the incumbent
state of Tamil Nadu.171 Even today, Hindu educational institutions, temples, religious traditions are
subject to State subjugation and control. But a radical change was introduced in the legislation by
way of Act XII of 1935172, through which temples could be notified by the government and their
administration took over by the State Executive through the Hindu Religious Endowment Board.

33. 19 July 1917, at a conference in Coimbatore, presided over by Panagati Ramarayaningar, the four
associations got together to form the South Indian Liberal Federation, unofficially known as the
Justice Party.173 A vast majority of governments that ruled over the Madras Presidency (and post-
independence Tamil Nadu) were formed by the Justice Party. The leaders of the Justice Party such
as the Chief Minister Panagati Ramarayaningar were known to vocally express their anti-Hindu

167
https://www.newindianexpress.com/specials/2019/dec/25/from-jet-airways-closure-to-air-india-crisis-how-indian-
aviation-sector-got-stalled-in-2019-2080409.html
168
(i) Economic Crisis Forcing Once Self-Reliant India to Seek Aid, The New York Times, 29 June 1991(ii) Bank, The World
(12 November 1991). "India - Structural Adjustment Credit Project (English) - Presidents report". World Bank: 1. (iii)
"Structural adjustments in India - a reportof the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG". World Bank.
169
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-narendra-modi-temples-gold-jewellery-banks-248110-2015-04-11
170
(i) "India to evaluate world's largest gold treasure soon". Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. (ii) R. Krishnakumar
(16 July 2011). "Treasures of history". Frontline. 28 (15). Retrieved 27 November 2015.
171
(i) "The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department". Department of HR &CE. Government of Tamil
Nadu. (ii) Rajaraman, P. (1988). The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916 – 37. Poompozhil Publishers. pp. 255 –
260.
172
www.latestlaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Tamil-Nadu-Hindu-Religious-and-Charitable-Endowments-Act-
1959.pdf
173
(i) Geetha, V.; Rajadurai, S. V., eds. (1928). "Some Non-Brahmin Leaders". Revolt - A Radical Weekly in Colonial Madras
(PDF). Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam. pp. 176 - 179. (ii) Kesavanarayana, B. (1976). Political and Social Factors in Andhra,
1900 - 1956. p. 299.
 prejudices174 which attracted political leaders from other parties such as E. V. Ramasamy who was
the President of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee since 1922. The Congress Party lost
several elections175 to the Justice Party, and E. V. Ramasamy left the Congress in 1925 citing
discrimination.176 Subsequently, E. V. Ramasamy joined the Justice Party. Anti-Hinduism was a
major feature of E. V. Ramasamy’s public addresses, this led to him being consulted by Justice
Party seniors and in 1939, E.V. Ramasamy was declared as the head of the Justice Party.177

34. Though Hindu Scriptures taught to respect each human being without discrimination as not just
an equal human being but also as a divine manifestation of God - "Whether a woman or a man, a
Cāņdala or a high-born Dvija, there is absolutely no discrimination in the Cakra. Everyone here is
considered like Śiva (Primordial Hindu Divinity)" 178, E. V. Ramasamy like many other political
leaders of the Justice Party and Dravidar Kazhagam stereotyped the Hindu religion and the
Sanskrit language as intrinsically exploitative179, criminal180, and nepotistic181.

35. As per the colonial government data, the pre-colonial indigenous education system was
widespread182 imparting education to every person even in the remotest village 183, it was
economical184 and inclusive, catering to boys and girls185 of all sections of society with as many as
70% of students being from impoverished communities 186 that now are recognized187 as OBCs,
SCs, and STs188. Despite this E. V. Ramasamy concocted several racist theories and delivered a

174
Mayo, Katherine (1937). Mother India. New York. p. 178.
175
Ralhan, O. P. (2002). Encyclopaedia of Political Parties. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. ISBN 978-81-7488-865-5. Page 180
176
Kandasamy, W.B. Vansantha; Florentin Smarandache; K. Kandasamy (2005). Fuzzy and Neutrosophic Analysis of E.V.
Ramasamy's Views on Untouchability. HEXIS: Phoenix. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-931233-00-2.
177
Kandasamy (2005). NFuzzy and Neutrosophic Analysis of E.V. Ramasamy's Views on Untouchability. American
Research Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-931233-00-2.
178
"खी वाथ िुरिः िण्डचण्डालो वा मिजोसिः । चक्रेऽस्त्रस्मन्नेव भेिोऽस्त्रि सवव मशवसिाः स्मृताः ॥९७॥“ verse 97 and “जामतभेिो न चक्रेऽस्त्रस्मन् सवे
मशवसिाः स्मृताः । वेिेऽमि स्त्रस्थतिेवं मि सवव मि ब्रह्मा चाव्रतीत्॥१०१॥“ verse 101, etc., Kularnava Tantra, 8th Ullasa
https://archive.org/details/Kularnava/mode/2up
179
Diehl, Anita (1977). E. V. Ramaswami Naicker-Periar: A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South
India. Sweden: Scandinavian University Books. ISBN 978-91-24-27645-4
180
(i) In 1968, referring to the Criminal Tribes Act (1871), which generalized a people as criminal by birth, E. V. Ramasamy
said, “The dharma of India is the dharma of criminal tribes” http://keetru.com/index.php/2009-08-20-02-56-57/909-
09/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3032&Itemid=139 (ii) Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(MDMK) leader Vaiko describe opposition party members as “habitual offender”, referring to the Habitual Offender Act
(1952) which continued the negative stereotyping of the Criminal Tribes Act (1871) post independence
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/brahmins-attacked-in-tamil-nadu-as-periyar-statue-vandalism-triggers-
violence-protests/story-fu4RDEG2rH3JtaM3xTSkjN.html
181
Omvedt, Gail (2006). Dalit Visions: The Anti-caste Movement and the Construction on an Indian Identity. Orient
Longman. p. 95. ISBN 978-81-250-2895-6.
182
House of Commons Papers, 1831-32, volume 9, p.468, Presidency of Bombay, G.L. Prendergast ‘there is hardly a
village, great or small, throughout our territories, in which there is not at least one school, and in larger villages more .’
183
House of Commons Papers, 1812-13, volume 7, evidence of Thomas Munro (Governor of Madras Presidency 1819-
1827), p.127, The Beautiful Tree, Dr. Dharampal, (ISBN No.: 81-85569-49-5 republished ISBN-10: 8175310952), page 26.
184
Collector of Bellary (A.D. Campbell) to Board of Revenue, 17 August 1823 (TNSA: BRP: Vol.958 Pro.25.8.1823 pp.7167-85
Nos.32-33), para 16. “The economy with which children are taught to write in the native schools, and the system by which
the more advanced scholars are caused to teach the less advanced and at the same time to confirm their own knowledge
is certainly admirable, and well deserved the imitation it has received in England.”
185
The Beautiful Tree, Dr. Dharampal, (ISBN No.: 81-85569-49-5 republished ISBN-10: 8175310952), Chapter IV,
“Education of Girls” page 43
186
(i) The Beautiful Tree (Dharampal), Chapter IV, Table 3 - Caste-wise division of male school, student, republished here,
(ii) Ibid see also pg 29, “while the Soodras and the other castes ranged from about 70% in Salem and Tinnevelly to over
84% in South Arcot” (iii) TNSA: Revenue Consultations: Vol.920: dated 2 July 1822
187
Ibid Chapter IV page 22 “this included most such groupings which today are listed among the scheduled castes”
188
OBCs – Other backward castes, SCs – Scheduled Castes, STs – Scheduled Tribes are some of officially designated
groups of people in India that are considered disadvantaged and marginalized by the State of Republic of India.
 massive volume of anti-Hindu speeches, such as claiming that historically in Hinduism education
was fundamentally denied especially to impoverished communities.189

The Genesis of anti-Hindu DK/DMK terrorist

36. In 1886 Rev. John Rathinam had declared that people who had been marginalized and
discriminated against for practicing a certain profession or having a certain surname by the
classification system used in the Colonial Government Census (1871) should declare themselves
as non-Hindus and choose a new identity called – “Dravida” or “Adi-Dravida”.190 In 1944, E.V.
Ramasamy created a terrorist organization from the Justice Party naming it as Dravidar
Kazhagam191, a name chosen after an organization that had been founded by Rev. John
Rathinam192 in the late 1880s. Subsequently, E. V. Ramasamy developed a bizarre alternate world
history and anti-Hindu hate literature. For example, although the word “Adi-Dravida” was coined
by Rev. John Rathinam in 1886 and never used on the planet earth before that especially in the
context that it was presented, E. V. Ramasamy considered his racist ideologies as a fact, but at the
same time, E. V. Ramasamy was of the strong opinion that Hindus were wrong to believe
themselves as Hindus as the religion was imaginary and no religion identified as Hinduism ever
existed on planet earth193. In his Presidential Address at the Justice Confederation in 1940, he
asserted that those who thought of themselves as Hindus should either be converted or declare
themselves as “Adi Dravida”.194 E. V. Ramasamy preferred referring to Hinduism pejoratively as
“Brahminism”, a word coined by him to blame Brahmins (Hindu priests and scholars) for the
discriminatory classification done by the Colonial Government Census (1871).

37. E. V. Ramasamy studied and authored a massive amount of hate literature targeting Hinduism.
Even today the DK terrorists publish several of his books and speeches where they pejoratively
refer to Hindu priests as money grabbers195, scandalous196, stubborn197, fraudsters198, black
magicians199, non-Tamil200, aliens201, etc.

38. E. V. Ramasamy famously said, "If you see a snake and a Brahmin (Hindu priest) on the road, kill
the Brahmin (Hindu priest) first." 202 On August 31, 1959, he stated, ”’ Who do you hate? The
Brahmin or Brahminism? What is Brahminism?’ – for questions such as these, my reply is

189
Saraswathi, S. (2004) Towards Self-Respect. Institute of South Indian Studies: Madras pp. 119.
190
(i) Rāmacandra Kshīrasāgara (1994). Dalit Movement in India and Its Leaders, 1857-1956. M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. p.
134. ISBN 9788185880433 (ii) Anand Teltumbde. Dalits: Past, present and future. Taylor & Francis. p. 57. ISBN
9781315526447 (iii) Ravikumar (28 September 2005). "Iyothee Thass and the Politics of Naming". The Sunday Pioneer.
191
Pandian, J., (1987). Caste, Nationalism, and Ethnicity. Popular Prakashan Private Ltd.: Bombay. pp. 62, 64. ISBN
0861321367.
192
Raj Sekhar Basu (14 February 2011). Nandanar's Children: The Paraiyans' Tryst with Destiny, Tamil Nadu 1850 - 1956.
SAGE Publications. p. 174. ISBN 9788132105145.
193
Saraswathi, S. (2004) Towards Self-Respect. Institute of South Indian Studies: Madras pp. 118 & 119.
194
Saraswathi, S. (2004) Towards Self-Respect. Institute of South Indian Studies: Madras pp. 124-125.
195
பணம் பிடிங் கிப் பார்ப்பனர் (Money grabbing Brahmins), Thozhar Draviyam
196
பார்ப்பன மத வண்டவாளம் (Brahmin's Religious Scandals), E.V.Ramasamy
197
பார்ப்பான் மாறவில் சல; மாறமாட்டான் ! சூத்திரனும் ; ஆதி சூத்திரனும் மாறிவிட்டான் ! T.V.Aanaimuthu
198
பார்ப்பனர் புரட்டுக்குப் பதிலடி! (A smacking answer to Brahmin's fraud), Kali.Pungundran
199
ஆரிய மாசய (Aryan's ) by Annadurai (Former Chief minister of Tamil Nadu from DMK)
200
பார்ப்பனர்கள் தமிழர்களா?
201
ஆங் கிலலயர் அன் னியர் என் றால் பார்ப்பனர்கள் யார்? Kunjidham Gurusaamy
202
https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2020/12/24/EV-Ramaswamy-Periyar-The-Man-Whose-World-View-Centred-Around-
Hatred.html
 Brahminism came from Brahmins, and hence it is the Brahmins who should be annihilated. It is
like asking whether you hate thievery or the thief. It is because one is a thief, one indulges in
thievery. When someone says he hates thievery, it means he hates the thief, too, doesn’t it? Thus,
[my stand is] Brahminism grew out of the Brahmin and I am striving to annihilate the root. ” In his
last ever speech, on December 19, 1973, he declared that he had been striving for a long to
annihilate God, (Hindu) religion, Gandhi, and the Brahmin (Hindu priests).203 The hate against
Brahmins (Hindu priests) and their marginalization from politics, government jobs, medicine, etc.
caused an exodus from first to private-sector jobs in other states such as Karnataka and later out
of India, particularly to the Silicon Valley.204

39. The terrorist organizations founded by E.V. Ramasamy such as Dravidar Kazhagam (hence
referred to as ‘DK’) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (hence referred to as ‘DMK’) engaged in
various criminal activities such as assault205, especially for carrying Hindu religious symbols206. The
DK/DMK have several criminal cases pending against them207 such as on 9 May 2007, terrorists of
DK/DMK burnt three people alive208 with all 17 accused being acquitted by the court209.

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from the DMK (the political wing of the Dravidar Kazhagam) Karunanidhi with
his son M. Stalin during his birthday publicly ridiculing a boy in a get-up resembling that of a Hindu priest.

40. On 23rd and 24th, January 1971 Salem conference by DK, E. V. Ramasamy and DK/DMK terrorists
garlanded Hindu Deities with footwear, hit Deities with footwear, broke Deities, created morphed
nude pictures of Hindu Deities, burnt Deities, and delivered speeches inciting hatred against Hindu
priests, Hindu Deities, Hindu spiritual leaders, Hindu texts, and the Sanskrit language. In this

https://thewire.in/history/periyar-ev-ramasamy-dravida-nadu-brahmins-dmk
203

(i) Fuller, C. J., and Haripriya Narasimhan. "From Landlords to Software Engineers: Migration and Urbanization among
204

Tamil Brahmans." Comparative Studies in Society and History 50, no. 1 (2008): 170-96. www.jstor.org/stable/27563659 (ii)
https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/tamil-brahmins-were-the-earliest-to-frame-merit-as-a-caste-claim-and-it-showed-in-iits/351539/
205
"Memories of a Violent Movement led by Periyar". Times of India.
206
(i) "Attacks fuel Brahmin fears". Telegraph India. (ii) https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/sacred-threads-of-10-
brahmin-men-cut-off-in-chennai-after-bjp-leader-called-to-b/309198
207
(i) https://www.news18.com/news/politics/tamil-nadu-466-candidates-have-criminal-cases-against-them-dmk-tops-
chart-3605873.html (ii) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/33-tamil-nadu-mlas-face-criminal-cases-
adr/articleshow/81441435.cms
208
"3 people killed in Dinakaran attack". The Times of India. PTI. 9 May 2007.
209
Special Correspondent (10 December 2009). "All acquitted in Dinakaran case". The Hindu.
 conference, the DK passed ten resolutions210 demanding: legalizing hate speech directed towards
Hindu religion, destruction of Hindu temples, Deities and religion, destruction of the Supreme
Court of India, conversion of all Hindus to declare Tamil Nadu as a State free from Hinduism by
the time of government census of 1980, etc. The DMK government banned the circulation of any
media journal that criticized these resolutions211.

Some archival copies of the surviving newspapers captured the happenings of the 23 Jan 1971
conference. (LEFT) A cartoon of the leader of DK, E. V. Ramasamy with a slipper hitting at the
Deities of Lord Rama with Karunanidhi (Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from DMK) clapping
alongside the State police (CENTER) A journal published by the DK outragenously portraying
Hindu Deities in a derrogatory and vulgar manner engaging in zoophilia. (RIGHT) Tamil Daily
newspaper - Dinamani – dated 26 Jan 1971 carrying the news about the conference.

41. The DMK government acted on these policies of the DK, such as in 1975, the State absurdly claimed
that the ancient ASMT language – Sanskrit – was a source of nepotism in society and thus changed
the language of ASMT Temple rituals via a notification and altered the HR&CE Scheme in OA No.2
of 1973 dated 10 Oct 1975 appointing a government executive to control religious and financial
matters of the monastery and associated temples. The DMK made several legislations to extend
government control on the Hindu religion by extending their control over the already nationalized
Hindu temples. The DMK government made long-term plans for enacting these resolutions, such
as alienating the Hindu sects from Hinduism and rechristening them as Dravida DK/DMK
compatible religions. For this, the State of Tamil Nadu headed by the DMK has been grooming
Guru Maha Sannidhanams, such as the Dharmapuram Guru Maha Sannidhanam that are friendly
to the party212 to declare Shaivism as a religion separate from Hinduism.213 This is not unique to
DMK Tamil Nadu and is similar to how the CPC has been grooming Lamas for decades214. Like E.
V. Ramasamy who claimed no religion named Hinduism exists, even in 2020 DK/DMK leaders make

210
(i) https://swarajyamag.com/politics/periyar-ev-ramasamys-1971-anti-hindu-rally-seems-to-have-had-more-sinister-designs-resolutions-
at-meet-are-a-proof (ii) https://web.archive.org/web/20201028185149/http://viduthalai.in/e-paper/155527-1971----------------.html
211
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/cho-who-unleashed-satire-on-tn-politicians-for-50-years-dies-at-
82/articleshow/55864715.cms
212
https://thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/pontiffs-of-ancient-shaivite-mutts-congratulate-stalin/article34482675.ece
https://newsguru.news/en/dmks-watered-down-atheism-why-the-dravidian-party-is-desperate-to-show-its-hindu-side/
213

(i) https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/china-grooms-panchen-lama-to-rival-dalai-lama/760670 (ii)

214

www.daily-sun.com/post/520601/Grooming-“A-Living-Buddha”-–-China-The-Panchen-Lama-And-Tibetan-Buddhism-
 similarly absurd and demeaning political remarks such as claiming that the Sanatana Hindu
religion was created 200 years ago.215

42. March 20, 1938, when Germany was under the rule of the Nazi Government, E. V. Ramasamy in a
magazine named Kudiyarasu wrote, “The Jews are only interested in themselves, and nobody else.
They somehow contrive to have the rulers in their pocket, participate in governance and conspire
to torture and suck the lives out of other citizens in order that they live (in comfort). Are they not
comparable to the Brahmins who too have no responsibility but have the rulers in their pocket,
have entered the ruling dispensation and been lording over (all of us)?” 216 Taking a note from the
success of Nazi propaganda movies, E. V. Ramasamy inspired Karunanidhi (the future Chief
Minister from the DMK) to make movies that would mainstream anti-Hindu sentiments in Tamil
Nadu. Along these lines, Karunanidhi, a scriptwriter for Tamil movies, wrote several movies that
as per his own admission to a newspaper, had successfully stereotyped Hindu monks and Gurus
as “the hoodwinking of those adorning the sacred ochre robes (காவியுசடதாரிகளின் கபட
நாடகம் )”, "brainwashers and destroyers of the life of illiterates (பாமர மக்களின்
வாழ் சவயும் அறிசவயும் பாழாக்கி வருகின் ற,)", “Swindlers of Money (பணக் வகாள் சள
அடிக்கின் ற பகல் லவடக்காரர்கசள)".217 Karunanidhi gave examples of such movies in the
interview with the most notable movie being – Parashakti (பராைக்தி)218, and others such as
Valaikari (லவசலக்காரி) a movie with a courtroom scene that justified the assassination of
Hindu monk219, Tukku Madai (தூக்குலமசட), Swarga Vaasal (வைார்க்கவாைல் ), Manohara
(மலனாகரா), etc.

215
Kalaiarasi Natarajan, a Tamil Saiva Peravai (a DK/DMK faction) leader’s statement -
https://twitter.com/HLKodo/status/1340732587673747457
216
(i) Naan Sonnal Unakku Yen Kopam Vara Vendum, vol. 4, p. 532, compiled by Pasu. Gowthaman (ii)
www.organiser.org/Encyc/2020/12/24/EV-Ramaswamy-Periyar-The-Man-Whose-World-View-Centred-Around-Hatred.html
217
4 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu Newspaper, Chennai Edition, Page 6
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f7CEsZDNw5Tl8wJX3fckhmEGqOyESHgy7GgXJiai8vo
218
Guneratne, Anthony R.; Wimal Dissanayake; S. Chakravarty (2003). Rethinking Third Cinema. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21354-1 p. 216
219
Dhananjayan, G. (2014). Pride of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2013. Blue Ocean Publishers. OCLC 898765509
 Anti-Hindu DMK Propaganda Movies Anti-Semitic Nazi Propaganda Movies

பராைக்தி (Parasakthi – Mother Goddess) Jud Süß (Süss the Jew)

Known as one of the most controversial220 anti-Hindu221 movies, it Known as one of the most outrageous227 yet successful anti-
has received critical acclaim222, is widely celebrated, and has a cult Semitic228 films ever made, it premiered on 8 Sep 1940
status223 in India, it premiered on 17 Oct 1952. The film gave DMK received rave reviews, earning the top award.229 Viewed by
the necessary stimulus to overthrow its opponents in elections224. over 20 million people when the population of Germany was
The dialogues of the movie were extremely popular225 and about 70 million230, it was known as the number one film of
memorizing these became a "must for aspirant (DMK) political the time.231 The movie was successful abroad gathering 1
orators".226 million viewers in France.232
The film portrayed the main villain – a Hindu priest attempting to The main villain a state treasurer was portrayed as an
rape the female protagonist in a temple of Devi Parasakthi (Mother “unscrupulous, power-hungry and a shameless seducer” 235
Goddess/Primordial Hindu divinity) with the stone Deity of Devi of Jewish origin who raped the female protagonist, tortured
Parasakthi witnessing the rape as a mute spectator without her father and fiancée236. There were reports of anti-Jewish
protecting the victim in a very provocative233 scene. The movie is violence after audiences viewed the film.237
famous234 for its inflammatory and hateful dialogues on Hindu
practices especially the worship of the divine as a mother.

220
Baskaran, S. Theodore (1996). The eye of the serpent: an introduction to Tamil cinema. East West Books. p. 111.
221
Pillai 2015, ISBN 13: 9789351501213, Madras Studios : Narrative Genre and Ideology in Tamil Cinema
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/lights-camera-politics/article7070727.ece
222
(i) Pillai 2015, ISBN 13: 9789351501213, Madras Studios : Narrative Genre and Ideology in Tamil Cinema, p. 99. (ii)
"நகர சினிமாக்கள் : பராைக்தி" [City Cinemas: Parasakthi]. 2 November 1952. (iii) Hariharan, K. (3 May 2013). "Movies
that stirred, moved & shook us". Bangalore Mirror. (iv) Vandhana, M. (7 January 2013). "'Parasakthi' completes 60 years".
The Hindu. (v) Prasad, Shishir; Ramnath, N. S.; Mitter, Sohini (27 April 2013). "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian
Cinema". Forbes.
223
(i) Muralidharan, Kavitha (21 July 2015). "Fourteen years on, Sivaji Ganesan's legacy lives on". DailyO. (ii) Kannan 2010,
p. 198. (iii) Anand, N. (3 January 2008). "Sivakumar not for old wine in new bottle". The Hindu.
224
Kannan 2010, p. 195.
225
Chandrasekar, Gokul (7 February 2013). "'Vishwaroopam' and Tamil Nadu's cinema of politics". Reuters.
226
Pandian 1991, p. 759.
227
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/25/jud-suss-film-without-conscience
228
"Jud Suss - Most successful anti-Semitic film the Nazi's ever made". Holocaust Education & Archive Team (2008).
229
(i) Etlin, Richard A. (15 October 2002). Art, culture, and media under the Third Reich. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
p. 143. ISBN 978-0-226-22087-1. (ii) Friedländer, Saul (24 March 2008). The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the
Jews, 1939–1945. New York, NY: HarperCollins. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-06-093048-6. Jud Süss was launched at the Venice Film
Festival, in September 1940, to extraordinary acclaim; it received the “Golden Lion” award and garnered rave reviews.
230
(i) Rentschler, Eric (1996). The ministry of illusion: Nazi cinema and its afterlife. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press. pp. 154, 250. ISBN 978-0-674-57640-7, (ii) Etlin, Richard A. Art, culture, and media under the Third Reich. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-226-22087-1.
231
Azuélos, Daniel (Jan 2006). Lion Feuchtwanger und die deutschsprachigen Emigranten in Frankreich von 1933 bis 1941: Lion
Feuchtwanger et les exilés de langue allemande en France de 1933 à 1941. Bern: Peter Lang. p. 202. ISBN 978-3-03910-999-9.
232
Leschi, Didier; Kestel, Laurent (10 April 2019). "France's Repressed Fascist Past". Jacobin (magazine).
233
Srivathsan, A. (12 June 2006). "Films and the politics of convenience". The Hindu.
234
Srivathsan, A. (2 February 2013). "A revolution betrayed". The Hindu.
235
https://www.dw.com/en/jud-suess-causes-controversy-second-time-around/a-6033357
236
Feuchtwanger, Edgar. "Two Films about Jud Süss"
237
Film in the Third Reich. University of California Press. 1993. p. 169. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
43. E. V. Ramasamy and Karunanidhi created an ecosystem of hate towards Hinduism, Hindu monks,
Hindu nuns, Hindu Gurus, Hindu deities, and the Sanskrit language, which has normalized its
existence in Tamil Nadu by its presence spanning the past ninety years. The most vulnerable
victims of the hate targeted against Hindu monks and Hindu Gurus were the Hindu nuns – the
Rudrakanyas and Devadasis. The DK/DMK owned media and terrorist organizations dehumanized
Hindu nuns that worshiped Devi Parasakthi (Mother Goddess/Primordial Hindu divinity) as
“witches”238, “prostitutes”239, “cult worshippers”240, (child) “sex slaves”241. After independence, the
State of Tamil Nadu passed legislation criminalizing the tradition of Hindu nuns.242 This bill,
stereotyped, dehumanized and marginalized the Hindu nuns by addressing them as prostitutes
of Hindu Deities. The bill was opposed by Hindu nuns but enacted and made into law243 under the
pressure of E. V. Ramasamy who had suggested the bill be introduced as a private bill to avoid
confrontation with the Hindu nuns244. Colonial views on Hindu nuns were highly subversive,
leading to their socio-economic deprivation and exploitation245, the Tamil Nadu bill reinforced the
colonial stigma around the tradition undermining the human rights of Hindu nuns. Though a few
hundred years ago, Hindu nuns (Rudrakanyas) administered all major Hindu temples of Tamil
Nadu, as of 2021, not even 100 Rudrakanyas may be found in the entire state.

44. The control of the DK/DMK on the politics of the State of Tamil Nadu was profound. Karunanidhi
has been the Chief Minister of the State of Tamil Nadu - for almost two decades over five terms
between 1969 and 2011. Karunanidhi had started his career as a scriptwriter based on which
several movies were made from 1947 to 2011. From his experience in films, he knew the art of
molding public opinion. He imparted this knowledge to his elder sister’s son Murasoli Maran. Just
like his uncle, apart from being a politician, Murasoli Maran was a journalist and scriptwriter for
films. Karunanidhi’s and Murasoli Maran together groomed Murasoli Maran’s son Kalanithi Maran
to develop the Sun Network Group (World’s biggest Tamil media conglomerate Karunanidhi as the
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Dayanidhi Maran (elder son of Murasoli Maran) as the
Government of India Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology provided
the political patronage and several favorable circumstances for Kalanithi Maran to grow the Sun
TV network and become a billionaire media baron. The Sun Network owns television channels,
newspapers, weeklies, FM radio stations, DTH services, and a movie production house.

238
Worship of divine feminine consciousness during Chandi Homa maligned as witch craft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6T8GwNo8SM
239
“‘They are continuously harassed in public for no fault of theirs’, said Nithyananda. According to Nithyananda, sarees
of at least ‘17 women devotees were pulled’ in public, at seven places his Brahmacharis were thrashed and the Ashram
call centre received about 300 phone calls for prostitution.” https://www.deccanherald.com/content/152493/cid-report-
stolen-says-nithyananda.html
240
https://www.vikatan.com/news/coverstory/114380-the-psychology-behind-the-cults-worshippers.html dt. 24-Jan-2018
241
(i) CC 25289/12, 21 Dec 2012, CMM Court Bangalore, ASMT Dalit Nun Ma Nithya Supriya Swami v. Charu (Kumudam
Reporter) (ii) https://www.vikatan.com/news/coverstory/114380-the-psychology-behind-the-cults-worshippers.html
242
(i) 1947 Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act (ii) 1956 Madras Anti-Devadasi Act
243
Moovalur A. Ramamrithammal (2003). K. Srilata (ed.). Lobbying for Devadasi Abolition: From Artiste to Prostitute. The
Other Half of the Coconut: Women Writing Self-respect History. Zubaan. p. 100. ISBN 978-8186706503.
244
Vadivelu Rajalakshmi (1985). The Political Behaviour of Women in Tamil Nadu. Inter-India Publications. ISBN 978-8121000208.
245
(i) Crooke, W., Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. X, Eds., James Hastings & Clark Edinburg, 2nd Impression, 1930.
(ii) Iyer, L.A.K, Devadasis in South India: Their Traditional Origin And Development, Man in India, Vol.7, No. 47, 1927. (iii)
V.Jayaram. "Hinduism and prostitution". Hinduwebsite.com. (iv) "Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple
Women in Medieval Tamilnadu - Reviews in History". History.ac.uk.
45. From 1996 to 2001, Kalanithi Maran monopolized the Television industry in Tamil Nadu through -
Sumangali Cable Vision. During this period, Kalanithi’s granduncle Karunanidhi was the Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu. Kalanithi had realized the need to get into the cable distribution business
to protect his channels’ popularity and DMK’s influence on the citizens of Tamil Nadu. Through
Sumangali Cable Vision, Kalanithi took over existing cable television operators and established a
monopoly in Chennai and other major cities of Tamil Nadu using State patronage and violence by
DK/DMK terrorists. This monopolization was brought about using murder and street violence246.
Johnson D Kennedy, president of the Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association, described this
monopoly in an interview, “SCV and Kal Cables (a subsidiary of Sumangali Cable Vision) had the
monopoly of the state, so the Sun Group channels became number one”.247 With such monopolies,
which still operate in the State of Tamil Nadu the DK/DMK attempted to establish an ideological
monopoly in the minds of citizens of Tamil Nadu even when the DMK was not part of the ruling
government. As of 2021, the anti-Hindu ideologies of DK/DMK are widespread through movies,
television, and recently through Hinduphobic online web series. Through the cable TV distribution
monopoly, DMK was able to exercise ideological control on the content of other TV channels.

46. The DMK is amongst the most corrupt political party in the world. The grandnephew of
Karunanidhi – Dayanidhi Maran – the Government of India Union Minister of Communications and
Information Technology from the year 2004 and 2009 from the DMK was involved in two major
scams during this period –

(1) The 2G Spectrum Scam – which as the Comptroller and Auditor General (The federal
auditor of India) report of 2010 resulted in a revenue loss of INR 1.76 trillion (US$26 billion) to the
public exchequer248 equivalent to 30% of the GDP of State of Tamil Nadu249.

(2) The Telephone Scam – where the minster, Dayanidhi Maran, had set up a private
telephone exchange with 764 telephone lines at his residence to facilitate illegal uplink of SUN TV
data, causing a loss to state-run telecom majors BSNL and MTNL, with a larger misappropriation
of State resources for the actual infrastructural investment for the lines, and gave Sun TV an unfair
advantage.250

The daughter of Karunanidhi was arrested for investigation for her involvement in the 2G
spectrum scam.251

47. In April 2002, the daughter and wife of Karunanidhi had come to visit the ASMT leader – His Divine
Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda – during one of the two-day meditation programs252 seeking
His blessings for healing her father, the DMK head Karunanidhi of some ailment. His Divine
Holiness blessed and gave sacred ash, but while doing so upfront told them that the Hindu

246
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/cable-tv-war-claims-two/articleshow/388292.cms
247
https://scroll.in/article/736981/the-meteoric-rise-and-likely-fall-of-tamil-nadus-sun-tv
248
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/cag-submits-report-on-2g-spectrum-to-govt-vinod-
rai/articleshow/6900822.cms
249
The GDP of State of Tamil Nadu in 2010 was INR 5.84 trillion
https://fincomindia.nic.in/writereaddata/html_en_files/oldcommission_html/fincom14/others/23.pdf
250
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2019/mar/21/hc-throws-out-marans-plea-for-third-time-in-
illegal-phone-exchange-scam-1953952.html
251
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kanimozhi-arrested-in-2g-scam-sent-to-tihar-jail-456320
252
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/April_21_2002
 temples in the State of Tamil Nadu were in an extremely sorry state because of the anti-Hindu
policies DMK head Karunanidhi. Ever since this incident His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa
Nithyananda was spied upon by the Intelligence Department Tamil Nadu State Police. In
September 2009, His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda had started a massive people’s
movement to revive Hindu temples where Hindu Deities were taken on chariots to more than 10
million people to bless them253. Karunanidhi was extremely wary of the meteoric rise in popularity
of His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda. On 30 December 2009 Karunanidhi had
inaugurated the Chennai Book Fair254 and on the 10 January 2010, the last day of the book fair he
inaugurated the Chennai Sangamam festival255 both attended by a modest gathering. However,
just on the opposite side of the road256 of the Chennai Book Fair, His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa
Nithyananda delivered a religious discourse to more than fifty thousand participants who patiently
attended the entire program sitting for more than 8 hours.257 A State Intelligence department
officer attended the program and informed the secretary of His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa
Nithyananda that His Divine Holiness was being officially noted in government intelligence records
as the “largest crowd-pulling Hindu guru in the history of Tamil Nadu”. From 2 March 2010, several
attempts to assassinate His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda were made by the
DK/DMK militants, compelling His Divine Holiness to seek refuge by 2018.258 In April 2021, the DMK
won the elections and came to power the sixth time, and formed the current ruling government
of the State of Tamil Nadu.259

The Genesis of anti-Hindu neo-Hindutva extremists

48. The civilizing mission was a political rationale for military intervention and for colonization
purporting to facilitate the modernization and the Westernization of indigenous peoples,
especially in the period from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The civilizing mission curtailed the civil
rights of the native “subordinates”. The world view of the colonial oppressors was such that they
found civil rights and particularly rights of women in native traditions immoral and subversive, and
they responded by criminalizing these rights.

49. This can be demonstrated through several instances. In terms of women's dis-empowerment, the
colonial rule in India, disenfranchised women from their property rights (Stri-Dhan: exclusive
Women's Wealth) and inheritance rights. Traditionally as seen in the case of Hindu incarnation
Queen Devi Meenakshi, women exercised their right over the throne as per Hindu law by assuming
the role of the “Pautrika” - a situation when the female offspring assumes the role as the political
heir on a Hindu empire in absence of a suitable male heir. However, during the colonial era, the
Hindu Queen of Jhansi Rani Laxmi was not allowed to exercise her rights over the throne, nor any
female offspring was to be allowed to do so. After the death of her husband, she was not allowed
to continue to remain as queen according to colonial law, as she didn't give birth to a male child.

253
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/September_24_2006
254
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/Chief-Minister-inaugurates-Chennai-Book-Fair/article16856163.ece
255
https://www.livechennai.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=1016
256
Geo-distance between venues of book fair and Bhagavat Gita satsang https://goo.gl/maps/roGYrKB9EcQoPmhs8
257
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_10_2010
258
(i) https://www.republicworld.com/india-news/general-news/exclusive-nithyanandas-petition-to-un-maligns-india.html
(ii) Srinivasan, Vasanth. "Nithyananda and the call from Kailaasa". Businessline.
259
https://www.oneindia.com/tamil-nadu-assembly-elections/
 These examples clearly demonstrate that the colonial civil and criminal laws were meant for
oppression and subjugation and not for empowering its subjects.

Deities of 64 Yoginis (a female monastic order) of Hirapur, Orissa, that were mutilated during
the years of invasion carry the record of the actual violence also done to people, especially to
the Hindu nuns and women, and not just what was done to Deities that were once worshipped.

50. The Neo-Hindutva political ideology was articulated by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923 which
today is the main ideological narrative for the right-wing political extremists in India. Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar idealized a homogenized society which his proponents could easily subjugate.
Savarkar identified the egalitarian principles of the Veda-Agamas (source scriptures of Hinduism)
as a threat to his vision of political reconciliation of the entirety of the Indian-sub continent into a
homogenized vote bank, over which his proponents could exercise exclusive hegemony.

Neo-Hindutva - a Hindu Cultural Genocide disguised as modernity.

“Europe is now four thousand years ahead of us. It has conquered three
continents! If the Indian nation aims to be like Europe, it should close
the ‘book’ of the ancient era, forget the supremacy of Shruti, Smriti, and
the Puranas, keep them safely away in libraries and enter the age of
science. Those old tomes are relevant only for telling us what happened
in the past. But the science that is objective and experimental alone
qualifies as the basis for deciding what is appropriate for today.
Modernity contains the essence of all that was useful in past experiences,
but the Shruti-Smriti-Puranokta cannot have even a speck of modern
knowledge.”
- Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (Ideological father of Neo-Hindutva extremists)

“He (Savarkar) said that Pakistan's inhuman and atrocious activities like the kidnapping and rape of
Hindustani women can only be stopped when we respond in a like manner (rape).” This leaves no
doubt that Savarkar was advocating rape. In this context, prominent thinker Purushottam Agarwal
says, “The rapist also hesitates in giving rape a moral status. With the idea of ‘Sadgun Vikriti’ (virtuous
perversion), Savarkar put an end to this hesitation with a single stroke.”

https://www.counterview.net/2018/08/indian-nation-should-forget-supremacy.html
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/veer-savarkar-thoughts-on-rape-the-enemy-hindu-muslims
https://thewire.in/history/veer-savarkar-the-staunchest-advocate-of-loyalty-to-the-english-government
51. For Savarkar modernity was a euphemism for a kind of neo-colonialism - which is very apparent
by his emphasis on the need of conquering three continents, which meant oppressing native
Hindu traditions. Savarkar rejected the Veda-Agamas as they declared, “अमिं सा िरिॊ धिव”, meaning
Ahimsa (non-violence) is the ultimate Dharma (existential cosmic law), which was not befitting his
vision of establishing exclusive political control over the Indian sub-continent by a civilizing mission
in lines of conquering three continents. The Mahaprasthanika Parva of Mahabharat shows how
strongly Ahimsa (non-violence) is emphasized as the ultimate principle and why there was a need
for rejection of core Hindu principles (Veda-Agamas) by followers of Savarkar.

अमिंसा िरिॊ धिवस Ahimsa(non-violence) is the highest Dharma (cosmic law),

तथामिंसा िरॊ ििः । Ahimsa(non-violence) is the highest self-control,
अमिंसा िरिं िानि Ahimsa(non-violence) is the greatest gift,
अमिंसा िरिस तिः । Ahimsa(non-violence) is the best practice,
अमिंसा िरिॊ यज्ञस Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice,
तथामिस्मा िरं बलि। Ahimsa is the finest strength,
अमिंसा िरिं मित्रि अमिंसा िरिं सुखि। Ahimsa is the greatest friend, Ahimsa is the greatest happiness,
अमिंसा िरिं सत्यि अमिंसा िरिं शरति॥ Ahimsa is the highest truth, and Ahimsa is the greatest teaching.

Mahabharata 13.117.37–38

52. The modern counterparts of Savarkar have ensued a cultural genocide on native ethnic minorities
which is a continued quest of political reconciliation and homogenization in the guise of
“modernity”. The native ethnic minorities and traditions of Hinduism, their egalitarian worldview
of inclusiveness of multiple gender identities, their principles of equality of genders, their
dispassionate protection of women and children rights were the victims. The political proponents
of neo-Hindutva, one which rejects the core Hindu principles (Veda-Agamas), use sophisticated
media propaganda to realize their goals.

53. The spiritual head of the ASMT and two billion Hindus, the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH)
Jagat Guru Mahasannidhaanam (JGM) His Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda
Paramashivam has revived several female monastic orders of Hinduism which became extinct in
the course of two thousand years of the Hindu Holocaust.

54. The ASMT explicitly rejects extremism of all types. The extremist militant elements are opposed260
to ASMT’s stance when it comes to the rights of women 261, including otherwise marginalized Dalit
women, and the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ and transgendered communities262. The neo-
Hindutva terrorists despise Hindu women in monastic and priestly roles 263. The spiritual head of
ASMT has publicly declared himself to be transcendental gender 264 and possessing multiple

260
“Being gay is against Hindutva, it needs a cure,” BJP MP Subramanian Swamy (10 June 2018) ; Homosexuality not a
crime, but against nature: RSS - militant wing of neo-Hindutva extremists (SEPTEMBER 06, 2018)
261
https://www.nithyananda.org/photo-gallery/nithyananda-diary-30th-november-2018-nithyananda-peetham-
bengaluru-aadheenam-uttamotam pictures from daily rituals of ASMT temples showing ASMT nuns performing temple
rituals which are ordained for all genders as per Hindu scriptures but prohibited for women by the Hindutva extremists
262
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/transgenders-extend-support-to-
nithyananda/articleshow/13159083.cms
263
https://www.newsclick.in/Hindutva-War-Women-gendered-face-saffron-fascism
264
(i) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwSYdVulzq0 ; (ii) Saakshi, 30 April 2010, Page : 11, Title : I am not a man ; (iii)
Times of India, 30 April 2010, I’m not a man
 gender components. The neo-Hindutva extremists see LGBTQ+ rights as immoral. 265 The ASMT
freely ordains women into Sannyasa (the monastic order), recognizes 11 genders, and performs
specific temple rituals for gay marriage, as per more than 5000-year-old indigenous spiritual
scriptures. The ASMT represents one of the most progressive ideologies and is a target of
persecution by the neo-Hindutva extremists.

55. The Sanyas Sampradaya (monastic order) established by the SPH is unique in that it freely ordains
women and allows women to perform temple rituals. Moreover, women constitute the majority
of the senior leadership in the SPH’s mission, thereby establishing his vision of Hinduism as not
just orthodox, but also highly progressive and committed to gender equality. The SPH has also
ordained men and women from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Dalit communities
which have been discriminated against and sidelined by the neo-Hindutva ideologies.

A media clip from 2018 highlighting exclusion of women from Hindu temples as a consequence of
neo-Hindutva extremist ideologies who disregard Hindu sacred texts - Veda-Agamas.

265
(i) “Being gay is against Hindutva, it needs a cure,” BJP MP Subramanian Swamy (10 June 2018) (ii) “Homosexuality not a
crime, but against nature” : RSS - militant wing of neo-Hindutva extremists (SEPTEMBER 06, 2018)
 Ma Nithya Supriyananda Swami - the world’s A female Brahmacharini (monk) offering Aarthi ritual to the
first Woman Dalit Hindu ASMT Sanyasi (monk) presiding Deities in the main sanctum sanctorum at the
in the contemporary era, performing temple headquarters of the Nithyanandeshwara Paramashiva
rituals in the main sanctum sanctorum at the Devalaya Hindu Temple of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism
headquarters as a female Hindu priest JGM HDH Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam (30 Nov
(September 2018). 2018).

56. The spiritual head of the ASMT and two billion Hindus, The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH)
Jagat Guru Mahasannidhaanam (JGM) His Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda
Paramashivam has revealed that the Veda-Agamas (source scriptures of Hinduism) recognizes
eleven genders and prescribe specific temple rituals to solemnize gay marriage, which is otherwise
considered taboo in today’s mainstream Hinduism. Moreover, He has declared that He transcends
gender and consequently suffered vicious persecution for his bold progressive stance on LGBTQ
issues. By rooting the legitimacy of gays, lesbians, and transgendered people in ancient Hindu
scriptures, He is single-handedly changing the LGBTQ discourse in India.

57. Because of his outspoken advocacy for the rights of women, transgendered people, and members
of the LGBTQ+ community, the SPH has endured over seventy assassination attempts over the
past decade, perpetrated by extremist militant elements opposed to progressive forms of Hindu
ideology such as ASMT.

58. The extremely vulnerable ASMT female sanyasis (monks), who have taken vows of non-violence
and chastity, have suffered a multitude of organized attacks over the past decade because of their
visible advocacy of female empowerment in the face of existing patriarchal power structures.
ASMT female monks continue to suffer violence at the hands of state police, state judges, and
extremist caste supremacist militant elements, and extremist atheist anti-religion militant
elements. The horrific violence even includes physical beatings, sexual torture, and brutal rape at
the hands of bureaucratic officials.
 The SPH dressed in women’s clothing as part of a ritualistic expression of the divine feminine,
during Devi Bhava Samadhi Darshan 266 as Devi Meenakshi Amman, during different occasions.

The SPH in early 2003 while giving Devi Bhava A depiction of Ardhanarishvara form of Paramashiva
Samadhi Darshan and Devi (primordial cosmic divinity)

59. Several Hindu temple rituals are traditionally performed only by female monks/priests, but the
two thousand years of Hindu Holocaust has today left several Hindu temples with no living Hindu
female monks/priests’ order to perform these rituals. As alternative male priests enter into the

266
Devi Bhava Samadhi Darshan : Devi Bhava Samadhi Darshan is an auspicious sight (Darshana) of a divine enlightened
being (or deity) when He is radiating the state of Samadhi in an ecstatic, devotional, meditative state of consciousness, in
a state of Advaita (Oneness) with Devi (feminine primordial Divinity).
 Bhava (a devotional state) of feminine consciousness, adorn female clothes, and offer worship.
One such example is the noon worship in Jambukeswarar Temple (Thiruvanaikaval). Hinduism
allows male priests to continue and keep the tradition alive in the absence of female
monks/priests. But this presents us with the alarming need for the international community to
intervene and act now to protect the extremely vulnerable female Hindu monks/priests' religious
orders.

60. However, the male Hindu monastic order is also not exempted from this persecution as they
embody the same progressive ideologies on religious and LGBTQ issues as the SPH. The male
monks of the SPH thus substitute the role of female monks/priests when required and are thus
targeted by neo-Hindutva forces who see these religious practices as taboo.

Targeted persecution of minorities of Tamil origin in Karnataka

61. In 1956, different States of India were reorganized267. This led to the marginalization of people of
Tamilian ethnicity in the areas, which were acceded to from the erstwhile Madras Presidency to
the new-found Greater Mysore. The city of Bangalore, which itself was founded in 1537,
predominantly comprised people of Tamil ethnicity in its demographic composition. Until 1991,
people of Tamilian ethnicity formed the largest ethnic group in Bangalore Urban district. The 1991
census, for the first time, recorded a Kannada-speaking majority ahead of the people of Tamil
ethnicity in this district.

62. On 25 June 1991, the Kaveri Water Tribunal, constituted in 1990, directed the Karnataka state
government to release 205 billion ft³ (5.8 km³) of water to Tamil Nadu within a year. Karnataka
issued an ordinance to annul the tribunal's award, but this was struck down by the Supreme Court
of India. The tribunal's award was subsequently gazetted by the Government of India on 11
December 1991. Neo-Hindutva caste supremacists used this opportunity to incite violence for
petty political gains. The very next day, Neo-Hindutva caste supremacist extremists of Karnataka
called for a bandh268 on 13 December 1991 alleging partisan behavior of the Government of
India.269 Leader of the neo-Hindutva caste supremacist extremists declared, “Cauvery(river) is the
mother of the Kannadigas, so we cannot give the water to anybody else.”270

63. The next day, 14 December 1991, the neo-Hindutva extremists allegedly roamed the streets of
Bangalore carrying sticks, shouting slogans, beating up Tamil laborers. Businesses run by people
of Tamil ethnicity, Tamil language movie theatres, and even vehicles with Tamil Nadu license plates
were targeted. Soon the riots spread to the Mysore district and other parts of southern
Karnataka. Tamil-speaking villagers were driven out and their property confiscated. A curfew of

267
AJOY KUMAR GUPTA, THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT AND STATES REORGANIZATION, Parliamentary Affairs, Volume X,
Issue 1, 1956, Pages 104–115, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a054397
268
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandh - A general strike or protest forcing closure of all public and private businesses
and services during the period of the strike.
269
(i) Sanjoy Hazarika (5 January 1992). "Tamils are target of riots in Southern India". The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/05/world/tamils-are-target-of-riots-in-southern-india.html
(ii) Dutta, Madhusree; Adarkar, Neera (1996). "Challenge of Communalism". The nation, the state, and Indian identity.
Popular Prakashan. pp. 105–112. ISBN 8185604096, ISBN 9788185604091
270
Dutta, Madhusree; Adarkar, Neera (1996). "Challenge of Communalism".
 one week was declared under section IPC 144. The violence left more than 17 ethnic Tamils
dead.271 More than 15,000 people of Tamil ethnicity were forced to flee the State.

64. Such targeting of ethnic minorities of Tamil origin continued over the decades, incited and
multiplied by hate propaganda created by the politically owned neo-Hindutva media. In 2016, in
another such protest, two people were killed. Sugata Raju, editorial director of the Asianet group
- a BJP owned272 neo-Hindutva media house which runs Suvarna News, gave an interview where
he said, “I am embarrassed. Instead of disseminating information, TV channels became agent
provocateurs.”273 As per their admission, though they accepted their role in flaring the violence,
they justified their acts, blaming other channels to instigate this by a race for television rating
points.

B. The incarnation and lineage (Guru Parampara) of the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism

65. Around 3200BCE274, the Mahabharata war ended in the Indian sub-continent. At that time, at least
56275 nations in Asia gave shelter to more than 10,000276 Hindu communities and protected their
religious freedom. Gandhara (Afghanistan) until around 600 CE had a significant Hindu population
(more than 30%), which as of 2021 CE is less than 1 percent. Pakistan (Kushan Empire 1387 BCE
and Maurya Empire 285 BCE) had a significant Hindu population (more than 30%) until 1025 CE,
which as of 1998 was less than 2%. The town of Parshu277 in present-day Iran finds mention in
ancient Hindu scriptures278 as a Hindu city. The five thousand indigenous people of Kalash279
(Chitral Valley, Pakistan), the only survivors of the ancient tradition in the region though separated
over a distance of 10000 KMs, are no different from indigenous Adi Shaivas280 of Kashmir (North
India), or indigenous Adi Shaivas281 of Tamil Nadu (South India), or the Adi Shaivas282 of Bali
(Indonesia). Although Hinduism is alive as a culture, its political and religious legitimacy was wiped
from the geography of Asia, as these nations got invaded by intolerant dictators. These invasions
caused a genocide, where per estimates 80 million to 400 million people were killed through
massacres, sexual assaults, slavery, and torture.283 Thousands of temples, universities, and

271
Dugger, Celia W. (18 August 2000). "Evildoer, Kidnapper, Tamils' Hero, Rolled into One". The New York Times. ISSN
0362-4331 nytimes.com/2000/08/18/world/evildoer-kidnapper-tamils-hero-rolled-into-one.html
272
The majority shareholder of the Asianet (parent company of Suvarna TV) is Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is a Rajya
Sabha (Upper House) member from the Bharatiya Janata Party caravanmagazine.in/vantage/rajeev-chandrasekhar-editorial-policies-
suvarna-news-kannada-prabha
273
firstpost.com/india/kaveri-issue-how-kannada-media-became-agent-provocateurs-fuelling-further-violence-
3005290.html
274
(i) Ved Veer Arya, “THE CHRONOLOGY OF INDIA: From Manu to Mahabharata”, Aryabhata Publications, ISBN
8194321301 (ii) Nilesh Oak estimates the period as 5561BCE, “When Did The Mahabharata War Happen?: The Mystery of
Arundhati”, ISBN 0983034400
275
(i) Saktisangama Tantra, Chapter- Sundari Khandha, Saptam Patala, Verses 16-73, refer Saktisangama Tantra Vol III
https://archive.org/details/SaktisangamaTantraVolIIIGaekwadOrientalSeries/page/n83/mode/2up (ii) List of 56 nations
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H7OJADdrFjrdl8nR5KMuc7sJkG6zXOob0K6X5wbmBno/view
276
ASMT Veda Agama Scripture - PARAMANANDA-TANTRA, Chapter 2, verses 7-10
277
Parshu, Rahimabad Rural District, Rahimabad District, Rudsar County, Gilan Province, Iran
278
(i) Rigveda VII. 83, 1 , (ii) Pāṇini, V, 3, 117.
279
Jamil, Kashif (19 August 2019). "Uchal - a festival of shepherds and farmers of the Kalash tribe". Daily Times. “Some of
their deities who are worshiped in Kalash tribe are similar to the Hindu god and goddess like Mahadev in Hinduism is
called Mahandeo in Kalash tribe.”
280
Flood, Gavin. 1996. An Introduction to Hinduism. P.164-167
281
Flood, Gavin. D. 2006. The Tantric Body. P.122
282
Helen M. Creese (2016). Bali in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Ethnographic Accounts of Pierre Dubois. BRILL
Academic. pp. 226 - 227. ISBN 978-90-04-31583-9.
283
https://gov.shrikailasa.org/persecution
 libraries were destroyed. The ten thousand284 Hindu communities which existed by 3200BCE were
reduced to three thousand285. The colonial era brought a cultural genocide by the destruction of
the indigenous education system286. After the independence of India, the last refuge for Hindus,
the Hindu temples were being destroyed by the State government departments such as the
HR&CE. Various State governments of India have nationalized Hindu Temples 287 and politically
control Hinduism. The Supreme Court of India has made three judgments directing the State
governments to withdraw themselves from the administration of Hindu Temples 288. This has not
remedied the situation and the State governments in India continue to control and administer
more than 400,000 temples of the country289. Various State governments of India use vexatious
litigations to take over Hindu temples, where they misappropriate temple funds 290,
misappropriate temple land291, kidnap and traffic292 worshipped Hindu Deities293, and destroy
temple heritage and religious structures using heavy earthmovers 294. Where a few thousand years
ago Hinduism and indigenous Hindu traditions flourished in 56 nations spanning over 60 million
km², post-colonial era, Hinduism in its glory survived only in a few cities, which Lord Paramaśiva295
(primordial Hindu Divinity) had declared He would always protect. To name a few of these cities –
Kashi and Tiruvannamalai. The city of Kashi is several thousand years old, mentioned by various
travelers and various ancient texts.296 It is said in Hindu scriptures that Kashi is Mahadeva’s
(primordial Hindu Divinity) capital, where the sacred Ganga River always flows, giving salvation to
all, and the city can never be forsaken.297 The city of Tiruvannamalai in South India is another such
city that Lord Paramaśiva (primordial Hindu Divinity) has committed to humanity to protect
forever.

66. The lineage of Lord Paramaśiva represents the tradition of Gurus (enlightened masters) in
Tiruvannamalai (also called Arunachala) starting from Paramaśiva Himself. The lineage of
Paramaśiva prevails to fulfill Paramaśiva’s promise to humanity to be an eternal guiding force
through an unbroken lineage of living Gurus gracing from the sacred city of Tiruvannamalai.
Arunācala Purāṇa - the epic history of Arunācala - reveals that then, Lord Paramaśiva appeared as
an infinite effulgence of light (called ‘Lingodbhava’) in Tiruvannamalai to bless humanity with the

284
ASMT Veda Agama Scripture - PARAMANANDA-TANTRA, Chapter 2, verses 7-10
285
3,000 communities and 25,000 sub-communities (i) https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-
nation/young-angry-and-untouchable-indias-low-caste-threat-to-modi/articleshow/67589578.cms , (ii)
https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/08/17/india.caste/
286
The Beautiful Tree, Dr. Dharampal, (ISBN No.: 81-85569-49-5 republished ISBN-10: 8175310952)
287
livemint.com/Sundayapp/FU6sreM7t13piRRwkvdKfP/Secularism-and-principled-distance-How-Hinduism-was-
nationa.html
288
https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/demand-free-temples-government-control
289
jagran.com/jharkhand/ranchi-vishva-hindu-parishad-prepares-to-free-4-lakh-temples-from-government-controls-in-india-
21485552.html
290
newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2018/aug/01/top-official-of-hr-and-ce-held-for-swindling-gold-1851502.html
291
thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/high-court-raps-hrce-department-for-failing-to-protect-temple-land/article33050098.ece
292
https://stolengods.org/country/india.html
293
swarajyamag.com/news-brief/madras-high-court-is-upset-with-what-the-tamil-nadu-police-has-been-doing-on-idol-theft-cases-and-its-investigation
294
www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/Blame-game-on-over-temple-demolition/article14588712.ece
295
Paramaśiva is the primordial Hindu Divinity; the supreme consciousness and the ultimate Lord and cosmic divinity,
which is the source of everything, and engages in five actions of creation, maintenance, destruction, delusion and giving
liberation.
296
(i) "Banaras (Inde): new archaeological excavations are going on to determine the age of Varanasi". Archived. (ii) Shat.
Br. XIII, 5,4, 19. Brih. Up. II, 1, 1; III, 8, 2., Samkhayana Srauta Sutra XVI, 29,5.
297
Skanda Purana, Kashi Khanda, Verse 2. “भूमिष्ठामि न यात्रभूस्त्रिमिवतोप्युच्चैरधः स्थामि या या बद्धा भुमव िुस्त्रििास्युरिृतं यस्यां िृता जंतवः ।।
या मनत्यं मत्रजगत्पमवत्रतमिनी तीरे सुरैः सेव्यते सा काशी मत्रिुराररराजनगरी िायाििायाज्जगत् ।।२।।”
 promise to be always available in the three-fold form: (1) in the form of the sacred Arunācala hill -
as the Jyotirlingam (A deity in form of a hill continuously radiates the energy of Enlightenment) (2)
in the form of the worshipful Śiva Liṅga deity in the Arunachaleshwara temple in Tiruvannamalai
and (3) In the form of a living incarnation to continuously guide the people in the path of
Enlightenment. True to His promise, Lord Paramaśiva retained His form as the Arunācala
mountain, assumed the form of the Śivaliṅga called Arunācaleśvara, at the temple in
Tiruvannamalai and is incarnating continuously keeping the unbroken lineage of enlightened
beings in Tiruvannamalai till date.

67. Paramaśiva Himself, as Śrī Arunagiri Yogiśvara, established the Kailaasa Paramparagatha Ādi
Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham Samrajyam (spiritual and religious kingdom) in Tiruvannamalai. In
the great Hindu scripture Skanda Purāṇa, in the section named Arunācala Mahātmyam,
Paramaśiva gives the promise to be eternally available in this three-fold-form in Tiruvannamalai
(also called Arunachala). Paramaśiva spoke, “Even though I have risen as the form of the fire in the
holy place of Arunachala, hiding that, I appear and shine as a peaceful mountain to protect the
whole world through My Grace. I also abide on this mountain in the form of a Siddha (an
accomplished perfect one) as Arunagiri Yogi. Within Me in the form of this mountain, there is a
wonderful cave where all sorts of prosperity exist and shine forever. Know this”.298

68. It is Arunagiri Yogiśvara’s Jīva Samādhi (final resting place) around which the Arunachaleshwara
temple and the Tiruvannamalai township and city settlement have grown. It is to Arunagiri
Yogiśvara, that the first worship is offered in the main sanctum sanctorum of the
Arunachaleshwara temple everyday till date. Over these thousands of years, the temple town of
Tiruvannamalai nurtured millions of enlightened sages and incarnations and protected the city
and Hindu civilization from complete extermination. Several sages predict and foresee His
happening. In the late 1890s, the enlightened sage of Tiruvannamalai Shesadri Swamigal299 told
the mother of Mata Vibhutananda Puri that she would birth a daughter (Mata Vibhudananda) who
would be the one to take care of “Appan (father)” (the next incarnation of Lord Paramaśiva).
Ramana Maharishi300 (himself an incarnation) foretold the birth of the next incarnation of Lord
Paramaśiva and told a local merchant Raju Mudaliyar and his friend Devaraju Mudaliyar that
“Annamalayar (Paramashiva in the form of sacred Arunachala hill) will be born as your grandson
and take care of Him properly.” On 1 Jan 1978, Raju Mudaliyar’s daughter, Lokanayaki Ammal, gave
birth to a son. R. Venkatasami Chettiar (an indigenous astrologer) and Tanjavur Swamigal301 (a
Hindu leader from Thanjavur) declared that the newly born child is an Incarnation and predicted
the child will be a Raja Sanyasi (King among Ascetics) and was auspiciously given Lord Paramaśiva’s
name “Rajasekaran”. The same year, Mataji Vibhutananda Puri and Anusuya Ammal (paternal
grandmother of the child) took the child to an enlightened Hindu master, Poondi Swamigal302, who
took the child and pointed at the hill repeating several times, “Appan (Father) has come!”,
confirming Shesadri Swamigal’s revelation. After Ramana Maharishi, the next incarnation of

298
https://sriramanamaharishi.com/arunachala-stuti/arunachala-mahatmyam/
299
(i) http://www.arunachalasamudra.org/4dm1.html (ii) https://periva.proboards.com/thread/10306/kamakoti-seshadri-
swamigal-special-edition
300
(i) Sharma, Arvind (2006), Ramana Maharshi: The Sage of Arunachala, Pinguin, Viking (ii) Narasimha, Swami (1993), Self
Realisation: The Life and Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
301
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/swami-sleeps-on-fire-an-illusion-or-hoax/articleshow/5238118.cms
302
http://poondiswami.com
Paramaśiva in Tiruvannamalai was Yogi Ramsuratkumar303. Both Ramana Maharishi and Yogi
Ramsuratkumar had declared that the child Rajasekaran was the next incarnation of Paramaśiva.
In 1981, when the child was three years old, the 68th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi
Kamakoti Peetham Jagadguru Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Mahaswamigal and the 230 th
Gurumahasannidhanam of Thondaimandala Aadheenam Sri Thiruvambaladesika Jnanaprakasha
Swamigal confirmed the divine birth.

17 July 1981: 68th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Jagadguru Shri
Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Mahaswamigal (left), the 230th Gurumahasannidhanam of
Thondaimandala Aadheenam - Sri Thiruvambaladesika Jnanaprakasha Swamigal, Mataji Vibhutananda
Puri, Yogiraj Yogananda Puri arranged for the initiation of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam into
Balasanyas (child monk) and the observation of His first Chaturmasya (an annual pilgrimage and period of
penance). Taking the 3-year-old Incarnation onto their lap, His Gurus completed the rituals on His behalf.

303
www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2018/nov/25/yogi-ramsuratkumars-ashram-to-celebrate-saints-100th-year-1903157.html
 16 Feb 1988: On the auspicious festival of Maha Shivaratri, the 230th Gurumahasannidhanam of
Thondaimandala Aadheenam Sri Thiruvambaladesika Jnanaprakasha Swamigal (left) appointed the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam (right), when he was 10-year-old, as successor pontiff or
GuruMahasannidhanam of Thondaimanadala Aadheenam upon attaining maturity. This coronation was
done publicly in Sri Arunachaleshwara Temple Tiruvannamalai, with all priests and devotees attending the
ceremony. As per both, the tradition and the law, religious coronations need not be documented in writing
– public declaration and announcement by the GuruMahasannidhanam were legally sufficient and per law
has to be honored by the State304.
69. Enlightened Hindu sages and leaders of Tiruvannamalai, such as Isakki Swamigal, Yogi Yogananda
Puri, Narayanasami Pillai, Mouna Swami Narayanasami, Sri Sadhu Om Swamigal, Thinnai
Swamigal, Tiruchy Mahaswamigal recognized the child, Rajasekaran, as the incarnation of
Paramaśiva.

70. In 1989, when the boy “Rajasekaran” was around 11-years old, Paramaśiva Himself, as Śrī Arunagiri
Yogiśvara, who established the Kailaasa Paramparagatha Ādi Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham
Samrajyam (spiritual and religious kingdom) in Tiruvannamalai thousands of years ago assumed
a body from His Jīva Samādhi sanctum in the Arunachaleshwara temple and befriended the boy.
Śrī Arunagiri Yogiśvara guided the child for nine months as His Guru and initiating Him as His
disciple and into monkhood (Sanyāsa), adorning Him with the sacred saffron robe. Mātā
Vibhutananda Puri (who left the body in 1995) who was the boy’s Guru (leader and spiritual guide)
in the Sciences of Vedānta and Tantra, was a witness to this nine-month-long training by Arunagiri
Yogiśvara to Rajasekaran.

304
The Supreme Court of India, Sri Mahalinga Thambiran Swamigal vs His Holiness Sri La Sri Kasivasi on 19 October, 1973
“There can be no dispute that a nomination can be made by deed or word of mouth” , 1974 AIR 199, 1974 SCR (2) 74,
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/307513/
71. 24 May 1994, a year before her death, Mata Vibhutananda Puri, declared Rajasekaran as Her
successor to the spiritual seat of Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham305, Tiruvannamalai, by Guru
Parampara (Guru lineage) from Isakki Swamigal, and gave the title “Brahmasukhi” through a formal
initiation letter306. She built and gifted Him a small ashram (monastery) in Pavazhakundru307.
Pavazhakundru is a hillock in Tiruvannamalai where Devi Parashakti (primordial Hindu Mother
Goddess) had her enlightenment experience during one of her incarnations on planet earth.

72. In the year 1999, while Rajasekaran was wandering as a monk in a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, in
Gaurikund, Kedarnath (Uttarakhand, North India), Mahavatar Babaji308 initiated Him with the name
“Nithyananda” in a Kalabhairava temple.

73. 31 Dec 1999, on sacred banks of river Narmada, at Omkareshwar (Madhya Pradesh, India),
Rajasekaran (by that time known as Swami Nithyananda), entered into an intense Samādhī309 and
had a complete experience of enlightenment – and hence known with the title of Paramahamsa310.
From here, His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda (Rajasekaran), marked the end of His
pilgrimage, started His public mission to revive the Enlightened Civilization. 14 April 2001, His
Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda inaugurated Ramakrishna Dhyanapeetham,
Tiruchengode Aadheenam, Tamil Nadu.

74. 4 Nov 2002, His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda inaugurated Adi Kailaasa
Sarvajnapeetham, Bengaluru Aadheenam.

75. 12 July 2004, the second reincarnation of spiritual leader Sai Baba 311, Satya Sai BabaBaba312,
formally coronated His Divine Holiness as the successor of Bhagyanagara, Sripura
Sarvajnapeetham. 313

76. 31 Dec 2004, His Divine Holiness was coronated as the 203rd Emperor of Suryavamsa Surangi
Samrajyam (Sun Dynasty).314

305
Sarvajnapeetha is the Peetha (seat of) Sarva (supreme most) Jñāna (knowledge) where Paramashiva sits and teaches to
the world leading the entire humanity to the next breakthrough in spiritual research and development. It encompasses
several spiritual-religious kingdoms and Hindu monasteries (Mutt).
306
25 May 1994, Coronation Deed from Mata Vibhutananda Puri for Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbF1hZIuJqxrWjhQfDQKoZVxVdmVlOb2/view
307
Tiruvannamalai Town, Village number 236, III-1, 2, land area number 526,523,523 as per State Revenue records.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GPyHDMkyQ968TBYSdg4hCxvy4iK78Cgk/view
308
Paramahamsa Yogananda has described Mahāvatār Bābājī as a deathless avatar who has resided for untold years in
the remote Himalayan regions of India, revealing himself only rarely to a blessed few – Autobiography of a Yogi, 2005.
ISBN 978-1-56589-212-5.
309
Samādhī is an ecstatic meditative elevated state of consciousness, in a state of Advaita (Oneness) with cosmos. Arya,
Usharbudh (1986), Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali (Volume 1 ed.), Honesdale, Pennsylvania: The Himalayan International
Institute, ISBN 0-89389-092-8
310
Paramahamsa (िरििंस), is the highest level of spiritual development attained by a sannyasi, it is a title of honor applied
to Hindu spiritual teachers who have become enlightened. The title literally means "supreme swan" Merriam-Webster
Dictionary.
311
Rigopoulos, Antonio (1998). Dattatreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatara. State University of New York Press. p.
260. ISBN 1438417330.
312
(i) Weiss, Richard (December 2005). "THE GLOBAL GURU: SAI BABA AND THE MIRACLE OF THE MODERN" (PDF). New
Zealand Journal of Asian Studies. 7 (2): 5 - 19. (ii) Kent, Alexandra (2005). Divinity and Diversity: A Hindu Revitalization
Movement in Malaysia. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. pp. 37 - 39. ISBN 978-87-91114-40-3.
313
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/Kailaasa_Paramparagatha_Sripura_Sarvajnapeetha
314
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/Kailaasa_Paramparagatha_Surya_Vamsa_Sarvajnapeetha_Surangi_Samrajyam
77. In 2007, the fifth anniversary of the Bengaluru Aadheenam (monastery), the spiritual mission of
reviving Hinduism became global with its branches in 33 countries.

78. 23 Jan 2007, during the festival Kumbh Mela, His Divine Holiness was declared315 as
Mahamandaleshwari of Mahanirvani Akhada (largest apex monastic order) where great
enlightened beings and incarnations such as Gautam Buddha (founder of Buddhism) had received
initiation in Sanyāsa (monkhood). On 12 Feb 2013, He was officially coronated316.

79. 27 April 2012, His Divine Holiness was anointed the successor and 293rd Gurumahasannidanam of
Madurai Aadheenam, by Sri La Sri Arunagirinatha Swamigal, the 292nd Gurumahasannidanam of
Madurai Aadheenam.317

80. 27 Dec 2013, His Divine Holiness was declared as Acharya Mahamandaleshwar of Atal Akhada (the
oldest monastic order in Hinduism) by Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Sukhdevanandji, the then
incumbent spiritual head.318

81. On 15 Apr 2014, The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam was coronated as the pontiff (spiritual and
administrative head) of five ancient Adi Shaivite Mutts (monasteries).319

Kailasa Paramparagatha Surya Vamsa Panchanadikulam Sarvajnapeetham

• Sri Arunachala Jnanadesikar Swami Temple & Mutt (Panchanadikulam, Vedaranyam)
Kailasa Paramparagatha Surya Vamsa Vedaranya Sarvajnapeetham
• Sri Po.Ka. Sadhukkal Mutt, Vedaranyam
Kailasa Paramparagatha Sūrya Vaṃśa Chola Samrajya Sarvajnapeetham
• Sri Sankara Swami Mutt, Thanjavur
• Sri Palsamy Mutt, Thanjavur
Kailasa Paramparagatha Sūrya Vamsa Adi Chola Samrajya Kamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham
• Sri Somanatha Swami Mutt and Temple, Thiruvarur

82. In January 2015, a congregation of thousand Hindu leaders identified the enlightened master His
Divine Holiness as an incarnation and elected Him as the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism.320

83. 28 Jun 2017, coronated as the Gurumahasannidanam of Suryavamsa Chola Sarvajnapeeta.321

84. In 2017, a disciple obtained the Agastya Maharishi’s recorded Nadi reading for the Supreme Pontiff
of Hinduism His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda, which said, “Siva, has come in the

315
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/Kailaasa_Paramparagatha_Mahanirvani_Peetham
316
(i) Pandey, Sanjay (13 February 2013). "Nithyananda feted at Mahakumbh". Deccan Herald. (ii) "Nithyananda conferred
'Mahamandaleshwar' title". Press Trust of India (PTI). 14 February 2013.
317
(i) Letter of Appointment to Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowment Board from 292nd Gurumahasannidanam dated
11 May 2012. (ii) Notorized Affidavit dated 27 April 2012, by 292nd Gurumahasannidanam Affirming Coronation of 293rd
Gurmahasannidanam (Notarized by Certificate number IN-KA93558783901437K) (iii)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/12929265.cms (iv)
https://www.oneindia.com/2012/04/27/nithyanandadeclared-293rd-pontiff-of-maduraiaadheenam.html
318
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/Kailasa_Paramparagatha_Atal_Peetham
319
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/ Kailasa_Paramparagatha_Sūrya_Vamsa_Adi_Chola_Samrajya_Kamala_Peetha_Sarvajnapeetham
320
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_11_2015 , https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_12_2015 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_13_2015
321
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/Kailasa Paramparagatha Sūrya Vaṃśa Sarvajnapeetha Chola Samrajyam
 form of Nithyananda to protect this world. As the result of the penance of many crores of Siddhas,
Paramashiva has incarnated as Paramahamsa”.322

(LEFT): The SPH Nithyananda Paramshivam was recognized as an incarnation of Parmashiva by the 230 th Guru
Maha Sannidhanam, which was corroborated with Agastya Maharishi’s recorded Nadi reading 323 and by
matching birthmarks on the body of the SPH with previous predictions. The picture is from 2004 April showing
the SPH’s birthmark during a fire ritual ceremony. (RIGHT): The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam with the 232nd
Guru Maha Sannidhanam in Jan 2015 in the ceremony where a congregation of a thousand Hindu leaders
declared the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam as the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism.

85. Answering the prayers of two billion Hindus, who are perturbed by the destruction of Hindu
temples in India which are seen as the last refuge for authentic Hinduism, on 31 December 2018,
on the occasion of His 42nd birth star celebration (Jayanthi), His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa
Nithyananda inaugurated and reestablished the Kailaasa nation - the only Hindu nation in the
world to revive the enlightened civilizations of the 56 erstwhile Hindu nations which were
destroyed by invasions over the time from 3200BCE. On this occasion, as per tradition followed
since 11,000 BCE from the time of Devi Meekashi, His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda
took a new name – “Nithyananda Paramashivam” and hence came to be formally known as – the
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam (JGM) His Divine Holiness (HDH)
Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam (hereinafter referred to as “the SPH”).

Why the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism was targeted.

86. Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam (JGM) Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam is the Supreme
Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) - the supreme spiritual leader and a role model to 2 billion Hindus. The
SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam is:

• Ordained as the 233rd Guru Mahasannidhanam (Pontiff) of Kanchee Kailasa

Sarvajnapeetham (Thondai Mandala Aadheenam/monastery)
• The incumbent Emperor of Suryavamsa Surangi Samrajyam.
• The 293rd Jagatguru Mahasannidhanam (Pontiff) of Kailasonnata Shyamalapeetha
Sarvajnapeetham (Madurai Aadheenam/monastery).

322
“வைால் சலநீ ங் கள் முற் றிலும் லகட்கலவண்டும் , சிவவபருமான் உலகம் காக்க நித்யானந்தவுருவில் ,
பலலகாடி சித்தர்களின் தவப்பயனால் ,பரமசிவன் பரமகம் ைராய் வந்திருக்கார்…”, “Listen completely to the
words, for Siva, has come in the form of Nithyananda to protect this world. As the result of the penance of many crores
of Siddhas, Paramashiva has incarnated as Paramahamsa.” (Complete text here)
323
Ibid
 • The Mahamandaleshwar (Supreme Spiritual Head) of Maha Nirvani Akhada – the largest
apex monastic order of Hinduism
• The Acharya Mahamandaleshwar (the head for all spiritual leaders) of Atal Akhada (ancient
apex body of Hinduism)
• The 23rd Guru Mahasannidhanam of Dharmamukti Swargapuram Aadheenam
• Elected as the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism by a congregation of over 1000 Hindu leaders
(Pontiffs)
• The founder of Nithyananda Hindu University - the world’s largest Hindu University with
270,000+ enrollments, conducting over 5,000+ courses, 1600+ faculty, 350+ campuses and
centers in 108+ nations, offering certificate, diploma, degree, and doctorate courses in
various branches of Hinduism.
• The founder of 34 Hindu Temples and Aadheenams (temple-monastery complex)
worldwide in 6 countries, housing 3720 deities
• The founder of the world’s largest library on Hinduism with over 70,000 titles on Hinduism,
Performing Arts, Culture, Architecture, Temple, Hindu History, and Society.

