ASP Manual Edited

Life Bliss Program - Level 1 (Acharya Manual) For internal and restricted use only
Acharya Manual
for
LBP
(Life Bliss Program – Level One)
1
©
Dhyanapeetam
Version update 11 April 2005

Expanded September 2005
This manual is a living document that will be continuously updated

whenever it remembers to breathe! Don’t take it too seriously. It is a
map not the territory; use it the way you wish to develop your own
teaching material. Sentences in bold can be used as bullet points for easy
remembrance. Whenever you develop new perspectives, or new jokes and
stories please do let us have your feedback so that we can enhance the
content with your help. You can use this in conjunction with the short cut
mind maps for easy reference.
Guidelines for use:
1. This manual in inclusive; not exclusive in the sense that all material
that is considered relevant is included and will be added on as you all
contribute. You can choose what you wish to use, to deliver after
acceptance, understanding and internalization.
2. Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s instruction is that we deliver two hours of

each module, for introduction and the seven chakras. Of this, two
hours, all chakra discourses will have about thirty minutes of
meditation time. We estimate that you will use the remaining ninety
minutes roughly as:
- 45 minutes of discourse,
- 15 minutes in listing emotional issues in writing,
- 20 minutes of interactive discussion at least and
- 5 to 10 minutes to clarify issues arising out of meditation without
getting into merits and demerits of experiences.
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Within this time build in exercises described in the manual. Each chakra has
one or two exercises other than the meditation that can be applied day to
day effectively to handle the emotional states that affect that chakra.
3. Interactive discussion is crucial. We do not have Nithyananda’s powers

to understand what the participants want. We need them to express
their doubts and wants. That in turns generates discussions. This in
turn leads to our learning both of them and the subject. Otherwise the
acharyas will lose the attention of participants.
4. The downside as well as the plus point of discussions and question

answer sessions is that our ignorance is exposed. It is good for our ego
to say we do not know when we do not know, without pretensions. It
also leads to learning if we are wise, since we then start looking for the
answers ourselves.
5. It is true that Nithyananda will guide us and it is true that we need to

go into our ananda gandha, and if possible stay there during our
discourses so that we are in his energy filled in the nirvanic layer.
However, this does not mean we go unprepared and later proclaim that
Nithyananda spoke through us. We are then misusing the responsibility
given to us. It is then our ego that is manifesting itself, not humility.
Humility will be manifested when we do our best to internalize what is
to be said, with complete concern for our audience, and leave the
performance to our Master’s grace. We know the will Master speak
through us if he said so himself when he ordained us.
6. The way this manual is structured is without structure; it is

encyclopedic. There is a lot of information out there that you can
choose from. Do not look for logic or continuity. Make your own logic
and continuity after internalizing the content. This manual is not for
beginners. This is for those of us who have had some experience of
listening to LBP Level 1, having conducted LBP Level 1 and are in need
of more material. It is a mass of material that you can mix and match.
7. Meditations are the essence of the LBP Level 1. The discourses only
lead up to the meditations. Acharyas are just instruments. Please
internalize and plan the meditation sessions. Lead the discourse up to
the meditation session so that participants are clear what they are
going to do, how they are going to do it, and why they are going to do
it.
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Module 1: Energy and Meditation

On behalf of the Life Bliss Foundation and Paramahamsa Nithyananda, I welcome
you all with love and respect.
You have all come here for a purpose. Your presence here is not accidental. Each
one of you would have had many other important things to do, yet you are here in
preference. We extend our deepest gratitude for your choosing to be here today.
Let us start with a very simple process. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Breathe
normally. Please visualize intensely any one of the happiest moments of your life;
your marriage, your child’ birth, a job, a holiday, whatever that was joyful and full
of happiness. Just pick one that comes to your mind; do not struggle to compare.
Give participants about 3 to 5 minutes. Let them relax.
Open your eyes. What did you think of?
Participants share experiences briefly. All of them are external incidents that made
them happy; meeting someone; getting money; achieving something…
Every one of the incidents that you visualized as making you happy was based on
an external experience. For a moment imagine that the incident had not happened.
What happens to your happiness then? Would you have experienced happiness
then?
Participants say, ‘No, not likely’.

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It is impossible. When an external event or subject has the power to give you
happiness please be clear that it also has the power to take it away from you.
Happiness and sorrow based on external events is just perception, not a genuine
lasting feeling.
A small story…
A man was returning home with his wife and three children after a week’s stay in a
nearby town. As he nears home he sees his house on fire. He breaks down sobbing,
‘Oh, my God! All my life savings was just this house. Now it is gone’. His wife
comforts him, ‘Don’t worry, don’t you remember we sold the house just the day
before we left town.’ Man beams with happiness, eyes dry. Eldest son interjects,
‘But Mom, we haven’t received full payment yet’. Father renews sobbing, ‘oh, my
god, what will I do?’ Daughter consoles him, ‘dad, we just got the full payment
yesterday, don’t worry.’ Finally he stops sobbing.
The incident of the house on fire remains the same, but the perception of loss
changes moment to moment. Who cares if it’s on fire, as long as I do not lose?
Happiness and sorrow are very relative.
In this program, the Life Bliss Program – Level 1, you go beyond perceptional
happiness. Happiness is temporary, fleeting, subjective, transient, destroyed easily
by that which creates it. ‘Ananda’ in Sanskrit means ‘Eternal Happiness’ or ‘Bliss’.
‘Nanda’ refers to anything that is limited in time and space. ‘Ananda’ is eternal,
permanent in time and space. ‘Spurana’ means ‘gushing’ in Sanskrit, gushing out
like a fountain, like a mountain stream; of ‘flowering’, the ecstatic blossoming of a
thousand flowers all at once. This program is about experiencing a glimpse of that
eternal bliss gushing out of you.
Bliss is unchanging, everlasting happiness. It is our nature to experience

bliss even though most often we don’ realize it. Children are in bliss and
progressively lose it as they grow up. Bliss is continuously happening within
ourselves – yet we do not experience it all. Why? We are constantly stopping the
flow of energy that results in bliss. We do this through a bundle of negative
emotions. We actively stop the flow of bliss. What we are about to do is stop
the stopping.
Ask the participants: If they understand? What in their view is happiness? Is it

Bliss? What is the difference?
What we are about to embark on is a journey of personal transformation. The

transformation happens at three levels: physical, mental and spiritual. At the
physical level you can find cures to your ailments. At the mental level catharsis to
your emotional blocks; and at the highest level of the spirit you can find the path
to further enlightenment.
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Ask: How many are looking for this eagerly and willing to put in effort?
Let us discuss for a few minutes what each one of you is here for? What is it that
you seek?
List audience response in these 5 categories.
o Mental Wellbeing
o Physical Well being
o Material Wellbeing
o Relationship Wellbeing
o Spiritual Wellbeing
You will find that almost all our needs can be classified into five specific
categories; physical wellbeing; mental well being, interpersonal relations; material
well being, and spiritual well being. In order to achieve all these expectations that
you have, your body, mind and spirit have to work synchronously. Only a person
with good physical health can have a sound and healthy mind. Body and mind are
intimately related. Combination of a healthy body and a healthy mind helps is
effective interpersonal relationships, which in turn helps in whatever endeavors
that we undertake. Financial success automatically follows. What we are about to
share with you in this program is how to develop a healthy body and a healthy
mind that leads to material success in life.
Even when we enjoy all these positive effects, we still feel that something is
missing in our lives. Quite often, what is missing in our lives is contentment,
fulfillment and sustained joy. We keep searching everywhere for these elusive
experiences.
A small story…
Nasrudin was a great Sufi saint who played the fool all the time. One day Nasrudin
was searching at dusk for something below the street lamp across the street from
his house. A friend passed by and curious asked him what he was doing. Nasrudin
said he was looking for a gold coin that he had lost. The friend joined his search,
and so did a few other passers by. After a while the friend asked: there seems to
be no coin here. Where did you lose it? Said Nasrudin: I lost it inside my house.
Angry, the friend shouted, ‘Don’t you have brains? Why are you then looking for it
here, instead of searching inside the house?’ Nasrudin said calmly, ‘Because I
have no light inside my house’.
Why search for something outside while it’s still inside? This is what we do all our
lives, searching for the bliss within everywhere but inside. Why, because we have
not lit our inner self.
What we hope to do during this program is to provide you the light that
helps you find that what is always within you.
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What we are about to embark upon is a process of personal transformation. In life

without exception we expect others to change the way we wish them to, and try
and force them to our points of view. This obviously rarely works, and works only
in cases when the other party needs something from us. The only way to change
others is by changing ourselves. Our own transformation in respecting others
startlingly changes their perceptions of us and better relationships. The light that
we provide you is in the form of techniques of meditation that help energize your
system that transform you personally.
Each one of you has come here with a definite purpose in mind. All of you have
taken time off important tasks, possibly postponed other important schedules, and
made time to be here with us. We are deeply grateful to you for this and would
like to ensure that you get what you came for. All we seek of you in return is that
you receive what we have to say openly and without blocks in your mind.
A small Zen story….
There was a professor at Harvard, a very learned professor of philosophy. He was

an authority of western religions, and like all such authority figures of intellect, full
of his own knowledge. The professor felt he had to learn about Eastern religions as
well, and located Sensei Nansen, the recluse Zen Master as the expert he wanted
to meet.
After a bit of trouble he managed to fix a meeting and traveled to Northern Japan
to meet Sensei. Nansen’s disciples seated the professor in the Sensei’s room in
front of a low table on which tea service was laid out. Nansen came in, bowed to
the professor and sat down. Immediately the professor started telling him all about
what he knew about Eastern philosophy.
The Sensei made a sign as if to ask if he could pour some tea for the professor.
Impatiently the professor nodded. Nansen started pouring and he continued to
pour even as the cup overflowed. Aghast, the professor shouted at him to stop,
‘Can’t you see that the cup is already full? It’s overflowing! The Sensei said, ‘You
seem to have understood my point, professor. When the cup is full it overflows. So
is your mind. How can I tell you anything unless you empty your mind? The
professor now truly understood and reached nithya state.
Nithyananda’s tip: Visualize each step of this story.

Key: Arrogance of professor, and calm wisdom of Nansen;
Punch line: Cup overflowing.
In many of our sessions we place a notice outside the door that says, ‘Please
leave your footwear and minds at the door’. Some find it strange and wonder
if we are trying to be funny, or alternatively at the other extreme whether we are
trying to brainwash you. Neither really.
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Many of you have attended many similar programs on self improvement and
spiritual pursuits. Many would have benefited from such programs. However this
content that is stored on your brain’s hard disk will come in the way of inputting
additional data. Either you need to expand your hard disk capacity or get rid of
some of your files. We need your total focus upon what we are about to embark on
without any prejudgment. All we seek of you is an open and curious mind.
Learning: Ask group how they think learning happens. As children and as adults. If
any one has learnt creative arts? If any one has learnt scriptures? Any differences
in how one learns?
Learning in this program happens at three levels.
At the first level you benefit intellectually. You gather new information and learn
new techniques that your rational mind accepts. What you get from this learning is
about 33% of what we say to you. Much of this information gets erased soon after
you attend this program if left by alone. This is the kind of learning, communication
that happens from head to head, that happens in our schools and colleges.
At the next level you get emotionally involved with something that happens here.
You are touched at some point emotionally by the course content, the practices
and/or the people that you meet here. When you add the emotional with the
intellectual learning your earning enhances to 66 % of what we say to you. This is
what you do when you learn music or painting. You cannot be taught. You need to
learn. Let us take for instance swimming. Any amount of book reading or lecturing
cannot make you a swimmer. You need to get into the water and learn.
This is still not enough for what you came for. At the third level something
happens to you which makes you say to yourself when you go home, ‘Hey,
something has changed within me’. Often, this transformation is noticed by others
close to you. You have internalized this program and it has transformed you. For
this to happen we need your total and unwavering involvement. We need it 100%.
Not 99%. It’s like water transforming to steam only 100 degrees and not at 99
degrees. What you get is quantum change not incremental. Quality of your
experience is of a different order.
What we seek is also your active interaction. Partly to ensure that your listening is
active, partly to ensure that you have no doubt, but mostly to learn from your
experiences that we all can benefit from.
Let us now talk about what we plan to cover today and tomorrow.
Humans alone of all creatures possess consciousness; consciousness is awareness

of one’s connectivity with the Universe; with the cosmic energy. We are all part of
the cosmic energy.
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When one starts the study of Vedas one usually starts with the Rig Veda. Similarly
with Upanishads, one starts with the Isa Upanishad. Isa is the Divine, from the root
‘it’ that means to rule; one who is our ruler; one with infinite power. The very first
verse of the Isopanishad states, iso vasyam idam sarvam. The translation is, ‘All
that moves is ruled by him. Expanded this says, ‘All matter comes from the
supreme energy’.
Einstein said towards the end of his career after reading the Isopanishad, the last
word in science is the first word in spirituality. What he meant was that his famous
formula E=mc2 that redefined the boundaries of science then was the first
statement of Isopanishad, if only we could grasp its meaning.
The invocation verse of the Brihadaranya runs famously thus:
purnamadah purnamidam purnad purnamudachyade

purnasya purnamadaya purnameva vashishyate
Literally translated, ‘This is infinite that is infinite; from infinite proceeds the
infinite; if infinite is removed from infinite what remains is still infinite’.
Without an underpinning of its relevance, this verse can leave you tearing your
hair. However, properly explained this verse is the underpinning of all advaita
theory. Saying this is probably as confusing as the verse itself. Advaita can only be
understood if one explains what Dvaita is.
Dvaita or duality is the principle which says that I, the World that I live in and the
Supreme Power are three different entities, and that these shall remain separate
always. The relation between I and the Supreme is that of a Master and Servant
and there will never be a meeting point.
Visishtadvaita or modified duality states, ‘Yes, I, the World and the Supreme are
different entities; however with great effort, especially if devotion, I can merge into
the Supreme in spirit.
Advaita as propounded by Sankara says emphatically, ‘I, the World and the
Supreme are all one and the same. What prevents one from realizing this non
duality is maya (ya ma iti maya), that which prevents us from seeing Reality. Once
this maya is removed we see the Truth that we too are divine. Individual divinity is
termed the Self or Atman, while the ultimate cosmic divinity is termed Brahman.
The sloka from Isopanishad can now be read as, ‘This is atman and that is
brahman. This atman proceeds from that brahman. When this atman is removed
from that brahman, that brahman still remains full, absolute, and infinite.
The atman and brahman are the cosmic energy at different planes; one at the
cosmic level and the other at the individual level; both are of infinite potential.
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We now need to understand how to access this cosmic energy, how this cosmic
energy enhances our living and in what ways it enhances our living.
Says the Taittreya Upanishad, ‘From the atman came akasha. From akasha came
vayu. From vayu came agni. From agni came apa (water). From apa came prithvi.
From prithvi aushada (herbs). From aushada came anna (food). From anna came
the human.
Man can access four out of the five elemental energies listed above directly. From
the earth he gets food. From water he quenches thirst. From agni he derives
warmth. Through vayu he breathes. However he has no means to abstract energy
from akasa which is the subtlest, most expansive of the five elemental energies.
The only way he can do this is through dhyana, meditation.
Cosmic energy is not just power. Power or bala is animal strength. Energy or shakti
is power with consciousness. Energy is intelligent. Humans are the only species on
planet earth who have this potential for shakti, as they alone have consciousness.
Astrophysicists now talk of a parallel universe. The Universe of which our solar
system is a minuscule part has constant creation and constant deaths. The big
bang creation of new solar and stellar systems as well as the black hole deaths of
shrinking stars that grew too big to survive. Scientists now believe that each time
there is a big bang in one part of the Universe there is a corresponding black hole
elsewhere. One without the other is not possible. All energy is interlinked. This is
cosmic karma.
At the level of Planet Earth, chaos theory states that the flutter of a butterfly in
China can create a tornado in Mexico. Not even one atom moves without moving
another atom elsewhere. The Tsunamis of destruction are created by the
destructive exploitation of Mother Earth for minerals and Oil. This is karma at our
world level. Energy has to be in equilibrium.
We all know that our actions beget reactions; Newton only hypothesized it. Even
our words do. An angry shout begets another or a meek supplication that awaits
the chance to avenge. This is karma at our personal level.
The cosmic energy is reflected within our own mind body system as energy
pathways. These are well known both in traditional healing systems of Chinese
and Indians. In the Hindu scriptures reference is made to seven energy centers or
chakras that control the energy flow in our body.
The concept energy centers within the human system may have been dismissed
out of hand even a few decades ago, for the simple reason there was no tangible
proof of its existence. In recent times, Kirlian photography and similar techniques
have demonstrated that we all have energy fields surrounding us; that even plants
possess these energy fields popularly referred to as auric fields. These energy
fields change depending on emotional and physical health states.
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When one feels happy the energy field expands. Conversely when one is sad the
field shrinks. In the Chinese system of medicine this energy field is called chi and a
number of exercises have been developed over thousands of years to enhance the
chi energy. In the Indian system this energy, known as shakti, is usually considered
to be within the human body in the seven major energy centers and twenty-four
minor energy centers. These energy centers are called chakras, meaning ‘wheel’ in
Sanskrit.
Chakras get closed by negative emotions and open up with positive emotions.
The heart chakra which can shrink to a coat button size through lack of attention
can grow to a cartwheel size when giving out love. If a Kirlian photo had been
taken of you all during the earlier exercise experience happiness, you would have
seen yourself filling this room with your expanded chakras.
Each chakra is associated with an emotional state and is blocked by the negative
emotion in that state. For instance the muladhara chakra located at the base of the
spine is linked to base emotions of survival such as lust, anger, greed and fantasy
and is blocked by excesses in these emotions. Since 85% of our energy is located
in this chakra a blocked muladhara saps one’s ability to live. Re energizing the
muladhara can be done through a meditation technique that reduces these
negative emotions.
It is now well established that we use less than 10% of our brain power; the rest
we call unconscious or sub conscious energy and its use is considered esoteric and
strange. Biologists tell us that less than 5% of our biological system is ever used;
the rest is stand by. We have within us 72,000 energy centers and pathways of
which we use at best 14,000. The rest is never used! There is no greater misuse
of available resources than the way we misuse the resources of the human
system.
A small story…
After World War II, departing soldiers from near a remote tribal area in Asia left an
airplane behind as it was too difficult to move it out and fly. The villagers when
they felt safe to scout the area where the soldiers had been were amazed to see
this contraption as they had never seen anything like that before. They looked at
the wings, the propeller, climbed up and went into the cabin. However they
recognized one thing on this strange apparition, it had wheels and so did the
bullock cart in the village. They said this was a very special bullock cart that God
had sent them and celebrated and started using it as bullock cart.
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Sometime after a local boy who had gone to study in the nearest town went inside
the cabin and started pulling at the various controls. Suddenly the engine roared
into action and he had heard this sound before in a tractor. He managed to move
the plane by engaging its gears and he explained to the amazed villagers what a
tractor was. There was great celebration and now the plane started getting used
as a tractor.
A while later a war veteran passed by the village, by now prosperous what with
the tractor. He saw the plane being used as a tractor; he was shocked and
explained to them that this machine could fly. The villagers wouldn’t believe him.
When he persisted they panicked and they did not want to fly. It was simply too
dangerous. Finally he managed to convince them to let him fly the contraption
with bated breath the villagers watched as he took the plane up circled the village
and landed. There was uproar and celebration.
We are all like the tribal people. We are all flying machines. We neither know our
own potential nor possess the knowledge to activate that potential. Even when
someone tells us of our potential we disbelieve him immediately. Often we chase
him out. We panic. When someone dares offer us the know-how to make us fly we
call him a madman. We seem happy using a flying machine as a bullock cart or
quite often a pulling cart. What a waste!
Most of us would rather crawl like a snail and be safe rather than soar free like a
bird since we are scared we may risk breaking a wing.
Discussion: Are you ready to realize your potential? Are you holding back?
Meditation
Meditation techniques that we teach you in LBP Level 1, are the know-how that the
pilot has to have in order to fly the machine using the chakras which are the
engine and the transmission system. Even if we do not wish to utilize the full
potential of the powerful machine that we are, for even reasonable performance
we need to keep the chakras in good order for our well being. Most of our
ailments, physical and mental are as a result of blocked chakras.
All it takes is a few minutes each day once you know how to energize
your chakras through meditation.
Sleep provides rest to our system by lowering the metabolic rate by 8%, which is
enough to rejuvenate you for about 16 hours. In contrast, meditation lowers the
metabolic rate by 24% (Dr. Howard Johnson). Effects of even simple meditation
techniques overall body and mind health has been well established.
In LBP Level 1, Nithyananda has developed from ancient practices of all great
religions, an integrated set of techniques that are eclectic, fool proof and with no
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side effects. These are active meditation techniques that are joy and fun to
practice.
Discussion on how to of meditation; avoid going into details of other meditation

systems; do not be negative about any other system.
Very Important:
Following guidelines must be explained clearly and repeated the second day;
1. All meditation techniques are designed by Nithyananda and are to be

observed very strictly. Do not use creativity to suit your convenience.
2. Those with heart ailments, other physical limitations, post surgery patients,
pregnant women etc should not strain themselves during physically
exhausting meditation techniques such as Manipuraka Shuddhi, Dukkha
Harana, Visuddhi Kriya etc.
3. When participants open their eyes after each meditation, Acharyas should
not stand in front of their vision, which is not good for Acharyas. Stay on one
side and come in centre stage after a few minutes after they have settled
down.
4. Do not use healing picture of Nithyananda. Place Nithyananda’s cut out that
will be given to organizers/Acharyas behind Acharya seat.
5. Acharyas must sit cross legged as far as possible on a sofa like seat, and not
make unnecessary physical distracting movements. Women should be
particularly careful with body language.
6. As far as possible, separate relatives and friends in the audience.
7. Acharyas should not participate in dancing, which should be referred to as

ananda kirtans. Co-Acharyas and volunteers may with discretion primarily to
motivate audience.
8. Do not allow participants to prostrate to Acharyas.
9. Do not enter into unrelated discussions, gossip or comparison with other

Acharyas.
10. Do remember that Nithyananda speaks from the tongues of ordained

Acharyas. Ahat Acharyas say will happen. Do not ever use negative
expressions that may harm listeners.
11. Muladhara is one chakra that should never be focused on.
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12.Advise to participants post LBP Level 1;
- As far as possible meditate at the same time, same location, same posture,
wear loose clothing; will allow mind to be disciplined.
- Though morning is ideal, say 6:30am/pm to 7:00am/pm, one can meditate any
time, any place, anyhow, once you are used to meditative practice and are
comfortable; try not to meditate within 2 hours of a major meal, and within 2
hours before sleeping, and not to eat, shower etc for 30 minutes after
meditation.
- If one wears a rudraksha or red sandal wood mala during meditation, it will help
retain energy generated during meditation.
- Since meditation is awareness of the here and now, complete involvement is

necessary; thoughts just need to be witnessed, they will drop off on their own;
no need to try to stop thoughts; do not create thoughts or nourish them.
We shall now fully commit ourselves to our personal transformation that follows
today and tomorrow. This is a commitment each of you makes to yourself, not to
the Acharya. We call it a sthira sankalpa.
Since many of you have attended a lot of other meditation programs, I request
you to keep all that away just for the next 36 hours. If you bring all the old
knowledge, you will either agree or disagree with me. Disagreeing will not allow
you to do the meditation is lost. Agreeing will create a thought that you already
know. The moment you create that mentality, you stop following the meditation,
the enthusiasm is lost. Just be here like an innocent child so that you will have the
curiosity to explore every inch. Enjoy yourself completely; even if you miss the
joke, don’t miss the laughter. Even if you miss a couple of statements, don’t miss
the meditation. Try to put in your whole effort to experience it.
Be with me Now and Here, or you will end up being Nowhere! We will take a
sankalpa, a commitment, to make an effort to commit to this course for the next
36 hrs. Close your eyes and make a commitment to yourself:
Physically, mentally and emotionally, I will put my complete effort to

experiencing meditation and to channelize all my efforts to experience
the meditation.
Relax.
In Bhaja Govindam Sankara says;
satsangatve nissangatvam
nissangatve nirmohatvam
nirmohatve nicchhalitatvam
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nicchhalitatve jeevan muktihi
‘Company of people seeking Truth leads to non attachment; non attachment leads
to no desire; no desire leads to no mind; no mind leads to enlightenment’.
This is your first step.
For the next two days you are all going to be together. It is important you get to
know each other, by name and as to who you are. Please introduce yourself to
everyone else here.
Please choose a person who you do not know as a partner for the next two days.
Please take care of that person’s needs for the next two days. Let that person eat
before you do, for instance.
Please refrain from talking unnecessarily the next two days. Talking reduces and
wastes your energy of meditation. It also confuses you when you discuss your
experiences with others who are also beginners. Share your experiences with me if
you need clarifications.
Please also refrain from eating meat, from smoking and from alcohol today, tonight
and tomorrow. This will help your meditation.
Questions
1. I am always in Bliss. What more can this course give me?
It is good to hear that we have amidst us a person who is in happiness all the
time. Happiness is the starting point of Bliss. You could probably deepen your
happiness in this program You might share it with us as the program
proceeds.
2. How is your meditation program different from others?
They are not necessarily different. There are many ways to awareness, which
is the goal of meditation. The techniques we present have their origin from
many thousands of years ago, from realized Masters and practiced by
generations after generations of wisdom seekers with fool proof results and
with no side effects.
3. You talk about Bliss. I take Bliss by taking drugs (alcohol,

cigarettes). What is the difference?
Probe as to how long the bliss lasts; is it dependent on the ***. You need to
keep increasing the dosage continuously to obtain constantly decreasing
benefits. Your happiness here is dependent on a crutch. (or) If you love
driving cars or playing sports, the bliss lasts as long as you indulge in the
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activity. Bliss through internal meditation is not dependent on external

factors.
4. If you say that the bliss you reach is eternal I would say you are
bluffing.
So would I have before learning and using these techniques? Some of these
are experiential. The best way we can support the efficacy of the techniques
is through testimonies of volunteers.
5. Why should I leave my shoes outside?
For hygienic reasons. Not to bring dust from outside.
6. I am looking for enlightenment.
Enlightenment is not a force process; it happens when the chase is

abandoned; maturity to drop the chase/ acquisition happens when all
chakras up to the Ajna are awakened and the ego also drops
Additional Reading Material to internalize
‘Meditation, What It Is Not’ (From Nithyananda’s Discourses)
It is easier to explain what meditation is not, rather than defining what meditation
is.
When we ask - ‘What is meditation?’ all of us immediately imagine an old man with
a long beard on the banks of a river, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed and
moving his lips in recitation of mantras. Today, if we tell you to sit in silence and
control you’re mind, if we tell you to calm down your mind and remain blissful,
what will happen? People tell us ‘When we sit for meditation, so many thoughts
gush out. We don’t know their source and don’t know how to control them. We feel
we are mad’.
Meditation is not sitting in a corner, alone, in a cross legged position, with back
pain, knee pain, neck pain, complaints, saying, ‘I am not able to control my mind’,
all these things! Meditation is all about making a shift in your Consciousness. The
16
moment you bring yourself to the present, you feel enthusiastic, alive, joyful and
blissful. So the cognitive shift or shift in your Energy is what I call meditation
The condition of a man who tries to calm his mind by mantras today is most likely
to be like the person who was told to meditate not thinking about a monkey; all
that he could see were monkeys whenever he sat down to meditate. During the
age of Patanjali, man was able to calm his mind by meditating with mantras. At
that time, Man was simple with no complex cerebral layers, hence these
techniques worked. Today, methods adopting silence will not help. Man has
become neurotic and complicated. Neurosis has become the normal state of man.
With the growth of Science and Consumerism, all of us have become neurotic. Like
how the bullock cart is outdated, so also are the bullock cart techniques. With
those techniques, you will be able to travel at the speed of a bullock cart. This is
the jet age. You should be able to travel at jet speed in your inner space with
techniques designed by modern day masters and mystics.
Spiritual practices or sadhanas in the Indian tradition usually follow one of three
paths; the first, one of puja or rituals which require extensive preparation, and
which is physical; the second is mantra japa, repetition of a word constantly; the
third is dhyana, the silent contemplation.
In puja or ritualistic sadhanas which may also include practices of yoga the process
has the danger of becoming mechanical losing its original objective. How many
times have we seen priests intoning slokas and sutras mechanically during a puja
or a yagna, their mind far away focused on other mundane matters? Mothers and
grandmothers chanting ashtotras and sahasranamas, more worried about what
number they are on and keen to finish and get it over with. It requires great
dedication, discipline and fixity of purpose to practice the ritualistic routes to
progress spiritually. Moreover these practices are gross in nature, verbalized and
full of physical interventions that continuously keep the mind occupied with
thoughts and with forms.
With mantra japa the physical grossness is reduced and the possibility to focus
intensely is increased. However, the very fact that the mind is focused on a word,
which is what a mantra is, means that there is constant verbalization and
visualization following the word. The mind is engaged in the form and in thoughts.
This limits the spiritual progress that can be made using this process. As long as
we are in the form we are limited.
All sages agree that in the final analysis Truth is formless. Whether it is Sankara
who propounded Advaita, or Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who was constantly with
the form of Mother Kali, or Ramana Maharishi with his self enquiry process for
liberation, all these enlightened Masters unanimously agree that the Absolute
Brahman is formless. The formless Truth is not possible to achieve with any process
involving words and physical activity.
17
Dhyana or Meditation is a non verbal technique that is subtle and is focused on