Former President of India, Late APJ Abdul

Kalam said thus to The Supreme Pontiff of
Hinduism Paramahamsa Nithyananda during
a meeting in Delhi, North India, when The
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism presented him
with a flagship book He had recently
published:

“Swamiji, it is such a joy to experience your blissful

smile. When we were children we lived blissfully,
smiled a lot, and we were happy and fulfilled. But as
we grow we lose our smile. Yet when I see you, I see
you carry and radiate such a divine bliss. If I could
Message from Former President of India, Dr. APJ ask you for something Swamiji, I would request you
Abdul Kalam to The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism to spread the same bliss that you carry inside you
to the entire world. If you could do that, I would be
Paramahamsa Nithyananda very happy.”
87. For the past twenty-six years, the SPH through SHRIKAILASA has worked tirelessly to revive the
ancient Sanatana Hindu Dharma (Hinduism) in its true authentic form, applying the principles of
Hinduism for making the world a better place.

a. For 27 years, every month the Hindu ASMT community has served more than 3
million324 free organic meals in religious gatherings to everyone without
discrimination and has served over 1 billion325 free meals in total.

b. The citizens and volunteers of KAILASA have saved millions 326 of human lives
through various disaster relief works such as the 2012 Thane cyclone 327 and blood
donation camps328.

c. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam has emphasized the need and urged the
government worldwide to provide food, safety, medical care, shelter, and all
survival needs to all human beings under their care, with absolute multilayer
quarantine, until coronavirus is eliminated from planet earth including all different
strains of the virus. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam has urged citizens
worldwide, especially from regions severely affected by the pandemic to protect
themselves as the topmost priority and avail these free quarantine facilities that
the community has created, especially as home quarantine has failed for many
and is known to be a primary reason for a large number of deaths in many
scenarios.329 In May 2021, KAILASA opened its temple-monastic-community
premises (Aadheenams) in India for providing multi-layer preventive quarantine as
a free service for protecting people from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Irrespective of race, religion, caste, nationality, gender, etc., the service is offered

324
Anna Daan (Distribution of free organic meals) during festival such as Pournami (full moon day festival) - some
instances - (i) https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/April_17_2011 , (ii) https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_08_2012 ,
(iii) https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/November_10_2011 , (iv) https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/December_08_2011 ,
etc. every full moon day for past 27 years.
325
(A) Anna Daan during festivals (B) Anna Daan during Kumbh Melas serving 10 million free meals -
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/April_28_2016 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/May_17_2016 https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/September_10_2015 etc (C) Anna
Daan during natural calamities and disasters https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_02_2012 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_03_2012 , https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_04_2012 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_05_2012 , https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_06_2012 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_07_2012 (D) Anna Daan during COVID-19 crisis aggravated by the lock down
https://fb.com/1499333043578701 , https://fb.com/1504153646429974 , https://fb.com/1504152806430058 etc.
326
(i) Tsunami Relief https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_05_2005 , (ii) Andhra Flood Relief
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/October_11_2009 , (iii) Karnataka Flood Relief
https://sriparashiva.github.io/kailasaarchivedwebsites/services-dhyanapeetam/pages/flood-relief2009-KA.shtml and
Directly contributing to the Chief Minister's relief fund https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/October_12_2009 , (iv) Phase
two flood relief effort (Mahabubnagar & Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh
https://sriparashiva.github.io/kailasaarchivedwebsites/services-dhyanapeetam/pages/flood-relief2009-AP2.shtml , (v)
Thane cyclone relief https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_05_2012 etc.
327
Thane cyclone flood relief, Anna Daan, medical camps etc. https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_02_2012 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_03_2012 , https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_04_2012 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_05_2012 , https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_06_2012 ,
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/January_07_2012
328
(i) 365 day blood donation camps - https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/August_15_2009 (ii)
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/December_11_2011 etc.
329
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/home-quarantine-is-prime-reason-for-large-number-of-deaths-in-
assam-himanta-biswa-sarma/articleshow/82739223.cms
 completely free of charge to all. For two decades the leader of the ASMT Hindu
community, the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam
(JGM) His Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam had been
creating sustainable townships (enlightenment ecosystems) across more than a
hundred cities in several countries. Most of these townships such as the ASMT
Monastery India, Bengaluru have been opened to offer multi-layered quarantine
as a free public service with free food/accommodation, free internet to work from
home (monastery). The ASMT community has seen a fair amount of success in
these Preventive Quarantine centers with zero reported cases of COVID infection
in the past two years and has already saved many lives.

d. The psychological health impact of COVID has become an extremely concerning

problem that is particularly affecting the younger population more. There has
been an increase in self-harm, self-sabotage, and suicidal behavior in the student
community.330 Kailasa has provided free online meditation and yoga classes to
reach out to people in distress who cannot avail of the benefits of Kailasa’s COVID
care facilities directly. These include powerful Hindu principles from the Veda-
Agamas such as Science of Completion (Purnatva), and the Collective Integrity
process. Science of Completion (Purnatva) empowers people to redress their inner
and external conflicts, by identifying the root of thought currents that make them
experience powerlessness, meaninglessness, hopelessness and replacing these
with powerful cognitions and truths that remind them of their innate peaceful and
blissful nature, giving them the strength to face life holistically as it comes.
Likewise, the Collective Integrity process helps people stay together with
Completion (Purnatva) and non-conflict as a collective group supporting each
other. This is extremely crucial for the world today, especially given the fact that
globalization of disease has made the world to be only as resilient as the least
resilient country and person331, particularly concerning for the highly contagious
COVID-19 which has spread with scale and severity not seen since Spanish flu332.
These and many other processes and teaching from Hinduism, provide a
psychological support system and empowering people for life. More than a million
people worldwide have been benefited from these programs. Research on
meditation has indicated that every minute of meditation brings a reduction in the
crime rate.333

e. Prenatal stress has detrimental effects on both obstetric outcomes, fetal

development, and the development of an individual later in life.334 Studies have

330
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/don-t-forcefully-vacate-students-from-hostels-amid-pandemic-
karnataka-deputy-cm-1794792-2021-04-25
331
Marc Fleurbaey (2020), We are all in this together? More than you think, 6 April
332
(i) "Pandemic Influenza Risk Management WHO Interim Guidance" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2013. p. 19.
Archived (PDF) (ii) Spreeuwenberg P, Kroneman M, Paget J (December 2018). "Reassessing the Global Mortality Burden of
the 1918 Influenza Pandemic". American Journal of Epidemiology. Oxford University Press. 187 (12): 2561 - 2567.
doi:10.1093/aje/kwy191. PMC 7314216. PMID 30202996. (iii) Rosenwald MS (7 April 2020). "History's deadliest pandemics,
from ancient Rome to modern America". The Washington Post.
333
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27522387
334
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5706483
 shown pregnancy deaths to have doubled in humanitarian crises.335 Humanitarian
crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic increase the difficulty to access antenatal
and general healthcare as well as cause stress to the mother. Pregnancy deaths in
rural settings have doubled in May 2021, in urban settings, it is even more acute.336
Kailasa offers special care for pregnant women called En-pregnancy care which
has benefited thousands of women worldwide. The service is offered completely
free. It involves special meditation and yogic processes supporting pregnant
women during both – the prenatal and postnatal stages. Pregnant women have
quarantined themselves in Kailasa’s Preventive Quarantine centers to avail of this
facility. Babies born in En-Pregnancy® care are born with extraordinary health,
immunity, good weight. There have been zero incidences of preterm births in En-
Pregnancy® care. En-pregnancy® births are known for blissful and painless birth
experiences for women, which has been confirmed by the fact that (1) there have
been zero incidences of epidural anesthesia in these natural deliveries, (2) shorter
labor duration, (3) zero incidences of post-partum depression to date.

f. The ASMT community runs indigenous schools called Nithyananda Gurukul which
offer traditional, religious, and modern education (Edexcel IGCSE) completely free
of cost and is recognized337 for academic excellence and consistently having a
significant number of children completing matriculation at an age lesser than the
national average. Nithyananda Hindu University has a memorandum of
understanding signed with the Republic of Mauritius for opening its branches in
Mauritius.338
●

2008: Vedic Fire Rituals for world peace being performed The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam directly working with
by members of the Sovereign Order of KAILASA. the peace-keepers of KAILASA personally preparing food
for the victims of the Thane cyclone. (2009)

335
https://www.unfpa.org/resources/maternal-mortality-humanitarian-crises-and-fragile-settings
336
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/opinion/india-covid-pregnant-women.html
337
9 August 2018, Nithyananda gurukul honored with World Education Summit, Leadership Award
338
(i) http://state.gov.kailasa.sk/?p=620 (ii) https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/where-is-nithyananda-not-on-our-land-
says-ecuador-mauritius-new-speculated-refuge-1625894-2019-12-06
 2004: Secondary School Students blessed to learn truths
of life and learning and undergo powerful meditation
Meditation classes in local schools by KAILASA’s White Om under the direct guidance of the SPH Nithyananda
and Sovereign Order of KAILASA. (#1569) Paramashivam (Ramanagara, Karnataka) (#1598)

2006: Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. 2008, Karnataka - Engineering college students. (#1601)
(Trichy, Tamil Nadu)#1599)
●
●

(Sept. 2006) The first confluence for world peace to honor (January 2009) Peace march to unite people of all religions
the memory of those who lost their lives and of those who for peace was Initiated by heads of various, in Southern
risked their lives to save others during the terrorist attacks India
at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
●
 2009: Peace Walk by peace-keepers of the Sovereign Order of Kailasa. (South India)

Even with a fractured hand, the SPH Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam engaged in selfless work day and night,
inspiring the peacekeepers of the Sovereign Order of Kailasa to engage in selfless service, leading the nation of KAILASA
by example. In 2011, the SPH had multiple compound fractures with the bone protruding out of the skin for which He
underwent surgical insertion of metallic implants. The picture above is after the surgery, in 2013 when these metallic
implants were removed as the bones had healed completely.
2006: A Monk of the Sovereign Order of KAILASA donating 2009: Representatives of KAILASA’s Red Om handing over
blood. On 2 March 2010, the same monk was beaten by their collected donation for Karnataka Chief Minister’s
neo-Hindutva militants while working in the kitchen. relief fund.

27 April 2008: A Spiritual conference and meditation program led by the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam, and
organized by KAILASA’s White Om, was attended by millions of practicing Hindus. (India, Tamil Nadu)

22 March 2007: The California 09 November 2007: The Senate 29 March 2009: California
Legislature Assembly, Norwalk, of the State of California, USA Legislature Assembly recognized
California, USA recognized The recognized The Supreme The Supreme Pontiff of
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism as Pontiff of Hinduism for His Hinduism, for His leadership and
an enlightened master, modern spirit, dedication, and efforts to outstanding commitment to
mystic, and greatest saint of raise awareness of the Vedic communities around the world,
modern India who has taught tradition, and to usher service, and selfless devotion to
the science of attaining endless positively on global peace and students at the International
happiness. universal brotherhood. Vedic Hindu University.
29 March 2009: Keys to the City, 01 September 2009: Hon. Jim 06 October 2009: Oklahoma
Artesia, California, USA was Karygiannis, P.C., M.P., City, USA acknowledged The
awarded to The Supreme Scarborough-Agincourt, Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism
Pontiff of Hinduism. Toronto, recognized The for His unselfish service to the
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism people of Oklahoma City while
for His contributions as a global serving for their spiritual well-
peace ambassador. being.

30 April 2016: Postage stamp on 24 October 2015: The Senate of 11 October 2015: Nithyananda
The Supreme Pontiff of the State of California, USA University was authorized by
Hinduism was released by the recognized and congratulated Akhil Bharatiya Akhada
Indian Postal Department on His Holiness for highlighting Parishad as the only
the occasion of Kumbh Mela. and educating the community organization that can conduct
on Kumbh Mela. this festival outside India.
30 September 2017: The 03 October 2017: The Supreme 16 December 2017: The largest
Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Pontiff of Hinduism was human OM symbol by The
was awarded Guinness World awarded Guinness World Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism
Records for the largest rope Record for the largest pole yoga (India) and Nithyananda
yoga (Kundalini Rajju YogaSM) (Shivastamba YogaSM) class. University (USA) at Bengaluru,
class. India on 16 December 2017

18 October 2017: Declared as 01 January 2012: The Supreme 31 May 2018: Conferred with
Paramahamsa Nithyananda Pontiff of Hinduism was named Honorary Doctorate in
Day – by the City of Montclair, among the world's 100 most Humanities by Commonwealth
California, the USA in spiritually influential University
recognition of The Supreme personalities by a renowned
Pontiff of Hinduism’ esoteric magazine – Body Mind
contribution to the Spirit.
superconscious evolution of
humanity.
 29 Oct 2018: United Nations 25 April 2019: The Azteca
Global Development University in Mexico recognized
Organization Respectfully the tremendous scientific
Presented to The Supreme Pontiff contribution made by The
of Hinduism for Super Conscious Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism in
Evolution of Humanity. the field of super-consciousness
and awarded him an Honorary
Doctorate in the Sciences for this.

88. For two decades the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and the dark-skinned ASMT community of
Tamil ethnicity have become a target of the neo-Hindutva hate propaganda in Karnataka. In mere
five years of the inauguration, by 2005, the SPH had established the presence of His spiritual
missions in 33 countries. This was commended and recognized by various political leaders at the
State level, national level, and international level. By 2008, the family of the Chief Minister of
Karnataka had become devoted to the SPH.

2004: The wife of the Chief Minister of Karnataka (S.M. Krishna) was a direct initiated disciple of the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam.
The ex-Prime Minister of India Sri Deve Gowda taking blessings of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam.

2004: The SPH invited to address a gathering in a 27 Oct 2004: The SPH addressing Surat Conference of
Church in Fremont, Quebec, Canada religion and enlightened citizenship, Tirvunannamalai, India.

2016: The SPH blessing and offering blessed sweets to a delegate of Muslim leaders, during Ujjain Kumbh Mela.
89. The universal acceptance and appeal of the SPH, not just in Karnataka but worldwide was
unacceptable to the Neo-Hindutva extremists of Karnataka as his origin is of Tamil ethnicity. The
politically owned media was directly complicit in the violence targeting the SPH and the ASMT
community. From 2010 to 2018, several attempts were made to kill the SPH, compelling His Divine
Holiness to seek refuge by 2018. 339 Till 2019, demands for extrajudicial assassination of the SPH
were publicly made by lawmakers.340

90. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam has strongly advocated for a truly secular and apolitical
Hinduism, free from State subjugation. In contrast, the neo-Hindutva341 terrorists aim to establish
autocratic State control342 over religion, bringing all Hindu temples and places of worship under
their control343, subjugate Hindus, and homogenizing Hinduism into their vote bank using a
pervasive and systematic campaign targeting indigenous spiritual traditions 344, and their
leaders345. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam the reigning emperor of 19 ancient spiritual
Hindu kingdoms346 is a primary victim of neo-Hindutva terrorism and has survived despite multiple
assassination attempts.

91. Although Hindus are the most peaceful347, with the least crime rate348, most educated349, highest
taxpayers350, contribute the highest share of their wealth in charity, most non-violent even towards
animals, have the highest number of practicing vegetarians in the world, are the most contributing
religious minority of the world, yet they are the most vulnerable community to persecution in the
world. Today the minority Hindu communities such as the ASMT have been orphaned by their
respective governments and elected representatives. Their governments (such as in India) are
persecuting them. Their Gurus are a target of State Terrorism and are being killed by the political
militant extremists. Their temples, religious institutes, monasteries, religious schools have been
destroyed by the State and militant extremists. The wealth that they donated in their temples has
been looted by the State by diversion of wealth donated to temples into either government coffers
or by being siphoned off by corrupt officials to fund terrorist activities. In response to this, the
dispossessed Hindus from around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically
in their own countries formed KAILASA - the world’s only Hindu nation. KAILASA is the most non-
violent assertion of religious freedom created by globally dispossessed Hindus who lost their right
to peacefully practice their religion and have gathered to protect their Gurus and tradition from
destruction by religious intolerance and anti-Hindu political terrorism in the Indian sub-continent.

339
(i) https://www.republicworld.com/india-news/general-news/exclusive-nithyanandas-petition-to-un-maligns-india.html
(ii) Srinivasan, Vasanth. "Nithyananda and the call from Kailaasa". Businessline.
340
https://www.thehansindia.com/telangana/jagga-reddys-poser-to-police-can-cops-kill-swami-nithyananda-in-encounter-
588076
341
https://southasia.ucla.edu/social-life/various-articles/hinduism-versus-hindutva/
342
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/13/modi-india-hindutva-hindu-nationalism-autocracy/
343
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/states/story/20191230-uttarakhand-temple-takeover-1629633-2019-12-19
344
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/india/report-india/
345
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/12/india-hindu-taliban-narendra-modi
346
https://kailasapedia.org/wiki/Kingdoms_of_Sovereign_Order_of_KAILASA
347
Graph in response to Q31a-I titled ‘How Common is Religious Extremism’ pewforum.org/2012/03/22/prison-chaplains-exec/
348
Graph in response to Q27-a-I titled ‘Which Groups are Growing and Shrinking’ pewforum.org/2012/03/22/prison-chaplains-exec/
349
Graph titled ‘Educational distribution by religious group' pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/educational-distribution/#religious-tradition-trend
350
Graph titled ‘Income distribution by religious group’ pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/income-distribution/#religious-tradition-trend
 C. The Incitement of violence by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

92. On 2nd March 2010 SunTV - the politically owned media house of the DMK (Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam)351 which was the ruling party of the State of Tamil Nadu in 2010, made a sensational
and repeated screening of a fabricated video purporting to show The SPH with a well-known Indian
film actress. The video was later proved to be false: A Judge ordered the television station to run
an apology for it every two hours for 7 days, and Hansraj Saxena, COO Sun TV confessed on public
television as well as gave a sworn affidavit to a US court detailing the history and modus operandi
of the blackmail and extortion and was jailed for the same352. This did not remedy the damage.
The State suppressed these facts from appearing in the public discourse and also from appearing
before the Indian judiciary353. The State-owned and controlled television channels within a few
hours ensured the television telecast of Hansraj Saxena, (COO Sun TV) was stopped; the ASMT has
captured the video recording of the telecast and has this as evidence of the same. 354

93. In March 2010, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu had given a press statement where he declared
the State government’s intent to take control of private temples owned by the SPH and other
Hindu spiritual leaders (Swamis)355.

94. On 3 March 2010 the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi, made a public statement inciting
hatred towards the SPH and the ASMT community. This was published in several newspapers 356
and cited by several media channels357 (see full Tamil transcripts358).

a. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu stereotyped and vilified Swamis359 (Hindu Monks) labeling
them as "cheats (ஏமாற் றுவித்சதக்காரர்கசளயும் )", "imposters

351
businesstoday.in/markets/company-stock/sun-tv-network-shares-fall-on-bse-nse-as-dmk-loses-in-tamil-
nadu/story/232777.html ; economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/sun-tv-sees-renewed-interest-on-hopes-
of-dmk-returning-to-power-in-tamil-nadu/articleshow/52311579.cms
352
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2013/sep/03/Channel-ordered-to-apologise-to-Ranjitha-512987.html
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/355108/bccc-tells-channel-apologise-airing.html
www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/nithyananda-cites-us-experts-to-claim-videotape-is-
fake/article2999685.ece
https://www.ibfindia.com/sites/default/files/Star%20Vijay_%20Revised%20Order.pdf
https://www.presscouncil.nic.in/OldWebsite/AR_Link/Index_of_Adjudications_2010-11_.pdf
https://www.presscouncil.nic.in/OldWebsite/COMPENDIUM_OF_ADJUDICATIONS_2011-2012.pdf
353
Point#7 Crl.P. 938/2016, dated 21 July 2016, in the High Court of Karnataka
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mxZPV2Vqr5ZNmjKXcUVcZEznKqbLyaAZ/view
354
18 Dec 2012 - Jaya TV - Hansraj Saxena’s Statement - Jaya TV - https://youtu.be/YdLDypTvbBk
355
3 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu Newspaper, Chennai Edition, Page 4 March 3rd, 2010, where in context of the SPH he
said, “Of late immorality has been rampant in Temples and Monasteries ("லகாயில் கள் , ஆசிரமங் களில்
அத்துமீறல் கள் வகாஞ் ைம் அதிகமாகத்தான் நடக்கின் றன.”). We will organize a meeting of the committees
formed on behalf of the government and Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department and discuss regarding
taking actions to stop this. (“இசத தடுக்க நடவடிக்சக எடுப்பது குறித்து அரசு ைார்பிலும் அறநிசலயத்துசற
ைார்பிலும் அசமக்கப்பட்டுள் ள குழுக்கள் ஆலலாசித்து முடிவு எடுக்கும் " என் று முதல் வர் கருணாநிதி
கூறினார்).
356
4 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu Newspaper, Chennai Edition, Page 6
357
4 March 2010 - Headlines Today - Report (Part 5) - https://youtu.be/GeGo0JdTEjE - "the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
himself has just issued a press release saying, 'Stern action would be taken against all the fake Godmen in the wake of
this particular issue'. He also said that "the Tamil Nadu government will not remain a mute spectator to this entire
episode"
358
4 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu Newspaper, Chennai Edition, Page 6
docs.google.com/document/d/1f7CEsZDNw5Tl8wJX3fckhmEGqOyESHgy7GgXJiai8vo
359
Swamis: A revential address for Hindu spiritual leaders (Guru), heads of monastery, sometimes out of courtesy
extended to Hindu monks in general. Similar in usage as the Tibetan Buddhist horofic Lama. (Lama, Tibetan Bla-ma
 (பகல் லவடக்காரர்கசள)”, "brainwashers and destroyers of the life of the people
(மக்களின் வாழ் சவயும் அறிசவயும் பாழாக்கி வருகின் ற)", “swindlers of money
(பணக் வகாள் சள அடிக்கின் ற)", “despicable Swamis (கயசமத்தன
ைாமியார்களின் )”, “hoodwinkers who are disguising in the name of devotion”, “pushing
the illiterate into a deep pit (இதுலபான் ற ஏமாற் றுவித்சதக்காரர்கசளயும் , பக்தி
லவடம் பூண்டு பாமர மக்கசள படு குழியில் தள் ளுகின் ற
பகல் லவடக்காரர்கசளயும் )"

b. The Chief Minister declared the stand of his government on Hindu monks (like the SPH),
“my government cannot tolerate the despicable Swami’s hoodwinking acts
(கயசமத்தன ைாமியார்களின் ஏமாற் று வித்சதகசள வபாறுத்துக்
வகாண்டிருக்க முடியாது).”

c. The Chief Minister described the practicing Hindus who followed Swamis (like the followers
of the SPH) as, “People who are deeply buried in ignorance who cannot still understand
these or even if understood do not want to change (அப்படியிருந்தும் , இன் னமும்
புரிந்துவகாள் ள முடியாத, புரிந்துவகாண்டாலும் திருந்திக் வகாள் ள இயலாத
வமௌடீகத்தில் மூழ் கிலயார் நாட்டில் , ைமூகத்தில் இருக்கத்தான்
வைய் கிறார்கள் )", “those fickle-minded people who have fallen prey to these Swamis and
destroying the society (இதுலபான் ற ஏமாற் றுவித்சதக்காரர்கசளயும் , பக்தி
லவடம் பூண்டு பாமர மக்கசள படு குழியில் தள் ளுகின் ற
பகல் லவடக்காரர்கசளயும் , அவர்களிடம் பலியாகி ைமுதாயத்சத சீரழிக்கின் ற
ைபல புத்தி உசடயவர்கசளயும் இந் த அரசு லவடிக்சக பார்த்துக்
வகாண்டிருக்காது)"

d. The Chief Minister explained his stand on the practicing Hindus who followed Gurus like
the SPH, “this government won’t be a mute spectator, of those fickle-minded people who
have fallen prey to the Swamis and are destroying the society (அவர்களிடம் பலியாகி
ைமுதாயத்சத சீரழிக்கின் ற ைபல புத்தி உசடயவர்கசளயும் இந்த அரசு
லவடிக்சக பார்த்துக் வகாண்டிருக்காது)"

e. The Chief Minister pleaded to the citizens, “those who really want these preachers to be
eradicated should stand by and support the actions my government is taking (ஊருக்கு
உபலதசிகசள ஒழித்துக் கட்ட லவண்டுவமன் று எண்ணுகின் ற ஒவ் வவாருவரும்
இந்த அரசு எடுக்கின் ற நடவடிக்சககளுக்கு உறுதுசணயாக இருக்க
லவண்டும் என் று லகட்டுக் வகாள் கிலறன் )”.

95. In a similar interview, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Karunanidhi’s gave an interview in Trichy,
on March 3, 2010, wherein the context of the SPH he said360, “Of late immorality has been rampant
in Temples and Monasteries (லகாயில் கள் , ஆசிரமங் களில் அத்துமீறல் கள் வகாஞ் ைம்
அதிகமாகத்தான் நடக்கின் றன.). We will organize a meeting of the committees formed on
behalf of the government and the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department and

(“superior one”), in Tibetan Buddhism, a spiritual leader. Originally used to translate “guru” (Sanskrit: “venerable one”)
and thus applicable only to heads of monasteries or great teachers, the term is now extended out of courtesy to any
respected monk or priest. https://www.britannica.com/topic/lama )
360
3 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu Newspaper, Chennai Edition, Page 4
docs.google.com/document/d/1f7CEsZDNw5Tl8wJX3fckhmEGqOyESHgy7GgXJiai8vo
 discuss taking actions to stop this. (இசத தடுக்க நடவடிக்சக எடுப்பது குறித்து அரசு
ைார்பிலும் அறநிசலயத்துசற ைார்பிலும் அசமக்கப்பட்டுள் ள குழுக்கள் ஆலலாசித்து
முடிவு எடுக்கும் " என் று முதல் வர் கருணாநிதி கூறினார்)”. On 12 April 2010, the parent
organization of Karunanidhi the Dravida Kazhagam hosted a press meeting where the leader of
the anti-Hindu terrorist K. Veeramani said, “Central and State governments should take criminal
action against them. The crores of property they have earned through crooked means should be
taken over by the government” 361. The fabricated video of The SPH became a political justification
for the State government to implement and execute anti-Hindu laws and executive orders that
destroyed all Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu over the next decade. Earlier on 5 March 2010, anti-
Hindu terrorist K. Veeramani had given an interview where he said in the context of the SPH and
other Hindu Gurus, "If you probe them, they will ultimately end their life in jail. Almost national
criminals." 362

96. Following the statement of the Chief Minister, the very next day on 4 March 2010, the State Police
of Tamil Nadu, filed fabricated accusations on the SPH charging Him under section IPC 376 (rape)
without mentioning anybody as a victim of rape363. The SPH continued to be hounded by the Police
of three States364, the neo-Hindutva media365 , and the State intelligence366 for months. Within
days, more than fifty ASMT temples and monasteries in different cities were attacked
simultaneously and rapidly, some set on fire and shut down by atheist militants367 aiding the State
Police368. ASMT Hindu Deities were desecrated and burnt. Billboards and banners of ASMT Hindu
Deities which were hung inside or nearby the ASMT temples were also set on fire throughout Tamil
Nadu369. ASMT Hindus, disciples, and devotees of the SPH were beaten. Hindu female monks of
the SPH were raped.

D. Destruction of more than 50 ASMT temples, rapes, and assault of monks by militants
and State Police

97. On 2 March 2010, around 8:30 PM, the SPH was in Tiruvannamalai. A militant group headed by
neo-Hindutva militant leader Shivababu came to assassinate Him 370. Although the SPH escaped,
his disciple Sri Nithya Sharanagathananda was beaten by the militants. The ASMT community
living in the monastery was forced to flee.

361
12 April 2010 - Raj TV - Veeramani Interview -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14ovXcugZY8ac8OFMCbEwcrbBuSodIela/view
362
5 March 2010 - Headlines Today - "Sex Swamis and Video Tapes"
363
“Medical examination of the accused in a case of rape is mandatory under Section 53 (a) of CrPC. When he (the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam) was arrested, this examination could not be conducted as there was no victim then.“
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/429841/potency-test-legal-nonsense-expert.html
364
4 March 2010 - Headlines Today - Report (Part 5) - https://youtu.be/GeGo0JdTEjE
365
5 March 2010 - Deccan Chronicle - Page 5 - "Godman vanishes into thin air, hunt on" ; 15 March 2010 - TV9 News9
Report, 21:11 PM ; https://www.deccanherald.com/content/58601/rishikesh-seer-gave-shelter-nithyananda.html
366
21 April 2010 - AAJ Tak - https://youtu.be/XVfcIMQw3OU - mentions State intelligence was spying on the SPH for
months.
367
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8549167.stm
thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/Mob-vents-its-ire-on-godmans-ashram-after-seeing-TV-footage/article16475135.ece
www.oneindia.com/2010/03/06/swami-nithyananda-is-in-kumbh-mela-sex-scandal.html
Full list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vXQ5VMeaXHAskQ0aKjLneGFQxX0og6deJOugjzVlSyQ/edit
368
8 March 2010 - Dina Malar, Chennai - Page 2 - “Nithyananda Ashramathil Irunda”, translation -
docs.google.com/document/d/1f7CEsZDNw5Tl8wJX3fckhmEGqOyESHgy7GgXJiai8vo
369
4 March 2010 - Dinakaran - Page 1,4
370
3 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu - Page 1 - Chennai edition - “Nithyananda Thalaimarivu”
98. 3 March 2010, Salem, twenty policemen forcibly evicted the residents of the monastery 371.
Subsequently, the police brought militants in police jeeps who vandalized the monastery,
desecrated deities, beat male, female, and even elderly monks. A female monk was violently
assaulted and raped by militants. She was dragged down the stairs from the second floor causing
her spinal injuries and lifelong acute spinal pain.

99. The attacks were planned and not spontaneous. In certain instances, Sun TV premeditated and
executed the violence.

On 3 March 2010, around 11 AM, Sun TV aired a piece of news portraying that the Porasapalayam
ASMT Ayurvedic Hospital and Temple near Namakkal was set on fire. Around 12:30 PM an
acquainted policeman Inspector Ishwar Murthy rushed to the Hospital and enquired and found
the hospital to be perfectly safe. At around 1 PM, Sun News reporters with cameras showed up at
the hospital and started filming the place. When asked by the founder in charge Dr. S Chandran
(Sri Nithya Sarvananda), why their channel was portraying that the hospital had been set on fire
and the temple was being vandalized (when in reality it wasn’t), the reporters looked embarrassed
and could not give any explanation. All they said was that they were late to arrive at the scene as
their van had got punctured. The next day, 4 March 2010 media reported that no untoward
incidents happened as the ASMT Ayurvedic Hospital and Temple had police protection372. In 2012
the Chief Operations Officer of Sun TV gave a television interview accepting that the channel
manufactured fake news to target the SPH373. Later in 2014, he reiterated this statement in an
affidavit to a US court374.

100. ASMT Temple’s administrators, devotees, disciples, center-in-charges were threatened by

government departments and police with malicious prosecution and vexatious litigations
(lawfare). In a matter of six days, from 5th to 11th March 2010, three vexatious litigations from
three different locations (Puducherry375, Sriperumbudur376, Coimbatore377) were filed against the
SPH with the same fabricated accusations of IPC295A “hurting of religious sentiments” from
multiple third-parties. Dr. S Chandran (Sri Nithya Sarvananda), founder of the Namakkal ASMT
Temple and Hospital was threatened by the police with malicious prosecution under section
IPC295A, fearing which he filed an anticipatory bail378 petition in Madras High Court which was
rejected. Finally, he, like many other regional heads, had to shut down his temple to avoid
persecution by the government.

371
(i) 8 March 2010 - Dina Malar, Chennai - Page 2 - “Nithyananda Ashramathil Irunda”, Police forcibly evicted all the
people who stayed in the ashrams owned by Swami Nithyananda (நித்யானந்தாவுக்கு வைாந்தமாக மாநிலம்
முழுவதும் உள் ள ஆசிரமங் களில் தங் கியிருந்தவர்கசள, லபாலீைார் அதிரடியாக வவளிலயற் றியுள் ளனர்),
full translation - docs.google.com/document/d/1f7CEsZDNw5Tl8wJX3fckhmEGqOyESHgy7GgXJiai8vo (ii) 4 March 2010
Dinakaran - Page 4,15
372
4 March 2010 - Dina Mani - Page 2
373
18 Dec 2012 - Jaya TV - Hansraj Saxena’s Statement - Jaya TV - https://youtu.be/YdLDypTvbBk
374
US District Court, Central District of California, Case 5:13-cv-00393-VAP (SPx), document 156-3, 3 Nov 2014, Declaration
of Dharmaraja Hansraj Saxena https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxdhe28M7ijWSmRUQzYwUzBFTEU/view
375
FIR 90/2010, 5 Mar 2010, PS Orleanpet, Puducherry drive.google.com/file/d/10KdMcma1te-
Hu5HmrerUltiR4iTL8mue/view
376
District Magistrate, Sriperumbudur, Chennai, Crl. O. P No.12783 of 2010
377
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Swami-Nityananda-arrested-in-Solan/articleshow_new/5841947.cms
378
11 Mar 2010 - Hearing on bail plea of Nithyananda follower adjourned,
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/Nithyanandas-follower-files-advance-bail-plea/article16554688.ece
101. 2 March 2010, Sirkazhi, around 8:30 PM the in charge of Sadanandapuram ASMT Temple, Kannan
saw the news of all ASMT temples being vandalized and set ablaze. The news even mentioned that
Sirkazhi Temple had been set on fire. This was the very place where he was watching this news.
He went outside and confirmed that everything was normal. He moved his children to a neighbor’s
house for safety. The news had spread rumors that the SPH could be around Sirkazhi. Later that
night, on 3 March, by 1:30 AM, a group of four militants came and attacked the temple. They tore
and set ablaze the billboards and banners of ASMT Hindu Deities which were hung outside and
even broke the compound wall boundary of the temple.379 The police refused to register any
complaint.

102. 3rd March 2010 the Eambalam Pondicherry monastery was ransacked and vandalized the in
presence of the police which was shown on television 380. The devotees and monks were beaten.
The police refused to register any formal complaint. 4th March 2010, around 6 PM the SPH came
to the Eambalam monastery. The militants received this information and attacked again, at 8:30
PM. The Sabha (meditation and worship hall), a thatched roof structure where the SPH was staying,
was set on fire. The SPH managed to escape.

103. Some ASMT Temples were based in houses of devotees, even these were set on fire. On 4 March
2010, Rasipuram, an old-aged female devotee’s thatched house was set on fire 381 by DMK
militants. The old lady was locked inside and fainted in the smoke. She was rescued by her
neighbors. The Police refused to register any complaint.

104. 3rd March 2010, Thovalai, Kanyakumari - ASMT Hindu Deities were broken with hammers, this was
aired live and reported in newspapers382.

105. In several cities and towns, the militants burnt ASMT Hindu Deities and gave inflammatory
speeches demanding the assassination of the SPH and attacks on his followers. Such
demonstrations in Kanchipuram, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, and Hosur were reported in the
media383.

106. The attacks mentioned so far are only the ones that happened during the first week from 3 March
2010 and speak of the attacks that took place in Tamil Nadu. The atrocities done on the SPH and
the ASMT community is far more than what was just mentioned. Over the years, several fabricated
accusations made against the SPH and the community were proven false. In some cases, the
courts also termed litigations targeting the SPH as ‘abuse of process of court’, ‘done with mala fide
intention’384. These court verdicts that were in favor of the SPH and the ASMT community did not
remedy the damage and prevent further persecution. The State government departments such as
the HR&CE and police and state proxy militants continued their attacks. The hate propaganda

379
4 March 2010 - Dinakaran - Page 1 - Kumbagonatthil Nithyananda padam Erippu, Tirchy
380
4 March 2010 - Deccan Chronicle - Page - 2 - Pondy ashram ransacked.
381
8 March 2010 – Dinakaran - Page 4, “Rasipuram Aruge Makkal Avesam Nithyananda”
382
4 March 2010 - Dinakaran - Page 4 - Nithyanandaruku etiraga baktharkal koonthalipu
383
Ibid
384
High Court of Madras, Crl. O.P. No. 10907 of 2010, and M.P. Nos. 1 and 2 of 2010, order dated 28 Feb 2017
nithyanandatruth.org/2017/02/28/honble-chennai-court-quashes-puducherry-case-against-his-divine-holiness-
paramahamsa-nithyananda
 politically owned media normalized385 the society and even judges such that there continues to be
widespread prejudice against the SPH and the ASMT community even today.

107. 29 Dec 2010, the SPH and the ASMT community had gathered in His birthplace, Tiruvannamalai to
offer prayers at the Arunachaleshwara Temple. Militants of DMK and CPI(M) carrying black flags386
surrounded the SPH and His disciples. The militants threatened the ASMT community and the SPH,
“If you (the SPH) enter the temple we will kill you.” The disciples tried to protect the SPH and were
brutally assaulted. Two militants raped a female monk. The principal of His gurukul school (Rishi
Sri Nithya Advaitananda) was one among those who were beaten owing to which he continues to
suffer severe back pain to date. The police refused to accept any complaints from the ASMT
community.

108. 9 Jan 2012, Madurai: The SPH was in Madurai to inaugurate an ASMT temple, meditation, and yoga
center. An armed mob of neo-Hindutva extremists attacked. The militants broke the doors of the
SPH’s car. The SPH managed to escape safely. The militants kept the monks hostage for several
hours. This happened in the presence of the police.

109. On 12 Jan 2012, Rajapalayam ASMT Temple (Virudhunagar district) land (Survey number 385B/11)
was illegally confiscated by neo-Hindutva extremists. The temple land grabbers sacrilegiously
removed the ASMT Hindu worship altars and objects. 108 herbal trees were chopped off. ASMT
deities, pictures of deities, religious books were burnt. Agricultural electrical pump sets and
motors were removed, electrical lines were removed, lights were broken. The government
electricity department officials were unlawfully coerced by militants to change the electric
connections, which they refused to comply with. The militants coerced the local panchayat (the
lowest unit of self-governance in India) to accept their unlawful confiscation of the temple and
land, which the local panchayat refused. The militants blocked the road to the temple using heavy
earth movers and captured the land. Ever since 2012 up until 2021, the militants have continued
to forcibly claim possession of the land. Complaints to the Police have not remedied the situation.
On 12 January 2012, the neo-Hindutva and anti-Hindu atheist militants physically assaulted the
ASMT monk Sri Nithya Tattvabhothananda387. Rajapalyam was very peaceful and ASMT monks
were able to freely practice their religion, conduct meditation classes, and mass prayers until 2010
when the doctored video was released and the Chief Minister Karunanidhi made inflammatory
statements and false accusations against the ASMT and the SPH. This was the case everywhere in
Tamil Nadu.

110. On 4 Feb 2012, Seithur town, 38-acre ASMT temple land was illegally grabbed. The organic herbal
farm was destroyed by the landgrabbers. The land grabbers removed the temple billboard and
placed their own, renaming the place as - GV Farms. The living quarters of the monks were

385
IAGS Volume 12, Issue 1, Article 6 - Cold Genocide: Falun Gong in China , https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.12.1.1513
- “In cold genocides, the atrocities against the victim group are normalized. Normalization means weaving genocide into
the fabric of society. Normalization comes from hegemony, a mode of political domination through ideology rather than
force.”
386
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/124822/nityananda-greeted-black-flags.html
387
FIR Number 28/2012 dated 12 Jan 2012, Virudunagar, Police Station: Rajapalayam South, Tamil Nadu
 destroyed. The police refused to register a formal complaint but recorded the crime in their
register388.

E. Kailaasa Paramparagatha Kanchi Kailasa Sarvajnapeetham Thondaimandala

Adheenam

111. The Kailasa Paramparagatha Kanchi Kailasa Sarvajnapeetham389 Thondaimandala Adheenam

(referred to as Thondaimandala Adheenam subsequently) is one of the oldest spiritual kingdoms
established by Lord Paramaśiva390 (primordial Hindu Divinity), in the form of His incarnation Adi
Nathar, and was revived 5000 years ago, with its capital as the City of Kanchipuram. As per Hindu
history, Lord Paramaśiva (primordial Hindu Divinity), taught the source scripture - Śrimad Kāmikā
Āgama to His consort Devī Parvāti as Her incarnation Kanchi Kamachi here under a sacred tree at
the present-day Ekambareshwarar temple. The lineage of Thondaimandala was started by Lord
Paramaśiva (primordial Hindu Divinity) in form of His incarnation Ekambaranathar and Devī
Parvāti in form of Her incarnation Kanchi Kamachi directly beginning with Thiru Nandi Thevar,
followed by a lineage of disciples, named as Sanatkumara, Sathiya Gnana Darisanikal, Paranjothi
Munivar, Meikanda Thevar, Sitrambala Nadigal, and finally, Gnana Prakasar who became the first
Gurumahasannidham of the Thondaimandala Aadheenam. The Gurumahasannidham of the
Thondaimandala Adheenam coronated all the kings and regents of the Chola empire – a Tamil
thalassocracy, that was one of the longest-ruling391 dynasties in the world's history, dating to at
least 3rd century BCE. Bodhidharma392 the founder of Zen Buddhism (a branch of Mahayana
Buddhism like Tibetan Buddhism) was the third son of a Pallava king from Kanchipuram.
Bodhidharma was trained and initiated in Thondaimandala Aadheenam and took the teachings of
Hinduism spreading them in China, which later fused with Buddhist traditions and became Zen
Buddhism. Thondaimandala Guru Maha Sannidhanams are called as Jnanaprakasha. Both the
word “Jnanaprakasha” and the word “Bodhi”(from Bodhidharma) have the same meaning – “light
of knowledge” and have the same Sanskrit Dhatu393 also. Thondaimandala Aadheenam with its
capital at Kanchipuram was an important seat of knowledge and interpath dialogue, visited by
various Hindu and Buddhist Chinese travelers such as Xuanzang.394

388
CSR 53/12 dated 4 Feb 2012
389
Sarvajnapeetha is the Peetha (seat of) Sarva (supreme most) Jñāna (knowledge) where Paramashiva sits and teaches to
the world leading the entire humanity to the next breakthrough in spiritual research and development. It encompasses
several spiritual-religious kingdoms and Hindu monasteries (Mutt).
390
Paramaśiva is the primordial Hindu Divinity; the supreme consciousness and the ultimate Lord and cosmic divinity
which is the source of everything, and engages in five actions of creation, maintenance, destruction, delusion and giving
liberation.
391
(i) Gene Gurney (30 July 1986). Kingdoms of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa: an illustrated encyclopedia of ruling
monarchs from ancient times to the present. Crown. p. 396. (ii) Ma. Ile Taṅkappā, Ā. Irā Vēṅkaṭācalapati. Red Lilies and
Frightened Birds. Penguin Books India, 2011. p. xii. (iii) Thorpe, Edgar; Thorpe, Showick (2016). The Pearson General
Knowledge Manual 2017. Pearson Education India. p. C.26.
392
Kambe, Tstuomu (2012), Bodhidharma. A collection of stories from Chinese literature (original PDF).
393
Dhatu (धातु) – In Sanskrit grammar the root of verbs are called Dhatu. Sanskrit Verbal Roots List with English
Translation
394
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/tamils-and-tamizhakam-in-chinese-eyes-5871413/
112. It is the age-old customs, traditions, and practices395 in all the Shaiva Aadheenams396 in Tamil Nadu
that the incumbent Guru Mahasannidhanam397 appoints His successor based on his spiritual
qualifications and divine insight and guidance. These ASMT customs, traditions, and practices of
the Aadheenams are documented in historical records of trust procedures398, which are the
authoritative reference used to decide on religious matters during the colonial era and presently
also. These practices cannot at all be interfered with by neither the legislature, judiciary nor the
executive. As per these well-documented, ancient procedures, followed for thousands of years,
the sole authority and power to appoint the successor is vested in the incumbent pontiff.399 For
thousands of years, GuruMahasannidham has identified and coronated their successors.

113. 5 Aug 1893, the 225th Guru MahaSannidhanam of Thondaimandala Adheenam executed a will
which was duly probated in OP No.53 of 1894 by the Madras High Court. As per the will the 225th
Guru Maha Sannidhanam appointed Thiru Thirugnanasambanda Murthy who was then eleven
years (minor) as His successor. Until the child became a major, zamindar400 Muthukumarasamy
Mudaliar and others were nominated as executors for managing the affairs of the Aadheenam. 11
Aug 1894, the 225th Guru MahaSannidhanam attained Paripoornam. During the period from 1894
to 1899, the Aadheenam was under the management and administration of the Executors. 1899,
on attaining majority (in age) the 226th Thiru Thirugnanasambanda Murthy took over as the Guru
Maha Sannidhanam of Thondaimandala Aadheenam. Similarly, on 11 Aug 1924, the 226th Guru
MahaSannidhanam of Thondaimandala Adheenam executed a will wherein He appointed
Thirupandi Kodumudi Ekambaram (minor) as His successor. Until the minor attained majority, the
Aadheenam was managed by the Executor Thiru K. Viswanatha Mudaliar and others. 28 Sept 1924,
the 226th Maha Sannidhanam attained Paripoornam. This was the succession process of the
Aadheenams

114. In 1927, “The Madras Hindu Religious and Endowments Act (1927) ” was enacted and made
applicable only to Hindu places of worship. Some Hindu religious leaders managed to have their
religious institutions out of the purview of the Act.401 The 227th Guru Mahasannidhanam of
Thondaimandala Aadheenam was around thirteen years of age during the enactment of this law,
and the 226th Guru Mahasannidhanam had passed away three years prior. Religious institutions,

395
Tamil Nadu State Endowment Board Scheme R 5822.60 dated 29/Nov/1960, records seventh century, Pandya
procedure of appointment of Guru Mahasannidhanam, that was followed since the time of Koon Pandiyan (Arikesari
Maravarman). (Madurai mother document page 13).
396
Aadheenam is an ancient Tamil word meaning authority. The Aadheenam is the supreme spiritual constitutional
authority of a Hindu nation that upholds the integrity of the entire nation to the constitution - the Vedagamas. It
administers mutts (monasteries) and temples, Gurukuls (schools) and universities of the nation.
397
Gurumahāsannidhanam or Sannidhānam – the Guru, the spiritual emperor of a Hindu nation. He is the head pontiff of
the nation’s Aadheenam, He is the supreme Guru and constitutional head of a Hindu nation. The coronation of the king
(executive head of the nation) was done by the Guru Mahasannidhanam.
398
Sri Thirugnanasambandar Swamigal Adheenam Mother document - Tamil version
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2cZpjM09619SzFtT0JRRkF4Nms/view, notarized English translation
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ffD0i_ucQVcXJ5a09aZGZMd0JhZk5JSEhuS25rRVlCQlZj/view , as per section “4.
Particulars of important customs and usages pertaining to the institution” and as per section “2. Particulars of the
scheme of adminstration which refers to government scheme R 5822.60 dated 29/Nov/1960”
399
The Supreme Court of India, Sri Mahalinga Thambiran Swamigal vs His Holiness Sri La Sri Kasivasi on 19 October, 1973
“There can be no dispute that a nomination can be made by deed or word of mouth” , 1974 AIR 199, 1974 SCR (2) 74,
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/307513/
400
Zamindar – An autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal land lord during the British rule in India.
401
Sri Sambamoorthi Shastrigal, Kuppuswamy Iyer, "Sollin Selvan" P. N. Parasuraman. Pujya Sri Mahaswamy Divya
Charitram (PDF). Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. p. 48. (Original pdf link, Alternate link)
 of minority Hindu sects, such as the ASMT Thondaimala Aadheenam were unable to escape falling
into the ambit of the Act were nationalized and forcibly brought under State control to be headed
by a politically402 nominated state executive officer called the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious
Endowment Board.

115. Until November 1932, the administration and management of the Aadheenam were under the
control of executors as the successor pontiff appointed under the will had not attained majority
(in age). 21 Nov 1932, on attaining majority Kodumudi Ekambara Swamigal took charge and
became the 227th Guru Maha Sannidhanam of the Thondaimandala Aadheenam till 5 Aug 1946.

116. The State HR&CE claimed that during the tenure of the 227th Guru Maha Sannidhanam of
Thondaimandala Aadheenam, the Aadheenam was not properly managed. On 17 Jan 1946, the
State HR&CE Department used this as a justification to create a scheme under which the
management and administration of the Aadheenam were controlled by a manager appointed by
the Board, by divesting the powers of Guru Maha Sannidhanam. The 227th Guru
MahaSannidhanam was coerced by the State to renounce His position and forcibly exiled from the
Mutt. The Guru Maha Sannidhanam had never been removed in several thousand years of the
history of Hinduism and this was the first such case. The 227 th Sannidhanam was deprived of His
rights and denied due process. The 227th Sannidhanam was not allowed to appoint any successor.
The State arbitrarily ordered His removal following 199 days of probation during which all His
rights were already suspended. By 5 Aug 1946, even before the completion of the 199 days, the
227th Sannidhanam went missing and was never found. 17 May 1995, the 11th Panchen Lama of
Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, Choekyi Nyima went missing and his whereabouts were
never known403, other than Chinese officials stating that His whereabouts had been kept secret to
protect Him.404 Human rights organizations have termed the 11th Panchen Lama as the "youngest
political prisoner in the world"405. However, the case of 227th Sannidhanam’s disappearance was
shown by the State as a voluntary withdrawal.

117. In a matter of twelve days from the disappearance of the 227th Sannidhanam of Thondaimandala
Aadheenam, on 17 Aug 1946, the HR&CE Board arbitrarily passed Order No. 2723 appointing Sri
P.K. Srinivasa Mudaliar (Coimbatore) as the interim Trustee. On 24 December 1950, Puchampalli
Swamigal from another Shaiva monastery was made the 228th Guru Maha Sannidhanam. 17 Dec
1952, the Endowment Board, as per Scheme No. 470 dated 17 Nov 1952 appointed a Manager
with whom the management of the Aadheenam was entrusted. 20 Nov 1956, the 228th Guru Maha
Sannidhanam, while on tour, attained Paripoornam. Subsequently, the State HR&CE406 appointed
Purasawakkam Sri P. Sadagopa Mudaliar as interim Trustee. The Aadheenam was without the

402
Encyclopedia of Political Parties, Pg 148
403
Coonan (2 Mar 2010). "China appoints Panchen Lama in tactical move to quell unrest". The Independent.
404
Xizang-zhiye 27 April 2005 Archived 24 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
405
(i) "World's youngest political prisoner turns 17". Washingtonpost.com. 23 April 2006. (ii) Laird, Thomas (2006). The
Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, p 374. Grove Press, N.Y. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1
406
HR&CE – The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board, a State department responsible for administration,
management and control of Hindu temples, monasteries and endowments. The HR&CE does not control religious institutes
of any other religion. In 1923, Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act was passed by Madras Presidency. In 1925, the
Government constituted "The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board" consisting of a President and two to
four Commissioners nominated by the Government to function as a statutory body. Subsequently, it was modified and in
1960 it became The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department by Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and
Charitable Endowments Act XXII of 1959 which came into force with effect from 28 April 1960.
 Guru Maha Sannidhanam. The ASMT community approached the HR&CE Commissioner for the
appointment of the Guru Maha Sannidhanam. At that time, there were rival claims between two
political groups controlling the ASMT community which led to controversies concerning the
appointment of Guru Maha Sannidhanam. The State HR&CE Board appointed Sri Manickavasaga
Thambiran from another Shaiva monastery as Guru Maha Sannidhanam. This was not a norm,
and a deviation of the established procedure and past practices, as appointments from other
monasteries were allowed only under exceptional circumstances per various traditions and
customs which originated in the Kamika Agamas. 16 Nov 1959, in W.P.No. 261 of 1959 the said
appointment by the HR&CE was challenged before the Madras High Court which canceled it on
grounds of being illegal and invalid.

118. 31 Oct 1963, Thiru Muthu Manickavasaga Mudaliar (great-great-granduncle of the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam) became the Guru Maha Sannidhanam as 229th Guru Maha
Sannidhanam through the ASMT community. However, the properties were managed by the
Manager appointed by the Endowment Board. During the tenure of the 229th Guru Maha
Sannidhanam, the State Government led by the DMK issued a Notification mandating Archanas407
to be performed in Tamil only. Therefore, the HR&CE Commissioner modified the Scheme in OA
No.2 of 1973 dated 10 Oct 1975 appointing executive officer in the place of Manager by entrusting
all powers to executive officer.

119. In this connection it is relevant to point out that earlier the Board framed a scheme by Order dated
17 Jan 1946 under OA No.368 of 1943 filed under Section 63 of the HR&CE Act, under which the
administration of the affairs of the Aadheenam was to be vested with the Guru Maha
Sannidhanam for the time being and a Manager was appointed, entrusting to him with all powers
including the right to sue and be sued.

120. 10 Oct 1975, the OA No.368 of 1943 scheme was modified by the HR&CE Commissioner by an
arbitrary suo moto proceeding in OA No.2 of 1973. As per this scheme, the Executive Officer was
appointed to function and perform various acts with the approval of the Guru Maha Sannidhanam
which was according to the policy of the Government mandating Tamil Archanas.

121. 24 July 1977, the 229th Guru MahaSannidhanam attained Paripoornam.

122. 12 Feb 1978, the 230th Guru Maha Sannidhanam was crowned by the ASMT community.

123. 20 Jan 1979, the HR&CE Commissioner breaching the limits of his mere supervisory control
arbitrarily and illegally issued an order in OA No.1 of 1978, modified the order OA No.2 of 1973,
directed the Executive Officer to hand over the charge to the Guru Maha Sannidhanam or His
nominees, and illegally created an Advisory Committee members of which were to be nominated
in consultation with the ASMT Thondaimandala Mudaliar Community to assist the Guru Maha
Sannidhanam in the secular affairs (financial and administrative matters) of the Mutt. All this was
done against the mandate of the ASMT Hindu community. Though the administration of the affairs
of the Aadheenam was to vest with the Guru Maha Sannidhanam for the time being, the office of
the Guru Maha Sannidhanam and successor to the said office was to be only by an election by the
ASMT community according to rules made by the State government and not as per the customs.

407
Archana – ritualistic offering ordained as per Hindu scriptures and customs.
 This is a serious intrusion into the age-long practices followed by Madathipathis (Guru
Mahasannidhanams) of all monasteries, such as Hindu monasteries in the State of Tamil Nadu
Dharmapuram Aadheenam, Sankara Mutt, Thiruvaduthurai Aadheenam, Thirupanandhal
Aadheenam, Kovilur Aadheenam, Senkol Aadheenam – of selecting the successors by themselves
as per the age-long customs and practices.

124. 26 July 1979, the 230th Guru Maha Sannidhanam accordingly took charge from the Executive
Officer under the above scheme (OA No.1 of 1978).

125. Around 1988, the 230th Guru Maha Sannidhanam, Sri La Sri Gnanaprakasa Desika Paramacharya
Swamigal had identified the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Sri La Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, then
known as A. Rajashekaran a young boy of 10 years of age, born in Thiruvannamalai and hailing
from the Thondai mandala Adi Saiva Vellalar ASMT community as the very incarnation of Lord
Shiva, which was also corroborated with Agastya Maharishi’s recorded Nadi reading408 of the boy.
The 230th Guru Mahasannidhanam initiated, proclaimed, declared, and coronated the boy (A.
Rajashekaran, SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam) as the future Guru Maha Sannidhanam after
performing all the initiations as per the customs and traditions of the Aadheenam. He had further
declared that the boy would take over the administration and full responsibility of the Guru Maha
Sannidhanam when He reached the majority (by age). In the meanwhile, the 231st pontiff was
crowned Guru Maha Sannidhanam by the ASMT community.

(LEFT) 230th GuruMahasannidhanam of Thondaimanadala Aadheenam who trained the SPH to become the
successor GuruMahasannidhanam. (CENTER) The SPH Nithyananda Paramshivam, around 1988, at the age of
10, when He was chosen to become the successor pontiff or GuruMahasannidhanam of Thondaimanadala
Aadheenam upon attaining maturity (in age). (RIGHT) The 232nd GuruMahasannidhanam of Thondaimanadala
Aadheenam with the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam inaugurating the first monastery started by the SPH “Sri
Ramakrishna Dhyana Peetham” in March 2001.
126. The 232nd Gurumahasannidhanam Sri Thiruvambaladesika Jnanaprakasha Swamigal was crowned
on 21 Feb 2000 by the ASMT community as per the scheme dated 20 Jan 1979. In the year 2000,

408
“வைால் சலநீ ங் கள் முற் றிலும் லகட்கலவண்டும் , சிவவபருமான் உலகம் காக்க நித்யானந்தவுருவில் ,
பலலகாடி சித்தர்களின் தவப்பயனால் ,பரமசிவன் பரமகம் ைராய் வந்திருக்கார்…”, “Listen completely to the
words, for Siva, has come in the form of Nithyananda to protect this world. As the result of the penance of many crores
of Siddhas, Paramashiva has incarnated as Paramahamsa.” (Complete text here)
 in keeping with the declaration of the 230th Guru Maha Sannidhanam, the SPH assumed the
responsibility as the 233rd successor Guru Maha Sannidhanam of the Thondai Mandala
Aadheenam and was recognized as Sri La Sri Nithyananda Paramashiva Sri Gnanaprakasa Desika
Paramacharya Swamigal.

127. On 9 Jan 2009, HR&CE Commissioner, according to Modified scheme, approved 5 members
Advisory committee as follows: (a). G.R. Thiagasundara Mudaliyar (b). S.Swaminathan (c).
J.Sugumaran (d). P.V.Sambandan (e). N. Kumaresan.

128. The Members of the Advisory Committee challenged the modified scheme for the appointment of
Executive Officer in WP No.21665 of 2010 seeking for quashing the modified scheme. In the said
writ petition the High Court passed an order dated 22 Sep 2010 granting an injunction restraining
the HR&CE Board from effecting gazette publications of the draft scheme and in the meantime,
directed the inquiry in the OA to go on.

129. The members of the Advisory Committee, at this stage, moved OA No.1 of 2010 (Rc No.70371 /
2010 D-2) before the Commissioner HR&CE under Section 59(1) of the Act for permission to
institute a suit for the removal of the present Guru Maha Sannidhanam. After the notice, the
commissioner passed an Order dated 26 April 2011 in M.P.No.1 of 2011 granting permission to
file a suit against the 232nd Guru Maha Sannidhanam on the ground that His continuance would
be detrimental to the interest of the Mutt.

130. Thereupon, the members of the Advisory Board filed OS No.307 of 2011 before the Sub Judge,
Kancheepuram for removal of the 232nd Guru Maha Sannidhanam and a permanent injunction.
Written Statement was filed by the 232nd Guru Maha Sannidhanam but the suit was decreed ex
parte on 16 April 2015. From 1932 up until now, over close to 90 years, the State of Tamil Nadu
has interfered in the succession process of the Guru Maha Sannidhanam multiple times,
undermining the ASMT community of their religious rights, and the leaders of their succession
rights.

131. After the coronation, the 232nd Pontiff continued to work with and support Sri La Sri Nithyananda
Paramashiva Sri Gnanaprakasa Desika Paramacharya Swamigal to establishing and reviving
Kailasa, the enlightened civilizational nation and on April 2001 the 232nd Pontiff inaugurated
Kailasa in South India, Ramakrishna Dhyanapeetam Peetha and publicly declared the nomination
of the SPH JGM HDH Bhagavan Sri La Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam as the 233 rd Guru Maha
Sannidhanam of the Thondai Mandala Aadheenam. On April 14, 2001, the 232nd
Gurumahasannidanam of the Thondaimandala Adheenam, Sri Thiruvambaladesika
Jnanaprakasha Swamigal, nominated the SPH as his lawful successor, the 233rd
Gurumahasannidanam. However, due to the SPH’s many responsibilities in other Hindu
institutions, he and the 232nd Gurumahasannidanam agreed that another suitable candidate
should be appointed as the junior pontiff, and therefore a monk disciple of the SPH was nominated
and coronated as the 233rd Gurumahasannidanam.

132. The 230th Gurumahasannidanam along with the 232nd Gurumahasannidanam had trained the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam right from his early childhood, and also a few of the disciples of the
SPH. Since 2005, several under trainee disciples of the SPH lived in the Thondaimandala
 Adheenam as trainee monks and assisted the 232nd Gurumahasannidhanam with its maintenance
and operations while also attending to His personal and healthcare needs. However, as was the
case with Madurai Adheenam, the presence of ASMT members and the involvement of the SPH
with Thondaimandala Adheenam led to retaliation by anti-Hindu militants.

232nd Gurumahasannidanam initiating the disciple of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam, Sri Nithya
Sundareshwarananda while nominating Him as the successor Pontiff. It is a tradition in Hindu
monasteries for a generation of pontiffs to be trained right from childhood. Likewise, the successor
Pontiff the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam was also trained by the 230th Pontiff and not just by the
232nd Pontiff. This is also observed in many Hindu monasteries such as Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham where
the current 70th pontiff was trained from the age of 14 (in 1983) by the 68th pontiff and subsequently the
69th also409.

(LEFT) 2015: The 70th Pontiff doing Pada Puja (ritualistic worship of Guru’s feet) to His guru the 69th
Pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.410 (RIGHT) 2018: The 233rd successor Pontiff doing Pada Puja to the
232nd Pontiff of Thondai Mandala Aadheenam.
133. By 9 Jan 2009, the State-appointed Advisory committee misused their powers and started
systematically swindling huge properties of the monastery. When the 232nd pontiff protested, the
State completely took over (nationalized) the monastery by a suo moto proceeding in OA No.1 of
2010 (RC No.3972 / 2010 D-2) and issued notice dated 31 July 2010 where the role of the pontiff
was reduced to that of a consultant to the State.

409
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/successors-test-holding-together-administrators/articleshow/63120629.cms
410
zeenews.india.com/india/vijayendra-saraswati-is-new-the-head-of-kanchi-kamakoti-peetam-heres-a-quick-guide-2085306.html
134. On several occasions, the 232nd Gurumahasannidanam took refuge at the residence of the SPH in
the neighboring state of Karnataka and publicly spoke out against the anti-Hindu militants who
had spread baseless rumors that He had been kidnapped by the SPH to inflame communal
tensions against the ASMT community. 411

(LEFT) 30 July 2017: The 232nd Guru Mahasannidhanam Thondaimandala Aadheenam Sri Thiruvambaladesika
Jnanaprakasha Swamigal with the 233rd successor Guru Mahasannidhanam the SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam. The 232nd Pontiff addressed the citizens of the spiritual kingdom of Kailaasa Paramparagatha
Kanchi Kailasa Sarvajnapeetham (complete video here) blessing the community and he also spoke about the
conspiracy being hatched by the State appointed advisory committee. Sri Nithya Jnanapriyananda – a disciple
of both the 232nd pontiff and 233rd Pontiff the SPH - can be seen on the left adjusting the translation earphone
for the 232nd pontiff. Sri Nithya Jnanapriyananda is the personal assistant to the 232 nd pontiff who holds the
power of attorney (Sreekaryam) to represent the 232nd pontiff in legal matters. On 2nd July 2017, Raja T Vijaya
Kumar and his associates from the HMK had given a written threat to Sri Nithya Jnanapriya to “vacate the
Thondaimandala monastery or face our next actions”412
(RIGHT) 24 Nov 2017: Sri Nithya Jnanapriyananda was burnt alive through a blast in the monastery kitchen.
More than 50% of the body of Sri KP Gnanamoorthy was burnt, yet the State police refused to register any
complaint and did not investigate the matter, despite showing the letters of death threats by Raja T Vijaya
Kumar and his associates. On much appeal, the police only recorded the attack as a non-cognizable event -
CSR 876/2017413 (Sivakanchi Police Station, Kancheepuram District), something which they need not
investigate. The ASMT community filed a petition to the Court to direct the police to investigate the matter, the
court even refused to accept the petition.

135. 23 November 2020: Before His death, the 232nd Pontiff expressed His last wish to the Secretary
(Mr. Ganapathy) Sekkizhar Kalvi Panpattu Kazhagam (the largest group of initiated Thondai
Mandala ASMT disciples that have been given Samaya Deeksha), “… Very good and knowledgable,
and a very good age and integrated and honest character Nithyananda has and His nature of not
going after others wealth is what is safe for our mutt...four Mudaliyar (from ASMT community )

411
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSXqGB8mnzU
412
(i) Police report CSR 537/2017 PS Sivakanchi, District Kancheepuram, by G Thulasi Sub Inspector of Police, dated 3 July
2017 18:15 IST, http://eservices.tnpolice.gov.in (ii) Letter of threat dated 2 July 2017
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AiGI1O2MuIBrIRFce6pj06v3-7wNxSNV/view?usp=sharing
413
Police report CSR 876/2017 PS Sivakanchi, District Kancheepuram, dated 25 November 2017, eservices.tnpolice.gov.in
 people nominate Nithyananda's name and the name (Sundareshwara Maharaj) referred by Him
is a qualified, intelligent, right age, well-disciplined and Nithyananda's well-trusted person is
414
always what is safe to our mutt.…” . By Sep 2010, after a failed attempt by the Advisory
Committee to illegally extend their tenure and illegally remove415 the 232nd
GuruMahaSannidhanam of Thondaimandala Aadheenam, and in the light of the attempts by
various State and non-State actors to assassinate the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam, the two
pontiffs planned for the future of the Thondaimandala Aadheenam tradition to continue safely
without disruption and decided that Sri Nithya Sundareshwarananda would be the next pontiff
after the SPH. By 2016, Sri Nithya Sundareshwarananda was given all initiations and declared as
the successor Pontiff. Later by 2018, the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam was forcibly exiled from
India with His rights to citizenship withdrawn by the State. 416 Though the 232nd Pontiff and the
ASMT community wanted that the SPH continue the tradition directly, the persecution forced the
community that the throne of Thondaimandala Aadheenam was succeeded directly by the next
ordained and initiated pontiff - Sri Nithya Sundareshwarananda as the next
Gurumahasannidhanam under the direct spiritual guidance of the SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam as per the 232nd Pontiff’s last wish. As per both, the tradition and the law, religious
coronations need not be documented in writing – a “word of mouth” by the
GuruMahasannidhanam is legally sufficient and per law has to be honored by the State 417
.

136. The Chinese State Religious Affairs Bureau via its Order (No. 5), passed on 1 Sept 2007 directs all
Buddhist temples in China (and Tibet) to compulsorily apply to the department before they are
allowed to recognize individuals as Tulkus (reincarnated teachers).418 In a similar way, the State of
Tamil Nadu through the Department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board
(HR&CE), via its scheme in OA No.1 of 1978 dated 20 Jan 1979419, has created an unconstitutional
deceptive legal framework that effectively forces the Gurumahasannidhanams (reincarnated
Gurus/teachers) to be approved by the State through its appointed Advisory Committee before
being considered legally valid. This unconstitutional scheme was first applied only to
Thondaimandala Aadheenam and even today other Aadheenams have slightly more autonomy
when compared to Thondaimanadala Aadheenam. So far Aadheenams other than

414
Final words of the 292nd pontiff https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WU6xlLNx77pIeU2cKHZRjqcLcoEsQdqL/view “நல் ல
நல் ல சிறந்த கல் வி அறிவும் சிறந்த வயதும் லநர்சமயான குணமும் நித்யானந்தாவிற் கு ஆைபட்டவருமாக
நித்யானந்தாவற் கு வர்ரது நம் ம மடத்துக்கு எப்பவும் லைப்ட்டி. முதலியார்கள் நாலுலபர் நல் லலபரு வைால் லி
நித்யானந்தர் லபசர வைான் னா இப்ப நீ ங் க வைான் ன லபர்கள் எல் லாம் நல் ல சிறந்த கல் வி அறிவும் , சிறந்த
வயதும் , லநர்சமயான குணமும் , பிரத்தியார் காசுக்கு ஆசைப்படாதவறும் நித்யானந்தாவிற் கு வற் ரது நம் ம
மடத்துக்கு எப்பவும் safety. என் ன.”
415
WP No.21665 of 2010
416
24 August 2018, via an illegal show cause notice issued by the External Affairs Ministry to the SPH without even the
signature of the issuing officer, https://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/2018-Aug-
24_illegal_mea_notice_without_even_signature.jpg
417
The Supreme Court of India, Sri Mahalinga Thambiran Swamigal vs His Holiness Sri La Sri Kasivasi on 19 October, 1973
“There can be no dispute that a nomination can be made by deed or word of mouth” , 1974 AIR 199, 1974 SCR (2) 74,
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/307513/
418
国家宗教事务局令（第5号）藏传佛教活佛转世管理办法 [State Religious Affairs Bureau Order (No. 5) Measures on the
Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas] (in Chinese). Central People's Government of the People's Republic
of China.
419
HR&CE Scheme OA No.1 of 1978 dated 20 Jan 1979
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ABqvA4BXxQZEs3YzlhcEVDS0k/view
 Thondaimanadala Aadheenam has yet not been subjected to this deceptive legal framework of
the Advisory Committee as defined in OA No.1 of 1978 or any of its subsequent amendments.

137. 3 December 2020, 233rd successor Gurumahasannidhanam Sri Nithya Sundareshwarananda sent
a Letter to HR&CE that he would assume the post as 233rd Pontiff as he had been training with the
232nd Guru Maha Sannidhanam for the past 15 years in all aspects of maintaining the Mutt
(monastery) and had been ordained in all the rituals as per the Mutt tradition and as a disciple,
looking after the personal well-being of the 232nd Gurumaha Sannidhanam also. 233rd successor
Gurumahasannidhanam Sri Nithya Sundareshwarananda had received the Samaya Deeksha,
Vishesha Deeksha, Mantrakashayam, Nirvana Deeksha, Acharya Abhishekam, etc from the 232 nd
Gurumaha Sannidhanam as part of the ordainment rituals as Ilayasannidhanam (Junior Pontiff).

138. On 5 Aug 1946, the 227th GuruMahaSannidhanam of Thondaimandala Aadheenam was

disappeared. The State HR&CE Board appointed Sri Manickavasaga Thambiran from another
Shaiva monastery as Guru Maha Sannidhanam. On 16 Nov 1959, in W.P.No. 261 of 1959, the said
appointment by the HR&CE was challenged before the Madras High Court which canceled it on
grounds of being illegal and invalid. Ignoring the past errors, on 16 Feb 2021, the State of Tamil
Nadu appointed a Kattalai Thambiran420 from another Shaiva monastery – Dharmapuram
Adheenam, as the pontiff of Thondaimandala Aadheenam. The 233rd successor pontiff Sri Nithya
Sundareshwarananda was forcibly evicted, and the Deities of the deceased 232nd pontiff that as
per the ASMT tradition had been worshipped each day for centuries were thrown out on the street
by the State appointed Advisory committee. The 233rd successor pontiff Sri Nithya
Sundareshwarananda was not even allowed to even safeguard and protect the Deities.

139. 4 March 2021, the 233rd Gurumahasannidanam of Thondaimandala Aadheenam Sri Nithya
Sundareshwarananda challenged the State in High Court of Madras in Writ Petition WP 5899 of
2021 (with Injunction Petition No. 6508 of 2021 and Stay petition No. 6509 of 2021). Though on 16
Nov 1959, in W.P. No. 261, the High Court had struck down a similar illegal appointment, on 18
March 2021, the High Court judge did not even hear the plea and disposed of the plea citing that
the State had already confirmed the appointment of their alternate State compliant 233rd Pontiff.

140. On 3 March 2021, in a public interview, PTRP Thiyagarajan (incumbent Finance Minister of State of
Tamil Nadu) of the political party DMK bragged that he along with his brother PTRK Vijayarajan
(Head of the State appointed Advisory Committee which decides who can and cannot be Guru
Maha Sannidhanam), evicted the 233rd successor Pontiff Sri Nithya Sundareshwarananda and
ASMT community members from the Thondaimandala Aadheenam. Showing no remorse for
breaking the age-old tradition of Guru-disciple lineage the DMK minister and his brother vilified
the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam, the 232nd Pontiff, the 233rd successor Pontiff and the ASMT
community and emphasized that the mutt would be run as per the DMK party ideology and thus
they had evicted the 233rd successor Pontiff.421

420
Thambirans are clergymen ordained for various religious duties in the monastery. Kattalai Thambiran is head of the
administration and can be selected to be the next successor pontiff.
421
See the interview (from 18:20 mins to 21:20 mins) https://youtu.be/420zj4Hjn8E
141. On 5 March 2021, the State confirmed the appointment of the State groomed pontiff and illegally
nullified the religious appointment done by the 232nd pontiff.

F. Kailasounnata Shyamalapeetha Sarvajnapeetham Madurai Adheenam

142. The Meenakshi Amman temple of Madurai, South India is one of the most popular and important
temples in Hinduism. It is also the spiritual seat of one of the world’s most ancient monastic orders,
Madurai Adheenam, whose leaders, the Gurumahasannidanams, were traditionally regarded as
the political and religious head of Madurai (like how the Dalai Lama is traditionally regarded as the
political and religious head of Tibet422).

143. The more than 5000-years-old423 Madurai Aadheenam is a Hindu ASMT monastery and the world’s
oldest surviving monastic order. It was established by incarnations of Paramaśiva and
Parashakti424 (primordial Hindu Divinities) themselves as Lord Sundareshwara and His consort
Divine Mother Meenakshi directly, followed by Guru Maha Sannidhanam Srila Sri Sivananda
Yogeendra Sri ShivaJnanasambanda Desika Paramacharya Swamigal (also known as Vaakishara
Shivajnananda Yogeshwarar) as the first pontiff. Around 450BCE, Adishankara (also known as
Sanmathatthaban Desigar) revived the Madurai Aadheenam as its 117th
Gurumahasannidhanams.425 Around 7 century CE the child saint, Thiru Jnanasambandar, revived
Madurai Aadheenam, as its 214th Guru Maha Sannidhanam.426 Since that revival, several
Gurumahasannidhanams have been selected and coronated to lead Madurai Aadheenam, with a
total of 293 known Gurumahasannidhanams.

144. On April 27, 2012, the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam (JGM) His
Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam was anointed the successor and
293rd Gurumahasannidanam of Madurai Aadheenam by Sri La Sri Arunagirinatha Swamigal, the
292nd Gurumahasannidanam of Madurai Aadheenam427. To commemorate the occasion, the 292nd
Gurumahasannidanam said: “Our 293rd Gurumahasannidanam Sri La Sri His Divine Holiness
Paramacharya Swamigal is also a deep, not only deep, the deepest disciples of Saint Thiru
Jnanasambandar. Not only that, he may be called as an avatar of Thiru Jnanasambandar,” said Sri
La Sri Arunagirinatha Swamigal, when coronating the SPH, as the Junior Pontiff or the 293rd
Pontiff-to-be of the Madurai Aadheenam. He would further go on to say in many interviews that
the SPH His Divine Holiness Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam is the most qualified person for the
post and that no one else had such knowledge, eloquence, grace, or accomplishments as him and

422
"His Holiness the Dalai Lama Speaks to Tibetan Students in Delhi". Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. 26 January
2015.
423
From records of past few Gurumahasannidhanams it is seen that the average tenure of a Gurumahasannidhanam has
been around 30 years, according to which the monastery must have started some 8700 years ago.
https://shyamalapeetasarvajnapeetam.nithyananda.org/mother-doc/madurai-aadheenam-mother-document/
424
Paramaśiva is the primordial Hindu Divinity; the supreme consciousness and the ultimate Lord and cosmic divinity
which is the source of everything, and engages in five actions of creation, maintenance, destruction, delusion and giving
liberation. Devi Parāṣakti the consort of Paramaśiva is the primordial energy or primordial force, denoting the Supreme
Goddess or Divine Mother in Hinduism.
425
https://shyamalapeetasarvajnapeetam.nithyananda.org/mother-doc/madurai-aadheenam-mother-document/
426
சைவ ஆதீனங் கள் (History of Śaiva Ādīnams), by முசனவர் தவத்திரு ஊரான் அடிகள் (Professor Ūrān Adigal),
வர்த்தமானன் பதிப்பக வவளியீடு (Vardamāna Publishers), 2002, pp. 545–550
427
(i) Letter of Appointment to Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowment Board from 292nd Gurumahasannidanam dated
11 May 2012. (ii) Notorized Affidavit dated 27 April 2012, by 292nd Gurumahasannidanam Affirming Coronation of 293rd
Gurmahasannidanam (Notarized by Certificate number IN-KA93558783901437K)
 that he had received the divine vision of Lord Sundareshwara and Devi Meenakshi (founders of
the Madurai Aadheenam millennia ago) ordering the 292nd Guru Maha Sannidhanam to appoint
the SPH as his successor and the 293rd Guru Maha Sannidhanam.

27 April 2012: Coronation of the SPH as the 293rd Gurumahasannidanam by His predecessor,
the 292nd Gurumahasannidanam Arunagirinatha Swamigal

145. Soon after the coronation of the 293rd Gurumahasannidanam, the Indian government, acting
through its temple management agency the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board
(HR&CE) filed a lawsuit objecting to the appointment and seeking to have it overturned. The
HR&CE engaged in an aggressive legal and political smear campaign to undermine the 292nd
Gurumahasannidanam’s legitimacy by falsely accusing him of fraud and financial
mismanagement, ultimately forcing him to withdraw his support for the 293rd
Gurumahasannidanam. The State cited a Trust formed by the 292 nd
and 293 rd
Guru Maha
Sannidhanams to be the indicator of financial mismanagement when the Trust did not have a bank
account or any financial existence. Attempts were made to assassinate the 292nd
Gurumahasannidanam and the SPH by mob lynching along with monks of the Nithyananda
order.428

146. A vestige of the British colonial administration that ruled India pre-Independence, the HR&CE is a
government agency that exercises financial and operational control over all major Hindu temples
and institutions in India. The HR&CE has a long history of corruption, neglect, and mismanagement

CounterAffidavit by 292nd Gurumahasannidanam defending appointment of 293rd Gurumahasannidanam dated 25

428

Sept 2012, in WP MD No. 8260 of 2012 in the Special Court of Judicature at Madras
 of Hindu temples resulting in the systematic destruction and looting of temple land429, artifacts,
deities, art, and infrastructure.430 In the same manner, like their British colonial predecessors, the
Indian government’s HR&CE assumes control of financial decisions, operational decisions, and
even leadership succession decisions under the paternalistic guise of preventing temple
mismanagement or ensuring social welfare, but often doing so for political purposes.
Commentators have noted the contradiction between such government control and India’s lip
service to religious freedom:

“While the state argues that its intervention is necessary to bring about social welfare and
reform as well as to correct historical social inequities, many view this kind of selective
interference as aimed at ‘reforming the religion out of its existence’. They say usurpation
of Hindu endowments alone is against all tenets of what constitutes a ‘principled
separation’ between the state and the religion.

They also hold that singling out a particular religion violates not only the very secular spirit
of the Indian Constitution but also the basic rights guaranteed under it. They opine that
the HRCE Act infringes upon Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees the citizens
their fundamental right to profess, practice, and propagate their religion, as well as
establish and manage their religious institutions.

They point that while this right is very much available to followers of all other religions in
the country, only Hindus have been constrained by the law.

In fact, the state governments have assumed total financial and managerial control over
lakhs of Hindu temples across the country through their respective HRCE Acts, accusing
their administrations of mismanagement of funds.

However, no other religious institution (barring Jains’ as, by legal definition, they are
Hindus)—churches, mosques, gurudwaras, pagodas, and synagogues belonging to
Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis, respectively— has been brought under
the Acts despite similar allegations cropping up there too.

The fact of the matter is that in all these decades that Hindu religious institutions have
been under the thumb of the HRCE departments, the ability of the Hindu community as a
whole in managing its own institutions has been systematically clipped and pared
down.”431

147. The nomination of a spiritual leader espousing the revival of Sanatana Hindu Dharma in all its
tradition in an all-inclusive manner working on a grassroots level like the SPH to a position as

429
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/what-happened-to-47000-acres-of-missing-temple-land-hc-
asks-tn-government/article34765670.ece
430
“Indian govt won’t be any different from British if Hindus can’t manage their own temples”
https://theprint.in/opinion/indian-govt-wont-be-any-different-from-british-if-hindus-cant-manage-their-own-
temples/218210/
431
“How State Control Over Temples is failing secularism in India” https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/state-
control-temples-failing-secularism-india
 important as the 293rd Gurumahasannidanam of Madurai Adheenam was completely
unacceptable to the State that they had the HR&CE board immediately challenge the decision.

148. The HR&CE’s campaign against the SPH is part of a decades-long attempt by both atheistic terrorist
militants and right-wing Hindutva political entities to suppress Hindu and non-Hindu minorities
and silence dissent. The SPH is also the leader of the more than 5,000year-old indigenous spiritual
tradition known as the Adi Shaivite Minority Tradition (“ASMT”) in South India. By His spiritual
attainments, His systematic revival of authentic Hinduism, and its enlightened ecosystem as per
the original Hindu scriptures (the Veda-Agamas), the SPH has made active contributions to
humanity’s spiritual evolution, thereby firmly establishing himself as the Pope of Hinduism.
Paradoxically, in the process of taking Hinduism back to its authentic roots, He has revealed it to
be the most progressive and inclusive spiritual tradition in the world. But, because of His spiritual
accomplishments432 and redefinition of Hinduism per its original scriptural roots, caste
supremacist militant Hindutva elements in India view the SPH as an existential threat to their
conservative, politicized version of Hinduism. As a result, the SPH has been marked for death by
majoritarian political forces in India. To date, there have been 79 assassination attempts and plots
on the SPH including physical attacks (such as strangulation and machete attacks), as well as
poisoning, noxious asphyxiation, bombings, etc both as extra-judicial assassination attempts as
well as attempts to assassinate by mob lynchings. In addition, there have been numerous death
threats including public death threats on national television channels as well as on social media
platforms which have incited innumerable orchestrated mob attacks on the SPH and the ASMT
community resulting in gang rapes, violent assault, and battery.

149. Indeed, the SPH’s bold and progressive vision for Hinduism is underscored by an emphasis on
openness and inclusiveness. The SPH is not a member of a historically privileged community, He
has publicly declared himself to be transcendental gender433 with multiple gender identity
components434, worn women’s clothing in public, and strongly advocates for female
empowerment, LGBTQ+ rights, and caste-neutral religious traditions. However modern and
progressive these stances may appear, the SPH has rooted each of them in the depths of the 5000-
year-old source scriptures of Hinduism, the Vedas, and Agamas. Moreover, the SPH has
consistently been an outspoken voice for social justice and has publicly challenged political
corruption, caste supremacy, and patriarchy in India. ASMT community are some of the most
vulnerable targets of the Neo-Hindutva435 extremism who despise Hindu women in monastic and
priestly roles436 and are opposed437 to ASMT’s progressive stance when it comes to the rights of

432
http://www.sarvajnapeetha.org
433
(i) https://nithyanandatruth.org/2017/09/10/nithyananda-is-beyond-gender-explained/
434
https://youtu.be/PwSYdVulzq0
435
https://southasia.ucla.edu/social-life/various-articles/hinduism-versus-hindutva/
436
https://www.newsclick.in/Hindutva-War-Women-gendered-face-saffron-fascism
437
“Being gay is against Hindutva, it needs a cure,” BJP MP Subramanian Swamy (10 June 2018) ; “Homosexuality not a
crime, but against nature”: RSS - militant wing of neo-Hindutva extremists (SEPTEMBER 06, 2018)
 women438, including otherwise marginalized Dalit women, and the rights of members of the
LGBTQ+ and transgendered communities439 as they consider them immoral.440

150. This authentic revival of a progressive version of Hinduism has not gone unnoticed in India’s
patriarchal society, particularly its conservative caste supremacist militant elements. The SPH’s
subversive message to a nation steeped in caste discrimination 441 and gender violence442 has
resulted in a full spectrum campaign of hate speech, media demonization, lawfare, assassination
attempts on him and his followers, gang rape of his followers, acts of terrorism, torture, and the
denial of judicial recourse over 10 years that continues to this day.

151. 18 Jun 2012, Neo-Hindutva extremists who had confiscated the temple properties of Madurai
Aadheenam filed vexatious litigation against the 293rd Gurumahasannidhanam the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam to restrain his entry into the Madurai Aadheenam and Arulmigu
Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple.443 This malicious litigation was dismissed in 2016444. This was
not a sole such incidence. On 3 May 2018, the SPH was prohibited by the High Court of Madras
itself from entering Madurai Aadheenam of which He is the successor. Though the order itself
violates the constitution, Justice Mahadevan upheld the decision and even threatened the SPH
that he would order the arrest of the SPH if He did not resign from His responsibility as the 293rd
Pontiff of the Madurai Aadheenam. Right from 2012, the SPH was stopped from performing the
essential religious rituals of the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple, such as the
Kumbha Abhishekham445, which happens only once in several years and is one of the primary
responsibilities of the Gurumahasannidhanam, who is the incarnation of Paramashiva, to directly
supervise and perform. The interference of the State in rituals was not limited to stopping the
Pontiff from participating. For several thousand years, Hindu rituals are performed in two ASMT
languages – ancient Sanskrit and Classic (ancient) Tamil. Since modern Sanskrit and Hindi share
the same written script (Devanagari), the State owing to its Hindi-antagonistic446 policy has made
laws since the 1970s altering the ancient Hindu religious practices by imposing the use of the State
compatible Tamil language against age-old Hindu religious traditions, customs, and scriptures. In
1975, the State absurdly claimed that the ancient ASMT language – Sanskrit – was a source of
nepotism in society and thus changed the language of ASMT Temple rituals via a notification and
altered the HR&CE Scheme in OA No.2 of 1973 dated 10 Oct 1975 appointing a government
executive to control religious and financial matters of the monastery and associated temples. The
State of Tamil Nadu, especially under DMK, emphasizes that ASMT religious practices be altered
in compliance with the DMK ideology, and has thus in 2020 the State altered essential rituals such

438
https://www.nithyananda.org/photo-gallery/nithyananda-diary-30th-november-2018-nithyananda-peetham-
bengaluru-aadheenam-uttamotam pictures from daily rituals of ASMT temples showing ASMT nuns performing temple
rituals which are ordained for all genders as per Hindu scriptures but prohibited for women by the Hindutva extremists
439
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/transgenders-extend-support-to-
nithyananda/articleshow/13159083.cms
440
(i) Being gay is against Hindutva, it needs a cure,” BJP MP Subramanian Swamy (10 June 2018) (ii) Homosexuality not a
crime, but against nature: RSS - militant wing of neo-Hindutva extremists (SEPTEMBER 06, 2018)
441
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/6239842/UN-says-caste-system-is-a-human-rights-abuse.html
442
https://amnesty.org.in/projects/gender-based-violence/
443
OS No. 83 of 2012 in the District Court Madurai (Litigant: M. Manisavagam and Sami Thiagarajan)
444
shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/OS-83-of-2012-dismissal-order-(2016-10-05).pdf
445
"Consecration: Kumbhabhishekam | The Pluralism Project". pluralism.org.
446
DMK Party Manifesto - Points 4, - “DMK will fight against Hindi imposition.”
 as Kumbha Abhishekham447. Though the colonial government recognized the sovereignty of the
heads of Hindu monasteries – for example on 3 Jan 1893 the Guru Maha Sannidhanam of Madurai
Aadheenam was conferred with the title of Rao Bahadur 448
, a title given to Kings by the British
Empire, and also had sovereign immunity from arrests and appearances in the court 449, in 2012,
the Chief Minister of Karnataka said, “We do not encourage such immoral people in Karnataka,
and I am going to make an example out of Nithyananda”450, going to the extent of claiming that he
(Chief Minister) was ready to face jail term but would not stop targeting the SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam451 and ordered an arbitrary and illegal arrest of the SPH. The Karnataka State High
Court in its order CRL.P. 3253/2012452 implicitly exposed the State terrorism, terming the arrest of
the SPH as “illegal”, “without any authority”, “contrary to law”, ”without jurisdiction”. Religious
freedom in the 21st century State of the Republic of India has sharply deteriorated in the past few
years, which was protected even during the colonial rule which is known to be highly oppressive.
It is no surprise that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended
for the second year in the row that the US State Department put India on a list ('Countries of
Particular Concern' or CPCs) for the worst violations of religious freedoms453. Sweden-based V-
Dem Institute has downgraded India as an "electoral autocracy”. 454

152. In 2017, the Madras High Court issued a ruling affirming the SPH’s removal as the 293rd
Gurumahasannidanam of the Madurai Adheenam and took the unprecedented step of forbidding
him from entering the premises of the Meenakshi Amman temple or any other temple
administered by the Madurai Adheenam. At the time the case was argued and ruled upon, the
292nd Gurumahasannidanam was ill and incapacitated and it remains unclear to what extent the
arguments made on his behalf represented his actual opinions or those made under political
pressure. Moreover, the Madras High Court’s decision was inconsistent with the prior judgment of
the Supreme Court in Ambalavana Pandara Sannathi v. State of Tamil Nadu (AIR 1983 Mad 72) that
held “the appointment of junior pontiff is a right of a religious institution and the same cannot be
interfered without proper cause.”

153. Moreover, the Madras High Court’s decision directly contradicted long-standing Indian Supreme
Court precedence which had ruled in Sri Mahalinga Thambiran Swamigal v. Sri La Sri His Holiness

447
indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-the-old-aryan-dravidian-tussle-played-out-in-an-iconic-tn-temple-6253168/
448
Viceroy and Governor General’s letter dated 3 Jan 1893, To Saiva Samayyachariyar, Thirugnanasambhandha Pandara
Sannathi Head of the Madura Saiva Samaya Chariar Thirugnana Sambhadha Disika Swami Adhina Mattam in Madras. “I
Hereby Confer Upon you The Title of ‘RAO BAHADUR’ as a personal Distinction.” மதுசர ஆதீன வரலாறு – History of
Madurai Aadheenam - drive.google.com/file/d/1ZsfdTQkOXPWQAJxBmWKmpOn6WZJtecFu/view
449
Judicial Department proceedings of Madras Government, Letters from the Collector of Madura, dated 4 Sep. 1880; No.
2712; order thereon 15 Sep 1880, No. 2240, "Under Section 641 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Governor-in-Council is
pleased to exempt Saiva Samayachariar Tirugnana Sambanda Pandara Sannadhi Avergal, the Saiva High Priest of
Madurai from personal appearance in the Courts of the Presidency." G. Stokes (For Chief Secretary) – மதுசர ஆதீன
வரலாறு – History of Madurai Aadheenam - drive.google.com/file/d/1ZsfdTQkOXPWQAJxBmWKmpOn6WZJtecFu/view
450
16 Jun 2012, India Today, indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20120625-nithyananda-surrenders-in-court-sent-to-
custody-758791-2012-06-16
451
15 Jun 2012, Times Of India, Sadananda takes on Nithyananda says he is ready to face jail term
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/sadananda-takes-on-nityananda-says-he-is-ready-to-face-jail-term/articleshow/14148461.cms
452
CRL.P. 3253/2012 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/85011170
453
(i) www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/04/28/india-receives-low-rating-us-government-watchdog-religious-
freedom (ii) https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/india-should-be-a-country-of-particular-concern-for-religious-
freedom-us-commission/article34379418.ece
454
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56393944
 Kasivasi Arulnandithambiran Swamigal 455 that the nomination of a junior Gurumahasannidanam
could not be freely revoked by the senior Gurumahasannidhanam when the Madras High Court
stated, “The fact of a person being legally nominated as junior, having a peculiar relationship with
the senior is status, and the capacity to succeed to the head is the incident of that status. The
status, when created by a nomination, cannot be withdrawn or cancelled at the mere will of the
parties. The law must determine the condition and circumstances under which it can be
terminated. Merely because the status originated from the act of a senior head in making the
nomination, it would not follow that the senior head can put an end to it by another act … Even if
it is assumed that the position of a junior head is not a status as known to law, we think that the
relationship created by the nomination is one which cannot be put an end to by the head at his
sweet will and pleasure.”

154. By tradition and custom of the Madurai Aadheenam also, the appointment of the successor Guru
Maha Sannidhanam cannot be revoked as he can be appointed only once in the lifetime of the
current Guru Maha Sannidhanam.

The translation reads:

“Particulars of important customs and usages.

Pertaining to the institution example agamas followed etc.

In this mutt temple according to the Kamika Agama and according to the Soma
sambupatthi the daily and periodical pujas are being conducted.

455
The Supreme Court of India in its judgement to Civil Appeal No. 1677 of 1969, Sri Mahalinga Thambiran Swamigal v. Sri
La Sri His Holiness Kasivasi Arulnandithambiran Swamigal, dated 19 Oct 1973, interpreted the Indian Succession Act,
1925 section 2(h) and observed that the nomination of the successor pontiff is irrevocable as, "A nomination need not
partake of the character of a will in the matter of its revocability, merely because the power of nomination is exercised by
a will. In other words, the nature or character of a nomination does not depend upon the type of document under which
the power is exercised. If a nomination is otherwise irrevocable except for good cause, it does not become revocable
without good cause, merely because the Power is exercised by a will." (1974 AIR 199, 1974 SCR (2) 74).
 The three initiations namely the Samaya Deeksha, Vishesha deeksha and Nirvana initiation
are given to the mature individuals among the Saiva Vellalar community along with the
consecration as Acharya. At no time other than the mentioned group the traditional
practice to give Acharya consecration has been done. The initiation of the touch of Saiva
Vellala will be given. At a time, only one person can be initiated as Acharya and no further
person can be initiated.”

Translated as:

“Particulars of the scheme of administration

If any, governing the institution such as by whom the scheme was settled and on what
date. The schedule of establishment approved by the Commissioner in his R is 5822.60 on
29.11.60. The administration of the mutt is under the control of the mutt head of the
Thirugnanasambandar Adheenam

The Pandya procedure of appointment:

The disciple of the Thirugnanasambandar Aadheenam mutt belonging to the Saiva Vellalar
family or Karkattha Vellalar family, and who have gained mental maturity is consecrated
with Nirvana Deeksha according to the tradition and they have the Acharya Abhishekam
done according to the rules of the agama and they are called by the name Pandara
 Sannadhi. Right from the time of Thirugnanasambandar it is in practice that when the elder
Pandara Sannadhi attains siddhi the junior Pandara Sannadhi assumes the responsibility
of all the administration of the mutt.”

155. Far from behaving as a neutral fact-finder, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court not only
accepted unproven allegations and negative media coverage of the SPH as fact, those allegations
also formed a significant basis for the court’s decision to affirm the SPH’s removal as the 293rd
Gurumahasannidanam. Instead of relying on the near-universal legal principle of “innocent until
proven guilty”, the Indian court assumed unresolved and spurious civil and criminal allegations
against the SPH as proven and resolved against him by repeatedly referring to him as having a
“criminal background”, being a “habitual offender”, “self-proclaimed godman”, one “who has a
criminal background and is a habitual offender, having involved in sexual abuse” and also as one
who is “unknown to the principles of Saivism”, “unfit to head the Mutt”, “has not been leading a
simple life, whereby the desires in life are eradicated ”, “mutt grabber.” The Judge concluded that
the SPH’s appointment would bring “disrepute” to the Madurai Adheenam and condemned the
SPH even for approaching the Court for legal reprieve by calling the SPH a ”prolific litigant“ and
”has a quest for power”. The Judge further made over-arching statements that “The country is
mounting with self-proclaimed godmen like the eighth respondent, who claim to be spiritual gurus
initially and later proclaim themselves to be god and in the process end up amassing wealth and
abusing innocent and vulnerable children and women.” To date, the SPH or the ASMT community
monks cannot enter their own monasteries and temples. The government and the police have
been unwilling to provide protection and execute the court order and allow the community to
continue the practice of sacred ASMT rituals in their temples.

156. In December 2020, in an update of its Tibetan Policy and Support Act, the US threatened to
sanction any Chinese government officials who chose a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama over the
wishes of the Tibetan people. To cover up the State interference in the selection process of the
next Dalai Lama, the State of the People’s Republic of China has been selecting and grooming a
group of senior Lamas that would eventually be used for selecting CCP friendly alternative Dalai
Lama and make it appear that the Dalai Lama was chosen by Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders,
rather than CCP officials.456 In a much similar way, for several years, the State of Tamil Nadu
headed by the DMK has been grooming Guru Maha Sannidhanams, such as the Dharmapuram
Guru Maha Sannidhanam that are friendly to the party.457 Justice Mahadevan is a disciple of DMK
groomed Dharmapuram Guru Maha Sannidhanam who has heavily lobbied458 for arbitrarily and
illegally removing the SPH as the 293rd pontiff. On 3 May 2018, the SPH was prohibited by an order
given by Justice Mahadevan of the High Court of Madras from entering Madurai Aadheenam of
which He is the successor. Though the order itself violates the constitution, Justice Mahadevan,
upheld the decision and even threatened the SPH that he would order the arrest of the SPH if He
did not resign from His responsibility as the 293rd Pontiff of the Madurai Aadheenam. As per the

456
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-14/who-will-be-the-next-dalai-lama-u-s-
india-china-try-to-control-process
457
https://thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/pontiffs-of-ancient-shaivite-mutts-congratulate-
stalin/article34482675.ece
458
(i) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Mutt-heads-join-hands-against-
Nithyananda/articleshow/13128312.cms (ii) https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20120513/1983970.html
 Constitution of India, a person is to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, and no one has the
right to pass judgment on such a person. The SPH has never been implicated in any crime. Yet
against the very Constitution of the country, He has repeatedly been treated in a prejudicial
manner as assumed guilty. Justice Mahadevan went on to pass an order blatantly violating the
fundamental rights of the SPH and against the very tenets of natural law and justice and on record
said, "Who permitted you to record court proceedings? To whom were you sending-message
about the proceeding? Don't think that this court is a playground. I will see that your ashram is
vanished. Hundreds of complaints are pending against the ashram. "459

Justice Mahadevan of Madras High Court with GuruMahasannidhanam of Dharamapuram a

leader of the committee which said: “we will not relent until Nithyananda is removed” 460.

157. In the very same matter, in 2012, the decision of the Division Bench of the High Court of Madras,
Madurai Bench (higher authority than the single judge Justice Mahadevan) in WP 12915/2012 and
WP 26567/2012, dated 31 Oct 2012, had ruled461:

a. In Para 56 categorically that any decisions relating to the secular matters of the
Aadheenam alone would come under the jurisdiction of any suit: “Hence, if any
irregularities committed by the religions institution in administering the properties
attached to the Mutt, which is a secular act and not connected with religious
activities, and if there is any delay on the part of the State to take action, Public
Interest Litigation could be entertained for the limited purpose to give a direction
to the supervisory authority to initiate action so far as secular act is concerned.”

459
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/madras-hc-warns-of-issuing-arrest-warrant-against-self-styled-godman-
nithyananda/articleshow/62692301.cms
460
(i) 14 May 2012, Dinamani, Dharmapuri edition, page 5, Meetpukulu (ii) 14 May 2012, Dinakaran, Vellore edition, page
12, Adhenathil Paraparappu (iii) 14 May 2012, Dina mathi, Chennai edition, Pathattam (iv) 14 May 2012, Dina malar,
Vellore edition, page 6, Matra Adhenam (v) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Mutt-heads-join-hands-
against-Nithyananda/articleshow/13128312.cms
461
Madras High Court in WP 12915 and 26567 of 2012, dated 31 Oct 2012 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/108698583/
 b. In Para 55: “In the instant case, on the factual aspects, we find that 10th respondent
was appointed as Junior Pontiff in the month of April, 2012”

c. In Para 52: “So far as the appointment of successor is concerned, it is purely

religious act.”

158. The attacks on the SPH took on grave proportions as on 2 February 2018, there was an attack by
explosive arson on The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam at the Madurai Meenakshi temple. The
attack gutted a section of the temple and caused a whole massive length of 600 feet stone of the
3000-year-old structure to collapse and break. Though the district fire department claimed that
the explosion was caused by electrical wires and whereas the police claimed that the analysis of
CCTV footage suggested that the explosion was caused by camphor used in rituals 462, the
examination of the nature of the cracks and fault lines along the pillars led police officers to
suggest transfer of the case to CB-CID as they believed that camphor could by no means have
triggered such an explosion and that they were triggered by a man-made explosion.463 On 8 Feb
2018, another fire accident happened in the temple, this time in the CCTV room 464 destroying the
CCTV records that potentially carried evidence of the previous fire.

159. The use of political, legal, and media persecution to delegitimize political dissidents and create an
aura of controversy is a hallmark of authoritarian countries like China and India where the rule of
law often bows to political interests. In a classic example of circular logic, state actors and their
allies in the media attack the dissidents and label them as “controversial” in the eyes of the public.
State actors such as prosecutors and courts then use the artificially generated “controversy” as
justification for further persecution. This dynamic played out in the Madurai High Court decision
against the SPH where the court held that He was “tainted with allegations” and therefore “likely
to bring disrepute to the mutt” in justifying its decision to bar him from his position as 293rd
Gurumahasannidanam or from entering temple premises. The court paternalistically referred to
its duty, and the government Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments agency’s duty, to “protect”
the reputation and integrity of religious institutions from spiritual leaders they deem to be unfit
or corrupt. Therefore, the Indian government first delegitimized the SPH through a campaign of
political persecution and then denied him fundamental constitutional rights on account of his
presumed illegitimacy.

160. The Madras High Court also engaged in a lengthy analysis of Hindu Saivite traditions and scriptures
with no references whatsoever before concluding that the SPH did not have the requisite lifestyle,
spiritual practices, hereditary background, or even name to be eligible to be the
Gurumahasannidanam of the Madurai Adheenam. Far from appropriately limiting its role as an
adjudicator of matters of law, the Indian court unabashedly deemed itself to be the supreme
ecclesiastical authority on matters of faith as well by blatantly opined on pure religious doctrine in

462
Three days after a fire at the famous Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai, police claim that a common ritual to ward
off evil may have caused the fire, according to a TOI report. According to the report, although Madurai collector Veera
Raghava Rao had earlier stated that a fault in the electric wiring could have sparked the fire, police think otherwise. After
scanning CCTV footage, police believe the ritual of lighting camphor on a pumpkin, which is then smashed to the ground,
could have sparked the fire. thenewsminute.com/article/fire-madurai-s-meenakshi-temple-caused-ritual-ward-evil-75972
463
thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/cb-cid-may-be-asked-to-investigate-madurai-meenakshi-temple-fire/article22672437.ece
tamil.samayam.com/latest-news/state-news/once-again-fire-in-madurai-meenakshi-amman-temple-today-in-cctv-
464

camera-room/articleshow/62841437.cms
 its decision against the SPH. This farce of so-called secularism in the Indian state is as outrageous
as the Chinese government published a state-approved list of Lamas authorized to represent
Tibetan Buddhism.

161. Though Articles 25 and 26 of India’s constitution seemingly guarantee an individual’s freedom of
religion and a religious institution’s ability to manage its own affairs, the Madras High Court
specifically qualified those rights as subject to government intervention when those institutions
fail to follow their own procedures or nominate unfit individuals for positions of leadership, as
determined by state officials. Therefore, in authoritarian nations like China and India where lip
service is paid to religious freedom, the exception swallows the rule, and so-called fundamental
rights are rendered null and void then they collide with state interests. In India, as in China,
religious institutions enjoy freedom and autonomy only to the extent permitted by their
government overseers.

G. The five Spiritual Kingdoms

162. On 15 Apr 2014, The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam was coronated as the pontiff (spiritual and
administrative head) of five ancient Adi Shaivite Mutts (monasteries).

Kailasa Paramparagatha Surya Vamsa Panchanadikulam Sarvajnapeetham

• Sri Arunachala Jnanadesikar Swami Temple & Mutt (Panchanadikulam, Vedaranyam)
Kailasa Paramparagatha Surya Vamsa Vedaranya Sarvajnapeetham
• Sri Po.Ka. Sadhukkal Mutt, Vedaranyam
Kailasa Paramparagatha Sūrya Vaṃśa Chola Samrajya Sarvajnapeetham
• Sri Sankara Swami Mutt, Thanjavur
• Sri Palsamy Mutt, Thanjavur
Kailasa Paramparagatha Sūrya Vamsa Adi Chola Samrajya Kamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham
• Sri Somanatha Swami Mutt and Temple, Thiruvarur

163. On 23 Oct 2015, in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, the neo-Hindutva extremists who had unlawfully
encroached on the Thiruvarur ASMT temple (Sri Somanatha Swami Mutt and Temple) and were
misusing the temple property, attacked an ASMT monk who was running the temple. The attackers
gave a verbal threat to kill him and left. The police recorded a non-cognizable465 CSR report
(Community service register)466.

164. On 27 Oct 2015, Thiruvarur, around 8 am, a female ASMT monk Ma Nithya Jyotikananda Swami
was attacked by neo-Hindutva terrorists who molested her, inappropriately took pictures of her,
and attempted to rape her inside the temple premises. As she shouted people gathered to protect
her and the attackers escaped. After the incident, she went to the police station and cried and
begged the Superintendent of Police for protection. Despite being shown photographic evidence
of the attack the Superintendent of Police refused to accept her complaint, and on the contrary,
accepted a false complaint filed by her attacker over the telephone without even demanding his
physical presence or any evidence. Ma Nithya Jyotikananda Swami ran from one office to another.

465
https://www.lawnn.com/difference-cognizable-offenses-non-cognizable-offenses/
466
CSR No. 346/2015, Tiruvarur Town, dated 24-Oct-2015 16:30
 She went to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, who remarked, “O you Nithyananda people” and
refused to register any complaint. She cried to him for protection addressing him as an elder
brother showing her injuries, upon which he finally took pity and registered an FIR 587/15467 dated
27 October 2015. This did not remedy the situation. As of 2021, the case was disposed of without
fair trial and her attackers are roaming freely.

165. 7 Nov 2015, Nagapattinam, to stop the interference in the management of the atheist and neo-
Hindutva extremists, the ASMT community filed a petition in the Nagapattinam sub-court through
OS 90/2015468. The petition prayed for an injunction to restrain neo-Hindutva extremists from
encroaching the temple land and attacking the ASMT members. 21 Nov 2015, the court passed a
temporary order (IA 348/2015) in favor of the ASMT community, handing the possession to The
SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam on 8 January 2016 till the suit gets over. This did not remedy the
situation.

166. 26 Nov 2015, Thiruvarur, 10 AM, an ASMT monk, and a community member were physically
assaulted by 10 militants. The injured received emergency treatment at the government hospital
in Tiruvarur. The police registered a complaint.469 This did not remedy the situation.

167. 27 Nov 2015, Vedaranyam, Sri Po.Ka. Sadhukkal Mutt (monastery), a group of 10-15 militants
forcibly entered into the monastery, taking count of the people and stock of the items in the
temple property. Following this fifty more militants barged in and started brutally beating the
ASMT monks, Sri Nithya Yogamayananda and Sri Nithya Jnanaprabhananda with iron rods. The
militants sacrileged ASMT Hindu Deities and religious altars of the monastery. The militants lifted
the heavy furniture, vessels and smashed these on the heads and bodies of the monks. Almost
unconscious the monks were dragged to the street, where they continued to be beaten in front of
a huge mob that had gathered around and watched the beating with bystander’s apathy. One of
the monks, Sri Nithya Yogamayananda had recorded the attack. The militants having realized it,
chased him for more than a kilometer as he nearly escaped being mob lynched. The monks were
given no ambulance or assistance by the State or civil society and had to seek even basic
humanitarian first aid on their own by admitting themselves to the government hospital. The
monks gave a police complaint which was rejected by the police. Only after much persistence, the
police agreed to receive the complaint. 470

168. On Dec 6, 2015, Thiruvarur, anti-Hindu atheists uploaded a media report471 vilifying the ASMT
community and glorifying the forceful eviction of the ASMT monks from the Sri Somanatha Swami
Mutt (monastery) and Temple, Thiruvarur. The monks were seen in the video showing to the police
and the media the court order from 7 Nov 2015 (to OS 90/2015), which established them as the
rightful administrators of the temple. In India, court orders are neither respected nor

467
CC37/2015 FIR 587/2015 (27 Oct) shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/CC37-2015_FIR587-
2015_MaJyotikaSwami.pdf
468
IA 348/15 in OS 90/2015 dated 21-11-2015
469
FIR 634/15 (Register number 5352874) dated 27 Nov 15, Thiruvarur District
470
FIR 482/15, PS Vedaranyam, dated 27 Nov 2015
drive.google.com/file/d/1yiqDHuoQmgnWD37GiNrNfIb00QDEfWjW/view
471
Red Pix 24x7 - Swami Nithyananda Group are Chased Out of Thiruvarur Temple – youtu.be/eRIYu2xguG8
 implemented by the government.472 The police, the media, and the militants paid no heed to the
court order, and together forcibly evicted the monks from their temple. To shame the ASMT
monks, the militants who had attacked the monks uploaded the footage of eviction on Youtube
and hatefully commented how they assaulted the monks, inciting hatred and violence against the
community especially targeting the female monks473.

169. 8 Dec 2015, Thanjavur, with the pretext of executing the Nagapattinam court order (OS 90/2015)
the Tahsildar474 (Executive Magistrate) called for a meeting between the ASMT monks of the SPH
and the neo-Hindutva militants who had captured the temple. The neo-Hindutva militants did not
show up and refused to hand over the keys to the monastery. The Tahsildar (Executive Magistrate)
did not execute the court order and adjourned the meeting until the next court hearing. The ASMT
monks were unable to enter their temple, despite court orders favoring them. The neo-Hindutva
terrorists and the government officials colluded to ensure that the meeting never took place and
never achieved the intention for which it was supposedly called for. Again, on 16 Dec 2015, the
extremist elements refused to hand over the keys to the monastery. The government officers
accepted this and disregarded the court order.475

170. 8 Jan 2015, Tanjore, The neo-Hindutva extremists, and atheist terrorist forces started to brutally
attack the ASMT monks and violently beat them to vacate them from the property thereby denying
The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam to continue the spiritual administration of the monasteries.
The first attack was in the Tanjore Palsamy mutt. The terrorist forces had sent a mob of 20
assassins armed with iron rods, wooden rods, and iron chains. They beat an ASMT member, Sri
Nithyasthananda brutally till he collapsed. They then dragged him out of the mutt (monastery) and
left while he was still helpless and bleeding. Nithyasthananda, with his head bleeding, pulled
himself together and went on his own to the hospital. The police registered a complaint but
refused to act on it.476

171. 16 Feb 2016, Madras High Court, the neo-Hindutva extremists, and atheist terrorists filed a Civil
Revision Petition (CRP) challenging the Nagapattinam Original Suit477 OS90/2015 interim ordering
preventing them from interfering in the administration of the mutts by the followers of the SPH.

172. 29 Feb 2016, Thiruvarur, The Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) of Thiruvarur called for a meeting
and convinced the ASMT members to hand over the key to her. She reasoned that to maintain the
peace between ASMT members and the anti-Hindu elements, the best thing to do was for the
office to hold the key in possession till the revised petition in High Court concluded. Placing their
full trust in the government and the government office, ASMT members handed over the key to
the RDO.

472
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/no-govt-mechanism-to-implement-courts-
orders/article33235504.ece
473
The Rock / Parthasarathy J’s comment, “I have hit one nithyanandha people when they try to encourage near
pallavaram. I request everyone to hit them nicely. Even don't show courtesy for women in nithyanandha ashram. They
are the most dangerous” youtube.com/watch?v=eRIYu2xguG8&lc=UgzPVRI09bZwNd_IaUF4AaABAg
474
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehsildar
475
Tanjore District Office Letter 2925/2015,7 dated 15 Dec 2015 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OWkSYfWB97WtIBXiTUJ-
Tr7P2lg_SaNq/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qXU-98R-qHozALavSh3Qk3LCNOvnth4o/view
476
FIR No.14/2015 dated 7 Jan 2015 (1PM), Thanjavur West Police Station, District Thanjavur
477
CMP 2234/16 Madras High Court
173. 29 Jun 2017, Madras High Court, Further, The High Court Judicature Of Madras on the appeal in
the form of CRP by the neo-Hindutva extremist forces passed a clear order on 29th June 2017
unequivocally establishing the Right of The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam over the 5 mutts as
the Pontiff and as the Spiritual administrator of the mutts and their properties.

174. 7 Jul 2017, Tanjore, Thiruvarur, Vedaranyam, Representatives of ASMT Community sent a petition
to the police and other relevant government officers to give protection to enter the mutt. This was
to avoid any unwanted attack or bloodshed by the anti-Hindu elements.

175. 26 Jul 2017, Thiruvarur, After obtaining the High Court order favoring the ASMT community, when
members of the community approached the RDO, they realized how she (RDO) had been colluding
with the local neo-Hindutva extremists and atheist terrorist forces from the beginning, as she
refused to return the keys to ASMT members, who are the rightful owners. Instead, she had
allowed the anti-Hindu elements to enter the mutt illegally, being fully aware of the Nagapattinam
sub-court order and the Madras High Court Order. Till now, despite being backed up by the court
orders, The SPH and ASMT members are not able to carry out the rituals or services or revival of
the mutt.

176. 5 Aug 2017, Vedaranyam, The Government officers continued to work against court orders as the
RDO canceled the meeting by being absent.

177. 12 Aug 2017, Tanjore, The Government officers continued to work against orders. The RDO,
Tahsildar, and other Officers gave the excuse that they would not execute the court order as the
opposing criminal elements were absent from the Peace meeting.

178. 12 Aug 2017, Vedaranyam, The Government officers continued to work against orders. The RDO,
Tahsildar, and other Officers gave the excuse that they would not execute the court order as the
opposing criminal elements were absent from the Peace meeting.

179. 19 Aug 2017, Tanjore, The Government officers continued to work against orders. The Tahsildar
intentionally was absent from the meeting to create another excuse to postpone and never
execute the court order.

180. 22 Aug 2017, Vedaranyam, The Government officers continued to flaunt court orders and
intentionally create obstacles while pretending to execute them. The Vedaranyam RDO concluded
the peace meetings citing the absence of the opposite party as the reason.

181. 26 Aug 2017, Tanjore, The Government officers continued to flaunt court orders and intentionally
create obstacles while pretending to execute them.

182. 30 Apr 2019, Vedaranyam, The HR&CE passed an illegal order to bring the Sri Po.Ka. Sadhukkal
Mutt in Vedaranyam under their control. This is against the interim injunction passed by the
Nagapattinam Sub-court through IA 348/2015 which states clearly that The SPH is the rightful
owner of the mutt till the suit comes to an end.

183. Jul 2019, although there is a High Court order in their favor the ASMT community monks cannot
even dare to enter their own monasteries and temples. The government and the police have been
unwilling to provide protection and execute the court order and allow the community to continue
 the practice of sacred ASMT rituals in their temples. Throughout the recent five centuries or so
these temples and monasteries have been constantly destroyed by successive rulers who opposed
the ASMT Hindu religion. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam is the only hope for the community
for the revival of the ancient civilizations and had been working relentlessly to revive the spiritual
ASMT traditions and its temples. Now the community lives in more fear as the anti-Hindu atheistic
terrorist forces and neo-Hindutva extremist extremists in the government continuously attempted
assassination of The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam. The ASMT community is thus faced with a
bleak future, as they continue to battle the political and religious persecution, wherein they are
not able to practice their religion and their temples and monasteries are slowly being destroyed
by the government.

H. Kailasa Paramparagatha Arunagiri Yogishwara Adi Arunachala Sarvajnapeetha

Samrajyam

Tiruvannamalai Aadheenam
184. On 7 Nov 2012, Tiruvannamalai, the State government Hindu Religious and Charitable
Endowments (HR&CE) Department sent a notice to the Tiruvannamalai Aadheenam (monastery)
declaring the State’s intent to take over the monastery. The Tiruvannamalai temple-monastery
complex is private property. HR&CE (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments board)
attempted to falsely present it as a public temple to get ownership over it and destroy its cultural
heritage. It is an ancestral property of The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam’s pre-monastic family.
HR&CE had no business nor jurisdiction to attempt to breach any private property. In principle the
State takeover of Hindu temples by HR&CE is unconstitutional, but this was doubly illegal as they
additionally falsely show the private ASMT temple as a public temple.

185. On 26 November 2012, in response to the show-cause notice of the HR&CE that the
Tiruvannamalai Aadheenam (monastery) of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam falls under its purview,
the Madras High Court ordered a status quo till the disposal of the case for both the parties –
Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, Tiruvannamalai and HR&CE. The Court clarified that Nithyananda
Peetham, Tiruvannamalai can continue with all its services. The next hearing of the case was
posted for December 5, 2012, when the HR&CE was directed to file its counter to the Writ Petition.

186. On 30 January 2013, Chennai the Hon’ble High Court of Madras allowed the Writ Petition filed by
Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam and set aside the show cause notice issued by the HR&CE claiming
that the Tiruvannamalai Aadheenam of The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam comes under the
purview of HR&CE as it is a Hindu religious institution. The Hon’ble High Court order clearly said
that Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam Trust Deed and its objectives show that it is a Public Charitable
Trust and thus HR&CE had no legal bearing in its claim. The Trust Deed clearly shows that the
institution is open to all people, irrespective of caste, creed, or religion. The various construction
activities on the premises are per the objectives of the Trust to spread meditation, yoga and
provide various social services to the public at large. The Hon’ble High Court allowed the Writ
Petition and the show cause notice was set aside because even the show cause notice was uncalled
for as it was based on a non-existent foundation.478 This did not remedy the situation. The

Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam vs The Commissioner on 30 January 2013, W.P.No.30063 of 2012 and M.P.Nos.1 and 2 of
478

2012 indiankanoon.org/doc/13403449/
 government filed another petition challenging this order. The appeal was also in the favor of the
SPH, but it had a clear prohibition on doing any Hindu religious activities in the place. 479

187. 26 Feb 2013, Tiruvannamalai - The ASMT Kumarakoil Murugar Temple was grabbed by Neo-
Hindutva extremists. Kumaracoil Murugan Temple is a community temple that was run by the
ASMT (Saiva Vellalar) community for many hundreds of years. The entire community recognized
The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam as the Incarnation of Annamalaiyar (Shiva) who descended
on the planet earth and took birth in this community. The community Ordained Him as the
Hereditary Trustee of Temple, who after assuming the responsibility, started major renovation
work. Hindu extremists who could not tolerate this productive effort conspired to stop the project.
Hindu Makkal Katchi, a Neo-Hindutva extremist political party, filed a vexatious complaint against
the temple trustees, claiming that they were mishandling the temple money. Based on this
accusation, the Government body, the Hindu Religious Charitable Endowment board, illegally took
over the temple and appointed an Executive officer for the temple. A huge legal battle followed
and in the end, the ASMT community got the order from the High Court of Chennai, that the
community can run the Temple administration. Despite the court order, the community is unable
to start the Temple activities because the anti-Hindu extremists are continuously attacking the
temple and trustees physically. They also released false propaganda in the media about the
temple trustees. To this day, the temple remains in the same state, needing renovation and
authentic services for the public have not been started.

188. 7 Dec 2013, Tiruvannamalai: Charitable free organic food service of the ASMT Tiruvannamalai
monastery was stopped by the Government Food Department. Many devotees were affected by
this wrongful decision. ASMT monks and community members appealed to the District Collector
with evidence of the quality of service that was offered by the monastery. The Collector intervened
and issued an order for Tiruvannamalai Aadheenam to continue with food offering service. Later
the Food department visited Aadheenam again for an inspection and concluded that the food was
of first-class quality and best practices of hygiene were being followed. This was a complete
turnaround from the earlier observations it claimed. This did not remedy the situation as various
vexatious litigations continued to be made to stop religious and charitable services done by the
ASMT.

189. 8 Nov 2019, the government withdrew its petition that challenged the court order dismissing the
government’s claim over the ASMT monastery in Tiruvannamalai.480 Assistant Commissioner, HR
& CE Department, Thiruvannamalai, filed in the court:

“7) It is submitted that the Ashram also has a large Kitchen area with many utensils (big
& small) which is capable of preparing food for more than 500 people at once. Near the
Kitchen there is also a Library and rooms for the Ashram members to stay.
…

479
W.A.Nos.284 and 808 of 2013 and M.P.No.1 of 2013 and 2 of 2013 W.A.No.284 of 2013
indiankanoon.org/doc/20053893
480
W.A.Nos.284 and 808 of 2013 and M.P.No.1 of 2013 and 2 of 2013 W.A.No.284 of 2013
indiankanoon.org/doc/20053893/
 10) It is most humbly submitted that during the Inspection it was clear that there is no
consecration of Idol in the Ashram and there is no Idol Worship there.”

190. This did not remedy the damage. The memo submitted by the Government showed that if any
Hindu Deities were placed in the monastery the HR&CE department could again claim ownership
of the monastery by vexatious legal processes. Hinduism cannot be practiced freely in India as the
government taxes the practice of Hinduism exclusively, and misappropriate all funds donated by
devotees for religious and social purposes. This is done by both the Neo-Hindutva extremists and
anti-Hindu atheists. The State Governments in India have been ordered time and again by the
Supreme Court to withdraw themselves from Temple administration but neither the government
nor the government officials respect court orders in India. 481

Pavazhakundru
191. 24 May 1994, a year before her death, Mata Vibhutananda Puri, declared Rajasekaran as Her
successor to the spiritual seat of Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham 482, Tiruvannamalai, by Guru
Parampara (Guru lineage) from Isakki Swamigal, and gave the title “Brahmasukhi” through a formal
initiation letter483. She built and gifted Him a small ashram (monastery) in Pavazhakundru.
Pavazhakundru is a sacred hillock in Tiruvannamalai where Devi Parashakti (primordial Hindu
Mother Goddess) had Her enlightenment experience during one of Her incarnations on the planet
earth. The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam also had His first enlightenment experience in
Pavalakundru. Even though all the property documents 484 show the SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam as the owner of the land, the Tamil Nadu State Government has repeatedly
prevented the monks and nuns of the SPH from performing puja (worship) to the sacred hill.
Monks were forcibly evacuated by authorities beaten and raped in front of the State Police by
State-groomed militants of the DMK and CPI(M).

192. 16 June 2017, Pavazhakundru, three nuns – Ma Nithya Deepikananda Swami, Ma Nithya
Satyagjnananda Swami, and her per-monastic minor daughter Ma Nithya Prajnanananda, were
cleaning the area around Paramashiva Shila (the sacred rock worshipped as a Deity) for worship.
They were attacked and tied up by State groomed militants of CPI(M). The militants defiled the
Paramashiva Shila (the rock worshipped as a Deity) with footwear and drew lewd figures on it. Ma
Nithya Satyagjnananda Swami was brutally beaten. Meanwhile Ma Nithya Deepikananda Swami
was trying to protect the deities and a young nun. The child was trying to protect herself by being
close to the senior nun. The child expected help from the policemen, but they pushed her amongst
each other, something which deeply terrorized her about the role of the police in society. ASMT
monk Parabrahmananda Maharaj survived an attempted murder485. The community sent letters
of appeal to the District Executive Officer who ignored all their appeals. Despite peacefully using

481
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/no-govt-mechanism-to-implement-courts-
orders/article33235504.ece
482
Sarvajnapeetha is the Peetha (seat of) Sarva (supreme most) Jñāna (knowledge) where Paramashiva sits and teaches to
the world leading the entire humanity to the next breakthrough in spiritual research and development. It encompasses
several spiritual-religious kingdoms and Hindu monasteries (Mutt).
483
25 May 1994, Coronation Deed from Mata Vibhutananda Puri for Arunachala Sarvajnapeetham
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbF1hZIuJqxrWjhQfDQKoZVxVdmVlOb2/view
484
Tiruvannamalai Town, Village number 236, III-1, 2, land area number 526,523,523 as per State Revenue records.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GPyHDMkyQ968TBYSdg4hCxvy4iK78Cgk/view
485
FIR 696 dated 3 Aug 2017 (6 PM), Police station - Tiruvannamalai Town, District - Tiruvannamalai, Officer in charge –
Nehru, eservices.tnpolice.gov.in
 the land for more than three decades, and showing all land documents, along with bills and
vouchers of annual fees that were paid to the State Revenue department the State authorities
headed by the district collector, declared the hut to be an illegal construction and ordered
demolition. The hut where worship items were kept was torn down by police and aired in media
and publicized as demolition of illegal construction. The politically owned media reported this
event in a biased way, they cruelly vilified the ASMT nuns and monks and addressed them as
“cheats”, “landgrabbers” 486 along with other stereotypes that the politically owned media had
established to marginalize the community – “sodomized disciples” 487, “witches” 488, “prostitutes”
489
, “sex slaves” 490.

193. This was not a sole incidence. Even though all the property documents491 were shown to
authorities repeatedly and they were convinced the attacks did not stop. On 5 February 2017,
ASMT monk Sri Nithya Bhaktimayananda Swami escaped an attempt to murder492 with a bleeding
head. On 22 June 2017, nuns were forcibly evicted while worshiping the Paramashiva Shila (the
sacred rock worshipped as a Deity) and taken to Police Station beyond permissible time per law493
for women to be arrested or kept for interrogation. They were threatened by the police and
released. 18 May 2018, the Paramashiva Shila (the sacred rock worshipped as a Deity) was
vandalized again – the anti-Hindu terrorists from CPI(M) and DMK urinated on the deity and defiled
it with slippers, and broke the worship altars.

I. The Incitement of violence by the Chief Minister of Karnataka

194. 09 Jun 2012, Bengaluru, Chief Minister of Karnataka State - D V Sadananda Gowda, went on air
and declared the Government’s stand to prosecute 494 the SPH and the ASMT community. He
announced the State takeover of the privately owned temple monastery and the arrest of The SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam. The Chief Minister made the following statements:

a. “Bail of Nithyananda should be canceled and he should be arrested” 495,

486
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mwwzc3cvmE
487
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2010/dec/10/nithyananda-sodomised-his-disciples-209732.html
488
Worship of divine feminine consciousness during Chandi Homa maligned as witch craft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6T8GwNo8SM
489
“‘They are continuously harassed in public for no fault of theirs’, said Nithyananda. According to Nithyananda, sarees
of at least ‘17 women devotees were pulled’ in public, at seven places his Brahmacharis were thrashed and the Ashram
call centre received about 300 phone calls for prostitution.” https://www.deccanherald.com/content/152493/cid-report-
stolen-says-nithyananda.html
490
(i) CC 25289/12, 21 Dec 2012, CMM Court Bangalore, ASMT Dalit Nun Ma Nithya Supriya Swami v. Charu (Kumudam
Reporter) (ii) https://www.vikatan.com/news/coverstory/114380-the-psychology-behind-the-cults-worshippers.html Date:
24/Jan/2018
491
Tiruvannamalai Town, Village number 236, III-1, 2, land area number 526,523,523 as per State Revenue records.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GPyHDMkyQ968TBYSdg4hCxvy4iK78Cgk/view
492
CSR 344 dated 9 Feb 2017, Police station - Tiruvannamalai Town, District - Tiruvannamalai, eservices.tnpolice.gov.in
493
A woman cannot be arrested after sunset (generally, 6pm) and before sunrise (generally, 6am), even if a woman police
officer is present (Section 46(4) of Criminal Procedure Code) https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1233094/
494
The Chief Minister of the state of Karnataka came on television saying he would - ‘arrest The SPH in 2 days, close the
monastery, teach The SPH a lesson’. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/govt-orders-probe-against-swami-
nithyananda-in-ranjitha-case-105299-2012-06-11
495
11 June 2012 , NDTV , Bengalur ndtv.com/south/nithyananda-ashram-to-be-sealed-chief-minister-wants-him-arrested-487763
 b. “I have asked the district administrator to seize the Dhynapeeth Ashram of
Nithyananda and recover all documents and arrest him immediately”496,

c. “I have asked the Police to file strong objections against his bail petition ”.

d. The arrest of Nithyananda swami should be done as early as possible and a serious
mechanism should be opted for this purpose. We received the report. The Law
Minister, the Home Minister and the District minister along with officers we had
detailed discussion and they decided to hold a high-level inquiry headed by the
regional commissioner to look into the matter in detail’ 497

e. He also told on June 11: "I have directed the investigators to frame a perfect charge
sheet against Nithyananda and I will ensure that this is so. We do not encourage
such immoral people in Karnataka, and I am going to make an example out of
Nithyananda.”498

f. The Chief Minister of the State went to the extent of claiming that he was ready to
face jail term but would not stop targeting The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam499.

g. The Law Minister of Karnataka, Suresh Kumar, said, “The Karnataka government
has been planning to take over the ashram of controversial self-styled godman
Nithyananda at Bidadi, taking into view allegations of objectionable activities
taking place there. The government is mulling to take control of the administration
of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam situated at Bidadi following allegations of
objectionable activities going on in there. He said the government was also
planning to appoint an administrator for the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, located
in the Ramanagara district500.

195. Shankarappa who is a legal expert gave his legal opinion on the matter as, “The chief minister's
order is illegal, and he acted in haste. The political head of the state has no power to order
anyone's arrest as it is an infringement of an individual's rights. It is unfortunate.. he seems to
have surrendered himself to some vested interests. If anyone has a grievance, he should file a
complaint. Or police can take up a suo motu case and investigate what occurred in the ashram.
Media reports cannot be the basis for any order”.501

496
14 Jun 2012, Firstpost Bengaluru, Sex, tantra and video tapes - chronicles of a ‘cool dude’ swamy - India News ,
Firstpost
497
11 Jun 2012, Newsx Video Clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3blhMe1CIE4
11 Jun 2012 , The Hindu, Karnataka, www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/karnataka-chief-minister-orders-
arrest-of-nithyananda/article3515274.ece
498
16 Jun 2012, India Today, indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20120625-nithyananda-surrenders-in-court-sent-to-
custody-758791-2012-06-16
499
15 Jun 2012, Times Of India, Sadananda takes on Nithyananda says he is ready to face jail term
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/sadananda-takes-on-nityananda-says-he-is-ready-to-face-jail-term/articleshow/14148461.cms
500
09 Jun 2012, First Post , https://www.firstpost.com/india/karnataka-govt-to-takeover-nithyanandas-ashram-
337961.html
501
16 Jun 2012, Times Of India - CM’s order on Nithyananda’s arrest was improper -
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/CMs-order-on-Nityanandas-arrest-was-improper/articleshow/14164890.cms
196. 11 Jun 2012, State Police seizes temple property, seals the Monastery, enforces curfew, displacing
hundreds of residents.

197. 13 Jun 2012, The SPH came to Court to apply for anticipatory bail for a crime that He was framed
on illegally – breach of peace. On the contrary, His monastery complex was trespassed into by
neo-Hindutva terrorists who barged into the monastery and attempted to murder the
administrator of the monastery and raped female monks, and assaulted male monks to murder
them. This was broadcast live on television. But the police slapped a case of breach of peace and
assault against The SPH instead. When the SPH came to apply for anticipatory bail in this false
case, the police arrested Him and took Him into custody. They again attempted to assassinate The
SPH taking Him to an undisclosed location. They kept Him in police custody in the night where he
was again deprived of food and given poisonous food thereafter.

198. 14 Jun 2012, The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam was granted bail. But the SPH was immediately
arrested in yet another false case. A 600 battalion police force was used to arrest and take Him
into custody. Public money to the tune of 30 million INR was used and The SPH was paraded in
the streets of the city, showcasing him as if He was a most wanted terrorist and enemy of the
State. Ironically, the District Commissioner in the guise of protecting the SPH arrested Him. Even
if the false charges under which the SPH was arrested were considered to be true, were a bailable
offense, even if, which show the extent of the illegality of the government’s actions.

199. The High Court in its order CRL.P. 3253/2012502 implicitly exposed the State terrorism, where it
termed the arrest of SPH in 2012 as “illegal”, “without any authority”, “contrary to law”, ”without
jurisdiction”. This did not remedy the situation. There were no repercussions for perpetrators of
the crime who were protected by the State. This is the reason why assassination attempts, illegal
imprisonment, and custodial torture was repeatedly done to SPH until 2018 when SPH was forced
to withdraw from public life in India. The Chief Minister who had openly given orders to the police
to use the brutal force of SPH only escalated in his position and capacity in the government and
became the Central Government’s Law Minister.

200. The State of the Republic of India made several attempts to illegally capture temples of the ASMT
community. The land where the Adi Kailasa Bengaluru Aadheenam (temple-monastery), Bidadi, is
constructed is owned by the temple trust. In 2020, the High Court of Karnataka directed the
Ramanagara District court to attach all properties owned by the SPH. The SPH is a Hindu monk
and following the religious practices of Aparigraha as per Hinduism (which is similar to the vow of
poverty that His Holiness Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, the Bishop of Rome (Pope)
takes503) has not even one piece of land or bank account to His name. The police did not attach
any property unlike as directed by the court as there are none. For this, on 30 March 2021, the
court order accused the police of “not been cooperating with the court”, as if there were properties

502
CRL.P. 3253/2012 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/85011170
503
“How much does one get paid for being pope? Nothing. In 2001, the Vatican confirmed that the pope ‘does not and
has never received a salary’. As a Jesuit, Pope Francis had already taken a vow of poverty. On his election, the pope-elect’s
private property is usually either donated to the church, transferred to a family member, used to endow a foundation, or
placed in trust.” www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/pontifacts-all-the-papal-questions-you-never-thought-to-ask-
1.3597284
 in the name of the SPH which the police were not reporting to the court. The order has been
quoted below504 :

“In this case the complainant COD police has not been cooperating with the court by
furnishing details of property of accused Nithyananda. It is their say that accused
Nithyananda has property at Bidadi by having his own Ashram. But so far no details of
such property is mentioned by the respondent COD police. Since the tenure of the P.O. of
this court i.e., for the last 2 years there has been no progress in the case on hand
particularly in the matter of procuring accused Nithyananda. On each and every date of
hearing the officers who represent complainant COD before this court gives one or other
reason without taking any satisfactory steps. On questioning the so called Nodal Officer
who visits this court once in while submits that the property at Bidadi i.e., Nithyananda
Ashrama Property has been in the name of the mother of accused Nithyananda. But no
steps are taken by the complainant COD Police to attach other properties of Ashram at
Bidadi which is in the name of accused Nithyananda. This court is not at all satisfied with
the answers given by the so called Nodal Officer from time to time. Therefore, the following
ORDER The Nodal Officer/the officer in-charge of this case in whatsoever capacity shall
take proper steps in terms of Cr.PC by taking steps to attach the property at Bidadi Ashram
so as to procure accused Nithyananda and other accused persons who are regularly
remaining absent before this court. A3 to A6 are absent. EP filed. For proper steps in this
behalf by 17.04.2021.”

J. Attacks in State of Uttar Pradesh

201. 6 June 2020: Taking advantage of the lockdown due to the CORONA pandemic, and the lack of
clear visibility of Government illegalities and brutalities, the State Government of Uttar Pradesh
destroyed the Hindu Temple of The Kashi Sarvajnapeetha of the SPH at Manikarnika Ghat,
Varanasi. At around 1 AM neo-Hindutva militants destroyed the temple using heavy machinery
and earthmover machines. The Hindu monks were still inside but managed to escape from death
in the collapsing temple building.

202. The demolition was completely illegal and done despite multiple High Court orders505 that
specifically had given a stay order in favor of the ASMT and forbid the government from touching
the property including the High Court order to W.P. 58947/2017 (dated 11 Dec 2017) specifically
prohibiting the government to demolish the Kashi Sarvajnapeetha. Both District Court and High
Court orders were ridiculed by the government officials.

203. The sacrilege of the deities and destruction of the temple caused great pain to the Hindu monks
to Hindus worldwide who witnessed the shocking events on social media. 506

204. The Hindu monks tried to stop the heavy machinery by using their bodies as an obstacle. ASMT
monk Sri Nithya Shantimayananda Swami’s neck was broken, still, he fastened his body to the steel

504
Principle District Court of the III Additional District and Session Judge, Case S.C.86/2014, CNR No.: KARN010013312014,
order dated 30 March 2021.
505
W.P. 58947/2017 (dated 11 Dec 2017) in Allahabad High Court
drive.google.com/file/d/1P4ydNPOjJUpCFgzfSqaLMpFqjrL8owld/view
506
https://m.facebook.com/hashtag/stophinduholocaust ; https://m.facebook.com/hashtag/kashisarvajnapeeta
 rebars to protect the Temple from the terror attack. He went live on social media in the hope of
protection - here is the video.507 Sri Nithya Shantimayananda Swami was subjected to cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment by Police, who broke his neck and took him in custody. All legal
recourse was denied. Several Hindu monks have died due to these atrocities of the police and
militants.508

Late night at 1 am, the State ASMT monk Sri Nithya High Court order to W.P.
Government with the neo- Shantimayananda Swami’s 58947/2017 (dated 11 Dec
Hindutva militants demolished neck was broken, still he 2017) specifically prohibiting
the Hindu temple despite the fastened his body to the steel the government to demolish
High Court order to not touch rebars to protect the Temple the Kashi Sarvajnapeetha. Both
it. The monks were still from the terror attack. He went District Court and High Court
sleeping but escaped before live on social media in the orders were ridiculed by the
the temple collapsed on them. hope of protection - here is the government officials.
video.

205. When the Mahant (ASMT regional head), went to the government officials in protest of what they
had done and showed the High court order to them and exposed the wrong that they had done,
the government officials led by Vishal Singh (Head of the government project) challenged him -
“Yes, I am doing Contempt of Court, so what will you put me in jail?! Try doing and see,” and threw
the High Court order copy in the office dustbin.

507
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nslPJvsn9JU
508
hindustantimes.com/cities/3-palghar-cops-who-watched-mob-kill-3-men-including-70-yr-old-seer-sacked/story-
oTlQ2oxJmHqiSuylMPUZcI.html
 6 June 2020: When the Mahant (ASMT regional head), went to
the government officials in protest of what they had done and
showed the High court order to them and exposed the wrong
that they had done, the government officials led by Vishal Singh
(Head of the government project) challenged him - “Yes I am
doing Contempt of Court, so what will you put me in jail?! Try
doing and see,” and threw the High Court order copy in the
office dustbin.

Picture of a temple before the A similar but different temple after the
state-sponsored destruction in Kashi. state-sponsored destruction in Kashi.
https://www.facebook.com/cvbhariharan/posts/4607247159336899
 K. Attacks on Nithyananda Gurukul in Karnataka and Nithyananda University Yogini
Sarvajnanapeetha Gujarat

206. In several attacks made on the ASMT monastery during 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2019 the traditional
schools (Gurukuls) imparting education inside the monastery had to be shut. The Karnataka State
Government was either unable to or unwilling to curtail these attacks and on the contrary, chose
to vexatiously prosecute the victims.

207. The right of indigenous peoples to education is protected by the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, which in Article 14 states that “Indigenous peoples have the right to establish
and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages,
in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.” Similarly, many
international conventions such as UNHR - Article 26; ICESCR - Articles 13 and 14; ICCPR - Article -
18 and 26 rights of religious minorities to offer religious and indigenous education to their
children.
208. Similarly, the rights of ASMT schools imparting religious and indigenous education are protected
under Articles 26, 29, and 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of India.

Article 26 in The Constitution Of India 1949 Article 29 in The Constitution Of India 1949
26. Freedom to manage religious affairs Subject 29. Protection of interests of minorities
to public order, morality, and health, every (1) Any section of the citizens residing in the
religious denomination or any section thereof territory of India or any part thereof having a
shall have the right distinct language, script, or culture of its own
(a) to establish and maintain institutions for shall have the right to conserve the same
religious and charitable purposes; (2) No citizen shall be denied admission into
(b) to manage its own affairs in matters of any educational institution maintained by the
religion; State or receiving aid out of State funds on
(c) to own and acquire movable and grounds only of religion, race, caste, language,
immovable property; and or any of them
(d) to administer such property in accordance
with law

Article 30 in The Constitution Of India 1949 In the 24 April 2012, amendment, to the Right
30. Right of minorities to establish and to Education Act, following clause was added to
administer educational institutions the law:
(1) All minorities, whether based on religion or
language, shall have the right to establish and Section-1 (5) - Nothing contained in this Act
administer educational institutions of their shall apply to Madras as, Vedic Pathsalas and
choice educational institutions primarily impart
(1A) In making any law providing for the religious instruction.
compulsory acquisition of any property of
an educational institution established and https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/file
administered by a minority, referred to in s/upload_document/33.pdf
clause ( 1 ), the State shall ensure that the
amount fixed by or determined under This amendment allowed the Vedic Pathsalas
such law for the acquisition of such (Indigenous, religious, traditional Hindu schools;
property is such as would not restrict or the category under which the ASMT schools
abrogate the right guaranteed under that operated) to function free of government
clause interference.
(2) The state shall not, in granting aid to
educational institutions, discriminate against
any educational institution on the ground that
it is under the management of a minority,
whether based on religion or language.
209. Further to the Government circular F.No. 1-15/2010-EE-4509, the Government of India, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Department of School Education & Literacy dated 23 Nov 2010,
clearly mentioned that in point 3. - “Institutions. intruding Madrasa and Vedic Pathshalas especially
serving religious and linguistic minorities are protected under Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
The RTE Act does not come in the way of continuance of such institutions or the rights of children
in such institutions.” This is a well-known fact and is covered by the media.510

http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/goi_circular_F.No.1-15_2010-EE-4_23-Nov-2010.png
509

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/madarsas-vedic-pathshalas-to-be-kept-out-of-rte-
510

ambit/articleshow/12696793.cms
210. Despite various international laws, constitutions principles, central (federal) and state (provincial)
laws, and policies acknowledging the right of the indigenous communities to run schools imparting
religious and indigenous education, the Government of the State of Karnataka targeted the ASMT
Hindu schools (Gurukuls) using a lawfare of vexatious litigation and malicious prosecution.

211. On 9 June 2012, the Chief Minister of the State, Sadananda Gowda grossly misused his power and
the government machinery to execute a series of State-sponsored terror attacks on the ASMT
community. The High Court in its order CRL.P. 3253/2012511 implicitly exposed this State terrorism,
where it termed the entire government process as “illegal”, “without any authority”, “contrary to
law”, ”without jurisdiction”. This did not remedy the situation. There were neither any
repercussions for any of the state authorities responsible nor any sign of remorse or apology from
perpetrators of the crime – including the Chief Minister of the State.

212. Following these illegal orders from the Chief Minister of the state, since August 2012 onwards up
to date (2019), there have been consistent efforts by the Karnataka State Government to shut
down the Nithyananda Gurukul (the indigenous and religious school run by the followers of The
SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam as per the ASMT tradition.)

213. August 2012: The Karnataka State CWC (Child Welfare Committee) sent an independent body
comprising citizens to inspect the conditions of the Nithyananda Gurukul. The government’s
objective was to harass the children, teachers, and parents and to make them wary, and ultimately
shut down the Gurukul.

214. However, contrary to the expectations of the government the Committee that comprised a group
of citizens (similar to a jury) gave a positive report:512

“We five members of Child Welfare Committee came to visit the ashram and see the
students/children who are staying in the ashram. We found that all children have been
taken good care and provided with good food, shelter, and education. We had an
interaction with children and we are satisfied with (the) facilities offered. We thank the
volunteers, staff, and disciples for cooperating (with) us to carry out our duties and
responsibilities. We have advised the staff to obtain prerequisite permission from the
women and child welfare department to stay fit institution approval. We wish the ashram
all the best in our future endeavors.”

215. August 2012 to until about a year, July 2013 (and beyond) the Gurukul and other social and spiritual
causes of The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam were under constant attack by the media through
hate speech for incitement of violence. For example, an attack was executed on 13 January 2014
on Uttarahalli monastery.513 While all the hate propaganda against The SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam and the ASMT community was being aired non-stop on Kannada language news
channels, the Karnataka State Child Rights commission came to Gurukul without notice and
interrogated the children. The Karnataka State Child Rights commission bullied the children. The

511
CRL.P. 3253/2012 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/85011170
512
(i) http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/CWC_Report_Aug_2012-p1.jpg (ii)
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/CWC_Report_Aug_2012-p2.jpg
513
(i) http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Uttarahalli_monastery_attack_tv_13_01_2014.png (ii)
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Uttarahalli_monastery_attack_victim_13_01_2014.png
 parents of the children were not present, and no prior permission of the parents or the Gurukul
(the ASMT school) was ever sought by the Karnataka State Child Rights Commission. The Karnataka
State Child Rights commission came uninvited, without informing, and without permission of any
sort. The state authorities could not find anything wrong but the Karnataka State Child Rights
Commission and Department of Women and Children and other government agencies kept on
making several such visits and harassed the children, intimidating them to leave the school. The
Karnataka State Child Rights commission authorities asked children inappropriate and humiliating
questions, such as:

a. They mocked their traditional dressing, demanding them to wear jeans and pants instead of
traditional saffron robes.

b. They mocked the organic vegetarian traditional food that the children were eating.

c. The children were sitting on the ground and eating, as that is the ancient ASMT tradition, the
board questioned that and many simple ancient traditional ancient lifestyle aspects.

d. They intimidated the children by claiming that they had no future in the Nithyananda Gurukul
and that they should leave. The threats were not ordinary and children reported to the
Principal of being bullied and harassed by the officers.

e. The testimonials of the children of the harassment by the various government departments
who made several unauthorized visits have been documented by the children and parents.

216. 17 Sep 2013, the Karnataka State CWC officials forcibly, cruelly, and illegally interrogated children
in the Gurukul. It was done without parental consent, without any video recording. CWC
representative Radha. K acknowledging with a signed letter that she came to see gurukul with the
police.514 This visit was after 7:30 PM late-night beyond515 the time permissible by law (6 PM)516.
The State interrogators shamed, ridiculed, and humiliated the children, particularly girls for their
traditional dress, pressured them to quit their spiritual-religious lifestyle.

217. 19 Sep 2013, FIR 340/2013 Bidadi PS dated 19-Sept-2013 IPC 186 against Ragasudha Vasundhara
Shivanna, the legal counsel for the school and parents, for intervening in the violation of the rights
of children and parents and reminding the police officers and CWC team members that it was not
appropriate and illegal in fact to interrogate children in absence of their guardians that also after
6 PM (the official raided at 7:30 PM). For this, the government fabricated an accusation of IPC 186
which reads - “Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions. —Whoever voluntarily
obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine
which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.“517

514
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Letter_CWC_Representative_Radhka._K_17-Sep-2013.png
515
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/CWC_Representatives_17-Sep-2013.png - Letter from CWC
representative Radhika. K acknowledging with a signed letter that she came to see gurukul with police beyond legally
permissible time (click here to see video evidence)
516
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Letter_CWC_Representative_Radhka._K_17-Sep-2013.png
517
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jd_0HVOD9h6fUVSYMEIouX_sG5cpRBWu/view
218. 21 Sep 2013, the Karnataka Government District Children Protection Committee (Women and
Children Welfare Department) issued a show-cause notice518, wherein they made false allegations
claiming that children were kept there illegally and ordered parents of all children to appear for
interrogation. Parents from all over the country had to fly to meet the government demands,
which they did.

219. 15 Oct 2013, the parents of the children fight against the government for their constitutional,
religious, and human rights to have their children educated as per ancient ASMT tradition. The
State Government officers claimed that the parents were fake and demanded them to produce all
documents to prove they are the real parents. The parents established this by producing various
documents such as – state issues biometric-ids, passports, birth certificates, and other
documents.519 However, the State Government officers maliciously maintained that the children
were orphans. They criminally intimated the children pressurizing them to leave the Gurukul and
go with their parents or they will be taken away by the Government officers. 520 The entire attack
by the government was reported by various politically owned Kannada language news channels
that re-iterated the false claims of the government such as the claim the children were orphans
and even absurd claims such as that the parents of the children were fake.521 About 19 children
and their parents were intimidated and harassed by the Government officers to the extent that
they had no choice other than to leave.522

220. 16 Oct 2013, in a politically owned neo-Hindutva newspaper, named Indian Express523 it was
published that the Karnataka State CWC Officer, Shivalingaiah said, “We found the children
brilliant”. However, the Officer falsely claimed, “But they are not receiving formal education. They
(the ashram) do not have accreditation from any government agency, they do not follow the law
of the land and do not have an authentic syllabus for the children.” Several other politically owned
newspapers such as the Deccan Herald also spread misinformation and justified the state's legal
terrorism by falsely accusing the traditional school of child rights violation whereas in reality the
state was persecuted their children and their parents using vexatious proceedings. 524 The claims
of the Karnataka State CWC were malicious, vindictive, and completely counterfactual. The fact
that the education was not as per one of the secular state education systems and the fact that as
per Right To Education (R.T.E.) Act Section-1(5) - Vedic Pathashalas (Indigenous, religious,
traditional Hindu schools) are exempt from the purview of the RTE Act, it simply meant that the
CWC had no jurisdiction or rights in interfering with the school. This was also later pointed out by
the High Court in its order in a writ petition in 2018. This simply showed that the CWC did not
follow any law or procedures and were just twisting logic and violating the law to realize their aim
to shut down the Gurukul and deny the children of religious and indigenous education. The

518
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/CWC_show_cause_notice_17-Sep-2013.png
519
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/city-others/nithyananda-ashram-produces-88-students-before-child-welfare-panel/
520
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/367261/nithyananda-ashram-scanner-child-rights.html
521
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Kannada_language_tv_news_channel_tv9_15-Oct-2013.png
522
16 Oct 2013, The Indian Express, "Nithyananda ashram produces 88 students before child welfare panel"
http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/nithyananda-ashram-produces-88-students-before-child-welfare-panel/1183244/
523
Ibid
524
6 Nov 2013, Deccan Herald, “Nithyananda ashram under scanner for child rights violation”
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/367261/nithyananda-ashram-scanner-child-rights.html
 children were receiving formal education which was as per IGCSE Edexcel. The authorities were
presented the relevant documents such as:

(1) The Certificate of approval of EDEXCEL UK to the Nithyananda Gurukul to offer Non-
Religious conventional education with Edexcel Academic Qualifications525

(2) Documents showing the recognition of EDEXCEL courses by the central education
board – the Council of Boards of School Education in India526

(3) Documents showing the recognition by the Association of Indian Universities for
EDEXCEL 10th Grade courses as equivalent to those offered by Indian boards. 527

(4) Documents showing recognition by the Association of Indian Universities for EDEXCEL
12th grade courses as equivalent to those offered by Indian boards.528

None of these submissions remedy the damage and the state continued the lawfare and legal
terrorism.

221. On 8 Feb 2014, the Officers from the Department of Women and children announced their plans
on television529 to shut down the Nithyananda Gurukul. On multiple occasions - (1) order dated 29
Jan 2014, passed by the Director (2) order dated 11 Feb 2014 passed by the Commissioner - The
State Public Education Department, maliciously rejected the application of ASMT community
school without providing any hearing which is contrary to the provisions of law as per Karnataka
Education Act. On 11 Feb 2014, this was pointed out by the community and submitted in their
Amended Writ Petition WP 8805/2013 (END RED) WP-8830-873/2014530.

222. Subsequently, on 13 Feb 2014, the State Government sent a notice through the State Police to the
Nithyananda Gurukul to shut it down and within a timeline 7 days from receiving the notice to
send the children of the Gurukul to a nearby Government school or a private school. 531

223. 14 Feb 2014, the State Minister of education publicly re-iterated the lies spread earlier through the
media and ordered the shutdown of the Gurukula arbitrarily without any verification of facts and
due process.532 This was reported in the Hindu newspaper (politically linked to the DK/DMK anti-
Hindu terrorists) Vol 45 No. 38 dated 14 Feb 2014, in an article titled “Action to be taken against
Nithyananda's gurukula” 533 wherein the State Minister of education parroted the old same lies as
earlier.

525
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/EDEXCEL_Approval_Certificate_Gurukul_93832.png
526
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/EDEXCEL_Recognition_CBSE_18-Apr-2011.png
527
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/EDEXCEL_Recognition_AIU_10th_18-Apr-2011.png |
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ew65eySSU2UTNtLigc-BwS1nYT4sw8BH/view
528
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/EDEXCEL_Recognition_AIU_12th_06-Dec-2013.png
529
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/DWC_officer_tv_announced_plans_08-Feb-2014.png
530
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Amended_Writ_Petition_WP_8805-2013_END_RED_WP-
8830-873-2014.png
531
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Karnataka_State_Police_Notice_Gurukul_13-Feb-2014.png
532
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Karnataka_State_minister_
education_gurukul_shutdown_14-Feb-2014.png
533
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/teacherfriendly-transfers-in-the-offing-
ratnakar/article5685916.ece
224. 17 Feb 2014, Nithyananda Gurukul appealed in the High Court for a stay order 534; and it was
granted by the High Court.535

225. 26 Mar 2014, in response to the Writ Petition WP. 8805/2014 (END-RES) the State Government filed
a Statement of Objection (BV/ma/26032014/2+1) dated 26-March-2014. The state government
made a false statement in court536 that IGCSE is not recognized by the Government. The state
government statement was false – IGCSE is recognized as equivalent to Central and State
Education Boards and this is evident by COBSE Circular number COBSE/C.280/2011 dated April 18,
2011; AIA Circular No.EV/II(281/2013/1958 dated Dec 06, 2013; AIA Circular No.
EV/II(281)/2008/188 dated December 17/2008 etc.

226. The ASMT community submitted an Amended Writ Petition WP 8805/2013 (END RED) WP-8830-
873/2014 to address the lies by the State Government. The community cited the proof showing
that IGCSE is a recognized equivalent to Central and State Education Boards.537 The community
also exposed the malicious prosecution of ASMT by the State Public Education Department, that
it rejected the application without providing any hearing which is contrary to the provisions of law
as per the Karnataka Education Act. As per the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 clause (c) & (d) of
Section 2(27) the institutions giving, providing, or imparting only religious instructions as well as
the institutions imparting instructions for which there is no approved syllabi or course of studies
of the Government. Therefore, the ASMT gurukul is excluded from the purview of the Karnataka
Education Act. Despite this, the State Government of Karnataka used the sections of the Karnataka
Education Act to persecute the community and its children. As per the Karnataka Education Act,
the application for starting a regular school as per the State law should be processed in 3 months.
However, the application which was submitted by the ASMT community in 2013 was rejected in
2014 moreover rejection no written reasons for rejection were given which was also illegal. 538 The
rejection order denigrated and ridiculed the spiritual names 539 given to students as per native
Hindu Vedic tradition and with the consent of parents.

227. 17 Sep 2014, even after the stay order the officers of the Department of Women and Children did
not stop harassing and made another visit and interrogated the children in the same inhumane,
cruel, and degrading manner.540

534
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Karnataka_HC_Stay_Order_Gurukul_17-Feb-2014-p1.png
535
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Karnataka_HC_Stay_Order_Gurukul_17-Feb-2014-p2.png
536
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Karnataka_HC_State_Objection_false_statement_BV-ma-
26032014-2-1_25-Mar-2014.png
537
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Writ_Petition_WP_8805-2013_END_RED_WP-8830-873-
Edexcel-IGCSE-2014.png
538
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Writ_Petition_WP_8805-2013_END_RED_WP-8830-873-
Edexcel-IGCSE-2014-p2.png ; http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Writ_Petition_WP_8805-
2013_END_RED_WP-8830-873-Edexcel-IGCSE-2014-p3.png ;
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Writ_Petition_WP_8805-2013_END_RED_WP-8830-873-
Edexcel-IGCSE-2014-p5.png
539
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Writ_Petition_WP_8805-2013_END_RED_WP-8830-873-
Edexcel-IGCSE-2014-p4.png
540
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/DoWC_harassment_visit_17-Sep-2014.png
228. 19 Nov 2014, further, the Nithyananda Gurukul kept knocking on every door for justice, and
approached and submitted an appeal to the Minister for Women & Children, the Chief Minister,
the Governor, State, and National Human Rights Commission.541

229. From 2014 to 2019 for five years the status quo was somehow maintained because of the stay
order granted by the High Court on 17 Feb 2014. Various government departments and television
channels continued to harass in different ways.

230. Finally, on 12 Mar 2019, the High Court passed an order quashing the illegal notice and proceeding
of the Department. In the High Court of Karnataka, Writ Petition 8806 of 2014 (Order dated - 12-
March-2019), the High Court ordered the Block Education Officer to drop all proceedings against
the Nithyananda Gurukul.542 Some highlights of the court order543 :

a. In point number 12, the High Court recognized that the order by the Block Education Officer
was unauthorized.544 Further, the Court recognized that since the children were not following
conventional secular State Education, the notion of Class I to Class X did not apply to them so
the notice to shift the children from Class I to Class X out of the Gurukul was unauthorized
and did not apply to the Gurukul.

b. The High Court ordered the Block Education Officer to drop all proceedings against the
Nithyananda Gurukul.

c. In the conclusion, the High Court directed the Nithyananda Gurukul to resubmit their
application to start another school called Nithyananda Vidyalaya (as per the secular State
Board apart from the traditional Nithyananda Gurukul) and directed the Block Education
Officer to consider the application without prejudice as per law.

231. This did not remedy the situation. Even after March 2019, the Nithyananda Gurukul continue the
struggle to run traditional and indigenous traditional schools for the ASMT children despite the
hostile government. The caste supremacist media continue their hate speech, slanderous, and
defamatory attacks against the Gurukul. The hate speech also continued on social media, and
several children were subjected directly to such hate speech attacks. 14 August 2019, only after
six months of the court order, finally the Regional Education Officer passed the order (03/2012-
13/19-20 [250/19-20 / 14/8/19]) dated 14 August 2019 to repeal the order of closure of gurukul. 545

541
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/gurukul_justice_appeal_goi_MoWC_nc_19-Nov-2014.png
542
The online copy of the Writ Petition 8806 of 2014 (Order dated - 12-March-2019) from the official High Court website
http://judgmenthck.kar.nic.in/judgmentsdsp/bitstream/123456789/260974/1/WP8806-14-12-03-2019.pdf
543
(i) shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/HC_WP8806-
2014_Order_unauthorized_Block_Education_Officer_actions_12-03-2019-p1.jpg (ii)
shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/HC_WP8806-
2014_Order_unauthorized_Block_Education_Officer_actions_12-03-2019-p2.jpg (iii)
shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/HC_WP8806-
2014_Order_unauthorized_Block_Education_Officer_actions_12-03-2019-p3.jpg (iv)
shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/HC_WP8806-
2014_Order_unauthorized_Block_Education_Officer_actions_12-03-2019-p4.jpg
544
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/HC_WP8806-
2014_Order_unauthorized_Block_Education_Officer_actions_12-03-2019-p4.png
545
http://shrikailasa.github.io/persecution_evidences/gurukul/Regional_EduOfficer_Order_repeal_closure_gurukul_14-
Aug-2019.png
232. From 2013 up until 2019, a person named Janardhan Sharma took refuge in the monastery citing
a series of heart attacks, heart surgery, and inability to work to sustain himself and his family. He,
his wife, and four children were supported by the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and the ASMT
community. The children were given free education, free health care, their traveling expenses, etc.
were all borne by the monastery. The community tried to support him while his health recovered.
To avoid exertion given his fragile health Janardhan Sharma was given simple tasks such as
mentoring children studying Sanskrit, for which he withdrew salary but never actually conducted
any classes. Janardhan Sharma pretended to be in a key position of power in the monastery during
his time and tried to force himself into many negotiations of high-value contracts with external
vendors, manipulated the purchase process. By 2019, his two daughters had become Hindu
monks and got involved in the temple administration. His daughters (Ma Nithay Tattvapriyanadna
and Ma Nithyanandita) while scrutinizing temple purchases discovered the financial irregularities
done by their father. Upon being exposed for his crimes and being confronted by his daughters,
Janardhan filed a complaint with the Gujarat Police, falsely alleging that his daughters had been
abducted. On 2nd and 3rd November 2019, his daughter Ma Nithyanandita met the Gujarat Police
officers and gave a handwritten statement denying all allegations of her father as false and
baseless. She clarified she was residing in the Hindu monastery of the SPH voluntarily and happily
and requested the police to close the false case. This should have officially brought the case to
closure, but it did not.

(Left) 3 Nov 2019: Hindu nun Ma Nithya Nandithananda sitting on the bench on the extreme left
giving her formal statement in presence of multiple police officers of the Gujarat Police. (Right)
The photograph of the statement given by Ma Nithyananditha to the Gujarat State Police.