awareness and the present. Dhyana is the path to shed maya, our illusions and
fantasies and to reach enlightenment.
Patanjali’s yoga sutras define various steps to enlightenment. The first step yama
alone comprises five steps, all quite strenuous. Celibacy, truth, non violence, not
stealing, not possessing. Only after you practice all these steps and master them
are you qualified to move up to the next step in yogic accomplishment. In the
present day world Patanjali’s techniques take a lot of time. To realize Truth through
yoga of any form would probably take many births, and you will forget what you
started in this birth, when you start your next!
Dhyana or meditation is the answer to enlightenment in this age. It’s foolproof and
without side effects. The only side effect is bliss and realization of your own Self. To
start dhyana, all you need to be is a human being, nothing more. A Being with
Consciousness is the only requirement to embark upon a spiritual path. The very
desire that you wish to start on this path is a true indication that you are qualified.
We are all part of the cosmic energy. Atman and brahman are cosmic energy at
different planes; one at the cosmic level and the other at the individual level; both
are of infinite potential.
Says the Taittreya Upanishad: ‘From the Atman came Akasha; from Akasha came
Vayu; from Vayu came Agni; from Agni came Apa (water); from Apa came Prithvi;
from Prithvi Aushada (herbs); from Aushada came Anna (food); from Anna came
the human, the man’.
Man can access four out of the five elemental energies listed above directly; from
the earth he gets food; from water he quenches thirst; from agni he derives
warmth; through vayu he breathes; however he has no means to abstract energy
from akasha which is the subtlest, and the most expansive of the five elemental
energies. The only way he can do this is through dhyana, meditation.
Cosmic energy is not just power. Power or bala is animal strength; energy or shakti
is power with consciousness; energy is intelligent. Humans are the only species on
planet earth who have this potential for Shakti, as they alone have consciousness.
For them to be in this energy field, they need to meditate.
.
Meditation is the greatest art or science to make your Being beautiful and blissful.
It is not a faith system or a religious belief. It is something that can directly touch
your life and transform your Being. Meditation is a science to transform your life.
A simple meditation technique that you can practice straight away is a Buddhist
technique called vipassana. Vipassana is to look inwards as opposed to upassana
which is looking outwards. Puja and mantra are all upassana techniques.
You have to inhale and exhale is it not? Am I right? That is enough! Start witnessing
18
you breath, your inhalation and exhalation. Start observing that, it will lead you to
bliss. Actually nothing more needs to be done to search for bliss. Just bring yourself
more to the present. Whatever else you do, work, bathe, dance or sleep, you will
surely have time to inhale or exhale? When you do the inhaling and exhaling, just
add awareness also to it, it will put you straight away in the present moment. The
present moment leads you to bliss. Living in the present, the power of NOW
straight away leads you to bliss.
This is vipassana, a very powerful meditation technique that all can use safely.
See, when you start searching things from outside, you are searching for the
impossible. It can never happen. It is like trying to do housekeeping in your
dreams! You buy a big house in your dreams, try to keep it clean and neat and
suddenly we wake up and everything is lost. Like that, we have so many fantasies
about the future and the past and suddenly we wake up and there is nothing.
On Planet Earth, whenever you hang behind the past and the future, you are
wasting the present moment, the precious present moment in which you can live,
which you can just enjoy, where you can just feel the Existence. Instead we make
ourselves continuously dull. Whenever we are drowned in the past or in the future,
we again and again miss the present - the life, the Life Force. If you bring yourself
to the present, even your inhaling and exhaling quality will be different.
The moment the Energy shift happens in your Being, that energy shift is what I call
meditation. Meditation is not sitting in a corner, alone, in a cross legged position,
with back pain, knee pain, neck pain, complaints, saying – ‘I am not able to control
my mind’, all these things! Meditation is all about making a shift in your
Consciousness. The moment you bring yourself to the present, you feel
enthusiastic, alive, joyful and blissful. So the cognitive shift or shift in your Energy
is what I call meditation.
Just consciously inhale and exhale as long a possible, whenever you remember.
The moment you consciously start breathing, you start witnessing your thoughts.
No thought can escape from your Being. Usually, we continuously create negative
inner chattering. We create negative thoughts about ourselves. We create guilt; we
create negative patterns of thinking. Our thought structure is very powerful. Your
life is nothing but your thinking structure. You can create or destroy anything just
by your thoughts. So, the moment you are aware of your breathing, you will be
aware of your thoughts. The moment you are aware of your thoughts, you simply
alter it to a positive thinking structure. You don't have to waste time in correcting
or altering it. The moment you are aware, automatically it gets corrected by itself.
The power of awareness simply transforms your thinking structure into positive
Energy.
What we do not realize is that even our thoughts have power. Brihadaranya
Upanishad says: ‘As our thoughts are so are our will; as our will is so is our action;
as we act, we become. Our lives are driven by our thoughts. Thoughts are energy.
19
Cosmic energy is linked to individual energy. The separation we see is only our
illusion. It is possible for us to tap into the inexhaustible cosmic energy, instead of
which we choose to live in shackled compartments of depleted energy.
There are a number of other meditation techniques that we teach in our courses;
each will have a specific objective. In the LBP Level 1 we take you through
meditation techniques to energize the chakras, the energy centers in the body. We
take you through meditations that are joyous and fun; they are dynamic and easy
to follow. These techniques are eclectic drawn from all major spiritual practices of
the world. These have been practiced for thousands of years by generations of our
ancestors; they are foolproof in execution and have no side effects. All you lose if
you do not practice the meditation for a day is the loss of that day’s experience.
Once you have picked up this magical fruit and tasted it, you never want to put it
down.
Meditation techniques that we teach you in LBP Level 1 are the know-how that the
pilot has to have, to fly the machine of your mind body system, using the chakras
which are the engine and the transmission system. Even if we do not wish to
utilize the full potential of the powerful machine that we are, for even reasonable
performance we need to keep the chakras in good order for our well being. Most of
our ailments, physical and mental are as a result of blocked chakras.
All it takes is a few minutes each day once you know how to energize your chakras
through meditation.
Sleep provides rest to our system by lowering the metabolic rate by 8%, which is
enough to rejuvenate you for about 16 hours. In contrast, meditation lowers the
metabolic rate by 24%. Effects of even simple meditation techniques overall body
and mind health has been well established.
These techniques make Bliss flower in you by throwing out cerebral layers. What
exactly are these cerebral layers? They are the complications in the mind created
by media that include the television, the radio, the newspapers and the billboards.
Consumerist ideas are continuously being injected into your Being. You are
hypnotized and mesmerized. You read and see the same things everywhere you
go. In a half-dazed condition, you go to the shop and ask for the same thing as
well. You need to unload these suppressions and desires in order to be able to sit
calmly. Be very clear that I am trying to force out the insanity in you and not trying
to force in sanity in you. You are already Nithyananda (Eternal Bliss). That is your
natural state. We just need to cut the layers of emotional bocks covering this bliss,
so that you realize the state that you are already in.
From Swami’s Conscious talk in Seattle radio talk;
You have to inhale and exhale is it not? Am I right? That is enough! Start witnessing
it, start observing that, it will lead you to bliss. Actually nothing more needs to be
20
done to search for bliss. Just bring yourself more to the present. Whether you pay
bills or your duty or whatever, you will surely have time to inhale or exhale? When
you do the inhaling and exhaling, just add awareness also to it, it will put you
straight away in the present moment. The present moment leads you to bliss.
Living in the present, the power of NOW straight away leads you to bliss.
Interveiwer: So the reason you are saying we are not in bliss is that because we
are away from the present?
Yes. We are stuck in the past or in the future. We act from the reactive mind
instead of the active mind. Being active is different from being reactive. We are
continuously reacting. Either from past memories or from the anxiety of the future,
we respond to the present and destroy the present, the beauty of the present.
According to me, if you can bring yourself to present, that is enough, simply you
will be in bliss. When we are not able to digest the present, we always hang behind
the past or behind the future. See also, to be in bliss, you do not need any
separate time. Even your daily activity is OK. You don’t need to go away
somewhere separately to a retreat or to a separate place. Just again and again,
bring most of your energy to the present. Now, if you have 80% of your energy in
the past and in the future, reduce it and bring about 50% to the present. Slowly
bring maximum energy to the present. The more you bring it to the present, the
more you are alive, joyful; blissful and exciting.
Interviewer: I think especially in our culture, we feel that separation. We are

searching in the wrong places, we are searching outside of ourselves and I think
that is very true of our culture, wouldn’t you say?
See when you start searching things from outside, you are searching for the
impossible. It can never happen. It’s like trying to do housekeeping in your dreams!
You buy a big house in your dreams, try to keep it clean and neat and suddenly we
wake up and everything is lost. Like that, we have so many fantasies about the
future and the past and suddenly we wake up and there is nothing. On Planet
Earth, whenever you hang behind the past and the future, you are wasting the
present moment, the precious present moment in which you can live, which you
can just enjoy, where you can just feel the Existence. Instead we make ourselves
continuously dull. Whenever we are drowned in the past or in the future, we again
and again miss the present, the life; the Life Force. If you bring yourself to the
present, even your inhaling and exhaling quality will be different. The moment the
Energy shift happens in your Being, that energy shift is what I call meditation.
Meditation is not sitting in a corner, alone, in a cross legged position, with back
pain, knee pain, neck pain, complaints, saying – ‘I am not able to control my mind,
all these things! Meditation is all about making a shift in your Consciousness. The
moment you bring yourself to the present, you feel enthusiastic, alive, joyful and
blissful. So the cognitive shift or shift in your Energy is what i call meditation.
Interviewer: Our existence here - is it fate or is it our choice?
21
Hmm… a nice question! Your present moment is the totality of all your past
decisions. Now you are here in this studio. You decided to wake up early, take the
proper route, check in here, sit here and continue to sit. Like this, all your past
decisions form the present. So your future is going to be all your present decisions.
Why do we think that it is fate? It is because we make decisions unconsciously and
don't expect some results. But when that result happens, we say it is fate. When
we make decisions which bring results that we did not expect, we call it fate. When
we make conscious decisions, we will be aware of the side effects and after effects.
When we are not aware of the side effects and after effects, we call it fate.
Actually, Life is your pure choice. It is we who make the decision, never somebody
else for us. God is so gracious, even though the world is his, he allows us to have
our choice!
Interviewer: Swami, let me ask you this because we come up with this often
people. We feel that even feeling blissful or peaceful is a choice?
Yes, it is a pure choice. It is our choice to be blissful. There are only 2 kinds of life. If
you look at the side where you have not got certain things, which life has not given
you, you can make a big list which starts with the limousine and goes beyond
limousine, longer than the limousine! The other side is where you make a list of
what all life has given us. You can start with your spectacles. So much we have
been showered with. Both the lists are endless, infinite. Even inhaling and exhaling
is a gift to us, we have not earned it. Every singe day is a gift given to us. OK, now
we have the two lists. It is up to us to decide which side of life we are going to see.
Whether we are going to look at the things not given to us and make our live dull,
dead, worrying and dragging and depressing or look at the things that have been
showered on us and enjoy and make our lives beautiful, loving and blissful. It is
purely your choice.
Interviewer: Swami, do you really believe that the inhaling and exhaling
technique is the key to bliss?
Yes. Just consciously inhaling and exhaling as long a possible, whenever you
remember. The moment you consciously start breathing, you start witnessing your
thoughts. No thought can escape from your Being. Usually, we continuously create
negative inner chattering. We create negative thoughts about ourselves. We create
guilt, we create negative patterns of thinking. Our thought structure is very
powerful. Your life is nothing but your thinking structure. You can create or destroy
anything just by your thoughts. So, the moment you are aware of your breathing,
you will be aware of your thoughts. The moment you are aware of your thoughts,
you simply alter it to a positive thinking structure. You don't have to waste time in
correcting or altering it. The moment you are aware, automatically it gets
corrected by itself. The power of awareness simply transforms your thinking
structure into live energy.
22
What we do not realize is that even our thoughts have power. Brihadaranya
Upanishad says, ‘As our thoughts are so are our will; as our will is so is our action;
as we act, we become’. Our lives are driven by our thoughts. Thoughts are energy.
Cosmic energy is linked to individual energy. The separation we see is only our
illusion. It is possible for us to tap into the inexhaustible cosmic energy, instead of
which we choose to live in shackled compartments of depleted energy.
Spiritual practices or sadhanas in the Indian tradition usually follow one of three
paths. The first, one of puja or rituals which require extensive preparation, and
which is physical; the second is mantra japa, repetition of a word constantly; the
third is dhyana, the silent contemplation.
In puja or ritualistic sadhanas which may also include practices of yoga etc the
process is under danger of becoming mechanical losing its original objective. This
also happens to a lesser extent with japa, unless the mantra is initiated by a living
Master and is practiced with great awareness. Dhyana is the most powerful of the
three techniques and the subtlest; dhyana is pure awareness, in the here and now.
Dhyana is the path to shed maya, and to enlightenment.
Are We Qualified?
Many people want to know if they are qualified for a spiritual awakening.
We are constantly in doubt about our own potential. We are part of the divine.
Problem is that we do not remember that we are. When someone does tell that we
are, we think that such people are crazy.
A man once asked Ramana Maharishi whether he was qualified enough to pursue
the spiritual path and the Sage countered, ‘Are you alive?’ The person said, ‘Of
course, yes’. Maharishi said with finality, ‘Then you are qualified enough’.
Religious orders and their priests create this doubt in us, so that we may become
dependent on them for our qualification. We may need to ask them as to what
qualifications they themselves possess to ask us the question. A Master never
would. Organized religions often counter spirituality. Spirituality is about
discovering who we are? It is the search for the ultimate Truth about us and our
relationship with our Creator. Religions once organized are more concerned about
power and whatever leads to power, whether control, fear or money. It’s the
confusion between religion and spirituality that also leads to this question in us. We
are constantly told that we are sinners and as such incompetent to enter the
doorway of our Creator. This is nonsense.
If one keeps questioning one’s capability, even after decades of rigorous sadhanas
one would feel unqualified. The concept of qualification, as with guilt, is brought in
23
to exploit and bind you mentally. As with guilt it needs to be dropped for us to
move on successfully.
A beautiful Zen story goes thus; a man asks a Master, ‘Master, am I qualified for
spiritual progress? I feel there are many obstructions’. Replied the Master, ‘The
word obstruction is the only obstruction, nothing else’.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra define various steps to enlightenment. The first step yama
comprises five steps, all quite strenuous: celibacy, truth, non violence, not stealing,
not possessing. Only after you practice all these steps and master them are you
qualified to move up to the next step in yogic accomplishment.
A man came and asked me, ‘Master, I am not qualified in these steps. I have never
practiced yama and niyama. How can I learn yoga?’
I said to him, ‘If you are already qualified in these steps you do not need yoga!’
Maturity and meditation help each other and help us all. Maturity comes with
knowledge and experience and gives us energy; and the energy reinforces
maturity. Meditation helps us focus that energy in the right direction to make
spiritual progress.
In the present day world Patanjali’s techniques take a lot of time. To realize Truth
through yoga of any form would probably take many births, and you will forget
what you started in this birth, when you start your next!
Dhyana or meditation is the answer to enlightenment in this age. It’s foolproof and
without side effects. The only side effect is bliss and realization of your own Self. To
start dhyana, all you need to be is a human being, nothing more. A Being with
Consciousness is the only requirement to embark upon a spiritual path. The very
desire that you wish to start on this path is a true indication that you are qualified.
It is said in Tao, ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’.
Once you are on the path, the path helps you on. It’s the first step that breaks the
inertia and get you moving. That is enough for you to move towards the end goal.
Take that step now!
From Nithyananda’s Discourses:
Meditation is the greatest art or science to make your Being beautiful and blissful.
It is not a faith system or a religious belief. It is something that can directly touch
your life and transform your Being. Meditation is a science to transform your life.
When we ask, ‘What is meditation?’ all of us immediately imagine an old man with
a long beard on the banks of a river, sitting cross-legged with eyes closed and
24
moving his lips in recitation of mantras. Today, if we tell you to sit in silence and
control you’re mind, if we tell you to calm down your mind and remain blissful,
what will happen? People tell us, ‘When we sit for meditation, so many thoughts
gush out. We don’t know their source and don’t know how to control them. We feel
we are mad’.
A small story…
Once a man wanted to meditate and asked his Guru, ‘Give me a mantra to
meditate with’. The Guru gave him a mantra and told him, ‘You will achieve your
desires when you meditate with this but on one condition. You should not think of
a monkey when you meditate. If you happen to think of a monkey, have a bath and
sit down again for meditation’.
The man was amused at this condition and wondered why he would ever think of a
monkey while meditating. However he agreed and went back home. He sat for
meditation. The first thing that came to his mind was the monkey. He promptly got
up, had a bath and sat down again for meditation. No sooner did he close his eyes
than the monkey came back to him. He got up, had a bath and sat down yet again
for meditation. Every time he sat down for meditation, the monkey surfaced in his
mind. The 10th time, the monkey came to him while he was in his bath itself. He
became obsessed with the monkey. He fled to his Guru and begged him to take
back the mantra and the monkey!
This is most likely the condition of a man who tries to calm his mind by mantras
today. During the age of Patanjali, man was able to calm his mind by meditating
with mantras. At that time, Man was simple with no complex cerebral layers, hence
these techniques worked. Today, methods adopting silence will not help. Man has
become neurotic and complicated. Neurosis has become the normal state of man.
With the growth of Science and Consumerism, all of us have become neurotic. Like
how the bullock cart is outdated, so also are the bullock cart techniques. With
those techniques, you will be able to travel at the speed of a bullock cart. This is
the jet age. You should be able to travel at jet speed in your inner space with
techniques designed by Modern day Masters and Mystics.
The meditation techniques we are about to take you through are joyous and fun;
they are dynamic and easy to follow. These techniques are eclectic drawn from all
major spiritual practices of the world. These have been practiced for thousands of
years by generations of our ancestors; they are foolproof in execution and have no
side effects. All you lose if you do not practice the meditation for a day is the loss
of that day’s experience. Once you have picked up this magical fruit and tasted it,
you never want to put it down.
These techniques make Bliss flower in you by throwing out cerebral layers. What
exactly are these cerebral layers? They are the complications in the mind created
by media that include the television, the radio, the newspapers and the billboards.
Consumerist ideas are continuously being injected into your Being. You are
25
hypnotized and mesmerized. You read and see the same things everywhere you
go. In a half-dazed condition, you go to the shop and ask for the same thing as
well. You need to unload these suppressions and desires in order to be able to sit
calmly. Be very clear that I am trying to force out the insanity in you and not trying
to force in sanity in you. You are already Nithyananda (Eternal Bliss). That is your
natural state. We just need to cut the layers of emotional bocks covering this bliss.
Scientist is one who creates a formula to reproduce spontaneously and repetitively

something that happens in the external world. Mystic is one who creates a formula
to reproduce spontaneously and repetitively something that happens in the
internal world, within his own self. Paramahamsa is one who is able to reproduce in
others the same experiences that happened to him, spontaneously and repetitively
through a formula.)
When addressing groups such as Corporate or Clubs etc …
Maybe useful to stress on material success such as in career, interpersonal

relationship, success in business etc. Awakened/ activated chakras will direct their
energy with intelligence in the right manner to fulfill aspirations. Others respond to
our awakened anahata with affection and liking. Activated chakras help in healing
one self, emotionally and psychically. A write up is below…
Seven Steps to Success:
The human system is an energy centre. Flow of energy within this system is
disrupted and dis-eased due to emotional blocks. Normally we use less than 5% of
our potential energy. Removal of these blocks to restore high energy flow that
leads to high level of performance is simple. In this program you will learn how
easy, effective and joyful the process of restoring energy to yourself can be.
Corporate and personal success has never been easier!
Benefits:
1. Enhance Performance and Productivity: Increased energy levels and

availability of techniques that focus this energy to productive purposes helps
achieve much greater levels of performance than ever before. Causes of
negative emotions of anxiety, worry, fears, anger etc are understood and
dropped far more often, leading to far less stress.
2. Improving Interpersonal Relationships: As a child human beings give

freely; consequently they also receive freely. Over time and with growing
contact with the world outside we block our pathway to happiness by
blocking our ability to give freely, and judging ourselves by others'
perceptions. It is possible at any time to remove these blocks and rediscover
our innate ability to give without reciprocity and experience joy. Performance
in any field improves as a result. People enjoy your company.
26
3. Greater satisfaction with oneself and environment: The awakened

energy within us is intelligent and keeps our expectations under control and
our desires in balance. In a corporate environment this alone leads to
significantly better job satisfaction leading to lowered attrition, without in
any way compromising upon quantity and quality of performance.
4. Healing Yourself: It is well established that the mind has the power to heal
the body. The human body is dis-eased when its energy pathways
are disrupted due to physical, psychological and psychic blocks. Our
emotions play a crucial part in creating illnesses. Resolution of emotional
blocks lead to better health, psychological and physiological, leading to
better performance.
Effects on Stress
1. Stress is essential to living. It's the human system response to external and
internal stimuli. Stress related responses such as 'fight or flight' govern
survival by generating adrenaline. Problem is coping with excess stress, and
learning how not to generate stress.
2. Techniques often recommended to cope with stress such as relaxation

techniques, both physical e.g. massage and psychological e.g. total
relaxation etc are symptomatic, only address the event temporarily.
3. Some meditation techniques e.g. TM go beyond and provide longer lasting

benefits that are proven to reduce blood pressure, metabolic rate etc. Dr
Howard Johnson of Harvard Medical School in his seminal book Relaxation
Response on TM. However, even here is no attempt is made to seek out the
source of stress to combat.
4. Techniques such as vipassana do seek out the first level source of stress
which are external and internal stimuli, address these through anticipation by
making the body more sensitive to these stimuli, therefore far more effective
in anticipating and combating stress, but are quite difficult practices. Even
these do not attack the ultimate emotional source of stress, they go only up
to the body response.
5. For the first time we have techniques where the primal source of stress
which are the emotional blocks/ negative emotional accumulations in the
human system. these are sought to be understood and resolved; this is both
a permanent cathartic process to be rid of accumulated stress baggage,
and a continuing refresher process to fill one's system with positive energy
that helps in combating the re accumulation of stressful emotions such as
fear, greed, worry, jealousy etc.
27
6. One time de-cleansing of one's system to energize/activate the human

system energy centres which in turn burn out negative emotions, coupled
with regular daily practice of recommended techniques that generate
positive energy are guaranteed to destress our body/ mind system and lead
to a healthier, happier life.
Effects on Intuition and intelligence
1. All humans are born with the power to go within ourselves to arrive at
solutions to problems that face us day to day. This is intuition. Animals and
infants use this. Human infants as they grow into adulthood replace this
intuition by rationality.
2. The intuitive system wired into us is not a logical or sequential process . it is

a holistic , quantum process. This process to some extent is governed by the
right brain, and is more active when there is substantial interactivity
between the two brain halves (this was considered to be far better with
women, now doubted!)
3. Meditational activities that initiate alpha wave level brain activity activate
the right brain and brain interactivity, and thus improve the intuitional
response which is a powerful gut feel response which is beyond rationality
and is custom fitted to each individual.
4. Techniques helps promote intuitive decision making in two ways. Firstly by

removing all emotional baggage and blocks in the body energy centers i.e.
all poisons that block intuition, and secondly by refilling these energy
centers.
5. In addition specific exercises the seat of intuition and intelligence, open up

our ability to go within and allow this facility which has always been present
within us to flourish and be productive.
IMPORTANT
When doing independent ninety minutes introduction sessions with

mahamantra initiation, Nithyananda recommends that we deal with the
subject of ‘How the Mind Works’, about ‘Intuition’ etc which is covered in
this document under ajna chakra.
This is a talk I (compiler of this manual) have used with corporate groups:
I have no script. What I speak to you, it is from my heart. All my corporate life I had
been used to talking through audio visuals and power points, always from head.
The listener neither reads what’s on the screen nor listens to you fully. He is in a
state of confusion, which is where we want him most of the time, because we
ourselves are so confused about what we say.
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Now, on the other hand, there is no screen. I am sitting. You are focused. To
whatever extent possible in this given surroundings your senses are to some
extent or other stilled. Let’s hope for the best.
Like most of you I spent the best of my years in the corporate world. Like most of
you I too believed my bosses when they said that the sky is the limit. That was the
carrot dangling before the donkey. That was the motivation. That was the purpose.
The higher I reached in the hierarchy the sky still seemed just that far. Perhaps not
far in terms of the power, poison and pre-quisites, but certainly in terms of the
freedom that the status promised. As my Guru says I had the status, not the state.
It’s not without reason every one loves to lampoon the salary man, from Dilbert to
Lakshman. We are the robot, and the puppet at various echelons of an organization
pulled and pushed by others, doing rarely what one wished to do. We find reasons
to do things on behalf of the corporation that as right thinking individuals we would
rarely do. We develop a corporate brain that functions quite differently from our
personal mind. The ethical and moral value systems of that corporate brain are
very often quite different and socially inferior to those of our personal brain.
The rare mavericks who persist in doing what they wish to do soon find themselves
outside at some point or another.
Simon Covey warns us to differentiate between efficiency and effectiveness.

Climbing as fast as we can on a ladder which leads nowhere, may be a very
efficient, but not very effective way of reaching the top. Yet, for many of us, that’s
the reality of corporate culture. We climb with no specific aim in sight, except the
proverbial promise of sky is the limit handed out by our corporate bosses. Each
higher step we reach is another step in discontent. We reach depression of
success. Acquisition becomes the aim, which once reached brings no enjoyment.
After a while even the chase is mechanical, because we are programmed, not
because we wish to.
Three basic questions I have always been asked during my corporate career have
been;
1. How can we take right decisions all the time?
2. How can we keep people happy?
3. How can we be happy?
All three questions are of paramount importance because very rarely do mangers
take right decisions, keep people happy and are themselves happy.
As long as our decisions come from the intellect, the brain you can be sure they
are wrong. The intellect processes facts of the past and no facts of the past can
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predict the future, except totally accidentally. The only way you can take right
decisions are to take them in the present, where you are, here and now. Such
decisions come from your Being level, deeper than your heart and guts. They come
from the core of your energy. Because they come from the core of your energy,
and your own energy is no different from that of the Universe , and therefore of all
around you, whatever decision you take will make all others happy and you happy.
Such decisions never arise from greed, lust, fear, worry, need for attention,
jealousy, ego or discontent. They come from a deep awareness of all that is around
you, and a consciousness of all that is within you. This is not mumbo jumbo. This is
a technique that can be practiced and will lead you to that state.
Such decisions need not be altruistic and self sacrificing. They can and in all
probability be hard, materialistic decisions that benefit you and your corporation.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong in doing what we have to do to survive in
this real world; even the Gita says that survival is the key for the individual. The
issue is one of awareness of what we are doing. When we realize the full import of
what we do and why we do what we do, and what it would lead to, we are no
longer playing a game with life; we are living life as it should be.
A Zen Master and a Samurai King were walking down the beach. The King saw kids
playing building sand castles on the beach; laughing when the castles went up
high, crying when some other kid broke the castle. The King laughed and said:
what fools they are, don’t they realize it is just a game. The Zen Master looked the
King and laughed at him: At least they are children. They know they are playing a
game but get so involved that they get emotionally involved. You on the other
hand do not even realize that you are playing a game when you fight for stone
castles killing thousands of people. Who is the fool, you or the children?
When we act without guilt, fear and jealousy, and with awareness and acceptance
there is nothing wrong with whatever we do. One who without guilt enjoys wine,
women and song stays healthy physically and mentally far better than a
renunciate who lusts after these pleasures but stays out for fear he will be
polluted. Suppression and non acceptance are far more damaging to our overall
system health than acceptance, and letting go. Guilt is imposed upon us by society
not by our Being.
A teenager recently taught me wisdom. Talking to her at her parents’ house where
I stayed before a course I jokingly asked how hard she had to try to be different.
‘Different’ she screamed out. ‘All I have to do all the time is to conform, conform to
my peers. I can not exist if I am different.’ She had the awareness at 14 why she
was doing what. As adults we find excuses to hide from that truth. We would like to
believe that each of us ploughs a unique and different path, though all we do is to
follow others in order to survive.
We are all energy systems, as is the Universe. The cosmic energy variously called
God, Universal consciousness, Brahman or whatever is the macrocosm of which we
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are a microcosmic part. We are indivisible from this whole, whether we believe it
not, accept it or not, understand it or not. While a complete realization leads to a
state of enlightenment or permanent bliss, even a partial understanding of this
truth takes to far higher levels of awareness and happiness.
Scientists now talk of multiverses and parallel universes when they talk of outer
space. Whatever may be the word used one thing is certain. It is all one
continuum. What happens at one point affects another in time and space. Creation
of a solar system in one part of the Universe is a parallel to destruction of another
elsewhere; a big bang equals a black hole; one can not happen without another.
Despite the seeming chaos in Universe there is a definitive order.
This cause and effect is not linear. Chaos theory suggests that a butterfly fluttering
its wings in China can cause a tornado in Mexico; a bit far fetched but theoretically
true. Tsunamis result from man’s rapacity in drilling for oil and other minerals.
At another level all elements interact with us. In his book Messages from Water,
Masaru Emoto describes how water responds to his words and thoughts. Its
crystalline structure changes with the emotion with which the water sample is
addressed and amazingly reproduced in an understandable format under a
microscope.
To summarize, Universe is an energy field of which we are part; this universe acts
according to laws of cause and effect not all of which may be clear to us, nor all of
which is linear. Elements of this universal energy can interact with us and respond
to our thoughts and words.
Internally we humans are an energy system comprising 72000 energy paths of

which only 14000 are ever used. Of these seven are important energy centers
called chakras. These chakras control our emotional, mental and physical well
being. Chakras in good repair allow free flow of energy and we are at ease; blocked
chakras cause dis-ease.
The easiest way to unblock, energize or repair a blocked chakra is to direct cosmic
energy into it. The only way to do this is through meditation, which is the only
process that allows the human system to link with the akaasic, etheric or cosmic
energy.
What we are about to do now is a practice meditation on the heart or anahata

chakra that opens it up. We choose the anahata because it’s the transition point
between material desires and spiritual wants, and provides a good balance to most
of us who wish to straddle both with giving up either. Anahata controls love and
compassion. An open anahata allows us to freely give love, which in turn
automatically without conscious effort receives love. This interactive process opens
up innumerable possibilities physical, emotional, material and spiritual.
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All that you need to do is to follow instructions and plunge into this meditation with
passion and awareness. Become the meditation I beseech you, and you will derive
its full effect.
Module 2: Anahata
A small story….
There were three monkeys that found a ripe mango. They fought over it and could
not decide who has the right to eat it. ‘I found it’, said one. ‘I saw it first’, said a
second. ‘I brought you on this path’, said the third. Unable to resolve the dispute
by themselves they went to a wise old Acharya monkey. Acharya monkey told
them, ‘Don’t fight over this. Share it amongst yourself, then plant the seed and it
will grow into a big tree and you will get many more mangoes.
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Off the three went. They shared the fruit and buried the seed. One said it will water
the spot every day. The second that it will provide fertilizer and the third said that
it will watch over it. A month passed, and then another. No plant appeared as the
Acharya monkey foretold. They went and complained to the Acharya monkey. ‘See,
you made us share that one fruit. Now nothing has happened to the tree you
promised us. Acharya monkey asked each one what it was doing. First monkey said
every day it watered the spot religiously. Second monkey said it sprayed fertilizer
every day. The third one said that it made sure the seed was alright. ‘How?’, asked
the Acharya monkey. ‘Oh, I dug out the seed everyday to make sure that it was
there!’ it said.
Like this, monkey do not keep digging to see if what you learn is still in your mind
and whether it is growing. That will make sure that you do not listen to me. You will
only be worrying about whether you are learning, not listening. There is no need to
take down notes. Just listen with awareness. That’s enough.
We talked earlier about how we can benefit by meditating upon our chakras. We
unlock the unlimited potential of our Being through these techniques. A quick
recap, especially on sankalpa and open mind.
- We have seven subtle energy centers or chakras in our system. These are the
muladhara at the base of the spine. Swadishthana below the navel,
manipuraka at the navel, anahata in the heart region, vishuddhi at the throat,
ajna between the eyebrows, and sahasrara on the crown of our head.
- We start our sessions with the anahata or the heart chakra. This was the
chakra that you experienced when you thought about the happiest moment of
your life.
Anahata Chakra
The word anahata in Sanskrit is made of two words. Ahata means that which is
created. Adding ‘a’ creates the antonym, the opposite. Anahata means that which
cannot be created. When the anahata is opened completely, mystics heard the
anahata dwani, the unstruck sound of creation, OM. There is no point in chanting
OM. OM has to happen by itself. It happens when the anahata opens.
Anahata is the center of love. Not the sentimental love that mankind feels is love,
but unconditional love and compassion that enlightened Masters feel. An
awakened anahata gives you the power to attract people.
Specific substances have the power to help awakening chakras. Applying sandal
wood to the anahata region helps awaken the anahata.
Anahata is the transition point in the chakra energy system. The three chakras,
manipuraka, swadishthana and muladhara which are below the anahata are
concerned primarily with the individual and how the individual copes with issues of
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survival (lust, greed, anger in muladhara), establishment of the self (fears in

swadishthana) and aggression and ambition (in the form of worries and stress in
manipuraka). At the anahata we start relating to others in this world, and when
anahata is energized develop the capability to treat the world as an extension of
one’s own self. Beyond anahata we deal with issues arising out of our relationship
with others in the world as with comparison with others (jealousy in vishuddhi),
impressing upon others our personality (ego related issues in ajna) and the need to
move beyond wordly issues (discontent in sahasrara).
In our program, designed by Paramahamsa Nithyananda, we start with the

anahata instead of the traditional muladhara point, so that we learn to establish
ourselves in our relationship with others, which in turn depends on establishing
ourselves firmly in self image and respect.
What is Love?
Love is energy. Love is not an emotion that human kind can create. It is the
outpouring of a state of being that is pure giving, with no expectation of a return.
The average human being is incapable of such unconditional love. By unconditional

we mean unselfish love that has no expectations. What we consider love is not
unconditional love; except perhaps a mother’s love for a new born infant. Naturally
he or she seeks what he or she feels is love; be it liking, affection or attention. This
desperate need for attention, begging and demanding attention or affection, and
the constant expectation of attention without which we feel incomplete blocks the
anahata chakra. Our anahata shrinks with this demand for attention.
Conversely anahata chakra is energized by genuine love, both when we receive it

and when we are capable of giving it. Such love can not be created. It has to come
from within. Either it is there or not there. When you create, it can only be fake
love, not real love. What we term as unconditional love does not exist in the lives
of you and I. Our kind of love is always a deal, a bargain. Real rose cannot be
created, only plastic roses can be created. You can create the atmosphere for the
rose to happen. It cannot be done, it can only happen. You can create hatred, not
love.
A small story…
Charu Kiran was walking to his house when he got bitten by a dog. The doctor took
a look and announced an advanced case of rabies. Kiran was shocked. After a
while, he took a piece of paper and started writing. The doctor told him, ‘It's not
that bad, you need not hurry on writing out your will now’. ‘Oh no doctor! said
Kiran, ‘I’m making out a list of people whom I can bite’.
Most of what we feel is love is often a deal. Even between closely linked people;
even parents and children.
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A small story…
Ananda Pappaiah had stayed a bachelor with his mother for more than thirty years
and didn’t want to get married, for fear of offending her. His friends however
insisted and he got married without his mother’s knowledge. After keeping it away
from her for a few months, he decided to let her into it. ‘Ma’, he said. ‘I have a
confession to make. I got married six months back without your knowledge or
blessings’. He hung his head in shame. His mother glared at him in disbelief.
‘What?’ she cried out. ‘You mean to say that you’ve been married six months and I
am still waking up at five to pack your food!’
Love for most of us is more like a business deal. Estimating it at more

than that might give disappointment. True love is that which gives
everything and asks for nothing!
A small story…
At an old age home, the inmates were asked, ‘Why do you think God has allowed
you to reach the age of ninety?’ Bhilai Mansoor responded, ‘To test the tolerance of
our children and relatives’.
Invite participative experiences: What are your experiences of what you term
as love?
What is love as we practice it? Love can be for 3 reasons;
1. Social comfort, money, joy, sensual pleasure and outwardly things.