233. In November 2019, the State atrocity was much more appalling. On 15 November 2019, the
Gujarat State government (CWC) Child Welfare Commission officials raided the female monastery
and molested the children studying there, particularly the minor girls and boys studying there. The
 Gujarat State CWC officials and the State policemen showed pornography to the children. When a
small girl went to change her clothes the state officials peeped into the bathroom. The state
officials pulled the Jattas (dreadlocks) of the children causing them physical pain and emotional
pain due to the ridicule. The state officials intimidated the children threatening to put them in jail
if they did not attest to the views of the state officials. Some officers pressurized the children to
eat unhealthy processed substances containing non-vegetarian substances avoided by the ASMT
community on religious grounds and for health reasons. Children were traumatized by these
harassments and for more than a year, a few children became so afraid of going to the bathroom
alone that they would otherwise keep the door open in fear somebody might suddenly barge in.
The statement of the children collected by coercion by the Gujarat State CWC officials and the
State police and were further manipulated by these officials wherein the officials attributed false
statements against the names of the children and included the names of these children as
witnesses of these claims (made by the state authorities) in the charge sheet made against the
SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and volunteer nuns working in the monastery.

234. For the abuse done to children, the CWC officials were pulled up by the parents of these children
in the High Court.546

A security camera CCTV footage of an officer A security camera CCTV footage of an officer
touching a minor ASMT girl’s Jatta (dreadlocks) who was showing a minor girl an obscene scene
made the minor girl very uncomfortable, as per with his phone.
her testimony.

235. Following the High Court order fourteen Gujarat State government (CWC) Child Welfare
Commission officials and the Gujarat State government Police officers who had raided the female
monastery on the order of a Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Court were
booked under POCSO Act for showing pornographic material to children.

236. Unable to avail justice, the Hindu monks - Ma Nithyananditha, Ma Nithya Tattvapriyananda fled to
escape police torture and enhanced interrogation aimed at forcing them to give a false confession.
Ma Nithyananditha, Ma Nithya Tattvapriyananda jointly gave several video statements explaining
their stand of why they wanted to continue their monastic life and how they were being harassed
by the State Police to give false statements. They submitted four signed affidavits to the High Court
of Gujarat from (i) Trinidad and Tobago, (ii)Virginia, (iii) Barbados, (iv) The High Commission of India
of Kingston Jamaica, which the court finally accepted.547 In their affidavits they also cited that their

546
In High Court of Gujarat, R/SCR.A/26/2020, https://indiankanoon.org/doc/74023602/
547
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/nithyananda-ashram-case-two-missing-women-file-affidavit-from-4th-country-6220352/
 father had sided with highly influential neo-Hindutva politicians who were using the State Police
to torture them into a false confession and their fair representation was impossible in India, owing
to which they had no option but to flee India and submit their affidavits and video statements to
the High Commission of India of Kingston Jamaica only which the courts finally accepted.

237. 25 Nov 2019, the police arrested two female monks – Ma Nithya Pranapriyananda and Ma Nithya
Priyatattvananda from the monastery on false charges of kidnap, of their sister-disciple Ma
Nithyananditha. The State arrested them on these false charges without even a warrant grossly
undermining their human rights and due process rights. One of the nuns Ma Nithya
Pranapriyananda was undergoing catamenial fever. Both the nuns had been interrogated for
more than 48 hours without break by the state authorities that had completely exhausted them.
The nuns had pleaded for rest for some time but were inhumanely and cruelly treated by excessive
use of force by the state police. The police even forcibly entered their room violating their rights
to privacy as a person and toppled their bed violating their dignity as women and their chastity as
female monks, and dragged them into the police van given that they were weak to walk by
themselves. They were kept imprisoned for almost 3 months and until 7 February 2020 (75 days).
For these three months of imprisonment, the state police officers several times a day
dehumanized the female monks making extremely vulgar, derogatory, and threatening
statements such as asking to dance naked which they wished to record live for YouTube. The cruel,
inhumane, and denigrating treatment done to the female monks was normalized by publicly
ridiculing them on nonsensical allegations such as knowing English better than the local dialect.548
Upon bail, the court restrained them from leaving the city, while all hotels of the city refused
accommodation to them citing fears of police reprisal. These circumstances forced the nuns to live
on the streets during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The false case is still not closed.

238. 28 Dec 2019: The State Government completely demolished the monastery infrastructure. The
monastery - Yogini Sarvajnapeetha was the biggest female Hindu monastery in the world.

548
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/yoginis-speak-only-english-cops-clueless/articleshow/72214370.cms
239. The police complaint against the State authorities was closed without investigation and the
petition to the Court was forced to be withdrawn by the Court. The only women monastery and
Hindu University in India were demolished by the State. 549

IV. Attempts to kill ASMT leader the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism

Early attempts to assassinate the SPH.

240. During the birth star celebrations of the SPH on 25 December 2009, the SPH was poisoned
(through juice) by an assassin disguised as a devotee.

241. On 20th February 2010, a lawyer (Sridhar) approached SPH as a liaison for neo-Hindutva and
atheist political leaders. On 24 February 2010, a few senior disciples went to Chennai to meet
Sridhar. During the meeting terrorists (Nakkeeran, Sridhar, Lenin) coerced the SPH to resign from
all His organizations and to terminate all His religious and humanitarian services. They demanded
1 Billion INR from temple and charity funds in extortion550. The disciples that went for the meeting
were beaten up for the entire night, one of whom was above his sixties and a patient of terminal
cancer.

242. On 2nd March 2010 evening SunTV - the politically owned media wing of the DMK (Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam - ruling party of the State of Tamil Nadu headed by Chief Minister of the
State, Karunanidhi, made sensational and repeated screening of a fabricated video purporting to
show The SPH with a well-known Indian film actress. The video was later proved to be false: A
Judge ordered the television station to run an apology for it every two hours for 7 days, and
Hansraj Saxena, COO Sun TV confessed and was jailed for extortion 551. This did not remedy the
damage.

243. On 2nd March 2010, The SPH was in Tiruvannamalai, when a militant group headed by Shivababu
came to assassinate Him552. The SPH escaped from a rear exit, but his disciple Sri Nithya
Sharanagathananda was beaten by the militants. Overnight the disciples with SPH were forced to
flee to the Bengaluru Monastery of the ASMT.

Attempts to burn the SPH.

244. 3 March 2010, 9:00 AM 100 militants of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other neo-Hindutva
militant groups, entered the Bengaluru monastery553. They ambushed the residence hut of the
SPH. They pushed the SPH inside the hut and set it on fire554. The police were complicit in the

549
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/got-cbse-affiliation-without-govt-noc-dps/articleshow/72267554.cms
550
Registered as Cr.No. 782/2011 Soundhra Pandiyanar Bazaar PS; In Metropolitan Court Saidapet Chennai as CC
2068/15
551
18 Dec 2012 - Jaya TV - Hansraj Saxena’s Statement - Jaya TV - https://youtu.be/YdLDypTvbBk
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2013/sep/03/Channel-ordered-to-apologise-to-Ranjitha-512987.html
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/355108/bccc-tells-channel-apologise-airing.html
www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/nithyananda-cites-us-experts-to-claim-videotape-is-
fake/article2999685.ece
https://www.ibfindia.com/sites/default/files/Star%20Vijay_%20Revised%20Order.pdf
https://www.presscouncil.nic.in/OldWebsite/AR_Link/Index_of_Adjudications_2010-11_.pdf
https://www.presscouncil.nic.in/OldWebsite/COMPENDIUM_OF_ADJUDICATIONS_2011-2012.pdf
552
3 March 2010 - Tamil Murasu - Page 1 - Chennai edition - “Nithyananda Thalaimarivu”
553
4 March 2010 - Dina Malar - Page 2 - Chennai - “Nithyananda Ashram Meedhu Thaaku”
554
4 March 2010 bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/swami-on-the-run/articleshow/21911753.cms
 crime. They prevented the monastery residents from putting down the fire and threatened the
monastery residents of filing fabricated accusations against them such as possession of skin of
endangered animals unless they forfeited the monastery 555. To normalize556 the society TV9 and
others news channels with neo-Hindutva affiliations aired the assassination attempt live. The SPH
escaped from the bathroom window of the hut. The SPH continued to be hounded by the Police
of three States557, the neo-Hindutva media558 , and State intelligence559 for months. In
Tiruvannamalai, Salem560, (Bengaluru), Hosur, Pondicherry561 attempts to mob lynch and kill the
SPH occurred. The same TV channel (TV9) which captured on camera the assassination attempt of
the SPH by burning Him alive, followed Him over 3000 kilometers on road till Haridwar.

245. 15 March 2010, Haridwar, an assassin in the guise of a journalist entered the Hotel room of the
SPH with a knife562 and assaulted the SPH.

Use of State intelligence department to frame and unlawfully arrest the SPH.

Even since the beginning of His public life, the SPH had a large following of practicing Hindus who
attended His spiritual courses and programs. Since 2003, the government has commissioned the
intelligence department to snoop the SPH. The same was instrumental in the illegal arrest of the
SPH on 21 April 2010563.

246. 4 March 2010, the State Police of Tamil Nadu, filed fabricated accusations on the SPH charging
Him with rape without mentioning anybody as a victim of rape.

247. On 25 March 2010, the SPH’s anticipatory bail was denied by the High Court citing “apprehension
of the petitioner is unfounded”, saying that there was no basis on which The SPH could be arrested
so He did not need bail564.

248. On 21st April 2010, during the hearing on another anticipatory bail petition of the SPH for the
same false accusations in Ramanagara Court Bengaluru, the Police lied in the court saying they
had already arrested the SPH. Around two hours later, with the help of the intelligence
department, a different team of police officers entered the house where the SPH was staying in
Solan (Himachal Pradesh, India) to illegally arrest Him. The DySP (CID) Hussain, used excessive
force on the SPH and beat His disciples. The SPH was taken from Solan to Bengaluru. Throughout

555
https://www.ndtv.com/cities/seized-tiger-pelt-could-spell-more-trouble-for-sex-swami-416346
556
IAGS Volume 12, Issue 1, Article 6 - Cold Genocide: Falun Gong in China , https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.12.1.1513
- “In cold genocides, the atrocities against the victim group are normalized. Normalization means weaving genocide into
the fabric of society. Normalization comes from hegemony, a mode of political domination through ideology rather than
force.”
557
4 March 2010 - Headlines Today - Report (Part 5) - https://youtu.be/GeGo0JdTEjE
558
5 March 2010 - Deccan Chronicle - Page 5 - "Godman vanishes into thin air, hunt on" ; 15 March 2010 - TV9 News9
Report, 21:11 PM ; https://www.deccanherald.com/content/58601/rishikesh-seer-gave-shelter-nithyananda.html
559
21 April 2010 - AAJ Tak - https://youtu.be/XVfcIMQw3OU - mentions State intelligence was spying on the SPH for
months.
560
4 March 2010 - Dina Malar - Page 2 - Chennai - “Nithyananda Ashram Meedhu Thaaku” - Jananayaka Valibar Sangam
561
4 March 2010 - Deccan Chronicle - Pondy Ashram ransacked
562
“Irked by Nithyananda’s attitude, a local journalist allegedly slapped him for giving selective interviews to some
television news channels.” https://www.deccanherald.com/content/58601/rishikesh-seer-gave-shelter-nithyananda.html
563
21 April 2010 - AAJ Tak - https://youtu.be/XVfcIMQw3OU - mentions State intelligence was spying on the SPH for
months.
564
25 March 2010 - https://www.deccanherald.com/content/60078/hc-rejects-nithyananda-advance-bail.html
 the journey, the CID Police officers used excessive force and degrading treatment which continued
even after SPH was imprisoned in the CID office. The same night, on 21st April 2010 on His way
from the airport to prison, an acid egg was anonymously thrown at the SPH565.

Attempts of the State to kill the SPH by cruel-and-inhumane medical torture

249. 22 Apr 2010, 9 PM, District Hospital Ramanagara, the SPH was subjected to the first medical torture
by inhumane arbitrary medical tests where witness accounts566 record that an excessive amount
of blood was withdrawn in the name of testing567. When the doctor was repeatedly asked why so
much blood was required, the doctor only replied it was not required. The SPH was also injected
with some unknown substances. This was followed by the SPH being unable to see properly568,
stand or relate with people. In such conditions, the SPH was left to sit on a floor covered with urine
water. As per eyewitness disciple Sri Nithya Pranananda, the SPH pleaded that the excessive
withdrawal of blood be stopped or He may die. The police told The SPH that it would stop if He
confessed (to false charges). Although multiple such inhumane arbitrary medical tests were
conducted only one was reported by the Police. It is not known what the police did with the excess
blood.

250. The police forced SPH in different ways to give a false confession against Himself. Different officers
took turns in torturing and continuously lied to convince Him to give a false confession. Unable to
force a false confession, the police officers ridiculed SPH and demanded that they receive healing
as they had got tired of grilling Him and should also receive professional medical support. This
was reported by multiple newspapers to mock the SPH and the Hindu community. Even a High
Court judge during a hearing remarked at the police, “Under the guise of suspicion, how long can
you (police) torture a person (referring to the SPH)”569.

251. The Police torture (narrated to media as “grilling” by Police) involved bombarding SPH with
powerful lights and loud shrill noises (of tile cutting machine) to inflict extreme physical and mental
pain. This was done to psychologically weaken Him and make Him give a false confession about a
crime that never happened and He never committed. Throughout the day the SPH continued to
be subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment by different police officers (taking turns)
to coerce a false confession. Later during the night, the CID would begin extremely loud
construction work just a few feet away from the SPH cell where a high decibel tile cutting machine
was installed which was used to cut tiles of asbestos. It had a shrill sound much worse than
screaming, thereby depriving SPH of sleep or rest. The fine asbestos dust would fly towards SPH
which is a known agent for causing mesothelioma (lung cancer) in the long term and which was
intended to also assassinate SPH through asphyxiation.

565
https://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report-onlooker-flings-slipper-at-swami-nithyananda-in-bangalore-1374632
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nLLsdeBDphEMX5GXRSlNn8jzZI1LgyOwAanMDijlm1s/edit#slide=id.g89bf76b3f
c_0_1316
566
Witness testimonial of the cook of the SPH - Sri Nithya Shantimayananda Swami
567
CC 204/2010 Ramanagara District Court - Main chargesheet - District Hospital, Laboratory Report - Pg. 185 (Pg. 328 of
pdf)
568
Witness testimonial of the personal secretary and doctor of the SPH - Sri Nithya Pranananda Swami
569
22 Sept 2010, Deccan Chronicle - High court Pulls up CID -
https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=86153
252. The paper cover of the tile cutting machine was the only thing in the cell on which SPH could sit
and warm His body from the cold urine-mixed-water on the cell floor. The SPH was often
experiencing breathing issues and no medical support was provided. When the disciples
requested for the change of cell, the prison officials told, ‘This is a palace for the dog who will die
in another few days.’ There were no charges against SPH, there were no victims, there was not
even a cogent false charge that the police had finalized to force Him to falsely accept. SPH was
subjected to inhumane treatment with a sadist inexplicable motive, in no connection to aid any
investigation.

Torture of witnesses and destruction of CCTV evidence by the State Police

253. The Police CID (Crime Investigation Department) created a special cell to subject the SPH to cruel,
inhumane and degrading treatment. The Police issued a work-order570 to a company where the
Police explicitly demanded the installation of “real harsh” “lighting” to give a “freaky”, “matrix”
(movie) like effect. This room was created for the single purpose of “interrogating the SPH” and
never later used again. The cell was fitted with special CCTV cameras, the footage of which was
given to the media which aired this video and published it on their websites 571. The footage had
no audio, as most CCTV cameras record the only video. The channel on its own added its audio
and subtitles. This entire media report was false and intensified the unfair trial against the SPH.
The report marginalized the SPH both in India and abroad. Without any remorse, the channels
maintain their stand and to date continue to host this video on their websites. Neo-Hindutva
media channels have refused to comply with any of the court orders (WP 7767/2010, 14/527/10-
11-PCI, W.P. 8619/2011, BCCC Order, NBSA #32/2014, etc.) that have directed them to stop
prejudicing and aiding unfair trials against SPH, leaving the SPH and ASMT community with no
domestic recourse from this persecution. When the Counsel of the SPH raised the matter in the
court, the police claimed in the court that the footage was obtained by the media by theft in the
police office. The State Police never pursued any criminal proceedings against any media house.
Instead, the police tortured their technician (Suresh) who installed the CCTV cameras as per the
work order issued by them (Police), and forced Suresh to give a false confession that he stole the
CCTV footage and gave it to the media illegally. Suresh could establish his innocence in court only
by the end of July 2018. This is documented in the court order C.C.No. 19496/2011. By this time,
the entire episode of police leaking interrogation tapes to the media became redundant as
investigations in the case of SPH had been concluded and submitted to the trial court and charges
framed against the SPH (5 June 2018 in SC 86/2014 before the District and Sessions Court
Ramanagara)572. These CCTV video records also captured the cruel, inhumane, and degrading
torture done to the SPH by the Police. The disciples of the SPH were pressurized by police to make
false statements as a “bargain” to stop the torture of the SPH. Two female disciple nuns were
eyewitnesses, who saw the footage capturing torture. They were raped and victimized by the
police to give false confessions. 6 May 2010, Suresh was taken to a lodge named Raja Galaxy by
the police and tied to a chair. Suresh was beaten and tortured from 9 PM to 1 AM. Suresh was
forced to confess to crimes he never did. Suresh openly reported this to all available human rights

570
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uiHPNuyZ9b-UXNZkTgXmEksYm-Ai9fW7/view
571
m.timesofindia.com/videos/news/Swami%20Nithyananda's%20interrogation%20on%20tape/videoshow/5890450.cms
572
services.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindia_v4_bilingual/cases/case_no.php?state=D&state_cd=3&dist_cd=28
 forums of the country573 but those who tortured him were never brought to book. The entire
episode is rigorously and publicly documented.

254. In police custody, for over 8 days, the CID ensured that neither food nor water was given to the
SPH. The police have even taken from His food (which was brought in a tiffin by His cook - Sri
Nithya Shantimayananda upon court's approval) and eaten it for themselves. The food was
replaced with beef and other non-vegetarian items and force-fed to SPH which is a direct violation
of the religious beliefs as the cow is sacred and worshipped. Yogappa (Investigating Officer)
poured water onto the floor and made the SPH lick the water from the floor when He was thirsty.
Sri Nithya Shantimayananda whose role was to serve food to the SPH was not allowed to talk to
Him. Even after the High court's permission for disciples to provide SPH with food, they were not
allowed to serve food. A large sum of money had to be given to the police officers for them to be
allowed to give food though it was already approved by the court. At one point the CID poisoned
the food which Sri Nithya Shantimayananda had brought. Though Sri Nithya Shantimayananda
was not allowed to talk, looking at his pale face SPH understood there may be something wrong
with the food and did not eat it that day. Later that day, a rat that ate a portion of the food was
found dead, proving the food was poisoned intentionally in an attempt to assassinate SPH.

Fatal potency test in secrecy and destruction of evidence by the State

255. Monday morning, 26 April 2010, the SPH was forced into another medical torture in the name of
what was official termed as “a potency test”, which was scheduled at the Institute of Nephro-
Urology, Victoria Hospital. However, the so-called test was done under police custody at an
undisclosed location574, instead of an equipped hospital despite security measures that were
ordered by the Ramanagara Deputy Superintendent of Police already in place. This was reported
by the media, however, all digital media records have been withdrawn, and only copies of the
newspapers exist with the ASMT archives and some libraries of the country. The police records of
the event were also destroyed by the Police. Like every other day until then, excessive blood was
withdrawn from SPH. He was not allowed to meet His disciples or Legal Counsel. Unknown
substances were injected into the blood vessels of the SPH. The body of SPH was sexually and
physically abused. He was given no rest and taken to court where he reached at around 4 PM. A
few of the disciples were able to see the SPH from far and recollect that the SPH was looking very
different, He appeared exhausted but was still wearing a smile and blessing them from far. In the
court when the SPH was standing in the witness box, He maintained His composure despite the
acute genital and chest pain. He was profusely sweating. The judge noticed this and got alarmed
and ordered immediate medical attention to be given to SPH.

Invasive endoscopy, waterboarding, other inhumane medical torture

256. 26 April 2010, 8:30 PM, SPH was admitted by the police in Jayadeva Hospital, Bengaluru, India.
Witness Sri Nithya Shantimayananda recounts - “Swamiji (the SPH) had severe constipation where
blood appeared in His stool and was undergoing chest pain. Invasive Endoscopy was done on

573
Letter to Justice S R Nayak from Suresh M J dated 10th June 2010
574
27 April 2010 - The New Indian Express, Page 3 - Swamy Has Chest Pain
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QYAQQIMkZsmWoACYKJA-aVLhrroGwryK
 Swamiji. Swamiji developed constipation due to dehydration and other inhumane conditions that
were forced on Him. Under the coverup of wanting to further diagnose His stomach problem, the
officers enforced a highly invasive test called an endoscopy wherein a tube was inserted into the
stomach through the mouth and esophagus to locate ulcers, foreign objects, or other sources of
pain and disease. The tube which they used to insert into the mouth of Swamiji was double the
normal size of the tube, less elastic. In the same medical examination room in which they
performed the waterboarding treatment, again, the officers made him lie down half-naked on the
table. The doctor forced the thick, 1.5-inch diameter tube into the mouth of Swamiji. Swamiji
gagged audibly and winced in pain as the tube went down His throat. The entire length of His
throat, from His tongue until His stomach, was burning and stretched. Water began building
behind His eyes and flowing down His cheeks. Saliva leaked from His mouth, down his chin, and
his neck. Swamiji appeared to be in extreme pain when the tube was completely pushed inside.
The doctor pushed the pipe even more forcefully. Swamiji involuntarily thrashed on the table. For
twenty long minutes, Swamiji was subject to this brutal inhuman procedure. ” The SPH suffered
severe internal wounds, causing blood to appear in his stool even after six months of this
incidence. The next morning, 27 April 2010, it was extremely difficult for His body even to stand.
SPH was forced to run on a treadmill repeatedly, more than what was required at speeds higher
than needed. SPH was discharged and merely got rest for only 3 hours, from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM.
27 April 2010, by 3:30 PM the CID, had brought back SPH in their custody for continued inhumane
interrogation575.

Gag order by the Court to stop the SPH from speaking about the police torture.

257. From 30 Apr 2010, the SPH was transferred and kept in the Ramanagara Prison. On 11 June 2010,
The Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka while hearing the bail petition of SPH Bhagavan Sri
Nithyananda Paramashivam in its order Crl. P. 2328/2010576 observed the undue media influence
against SPH Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, mentioning it in point number 13 (page
number 12) as an “issue” (propaganda) which “was subsidized (funded) by the media.” Despite
making the observations, the High Court inexplicably suspended the freedom of speech of the
SPH. The SPH was forbidden by the court to impart any religious teachings other than conducting
yoga classes. The suspension of the fundamental human right to freedom of speech by the court
disabled SPH from being able to speak anything about the torture done to Him in prison. This gag
order was specifically given to systematically disable SPH from being able to seek any form of
remedy from torture or protection from attempts to assassinate Him. This was ridiculed in the
media, where it said - the court has gagged the godman 577.

258. On 12 June 2010, around 5:30 PM the SPH was released from prison. On 28 July 2010, more than
10,000 Hindu pilgrims578 had come walking from various cities and villages of Tamil Nadu to Bidadi
(Bangalore) in an annual Gurupurnima pada-yatra pilgrimage. The pilgrims went around the city
in a procession with a look-alike wax Deity of the SPH on a procession. This irked the Neo-Hindutva

575
28 April 2010 - The Times Of India - Page 2 - Lennin quizzed comes up with fresh charges
576
Crl. P. 2328/2010 http://judgmenthck.kar.nic.in/judgments/bitstream/123456789/388329/1/CRLP2328-10-11-06-
2010.pdf
577
12 June 2010 - Deccan Chronicle - Nithyananda given bail but court gags ‘godman’
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssMsDehL3BAOpC0fqIS5RLqslIMu2b6q
578
https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/July_24_2010 ; https://nithyanandapedia.org/wiki/July_30_2010
 militants who attacked the Deity mistaking it as the SPH. The fabricated accusation of rape against
the SPH was collapsing in the court and His popularity seemed to have been unaffected by the
massive hate propaganda of 5,000 hours. In response, the neo-Hindutva terrorists fabricated false
witnesses to sustain the lawfare (malicious prosecution) against the SPH. The media hate
propaganda was increased and totaled to more than 14,000 hours of hate speech, character
assassination, and defamation by 2014.

Attempts to kill the SPH for entering into Temple.

259. On 29 December 2010, the SPH went to His birthplace, Tiruvannamalai to offer His prayers at the
Arunachaleshwara Temple. Militants of DMK and CPI(M) carrying black flags 579 surrounded the
SPH and His disciples. The militants cheered at verbal death threats to the SPH, “If you (the SPH)
enter the temple we will kill you.” The disciples tried to protect the SPH and were brutally beaten
and some female disciples were sexually assaulted. The principal of His gurukul school (Rishi Sri
Nithya Advaitananda) was one among those who were beaten owing to which he suffered severe
back pain till date.

260. On 24 February 2011, at 3 PM, the State Police forced their way into the monastery without any
warrant580. On 12 June 2010, upon the release of the SPH from illegal imprisonment, the Police
Circle Inspector Dharmendra had threatened the security guards that he would burn down the
monastery. Sensing Police malpractice and threat to the life of the SPH, the security guards
(comprising the SPH disciples and monks) stopped the police and demanded a proper search
warrant before being given admission581. Deputy Superintendent of Police CID, Ramalingappa
broke the hand of an international volunteer from Malaysia who was at security. The police
arrested the volunteer including monks at security charging them with obstruction of police duty.

261. 27 April 2012, the SPH was coronated as the 293rd Pontiff of The Shyamalapeetha Sarvajnapeetha
Madurai Aadheenam, the world’s most ancient monastery. The coronation of the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam as the Supreme Pontiff of Madurai was extremely intolerable for the
neo-Hindutva terrorists, who made more than eight vexatious litigations to dethrone the SPH 582.
Over the next month, they made several physical attacks and mob-lynching attempts to
assassinate the SPH.

262. The neo-Hindutva terrorists despised Hindu women in monastic and priestly roles583. On 29 April
2012, two female disciple monks of the SPH who used to work in the temple's charitable kitchen
that served pilgrims were raped by the neo-Hindutva terrorists. 29 May 2012, two monks of the
SPH that had been posted to maintain the Kanjanur temple, were beaten by the neo-Hindutva
terrorists and had to be hospitalized 584.

579
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/124822/nityananda-greeted-black-flags.html
580
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/three-disciples-of-nithyananda-arrested-448562
581
http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/three-disciples-of-nithyananda-arrested/754742/
582
OS 1000/2012, WP 6607/.2012, WP 8260/2012, WP 9648/2012, WP 12915/2012, WP 13751/2012, OS 83/2012, OS
621/2012
583
https://www.newsclick.in/Hindutva-War-Women-gendered-face-saffron-fascism
584
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Protests-still-haunt-Nithyananda/articleshow/13184093.cms
263. 29 May 2012 – A mob of 100 anti-Hindu atheistic militants585, who opposed the appointment of
the SPH as the 293rd Pontiff of Madurai Aadheenam, came to mob lynch the SPH when he was at
his Kanjanur Agneeshwara temple residence. The personal secretary monks of the SPH were
assaulted. The mob smashed the SPH’s car. The monks managed to escape. With injuries, they
drove to the local police station for protection, filed a complaint, and got themselves
hospitalized586. Such attacks by mobs are not isolated incidences, in 2019 a senior brother disciple
(Gurubhai) of the SPH a Mahant (senior regional head) of Mahanirvani Akhada, along with his
driver and intern monks were mob lynched and killed with the State police as an accomplice to
the mob lynchers587.

264. The next day on 30 May 2012, the SPH was leaving the city of Kanjanur when again a mob of anti-
Hindu atheistic militants attacked, disciples of the SPH were assaulted 588 in front of the police.

Unlawful arrest and attempts of the State to kill the SPH by poisoned food.

265. Throughout the documented history of the monastery which spans at least 3,000 years worship
to the sacred Shivalinga has never even once been missed even for a single day. However, during
the 14 June 2012 illegal arrest SPH was denied the right and responsibility to execute His core
responsibility of offering daily worship to the Shivalinga. This broke the tradition which had even
survived during the thousand-year Hindu Holocaust perpetrated as the world’s bloodiest genocide
that killed more than 400 million.589 A part of this was reported by the media, although in a
manipulated way to denigrate the SPH.590 The SPH was starved over two days. At night, some food
was given by the prison staff. A well-wisher in the prison staff slipped a note with the food warning
SPH to not consume the food as it was poisoned. SPH did not consume the food at all. Prison mice
ate the food. The next morning the mice were found to be dead confirming that the food was
poisoned.

266. The High Court in its order CRL.P. 3253/2012591 implicitly exposed the State terrorism, where it
termed the arrest of SPH in 2012 as “illegal”, “without any authority”, “contrary to law”, ”without
jurisdiction”. This did not remedy the situation. There were no repercussions for perpetrators of
the crime who were protected by the State. This is the reason why assassination attempts, illegal
imprisonment, and custodial torture was repeatedly done to SPH until 2018 when SPH was forced
to withdraw from public life in India. The Chief Minister who had openly given orders to the police
to use the brutal force of SPH only escalated in his position and capacity in the government and
became the Central Government’s Law Minister.

267. Between 26 Oct 2013 and 11 Feb 2014, Bengaluru Aadheenam: the deities and the Puja items were
contaminated with dangerous alloys by a group of sculptors who had infiltrated the organization
in the pretext of employment. This contamination causes slow poisoning to anyone who performs

585
17 May 2012, Daily Thanthi, Page 4, DMK and DK party workers show black flags as warning to Nithyananda
586
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=221868921865134
587
https://youtu.be/oWImXYcYnpw
588
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G11aWqbWGwWJqnU31GWkP-e5SW-SinwU/view
589
https://gov.shrikailasa.org/persecution
590
bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/cover-story/denied-his-shivalinga-in-cop-custody-nithyananda-curses-igp-
fasts-through-the-night/articleshow/21363014.cms
591
CRL.P. 3253/2012 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/85011170
 the daily rituals. The infiltrators also stole 40kg of silver. A Police complaint was registered against
the group, but no action was taken.592

268. Samaya Television Network Haridwar Attack: On January 13, 2014 - Samaya Television sent its crew
to Haridwar to physically attack the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam.

269. Bengaluru Aadheenam: Ramesh Gowda an influential politician and his more than a hundred
people strong gang of militants attacked the Bengaluru Aadheenam for almost 4 continuous
hours. The attack was done on March 9, 2013, and March 17, 2013. The goals were two-fold: one,
to find and murder the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam, the spiritual head of the ASMT
community; and two, to ensure that the ASMT community was always in fear feeling themselves
in a survival threat. Several media channels were present these media channels are owned by the
same extremist political elements. With no recourse from the Police, the police refused to register
any complaints. Also, on March 9, 2013, the leader of Nav Nirmana Sene, Bhima Shankar Patil, in
an interview with Samaya TV declared that he and his group are determined in attacking all
monasteries, temples, and centers of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and they would not
stop until they forced Him out of the state of Karnataka.

Death threats to the SPH on national television by Neo-Hindutva extremists

270. On, 9 March 2013, Vagish Prasad, neo-Hindutva terrorist Vagish Prasad wielded a sword and
issued a death threat to the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam from a national news channel
named Suvarna TV. Despite the video evidence the local police refused to register any formal
complaint (FIR). A city magistrate registered the FIR 593. The case was dismissed despite video
evidence and telecast on national television. 594

271. On January 18, 2014, the Nava Nirmana Sene heard from their local scouts that the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam was visiting a devotee whose grandmother was paralyzed and facing
the last moments of her life. The Nava Nirmana Sene used this opportunity to mob lynch the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam. They gathered a mob of 30 dressed in white and black uniform at
the gate of the Bengaluru Aadheenam with the intent to storm inside and murder His Divine
Holiness upon Him exiting the monastery. His Divine Holiness canceled the trip to the devotee’s
home.

272. Bengaluru Aadheenam: On July 12, 2014, 30 caste supremacist militants attacked Bengaluru
Aadheenam. They were wielding weapons such as swords, machetes, and iron rods. They set fire
to posters and flyers of the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and brought down billboards in front
of the gate. Then, various burning materials and improvised explosives were thrown inside the
Aadheenam to set the residences on fire. The day was the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima.
Many devotees from all around the world had gathered to celebrate the occasion. Due to the mob
attack, the celebration had to be canceled and the residents were instructed to stay indoors.

592
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lZHMJJKLulaBUqXEcM1MAo9iwljRXmPR/view
593
FIR 81/2013 dated 10/March/2013 at the 8th Addl. CMM Court. Nrupatunga Road, Bangalore City
594
(i) CC 27325/2014, CMM Court Bangalore, order dated 13 Oct 2014. drive.google.com/file/d/1vqA2KX4Hx3lsUiaqorZZVaMIHwdBrdLo
(ii) Cr. 3708/2013, CMM Court Bangalore, dated 11 Mar 2013.
drive.google.com/file/d/1HLUNrbqy8FhEPn12PUJK9lX6TtjZn7Xs
 2014 - Cruel, Inhuman, degrading murder attempt by the State in the guise of a second
‘Potency Test’
273. 8 September 2014, 8 am SPH submitted Himself to the Medical Superintendent at the Institute of
Nephro-Urology Victoria Hospital. He was taken to a special ward no. 1 on the second floor. The
test was not done in a room with privacy; it was done in an open ward, where anybody could just
walk to see SPH’s private parts. The fact that the test was done in a ward, not in any room with
privacy is recorded in the medical report in writing (refer Pg. 33 of “08.03 - certified copies of the
medical report from victoria”).

274. The media made caricatures with vulgar defamatory narratives of this episode and aired while the
test was still in progress. It was not a coincidence. In 2010, the police had leaked the CCTV footage
of interrogation (without audio) to the media and used it to misreport in public as if SPH had
confessed to some crime.595 In an attempt to repeat this, and to publish humiliating pictures of
SPH in the media, the medical team repeatedly pressured SPH to consent to a video recording of
the test. This was not a simple matter of freedom of speech of media or mere defamation by the
media, here the police were pressurizing SPH to allow videography of his venereal organs so that
media can make pornographic videos to humiliate SPH. This was the third such attempt, of
psychological torture and sexualized hate propaganda in four years where police were directed
and openly involved.

275. The State medical team recorded this in their report (refer Pg. 34 of “08.04), “Sri Nithyananda
Swamy refused to permit Audio-video recording of the tests which was conveyed to the
investigating officer.” The medical team never made any clear stand (neither scientific nor rational)
on why the examination of venereal organs required videography. Neither was there any directive
from the Supreme Court for such recording.

276. 8 September 2014, 8 am SPH submitted Himself to the Medical Superintendent at the Institute of
Nephro-Urology Victoria Hospital. He was taken to a special ward no. 1 on the second floor.

277. The Supreme Court of India, in its order to SLP 5844/2014 in point 5 had only said, “for the limited
purpose of taking his blood samples, voice test and subjecting him to medical test and shall release
him after completion of the tests.” The medical team ((i) Dr. C R Chandrashekar, (ii) Dr.
Chandrashekar H, (iii) Dr. Veeranna Gowda K M, (iv) Dr. Venkata Raghava S) was accompanied by
Karnataka State Police Investigation Officer Lokesh. All of them put undue pressure on SPH in the
guise of following the Supreme Court Order and asked SPH to accept unethical and dangerous
medical procedures in writing. These procedures which involved injecting unknown substances
had caused cardiac symptoms to SPH in the previous medical “test” torture (dated 26th April 2010).

278. But in the same order, the Supreme Court had also said, “It is the prime duty of the accused to
cooperate with the investigating agency,” which was used to put undue pressure by the State

595
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/swami-nithyanandas-interrogation-on-tape/olympicvideoshow/5890450.cms
 Medical Team and State Police on SPH to attest in writing (Pg. 8 of “08.03 - certified copies of the
medical report from victoria”) and to co-operate for His torture and assassination.

279. Throughout the medical test, Police Investigation Officer Lokesh pressurized and instructed the
State Medical team to conduct tests to either kill SPH or at least leave SPH with disabilities such
that He is never able to walk. At a point, when Lokesh thought SPH is not conscious to hear Him
and none of His disciples are around, He told - “Inject whatever, do whatever just get a positive
(potency). Or at least disable Him. He should not be able to walk.”

280. SPH consented in writing (Pg. 13 of “08.03 - certified copies of the medical report from victoria”) to
the recording of history, physical examination, blood tests, ultrasound, penile doppler (without
injection of vasoactive substance). 8 September 2014, 8 AM, special ward no. 1, second floor of
Institute of Nephro-Urology Victoria Hospital. It was an open ward without any privacy. He was
subjected to brutal sexual torture. This was narrated live in several local media channels in a
defamatory way. Doctors tried to use female nurses for these tests, and it was made sure this was
narrated in the media. The eyewitness (Doctor) recalls female staff was made to parade in
perverted ways in the open ward. These narratives were defamatory, hateful, and extremely vulgar
to ensure no sympathy was felt towards SPH. SPH was forced by the medical team to have tests
done by female nurses, right from the withdrawal of blood to everything else. It was emphasized
repeatedly that SPH being a lifelong celibate monk and the religious leader of 2 billion Hindus
should not be subjected to such treatment which is an absolute violation of his religious and
human rights. The nurse in turn violently punched the injection needle multiple times in the arm
of SPH. SPH was accompanied by devotees who were professional surgeons, they narrate their
eyewitness account, “The only time I have touched Swamiji (SPH) is when I had the blessed chance
of reverentially touching His feet. Even as a surgeon I was not able to handle the sight of the
medical assistant repeatedly punching the syringe into the body of Swamiji (SPH) pretending as if
being too amateur to find the veins to properly withdraw blood.”

281. SPH was forcibly masturbated, subjecting Him to excessive force. It was extremely painful
physically. The pain increased as His veins in that region were swollen, due to varicose (also
recorded in State medical report in doppler test as - ”significant varicocele seen on either side” Pg.
16 of “08.03 ). Forced masturbation required higher blood flow through calcified-obstructed-veins
(recorded in State medical report in doppler test as “calcification in right scrotal sac“ Pg. 16 of
“08.03 ), which put more stress on the veins and internally added to already unbearable pain in
the veins. SPH experienced and reported deep-rooted penile pain.

282. In 2015, a panel of UN consisting of medical and forensic experts unequivocally called for the ban
of forced anal examination terming it as unscientific and equivalent to rape596. On 8 Sept 2014,
SPH was subjected to anal torture, which was described and worded in the State medical reports
as “per rectal examination” a benign-sounding term that concealed the serious harm the entire
team caused to His body (see Pg. 37 of “08.03 ). The State police officer Lokesh told the State
Medical team - “Inject whatever, do whatever just get a positive (potency). Or at least disable Him.

596
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002536&type=printable
 He should not be able to walk.” Frustrated the State Medical team of doctors told the staff to kick
SPH, it was reported in the media to incite hatred against SPH597. Because of all these tortures and
the anal torture (disguised as a “per rectal examination”) SPH was unable to walk, unable to urinate
without pain for several months, unable to even sit in a chair without pain for several months,
needing help to even walk and use the restroom for several months to come, deep-rooted penile
pain.

283. In such pain, the hospital willfully denied a wheelchair to SPH and made sure to force Him to stand
when He was not even able to get up. The picture above on the right side shows SPH in a brand
new wheeler chair still covered in packaging which was purchased by disciples because the
government hospital denied even bare minimum support. SPH only prayed “Om Namah Shivaya”
repeatedly and went through the torture. The video clip linked shows similar torture at 1min28sec
later during the same day in FSL Madiwala during the voice test done by the State 598.

284. SPH was subjected to unscientific tests but some scientific tests which helped in clearly
establishing His impotence were omitted citing ridiculous reasons. For example, out of all the tests
the most scientific potency test599 - the Rigiscan test was not done. The Medical team cited that
they did not have the Rigiscan machine, a third-party doctor offered it to the hospital, they declined
to accept it and made sure to not conduct it.

285. The lab report of the State medical team established SPH is impotent. However, the state medical
team in the final report concluded contradicting their own data, recorded by their own lab and
published in the final report. This was pointed out by all the experts who studied the report in
sworn affidavits.

286. The State Medical Team’s opinion contradicted their data. All the medical tests were done under
the direct supervision of the Police (Investigating Officer - Lokesh). Annexures and evidence:

a. The following document gives the detailed government medical reports as it was
received.
b. Notarized affidavits of medical experts from all over the world on the above
government report:
i. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mc9cnUll6cjk9lXCw7YVOfrMvdeLKkKB/vi
ew
ii. https://nithyanandatruth.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/colonel-
affidavit.pdf
c. A presentation combining (1) and (2)
docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L49iJhQjC2lpJsrba9RGVWSfYEe5qHg__0NLrIqwhuY/

597
https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=263353
598
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vi3YpN2l0Mq3GDtH-1OHB2JVYGEYRgrf/view
599
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=POTENCY-TEST-DOES-IT-WORK-
11092014012051
287. Bengaluru Aadheenam: On the night of October 24, 2014, TV9 Kannada sent a large group of paid
assassins to the Bengaluru Aadheenam and to kill the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam. The
assassins did not find Him. They planted false entrails of liquor, condoms, and drugs at the
Bengaluru Aadheenam, which could elicit false and vexatious litigations against SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam.

288. Phuket: Participants from over 50 countries around the world had gathered for a 21-day program,
conducted personally by His Divine Holiness from December 7 to 27, 2015, at Phuket Thailand.
The political extremist groups from India, with the help of the local mafia, disrupted the program
and tried to kill SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam.

- The staff of the hotel at which the program was organized disrupted the program. The
staff took unauthorized videos of the program. They provided the video recording to the
local media without consent.
- The hotel staff frequently disconnected electricity in the middle of the night in the pretext
of maintenance.
- The hotel staff creates obstacles in conducting the daily program. A formal request was
made to the hotel staff to relocate to a different hotel. After the formal request, the hotel
authority took 50 of the participants as a hostage and prevented relocating to the new
hotel. The hotel security physically assaulted a few of the program participants.
- On 22nd December 2015, Sri Nithya Sadashivananda placed an order for organic food
which is meant for SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and other team members. The food
was poisoned. Sri Nithya Sadashivananda who tested the food before delivering it to
others had a seizure and became unconscious. He was taken to the hospital.

289. Nithyananda Peetham Camp, Kumbh Mela: On April 16, 2016, at the Ujjain Kumbh Mela a fire
accident was orchestrated to kill the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam.

290. Lord Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple at Melkote: On November 30, 2016, militant elements along
with the media mob lynched the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam while he was visiting Lord
Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple.

291. Bengaluru Aadheenam: On December 25, 2017, a false police complaint of kidnapping was
registered against the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam. The complaint was orchestrated by the
police. Police kidnapped two disciples of SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam to the nearby Forest.
They were threatened and beaten up to give false statements against SPH Nithyananda
Paramashivam on kidnapping, one of the disciple's birth certificate was forged by the police to
make the kidnapping appear to be of a minor.

292. Madurai Meenakshi Temple, Madurai: On. February 02, 2018, terrorists used explosives inside the
temple to assassinate the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam while he was visiting Madurai
Meenakshi temple along with his disciples.

293. Bengaluru Aadheenam: On the 5th of March 2018, militant elements along with the media mob
lynched the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam while he was visiting Panchamukha Anjaneya temple
to celebrate the grand inauguration of the five-faced Hanuman deity During this visit a person
identified as Ramesh offered poisoned food as prasad to the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam. A
police complaint was filed. So far, no action has been taken.
 Assassins enter the residence of the SPH to kill Him with a sword.

294. Bengaluru Aadheenam: On June 6, 2018, three militants armed with knives and machetes and fully
covered faces, trespassed into Bengaluru Aadheenam, and barged into the residence of the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam to kill him.

295. Bengaluru Aadheenam: On the 3rd of July 2018, at about 5:30 pm, a group of 10 militants
trespassed into the Bengaluru Aadheenam looking for the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam. They
beat up Sanyasis and harassed residents while demanding to know the whereabouts of the SPH
Nithyananda Paramashivam.

296. 4 December 2019 - neo-Hindutva national television channel Republic TV runs hate propaganda -
“Drag back Nithyananda” - targeting the SPH.600

297. 8 December 2019 - After the sensational publicity of KAILASA by the Neo-Hindutva media channel
Republic TV, a member of the legislative assembly incited Neo-Hindutva extremists and State
Police to carry extrajudicial murder of the SPH.601

Systematic targeting of Hindu spiritual traditions by the State

298. Extrajudicial killing by state actors has been normalized in India. Mass protests rarely happen, and
police are very rarely held accountable, no action is taken against them for police killings. This has
created a problem of mindset - most people believe - police kill those who deserve it. The state
uses disinformation and murder-by-mob against monks. Mobs create a cover for police to carry
out killings of unarmed “demonstrators”.602

299. The hangover of the colonial past continues to remain in India to date. The Criminal Tribes Act,
1871 classified monks as born criminals and continues to remain in the form of the Habitual
Offenders Act, 1961, and various other anti-begging acts. These acts give arbitrary powers to police
to arrest and imprison Hindu Sadhus without due process.603

300. ASMT monks including Guru Maha Sannidhanams are required to study and write commentaries
on various scriptures (Chaturmasya). They are also expected to perform ParivarajikaYatra to
ShaktiPeethas - pilgrimage to various spiritual ecosystems by seeking alms for many years. During
this travel, they give discourses on scriptures, counsel people, and provide traditional healing.
They often travel to remote areas underserved by the state. This spiritual process of seeking alms
is designed not only to expose Sadhus to all cross-sections of society and deeply engage with them
but also to show the innate goodness in people. As Guru Maha Sannidhanams are expected to

600
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmU6Yrny48A
601
Dec 2019: Jagga Reddy's poser to Police: Can cops kill Swami Nithyananda in encounter?
www.thehansindia.com/telangana/jagga-reddys-poser-to-police-can-cops-kill-swami-nithyananda-in-encounter-588076
602
https://scroll.in/article/848519/state-failure-why-did-haryana-allow-lakhs-of-ram-rahims-supporters-to-gather-in-
panchkula , (ii) https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/02/india/police-brutality-india-dst-intl-hnk/index.html , (iii)
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/02/india/police-brutality-india-dst-intl-hnk/index.html , (iv)
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/21/getting-away-torture-india
603
(i) https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-denotification-68-years-ago-on-this-day-ex-criminal-tribes-
still-fight-stigma-poverty/359558 , (ii) https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/end-this-long-
trauma/article25692853.ece , (iii) https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/sadhu-beaten-to-death-in-up/cid/1795575 (iv)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42864482
 run large organizations this is an essential process to administer them with neutrality and life
positivity. Anti-begging laws along with the habitual offenders act have continued to stigmatize
ASMT monks as sub-humans in the eyes of the state.604

301. India has a massive problem of undertrials in prison. In 2019 there are around 320,000 undertrials
in prison of which over 100,000 were lodged in prison for more than a year awaiting their trial. It
is not uncommon for an undertrial to spend more time in prison than the prison sentence itself if
convicted, and it is quite common to serve more than half the term as an undertrial. The problem
is worsening every year at an alarming rate. In 1978, 54% of the prison population were undertrials
by 2019 it shot up to 70%. It is the poor who languish in jails waiting for years waiting for their
trial.605

302. Lack of accountability of police, perpetual wait as an undertrial in prison, inhuman criminalization
of monks by law, and arbitrary detention powers given to police has resulted in a disproportionate
percentage of ASMT monks being victims of crime and state persecution. Since ASMT monks live
by wandering and begging for many years their detention by police leads to being in prison for
many years without a trial. The Indian state has vilified ASMT monks in the eyes of society leading
to a further increase in their persecution. It is a vicious cycle with no end in sight.606

V. Observations by the international agencies

303. In its 2018 annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) stated
“conditions for religious minorities have deteriorated over the last decade due to a multifaceted
campaign by Hindu-nationalist groups…. [Religious minorities] face challenges ranging from acts
of violence or intimidation to the loss of political power, to increasing feelings of
disenfranchisement and ‘otherness’.” USCIRF again designated India as a “Tier 2” country, defined
as one where the violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are serious and are
characterized by at least one of the elements of the “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” standard
for “countries of particular concern” (CPCs, a formal U.S. State Department designation). USCIRF
found that, in 2017, “religious freedom conditions continued a downward trend in India.”: “India’s
history as a multicultural and multireligious society remained threatened by an increasingly
exclusionary conception of national identity based on religion. During the year, Hindu-nationalist
groups sought to “Saffronize” India through violence, intimidation, and harassment against non-
Hindus and Hindu minorities and Dalits. Both public and private actors pursued this effort. At the
federal level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made statements decrying mob violence, but
members of his own political party have affiliations with Hindu extremist groups and many have

604
https://akhilkodali.medium.com/hindu-sadhu-still-carry-the-burden-of-classification-of-criminal-by-british-
9d5a73f1a365
605
(i) https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-70-prisoners-in-india-are-undertrials/article32569643.ece , (ii)
https://criminallawstudiesnluj.wordpress.com/2020/10/25/the-state-of-undertrial-incarceration-in-india , (iii)
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/undertrial-prisoners-indian-jails-ncrb-report-prison-statistics-supreme-court-
1618588-2019-11-15
606
(i) https://nationworldnews.com/naga-sadhu-was-severely-tortured-by-police-in-congress-ruled-chhattisgarh-lathi-hit-
on-genitals-looted-cash/ (ii) https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/sadhu-beaten-to-death-in-up/cid/1795575 (iii)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/5-accused-for-killing-2-sadhus-from-uttar-
pradesh/articleshow/65466571.cms (iv) https://breakingtube.com/crime/sadhu-beaten-to-daath-in-meerut-for-wearing-
bhagwa-gamchal-and-tilak/ (v) https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/NAT-OTS-police-beat-sadhu-issue-about-ganesh-
visarjan-in-river-5122228-NOR.html
 used discriminatory language about religious minorities. Despite Indian government statistics
indicating that communal violence has increased sharply over the past two years, the Modi
Administration has not addressed the problem.”

304. Since 2001, USCIRF has attempted to visit India to assess religious freedom conditions on the
ground. However, on three different occasions—in 2001, 2009, and 2016—the New Delhi
government has refused to grant visas for a USCIRF delegation despite requests being supported
by the U.S. State Department. The New Delhi government regularly “rejects” the findings of USCIRF
reports and expresses “serious doubts about their credibility.”

VI. Conclusions
305. It is amply evident that the Indian government interferes in the religious community leadership
succession process which is a flagrant violation of both their own and international legal
framework concerning religious freedom. This deprives millions of followers of the religious
sanctity of their practice. Given the seriousness of the matter, an investigation into this by a
reputed international body will put pressure on the Indian Central and State Governments to take
corrective action.

306. The international community should support the ASMT community by condemning the
interference of the State of Tamil Nadu (India) in the religious appointment of the
Gurumahasannidhanam of Madurai Aadheenam and Thondaimandala Aadheenam and to stop
interfering in religious succession matters.
 Part VI
Appendix - Bhagavad Gita Verses
धृतराष्ट्र उवाच |
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे सर्वेता युयुत्सवः |
र्ार्काः पाण्डवाश्चैव ककर्कुवमत सञ्जय ||1.1||
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca |
dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ |
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva kim akurvata sañjaya ||
1.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, assembled on this righteous holy land of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, what did my
sons and those of Pāṇḍu, eager and ready to fight, do?

सञ्जय उवाच ।
दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दु योधनस्तदा |
आचायमर्ुपसङ्गम्य राजा वचनर्ब्रवीत् ||1.2||
sañjaya uvāca
dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkaṃ vyūḍhaṃ duryodhanas tadā |
ācāryam upasaṅgamya rājā vacanam abravīt ||
1.2 Sañjaya said: O king, looking at the Pāṇḍava army in full formation, Duryodhana went to his teacher and
spoke.

पश्यैतां पाण्डु पुत्राणार्ाचायम र्हती ं चर्ूर्् ।

व्यूढां द्रु पदपुत्रेण तव किष्येण धीर्ता ||1.3||
pasyai ’tāṃ pāṇḍuputrānām ācārya mahatīṃ camūm |
vyūḍhām drupada putreṇa tava śiṣyeṇa dhīmatā ||
1.3 O my teacher, behold the great army of the sons of Pāṇḍu, arrayed for battle by your intelligent disciple, the
son of Drupada.

अत्र िूरा र्हे ष्वासा भीर्ाजुमनसर्ा युकध |

युयुधानो कवराटश्च द्रु पदश्च र्हारथ: ||1.4||
atra śūrā maheṣvāsā bhīmārjunasamā yudhi |
yuyudhāno virāṭaś ca drupadaś ca mahā rathaḥ ||

1.4 Here in this army there are many heroes wielding mighty bows, and equal in military prowess to Bhīma and
Arjuna— Yuyudhāna, Virāṭa, and the great chariot warrior Drupada.
धृष्ट्केतुश्चेककतान: काकिराजश्च वीयमवान् |
पुरुकजत्कुन्तिभोजश्च िैयश्च नरपु ङ्गव: ||1.5||
dhṛśṭaketuś cekitānaḥ kāśirājaś ca vīryavān |
purujit kuntibhojaś ca śaibyaś ca narapuṅgavaḥ ||
1.5 There are courageous warriors like Dṛṣṭaketu, Cekitāna, the courageous Kāśīrāja, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and
Śaibya, the best of men.

युधार्न्युश्च कवक्राि उत्तर्ौजाश्च वीयमवान् |

सौभद्रो द्रौपदे याश्च सवम एव र्हारथा: ||1.6||
yudhāmanyuś ca vikrānta uttamaujāś ca vīryavān |
saubhadro draupadeyāś ca sarva eva mahārathāḥ ||
1.6 There are the mighty Yudhāmanyu, the brave Uttamauja, Abhimanyu, the son of Subhadrā and the sons of
Draupadī, all of them great chariot warriors.

अस्माकं तु कवकिष्ट्ा ये ताकिबोध किजोत्तर् |

नायका र्र् सैन्यस्य संज्ञाथं तान्ब्ब्रवीकर् ते ||1.7||
asmākaṁ tu viśhiṣhṭā ye tānnibodha dwijottama |
nāyakā mama sainyasya sanjñārthaṁ tānbravīmi te ||
1.7 O best of the brāhmaṇas, let me tell you, who are the powerful warriors on our side—the generals of my
army; for your information, I mention them.

भवान्ब्भीष्मश्च कणमश्च कृपश्च सकर्कतञ्जय: |

अश्वत्थार्ा कवकणमश्च सौर्दकत्तस्तथैव च ||1.8||
bhavān bhīṣmaś ca karṇaś ca kṛ paś ca samitiṃjayaḥ |
aśvatthāmā vikarṇaś ca saumadattis tathai ’va ca ||
1.8 Your goodself, Bhīṣma, Karṇa, Kṛpa, who are ever victorious in battle, an even so Aśvatthāma, Vikarṇa and
the son of Somadatta.
अन्ये च बहव: िूरा र्दथे त्यक्तजीकवता: |
नानािस्त्रप्रहरणा: सवे युद्धकविारदा: ||1.9||
anye ca bahavaḥ śūrā mad arthe tyakta jīvitāḥ |
nānā śastra praharaṇāḥ sarve yuddha viśāradāḥ ||
1.9 Many other heroes there are who are prepared to lay down their lives for my sake; all are well-equipped with
different weapons, and well experienced in warfare science.

अपयाम प्तं तदस्माकं बलं भीष्माकभरकक्षतर्् |

पयाम प्तं न्तिदर्ेतेषां बलं भीर्ाकभरकक्षतर्् ||1.10||
aparyāptaṃ tad asmākaṃ balaṃ bhīṣmābhi rakṣitam |
paryāptaṃ tvidam eteṣāṃ balaṃ bhīmābhi rakṣitam ||
1.10 The strength of army of ours, protected by Bhīṣma, is invincible whereas the strength of their army
carefully protected by Bhīma is limited.

अयनेषु च सवेषु यथाभागर्वन्तथथता: |

भीष्मर्ेवाकभरक्षिु भवि: सवम एव कह ||1.11||
ayaneṣu ca sarveṣu yathā bhāgam avasthitāḥ |
bhīṣmam evā bhirakṣantu bhavantaḥ sarva eva hi ||
1.11 Stationed in your respective divisions on all fronts, all of you must give full protection to Bhīṣma

तस्य सञ्जनयन्हषं कुरुवृद्ध: कपतार्ह: |

कसंहनादं कवनद्योच्चै: िङ् खं दध्मौ प्रतापवान् ||1.12||
tasya sañjanayan harṣaṃ kuru vṛddhaḥ pitāmahaḥ |
siṃha nādaṃ vinadyoccaiḥ śaṇkhaṃ dadhmau pratāpavān ||
1.12 Then Bhīṣma, the mighty patriarch of the Kuru dynasty, their glorious grandfather, roared like a lion and
blew his conch, giving Duryodhana joy.

तत: िङ् खाश्च भेयमश्च पणवानकगोर्ुखा: |

सहसैवाभ्यहन्यि स िब्दस्तुर्ुलोऽभवत् ||1.13||
tataḥśaṇkhāś ca bheryaś ca paṇavānaka gomukhāḥ |
sahasaivābhyahanyanta sa śabdas tumulo ’bhavat ||
1.13 Then, conches, bugles, trumpets, drums and horns were all suddenly sounded, and the combined sound was
tumultuous.

तत: श्वेतैहमयैयुमक्ते र्हकत स्यन्दने न्तथथतौ |

र्ाधव: पाण्डवश्चैव कदव्यौ िङ् खौ प्रदध्मतु: ||1.14||
tataḥ śvetair hayair yukte mahati syandane sthitau |
mādhavaḥ pāṇḍavaś caiva divyau śaṇkhau pradadhmatuḥ ||
1.14 Then, seated on a magnificent chariot drawn by white horses, both Mādhava (Kṛṣṇa) and Arjuna sounded
their divine conches.

पाञ्चजन्यं हृषीकेिो दे वदत्तं धनञ्जय: |

पौण्डर ं दध्मौ र्हािङ् खं भीर्कर्ाम वृकोदर: ||1.15||
pāñcajanyaṃ hṛṣīkeśo devadattaṃ dhanañjayaḥ |
pauṇḍraṃ dadhmau mahā śaṅkhaṃ bhīma karmā vṛkodaraḥ ||
1.15 Then, Hṛṣikeśa (Kṛṣṇa) blew His conch, called Pāñcajanya; Dhanañjaya (Arjuna) blew his conch, called
Devadatta; and Bhīma blew his mighty conch called Pauṇḍra.

अनिकवजयं राजा कुिीपुत्रो युकधकिर: |

नकुल: सहदे वश्च सुघोषर्कणपुष्पकौ ||1.16||
anantavijayaṃ rājā kuntī putro yudhiṣṭhiraḥ |
nakulaḥ sahadevaś ca sughoṣa maṇipuṣpakau ||
1.16, 17, 18 King Yudhisṭra, the son of Kuntī, blew his conch, the Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew
theirs known as Sughośa and Maṇipuṣpaka. The excellent archer, the king of Kāśī, the great chariot-fighter
Śikhaṇḍī, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa and the invincible Sātyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadī , and the mighty-
armed Abhimanyu, son of Subhadrā, all of them, O king, blew their own conches.
काश्यश्च परर्ेष्वास: किखण्डी च र्हारथ: |
धृष्ट्द् युम्नो कवराटश्च सात्यककश्चापराकजत: ||1.17||
kāśyaś ca parameṣvāsaḥ śikhaṇḍī ca mahā rathaḥ |
dhṛṣṭadyumno virāṭaś ca sātyakiś cāparājitaḥ ||
1.16, 17, 18 King Yudhisṭra, the son of Kuntī, blew his conch, the Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew
theirs known as Sughośa and Maṇipuṣpaka. The excellent archer, the king of Kāśī, the great chariot-fighter
Śikhaṇḍī, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa and the invincible Sātyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadī , and the mighty-
armed Abhimanyu, son of Subhadrā, all of them, O king, blew their own conches.
द्रु पदो द्रौपदे याश्च सवमि: पृकथवीपते |
सौभद्रश्च र्हाबाहु: िङ् खान्दध्मु: पृथक् पृथक् ||1.18||
drupado draupadeyāś ca sarvaśaḥ pṛthivī pate |
saubhadraś ca mahābāhuh śaṅkhān dadhmuḥ pṛthak-pṛthak ||
1.16, 17, 18 King Yudhisṭra, the son of Kuntī, blew his conch, the Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew
theirs known as Sughośa and Maṇipuṣpaka. The excellent archer, the king of Kāśī, the great chariot-fighter
Śikhaṇḍī, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa and the invincible Sātyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadī , and the mighty-
armed Abhimanyu, son of Subhadrā, all of them, O king, blew their own conches.
स घोषो धातमराष्ट्राणां हृदयाकन व्यदारयत् |
नभश्च पृकथवीं चैव तुर्ुलो नु नादयन् ||1.19||
sa ghoṣo dhārtarāṣṭrāṇāṃ hṛdayāni vyadārayat |
nabhaś ca pṛthivīṃ caiva tumulo vyanunādayan ||
1.19 The terrible sound echoing through the sky and the earth rent the hearts of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
अथ व्यवन्तथथतान्ब्दृष्ट्वा धातमराष्ट्रान् ककपध्वज: |
प्रवृत्ते िस्त्रसम्पाते धनुरुद्यम्य पाण्डव: |
हृषीकेिं तदा वाक्यकर्दर्ाह र्हीपते ||1.20||
atha vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā dhārtarāṣṭrān kapidhvajaḥ |
pravṛtte śastrasaṃpāte dhanur udyamya pāṇḍavaḥ |
hṛṣīkeśaṃ tadā vākyam idam āha mahīpate ||
1.20 Seeing the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra arrayed in the battle field, Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, who was seated in his
chariot, bearing the flag marked with Hanumān, took up his bow.
अजुमन उवाच |
सेनयोरुभयोर्म ध्ये रथं थथापय र्ेऽच्युत ||1.21||
arjuna uvāca |
senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṃ sthāpaya me ’cyuta ||
1.21, 22 Arjuna said: O Acyuta (Infallible One), please place my chariot between the two armies while I may
observe these warriors arrayed for battle and with whom I have to engage in fight.
यावदे ताकिरीक्षेऽहं योद् धुकार्ानवन्तथथतान् |
कैर्मया सह योद्धव्यर्न्तस्मन् रणसर्ुद्यर्े ||1.22||
yāvad etān nirīkṣe ’haṃ yoddhu kāmān avasthitān |
kair mayā saha yoddhavyam asmin raṇasamudyame ||
1.21, 22 Arjuna said: O Acyuta (Infallible One), please place my chariot between the two armies while I may
observe these warriors arrayed for battle and with whom I have to engage in fight.
योत्स्यर्ानानवेक्षेऽहं य एतेऽत्र सर्ागता: |
धातमराष्ट्रस्य दु बुमद्धेयुमद्धे कप्रयकचकीषमव: ||1.23||
yotsyamānān avekṣe ’haṃ ya ete ’tra samāgatāḥ |
dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher yuddhe priyacikīrṣavaḥ ||
1.23 Let me see these well wishers in this war of the evil-mind- ed Duryodhana, who have come together here to
fight.
सञ्जय उवाच |
एवर्ुक्तो हृषीकेिो गुडाकेिेन भारत |
सेनयोरुभयोर्म ध्ये थथापकयिा रथोत्तर्र्् ||1.24||
sañjaya uvāca |
evam ukto hṛṣīkeśo guḍākeśena bhārata |
senayor ubhayor madhye sthāpayitvā rathottamam ||
1.24, 25 Sañjaya said: O descendant of Bhārata, being thus addressed by Guḍākeśa (Arjuna), Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛṣṇa)
then drew up the fine chariot to the middle of both the armies in front of Bhīṣma, Droṇa and all the kings and
said, ‘Arjuna, behold the Kauravas assembled here.’
भीष्मद्रोणप्रर्ुखत: सवे षां च र्हीकक्षतार्् |
उवाच पाथम पश्यैतान्सर्वेतान्कुरूकनकत ||1.25||
bhīṣma droṇa pramukhataḥ sarveṣāṃ ca mahīkṣitām |
uvāca pārtha paśyaitān samavetānkurūniti ||
1.24, 25 Sañjaya said: O descendant of Bhārata, being thus addressed by Guḍākeśa (Arjuna), Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛṣṇa)
then drew up the fine chariot to the middle of both the armies in front of Bhīṣma, Droṇa and all the kings and
said, ‘Arjuna, behold the Kauravas assembled here.’
तत्रापश्यन्तथथतान् पाथम: कपतृ नथ कपतार्हान् |
आचायाम न्मातुलान्ब्रातृ न्पुत्रान्पौत्रान्सखींस्तथा |
श्विुरान्सुहृदश्चैव सेनयोरुभयोरकप ||1.26||
tatrā paśyat sthitān pārthaḥ pitṛ-n atha pitāmahān |
ācāryān mātulān bhrātṛ-n putrān pautrān sakhīṃs tathā |
śvaśurān suhṛdaś caiva senayorubhayorapi ||
1.26 There Arjuna saw, stationed there in both the armies his uncles, grand uncles, teachers, maternal uncles,
brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends, as well as his fathers-in-law and well-wishers.
तान्सर्ीक्ष्य स कौिेय: सवाम न्ब्बन्धूनवन्तथथतान् |
कृपया परयाकवष्ट्ो कवषीदकिदर्ब्रवीत् ||1.27||
tān samīkṣya sa kaunteyaḥ sarvān bandhūn avasthitān |
kṛpayā parayā ’viṣṭo viṣīdann idam abravīt ||
1.27 Seeing all those relatives present there, Arjuna was over- whelmed with deep pity and spoke in sadness.
अजुमन उवाच |
दृष्ट्वेर्ं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं सर्ुपन्तथथतर्् |
सीदन्ति र्र् गात्राकण र्ुखं च पररिुष्यकत ||1.28||
arjuna uvāca |
dṛṣṭvemaṃ svajanaṃ kṛṣṇa yuyutsuṃ samupasthitam |
sīdanti mama gātrāṇi mukhaṃ ca pariśuṣyati ||
1.28, 29 Arjuna said: Kṛṣṇa, seeing my friends and relatives present before me, eager to wage war, my limbs are
giving way, my mouth is parching and a shiver is running through my body, my hair is standing on end.
वेपथुश्च िरीरे र्े रोर्हषमश्च जायते ||1.29||
vepathuś ca śarīre me romaharṣaś ca jāyate ||
1.28, 29 Arjuna said: Kṛṣṇa, seeing my friends and relatives present before me, eager to wage war, my limbs are
giving way, my mouth is parching and a shiver is running through my body, my hair is standing on end.
गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तािक्चै व पररदह्यते |
न च िक्नोम्यवथथातुं रर्तीव च र्े र्न: ||1.30||
gāṇḍīvaṃ sraṃsate hastāt tvak caiva paridahyate |
na ca śaknomy avasthātuṃ bhramatīva ca me manaḥ ||
1.30 My bow gāṇḍīva is slipping from my hands and my skin is burning all over. My mind is whirling as it
were, and I am now unable to stand here any longer.
कनकर्त्ताकन च पश्याकर् कवपरीताकन केिव |
न च श्रेयोऽनुपश्याकर् हिा स्वजनर्ाहवे ||1.31||
| nimittāni ca paśyāmi viparī tāni keśava |
na ca śreyo ’nupaśyāmi hatvā svajanam āhave ||
1.31 I foresee only evil omens, O Kṛṣṇa, I do not see any good coming out of killing one’s own kinsmen
[svajanam] in this battle. I do not covet my dear Kṛṣṇa, victory or kingdom or pleasures.
न काङ्क्षे कवजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखाकन च |
ककं नो राज्येन गोकवन्द ककं भोगैजीकवतेन वा ||1.32||
na kāṅkṣe vijayaṃ kṛṣṇa na ca rājyaṃ sukhāni ca |
kiṃ no rājyena govinda kiṃ bhogair jīvitena vā ||
1.32—1.36 Of what use will kingdom or happiness or even life be to us? For whose sake we desire this
kingdom, enjoy- ment and happiness, they stand in battle staking their lives and property. Teachers, fathers, sons
as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-inlaw, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.
Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa), even if I am killed (by them) I do not want to kill these ones even to gain control of all
three worlds, much less for the earthly lordship. What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra,
Janārdana? Only sin will overcome us if we slay these wrong doers.
येषार्थे काकङ्क्षतं नो राज्यं भोगा: सुखाकन च |
त इर्ेऽवन्तथथता युद्धे प्राणां स्त्यक्त्वा धनाकन च ||1.33||
yeṣām arthe kāṅkṣitaṃ no rājyaṃ bhogāḥ sukhāni ca |
ta ime ’vasthitā yuddhe prāṇāṃs tyaktvā dhanāni ca ||
1.32—1.36 Of what use will kingdom or happiness or even life be to us? For whose sake we desire this
kingdom, enjoy- ment and happiness, they stand in battle staking their lives and property. Teachers, fathers, sons
as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-inlaw, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.
Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa), even if I am killed (by them) I do not want to kill these ones even to gain control of all
three worlds, much less for the earthly lordship. What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra,
Janārdana? Only sin will overcome us if we slay these wrong doers.
आचायाम : कपतर: पुत्रास्तथैव च कपतार्हा: |
र्ातुला: श्विुरा: पौत्रा: श्याला: सम्बन्तन्धनस्तथा ||1.34||
ācāryāḥ pitaraḥ putrāḥ tathaiva ca pitāmahāḥ |
mātulāḥ śvaśurāḥ pautrāḥ śyālāḥ saṃbandhinas tathā |a ||
1.32—1.36 Of what use will kingdom or happiness or even life be to us? For whose sake we desire this
kingdom, enjoy- ment and happiness, they stand in battle staking their lives and property. Teachers, fathers, sons
as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-inlaw, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.
Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa), even if I am killed (by them) I do not want to kill these ones even to gain control of all
three worlds, much less for the earthly lordship. What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra,
Janārdana? Only sin will overcome us if we slay these wrong doers.
एताि हिुकर्च्छाकर् घ्नतोऽकप र्धुसूदन |
अकप त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हे तो: ककं नु र्हीकृते ||1.35||
etān na hantum icchāmi ghnato ’pi madhusūdan |
api trailokyarājyasya hetoḥ kiṃ nu mahīkṛ te ||
1.32—1.36 Of what use will kingdom or happiness or even life be to us? For whose sake we desire this
kingdom, enjoy- ment and happiness, they stand in battle staking their lives and property. Teachers, fathers, sons
as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-inlaw, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.
Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa), even if I am killed (by them) I do not want to kill these ones even to gain control of all
three worlds, much less for the earthly lordship. What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra,
Janārdana? Only sin will overcome us if we slay these wrong doers.
कनहत्य धातमराष्ट्राि: का प्रीकत: स्याज्जनादम न |
पापर्ेवाश्रयेदस्मान्हिैतानातताकयन: ||1.36||
nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrān naḥ kā prī tiḥ syāj janārdana |
pāpam evāśrayed asmān hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ ||
1.32—1.36 Of what use will kingdom or happiness or even life be to us? For whose sake we desire this
kingdom, enjoy- ment and happiness, they stand in battle staking their lives and property. Teachers, fathers, sons
as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-inlaw, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives.
Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa), even if I am killed (by them) I do not want to kill these ones even to gain control of all
three worlds, much less for the earthly lordship. What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra,
Janārdana? Only sin will overcome us if we slay these wrong doers.
तस्मािाहाम वयं हिुं धातमराष्ट्रान्ब्स्वबान्धवान् |
स्वजनं कह कथं हिा सुन्तखन: स्यार् र्ाधव ||1.37||
tasmān nārhā vayaṃ hantuṃ dhārtarāṣṭrān svabāndhavān |
svajanaṃ hi kathaṃ hatvā sukhinaḥ syāma mādhava ||
1.37 Therefore, it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and our relations, for how could we be
happy after killing our own kinsmen, Mādhava?
यद्यप्येते न पश्यन्ति लोभोपहतचेतस: |
कुलक्षयकृतं दोषं कर्त्रद्रोहे च पातकर्् ||1.38||
yadyapyete na paśyanti lobhopahata cetasaḥ |
kulakṣayakṛtaṃ doṣaṃ mitradrohe ca pātakam ||
1.38 O Janārdana, these men, blinded by greed, see no fault in killing one’s family or being treasonable to
friends, incur sin.
कथं न ज्ञेयर्स्माकभ: पापादस्माकिवकतमतुर्् |
कुलक्षयकृतं दोषं प्रपश्यन्तिजमनादम न ||1.39||
athaṃ na jñeyam asmābhiḥ pāpād asmān nivartitu |
kulakṣaya kṛ taṃ doṣaṃ prapaśyadbhir janārdana ||
1.39 Why should we, who clearly see the sin in the destruction of a dynasty, not turn away from this crime?

कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्ाम : सनातना: |

धर्े नष्ट्े कुलं कृत्स्नर्धर्ोऽकभभवत्युत ||1.40||
kulakṣaye praṇaśyanti kuladharmāḥ sanātanāḥ |
dharme naṣṭe kulaṃ kṛ tsnam adharmo ’bhibhavatyuta ||
1.40 With the destruction of the dynasty, the age-old family traditions die and virtue having been lost, vice
overtakes the entire race.
अधर्ाम कभभवात्कृष्ण प्रदु ष्यन्ति कुलन्तस्त्रय: |
स्त्रीषु दु ष्ट्ासु वाष्णेय जायते वणमसङ्कर: ||1.41||
adharmābhibhavāt kṛṣṇa praduṣyanti kula striyaḥ |
strīṣu duṣṭāsu vārṣṇeya jāyate varṇasaṃkaraḥ ||
1.41 When non-righteous practices become common, O Kṛṣṇa, the women of the family become corrupt, and
with the deg- radation of womanhood, O Descendant of Vṛṣṇi, ensues inter- mixture of castes.
सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च |
पतन्ति कपतरो ह्येषां लुप्तकपण्डोदककक्रया: ||1.42||
saṃkaro narakāyaiva kulaghnānāṃ kulasya ca |
patanti pitaro hyeṣāṃ lupta piṇḍodaka kriyāḥ ||
1.42, 43 A mixture of blood damns the destroyers of race and the race itself. Deprived of offering of oblations of
rice and water the departed souls of the race also fall, the age-long caste traditions and family customs of the
killers of kinmen become extinct.
दोषैरेतै: कुलघ्नानां वणमसङ्करकारकै: |
उत्साद्यिे जाकतधर्ाम : कुलधर्ाम श्च िाश्वता: ||1.43||
doṣair etaiḥ kulaghnānāṃ varṇa saṃkarakārakaiḥ |
utsādyante jātidharmāḥ kuladharmāś ca śāśvatāḥ ||
1.42, 43 A mixture of blood damns the destroyers of race and the race itself. Deprived of offering of oblations of
rice and water the departed souls of the race also fall, the age-long caste traditions and family customs of the
killers of kinmen become extinct.
उत्सिकुलधर्ाम णां र्नुष्याणां जनादम न |
नरकेऽकनयतं वासो भवतीत्यनुिुश्रुर् ||1.44||
utsannakula dharmāṇāṃ manuṣyāṇāṃ janārdana |
narake ’niyataṃ vāso bhavatītyanuśuśruma ||
1.44 O Janārdana, we hear that those who have lost family traditions dwell in hell for an indefinite period of
time.
अहो बत र्हत्पापं कतुं व्यवकसता वयर्् |
यद्राज्यसुखलोभेन हिुं स्वजनर्ुद्यता: ||1.45||
aho bata mahat pāpaṃ kartuṃ vyavasitā vayaṃ |
yad rājya sukha lobhena hantuṃ svajanam udyatāḥ ||
.45 Alas, we are prepared to commit greatly sinful acts of killing our kinsmen, driven by the desire to enjoy
royal happiness.
यकद र्ार्प्रतीकारर्िस्त्रं िस्त्रपाणय: |
धातमराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेर्तरं भवेत् ||1.46||
yadi mām apratīkāram aśastraṃ śastrapāṇayaḥ |
dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyuḥ tan me kṣemataraṃ bhavet ||
1.46 It would be better if the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, armed with weapons, killed me in battle while I am unarmed
and unresisting.
सञ्जय उवाच |
एवर्ु क्त्वाजुमन: सङ् ये रथोपथथ उपाकवित् |
कवसृज्य सिरं चापं िोकसंकवग्नर्ानस: ||1.47||
sañjaya uvāca |
evam uktvārjunaḥ saṃkhye rathopastha upāviśat |
visṛ jya saśaraṃ cāpaṃ śokasaṃvignamānasaḥ ||
1.47 Sañjaya said: Arjuna, whose mind was agitated by grief on the battle field, having spoken thus, cast aside
his bow along with the arrow and sat down at the rear portion of the chariot.
सञ्जय उवाच |
तं तथा कृपयाकवष्ट्र्श्रुपूणाम कुलेक्षणर्् |
कवषीदिकर्दं वाक्यर्ुवाच र्धुसूदन: ||2.1||
sañjaya uvāca |
taṁ tathākṛpayāviṣṭamaśrupūrṇākulekṣaṇam |
viṣīdantaṁidam vākyamuvāca madhusūdanaḥ ||
2.1 Sañjaya said: As Arjuna’s eyes overflowed with tears of
pity and despair, Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa) spoke to him thus.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
कुतस्त्वा कश्मलकर्दं कवषर्े सर्ुपन्तथथतर्् |
अनायमजुष्ट्र्स्वर्ग्मर्कीकतमकरर्जुमन ||2.2||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
kutastvā kaśmalamidaṁ viṣame samupasthitam |
anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam akīrti-karam arjuna ||
2.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: Where from has this impurity, dejection
descended on you at this critical time, Arjuna! You behave
unlike a noble man and this will keep you away from realization.
क्लैब्यं र्ा स्म गर्: पाथम नैतत्तवय्यु पपद्यते |
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौबमल्यं त्यक्त्वोकत्ति परिप ||2.3||
klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitattvayyupapadyate |
kṣudraṁ hṛdayadaurbalyaṁ tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa ||
2.3 Do not yield to fear, Pārtha! It does not befit you. Drop
this powerlessness of the heart and stand up, O Parantapa,
destroyer of enemies!
अजुमन उवाच |
कथं भीष्मर्हं सङ् ये द्रोणं च र्धुसूदन |
इषुकभ: प्रकतयोत्स्याकर् पूजाहाम वररसूदन ||2.4||
arjuna uvāca |
katham bhīṣmamahaṁ saṅkhye droṇaṁ ca madhusūdana |
iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi pūjārhāvarisūdana ||
2.4 Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana (killer of Madhu), how can
I oppose, in battle, Bhīṣma and Droṇa who are worthy of my
worship?
गुरूनहिा कह र्हानु भावान्
श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यर्पीह लोके |
हिाथमकार्ां स्तु गुरूकनहै व
भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुकधरप्रकदग्धान् ||2.5||
gurūnahatvā hi mahānubhāvān
śreyo bhoktuṁ bhaikṣyam apīha loke |
hatvārtha-kāmāṁs tu gurūnihaiva
bhuñjīya bhogān rudhira-pradigdhān ||
2.5 I would rather beg for my food in this world than kill the
most noble of teachers. If I kill them, all my enjoyment of
wealth and desires will be stained with blood.

न चैतकिद्म: कतरिो गरीयो

यिा जयेर् यकद वा नो जयेयु: |
यानेव हिा न कजजीकवषार्
स्तेऽवन्तथथता: प्रर्ुखे धातमराष्ट्रा: ||2.6||
na caitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo
yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ |
yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas
te’vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ ||
2.6 I cannot say which is better; their defeating us or us de-
feating them. We do not wish to live after slaying the sons of

Dhṛtarāṣṭra who stand before us.

कापमण्यदोषोपहतस्वभाव:
पृच्छाकर् िां धर्मसम्मूढचेता: |
यच्छरेय: स्याकिकश्चतं ब्रूकह तन्मे
किष्यस्तेऽहं िाकध र्ां िां प्रपिर्् ||2.7||
kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-saṁmūḍha-cetāḥ |
yacchreyaḥ syānniścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyaste’ham śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam ||
2.7 My heart is overwhelmed with pity and my mind is con-
fused about what my duty is. I beg of you, please tell me

what is best for me. I am your disciple. Instruct me as I seek

refuge in you.
न कह प्रपश्याकर् र्र्ापनुद्याद्
यच्छोकर्ुच्छोषणकर्न्तियाणार्् |
अवाप्य भूर्ावसपत्नर्ृ द्धं
राज्यं सुराणार्कप चाकधपत्यर्् ||2.8||
na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād
yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām |
avāpya bhūmāva-sapatnam-ṛddhaṁ
rājyaṁ surāṇām api cādhipatyam ||
2.8 Even if I were to attain unrivalled dominion and prosperity
on earth or even lordship over the Gods, how would that remove
this sorrow that burns my senses?
सञ्जय उवाच |
एवर्ु क्त्वा हृषीकेिं गुडाकेि: परिप |
न योत्स्य इकत गोकवन्दर्ुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह ||2.9||
sañjaya uvāca |
evamuktvā hṛṣīkeśaṁ guḍākeśaḥ parantapa |
na yotsya iti govinda muktvā tūṣṇīṁ babhūva ha ||
2.9 Sañjaya said: Guḍākeśa (Arjuna) then said to Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛṣṇa), ‘Govinda,
I shall not fight,’ and fell silent.
तर्ुवाच हृषीकेि: प्रहसकिव भारत |
सेनयोरुभयोर्म ध्ये कवषीदिकर्दं वच: ||2.10||
tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasanniva bhārata |
senayor ubhayor madhye viṣīdantamidaṁ vacaḥ ||
2.10 Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣikeśa, smilingly spoke the following words to
the grief-stricken Arjuna, as they were placed in the middle
of both armies.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
अिोच्यानन्विोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादां श्च भाषसे |
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुिोचन्ति पन्तण्डता: ||2.11||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñāvādāṁś ca bhāṣase |
gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ||
2.11 Bhagavān says: You grieve for those that should not be
grieved for and yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise
grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
न िेवाहं जातु नासं न िं नेर्े जनाकधपा |
न चैव न भकवष्यार्: सवे वयर्त: परर्् ||2.12||
na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ |
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param ||
2.12 It is not that at anytime in the past I did not exist. So
did you and these rulers exist, and we shall not ever cease
to be hereafter.
दे कहनोऽन्तस्मन्यथा दे हे कौर्ारं यौवनं जरा |
तथा दे हािरप्रान्तप्तधीरस्तत्र न र्ुह्यकत ||2.13||
dehino’sminyathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā |
tathā dehāntara prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati ||
2.13 Just as the spirit in this body passes through childhood,
youth and old age, so does it pass into another body; the man
centered in himself does not fear this.
र्ात्रास्पिाम स्तु कौिेय िीतोष्णसुखदु : खदा: |
आगर्ापाकयनोऽकनत्यास्तां न्तस्तकतक्षस्व भारत ||2.14||
mātrā-sparśāśtu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥka-dāḥ |
āgamāpāyino’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata ||
2.14 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), contact with sense objects
causes heat and cold, pleasure and pain, and these have a beginning and an end. O Bhārata, these are not
permanent;
endure them bravely.
यं कह न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पु रुषषम भ |
सर्दु :खसुखं धीरं सोऽर्ृतिाय कल्पते ||2.15||
yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣam puruṣarṣabha |
samaduḥkhasukhaṁ dhīraṁ so’mṛtatvāya kalpate ||
2.15 O Puruṣarṣabha, chief among men, these surely do
not afflict the brave person, who is centered and complete.
Pleasure and pain are the same to him and he is certainly
ready for immortality, amṛatvā.
नासतो कवद्यते भावो नाभावो कवद्यते सत: |
उभयोरकप दृष्ट्ोऽिस्त्वनयोस्तिदकिमकभ: ||2.16||
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ |
ubhayorapi dṛṣṭontas tv anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ ||
2.16 The nonexistent (asat) has no being; that which exists
(sat) never ceases to exist. This truth about both is perceived
by the Seers of Truth.
अकवनाकि तु तकिन्तद्ध येन सवमकर्दं ततर्् |
कवनािर्व्ययस्यास्य न ककश्चत्कतुम र्हम कत ||2.17||
avināśi tu tadviddhi yena sarvamidaṁ tatam |
vināśamavyayasyāsya na kaścitkartumarhati ||
2.17 Know It to be indestructible by which all this body is
pervaded. Nothing can destroy It, the Imperishable.
अिवि इर्े दे हा कनत्यस्योक्ता: िरीररण: |
अनाकिनोऽप्रर्ेयस्य तस्माद् युध्यस्व भारत ||2.18||
antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ |
anāśino ’prameyasya tasmād-yudhyasva bhārata ||
2.18 These bodies of the material energy are perishable. The
energy itself is eternal, incomprehensible and indestructible.
Therefore, fight, O Bhārata.

य एनं वेकत्त हिारं यश्चैनं र्न्यते हतर्् |

उभौ तौ न कवजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ||2.19||
ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ yaścainaṁ manyate hatam |
ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate ||
2.19 Neither understands; he who takes the Self to be the slayer nor he who thinks he is slain. He who knows the
Truth
understands that the Self does not slay, nor is It slain.
न जायते कियते वा कदाकच
नायं भूिा भकवता वा न भूय: |
अजो कनत्य: िाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यर्ाने िरीरे ||2.20||
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ |
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||
2.20 The Self is neither born nor does It ever die. After having
been, It never ceases not to be. It is unborn, eternal, changeless
and ancient. It is not killed when the body is killed.
वेदाकवनाकिनं कनत्यं य एनर्जर्व्ययर्् |
कथं स पुरुष: पाथम कं घातयकत हन्ति कर्् ||2.21||
vedāvināśinaṁ nityaṁ ya enamajamavyayam |
kathaṁ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam ||
2.21 O Pārtha, how can man slay or cause others to be slain,
when he knows It to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and unchangeable?
वासां कस जीणाम कन यथा कवहाय
नवाकन गृह्णाकत नरोऽपराकण |
तथा िरीराकण कवहाय जीणाम
न्यन्याकन संयाकत नवाकन दे ही ||2.22||
vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi |
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇā
nyanyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī ||
2.22 Just as man casts off his worn out clothes and puts on new
ones, the Self casts off worn out bodies and enters newer ones.
नैनं किन्दन्ति िस्त्राकण नै नं दहकत पावक: |
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न िोषयकत र्ारुत: ||2.23||
nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ |
na cainaṁ kledayantyāpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ ||
2.23 Weapons do not cleave the Self, fire does not burn It,
water does not moisten It and wind does not dry It.
अच्छे द्योऽयर्दाह्योऽयर्क्लेद्योऽिोष्य एव च |
कनत्य: सवमगत: थथाणुरचलोऽयं सनातन: ||2.24||
acchedyo’yamadāhyo’yam akledyo’śoṣya eva ca |
nityaḥ sarvagataḥ sthāṇur acalo’yaṁ sanātanaḥ ||
2.24 The Self cannot be broken nor burnt nor dissolved nor dried up. It is
eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable and ancient.
अव्यक्तोऽयर्कचन्त्योऽयर्कवकायोऽयर्ुच्यते |
तस्मादे वं कवकदिैनं नानुिोकचतुर्हम कस ||2.25||
avyakto’yamacintyo’y amavikāryo’yamucyate ||
tasmādevaṁ viditvainaṁ nānuśocitumarhasi ||
2.5 The Self is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable and unchange-
able and able. Knowing this to be such, you should not grieve.
अथ चैनं कनत्यजातं कनत्यं वा र्न्यसे र्ृतर्् |
तथाकप िं र्हाबाहो नैवं िोकचतुर्हम कस ||2.26||
atha cainaṁ nityajātaṁ nityaṁ vā manyase mṛtam |
tathāpi tvaṁ mahābāho naivaṁ śocitum arhasi ||
2.26 O mighty-armed, even if you should think of the soul
as being constantly born and constantly dying, even then, you should not lament.
जातस्य कह ध्रुवो र्ृत्युध्रुमवं जन्म र्ृतस्य च |
तस्मादपररहायेऽथे न िं िोकचतुर्हम कस ||2.27||
jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca |
tasmādaparihārye’rthe na tvaṁ śocitumarhasi ||
2.27 Indeed, death is certain for the born and birth is certain for
the dead. Therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.
अव्यक्तादीकन भूताकन व्यक्तर्ध्याकन भारत |
अव्यक्तकनधनान्येव तत्र का पररदे वना ||2.28||
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyaktamadhyāni bhārata |
avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā ||
2.28 O Bhārata, all beings are unmanifest in their beginning,
seemingly manifest in their middle, and unmanifest again in
their end. So, what need then for greiving?
आश्चयमवत्पश्यकत ककश्चदे न
र्ाश्चयमविदकत तथैव चान्य: |
आश्चयमवच्चैनर्न्य: श्णोकत
श्रुिाप्येनं वेद न चैव ककश्चत् ||2.29||
āścaryavatpaśyati kaścidenam
māścaryavadvadati tathaiva cānyaḥ |
āścaryavaccainamanyaḥ śṛṇoti
śṛutvāpyenaṁ veda na caiva kaścit ||
2.29 One sees It as a wonder, another speaks of It as a won-
der, another hears of It as a wonder. Yet, having heard, none

understands It at all.
दे ही कनत्यर्वध्योऽयं दे हे सवमस्य भारत |
तस्मात्सवाम कण भूताकन न िं िोकचतुर्हम कस ||2.30||
dehī nityamavadhyo ’yaṁ dehe sarvasya bhārata |
tasmātsarvāni bhūtāni na tvaṁ śocitumarhasi ||
2.30 O Bhārata, this that dwells in the body of everyone can
never be destroyed; do not grieve for any creature.
स्वधर्मर्कप चावेक्ष्य न कवकन्तम्पतुर्हम कस |
धम्याम न्तद्ध युद्धाच्छरेयोऽन्यत्क्षकत्रयस्य न कवद्यते ||2.31||
svadharmamapi cāvekṣya na vikampitumarhasi |
dharmyāddhi yuddhācchreyo’nyat kṣatriyasya na vidyate ||
2.31 You should look at your own responsibility [svadharma] as
a kṣatriya. There is nothing higher for a kṣatriya than a righteous
war. You ought not to hesitate.
यदृच्छया चोपपिं स्वगमिारर्पावृतर्् |
सुन्तखन: क्षकत्रया: पाथम लभिे युद्धर्ीदृिर्् ||2.32||
yadṛcchayā copapannaṁ svargadvāramapāvṛtam |
sukhinaḥ kṣatriyāḥ pārtha labhante yuddhamīdṛśam ||
2.32 O Pārtha, happy indeed are the kṣatriyas who are called
to fight in such a battle without seeking. This opens for them
the door to heaven.
अथ चेतिकर्र्ं धम्यं संग्रार्ं न कररष्यकस |
तत: स्वधर्ं कीकतं च कहिा पापर्वाप्स्स्यकस ||2.33||
atha cettvamimaṁ dharmyaṁ saṅgrāmaṁ na kariṣyasi |
tataḥ svadharmaṁ kīrtiṁ ca hitvā pāpamavāpsyasi ||
2.33 If you will not fight this righteous war, then you will
incur sin having abandoned your own responsibility [svadharma],
and you will lose your reputation.
अकीकतं चाकप भूताकन
कथकयष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययार्् |
सम्भाकवतस्य चाकीकतम
र्मरणादकतररच्यते ||2.34||
akīrtiṁ cāpi bhūtāni kathayiṣyanti te’vyayām |
saṁbhāvitasya cākīrtir maraṇādatiricyate ||
2.34 People too will remember your everlasting dishonor and
to one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.
भयाद्रणादु परतं र्ंस्यिे िां र्हारथा: |
येषां च िं बहुर्तो भूिा यास्यकस लाघवर्् ||2.35||
bhayādraṇāduparataṁ maṁsyante tvāṁ mahārathāḥ |
yeṣāṁ ca tvaṁ bahumato bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam ||
2.35 The great generals will think that you have withdrawn from
the battle because you are a coward. You will be looked down
upon by those who had thought much of you and your heroism
in the past.
अवाच्यवादां श्च बहून्वकदष्यन्ति तवाकहता: |
कनन्दिस्तव सार्र्थ्यं ततो दु :खतरं नु ककर्् ||2.36||
avācyavādāṁśca bahūn vadiṣyanti tavāhitāḥ |
nindantastava sāmarthyaṁ tato duḥkhataraṁ nu kim ||
2.36 Many unspeakable words would be spoken by your ene-
mies reviling your power. Can there be anything more painful

than this?
हतो वा प्राप्स्स्यकस स्वगं कजिा वा भोक्ष्यसे र्हीर्् |
तस्मादु कत्ति कौिेय युद्धाय कृतकनश्चय: ||2.37||
hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm |
tasmāduttiṣṭha kaunteya yuddhāya kṛtaniścayaḥ ||
2.37 Slain, you will achieve heaven; victorious, you will enjoy
the earth. O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), stand up determined
to fight.
सुखदु :खे सर्े कृिा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ |
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापर्वाप्स्स्यकस ||2.38||
sukhaduḥkhe same kṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau |
tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpamavāpsyasi ||
2.38 Pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat–treat
them all the same. Do battle for the sake of battle and you
shall incur no sin.
एषा तेऽकभकहता साङ् ये
बुन्तद्धयोगे न्तिर्ां शणु |
बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पाथम
कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यकस ||2.39||
eṣā tebhihitā sānkhye buddhiryoge tvimāṁ śṛṇu |
buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha karmabandhaṁ prahāsyasi ||
2.39 Thus far, what has been taught to you concerns the wisdom
of Sāṅkhya. Now, listen to the wisdom of yoga [buddhiyoga].
Having known this, O Pārtha, you shall cast off the bonds of
action.
नेहाकभक्रर्नािोऽन्तस्त प्रत्यवायो न कवद्यते |
स्वल्पर्प्यस्य धर्म स्य त्रायते र्हतो भयात् ||2.40||
nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti pratyavāyo na vidyate |
svalpamapyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt ||
2.40 There is no wasted effort or dangerous effect in this path
of yoga. Even a little knowledge of this, even a little practice
of this dharma, protects and releases one from very great fear.
व्यवसायान्तिका बुन्तद्धरे केह कुरुनन्दन |
बहुिाखा ह्यनिाश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसाकयनार्् ||2.41||
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kurunandana |
bahuśākhā hyanantāś ca buddhayovyavasāyinām ||
2.41 Joy of the Kurus, on this path (of yoga), the intelligence
is resolute with a single-pointed determination. Thoughts of the
irresolute are many, branched and endlsess.
याकर्र्ां पुन्तष्पतां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यकवपकश्चत: |
वेदवादरता: पाथम नान्यदस्तीकत वाकदन: ||2.42||
yāmimāṁ puṣpitāṁ vācaṁ pravadantyavipaścitaḥ |
vedavādaratāḥ pārtha nānyadastīti vādinaḥ ||
2.43 Men of little knowledge, who are very much attached
toeulogizing the flowery words of the Vedas, O Pārtha, argue
that, ‘there is nothing else’; these advocates of Vedas (vādīna)
look upon and recommend various fruitful actions for elevation
to heavenly planets, resulting in high birth, power, and so forth.Thus being desirous of sense gratification and
opulent life, they
say that there is nothing more than this to living.
कार्ािान: स्वगमपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदार्् |
कक्रयाकविेषबहुलां भोगैश्वयमगकतं प्रकत ||2.43||
kāmātmānaḥ svargaparā janmakarmaphalapradām |
kriyā-viśeṣa-bahulāṁ bhogaiśvarya-gatiṁ prati ||
2.43 Men of little knowledge, who are very much attached
toeulogizing the flowery words of the Vedas, O Pārtha, argue
that, ‘there is nothing else’; these advocates of Vedas (vādīna)
look upon and recommend various fruitful actions for elevation
to heavenly planets, resulting in high birth, power, and so forth.Thus being desirous of sense gratification and
opulent life, they
say that there is nothing more than this to living.
भोगैश्वयमप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसार्् |
व्यवसायान्तिका बुन्तद्ध: सर्ाधौ न कवधीयते ||2.44||
bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛtacetasām |
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate ||
2.44 Those whose minds are attached to sense pleasures
and lordship, who are diverted by such teachings, for them,
the determination for steady meditation and samādhi, fixed
intelligence does not happen.
त्रैगुण्यकवषया वेदा कनस्त्रैगुण्यो भवाजुमन |
कनिम न्ब्िो कनत्यसिथथो कनयोगक्षेर् आिवान् ||2.45||
traiguṇyaviṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna |
nirdvandvo nityas-attva-stho niryogakṣema ātmavān ||
2.45 O Arjuna! Be you above the three guṇas (attributes) that
the Vedas deal in: free yourself from the pairs-of-opposites
and be always in satva (goodness), free from all thoughts of
acquisition (yoga) or preservation (kṣema), and be established
in the Self.
यावानथम उदपाने सवमत: सम्प्लुतोदके |
तावान्सवेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य कवजानत: ||2.46||
yāvānartha udapāne sarvataḥ saṁplutodake |
tāvānsarveṣu vedeṣu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ ||
2.46 The Brāhmaṇa (sage), who has known the Self, has little
use for the vedic scriptures, as these are like a pool of water
in a place that is already in flood, overflowing with a great
water reservoir.
कर्मण्येवाकधकारस्ते र्ा फलेषु कदाचन |
र्ा कर्मफलहे तुभूमर्ाम ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मकण ||2.47||
karmaṇyevādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadācana |
mā karmaphalaheturbhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi ||
2.47 You have a right only to work, but never to the fruits
(outcome) of action. Never let the fruit of action be your
motive; and never let your attachment be to inaction.
योगथथ: कुरु कर्ाम कण सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय |
कसद्ध्यकसद्ध्यो: सर्ो भूिा सर्िं योग उच्यते ||2.48||
yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya |
siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga ucyate ||
2.48 O Dhanañjaya! Do your actions dropping all attachment
to the outcome, being centered and complete in Yoga. Be
balanced in success and failure. Such evenness of mind is Yoga.
दू रे ण ह्यवरं कर्म बुन्तद्धयोगाद्धनञ्जय |
बुद्धौ िरणर्न्तन्वच्छ कृपणा: फलहे तव: ||2.49||
dūreṇa hyavaraṁ karma buddhiyogād dhanañjaya |
buddhau śaraṇamanviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phalahetavaḥ ||
2.49 O Dhanañjaya, beyond the action with selfish motive is
Yoga (of action) in wisdom [buddhiyoga]. Wretched are those
whose motive is the fruit (outcome); Surrender yourself fully
to the wisdom of completion.
बुन्तद्धयुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदु ष्कृते |
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योग: कर्मसु कौिलर्् ||2.50||
buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte |
tasmādyogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam ||
2.50 Endowed with the wisdom of evenness of mind, move away from both good and evil deeds in this life.
Devote
yourself to yoga. Authenticity in action is yoga.
र्मजं बुन्तद्धयुक्ता कह फलं त्यक्त्वा र्नीकषण: |
जन्मबन्धकवकनर्ुमक्ता: पदं गच्छन्त्यनार्यर्् ||2.51||
karmajaṁ buddhiyuktā hi phalaṁ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ |
janmabandhavinirmuktāḥ padaṁ gacchantyanāmayam ||
2.51 The wise, having abandoned the outcome of their actions
and possessed of knowledge of completion, are freed from the
cycle of birth and death. They go to the state that is beyond
all sorrow.
यदा ते र्ोहककललं बुन्तद्धव्यमकततररष्यकत |
तदा गिाकस कनवेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ||2.52||
yadā te mohakalilaṁ buddhirvyatitariṣyati |
tadā gantāsi nirvedaṁ śrotavyasya śrutasya ca ||
2.52 When your wisdom takes you beyond delusion, you shall
be indifferent to what has been heard and what is yet to be
heard.
श्रुकतकवप्रकतपिा ते यदा थथास्यकत कनश्चला |
सर्ाधावचला बुन्तद्धस्तदा योगर्वाप्स्स्यकस ||2.53||
śrutivipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā |
samādhāvacalā buddhis tadā yogamavāpsyasi ||
2.53 When you are not confused by what you have heard and
your wisdom stands steady and unmoving in the Self, you shall
attain Yoga, Self–realization.
अजुमन उवाच |
न्तथथतप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा सर्ाकधथथस्य केिव |
न्तथथतधी: ककं प्रभाषेत ककर्ासीत व्रजेत ककर्् ||2.54||
arjuna uvāca |
sthitaprajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhisthasya keśava |
sthitadhīḥ kiṁ prabhāṣeta kimāsīta vrajeta kim ||
2.54 O Keśava! What is the description of one who stays in
the space of completion in present moment and is merged in
the restful awareness of truth and wisdom? How does one of
steady wisdom speak, how does he sit, how does he walk?
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
प्रजहाकत यदा कार्ान्सवाम न्पाथम र्नोगतान् |
आिन्येवािना तुष्ट्: न्तथथतप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ||2.55||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvānpārtha manogatān |
ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthitaprajñastadocyate ||
2.55 Śrī Bhagavān says: O Pārtha, a man who casts off com-
pletely all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self

by the Self, He is said to be Sthhitaprajña, one of steady

wisdom in completion.
दु :खेष्वनुकिग्नर्ना: सुखेषु कवगतस्पृह: |
वीतरागभयक्रोध: न्तथथतधीर्ुमकनरुच्यते ||2.56||
duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigataspṛhaḥ |
vītarāgabhayakrodhaḥ sthitadhīrmunirucyate ||
2.56 He whose mind is not disturbed by adversity and who,
in prosperity, does not go after other pleasures, he who is
free from attachment, fear or anger is called a sage of steady
wisdom.
य: सवमत्रानकभस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य िुभािुभर्् |
नाकभनन्दकत न िे कष्ट् तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रकतकिता ||2.57||
yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śubhāśubham |
nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||
2.57 His wisdom is fixed who is everywhere without attach-
ment, meeting with anything good or bad and who neither rejoices nor hates.
यदा संहरते चायं कूर्ोऽङ्गानीव सवमि: |
इन्तियाणीन्तियाथेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रकतकिता ||2.58||
yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ kūrmo ’ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ |
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhit ||
2.58 As the tortoise withdraws its limbs from all sides, when a
person withdraws his senses from the sense-objects, his wisdom
becomes steady in completion.
कवषया कवकनवतमिे कनराहारस्य दे कहन: |
रसवजं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा कनवतमते ||2.59||
viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ |
rasavarjaṁ raso’pyasya paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ||
2.59 From the body, the sense objects turn away, but the de-
sires remain; his desires also leave him on seeing the Supreme.
यततो ह्यकप कौिेय पुरुषस्य कवपकश्चत: |
इन्तियाकण प्रर्ाथीकन हरन्ति प्रसभं र्न: ||2.60||
yatato hyapi kaunteya puruṣasya vipaścitaḥ |
indriyāṇi pramāthīni haranti prasabhaṁ manaḥ ||
2.60 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), the turbulent senses carry
away the mind of a wise man, though he is striving to be in
control.
ताकन सवाम कण संयम्य युक्त आसीत र्त्पर: |
विे कह यस्येन्तियाकण तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रकतकिता ||2.61||
tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya yukta āsīta matparaḥ |
vaśe hi yasyendriyāṇi tasya prajñāpratiṣṭhitā ||
2.61 Having restrained them all, he should sit steadfast, intent
on Me. His mind is steady in the present whose senses are
under control.
ध्यायतो कवषयान्पुंस: सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते |
सङ्गात्सञ्जायते कार्: कार्ात्क्रोधोऽकभजायते ||2.62||
dhyāyato viṣayānpuṁsaḥ saṅgasteṣūpajāyate |
saṅgātsañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmātkrodhobhijāyate ||
2.62 When a man thinks of objects, it gives rise to attachment
for them. From attachment, desire arises; from desire, anger
is born.
क्रोधािवकत सम्मोह: सम्मोहाथर्ृकतकवरर्: |
स्मृकतरंिाद् बुन्तद्धनािो बुन्तद्धनािात्प्रणश्यकत ||2.63||
krodhād bhavati saṁmohaḥ saṁmohāt smṛtivibhramaḥ |
smṛtibhraṁśād buddhināśo buddhināśātpraṇaśyati ||
2.63 From anger arises delusion, from delusion, loss of memory,
from loss of memory, the destruction of discrimination, from
destruction of discrimination, he perishes.
रागिे षकवयुक्तैस्तु कवषयाकनन्तियैश्चरन् |
आिवश्यैकवमधेयािा प्रसादर्कधगच्छकत ||2.64||
rāgadveṣaviyuktaistu viṣayānindriyaiścaran |
ātmavaśyairvidheyātmā prasādamadhigacchati ||
2.64 The self-controlled man, moving among objects with his
senses under control, free from both attraction and repulsion,
attains peace.
प्रसादे सवमदु:खानां हाकनरस्योपजायते |
प्रसिचेतसो ह्यािु बुन्तद्ध: पयमवकतिते ||2.65||
prasāde sarvaduḥkhānāṁ hānirasyopajāyate |
prasannacetaso hyāśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate ||
2.65 All pains are destroyed in that peace, for the intellect of
the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.
नान्तस्त बुन्तद्धरयुक्तस्य न चायुक्तस्य भावना |
न चाभावयत: िान्तिरिािस्य कुत: सुखर्् ||2.66||
nāsti buddhirayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā |
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham ||
2.66 A person not in self awareness cannot be wise or happy
or peaceful. How can there be happiness to one without peace?
इन्तियाणां कह चरतां यन्मनोऽनुकवधीयते |
तदस्य हरकत प्रज्ञां वायुनाम वकर्वाम्भकस ||2.67||
indriyāṇāṁ hi caratāṁ yanmano ’nuvidhīyate |
tadasya harati prajñāṁ vāyurnāvamivāmbhasi ||
2.67 He loses his awareness of the present moment when his
mind follows the wandering senses, just as the wind carries
away a boat on the waters.
तस्माद्यस्य र्हाबाहो कनगृहीताकन सवमि: |
इन्तियाणीन्तियाथेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रकतकिता ||2.68||
tasmādyasya mahābāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ |
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||
2.68 O Mahābāho (mighty-armed one), his knowledge is
therefore steady whose senses are completely detached from
sense objects.
या कनिा सवमभूतानां तस्यां जागकतम संयर्ी |
यस्यां जाग्रकत भूताकन सा कनिा पश्यतो र्ुने: ||2.69||
yā niśā sarvabhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī |
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ||
2.69 The self–controlled man lies awake in that which is night
to all beings. That in which all beings are awake is the night
for the sage who sees.
आपूयमर्ाणर्चलप्रकतिं
सर्ुद्रर्ाप: प्रकविन्ति यित् |
तित्कार्ा यं प्रकविन्ति सवे
स िान्तिर्ाप्नोकत न कार्कार्ी ||2.70||
āpūryamāṇ amacala-pratiṣṭhaṁ
samudramāpaḥ praviśanti yadvat |
tadvatkāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntimāpnoti na kāmakāmī ||
2.70 Just as all waters enter the ocean, he attains peace into
whom all desires enter, which when filled from all sides, re-
mains unmoved; not the desirer of desires.
कवहाय कार्ान्य: सवाम न्पुर्ां श्चरकत कन:स्पृह: |
कनर्मर्ो कनरहङ्कार: स िान्तिर्कधगच्छकत ||2.71||
vihāya kāmānyaḥ sarvān pumāṁścarati niḥspṛhaḥ |
nirmamo nirahañkāraḥ sa śāntimadhigacchati ||
2.71 The man who moves about abandoning all desires, without
longing, without the sense of I and mine, attains peace.
एषा ब्राह्मी न्तथथकत: पाथम नैनां प्राप्य कवर्ुह्यकत |
न्तथथिास्यार्िकालेऽकप ब्रह्मकनवाम णर्ृच्छकत ||2.72||
eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati |
thitvāsyāmantakāle’pi brahmanirvāṇamṛcchati ||
2.72 O Pārtha, this is the state of Brahman, Brāhmī-sthiti; none
is deluded after attaining this. Even at the end of life, one
attains Brahmanirvāṇa, oneness with Brahman when established
in this state.
अजुमन उवाच |
ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते र्ता बुन्तद्धजमनादम न |
तन्तत्कं कर्मकण घोरे र्ां कनयोजयकस केिव ||3.1||
arjuna uvāca |
jyāyasī cetkarmaṇaste matā buddhirjanārdana |
tatkiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi keśava ||
3.1 Arjuna says: O Janārdana, O Keśava, Why do You make
me engage in this terrible war if You think that knowledge is
superior to action?
व्याकर्श्रेणेव वाक्येन बुन्तद्धं र्ोहयसीव र्े |
तदे कं वद कनकश्चत्य येन श्रेयोऽहर्ाप्नुयार्् ||3.2||
vyāmiśreṇeva vākyena buddhiṁ mohayasīva me |
tadekaṁ vada niścitya yena śreyohamāpnuyām ||
3.2 My intelligence is confused by Your conflicting words. Tell
me clearly what is best for me.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
लोकेऽन्तस्मन्तन्ब्िकवधा कनिा पुरा प्रोक्ता र्यानघ |
ज्ञानयोगेन साङ् यानां कर्मयोगेन योकगनार्् ||3.3||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
loke’smindvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayānagha |
jñānayogena sāṁkhyānāṁ karmayogena yoginām ||
3.3 The Lord says, ‘O sinless Arjuna, as I said before, in this
world there are two paths; Self knowledge for the intellectual
and the path of action of the knowing.
न कर्मणार्नारम्भािैष्कम्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते |
न च संन्यसनादे व कसन्तद्धं सर्कधगच्छकत ||3.4||
na karmaṇāmanārambhānnaiṣkarmyaṁ puruṣo’śnute |
na ca sannyasanādeva siddhiṁ samadhigacchati ||
3.4 A person does not attain freedom from action by abstaining
from work, nor does he attain fulfillment by giving up action.
न कह ककश्चत्क्षणर्कप जातु कतित्यकर्मकृत् |
कायमते ह्यवि: कर्म सवम: प्रकृकतजैगुमणै: ||3.5||
na hi kaścitkṣaṇamapi jātu tiṣṭhatyakarmakṛt |
kāryate hyavaśaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛtijairguṇaiḥ ||
3.5 Surely, not even for a moment can anyone stand without
doing something. He is always in action, despite himself, as
this is his very nature.
कर्ेन्तियाकण संयम्य य आस्ते र्नसा स्मरन् |
इन्तियाथाम न्तन्वर्ूढािा कर्र्थ्याचार: स उच्यते ||3.6||
karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya ya āste manasā smaran |
indriyārthānvimūḍhātmā mithyācāraḥ sa ucyate ||
3.6 He who restrains the sense organs, but who still thinks of
the objects of the senses is deluded and is called a hypocrite.
यन्तस्त्वन्तियाकण र्नसा कनयम्यारभते ऽजुमन |
कर्ेन्तियै: कर्मयोगर्सक्त: स कवकिष्यते ||3.7||
yastvindriyāṇi manasā niyamyārabhate ’rjuna |
karmendriyaiḥ karmayogamasaktaḥ sa viśiṣyate ||
3.7 He who begins controlling the senses by the mind and
performs selfless work through the sense organs is superior,
O Arjuna.
कनयतं कुरु कर्म िं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मण: |
िरीरयात्राकप च ते न प्रकसद्ध्येदकर्मण: ||3.8||
niyataṁ kuru karma tvaṁ karma jyāyo hyakarmaṇaḥ |
śarīrayātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyedakarmaṇaḥ ||
3.8 Do your prescribed work, as doing work is better than being
idle. Even your own body cannot be maintained without work.
यज्ञाथाम त्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धन: |
तदथं कर्म कौिेय र्ुक्तसङ्ग: सर्ाचर ||3.9||
yajñārthātkarmaṇo’nyatra loko’yam karmabandhanaḥ |
tadarthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta saṅgaḥ samācara ||
3.9 Work has to be performed selflessly; otherwise, work
binds one to this world. O son of Kuntī, perform your work
for Me and you will do it authentically, liberated and without
attachment.
सहयज्ञा: प्रजा: सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापकत: |
अने न प्रसकवष्यध्वर्ेष वोऽन्तस्त्वष्ट्कार्धुक् ||3.10||
sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā puro’vāca prajāpatiḥ |
anena prasaviṣyadhvameṣa vo’stviṣṭakāmadhuk ||
3.10 Brahma, the lord of creation before creating human kind
as selfless sacrifice said, ‘By this selfless enriching, be more
and more prosperous and let it bestow all the desired gifts.’
दे वान्ब्भावयतानेन ते दे वा भावयिु व: |
परस्परं भावयि: श्रेय: परर्वाप्स्स्यथ ||3.11||
devān bhāvayatā’nena te devā bhāvayantu vaḥ |
parasparaṁ bhāvayantaḥ śreyaḥ paramavāpsyatha ||
3.11 The celestial beings, being pleased by this sacrifice, will
also nourish you; with this mutual nourishing of one another,
you will achieve supreme prosperity.
इष्ट्ान्ब्भोगान्तन्ह वो दे वा दास्यिे यज्ञभाकवता: |
तैदमत्तानप्रदायैभ्यो यो भुङ्क्ते स्तेन एव स: ||3.12||
iṣṭānbhogān hi vo devā dāsyante yajñabhāvitāḥ |
tairdattānapradāyaibhyo yo bhuṅkte stena eva saḥ ||
3.12 Satisfied with the selfless enriching service, the celestial
beings certainly award you the desired necessities of life. He
who enjoys the things given by them without offering to the
celestial beings is certainly a thief.
यज्ञकिष्ट्ाकिन: सिो र्ुच्यिे सवमककन्तिषै : |
भुञ्जते ते िघं पापा ये पचन्त्यािकारणात् ||3.13||
yajñaśiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarvakilbiṣaiḥ |
bhuñjate te tvaghaṁ pāpā ye pacantyātmakāraṇāt ||
3.13 Those who eat food after selfless enriching service are
free of all sins. Those who prepare food for sense enjoyment
do grievous sin.
अिािवन्ति भूताकन पजम न्यादिसम्भव: |
यज्ञािवकत पजमन्यो यज्ञ: कर्मसर्ुिव: ||3.14||
annādbhavanti bhūtāni parjanyādannasaṁbhavaḥ |
yajñādbhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karmasamudbhavaḥ ||
3.14 All beings grow from food grains, from rains the food
grains become possible, the rains become possible from selfless
sacrifice of enriching.
कर्म ब्रह्मोिवं कवन्तद्ध ब्रह्माक्षरसर्ुिवर्् |
तस्मात्सवमगतं ब्रह्म कनत्यं यज्ञे प्रकतकितर्् ||3.15||
karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi brahmākṣarasamudbhavam |
tasmātsarvagataṁ brahma nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam ||
3.15 Know that work is born of the Creator and He is born of
the Supreme. The all-pervading Supreme is eternally situated
in sacrifice of enriching.
एवं प्रवकतमतं चक्रं नानुवतमयतीह य: |
अघायुररन्तियारार्ो र्ोघं पाथम स जीवकत ||3.16||
evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ |
aghāyurindriyārāmo moghaṁ pārtha sa jīvati ||
3.16 O Pārtha, he who does not adopt the prescribed, established
cycle lives a life full of sins. Rejoicing in sense gratification,
he lives a useless life.
यस्त्वािरकतरे व स्यादाितृप्तश्च र्ानव: |
आिन्येव च सिु ष्ट्स्तस्य कायं न कवद्यते ||3.17||
yastvātmaratireva syādātmatṛptaśca mānavaḥ |
ātmanyeva ca santuṣṭastasya kāryaṁ na vidyate ||
3.17 One who takes pleasure in the Self, who is satisfied in
the Self and who is content in one’s Self, for him certainly,
no work exists.
नैव तस्य कृतेनाथो नाकृतेनेह कश्चन |
न चास्य सवम भूतेषु ककश्चदथमव्यपाश्रय: ||3.18||
naiva tasya kṛtenārtho nākṛteneha kaścana |
na cāsya sarvabhūteṣu kaścidarthavyapāśrayaḥ ||
3.18 Certainly, he never has any purpose for doing his duty
or for not doing his duty in this world. He does not depend
on any living being.
तस्मादसक्त: सततं कायं कर्म सर्ाचर |
असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परर्ाप्नोकत पूरुष: ||3.19||
tasmādasaktaḥ satataṁ kāryaṁ karma samācara |
asakto hyācaran karma paramāpnoti pūruṣaḥ ||
3.19 Therefore, one should work always without attachment.
Performing work without attachment, certainly, man achieves
the Supreme.
कर्मणैव कह संकसन्तद्धर्ान्तथथता जनकादय: |
लोकसंग्रहर्ेवाकप सम्पश्यन्कतुमर्हम कस ||3.20||
karmaṇaiva hi saṁsiddhimāsthitā janakādayaḥ |
lokasaṁgrahamevāpi sampaśyankartumarhasi ||
3.20 King Janaka and others attained perfection by selfless
enriching. To guide others you too must act selflessly.
यद्यदाचरकत श्रेिस्तत्तदे वेतरो जन: |
स यत्प्रर्ाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवतमते ||3.21||
yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tad evetaro janaḥ |
sa yatpramāṇaṁ kurute lokastadanuvartate ||
3.21 Whatever action is performed by a great person, others
follow. They follow the example set by him.
न र्े पाथाम न्तस्त कतमव्यं कत्रषु लोकेषु ककञ्चन |
नानवाप्तर्वाप्तव्यं वतम एव च कर्मकण || 3.22 ||3.22||
na me pārthāsti kartavyaṁ triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana |
nānavāptamavāptavyaṁ varta eva ca karmaṇi ||
3.22 O Pārtha, there is nothing that I must do in the three
worlds. Neither am I in want of anything nor do I have
anything to gain. Yet, I am always in action.
यकद ह्यहं न वतेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्तित: |
र्र् विाम नुवतमिे र्नुष्या: पाथम सवमि: ||3.23||
yadi hyahaṁ na varteyaṁ jātu karmaṇyatandritaḥ |
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ ||
3.23 If I did not engage in work with care, O Pārtha, certainly,
people would follow My path in all respects.
उत्सीदे युररर्े लोका न कुयां कर्म चेदहर्् |
सङ्करस्य च कताम स्यार्ुपहन्याकर्र्ा: प्रजा: ||3.24||
utsīdeyurime lokā na kuryāṁ karma cedaham |
sakarasya ca kartā syāmupahanyāmimāḥ prajāḥ ||
3.24 If I do not work, then these worlds would be ruined. I
would be the cause of creating confusion and destruction.
सक्ता: कर्मण्यकविां सो यथा कुवमन्ति भारत |
कुयाम कििां स्तथासक्तकश्चकीषुमलोकसंग्रहर्् ||3.25||
saktāḥ karmaṇyavidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata |
kuryādvidvāṁstathāsaktaścikīrṣurlokasaṁgraham ||
3.25 As the ignorant do their work with attachment to the
results, O Bhārata, the wise do so without attachment, for the
enrichment (welfare) of people.
न बुन्तद्धभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसकङ्गनार्् |
जोषयेत्सवमकर्ाम कण कविान्युक्त: सर्ाचरन् ||3.26||
na buddhi bhedaṁ janayedajñānāṁ karmasaginām |
joṣayetsarvakarmāṇi vidvānyuktaḥ samācaran ||
3.26 Let not the wise disturb the minds of the ignorant who
are attached to the results of work. They should encourage
them to act without attachment.
प्रकृते: कक्रयर्ाणाकन गुणै: कर्ाम कण सवमि: |
अहङ्कारकवर्ूढािा कताम हकर्कत र्न्यते ||3.27||
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ |
ahakāravimūdhātmā kartāhamiti manyate ||
3.27 People, confused by ego, think they are the doers of all
kinds of work while it is being done by the energy of nature.
तिकवत्तु र्हाबाहो गुणकर्मकवभागयो: |
गुणा गुणेषु वतमि इकत र्िा न सज्जते ||3.28||
tattvavittu mahābāho guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ |
guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na sajjate ||
3.28 One who knows the Truth, O mighty-armed one, knows
the differences between the attributes of nature and work.
Knowing well about the attributes and sense gratification, he
never becomes attached.
प्रकृतेगुमणसम्मूढा: सज्जिे गुणकर्मसु |
तानकृत्स्नकवदो र्न्दान्कृत्स्नकवि कवचालयेत् ||3.29||
prakṛterguṇasaṁmūḍhāḥ sajjante guṇa karmasu |
tānakṛtsnavido mandānkṛtsnavinna vicālayet ||
3.29 Fooled by the attributes of nature, those people with less
wisdom or who are lazy become engaged in actions driven by
these attributes. But, the wise should not unsettle them.
र्कय सवाम कण कर्ाम कण संन्यस्याध्यािचेतसा |
कनरािीकनमनर्मर्ो भूिा युध्यस्व कवगतज्वर: ||3.30||
mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi sannyasyādhyātmacetasā |
nirāśīrnirmamo bhūtvā yudhyasva vigatajvaraḥ ||
3.30 Dedicating all actions to Me, with consciousness filled
with spiritual knowledge of Self, without desire for gain and
without sense of ownership, without being lazy, fight.
ये र्े र्तकर्दं कनत्यर्नुकतिन्ति र्ानवा: |
श्रद्धाविोऽनसूयिो र्ुच्यिे तेऽकप कर्मकभ: ||3.31||
ye me matamidaṁ nityamanutiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ |
śraddhāvanto ’nasūyanto mucyante tepi karmabhiḥ ||
3.31 Those persons who execute their duties according to
My teaching and who follow these teachings faithfully with
authenticity, without envy, become free from the bondage of
fruitive actions.
ये िेतदभ्यसूयिो नानुकतिन्ति र्े र्तर्् |
सवमज्ञानकवर्ूढां स्तान्तन्वन्तद्ध नष्ट्ानचे तस: ||3.32||
ye tvetad abhyasūyanto nānutiṣṭhanti me matam |
sarvajñānavimūḍhāṁstānviddhi naṣṭānacetasaḥ ||
3.32 But those who do not regularly perform their duty ac-
cording to My teaching, are ignorant, senseless and ruined.
सदृिं चेष्ट्ते स्वस्या: प्रकृतेज्ञाम नवानकप |
प्रकृकतं यान्ति भूताकन कनग्रह: ककं कररष्यकत ||3.33||
sadṛśaṁ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛterjñānavānapi |
prakṛtiṁ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati ||
3.33 Even the wise person tries to act according to the modes
of his own nature, for all living beings go through their nature.
What can restraint of the senses do?
इन्तियस्येन्तियस्याथे रागिे षौ व्यवन्तथथतौ |
तयोनम विर्ागच्छे त्तौ ह्यस्य पररपन्तिनौ ||3.34||
indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāgadveṣau vyavasthitau |
tayorna vaśamāgacchet tau hyasya paripanthinau ||
3.34 Attachment and repulsion of the senses for sense objects
should be put under control. One should never come under
their control as they certainly are the stumbling blocks on the
path of self-realization.
श्रेयान्ब्स्वधर्ो कवगुण: परधर्ाम त्स्वनुकितात् |
स्वधर्े कनधनं श्रेय: परधर्ो भयावह: ||3.35||
śreyānsvadharmo viguṇahparadharmātsvanuṣṭhitāt |
svadharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ paradharmo bhayāvahaḥ ||
3.35 Better it is to do one’s own responsibility, even if it is
in a faultily, than to do someone else’s responsibility perfectly.
Death in the course of performing one’s own responsibility
is better than doing another’s responsibility, as this can be
dangerous.
अजुमन उवाच |
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरकत पूरुष: |
अकनच्छिकप वाष्णेय बलाकदव कनयोकजत: ||3.36||
arjuna uvāca
atha kena prayukto’yaṁ pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ |
anicchannapi vārṣṇeya balādiva niyojitaḥ ||
3.36 Arjuna says, ‘O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, then, by what is
man forced to sinful acts, even without desiring, as if impelled
by force?’
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
कार् एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसर्ुिव: |
र्हािनो र्हापाप्मा कवद्ध्येनकर्ह वैररणर्् ||3.37||
śrībhagavānuvāca
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇasamudbhavaḥ |
mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhyenamiha vairiṇam ||
3.37 The Lord says, ‘It is lust and anger born of the attribute
of passion, alldevouring and sinful, which is one’s greatest
enemy in this world.’
धूर्ेनाकव्रयते वकियमथादिो र्लेन च |
यथोिेनावृतो गभमस्तथा तेनेदर्ावृ तर्् ||3.38||
dhūmenāvriyate vanhiryathādarśo malena ca |
yatholbenāvṛto garbhastathā tenedamāvṛtam ||
3.38 As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by
dust, or as the e bryo is covered by the womb, so also, the
living being is covered by lust.
आवृतं ज्ञानर्ेतेन ज्ञाकननो कनत्यवैररणा |
कार्रूपेण कौिेय दु ष्पूरेणानलेन च ||3.39||
āvṛtaṁ jñānametena jñānino nityavairiṇā |
kāmarūpeṇa kaunteya duṣpūreṇānalena ca ||
3.39 The knowledge of the knower is covered by this eternal
enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and burns
like fire, O son of Kuntī
इन्तियाकण र्नो बुन्तद्धरस्याकधिानर्ुच्यते |
एतैकवमर्ोहयत्येष ज्ञानर्ावृत्य दे कहनर्् ||3.40||
indriyāṇi mano buddhirasyādhiṣṭhānamucyate |
etairvimohayatyeṣa jñānamāvṛtya dehinam ||
3.40 The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the locations
of this lust, which confuses the embodied being and covers
the knowledge.
तस्मात्त्वकर्न्तियाण्यादौ कनयम्य भरतषमभ |
पाप्मानं प्रजकह ह्ये नं ज्ञानकवज्ञाननािनर्् ||3.41||
tasmāttvamindriyāṇyādau niyamya bharatarṣabha |
pāpmānaṁ prajahi hyenaṁ jñānavijñānanāśanam ||
3.41 Therefore, O Bharataṛṣabha, chief amongst the descendants
of Bhārata, in the very beginning, control the senses and curb

the symbol of sin, which is certainly the destroyer of knowl-

edge and consciousness.
इन्तियाकण पराण्याहुररन्तियेभ्य: परं र्न: |
र्नसस्तु परा बुन्तद्धयो बुद्धे: परतस्तु स: ||3.42||
indriyāṇi parāṇyāhurindriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ |
manasastu parā buddhiryo buddheḥ paratastu saḥ ||
3.42 It is said that the senses are superior to the body. The

mind is superior to the senses. The intelligence is still high-

er than the mind and the consciousness is even higher than

intelligence.
एवं बुद्धे: परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यािानर्ािना |
जकह ित्रुं र्हाबाहो कार्रूपं दु रासदर्् ||3.43||
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānamātmanā |
jahi śatruṁ māhābāho kāmarūpaṁ durāsadam ||
3.43 Knowing the Self to be superior to mind and intelligence,
by steadying the mind by intelligence, conquer the insatiable
enemy in the form of lust, O Mahābāho, mighty-armed one.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
इर्ं कववस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहर्व्ययर्् |
कववस्वान्मनवे प्राह र्नुररक्ष्वाकवेऽब्रवीत् ||4.1||
śrībhagavānuvāca
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavānaham avyayaṁ |
vivasvānmanave prāha manurikṣvākave’bravīt ||
4.1 Bhagavān says: ‘I taught the sun god, Vivasvān, the
imperishable science of yoga and Vivasvān taught Manu, the
father of mankind and Manu in turn taught Ikṣvāku.’
एवं परम्पराप्राप्तकर्र्ं राजषमयो कवदु : |
स कालेनेह र्हता योगो नष्ट्: परिप ||4.2||
evaṁ paraṁparāprāptamimaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ |
sa kāleneha mahatā yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa ||
4.2 The supreme science was thus received through the chain
of master-disciple succession and the saintly kings understood it
in that way. In the course of time, the succession was broken
and therefore the science as it was appears to have been lost.
स एवायं र्या तेऽद्य योग: प्रोक्त: पुरातन: |
भक्तोऽकस र्े सखा चेकत रहस्यं ह्येतदु त्तर्र्् ||4.3||
sa evāyaṁ mayā te’dya yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ |
bhakto ’si me sakhā ceti rahasyaṁ hyetaduttamam ||
4.3 That ancient science of Enlightenment, or entering into
eternal bliss, is today taught by me to you because you are
my devotee as well as my friend. You will certainly understand
the supreme mystery of this science.
अजुमन उवाच |
अपरं भवतो जन्म परं जन्म कववस्वत: |
कथर्ेतकिजानीयां िर्ादौ प्रोक्तवाकनकत ||4.4||
arjuna uvāca |
aparaṁ bhavato janma paraṁ janma vivasvataḥ |
kathametad vijānīyāṁ tvamādau proktavāniti ||
4.4 Arjuna says: ‘Oh Kṛṣṇa, you are younger to the sun god