2. Psychological support.
3. For a good certificate (Good father, good mother etc)
At the conscious level we are able to understand in ourselves and others when we
express the ‘love’ emotion for material benefits and/or emotional benefits. When
people marry through arranged marriages without even knowing who the other
partner is there is no question of love. The marriage is purely for security reasons
or material benefit reasons. It may or may not mature into a genuine bond of love.
At least in the case of a ‘love’ marriage, there is an expressed emotional bond to
start with however temporary.
What we do not usually recognize is the desperate need all of us have to be

recognized, to be loved; our basic need for attention.
Collecting Certificates and Labels
Our life is nothing but a long signature campaign. Right from early childhood we
learn the importance of doing things in a way that get us accepted positively.
Doing what others want us to do gets us appreciated and is desirable. Doing what
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others do not want us to do gets us punished, and is undesirable. Our parents

teach us what we should do and what we should not. Then follow our teachers. We
follow based on experience of getting attention or not.
We collect labels and certificates. Good son or good daughter from parents; good
student from teachers; good boy or good girl from others, relatives, neighbors and
friends. All our activities are nothing but efforts to get a good certificate. We stand
with a book in front of people for their signature. We create a self image about
yourself only based on others’ idea about you.
Have you seen kids building castles with playing cards? You build your personality
only with the certificates you receive from others. The more the certificates, you
feel good, else you feel small.
Why do we do this? Because we don’t have a right opinion about ourselves, we

bother about others opinions about us.
If somebody takes away your certificate, the castle falls down. Whenever you feel
depressed, just observe, someone would have said something to you. Our
happiness and unhappiness is under control of others.
A small story…
Durg Chander went out shopping with his wife. After hours of window shopping, he
asked her, ‘Are you at least sure of what you came to buy?’ She replied, ‘Of course!
I am here to buy a flat-out handbag’. ‘And what’s that?’ he asked. She explained,
‘When the neighbors see it, they will be flat out!’
Our self-image is built with others’ opinions of us.
We therefore spend our whole lives maintaining others opinions of us! Isn’t it time
we nurtured our own intelligence to be our steadfast guide?
We accumulate labels as if we are a parcel being posted from one place to another.
Good father, good son etc. When we are in a western country we are considered
black; when we are in an African country we are probably considered whiter; but
we are not the labels. We are the matter inside the parcel. Our personality should
not be decided by the needs of others not by their certification, but by the force of
or own inner personality, what is within us
A small story…
Latur Singh was an actor and specialized in playing a woman. He used to walk in
and out of the house in various feminine costumes and wigs. The old man who
lived next door watched him regularly. One day, he was weeding the garden when
36
the old man came up to him and asked, ‘How do you manage so many women
without your wife knowing?’ Latur laughed and later told his wife about it. She
asked him, ‘Didn’t you tell him the truth?’ He replied, ‘Why forego my reputation!’
Our self esteem and self confidence are both built on others opinion of us, never on
our own. That is why we need to work hard on maintaining them.
If any of you feel you don’t require certification from others, you really need to be
certified into an asylum. (This can be a point of discussion).
Peer Pressure
This problem is most acute with adolescents and most dangerous. Peer pressure is
the single most critical factor that shapes the future of our young. The young
succumb to peer pressure and do what others tell them to do, because they do not
have a solid foundation that is built at home. They do not have the trust to turn to
parents for advice and guidance. Examples parents provide are so unreliable they
would rather trust some one their own age who has similar problems.
It is just our illusion that teenagers are free to do whatever they want. If you ask a
teenager they will tell you that they have no freedom, they need to part of their
group, their peers, for them to be accepted. Otherwise they are cast out. On one
hand they are under pressure from more self confident peers, and on the other
hand they are under pressure from parents who do not even try to understand the
pressures their children are going through as they grow up.
As parents it is our cardinal responsibility to build the self image of our children so
that they can feel confident about taking their own decisions. We need to be their
friends instead of turning into enemies. Though this problem has persisted for
thousands of years, in our times cyber pollution through media has made this issue
far more important.
Discuss: Peer pressure and certification and how it is the biggest problem for
adolescents/young adults.
We are like centipedes. We need 100 legs to walk. We depend on these 100 legs to
walk. Politicians need thousands to exist. We all need words of comfort to feel
good. One word is enough to put us into depression. Our whole Being collapses. We
are like children building a tower with playing cards; if one card at the bottom
collapses the tower collapses. If one certificate is withdrawn we collapse.
This is psychological slavery. Physical slavery is better than psychological slavery.

When physically enslaved we know we are slaves in the case of psychological
slavery we believe we are free, we don’t even realize we are slaves. Not only
mentally, even physically you are affected by this slavery.
Experiment about Effect of Attention
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In Chicago University they experimented on eleven different people to determine

how positive and negative attention affected people.
The experiment says:
A young healthy intelligent man wakes up and gets ready to go to work. His wife
says, ‘You are looking tired, rest’. He tells her that he is fine. He picks up the car
key and goes out. He bumps into his neighbor; neighbor exclaims, ‘What is wrong
with you? You look ill, why don’t you go to the Doctor?’
The young man ignores the comment and tells him he is fine and drives to office.
As he walks in, the receptionist looks at him with concern and says, ‘My God, look
at you, you really look ill!’ A colleague who walks past says the same thing. Our
young man now wonders what is wrong. Why is everybody telling him that he looks
unwell, when he seems to be feeling fine.
Just then his boss calls him. Boss takes one look and says, ‘You look really unwell,
are you sure you can carry on today? Why don’t you go see the Doctor?’ The young
man has had enough! He feels ill now and says he would like to go home. When he
reaches home he is running a temperature and his wife has to drive him to the
Doctor.
Sometimes this attention may even be subconscious.
A small story…
Birbal, an Enlightened Master, and Akbar his King were walking together on the
streets. They saw a sandalwood dealer and Akbar said to Birbal, ‘I don’t know why
but I feel like hanging this man’. A month later, they walked past the same
sandalwood dealer and Akbar this time said, ‘It’s strange but I feel like giving this
man some endowment now!’ 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 that if you die, the courtiers would come to buy a lot of
sandalwood from him for your funeral pyre. He sent out these negative vibrations
which prompted you to feel animosity towards him. I immediately purchased a lot
of sandalwood from him to make tables and chairs for our kingdom. Today, he feels
very grateful towards you and you have been struck by these positive vibrations
from him and therefore you feel like giving him some endowment!’
When people say something about us, or even feel something about us strongly,
many people say the same thing to us, we can not ignore what they day. We start
internalizing what they say and start experiencing what they say about us; about
our body, mind or Being. Internalizing the negative things that others express is
the reason for getting depressed.
When what others say about us is god we feel good.
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A small story…
Nithya Kanthi sat while her youngest daughter was putting on her walking shoes
for her. Kanthi was always depressed about her wrinkled feet and sat looking at
them. The daughter suddenly commented, ‘Ma, you have such nice olden days
feet!’ Kanthi felt suddenly relieved.
Like how the monkey dances to the tunes of the monkey trainer, our emotions
sway according to others opinions of us. When are we going to solidify with our
own inner strength?
As long as you dance according to their tune, they will give you certificates. When
you start dancing according to your tune, they will withdraw their certificates.
Our need for attention is primal. We can survive without food but not attention. It
has been established that premature babies survive better with tactile handling
than inside a cold machine. When handled negatively we lapse into manipulation
and bargaining. So we seek attention by forcing ourselves upon others, literally
begging, or demanding; some suck attention passively; they de energize you
through their desperate need for attention.
When others give you energy, naturally, they will guide you. They won’t give
energy if they cannot guide you. They give their energy and ideology, as long as
you listen and obey. As long as you are dependent on others energy, you can never
live life completely. Your life is under somebody else’s control. You will be unhappy.
First, integrate your life, Being. Make the source of your Energy as your own Being.
Invite discussion: Unconditional love, does it exist?
A small story…
Veda Vyasa wrote the book titled brahmasutram. If there be a book in this world
which will tire you at just a glance of it, it is this. If there be a book on the ultimate
philosophy, it is this. An enlightened Master gave his daughter in marriage to his
disciple called Vachaspati Mishra and also told him to write the complete
translation for the book.
The disciple started writing and days became months and months became years.
For Mishra this was meditation. The entire outer world disappeared for him and
what he could see was only the book. It was only after he finished writing the book
after a few decades le looked up for the first time in years to see around him. All
that was left was the title of the book.
He finished writing and only the title of the book remained to be given. He looked
up and saw an old lady lighting a lamp near him. He asked her who she was and
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she told him not to bother and to concentrate on completing the book. He replied
that he had finished and asked who she was again. She replied, ‘I am your wife’.
The man was shocked and overcome by grief. He had started writing soon after
their marriage and the girl never wanted to disturb him. He asked her why she had
not attempted even once to intervene, for which she replied that she was quite
happy serving him while he was at his job and never felt the need to intervene. He
had written the book for 30 years. He titled it ‘Bamati’, the name of his wife.
You may think that Bamati has lost her youth at the end of it all. No! She has
actually used the full energy of the anahata chakra and hence never experienced
attention need. Because of her, a priceless book that is a ready-reckoner for the
great saints of today has been gifted to the world of philosophy. She lives even
after she has died. We all die as we are living.
It doesn’t take much to expose the true nature of our love. True love is feeling
happiness in risking everything, and asking for nothing in return.
Not looking for validation or approval and going about one’s duty enhances one’s
ability to radiate energy as love. This is what Krishna meant in Gita when he said:
Do your duty without expectation of the fruits of action. Absence of expectation
and certification is very important in raising one’s level of joy.
Today, can you read the newspaper without disturbance for just 10 minutes in the
morning? The wife feels that the newspaper is being given more attention than she
is. Can the wife watch her favorite television serials in peace? The husband
immediately feels that the television is becoming a nuisance in the house.
Invite serious discussion: Feminist point of view etc
If you expect love when giving love, you are looking at a business transaction. Or
somewhat better we look at as a duty. Why should be loving your mother or child
be duty. It is a cause for celebration.
How to Develop Self Image (Day to Day - Technique 1)
The reason we seek others opinion of us even in small things is because we have
no opinion of ourselves. There are some simple ways to develop a good opinion
about ourselves, to ground ourselves and to center ourselves.
This is a simple Sufi exercise. Every morning when you awake, and still in bed, run
your body over each part of you body saying that you love that part of your body. ‘I
love my face’ I love my feet’ etc. Do this with deep awareness and genuine respect
for your body.
When you are out of bed, may be when you are in the shower, look at your body
with great affection, love and respect. Identify each part and appreciate it. Express
gratitude to existence to having given you such a wonderful body.
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An incident from Nithyananda’s life…
A lady came to Paramahamsa Nithyananda suffering from an acute case of

psoriasis, a serious skin affliction. She had had it for twenty years. She came to
Nithyananda for healing. While healing her, Nithyananda realized that she had had
serious childhood trauma that resulted in a deep subconscious anger against
herself that she suppressed. This suppression had erupted as psoriasis.
Nithyananda advised her to stand in front of a mirror every day for 21 days and
rave and rant against herself so that all the buries emotions are released. The lady
was very reluctant to do this. Nithyananda said, ‘Try this for 21 days. After all you
have suffered this ailment for 20 years’. She went home and practiced this. By the
15th day she was fully cured.
Appreciation of one’s own self, body and mind, as well as release of negative
emotions about our body and mind will very quickly establish our self image and
heal us both physically and emotionally.
Responding from the Anahata (Day to Day - Technique 2)
There is a psychological process called transactional analysis. You may have read
or heard about a book called, ‘I am OK. You are OK’. This process helps us to
identify what we say in three levels: child, parent or adult. As a child we react to a
parent figure, tentative, timid, fearful, and rebellious. As an adult, we come across
as domineering, critical, threatening and telling others what to do. These are the
two levels at which most of us interact most of the time. Occasionally we interact
as adults, which is an objective, factual, non threatening manner of
communication. We are most effective in relating to others when we respond as
adults.
There is an even more powerful way. Irrespective of how else another person
reacts, whether out of anger, envy, fear etc…respond from your anahata, out of
pure love. What you may think is impractical becomes practical after you do the
anahata meditation regularly. When you do this consistently and continuously two
things happen. The first is others dissolve their negative emotions in the face of
your love projected on to them; they love you in return and you attract people.
Another thing happens, the continuous awareness of anahata enhances your own
self image. You become more confident, more positive and more of a leader.
To do this effectively, you need to be aware and be in the present. You have to be a
good and active listener fully focused on the other person you are communicating
with so that the communication and conversation escalates into a communion.
Then and only then you will find true receptivity to your open anahata from the
other person.
Zealots of all kinds, be they fundamental mullahs or Hindu VHP wallahs, or any
linguistic, communal, any other chauvinistic zealot of any kind, block our anahata.
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By imposing their beliefs on us and trying to destroy the self image we grew up
with up. With the destruction of our self image and identity, be it religious,
communal or linguistic, they rob us of our ability to relate to others with love. Such
zealots are the real terrorists, they are the weapons of mass destruction.
Sometimes whatever you do you don’t win! All you can do is to respond with your
energized anahata.
A small story…
Nithya Pathni and Ananda Pathi were celebrating their fifty years of marriage.
Pathni presented the latter with two shirts for the occasion. Pathi was very touched
and declared that they would go out for dinner instead of cooking at home. It was a
very tender moment for the two. Pathi freshened up and to make his wife happy,
wore one of the gift shirts and appeared from his room. Pathni looked up and
smiled, paused and snarled, ‘So the other shirt's no good?’
This is a wonderful situation to try out responding from your anahata. If you were
Ananda Pathi how would you respond?
The greatest challenge is to make another person totally happy, because

happiness can never be achieved from outside, it is something that happens inside
oneself. It can happen only when one is blossoming from within!
Once our anahata chakra is unlocked the continuous energy release in the form of
love allows you to give love with out preconditions and no expectations of
reciprocity. The joy of giving overcomes all other factors, and becomes the main
consideration.
That is the reason we asked you to choose a partner to look after for 2 days, you
will learn the meaning of love.
Concepts that you can build on (Especially for discussions)
Anahata is about unselfish love (love without expectations). Except in the case of
the bond between an infant and its mother, where nature has devised the
emotional bond in such a way that the infant’s survival is taken care of
unconditionally, all other forms of love are with expectations. A mother expects a
child to behave according to her value systems, as soon as the child is old enough
to understand what her value systems are.
Human love is possessive. As soon as our love ready to be expressed we need to

possess and control the person on whom the love is to be expressed. Husband
wants to possess the wife, wife wants to possess husband; both wish to possess
the children.
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There are cultures that consider women to be mere possessions. How can such
cultures ever have a concept of love? The possessed may have fear in return, at
best respect, never love that they can return.
In most of our cultures men respond from their muladhara chakra, out of anger,
lust and greed. This is hardwired into them for survival reasons. Women, on the
other hand respond from their swadishthana, out of fear and concern. Both will
move to love as their anahata is opened. Man’s lust becomes love, through a
process of alchemy, and the woman’s fear dissolves into love as well.
At this level there are longer expectations in terms of behavior and control as well
as possessiveness. Anahata liberates you.
The master’s love is beyond anahata. It is love with no expectations; just giving, no
expectation of receiving. There is no attachment in a master’s love. True love is
with total detachment, vairagya. Yet, it is firm love, tough love. There is no
soppiness as there is no desire to please. Just a desire to enhance, to liberate.
Master’s love can have anger, never irritation. It can have care and concern, never
a trace of envy.
True love is also aloneness. You go beyond ordinary definitions of physical and
emotional love into a state of bliss when the anahata opens. You radiate bliss and
love by yourself, for all to receive. There is no need of a partner to share the love.
Love is.
True love is beyond ego. It is our ego, the fear of losing one’s ego, the fear that
some one may take advantage of us is what prevents us from sharing love. When
we realize that what each one of us has to offer to another is mostly suffering and
not joy, this perspective changes. Suffering reduces on sharing. Even if it is joy, joy
increases on sharing. Both ways we gain.
Anahata is the transition point in our chakras. Chakras below the anahata are
related to emotions that are concerned about our own selves, our own survival.
Those above the anahata relate to others. At the anahata we make the transition
of opening ourselves to others. We learn to appreciate others; we learn to pay
attention to others, we learn to love others; without worrying about whether they
appreciate us, attend to us or love us. Once we open ourselves up, others open
themselves to us.
This is what Krishna referred to when he talked about ‘vasudeva kutumbaha’, the
world is my family or universal love. Once you are open you can not stop, you can
not withhold.
That’s why Nithyananda says, ‘Do not think of changing the world. You can not
change anything in the external world, make it more peaceful, more loving, more
happy. You need to change yourself first. When you make yourself more happy,
more loving and more peaceful, you will become a transformation agent for others.
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With your lamp of transformation, you will light the lamp of transformation in
others.
Reference Material (Steve Jobs’ Speech at Stanford)
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest
universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the
closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three
stories from my life. That's it. No big deal.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my
parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard and in 10 years, Apple had grown
from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000
employees. We had just released our finest creation, ‘The Macintosh’, a year
earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a
company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was
very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went
well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a
falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out.
And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone,
and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous
generation of entrepreneurs down and that I had dropped the baton as it was being
passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for
screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running
away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what
I did! The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been
rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best
thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was
replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It
freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named ‘NeXT’, another company
named ‘Pixar’, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my
wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, ‘Toy
Story’, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a
remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the
technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple.
It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits
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you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that
kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And
that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large
part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you
haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart,
you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and
better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
Thymus Gland
The heart chakra, anahata, is related to love, equilibrium, and well-being. It is

related to the thymus, located in the chest. This organ is part of the immune
system, as well as being part of the endocrine system. It produces T cells
responsible for fighting off disease, and is adversely affected by stress.
In human anatomy, the thymus is a ductless gland located in the upper anterior
portion of the chest cavity. It is most active during puberty, after which it shrinks in
size and activity in most individuals and is replaced with fat. The thymus plays an
important role in the development of the immune system in early life, and its cells
form a part of the body's normal immune system.
Mahamantra Meditation
Mahamantra makes your mind sthira. Sthira means firm. The mind is always
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 to enter into Infinity. It is an
ancient Tibetan – Buddhist technique.
This meditation should be done on an empty stomach, either alone or as a group.

Total duration is 30 minutes. The audiocassette will guide you through the
meditation.
Stress total involvement and awareness of mediation, in this case humming.

Meditator should become the humming. Meditator may feel vibration in various
body parts, tell them to expect it, not to worry and focus on humming. The energy
may cause coughing, hiccupping etc. This is normal. Let them cough and go back
to humming.
(Acharyas Please Note) Successful mahamantra meditation is crucial as this

sets up the base for other techniques. Spend as much time as needed to make
participants understand the technique, do not hurry.
First part:
Wear eye band and close your eyes. Sit cross-legged in a comfortable position on
the floor. Your head, neck and spine should be in a straight line. Those of you who
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are not able to sit on the floor 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
tackle this, imagine that your eyes have become stones, lock them mentally,
without physical effort, then the images will die. Harden your eye balls with mental
effort. Place your tongue on the upper palate locked. This will stop verbalization.
The hardened eyeballs and locked tongue will help still the mind. The locked eye
ball and tongue is only to still the mind to start up, and only for a maximum of one
minute. Drop both after a minute. Relax.
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 will be like this. Note that this is not ‘Hum…’ or ‘Om…’, it is
simply keeping your lips together and producing ‘Mmmm…’. The humming should
be as lengthy as possible. As you hum you will exhale. At the end of humming let
your body inhale naturally as is necessary. Humming should start from the navel
and should be as deep as possible. It should be as loud as possible, and as long as
you can keep it while exhaling. Don’t make an effort to take in deep breaths, the
body itself will take breaths when needed. Don’t become tense, just do it in a
playful mood. Put in your whole being and energy into creating this vibration.
Imagine you are a 5 year old child; you will then do the humming realistically. Try
to minimize the gap between the humming sounds. After some time, you will feel
that the humming continues without your effort and that you have become simply
a listener! You are aware only of the humming, nothing else! You become the
humming! Be completely relaxed. Do not strain yourself.
Hum as well as breathe in through the nose; mouth should be closed at all times.
At the end of 20 minutes, stop the humming (if you are playing the cassette, you
will hear ‘Stop!’, and you stop as you are, abruptly).
Second part:
After stopping the humming, remain silent, focused on the anahata, and stay
inactive for 10 minutes with a smiling face and blissful mood. (The cassette will
play music for these 10 minutes). During this time, the Energy created by the 20
minutes of humming will enter all the corners of your being and cleanse it in
totally. If any thought comes, let it come. Simply watch your mind and don’t resist
any thought. Thoughts will definitely rise. Just watch them, witness them and
ignore them. Do not follow them and create more thoughts. Do not try to suppress
them; it will not work. Thoughts are like ripples created in a pool of water. You can
not stop the ripples by putting your hand on the water; it will only create more
ripples. All you need to do is to stop throwing more stones in the water and just
watch.
Tip: Best to practice this meditation early morning; highly energizing do not do
close to sleep; do on empty stomach or two hours after a meal.
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Acharyas Please Note) Please keep reminding participants that the

mahamantra is the default meditation that they should practice at least for 21
days. You must ensure that they get this meditation right. If necessary repeat
instructions on second day, and demonstrate.
Questions
1. I am an orphan and never experienced love. How can I give love?
This is not a limitation. Even those who are brought up with all comforts can
not express love. Once the anahata is opened you will experience the
capacity to love. You need to practice the meditation regularly for effect.
Module 3: Manipuraka Chakra

What is Manipuraka
The manipuraka chakra lies just above the navel. This word has a Pali origin and its
nearest Sanskrit meaning is City of Jewels. Manipuraka is the seat of words. Our
thoughts which arise from the swadishthana and the mind are expressed in word
form from this chakra. Since words lead to decisions, and therefore actions, this
chakra is also responsible in a sense for all our actions.
Manipuraka is locked by worry, and leads to depression. When clarity and positive
ness in thought prevails, it unlocks.
An awakened manipuraka makes your words come true. Application of mud from
snake pits helps in awakening the manipuraka.
What is Worry?
A small story…
Once, in a kingdom ruled by a benevolent king, many people came to the king and
reported that they were all deeply worried. None of them could cope with their
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worries and they suffered from depression. Each one however felt that the next
person had no worries and was happy. The King was disturbed by this plight of his
subjects and he thought, ‘If everybody says that he alone is worried and not his
neighbor, and all of them are in fact full of worries, why not have an exchange
offer? All of them will then be happy. Let us open a worry exchange!’
He told his ministers to open the ‘Worry Exchange’. Who ever was fed up with his
worries could simply walk into the exchange, deposit it and pick up another worry
in exchange. A grand opening function was organized. After all it is not everyday
that one gets to exchange ones worries! In the center of a big open ground, a big
pot was placed, a ‘worry pot’ as it were. Into this pot, each participating person
could throw his worries, tied up in a bag. But he had to pick up some other bag.
After all it was an exchange offer. They were free to throw in their worry bag and
pick up any other bag. The whole kingdom gathered and there was a festive air, an
air of expectancy. Who would start first? They saw each other and started talking
to each other, and when they shared their worries with each other, shared each
other’s problems, the king saw that at the end of the allotted time, nobody was
ready to throw in their worries! Nobody had come forward to put his worry into the
pot!
The king asked, ‘What happened?’ Everybody said in one voice, ‘The worry that we
already have is enough. If we get some new worries, we do not know how to face
them! At least we are acquainted with our existing worries. We are comfortable
with it. We can pull or push and drag our life along with the known worries. But if
we are to get new worries, we will have more worries and newer worries, just
thinking about how to deal with the new worries! After all, a known devil is better
than an unknown angel! We will have to get settled with the unknown devil.
Because surely the new worry will not be an angel. Who knows whether we will be
able to get settled at all? No, we don’t know! We will live with our worries!’
So, nobody wanted to exchange their worries.
There are a few aspects that we have to look into. Many of us find many reasons
for our worries. All of you here come from a different backgrounds, different
situations, different walks of life, different economical backgrounds, different
health, different wealth and different cultures. If the outer reason can be the real
cause for worry, how can that come for all of you?! Each one of you says that you
have worries. If I were to enquire individually, one person may say, I don’t have
children; because of that I worry. The person sitting next to you will say, I have
children and that is the great worry for me! One man may say, I don’t have money
and that is the worry for me. But the very next person will say, I have too much
money; I don’t know how to keep it secure, how to preserve it. All my relatives, all
my people are waiting to see me die, so that they can snatch away this money.
That is my worry! The reasons vary from man to man. We ourselves create many
reasons. In case we don’t have any reason, somebody will say, ‘I’m worried
because I don’t have any reason to worry!’ There are many people who worry
because they don’t have anything to worry about! Many retired couples often
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come here to the ashram, and they have nothing to worry about. They come to me
and say, ‘Master, we have nobody, we have nothing to bother us and that is the
great worry for us!’
All through your life, you have worried about something or the other; it has
become a continuous practice. If you don’t worry about anything, you feel that you
are nobody; your being is not centered. You don’t feel the ‘weight’, you don’t feel
that you are living, because you know only one dimension of life and that is worry,
dukkha, depression. You don’t know the other dimension, ecstasy, or bliss, ananda.
In that dimension you must become ‘nobody’. You should lose your ego, which you
are not ready to. You are ready to have everything, ready to worry about
everything, but you want your ego. Many of us are not even ready to lose our
worries. We just say that it is a worry. But I say, if it is a worry, why don’t you give
it up? Why don’t you be happy? What binds you? Invariably the answer is, ‘No, No.
We can’t give it up. If we give it away, then what will happen? What will we keep
doing?’
Many people come to Nithyananda and say, ‘Master, in my business there is no

profit. Month after month, I make a loss. I can very clearly see that I can make only
a loss in my business. The next month also it is going to be the same story. But
how does one stop it? I am just continuously worrying about it! What can I do
Master?’ Swami tells them, ‘If you can very clearly see that it is going to be a loss
next month also, why don’t you stop your business this month itself?’ The answer
is, ‘No, No. Then what will I do?’
What does this mean? You want to worry about something. When you don’t get
anything, you create something. Or else, you create one more thing, that others
are not worrying, only you are worrying. You start the other kind of game, ‘Others
are not worrying, only I’m worrying. All my friends are happy, all my relatives are
happy, all my brothers are happy, only I’m not happy’. Everybody says, ‘All my
brothers are happy. I’m not happy’.
But, is this really true? It can never be. As we saw earlier with the King’s Worry
Exchange, we all have worries and we still believe only we have worries. When
push comes to shove we are quite happy to retain our own worries rather than
trade them for some one else’s unknown worries.
Only from outside, we think that others are not worrying. When you come near,
share with others, when you share your life with others, when you share your worry
with each other, you will have a very clear understanding that your worries are
much better than other’s worries.
What then is Worry?
Get participants to respond; most will describe what happens when they worry.
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If you look deeply into your worry or depression, as to what it means or what it
does, you will see that it is sort of a shrinking feeling. It is playing words in your
mind, the words that reduce you by again and again playing the same words in
your mind.
Worry need not have any logic to it.
A small story…
Ananda Pathi said to his friend, ‘I decided to put an end to my wife’s worries and so
I stopped drinking, smoking and gambling!’ The friend exclaimed, ‘She must be so
happy now!’ Pathi continued, ‘Well actually not, because now she’s at a loss as to
what to worry about’.
Mind is Inner Chatter, Inner Chatter is Worry
This brings us to the next issue, what is mind?
Mind is nothing but an inner chattering going on in your being without your control.
It is a continuous inner chattering, which happens within your being. If you speak
aloud, with sound, and you are speaking to others, you call it speech. If you speak
without any sound, with yourself, it is inner chattering. You are chatting with
yourself, chatting internally, engaged in inner chatter. A continuous inner chatter is
always going on within you, which you are not able to stop. You are not the master.
Inner chattering is your Master.
Manipuraka chakra deals with this inner chatter. Manipuraka chakra opens when
you go beyond worrying, when you transcend the worry. If you don’t worry about
the worries, the worry will start worrying how to make you worry! This chakra gets
locked because of worries. Let us have a deep look, a vision, a third dimensional
view of what happens here.
An Experiment:
Say something to one person, and ask him to repeat that to the next in a chain.
Form a chain of 20 people and get the last person repeat the statement to you.
That repetition will have nothing to do with what you had originally said. The mind
is like that. It starts with one thought and ends up with another totally different. If
at 40 you worry, think of how you managed all the 40 years. You have enough
experience to tackle any problem that may arise now. Why worry then?
An Exercise:
Try this…close your eyes and sit silently with yourself. Whatever thoughts come to
your mind, jot it down on a paper. Do this honestly, just jot down all the thoughts
that arise within your mind. This is nothing but your inner chatter. Do this for five
minutes. If you read what you have written after the five minutes, you will be
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terribly shocked. Thoughts that have no connection, thoughts that cannot be

connected even in your wildest dreams, are simply flowing, streaming,
continuously coming out from your being! Thought that have no connection,
thoughts that are radically opposite, are pushing you from all the sides. If you do
this practice, trying to jot down your thoughts, your inner chatter, on a piece of
paper, just for five minutes, you will very clearly be able to see what a great lunatic
asylum you are running inside your mind! You are nothing less than a mad house.
Your thoughts and worries live you!
Your life is a collection of all these type of thoughts. You are living this type of life,
with all these thoughts put together, all your inner chatter put together. This is
what is you call your life! If you live this type of life that is completely uncontrolled,
mad, lunatic, do you think you will feel that you have lived your life fruitfully? Do
you think that you can have the deepest possible satisfaction in your life? Do you
think that you are really living your life? No! You are not ‘living’ as you think. You
are being lived! You are not eating. You are eaten by your inner chatter!
A small story…
Nitti Mudaliar bought a new car and went out on his first drive. He drove on and on,
and when we wanted to stop he was not able to stop. He did not know how to stop
the vehicle. He managed to collide with a tree and the vehicle stopped. By God’s
grace, he escaped safely. Somebody who was nearby, asked him, Don’t you know
how to drive?’ Nitti Mudaliar replied, ‘No, No, I know how to start, to drive, but I
don’t know how to apply the brakes, how to stop the vehicle!’
It means, you are not driving the vehicle, but the vehicle is driving you. If you know
driving, you should be able to get into the car, start, change the gears, and go
wherever you want. When you come back to your house, you must be able to
apply the brakes when the vehicle enters your courtyard and stop your vehicle
safely and get down. If you are able to do all these things, then you are driving the
vehicle. If something is missing, if you don’t know how to do any one of these
aspects, any one of these processes, it means you are not driving the vehicle, the
vehicle is driving you. Think about it, the vehicle is driving you!
Now you are all in a vehicle, sitting in a vehicle that you are not able to stop, you
are not able to put the brakes on. The brake that you are trying to apply is not
working on the vehicle. Just try for a moment to stop your inner chattering. Is it
possible? No!
When you try to stop the thoughts, the speed of gushing thoughts doubles! It
becomes uncontrollable to manage. Just imagine that you are sitting in a vehicle
that you are not able to control, which you are not able to stop! You are not able to
direct it; instead it is just directing you! It is guiding you! You are locked, you are
fastened with a seat belt and vehicle is going in its own speed, in its own way, in
its own direction. And the greatest horror is that even now the driver still thinks
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that he is the person who is driving the vehicle! He is not even ready to understand
that he is not the person who is driving the vehicle, but vehicle is driving him. You
are in the same position. You are not even ready to understand that you are not
driving; on the contrary the vehicle is driving you!
Understand that you are driving on your mind, your inner chatter, which is lunatic,
which is mad, which is going to land you in a worst possible accident. Even if you
are involved in a real accident, you may lose one limb or at the most, one body,
one life. But when you get into the inner chatter and end up with accidents, you
don’t lose only one life or one body; life after life, you are taken for a ride! You are
driven, just like a mad person, for no reason. What for you are running, where you
are going, what you are going to get at the end of it, nothing is known. Nothing is
clear. You just ride along. Where? You don’t know! You just search. What? Where?
When? No! You don’t know; because, you are driven. The worst thing about this
whole scenario is that you don’t know that you are being driven.
A small story…
One evening Nitti Mudaliar came out of his house and started searching very
seriously for something in front of his house. He was searching continuously for a
long time. His wife came out and asked him, ‘What are you searching for?’ He
replied, ‘I am searching for a gold coin’. So she also started searching, and after
some time, his neighbor came out and asked him, ‘What are you searching for?’
This elicited the same response from Nitti, ‘A gold coin’. Neighbor too started
searching. After some time, the resident living opposite his house came and asked
him, ‘What are you searching for?’ The same reply, ‘Gold coin’. Everybody started
searching. In half an hour, the whole street was in search of Nitti’s gold coin.
Suddenly one fellow, who was slightly more intelligent than the rest asked Nitti
Mudaliar where he had lost the coin. He asked, ‘For half an hour we all have been
searching for the gold coin. Where have you lost it?’ Nitti said in an exasperated
tone, ‘Don’t ask all these questions! Just search!’ This person insisted, ‘Please tell
us where you have lost it. Only then can we succeed in finding it’. Nitti said, ‘It is
lost inside the house!’ Every one turned around in bewilderment and asked Nitti,
‘Then why did you come to search outside the house?’ Nitti replied weakly, ‘You
see, inside the house there is no light. Outside the house, the street lamps provide
the light. I want to search in the light. Only then will I be able to find the gold coin!’
All of us are in the same position. What we are searching for, we don’t know! What
we are running for, we don’t know. Yet we are in search!
What is worry? The inner chatter which is continuously giving you a shrinking
feeling, the negative feeling, is what is called worry.
A man has failed in his business. He starts thinking, he starts telling himself with a
feeling of inferiority, ‘Whatever I touch cannot ever flourish. Whatever I touch goes
to the drain’. He starts putting himself down repeatedly to console himself and
develops an inferiority complex. These words that he repeats again and again
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become a sort of a record and playback system, because mind is nothing but
memory.
Mind is nothing but a recording system that plays back on its own. It starts on its
own, sometimes, to repeat the same thing, to repeat the same idea. Mind will learn
whatever you teach it, and repeat it and question you again. Mind is just like a
child. If you teach something positive, it will do the right thing. If you teach
something negative, it will do the wrong thing. Mind is what you teach it.
Outer Chatter that is Worry
The inner chatter becomes outer chatter. There are two kinds of speeches;
speaking out and speaking in. Speaking out is chatting with others, the outer
chatter that is continuously happening all round the world. It is to get some relief
just to forget the inner chatter that you start chatting with others! It is a sort of
addiction, like alcohol. To escape from your own being, to escape from your own
inner chatter, you start chatting with others. That is why so much of talking goes
on all around the world all the time.
No other activity is happens as commonly as talking, because by talking you want

to escape from your inner chatter! You want to avoid, have some peace, have a
gap from your inner chatter, but you cannot. You go mad with this chatter within
you. Therefore you talk. When you talk you use words. Each word that you use
conjures up an image in your mind.
When you repeat these words unconsciously, these words will be a weight upon
you, a hangover. These words will be continuously disturb and haunt you, without
your knowledge, without your consciousness. From the unconscious it will be a
terrible disturbance to you. Only such words form ‘worry’. These words, when they
are repeated again and again, without your consciousness, without you awareness,
without your knowledge and notice, they create a feeling, which is called ‘worry’. If
they are solidified, if they become solid in your being, that state is what is called
‘depression’. You are completely in low mood.
A poll was conducted in USA at great cost to determine what the most prevalent
disease of today’s modern age was. The result was astounding! It was not AIDS,
Cancer, TB or Cardiac ailments as one would have thought. It was Depression!
Depression was found to be the most common disease prevalent today. It is the
disease with which the whole humanity is challenged in the developed countries.
How is depression caused? Depression results from constant worrying. The burden
of worries is so much that one becomes dysfunctional and unable to cope with day
to day life.
Your depression is because of the words that you use on others. Those words
spoken by you will not take 10 years to come back to you, they will come
immediately! Is there anyone here who says “When I talk, I talk in English but
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when I chatter inside, it is in French” No! In the same way, whatever language you
use outside is used inside also.
We tend not to understand the power of words and thoughts. Dr. Masuro Emoto, a
Japanese Scientist, in his classic book, Messages From water, explains his research
work that shows how our thoughts and spoken words affect water molecules.
Dr. Emoto bottled tap water in many bottles and labeled them as love, hate,
passion, pain, terror, holy, Koran etc. To each bottle he spoke in line with its label
and projected thoughts in line with the labels. To the bottle labeled love he spoke
of love, and to that labeled pain he spoke in pain, and projected similar thoughts.
At the end of about 30 days, he froze the water in the bottles and analyzed the
frozen water crystals under a microscope. To his amazement he found that the
crystals of the water to which he spoke on love shone like diamonds, while that of
the bottle he addressed with negative emotions of hate, pain etc were misshapen
and ghostly. The crystals of the bottle labeled Koran, to which he spoke verses from
the Koran had the picture of the Holy Kaaba! Dr. Emoto’s findings are now
accepted as scientific truth!
Human body is 85% water. You can imagine the power of our thoughts and words
upon our own mind body system and those of others.
No wonder worry distresses us. What is distress? We use wrong words for wrong
emotions. We use wrong masks for wrong occasions. If you meditate on your
tongue, with a chilly on one end and a candy on the other, you will find that the
experience is the same, once you do not allow the mind to interfere.
A small story…
A middle aged lady was trying out a new fur coat. Her young daughter said: Just
imagine how much the poor animal must have suffered to produce this coat.
Mother responds angrily: How dare you speak of your poor dad like this?
You interpret someone’s words in your own way, you rearrange them in different
ways, you do not understand, you create distress. When you have something that
is uncomfortable within the body that you do not understand you call it pain. Pain
is just energy being supplied to a part of the body to heal. When energy is being
supplied to a part that needs healing, other parts nearby are deprived of energy
and they feel numb. When you react against the pain, you stop the energy flow
and delay healing. Instead focus your consciousness on the pain to activate the
energy and healing and you will not feel the pain. All you need is to change the
label.
At the mental level, the gap between reality and your imagination creates tension.
To fulfill your template of imagination you keep running, running to change
everything around you. Someone said to me, give me peace so that I can study
well and get a gold medal. Working to achieve the gold medal is fine, but worrying
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to achieve is harmful. In Ramayana, Vali takes away the power of anyone who
stands in front of him. The moment you struggle with your imagination you invest
it with power. You create tension. You are like the donkey with a carrot being
dangled from a stick that is fastened to its head.
Sagar Pillai went to visit his friend and he heard a terrible argument going on
inside while he was standing at the latter’s doorstep. He knocked and went in to
find his friend all alone. He enquired about the argument. His friend laughed and
replied, ‘I have this habit of talking to myself’. Sagar was puzzled. ‘How come you
were arguing then?’ he asked. The latter replied, ‘Oh! I always argue with people
who don’t conform to logic!’
Sometimes you need to be at the receiving end of your own words to understand
matters, especially about yourself!
How to Make Your Words Positive
Not even a single ray of hope, a single ray of light is in your being. How to come
out of it? Just use the same key! The same key can be used either to lock a door or
to unlock it. Now you have understood the basis of your inner chatter; talking to
you yourself, the inner talking is the main problem. That is what creates worry. You
can really change the inner chatter. You can really change the words that are
continuously being displayed in your being. Whenever you are conscious,
whenever you are aware, just start changing the words! Just start putting the right
words into your chatter!
A way to control worry is to watch the words that you speak inside yourself.
Whenever the same words don’t seem appropriate enough to be spoken outside,
simply break them and throw them apart. Words are very powerful. When I utter
the word ‘cow’, immediately, a figure with 4 legs, 2 horns and one tail appears in
your mind. A simple 3-letter word can bring to your mind a whole image. Words are
that powerful. When we don’t respect words and use them wrongly, the
manipuraka chakra gets locked. When we learn to use words properly, this chakra
opens; the inner chatter starts from this chakra. If you keep breaking the words,
the words will stop rising after 10-15 days and a new system will get recorded
inside; that’s all!
Inside you, you should use only that language which you will use outside with
others, that’s why the saying goes, ‘Love thy neighbor as you love yourself”. It is
important to love your neighbor. If you have 2 minds, then you can use one to deal
with yourself and one to deal with others. But we all have only one mind. When
you start to scream at a servant with fierce words, break them immediately and
speak kinder words. Whatever words you use outside will be used inside also.
Words are like a knife. They will pierce either outwards or inwards.
However, this is a process that takes some time. You need to work on this process.
However, without effort, nothing big, nothing great can be achieved! You need to
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work a little bit on your manipuraka chakra, to handle your inner chatter. However,
when you have worked on it, when you have cleared it, you will see that you are in
heaven. The suffering just disappears at once! This very understanding will clear
your manipuraka chakra. The key, the mantra, to open your manipuraka chakra is
this, have positive thinking, positive words, continuously. When you utter positive
words, the mind which is trained already in negativity is not going to agree. It is
not going to allow you to be in peace. Don’t bother. Don’t worry. In one corner of
your mind, your mind will be telling you, ‘Just by uttering a few positive words, do
you think that I will become silent?!’
When an elephant, after having bath in a river, comes out and starts to go back to
its place, you will see some street dogs barking at the elephant. When the
elephant takes one step forward, towards the dogs, they will take ten steps
backward. The dogs will be in flight; but they will still bark and run away barking.
The elephant needs to do nothing. All it has to do is take one step forward towards
the dogs. The dogs will take ten steps backward. They may bark, but nevertheless,
they will run back.
In the same way, when you put positivism in your mind, when you try to alter your
inner chattering, when you try to do new programming to your mind (after all, the
mind is nothing but a computer, a bio computer) these dogs which were ruling the
street once, will start barking at you. Take a step towards the dogs and look at
them majestically, royally, like the elephant, and you will see that the dogs are
simply put to flight. They will not merely run back, but they will also disappear. It is
possible to alter your mental program, because after all, you have programmed it,
nobody else. It is your own programming. You know how to alter it! Do it! That is
the way to unlock the manipuraka chakra.
(Acharya) Discuss how to instill positive ness in your words as a day to day
exercise.
We Invent Worries
A small story…
A mad man had his ear pressed to the wall of his room all day. He called the
attendant in and whispered, ‘Listen!’ The attendant pressed his ear to the wall and
listened hard. He finally declared, ‘I don’t hear a thing’. The man gravely replied, ‘I
know, It’s been like that all day’.
A mad man invents worries after being pronounced mad. The rest of us invent
worries and never doubt our sanity! Worries are our dearest friends without which
we cannot live! Worry seems to give us a purpose and direction in life.
We have only ourselves to be blamed for any disturbance felt from outside. If our
inner state is solid and peaceful, no amount of outer noise can disturb us.
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A small story…
Nithya Manu sat down to meditate one day. He had barely closed his eyes when
the maid walked in with noisy anklets. He screamed at her for it. The next day, he
sat down to meditate again and the maid tip toed in with her anklets. All the same,
he opened his eyes and screamed at her for it. The third day, he sat down to
meditate and waited to hear the anklets!
The human mind invents worries because worry is nothing but an axis for it to
revolve. Without worries, it would feel insecure and without support. It is a comfort,
a crutch, a companion, a shadow that we can not live with.
A small story…
Little Ananda heard his grandmother constantly complaining about how she may
be left destitute as she grew older. He did some calculations and determined that
she could love comfortably till she was 105. He went to his grandma and consoled
her, ‘Don’t worry grandma you have no problems till you’re 105, you are only 65
now’, sighed the grandma what will I do when I am 110!
Although we outwardly seem distressed at worries, in reality, worry is the food for
our ego. That is why we nurture worries secretly!
A small story…
Worry Ananda was all alone in his apartment when his friend walked in. They
started talking when his friend asked him, ‘Worry, you seem upset about
something, what is the matter?’ Worry replied, ‘I am just wondering what might
replace automation’.
Fact is that most of our worries do not come through. It is just that all our negative
thoughts are recorded by our mind and played back all the time. Constant worry
kills creativity.
A First Person Story (Appeared in Reader’s Digest)
A man had a flat tire as he was driving on a lonely road, quite late at night. He had
no jack in the car to change the tire. At a distance he saw some lights, and thought
that it may be a farm house where he could borrow a jack. He started walking
towards the lights. On the way he started thinking: It is already late. The farmer
would have gone to bed. If he had not gone to bed, he would be quite tired. When I
knock on the door, he would be quite irritated. He is going to tell me that I am
inconsiderate waking him up at this hour. He is very definitely going to refuse to
lend me a jack.
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By the time he reached the house the driver had built himself into a high pitch of
anger, upon the imagined scenario of the farmer refusing to lend him a jack.
He knocks on the door. He hears footsteps and a man opens the door with a
questioning look. The driver shouts at him: you and your stupid jack. I wouldn’t
wanna borrow your jack even if it was the last jack in the world. He then stomps
off, back to the car.
With worry we set ourselves up for trouble.
Worry becomes a vicious cycle. You get fired by our office by the boss who has had
a tough time with his wife. You take it out on your wife when you get back home;
your wife takes it on the kid; the kid kicks the dog, the dog bites you, and if you
turn your anger on the boss you will get fired! This is Karma Chakra!
(Acharya) Ask for experiences
Chronological Planning Vs Worrying
Chronological planning is different from psychological worry. Planning is essential

for our efficient and effective daily functioning. Chronological planning helps in
realize your goals; psychological worry does no good in realizing your goals but
creates tension and harm. J Krishnamurthy says: 99% of our worries do not come
true; the 1% that does come true is good for you. Your mind keeps chattering
throughout your waking hours of about 18 hours. Only a fraction of that chatter is
need for productive planning; rest is worrying.
Chronological planning is time based and detailed. Psychological worry is a

process of constant second guessing that has no useful function except to create
stress and tension within you that is totally non productive. When we plan
chronologically we are relaxed; when we are in psychological planning mode we
are tense.
Chronological time is the one you use for your daily activities, and you all know it
very well. Let us analyze the psychological time which is the gap between two
thoughts. Have you ever noticed that when you are with a friend you really like,
you don’t realize how quickly time passes? On the other hand, if you are sitting
with someone who is boring, you will check your watch every 10 minutes and feel
like time isn’t moving fast enough! The more the number of thoughts, the more
slowly time seems to move; the less the number of thoughts, the more relaxed you
are and time flies.
The more you think of time, more your stress level, less your efficiency, less likely
you are to meet your target, resulting in more stress. Thus we travel in a vicious
circle, reducing our intelligence, skills and capacity, because we remember time
again and again. Stress not only affects your mind, it also affects your body. For
instance, if you sit in your office, don’t do any work, and just worry, you will feel
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shoulder pain! How many of you have experienced it? Stress is not just a mental
problem; it becomes a physical problem too. People often tell us – ‘I know its
wrong, but I get stressed all the time’. The main reason for that is the large
number of thoughts that continuously remind you of time, and create stress. If your
thoughts are less, you won’t notice the time moving and you will be less stressed.
At the psychological level, again and again remembering time will stress you out
and disturb your whole being. The more thoughts, the more it reminds you that
time is ticking and you have less time. That’s why we call hell as eternal hell.
There’s a wonderful Zen saying, ‘If you want to delay anything, do it as fast as
possible’, because then you won’t make small mistakes, but commit big blunders!
When you have too many thoughts, you won’t have the satisfaction that you lived
your life. Whatever products you deliver, even if you do it on time, will be of much
higher quality if you are less stressed. If the concept of chronological time is not
internalized, your potential unleashed will be much higher.
Similarly, all your ideas about the future, your worries, fears, insecurities are all
your perceptions, not your real future. I have seen many people who worry
continuously. Initially, you worry because of some reason, after some time you
master the art of worrying, you don’t need a special reason. After some more time,
even if you don’t find any reason you start worrying because you become
habituated to do that.
Nithyananda did a small study with a group of 50 people. He asked them to write
whatever worries, fears and insecurities they have about the next 6 months of
their life. Even according to psychologists, you can’t visualize more than six
months of your life. That’s reducing now because the social, political, and
economic changes are happening at a faster rate these days. He collected their list
of worries. After six months he met all of them again. He asked them to mark all
their worries that have become a reality. You will be surprised that a maximum of
only 3% of their worries came true! The remaining 97% of their worries never came
true! Can you imagine how much of your mental energy is wasted in worries? The
more you worry, the less you create, the more you are stressed, the less you are
expressing. All your concepts about future is only your concept, it is not really your
future.
Do the Exercise of the Writing Down Their Worries
Only the present moment is a reality which is in your hands, all else is only your
perception. The moment you relax into the present moment, your body and mind
will have a new energy. Try this small exercise for a few minutes: in a room close
the door, sit down and say, ‘I accept my life as it is, my life, my relationships, my
body and mind, and come to the present moment’. The moment you take a
conscious decision, a sankalpa, and start relaxing, you will be amazed to see the
energy that happens to your being. As long as you are bothered about the future or
thinking about the past, you will be away from the source of energy, your inner
being.
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Physically, the concept of time makes you old, sick, uneasy. Mentally, the concept
of time gives you stress and boredom. Boredom is another important problem due
to the notion of time. A Zen story – a great Zen master had some stomach
problem. His physician advised him to eat a certain food with herbs everyday. He
ate it for 10 years. One day, the disciple who cooks for him asked – master are you
not bored? I’m bored of cooking the same food everyday, aren’t you bored of
eating the same food everyday? The master was surprised. He replied beautifully–
it’s not the same food, once I eat it’s over, it’s new food everyday, I’m not eating
the same food everyday! When you have a concept of time, you think same office,
same house, same wife, and same life!
Questions & Answers with Paramahamsa Nithyananda
1. We all have to work with deadlines and time pressure. When you
say don’t think of time please explain how we can manage our
tasks?
When you have time consciousness, are you able to manage? [Questioner
answers ‘yes’] With time consciousness either you can manage your
deadlines, or not. If you can manage with time consciousness and stress
then you can definitely manage your tasks and goals without the stress of
time consciousness. You will be more creative without stress. A person who is
stressed cannot create anything new, instead he will work in a programmed
way. If you scan your life you will see that in your own house you won’t use
many rooms. When you leave work and go home, you will go and sit on the
same couch in the same room everyday, eat dinner in the same place, go to
the same spot on your bed and so on! Even your vacations are clearly
programmed. Worrying at home is called homework, worrying at office is
called office work, worrying on the beach is called vacation! Only the place
changes, the mental setup of worrying remains wherever you go.
There are two kinds of people, those who can manage with time pressures
and deadlines, and those who cannot. If you’re in the first group, if you can
manage your activities with stress, you can surely manage without stress.
Next, if you belong to the other group who are unable to manage deadlines,
can you really manage better with stress? Then why have stress? Either way,
whether you manage or not, stress will not help you. We sometimes think
that stress can make us handle things better. That’s not true, only creativity
and unleashing your potential can help you do that.
If you drop your stress and manage without it, you will be more creative and
produce much better results. Stress can only make you less efficient.
Becoming more efficient can happen only by clarity, creativity, and dropping
stress. You may say – ‘this stress management is all just theory, I have tried
it a lot, I have read a lot about it. I don’t think it really works. I remember all
the concepts for two days, its nice; after that I’m back to the same routine
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and lifestyle’. If it fails again and again, it means your understanding is not
deep enough. Someone told me, ‘Master in the last one year alone eleven
times I stopped smoking!’ It means eleven times he started again! That
means his decision to stop smoking was not strong, his understanding was
not deep enough. It is your own mind after all! If you can understand,
penetrate your being and decide consciously to drop the stress, it will work
for you. Make it very clear to yourself by telling yourself: I hereby decide to
live the way I want.
Understand that stress cannot help you become more efficient, it can only
make you inefficient. Again and again you are taught to remember about
time pressure. See your life – the moment you think about people who put
pressure, when you remember their faces or words, your energy is drained.
Then how can you be successful based on stress? If you can come down to
the present moment, reducing worries, minimizing number of thoughts,
reducing your frequency of thinking, it can unleash your potential energy,
and you will see a different dimension of your life. It needs some courage to
experiment. Try this. For the next eleven days, tell your self: “I will not bother
about my past or future’.
One more thing, when you remember your past you will remember only your
failures. It is like measuring the strength of a chain by its weakest link. If you
consider your life as a chain of incidents, you are not a weak link, but you
generalize your ability and capacity based on the weakest incident or failure.
At least be a little loving toward yourself, and take an average, but you never
do that. Anyone will have valleys and peak. If you have to measure yourself,
take the average, not valley. But our mental setup is such that we measure
ourselves only with the valleys. Remembering the past again and again will
make you dull and drain your energy. Neither remembering past nor worrying
about future will transform you, come to present and become one with your
energy. The Gita says – you have the authority to work, but don’t bother
about the results. Krishna doesn’t mean don’t take your salary, have it, but
he says continuously don’t visualize about it. Continuously visualizing about
the fruits or results, the goals, you will be paralyzed, you won’t be able to
walk in the path. When you chose the right road, just walk the path and you
will reach the goal.
A nice story; One guy sat in a ferry to cross a river. Once the boatman
started rowing he started walking up and down. Boatman said to the man -
please be seated, I can’t row if you walk around. The man replied– I have no
time to sit, I have to reach the other side urgently. All your stress is like
walking inside the boat. It can never help you; at most it can disturb you, and
hinder the growth. Look into it and be more intelligent. All our perceptions
about our self based on past and future are wrong, and I mean EVERYTHING,
because we measure our self based on the valley. You never respect yourself.
2. How do you unlearn the past?
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Make a conscious decision for eleven days to live in the present moment.
Surely in eleven days you wont lose your life, although your mind will say, ‘I
have this project or that, I will do it after that’. But for next eleven days make
this commitment to yourself, ‘Whenever I remember, I will decide to drop the
stress, drop the faces and words that create stress in me. I accept myself
completely as I am, whatever comes out of it I will face it’. Only side effect
will be efficiency increase, achieving your goals and bliss. When I say this, I
take the responsibility of these words. In last two years, I have met 250,000
people individually; we have 2000 trained healers spreading meditation,
working in 400 centers in 20 countries, touching 10,000 people everyday.
From my experience of directly touching people from all walks of life and
backgrounds, I can say your decision to live in the present moment can
transform your life.
Constant worry that affects this chakra leads acidity, depression, chronic
fatigue, and skin disease. It also makes you hungry without reason and
makes you obese!
Renounce what you don’t have. We worry about problems we do not have.
It’s the imaginary problems that cause trouble. No need to renounce what
you have. Just enjoy what you have.
Mind creates trouble, and also convinces you that without what it does to you
will not have peace. Ramakrishna says: there is a brahma rakshasa who
enters whatever you try to drive him with. The same way our mind uses
whatever technique we use to control it to enter it. Accept yourself. If you
are not able to accept yourself, accept that you are not able to accept
yourself. This will drop your fighting between you and you.
Gita says, ‘You are the person who is supposed to elevate yourself by
yourself. If you can not, you will the worst enemy of yourself; if you can you
will be the best friend you have’.
In life you run from responsibilities. People talk always about weather
because you can not do anything about it. Loving the whole world is easy,
loving your wife is difficult. You need to do something for the latter. You will
always find reasons why you can not change yourself.
Nithyanadna says, ‘The best way to escape from a Master is to start

worshipping him. Jews were too simple; they killed Jesus because they did
not want to listen to him. Hindus are more cunning; they started worshipping
Krishna so that they do not have to follow him. Hanging Jesus on the cross
and hanging a Master’s photo on the wall are the same; both kill. It’s the best
way to avoid following his teachings.
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Devotees imbibe teachings and live by them; they do good. The other group
of fans focuses on rituals not teachings. If you focus on the person you forget
the principle’.
A small story…
A Rishi got enlightened. Devas celebrated. In Hell the asuras had a meeting. Why
are you letting people get enlightened? We won’t get any one in Hell. Says
President of Asuras: I have sent disciples to worship the Masters so that no one
follows their teachings. Don’t worry, we shall get many of them here too.
How to Stop Worrying
Day to Day (Exercise 1)
For just 3 days drop all your cravings. Drop all your imagination of people, events,
objects, locations etc. In 3 days you will not lose anything. Decide that you will not
worry about your future, your imagination. You will find yourself far more energetic.
You will save 15 hours out of the 18 hours of chatter. You will have time to
implement your planning.
Day to Day (Exercise 2)
Imagine a normal day in your life. You have an appointment or some important
work at 9 am, which is an hour earlier than your normal schedule of being out of
home. You plan to get up at least half an hour earlier to manage, but sad to say the
alarm does not go off. You get up as usual, late for the appointment. You are in
afoul mood. You rush through your shaving, cut yourself, which makes your mood
worse. You rush through breakfast, dumping food into your mouth the same way as
you would dump rubbish in a garbage bin. You rush out, and you arte caught in a
traffic jam. You reach the place of appointment at 930 am. You find that the other
guy has not turned. He comes in at 10 am, breezily, with a huge smile, says: you
know Bangalore traffic, I am so sorry to keep you waiting.
Who is the idiot?
There certainly are some do or die situations where you must be on time but not
always, and not every where. If you must be on time your planning must allow for
that. You should respect other people’s time.
But does it make sense killing yourself worrying? Does it make sense cutting
yourself? Does it make sense dumping food as if it is garbage?
Be in the present; if you are late accept you are late; accept the consequences;
have the wisdom to know what you can control and what you must accept; and the
courage to accept what you must accept with out worrying and without feeling
guilty.
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If you operate from the present, you can never worry. You will as the singer said,
realize the state of, ‘Don’t worry, be happy!’
Pancreas
The solar plexus chakra, manipuraka, is related to energy, assimilation and

digestion, and is said to correspond to the roles played by the pancreas and the
outer adrenal glands, the adrenal cortex. These play a valuable role in digestion,
the conversion of food matter into energy for the body
Meditation Technique: Manipuraka Shuddhi Kriya
We can get over our worries by opening the manipuraka chakra. You can enjoy the
inner treasures of this chakra by changing the inner chatter into positive inner
chatter; by changing the negative inner chatter into positive inner chatter. You can
transform, you can reprogram yourself continuously, consciously. That is one way.
There is an effective meditation technique to take us beyond this inner chatter. As

we all saw, we are sitting in a car which doesn’t have brakes, which is not acting
according to our instructions, and acts according to its own whims and fancies, its
own instructions. How to escape from it? How to get down from it? How to stop it?
How to control it?
Here is a simple meditation technique. You can use it to stop and to throw out your
inner chatter. Then you will be able to have a few moments which do not have the
inner chatter. You can be alive without inner chatter at least for a few moments.
You can have awareness without inner chatter for a few moments. When you are
able to understand that you can be alive for a few moments at least without the
inner chatter, you will then be able to shape your inner chatter.
This technique has two roots: ancient Christianity, where it was called ‘glassalolia’
and later adapted into Sufism, both used to stop your inner chattering. It will help
you have a few moments of awareness without inner chattering, and to transform
your inner chattering, to transform your inner verbalizations. The Sufi version is
called ‘Gibberish’. This name ‘Gibberish’ is associated with a Sufi mystic, Jaabar.
This mystic Jaabar never spoke any language that people could understand. He
used to speak the language that nobody would understand! This is actually a
beautiful way of teaching. Even if you listen in the language that I am speaking,
you are not going to understand. You are only going to misunderstand. But the
unfortunate part is that you do not know that you misunderstand. With Jaabar, you
will not have that confusion. At least you know that you do not understand! When
you know that you don’t know, you at least know that you don’t know. When you
don’t know that you don’t know, you don’t even know that you don’t know! With
Jaabar, you will be able to understand that you don’t know. With me, you will not
even be able to understand that you don’t know.
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Now let us enter into the meditation technique. This can be done either alone, or in
a group, either sitting or standing. Close your eyes. Start beginning to say
nonsensical sounds. In other words, speak in a language that you don’t know! You
can scream, shout, laugh, create sounds of animals, birds, anything. If you know
English, don’t speak in English. Only one thing, you should not be able to
understand what you are saying! You can shake your head; you can move your
body as you feel. One more instruction; you should continuously shout and utter
the words that have no meaning, without any gap or pause. Just vomit out all your
inner chatter. Your mind is nothing but nonsense, nothing but dust, nothing but a
garbage bin. Put it aside and you will have a deep taste of the bliss which is
continuously oozing in you! Go consciously mad, with absolute awareness! Throw
out all the poison, all the dirt that you have accumulated inside. For twenty
minutes, continuously throw out everything. This technique will help you break up
your continuous pattern of verbalization. You are continuously thinking, thinking.
All your thinking is nothing but the language that you know.
What is after all this inner chatter? It is nothing but you speaking to yourself in
your mother tongue, or in the language that you use the most, or in nay of the
languages that you know. Mind always thinks in terms of words. When you speak in
the language that you don’t know, by creating some sounds, you are creating
some new pattern, which is not a pattern at all. Then the regular pattern in your
being, your inner chattering, will be completely broken up. Using nonsensical
words helps you to break up the pattern of continuous verbalization. Without
suppressing your thoughts, without repressing your emotions, you can throw them
out. You can cry, laugh, whatever you want, but you must be continuously shouting
the words that you don’t understand. You should throw out all the poisons that you
have accumulated, all the worries and depressions that you have accumulated in
your navel center, in your manipuraka chakra.
If you have noticed that the world over, if something untoward happens, people
normally say, ‘I can’t digest it!’ This expression exists in all the languages. ‘I can’t
stomach it!’ How are stomach and worry connected? Both are deeply connected.
So, when you throw out your worries, your stomach will be completely relaxed. You
will enter into a new world. Your sufferings, worries, depressions, everything will be
simply thrown out. You will not be worried about worries. This is the beautiful way,
the beautiful structure to make you not to worry about the worries.
The meditation technique that we use helps empty out our stomach. For this, you
will have to be on an empty stomach else you might throw up. The words in us
have to be spilt out. It’s like opening a Pandora’s box. It’s also like opening the
cover of a septic tank. What are these words? They are the languages that you
know. Your mind is nothing but the languages that you know. This technique is
nothing but talking in the language that you don’t know. This will then break the
depression and thoughts in you. Imagine there is a pond with moss floating on top
beneath which there is clear water. All you have to do is to move the moss and the
water sparkles beneath it. You will be able to see your face sparkling in the water!
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The meditation technique we use is taken from Christian (glassalolia) tradition and
is called manipuraka shuddhi kriya. It should be done on an empty stomach, at
least 2 hours after a major meal, otherwise meditator will become sick and throw
up.
Wear eye bands, and stand with eyes closed. Feel how heavy your stomach
manipuraka area feels. It is filled with all your worries and feels heavy. Focus on
your manipuraka chakra for a minute. Imagine yourself in a situation of conflict,
and that you are fighting with someone. Use a language that you do not know and
shout at him. Wave your hands, shout, scream. Let tears flow. Do it with all your
might to vomit out all our negative feelings from your guts. Become completely
immersed in the fighting, aware of nothing else.
After twenty minutes of this meditation, just sit quietly and relax for ten minutes.
This meditation will help you tremendously to cleanse and open your manipuraka
chakra. When the manipuraka chakra opens, you transcend your worries, you
transcend the depression and enter into the path of ecstasy. You become an
ananda yogi. May you enter into the ecstasy; may you enter into the path of bliss.
Your life will be transformed into a celebration. The dull, dead, dragging, worried
inner chatter will be dropped. A new ecstatic, flying feeling will start rising in you.
(Acharya) Participant feedback after a very satisfactory mahamantra meditation

was that they could not get angry and think of fighting with someone during this
manipuraka meditation! While instructing, make them understand they do not
have to become angry or be in a fighting mood if they do not wish to or can not;
but they still have to shout out in an unknown language, rave, rant to get the
garbage out. Warn them that if they do not, garbage from others will get into their
manipuraka!
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Module 4: Muladhara Chakra