Vivasvān by birth. How am I to understand that in the begin-

ning you instructed this science to him?’
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
बहूकन र्े व्यतीताकन जन्माकन तव चाजुमन |
तान्यहं वेद सवाम कण न िं वेत्थ परिप ||4.5||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
bahuni me vyatītāni janmāni tava cārjuna |
tānyahaṁ veda sarvāṇi na tvaṁ vettha parantapa ||
4.5 Bhagavān says: Many many births both you and I have
passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O
Parantapa!
अजोऽकप सिव्ययािा भूतानार्ीश्वरोऽकप सन् |
प्रकृकतं स्वार्कधिाय सम्भवाम्यािर्ायया ||4.6||
ajo ’pi sannavyayātmā bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san |
prakṛtiṁ svāmadhiṣṭhāya saṁbhavāmyātmamāyayā ||
4.6 Although I am unborn, imperishable and the lord of all
living entities, by ruling my nature I reappear by my own māyā.
यदा यदा कह धर्मस्य ग्लाकनभमवकत भारत |
अभ्युत्थानर्धर्म स्य तदािानं सृजाम्यहर्् ||4.7||
yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānirbhavati bhārata |
abhyutthānam adharmasya tad ātmānaṁ sṛjāmyaham ||
4.7 Whenever positive consciousness declines, when collective
negativity rises, O Bhārat, again and again, at these times, I
happen Myself.
पररत्राणाय साधूनां कवनािाय च दु ष्कृतार्् |
धर्मसंथथापनाथाम य सम्भवाकर् युगे युगे ||4.8||
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām |
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya saṁbhavāmi yuge-yuge ||
4.8 To protect the pious and to annihilate the wicked, to re-establish
righteousness I Myself appear, age after age.
जन्म कर्म च र्े कदव्यर्ेवं यो वेकत्त तत्त्वत: |
त्यक्त्वा दे हं पुनजम न्म नैकत र्ार्ेकत सोऽजुमन ||4.9||
janma karma ca me divyamevaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ |
tyaktvā dehaṁ punarjanma naiti māmeti so ’rjuna ||
4.9 One who knows or experiences My divine appearance and
activities does not take birth again in this material world after
leaving the body but attains Me, o Arjuna.
वीतरागभयक्रोधा र्न्मया र्ार्ुपाकश्रता: |
बहवो ज्ञानतपसा पूता र्िावर्ागता: ||4.10||
vītarāgabhayakrodhā manmayā māmupāśritāḥ |
bahavo jñānatapasā pūtā madbhāvamāgatāḥ ||
4.10 Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being filled
with me and by taking refuge in me, many beings in the past
have become sanctified by the knowledge of me and have
realized me.
ये यथा र्ां प्रपद्यिे तां स्तथैव भजाम्यहर्् |
र्र् विाम नुवतमिे र्नुष्या: पाथम सवमि: ||4.11||
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁstathaiva bhajāmyaham |
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśah ||
4.11 I reward everyone, I show Myself to all people, according
to the manner in which they surrender unto me, in the manner
that they are devoted to me, O Pārtha!
काङ् क्षि: कर्मणां कसन्तद्धं यजि इह दे वता: |
कक्षप्रं कह र्ानुषे लोके कसन्तद्धभमवकत कर्मजा ||4.12||
kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ yajanta iha devatāḥ |
kṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke siddhirbhavati karmajā ||
4.12 Men in this world desire success from activities and
therefore they worship the gods. Men get instant results from
active work in this world.
चातुवमण्यं र्या सृष्ट्ं गुणकर्मकवभागि: |
तस्य कताम रर्कप र्ां कवद्ध्यकतामरर्व्ययर्् ||4.13||
cāturvarṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇakarma vibhāgaśaḥ |
tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhyakartāramavyayam ||
4.13 Depending upon the distribution of the three attributes or
guṇas and action, I have created the four castes. Yet, I am to
be known as the non-doer, the unchangeable.
न र्ां कर्ाम कण कलम्पन्ति न र्े कर्मफले स्पृहा |
इकत र्ां योऽकभजानाकत कर्मकभनम स बध्यते ||4.14||
na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti na me karmaphale spṛhā |
iti māṁ yo’bhijānāti karmabhirna sa badhyate ||
4.14 I am not affected by any work; nor do I long for the
outcome of such work. One who understands this truth about
me also does not get caught in the bondage of work.
एवं ज्ञािा कृतं कर्म पूवैरकप र्ुर्ुक्षुकभ: |
कुरु कर्ैव तस्मात्त्वं पूवै: पूवमतरं कृतर्् ||4.15||
evaṁ jñātvā kṛtaṁ karma pūrvairapi mumukṣubhiḥ |
kuru karmaiva tasmāttvaṁ pūrvaiḥ pūrvataraṁ kṛtam ||
4.15 All the wise and liberated souls of ancient times have
acted with this understanding and thus attained liberation. Just
as the ancients did, perform your duty with this understanding.
ककं कर्म ककर्कर्ेकत कवयोऽप्यत्र र्ोकहता: |
तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्याकर् यज्ज्ञािा र्ोक्ष्यसेऽिुभात् ||4.16||
kiṁ karma kimakarmeti kavayo’pyatra mohitāḥ |
tat te karma pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvā mokṣyase’śubhāt ||
4.16 What is action and what is inaction, even the wise are con-
fused. Let me explain to you what action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all ills.
कर्मणो ह्यकप बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च कवकर्मण: |
अकर्मणश्च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गकत: ||4.17||
karmaṇo hyapi boddhavyaṁ boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ |
akarmaṇaśca boddhavyaṁ gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ ||
4.17 The complexities of action are very difficult to understand.
Understand fully the nature of proper action by understanding
the nature of wrong action and inaction.
कर्मण्यकर्म य: पश्येदकर्मकण च कर्म य: |
स बुन्तद्धर्ान्मनुष्येषु स युक्त: कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् ||4.18||
karmaṇyakarma yaḥ paśyedakarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ |
sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu sa yuktaḥ kṛtsnakarmakṛt ||
4.18 He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction, is
wise and a yogi, Even if engaged in all activities.
यस्य सवे सर्ारम्भा: कार्सङ्कल्पवकजमता: |
ज्ञानाकग्नदग्धकर्ाम णं तर्ाहु: पन्तण्डतं बुधा: ||4.19||
yasya sarve samārambhāḥ kāmasaṅkalpavarjitāḥ |
jñānāgnidagdhakarmāṇaṁ tam āhuḥ paṇḍitaṁ budhāḥ ||
4.19 He who is determined and devoid of all desires for sense
gratification, he is of perfect knowledge. The sages declare such
a person wise whose actions are burnt by the fire of knowledge.
त्यक्त्वा कर्मफलासङ्गं कनत्यतृप्तो कनराश्रय: |
कर्मण्यकभप्रवृ त्तोऽकप नैव कककञ्चत्करोकत स: ||4.20||
tyaktvā karmaphalāsaṅgaṁ nityatṛpto nirāśrayaḥ |
karmaṇyabhipravṛtto’pi naiva kiñcitkaroti saḥ ||
4.20 Having given up all attachment to the results of his action,
always satisfied and independent, the wise man does not act,
though he is engaged in all kinds of action.
कनरािीयमतकचत्तािा त्यक्तसवमपररग्रह: |
िारीरं केवलं कर्म कुवमिाप्नोकत ककन्तिषर्् ||4.21||
nirāśī ryatacittātmā tyaktasarvaparigrahaḥ |
śārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma kurvannāpnoti kilbiṣam ||
4.21 The person who acts without desire for the result; with
his consciousness controlling the mind, giving up all sense of
ownership over his possessions and body and only working,
incurs no sin.
यदृच्छालाभसिुष्ट्ो िन्ब्िातीतो कवर्त्सर: |
सर्: कसद्धावकसद्धौ च कृिाकप न कनबध्यते ||4.22||
yadṛcchālābhasantuṣṭo dvandvātī to vimatsaraḥ |
samaḥ siddhāvasiddhau ca kṛtvāpi na nibadhyate ||
4.22 He who is satisfied with profit which comes of its own
accord and who has gone beyond duality, who is free from
envy, who is in equanimity both in success and failure, such
a person though doing action, is never affected.
गतसङ्गस्य र्ुक्तस्य ज्ञानावन्तथथतचे तस: |
यज्ञायाचरत: कर्म सर्ग्रं प्रकवलीयते ||4.23||
gatasaṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthitacetasaḥ |
yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilī yate ||
4.23 The work of a liberated man who is unattached to the
modes of material nature and who is fully centered in the ul-
timate knowledge, who works totally for the sake of sacrifice,
merges entirely into the knowledge.
ब्रह्मापमणं ब्रह्म हकवब्रमह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतर्् |
ब्रह्मैव तेन गिव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसर्ाकधना ||4.24||
brahmārpaṇaṁ brahmahavir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam |
brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahmakarmasamādhinā ||
4.24 The offering, the offered butter to the supreme in the
fire of the supreme is offered by the supreme. Certainly, the
supreme can be reached by him who is absorbed completely
in action.
दै वर्ेवापरे यज्ञं योकगन: पयुमपासते |
ब्रह्माग्नावपरे यज्ञं यज्ञेनैवोपजुह्वकत ||4.25||
daivamevāpare yajñaṁ yoginaḥ paryupāsate |
brahmāgnāvapare yajñaṁ yajñenaivopajuhvati ||
4.25 Some yogis worship the gods by offering various sacrifices
to them, While others worship by offering sacrifices in the fire
of the supreme.
श्रोत्रादीनीन्तियाण्यन्ये संयर्ाकग्नषु जुह्वकत |
िब्दादीन्तन्वषयानन्य इन्तियाकग्नषु जुह्वकत ||4.26||
śrotrādī nīndriyāṇyanye saṁyamāgniṣu juhvati |
śabdādī nviṣayānanya indriyāgniṣu juhvati ||
4.26 Some sacrifice the hearing process and other senses in the fire of equanimity and others offer as sacrifice
the objects
of the senses, such as sound in the fire of the sacrifice.
सवाम णीन्तियकर्ामकण प्राणकर्ाम कण चापरे |
आिसंयर्योगाग्नौ जुह्वकत ज्ञानदीकपते ||4.27||
sarvāṇīndriyakarmāṇi prāṇakarmāṇi cāpare |
ātmasaṁyamayogāgnau juhvati jñānadī pite ||
4.27 One who is interested in knowledge offers all the actions
due to the senses, including the action of taking in the life
breath into the fire of Yoga and is engaged in the yoga of the
equanimity of the mind.
द्रव्ययज्ञास्तपोयज्ञा योगयज्ञास्तथापरे |
स्वाध्यायज्ञानयज्ञाश्च यतय: संकितव्रता: ||4.28||
dravyayajñāstapoyajñā yogayajñāstathāpare |
svādhyāyajñānayajñāśca yatayaḥ saṁśitavratāḥ ||
4.28 There is the sacrifice of material wealth, sacrifice through
penance, sacrific through yoga and other sacrifices while there
is sacrifice through self-study and through strict vows.
अपाने जु ह्वकत प्राणं प्राणेऽपानं तथापरे |
प्राणापानगती रुद् ध्वा प्राणायार्परायणा: ||4.29||
apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe ’pānaṁ tathāpare |
prāṇāpānagatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāmaparāyaṇāḥ ||
4.29 There are others who sacrifice the life energy in the
form of incoming breath and outgoing breath, thus checking
the movement of the incoming and outgoing breaths and con-
trolling the breath.
अपरे कनयताहारा: प्राणान्प्राणेषु जुह्वकत |
सवेऽप्येते यज्ञकवदो यज्ञक्षकपतकल्मषा: ||4.30||
apare niyatāhārāḥ prāṇānprāṇeṣu juhvati |
sarve’pyete yajñavido yajñakṣapitakalmaṣāḥ ||
4.30 There are others who sacrifice through controlled eating
and offering the outgoing breath, life energy. All these people
know the meaning of sacrifice and are purified of sin or karma.
यज्ञकिष्ट्ार्ृतभुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनर्् |
नायं लोकोऽस्त्ययज्ञस्य कुतोऽन्य: कुरुसत्तर् ||4.31||
yajñaśiṣṭāmṛtabhujo yānti brahma sanātanam |
nāyaṁ loko’styayajñasya kuto’nyaḥ kurusattama ||
4.31 Having tasted the nectar of the results of such sacrifices,
they go to the supreme eternal consciousness. This world is
not for those who have not sacrificed. How can the other be,
Arjuna?
एवं बहुकवधा यज्ञा कवतता ब्रह्मणो र्ुखे |
कर्मजान्तन्वन्तद्ध तान्सवाम नेवं ज्ञािा कवर्ोक्ष्यसे ||4.32||
evaṁ bahuvidhā yajñā vitatā brahmaṇo mukhe |
karmajānviddhi tānsarvānevaṁ jñātvā vimokṣyase ||
4.32 Thus, there are many kinds of sacrifices born of work mentioned in the
Vedas. Thus, knowing these, one will be liberated.
श्रेयािव्यर्याद्यज्ञाज्ज्ञानयज्ञ: परिप |
सवं कर्ाम न्तखलं पाथम ज्ञाने पररसर्ाप्यते ||4.33||
śreyān-dravya-mayād yajñāj jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapa |
sarvaṁ karmā’khilaṁ pārtha jñāne parisamāpyate ||
4.33 O Parantapa (conqueror of foes), the sacrifice of wisdom
is superior to the sacrifice of material wealth. After all, all
activities totally end in wisdom.
तकिन्तद्ध प्रकणपातेन पररप्रश्नेन सेवया |
उपदे क्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञाकननस्तत्त्वदकिमन: ||4.34||
tadviddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā |
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninastattvadarśinaḥ ||
4.34 Understand these truths by approaching a spiritual Mas-
ter, by asking him your questions, by offering service. The
enlightened person can initiate the wisdom unto you because
he has seen the truth
यज्ज्ञािा न पुनर्ोहर्ेवं यास्यकस पाण्डव |
येन भूतान्यिेषेण द्रक्ष्यस्यािन्यथो र्कय ||4.35||
yajjñātvā na punar moham evaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava |
yena bhūtāny aśeṣeṇa drakṣyasy ātmanyatho mayi ||
4.35 O Pāṇḍava, knowing this you will never suffer from
desire or illusion, you will know that all living beings are in
the supreme, in Me.
अकप चेदकस पापेभ्य: सवेभ्य: पापकृत्तर्: |
सवं ज्ञानलवेनैव वृकजनं सिररष्यकस ||4.36||
api cedasi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpakṛttamaḥ |
sarvaṁ jñānaplavenaiva vṛjinaṁ santariṣyasi ||
4.36 Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, you will certainly cross
completely the ocean of miseries through the boat of knowledge.
यथैधां कस सकर्द्धोऽकग्नभमस्मसात्कुरुतेऽजुमन |
ज्ञानाकग्न: सवमकर्ाम कण भस्मसात्कुरुते तथा ||4.37||
yathaidhāṁsi samiddho’gnir bhasmasātkurute’rjuna |
jñānāgniḥ sarvakarmāṇi bhasmasātkurute tathā ||
4.37 Just as a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna,
so does the fire of wisdom burn to ashes all actions, all your
karma.
न कह ज्ञानेन सदृिं पकवत्रकर्ह कवद्यते |
तत्स्वयं योगसंकसद्ध: कालेनािकन कवन्दकत ||4.38||
na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitramiha vidyate |
tatsvayaṁ yogasaṁsiddhah kālenātmani vindati ||
4.38 Truly, in this world, there is nothing as pure as wisdom.
One who has matured to know this enjoys in himself in due
course of time.
श्रद्धावान् लभते ज्ञानं तत्पर: संयतेन्तिय: |
ज्ञानं लब्ध्वा परां िान्तिर्कचरे णाकधगच्छकत ||4.39||
śraddhāvāllabhate jñānaṁ tatparaḥ saṁyatendriyaḥ |
jñānaṁ labdhvā parāṁ śāntimacireṇādhigacchati ||
4.39 A person with śraddhā (courageous faith) achieves wisdom
and has control over the senses. Achieving wisdom, without
delay, he attains supreme peace.
अज्ञश्चाश्रद्दधानश्च संियािा कवनश्यकत |
नायं लोकोऽन्तस्त न परो न सुखं संियािन: ||4.40||
ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca saṁśayātmā vinaśyati |
nāyaṁ loko ’sti na paro na sukhaṁ saṁśayātmanaḥ ||
4.40 Those who have no wisdom and faith, who always have
doubts, are destroyed. There is no happiness in this world or
the next.
योगसंन्यस्तकर्ाम णं ज्ञानसन्तििसंियर्् |
आिविं न कर्ाम कण कनबध्नन्ति धनञ्जय ||4.41||
yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇaṁ jñānas-aṁchinna-saṁśayam |
ātmavantaṁ na karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhañanjaya ||
4.41 O Dhanañjaya (winner of riches), one who has renounced
the fruits of his actions, whose doubts are destroyed, who is
well-situated in the Self, is not bound by his actions.
तस्मादज्ञानसम्भूतं हृथथं ज्ञानाकसनािन: |
कित्त्वैनं संियं योगर्ाकतिोकत्ति भारत ||4.42||
tasmād ajñāna saṁbhūtaṁ hṛtsthaṁ jñānāsinātmanaḥ |
chittvainaṁ saṁśayaṁ yogam ātiṣṭhottiṣṭha bhārata ||
4.42 O descendant of Bhārata, therefore, stand up, be situated
in yoga. Armed with the sword of knowledge; cut the doubt
born of ignorance that exists in your heart.
अजुमन उवाच |
संन्यासं कर्मणां कृष्ण पुनयोगं च िंसकस |
यच्छरेय एतयोरे कं तन्मे ब्रूकह सुकनकश्चतर्् ||5.1||
arjuna uvāca |
sannyāsaṁ karmaṇāṁ kṛṣṇa punaryogaṁ ca śaṁsasi |
yacchreya etayorekaṁ tanme brūhi suniścitaṁ ||
5.1 Arjuna says: Oh Kṛṣṇa, you asked me to renounce work
first and then you asked me to work with devotion. Will you
now please tell me, definetely, which of the two will be more
beneficial to me?
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
संन्यास: कर्मयोगश्च कन:श्रेयसकरावुभौ |
तयोस्तु कर्मसंन्यासात्कर्मयोगो कवकिष्यते ||5.2||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
sannyāsaḥ karmayogaś ca niḥśreyasakarāvubhau |
tayostu karma-sannyāsāt karmayogo viśiṣyate ||
5.2 Bhagavān says: The renunciation of work [sannyāsa] and
work in devotion [karmayoga] are both good for liberation.
But, of the two, work in devotional service is better than re-
nunciation of work.
ज्ञेय: स कनत्यसं न्यासी यो न िे कष्ट् न काङ् क्षकत |
कनिम न्ब्िो कह र्हाबाहो सुखं बन्धात्प्रर्ुच्यते ||5.3||
jñeyaḥ sa nityasannyāsī yo na dveṣṭi na kāṅkṣati |
nirdvandvo hi mahābāho sukhaṁ bandhātpramucyate ||
5.3 He who neither hates nor desires the fruits of his activities
has renounced. Such a person, free from all dualities, easily
overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, Oh
Arjuna!
साङ् ययोगौ पृथग्बाला: प्रवदन्ति न पन्तण्डता: |
एकर्प्यान्तथथत: सम्यगु भयोकवमन्दते फलर्् ||5.4||
sāṅkhyayogau pṛthagbālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ |
ekamapyāsthitaḥ samyag ubhayorvindate phalam ||
5.4 Only the ignorant, not the wise, speaks of the path of
action [karma-yoga] to be different from the path of renuncia-
tion [sāṅkhya yoga]. Those who are actually learned say that
one who is firmly established in either of the paths, achieves
the fruit of both.
यत्साङ् यै: प्राप्यते थथानं तद्योगैरकप गम्यते |
एकं साङ् यं च योगं च य: पश्यकत स पश्यकत ||5.5||
yat sāṅkhyaiḥ prāpyate sthānaṁ tad yogairapi gamyate |
ekaṁ sāṅkhyaṁ ca yogaṁ ca yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati ||
5.5 He who knows, knows that the state reached by renuncia-
tion [sāṅkhya] and action [karma] are one and the same. State
reached by renunciation can also be achieved by action, know
them to be at same level and see them as they are.
संन्यासस्तु र्हाबाहो दु :खर्ाप्तुर्योगत: |
योगयुक्तो र्ुकनब्रमह्म नकचरे णाकधगच्छकत ||5.6||
sannyāsastu mahābāho duḥkhamāptumayogataḥ |
yogayukto munirbrahma na cireṇādhigacchati ||
5.6 Renunciation without devotional service afflicts one withmisery, Oh mighty-armed one. The wise person
engaged in
devotional service attains the Supreme without delay.
योगयुक्तो कविुद्धािा कवकजतािा कजतेन्तिय: |
सवमभूतािभूतािा कुवमिकप न कलप्यते ||5.7||
yogayukto viśuddhātmā vijitātmā jitendriyaḥ |
sarva-bhūtātma-bhūtātmā kurvannapi na lipyate ||
5.7 The person engaged in devoted service, beyond concepts
pure and impure, self-controlled and who has conquered the
senses is compassionate and loves everyone, although engaged
in work, he is never entangled.
नैव कककञ्चत्करोर्ीकत युक्तो र्न्येत तिकवत् |
पश्यञ्शृण्वन्ब्स्पृिकञ्जघ्रिश्नन्ब्गच्छन्ब्स्वपञ्श्श्वसन् ||5.8||
naiva kiñcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit |
paśyan śṛṇvan spṛśañ jighrann aśnan gacchan svapañ śvasan ||
5.8, 9 One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing,
hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, dreaming, and breath-
ing, always knows within himself that—’I never do anything
at all.’ While talking, letting go, receiving, opening, closing, he
considers that the senses are engaged with their sense objects.
प्रलपन्तन्वसृजन्ब्गृह््िुन्तन्मषकिकर्षिकप |
इन्तियाणीन्तियाथेषु वतमि इकत धारयन् ||5.9||
pralapan visṛjan gṛhṇann unmiṣannimiṣannapi |
indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan ||
5.8, 9 One who knows the truth, though engaged in seeing,
hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, dreaming, and breath-
ing, always knows within himself that—’I never do anything
at all.’ While talking, letting go, receiving, opening, closing, he
considers that the senses are engaged with their sense objects.
ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्ाम कण सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोकत य: |
कलप्यते न स पापेन पद्मपत्रकर्वाम्भसा ||5.10||
brahmaṇy ādhāya karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā karoti yaḥ |
lipyate na sa pāpena padma-patram ivāmbhasā ||
5.10 He, who acts without attachment, giving up and surrender-
ing to the eternal consciousness, He is never affected by sin,
in the same way that the lotus leaf is not affected by water.
कायेन र्नसा बुद्ध्या केवलैररन्तियैरकप |
योकगन: कर्म कुवमन्ति सङ्गं त्यक्त्वाििुद्धये ||5.11||
kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalairindriyairapi |
yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṁ tyaktvātmaśuddhaye ||
5.11 The yogis, giving up attachment, act with the body,
mind, intelligence, even with the senses for the purpose of self-purification.
युक्त: कर्मफलं त्यक्त्वा िान्तिर्ाप्नोकत नैकिकीर्् |
अयुक्त: कार्कारे ण फले सक्तो कनबध्यते ||5.12||
yuktaḥ karmaphalaṁ tyaktvā śāntimāpnoti naiṣṭhikīm |
ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa phale sakto nibadhyate ||
5.12 One who is engaged in devotion, gives up attachment
to outcome of one’s actions and is centered, is at peace. One
who is not engaged in devotion, attached to the outcome of
one’s action becomes entangled.
सवमकर्ाम कण र्नसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं विी |
नविारे पुरे दे ही नैव कुवमि कारयन् ||5.13||
sarvakarmāṇi manasā sannyasyāste sukhaṁ vaśī |
navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan ||
5.13 One who is controlled, giving up all the activities of the
mind, surely remains in happiness in the city of nine gates
(body), neither doing anything nor causing anything to be done.
न कतृमिं न कर्ाम कण लोकस्य सृजकत प्रभु: |
न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवतम ते ||5.14||
na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ |
na karmaphalasaṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate ||
5.14 The master does not create activities nor makes people
do nor connects with the outcome of the actions. All this is
enacted by the material nature.
नादत्ते कस्यकचत्पापं न चैव सुकृतं कवभु: |
अज्ञाने नावृतं ज्ञानं तेन र्ुह्यन्ति जिव: ||5.15||
nādatte kasyacitpāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ |
ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ ||
5.15 The Lord, surely, neither accepts anyone’s sins nor good
deeds. Living beings are confused by the ignorance that covers
the knowledge.
ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं ये षां नाकितर्ािन: |
तेषार्ाकदत्यवज्ज्ञानं प्रकाियकत तत्परर्् ||5.16||
jñānena tu tadajñānaṁ yeṣāṁ nāśitamātmanaḥ |
teṣāmādityavajjñānaṁ prakāśayati tatparam ||
5.16 Whose ignorance is destroyed by the knowledge, their
knowledge, like the rising sun, throws light on the supreme
consciousness.
तद् बुद्धयस्तदािानस्तकििास्तत्परायणा: |
गच्छन्त्यपु नरावृकत्तं ज्ञानकनधूमतकल्मषा: ||5.17||
tadbuddhayas tad-ātmānas tan-niṣṭhās tat parāyaṇāḥ |
gacchanty apunar-āvṛttiṁ jñāna-nirdhūta-kalmaṣāḥ ||
5.17 One whose intelligence, mind, faith are in the Supreme
and one who has surrendered to the Supreme, his misunder-
standings are cleansed through knowledge and he goes towards
liberation.
कवद्याकवनयसम्पिे ब्राह्मणे गकव हन्तस्तकन |
िुकन चैव श्वपाके च पन्तण्डता: सर्दकिमन: ||5.18||
vidyā-vinaya-saṁpanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini |
śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ samadarśinaḥ ||
5.18 One who is full of knowledge and compassion sees equally
the learned brāhmaṇa, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the
dog-eater.
इहै व तैकजमत: सगो येषां साम्ये न्तथथतं र्न: |
कनदोषं कह सर्ं ब्रह्म तस्माद् ब्रह्मकण ते न्तथथता: ||5.19||
ihaiva tairjitaḥ sargo yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ |
nirdoṣaṁ hi samaṁ brahma tasmād brahmaṇi te sthitāḥ ||
5.19 In this life, surely, those whose minds are situated in
equanimity have conquered birth and death. They are flawless
like the Supreme and therefore, are situated in the Supreme.’
न प्रहृष्येन्तत्प्रयं प्राप्य नोकिजेत्प्राप्य चाकप्रयर्् |
न्तथथरबुन्तद्धरसम्मूढो ब्रह्मकवद् ब्रह्मकण न्तथथत: ||5.20||
na prahṛṣyetpriyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam |
sthirabuddhir asaṁmūḍho brahmavid brahmaṇi sthitaḥ ||
5.20 One who does not rejoice at achieving something he likes
nor gets agitated on getting something he does not like, who
is of steady intelligence, who is not deluded, one who knows
the Supreme, is situated in the Supreme.
बाह्यस्पिेष्वसक्तािा कवन्दत्यािकन यत्सुखर्् |
स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तािा सुखर्क्षयर्श्नुते ||5.21||
bāhyasparśeṣvasaktātmā vindatyātmani yatsukham |
sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukhamakṣayamaśnute ||
5.21 One who is not attached to the outer world sense pleasures,
who enjoys in the Self, in that happiness, he, having identified
with his Self by engaging in the Supreme [brahma-yoga], enjoys
unlimited happiness.
ये कह संस्पिमजा भोगा दु :खयोनय एव ते |
आद्यिवि: कौिेय न तेषु रर्ते बुध: ||5.22||
ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te |
ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ||
5.22 The intelligent person surely does not enjoy the sense
pleasures, enjoyments which are sources of misery and which
are subject to beginning and end.
िक्नोतीहै व य: सोढुं प्राक्शरीरकवर्ोक्षणात् |
कार्क्रोधोिवं वेगं स युक्त: स सुखी नर: ||5.23||
śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt |
kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ ||
5.23 Before leaving this present body, if one is able to tolerate
the urges of material senses and check the force of desire and
anger, he is well situated and he is happy in this world.
योऽि:सुखोऽिरारार्स्तथािज्र्योकतरे व य: ।
स योगी ब्रह्मकनवाम णं ब्रह्मभूतोऽकधगच्छकत ||5.24||
yo’ntaḥsukho’ntarārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ |
sa yogī brahman-irvāṇaṁ brahmabhūto’dhigacchati ||
5.24 One who is happy from within, active within as well
as illumined within, surely, is a Yogi and he is liberated in
the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa], is Self-realized and attains the
Supreme.
लभिे ब्रह्मकनवाम णर्ृषय: क्षीणकल्मषा: |
किििै धा यतािान: सवमभूतकहते रता: ||5.25||
labhante brahma-nirvāṇam ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇakalmaṣāḥ |
chinn-advaidhā yatātmānaḥ sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ ||
5.25 Those, whose sins have been destroyed, who have dispelled
the dualities arising from doubts, whose minds are engaged
within, and who are working for the welfare of other beings,
attain the eternal liberation in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa].
कार्क्रोधकवयुक्तानां यतीनां यतचेतसार्् |
अकभतो ब्रह्मकनवाम णं वतमते कवकदतािनार्् ||5.26||
kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yatacetasām |
abhito brahmanirvāṇaṁ vartate viditātmanām ||
5.26 They who are free from lust and anger, who have subdued
the mind and senses, and who have known the Self, easily
attain liberation [brahma-nirvāṇa].
स्पिाम न्कृिा बकहबाम ह्यां श्चक्षुश्चैवािरे रुवो: |
प्राणापानौ सर्ौ कृिा नासाभ्यिरचाररणौ ||5.27||
sparśān kṛtvā bahir bāhyāṁś cakṣuś caivāntare bhruvoḥ |
prāṇāpānau samau kṛtvā nāsābhyantara-cāriṇau ||
5.27,28 Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes
and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending
the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus
controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from
desire, fear and
the by-product of desire and fear, anger all three. One who is
always in this state is certainly liberated.
यतेन्तियर्नोबुन्तद्धर्ुमकनर्ोक्षपरायण: |
कवगतेच्छाभयक्रोधो य: सदा र्ुक्त एव स: ||5.28||
yatendriya-mano-buddhir munir mokṣaparāyaṇaḥ |
vigatecchā-bhaya-krodho yaḥ sadā mukta eva saḥ ||
5.27,28 Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes
and vision concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending
the inward and outward breaths within the nostrils and thus
controlling the mind, senses and intelligence, the transcendental who is aiming at liberation, becomes free from
desire, fear and
the by-product of desire and fear, anger all three. One who is
always in this state is certainly liberated.
भोक्तारं यज्ञतपसां सवमलोकर्हे श्वरर्् |
सुहृदं सवमभूतानां ज्ञािा र्ां िान्तिर्ृच्छकत ||5.29||
bhoktāraṁ yajñatapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram |
suhṛdaṁ sarvabhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntimṛcchati ||
5.29 One who knowing Me as the purpose of sacrifice and
penance, as the lord of all the worlds and the benefactor of
all the living beings, achieves peace.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
अनाकश्रत: कर्मफलं कायं कर्म करोकत य: |
स संन्यासी च योगी च न कनरकग्ननम चाकक्रय: ||6.1||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
anāśritaḥ karmaphalaṃ kāryaṃ karma karoti yaḥ |
sa sanyāsī ca yogī ca na niragnirna cā’kriyaḥ ||
6.1 Bhagavān says: One who performs his actions without being
attached to their fruit (outcome) of his work is a Sannyāsi, and
he is truly an ascetic; a Yogi also.; not the one who renounces
to light the fire and performs no action.
यं संन्यासकर्कत प्राहुयोगं तं कवन्तद्ध पाण्डव |
न ह्यसंन्यस्तसङ्कल्पो योगी भवकत कश्चन ||6.2||
yaṃ sannyāsamiti prāhur yogaṃ taṃ viddhi pāṇḍava |
na hyasannyastasaṅkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana ||
6.2 O Pāṇḍava, what is called renunciation, or sannyāsa, you
must know to be the same as yoga, or uniting oneself with
the Supreme., for never can anyone become a yogī, until he
renounces the desire for self-gratification [saṅkalpa].
आरुरुक्षोर्ुमनेयोगं कर्म कारणर्ुच्यते |
योगारूढस्य तस्यैव िर्: कारणर्ुच्यते ||6.3||
ārurukṣormuner yogaṃ karma kāraṇamucyate |
yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate ||
6.3 A one desirious of achieving the state of yoga or no-mind
state, action is said to be the means and for the one who is
already elevated in yoga, cessation from all actions is said to
be the means.
यदा कह नेन्तियाथेषु न कर्मस्वनुषज्जते |
सवमसङ्कल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते ||6.4||
yadā hi nendriyārtheṣu na karmasvanuṣajjate |
sarvasankalpasannyāsī yogārūḍhastadocyate ||
6.4 Any one is said to have attained the state of yoga when,
having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense
gratification nor engages in result focused activities.
उद्धरे दािनािानं नािानर्वसादयेत् |
आिैव ह्यािनो बन्धुरािैव ररपुरािन: ||6.5||
uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ natmānam avasādayet |
ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripurātmanaḥ ||
6.5 You are your own friend; you are your own enemy. Evolve
yourself through the Self and do not degrade yourself.
बन्धुरािािनस्तस्य येनािैवािना कजत: |
अनािनस्तु ित्रुिे वते तािैव ित्रुवत् ||6.6||
bandhur ātmātmanas tasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ |
anātmanastu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat ||
6.6 For him who has conquered the Self, the Self is the best of
friends; for one who has failed to do so, his Self will remain
the greatest enemy.
कजतािन: प्रिािस्य परर्ािा सर्ाकहत: |
िीतोष्णसुखदु :खे षु तथा र्ानापर्ानयो: ||6.7||
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātmā samāhitaḥ |
śītoṣṇa-sukha duḥkheṣu tathā mānāpamānayoḥ ||
6.7 For one who has conquered the self, who has attained
tranquility, the Supreme is already reached. Such a person
remains in this state in happiness or distress, heat or cold,
honor or dishonor.
ज्ञानकवज्ञानतृप्तािा कूटथथो कवकजतेन्तिय: |
युक्त इत्युच्यते योगी सर्लोष्ट्ाश्मकाञ्चन: ||6.8||
jñāna-vijñāna-tṛptātmā kūṭastho vijitendriyaḥ |
yukta ityucyate yogī sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ ||
6.8 A person whose mind is contented because of spiritual
knowledge, who has subdued his senses and to whom stone
and gold are same and who is satisfied with what he is
having, is said to be established in Self-realization and is called
an enlightened being.
सुहृन्तन्मत्रायुमदासीनर्ध्यथथिे ष्यबन्धु षु |
साधुष्वकप च पापेषु सर्बुन्तद्धकवमकिष्यते ||6.9||
suhṛn-mitrāry-udāsīna madhyastha-dveṣya bandhuṣu |
sadhuṣvapi ca pāpeṣu sama-buddhir viśiṣyate ||
6.9 A person is considered truly advanced when he regards
honest well-wishers, affectionate benefactors, the neutral, me-
diators, the envious, friends and enemies, the pious and the
sinners all with an equal mind.
योगी युञ्जीत सततर्ािानं रहकस न्तथथत: |
एकाकी यतकचत्तािा कनरािीरपररग्रह: ||6.10||
yogī yuñjīta satatam ātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ |
ekākī yatachittātmā nirāśīraparigrahaḥ ||
6.10 A Yogī should always try to concentrate his mind on the
Supreme Self; situated in a secluded place, he should carefully
control his mind without being attracted by anything and should
be free from the feeling of possessiveness.
िुचौ दे िे प्रकतिाप्य न्तथथरर्ासनर्ािन: |
नात्युन्तच्छरतं नाकतनीचं चैलाकजनकुिोत्तरर्् ||6.11||
śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ |
nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ cailājina-kuśottaram ||
6.11 On a clean and pure place, one should establish his seat
by laying kuśa grass, a deer skin and a cloth, one over another,
neither too high nor too low.
तत्रैकाग्रं र्न: कृिा यतकचत्तेन्तियकक्रय: |
उपकवश्यासने युञ्श्ज्याद्योगर्ािकविुद्धये ||6.12||
tatraikāgraṃ manaḥ kṛtvā yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ |
upaviśyāsane yuñjyād yogamātmaviśuddhaye ||
6.12 Sitting firmly on that pure seat, the yogi should practice
the purification of the self by controlling the activities of mind
and the senses
सर्ं कायकिरोग्रीवं धारयिचलं न्तथथर: |
सम्प्रेक्ष्य नाकसकाग्रं स्वं कदिश्चानवलोकयन् ||6.13||
samaṃ kāyaśirogrīvaṃ dhārayannacalaṃ sthiraḥ |
samprekṣya nāsikāgraṃ svaṃ diśaścānavalokayan ||
6.13 Holding the body, head and neck steady, look at the tip
of your nose without looking in any other direction.
प्रिािािा कवगतभीब्रमह्मचाररव्रते न्तथथत: |
र्न: संयम्य र्न्तच्चत्तो युक्त आसीत र्त्पर: ||6.14||
praśāntātmā vigatabhīr brahmacārivrate sthitaḥ |
manaḥ saṃyamya maccitto yukta āsī ta matparaḥ ||
6.14 Sit with an unagitated mind, free from fear and in tune
with Existence, controlling the mind, focusing it on Me and
make Me the supreme goal.
युञ्जिेवं सदािानं योगी कनयतर्ानस: |
िान्तिं कनवाम णपरर्ां र्त्संथथार्कधगच्छकत ||6.15||
yuñjannevaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī niyatamānasaḥ |
śāntiṃ nirvāṇa paramāṃ mat-saṃsthām adhigacchati ||
6.15 Always practising control over the mind and situated in
the Self, the yogi attains peace, the supreme liberation and
My kingdom.
नात्यश्नतस्तु योगोऽन्तस्त न चैकािर्नश्नत: |
न चाकत स्वप्निीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चाजुमन ||6.16||
nātyaśnatastu yogosti na caikāntamanaśnataḥ |
na cāti svapnaśīlasya jāgrato naiva cārjuna ||
6.16 Yoga is neither eating too much nor eating too little; it is
neither sleeping too much nor sleeping too little, Oh Arjuna.
युक्ताहारकवहारस्य युक्तचेष्ट्स्य कर्मसु |
युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगो भवकत दु :खहा ||6.17||
yuktāhāra vihārasya yuktaceṣṭasya karmasu |
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkhahā ||
6.17 One who is regulated in food, rest, recreation and work,
sleep and wakefulness, can reduce misery.
यदा कवकनयतं कचत्तर्ािन्येवावकतिते |
कन:स्पृह: सवमकार्ेभ्यो युक्त इत्यु च्यते तदा ||6.18||
yadā viniyataṃ cittam ātmanyevāvatiṣṭhate |
niḥspṛhaḥ sarvakāmebhyo yukta ityucyate tadā ||
6.18 When the mind is disciplined and one is situated in the
Self, free from all desires, then one is said to be situated in
yoga.
यथा दीपो कनवातथथो नेङ्गते सोपर्ा स्मृता |
योकगनो यतकचत्तस्य युञ्जतो योगर्ािन: ||6.19||
yathā dīpo nivātastho neṅgate sopamā smṛ tā |
yogino yatacittasya yuñjato yogamātmanaḥ ||
6.19 As a lamp in a place without wind does not waver, so
also the yogi, whose mind is controlled remains steady, engaged
in yoga, in the Self.
यत्रोपरर्ते कचत्तं कनरुद्धं योगसेवया |
यत्र चैवािनािानं पश्यिािकन तु ष्यकत ||6.20||
yatroparamate cittaṃ niruddhaṃ yogasevayā |
yatra caivātmanātmānaṃ paśyannātmani tuṣyati ||
6.20 In yoga, the mind becomes quiet and the Self is satisfied
by the Self in the Self.
सुखर्ात्यन्तिकं यत्तद् बुन्तद्धग्राह्यर्तीन्तियर्् |
वेकत्त यत्र न चैवायं न्तथथतश्चलकत तित: ||6.21||
sukhamātyantikaṃ yat tad buddhigrāhyamatīndriyam |
vetti yatra na caivāyaṃ sthitaścalati tattvataḥ ||
6.21 Supreme bliss is grasped by intelligence transcending the
senses. The person who knows this is based in reality.
यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं र्न्यते नाकधकं तत: |
यन्तस्मन्तन्ब्थथतो न दु :खेन गुरुणाकप कवचाल्यते ||6.22||
yaṃ labdhvā cāparaṃ lābhaṃ manyate nādhikaṃ tataḥ |
yasminsthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate ||
6.22 By attaining that Supreme, one does not consider any
other gain as being greater. By being situated in the Supreme,
one is not shaken by the greatest of misery.
तं कवद्याद् दु :खसंयोगकवयोगं योगसन्तञ्श्ज्ञतर्् |
स कनश्चयेन योक्तव्यो योगोऽकनकवमण्णचेतसा ||6.23||
taṃ vidyād duḥkhasaṃ yogaviyogaṃ yoga-saṃjñitam |
sa niścayena yoktavyo yogo’nirviṇṇacetasā ||
6.23 When yoga is practiced with determination without devi-
ating, the misery by contact with material senses is removed.
सङ्कल्पप्रभवान्कार्ां स्त्यक्त्वा सवाम निेषत: |
र्नसैवेन्तियग्रार्ं कवकनयम्य सर्ित: ||6.24||
saṅkalpa-prabhavān kāmāṃs tyaktvā sarvānaśeṣataḥ |
manasaivendriya-grāmaṃ viniyamya samantataḥ ||
6.24 Giving up completely all the fantasies born of the mind,
one can regulate all the senses from all the sides by the mind.
िनै: िनैरुपरर्ेद्बुद्ध्या धृकतगृहीतया |
आिसंथथं र्न: कृिा न कककञ्चदकप कचियेत् ||6.25||
śanaiḥ śanairuparamed buddhyā dhṛtigṛhītayā |
ātmasaṃsthaṃ manaḥ kṛtvā na kiñcidapi cintayet ||
6.25 Gradually, step by step, one should become established in
the Self, held by the conviction of intelligence, with the mind
not thinking of anything else.
यतो यतो कनश्चरकत र्नश्चञ्चलर्न्तथथरर्् |
ततस्ततो कनयम्यैतदािन्येव विं नयेत् ||6.26||
yato yato niścarati manaś cañcalamasthiram |
tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmanyeva vaśaṃ nayet ||
6.26 From wherever the mind becomes agitated due to its
wandering and unsteady nature, from there, one must certainly
bring it under the control of the Self.
प्रिािर्नसं ह्ये नं योकगनं सुखर्ुत्तर्र्् |
उपैकत िािरजसं ब्रह्मभूतर्कल्मषर्् ||6.27||
praśānta-manasaṃ hy enaṃ yoginaṃ sukhamuttamam |
upaiti śāntarajasaṃ brahma-bhūtam akalmaṣam ||
6.27 The yogi whose mind is peaceful attains the highest hap-
piness; his passion is pacified and he is free from sins as he
is liberated by the Supreme.
युञ्जिेवं सदािानं योगी कवगतकल्मष: |
सुखेन ब्रह्मसंस्पिमर्त्यिं सु खर्श्नु ते ||6.28||
yuñjannevaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī vigatakalmaṣaḥ |
sukhena brahma-saṃsparś amatyantaṃ sukhamaśnute ||
6.28 The yogi always engaged in the Self and free from
material contamination, is in touch with the Supreme and attains
the highest happiness.
सवमभूतथथर्ािानं सवमभूताकन चािकन |
ईक्षते योगयुक्तािा सवमत्र सर्दिमन: ||6.29||
sarvabhūtastham-ātmānaṃ sarvabhūtāni cātmani |
īkṣate yogayuktātmā sarvatra samadarśanaḥ ||
6.29 The Yogī sees the Supreme situated in all beings and also
all beings situated in the Supreme. One established in the Self
sees the Supreme everywhere.
यो र्ां पश्यकत सवमत्र सवं च र्कय पश्यकत |
तस्याहं न प्रणश्याकर् स च र्े न प्रणश्यकत ||6.30||
yo māṃ paśyati sarvatra sarvaṃ ca mayi paśyati |
tasyāhaṃ na praṇaśyāmi sa ca me na praṇaśyati ||
6.30 For one who sees Me everywhere and who sees
everything in Me, for him I am never lost nor is he lost to Me.
सवमभूतन्तथथतं यो र्ां भजत्येकिर्ान्तथथत: |
सवमथा वतमर्ानोऽकप स योगी र्कय वतमते ||6.31||
sarvabhūtasthitaṃ yo māṃ bhajatyekatvamāsthitaḥ |
sarvathā vartamānopi sa yogī mayi vartate ||
6.31 He who is in oneness with Me in all respects, worships
Me situated in all beings and remains present in Me.
आिौपम्येन सवमत्र सर्ं पश्यकत योऽजुमन |
सुखं वा यकद वा दु :खं स योगी परर्ो र्त: ||6.32||
ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṃ paśyati yorjuna |
sukhaṃ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṃ sa yogī paramo mataḥ ||
6.32 One who, by comparision to his own Self, sees the true
oneness of all beings, in both their happiness or misery, is
Supreme Yogi in My opinion, Arjuna.
अजुमन उवाच |
योऽयं योगस्त्वया प्रोक्त: साम्येन र्धुसूदन |
एतस्याहं न पश्याकर् चञ्चलिान्तथथकतं न्तथथरार्् ||6.33||
arjuna uvāca |
yoyaṃ yogastvayā proktaḥ sāmyena madhusūdana |
etasyāhaṃ na paśyāmi cañcalatvātsthitiṃ sthirām ||
6.33 Arjuna says: O Madhusūdana, I am not able to see this
system of yoga as told by You in the situation of the mind
being restless and not steady.
चञ्चलं कह र्न: कृष्ण प्रर्ाकथ बलवद् दृढर्् |
तस्याहं कनग्रहं र्न्ये वायोररव सुदुष्करर्् ||6.34||
cañcalaṃ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthī balavad dṛḍham |
tasyāhaṃ nigrahaṃ manye vāyoriva suduṣkaram ||
6.34 O Kṛṣṇa, the wavering mind is agitated, strong and firm.
I think it is difficult to control the mind like it is difficult to
control the wind.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
असंियं र्हाबाहो र्नो दु कनमग्रहं चलर्् |
अभ्यासेन तु कौिेय वैरार्ग्ेण च गृह्यते ||6.35||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam |
abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate ||
6.35 Bhagavān says: O mighty-armed Kaunteya (son of Kuntī),
it is undoubtedly difficult to control the wavering mind but by
practice and detachment, it can be controlled.
असंयतािना योगो दु ष्प्राप इकत र्े र्कत: |
वश्यािना तु यतता िक्योऽवाप्तुर्ुपायत: ||6.36||
asaṃyatātmanā yogo duṣprāpa iti me matiḥ |
vaśyātmanā tu yatatā śakyo vāptum upāyataḥ ||
6.36 For one whose mind is uncontrolled, it is difficult to attain
yoga in My opinion. But, it is practical to achieve control over
the mind by appropriate means.
अजुमन उवाच |
अयकत: श्रद्धयोपेतो योगाच्चकलतर्ानस: |
अप्राप्य योगसंकसन्तद्धं कां गकतं कृष्ण गच्छकत ||6.37||
arjuna uvāca |
ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc calita mānasaḥ |
aprāpya yoga-saṃsiddhiṃ kāṃ gatiṃ kṛṣṇa gacchati ||
6.37 Arjuna says: O Kṛṣṇa, if a person is engaged in yoga
with faith but does not attain yoga because of the wavering
mind, what destination does he achieve
कन्तच्चिोभयकवरष्ट्न्तििारकर्व नश्यकत |
अप्रकतिो र्हाबाहो कवर्ूढो ब्रह्मण: पकथ ||6.38||
kaccinnobhayavibhraṣṭaś chinnābhramiva naśyati |
apratiṣṭho mahābāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi ||
6.38 O mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa, does the person who deviated
from the path perish, torn like a cloud without any position?
एतन्मे संियं कृष्ण िे त्तुर्हम स्यिेषत: |
िदन्य: संियस्यास्य िे त्ता न ह्युपपद्यते ||6.39||
etanme saṃśayaṃ kṛṣṇa chettumarhasyaśeṣataḥ |
tvadanyaḥ saṃśayasyāsya chettā na hyupapadyate ||
6.39 This is my doubt, O Kṛṣṇa and I request You to dispel it
completely. Certainly, there is no one to be found other than
You who can remove this doubt.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
पाथम नैवेह नार्ुत्र कवनािस्तस्य कवद्यते |
न कह कल्याणकृत्ककश्चद् दु गमकतं तात गच्छकत ||6.40||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśastasya vidyate |
na hi kalyāṇakṛtkaścid durgatiṃ tāta gacchati ||
6.40 Bhagavān says: O Pārtha, the person engaged in activities
for good does not meet with destruction either in this world
or the next life; he never faces degradation.
प्राप्य पुण्यकृतां लोकानुकषिा िाश्वती: सर्ा: |
िुचीनां श्रीर्तां गेहे योगरष्ट्ोऽकभजायते ||6.41||
prāpya puṇyakṛtāṃ lokān uṣitvā śāśvatiḥ samāḥ |
śucīnāṃ śrī matāṃ gehe yogabhraṣṭo’bhijāyate ||
6.41 The person who has fallen from yoga {yogabṛasṭa] after
many years of living in the planets of the pious and doing
virtuous deeds, takes birth in the house of the virtuous and
prosperous.
अथवा योकगनार्ेव कुले भवकत धीर्तार्् |
एतन्तद्ध दु लमभतरं लोके जन्म यदीदृिर्् ||6.42||
athavā yogināmeva kule bhavati dhī matām |
etaddhi durlabhataraṃ loke janma yadīdṛśam ||
6.42 Or the Yogī certainly takes birth in a family of wise
people. Certainly, such a birth is rare in this world.
तत्र तं बुन्तद्धसंयोगं लभते पौवमदेकहकर्् |
यतते च ततो भूय: संकसद्धौ कुरुनन्दन ||6.43||
tatra taṃ buddhisaṃyogaṃ labhate paurva dehikam |
yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ saṃsiddhau kurunandana ||
6.43 O son of Kuru, on taking such a birth, he revives the
intelligence, consciousness of the previous body, and tries again
to attain complete success [yoga].
पूवाम भ्यासेन तेनैव कियते ह्यविोऽकप स: |
कजज्ञासुरकप योगस्य िब्दब्रह्माकतवतमते ||6.44||
pūrvābhyāsena tenaiva hriyate hyavaśo’pi saḥ |
jijñāsurapi yogasya śabda-brahmātivartate ||
6.44 Due to the practice in his previous life, he certainly gets
attracted automatically to yoga and he is inquisitive about yoga and transcends the scriptures.
प्रयत्नाद्यतर्ानस्तु योगी संिुद्धककन्तिष: |
अनेकजन्मसंकसद्धस्ततो याकत परां गकतर्् ||6.45||
prayatnādyatamānastu yogī saṃśuddhakilbiṣaḥ |
aneka-janmasaṃ-siddhas tato yāti parāṃ gatim ||
6.45 And when the Yogī engages himself with sincere endevour
in progressing further, being cleansed of all incompletions, then
ultimately, achieving perfection [saṁsiddhi] after many births
of practice, he attains the highest state [parām-gati].
तपन्तस्वभ्योऽकधकोयोगी
ज्ञाकनभ्योऽकपर्तोऽकधक:|
ककर्मभ्यश्चाकधकोयोगी
तस्माद्योगीभवाजुमन||6.46||
tapasvibhyodhiko yogī jñānibhyo’pi mato ‘dhikaḥ |
karmibhyaścādhiko yogī tasmādyogī bhavārjuna ||
6.46 A Yogī is greater than the ascetic [tapasvi], greater than
the wise [jñāni] and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore,
Arjuna, do become a Yogī.
योकगनार्कप सवेषां र्द्गतेनािरािना |
श्रद्धावान्ब्भजते यो र्ां स र्े युक्ततर्ो र्त: ||6.47||
yogināmapi sarveṣāṃ madgatenāntarātmanā |
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṃ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ ||
6.47 Of all Yogīs, one who always lives in Me, thinking of
Me within himself, who worships Me in full faith, he is the
most intimately united with Me in Yoga and is the highest of
all Yogīs; that is My opinion.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
र्य्यासक्तर्ना: पाथम योगं युञ्जन्मदाश्रय: |
असंियं सर्ग्रं र्ां यथा ज्ञास्यकस तच्छृ णु ||7.1||
śrībhagavānuvāca
mayyāsaktamanāḥ pārtha yogaṃ yuñjanmadāśrayaḥ |
asaṃśayaṃ samagraṃ māṃ yathā jñāsyasi tacchṛṇu ||
7.1 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, Arjuna, Listen to Me, you can know
Me completely and without doubt by practicing yoga in true
consciousness of Me, with your mind attached to Me.
ज्ञानं तेऽहं सकवज्ञानकर्दं वक्ष्याम्यिेषत: |
यज्ज्ञािा नेह भूयोऽन्यज्ज्ञातव्यर्वकिष्यते ||7.2||
jñānaṃ te’haṃ savijñānam idaṃ vakṣyāmyaśeṣataḥ |
yajjñātvā neha bhūyo’nyaj jñātavyamavaśiṣyate ||
7.2 Let Me explain to you in detail this phenomenal and abso-
lute knowledge along with its realization; by knowing which,
there shall remain nothing further to be known.
र्नुष्याणां सहस्रेषु ककश्चद्यतकत कसद्धये |
यततार्कप कसद्धानां ककश्चन्मां वेकत्त तित: ||7.3||
manuṣyāṇāṃ sahasreṣu kaścidyatati siddhaye |
yatatāmapi siddhānāṃ kaścinmāṃ vetti tattvataḥ ||
7.3 Out of many thousands of men, hardly one endeavors or
strives to achieve perfection of self-realization; of those so en-
deavoring, hardly one achieves the perfection of self-realization
and of those, hardly one knows Me in truth or reaches that
state of oneness with Me.
भूकर्रापोऽनलो वायु: खं र्नो बुन्तद्धरे व च |
अहङ्कार इतीयं र्े कभिा प्रकृकतरष्ट्धा ||7.4||
bhūmirāpo’nalo vāyuḥ khaṃ mano buddhireva ca |
ahankāra itīyaṃ me bhinnā prakṛtiraṣṭadhā ||
7.4 Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false
ego all together these eight constitute My separated external
energies.
अपरे यकर्तस्त्वन्यां प्रकृकतं कवन्तद्ध र्े परार्् |
जीवभूतां र्हाबाहो ययेदं धायमते जगत् ||7.5||
apare’yamitastvanyāṃ prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām |
jīvabhūtāṃ mahābāho yayedaṃ dhāryate jagat ||
7.5 Besides these external energies, which are inferior in nature,
O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine.
This comprises all the embodied souls of all the living entities
by which this material world is being utilized or exploited.
एतद्योनीकन भूताकन सवाम णीत्युपधारय |
अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगत: प्रभव: प्रलयस्तथा ||7.6||
etadyonī ni bhūtāni sarvāṇītyupadhāraya |
ahaṃ kṛ tsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayastathā ||
7.6 Know for certain that everything living is manifested by
these two energies of Mine. I am the Creator, the Sustainer
and the Destroyer of them.
र्त्त: परतरं नान्यन्तत्ककञ्चदन्तस्त धनञ्जय |
र्कय सवमकर्दं प्रोतं सूत्रे र्कणगणा इव ||7.7||
mattaḥ parataraṃ nānyat kiñcidasti dhanañjaya |
mayi sarvamidaṃ protaṃ sūtre maṇigaṇā iva ||
7.7 O Dhanañjaya (conqueror of wealth), there is no truth su-
perior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung
on a thread.
रसोऽहर्प्सु कौिेय प्रभान्तस्म िकिसूयमयो: |
प्रणव: सवमवेदेषु िब्द: खे पौरुषं नृ षु ||7.8||
raso’hamapsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśisūryayoḥ |
praṇavaḥ sarvavedeṣu śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṃ nṛṣu ||
7.8 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), I am the taste of water, the
radiance of the sun and the moon, the sacred syllable ‘Om’ in
the vedic mantras. I am the sound in ether and ability in man.
पुण्यो गन्ध: पृकथव्यां च तेजश्चान्तस्म कवभावसौ |
जीवनं सवमभूतेषु तपश्चान्तस्म तपन्तस्वषु ||7.9||
puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṃ ca tejaścāsmi vibhāvasau |
jīvanaṃ sarvabhūteṣu tapaścāsmi tapasviṣu ||
7.9 I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the
heat in fire. I am the life of all living beings, and I am the
penances of all ascetics.
बीजं र्ां सवमभूतानां कवन्तद्ध पाथम सनातनर्् |
बुन्तद्धबुमन्तद्धर्तार्न्तस्म तेजस्तेजन्तस्वनार्हर्् ||7.10||
bījaṃ māṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ viddhi pārtha sanātanam |
buddhirbuddhimatāmasmi tejastejasvināmaham ||
7.10 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), I am the eternal source of all
creatures, the intelligence of the intelligent, and the brilliance
of all those who are brilliant.
बलं बलवतां चाहं कार्रागकववकजमतर्् |
धर्ाम कवरुद्धो भूतेषु कार्ोऽन्तस्म भरतषमभ ||7.11||
balaṃ balavatāṃ cāhaṃ kāmarāgavivarjitaṃ |
dharmāviruddho bhūteṣu kāmo’smi bharatarṣabha ||
7.11 I am the strength of the strong, and I am procreative
energy in living beings, devoid of lust and in accordance with
religious principles, O Bharatarṣabha (Lord of Bhārata).
ये चैव सान्तिका भावा राजसास्तार्साश्च ये |
र्त्त एवेकत तान्तन्वन्तद्ध न िहं तेषु ते र्कय ||7.12||
ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasāstāmasāśca ye |
matta eveti tānviddhi na tvahaṃ teṣu te mayi ||
7.12 All states of being—be they of goodness (sāttvika), pas-
sion (rajas) or ignorance (tamas)—all emanate from Me. I am
independent of them but they are dependent on Me.
कत्रकभगुमणर्यैभाम वैरेकभ: सवमकर्दं जगत् |
र्ोकहतं नाकभजानाकत र्ार्ेभ्य: परर्व्ययर्् ||7.13||
tribhirguṇamayair bhāvairebhiḥ sarvamidaṃ jagat |
mohitaṃ nābhijānāti māmebhyaḥ paramavyayam ||
7.13 The whole world is deluded by the three modes (good-
ness, passion and ignorance), and thus does not know Me. I
am above the modes and unchangeable
दै वी ह्येषा गुणर्यी र्र् र्ाया दु रत्यया |
र्ार्ेव ये प्रपद्यिे र्ायार्ेतां तरन्ति ते ||7.14||
daivī hyeṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā |
māmeva ye prapadyante māyāmetām taranti te ||
7.14 My Divine energy, consisting of the three modes of
material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who
surrender unto Me can cross beyond it with ease.
न र्ां दु ष्कृकतनो र्ूढा: प्रपद्यिे नराधर्ा: |
र्ाययापहृतज्ञाना आसुरं भावर्ाकश्रता: ||7.15||
na māṃ duṣkṛ tino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ |
māyayāpahṛtajñānā āsuraṃ bhāvamāśritāḥ ||
7.15 Those miscreants who are foolish, lowest among mankind,
whose knowledge is stolen by māyā, illusion, and who have
taken shelter in demonic nature, do not surrender unto Me.
चतुकवमधा भजिे र्ां जना: सुकृकतनोऽजुमन |
आतो कजज्ञासुरथाम थी ज्ञानी च भरतषमभ ||7.16||
caturvidhā bhajante māṃ janāḥ sukṛtino’rjuna |
ārto jijñāsurarthārthī jñānī ca bharatarṣabha ||
7.16 O Bharatarṣabha, best among Bhārata, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me.
They are:
the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and those
searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
तेषां ज्ञानी कनत्ययुक्त एकभन्तक्तकवमकिष्यते |
कप्रयो कह ज्ञाकननोऽत्यथमर्हं स च र्र् कप्रय: ||7.17||
teṣāṃ jñānī nityayukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate |
priyo hi jñānino’tyartham ahaṃ sa ca mama priyaḥ ||
7.17 Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge and ever
united with Me through single-minded devotion is the best. I
am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me
उदारा: सवम एवैते ज्ञानी िािैव र्े र्तर्् |
आन्तथथत: स कह युक्तािा र्ार्ेवानुत्तर्ां गकतर्् ||7.18||
udārāḥ sarva evaite jñānītvātmaiva me matam |
āsthitaḥ sa hi yuktātmā māmevānuttamāṃ gatim ||
7.18 All these devotees are indeed noble; one who knows Me,
dwells in Me. Being engaged in My mission, he attains Me.
बहूनां जन्मनार्िे ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते |
वासुदेव: सवमकर्कत स र्हािा सुदुलमभ: ||7.19||
bahūnāṃ janmanām ante jñānavānmāṃ prapadyate |
vāsudevaḥ sarvamiti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ ||
7.19 After many births and deaths, he who knows Me
surrenders to Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes
and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
कार्ैस्तैस्तैहृमतज्ञाना: प्रपद्यिेऽन्यदे वता: |
तं तं कनयर्र्ाथथाय प्रकृत्या कनयता: स्वया ||7.20||
kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante’nyadevatāḥ |
taṃ taṃ niyamamāsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā ||
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.
यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्त: श्रद्धयाकचमतुकर्च्छकत |
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां तार्ेव कवदधाम्यहर्् ||7.21||
yo yo yāṃ yāṃ tanuṃ bhaktaḥ śraddhayārcitumicchati |
tasya tasyācalāṃ śraddhāṃ tāmeva vidadhāmyaham ||
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.
स तया श्रद्धया युक्तस्तस्याराधनर्ीहते |
लभते च तत: कार्ान्मयैव कवकहतान्तन्ह तान् ||7.22||
sa tayā śraddhayā yuktas tasyārādhanamīhate |
labhate ca tataḥ kāmān mayaiva vihitānhi tān ||
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.
अिवत्तु फलं ते षां तिवत्यल्पर्ेधसार्् |
दे वान्दे वयजो यान्ति र्िक्ता यान्ति र्ार्कप ||7.23||
antavattu phalaṃ teṣāṃ tadbhavatyalpamedhasām |
devāndevayajo yānti madbhaktā yānti māmapi ||
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.
अव्यक्तं व्यन्तक्तर्ापिं र्न्यिे र्ार्बुद्धय: |
परं भावर्जानिो र्र्ाव्ययर्नु त्तर्र्् ||7.24||
avyaktaṃ vyaktimāpannaṃ manyante māmabuddhayaḥ |
paraṃ bhāvamajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam ||
7.24 Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think
that I, the supreme personality of godhead, the Bhagavān, who
was impersonal before, have become a human being now. They
do not know that I am imperishable and supreme, even when
I assume the body.
नाहं प्रकाि: सवमस्य योगर्ायासर्ावृत: |
र्ूढोऽयं नाकभजानाकत लोको र्ार्जर्व्ययर्् ||7.25||
nāhaṃ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyāsamāvṛtaḥ |
mūḍhoyaṃ nābhijānāti loko māmajamavyayam ||
7.25 I am never revealed to the foolish and unintelligent, cov-
ered as I am by My divine power ; the ignorant do not know
Me, unborn and eternal.
वेदाहं सर्तीताकन वतमर्ानाकन चाजुमन |
भकवष्याकण च भूताकन र्ां तु वेद न कश्चन ||7.26||
vedāhaṃ samatī tāni vartamānāni cārjuna |
bhaviṣyāṇi ca bhūtāni māṃ tu veda na kaścana ||
7.26 O Arjuna, as the supreme personality of Godhead, I know
all that has happened, all that is happening, and all that is to
happen. I also know all living entities; but no one knows Me.
इच्छािे षसर्ुत्थेन िन्ब्िर्ोहे न भारत |
सवमभूताकन सम्मोहं सगे यान्ति परिप ||7.27||
icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena bhārata |
sarvabhūtāni saṃmohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa ||
7.27 O scion of Bhārata (Arjuna), O conqueror of the foe,
Parantapa, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome
by the dualities of attachment and aversion.
येषां ििगतं पापं जनानां पुण्यकर्मणार्् |
ते िन्ब्िर्ोहकनर्ुमक्ता भजिे र्ां दृढव्रता: ||7.28||
yeṣāṃ tvantagataṃ pāpaṃ janānāṃ puṇyakarmaṇām |
te dvandvamohanirmuktā bhajante māṃ dṛḍhavratāḥ ||
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.
जरार्रणर्ोक्षाय र्ार्ाकश्रत्य यतन्ति ये |
ते ब्रह्म तकिदु : कृत्स्नर्ध्यािं कर्म चान्तखलर्् ||7.29||
jarāmaraṇa mokṣāya māmāśritya yatanti ye |
te brahma tadviduḥ kṛtsnam adhyātmaṃ karma cākhilam ||
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 because they comprehend everything about activities
that transcend these.
साकधभूताकधदै वं र्ां साकधयज्ञं च ये कवदु : |
प्रयाणकालेऽकप च र्ां ते कवदु युमक्तचेतस: ||7.30||
sādhibhūtādhidaivaṃ māṃ sādhiyajñaṃ ca ye viduḥ |
prayāṇakāle ’pi ca māṃ te vidur yuktacetasaḥ ||
7.30 Those who know Me as the Supreme Lord, as the
governing principle of the material manifestation, who know
Me as the one underlying all the demigods and as the one
sustaining all sacrifices, can with steadfast mind, understand
and know Me, even at the time of death.
अजुमन उवाच |
ककं तद्ब्रह्म ककर्ध्यािं ककं कर्म पुरुषोत्तर् |
अकधभूतं च ककं प्रोक्तर्कधदै वं ककर्ुच्यते ||8.1||
arjuna uvāca |
kiṃ tadbrahma kimadhyātmaṃ kiṃ karma puruṣottama |
adhibhūtaṃ ca kiṃ proktam adhidaivaṃ kimucyate ||
8.1 Arjuna says: O my Lord, O supreme person, what is
Brahman? What is the Self? What are result-based actions?
What is this material manifestation? And what are the demi-
gods? Please explain all this to me.
अकधयज्ञ: कथं कोऽत्र दे हेऽन्तस्मन्मधुसूदन |
प्रयाणकाले च कथं ज्ञेयोऽकस कनयतािकभ: ||8.2||
adhiyajñaḥ kathaṃ ko’tra dehe’smin madhusūdana |
prayāṇakāle ca kathaṃ jñeyo’si niyatātmabhiḥ ||
8.2 How does this Lord of sacrifice live in the body, and in
which part does He live, O Madhusūdana? How can those
engaged in devotional service know You at the time of their
death?
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
अक्षरं ब्रह्म परर्ं स्वभावोऽध्यािर्ु च्यते |
भूतभावोिवकरो कवसगम: कर्मसन्तञ्श्ज्ञत: ||8.3||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ svabhāvo’dhyātmamucyate |
bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karmasañjñitaḥ ||
8.3 Bhagavān says: The indestructible, transcendental living
entity is called Brahman and his eternal nature is called the
self. Action pertaining to the development of the material bodies
is called karma, or result based activities.
अकधभूतं क्षरो भाव: पुरुषश्चाकधदै वतर्् |
अकधयज्ञोऽहर्ेवात्र दे हे दे हभृतां वर ||8.4||
adhibhūtaṃ kṣaro bhāvaḥ puruṣaś cādhidaivatam |
adhiyajño’ham evātra dehe dehabhṛtāṃ vara ||
8.4 Physical nature is known to be endlessly changing. The
universe is the cosmic form of the supreme Lord, and I am
that Lord represented as the super soul, dwelling in the heart
of every being that dwells in a body.
अिकाले च र्ार्ेव स्मरन्मु क्त्वा कलेवरर्् |
य: प्रयाकत स र्िावं याकत नास्त्यत्र संिय: ||8.5||
antakāle ca māmeva smaranmuktvā kalevaram |
yaḥ prayāti sa madbhāvaṃ yāti nā’styatra saṃśayaḥ ||
8.5 Whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remember-
ing Me alone, attains My nature immediately. Of this there
is no doubt.
यं यं वाकप स्मरन्ब्भावं त्यजत्यिे कलेवरर्् |
तं तर्ेवैकत कौिेय सदा तिावभाकवत: ||8.6||
yaṃ yaṃ vāpi smaranbhāvaṃ tyajatyante kalevaram |
taṃ taṃ evaiti kaunteya sadā tadbhāvabhāvitaḥ ||
8.6 Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his
body, it is that state one will attain without fail.
तस्मात्सवेषु कालेषु र्ार्नु स्मर युध्य च |
र्य्यकपमतर्नोबुन्तद्धर्ाम र्ेवैष्यस्यसंियर्् ||8.7||
tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhya ca |
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir mām evaiṣy asyasaṃśayam ||
8.7 Arjuna, think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa always, while
continuing with your prescribed duty of fighting. With your
activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed
on. Me, you will attain Me without doubt.
अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगाकर्ना |
परर्ं पुरुषं कदव्यं याकत पाथाम नुकचियन् ||8.8||
abhyāsa yoga yuktena cetasā nānyagāminā |
paramaṃ puruṣaṃ divyaṃ yāti pārthānucintayan ||
8.8 He who meditates on the supreme person, his mind con-
stantly engaged in remembering Me, not deviating from the
path, O Pārtha, He is sure to reach Me.
ककवं पुराणर्नुिाकसतार
र्णोरणीयां सर्नुस्मरे द्य: |
सवमस्य धातारर्कचन्त्यरूप
र्ाकदत्यवणं तर्स: परस्तात् ||8.9||
kaviṃ purāṇaṃ anuśāsitāram
aṇoraṇī yām sam anusmared yaḥ |
sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam
ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt ||
8.9 One should meditate on the Supreme as the one who
knows everything, as He is the most ancient, who is the con-
troller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer
of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is
inconceivable, and who is always a person.
प्रयाणकाले र्नसाचलेन
भक्त्या युक्तो योगबलेन चैव |
रुवोर्मध्ये प्राणर्ावेश्य सम्यक्
स तं परं पुरुषर्ुपैकत कदव्यर्् ||8.10||
prayāṇakāle manasācalena
bhaktyā yukto yogabalena caiva |
bhruvor madhye prāṇam āveśya samyak
sa taṃ paraṃ puruṣam upaiti divyam ||
8.10 One, who at the time of death, fixes his mind and life air
between the eyebrows without being distracted, by the power
of yoga and in full devotion, engages himself in dwelling on
Me, He will certainly attain Me.
यदक्षरं वेदकवदो वदन्ति
कविन्ति यद्यतयो वीतरागा: |
यकदच्छिो ब्रह्मचयं चरन्ति
तत्ते पदं संग्रहे ण प्रवक्ष्ये ||8.11||
yad akṣaraṃ vedavido vadanti
viśanti yadyatayo vītarāgāḥ |
yad icchanto brahmacaryaṃ caranti
tatte padaṃ sangraheṇa pravakṣye ||
8.11 Persons who are learned in the Veda and who are great
sages in the renounced order, enter into Brahman. Desiring
such perfection, one practices brahmacarya. I shall now explain
to you this process by which one may attain liberation.
सवमिाराकण संयम्य र्नो हृकद कनरुध्य च |
र्ूर्ध्न्ाम धायािन: प्राणर्ान्तथथतो योगधारणार्् ||8.12||
sarva-dvārāṇi saṃyamya mano hṛdi nirudhya ca |
mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yogadhāraṇām ||
8.12 Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind
on the heart and the life air at the top of the head, one es-
tablishes himself in yoga.
ओकर्त्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मार्नुस्मरन् |
य: प्रयाकत त्यजन्दे हं स याकत परर्ां गकतर्् ||8.13||
om ity ekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharan mām anusmaran |
yaḥ prayāti tyajandehaṃ sa yāti paramāṃ gatiṃ ||
8.13 Centered in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred
syllable OM, the supreme combination of letters, if one dwells
in the Supreme and quits his body, he certainly achieves the
supreme destination.
अनन्यचेता: सततं यो र्ां स्मरकत कनत्यि: |
तस्याहं सुलभ: पाथम कनत्ययुक्तस्य योकगन: ||8.14||
ananyacetāḥ satataṃ yo māṃ smarati nityaśaḥ |
tasyāhaṃ sulabhaḥ pārtha nityayuktasya yoginaḥ ||
8.14 I am always available to anyone who remembers Me constantly Pārtha, because of his constant engagement
in devotional service.
र्ार्ुपेत्य पुनजमन्म दु :खालयर्िाश्वतर्् |
नाप्नुवन्ति र्हािान: संकसन्तद्धं परर्ां गता: ||8.15||
māmupetya punarjanma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam |
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ ||
8.15 After attaining Me, the great souls who are devoted to
Me in yoga are never reborn in this world. This world is
temporary and full of miseries and they have attained the
highest perfection.
आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोका: पुनरावकतमनोऽजुमन |
र्ार्ुपेत्य तु कौिेय पुनजम न्म न कवद्यते ||8.16||
ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punarāvartinorjuna |
māmupetya tu kaunteya punarjanma na vidyate ||
8.16 From the highest planet in the material world [brahmaloka]
down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated
birth and death take place. One who reaches My abode, O
Kaunteya, is never reborn.
सहस्रयुगपयमिर्हयमद्ब्रह्मणो कवदु : |
राकत्रं युगसहस्रािां तेऽहोरात्रकवदो जना: ||8.17||
sahasrayuga-paryantam aharyad brahmaṇo viduḥ |
rātriṃ yuga-sahasrāntāṃ te’ho-rātravido janāḥ ||
8.17 By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is
the duration of Brahma’s one day. His night is just as long.
अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तय: सवाम : प्रभवन्त्यहरागर्े |
रात्र्यागर्े प्रलीयिे तत्रैवाव्यक्तसञ्श्ज्ञके ||8.18||
avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ prabhavanty aharāgame |
rātryāgame pralīyante tatraivāvyakta-saṃjñake ||
8.18 From the unmanifest, all living entities come into being at
the beginning of Brahma’s day. With the coming of Brahma’s
night, they dissolve into the same unmanifest.
भूतग्रार्: स एवायं भूिा भूिा प्रलीयते |
रात्र्यागर्ेऽवि: पाथम प्रभवत्यहरागर्े ||8.19||
bhūtagrāmaḥ sa evāyaṃ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate |
rātryāgame’vaśaḥ pārtha prabhavaty aharāgame ||
8.19 Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and
they are
automatically annihilated.
परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातन: |
य: स सवेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न कवनश्यकत ||8.20||
paras tasmāttu bhāvo’nyo ’vyakto’vyaktātsanātanaḥ |
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati ||
8.20 Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is
beyond this manifest and unmanifest matter. It is supreme and
is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that
part remains the same.
अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तर्ाहु: परर्ां गकतर्् |
यं प्राप्य न कनवतमिे तद्धार् परर्ं र्र् ||8.21||
avyakto’kṣara ity uktas tamāhuḥ paramāṃ gatim |
yaṃ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṃ mama ||
8.21 That Supreme abode is said to be unmanifest and
indestructible and is the Supreme destination. When one gains
this state one never comes back. That is My supreme abode.
पुरुष: स पर: पाथम भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया |
यस्याि:थथाकन भूताकन ये न सवमकर्दं ततर्् ||8.22||
puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā |
yasyāntaḥ sthāni bhūtāni yena sarvam idaṃ tatam ||
8.22 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), the supreme person, who is
greater than all, is attainable by undeviating devotion. Although
He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything
is situated within Him.
यत्र काले िनावृकत्तर्ावृकत्तं चैव योकगन: |
प्रयाता यान्ति तं कालं वक्ष्याकर् भरतषमभ ||8.23||
yatra kāle tv anāvṛttim āvṛttim caiva yoginaḥ |
prayātā yānti taṃ kālaṃ vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha ||
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.
अकग्नज्योकतरह: िुक्ल: षण्मासा उत्तरायणर्् |
तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मकवदो जना: ||8.24||
agnir-jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ ṣaṇmāsā uttarāyaṇam |
tatra prayātā gacchanti brahma brahmavido janāḥ ||
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 moon ascending and the six months when
the sun travels in the north, and have realized the supreme
Brahman do not return.
धूर्ो राकत्रस्तथा कृष्ण: षण्मासा दकक्षणायनर्् |
तत्र चािर्सं ज्योकतयोगी प्राप्य कनवतमते ||8.25||
dhūmo rātristathā kṛṣṇaḥ ṣaṇmāsā dakṣiṇāyanam |
tatra cāndramasaṃ jyotir yogī prāpya nivartate ||
8.25 The mystic who passes away from this world during the
smoke, the night, the moonless fortnight, or the six months
when the sun passes to the south, have done good deeds go
to the cosmic layer and again comes back.
िुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगत: िाश्वते र्ते |
एकया यात्यनावृकत्तर्न्ययावतमते पु न: ||8.26||
śukla kṛṣṇe gatī hy ete jagataḥ śāśvate mate |
ekayā yāty anāvṛttim anyayāvartate punaḥ ||
8.26 According to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world: one in the light and one in
darkness. When
one passes in light, he does not return; but when one passes
in darkness, he again comes back.
नैते सृती पाथम जानन्योगी र्ुह्यकत कश्चन |
तस्मात्सवेषु कालेषु योगयुक्तो भवाजुमन ||8.27||
naite sṛtī pārtha jānan yogī muhyati kaścana |
tasmātsarveṣu kāleṣu yogayukto bhavārjuna ||
8.27 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), the devotees who know these
different paths are never bewildered. O Arjuna, be always
fixed in devotion.
वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तप:सु चैव
दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रकदष्ट्र्् |
अत्येकत तत्सवमकर्दं कवकदिा
योगी परं थथानर्ुपैकत चाद्यर्् ||8.28||
vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva
dāneṣu yat puṇyaphalaṃ pradiṣṭam |
atyeti tat sarvam idaṃ viditvā
yogī paraṃ sthānam upaiti cādyam ||
8.28 A person who accepts the path of devotional service is

not denied the results derived from studying the Vedas, per-
forming austerities and sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing

pious and result based activities. At the end he reaches the

supreme abode.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
इदं तु ते गुह्यतर्ं प्रवक्ष्याम्यनसूयवे |
ज्ञानं कवज्ञानसकहतं यज्ज्ञािा र्ोक्ष्यसेऽिुभात् ||9.1||
śrī bhagavānuvāca |
idaṁ tu te guhyatamaṁ pravakṣyāmy anasūyave |
jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitaṁ yajjñātvā mokṣyase’śubhāt ||
9.1 Kṛṣṇa says: Dear Arjuna, because you trust Me and you
are not envious of Me; I shall therefore impart to you this
profound and secret wisdom and experience; This will free you
of all miseries of material existence.
राजकवद्या राजगुह्यं पकवत्रकर्दर्ुत्तर्र्् |
प्रत्यक्षावगर्ं धम्यं सुसुखं कतुमर्व्ययर्् ||9.2||
rājavidyā rājaguhyaṁ pavitram idam uttamam |
pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam ||
9.2 This knowledge is king of all knowledge and the most
secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, sacred, and
because it gives direct perception of the Self by Self-realization,
it is the perfection of religion, dharma. It is eternal, easy and
it is very joyfully performed.
अश्रद्दधाना: पुरुषा धर्मस्यास्य परिप |
अप्राप्य र्ां कनवतमिे र्ृत्युसंसारविमकन ||9.3||
aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa |
aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani ||
9.3 Those who have no faith in this knowledge cannot attain
Me, O Parantapa, conqueror of foes. They will return to the
path of birth and death in this material world.
र्या ततकर्दं सवं जगदव्यक्तर्ूकतमना |
र्थथाकन सवमभूताकन न चाहं तेष्ववन्तथथत: ||9.4||
mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam jagadavyakta mūrtinā |
matsthāni sarvabhūtāni na cahaṁ teṣv-avasthitaḥ ||
9.4 By Me, the entire Universe is pervaded in My formless
form. All beings are based in Me, but I am not in them.
न च र्थथाकन भूताकन पश्य र्े योगर्ैश्वरर्् |
भूतभृि च भूतथथो र्र्ािा भूतभावन: ||9.5||
na ca matsthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśvaram |
bhūtabhṛnna ca bhūtastho mamātmā bhūtabhāvanaḥ ||
9.5 And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me.
Look at My mystic powers! Although, I am the Creator and
Sustainer of all living entities, I do not depend the Cosmic
manifestation; for My Self is the very source of all creation.
यथाकािन्तथथतो कनत्यं वायु: सवमत्रगो र्हान् |
तथा सवाम कण भूताकन र्थथानीत्युपधारय ||9.6||
yathākāśasthito nityaṁ vāyuḥ sarvatrago mahān |
tathā sarvāṇi bhūtāni matsthānīty upadhāraya ||
9.6 As the mighty wind, blowing everywhere, always rests in
eternal space, all beings rest in Me.
सवमभूताकन कौिेय प्रकृकतं यान्ति र्ाकर्कार्् |
कल्पक्षये पुनस्ताकन कल्पादौ कवसृजाम्यहर्् ||9.7||
sarvabhūtāni kaunteya prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām |
kalpakṣaye punas tāni kalpādau visṛjāmyaham ||
9.7 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), at the end of every age all
beings merge into Me, at the beginning of every new age I
create them again.
प्रकृकतं स्वार्वष्ट्भ्य कवसृजाकर् पुन: पुन: |
भूतग्रार्कर्र्ं कृत्स्नर्विं प्रकृतेवमिात् ||9.8||
prakṛtiṁ svāmavaṣṭabhya visṛjāmi punaḥ punaḥ |
bhūtagrāmam imaṁ kṛtsnam avaśaṁ prakṛtervaśāt ||
9.8 The whole Cosmic order is under Me and My material
nature creates the beings again and again, and it is controlled
by My material nature.
न च र्ां ताकन कर्ाम कण कनबध्नन्ति धनञ्जय |
उदासीनवदासीनर्सक्तं तेषु कर्म सु ||9.9||
na ca māṁ tāni karmāṇi nibadhnanti dhanañjaya |
udāsīna-vad āsīnam asaktaṁ teṣu karmasu ||
9.9 O Dhanañjaya, all this work does not bind Me. I am ever
unattached from these activities, seated as though neutral.
र्याध्यक्षेण प्रकृकत: सूयते सचराचरर्् |
हे तुनाने न कौिेय जगकिपररवतमते ||9.10||
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram |
hetunānena kaunteya jagad viparivartate ||
9.10 The material nature or prakṛti works under My direction,
O Kaunteya, and creates all moving and unmoving beings
through My energies. By its cause, this manifestation is created
and annihilated again and again.
अवजानन्ति र्ां र्ूढा र्ानुषी ं तनु र्ाकश्रतर्् |
परं भावर्जानिो र्र् भूतर्हे श्वरर्् ||9.11||
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanumāśritam |
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram ||
9.11 Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form.
They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme
Lord [maheśavara] of the entire creation.
र्ोघािा र्ोघकर्ाम णो र्ोघज्ञाना कवचेतस: |
राक्षसीर्ासुरीं चैव प्रकृकतं र्ोकहनी ं कश्रता: ||9.12||
moghāśā moghakarmāṇo moghajñānā vicetasaḥ |
rākṣasīmāsurīṁ caiva prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ ||
9.12 Those who are thus deluded are demonic and atheistic. In
their deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their result
oriented actions and their culture of knowledge become false
and useless.
र्हािानस्तु र्ां पाथम दै वी ं प्रकृकतर्ाकश्रता: |
भजन्त्यनन्यर्नसो ज्ञािा भूताकदर्व्ययर्् ||9.13||
mahātmānastu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtimāśritāḥ |
bhajanty ananya-manaso jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam ||
9.13 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), the great souls, who are not
deluded, are under the protection of My Divine nature. They
are fully devoted to Me with a single-pointed mind as they
know Me as the origin of all creation, the unchangeable.
सततं कीतमयिो र्ां यतिश्च दृढव्रता: |
नर्स्यिश्च र्ां भक्त्या कनत्ययुक्ता उपासते ||9.14||
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaśca dṛḍhavratāḥ |
namasyantaśca māṁ bhaktyā nityayuktā upāsate ||
9.14 Always chanting My names and glories, fully striving
with great determination, bowing down onto Me, these great
devotees of firm resolve, perpetually worship Me with devotion.
ज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्यन्ये यजिो र्ार्ुपासते |
एकिेन पृथक्त्वे न बहुधा कवश्वतोर्ुखर्् ||9.15||
jñānayajñena cāpyanye yajanto māmupāsate |
ekatvena pṛthaktvena bahudhā viśvatomukham ||
9.15 Some worship Me by acquiring and spreading wisdom
of the Self [jñāna-yajña]. Others worship Me in My non-dual
form in oneness, in My infinite form as many, and in My
Universal form.
अहं क्रतुरहं यज्ञ: स्वधाहर्हर्ौषधर्् |
र्न्त्रोऽहर्हर्ेवाज्यर्हर्कग्नरहं हुतर्् ||9.16||
ahaṁ kraturahaṁ yajñaḥ svadhāham ahamauṣadham |
mantro ’hamahamevājyaṁ aham agnir ahaṁ hutam ||
9.16, 17, 18, 19 I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the
offering, I am the herb, I am the mantra, I am the clarified
butter, I am the fire, and I am the oblation. I am the supporter
of the universe, the father, the mother, and the grandfather. I
am the object of knowledge, the sacred syllable “OM”, and
also the Ṛg, the Yajur, and the Sāma Vedas. I am the goal,
the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation,
the substra-
tum, and the immutable seed. I give heat. I send, as well as
withhold, the rain. I am immortality, as well as death. I am
also both the Eternal and the temporal, O Arjuna.
कपताहर्स्य जगतो र्ाता धाता कपतार्ह: |
वेद्यं पकवत्रर्ोङ्कार ऋक्सार् यजुरेव च ||9.17||
pitāhamasya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ |
vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra ṛksāma yajureva ca ||
9.16, 17, 18, 19 I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the
offering, I am the herb, I am the mantra, I am the clarified
butter, I am the fire, and I am the oblation. I am the supporter
of the universe, the father, the mother, and the grandfather. I
am the object of knowledge, the sacred syllable “OM”, and
also the Ṛg, the Yajur, and the Sāma Vedas. I am the goal,
the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation,
the substra-
tum, and the immutable seed. I give heat. I send, as well as
withhold, the rain. I am immortality, as well as death. I am
also both the Eternal and the temporal, O Arjuna.
गकतभमताम प्रभु: साक्षी कनवास: िरणं सुहृत् |
प्रभव: प्रलय: थथानं कनधानं बीजर्व्ययर्् ||9.18||
gatirbhartā prabhuḥ sākṣī nivāsaḥ śaraṇaṁ suhṛt |
prabhavaḥ pralayaḥ sthānaṁ nidhānaṁ bījamavyayam ||
9.16, 17, 18, 19 I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the
offering, I am the herb, I am the mantra, I am the clarified
butter, I am the fire, and I am the oblation. I am the supporter
of the universe, the father, the mother, and the grandfather. I
am the object of knowledge, the sacred syllable “OM”, and
also the Ṛg, the Yajur, and the Sāma Vedas. I am the goal,
the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation,
the substra-
tum, and the immutable seed. I give heat. I send, as well as
withhold, the rain. I am immortality, as well as death. I am
also both the Eternal and the temporal, O Arjuna.
तपाम्यहर्हं वषं कनगृ ह्णम्युत्सृजाकर् च |
अर्ृतं चैव र्ृत्युश्च सदसच्चाहर्जुम न ||9.19||
tapāmy aham ahaṁ varṣaṁ nigṛhṇāmy utsṛjāmi ca |
amṛtaṁ caiva mṛtyuśca sadasac cāham arjuna ||
9.16, 17, 18, 19 I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the
offering, I am the herb, I am the mantra, I am the clarified
butter, I am the fire, and I am the oblation. I am the supporter
of the universe, the father, the mother, and the grandfather. I
am the object of knowledge, the sacred syllable “OM”, and
also the Ṛg, the Yajur, and the Sāma Vedas. I am the goal,
the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation,
the substra-
tum, and the immutable seed. I give heat. I send, as well as
withhold, the rain. I am immortality, as well as death. I am
also both the Eternal and the temporal, O Arjuna.
त्रैकवद्या र्ां सोर्पा: पूतपापा
यज्ञैररष्ट्वा स्वगमकतं प्राथमयिे |
ते पुण्यर्ासाद्य सुरेिलोक
र्श्नन्ति कदव्यान्तन्दकव दे वभोगान् ||9.20||
traividyā māṁ somapāḥ pūtapāpā
yajñairiṣṭvā svargatiṁ prārthayante |
te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam
aśnanti divyāndivi devabhogān ||
9.20 Those who practice the vedic rituals and drink the soma
juice worship Me indirectly seeking the heavenly pleasures.
They go to heaven and enjoy sensual delights.
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वगम लोकं कविालं
क्षीणे पुण्ये र्त्यमलोकं कविन्ति |
एवं त्रयीधर्मर्नुप्रपिा
गतागतं कार्कार्ा लभिे ||9.21||
te taṁ bhuktvā svargalokaṁ viśālaṁ
kṣīṇe puṇye martyalokaṁ viśanti |
evaṁ trayīdharmam anuprapannā
gatāgataṁ kāmakāmā labhante ||
9.21 Once they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasure,
they are reborn on this planet again. By practicing vedic ritu-
als as result oriented actions, they are bound by the cycle of
birth and death.
अनन्याकश्चियिो र्ां ये जना: पयुमपासते |
तेषां कनत्याकभयुक्तानां योगक्षेर्ं वहाम्यहर्् ||9.22||
ananyāścintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate |
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yogakṣemaṁ vahāmy aham ||
9.22 When you reside in My consciousness, always fixed in
undivided remembrance, whatever you lack I give [yoga]. And
whatever you have, I preserve [kṣema].
येऽप्यन्यदे वता भक्ता यजिे श्रद्धयान्तन्वता: |
तेऽकप र्ार्ेव कौिेय यजन्त्यकवकधपूवमकर्् ||9.23||
ye’pyanyadevatā bhaktā yajante śraddhayā’nvitāḥ |
te’pi mām eva kaunteya yajanty avidhipūrvakam ||
9.23 Even those who worship other deities, they too worship
Me, O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), but without true understanding.
अहं कह सवमयज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुरेव च |
न तु र्ार्कभजानन्ति तिे नातश्च्च्यवन्ति ते ||9.24||
ahaṁ hi sarvayajñānāṁ bhoktā ca prabhureva ca |
na tu mām abhijānanti tattvenātaścyavanti te ||
9.24 I am the only enjoyer [bhokta] and the only Lord
[prabhu] of all sacrifices. Those who do not recognize My true
transcendental nature are born again and again.
यान्ति दे वव्रता दे वान्तन्पतॄ न्यान्ति कपतृव्रता: |
भूताकन यान्ति भूतेज्या यान्ति र्द्याकजनोऽकप र्ार्् ||9.25||
yānti devavratā devān pitṛān yānti pitṛ vratāḥ |
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā yānti madyājino’pi mām ||
9.25 Those who worship the deities will take birth among the
deities; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth
among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the
ancestors; those who worship Me will live with Me.
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो र्े भक्त्या प्रयच्छकत |
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतर्श्नाकर् प्रयतािन: ||9.26||
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati |
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ ||
9.26 Whoever offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flow-
er, fruit or water, I will accept and consume what is offered
by the pure-hearted.
यत्करोकष यदश्नाकस यज्जुहोकष ददाकस यत् |
यत्तपस्यकस कौिेय तत्कुरुष्व र्दपमणर्् ||9.27||
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat |
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva madarpaṇam ||
9.27 O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), all that you do, all that you
eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities
that you may perform, give them as an offering to Me.
िुभािु भफलैरेवं र्ोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनै : |
संन्यासयोगयुक्तािा कवर्ुक्तो र्ार्ुपैष्यकस ||9.28||
śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ |
sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā vimukto māmupaiṣyasi ||
9.28 You will be freed from all reactions to good and evil deeds
by this renunciation, You will be liberated and come to Me.
सर्ोऽहं सवमभूतेषु न र्े िे ष्योऽन्तस्त न कप्रय: |
ये भजन्ति तु र्ां भक्त्या र्कय ते तेषु चाप्यहर्् ||9.29||
samo’haṁ sarvabhūteṣu na me dveṣyo’sti na priyaḥ |
ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cā’pyaham ||
9.29 I am equal to all beings. No one to Me is hateful or
dear. But, whoever worships, offers enriching service onto Me
in devotion, is in Me and I am also indeed in him.
अकप चेत्सुदुराचारो भजते र्ार्नन्यभाक् |
साधुरेव स र्िव्य: सम्यग्व्व्यवकसतो कह स: ||9.30||
api cet sudurācāro bhajate māmananyabhāk |
sādhureva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ ||
9.30 Even if the most sinful person engages himself in
devotional service, He is to be considered saintly because he
is properly situated in his determination.
कक्षप्रं भवकत धर्ाम िा िश्वच्छान्तिं कनगच्छकत |
कौिेय प्रकतजानीकह न र्े भक्त: प्रणश्यकत ||9.31||
kṣipraṁ bhavati dharmātmā śaśvacchāntiṁ nigacchati |
kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati ||
9.31 He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace.
O Kaunteya (son of Kuntī), declare it boldly that My devotee
never perishes.
र्ां कह पाथम व्यपाकश्रत्य येऽकप स्यु: पापयोनय: |
न्तस्त्रयो वैश्यास्तथा िूद्रास्तेऽकप यान्ति परां गकतर्् ||9.32||
mām hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye’pi syuḥ pāpayonayaḥ |
striyo vaiśyāstathā śūdrās te’pi yānti parāṁ gatim ||
9.32 O Pārtha (son of Prithā), anyone who takes shelter in
Me, women, traders, workers or even sinners can approach
the Supreme destination.
ककं पुनब्राम ह्मणा: पुण्या भक्ता राजषमयस्तथा |
अकनत्यर्सु खं लोककर्र्ं प्राप्य भजस्व र्ार्् ||9.33||
kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā |
anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām ||
9.33 How easier then it is for the learned, the righteous, the
devotees and saintly kings who in this temporary miserable
world engage in loving service unto Me.
र्न्मना भव र्िक्तो र्द्याजी र्ां नर्स्कुरु |
र्ार्ेवैष्यकस युक्त्वैवर्ािानं र्त्परायण: ||9.34||
manmanā bhava madbhakto madyājī māṁ namaskuru |
māmevaiṣyasi yuktvaivam ātmānaṁ matparāyaṇaḥ ||
9.34 Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me,
and bow down to Me. Thus, uniting yourself with Me by
setting Me as the supreme goal and the sole refuge, you shall
certainly come to Me.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
भूय एव र्हाबाहो शणु र्े परर्ं वच: |
यत्तेऽहं प्रीयर्ाणाय वक्ष्याकर् कहतकाम्यया ||10.1||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
bhūya eva mahābāho śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ |
yatte’haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyāmi hitakāmyayā ||
10.1 Lord Kṛṣṇa says: Listen carefully again, Oh mighty-armed
Arjuna! Because you are My dear friend, I shall speak further
on the Supreme knowledge for your welfare.
न र्े कवदु : सुरगणा: प्रभवं न र्हषम य: |
अहर्ाकदकहम दे वानां र्हषीणां च सवमि: ||10.2||
na me viduḥ suragaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ |
ahamādirhi devānāṁ maharṣīṇāṁ ca sarvaśaḥ ||
10.2 Neither the hosts of deities nor the great sages know
My origin, My opulence. I am the source of the deities and
the sages.
यो र्ार्जर्नाकदं च वेकत्त लोकर्हे श्वरर्् |
असम्मूढ: स र्त्येषु सवम पापै: प्रर्ु च्यते ||10.3||
yo māmajamanādiṁ ca vetti lokamaheśvaram |
asaṁmūḍhaḥ sa martyeṣu sarvapāpaiḥ pramucyate ||
10.3 He who knows Me as the unborn, without beginning,
and supreme Lord of all the worlds, Only he, who has this
clarity, is wise and freed from all bondage.
बुन्तद्धज्ञाम नर्सम्मोह: क्षर्ा सत्यं दर्: िर्: |
सुखं दु :खं भवोऽभावो भयं चाभयर्ेव च ||10.4||
buddhirjñānam asaṁmohaḥ kṣamā satyaṁ damaḥ śamaḥ |
sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ bhavo ’bhāvo bhayaṁ cābhayameva ca ||
10.4,5 Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delu-
sion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of
the mind, happiness, distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness,
non-violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame
and infamy, all these various qualities of living beings are
created by Me alone.
अकहं सा सर्ता तुकष्ट्स्तपो दानं यिोऽयि: |
भवन्ति भावा भूतानां र्त्त एव पृथन्तिधा: ||10.5||
ahiṁsā samatā tuṣṭis tapo dānaṁ yaśo ’yaśaḥ |
bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāṁ matta eva pṛthagvidhāḥ ||
10.4,5 Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delu-
sion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of
the mind, happiness, distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness,
non-violence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame
and infamy, all these various qualities of living beings are
created by Me alone.
र्हषमय: सप्त पूवे चिारो र्नवस्तथा |
र्िावा र्ानसा जाता येषां लोक इर्ा: प्रजा: ||10.6||
maharṣayaḥ sapta pūrve catvāro manavastathā |
madbhāvā mānasā jātā yeṣāṁ loka imāḥ prajāḥ ||
10.6 The seven great sages and before them, the four great Ma-
nus, endowed with My power, They arose from My mind and
all the living beings populating the planet descend from them.
एतां कवभूकतं योगं च र्र् यो वेकत्त तित: |
सोऽकवकम्पेन योगेन युज्यते नात्र संिय: ||10.7||
etām vibhūtiṁ yogaṁ ca mama yo vetti tattvataḥ |
so ’vikampena yogena yujyate nātra saṁśayaḥ ||
10.7 He who knows all this glory and powers of mine, truly,
he is fully united in Me; Of that there is no doubt.
अहं सवमस्य प्रभवो र्त्त: सवं प्रवतम ते |
इकत र्िा भजिे र्ां बुधा भावसर्न्तन्वता: ||10.8||
ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate |
iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāvasamanvitāḥ ||
10.8 I am the source of all the spiritual and material worlds.
Everything arises from Me. The wise who know this are de-
voted to Me and surrender their heart to Me.
र्न्तच्चत्ता र्द्गतप्राणा बोधयि: परस्परर्् |
कथयिश्च र्ां कनत्यं तुष्यन्ति च रर्न्ति च ||10.9||
maccittā madgataprāṇā bodhayantaḥ parasparam |
kathayantaśca māṁ nityaṁ tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca ||
10.9 With mind and lives absorbed on Me, always enlightening
one another and talking about My glories, the wise are content
and blissful.
तेषां सततयुक्तानां भजतां प्रीकतपूवमकर्् |
ददाकर् बुन्तद्धयोगं तं येन र्ार्ुपयान्ति ते ||10.10||
teṣāṁ satatayuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prītipūrvakam |
dadāmi buddhiyogaṁ taṁ yena māmupayānti te ||
10.10 To those who are always engaged in Me with love, I
give them enlightenment by which they come to Me.
तेषार्ेवानुकम्पाथमर्हर्ज्ञानजं तर्: |
नाियाम्यािभावथथो ज्ञानदीपे न भास्वता ||10.11||
teṣāṁ evānukampārtham aham ajñānajaṁ tamaḥ |
nāśayāmy ātma-bhāvastho jñānadīpena bhāsvatā ||
10.11 Out of compassion to them, I destroy the darkness born
out of their ignorance by the shining lamp of knowledge.
अजुमन उवाच |
परं ब्रह्म परं धार् पकवत्रं परर्ं भवान् |
पुरुषं िाश्वतं कदव्यर्ाकददे वर्जं कवभुर्् ||10.12||
arjuna uvāca
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān |
puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādidevamajaṁ vibhum ||
10.12 Arjuna says: You are the supreme truth, supreme suste-
nance, supremely purifier, the primal, eternal and glorious Lord.
आहुस्त्वार्ृषय: सवे दे वकषमनाम रदस्तथा |
अकसतो दे वलो व्यास: स्वयं चैव ब्रवीकष र्े ||10.13||
āhustvāmṛṣayaḥ sarve devarṣiṛnāradastathā |
asito devalo vyāsaḥ svayaṁ caiva bravīṣi me ||
10.13 All the sages like Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa
have explained this. Now you are personally explaining to me.
सवमर्ेतदृतं र्न्ये यन्मां वदकस केिव |
न कह ते भगवन्ब्व्यन्तक्तं कवदु देवा न दानवा: ||10.14||
sarvametadṛtaṁ manye yanmāṁ vadasi keśava |
na hi te bhagavanvyaktiṁ vidurdevā na dānavāḥ ||
10.14 Oh Keśava, I accept all these truths that You have told
me. Oh Lord, neither he gods nor the demons know You.
स्वयर्ेवािनािानं वे त्थ िं पुरुषोत्तर् |
भूतभावन भूतेि दे वदे व जगत्पते ||10.15||
svayamevātmanātmānaṁ vettha tvaṁ puruṣottama |
bhūtabhāvana bhūteśa devadeva jagatpate ||
10.15 Surely, You alone know Yourself by Yourself, Oh Perfect One, the origin of beings, Oh Lord of beings,
Oh God of
gods, Oh Lord of the world.
वक्तुर्हम स्यिे षेण कदव्या ह्यािकवभूतय: |
याकभकवमभूकतकभलोकाकनर्ां स्त्वं व्याप्य कतिकस ||10.16||
vaktumarhasyaśeṣeṇa divyā hyātmavibhūtayaḥ |
yābhirvibhūtibhirlokān imāṁstvaṁ vyāpya tiṣṭhasi ||
10.16 Only You can describe in detail Your divine glories by
which You pervade this universe.
कथं कवद्यार्हं योकगंस्त्वां सदा पररकचियन् |
केषु केषु च भावेषु कचन्त्योऽकस भगवन्मया ||10.17||
kathaṁ vidyāmahaṁ yogiṁs tvāṁ sadā paricintayan |
keṣu keṣu ca bhāveṣu cintyo’si bhagavanmayā ||
10.17 How may I know You by contemplation? In which forms
should I contemplate on You, Oh Lord?
कवस्तरे णािनो योगं कवभूकतं च जनादम न |
भूय: कथय तृन्तप्तकहम शण्वतो नान्तस्त र्ेऽर्ृतर्् ||10.18||
vistareṇātmano yogaṁ vibhūtiṁ ca janārdana |
bhūyaḥ kathaya tṛptirhi śṛṇvato nāsti me’mṛtam ||
10.18 Tell me in detail of your powers and glories, Oh Janār-
dana. Again, please tell for my satisfaction as I do not tire of
hearing your sweet words.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
हि ते कथकयष्याकर् कदव्या ह्यािकवभूतय: |
प्राधान्यत: कुरुश्रेि नास्त्यिो कवस्तरस्य र्े ||10.19||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
hanta te kathayiṣyāmi divyā hyātmavibhūtayaḥ |
prādhānyataḥ kuruśreṣṭha nāstyanto vistarasya me ||
10.19 Kṛṣṇa says, ‘Yes, Oh kuruśreṣṭha, I will talk to you
surely of My divine glories; but only of the main ones as there
is no end to the details of My glories.
अहर्ािा गुडाकेि सवमभूताियन्तथथत: |
अहर्ाकदश्च र्ध्यं च भूतानार्ि एव च ||10.20||
ahamātmā guḍākeśa sarvabhūtāśayasthitaḥ |
ahamādiśca madhyaṁ ca bhūtānāmanta eva ca ||
10.20 I am the Spirit, Oh Guḍākeśā, situated in all living
beings. I am surely the beginning, middle and end of all beings.
आकदत्यानार्हं कवष्णुज्योकतषां रकवरं िुर्ान् |
र्रीकचर्मरुतार्न्तस्म नक्षत्राणार्हं ििी ||10.21||
ādityānāmahaṁ viṣṇur jyotiṣāṁ raviraṁśumān |
marīcirmarutāmasmi nakṣatrāṇāmahaṁ śaśī ||
10.21 Of the Ādityas, I am Viṣṇu. Of the luminaries, I am
the bright sun. Of the Maruts, I am Marīcī. Of the Nakṣatras,
I am the moon.
वेदानां सार्वेदोऽन्तस्म दे वानार्न्तस्म वासव: |
इन्तियाणां र्नश्चान्तस्म भूतानार्न्तस्म चेतना ||10.22||
vedānāṁ sāmavedo’smi devānāmasmi vāsavaḥ |
indriyāṇāṁ manaścāsmi bhūtānāmasmi cetanā ||
10.22 Of the Vedas, I am the Sāma Veda. Of the gods, I am
Indra. Of the senses, I am the mind and in living beings, I
am the consciousness.
रुद्राणां िङ्करश्चान्तस्म कवत्तेिो यक्षरक्षसार्् |
वसूनां पावकश्चान्तस्म र्ेरु: किखररणार्हर्् ||10.23||
rudrāṇāṁ śaṅkaraścāsmi vitteśo yakṣarakṣasām |
vasūnāṁ pāvakaścāsmi meruḥ śikhariṇāmaham ||
10.23 Of the Rudras, I am Sankara and of the Yakṣas and
Rākṣasas, I am Kubera, god of wealth. Of the Vasus, I am
fire and of the peaks, I am Meru.
पुरोधसां च र्ुयं र्ां कवन्तद्ध पाथम बृहस्पकतर्् |
सेनानीनार्हं स्कन्द: सरसार्न्तस्म सागर: ||10.24||
purodhasāṁ ca mukhyaṁ māṁ viddhi pārtha bṛhaspatim |
senānīnāmahaṁ skandaḥ sarasāmasmi sāgaraḥ ||
10.24 Of the priests, understand, O Pārtha, that I am the chief
Brihaspati. Of the warriors, I am Skanda. Of the water bodies,
I am the ocean.
र्हषीणां भृगुरहं कगरार्स्म्येकर्क्षरर्् |
यज्ञानां जपयज्ञोऽन्तस्म थथावराणां कहर्ालय: ||10.25||
maharṣīṇāṁ bhṛgurahaṁ girāmasmyekamakṣaram |
yajñānāṁ japayajño’smi sthāvarāṇāṁ himālayaḥ ||
10.25 Of the great sages, I am Bhrigu. Of the vibrations, I am
the OM. Of the sacrifices, I am the chanting of holy names.
Of the immovable objects, I am the Himālayas.
अश्वत्थ: सवमवृक्षाणां दे वषीणां च नारद: |
गन्धवाम णां कचत्ररथ: कसद्धानां ककपलो र्ुकन: ||10.26||
aśvatthaḥ sarvavṛkṣāṇāṁ devarṣīṇāṁ ca nāradaḥ |
gandharvāṇāṁ citrarathaḥ siddhānāṁ kapilo muniḥ ||
10.26 Of all the trees, I am the Banyan tree and of all the
sages of the gods, I am Nārada. Of the Gandharvas, I am
Chitraratha. Of the realized souls, I am the sage Kapila.
उच्चै :श्रवसर्श्वानां कवन्तद्ध र्ार्र्ृतोिवर्् |
ऐरावतं गजेिाणां नराणां च नराकधपर्् ||10.27||
uccaiḥśravas amaśvānāṁ viddhi mām amṛtodbhavam |
airāvataṁ gajendrāṇāṁ narāṇāṁ ca narādhipam ||
10.27 Of the horses, know me to be Ucchaiṣravas born of
the nectar generated from the churning of the ocean; Of the
elephants, Airāvata and of men, the king.
आयुधानार्हं वज्रं धेनूनार्न्तस्म कार्धुक् |
प्रजनश्चान्तस्म कन्दपम: सपाम णार्न्तस्म वासुकक: ||10.28||
āyudhānāmahaṁ vajraṁ dhenūnāmasmi kāmadhuk |
prajanaścāsmi kandarpaḥ sarpāṇāmasmi vāsukiḥ ||
10.28 Of the weapons, I am the thunderbolt. Of the cows, I
am Kamadhenu; For begetting children, I am the god of love.
Of the snakes, I am Vasuki.
अनिश्चान्तस्म नागानां वरुणो यादसार्हर्् |
कपतृणार्यमर्ा चान्तस्म यर्: संयर्तार्हर्् ||10.29||
anantaścāsmi nāgānāṁ varuṇo yādasām aham |
pitṛṇāmaryamā cāsmi yamaḥ saṁyamatāmaham ||
10.29 Of the serpents, I am Ananta. Of the water deities, I
am Varuṇa. Of the ancestors, I am Aryama and of the ones
who ensure discipline, I am Yama.
प्रह्लादश्चान्तस्म दै त्यानां काल: कलयतार्हर्् |
र्ृगाणां च र्ृगेिोऽहं वैनतेयश्च पकक्षणार्् ||10.30||
prahlādaścāsmi daityānāṁ kālaḥ kalayatāmaham |
mṛgāṇāṁ ca mṛgendro’haṁ vainateyaśca pakṣiṇām ||
10.30 Of the Daitya (demons), I am Prahlad and of the
reckoners, I am time. Of the animals, I am the king of animals
(lion) and of the birds, I am Garuda.
पवन: पवतार्न्तस्म रार्: िस्त्रभृतार्हर्् |
झषाणां र्करश्चान्तस्म स्रोतसार्न्तस्म जािवी ||10.31||
pavanaḥ pavatāmasmi rāmaḥ śastrabhṛtāmaham |
jhaṣāṇāṁ makaraścāsmi srotasāmasmi jānhavī ||
10.31 Of the purifiers, I am the wind. Of the wielders of
weapons, I am Rāma. Of the water beings, I am the shark and
of the flowing rivers, I am Jahnavi (Gaṅgā).
सगाम णार्ाकदरिश्च र्ध्यं चैवाहर्जुम न |
अध्यािकवद्या कवद्यानां वाद: प्रवदतार्हर्् ||10.32||
sargāṇāmādirantaśca madhyaṁ caivāhamarjuna |
adhyātmavidyā vidyānāṁ vādaḥ pravadatāmaham ||
10.32 Of all creations, I am surely the beginning and end and
the middle, O Arjuna. Of all knowledge, I am the spiritual
knowledge of the Self. Of all arguments, I am the logic.
अक्षराणार्कारोऽन्तस्म िन्ब्ि: सार्ाकसकस्य च |
अहर्ेवाक्षय: कालो धाताहं कवश्वतोर्ुख: ||10.33||
akṣarāṇāmakāro’smi dvandvaḥ sāmāsikasya ca |
ahaṁevākṣayaḥ kālo dhātāhaṁ viśvatomukhaḥ ||
10.33 Of the letters, I am the ‘A’. Of the dual words, I am
the compounds and surely I am the never-ending time. I am
the Omniscient who sees everything.
र्ृत्यु: सवमहरश्चाहर्ुिवश्च भकवष्यतार्् |
कीकतम: श्रीवाम क्च नारीणां स्मृकतर्ेधा धृकत: क्षर्ा ||10.34||
mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham udbhavaśca bhaviṣyatāï |
kīrtiḥ śrīrvākca nāriṇāṁ smṛtirmedhā dhṛtiḥ kṣamā ||
10.34 I am the all-devouring death and I am the creator of
all things of the future. Of the feminine, I am fame, fortune,
beautiful speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.
बृहत्सार् तथा साम्नां गायत्री िन्दसार्हर्् |
र्ासानां र्ागमिीषोऽहर्ृतूनां कुसुर्ाकर: ||10.35||
bṛhatsāma tathā sāmnāṁ gāyatrī chandasām aham |
māsānāṁ mārgaśīrṣo’ham ṛtūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ ||
10.35 Of the Sāma Veda hymns, I am the Bṛhat Sāma and of
all poetry, I am the Gāyatrī. Of the months, I am Mārgaśīrṣa
and of the seasons, I am Spring.
द् यूतं िलयतार्न्तस्म तेजस्तेजन्तस्वनार्हर्् |
जयोऽन्तस्म व्यवसायोऽन्तस्म सिं सिवतार्हर्् ||10.36||
dyūtaṁ chalayatām asmi tejas tejasvinām aham |
jayo’smi vyavasāyo’smi sattvaṁ sattvavatām aham ||
10.36 Of all the cheating, I am Gambling. Of the effulgent
things, I am the Effulgence. I am Victory, I am Effort, I am the
Goodness (sattva) of those who are with satva (good) quality.
वृष्णीनां वासुदेवोऽन्तस्म पाण्डवानां धनञ्जय: |
र्ुनीनार्प्यहं व्यास: कवीनार्ुिना ककव: ||10.37||
vṛṣṇīnāṁ vāsudevo’smi pāṇḍavānāṁ dhanañjayaḥ |
munīnāmapyahaṁ vyāsaḥ kavīnāmuśanā kaviḥ ||
10.37 Of the descendants of Vṛṣṇi, I am Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa. Of
the Pāṇḍavas, I am Arjuna. Of the sages, I am also Vyāsa and
of the seer, I am Uśāna.
दण्डो दर्यतार्न्तस्म नीकतरन्तस्म कजगीषतार्् |
र्ौनं चैवान्तस्म गुह्यानां ज्ञानं ज्ञानवतार्हर्् ||10.38||
daṇḍo damayatām asmi nītirasmi jigīṣatām |
maunaṁ caivāsmi guhyānāṁ jñānaṁ jñānavatāmaham ||
10.38 Of rulers, I am their Sceptre. Of the victorious, I am
Statesmanship. Of all secrets, I am also Silence. Of the wise,
I am Wisdom.
यच्चाकप सवमभूतानां बीजं तदहर्जुम न |
न तदन्तस्त कवना यत्स्यान्मया भूतं चराचरर्् ||10.39||
yaccāpi sarvabhūtānāṁ bījaṁ tadahamarjuna |
na tadasti vinā yat syān mayā bhūtaṁ carācaram ||
10.39 Also, of whatever beings exist, I am the seed, O
Arjuna. There is nothing that exists without Me in all creations,
moving and unmoving.
नािोऽन्तस्त र्र् कदव्यानां कवभूतीनां परिप |
एष तूद्देित: प्रोक्तो कवभूतेकवमस्तरो र्या ||10.40||
nānto’sti mama divyānāṁ vibhūtīnāṁ parantapa |
eṣa tūddeśataḥ prokto vibhūtervistaro mayā ||
10.40 There is no end to My Divine glories, Oh Parantapa. What
have been says by Me are examples of My detailed glories.
यद्यकिभूकतर्त्सिं श्रीर्दू कजमतर्ेव वा |
तत्दे वावगच्छ िं र्र् तेजोंऽिसम्भवर्् ||10.41||
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ śrīmad ūrjitameva vā |
tat tad evā’vagaccha tvaṁ mama tejoṁśa saṁbhavam ||
10.41 You should know that whatever glories exist or whatever
beautiful and glorious exists, all that surely is born of just a
portion of My splendour.
अथवा बहुनैतेन ककं ज्ञातेन तवाजुम न |
कवष्ट्भ्याहकर्दं कृत्स्नर्ेकां िेन न्तथथतो जगत् ||10.42||
athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna |
viṣṭabhyāhamidaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat ||
10.42 Of what use is to know about the many manifestations
of this kind, O Arjuna? I pervade this entire world with just
a part of Myself.
अजुमन उवाच |
र्दनुग्रहाय परर्ं गुह्यर्ध्यािसन्तञ्श्ज्ञतर्् |
यियोक्तं वचस्तेन र्ोहोऽयं कवगतो र्र् ||11.1||
arjuna uvāca |
madanugrahāya paramaṁ guhyaṁ adhyātma-saṁjñitam |
yat tvayoktaṁ vacas tena moho’yaṁ vigato mama ||
11.1 Arjuna says: ‘O Lord! By listening to Your wisdom on
the supreme secret of Existence and your glory, I feel that my
delusion has disappeared.’
भवाप्ययौ कह भूतानां श्रुतौ कवस्तरिो र्या |
ित्त: कर्लपत्राक्ष र्ाहात्म्यर्कप चाव्ययर्् ||11.2||
bhavāpyayau hi bhūtānāṁ śrutau vistaraśo mayā |
tvattaḥ kamalapatrākṣa māhātmyamapi cāvyayam ||
11.2 O Lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa! I have listened from You in detail
about the creation and destruction of all living beings, also
Your inexhaustible greatness.
एवर्ेतद्यथात्थ िर्ािानं परर्ेश्वर |
द्रष्ट्टुकर्च्छाकर् ते रूपर्ैश्वरं पुरुषोत्तर् ||11.3||
evaṁetadyathāttha tvam ātmānaṁ parameśvara |
draṣṭumicchāmi te rūpam aiśvaraṁ puruṣottama ||
11. O Parameśvara, Lord Supreme, though You are here before
Me as You have declared Yourself, I wish to see the Divine
Cosmic Form of Yours, Puruṣottama, Supreme Being.
र्न्यसे यकद तच्छक्यं र्या द्रष्ट्टुकर्कत प्रभो |
योगेश्वर ततो र्े िं दिमयािानर्व्ययर्् ||11.4||
manyase yadi tacchakyaṁ mayā draṣṭumiti prabho |
yogeśvara tato me tvaṁ darśayātmānamavyayam ||
11.4 O Prabhu, my Lord, if You think it is possible for me
to see Your Cosmic Form, then please, O Yogeśvara, Lord of
Yoga and all mystic power, kindly show me that Imperishable
Universal Self.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
पश्य र्े पाथम रूपाकण ितिोऽथ सहस्रि: |
नानाकवधाकन कदव्याकन नानावणाम कृतीकन च ||11.5||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi śataśo’tha sahasraśaḥ |
nānāvidhāni divyāni nānāvarṇākṛtīni ca ||
11.5 Bhagavān says: O My dear Pārtha, behold now My
hundreds and thousands of forms, of infinite divine sorts, of
infinite colors and shapes.
पश्याकदत्यान्वसून् रुद्रानकश्वनौ र्रुतस्तथा |
बहून्यदृष्ट्पूवाम कण पश्याश्चयाम कण भारत ||11.6||
paśyādityān vasūn rudrān aśvinau marutastathā |
bahūny adṛṣṭa-pūrvāṇi paśyāścaryāṇi bhārata ||
11.6 O Bhārata, see here the different manifestations of the
Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Aśvins, the Māruts and
all other gods. Behold the many wonderful forms which noone
has ever seen before.
इहै कथथं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरर्् |
र्र् दे हे गुडाकेि यच्चान्यद् द्रष्ट्टुकर्च्छकस ||11.7||
ihaikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ paśyādya sacarācaram |
mama dehe guḍākeśa yac cānyad draṣṭumicchasi ||
11.7 O Arjuna, see at once now in this body of Mine, the
whole Universe completely in this one place, all the moving and
the unmoving, and see everything else you desire to see also.
न तु र्ां िक्यसे द्रष्ट्टुर्ने नैव स्वचक्षुषा |
कदव्यं ददाकर् ते चक्षु: पश्य र्े योगर्ैश्वरर्् ||11.8||
na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum anenaiva svacakṣuṣā |
divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ paśya me yogamaiśvaram ||
11.8 But you cannot see Me with your own physical eyes.
Let Me give you the Divine eye; Behold My Divine power
and opulence!
सञ्जय उवाच |
एवर्ु क्त्वा ततो राजन्महायोगेश्वरो हरर: |
दिमयार्ास पाथाम य परर्ं रूपर्ैश्वरर्् ||11.9||
sañjaya uvāca |
evamuktvā tato rājan mahāyogeśvaro hariḥ |
darśayāmāsa pārthāya paramaṁ rūpamaiśvaram ||
11.9 Sañjaya said: O King, having spoken thus, the great Lord
of Yoga, Mahā Yogeśvara Hari (Kṛṣṇa), showed to Arjuna His
supreme Cosmic form.
अनेकवक्त्रनयनर्नेकाद् भुतदिम नर्् |
अनेककदव्याभरणं कदव्यानेकोद्यतायुधर्् ||11.10||
aneka-vaktra-nayanam anekādbhuta darśanam |
aneka-divyābharaṇaṁ divyānekodyatāyudham ||
11.10 Infinite mouths and eyes, with infinite wonderful sights,
infinite divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted.
कदव्यर्ाल्याम्बरधरं कदव्यगन्धानुलेपनर्् |
सवाम श्चयमर्यं दे वर्निं कवश्वतोर्ुखर्् ||11.11||
divya-mālyāmbara-dharaṁ divya-gandhānulepanam |
sarvāścarya-mayaṁ devam anantaṁ viśvatomukham ||
11.11 Arjuna saw this Universal form wearing divine garlands
and clothing, anointed with celestial fragrances, wonderful,
resplendent, endless, with faces on all sides.
कदकव सूयमसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदु न्तत्थता |
यकद भा: सदृिी सा स्यािासस्तस्य र्हािन: ||11.12||
divi sūryasahasrasya bhaved yugapad utthitā |
yadi bhāḥ sadṛśī sā syād bhāsastasya mahātmanaḥ ||
11.12 If the splendor of a thousand suns were to blaze all
together in the sky, it would be like the splendor of that
mighty Being.
तत्रैकथथं जगत्कृत्स्नं प्रकवभक्तर्ने कधा |
अपश्यद्दे वदे वस्य िरीरे पाण्डवस्तदा ||11.13||
tatraikasthaṁ jagat kṛtsnaṁ pravibhaktamanekadhā |
apaśyad devadevasya śarīre pāṇḍavastadā ||
11.13 There, in the body of the God of gods, the Pāṇḍava then
saw the whole universe resting in one, with all its infinite parts.
तत: स कवस्मयाकवष्ट्ो हृष्ट्रोर्ा धनञ्जय: |
प्रणम्य किरसा दे वं कृताञ्जकलरभाषत ||11.14||
tataḥ sa vismayāviṣṭo hṛṣṭaromā dhanañjayaḥ |
praṇamya śirasā devaṁ kṛtāñjalirabhāṣata ||
11.14 Dhanañjaya, filled with wonder, his hair standing on end,
then bowed his head to the God and spoke with joined palms.
अजुमन उवाच |
पश्याकर् दे वां स्तव दे व दे हे
सवां स्तथा भूतकविेषसङ्घान् |
ब्रह्माणर्ीिं कर्लासनथथ-
र्ृषींश्च सवाम नुरगां श्च कदव्यान् ||11.15||
arjuna uvāca
paśyāmi devāṁstava deva dehe
sarvāṁstathā bhūta-viśeṣa-saṅghān ||
brahmāṇam īśaṁ kamalāsana-sthaṁ
ṛṣīṁś ca sarvān uragāṁśca divyān ||
11.15 Arjuna says; O God, I see all the gods in Your body
and many types of beings. Brahma, the Lord of creation seated
on the lotus, all the sages and celestial serpents.
अनेकबाहूदरवक्त्रनेत्रं
पश्याकर् िां सवमतोऽनिरूपर्् |
नािं न र्ध्यं न पु नस्तवाकदं
पश्याकर् कवश्वेश्वर कवश्वरूप ||11.16||
aneka-bāhūdara-vaktranetraṁ
paśyāmi tvām sarvato’nantarūpam |
nāntaṁ na madhyaṁ na punastavādiṁ
paśyāmi viśveśvara viśvarūpa ||
11.16 I see Your infinite form on every side, with many arms,
stomachs, mouths and eyes; Neither the end, nor the middle
nor the beginning do I see, O Lord of the Universe, O cosmic
form.
ककरीकटनं गकदनं चकक्रणं च
तेजोराकिं सवमतो दीन्तप्तर्िर्् |
पश्याकर् िां दु कनमरीक्ष्यं सर्िाद्
दीप्तानलाकमद् युकतर्प्रर्ेयर्् ||11.17||
kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakriṇaṁ ca
tejorāśiṁ sarvato dīptimantam |
paśyāmi tvāṁ durnirīkṣyaṁ samantād
dīptānalārka-dyutim-aprameyam ||
11.17 I see You with crown, club and discus; a mass of radi-
ance shining everywhere, difficult to look at, blazing all round
like the burning fire and sun in infinite brilliance.
िर्क्षरं परर्ं वेकदतव्यं
िर्स्य कवश्वस्य परं कनधानर्् |
िर्व्यय: िाश्वतधर्मगोप्ता
सनातनस्त्वं पुरुषो र्तो र्े ||11.18||
tvamakṣaraṁ paramaṁ veditavyaṁ
tvamasya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam |
tvamavyayaḥ śāśvata-dharma-goptā
sanātanastvaṁ puruṣo mato me ||
11.18 You are the imperishable; the supreme being worthy to
be known. You are the great treasure house of this Universe.
You are the imperishable protector of the eternal order. I
believe You are the eternal being.
अनाकदर्ध्यािर्निवीयम-
र्निबाहुं िकिसूयमनेत्रर्् |
पश्याकर् िां दीप्तहुतािवक्त्रं-