The muladhara chakra is at the base of the spinal cord. Its very name muladhara it
which in Sanskrit means ‘The support for the root’ means that it is the basis for our
life. Greed and fantasies lock this chakra. When you drop fantasies, it unlocks.
Muladhara is the origin of not only our lives, but of the entire Universe. The Shiva
Linga is the representation of the merging of the muladhara of the primal male and
female powers. It is as such the most potent representation of the creation of the
Universe. The Linga is not just Shiva, the destroyer; it is the entire trinity of
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as well as Shakti.
We are born from the muladhara chakras of a man and a woman, our parents. A
man is 51% male and 49% female and a woman is 51% female and 49% male.
From this arises the concept of Ardhanareeshwara (The Lord whose form is half
man and half woman).
Today there is the possibility of developing a human life form with no male sperm
only with the female eggs, and also from stem cells without either a sperm or an
egg. This does not negate the fact that these fundamental cells, and their DNAs,
and their chromosomes are a combination of male and female life forms.
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Search for the Lost Gender
From the day we are born, we suppress all aspects of the lesser half in us. Society
teaches us the qualities of the 51% part in us. By societal rules, Man is not meant
to possess qualities of compassion, care and motherhood and similarly a woman is
not meant to possess qualities like bravery and strength. What happens to this
suppressed half in us? A man searches for this suppressed part outside of him
because man came from fulfillment and his inherent nature is also attaining
fulfillment. This search becomes lust towards women.
Till seven, most children are prepared to accept being in both sexes if allowed to. It
is parental and societal norms that bind them to their explicit visible gender.
During this stage the mind and spirit are open. It is critical that we allow children to
roam free at this stage. No restriction in clothing, eating, doing what they want,
even taking reasonable risks since they still have powers of intuition and instinct to
guide them if un corrupted.. Let them have freedom in clothing; if at all let them
wear one-piece clothing. Two piece clothing separates our body into two; that’s
why when we visualize our name only the upper body comes into mind. Let them
be free in using their limbs; let them use both hands. Let them be free in thinking;
do not force feed your value system upon them; let them learn from what you do,
not what you say.
A small story…
Ananda had a miserly wife. One day he took his son to his friend’s house. The
friend asked, ‘Son, how old are you?’ The boy replied, ‘I’m normally eight, but
when I am with my mother on the bus, I am five!’
Children are so pure and sure; it takes societal conditioning to spoil them.
By dressing boys in blue and girls in pink, and segregating their toys we as parents
channelize them into their gender roles without giving them an adequate
opportunity to explore the issue on their own.
In ancient India children were sent at a tender age of 4 to a Master in a gurukul;

the Master became their father and mother; he evaluated their capabilities; he did
not rank them; he guided them to what each was good at; this is the process that
has degenerated into today’s hereditary varanshrama dharma; which is adharma.
Between 7 and 14 children turns outwards, mostly to their parents and near and
dear. Their early models are their parents. In their search for the lost ‘self’ the boy
child turns to the mother and the girl child to father. They also develop a love /
hate relationship with the other sex. If this umbilical connection is severed there is
trauma. If you send your child to a boarding school at this age, what you are asking
for is an Old Age Home later. In the gurukul environment all children, of all varnas
and both genders, were taught the gayatri at 7. If by 14 they had a spiritual
experience of some kind they were taught the brahma sutra. Those who did not
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were taught the Kama sutra to become good grihastas. If before 21 they were
enlightened they were initiated as sanyasins. If not, they were taught the yoga
sastras.
At the age of 14, a boy starts collecting images of the women outside and when he
is 21, these images take a proper shape and serve as a base for him to search for
his life partner. In olden days, these images were collected from primarily one’s
parents. A boy naturally attracted towards the mother used to collect images from
her and a girl naturally attracted towards the father used to collect images from
him. A boy expects care from his wife, like the care he received from his mother
and likewise a girl from her husband. Their benchmarks were simple; father and
mother.
Today, the scene is different. We start our fantasy collection seriously. We collect
images form media and build expectations on them. A lady brought her daughter
to the ashram. The daughter was looking at a picture of Hrithik Roshan, a cinema
actor. She told the mother, ‘Mom, when Grandpa dies, you somehow buy Hrithik
and make him my grandfather, he is so good looking’. One man asked Master,
‘Why has the concept of single man for single woman that was exhibited in
Ramayana failed?’ Master told him jokingly ‘In the Ramayana, Sita did not see
Hrithik and Shah Rukh!’ Sita was not under the load of any images. The only image
she had was of Janaka her father and there was not much disparity between
Janaka’s image and Rama’s image.
We collect features – eyes, nose, lips and what not from different images and make
an image out of them and search for this image outside! When the gap between
reality and imagination increases, the tension starts. When this gap is reduced, the
tension reduces. When tension mounts the chain breaks. Today, even as early as 7
years of age, the images start getting loaded. Advertisement hoardings, Television,
Radio and other media know your weaknesses well. They touch these weak points
and sell their products. There is rarely a hoarding without a female model. Take a
toothpaste advertisement. Do men never brush their teeth? Take a car
advertisement. 90% of drivers are men and yet the advertisement shows a female
driver. Even a simple ‘Pure magic cookies’ advertisement shows only females.
Media people are actually dream sellers. We collect all these images and try to
consume them through dreams. Is it possible? Can your thirst for water be
quenched by consuming salt? Your thirst will only increase! In this fashion we are
buying and eating these images and the load on the muladhara chakra increases.
A small story…
Sagar Pillai decided to get married and started looking out for a girl for himself. No
matter which girl he brought home, his mother disapproved. Finally, he found a girl
who resembled his mother in looks, attitude, habit and dress sense. He brought her
home and his mother fell for her. Unfortunately for him, his father hated her!
We continuously collect images from all that we see around us. We constantly
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compare reality with these images and feel disappointed. Unless we throw out
these images, we will not be able to enjoy the real beauty around us!
In olden days in the gurukul tradition the term brahmacharyam went far beyond
the meaning of celibacy that we attribute to the word today. This word has nothing
to do with being married or unmarried, having sex or not having sex. It means
walking the path of the Brahman, the ultimate reality. It actually means throwing
out the fantasy female that is inside you, that’s all. Once you have thrown out the
female inside you, you can live with or without the female in the outside world. If
you don’t throw out the female inside you, even if you get married, there will not
be complete peace in your mind. Whereas, if you throw out the female inside you,
whether you get married or not, there will be peace in your mind.
Lord Shiva says in Shiva Tantra, ‘The woman outside you does not disturb you. It is
the woman inside that disturbs you’. All that is being said applies to both man and
woman alike.
Soul mate = Fool mate
At 21, we start searching to find reality that might match the image inside us.
When we meet a person, we compare him or her with the image inside us and
invariably find that there is no match. At some point in time, what we see outside
seems like matching what is inside. What is inside is green and what is outside also
appears to be green from the distance we are looking at. We spend ½ an hour
everyday with the person and the green outside seems unchanged. We come
closer by 10 feet and start spending more time and feel that it is not really green
but actually yellowish green. We come still closer and feel that it is really yellow
and progressively feel that it might be just cream. Finally we come together for 24
hours and realize that it is actually white. What is inside is green and what is
outside is actually white.
A small story…
Ram Gopal was a painter by profession. He was recalling to his friend, ‘You know,
this girl walked in with a blue-black chip and wanted me to paint a model house
with the same color. I thought I would give up my profession in trying to match it.
Nothing seemed to satisfy her’. The friend asked, ‘Did you match it?’ Gopal
continued, ‘Well, lucky for me, she got a call on her mobile and I quickly painted
the chip while she was talking!’
In life, we are constantly trying to match the images inside us with reality outside.
We will never find a perfect match. We need to drop these images inside us and we
will find endless possibilities!
When we see some one from a distance and some dimension of that person with a
part of the fantasy template we have of our dream partner, we see our fantasy
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coming to life; this is what we call falling in love. It is funny that we never call it
‘rising’ in love.
A small story…
A man fell three floors and was lying on the road writhing in pain. A friend walked
up, ‘Did you get badly hurt falling down?’ Said the victim, ‘No, I was not hurt
because I fell down. I was hurt because I stopped!’
As long as we float in love, flirt in love, keep distances, and keep time short, we are
fine, fine in a fantasy world. It’s only when the floating stops, the relationship firms
up, distances reduce and time increases that the pain starts; in this case the pain
of marriage.
The image inside and reality outside are different. The other person too has an
image inside him or her, which he or her is trying to constantly find outside. We try
finding a soul mate and end up fining a fool mate.
A small story…
One 90-year old man used to sit every day in the beach from morning to evening
watching the people in the beach. Another man who noticed this went to him and
asked what the old man was actually doing sitting there. The old man replied that
he was searching for a woman to be his wife. The man was shocked at this reply
and asked him why he had never searched in his youth. The old man replied that
he has been searching from when he was 30 years of age. The man was
astonished and asked him what sort of a woman he was searching for and he
replied, ‘I am searching for a perfect woman. I found one woman who matched
what I had in mind but it didn’t work out well with her’. The man asked why, for
which the old man replied ‘Well, she was searching for a perfect man!’
Perils of Marriage
A small story…
One man got married. His friend presented him with a puppy dog as a gift for the
wedding. Two months later the friend visited him and enquired about his married
life. The man replied, ‘When I got married, the pup used to bark and my wife used
to fetch the newspaper, but now my wife barks and the pup fetches the
newspaper. Just a small difference, that’s all’. The barking starts when you realize
that the outside is white and not green.
Fantasy will not allow you to enjoy sex. Attraction to an image reduces reality to
irrelevance. Too much fantasizing and too little attention to reality is what creates
problems in our relationships. The images of wife, father, mother, child and friend
suppress the reality of their Being and we are no longer aware of them.
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In the west, when people realize that the outside is actually white, they simply
leave it at that. They do not try repair jobs. They switch partners.
In the East, it is then that the sculpting work starts. The training starts, man on
woman and woman on man. Sculpting is good on wood to make furniture and on
stones to make idols. What will happen when you sculpt humans? Only flesh and
blood will flow. That is why most of the homes today are not Dharmakshetras
(abodes of Justice) but Kurukshetras (Abodes of war).
People say ‘I love my wife and that is why I am trying to change her’. Be very clear,
you have a mould and you have a wife. If you really love your wife, you will change
the mould to suit your wife, but if you love your mould then you will try to change
your wife to fit the mould. Most of us love our moulds. This is the beginning of
unrest in our homes. An intimate war begins.
In Tantra, Lord Shiva says, ‘When 2 people live together, there will be peace, when
3 people live together there will be a village-like atmosphere, when 4 people live
together, there will be a city-like atmosphere’.
What does this really mean? When the husband and wife drop their images inside
them and live together, they are only 2 people co-existing and hence there will
peace. When only one of them drops the image, there will be in effect 3 people co-
existing and the atmosphere will still be relatively calm like in a village. When
neither of them drops their image, there will be in effect 4 people trying to co-exist
and the atmosphere become chaotic like in a city. Both the husband and the wife
need to drop their images so that there are only 2 people in the house and not 4.
This problem is not only between lovers and couples but in all relationships,
wherever we have a fantasy template that w try to fit the person into, be it
parents, children, friends, boss or worker. Those who accept reality are always fine.
Those who live with fantasy only suffer themselves. It is only those who mix reality
with fantasy cause damage by trying to carve others to their fantasy image.
Fantasies can also be about ourselves; our body; intellect; etc. These too cause
serious damage to relationships.
Fantasies, obsessions and other desires become addictive; what starts off as
something joyful when we indulge in them, take us over and it is as if we live for
them. There is no joy in addiction, only unhappiness when you do not have it.
Cigarettes smoke you, liquor drink you; it is easier to drop addictions/\ through
logic rather than phobias / fears that we shall address later. One needs to
understand the utility that the addiction provides and replace it with something
more positive.
(Discussion) How do you respond when people disagree? Say that actually over
time relationship improves not degenerates?
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Why we Differentiate?
In any society, the moment it grows, a pattern of differentiation sets in. You
become xenophobic; you are afraid on anyone who is different. An Indian is afraid
and therefore intolerant of a Chinese; a North Indian is intolerant of a South Indian;
someone from Tamilnadu is intolerant of some one from Kerala; a nadir in
Tamilnadu hates a Brahmin from Tamilnadu; An Iyer Brahmin dislikes an Iyengar
Brahmin; the sequence is endless. Rich and poor; Hindu and Muslim; old and
young; male and female; the divide and differentiation is continuous.
All such dislikes based on differentiation arise out of insecurity; they arise out a
fight for survival of identity. All these differentiation are based on tapes played into
us from childhood, by adults around us, who in turn have had the tapes played into
their ears. All you need to do is to refuse to listen to them anymore, to conform to
these templates, to observe these nightmarish fantasies where human hates
human.
Generation gaps, gender gaps, religious divides, economic divides are all capable
of resolution once we let go the need for this primal struggle to survive. A true
understanding of the reality that we are all one, our beings are one, is enough to
break the pattern of divide.
Women are open to the divine energy during their menstrual periods. This was the
reason why it was recommended that they stay alone and meditate during this
period. Over time, men who envied women for this gift turned them into outcastes
during this period, calling them unclean. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
In a similar manner anything that we envy about another group is a good enough
reason for it to be used against them, to control them. We envy the young for their
energy, for the freedom that they seek; so we control them and create the
generation gap that we ourselves struggled against when we were children. We
call it the wisdom of adults, where as it should be called the jealousy of the adults.
We wish to live our lives through our children and victimize them, instead of letting
them go.
Seeing as is and seeing as we want to
In Sanskrit there are two phrases that teach us reality: Dhrishti Shrishti and
Shrishti Dhrishti.
Dhrishti Shrishti means seeing the world as it is, taking it as it comes; to accept
what is, as reality.
Shrishti Dhrishti means to see the world as we would like it to be, through colored
lenses, through our fantasies.
Dhrishti Shrishti leads to a happy life; Shrishti Dhrishti leads to suffering.
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In most of us, our minds are conditioned to look at things as we want them to be.
Our greed, lust and jealousy constantly provoke us into changing reality to suit our
images. We do not always have the wisdom to see where we can stop, because
there is no stopping to desires.
If we watch a popular serial and see a beautiful girl, we immediately want a girl like
that in our lives. In the serial, they are simply acting and we start clinging on to the
characters portrayed by them and start wanting that type of care and behavior
from the people around us. What folly! Today, we are all buying dreams from
dreams, not from reality. In yester years, people bought dreams from reality. If you
truly got the mould in your mind from only your Mother, you will definitely accept
your wife immediately. You have got the mould from television serials and other
types of media and there starts the problem.
To use Depending on Participant Maturity and Profile…
What is lust?
We only know how to reproduce, we do not know lust. When animals couple, they
experience pure lust. They enjoy themselves. Our lust is taken from imagination,
from movies, from books, it is not natural. From early on we form ideas about how
our ‘would be’ should be. This contaminates the relationship. We relate to a
person in our imagination, not the person next to us. The real husband or wife
becomes a poor substitute to what is in your mind, your cerebral layer, which
leaves you with a feeling of being cheated. Males feel they are deprived. Females
feel exploited, used, disrespected. Your lust and sex are contaminated with the dirt
of imagination. You relate with them only mentally. Shiva Sutra says: In bed you are
four, not two.
In ancient days, at 40 lust and sex left the householder, because they had enjoyed
these fully before. Do you know the mantras chanted at marriage? Only Purohits
get married these days. In saptapati, the most important part of Hindu marriage
rites when husband and wife go around the fire 7 times, wife says to husband,
‘Become my eleventh son’, and husband responds, ‘become my eleventh
daughter’. In the eleventh year their intimacy is so great they become each other’s
child. There is a deep intimacy, there is a wonderful relationship. These words were
not poems to read, they were living guidelines.
Now marital relationship is a business, for security or material benefits. You may
live in the same home, not in a homely way. Remove the imagination and dreams
from your lust; both about your partner’s body and yours. Many of us are shamed
of our body, we hate it. All body pains and chronic skin diseases arise out of low
self esteem and disrespect to your own body. We would like to be someone else.
We would like to shape our body and dress like someone else. You stop staying in
your boundary. Whenever you hear your name you think of your face, not your
whole body, because you are not comfortable. When you copy someone else
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artificially and not accept yourself fully, you can at best be beautiful but never
graceful. Grace comes from within. For the next few days watch your body after
your bath with love; feel comfortable. Your body oozes bliss all the time. Yet we feel
only the pain. If you are relaxed with your own body your mind will not wander.
When you are at home, your mind is in the office, and when you are working you
wish you were at a party.
Tulsidas says about Sita in Tulsi Ramayana, when Sita enters Janaka’s court all the
rishis including Vashishta and her own father stood up to pay their respect to this
young princess, such was her overwhelming grace. In Tantra meditation you touch
your body first thing in the morning after you wake up at every point with deep
love to allow their subtle body to settle into their gross physical body.
You love someone as long as that person does what you say, obeys you. A mother
says, ‘I loved my daughter so deeply till she married some one not of my choice’. Is
this love? It is slavery to your ego. As long as the daughter was an extension of
mother’s personality she felt love. Add friendliness to love. As of now your lust is
violence, deep rooted violence; to own another person, to conquer another person
while she resists. It’s war. Add friendliness to your relationship. Welcome, not just
accept, the partner as she is. Welcome and accept your own mind, body and Being
as it is.
Are we not friendly? No, you are not. If you watch carefully, you disrespect and
abuse your body. You stay up and watch TV even if your body cries out for sleep.
You gorge yourself with food even if your stomach is full. You smoke even if your
lungs cry out. You drink yourself to unconsciousness. Your body is a garbage dump.
You are like a pig which shoves its nose into filth and can no longer smell the filth.
You torture your body for what you feel is your enjoyment.
We are so bothered about the terrorism that happens outside. We ignore violence
at home and violence against our own body. Sadism and masochism do not bother
us, terrorism does. We are torturing ourselves with guilt; we torture others through
our perfectionism.
Man told Master, ‘My wife is a lawyer. He asked, ‘Does she go to the courts?’ Man
replied, ‘Master, she argues at home’.
Drop your imagination and dreams. Add friendliness towards yourself and others,
towards their body, mind and Being. Carry with you words that heal others. Carry
your body in a way that heals others. Carry friendliness with you always. This is a
spiritual process. Carry the grace and goodwill of Lakshmi with you instead of
undergoing fasts and puja.
First time around when you approach others with your friendliness they may not
receive you openly because of your past behavior. Persist and persevere. Don’t
stop even if others do not reciprocate. Carry on till others believe you and
reciprocate.
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Drop imagination about your body, mind and Being and others; add friendliness
towards yourself and others; persevere. Lust will turn to Love. Your Being will be in
eternal Bliss.
Don’t give undue importance to the world outside; instead give all the importance
to the world inside. If the muladhara gets disturbed due to psychological reasons,
there are chances of children being born physically handicapped. In yester years,
Rishis gave birth to children who were much more intelligent than the ones today.
This is because the Rishis’ muladhara chakra was light and not loaded. Our
muladhara chakras are heavily loaded and therefore the child’s brain power is low.
Purely by the Energy levels or Shakthi, there is a difference between the babies
born then and now.
Pregnant women should practice meditation and spirituality. When children are
born, we should be clear on what they wish to become and then dream on that,
else they will be a projection of our own unfulfilled dreams. Most of us are actually
wrongly placed in our lives; we are misplaced. There is complete confusion
prevalent because of this. Doctors have landed up becoming Engineers and so on.
The truth is, our mothers are trying to realize their unfulfilled dreams through us.
The right way would be for the mothers to find out what their child wishes to
become and then dream about it.
Anger and its Management
Anger is a positive energy, and a very powerful one. Anger arises out of our
inability to accept what we see as a wrong doing, either externally or within
ourselves. If we are aware we can perceive how often we get angry at ourselves.
We are conditioned by society and our parent figures to get angry at thoughts and
behavior not in conformity with what they have laid down as right or wrong.
This makes no sense because our own value systems need not be the same as
some one else’s, even our parents. Society gets angry with those who break its
moral codes. These moral codes are laid down by those in power, either religious
power or institutional power. At the existence level there is no moral right or
wrong. Conscience is man made. Consciousness comes from our awareness of our
existence. We need to abide by our consciousness not our conscience.
When we become aware of reality, having dropped our fantasies in relationships

and behavioral expectations, our anger will only rise when at the Being kevel when
we ourselves and others doing damage to their own Being, and by extension to
other Beings. Such anger arises out of compassion, not out of irritation to our ego.
Such anger is transient, passes almost before it appears, and has no hangover.
When on a day to day basis we get angry, it is because we are denied something;
we feel hurt about something; our ego is affected; we are denied control; our
desires are thwarted and so on. The underlying emotion is totally selfish arising out
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of ego, lust, greed, fear, worry, irritation, non acceptance, envy, and discontent.
Such anger has no reason to exist, and can not exist if we are aware, and live in
the present.
Understanding this truth and accepting this truth will help us control anger. We will
soon discover that there is no need to be angry, and there is no point in being
angry. People do things for you willingly when they like you. They may do things for
you because they fear you, but only till you have some control over them. They will
wait for the opportunity to pay you back, to shame you, to destroy you. Controlling
people through fear is a self destructive behavior that only cowards deploy.
Anger should not be suppressed. Suppression of anger will lead to chronic and fatal
diseases including high blood pressure, strokes, and cancer. Venting anger is also
not a permanent solution. It dissipates anger temporarily. Understanding and
accepting anger dissolves it permanently.
There was an interesting experiment that was carried out in a US varsity on anger
management. Over a dozen women volunteers were requested to bring in their
spouses, who they had complained had uncontrollable tempers. The husbands
agreed to be treated. They underwent treatment for a few weeks and were sent
home. Within a week the wives came back protesting. The researchers asked
whether they were dissatisfied with the treatment. The wives said: no, the
treatment has been very effective; but with the loss of their anger they no longer
pay any attention to us. Give us our old angry husbands back!
Vegetables and inanimate beings do not get angry; however, we may not wish to
live with vegetables or as vegetables.
A Day to Day Tip to Control Anger
After this course once you practice the mahamantra meditation regularly you will
gradually find, especially after 21 days, that your awareness of what happen inside
your mind body increases. You become far more sensitive. When you get angry
your body reacts first. The adrenalin flows out and the sensation is unmistakable.
With your new found awareness you would be able to feel this sensation
microseconds before it erupts. That’s enough. With determination, with
consciousness, with awareness, decide that you will respond from your anahata
with love, and not with anger.
When you are familiar with meditation, you can at will bring your self into a
meditative mood anywhere. You need not hum the Mahamantra; all you have to do
is to turn inwards. You will be in the present acutely aware of what happens within
you, within your mind body system at that moment; not seconds before, not
seconds after; but at that time. Use this awareness to act; you have that power.
This may seem impractical and fanciful, just try and see how beautifully it works.
Each time you succeed in your effort your next effort becomes easier. Very soon
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you will realize that even as the anger is about to rise it succeeds with a new found
understanding of its futility.
Managing Greed
Greed is as old as creation. Greed is unending desire. Whatever we have , however

much we have, we want more, irrespective of whether we need it or not. When we
understand how generous the Universe is in giving us what we need we can shed
greed. There is no need to accumulate food when you know that your next days’
meal will be taken care of. To the person who has renounced his home, the
sanyasin, the whole world is his home. Wherever he is, existence will provide him
his next meal. If he is not, he moves, knowing for certain that he does not need
that meal.
Awakening the muladhara is by dropping greed, fantasies, lust and anger, not by
controlling them.
Adrenal Glands
The root chakra, muludhara, is related to survival, excretion, and also to basic
human potentiality. It is said the kundalini lies coiled here, ready to uncoil and
bring man to his highest spiritual potential in the crown chakra. This centre is
located in the region between the genitals and the anus. Although no endocrine
organ is placed here, it is said to relate to the inner adrenal glands, the adrenal
medulla, responsible for the fight and flight response when survival is under threat.
In this region is located a muscle that controls ejaculation in the sexual act. A
parallel is drawn between the sperm cell and the ovum, where the genetic code
lies coiled, and the legendary kundalini, ready to express itself as a fully developed
human being.
Dukkaharana Meditation (from Shiva’s Kularnava Tantra)
Muladhara chakra has a reserve of energy in itself. This chakra is the storehouse of
85% of our energy. In the tantric system muladhara is where the primal cosmic
energy rests in the form of a coiled serpent. It is not like the other chakras where
we have to create energy in them. With this chakra, we only need to cleanse the
energy in it and take the energy upwards.
Most of us live our lives only in this chakra. We .live only on survival needs, and
emotions linked to survival needs; without expressing our consciousness. Without
meaning to demean animals, it would be true to say that we live like animals, since
most animals live only through their muladhara, engaged only in hunting, eating
and procreating.
If this chakra is in a healthy condition, clarity will set in automatically in you and
good health will prevail. Chronic or fatal diseases like cancer, stroke etc. have their
root in this chakra.
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If we understand this chakra completely we can maximize our Biological,

Psychological and Spiritual energies. 80% of our problems lie in this chakra. When
unmarried people train themselves to drop their imagination, they will be able to
follow reality instead of following images. They will be able to analyze clearly,
calmly and fully while selecting their life partner. Else, hormonal torture will make
them select wrongly and they will struggle all through their lives.
Unmarried people should try to keep this chakra clean to be able to bring in clarity
while selecting your life partner. Married people should keep this chakra clean in
order to fully welcome the partner into your lives by dropping your images.
Lord Shiva says, ‘A man can become Lord Shiva himself when he drops his images
and a woman can become Goddess Parvati (Lord Shiva’s consort) by dropping her
images. One who is filled with love and thoughts of Lord Shiva lives in tapas
(penance) and one who has burnt imagination becomes Shiva himself”.
When you lose your imagination, you acquire the quality of looking at others’ lives
and problems. Old people can easily drop their imagination and live a peaceful life
without expectation. Not only between husband and wife, but also between
siblings, expectations arise out of muladhara. Hormones control the mind. However
much you try to control the mind, the hormones take it with them. A technique to
keep our mind under control is given by Shiva in Kularnava Tantra and is called
Dukkaharana.
This meditation technique is called dukkhaharana. It will bring out all the
suppressed emotions in you. Many Masters have employed this technique before.
It takes totally 30 minutes.
Breathing is the bridge to the Universe. It is the system with which you are living
your mind. If your thinking is calm, your breath will be relaxed. If your thinking is
aggressive, your breathing will also be aggressive. You first need to control your
breathing in order to control your mind
Presently, in our repressed state, most of us are half-alive and half-dead. In the first
part of this meditation, chaotic breathing is carried out in order to create chaos in
your repressed system. Your mental system is made fully alive by the increased
intake of oxygen; it becomes more vital. Your cells will get more energy and will
create more bioelectricity or bio-energy. This energy will melt all the repressed
emotions like melting ice.
Step 1:
Wear eye bands, stand with eyes closed. Breathe deeply and chaotically from the
depths of your body. Extend your arms outwards, and plan your feet firmly about
18 inches apart. Gently lower yourself down till your knees are bent,
simultaneously keeping your arms extended outwards at your shoulder level. This
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is the moving down motion. Then move back up to a normal standing position with
rams extended. Repeat this motion gently, slowly, without exerting yourself unduly.
Continue to breathe deeply and in rhythm with the movement. Breathe from the
nostrils, with mouth closed. If you have a heart problem, do only what you can.
Similarly pregnant women and others with physical ailments do only what you can.
Do this for 10 minutes.
Step 2:
The next 10 minutes, tense and relax your limbs. Start with your feet; tense them
for 40 seconds, and then completely relax for 20 seconds. Next step; keep your
feet relaxed; tense your legs and thighs for 40 seconds, then relax 20 seconds.
Like this after relaxing the previous set of limbs, tense the next set for 40 seconds
and relax for 20. Move upwards in order: Hips, Stomach, Back, Chest, Both arms up
to shoulder; neck and shoulder; face; finally Head. On each limb or body part tense
as much as possible for 40 seconds. Then relax for 20 seconds; then move on to
next body part.
(While doing this, two things happen. All the 72,000 energy points in the body get
activated and energized, many of them perhaps for the first time in our lives. In
addition all the emotional hangovers will disappear. In your office, your boss may
scold you but you will not be able to scold him back. Your mind and body will be
angry and aggressive and this causes your body to release an acid. When you are
unable to react to this acid, it gets suppressed in your body. Imagine, when you are
on a 2-wheeler at the traffic signal on the road, a car pulls up next to you. You feel
a sudden desire to possess it. This desire gets suppressed due to non-fulfillment.
So many such desires and emotions are suppressed in you. How then can you
enjoy bliss? )
At the end of these 10 minutes, you will become vacant inside and become cool,
calm and composed. When you hear the tape saying ‘Stop’, just stop as you are.
For a moment, you will experience the state of ‘No Mind’.
Step 3:
For the next 10 minutes, sit and chant ‘hoo’ the hoo kara sound (no need to make
it deep, long and loud as in mahamantra). At the end of the ‘hoo’ sound do not
close your mouth to make it ‘hoom’ or ‘ooom’; it is just ‘hoo’. Simply witness
whatever happens inside or outside your Being. The first two parts of this
technique are actually a preparation for this third part that is meditation. You will
see that the mind becomes silent effortlessly by itself. Silence cannot be forced
upon, it can only happen. 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. DO NOT
FOCUS ON THE MULADHARA AT ANY POINT DURING THE MEDITATION, as this will
create fantasies which you are trying to remove.
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After 10 minutes of ‘hoo kara’ sit silently for about a minute, and then open your
eyes.
You may practice this technique on an empty stomach preferably in the morning.
Wear loose fitting white clothing and keep to the music in the audiocassette. 21
days of dukkhaharana will transform your Being. This is like taking a psychological
bath. You will be able to experience the Silence in you. When you kill dukkha
(sorrow), ananda (Bliss) flowers and sends forth a beautiful perfume from you.
A Story You Can Use (Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford)
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest
universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the
closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three
stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a
drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college
graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very
strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set
for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped
out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents,
who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: ‘We have an
unexpected baby boy; do you want him?’ They said, ‘Of course’. My biological
mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that
my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final
adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised
that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost
as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being
spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no
idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help
me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved
their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It
was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I
ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that
didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
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It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends'
rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would
walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at
the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following
my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one
example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the
country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was
beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take
the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I
learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space
between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture,
and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years
later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to
me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful
typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac
would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since
Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have
them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy
class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they
do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in
college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them
looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in
your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma,
whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference
in my life.
(Reference) Swami’s Discourse on Cognitive Shift
We see what we wish to see. Dhrishti Shrishti is seeing things as want them to be.
Shrishti Dhrishti is seeing them as they are. When we see things as we want them
to be, we produce supporting facts for our judgment. We judge first, and then we
collect arguments to support our judgment. This leads to suffering.
When we operate from what-we- want- to- see mode we forget the consequences.
Nitti Mudaliar goes into a restaurant and orders his fill. As he gets up to leave he is
presented with a bill. Startled he says: but I didn’t order the bill. Like the unordered
bill consequences of our actions follow without asking us. This is karma, our mental
set up, that drives us to our unfulfilled desires, which if they are to be experienced
now will no longer be desirable.
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When we feel we have mastered some skill and are proud of it, we become solid;
we become dull, stop enjoying. Children on the other hand are always liquid,
always full of joy; they are intelligent.
A story: 40 year old father is dying his graying hair. Child asks why his hair is white.
He says if you tell a lie one hair turns white each time. Child looks at grandfather
whose hair is all white and wonders aloud what a liar he is!
Intelligent is simplicity, it’s also innocence; being intellectual forces one to be

complex. Intellect is like left over food, tamasic, whereas Intelligence is fresh,
satvic. In the gurukul system in ancient India there were many child sages as there
was no linkage seen between age and wisdom.
Rich people have money but not happiness; they are constantly afraid of losing
their wealth, and their wealth losing them when they die. Poor people have no such
problems. They are happy to be alive. Their perspective of life is very basic and
much larger than money.
A Zen master had to choose his successor. He drew a small black dot on a white
board and asked his disciples to tell him what they saw. Almost all saw only the
black dot. One disciple alone told him: what I see is a huge expanse of white, in
which there is an insignificant black dot. He was chosen as the successor.
All of us forget all good things that happen to us, we take them for granted, and
only remember the negative incidents. Problems become status symbols. We
would like to boast that we are on sleeping pills or anti depressants or whatever, as
these are symbols of our apparent prosperity. Children learn these from us; it is
neuro linguistic programming (NLP).
We do not realize how powerful our words are. If you listen to good words you find
peace. That’s how satsangs work; even if you are not aware, they bring peace to
you.
Doctors particularly should be careful, they should meditate; they have so much
negativity being poured into them. The way they are particular about washing their
hands they should also wash their minds. “What you think you become”
Our eye vision extends only 120 degrees. Life though is 360 degrees. By confining
ourselves to this 120 degree vision we become solid, dull, without joy; people see
us being serious, they think we are ok; if we laugh without reason they think we
are crazy. By being serious, we make our life our graveyard.
When we look at ourselves and others we tend to look down, not up. By looking up
towards high standards we grow. By focusing on negatives we drag ourselves
down.
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We form groups and sling mud at each other. Just let go. You go to heaven. Only
those who are rigid, can not forget and forgive are those who suffer. That’s why
good people suffer, they get cancer. They find it difficult to forgive themselves and
therefore others. This anger settles within themselves and corrodes them. Bad
people take life as it comes; they let go including what we think are ‘principles’.
They are happy.
God is one who remembers one good thing we did and forgives and forgets millions
of bad things we do. Man is one who remembers the one bad thing of others and
forgets million other good things.
Don’t judge people. Don’t worry about what people think of you. Drop
preconceived notions about time and place: office is hell, beach is fun; mornings
are tough; evenings are cool. Then you will be happy wherever you are, whenever
it is. Live and enjoy life as it is. Drop all your prejudices of people including
yourself, events, time and places.
Every 11 days your emotions go through a cycle; that’s why the ekadasi vrata of
fasting was introduced. For the next eleven days think only good things about your
body and see how it changes your perception. Just be aware of all its greatness.
A couple got fed up of their home and called a realtor to sell it. The realtor worked
hard and placed an ad to sell the house. The next day the couple called to say that
they do not wish to sell, they are happy with the house. Realtor, puzzled asked
why. The couple said: when we read your ad, we realized this was our dream
house. Why would we want to sell it?
In Tibet there are communities where a man of 130 considers himself young.
People live to 300 years in that community. A 200 year old man considers himself
only middle aged! Their perceptions change their expectations; their expectations
make their life.
Let us move from the ephemeral to eternal. All we need to do is to deal with things
as they are, as we find them, and not try changing them. We need to change
ourselves, not others. What we need is an internal cognitive shift: from seeing
things as we want them to be to seeing things as they are, and enjoying life as it
is.
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Module 4: Swadisthana
Swadishthana chakra is located about 2 inches below the navel, above the genital
area and is generally known as the spleen Chakra. In Sanskrit the word
Swadishthana is the conjunction of two words swa meaning ‘Self’ and adishthana
meaning ‘Establishment’ meaning that this chakra is the point where the life force
resides. The Japanese samurai custom of Hara Kiri refers to death of honor by the
samurais, when they kill themselves by driving their swords through their
swadishthana. Hara refers to the region of swadishthana and kiri meaning action.
In the Indian kalaripayathu system of healing and martial arts, this is one of the
marma points which when pierced will cause instantaneous death.
Fears and Fear Strokes
Swadishthana chakra is the centre of our fears; it is blocked by fears and fear
strokes and is energized through acceptance of these fears.
Fears serve the serious purpose of our survival. It is the instinct of fear at the
swadishthana that pumps adrenalin in our body whenever it senses danger.
Psychologists refer to this as the fight or flight response. It served humankind well
when the cave man was accosted by a lion or tiger, and had to instinctively decide
whether to fight or flee. In modern times there is little likelihood of our facing such
danger on a day to day basis unless we are in urban jungles where human
predators roam.
However, we face situations when the body mind system senses danger by some
past association when actually there is none. Adrenalin still pumps into the blood
stream.
Fear strokes which strike one without even experiencing factors that cause fear are
a major block of this chakra. Our phone ringing at midnight startles us for no
logical reason; one automatically expects and fears bad news. So too when a lift
stops between floors; foreigners have a fear stroke looking at the traffic in India.
Even the dream of a stock market crash is enough to drench some in sweat. After a
watching a horror movie, even a light tap on one’s shoulder may be enough to set
one off on a scream. Preachers of Vedanta always talk about mistaking a coil of
rope for a snake, and term this as maya or illusion. For those who has experienced
the fear of seeing a coil of rope and mistaking it for a snake, it certainly is no
illusion. It can cause a heart attack.
(Acharyas) Ask for Experiences
Some of us live in constant fear of one thing or another and can not think straight
whenever we are confronted with even a slightly worrisome situation.
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A disciple kept bothering his Sufi Master to give him initiation. Finally the Master
told him that he would initiate him on condition that he went into the nearest town
and kissed a woman in burkha and proceeded to the forest beyond to beat a tiger
with is stick. Other disciples protested that his was too simple. Master just smiled.
A week later the disciple returned wounded and bloodied. He said that he tried to
beat the woman and kiss the tiger!
Fear strokes are even more dangerous than fears. Because the adrenalin pumped
into the body has no outlet, either in terms of flight or fight, it stays within the
body. It weakens the immunity system, releases depression inducing chemicals and
accelerates our ageing process. It can even cause a heart attack or make our hair
turn white. On an average every one has about 6 fear strokes a day consciously or
unconsciously. Facing fear strokes head on is the only way to get rid of them or at
least reduce the intensity and frequency. These are like shadows that follow us,
which disappear one we turn around to face them.
Some fears in fact enhance the process of enjoyment as with roller coasters and
adventure sports where the dimension of risk adds a challenge and pleasure to the
participant, when he decides to face them.
A small story…
Latur Singh’s village had a bull chasing festival. Latur and his friends decided to
get drunk before facing the bulls. Latur was hesitant to leave the bar and kept on
drinking. His friends asked him to hurry up. You have had enough they said, you
are now brave enough to face the bulls. Said Latur rather sadly, that ‘s precisely
what I’m afraid of.
(Acharyas) Ask participants to share their worst moments of fear.
All our fears can by and large be classified into 5 categories:
1. Loss of wealth and other material comforts

2. Loss of body parts in sickness or accident
3. Loss of mental health
4. Loss of loved ones or their love
5.Fear of the unknown including Death
Losing material wealth is the fear of the rich. For one who does not have anything,
losing what he has is of little consequence. For someone who has millions, losing
even half of it is not really of material consequence. What is left will probably be
enough for him and future generations. It is the mere thought of losing what one
has and some one else taking possession of it that bothers us. It is the fear of an
ego loss, that we are not as good as some one else, that affects us deeply.
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Loss of physical health and loss of mental health are fears that grow in intensity
over age. Pertly these fears arise from a fear of being dependent on others and
partly from a situation of loss to one’s ego.
A small story…
Latur Singh was alone in the house when the doorbell rang and a saleswoman
stood selling dinner sets. She took out the knife set to show to him but accidentally
cut her finger and caused profuse bleeding. Latur gave her first aid and sent her
away. A few minutes another lady came in selling the same things. Latur told her,
“Just now there was someone here selling these items. In fact, this is her blood
here at the doorstep.” The lady beat a hasty retreat.
No one wishes willingly to submit to a situation that results in diminished mental

and physical faculties. However, when asked whether they would rather lose their
lives than lose a limb or a faculty, their responses may be different.
(Acharyas) Ask participants whether if mugged they will resist knowing that they
may be killed? What will they sacrifice and why?
Loss of love and loved ones is a deep fear. This fear obviously is related to the
relationship.
A small story…
Latur Singh was a lion-tamer and his wife hated him coming back home late in the
night. Latur was terrified of listening to her endless chiding. One night after
working late at the circus, he was terrified at the thought of going back home late.
He got into the lions’ cage and slept with them. The next day morning he woke up
to find his wife standing outside the cage. She glared at him and snarled, ‘You
coward!’
The fear of losing a loved one is usually more to do with one’s own discomfort in
losing the support of that person than any deep emotional withdrawal. In such
cases the process of grieving or mourning starts with intense anger at the
departed person for having deserted us. It takes time before the acceptance
happens. Mature societies accept death as natural and celebrate rather than
mourn a loved one’s death.
Fears of the unknown can be from the very minor of wandering spirits to the most
major fear of one’s own Death.
A small story…
Latur Singh and Sikar Shareef were catching up with old times. They spent the
night together in the latter’s house. Suddenly, they heard a noise beneath them
downstairs. Latur froze while Sikar got out of bed and walked towards the door.
Latur whispered, “Be careful, what are you going to do?’ Sikar whispered back,
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‘Lock the bedroom door’.
Often we would rather not know about what frightens us.
Surveys again and again reveal that our fear of our own death is the greatest of all
fears. The second most common fear is that of public speaking. The third is the
fear of failure.
Discuss why?
If we look deeply all these three common fears have their basis in our fear of losing
our ego, our identity, our self respect. In the case of failure and public speaking it
is easy to see the connection. In the case of death this fear is sub conscious. We do
not know what will happen to us when we die? What happens to our identity?
More than the fear of dying it’s the fear of not having lived our life well enough
that makes this terrifying. People resist death due to unfulfilled wants and slip into
coma and linger. It ‘s only a handful of people who have had a conscious or
unconscious death experience like Ramana Maharishi who welcome death and
have conquered it.
During the NSP course Nithyananda takes the participants through a process of
death so that they understand what happens. To experience death is to experience
life better.
In the great epic Mahabharata, Yudhishtra, the Pandava prince is grilled by a semi
divine being, a yaksha. The yaksha asks Yudhishtra: what do you see to be the
most amazing thing on this earth? Responds Yudhishtra: day after day we see
people dying. We know there is no one immortal. Yet, every one acts as if he is
never going to die. That is what I find most amazing.
Most of do not know anything beyond birth and death. On the grave is usually
written born on and died on. Someone asked why. It was said these are the only
two things that one does clearly.
Life is one big dream, one dream drifting into another, from muladhara to
swadishthana, from sex to death. We do not look for anything else. Life is a bridge
between birth and death. Unless you live your death you can not live your life. An
intelligent man lives his death. Unconscious man dies again and again even in his
life. If you really want to live should be prepared to die. How can life be afraid of
death. Death is the culmination of life. We never look into death, real death.
What is death? We never give ourselves time to ponder death. We want to forget
everything about death. That’s why we stay far from graveyards, which are usually
out of our way. 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
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psychological death the fear of death permeates our life. The idea and fear of
death decides our entire life structure; It’s controlled by death.
Western religions such as Christianity and Islam believe in only one birth and one
death, one life. Death is final. That’s why the western culture is so materialistic.
Whatever you have to enjoy, you need to enjoy now. The western world is so
intense, so time conscious. Value of time arises from this concept of one life. Who
knows whether there is anything beyond this life. Science is the by product of the
idea of only one life.
All Eastern religions say there is a life after life; there is no need to hurry; let’s look
deeply into the cycle of birth and death. Inner science was born out of this
concept; whereas outer science was born in the West.
Death is not a simple incident; not just something physical. It’s something far
more, if it guides your whole life psychologically. Your entire life will be transformed
if you experience consciously. You will become fully awake, enlightened. It will be
an orgasm of existence. You reach your peak, not your end, at the time of death.
Why are we then so afraid of death? Why do we feel frightened of this word?
We are not ready to look directly at ourselves.
A small story…
Nitti Mudaliar started from Arcot to Bangalore by train. Near Bangalore officials
came to check tickets. Nitti started searching through all his pockets, all his
belongings except one upper coat pocket. The official asked ‘Why don’t you check
this upper pocket?’ Nitti, ‘Don’t ask me to check there now. My only hope is that
the ticket may be there’.
Like this we never would like to look in for fear we may not find what we want, or
we may be shocked at what we find there. Either you will look in or the official will
look there. The God of Death will not allow you the luxury of not looking.
Why are we afraid of Death? One reason, we have not lived completely. If we had
we will not be afraid. One who has lived fully will have deep satisfaction,
fulfillment. We just carry on where our parents left off, carry our desires and their
desires, and others’ desires through our lives. We have lived others’ lives. So we do
not have the satisfaction. I have seen great Masters die. They die in such peace.
Swami Sundananda, a master from Ramakrishna order, died in such a way. He
lived a maverick life. He had a number of clocks each showing different times. He
said I am not a slave of time. I will take whatever time I choose. Before he died he
announced when he will die. Some one asked, ‘Are you not afraid’. He said ‘Why? I
have lived my life fully. I am ready to leave. Death is such another incident of my
life’. He left life with the same authority with which he lived his life.
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The day before he died he requested to be brought back to the ashram. His
disciples were chanting hari om Ramakrishna. Early in the morning, an hour before
he was to go, he reminded his disciples to arrange food for some orphan boys in
the ashram. He commented on a good singer and then lifted his hands blessing
people around him and left his body. How did he do this?
Because he lived his life so fully he could face death with no fear and with full
control.
When Socrates was about to be poisoned to death, he was asked are you not
afraid. He said: why? Either I live after death in another form if there is something
called another life, in which case I shall live on in another form and name, or I will
be erased completely, and I am not going to be around in any form. Either way
what ii there for me to worry?
Fear of death is just the fear of continuity or discontinuity. We are afraid of what
next. That’s why we live not in houses, but in graves, full of security. Complete
security is only death. Life is never secure. In a grave yard you have to worry about
nothing, nothing to pay, no one to bother you. What worse can happen?
If we think about continuity no one dies; all lives continue to exist. Once in six
months your body is completely changed; not one cell remains the same. When
you are forty you are not what you were when you were 10 or when you were 20 or
when you were 30. But you do not feel you died, though you are completely
different; you are different physically, mentally, emotionally, materially because
you feel you are continuing. If you intelligent, even a little bit, understand that
everything in existence continues in one form or another. Leaves become manure
and become trees again. Understand and you will lose this fear. Nothing dies,
noting discontinues; everything continues in a manner that nature dictates. Your
idea about death will change if you understand this. That you are going to
continue, perhaps in a different form, different way. Once you understand this
Swadishthana blossoms. When you get the courage to live your life as you want,
with complete insecurity, you will transcend your fear. You will look into your fear
deeply and you will be transformed; you will transcend death; death can not touch
you. If you die physically its meaning will change.
Katopanishad talks about death. The young boy Nachiketa wants to die and goes to
meet death. For 3 days he waits for death to come to him. Death was not there
when he goes to meet death. Death is a frightening experience when it comes to
you, not when you go to death without fear, voluntarily, consciously. This is not
committing suicide. We are talking about facing the psychological fear of death.
Nachiketa, the young lad, was finally received as a guest by Yama, God of death,
and given boons and the knowledge of Death.
Great masters like Ramana Maharishi experienced death when still young and lost
the fear of death. Many ordinary people who have had Near Death Experiences
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NDEs, have no fear of death happening again, and in fact welcome it as they now
see it as a passage not an ending.
When you get the knowledge that you are never going to die, bliss blooms, you are
in ecstasy. Your life is transformed from fear to fearlessness, from death to
deathlessness. Asatoma satyamayaha, tamasoma jytogirgayamayaha, mrityorma
amritamayaha.
Sins and Guilt
Many religions compound our fear of death through concepts of hell and heaven.
These religions say that if we do good in this world we shall go to heaven; if we do
bad we go to hell. They also offer us solutions if the do bad or commit sins. You pay
the priest some money and he will intervene on your behalf with the almighty and
save you from a certain hell. There are cults that collect money and issue receipts
guaranteeing you a place in heaven. There are religions who promise heaven if a
follower dies while supporting the cause of that religion.
Heaven and hell exist only in our minds. References to heaven and hell in all
scriptures are metaphorical and are used to drive home a point the same way as
parables are used to explain concepts. The guilt that we suffer from as a response
to some of our actions is indeed hell; the sheer pleasure of doing good to others is
heaven.
We are never punished for our sins; we are punished by them.
People believe that sins are punished after a time, since the wheels of God grind
surely but slowly. They are therefore not overly concerned about immediate
repercussions. You never know: God may forget, He has so many more important
things to do, and if He does remember I can always bribe Him to let me off. Sad to
say, many sins attract immediate punishment; though the punishment may not
seem either tangible or connected.
When we are angry or jealous we are committing a sin against our own nature and
our Being. Our inner state turns awry, our peace is ruined. Even a few minutes of a
negative emotion such as anger poisons our entire system, and we can take days
to recover to normalcy. This is our sin and its punishment.
Guilt is often the punishment we inflict upon ourselves for our sins. Even for petty
sins, we carry our guilt a long time. When we drop the guilt we drop the sin as well.
A person committing what may be socially termed unacceptable with no feeling of
guilt is not a sinner, nor suffers punishment.
People worry constantly about Heaven and Hell and ask me again and again
whether they will go to Hell because of what they did. Heaven and Hell are what
we create in our mind. Worry and guilt lead us into Hell. It is religions that tend to
control us through fear of hell in a world that we are yet to reach. All you to fear is
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the hell in this life as a consequence of your actions and not hell in another life or
after this life.
There is a beautiful story in Mahabharata.
A young sanyasin lives across the road from a beautiful courtesan. Many men
come and go into her house as the Sanyasin tries to meditate. Try as he might his
attention is more on the young woman and he keeps cursing her for the kind of
immoral life that she leads. The courtesan is not even aware of the sanyasin.
Despite her life style of offering pleasure to men, she is immersed in her love for
Krishna and spends as much time as she gets in praying to him and playing with
his image. The sanyasin and the courtesan die on the same day and reach the
gates of Yama. Chitragupta, Yama’s book keeper, sends the young woman to
heaven and the sanyasin to hell. The sanyasin raves and rants about the
unfairness of the whole justice of Yama. Yama appears in front of the angry
sanyasin and tells him: All your life, under the guise of meditating, all you did was
to lust after the courtesan who lived across your house. She, on the other hand,
despite whatever she had to do in contravention of the societal codes of morality,
was totally focused on the reality of God. Both of you selected the place that you
are now going to, based on your intentions, not your superficial actions.
Morality, especially as society and religions define it having to do with spirituality.

Religions, organized religions, are not concerned about your spiritual welfare. They
have become commercial institutions. In order to be commercially successful, and
politically powerful, they need to control people. This control is always through
greed and fear. They work upon the greed and fear of individuals by either
promising them unlimited pleasures in heaven after they die if they behave
according to what they are told are moral rules or instilling fear by threatening
them with untold sufferings if they don’t. These moral and social rules are created,
propagated and implemented solely for the purpose of control. They have no
scriptural sanction. Religions exist not for your spiritual evolution, but for the
sustenance of whose hold power.
Three beautiful women die at the same time and reach the gates of Yama. Yama
asks the first lady what sins have you committed in your life? ‘Have you ever
desired a man other than your lawfully wedded husband?’ Never, said the lady
assertively. Yama gave her the golden keys to first class villas in heaven. Then
came the second and Yama repeated his question. ‘Oh, my Lord’, she said
demurely. ‘I did on occasion desire another man, but nothing came of it’. ‘Well’,
said Yama. ‘Here then is the silver key to second class apartments’. Came in the
third lady and most attractive of them all. Yama asked her the same question. The
lady answered brightly, ‘Lord, first of all I am not wedded and second of all I am an
actress. I have done every thing you can imagine and a lot more that you can not
imagine. Yama looked around and quietly handed her the key to his apartment.
Confessing to a sin as a ritual without any real sense of regret and feeling cleansed
as a result of a meaningless ritual quite often makes one ready to repeat it with
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greater fervor. Doing this only enhances the coffers of religious institutions, does
not in any way enhance your spiritual status. The Christian religion was split
vertically in the middle ages on this issue of sale of indulgences. You see this
reflected in the attitude of the priests in many of our Hindu temples, where their
interest is only in how big your wallet is, and not what spiritual intent you have.
To redress a sin one must cleanse one’s own self internally, truly regret the sin and
be aware not to repeat it.
Two Zen monks were on a long journey to a distant monastery. On the way they
came to a river in spate. As they rolled up their robes and readied themselves to
wade through the floods, a young woman approached them and asked to be
helped across the river. The older of the two monks lifted her in his arms without
hesitation and carried her safely across the river. The monks carried on with their
journey and reached the monastery by nightfall. As they were about to sleep, the
younger monk asked the older: How could you do such a thing? We monks are not
allowed to look at a woman, let alone touch and carry her. You are a sinner.
Responded the older and wiser one calmly: I put her down hours ago. Why are you
still carrying her in your mind? Let her go.
For those of us not as wise as the monk guilt is good in a limited way. Guilt helps us
to stay away from the mistake a second time. We are rarely intelligent enough to
learn mistakes to commit each time, so we just keep repeating old mistakes. Once
we learn the lesson from our past mistake and determine not to repeat it, we
should drop the guilt. Worrying constantly about past mistakes that you have truly
regretted only creates problems. There is no greater sin than refusing to let go of
one’s past.
(Acharyas) Discuss Heaven, Hell, Sins and Morality etc.
Nithyananda Spurana Program
Paramahamsa Nithyananda covers the passage that is death in great detail in the
NSP that he conducts over 4 days in India and 2 overseas. One has to do an ASP
before doing the NSP. In NSP Swami takes participants through the 7 layers that
surround the body, and through which the spirit needs to pass as it travels from
the physical gross body to the final layer of Nirvana. During this process and the
meditation that is part of the process one becomes aware of many things: that
what we thought were our desires are mostly desires that we import from others
through envy, greed, lust, fear etc; that heaven and hell are spaces that we go
through as we traverse these 7 layers; that all our sensory experiences pale into
insignificance during this passage and beyond, while the few moments of spiritual
experience such as meditation and time spent with the Master stand out in
glorious color and detail.
Reference Material
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Steve Jobs, creator of Apple Computers talks of his own encounter with death thus.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if
it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on
me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every
morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to
do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too
many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever
encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything –
all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these
things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of
thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not
to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning,
and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas
was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is
incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My
doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code
for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd
have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure
everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It
means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they
stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines,
put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated,
but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a
microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form
of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine
now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a
few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit
more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to
get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped
it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention
of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right
now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually
become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
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Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped
by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the
noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important,
have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know
what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth
Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow
named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with
his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and
desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid
cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google
came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then
when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I
was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early
morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were
so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was
their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have
always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that
for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much.
Living each day as if it were to be your last, and living life to the full are the best
ways to extract the maximum juice out of life and living. To understand the process
and meaning of death is to live.
Reproductive Glands
The sacral chakra, swadhisthana, is located in the groin, and is related to sexuality
and emotion. This chakra is said to correspond to the testes or the ovaries, that
produce the various sex hormones involved in the reproductive cycle, which can
cause dramatic mood swings.
Darkness Meditation
One’s quality of life changes when the swadishthana chakra opens. There is no
longer fear, just acceptance. It is as difficult for a person without the swadishthana
open to understand as it is for a blind person to think that he can move around
without his cane when his eye sight is restored. Absence of various fears which
gives rise to confidence boosts one’s success in all endeavors; just as fear was the
cause of failure before.
As we discussed before, almost all our fears including death are in one way or
another, a transference of our fear of losing our identity, our ego. It is the threat of
separation of body mind from the spirit, and the consequent loss of identity that
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instills terror in us. The meditation that we are about to do, if done with awareness,
can reproduce that feeling and help us face the eventual certainty squarely now.
This meditation is called Darkness meditation. In Sanskrit the word ratri that stands
for darkness also means intensity. Tantric followers meditate upon darkness to feel
the intensity of Mother Kali, the primal power, Shakti. Darkness is the mother’s
womb, where we originate. It is also death, where we return. Darkness is the start,
the passage and the end. By meditating upon this darkness you will feel liberated.
During the meditation become awareness of the darkness around you as intensely
as possible. You may feel as if you are separating from your body. If that happens
let it.
This meditation is for 21 minutes. This can also be done by you at night before
sleeping. It helps you sleep well.
Please sit comfortably, with your back, spine, and head in a straight line. Close
your eyes. Exhale deeply a few times. Let inhalation happen naturally.
Visualize that you are walking into a very dark space, a cave. It is so dark, so
intensely dark, that you can not see anything around you. Feel the darkness. You
can not see your own body. You can not see anything. Only through touch can you
feel your presence in this darkness.
Gap
You are in darkness as you were when you were in your mother’s womb.
Gap
Breathe in the darkness deeply. Let each cell breathe the darkness in. Merge into
the darkness.
Slowly, very slowly, experience your body merging with the darkness around you.
Feel your body losing its boundaries into that darkness.
Gap
Repeat every 3 minutes: Let every cell in your body and mind breathe in the
darkness. Become one with the darkness. Merge into the darkness.
After 20 minutes:
Become aware of yourself now. With your awareness start experiencing your entire
body.
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Gently, slowly, move your body from the dark space, the cave. Slowly return to
your presence in the meditation hall.
Om shanti shanti shantihi…. Open your eyes”
This meditation should be done when it is dark outside and with no lights inside.
After the meditation, advise participants to go home and sleep.
Module 6: Vishuddhi Chakra