स्वतेजसा कवश्वकर्दं तपिर्् ||11.19||

anādi-madhyāntam ananta-vīryam
ananta-bāhuṁ śaśisūrya netram |
paśyāmi tvāṁ dīpta-hutāśavaktraṁ
svatejasā viśvam idaṁ tapantam ||
11.19 I see you without a beginning, middle or end, infinite
in power and many arms, The sun and the moon being Your
eyes, the blazing fire your mouth, the whole universe scorched
by Your radiance.
द्यावापृकथव्योररदर्िरं कह
व्याप्तं ियैकेन कदिश्च सवाम : |
दृष्ट्वाद् भुतं रूपर्ुग्रं तवेदं
लोकत्रयं प्रव्यकथतं र्हािन् ||11.20||
dyāvāpṛthivyor idam antaraṁ hi
vyāptaṁ tvayaikena diśaśca sarvāḥ ||
dṛṣṭvādbhutaṁ rūpamugraṁ tavedaṁ
lokatrayaṁ pravyathitaṁ mahātman ||
11.20 This space between earth and the heavens and every-
thing is filled by You alone O great Being, having seen Your
wonderful and terrible form, the three worlds tremble with fear.
अर्ी कह िां सुरसङ्घा कविन्ति
केकचिीता: प्राञ्जलयो गृणन्ति |
स्वस्तीत्यु क्त्वा र्हकषमकसद्धसङ्घा:
स्तुवन्ति िां स्तुकतकभ: पुष्कलाकभ: ||11.21||
amī hi tvāṁ surasaṅghā viśanti
kecidbhītāḥ prāñjalayo gṛṇanti ||
svastī tyuktvā maharṣisiddhasaṅghāḥ
stuvanti tvāṁ stutibhiḥ puṣkalābhiḥ ||
11.21 Many celestials enter into You; some praise You in
fear with folded hands; many great masters and sages hail and
adore you.
रुद्राकदत्या वसवो ये च साध्या
कवश्वेऽकश्वनौ र्रुतश्चोष्मपाश्च |
गन्धवमयक्षासुरकसद्धसङ्घा
वीक्षिे िां कवन्तस्मताश्चैव सवे ||11.22||
rudrādityā vasavo ye ca sādhyā
viśve’śvinau marutaś coṣmapāśca |
gandha-rvayakṣāsura siddhasaṅghā
vīkṣante tvaṁ vismitāś caiva sarve ||
11.22 The Rudra, Āditya, Vasu, Sādhyā, Viśvedeva, aśvin,
Marut, Ūṣmapa and a host of Gandharva, yakṣa, Asura and
Sidhha are all looking at You in amazement.
रूपं र्हत्ते बहुवक्त्रनेत्रं
र्हाबाहो बहुबाहूरुपादर्् |
बहूदरं बहुदं ष्ट्राकरालं
दृष्ट्वा लोका: प्रव्यकथतास्तथाहर्् ||11.23||
rūpaṁ mahatte bahuvaktranetraṁ
mahābāho bahubāhūrupādam |
bahūdaraṁ bahu-daṁṣṭrā-karālaṁ dṛṣṭvā
lokāḥ pravyathitās tathāham ||
11.23 Having seen Your immeasurable form with many mouths
and eyes, with many arms, thighs and feet, with many stom-
achs and frightening tusks, O mighty-armed, the worlds are
terrified and so am I.
नभ:स्पृिं दीप्तर्नेकवणं
व्यात्ताननं दीप्तकविालनेत्रर्् |
दृष्ट्वा कह िां प्रव्यकथतािरािा
धृकतं न कवन्दाकर् िर्ं च कवष्णो ||11.24||
nabhaḥspṛśaṁ dīptamanekavarṇaṁ
vyāttānanaṁ dīptaviśāla netram |
dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṁ pravyathitāntarātmā
dhṛtiṁ na vindāmi śamaṁ ca viṣṇo ||
11.24 Seeing You, Your form touching the sky, flaming in
many colors, mouths wide open, large fiery eyes, O Viṣṇu, I
find neither courage nor peace; I am frightened.
दं ष्ट्राकरालाकन च ते र्ुखाकन
दृष्ट्वैव कालानलसकिभाकन |
कदिो न जाने न लभे च िर्म
प्रसीद दे वेि जगकिवास ||11.25||
daṁṣṭrākarālāni ca te mukhāni
dṛṣṭvaiva kālānalasannibhāni |
diśo na jāne na labhe ca śarma
prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa ||
11.25 Having seen your fearsome mouths with blazing tusks
like the fire of the end of the universe, I know not the four
directions nor do I find peace. O Lord of the Deva, O refuge
of the Universe, be gracious.
अर्ी च िां धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्रा:
सवे सहै वावकनपालसङ्घै: |
भीष्मो द्रोण: सूतपुत्रस्तथासौ
सहास्मदीयैरकप योधर्ुयै: ||11.26||
amī ca tvāṁ dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrāḥ
sarve sahaivāvanipālasaṅghaiḥ |
bhīṣmo droṇaḥ sūtaputrastathāsau
sahāsmadīyairapi yodhamukhyaiḥ ||
11.26 All the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra with many kings of the
earth, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, the son of the charioteer, Karṇa, with
our warrior chieftains.
वक्त्राकण ते िरर्ाणा कविन्ति
दं ष्ट्राकरालाकन भयानकाकन |
केकचकिलग्ना दिनािरे षु
सन्ब्दृश्यिे चूकणमतैरुत्तर्ाङ्गै: ||11.27||
vaktrāṇi te tvaramāṇā viśanti
daṁṣṭrā-karālāni bhayānakāni |
kecidvilagnā daśanāntareṣu
sandṛśyante cūrṇitair uttamāñgaiḥ ||
11.27 Into Your mouths with terrible tusks, fearful to behold,
they enter. Some are seen caught in the gaps between the
tusks and their heads crushed.
यथा नदीनां बहवोऽम्बुवेगा:
सर्ुद्रर्ेवाकभर्ुखा द्रवन्ति |
तथा तवार्ी नरलोकवीरा
कविन्ति वक्त्राण्यकभकवज्वलन्ति ||11.28||
yathā nadīnāṁ bahavo’mbuvegāḥ
samudram evābhimukhā dravanti |
tathā tavāmī naralokavīrā
viśanti vaktrāṇy abhivijvalanti ||
11.28 Even as many torrents of rivers flow towards the ocean,
so too these warriors in the world of men enter Your flaming
mouths.
यथा प्रदीप्तं ज्वलनं पतङ्गा
कविन्ति नािाय सर्ृद्धवेगा: |
तथैव नािाय कविन्ति लोका-
स्तवाकप वक्त्राकण सर्ृद्धवेगा: ||11.29||
yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā
viśanti nāśāya samṛddhavegāḥ |
tathaiva nāśāya viśanti lokās
tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛddhavegāḥ ||
11.29 Just as moths hurriedly rush into the fire for their own
destruction, So too these creatures rush hastily into Your
mouths of destruction.
लेकलह्यसे ग्रसर्ान: सर्िा-
ल्लोकान्सर्ग्रान्वदनैज्वमलन्ति: |
तेजोकभरापूयम जगत्सर्ग्रं
भासस्तवोग्रा: प्रतपन्ति कवष्णो ||11.30||
lelihyase grasamānaḥ samantāl
lokān samagrān vadanair jvaladbhiḥ |
tejobhir āpūrya jagatsamagraṁ
bhāsastavo’grāḥ pratapanti viṣṇo ||
11.30 Swallowing all worlds on every side with your flaming
mouths You lick in enjoyment. O Viṣṇu, Your fierce rays are
burning, filling the whole world with radiance.
आयाकह र्े को भवानुग्ररूपो
नर्ोऽस्तु ते दे ववर प्रसीद |
कवज्ञातुकर्च्छाकर् भविर्ाद्यं
न कह प्रजानाकर् तव प्रवृकत्तर्् ||11.31||
ākhyāhi me ko bhavānugrarūpo
namo’stu te devavara prasīda |
vijñātum icchāmi bhavantam ādyaṁ
na hi prajānāmi tava pravṛttim ||
11.31 Tell me who You are, so fierce in form; salutations to
You, O Supreme; have mercy. Indeed I know not Your purpose
but I desire to know You, the Original Being.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
कालोऽन्तस्म लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
लोकान्सर्ाहतुमकर्ह प्रवृत्त: |
ऋतेऽकप िां न भकवष्यन्ति सवे
येऽवन्तथथता: प्रत्यनीकेषु योधा: ||11.32||
śrī bhagavānuvāca |
kālo’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho
lokān samāhartumiha pravṛttaḥ |
ṛte’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve
ye’vasthitāḥ pratyanīkeṣu yodhāḥ ||
11.32 Śrī Bhagavān says: I am the mighty world-destroying
Time, I am now destroying the worlds. Even without you,
none of the warriors standing in the hostile armies shall live.
तस्मािर्ुकत्ति यिो लभस्व
कजिा ित्रून्ब्भुङ् क्ष्व राज्यं सर्ृद्धर्् |
र्यैवैते कनहता: पूवमर्ेव
कनकर्त्तर्ात्रं भव सव्यसाकचन् ||11.33||
tasmāt tvamuttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham |
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvameva
nimittamātraṁ bhava savyasācin ||
11.33 Get up and gain glory. Conquer the enemies and enjoy
the prosperous kingdom. I have slain all these warriors; you
are a mere instrument, Arjuna.
द्रोणं च भीष्मं च जयद्रथं च
कणं तथान्यानकप योधवीरान् |
र्या हतां स्त्वं जकह र्ा व्यकथिा
युध्यस्व जेताकस रणे सपत्नान् ||11.34||
droṇaṁ ca bhīṣmaṁ ca jayadrathaṁ
ca karṇaṁ tathānyānapi yodhavīrān |
mayā hatāṁstvaṁ jahi mā vyathiṣṭā
yudhyasva jetāsi raṇe sapatnān ||
11.34 Droṇa, Bhīṣma, Jayadratha, Karṇa and other brave war-
riors have already been slain by Me; destroy them. Do not be
be afraid; fight and you shall conquer your enemies in battle.
सञ्जय उवाच |
एतच्छुिा वचनं केिवस्य
कृताञ्जकलवेपर्ान: ककरीटी |
नर्स्कृिा भूय एवाह कृष्णं
सगद्गदं भीतभीत: प्रणम्य ||11.35||
sañjaya uvāca
etacchrutvā vacanaṁ keśavasya
kṛtāñjalirvepamānaḥ kirīṭī |
namaskṛtvā bhūya evāha kṛṣṇaṁ
sagadgadaṁ bhītabhītah praṇamya ||
11.35 Sañjaya said: Having heard this speech of Keśava, the
crowned Arjuna with joined palms, trembling, prostrating
himself, again addressed Kṛṣṇa, voice choking, bowing down,
overwhelmed with fear.
अजुमन उवाच |
थथाने हृषीकेि तव प्रकीत्याम
जगत्प्रहृष्यत्यनुरज्यते च |
रक्षां कस भीताकन कदिो द्रवन्ति
सवे नर्स्यन्ति च कसद्धसङ्घा: ||11.36||
arjuna uvāca
sthāne hṛṣīkeśa tava prakīrtyā
jagat prahṛṣy atyanurajyate ca |
rakṣāṁsi bhītāni diśo dravanti
sarve namasyanti ca siddhasaṅghāḥ ||
11.36 Arjuna says: O Hṛṣīkeśā, it is but right that the world
delights and rejoices in Your praise. Rākṣasas fly in fear in all
directions and all hosts of sages bow to You.
कस्माच्च ते न नर्ेरन्महािन्
गरीयसे ब्रह्मणोऽप्याकदकत्रे |
अनि दे वेि जगकिवास
िर्क्षरं सदसतत्परं यत् ||11.37||
kasmācca te na nameran mahātman
garīyase brahmaṇo’pyādikartre |
ananta deveśa jagan-nivāsa
tvam akṣaraṁ sad-asat tat paraṁ yat ||
11.37 And why should they not bow to Thee, O great soul,
greater than all else, the Creator of even Brahma the Creator.
O Lord of Lords, O infinite Being, O Abode of the Universe, You are the imperishable, that which is beyond
both seen and
the unseen.
िर्ाकददे व: पुरुष: पुराण-
स्त्वर्स्य कवश्वस्य परं कनधानर्् |
वेत्ताकस वेद्यं च परं च धार्
िया ततं कवश्वर्निरूप ||11.38||
tvamādidevaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇas
tvamasya viśvasya paraṁ nidhānam |
vettāsi vedyaṁ ca paraṁ ca dhāma
tvayā tataṁ viśvam ananta rūpa ||
11.38 You are the primal God, the ancient Being, the supreme
refuge of the universe. You are the knower and the One to
be known. You are the supreme abode. O Being of infinite
forms, by You alone is the universe pervaded.
वायुयमर्ोऽकग्नवमरुण: ििाङ्क:
प्रजापकतस्त्वं प्रकपतार्हश्च |
नर्ो नर्स्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृि:
पुनश्च भूयोऽकप नर्ो नर्स्ते ||11.39||
vāyur yamo’gnir varuṇaḥ śaśāṅkaḥ
prajāpatis tvaṁ prapitāmahaś ca |
namo namaste’stu sahasrakṛtvaḥ
punaśca bhūyo’pi namo namaste ||
11.39 You are Vāyu, Yama, Agni, Varuṇa, the moon, Prājapati
and the greatgrandfather of all. Salutations unto You a thousand
times and again, salutations unto You!
नर्: पुरस्तादथ पृितस्ते
नर्ोऽस्तु ते सवमत एव सवम |
अनिवीयाम कर्तकवक्रर्स्त्वं
सवं सर्ाप्नोकष ततोऽकस सवम: ||11.40||
namaḥ purastādatha pṛṣṭataste
namo’stu te sarvata eva sarva |
ananta-vīryāmita-vikramas tvaṁ
sarvaṁ samāpnoṣi tato’si sarvaḥ ||
11.40 Salutations to You, before and behind! Salutations to You
on every side! O All! Infinite in power and Infinite in prowess,
You are everything and everywhere.
सखेकत र्िा प्रसभं यदु क्तं
हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेकत |
अजानता र्कहर्ानं तवेदं
र्या प्रर्ादात्प्रणयेन वाकप ||11.41||
sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yaduktaṁ
he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti |
ajānatā mahimānaṁ tavedaṁ
mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi ||
11.41 Whatever I have rashly says from carelessness or love,
addressing You as Kṛṣṇa, Yādava, my friend regarding You
merely as a friend, unaware of this greatness of Yours.
यच्चावहासाथमर्सत्कृतोऽकस
कवहारिय्यासनभोजने षु |
एकोऽथवाप्यच्युत तत्सर्क्षं
तत्क्षार्ये िार्हर्प्रर्ेयर्् ||11.42||
yac cāvahāsārtham asatkṛto’si
vihāraśayyāsana bhojaneṣu |
eko’tha va’py acyuta tat samakṣaṁ
tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam ||
11.42 In whatever way I may have insulted You in fun, while
at play, resting, sitting or at meals, when alone with You or
in company, O Acyuta, O immeasurable One, I implore You
to forgive me.
कपताकस लोकस्य चराचरस्य
िर्स्य पूज्यश्च गुरुगमरीयान् |
न ित्सर्ोऽस्त्यभ्यकधक: कुतोऽन्यो
लोकत्रयेऽप्यप्रकतर्प्रभाव ||11.43||
pitāsi lokasya carācarasya
tvamasya pūjyaśca gururgarīyān |
na tvatsamo’sty abhyadhikaḥ kuto’nyo
lokatraye’py apratima-prabhāva ||
11.43 You are the father of this world, moving and unmoving.
You are to be adored by this world. You are the greatest guru;
there is none who exists equal to You. O Being of unequalled
power, how then can there be another, superior to You in the
three worlds?
तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रकणधाय कायं
प्रसादये िार्हर्ीिर्ीड्यर्् |
कपतेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सयु:
कप्रय: कप्रयायाहम कस दे व सोढु र्् ||11.44||
tasmātpraṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṁ
prasādaye tvāṁaham īśam īḍyam |
pite’va putrasya sakhe’va sakhyuḥ priyaḥ
priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum ||
11.44 Therefore, bowing down, I prostrate my body before You
and crave Your forgiveness, adorable Lord. Even as a father
forgives his son, a friend his friend, a lover his beloved, You
should, O Deva, forgive me.
अदृष्ट्पूवं हृकषतोऽन्तस्म दृष्ट्वा
भयेन च प्रव्यकथतं र्नो र्े |
तदे व र्े दिमय दे वरूपं
प्रसीद दे वेि जगकिवास ||11.45||
adṛṣṭa-pūrvaṁ hṛṣito’smi dṛṣṭvā
bhayena ca pravyathitaṁ mano me |
tadeva me darśaya devarūpaṁ
prasīda deveśa jagannivāsa ||
11.45 After seeing this form that I have never seen before, I
am filled with gladness but at the same time I am disturbed by
fear. Please bestow Your grace upon me and show me Your
form as the supreme personality, O Lord of Lords, O refuge
of the Universe.
ककरीकटनं गकदनं चक्रहस्त-
कर्च्छाकर् िां द्रष्ट्टुर्हं तथैव |
तेनैव रूपेण चतु भुमजेन
सहस्रबाहो भव कवश्वर्ूते ||11.46||
kirīṭinaṁ gadinaṁ cakra-hastam
icchāmi tvāṁ draṣṭumahaṁ tathaiva |
tenaiva rūpeṇa caturbhujena
sahasrabāho bhava viśvamūrte ||
11.46 O thousand armed Universal Form! I wish to see Your
form with crown, fourarmed with mace, disc in Your hand. I yearn
to see You in that form.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
र्या प्रसिेन तवाजुमनेदं
रूपं परं दकिमतर्ाियोगात् |
तेजोर्यं कवश्वर्निर्ाद्यं
यन्मे िदन्ये न न दृष्ट्पूवमर्् ||11.47||
śrī bhagavānuvāca |
mayā prasannena tavārjunedaṁ
rūpaṁ paraṁ darśitam ātma-yogāt |
tejo-mayaṁ viśvamam anantamādyaṁ
yanme tvad anyena na dṛṣṭa-pūrvam ||
11.47 Bhagavān says: Dear Arjuna, I happily show you this
transcendental form within the material world of My internal
power. No one before you has seen this unlimited, brilliant form.
न वेदयज्ञाध्ययनै नम दानै-
नम च कक्रयाकभनम तपोकभरुग्रै: |
एवंरूप: िक्य अहं नृ लोके
द्रष्ट्टुं िदन्येन कुरुप्रवीर ||11.48||
na veda-yajñādhyayanairna dānaiḥ
na ca kriyābhir na tapobhir ugraiḥ |
evaṁ-rūpaḥ śakya ahaṁ nṛ-loke
draṣṭuṁ tvadanyena kuru-pravīra ||
11.48 O best among Kuru warriors, no one had ever before
seen this Universal form of mine, for neither by studying the
Vedas nor by performing sacrifices or charities, can this form
be seen. Only you have seen this form.
र्ा ते व्यथा र्ा च कवर्ूढभावो
दृष्ट्वा रूपं घोरर्ीदृङ्मर्ेदर्् |
व्यपेतभी: प्रीतर्ना: पुनस्त्वं
तदे व र्े रूपकर्दं प्रपश्य ||11.49||
mā te vyathā mā ca vimūḍhabhāvo dṛṣṭvā
rūpaṁ ghoramīdṛṅmamedam |
vyapetabhīḥ prītamanāḥ punastvaṁ
tadeva me rūpamidaṁ prapaśya ||
11.49 Do not be disturbed any longer by seeing this terrible
form of Mine. Dear devotee, be free from all disturbances. With
a peaceful mind, you can now see the form you wish to see.
सञ्जय उवाच |
इत्यजुम नं वासुदेवस्तथोक्त्वा
स्वकं रूपं दिमयार्ास भूय: |
आश्वासयार्ास च भीतर्ेनं
भूिा पुन: सौम्यवपुर्महािा ||11.50||
sañjaya uvāca |
ityarjunaṁ vāsudevastatho’ktvā
svakaṁ rūpaṁ darśayāmāsa bhūyaḥ |
āśvasayām āsa ca bhītam enaṁ
bhūtvā punaḥ saumya-vapur-mahātmā ||
11.50 Sañjaya said: Kṛṣṇa, while speaking to Arjuna, revealed
His form with four arms, Then assuming His human form He
consoled the terrified Arjuna.
अजुमन उवाच |
दृष्ट्वेदं र्ानु षं रूपं तव सौम्यं जनादम न |
इदानीर्न्तस्म संवृत्त: सचेता: प्रकृकतं गत: ||11.51||
arjuna uvāca |
dṛṣṭvedaṁ mānuṣaṁ rūpaṁ tava saumyaṁ janārdana |
idānīmasmi saṁvṛttaḥ sacetāh prakṛtiṁ gataḥ ||
11.51 Arjuna says: Seeing this wonderful human form, My
mind is now calm and I am restored to my original nature.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
सुदुदमिमकर्दं रूपं दृष्ट्वानकस यन्मर् |
दे वा अप्यस्य रूपस्य कनत्यं दिम नकाकङ्क्षण: ||11.52||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
sudurdarśamidaṁ rūpaṁ dṛṣṭavānasi yanmama ||
devā apyasya rūpasya nityaṁ darśanakāṅkṣiṇaḥ ||
11.52 Bhagavān says: The four-armed form that you have seen
is rare to behold. Even the celestials are forever aspiring to
see this form.
नाहं वेदैनम तपसा न दाने न न चेज्यया |
िक्य एवंकवधो द्रष्ट्टुं दृष्ट्वानकस र्ां यथा ||11.53||
nāhaṁ vedairna tapasā na dānena na cejyayā |
śakya evaṁvidho draṣṭuṁ dṛṣṭavānasi māṁ yathā ||
11.53 The four armed form which you have seen with your
transcendental eyes cannot be understood simply by study of
the Vedas, nor by undergoing penances or charity or worship;
one cannot see Me as I am by these means.
भक्त्या िनन्यया िक्य अहर्ेवंकवधोऽजुमन |
ज्ञातुं द्रष्ट्टुं च तिेन प्रवेष्ट्टुं च परिप ||11.54||
bhaktyā tvananyayā śakya aham evaṁ vidho’rjuna |
jñātuṁ draṣṭuṁ ca tattvena praveṣṭuṁ ca parantapa ||
11.54 My dear Arjuna, only by undivided devotional service
can you understand Me as I am, standing before you, be seen
directly. Only in this way can you reach Me, O Parantapa.
र्त्कर्मकृन्मत्परर्ो र्िक्त: सङ्गवकजमत: |
कनवैर: सवमभूतेषु य: स र्ार्ेकत पाण्डव ||11.55||
mat-karma-kṛn mat-paramo mad-bhaktaḥ saṅgavarjitaḥ |
nirvairaḥ sarvabhūteṣu yaḥ sa māmeti pāṇḍava ||
11.55 My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged entirely in My
devotional service, who surrenders to Me as the Supreme, free
from attachment, full of love for every entity, surely comes
to Me.
अजुमन उवाच |
एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पयुमपासते |
ये चाप्यक्षरर्व्यक्तं तेषां के योगकवत्तर्ा: ||12.1||
arjuna uvāca |
evaṁ satata-yuktā ye bhaktāstvāṁ paryupāsate |
ye cā’py akṣaram avyaktaṁ teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāh ||
12.1 Arjuna asked: Who are considered perfect, those who are
always engaged sincerely in Your worship in form, or those
who worship the imperishable, the unmanifest formless You?
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
र्य्यावेश्य र्नो ये र्ां कनत्ययुक्ता उपासते |
श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते र्े युक्ततर्ा र्ता: ||12.2||
śrī Bhagavānuvāca |
mayyāveśya mano ye māṁ nityayuktā upāsate |
śraddhayā parayo’petās te me yuktatamā matāḥ ||
12.2 Lord Kṛṣṇa says: Those, who by fixing their mind on Me
eternally, and those who are steadfast in worshipping Me with
supreme faith, I consider them to be perfect in Yoga, ready
to be united with Me.
ये िक्षरर्कनदे श्यर्व्यक्तं पयुमपासते |
सवमत्रगर्कचन्त्यञ्च कूटथथर्चलन्ध्रु वर्् ||12.3||
ye tv akṣaram anirdeśyam avyaktaṁ paryupāsate |
sarvatragam acintyaṁ ca kūṭa-stham acalaṁ dhruvam ||
12.3,4 But those who worship with awareness the imperishable, the unmanifest, that which lies beyond the
perception of senses,
the all pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, the non-moving
and permanent, those who worship by restraining their senses,
and are working with even mind for the benefit of mankind,
they too attain Me.
सकियम्येन्तियग्रार्ं सवमत्र सर्बुद्धय: |
ते प्राप्नुवन्ति र्ार्ेव सवमभूतकहते रता: ||12.4||
sanniyamyendriya-grāmaṁ sarvatra samabuddhayaḥ |
te prāpnuvanti mām eva sarvabhūta-hite ratāḥ ||
12.3,4 But those who worship with awareness the imperishable, the unmanifest, that which lies beyond the
perception of senses,
the all pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, the non-moving
and permanent, those who worship by restraining their senses,
and are working with even mind for the benefit of mankind,
they too attain Me.
क्लेिोऽकधकतरस्तेषार्व्यक्तासक्तचेतसार्् |
अव्यक्ता कह गकतदुम :खं दे हवन्तिरवाप्यते ||12.5||
kleśo’dhikatarasteṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām |
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ dehavadbhir avāpyate ||
12.5 For those whose minds are set on the unmanifest, the
formless, it is more difficult to advance; attaining the formless
unmanifest is difficult for the embodied.
ये तु सवाम कण कर्ाम कण र्कय संन्न्यस्य र्त्पर: |
अनन्येनैव योगेन र्ां ध्यायि उपासते ||12.6||
ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi sannyasya matparāḥ |
ananyenaiva yogena māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate ||
12.6,7 But those who worship me with single minded devo-
tion, renouncing all activities unto Me, regarding Me as their

supreme goal, whose minds are set in Me, I shall deliver them
soon from their ocean of the birth and death cycle.
तेषार्हं सर्ुद्धताम र्ृत्युसंसारसागरात् |
भवाकर् नकचरात्पाथम र्य्यावेकितचेतसार्् ||12.7||
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt |
bhavāmi na cirātpārtha mayy āveśita cetasām ||
12.6,7 But those who worship me with single minded devo-
tion, renouncing all activities unto Me, regarding Me as their
supreme goal, whose minds are set in Me, I shall deliver them
soon from their ocean of the birth and death cycle.
र्य्येव र्न आधत्स्व र्कय बुन्तद्धं कनवेिय |
कनवकसष्यकस र्य्येव अत ऊध्वं न संिय: ||12.8||
mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya |
nivasiṣyasi mayyeva ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ ||
12.8 You fix your mind on Me alone, establish your mind
in Me. You will live in Me always. There is no doubt in it.
अथ कचत्तं सर्ाधातुं न िक्नोकष र्कय न्तथथरर्् |
अभ्यासयोगेन ततो र्ाकर्च्छाप्तुं धनञ्जय ||12.9||
atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram |
abhyāsayogena tato mām icchāptuṁ dhanañjaya ||
12.9 If you are not able to fix your mind upon Me then
Arjuna, with the constant practice of Yoga, you try to attain Me.
अभ्यासेऽप्यसर्थोऽकस र्त्कर्मपरर्ो भव |
र्दथमर्कप कर्ाम कण कुवमन्तन्सन्तद्धर्वाप्स्स्यकस ||12.10||
abhyāse’pyasamartho’si matkarmaparamo bhava |
madarthamapi karmāṇi kurvan-siddhim avāpsyasi ||
12.10 If you are not able to practice even this yoga then
performing your duties and surrendering all your actions to
Me, you will attain perfection.
अथैतदप्यिक्तोऽकस कतुं र्द्योगर्ाकश्रत: |
सवमकर्मफलत्यागं तत: कुरु यतािवान् ||12.11||
athaitad apy aśakto’si kartuṁ madyogamāśritaḥ |
sarva-karma-phalatyāgaṁ tataḥ kuru yatātmavān ||
12.11 If you are not able to work even this way, surrender-
ing unto Me, give up all the results of your actions to Me without ego.
श्रेयो कह ज्ञानर्भ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं कवकिष्यते |
ध्यानात्कर्म फलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनिरर्् ||12.12||
śreyo hi jñānamabhyāsāj jñānāddhyānaṁ viśiṣyate |
dhyānāt karma-phala-tyāgas tyāgāc chāntir anantaram ||
12.12 Knowledge is better than mere practice. Meditation is
superior to knowledge. Renunciating the fruit of actions is
better than meditation. After renouncing of fruits of actions,
one immediately attains peace.
अिे ष्ट्ा सवमभूतानां र्ैत्र: करुण एव च |
कनर्मर्ो कनरहङ्कार: सर्दु :खसुख: क्षर्ी ||12.13||
adveṣṭā sarvabhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca |
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ samaduḥkhasukhaḥ kṣamī ||
12.13,14 One who has no dislike or envy for any being, who
is friendly and compassionate to everyone, free from the sense
of I and mine, the ego, maintains equanimity of mind both
in joy and sorrow, forgiving, ever satisfied, united with Yoga,
has a strong commitment to Me and has fixed his mind and
intellect upon Me, such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.
सिुष्ट्: सततं योगी यतािा दृढकनश्चय: |
र्य्यकपमतर्नोबुन्तद्धयो र्िक्त: स र्े कप्रय: ||12.14||
santuṣṭaḥ satataṁ yogī yatātmā dṛḍhaniścayaḥ |
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir yo madbhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||
12.13,14 One who has no dislike or envy for any being, who
is friendly and compassionate to everyone, free from the sense
of I and mine, the ego, maintains equanimity of mind both
in joy and sorrow, forgiving, ever satisfied, united with Yoga,
has a strong commitment to Me and has fixed his mind and
intellect upon Me, such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.
यस्मािोकिजते लोको लोकािोकिजते च य: |
हषाम र्षम भयोिे गैर्ुमक्तो य: स च र्े कप्रय: ||12.15||
yasmānnodvijate loko lokānnodvijate ca yaḥ |
harṣāmarṣabha-yodvegair mukto yaḥ sa ca me priyaḥ ||
12.15 He, by whom the world is not affected adversely, and
who in turn does not affect the world adversely, and he, who
is free from joy, anger, and anxiety, he is dear to Me.
अनपेक्ष: िुकचदम क्ष उदासीनो गतव्यथ: |
सवाम रम्भपररत्यागी यो र्िक्त: स र्े कप्रय: ||12.16||
anapekṣaḥ śucirdakṣaḥ udāsīno gatavyathaḥ ||
sarvārambhaparityāgī yo madbhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||
12.16 He, who is free from wants, who is pure and skilled,
unconcerned, untroubled, who is selfless in whatever he does,
he who is devoted to Me, he is dear to Me.
यो न हृष्यकत न िे कष्ट् न िोचकत न काङ् क्षकत |
िुभािु भपररत्यागी भन्तक्तर्ान्य: स र्े कप्रय: ||12.17||
yo na hṛṣyati na dveṣṭi na śocati na kāṅkṣati |
śubhāśubhaparityāgi bhaktimānyaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||
12.17 He who does not rejoice or hate or grieve or desire,
renounces both good and evil and who is full of devotion, he
is dear to Me.
सर्: ित्रौ च कर्त्रे च तथा र्ानापर्ानयो: |
िीतोष्णसुखदु :खे षु सर्: सङ्गकववकजमत: ||12.18||
samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ |
śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅgavivarjitaḥ ||
12.18,19 One who treats friends and enemies the same, who
faces in the same manner honor and dishonor, heat and cold,
happiness and sorrow, fame and infamy, one who is always
free from attachment, always silent and satisfied with anything,
without a fixed home, who is fixed in mind and who is devoted
to Me, such a person is very dear to Me.
तुल्यकनन्दास्तुकतर्ौनी सिुष्ट्ो येन केनकचत् |
अकनकेत: न्तथथरर्कतभमन्तक्तर्ान्मे कप्रयो नर: ||12.19||
tulyanindāstutir maunī santuṣṭo yena kenacit |
aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimānme priyo naraḥ ||
12.18,19 One who treats friends and enemies the same, who
faces in the same manner honor and dishonor, heat and cold,
happiness and sorrow, fame and infamy, one who is always
free from attachment, always silent and satisfied with anything,
without a fixed home, who is fixed in mind and who is devoted
to Me, such a person is very dear to Me.
ये तु धम्याम र्ृतकर्दं यथोक्तं पयुमपासते |
श्रद्दधाना र्त्परर्ा भक्तास्तेऽतीव र्े कप्रया: ||12.20||
ye tu dharmyāmṛtam idaṁ yathoktaṁ paryupāsate |
śraddadhānā matparamā bhaktās te ’tīva me priyāḥ ||
12.20 Those who truly follow this imperishable path of righ-
teousness with great faith, making Me the supreme goal, are

very dear to Me.

अजुमन उवाच |
प्रकृकतं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञर्ेव च |
एतिे कदतुकर्च्छाकर् ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं च केिव ||13.1||
arjuna uvāca |
prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva kṣetraṁ kṣetrajñameva ca |
etad veditum icchāmi jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ ca keśava ||
13.1 Arjuna says: O Keśava, I wish to know and understand
about prakṛti and puruṣa, passive and active energies. The
field [kṣetra] and the knower of the field [kṣetrajña], and of
knowledge [jñānaṁ] and of the end of knowledge [jñeyaṃ].
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
इदं िरीरं कौिेय क्षेत्रकर्त्यकभधीयते |
एतद्यो वेकत्त तं प्राहु: क्षेत्रज्ञ इकत तकिद: ||13.2||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
idam śarīraṁ kaunteya kṣetram ity abhidhīyate |
etadyo vetti taṁ prāhuḥ kṣetrajña iti tadvidaḥ ||
13.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa replies: This body, O Kaunteya, is called
the field, kṣetra. Anyone who knows this body is called the
knower of the field, kṣetrajña.
क्षेत्रज्ञं चाकप र्ां कवन्तद्ध सवमक्षेत्रेषु भारत |
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोज्ञाम नं यत्तज्ज्ञानं र्तं र्र् ||13.3||
kṣetrajñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarvakṣetreṣu bhārata |
kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānaṁ yat taj jñānaṁ mataṁ mama ||
13.3 O Bhārata, know that I am the Knower in all bodies
[kṣetrajña], the witness. In my opinion knowledge means the
understanding of this body or the field of activity as well as
the Knower of this field.
तत्क्षेत्रं यच्च यादृक्च यकिकारर यतश्च यत् |
स च यो यत्प्रभावश्च तत्सर्ासेन र्े शणु ||13.4||
tat kṣetraṁ yac ca yādṛk ca yadvikāri yataś ca yat |
sa ca yo yat prabhāvaś ca tat samāsena me sṛṇu ||
13.4 Understand my summary of this field of activity and how
it is constituted, what its changes are, how it is produced,
who that knower of the field of activities is, and what his
influences are.
ऋकषकभबमहुधा गीतं िन्दोकभकवमकवधै: पृथक् |
ब्रह्मसूत्रपदै श्चैव हे तुर्न्तिकवमकनकश्चतै : ||13.5||
ṛṣibhir bahudhā gītaṁ chandobhir vividhaiḥ pṛthak |
brahma-sūtra padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ ||
13.5 That knowledge of the field of activities and of the knower
of activities is described by various sages with chants in the
scriptures It is presented with all reasoning as to cause and
effect.
र्हाभूतान्यङ्ककारो बुन्तद्धरव्यक्त र्ेव च |
इन्तियाकण दिैकं च पञ्च चेन्तियगोचरा: ||13.6||
mahā-bhūtāny ahaṅkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca |
indriyāṇi daśaikaṁ ca pañca cendriya gocarāḥ ||
13.6,7 The field of activities and its interactions are said to be:
the five elements of nature, ego, intelligence, the mind, the
formless, the ten senses of perception and action, as well as
the five objects of senses and desire, hatred, happiness, distress,
the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions.
इच्छा िे ष: सुखं दु :खं सङ्घातश्चेतना धृकत: |
एतत्क्षेत्रं सर्ासेन सकवकारर्ुदाहृतर्् ||13.7||
icchādveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṅghātaścetanā dhṛtiḥ |
etatkṣetraṁ samāsena savikāram udāhṛtam ||
13.6,7 The field of activities and its interactions are said to be:
the five elements of nature, ego, intelligence, the mind, the
formless, the ten senses of perception and action, as well as
the five objects of senses and desire, hatred, happiness, distress,
the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions.
अर्ाकनिर्दन्तम्भिर्कहं सा क्षान्तिराजमवर्् |
आचायोपासनं िौचं थथैयमर्ािकवकनग्रह: ||13.8||
amānitvam adambhitvam ahimsā kṣāntir ārjavam |
ācāryopāsanaṁ śaucaṁ sthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ ||
13.8,9,10,11,12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence,
tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual Master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control;
renunciation
of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the
perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age
and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the
rest and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;
constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary
places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting
the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for
the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge
and anything contrary to these is ignorance.
इन्तियाथेषु वैरार्ग्र्नहङ्कार एव च |
जन्मर्ृ त्युजराव्याकधदु :खदोषानुदिमनर्् ||13.9||
indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam anahaṁkāra eva ca |
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi- duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam ||
13.8,9,10,11,12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence,
tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual Master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control;
renunciation
of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the
perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age
and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the
rest and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;
constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary
places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting
the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for
the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge
and anything contrary to these is ignorance.
असन्तक्तरनकभष्वङ्ग: पुत्रदारगृहाकदषु |
कनत्यं च सर्कचत्तिकर्ष्ट्ाकनष्ट्ोपपकत्तषु ||13.10||
asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putra-dāra-gṛhādiṣu |
nityaṁ ca sama-cittatvam iṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu ||
13.8,9,10,11,12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence,
tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual Master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control;
renunciation
of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the
perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age
and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the
rest and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;
constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary
places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting
the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for
the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge
and anything contrary to these is ignorance.
र्कय चानन्ययोगेन भन्तक्तरव्यकभचाररणी |
कवकवक्तदे िसेकविर्रकतजमनसंसकद ||13.11||
mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī |
vivikta-deśa-sevitvam aratirjana saṁsadi ||
13.8,9,10,11,12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence,
tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual Master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control;
renunciation
of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the
perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age
and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the
rest and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;
constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary
places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting
the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for
the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge
and anything contrary to these is ignorance.
अध्यािज्ञानकनत्यिं तिज्ञानाथमदिमनर्् |
एतज्ज्ञानकर्कत प्रोक्तर्ज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा ||13.12||
adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁ tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam |
etaj-jñānam iti proktam ajñānaṁ yad atonyathā ||
13.8,9,10,11,12 Humility, absence of pride, nonviolence,
tolerance, simplicity, service to an enlightened spiritual Master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control;
renunciation
of the objects of sense gratification; absence of ego, the
perception of the pain of the cycle of birth and death, old age
and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the
rest and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events;
constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary
places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting
the importance of self realization, and philosophical search for
the absolute truth: All these I thus declare to be knowledge
and anything contrary to these is ignorance.
ज्ञेयं यत्तत्प्रवक्ष्याकर् यज्ज्ञािार्ृतर्श्रुते |
अनाकदर्त्परं ब्रह्म न सत्तिासदु च्यते ||13.13||
jñeyaṁ yat tat pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvāmṛtam aśnute |
anādi matparaṁ brahma na sat tan nāsad ucyate ||
13.13 I shall fully give you the understanding about the know-
able with which one can taste eternal bliss or the being or the