Vishuddhi chakra is located in the throat region. In Sanskrit vishuddhi means that
which is beyond purity and impurity. It is beyond comparing with pure and impure
objects and events. Comparison and jealousy lock this chakra. When we exhibit
our individuality without worrying about others, and express fully our shakthi
(capacity), uniqueness and creativity, this chakra opens.
Vishuddhi is the seat of our energy. When the vishuddhi chakra is open we tap into
the cosmic energy continuously.
The smell of jasmine helps awaken the vishuddhi chakra.
When we are not able to bear others’ excellence, we get jealous. Comparison is the
seed and jealousy is the fruit. Comparison and jealousy are actually non-existent.
We create them ourselves and talk endlessly on how to overcome them. This
concept can be clearly understood by looking into the very name of this chakra
that is vishuddhi. Shuddhi means pure. Ashuddhi means impure. Vishuddhi means
beyond both pure and impure. The name therefore suggests that chakra can never
get impure and hence never needs to be cleansed. Comparison is like a shadow
without an object. There is no basis for the concept of comparison.
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A small story…
Chanda Basu was part of a music group and sang on stage. He sported a black and
a red wig alternatively for each of his songs. During the intermission, the show
director told him, ‘Sir, you would have to wear only the red wig for the remaining
part of the show’. Chanda asked him why. He replied, ‘The people like the red
haired one’s voice a lot better than the black one’s’.
We need to drop the comparing attitude to be able to see things as they are. Our
mind is so caught up in comparison that it misses the actual quality of what it sees.
All points of comparison can be brought under the major heads of money, status,
beauty and knowledge. In Zen Buddhism, there is a meditation technique wherein
any problem is looked into clearly and steadily. The problem then is said to dissolve
automatically.
Buddha went to his routine lecture session one day with a kerchief in his hand. The
kerchief had a knot in it. He asked his students if any of them would come forward
to untie the knot. Many tried and failed. One student came forward studied how
the knot was tied and untied it easily. The technique is this – you first have to look
at how the knot is tied and then it will become obvious how to untie it. So it is with
jealousy.
Most of us get envious of others who are more materially affluent than us. When
our neighbor gets a new refrigerator the temperature in our house goes up. When
a colleague buys a more expensive car, our own car till then perfectly usable
suddenly becomes a junkable heap. Material possessions lead to greed to possess
more, and more greed, and ultimately to great suffering.
Two men on a forest road met a sadhu running away from them, yelling yama is
there, Yama is there. They asked him to show them Yama as they were curious. He
took them to a spot which had a massive chest full of gold and jewels. The two
men shooed the sadhu away and went through the treasure chest, happiness
increasing each moment. Time passed and both were desperately thirsty. Though
neither trusted the other one finally agreed to go a stream nearby and bring water.
On the way back after quenching his own thirst he decided to poison the water. His
friend who was waiting for him had decided to stab him to death on return. Both
died. The sadhu who happened to pass by again went away crying: yama was
here.
A sanyasin who has no home has the whole world as his home. More possessions
we have less enjoyment we have from them. A poor man works hard for his living
and enjoys his simple meal. People far richer are not even aware of what they eat.
It makes no difference to them what they eat. They only eat the affluence the
place, eat to be seen, not to savor the food that they eat.
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More you have more problems you have in deciding what to do with what you
have.
Listen to this story of Buddha’s
One man was doing rigorous penance in a jungle for God to appear. God
condescended and appeared before him. He told him to ask for what he wanted.
The man replied that he was a landlord and had lost all his wealth and that he
wished to become wealthy again. God said that the following day, if the man ran
from dawn to dusk, all the area covered by him would be his. The Man was happy.
The next day the man started running even before dawn. He ran as fast as he
could. Close to noon, hunger beckoned but he didn’t pay heed and kept running.
Early in the evening, thirst and fatigue gripped him but he was goaded on by the
thought of the neighboring landlord who owned many acres of land. A little before
sunset, he felt giddy and weak but managed a few more steps by merely thinking
of the neighboring landlord, but faltered and fell dead. This is how we all live our
lives. We run the race without feeling any true satisfaction, without even stopping
to think why we are running!
Shankaracharya describes this behavior as ‘thatha kim, thatha kim’ meaning ‘what
next, what next.’ Ramana Maharishi says, ‘The mind is like a kabalam’ (brahma
kapala that Lord Shiva holds in his hand). It absorbs everything fed to it and says,
what next?’
Existence is bountiful and there is no reason for us to envy another and grudge
him or her good fortune. Ramana says: the universe can fulfill the needs of the
entire world but not the wants of one man. Our wants never cease. Acquisition is
the goal for most of us not enjoyment.
Mahavira says, ‘When we come into this world, we bring with us all the shakti
(energy) needed for our lifetime. God does not send us empty-handed.”
We have no time to stop and enjoy what we have. Acquisition becomes the goal,
not enjoyment of what is acquired.
Ramana says too, ‘Till you get it even a mustard seed looks like a mountain. Once
we get it even a mountain feels like a mustard seed. And if the mustard seed
belongs to your neighbor it feels like a mountain range’.
This attitude leads to a piquant situation. We keep moving like rats on a treadmill
not quite knowing where we are going. Performing well has nothing to do with how
good you are and how joyfully you do your job. Sadly, it is measured by much
better you are than the next person. You are ranked. The moment you are ranked
only one person can be number one; the rest are idiots. This is so true in schools
and colleges. When learning needs to be joyful, ranking damages the very core of
learning and makes it drudgery. Far more perniciously it robs us of our self respect
by comparing us with others.
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In countries like India, Korea and Japan hundreds of young students commit suicide
because they can not cope with the rigors of examinations. Examinations are
shameful; they do not measure intelligence. They destroy intelligence. They are
used as a knife in the hands of a butcher to separate pieces of flesh.
As we graduate from learning centers which debase us, devalue us we graduate

into even worse environments, our work places. The ranking and evaluations
continue. We are again stood against others taller and shorter than us and
compared. In this rat race we are told that the sky is the limit; sadly in a rat race
even if you win you still are a rat!
When we blindly emulate others we land in trouble.
A small story…
Nitti Mudaliar was driving along a dark village road. He decided to follow the car in
front of him to play it safe. Suddenly the lead car stopped and he crashed into it.
‘Why didn't you signal that you were going to stop?’ he screamed out. ‘Inside my
own garage?’, yelled back the driver!
It helps to know that each one's path is different. To follow another on his path and
to blame him at the end of it is mere folly!
If we analyze our own behavior we will soon find that we always envy our neighbor,
friend or colleague. Rarely anyone in his right mind becomes envious of Bill Gates!
He is far too removed from you to be real. But if a neighbor wins a lottery ticket, or
heaven forbid, a close relative does, our heart burns even as our mouth smiles.
Just look at your friends closely next time you see them congratulating you in
something that you unexpectedly won; watch where they are smiling from. 90%
will smile from their mouth, very strained. The 10% who smile with their eyes are
your real friends.
Jealousy has negative existence.
This microphone here has a positive existence and therefore I can remove it from
this room and place it in the next room. Now imagine that there is darkness in this
room. Can I remove it if I want to? Can I take it to another room? No! The reason is
that darkness has a negative existence. It does not really exist. If I bring light into
the room, the darkness will automatically cease to exist. In the same way,
thoughts in you such as ‘I am ugly’, ‘I am rich’ etc all have a negative existence.
If you queue up all the people in the world in ascending order of money, power or
skills, where would you be? Odds are that you will be somewhere in the middle!
You will not even able to count the number of people on either side of you in the
queue. Now, with your thoughts, you have to decide if you are going to look at the
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queue in front of you and feel jealous or look at the queue behind you and feel
relaxed and grateful to Existence! It is in your hands.
Never in history has a jealous person truly succeeded. A man was leading in a
1000-meter race. After running 200 meters, he looked back and saw that the rest
are after him and he ran on. After 500 meters, he looked back again and was
happy that he was still leading and ran on. Every few meters, he did the same
thing and finally lost the race. If the man had not looked back and concentrated
only on running faster, he would have won the race in a much shorter span of time.
In life too, our concentration is always on others and not fully on our
progress. We spend this energy on watching others’ activities and others’
desires. When you are at home your mind will say ‘It is enough if I have a home
and a car for myself.” Your mind will be relaxed at this thought. When you step out
in your car and stop by at a traffic light, the Mercedes Benz that pulls up alongside
your car with a jolt will jolt the relaxed state of your mind. You again start working
out others’ desires.
Jealousy Can Kill
Pride and jealousy go hand in hand. Where there is hubris there is envy.
Latur Singh and Chanda Basu were discussing the finer points of their respective
backgrounds. No matter what points Latur brought up, Chanda would say that his
background offered the same thing, only better. Finally Chanda said, "Alright Latur,
tell me at least one thing that your background offers that my background has
lesser of." Chanda said, "Modesty perhaps?"
When Shakespeare talked of the green eyed monster envy he unveiled a great
truth. When we claim we love some one what we wish to do is to possess that
person and be proud of that ownership. Getting married to the most beautiful
woman on earth and locking her in a harem may make you an Arabian Sheik but
not a normal human being. Most would want to display the trophy wife or trophy
husband. The main purpose would be to make others jealous of our possessions.
Making some one jealous of what you have is an explicit acknowledgement of your
superiority.
When we get jealous of some one trying to woo our partner, who we assume we
possess, this jealousy springs out of fear of losing a possession and the
consequential loss of ego, and becomes doubly dangerous. That’s when jealousy
can truly kill!
Live your own Desires
Albert Einstein, a famous scientist belonging to the last century was in his
deathbed. His junior scientists asked him what he would like to be born as if he had
a re-birth. They expected him to come out with desires of being born as a greater
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scientist in a field other than atomic theory or something to that effect. Einstein
replied, ‘I would like to be born as a plumber. Initially, I wanted to be a plumber,
but I was deceived by the fame and status of the scientists and hence chose to
become a scientist. Today, I have everything except satisfaction of having lived. I
gave many truths to man but deceived my own life’.
This is a classic example of how we should start living our own desires and lives
instead of our neighbors’. When you want something, think whether it is for your
own sake or because your neighbor has it. Drop the so-called prestige problems.
Live in your own way and die peacefully with full satisfaction even if it were in a
platform; it is better than dying a prolonged death in a marble house in an air-
conditioned room on a six-inch high bed.
Unfortunately we can rarely tolerate some one else’ success without trying to
replicate it. This has its funny sides.
A rabbi and a Priest were good friends. Their parishes were similar, quite middle
class, and they too led a middle class life. The rabbi however was always keen to
be on par with the Priest. The rabbi went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and when
he returned found that the Priest was now driving a brand new BMW instead of his
earlier run down Ford which was a model older than his own. Rabbi asked the Priest
with more than a trace of envy, what happened, how come you could buy a BMW?
The priest said it’s a long story. One day during the sermon I was mechanically
moving my rosary beads. I noticed that the congregation had their eyes fixed on
the moving beads. As a part of that sermon I said to them to be generous and give
all they had to the Lord. To my immense surprise all of them emptied their wallets
into my collection box and the women took their jewelry off and put them in. Since
then each week at sermon I move my beads, get them hypnotized and tell them to
give all that they have to the Lord. The rabbi went home excited and waited
impatiently for the Sunday to come. A few weeks later the two met again. The
rabbi was driving his old jalopy and the priest asked, did you not tray what I told
you. The Rabbi said, yes, I did, the very next Sunday. As I was moving the beads
the rosary slipped and I just shouted oh, shit! I am still cleaning the mess inside my
prayer hall after three weeks!
You cannot deal with jealousy directly. Even if you tell yourself repeatedly not to
feel jealous, you cannot overcome it. I can tell myself not to feel inferior because I
am less wealthy than a neighbor, less handsome than a colleague, less intelligent
than an acquaintance, and yet I do. Jealousy is a very powerful emotion.
The problem is that we never fully live our own lives. We live through other
people’s desires.
Lock yourself in a room and analyze how much of time and energy you waste in
comparison with others; more than 60% I am sure. We talk of conserving petrol,
water and electricity. What about conserving our own Energy?
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We are forever in comparison because our own self worth is low and we do not
trust ourselves. Who would we compare ourselves if you and I are the only people
on earth.
We need to realize that each one of us is unique. God is an artist not a machinist.
He sculpts each one of us with his own hands lovingly, uniquely. Therefore each
one of us is different; shorter, taller, bigger, smaller, good at one thing or another.
Howard Gardner and others have written tomes on multiple intelligence. Being
good with mathematical problems is not the only intelligence that counts. A painter
has intelligence in her creativity that is far more soul satisfying than that of an
accountant’s skills.
We now no longer talk about Intelligence quotients; we refer to emotional

quotients and spiritual quotients and so on. These are far more important in life
than mete intellectual capabilities. Yet, we judge most people by how they perform
in our schools, which still use primitive methods of intelligence measurement.
We are Unique
We all need to realize that as God’s handiwork each one of us is unique.
We need to accept reality and our uniqueness.
A King came to Buddha and asked, ‘Please explain to me what gyana (true
knowledge) is. Buddha replied ‘Go to my garden and see the Cyprus plant in my
garden. It is a gyani (enlightened with true knowledge)’. The king went and took a
look at the plant but could not understand the message. Buddha explained that the
Cyprus plant was next to a rose plant but never aspired even for one day to
become a rose plant. Similarly, the rose plant never ever aspired to become the
Cyprus plant. They just attended to their own duties of growing and blossoming
everyday. If Man had been the Cyprus plant, he would have compared himself with
the rose and felt jealous at the attention that the latter was getting from people.
Similarly, if he were the rose, he would have looked at the Cyprus enviously
thinking how peaceful the latter was without the torture of getting plucked by
people all day!
When we realize our uniqueness we land in the present moment. We realize what
we are good at. We no longer worry about what others may say if our children
become disc jockeys instead of hot shot investment bankers.
A hot shot investment banker was getting burnt out and took the week end off. He
caught the flight from New York far north to Maine and drove another couple of
hours that some one had told him was a great fishing spot. He unloaded his
branded equipment and set himself up; and waited. Soon an old unkempt local sat
a hundred meters downstream from him, pulled out his well worn fishing tackle
and whistling soundlessly threw his line into water. Soon he was pulling in fish
every five minutes, bigger and bigger. He looked at each one carefully and threw it
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back into the river. The young banker was getting incensed. Here he was spending
valuable time with thousand dollar equipment and designer bait with nary a fish to
bite, while the yokel was raking it in. yet, he could not but admire the man. You
should be in New York, he shouted across to the older man. What for, the local
responded. You can teach guys like me to fish and make a lot of money. Why, sad
the local. Oh, you can take holidays! And, prompted the local. You can go and fish!
But that is what I am doing now, can’t you see, said the local.
In trying to realize the American dream, the Indian dream or whatever dream, we
have forgotten how to live. We have forgotten how to be joyful.
An Exercise for Day to Day Living
In career, the only way to be joyful is to do what makes you joyful. Not what you
think makes money. Doing something joyful will make you so unique that you will
make money, without doubt; you will become the best that there is.
As a corollary, do whatever you do joyfully; give your 200% to what you do; you
will become joyful. Become aware of what you do, be it banking, be it HR, be it
software; focus and be joyful. Be grateful that existence gave you this opportunity
to work; be thankful and joyful. You will realize your own uniqueness that brought
you into this job. Switching jobs merely because you do not lie your boss, or you
believe you do not like what you do, without having given it all that you have to
give, will land you something worse than before. You need to change your attitude,
not work.
If after giving it all that you are capable of you are still dissatisfied, by all means
search for something else that truly makes you happy. Be clear, goals will not make
you happy. It is the path that you traverse that will make you joyful and successful.
Once you learn to love the path you walk on, success will automatically follow joy.
We will never meet failure if we live our lives by competing with ourselves. Win
yourself with yourself, never with others. Every minute of comparison with others
is a waste of time in your own progress.
(Acharyas) Discuss experiences
Unveiling the Energy of Vishuddhi
All of us have three layers of energy. What we normally operate from is the lowest
physical, mind body level. At the next level we uncover our reservoir of emergency
energy that we call upon in fight or flight situations.
A real story from our Master’s experience to elucidate this point: In a beautiful
place called Almora in the Himalayas, there is a small ashram with a few huts for
those who wish to meditate. This place is surrounded by ice-capped mountains and
is known to be frequented by tigers at night. I was there for a short while during
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my days of wandering. When the head of the ashram senses the tigers, he would
ring a bell and the Sanyasis would get into their respective huts and close the
doors behind them. On one occasion, the bell rang and all of us got into our
respective huts. The next day, the head came around to see if we were all OK and
found that one of the huts was closed and the Sanyasi inside was shouting through
the window that he couldn’t open the door. Four of us got in through the window
and found that he had placed a grinding stone against the door which he now
couldnt move. We jointly nudged and moved the stone away to open the door. It
suddenly struck us how the man might have moved the stone single-handedly
against the door in the first place? He was more surprised than us and he replied
“Moved it? I simply lifted it and placed it!” When he had heard the call of the tiger,
he simply lifted the stone to place against the door that’s all.
(Acharyas) Ask for Experiences
There is yet again a third layer of energy that we can draw upon directly from the
Being level energy or Atma Shakti, which is a tremendous source of energy. This
energy comes directly from the cosmic power. The key to open it is this meditation
technique that we are going to practice now. Pathanjali says, “If you can bend 6
inches today, try bending 6 ½ inches tomorrow”.
Thyroid Gland
The throat chakra, vishuddhi, is said to be related to communication and growth,

growth being a form of expression. This chakra is paralleled to the thyroid, a gland
that is also in the throat, and which produces thyroid hormone, responsible for
growth and maturation.
Shakti Sagar Meditation - Zen Buddhist Tradition (To open 3rd layer of
energy)
1. Wear eye band; Stand with eyes closed, in silence, focused on the vishuddhi
chakra. Hold on to a chair or a wall for stability and to define where you are.
2. Slowly begin to move your legs; slowly very slowly; move your legs one at a
time; slowly very slowly.
3. You may increase the speed of your movement; however, do it without losing
your grip on the chair or wall. If you increase speed make sure that you do
not slow down. While your legs are moving keep your mind focused on the
Vishuddhi chakra. Stop after 20 minutes…when music stops.
4. For next ten minutes just sit down quietly wherever you are; keep your eyes
closed, focus on vishuddhi. You will absorb the energy generated during the
jogging. Just witness thoughts as they float by. Do not suppress thoughts, do
not follow them.
Participants can wear gold or rudraksha mala during this exercise as they store
energy. Do not at any time interfere with participant movement; stand as a barrier
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if needed; segregate women and men; advise persons with ailments and pregnant
women not to strain themselves.
Tell participants that the Shakti Sagar meditation can be done once in a while,
especially when they are engaged in a project involving long hours and physical
and mental effort. This meditation generates tremendous energy and there needs
to be an outlet.
On normal occasions through their regular mahamantra meditation they will

generate energy. All they have to, when they feel tired, is to focus on the vishuddhi
area, and/or to touch it. They will get renewed energy.
Reference - An article on ‘Detachment’
Possession leads to Jealousy. When we let go the desire to possess, when we get
detached, relationships bloom.
This can also be used with reference to anahata in relationships.
Detached Relationships
In detachment is freedom. Freedom from the bonds of deluding and unrealistic

expectations in relationships. To be detached is to let go, not of the person or of
the relationship, but of an anxiety-driven desperation to hang on, which eventually
demolishes what it frantically wants to preserve. If you cannot rid yourself of the
need to cling to someone or something you cannot hold on to it.
It is to be able to enjoy the beauty of a lovely relationship without being caught in

its possessive grasp. Possessiveness is a poisoned barb and it vitiates the
atmosphere, which a relationship needs to evolve fully. To possess is to be
possessed; whereas detachment lets you stand on the sidelines as a spectator
while you are still an integral part of a relationship and view it objectively, with
love, without the crippling effects of psychological baggage. Jealousy is another
impediment to detachment, which is all about choosing an unfettered ambience
wherein two people can live joyously and see their love flourish. There is no
ownership in a detached relationship.
It is about giving space and finding your own to explore, experience and grow from
that experience without judgmental constraints. Whether it is a child/ parent,
teacher/student, husband/wife or friend/friend
relationship the time invariably comes to let go, to release and be released from
emotional insecurities. To be detached is to break out of the gilded cage that at
best gives one a false sense of protection.
A detached relationship offers one the limitless sky and space to fly in. It entails
watching with pride as the object of your affection spreads her wings and takes
flight even as you are airborne on your own trajectory. We are all constantly
yearning to fly, chart new vistas, explore new horizons and find our own path. We
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cannot snip someone else's wings and hope to fly freely ourselves.
Detachment is not to be confused with separation or an uncaring attitude. Two half

people, who cling to each other, who are dependent emotionally and
psychologically, who have come together from wants and
needs, from negative commonalities, cannot build a wholesome relationship. It is
synonymous with building a house from material one would use to simply prop up
a crumbling structure, rather than with solid building blocks. They are constructing
on shaky foundations, augmenting a dilapidated edifice that is bound to come
crumbling down. Such a decayed relationship begs for separation. Detachment on
the other hand requires immense love, courage and faith. It is to choose to be
whole and complete within yourself and to love another from that totality. A
detached involvement in a relationship brings its own reward - a togetherness that
only truly free spirits can enjoy.
It is to give another the confidence and the courage to stand alone, making leaning
unnecessary for any one. Let go of your clutching, clawing power over another.
Emotional control and resultant blackmail are the death knells of a relationship.
When one holds the strings and wants the other to respond to the pulls on it, it is
puppetry, a sick relationship at the most. A rich, truly fulfilling relationship is one in
which each person pulls his own strings. Detachment is to untie the strings by
which you unfairly secure another to you and let him attain his full potential as an
individual. Let him dance to his tune as you
gyrate to yours. If you must dance to the same tune let it be out of choice, not
compulsion.
On a different level, detachment is the dance of an exuberant soul. A soul that can
shout fearlessly: I met the buddha on the way and left him behind.
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Module 7: Ajna Chakra

Ajna chakra is located between the eye brows, commonly referred to as the Third
Eye. Ajna refers to command and will in Sanskrit. It is locked by seriousness and
ego, and is unlocked by simplicity and innocence.
Ajna is the command center of all energy centers, the chakra raja. It is the seat of
intuition and higher intelligence. Awakening the ajna gives you the power to
achieve whatever you wish.
Wearing the kumkum in the ajna region helps waken the ajna. Kumkum contains
turmeric and this activates the Ajna. On the other hand wearing a synthetic bindhi
blocks the Ajna with its chemicals.
All major religious leaders have worked on awakening the third eye. When
reference is made to Varnasi being the holy spot that transports those who die
there to salvation, the real reference may be to ego dying between varana
(eyebrows) and nasi (nose) which is the location of this chakra.
Ego is our shadow. There is a beautiful saying in Tamil that when we move towards
the divine our ego always falls behind just like our shadow as we face the Sun.
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When we walk away from the divine, our ego precedes us the same way as when
we walk away from the sun. It is only when we prostrate in midday sun lying flat on
he ground do we see no shadow. Likewise when we surrender totally to the blazing
divine our ego disappears.
Our ego deceives us in many ways: through striving for perfection, through
arrogance, through jumping to conclusions, through complicating matters…
Striving for Perfection
The Universe seems at first glance chaotic. Movement in an atom and movement
of the atom are chaotic. The Uncertainty principle makes us understand that even
the parameters of a particle can not be predefined. The theory of Chaos tells us
that there is no linearity in nature; small causes can give rise to catastrophic
effects. A butterfly fluttering its wings in China can produce a tornado in Mexico! If
the Universe were to be totally orderly it would be dull and without energy. Yet,
despite its seeming chaos everything in nature works to an order, whether we
understand it fully or not. It is only when this order is disrupted by man, as in
drilling for oil that nature reacts with disorder as with quakes and tsunamis. The
chaos of nature with its in built order is its nature of cosmic intelligence. This
cosmic intelligence coupled with its power gives rise to cosmic energy.
Man on the other hand loves to be in order. Order is the nature of ego. It is the
opposite of intelligence. Those who strive for order want to rule others and
themselves. They have no spirituality. They like to see what they want, not what
there is in this world. They become solid and dull. This causes suffering.
Children on the other hand are liquid. They never say no to anything; everything is
possible for them. This attitude fills them with energy. Energy leads to joy.
Don’t seek perfection, no one can be perfect.
A small story…
A Zen master arranged a competition to judge the best garden maintained by his
disciples. His senior disciple was keen to win the competition, and prepared a well
manicured and neat garden that was perfect in all respects. The Master passed by
this garden without a word and awarded the prize to another disciple. The senior
disciple remonstrated. The master took him to the garden. On the way he picked
up some dead leaves and spread them in the garden. He said, ‘What is a garden
without dead leaves?’ Desire for perfection builds ego.
Discuss on the needs of people to try and be perfect, be they housewives or

corporate executives
Arrogance of Intellect
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We take life too seriously in our arrogance, and often make our judgments based
on ego prejudices that have already rendered judgment after which we collect
evidence to support the judgment.
A small story…
A king walks on the beach side watching children build sand castles. One child
bigger than the others knocks down the castle built by a younger child; the
younger child weeps; but soon he recovers and joyfully goes back to building
another castle. The King starts laughing at what he perceives as the foolishness of
these children. A Zen Master walking by looks at what the King is doing and laughs
at him. The King highly upset asks him why. Says the Master: At least these
children know they are playing with sand castles. You on the other hand kill
thousands of people when you fight over stone castles. Who is more to be laughed
at, you or the Children?
As adults we rely on our intellect. Intellect is far from intelligent. It’s just a
storehouse of memories that get played back, often distorted with passage of time.
Treat Life as a Joke and Yourself as a Bigger Joke
A small story…
A group of villagers were taking Shiva idol on procession at the back of a donkey.
People came and bowed before the donkey and fed him goodies. The donkey was
in ecstasy. When this happened street after street the donkey started to believe
that he had some great power that attracted people to come to him for favors. He
was upset now that he had to carry an unnecessary burden on his back. He shook
the idol of his back, trampled upon the decorations the devotees had placed on the
idol and looked around expectantly for the people around to bow to him even
lower. Instead they thrashed him.
Don’t take yourself too seriously, or you may get hurt.
When a Zen master was asked to talk on spirituality, he started laughing, and kept
laughing as all other monks joined him. He said: this is spirituality, this is
meditation. Buddha says 45 minutes of pure laughter will lead to enlightenment.
Prejudging Events and People
Our ego walks before us. We do not even need to verify data before we jump to
conclusions, often to our own disadvantage.
A small story…
Haughty Ananda walked into the dispatch section of his sprawling office and found
a boy idling. He asked him, ‘How much is your monthly salary?’ The boy replied,
‘1000 rupees, Sir’. Haughty thrust 1000 rupees into his hand and told him to get
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out. He then asked the manager why he did not take action against the idling boy.
The manager replied, ‘Sir, I cannot take any action against him. He is the delivery
boy of our vendor and was awaiting his cheque for the goods delivered’.
Especially in the haughtiest of moments, we need to bring a little intelligence and

a thoughtful pause into ourselves.
Ego is the last defense. Losing it is painful.
As we saw earlier in our discussion on swadishthana almost all our fears are based
on loss of ego. It is the last to be let go.
A small story…
Haughty Ananda lost all his wealth in gambling and got reduced to a pauper. One
day, he went to a roadside hotel and sat at the table for breakfast. The waiter
came to take orders and to Haughty’s surprise, it was his old friend who had been
as rich as Haughty was. He exclaimed, ‘You serve as a waiter in this sort of a
hotel!’ The man replied, ‘I’m only a waiter, I don’t eat here’.
A foolish man doesn’t let go of his ego even when all his other defenses are taken
away.
Complicated Thinking
Intellectuals can not think straight. They need to complicate matters to make
themselves feel important. Sometimes, we miss the most obvious of things and go
in search of the remote ones. This is how we waste our precious time!
A small story…
Ananda Pappaiah was enthusiastically explaining to a group of people how very

identical his twin daughters were. ‘How do you tell them apart?’ he was asked. ‘Oh!
The blonde one always wears her hair well!’ he replied.
The great scientist Newton had a pet dog which had a pup. He called in a carpenter
and told him to make two holes on the back door, one small for the pup and
another large for the dog to come in, without his having to open the door!
(Acharyas) Discuss
Ego as a Mask
The Latin word persona which is used to define our ego as an identity means a
mask.
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We wear many masks in our interactions to present our identity in different forms
to different recipients; one for our boss one for our subordinates; one for our wife;
another for our mother.
When we use these masks inappropriately for the wrong person what surfaces is
our Ego.
Only an awakened ajna enables us to use these masks rightly. Just being humble
does not eliminate our ego. Ramana called the translator of one of his books who
asked not to have his name on the book, as a person with humble ego. Living in a
place where no one knows you helps shed ego since there is unlikely to be a need
for many masks.
Ego is needed for day to day living. We need to be aware of our needs for survival.
Even the Gita says that survival is our first dharma. However this ego has to be
tempered with the realization that we are part of the universe and not an island by
oneself. When the ‘I’ disappears there is till the awareness of the ego, but in
combination with the awareness of compassion for fellow beings.
Controlling one’s Ego forcibly in terms of trying to shed one’s identity is highly risky
and can cause cancer. Swami remarks that only good people get cancer: because
they suffer from guilt and try suppressing desires and ego. People who we consider
bad because they do not follow our moral codes, do what they wish and enjoy what
they do. They have no fear of cancer!
Discuss
Instinct Intelligence Intuition
Let us see how our mind works, and how we work from three different levels of
instinct, intelligence and intuition. As long as all your decisions are conscious and
you are aware why and how you are doing something, why you are thinking this
way, you are in the intelligence level. If you are not and feel guilty you are at
instinct level. If you are doing or not and you are continuously at blissful level you
are at intuition level.
How do we process information? When we see something through our eyes, called
chaksu, which is a digital signal processor, the digital file goes to memory our
chitta, and then to our mind manas, and then takes a leap into our ego. Chitta
decides what the information is not, to arrive at what it is. For instance this is not a
plant, not an animal etc, na iti, na iti, to decide what it is. The mind says this is a
man who is conducting a class, it identifies the object as a man. Then it leaps into
the ego, which based on past experiences decides whether to sit in the class or to
go out. Ego decides and you express and act on that decision. This zone of ego is
not under your control. There are impressions, past memories, or samskaras.
These samskaras force you to take illogical, unconscious decisions. You decide to
smoke knowing logically fully well that it is bad for health. You still go ahead. You
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have no control. Samskaras come up and confuse you, depress you, disturb you,
stress you; they can change the whole course of your life. They can create conflicts
and suffering.
Conscious
(T p) Processing time
“This is it” “This is not”
Identification Elimination
Mind Memory DSP* Eye
Unconscious
(T q) Quantum Leap
“Manas” “Chitta” “Chakshu”
Tp > Tq : Instinct level (Animal)