consciousness that has no beginning. A life beyond the cause

and effect and the material world.
सवमत: पाकणपादं तत्सवमतोऽकक्षकिरोर्ुखर्् |
सवमत: श्रुकतर्ल्लोके सवमर्ावृत्य कतिकत ||13.14||
sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṁ tat sarvato ’kṣiśiromukham |
sarvataḥ śrutimalloke sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati ||`1
13.14 With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and
mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the
worlds, enveloping all. The Paramātman (supreme spirit) is
all pervading.
सवेन्तियगुणाभासं सवेन्तियकववकजमतर्् |
असक्तं सवमभृच्चैव कनगुमणं गुणभोक्तृ च ||13.15||
sarvendriya-guṇābhāsaṁ sarvendriya-vivarjitam |
asaktaṁ sarva-bhṛccaiva nirguṇaṁ guṇabhoktṛ ca ||
13.15 The Paramātman is the original source of all the senses.
Yet, He is beyond all the senses. He is unattached. Although
the consciousness is the maintainer of all the living beings, yet
He transcends the modes of the nature and at the same time
He is the master of the modes of our material nature.
बकहरिश्च भूतानार्चरं चरर्ेव च |
सूक्ष्मिात्तदकवज्ञेयं दू रथथं चान्तिके च तत् ||13.16||
bahir antaśca bhūtānām acaraṁ carameva ca |
sūkṣmatvāt tad avijñeyaṁ dūrasthaṁ cāntike ca tat ||
13.16 The supreme truth exists both within and without, it is
present in everything mobile or immobile. It is not knowable
through the senses as it is very subtle. Though far, yet it is
the nearest.
अकवभक्तं च भूतेषु कवभक्तकर्व च न्तथथतर्् |
भूतभतृम च तज्ज्ञेयं ग्रकसष्णु प्रभकवष्णु च ||13.17||
avibhaktaṁ ca bhūteṣu vibhaktamiva ca sthitam |
bhūta-bhartṛ ca tajjñeyaṁ grasiṣṇu prabhaviṣṇu ca ||
13.17 Though appearing fragmented it is indivisible whole.
Though He is the maintainer of every living entity, it is to be
understood that He consumes and creates all.
ज्योकतषार्कप तज्ज्योकतस्तर्स: परर्ुच्यते |
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं ज्ञानगम्यं हृकद सवमस्य कवकितर्् ||13.18||
jyotiṣām api tajjyotis tamasaḥ paramucyate |
jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ jñāna-gamyaṁ hṛdi sarvasya viṣṭhitam ||
13.18 He is the source of light in all luminous objects. He
is beyond the darkness of matter and is formless. He is
knowledge, He is the object of knowledge, and He is the goal
of knowledge. He is situated in everyone’s heart.
इकत क्षेत्रं तथा ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं चोक्तं सर्ासत: |
र्िक्त एतकिज्ञाय र्िावायोपपद्यते ||13.19||
iti kṣetraṁ tathā jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ co ’ktaṁ samāsataḥ |
madbhakta etadvijñāya madbhāvāyopapadyate ||
13.19 Thus the field of activities, knowledge and the knowable
has been summarily described by Me. It is only when we can
understand the true nature of our supreme Self and the material
world with which we have created false identities that we can
go beyond this and attain the supreme Self itself.
प्रकृकतं पुरुषं चैव कवद्ध्यनादी उभावकप |
कवकारां श्च गुणां श्चैव कवन्तद्ध प्रकृकतसम्भवान् ||13.20||
prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhyanādī ubhāvapi |
vikārāṁś ca guṇāṁś caiva viddhi prakṛti saṁbhavān ||
13.20 Prakṛti or the field and its attributes and the puruṣa or
the knower or the supreme consciousness are both without
beginning. All the transformations of nature that we see are
produced by the field or prakṛti.
कायमकारणकतृमिे हे तु: प्रकृकतरुच्यते |
पुरुष: सु खदु :खानां भोक्तृिे हे तुरुच्यते ||13.21||
kārya-kāraṇa-kartṛtve hetuḥ prakṛtirucyate |
puruṣaḥ sukha-duḥkhānāṁ bhoktṛtve heturucyate ||
13.21 In the production of the body and the senses, prakṛti is
said to be the cause; In the experience of pleasure and pain,
puruṣa is said to be the cause.
पुरुष: प्रकृकतथथो कह भु ङक्ते प्रकृकतजान्ब्गुणान् |
कारणं गुणसङ्गोऽस्य सदसद्योकनजन्मसु ||13.22||
puruṣaḥ prakṛtistho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān-guṇān |
kāraṇaṁ guṇasaṇgosya sadasadyonijanmasu ||
13.22 The living entity in the material nature follows the way
of life, enjoying the moods of nature. Due to association with
the material nature it meets the good or evil among various
species.
उपद्रष्ट्ानुर्िा च भताम भोक्ता र्हे श्वर: |
परर्ािेकत चाप्युक्तो दे हेऽन्तस्मन्पुरुष: पर: ||13.23||
upadraṣṭānumantā ca bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ |
paramātmeti cāpyukto dehe’sminpuruṣaḥ paraḥ ||
13.23 Yet, in this body there is a transcendental energy. He
who is divine, who exists as a owner or the witness, supporter,
enjoyer and the pure witnessing consciousness, is known as
the Paramātman.
य एवं वेकत्त पुरुषं प्रकृकतं च गुणै: सह |
सवमथा वतमर्ानोऽकप न स भूयोऽकभजायते ||13.24||
ya evaṁ vetti puruṣaṁ prakṛtiṁ ca guṇaiḥ saha |
sarvathā vartamānopi na sa bhūyobhijāyate ||
13.24 One who understands this philosophy concerning material
nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of
nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here
again, regardless of his present position.
ध्याने नािकन पश्यन्ति केकचदािानर्ािना |
अन्ये साङ् ये न योगेन कर्मयोगेन चापरे ||13.25||
dhyānenātmani paśyanti kecidātmānamātmanā |
anye sāṅkhyena yogena karmayogena cāpare ||
13.25 Some perceive the Paramātman in their inner psyche
through mind and intellect that have been purified by meditation
or by metaphysical knowledge or by karma yoga.
अन्ये िेवर्जानि: श्रुिान्येभ्य उपासते |
तेऽकप चाकततरन्त्येव र्ृत्युं श्रुकतपरायणा: ||13.26||
anye tv evam ajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate |
te ’pi ’cātitaranty eva mṛtyuṁ śrutiparāyaṇāḥ ||
13.26 There are those who, although not conversant in spir-
itual knowledge, begin to worship the supreme personality
upon hearing about Him from others. Through the process of
hearing about the supreme Self, they also transcend the path
of birth and death.
यावत्सञ्जायते कककञ्चत्सिं थथावरजङ्गर्र्् |
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञसंयोगात्तकिन्तद्ध भरतषमभ ||13.27||
yāvatsañjāyate kiñcit sattvaṁ sthāvarajaṅgamam |
kṣetra-kṣetrajña-saṁyogāt tadviddhi bharatarṣabha ||
13.27 Bhārata, know that whatever that is movable or
immovable is born, It comes into existence by combination of
kṣetra and kṣetrajña
सर्ं सवेषु भूतेषु कतििं परर्ेश्वरर्् |
कवनश्यत्स्वकवनश्यिं य: पश्यकत स पश्यकत ||13.28||
samaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu tiṣṭhantaṁ parameśvaram |
vinaśyatsvavinaśyantaṁ yaḥ paśyati sa paśyati ||
13.28 One who sees the supreme Spirit accompanying the individual soul in all bodies, who understands that
neither
the individual soul nor the supreme Spirit is ever destroyed,
actually sees.
सर्ं पश्यन्तन्ह सवमत्र सर्वन्तथथतर्ीश्वरर्् |
न कहनस्त्यािनािानं ततो याकत परां गकतर्् ||13.29||
samaṁ paśyanhi sarvatra samavasthitamīsvaram |
na hinastyātmanā ’tmanaṁ tato yāti parāṁ gatim ||
13.29 When one does not get degraded or influenced by the
mind and when he can see the Supreme Spirit in all living and
non-living things, One reaches the transcendental destination.
प्रकृत्यैव च कर्ाम कण कक्रयर्ाणाकन सवमि: |
य: पश्यकत तथािानर्कताम रं स पश्यकत ||13.30||
prakṛtyaiva ca karmāṇi kriyamāṇāni sarvaśaḥ |
yaḥ paśyati tathātmānam akartāraṁ sa paśyati ||
13.30 One who can see that all activities are performed by the
body, which is created of material nature, sees that the Self
does nothing, actually sees.
यदा भूतपृथग्भावर्ेकथथर्नुपश्यकत |
तत एव च कवस्तारं ब्रह्म सम्पद्यते तदा ||13.31||
yadā bhūta-pṛthag-bhāvam ekasthamanupaśyati |
tata eva ca vistāraṁ brahma saṁpadyate tadā ||
13.31 When a person can see the supreme Self in all living
entities then he will cease to see the separateness among the
living entities. He will see that the whole universe is an ex-
pansion and expression of the same truth.
अनाकदिाकिगुमणिात्परर्ािायर्व्यय: |
िरीरथथोऽकप कौिेय न करोकत न कलप्यते ||13.32||
anāditvānnirguṇa tvāt paramātmāyamavyayaḥ |
śarīrastho’pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate ||
13.32 Those with the vision of eternity can see that the soul
is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature.
Despite contact with the material body, O Arjuna, the soul
neither does anything nor is attached.
यथा सवमगतं सौक्ष्म्म्यादाकािं नोपकलप्यते |
सवमत्रावन्तथथतो दे हे तथािा नोपकलप्यते ||13.33||
yathā sarvagataṁ saukṣmyād ākāśaṁ nopalipyate |
sarvatrāvasthito dehe tathātmā nopalipyate ||
13.33 The sky, due to its subtle nature, does not mix with
anything, although it is all-pervading. Similarly, the soul,
situated in Brahman, does not mix with the body, though
situated in that body.
यथा प्रकाियत्येक: कृत्स्नं लोककर्र्ं रकव: |
क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्नं प्रकाियकत भारत ||13.34||
yathā prakāśayatyekaḥ kṛtsnaṁ lokamimaṁ raviḥ |
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ prakāśayati bhārata ||
13.34 O son of Bhārata, as the Sun alone illumines the
entire Universe, so does the living entity, one within the body,
illumines the entire consciousness.
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरे वर्िरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा |
भूतप्रकृकतर्ोक्षं च ये कवदु यामन्ति ते परर्् ||13.35||
kṣetrakṣetrajñayor evam antaraṁ jñāna-cakṣuṣā |
bhūta-prakṛti-mokṣaṁ ca ye viduryānti te param ||
13.35 Those, who see with the eyes of knowledge the difference
between the body-mind, kṣetra and the knower of the body-
mind, kṣetrajña, can understand the process. Are liberated from
the bondages of the material nature and attain the Paramātman.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
परं भूय: प्रवक्ष्याकर् ज्ञानानां ज्ञानर्ु त्तर्र्् |
यज्ज्ञािा र्ुनय: सवे परां कसन्तद्धकर्तो गता: ||14.1||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
paraṁ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṁ jñānamuttamam |
yajjñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṁ siddhimito gatāḥ ||
14.1 Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa says: I will declare to you again
the Supreme wisdom, The knowledge of which has helped all
sages attain Supreme perfection.
इदं ज्ञानर्ुपाकश्रत्य र्र् साधम्यमर्ागता: |
सगेऽकप नोपजायिे प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च ||14.2||
idaṁ jñānamupāśritya mama sādharmyamāgatāḥ |
sarge’pi nopajāyante pralaye na vyathanti ca ||
14.2 By becoming fixed in this knowledge, one can attain the
transcendental nature, like my own, and establish in his Eternal
Consciousness, that one is not born at the time of creation, or
disturbed at the time of dissolution.
र्र् योकनर्महद् ब्रह्म तन्तस्मन्ब्गभं दधाम्यहर्् |
सम्भव: सवमभूतानां ततो भवकत भारत ||14.3||
mama yonir-mahad-brahma tasmingarbhaṁ dadhāmyahaṁ |
saṁbhavaḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ tato bhavati bhārata ||
14.3 The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source
of birth, It is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible
the births of all living beings, O son of Bhārata.
सवमयोकनषु कौिेय र्ूतमय: सम्भवन्ति या: |
तासां ब्रह्म र्हद्योकनरहं बीजप्रद: कपता ||14.4||
sarvayoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ saṁbhavanti yāḥ |
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir ahaṁ bījapradaḥ pitā ||
14.4 Arjuna, understand that all species of life are made possible
by birth in this material nature, and I am the seed-giving father.
सिं रजस्तर् इकत गुणा: प्रकृकतसम्भवा: |
कनबध्नन्ति र्हाबाहो दे हे दे कहनर्व्ययर्् ||14.5||
sattvaṁ rajastama iti guṇāḥ prakṛtisaṁbhavāḥ |
nibadhnanti mahābāho dehe dehinamavyayam ||
14.5 Material nature consists of the three modes—goodness,
passion and ignorance. When the living entity comes in contact
with nature, it becomes conditioned by these modes.
तत्र सिं कनर्मलिात्प्रकािकर्नार्यर्् |
सुखसङ्गेन बध्नाकत ज्ञानसङ्गेन चानघ ||14.6||
tatra sattvaṁ nirmalatvāt prakāśakamanāmayam |
sukhasaṅgena badhnāti jñānasaṅgena cānagha ||
14.6 O Sinless One, the mode of goodness, satva, being purer
than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful
reactions. Those situated in that mode develop knowledge, but
they become conditioned by the concept of happiness.
रजो रागािकं कवन्तद्ध तृष्णासङ्गसर्ुिवर्् |
तकिबध्नाकत कौिेय कर्मसङ्गेन दे कहनर्् ||14.7||
rajo rāgātmakaṁ viddhi tṛṣṇāsaṅgasamudbhavam |
tannibadhnāti kaunteya karmasaṅgena dehinam ||
14.7 Kaunteya, know that the mode of passion, rajas, is char-
acterized by intense craving and is the source of desire and
attachment. Rajas binds the living entity by attachment to work.
तर्स्त्वज्ञानजं कवन्तद्ध र्ोहनं सवमदेकहनार्् |
प्रर्ादालस्यकनद्राकभस्तकिबध्नाकत भारत ||14.8||
tamas tv ajñānajaṁ viddhi mohanaṁ sarvadehinām |
pramādālasya-nidrābhis tannibadhnāti bhārata ||
14.8 Know, O Arjuna, that the mode of ignorance, tamas, the
deluder of the living entity is born of inertia. Tamas binds
the living entity by carelessness, laziness, and excessive sleep.
सिं सुखे सञ्जयकत रज: कर्मकण भारत |
ज्ञानर्ावृत्य तु तर्: प्रर्ादे सञ्जयत्यु त ||14.9||
sattvaṁ sukhe sañjayati rajaḥ karmaṇi bhārata |
jñānamāvṛtya tu tamaḥ pramāde sañjayatyuta ||
14.9 The mode of goodness conditions one to happiness, passion
conditions him to fruits of action, and veiling the knowledge,
tamas binds one to carelessness.
रजस्तर्श्चाकभभूय सिं भवकत भारत |
रज: सिं तर्श्चैव तर्: सिं रजस्तथा ||14.10||
rajas tamaś cābhibhūya sattvaṁ bhavati bhārata |
rajaḥ sattvaṁ tamaścaiva tamaḥ sattvaṁ rajastathā ||
14.10 Sometimes the mode of passion becomes prominent, de-
feating the mode of goodness, O son of Bhārata. And sometimes
the mode of goodness defeats passion, and at other times the
mode of ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way
there is always competition for supremacy.
सवमिारे षु दे हेऽन्तस्मन्प्रकाि उपजायते |
ज्ञानं यदा तदा कवद्याकिवृद्धं सिकर्त्युत ||14.11||
sarvadvāreṣu dehesmin prakāśa upajāyate |
jñanaṁ yadā tadā vidyād vivṛddhaṁ sattvamityuta ||
14.11 When the light of Self-knowledge illumines all the senses
(or gates) in the body, then it should be known that goodness
is predominant.
लोभ: प्रवृकत्तरारम्भ: कर्मणार्िर्: स्पृहा |
रजस्येताकन जायिे कववृद्धे भरतषम भ ||14.12||
lobhaḥ pravṛttirārambhaḥ karmaṇāmaśamaḥ spṛhā |
rajasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe bharatarṣabha ||
14.12 O Bharatarṣabha, chief of the Bhārata, when there is
an increase in the mode of passion, the symptoms of great
attachment, uncontrollable desire, hankering, and intense en-
deavor develop.
अप्रकािोऽप्रवृकत्तश्च प्रर्ादो र्ोह एव च |
तर्स्येताकन जायिे कववृद्धे कुरुनन्दन ||14.13||
aprakāśo’pravṛttiś ca pramādo moha eva ca |
tamasyetāni jāyante vivṛddhe kurunandana ||
14.13 O son of Kuru, when there is an increase in the mode of
ignorance, madness, illusion, inertia and darkness are manifested.
यदा सिे प्रवृद्धे तु प्रलयं याकत दे हभृत् |
तदोत्तर्कवदां लोकानर्लान्प्रकतपद्यते ||14.14||
yadā sattve pravṛddhe tu pralayaṁ yāti dehabhṛt |
tadottamavidāṁ lokānam alānpratipadyate ||
14.14 When one dies in the mode of goodness [satva], He goes
to the highest of worlds.
रजकस प्रलयं गिा कर्मसकङ्गषु जायते |
तथा प्रलीनस्तर्कस र्ूढयोकनषु जायते ||14.15||
rajasi pralayaṁ gatvā karmasaṅgiṣu jāyate |
tathā pralīnas tamasi mūḍhayoniṣu jāyate ||
14.15 When one dies in the mode of passion [rajas], he takes
birth among those engaged in activities. When he dies in the
mode of ignorance [tamas], he takes birth in the space of the
ignorant.
कर्मण: सुकृतस्याहु: सान्तिकं कनर्मलं फलर्् |
रजसस्तु फलं दु :खर्ज्ञानं तर्स: फलर्् ||14.16||
karmaṇaḥ sukṛtasyāhuḥ sāttvikaṁ nirmalaṁ phalam |
rajasastu phalaṁ duḥkham ajñānaṁ tamasaḥ phalam ||
14.16 By acting in the mode of goodness, one becomes purified. Work done in the mode of passion results in
distress, and
actions performed in the mode of ignorance result in foolishness.
सिात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च |
प्रर्ादर्ोहौ तर्सो भवतोऽज्ञानर्ेव च ||14.17||
sattvātsañjāyate jñānaṁ rajaso lobha eva ca |
pramādamohau tamaso bhavato’jñānameva ca ||
14.17 From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops;
from the mode of passion, greed develops; from the mode of
ignorance develops foolishness, madness and illusion.
ऊध्वं गच्छन्ति सिथथा र्ध्ये कतिन्ति राजसा: |
जघन्यगुणवृकत्तथथा अधो गच्छन्ति तार्सा: ||14.18||
ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattvasthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ |
jaghanyaguṇavṛttisthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ ||
14.18 Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go
upward to the higher world; those in the mode of passion live
on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go
down to the worlds below.
नान्यं गुणेभ्य: कताम रं यदा द्रष्ट्ानुपश्यकत |
गुणेभ्यश्च परं वेकत्त र्िावं सोऽकधगच्छकत ||14.19||
nānyaṁ guṇebhyaḥ kartāraṁ yadā draṣṭānupaśyati |
guṇebhyaśca paraṁ vetti madbhāvaṁ so’dhigacchati ||
14.19 When we see that there is nothing beyond these
modes of nature in all activities and that the supreme Lord is
transcendental to all these modes, the seeker can know My
spiritual nature.
गुणानेतानतीत्य त्रीन्दे ही दे हसर्ुिवान् |
जन्मर्ृ त्युजरादु :खैकवमर्ुक्तोऽर्ृतर्श्रुते ||14.20||
guṇānetānatītya trīn dehī dehasamudbhavān |
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-duḥkhair vimukto’mṛtamaśnute ||
14.20 When the embodied being is able to transcend these
three modes, he can become free from birth, death, old age
and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.
अजुमन उवाच |
कैकलमङ्गैस्त्रीन्ब्गुणानेतानतीतो भवकत प्रभो |
ककर्ाचार: कथं चैतां स्त्रीन्ब्गुणानकतवतमते ||14.21||
arjuna uvāca |
kair liṅgais trīnguṇān etān atīto bhavati prabho |
kim ācāraḥ kathaṁ caitāṁs trīnguṇānativartate ||
14.21 Arjuna inquires: O my Lord, by what symptoms is one
known who is transcendental to those modes? What is his
behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
प्रकािं च प्रवृकत्तं च र्ोहर्ेव च पाण्डव |
न िे कष्ट् सम्प्रवृत्ताकन न कनवृत्ताकन काङ् क्षकत ||14.22||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
prakāśaṁ ca pravṛttiṁ ca mohameva ca pāṇḍava |
na dveṣṭi saṁpravṛttāni na nivṛttāni kāṅkṣati ||
14.22,23,24,25 Śrī Bhagavān says: He who does not hate illu-
mination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor
longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one
unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions
of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the
modes alone are active; He who regards alike pleasure and
pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold
with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame
to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor,
who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all result
based undertakings—such a man is said to have transcended
the modes of nature.
उदासीनवदासीनो गुणैयो न कवचाल्यते |
गुणा वतमि इत्येवं योऽवकतिकत नेङ्गते ||14.23||
udāsīnavadāsīno guṇairyo na vicālyate |
guṇā vartanta ityeva yo’vatiṣṭhati neṅgate ||
14.22,23,24,25 Śrī Bhagavān says: He who does not hate illu-
mination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor
longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one
unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions
of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the
modes alone are active; He who regards alike pleasure and
pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold
with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame
to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor,
who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all result
based undertakings—such a man is said to have transcended
the modes of nature.
सर्दु :खसुख: स्वथथ: सर्लोष्ट्ाश्मकाञ्चन: |
तुल्यकप्रयाकप्रयो धीरस्तुल्यकनन्दािसंस्तुकत: ||14.24||
sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ svasthaḥ sama-loṣṭāśma-kāñcanaḥ |
tulya-priyāpriyo dhīras tulya-nindātma-saṁstutiḥ ||
14.22,23,24,25 Śrī Bhagavān says: He who does not hate illu-
mination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor
longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one
unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions
of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the
modes alone are active; He who regards alike pleasure and
pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold
with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame
to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor,
who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all result
based undertakings—such a man is said to have transcended
the modes of nature.
र्ानापर्ानयोस्तुल्यस्तुल्यो कर्त्राररपक्षयो: |
सवाम रम्भपररत्यागी गुणातीत: स उच्यते ||14.25||
mānāpamānyos tulyastulyo mitrāri-pakṣayoḥ |
sarvārambha-parityāgī guṇātitaḥ sa ucyate ||
14.22,23,24,25 Śrī Bhagavān says: He who does not hate illu-
mination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor
longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one
unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions
of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the
modes alone are active; He who regards alike pleasure and
pain, and looks on a lump of earth, a stone and a piece of gold
with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame
to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor,
who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all result
based undertakings—such a man is said to have transcended
the modes of nature.
र्ां च योऽव्यकभचारे ण भन्तक्तयोगेन सेवते |
स गुणान्सर्तीत्यैतान्ब्ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ||14.26||
maṁ ca yo’vyabhicāreṇa bhaktiyogena sevate |
sa guṇān-samatītyaitān brahmabhūyāya kalpate ||
14.26 One who engages in full devotional service, who does not
fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes
of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.
ब्रह्मणो कह प्रकतिाहर्र्ृतस्याव्ययस्य च |
िाश्वतस्य च धर्मस्य सुखस्यैकान्तिकस्य च ||14.27||
brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham amṛtasyāvyayasya ca |
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca ||
14.27 And I am the basis of Brahman, which is the
rightful state of ultimate happiness, and which is immortal,
imperishable and eternal.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
ऊध्वमर्ूलर्ध:िाखर्श्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययर्् |
िन्दां कस यस्य पणाम कन यस्तं वेद स वेदकवत् ||15.1||
śrī bhagavan uvāca |
ūrdhvamūlamadhaḥ śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhuravyayam |
chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni yastaṁ veda sa vedavit ||
15.1 Śrī Bhagavān says, The imperishable banyan tree of life,
symbolized by the Aśvattha, has its roots above, with the
leaves and branches spreading below the earth. The leaves are
said to be the Vedic hymns. One who knows this eternal tree
becomes the knower of the Vedas.
अधश्चोध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य िाखा
गुणप्रवृद्धा कवषयप्रवाला: |
अधश्च र्ूलान्यनुसिताकन
कर्ाम नुबन्धीकन र्नुष्यलोके ||15.2||
adhaś cordhvaṁ prasṛtās tasya śākhā
guṇa-pravṛddhā viṣaya-pravālāḥ |
adhaśca mūlāny anusaṁtatāni
karmānubandhīni manuṣya-loke ||
15.2 The branches of this tree extend below and above the
earth, nourished by the three human attributes, guṇa. Its buds
are the sense objects. This tree also has roots going down and
these are bound to the resultant actions of humans.
न रूपर्स्येह तथोपलभ्यते
नािो न चाकदनम च सम्प्रकतिा |
अश्वत्थर्ेनं सुकवरूढर्ूल
र्सङ्गिस्त्रेण दृढे न कििा ||15.3||
na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate
nānto na cādirna ca saṁpratiṣṭhā |
aśvatthamenaṁ su-virūḍha-mūlam
asaṅga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā ||
15.3 The real form of this tree cannot be perceived. No one
can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its
foundation is. But with determination one must cut down this
strongly rooted tree with the weapon of detachment.
तत: पदं तत्पररर्ाकगमतव्यं
यन्तस्मन्ब्गता न कनवतमन्ति भूय: |
तर्ेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये
यत: प्रवृकत्त: प्रसृता पुराणी ||15.4||
tataḥ padaṁ tat parimārgitavyaṁ
yasmingatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ |
tameva cādyaṁ puruṣaṁ prapadye
yataḥ pravṛittiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī ||
15.4 One must then seek that place from which having gone,
one never returns and surrender to the Supreme Being from
whom all activities started from ancient times.
कनर्ाम नर्ोहा कजतसङ्गदोषा
अध्यािकनत्या कवकनवृत्तकार्ा: |
िन्ब्िैकवमर्ुक्ता: सुखदु :खसंज्ञै
गमच्छन्त्यर्ू ढा: पदर्व्ययं तत् ||15.5||
nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛitta-kāmāḥ |
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-sañjñair
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat ||
15.5 Those who are free from pride, delusion, and attachment,
those who dwell in the Self, who are done with lust, who are
free from dualities of joy and sorrow, not confused and those
who know how to surrender to the supreme person, attain the
eternal consciousness.
न तिासयते सूयो न ििाङ्को न पावक: |
यद्गिा न कनवतमिे तद्धार् परर्ं र्र् ||15.6||
na tadbhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ |
yadgatvā na nivartante taddhāma paramaṁ mama ||
15.6 That supreme space of eternal consciousness, My
consciousness, is not illumined by the Sun or the Moon, or by
fire. Those who enter that space never return to this material
world.
र्र्ैवां िो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: |
र्न:षिानीन्तियाकण प्रकृकतथथाकन कषमकत ||15.7||
mamai’vā’ṁśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ |
manaḥ ṣaṣḍhānī’ndriyāṇi prakṛitisthāni karṣati ||
15.7 The living entities in this conditioned material world are
a portion of My eternal Self; in this conditioned material world
they are attracted by the six senses, which include the mind,
dwelling in prakṛti, the active energy principle.
िरीरं यदवाप्नोकत यच्चाप्युत्क्रार्तीश्वर: |
गृहीिैताकन संयाकत वायुगमन्धाकनवाियात् ||15.8||
śarīraṁ yadavāpnoti yaccāpyutkrāmatīśvaraḥ |
gṛihītvai’tāni saṁyāti vāyurgandhānivāśayāt ||
15.8 The spirit in the mind-body living in this material world
moves from one body to another carrying these just as air
carries aroma.
श्रोत्रं चक्षु: स्पिमनं च रसनं घ्राणर्ेव च |
अकधिाय र्नश्चायं कवषयानुपसेवते ||15.9||
śrotraṁ cakṣuḥ sparśanaṁ ca rasanaṁ ghrāṇaṁ eva ca |
adhiṣṭhāya manaścāyaṁ viṣayānupasevate ||
15.9 The living entity, the spirit, leaves one body, takes some
other body and gets new eyes, ears, nose, tongue and sensing
body according to the samskāras it had in its causal layer and
enjoys the new mental setup.
उत्क्रार्िं न्तथथतं वाकप भुञ्जानं वा गुणान्तन्वतर्् |
कवर्ूढा नानुपश्यन्ति पश्यन्ति ज्ञानचक्षुष: ||15.10||
utkrāmantaṁ sthitaṁ vāpi bhuñjānaṁ vā guṇānvitam |
vimūḍhā nānupaśyanti paśyanti jñānacakṣuṣah ||
15.10 Fools in ignorance do not perceive the spirit being united
with the guṇās as its enters, enjoys and leaves the body. The
one whose inner eye is open clearly perceives everything.
यतिो योकगनश्चैनं पश्यन्त्यािन्यवन्तथथतर्् |
यतिोऽप्यकृतािानो नैनं पश्यन्त्यचेतस: ||15.11||
yatanto yoginaścainaṁ paśyantyātmanyavasthitam |
yatanto’pyakṛtātmāno nainaṁ paśyantyacetasaḥ ||
15.11 The serious practitioner of Yoga, with an understanding of
his self, can see all this clearly. But those who do not have an
understanding of the self, however much they try, cannot see.
यदाकदत्यगतं तेजो जगिासयतेऽन्तखलर्् |
यच्चिर्कस यच्चाग्नौ तत्तेजो कवन्तद्ध र्ार्कर्् ||15.12||
yad āditya-gataṁ tejo jagad bhāsayate’khilam |
yac candramasi yaccāgnau tattejo viddhi māmakam ||
15.12 The light of the sun, the light of the moon and the light
of fire, all their radiance is also from Me.
गार्ाकवश्य च भूताकन धारयाम्यहर्ोजसा |
पुष्णाकर् चौषधी: सवाम : सोर्ो भूिा रसािक: ||15.13||
gāmāviśya ca bhūtāni dhārayāmy aham ojasā |
puṣṇāmi cauṣadhīḥ sarvāḥ somo bhūtvā rasātmakaḥ ||
15.13 Entering into earth, I support all beings with My energy;
becoming the watery moon I nourish all plant life.
अहं वैश्वानरो भूिा प्राकणनां दे हर्ाकश्रत: |
प्राणापानसर्ायुक्त: पचाम्यिं चतुकवमधर्् ||15.14||
ahaṁ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ dehamāśritaḥ |
prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pacāmy annaṁ caturvidham ||
15.14 I am the fire of digestion in every living body and I am
the breath of life, exhaled and inhaled, with which I digest
the four-fold food.
सवमस्य चाहं हृकद सकिकवष्ट्ो
र्त्त: स्मृकतज्ञाम नर्पोहनं च |
वेदैश्च सवैरहर्ेव वेद्यो
वेदािकृिे दकवदे व चाहर्् ||15.15||
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca |
vedaiśca sarvairahameva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd vedavid eva cāham ||
15.15 I am seated in everyone’s heart and from Me came
memory, knowledge and their loss. I am known by the Vedas;
indeed, I am the Creator of Vedānta and I am the knower of
the Vedas.
िाकवर्ौ पुरुषौ लोके क्षरश्चाक्षर एव च |
क्षर: सवाम कण भूताकन कूटथथोऽक्षर उच्यते ||15.16||
dvāvimau puruṣau loke kṣaraścākṣara eva ca |
kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni kūṭasthokṣara ucyate ||
15.16 There are two things, the perishable and the imperishable,
in this world. There are the living beings who are perishable
while there is the unchangeable, the imperishable.
उत्तर्: पुरुषस्त्वन्य: परर्ािे त्युदाहृत: |
यो लोकत्रयर्ाकवश्य कबभत्यमव्यय ईश्वर: ||15.17||
uttamaḥ puruṣastv anyaḥ paramātmetyudāhṛtaḥ |
yo lokatrayamāviśya bibhartyavyaya īśvaraḥ ||
15.17 Besides these two, there is the supreme Puruṣa the Lord
Himself, who pervades and sustains these three worlds.
यस्मात्क्षरर्तीतोऽहर्क्षरादकप चोत्तर्: |
अतोऽन्तस्म लोके वेदे च प्रकथत: पुरुषोत्तर्: ||15.18||
yasmāt kṣaram atīto’ham akṣarād api cottamaḥ |
atosmi loke vede ca prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ ||
15.18 As I am transcendental, beyond both the perishable and
the imperishable, and the best, I am declared both in the world
and in the Vedas as that supreme person, Puruṣottama.
यो र्ार्ेवर्सम्मूढो जानाकत पुरुषोत्तर्र्् |
स सवमकविजकत र्ां सवमभावेन भारत ||15.19||
yo mām evam asammūḍho jānāti puruṣottamam |
sa sarva-vidbhajati mām sarvabhāvena bhārata ||
15.19 Whoever knows Me as the supreme without a doubt, is
to be understood as the knower of everything and he worships
Me with all his being, O son of Bhārata.
इकत गुह्यतर्ं िास्त्रकर्दर्ुक्तं र्यानघ |
एतद् बुद्ध्वा बुन्तद्धर्ान्ब्स्यात्कृतकृत्यश्च भारत ||15.20||
iti guhyatamaṁ śāstram idam uktaṁ mayānagha |
etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛtakṛtyaśca bhārata ||
15.20 This is the most confidential teaching disclosed by Me,
O Sinless One, and whoever knows this will become wise and
his actions will bear fruit.
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
अभयं सिसंिुन्तद्धज्ञाम नयोगव्यवन्तथथकत: |
दानं दर्श्च यज्ञश्च स्वाध्यायस्तप आजमवर्् ||16.1||
śrī bhagavan uvāca |
abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhir jñānayogavyavasthitiḥ |
dānaṁ damaśca yajñaś ca svādhyāyastapa ārjavam ||
16.1,2,3 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: Fearlessness, purification of the
being, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity and being cen-
tered on the being, performance of sacrifices, and accumulation
of knowledge, austerity, simplicity, non-violence, truthfulness,
freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, aversion to fault
finding, compassion for all living entities, freedom from cov-
etousness, gentleness, modesty, studied determination, vigor,
more forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy,
and from the passion of honor, these transcendental qualities,
O Son of Bhārata (Arjuna), belong to divine men, endowed
with divine nature.
अकहं सा सत्यर्क्रोधस्त्याग: िान्तिरपैिुनर्् |
दया भूतेष्वलोलुप्स्िं र्ादम वं िीरचापलर्् ||16.2||
ahiṁsā satyam akrodhas tyāgaḥ śāntir apaiśunam |
dayā bhūteṣv aloluptvaṁ mārdavaṁ hrīracāpalam ||
16.1,2,3 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: Fearlessness, purification of the
being, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity and being cen-
tered on the being, performance of sacrifices, and accumulation
of knowledge, austerity, simplicity, non-violence, truthfulness,
freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, aversion to fault
finding, compassion for all living entities, freedom from cov-
etousness, gentleness, modesty, studied determination, vigor,
more forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy,
and from the passion of honor, these transcendental qualities,
O Son of Bhārata (Arjuna), belong to divine men, endowed
with divine nature.
तेज: क्षर्ा धृकत: िौचर्द्रोहोनाकतर्ाकनता |
भवन्ति सम्पदं दै वीर्कभजातस्य भारत ||16.3||
tejaḥ kṣamā dhṛtiḥ śaucam adroho nātimānitā |
bhavanti saṁpadaṁ daivīm abhijātasya bhārata ||
16.1,2,3 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says: Fearlessness, purification of the
being, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, charity and being cen-
tered on the being, performance of sacrifices, and accumulation
of knowledge, austerity, simplicity, non-violence, truthfulness,
freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquility, aversion to fault
finding, compassion for all living entities, freedom from cov-
etousness, gentleness, modesty, studied determination, vigor,
more forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from envy,
and from the passion of honor, these transcendental qualities,
O Son of Bhārata (Arjuna), belong to divine men, endowed
with divine nature.
दम्भो दपोऽकभर्ानश्च क्रोध: पारुष्यर्ेव च |
अज्ञानं चाकभजातस्य पाथम सम्पदर्ासुरीर्् ||16.4||
dambho darpo’bhimānaś ca krodhaḥ pāruṣyameva ca |
ajñānaṁ cābhijātasya pārtha sampadamāsurīm ||
16.4 Pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness or cruelty, and
ignorance—these qualities belong to those born with demonic
nature, O Pārtha (Arjuna).
दै वी सम्पकिर्ोक्षाय कनबन्धायासुरी र्ता |
र्ा िुच: सम्पदं दै वीर्कभजातोऽकस पाण्डव ||16.5||
daivī sampadvimokṣāya nibandhayāsuri matā |
mā śucāḥ sampadaṁ daivīm abhijātosi pāṇḍava ||
16.5 The transcendental qualities are conducive to liberation,
whereas the demonic qualities make for bondage. Do not worry,
Pāṇḍava (Arjuna), you are born with Divine qualities.
िौ भूतसगौ लोकेऽन्तस्मन्दै व आसुर एव च |
दै वो कवस्तरि: प्रोक्त आसुरं पाथम र्े शणु ||16.6||
dvau bhūtasargau loke’smin daiva āsura eva ca |
daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta āsuraṁ pārtha me śṛṇu ||
16.6 Pārtha (Arjuna), in this world there are two kinds of
created beings, one is divine and the other, demonic. I have explained at length to you the Divine qualities, now
understand
the demonic qualities also, so that you will understand and live
your life blissfully and happily.
प्रवृकत्तं च कनवृकत्तं च जना न कवदु रासुरा: |
न िौचं नाकप चाचारो न सत्यं तेषु कवद्यते ||16.7||
pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca janā na vidurāsurāḥ |
na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate ||
16.7 Persons with demonic nature do not know what is bond-
age and what is liberation; not what is cleanliness; truthful
behavior is not in them.
असत्यर्प्रकतिं ते जगदाहुरनीश्वरर्् |
अपरस्परसम्भूतं ककर्न्यत्कार्है तुकर्् ||16.8||
asatyamapratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhura nīśvaram |
aparaspara-saṁbhūtaṁ kim anyat kāmahaitukam ||
16.8 People with such qualities think there is no ultimate
energy or intelligence that is running this planet earth, that is
running the universe, and that this whole creation is produced
out of lust and desire, and is unreal.
एतां दृकष्ट्र्वष्ट्भ्य नष्ट्ािानोऽल्पबुद्धय: |
प्रभवन्त्युग्रकर्ाम ण: क्षयाय जगतोऽकहता: ||16.9||
etāṁ dṛṣṭimavaṣṭabhya naṣṭātmāno’lpabuddhayaḥ |
prabhavanty ugra-karmāṇaḥ kṣayāya jagato’hitāḥ ||
16.9 Following this material view of creation, these degraded
souls with small intellect, lost in themselves and committing
cruel deeds are engaged in the destruction of the world.
कार्र्ाकश्रत्य दु ष्पूरं दम्भर्ानर्दान्तन्वता: |
र्ोहाद् गृहीिासद्ग्राहान्प्रवतमिेऽिुकचव्रता: ||16.10||
kāmamāśritya duṣpūraṁ dambhamānamadānvitāḥ |
mohādgṛhītvā ‘sadgrāhān pravartante’śucivratāḥ ||
16.10 Filled with insatiable desires, hypocrisy, pride, and
arrogance; holding wrong views due to delusion, they act with
impure motives and for impermanent objectives.
कचिार्पररर्ेयां च प्रलयािार्ुपाकश्रता: |
कार्ोपभोगपरर्ा एतावकदकत कनकश्चता: ||16.11||
cintāmaparimeyāṁ ca pralayāntāmupāśritāḥ |
kāmopabhogaparamā etāvaditi niścitāḥ ||
16.11,12 Obsessed with endless anxiety lasting until death,
considering sense gratification their highest aim, and convinced
that sense pleasure is everything; bound by hundreds of ties of
desire and enslaved and filled with anger, they strive to obtain
wealth by unlawful means to fulfill sensual pleasures.
आिापािितैबमद्धा: कार्क्रोधपरायणा: |
ईहिे कार्भोगाथमर्न्यायेनाथमसञ्जयान् ||16.12||
āśāpāśaśatairbaddhāḥ kāmakrodhaparāyaṇāḥ |
īhante kāmabhogārtham anyāyenā’rthasañcayān ||
16.11,12 Obsessed with endless anxiety lasting until death,
considering sense gratification their highest aim, and convinced
that sense pleasure is everything; bound by hundreds of ties of
desire and enslaved and filled with anger, they strive to obtain
wealth by unlawful means to fulfill sensual pleasures.
इदर्द्य र्या लब्धकर्र्ं प्राप्स्स्ये र्नोरथर्् |
इदर्स्तीदर्कप र्े भकवष्यकत पुनधमनर्् ||16.13||
idamadya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye manoratham |
idamastīdamapi me bhaviṣyati punardhanam ||
16.13 They think: This has been gained by me today; I shall
fulfill this desire; I have this much wealth and will have more
wealth in the future;
असौ र्या हत: ित्रुहमकनष्ये चापरानकप |
ईश्वरोऽहर्हं भोगी कसद्धोऽहं बलवान्सुखी ||16.14||
asau mayā hataḥ śatrur haniṣye cāparānapi |
īśvaro’hamahaṁ bhogī siddho’haṁ balavānsukhī ||
16.14, 15 That enemy has been slain by me, and I shall slay
others also. I am the Lord. I am the enjoyer. I am successful,
powerful, and happy; I am rich and born in a noble family.
Who is equal to me? I shall perform sacrifice, I shall give
charity, and I shall rejoice. Thus deluded by ignorance.
आढ्योऽकभजनवानन्तस्म कोऽन्योऽन्तस्त सदृिो र्या |
यक्ष्ये दास्याकर् र्ोकदष्य इत्यज्ञानकवर्ोकहता: ||16.15||
āḍhyo’bhijanavānasmi ko’nyo’sti sadṛśo mayā |
yakṣye dāsyāmi modiṣya ity ajñānavimohitāh ||
16.14, 15 That enemy has been slain by me, and I shall slay
others also. I am the Lord. I am the enjoyer. I am successful,
powerful, and happy; I am rich and born in a noble family.
Who is equal to me? I shall perform sacrifice, I shall give
charity, and I shall rejoice. Thus deluded by ignorance.
अनेककचत्तकवरािा र्ोहजालसर्ावृता: |
प्रसक्ता: कार्भोगेषु पतन्ति नरकेऽिुचौ ||16.16||
aneka-citta-vibhrāntā mohajālasamāvṛtāḥ |
prasaktāḥ kāmabhogeṣu patanti narake’śucau ||
16.16 Thus confused by various anxieties and caught in a net
of illusions, one becomes too deeply attached to sensory plea-
sures and falls into hell.
आिसम्भाकवता: स्तब्धा धनर्ानर्दान्तन्वता: |
यजिे नार्यज्ञैस्ते दम्भेनाकवकधपूवमकर्् ||16.17||
ātmasaṁbhāvitāḥ stabdhā dhana-māna-madānvitāḥ |
yajante nāma-yajñais te dambhenā’vidhipūrvakam ||
16.17 Self-complacent and always conceited, deluded by wealth
and false pride, they perform superficial sacrifices in name only,
without following the vedic rules or regulations.
अहङ्कारं बलं दपं कार्ं क्रोधं च संकश्रता: |
र्ार्ािपरदे हेषु प्रकिषिोऽभ्यसूयका: ||16.18||
ahaṁkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ ca saṁśritāḥ |
mām-ātma-paradeheṣu pradviṣanto’bhyasūyakāḥ ||
16.18 The demonic person, consumed by ego, power, pride,
lust and anger, becomes envious of the supreme personality of
godhead, who is situated in his own body and in the bodies
of others, and blasphemes against Him.
तानहं किषत: क्रूरान्संसारे षु नराधर्ान् |
कक्षपाम्यजस्रर्िुभानासुरीष्वेव योकनषु ||16.19||
tānahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṁsāreṣu narādhamān |
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān āsurīṣveva yoniṣu ||
16.19 Those who are envious (of Him) and cruel, who are the
lowest among men, I repeatedly cast into the ocean of material
existence, into various lowly, demonic forms of life.
आसुरीं योकनर्ापिा र्ूढा जन्मकन जन्मकन |
र्ार्प्राप्यैव कौिेय ततो यान्त्यधर्ां गकतर्् ||16.20||
āsurīṁ yonimapannā mūḍhā janmani janmani |
māmaprāpyaiva kaunteya tato yāntyadhamāṁ gatim ||
16.20 These foolish beings attain repeated birth amongst the
species of demoniac life. Without ever achieving Me, O
Kaunteya (Son of Kuntī), they sink into the most abominable
existence.
कत्रकवधं नरकस्येदं िारं नािनर्ािन: |
कार्: क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादे तत्रयं त्यजेत् ||16.21||
trividhaṁ narakasyedaṁ dvāraṁ nāśanamātmanaḥ |
kāmaḥ krodhastathā lobhas tasmādetattrayaṁ tyajet ||
16.21 There are three gates leading to this hell: lust, anger
and greed. As they lead to the degradation of the soul, these
three are to be abandoned.
एतैकवमर्ुक्त: कौिेय तर्ोिारै न्तस्त्रकभनमर: |
आचरत्यािन: श्रेयस्ततो याकत परां गकतर्् ||16.22||
etairvimuktaḥ kaunteya tamodvāraistribhirnaraḥ |
ācaratyātmanaḥ śreyas tato yāti parāṁ gatim ||
16.22 Those who have escaped these three gates of hell, O
Kaunteya, behave in a manner beneficial to the (evolution of
the) soul, and thus (gradually) attain the supreme destination.
य: िास्त्रकवकधर्ुत्सृज्य वतमते कार्कारत: |
न स कसन्तद्धर्वाप्नोकत न सुखं न परां गकतर्् ||16.23||
yaḥ śāstravidhimutsṛjya vartate kāmakārataḥ |
na sa siddhimavāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim ||
16.23 But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts
according to his base impulses attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.
तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रर्ाणं ते कायाम कायमव्यवन्तथथतौ |
ज्ञािा िास्त्रकवधानोक्तं कर्म कतुमकर्हाहम कस ||16.24||
tasmācchāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te kāryākāryavyavasthitau |
jñātvā śāstravidhānoktaṁ karma kartumihārhasi ||
16.24 By the regulations of the scriptures, one should under-
stand what is duty and what is not duty. After being versed
in scriptural injunctions, one should act accordingly.
अजुमन उवाच |
ये िास्त्रकवकधर्ुत्सृज्य यजिे श्रद्धयान्तन्वता: |
तेषां कनिा तु का कृष्ण सिर्ाहो रजस्तर्: ||17.1||
arjuna uvāca
ye śāstravidhim utsṛjya yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ |
teṣāṁ niṣṭhā tu kā kṛṣṇa sattvamāho rajastamaḥ ||
17.1 Arjuna says: What is the mode of devotion of those
who perform spiritual practices with authenticity, but without
following the scriptural injunctions, O Kṛṣṇa? Is it in the mode
of goodness, aggression or ignorance?
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
कत्रकवधा भवकत श्रद्धा दे कहनां सा स्वभावजा |
सान्तिकी राजसी चैव तार्सी चेकत तां शणु ||17.2||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
trividhā bhavati śraddhā dehināṁ sā svabhāvajā |
sāttvikī rājasī caiva tāmasī ceti tāṁ śṛṇu ||
17.2 The Supreme Lord says: The natural authenticity (faith)
of embodied beings is of three kinds: goodness, aggression,
and ignorance. Now hear about these from Me.
सिानुरूपा सवमस्य श्रद्धा भवकत भारत |
श्रद्धार्योऽयं पुरुषो यो यच्छरद्ध: स एव स: ||17.3||
sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata |
śraddhāmayo’yam puruṣo yo yacchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ ||
17.3 O Arjuna, the authenticity of each is in accordance with
one’s own natural disposition. One is known by one’s authen-
ticity. One can become whatever one wants to be.
यजिे सान्तिका दे वान्यक्षरक्षां कस राजसा: |
प्रेतान्ब्भूतगणां श्चान्ये यजिे तार्सा जना: ||17.4||
yajante sāttvikā devān yakṣarakṣāṁsi rājasāḥ |
pretān-bhūta-gaṇāṁś cānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ ||
17.4 Men in the nature of goodness worship the deities; those
in the nature of aggression worship the demons and those in
the nature of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits.
अिास्त्रकवकहतं घोरं तप्यिे ये तपो जना: |
दम्भाहङ्कारसंयुक्ता: कार्रागबलान्तन्वता: ||17.5||
aśāstravihitaṁ ghoraṁ tapyante ye tapo janāḥ |
dambhāhaṅkārasamyuktāḥ kāmarāgabalānvitāḥ ||
17.5,6 Ignorant persons of demonic nature are those who
practice severe austerities without following the prescription
of the scriptures, who are full of hypocrisy and egotism, who
are impelled by the force of desire and attachment and who
senselessly torture the elements in their body and also Me
who dwells within the body.
कषमयि: िरीरथथं भूतग्रार्र्चेतस: |
र्ां चैवाि:िरीरथथं तान्तन्वद्ध्यासुरकनश्चयान् ||17.6||
karśayantaḥ śarīrasthaṁ bhūtagrāmamacetasaḥ |
mām caivāntah śarīrasthaṁ tān viddhy āsura-niścayān ||
17.5,6 Ignorant persons of demonic nature are those who
practice severe austerities without following the prescription
of the scriptures, who are full of hypocrisy and egotism, who
are impelled by the force of desire and attachment and who
senselessly torture the elements in their body and also Me
who dwells within the body.
आहारस्त्वकप सवमस्य कत्रकवधो भवकत कप्रय: |
यज्ञस्तपस्तथा दानं तेषां भेदकर्र्ं शणु ||17.7||
āhārastvapi sarvasya trividho bhavati priyaḥ |
yajñastapastathā dānaṁ teṣāṁ bhedamimaṁ śṛṇu ||
17.7 Food that we consume is of three kinds, according to the
three types of material nature. So are the sacrifice, austerity
and charity. Hear the difference between these three.
आयु:सिबलारोर्ग्सुखप्रीकतकववधमना: |
रस्या: कस्नग्धा: न्तथथरा हृद्या आहारा: सान्तिककप्रया: ||17.8||
āyuḥsattvabalārogy- asukhaprītivivardhanāḥ |
rasyāḥ snigdhāḥ sthirā hṛdyā āhārāḥ sāttvikapriyāḥ ||
17.8 The foods that promote longevity, virtue, strength, health,
happiness, and joy are juicy, smooth, substantial, and nutritious.
Such foods are liked by persons in the mode of goodness.
कवम्ललवणात्युष्णतीक्ष्म्णरूक्षकवदाकहन: |
आहारा राजसस्येष्ट्ा दु :खिोकार्यप्रदा: ||17.9||
kaṭv-amla-lavaṇāty-uṣṇa- tīkṣṇa rūkṣa vidāhinaḥ |
āhārā rājasasyeṣṭā duḥkha-śokāmaya-pradāḥ ||
17.9 People in the mode of aggression like foods that are very
bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry, and burning, and cause
pain, grief, and disease.
यातयार्ं गतरसं पूकत पयुमकषतं च यत् |
उन्तच्छष्ट्र्कप चार्ेध्यं भोजनं तार्सकप्रयर्् ||17.10||
yātayāmaṁ gatarasaṁ pūti paryuṣitaṁ ca yat |
ucchiṣṭam api cā medhyaṁ bhojanaṁ tāmasapriyam ||
17.10 People in the mode of ignorance like foods that are stale,
tasteless, putrid, rotten, refuse, and of impure energy.
अफलाकाकङ्क्षकभयमज्ञो कवकधदृष्ट्ो य इज्यते |
यष्ट्व्यर्ेवेकत र्न: सर्ाधाय स सान्तिक: ||17.11||
aphalākāṅkṣibhir yajño vidhidṛṣto ya ijyate |
yaṣṭavyam eveti manaḥ samādhāya sa sāttvikaḥ ||
17.11 Sacrifice without expectation of results, as stipulated in
the scriptures, with a firm belief and conviction that it is a
duty, is in the mode of goodness.
अकभसन्धाय तु फलं दम्भाथमर्कप चैव यत् |
इज्यते भरतश्रेि तं यज्ञं कवन्तद्ध राजसर्् ||17.12||
abhisandhāya tu phalaṁ dambhārthamapi caiva yat |
ijyate Bhārataśreṣṭha taṁ yajñaṁ viddhi rājasam ||
17.12 O Arjuna, that sacrifice that is performed with expec-
tation of result or for show out of pride, is of the nature of
aggression.
कवकधहीनर्सृष्ट्ािं र्न्त्रहीनर्दकक्षणर्् |
श्रद्धाकवरकहतं यज्ञं तार्सं पररचक्षते ||17.13||
vidhihīnam asṛṣṭānnaṁ mantrahīnamadakṣiṇam |
śraddhā-virahitaṁ yajñaṁ tāmasaṁ paricakṣate ||
17.13 Sacrifice that is performed without following the scripture,
in which no food is distributed, which is devoid of mantra,
authenticity, and gift, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.
दे वकिजगुरुप्राज्ञपूजनं िौचर्ाजमवर्् |
ब्रह्मचयमर्कहं सा च िारीरं तप उच्यते ||17.14||
deva-dvija-guru-prājña- pūjanaṁ śaucamārjavam |
brahmacaryamahiṁsā ca śārīraṁ tapa ucyate ||
17.14 The worship of deities, the priest, the guru, and the wise;
purity, honesty, living in reality, and nonviolence are said to
be austerity of deed.
अनुिेगकरं वाक्यं सत्यं कप्रयकहतं च यत् |
स्वाध्यायाभ्यसनं चैव वाङ्मयं तप उच्यते ||17.15||
anudvegakaraṁ vākyaṁ satyaṁ priyahitaṁ ca yat |
svādhyāyābhyasanaṁ caiva vāṅmayaṁ tapa ucyate ||
17.15 Speech that is non-offensive, truthful, pleasant, benefi-
cial, and is used for the regular study of scriptures is called
austerity of word.
र्न: प्रसाद: सौम्यिं र्ौनर्ािकवकनग्रह: |
भावसंिुन्तद्धररत्येतत्तपो र्ानसर्ु च्यते ||17.16||
manaḥ prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ maunamātmavinigrahaḥ |
bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat tapo mānasam ucyate ||
17.16 Serenity of mind, gentleness, equanimity, self-control,
and purity of thought are called austerity of thought.
श्रद्धया परया तप्तं तपस्तन्तत्रकवधं नरै : |
अफलाकाकङ्क्षकभयुमक्तै: सान्तिकं पररचक्षते ||17.17||
śraddhayā parayā taptaṁ tapastattrividhaṁ naraiḥ |
aphalākāṅkṣibhiryuktaiḥ sāttvikaṁ paricakṣate ||
17.17 The above mentioned threefold austerity (of thought, word,
and deed), practiced by yogis with supreme authenticity, without
a desire for the fruit, is said to be in the mode of goodness.
सत्कारर्ानपूजाथं तपो दम्भेन चैव यत् |
कक्रयते तकदह प्रोक्तं राजसं चलर्ध्रुवर्् ||17.18||
satkāra-māna-pūjārthaṁ tapo dambhena caiva yat |
kriyate tadiha proktaṁ rājasaṁ calamadhruvam ||
17.18 Austerity that is performed for gaining respect, honor,
reverence, and for the sake of show, yielding an uncertain and
temporary result, is said to be in the mode of aggression.
र्ूढग्राहे णािनो यत्पीडया कक्रयते तप: |
परस्योत्सादनाथं वा तत्तार्सर्ुदाहृतर्् ||17.19||
mūḍhagrāheṇātmano yat pīḍayā kriyate tapaḥ |
parasyotsādanārthaṁ vā tattāmasamudāhṛtam ||
17.19 Austerity performed with foolish stubbornness or with
self-torture or for harming others, is said to be in the mode
of ignorance.
दातव्यकर्कत यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकाररणे |
दे िे काले च पात्रे च तद्दानं सान्तिकं स्मृतर्् ||17.20||
dātavyamiti yaddānaṁ dīyate’nupakāriṇe |
deśe kāle ca pātre ca tad dānaṁ sāttvikaṁ smṛtam ||
17.20 Charity that is given at the right place and time as a
matter of duty to a deserving candidate who does nothing in
return, is considered to be in the mode of goodness.
यत्तु प्रत्युपकाराथं फलर्ुकद्दश्य वा पुन: |
दीयते च पररन्तक्लष्ट्ं तद्दानं राजसं स्मृतर्् ||17.21||
yattu pratyupakārārthaṁ phalamuddiśya vā punaḥ |
dīyate ca parikliṣṭaṁ tad dānaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam ||
17.21 Charity that is given unwillingly or to get something in
return or to gain some result is in the mode of aggression.
अदे िकाले यद्दानर्पात्रेभ्यश्च दीयते |
असत्कृतर्वज्ञातं तत्तार्सर्ुदाहृतर्् ||17.22||
adeśa-kāle yad dānam apātrebhyaś ca dīyate|
asat-kṛtam avajñātaṁ tat tāmasamudāhṛtam ||
17.22 Charity that is given at a wrong place and time to un-
worthy persons or without paying respect to the receiver or
with ridicule is in the mode of ignorance.
ॐ तत्सकदकत कनदे िो ब्रह्मणन्तस्त्रकवध: स्मृत: |
ब्राह्मणास्तेन वेदाश्च यज्ञाश्च कवकहता: पुरा ||17.23||
Oṁ tat sad iti nirdeśo brahmaṇastrividhaḥ smṛtaḥ |
brāhmaṇās tena vedās ca yajñāśca vihitāḥ purā ||
17.23 ‘OṀ Tat Sat’ is said to be the threefold name of the
eternal Being (Brahma). Persons with good (brahminic) qualities,
the Vedas, and the selfless service (seva, yajña) were created
by and from Brahma in the ancient time.
तस्माद् ॐ इत्युदाहृत्य यज्ञदानतप:कक्रया: |
प्रवतमिे कवधानोक्ता: सततं ब्रह्मवाकदनार्् ||17.24||
tasmād oṁ ity udāhṛtya yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyāḥ |
pravartante vidhānoktāḥ satataṁ brahmavādinām ||
17.24 Therefore, acts of sacrifice, charity, and austerity
prescribed in the scriptures are always commenced by uttering
‘OM’ by the knowers of the supreme Being.
तकदत्यनकभसन्धाय फलं यज्ञतप:कक्रया: |
दानकक्रयाश्च कवकवधा: कक्रयिे र्ोक्षकाकङ्क्षकभ: ||17.25||
tad ity anabhisandhāya phalaṁ yajñatapaḥkriyāḥ |
dāna-kriyāś ca vividhāḥ kriyante mokṣak-āṅkṣibhiḥ ||
17.25 Various types of sacrifice, charity, and austerity are
performed by the seekers of liberation by uttering ‘Tat’ (or He
is all) without seeking a reward.
सिावे साधुभावे च सकदत्येतत्प्रयुज्यते |
प्रिस्ते कर्मकण तथा सच्छब्द: पाथम युज्यते ||17.26||
sadbhāve sādhubhāve ca sad ity etat prayujyate |
praśaste karmaṇi tathā sac-chabdaḥ pārtha yujyate |
17.26,27 The word ‘Sat’ is used in the sense of reality and
goodness. The word ‘Sat’ is also used for an auspicious act, O
Pārtha (Arjuna). Authenticity in sacrifice, charity, and austerity
is also called ‘Sat’. Selfless service for the sake of the Supreme
is, in truth, termed as ‘Sat’.
यज्ञे तपकस दाने च न्तथथकत: सकदकत चोच्यते |
कर्म चैव तदथीयं सकदत्येवाकभधीयते ||17.27||
yajñe tapasi dāne ca sthitiḥ sad iti cocyate |
karma caiva tad arthīyaṁ sadityevābhidhīyate ||
17.26,27 The word ‘Sat’ is used in the sense of reality and
goodness. The word ‘Sat’ is also used for an auspicious act, O
Pārtha (Arjuna). Authenticity in sacrifice, charity, and austerity
is also called ‘Sat’. Selfless service for the sake of the Supreme
is, in truth, termed as ‘Sat’.
अश्रद्धया हुतं दत्तं तपस्तप्तं कृतं च यत् |
असकदत्युच्यते पाथम न च तत्प्रेत्य नो इह ||17.28||
aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapastaptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat |
asadityucyate pārtha na ca tatpretya no iha ||
17.28 Whatever is done without authenticity whether it is
sacrifice, charity, austerity, or any other act is called ‘asat.’ It
has no value here or hereafter, O Pārtha (Arjuna).
अजुमन उवाच |
सन्न्यासस्य र्हाबाहो तिकर्च्छाकर् वेकदतुर्् |
त्यागस्य च हृषीकेि पृथक्केकिकनषूदन ||18.1||
arjuna uvāca |
sannyāsasya mahābāho tattvamicchāmi veditum |
tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa pṛthak keśiniṣūdana ||
18.1 O mighty armed Kṛṣṇa, I wish to understand what is
the essence, tattva of renunciation, tyāga and the renounced
order of life, sannyāsa, and the difference between the two, O
Hriśikeṣa, O Killer of the demon Keśī.’
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
काम्यानां कर्मणां न्यासं सन्न्यासं कवयो कवदु : |
सवमकर्मफलत्यागं प्राहुस्त्यागं कवचक्षणा: ||18.2||
śrībhagavānuvāca |
kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ sannyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ |
sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ ||
18.2 Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says, the renouncing of all selfish work
based on desire, is what the learned ones call as sannyāsa,
the renounced order of life. And renunciatig the attachment to
fruit or result of one’s actions is what the wise ones call as
tyāga, renunciation.
त्याज्यं दोषवकदत्येके कर्म प्राहुर्मनीकषण: |
यज्ञदानतप:कर्म न त्याज्यकर्कत चापरे ||18.3||
tyājyaṁ doṣavadity eke karma prāhurmanīṣiṇaḥ |
yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyamiticāpare ||
18.3 Some learned men say that all kinds of result-based ac-
tivities are faulty and should be given up, but there are yet

other sages who maintain that acts of enriching sacrifice [yajña],

charity [dāna] and austerity [tapaḥ] should never be given up.
कनश्चयं शणु र्े तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तर् |
त्यागो कह पुरुषव्याघ्र कत्रकवध: सम्प्रकीकतमत: ||18.4||
niścayaṁ śṛṇu me tatra tyāge bharatasattama |
tyāgo hi puruṣavyāghra trividhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ ||
18.4 Arjuna, best of Bhāratas, now listen from Me certainly
about renunciation or tyāga; O tiger among men, renunciation
or tyāga is declared to be of three kinds.
यज्ञदानतप:कर्म न त्याज्यं कायमर्ेव तत् |
यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनाकन र्नीकषणार्् ||18.5||
yajñadānatapaḥ karma na tyājyaṁ kāryameva tat |
yajño dānaṁ tapaścaiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām ||
18.5 Acts of enriching sacrifice [tyāga], charity [dāna] and aus-
terity [tapaḥ] are not to be given up; they should be performed.
Indeed, even the Sages are purified by enriching sacrifice,
charity and penance.
एतान्यकप तु कर्ाम कण सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलाकन च |
कतमव्यानीकत र्े पाथम कनकश्चतं र्तर्ुत्तर्र्् ||18.6||
etānyapi tu karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā phalāni ca |
kartavyānīti me pārtha niścitaṁ matamuttamam ||
18.6 O Pārtha (Arjuna), all these acts of responsibility must also be
performed without any expectation of result. That is My final
and ultimate opinion.
कनयतस्य तु सन्न्यास: कर्मणो नोपपद्यते |
र्ोहात्तस्य पररत्यागस्तार्स: पररकीकतमत: ||18.7||
niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ karmaṇo nopapadyate |
mohāttasya parityāgas tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ ||
18.7 Prescribed duties should never be renounced. If one gives
up his prescribed duties through the illusion of renunciation,
this is said to be in the state of ignorance.
दु :खकर्त्येव यत्कर्म कायक्लेिभयात्यजेत् |
स कृिा राजसं त्यागं नैव त्यागफलं लभेत् ||18.8||
duḥkhamityeva yat karma kāyakleśabhayāttyajet |
sa kṛtvā rājāsaṁ tyāgaṁ nai’va tyāgaphalaṁ labhet ||
18.8 Anyone who gives up prescribed duties as troublesome,
or out of fear, is said to be in the state of aggression, does not benefit from renunciation.
कायमकर्त्येव यत्कर्म कनयतं कक्रयतेऽजुमन |
सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्याग: सान्तिको र्त: ||18.9||
kāryam ity eva yat karma niyataṁ kriyate’rjuna |
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā phalaṁ caiva sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ ||
18.9 But he who performs what is prescribed, as a matter of duty, without
expectation or attachment to the results, his renunciation is of
the nature of satva, goodness, O Arjuna.
न िे ष्ट्यकुिलं कर्म कुिले नानु षज्जते |
त्यागी सिसर्ाकवष्ट्ो र्ेधावी कििसंिय: ||18.10||
na dveṣtyakuśalaṁ karma kuśale nā’nuṣajjate |
tyāgī sattvasamāviṣṭo medhāvī chinnasaṁśayaḥ ||
18.10 Those who neither hate disagreeable work nor are attached
to pleasant work are in a state of intelligence, goodness and
renunciation, free of all doubts.
न कह दे हभृता िक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्ाम ण्यिेषत: |
यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यकभधीयते ||18.11||
na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṁ tyaktuṁ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ |
yastu karma-phala-tyāgī sa tyāgītyabhidhīyate ||
18.11 Human beings cannot give up all activities. Therefore
the one who has renounced the fruits of such activity is one
who has truly renounced.
अकनष्ट्कर्ष्ट्ं कर्श्रं च कत्रकवधं कर्मण: फलर्् |
भवत्यत्याकगनां प्रेत्य न तु सन्न्याकसनां क्वकचत् ||18.12||
aniṣṭamiṣṭaṁ miśraṁ ca trividhaṁ karmaṇaḥ phalam |
bhavatyatyāgināṁ pretya na tu sannyāsināṁ kvacit ||
18.12 For one who is not renounced, the three kinds of fruits
of action—desirable, undesirable and mixed—acrue after death,
but not to one who has renounced.
पञ्चैताकन र्हाबाहो कारणाकन कनबोध र्े |
साङ् ये कृतािे प्रोक्ताकन कसद्धये सवमकर्मणार्् ||18.13||
pañcai’tāni mahābāho kāraṇāni nibodha me |
sāṅkhye kṛtānte proktāni siddhaye sarvakarmaṇām ||
18.13,14 Learn from Me Arjuna, the five causes that bring
about the accomplishment of all action, as described in Sāṅkhya
philosophy. These are: physical body that is the seat of action;
the attributes of nature or guṇa, which is the doer; the eleven
organs of perception and action by the life forces and finally
the Divine.
अकधिानं तथा कताम करणं च पृथन्तिधर्् |
कवकवधाश्च पृथक्चेष्ट्ा दै वं चैवात्र पञ्चर्र्् ||18.14||
adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ ca pṛthagvidham |
vividhāśca pṛthakceṣṭā daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam ||
18.13,14 Learn from Me Arjuna, the five causes that bring
about the accomplishment of all action, as described in Sāṅkhya
philosophy. These are: physical body that is the seat of action;
the attributes of nature or guṇa, which is the doer; the eleven
organs of perception and action by the life forces and finally
the Divine.
िरीरवाङ्मनोकभयमत्कर्म प्रारभते नर: |
न्याय्यं वा कवपरीतं वा पञ्चैते तस्य हे तव: ||18.15||
śarīra-vāṅ-manobhir yat karma prārabhate naraḥ |
nyāyyaṁ vā viparītaṁ vā pañcai ‘te tasya hetavaḥ ||
18.15 These five factors are responsible for whatever right or
wrong actions a man performs by deed, word and thought.
तत्रैवं सकत कतामरर्ािानं केवलं तु य: |
पश्यत्यकृतबुन्तद्धिाि स पश्यकत दु र्मकत: ||18.16||
tatraivam sati kartāram ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ tu yaḥ |
paśyatyakṛtabuddhitvān na sa paśyati durmatiḥ ||
18.16 Those who think they, their spirit, are the doers, are
ignorant and do not see things as they are.
यस्य नाहङ् कृतो भावो बुन्तद्धयमस्य न कलप्यते |
हिाऽकप स इर्ााँ ल्लोकाि हन्ति न कनबध्यते ||18.17||
yasya nāhaṅkṛto bhāvo buddhir yasya na lipyate |
hatvā ‘pi sa imāl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate ||
18.17 One who is egoless, whose intelligence is not of at-
tachment, though he may kill, is not the slayer and is never
bound by his actions.
ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं पररज्ञाता कत्रकवधा कर्मचोदना |
करणं कर्म कतेकत कत्रकवध: कर्मसंग्रह: ||18.18||
jñānaṁ jñeyaṁ parijñātā trividhā karmacodanā |
karaṇaṁ karma karteti trividhaḥ karmasaṁgrahaḥ ||
18.18 Knowledge, object of the knowledge and the subject of
the knowledge, the knower, are the three factors that stimulate
action; the senses, the action and the performer comprise the
three components of action.
ज्ञानं कर्म च कताम च कत्रधैव गुणभेदत: |
प्रोच्यते गुणसङ् याने यथावच्छृ णु तान्यकप ||18.19||
jñānaṁ karma ca kartā ca tridhaiva guṇabhedataḥ |
procyate guṇa-sañkhyāne yathāvac chṛṇu tānyapi ||
18.19 According to the science of guṇas, there are three types
in knowledge, action, and performers of action. Listen as I
describe them.
सवमभूतेषु ये नैकं भावर्व्ययर्ीक्षते |
अकवभक्तं कवभक्तेषु तज्ज्ञानं कवन्तद्ध सान्तिकर्् ||18.20||
sarvabhūteṣu yenaikaṁ bhāvamavyayamīkṣate |
avibhaktaṁ vibhakteṣu taj jñānaṁ viddhi sāttvikam ||
18.20 That knowledge by which one imperishable reality is
seen in all Existence, undivided in the divided, is knowledge
in the state of goodness.
पृथक्त्वे न तु यज्ज्ञानं नानाभावान्पृ थन्तिधान् |
वेकत्त सवेषु भूतेषु तज्ज्ञानं कवन्तद्ध राजसर्् ||18.21||
pṛthaktvena tu yajjñānaṁ nānābhāvān pṛthagvidhān |
vetti sarveṣu bhūteṣu taj jñānaṁ viddhi rājasam ||
18.21 The knowledge by which one sees different realities of
various types among all beings as separate from one another;
such knowledge is in the mode of aggression.
यत्तु कृत्स्नवदे कन्तस्मन्काये सक्तर्है तुकर्् |
अतिाथमवदल्पं च तत्तार्सर्ुदाहृतर्् ||18.22||
yat tu kṛtsnavad ekasmin kārye saktaṁ ahaitukam |
atattvārthavadalpaṁ ca tat tāmasamudāhṛtam ||
18.22 The irrational, baseless, and worthless knowledge by
which one clings to one single effect as if it is everything,
such knowledge is in the mode of darkness of ignorance.
कनयतं सङ्गरकहतर्रागिे षत: कृतर्् |
अफलप्रेप्सुना कर्म यतत्सान्तिकर्ुच्यते ||18.23||
niyataṁ saṅgarahitam arāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam |
aphalaprepsunā karma yat tat sāttvikamucyate ||
18.23 Obligatory duty performed without likes and dislikes and
without selfish motives and attachment to the fruit, is in the
mode of goodness.
यत्तुकार्ेप्सुना कर्म साहङ्कारे ण वा पुन: |
कक्रयते बहुलायासं तद्राजसर्ुदाहृतर्् ||18.24||
yat tu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṁkāreṇa vā punaḥ |
kriyate bahulāyāsaṁ tad rājasamudāhṛtam ||
18.24 Action performed with ego, with selfish motives, and
with too much effort, is in the mode of aggression.
अनुबन्धं क्षयं कहं सार्नपेक्ष्य च पौरुषर्् |
र्ोहादारभ्यते कर्म यतत्तार्सर्ुच्यते ||18.25||
anubandhaṁ kṣayaṁ hiṁsām anapekṣya ca pauruṣam |
mohād ārabhyate karma yat tat tāmasamucyate ||
18.25 Action that is undertaken because of delusion, disregard-
ing consequences, loss, injury to others, as well as one’s own
ability, is in the mode of ignorance.
र्ुक्तसङ्गोऽनहं वादी धृत्युत्साहसर्न्तन्वत: |
कसद्ध्यकसद्ध्योकनमकवमकार: कताम सान्तिक उच्यते ||18.26||
muktasaṅgo’nahaṁvādī dhṛtyutsāhasamanvitaḥ |
siddhyasiddhyor nirvikāraḥ kartā sāttvika ucyate ||
18.26 The performer who is free from attachment, non-egotis-
tic, endowed with resolve and enthusiasm, and unperturbed in
success or failure is called sātvika.
रागी कर्मफलप्रेप्सुलुमब्धो कहं सािकोऽिुकच: |
हषमिोकान्तन्वत: कताम राजस: पररकीकतमत: ||18.27||
rāgī karmaphalaprepsur lubdho hiṁsātmako ‘śuciḥ |
harṣaśokānvitaḥ kartā rājasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ ||
18.27 The performer who is impassioned, who desires the fruits
of work, who is greedy, violent, impure, and affected by joy
and sorrow, is called aggressive.
अयुक्त: प्राकृत: स्तब्ध: िठो नैष्कृकतकोऽलस: |
कवषादी दीघमसूत्री च कताम तार्स उच्यते ||18.28||
ayuktaḥ prākṛtaḥ stabdhaḥ śaṭho naiṣkṛtiko ‘lasaḥ |
viṣādī dīrghasūtrī ca kartā tāmasa ucyate ||
18.28 The performer who is undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn,
wicked, malicious, lazy, depressed, and procrastinating is called
ignorant or tamasic.
बुद्धेभेदं धृतेश्चैव गुणतन्तस्त्रकवधं शणु |
प्रोच्यर्ानर्िे षेण पृथक्त्वे न धनञ्जय ||18.29||
buddherbhedaṁ dhṛteś cai ‘va guṇatastrividhaṁ śṛṇu |
procyamānamaśeṣeṇa pṛthaktvena dhanañjaya ||
18.29 Now hear Me explain, fully and separately, the threefold
division of intellect and resolve, based on modes of material
Nature, O Dhanañjaya.
प्रवृकत्तंच कनवृकत्तं च कायाम काये भयाभये |
बन्धं र्ोक्षं च या वेकत्तबुन्तद्ध: सा पाथम सान्तिकी ||18.30||
pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca kāryakārye bhayābhaye |
bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||
18.30 O Arjuna, that intellect is in the mode of goodness which
understands the path of work and the path of renunciation, right
and wrong action, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation.
यया धर्मर्धर्ं च कायं चाकायमर्ेव च |
अयथावत्प्रजानाकत बुन्तद्ध: सा पाथम राजसी ||18.31||
yayā dharmamadharmaṁ ca kāryaṁ cākāryam eva ca |
ayathāvat prajānāti buddhiḥ sā pārtha rājasī ||
18.31 That intellect is in the mode of passion that cannot dis-
tinguish between principles of right conduct and wrong doing,
and right and wrong action, O Pārtha (Arjuna).
अधर्ं धर्मकर्कत या र्न्यते तर्सावृता |
सवाम थाम न्तन्वपरीतां श्च बुन्तद्ध: सा पाथम तार्सी ||18.32||
adharmaṁ dharmamiti yā manyate tamasā ’vṛtā |
sarvārthānviparītāṁśca buddhiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī ||
18.32 That intellect is in the mode of ignorance that accepts
unrighteousness as righteousness and thinks everything to be
that which it is not, O Pārtha.
धृत्या यया धारयते र्न:प्राणेन्तियकक्रया: |
योगेनाव्यकभचाररण्या धृकत: सा पाथम सान्तिकी ||18.33||
dhṛtyā yayā dhārayate manaḥ-prāṇendriya-kriyāḥ |
yogenāvyabhicāriṇyā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||
18.33 Consistent and continuous determination in controlling the mind, breath and senses for uniting with the
Divine is
goodness, Pārtha.
यया तु धर्मकार्ाथाम न्धृत्या धारयतेऽजुमन |
प्रसङ्गेन फलाकाङ् क्षी धृकत: सा पाथम राजसी ||18.34||
yayā tu dharma kāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate ‘rjuna |
prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī ||
18.34 Craving for results of action while clinging to goals of
proper conduct, pleasure and wealth is the state of passion,
Arjuna.
यया स्वप्नं भयं िोकं कवषादं र्दर्ेव च |
न कवर्ुञ्चकत दु र्ेधा धृकत: सा पाथम तार्सी ||18.35||
yayā svapnaṁ bhayaṁ śokaṁ viṣādaṁ madameva ca |
na vimuñcati durmedhā dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha tāmasī ||
18.35 Ignorant resolve which cannot go beyond dreaming, fear,
grief, despair and, delusion—such is in darkness, Pārtha.
सुखं न्तिदानीं कत्रकवधं शणु र्े भरतषमभ |
अभ्यासाद्रर्ते यत्र दु :खािं च कनगच्छकत ||18.36||
sukhaṁ tvidānīṁ trividhaṁ śṛṇu me bharatarṣabha |
abhyāsād ramate yatra duḥkhāntaṁ ca nigacchati ||
18.36,37 And now hear from Me, O Arjuna, about three kinds
of pleasure. The pleasure that one enjoys from spiritual practice
results in cessation of all sorrows. The pleasure that appears as
poison in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end, comes
by the grace of Self-knowledge and is in the mode of goodness.
यत्तदग्रे कवषकर्व पररणार्ेऽर्ृतोपर्र्् |
तत्सुखं सान्तिकं प्रोक्तर्ािबुन्तद्धप्रसादजर्् ||18.37||
yat tad agre viṣaṁ iva pariṇāme ‘mṛtopamam |
tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktaṁ ātma-buddhi-prasādajam ||
18.36,37 And now hear from Me, O Arjuna, about three kinds
of pleasure. The pleasure that one enjoys from spiritual practice
results in cessation of all sorrows. The pleasure that appears as
poison in the beginning, but is like nectar in the end, comes
by the grace of Self-knowledge and is in the mode of goodness.
कवषयेन्तियसंयोगाद्यत्तदग्रेऽर्ृतोपर्र्् |
पररणार्े कवषकर्व तत्सुखं राजसं स्मृतर्् ||18.38||
viṣayendriya-saṁyogadyat tad agre ‘mṛtopamam |
pariṇāme visam iva tat sukhaṁ rājasaṁ smṛtam ||
18.38 Sensual pleasures that appear as nectar in the beginning,
but become poison in the end, are in the mode of passion.
यदग्रे चानुबन्धे च सुखं र्ोहनर्ािन: |
कनद्रालस्यप्रर्ादोत्थं तत्तार्सर्ुदाहृतर्् ||18.39||
yadagre cānubandhe ca sukhaṁ mohanamātmanaḥ |
nidrālasyapramādotthaṁ tat tāmasamudāhṛtam ||
18.39 Pleasure that is delusion from beginning to end and born
out of sleep, laziness and illusion is said to be of the nature
of ignorance.
न तदन्तस्त पृकथव्यां वा कदकव दे वेषु वा पुन: |
सिं प्रकृकतजैर्ुमक्तं यदे कभ: स्यान्तत्रकभगुमणै: ||18.40||
na tad asti pṛthivyāṁ vā divi deveṣu vā punaḥ |
sattvaṁ prakṛti-jair-muktaṁ yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhirguṇaiḥ ||
18.40 No one, either here or among the celestials in the higher
planetary systems, is free from these three states of material
nature.
ब्राह्मणक्षकत्रयकविां िूद्राणां च परिप |
कर्ाम कण प्रकवभक्ताकन स्वभावप्रभवै गुमणै: ||18.41||
brāhmaṇa-kṣatriya-viśāṁ śūdrāṇāṁ ca parantapa |
karmāṇi pravibhaktāni svabhāva-prabhavair-guṇaiḥ ||
18.41 Brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras are divided in
the work they do based on their nature, Parantapa (Arjuna).
िर्ो दर्स्तप: िौचं क्षान्तिराजमवर्ेव च |
ज्ञानं कवज्ञानर्ान्तस्तक्यं ब्रह्मकर्म स्वभावजर्् ||18.42||
śamo damastapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntirārjavameva ca |
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahmakarma svabhāvajaṁ ||
18.42 The nature of Brāhmaṇa is characterized by their calm-
ness, discipline, austerity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wis-
dom and belief in God.
िौयं तेजो धृकतदाम क्ष्यं युद्धे चाप्यपलायनर्् |
दानर्ीश्वरभावश्च क्षात्रं कर्म स्वभावजर्् ||18.43||
śauryaṁ tejo dhṛtir dākṣyaṁ yuddhe cāpyapalāyanam |
dānamīśvarabhāvaś ca kṣātraṁ karma svabhāvajam ||
18.43 Kṣatriya are characterized by their qualities of heroism,
vigor, firmness, dexterity, steadfastness in battle, leadership
and generosity.
कृकषगौरक्ष्यवाकणज्यं वैश्यकर्म स्वभावजर्् |
पररचयाम िकं कर्म िूद्रस्याकप स्वभावजर्् ||18.44||
kṛṣi gaurakṣya vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāvajam |
paricaryātmakaṁ karma śūdrasyā api śvabhāvajam ||
18.44 Those who are good at cultivation, cattle rearing, and
trade are known as Vaiśya. Those who are very good in service
are classed as śūdra.
स्वे स्वे कर्मण्यकभरत: संकसन्तद्धं लभते नर: |
स्वकर्मकनरत: कसन्तद्धं यथा कवन्दकत तच्छृ णु ||18.45||
sve sve karmaṇy abhirataḥ saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ |
svakarmanirataḥ siddhiṁ yathā vindati tacchṛṇu ||
18.45 One can attain the highest perfection by devotion to
one’s natural work. Listen to Me how one attains perfection
while engaged in one’s natural work.
यत: प्रवृकत्तभूमतानां येन सवमकर्दं ततर्् |
स्वकर्मणा तर्भ्यच्यम कसन्तद्धं कवन्दकत र्ानव: ||18.46||
yataḥ pravṛttirbhūtānāṁ yena sarvamidaṁ tatam |
svakarmaṇā tamabhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ ||
18.46 One attains perfection by worshipping the supreme Being
from whom all beings originate and by whom all this universe
is pervaded through performance of one’s natural duty for Him.
श्रेयान्ब्स्वधर्ो कवगुण: परधर्ाम त्स्वनुकितात् |
स्वभावकनयतं कर्म कुवमिाप्नोकत ककन्तिषर्् ||18.47||
śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmāt svanuṣṭhitāt |
svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvannāpnoti kilbiṣam ||
18.47 It is better to engage in one’s rightful conduct [svadharma],
even though one may not perform it to perfection, rather than to
accept another’s conduct and perform it perfectly. Responsibility
prescribed according to one’s nature, are never affected by
sinful reactions.
सहजं कर्म कौिेय सदोषर्कप न त्यजेत् |
सवाम रम्भा कह दोषेण धूर्ेनाकग्नररवावृता: ||18.48||
sahajaṁ karma kaunteya sadoṣamapi na tyajet |
sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenā gnirivā vṛtāḥ ||
18.48 Every work has some defect, just as fire is covered by
smoke. One should not give up the work that is born of his
own nature, even if such work is full of fault, O Kaunteya
(Arjuna).
असक्तबुन्तद्ध: सवमत्र कजतािा कवगतस्पृह: |
नैष्कम्यमकसन्तद्धं परर्ां सन्न्यासेनाकधगच्छकत ||18.49||
asaktabuddhiḥ sarvatra jitātmā vigataspṛhaḥ |
naiṣkarmyasiddhiṁ paramāṁ sannyāsenādhigacchati ||
18.49 One whose intelligence is always free from selfish
attachment, who has controlled the mind and who is free
from desires, by practicing renunciation [sannyāsa], attains the
ultimate state of perfection of selfless work or actionlessness
[naiṣkarma siddhi].
कसन्तद्धं प्राप्तो यथा ब्रह्म तथाप्नोकत कनबोध र्े |
सर्ासेनैव कौिेय कनिा ज्ञानस्य या परा ||18.50||
siddhiṁ prāpto yathā brahma tathāpnoti nibodha me |
samāsenaiva kaunteya niṣṭhā jñānasya yā parā ||
18.50 Understand from Me, how one who has achieved this
perfection, can attain the Supreme state of Truth, Brahman, by
acting in the way I shall now summarize, Kaunteya.
बुद्ध्या कविुद्धया युक्तो धृत्यािानं कनयम्य च |
िब्दादीन्तन्वषयां स्त्यक्त्वा रागिे षौ व्युदस्य च ||18.51||
buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca |
śabādīnviṣayāṁstyaktvā rāgadveṣau vyudasya ca ||
18.51,52,53 Endowed with purified intellect; subduing the mind
with firm resolve; turning away from the objects of senses;
giving up likes and dislikes; living in solitude; eating lightly;
controlling the mind, speech, and organs of action; ever absorbed in meditation; taking refuge in detachment;
and relinquishing
egotism, violence, pride, lust, anger, and proprietorship, one
becomes peaceful, free from the notion of “I” and “mine”, and
fit for attaining oneness with the Supreme Being.
कवकवक्तसेवी लघ्वािी यतवाक्कायर्ानस: |
ध्यानयोगपरो कनत्यं वैरार्ग्ं सर्ुपाकश्रत: ||18.52||
viviktasevī laghvāśī yat-avāk-kāyamānasaḥ |
dhyāna-yoga-paro nityaṁ vairāgyaṁ samupāśritaḥ ||
18.51,52,53 Endowed with purified intellect; subduing the mind
with firm resolve; turning away from the objects of senses;
giving up likes and dislikes; living in solitude; eating lightly;
controlling the mind, speech, and organs of action; ever absorbed in meditation; taking refuge in detachment;
and relinquishing
egotism, violence, pride, lust, anger, and proprietorship, one
becomes peaceful, free from the notion of “I” and “mine”, and
fit for attaining oneness with the Supreme Being.
अहङ्कारं बलं दपं कार्ं क्रोधं पररग्रहर्् |
कवर्ुच्य कनर्मर्: िािो ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ||18.53||
ahaṁkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham |
vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto brahmabhūyāya kalpate ||
18.51,52,53 Endowed with purified intellect; subduing the mind
with firm resolve; turning away from the objects of senses;
giving up likes and dislikes; living in solitude; eating lightly;
controlling the mind, speech, and organs of action; ever absorbed in meditation; taking refuge in detachment;
and relinquishing
egotism, violence, pride, lust, anger, and proprietorship, one
becomes peaceful, free from the notion of “I” and “mine”, and
fit for attaining oneness with the Supreme Being.
ब्रह्मभूत: प्रसिािा न िोचकत न काङ् क्षकत |
सर्: सवेषु भूतेषु र्िन्तक्तं लभते परार्् ||18.54||
brahmabhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati |
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu madbhaktiṁ labhate parāṁ ||
18.54 Absorbed in the supreme Being, the serene one neither
grieves nor desires. Becoming impartial to all beings, one ob-
tains My highest devotional love.
भक्त्या र्ार्कभजानाकत यावान्यश्चान्तस्म तित: |
ततो र्ां तितो ज्ञािा कविते तदनिरर्् ||18.55||
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaścāsmi tattvataḥ |
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram ||
18.55 By devotion one truly understands what and who I am
in essence. Having known Me in essence, one immediately
merges with Me.
सवमकर्ाम ण्यकप सदा कुवाम णो र्द्व्यपाश्रय: |
र्त्प्रसादादवाप्नोकत िाश्वतं पदर्व्ययर्् ||18.56||
sarvakarmāṇy api sadā kurvāṇo madvyapāśrayaḥ |
mat-prasādād avāpnoti śāśvataṁ padamavyayam ||
18.56 My devotee occupied in everyday life still reaches under
My protection the imperishable ultimate abode through my
mercy, through devotion to Me.
चेतसा सवमकर्ाम कण र्कय सन्न्यस्य र्त्पर: |
बुन्तद्धयोगर्ुपाकश्रत्य र्न्तच्चत्त: सततं भव ||18.57||
cetasā sarvakarmāṇi mayi sannyasya matparaḥ |
buddhiyogam upāśritya maccittaḥ satataṁ bhava ||
18.57 While being engaged in activities just depend upon
Me, and being fully conscious of Me, work always under My
protection.
र्न्तच्चत्त: सवमदुगाम कण र्त्प्रसादात्तररष्यकस |
अथ चेिर्हङ्काराि श्रोष्यकस कवनङ् क्ष्यकस ||18.58||
maccittaḥ sarvadurgāṇi matprasādāt tariṣyasi |
atha cet tvam ahaṁkārān na śroṣyasi vinaṅkṣyasi ||
18.58 When your mind becomes fixed on Me, you shall
overcome all difficulties by My grace. But if you do not listen
to Me due to ego, you shall perish.
यदहङ्कारर्ाकश्रत्य न योत्स्य इकत र्न्यसे |
कर्र्थ्यैष व्यवसायस्ते प्रकृकतस्त्वां कनयोक्ष्यकत ||18.59||
yad ahaṁkāram āśritya na yotsya iti manyase |
mithyaiṣa vyavasāyas te prakṛtis tvāṁ niyokṣyati ||
18.59 If due to ego you think: ‘I shall not fight,’ your resolve
is useless, and your own nature will compel you.
स्वभावजे न कौिेय कनबद्ध: स्वे न कर्मणा |
कतुं नेच्छकस यन्मोहात्कररष्यस्यविोऽकप तत् ||18.60||
svabhāvajena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇa |
kartuṁ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasyavaśo ‘pi tat ||
18.60 O Kaunteya, you are controlled by your own natural
conditioning. Therefore, you shall do even against your will,
what you do not wish to do out of delusion.
ईश्वर: सवमभूतानां हृद्दे िेऽजुम न कतिकत |
रार्यन्सवम भूताकन यन्त्रारूढाकन र्ायया ||18.61||
īśvaraḥ sarvabhūtānāṁ hṛddeśe ‘rjuna tiṣṭhati |
bhrāmayan sarvabhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā ||
18.61 The Supreme Lord resides in everyone’s heart, O
Arjuna, and is directing the activities of all living entities who
are acting as machines under the illusion of the material world.
तर्ेव िरणं गच्छ सवमभावेन भारत |
तत्प्रसादात्परां िान्तिं थथानं प्राप्स्स्यकस िाश्वतर्् ||18.62||
tameva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarvabhāvena bhārata |
tatprasādātparāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam ||
18.62 Surrender to Him completely with all your being. By
His grace you will attain supreme peace and the eternal abode.
इकत ते ज्ञानर्ायातं गुह्याद् गुह्यतरं र्या |
कवर्ृश्यैतदिेषेण यथेच्छकस तथा कुरु ||18.63||
iti te jñānamākhyātaṁ guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā |
vimṛśyai tadaśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru ||
18.63 I have explained the knowledge that is the secret of
secrets. After fully reflecting on this, do as you wish.
सवमगुह्यतर्ं भूय: शणु र्े परर्ं वच: |
इष्ट्ोऽकस र्े दृढकर्कत ततो वक्ष्याकर् ते कहतर्् ||18.64||
sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ |
iṣṭo ‘si me dṛḍhamiti tato vakṣyāmi te hitam ||
18.64 Because you are My dear friend, I express this truth to
you. This is the most confidential of all knowledge. Hear this
from Me. It is for your benefit.
र्न्मना भव र्िक्तो र्द्याजी र्ां नर्स्कुरु |
र्ार्ेवैष्यकस सत्यं ते प्रकतजाने कप्रयोऽकस र्े ||18.65||
manmanā bhava madbhakto madyājī māṁ namaskuru |
māmevaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ‘si me ||
18.65 Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship
Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will certainly
attain to Me. This I promise you because you are My very
dear friend.
सवमधर्ाम न्पररत्यज्य र्ार्ेकं िरणं व्रज |
अहं िां सवमपापेभ्यो र्ोक्षकयष्याकर् र्ा िुच: ||18.66||
sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja |
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||
18.66 Abandon all principles and concepts of right conduct and
simply surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful
reaction. Have no worry.
इदं ते नातपस्काय नाभक्ताय कदाचन |
न चािुश्रूषवे वाच्यं न च र्ां योऽभ्यसूयकत ||18.67||
idaṁ te nā ‘tapaskāya nā ‘bhaktāya kadācana |
na cā ‘śuśrūṣave vācyaṁ na ca māṁ yo ‘bhyasūyati ||
18.67 This knowledge should never be spoken by you to one
who is devoid of austerity, who is without devotion, who does
not desire to listen, or who speaks ill of Me.
य इदं परर्ं गुह्यं र्िक्तेष्वकभधास्यकत |
भन्तक्तं र्कय परां कृिा र्ार्ेवैष्यत्यसंिय: ||18.68||
ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati |
bhaktiṁ mayi parāṁ kṛtvā māmevaiṣyaty asaṁśayaḥ ||
18.68 One who communicates the supreme secret to the
devotees performs the highest devotional service to Me, and at
the end he will without doubt, come back to Me.
न च तस्मान्मनुष्येषु ककश्चन्मे कप्रयकृत्तर्: |
भकवता न च र्े तस्मादन्य: कप्रयतरो भुकव ||18.69||
na ca tasmānmanuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya kṛttamaḥ |
bhavitā na ca me tasmād anyaḥ priyataro bhuvi ||
18.69 No other person shall do a more pleasing service to Me,
and no one on the earth shall be more dear to Me.
अध्येष्यते च य इर्ं धम्यं संवादर्ावयो: |
ज्ञानयज्ञेन ते नाहकर्ष्ट्: स्याकर्कत र्े र्कत: ||18.70||
adhyeṣyate ca ya imaṁ dharmyaṁ saṁvādamāvayoḥ |
jñānayajñena tenāham iṣṭaḥ syāmiti me matiḥ ||
18.70 I declare that One who studies this sacred dialogue
worships Me by sacrifice of his intelligence.
श्रद्धावाननसूयश्च शणुयादकप यो नर: |
सोऽकप र्ुक्त: िुभााँ ल्लोकान्प्राप्नुयात्पुण्यकर्मणार्् ||18.71||
śraddhāvānanasūyaś ca śṛṇuyādapi yo naraḥ |
so ‘pi muktaḥ śubhāṁl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇyakarmaṇām ||
18.71 One who listens with faith and without envy becomes
free from sinful reactions and attains to the planets where those
of merit dwell.
कन्तच्चदे तच्छुतं पाथम ियैकाग्रेण चेतसा |
कन्तच्चदज्ञानसम्मोह: प्रनष्ट्स्ते धनञ्जय ||18.72||
kaccid etac chrutaṁ pārtha tvayaikāgreṇa cetasā |
kaccid ajñāna-saṁmohaḥ pranaṣṭaste dhanañjaya ||
18.72 O Pārtha, did you listen to this with single-minded
attention? Has your delusion born of ignorance been completely
destroyed, Dhanañjaya?
अजुमन उवाच |
नष्ट्ो र्ोह: स्मृकतलमब्धा ित्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत |
न्तथथतोऽन्तस्म गतसन्दे ह: कररष्ये वचनं तव ||18.73||
Arjuna uvāca |
naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtirlabdhā tvat-prasādān mayā’cyuta |
sthito ‘smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṁ tava ||
18.73 Arjuna says: O dear Acyuta (infallible lord), my illusion
is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your Grace,
and I am now firm and free from doubt, and ready to act as
per your instructions.
सञ्जय उवाच |
इत्यहं वासुदेवस्य पाथमस्य च र्हािन: |
संवादकर्र्र्श्रौषर्द् भुतं रोर्हषमणर्् ||18.74||
sañjaya uvāca |
ityahaṁ vāsudevasya pārthasya ca mahātmanaḥ |
saṁvādam imam aśrauṣam adbhutaṁ roma-harṣaṇam ||
18.74 Sañjaya said: Thus have I heard the conversation of
two great souls, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. And so wonderful is that
message that my hair stands on end.
व्यासप्रसादाच्छुतवानेतद् गुह्यर्हं परर्् |
योगं योगेश्वरात्कृष्णात्साक्षात्कथयत: स्वयर्् ||18.75||
vyasā-prasādāc chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṁ param |
yogaṁ yogeśvarāt kṛṣnāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam ||
18.75 By the mercy of Vyāsa, I have heard these most
confidential words directly from Kṛṣṇa, the master of all
mysticism, who was speaking personally to Arjuna.
राजन्संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य संवादकर्र्र्द् भुतर्् |
केिवाजुमनयो: पुण्यं हृष्याकर् च र्ुहुर्ुमहु: ||18.76||
rājan saṁsmṛtya-saṁsmṛtya saṁvādam imam adbhutam |
keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ hṛṣyāmi ca muhur-muhuḥ ||
18.76 O King, as I repeatedly recall this wondrous and holy
dialogue between Keśava (Kṛṣṇa) and Arjuna, I take pleasure,
being thrilled at every moment.
तच्च संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य रूपर्त्यद् भु तं हरे : |
कवस्मयो र्े र्हानराजन्ब्हृष्याकर् च पुन: पु न: |18.77||
tacca saṁsmṛtya-saṁsmṛtya rūpam atyadbhutaṁ hareḥ |
vismayo me mahān rājan hṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ-punaḥ ||
18.77 O King, when I remember the wonderful form of Lord
Kṛṣṇa, I am struck with even greater wonder, and I rejoice
again and again.
यत्र योगेश्वर: कृष्णो यत्र पाथो धनुधमर: |
तत्र श्रीकवमजयो भूकतध्रुवा नीकतर्मकतर्मर् ||18.78||
yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanurdharaḥ |
tatra śrīrvijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītirmatirmama ||
18.78 Wherever there is Yogeśvara Kṛṣṇa, the Master of all
mystics, and wherever there is Pārtha, the supreme carrier
of bow and arrow, there will certainly be opulence, victory,
extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.