Ego Tp = Tq : Intellect (Human)
Tp < Tq : Instinct level(Super Conscious)
“Do This”
Decision
* : Digital Signal Processor
Let us say that the time taken from eye to mind is Tp. Till here the process is
logical and clear. Time taken for unconscious process, mind to ego, through
samskaras, which distort your file, twist your decisions is Tq. As long as Tq is more
than Tp you will be more aware of your unconscious. If not you are unaware and
act on instinct. You are restless. You decide without knowing what you are doing.
When the samskaras are more, and they move faster without your knowledge, you
are in trouble. If time taken for conscious process is more than the time taken for
the unconscious, that is if Tq is less than Tp, you act instinctively. If Tq equals Tp,
you are in Intelligence level. You will live your life without guilt. When Tq is greater
than Tp, you are in super conscious level; your unconscious is infused with silence
and intuition. Simply put we need to shine the torch of awareness on our
unconscious decision making process, which is controlled by samskaras, so that
our decisions may be of higher intelligence and intuition.
In Patanjali’s Yoga system pratyahara is taking your mind from all outward objects.
This ahara is not only taken in from your mouth but food from all 5 senses
energizing your memory. Pratyahara is moving away from ahara. If you stop this
memory is given a rest. Dharana is focusing on one subject only. Then mind rests.
Dharana is flow, mind’s flow towards one object. Dhyana (being witness) is infusing
consciousness, spirit into your unconscious zone; this is spirituality; then this
unconscious zone also rests. These three give rest to memory, mind and
unconscious zone. All your samskaras disappear. They are burnt away. Your third
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eye opens when you start witnessing and your awareness happens, and you realize
everything is a dream, and you are out of the dream. This is what the puranas talk
about when they talk about Shiva burning Manmata with his third eye. He burnt all
his samskaras.
When you infuse consciousness and silence into this unconscious zone you burn all
your samskaras, you become Shiva, you reach super conscious level. When Tq is
less than Tp you are an animal; if equal you are human; if Tq is greater you are
divine. It is not so much the time as the awareness of the unconscious that is the
key. Time is only the reference point. We need to be aware of our unconscious, the
tricks it can play, in order to live our life fully.
How to awaken this intuition? Give your conscious mind a rest. You may ask, how?
We have two levels of I consciousness and two levels of thoughts. In the waking or
ego state you have I consciousness and thoughts (in Sanskrit called jagrat). In
dreams or subconscious state you have thoughts but no I consciousness (called
swapna). In deep sleep or unconscious state you have neither I consciousness or
thoughts (called sushupti). There is a fourth state where you have no thought but I
consciousness remains (called turiya). Modern psychology has no word for this
state as it is not even aware of this state! This state is the state of meditation or
intuition or thoughtless awareness. In Sanskrit we also call it samadhi. If you can
experience this fourth state you can experience creativity, courage, confidence;
you can take spontaneous decisions; you take responsibility; you decide based on
very limited data; with no precedence; you get the power and courage to do
anything. Your relationships can change. Often in relationships you make a
judgment and then collect arguments to support it through your unconscious,
reactive, instinct mind level. How do you differentiate between intuition and
instinct? When you instinctively act you will feel drained, for instance when we
react in anger; we then feel guilt. When we act intuitively we feel energized.
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What happens in the turiya state is that thoughts become zero; mind becomes no
mind. In the diagram above the vertical axis refers to thoughts per second. The
horizontal axis refers to passage of time, future on right moving all the time into
the left towards past. Where the two axes intersect is the present moment or what
Swami calls the Time Shaft. When your thoughts become zero through meditation
done with awareness you reach the present moment and enter the Time Shaft.
When you are in the time shaft you are out of the boundaries of time, you are
intensely aware, aware of past, present and future.
You can be aware eating, sleeping or brushing your teeth. When you eat normally
you do everything else except focus on what you eat. You talk, you read, you watch
TV, you play games; anything except eat. No wonder that the food that you shovel
into your mouth is treated by your body as garbage. Focus on what you eat. Savor
the taste, the flavor, the texture of the food you eat, each morsel you eat. It will
enhance the quality of your life and health.
When you are intensely aware of what you are doing, you are not unaware of
where you are or what others are doing; in fact you are more aware of your
surroundings. The silence of the mind that you are in sharpens your senses. That’s
why martial art experts whose training in mind is as important as that of their body
are able to detect people behind them and deal with them, merely through body
awareness; through the awareness of energy.
Let the energy at your unconscious level emerge. When this opens up whatever we
suppress will come out, then pure energy will emerge. This process of thoughtless
awareness will activate your intuition. This higher level energy heals you
physically, emotionally and mentally. It helps you to decide spontaneously as to
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how to process the data in front of your intellect. This process is called meditation.
It tunes your intellect into this higher energy. Whenever you find time, give
appointment to yourself; some part of your being wants to express itself more. We
never give our Being time. We depend so much on our intellect. In any momentous
discovery you find it’s only intuition that plays a role not intellect. Every one sees
an apple fall, only Newton theorized the law of gravity. It takes only two or three
days to tune into this energy to tune into this higher energy of intuition and
creativity.
Most of us tend to work with out intellect. Intellect is only the accumulated
knowledge, much of it irrelevant and bookish. It is the application of consciousness
to intellect that converts it to Intelligence. Awakening of the Ajna helps us drop the
filter of ego and bring us in synchronicity with cosmic intelligence.
Nithyananda says, ‘We are continuously trying to live with intellect - trying to
collect data and facts and coming to conclusions, but we forget something called
intelligence - the spontaneity. In the course of our training, we lost something
called intelligence. In all the universities and schools, they are training us only to
sharpen our intellect, not our intelligence. Intelligence is all about how to be
spontaneous, how to be in the present moment. The ability to respond
spontaneously is what I call responsibility. You can't be responsible purely by just
intellect. You need something more than intellect to be responsible. You need
something beyond intellect to be responsible and that is what I call intelligence.
Enter into the realms of intelligence in your reality.
Intelligence can not be taught from books. It is a skill that needs to be learnt by
application. There are many types of intelligence. Howard Gardner talks about 7
types of intelligence, each of us being good at one or the other; sometimes more
than one. What we commonly refer to intelligence as IQ measures only a few of
these, not all. What we refer to as Intelligence here includes as well EQ, which is
Emotional Quotient, which is our ability to relate people, and Spiritual Quotient
which helps us to distinguish between right and wrong.
Intelligence and intuition combined helps develop extraordinary powers of

creativity, memory and performance’.
Physiology of the Brain as Relevant to Ajna
The Ajna Chakra, or third eye, is linked to the pineal gland. Ajna is the chakra of
time and awareness and of light. The pineal gland is a light sensitive gland, that
produces the hormone melatonin, which regulates the instincts of going to sleep
and awakening. It also produces trace amounts of the psychedelic chemical
dimethyltryptamine.
Day to Day Tips
As our thoughts reduce we move into the present. Swami calls this the Time Shaft.
When we are in the present, in the time shaft, past and future become the present
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as well. Thoughts are nothing but the connector between past and future, and
when thoughts cease past and future merge into the present. When you are in
meditation and you bring your awareness totally to the present, you are then in a
no mind zone. Your Ajna is awakened. You are able to see past and future as well.
You become intuitive. Your decisions take care of the future.
Divya Netra Meditation: from Zoroastrian tradition
Ajna is signified by two petalled lotus. Shakti that helps convert dreams to reality,
and the other buddhi which enables us to realize that all reality is a dream. This is
considered the King of chakras.
Ajna is related to eye as well as I. In one sense most our perceptions, almost 80%,
is through the eyes, and these perceptions lead to ego. An unlocked ajna heals eye
related problems. It also clarifies our thinking and kindles our Intelligence, Intuition
and Creativity. An awakened ajna is a boon to students and executives.
Truly extraordinary people consider themselves quite ordinary. That is the effect of
the energized ajna Chakra. When the ajna is open whatever we will, will happen.
Ajna is also the centre of intuition which is a high level mental faculty, one step
short of intelligence.
Dropping the ego is the last step to this intelligence.
If comfortable refer to Shankara’s Atma Shatakam where he denies his ‘I’, na

punyam na papam na saukyam na dukkam na mantram na tirtam na vedo na
yagna; aham bhojanam naiva,bhojyam na bhokta chittananda roopaha shivoham
shivoham.
Ajna meditation consists of two parts one to cleanse and another to energize Ajna.
Place a lit prayer lamp (kuthu vilakku) with cow milk ghee (alternate sesame oil) in
front of participants at a height that can be seen and not uncomfortable to look at
without straining necks. Acharyas to stand out of the way. Use two lamps or more if
more participants. It is preferable to use eye bands since without them participants
tend to open their eyes during steps where eyes should be closed.
Step 1: Put on eye band, and with eyes closed, focus on your ajna chakra as if to
penetrate the chakra. (5 minutes)
Step 2: Remove eye band, open eyes and look at lamp through your third eye. (5
minutes). Your eyes may blink, burn, or have tears…let them.
Step 3: Put on eye band, close eyes and repeat step 1 (5 minutes)
Step 4: Open eye band, repeat step 2 (5 minutes)
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Step 5: Put on eye band, close eyes, do not focus on third eye, just relax, and
witness thoughts.
Now open your eyes slowly relax.
The third eye is known as maya harana and kama harana (destroyer of illusion and
lust). It helps open the super conscious.
When you look at the candle with your eyes open sometimes you may see nothing.
If during intense meditation you experience your own body as empty you will find
that there no candle before you.
(Laughter Exercise to be done after Divya Netra for not more than
3minutes).
Stand with eyes closed. Start laughing. Initially you have to create the laughter.
Soon it flows from you in never ending bursts. Laughter destroys your ego.
Reference: Nithyananda’s discourse on ‘Chaos is Order & Order is Chaos’.
The Universe, what we call the Brahmanda, the macrocosm is apparent Chaos. On
the other hand the Individual body, what we call Pindanda, the microcosm, is all in
apparent order.
Energy in the universe is chaotic. Energy in each atom is chaotic. In that chaos
there is order. Chaos is energetic always; orderliness is dull. When you break an
order you are thrilled; you radiate joy; you exude energy. Dancing without rules is
joyful; regulated dancing may be pleasing to those who watch, but not joyful to
those who perform.
Saying no, makes one solid and assertive; saying yes, makes us liquid, yielding,
blissful. Rules are no, they are solid. When some one smokes, most often it’s for
the joy of breaking the rules, rather than any benefit derived from smoking.
Chaos with order is the Cosmic Intelligence. The stars and planets move in order
seemingly, with no regulatory authority. Science is yet to find the source of this
order. Universe is just not power; it is power plus Intelligence which is Energy. This
Intelligence responds to our prayers. Says Buddha: Universe creates Universe.
Mystics say we come from God; Scientists say we come from monkeys. If evolution
was that straight forward all monkeys should by now have become humans, and
humans should have become something more. Evolution has stopped with humans
because we are the only ones with Consciousness. Our next step is to Universal
consciousness.
Believing that Universe is just matter is what causes power struggles, terrorism
and violence of all kind. When we realize Universe is Intelligent Energy, seeds of
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peace are sown. World is divided into those who are spiritual who believe in its
Intelligence and those who live for power and control over others.
Cosmic energy continues to prove that it responds to us. In a book ‘Message from
water’ Masaru Emoto describes the amazing results of his experiments with
ordinary water. He bottled water in different containers and labeled them; love,
hate, greed, compassion, terror, Bible, Koran etc. To each bottle of water he spoke
everyday for 10 minutes in line with its label; to water labeled love he spoke on
love with love; to the one labeled terror he spoke on terror with terror; he read the
Koran to the bottle labeled like wise. At the end of a month he froze the water in
these bottles separately and studied the frozen crystals of each under a
microscope. To his amazement he found that the crystals of water labeled love
shone brilliantly like diamonds; those labeled terror seemed misshapen, ghostly
and somehow fear inducing; most amazingly the crystals from the water labeled
Koran had the imprint of the Holy Kaaba on them! Water responds to our thoughts
and words. So does the rest of the Universe energy. Water constitutes more than
80% of our body system; you can imagine the power of words, our own and those
of others upon our body system.
British soldiers in their early days in India found that when they carried water from
England in their ships to India, the water spoilt even while on ship. However when
they carried water back from India the water not only stayed fresh through the
voyage, but was still potable till they consumed all of it back in England. When
scientists studied this surprising phenomenon, they found that this water which
was from the Ganga in Calcutta had properties of killing harmful bacteria and
rejuvenating itself.
It’s no wonder that the millions who have prayed to Ganga over thousands of years
have left their thought imprints that have made this water so energy giving.
The river Nile has been studied by the Egyptians over thousands of years by
measuring its flow, level, turbulence etc. They have found that these parameters
of one of the greatest rivers of this World reflect often times catastrophic incidents
in distant parts of the world, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis
etc.
Universe responds to the state of your Being. State of Being and therefore State of
Mind bring you status. Status without State of Mind only brings you grief. If you
wish to see atheists go and see temple priests. They take God so much for granted
that they treat God as a stone.
God is a dust bin for most of us. What ever we do well we take credit for it.
Anything that goes wrong we blame God for it. God is great if he answers our
prayers. Please remember God is even greater when he does not make your
prayers come true; because he only knows how dangerous your prayers are to you.
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When we keep getting whatever we want we end up with depression of success.

Your status overcomes your state. Status without State of Mind, power without
wisdom, Shakti without Buddhi is a killer.
Said a Zen Master when a disciple asked him: What have you attained?
When I started a mountain was a mountain and a river a river; when I traveled,
mountain was not a mountain and a river not a river; when I reached mountain was
again a mountain and a river again a river.
Before achieving you are ordinary. Half way you feel extraordinary though you are
still ordinary. When you have reached you feel ordinary even though you may be
extraordinary.
We as part of this Universe are part of its potential and part of its chaos and Order.
When we try and be in control of us and others, when we try to be perfect, we
violate this cosmic order. Perfectionism is a disease; it leads to madness. Orderly
people tend to order inflate their ego and suffer.
We try to maintain order because we believe we have boundaries. Let go your

boundaries, your need for order will disappear; joy will appear. When you realize
the Cosmic Consciousness within yourself, you will discover the order that is
inherent in you, without doing yourself harm. You will accept yourself as you are
and others as they are.
When you experience the order in cosmic chaos you experience bliss; when you
realize the chaos within you as order you exude compassion; that compassion
surely leads you to enlightenment.
Reference: From Swami’s Conscious Talk radio talk in Seattle
Questions
1. So where does humor fit into this?’
See, man who is in the present will always be humorous. People who are
serious about the past and future will be loaded with suffering. A man who is
sincere will be always humorous. Sincerity and humour always go together.
According to me laughter is one of the highest spiritual qualities. When you
are present, you just start laughing because the whole thing is so light,
ecstatic and blissful. Nothing matters. See after all, we are going to be here
on planet earth for 80 to 90 years. Life is too precious. We can't afford to
waste our lives in serious moments. We can't afford to waste out lives in
suffering and dullness. It is so precious that we have to enjoy continuously by
being in bliss or in a humorous mood.
2. So being humorous too is a conscious choice?
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Yes, it is a pure choice. Someone might say Swami to you, OK, at this
moment, I decide to be humorous. But there is nothing around that is
humorous. So how does that choice really relate at the feeling level?
When you really come to the present moment, even your very existence is
very beautiful. We are continuously inhaling and exhaling, our body is
moving, it is continuously converting bread into blood. All these things that
are happening continuously in our system are enough to feel the bliss and
lightness. You dont' need a separate actor or comedian to stand and make
you laugh. Just coming to the present moment is so blissful. You start
laughing for no reason. Humour is something when you start smiling or
laughing for no reason, you are in a humorous mood!
And it’s very catchy! There’s someone there with a big smile and this whole
energy. You can’t help it. Yes infectious.
3. And when people come in with a bad mood?
Again that is infectious. That is why doctors again and again fall sick. They
catch the sickness or the mood of sickness from their patients. Doctors
should meditate. It is a basic thing for doctors. Those who are in the healing
profession - doctors, nurses, pharmacists - should meditate because they are
continuously seeing people who are sick. Unless they meditate, there is
every possibility or danger that they may catch the sickness.
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Module 8: Sahasrara.
Sahasrara or the crown chakra is located in the crown of the head. Sahasrara
means a thousand petalled lotus in Sanskrit which refers to the ecstatic feeling
that mystics felt upon enlightenment, when this chakra is opened. Discontentment
closes this chakra. Gratitude and contentment open it.
Discontent Becomes an Addiction
A small story…
Neetu Patel went to a shoe store and tried on 10 pairs of shoes and concluded that
none of them was the right fit. Finally, the salesman got her the eleventh pair and
watched with bated breath as she tried them on. Neetu tried them on and said,
‘This fits too well, I wonder if this is the right size’.
Even the best eludes one who is determined not to be content with it.
Another small story…
One day, Mullah Nasrudeen was crying at his doorstep. A man came up and asked
why he was crying. Mullah replied, ‘My Grandfather has died leaving behind a
wealth of fortune for me’. The Man was puzzled and said that the Grandfather was
a very old man and had lived a full life and asked why Mullah should cry so much
at inheriting all the wealth. Mullah continued, ‘My Uncle passed away a few weeks
back leaving all his wealth to me. My paternal Grandmother died a month back and
she too left all her wealth for me’. The man was very confused by now and asked,
‘Why are you crying if they all left their wealth to you and departed in their old
age?’ Mullah replied, ‘Alas, I have no more relatives who will die leaving their
wealth to me’.
Most of the time, we do not even recognize what we are looking for. Obviously
when we find it we are not happy.
A small story…
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Nithya Madhu went to a nursery looking for a tree for her backyard. She told the
girl, ‘I want a tree that will not spread too much, that will give shade, that will not
shed its leaves and that will allow the sun to filter through it’. The girl at the
nursery thought for a while and said, ‘Ma’am, what you want is an umbrella’.
We don’t even know what it is that we are really searching for! How then will we
find it?
In Sufism, gratitude to God is the only way of worship.
One Sufi Saint and his disciples, in their wanderings, went without food in an
unfamiliar town where Sufis were not respected. They had no food for 3 days and
on the 4th day were even chased away by people without being given a place to
stay. They slept in a graveyard. The next day morning, the Saint as usual started to
say the prayer of Thanksgiving to God. His disciples however refused to follow suit.
They asked why they should thank the Lord when they were refused food for 3
days and a place to stay as well. The Saint replied, ‘You have been fed for 30 years
and given a place to stay for 30 years, what about thanking him for that? There is
still life in us; we need to thank him for that, least of all!’
Very few religions are gratitude based like Buddhism and Sufism. Most others are
prayer based. Prayer based religions work through concepts of hell and heaven;
primary effort of religious leaders is to make people afraid and through fear control
them; becomes good business for religious leaders.
Most of us bargain with the Existence: give me a million dollars and I shall give you
10%; you can take your commission first and give me the balance.
Man prayed hard in a church, ‘Lord give me 1000 rupees for 15 days, I am
desperate, shall return you the money on the 16th day’. The priest heard him and
being compassionate gave him whatever he had which was only 500, saying God
had asked him to give the money to this man. When this man sees that it is only
500 and not 1000 he prays to God again. ‘God, please don’t send it thru the priest
next time he took half of it’.
Life itself is a gift to us from God. Did we work for God day and night and earn this
Life? No! We tell God that we want a diamond ring, but don’t thank him for giving
us a finger to wear it. While asking, we ask in a very detailed fashion, but while
thanking, we thank very superfluously. We need to adopt a life of nothing but
gratitude.
Ramana Maharishi says, ‘We always feel that something that we don’t have is as
big as a mountain without which we cannot survive, but when we actually get it,
somehow it becomes too small a thing to thank God for’. He tells God, I am so very
intelligent. I gave you all I had, my life full of suffering. You in your compassion
gave me your presence of Bliss.
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Tagore says so beautifully in Gitanjali:
Aamaar je shob dite hobe sheyi to aami jaani?
‘I know what I have to give’. Tagore says to God and then lists everything, ‘From
my wealth, my speech to my dawn my dusk, ending with, whatever I give to you,
only then does it become mine’.
A small story…
Sheikh Govinda stopped by at a pump and explained that he was penniless, but
badly needed fuel to get to his house. The manager took pity on him and agreed to
fill in a few liters. Govinda asked, ‘Can you give me the money instead? The pump
across the road is cheaper’.
We simply take it for granted. After every gift that we receive, the mind says ‘What
next?’ We feel no base or root in ourselves. We are like people lost in a crowd and
filled with insecurity. This is because we have no faith in or gratitude towards the
Cosmic Energy or Prapancha Shakti that is actually taking care of us every minute.
A small story…
Bhilai Mansoor took the school children out to see the sunset. They watched spell
bound as the sky changed from one color to another like a painting in progress. At
the end of it, Bhilai told them, ‘Now, let us give a clap to the artist behind the
whole thing’. The children thought for a moment and then joyfully clapped!
The least we can do is hail the glory of Existence!
(Acharyas) Discuss
We all take things for granted. If you were to make a list of the things that you
have got, the list would never end and it will take you unawares.
Imagine if you lost your eyesight for 24 hours from the time you woke up one day.
Your entire day’s routine which was so seamless till then becomes suddenly
unimaginable. You would then probably thank God for your eyes!
The Geography teacher asked her students to write down the seen wonders of the
world. All the kids listed such great wonders as the Great wall of China, the
Pyramids and so on, except one child. She kept writing, shaking her head and
continued to write. The teacher came to her and asked: what happened, you forgot
what you learnt? The little girl said, no, I am a bit confused, because there are
many more than seven. The teacher took her sheet and read out aloud: for me the
seven wonders of the world are, ‘I can see; I can touch; I can smell; I can hear; I
can taste; I can laugh; I can love’. The class was incredibly quiet.
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Our gratitude to existence is a business deal.
A lawyer, a doctor and an engineer came together to start a business. They

decided to include God as a partner. They fixed a small percentage of the expected
profit as God’s share. The business grew and yielded unexpectedly high profit.
God’s share suddenly seemed too high to be given away. One of them suggested
that they would place a small vessel and throw up all the money. Whatever fell
inside the vessel would be God’s and the rest would be theirs. The second man
suggested that they place a big vessel and throw up all the coins and whatever fell
inside would be theirs and the rest God’s. The lawyer finally said, ‘No, lets do it this
way. Anyway God is sitting above us. We will throw up all the money. Whatever he
wishes to take let him take, whatever falls down, we will take’.
You say Kali (as in Kaliyuga, the fourth quarter of time) has ripened. No! Faith has
disappeared, that’s all. Feel gratitude towards God. Feel him as your Mother and as
your Father. Stop asking and start thanking, only then a relationship with the
Existence can be established. A Sufi Saint once went to meet a wealthy King for
endowment. He saw the King praying to God. He smiled to himself and went away.
The King later called for him and asked him the purpose of his visit and why he had
gone away without meeting him. The Saint replied, ‘I came to ask for alms but saw
you begging’.
In Sufism, there is no concept of asking God for something. The only way of
worship is gratitude.
A small story…
A boy once visited a King’s palace. He requested to allow him to stay for a night in
the palace. The King agreed and the boy stayed. The next day morning, he came
up to the King and complained endlessly about the shortcomings of the
accommodation provided to him. The King ordered the boy to be taken out saying
that even a day’s accommodation was too much for a person such as him. The boy
went to a Sufi Saint and narrated to him the happenings. The Saint asked him to
become his disciple. A few months later, the Saint accompanied by the boy went to
the King’s palace and asked to be allowed to stay for a few days in the palace. The
next day morning, the Saint expressed heart-felt gratitude towards the King for the
comforts made for them. The King immediately ordered his men to pay more
attention to the arrangements made for the Saint.
This is what happens when you thank Existence instead of finding fault with what
has been given to you. By feeling gratitude, you are sending out positive vibrations
that will automatically bring back more than you can imagine for yourself.
Discontent and Karma
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Our discontent mostly arises from unfulfilled desires. Our desires are unfulfilled for
two reasons. Firstly, because these are mostly borrowed desires from others and
they keep growing; secondly, because we focus on acquisition and enjoying what
we acquire, which alone leads to fulfillment. Fulfillment is a quality of the present
awareness.
Unfulfilled desires are called vasanas, when they remain as traces in our
unconscious mind. When the mind starts working on the vasanas they become full
fledged monsters called samskaras, which drive us into suffering with their
insatiability. Our actions trying to satisfy our samskaras are our karmas. Vasanas
are the seed, samskaras the plant, and karmas the full grown tree. The irony of all
this is that karmas breed more vasanas, vasanas breed more samskaras, and
samskaras breed more karmas. This is the endless vicious cycle of suffering arising
out of desire that Buddha spoke about.
To end this suffering, to break this cycle, we must fulfill our desires, and remain
content with desires that are our own. To reach liberation through extinction of
samskaras and vasanas we need to stay in the present; we need to meditate to
awareness.
When we die it is not our karmas that follow us as we mistakenly believe, but the
essence behind the karmas, the vasanas, that ride on the spirit, as a subtle mental
attitude. It is in our hands to extinguish our vasanas, and thereby liberate
ourselves from the karmic cycle. That is the free will that we possess.
God’s Workshop
I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an Angel was showing me around. We walked
side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with Angels. My Angel guide stopped in
front of the first section and said, ‘This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions
to God said in prayer are received’. I looked around in this area, and it was terribly
busy with so many Angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets
and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor
until we reached the second section.
The Angel then said to me, ‘This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the
graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living
persons who asked for them’. I noticed again how busy it was there. There were
many Angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been
requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth. Finally at the farthest
end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great
surprise, only one Angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. ‘This is the
Acknowledgment Section’, my Angel friend quietly admitted to me.
He seemed embarrassed. ‘How is it that? There's no work going on here?’ I asked.

‘So sad’, the Angel sighed. ‘After people receive the blessings that they asked for,
very few send back acknowledgments’. ‘How does one acknowledge God's
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blessings?’ I asked. ‘Simple’, the Angel answered. ‘Just say, ‘Thank you, Lord’.
‘What blessings should they acknowledge?’ I asked. ‘If you have food in the
refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are
richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and
spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who
has that opportunity Also if you woke up this morning with more health than illness
you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. If you have
never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of
torture, or the pangs of starvation ...you are ahead of 700 million people in the
world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or
death, you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare. If you can hold
your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you are unique to all those in doubt
and despair. OK, what now? How can I start? If you can read or listen to this
message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you
as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world
who cannot read at all. Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want,
pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are. Attn:
Acknowledge Department. ‘Thank You Lord! Thank you Lord, for giving me the
ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share
it with’.
Why God Does not Give us What we Ask For
Often we complain that God dose not listen to us and grant us our prayers. We are
lucky. If only God were to grant all our prayers we will be in deep trouble. In his
infinite wisdom and compassion he decides what would do us good.
I asked for STRENGTH...... and I was given difficulties to make me strong
I asked for WISDOM..... and I was given problems to solve
I asked for PROSPERITY...... and I was given a brain and brawn to work
I asked for COURAGE...... and I was given obstacles to overcome
I asked for LOVE.......and I was given troubled people to help
I asked for a FAVOR....... and I was given opportunities
I received nothing I wanted.......but I received everything I needed!
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Live life without fear, confront all obstacles and know that you can overcome them.
If you feel only gratitude towards the Lord, there will be only happiness in your life.
When there is true happiness in your life, good fortune will prevail. This is a maha
vakya (great declaration). True Happiness or ananda has the property of attracting
good fortune.
Surrender
From gratitude to surrender is but a tiny step. Gratitude unblocks ego, you start to
acknowledge the power of some one else over you. It is the gate way to surrender,
and surrender is the gateway to enlightenment. Surrender is the unbearable
lightness of being; it takes the load of you and transfers it to the one you surrender
to.
A small story…
A Sufi master lived in the middle of a desert in a small hut. One day, a young boy
came by his hut and requested to allow him one night’s sleep and food. The man
agreed and the boy stayed. The next day morning, the Master found out from the
boy that he is a burglar by profession. The boy left part of his loot with the Master
in gratitude for his hospitality. The master cried out loud for having given food and
accommodation to a burglar and sought forgiveness from the almighty. He
suddenly heard an even louder cry from the heavens. He asked, ‘Who is it? Why
are you crying so loudly?’ The voice said, ‘I am your God. You are crying for giving
this boy shelter for one day, imagine my plight who has been giving him all this for
his lifetime, and many others like him for many life times! Who will take care of my
sins?’ Our ego like the Master’s fails to understand that it is the Cosmic Energy that
is taking care of us every minute, and that we are just instruments.
In ancient mythology there is a story of a fight between Brahma, the Creator and
Vishnu the Sustainer, as to who was greater. There was no one to solve the fight
except Shiva, the third member of the Divine Trinity. Shiva appeared before them
in his vishwa rupa, in such a huge form, as a shaft of light, that its ends, his head
and feet could not be seen. He said who ever finds either of my ends is the greater.
Brahma went up towards the head in the form of a flying swan. Vishnu went as a
boar digging the ground to find Shiva’s feet. They searched for ages, yugas. Vishnu
realized that he could not find what he sought, decided to surrender his ego, and
told Shiva to forgive his arrogance in trying to seek his feet. Shiva blessed him for
his honesty. Brahma could not accept his failure. He saw a flower as he flew up and
asked the flower where it was coming from, it said it had fallen from Shiva’s ears.
Brahma asked how long have you been traveling? Flower said four ages of Brahma.
Brahma was shocked and realized he had no hopes of finding Shiva’s head, but he
did not want to accept his failure. He asked the flower can you be the witness that I
brought you down from Shiva’s head, in any case he won’t know. Flower said ok.
Both went down and Brahma told Shiva I saw your head and brought this flower as
my witness. Shiva was angry at this lie and punished him. You will be never be
worshipped and punished the flower: No flower will ever be used in my puja.
128
One thing is true whether this story is true or not. Whenever a metaphysical truth
is explained as a physical story it is mythology. An enlightened Master says from
his experience that the sahasrara chakra opening is an experience like a thousand
petal lotus; a disciple who has not had the experience takes it as a fact and thinks
the sahasrara is a lotus with thousand petals. Mythology always conveys truths,
but in a different language.
Let us analyze this story. Vishnu is the authority of wealth through his wife
Lakshmi. Brahma represents knowledge as his wife Saraswati embodies
knowledge. Knowledge searches through the head and for the head. Wealth tries it
through pleasures. Neither pleasure nor knowledge can reveal God, however much
deep you go into knowledge or pleasures.
Creator goes up in an aggressive, rajasic attitude of continuous activity and

Sustainer goes down in a tamasic, inert mood. Neither can find God.
If you try to reach the ultimate, the eternal bliss, at some point you will understand
you have not achieved. This is what Vishnu realized. You will realize that pleasure
and wealth can not lead to Truth. Vishnu surrenders. If you travel through wealth at
least you understand sometime that you are unable and you can surrender.
While traveling through life with knowledge and intellect you can delude yourself
like Brahma and your ego can grow so much that you deny Truth. You can no
longer accept reality and you lie to yourself and others. You do not wish to accept
you can not see reality, you have missed it; this is far more dangerous. Intellect is
addictive. You don’t even realize that you are addicted. It makes you feel great
gathering information and having others listen to you. The only problem in
realizing God is intellect, nothing else. You become a library and feel you are
enlightened. A library or an encyclopedia can not be enlightened. Processing
information or even delivering it as lectures can not make you enlightened.
Ego based on wealth is simpler to control and remove than ego based on
knowledge; more knowledge the heavier the head. Then it starts aching. To stop it
from aching you have to prove somehow that you have found God. Such intellect
addicted people bring their discourses as their false witnesses like Brahma’s
flower.
If you are a little intelligent you can realize from start the futility of these two
approaches. Pleasures dull your senses and you can see that the more you follow
your senses the less you are satisfied. You can also realize that no logic is logically
logical in this universe; knowledge is limited in its correctness. If intellect would
have reached Him, you would already have bought and sold Him; you would have
done a deal on Him too.
How then to achieve Him? How to purchase Him? How to achieve Him? Only when
you sell yourself you can purchase Him.
129
Bhagavatam says, ‘When you give what you have, your ‘I’ and your ‘mine’, He will
give you his ‘I’ and his ‘mine’.
Your ‘I’ is your ego.
Surrender to a master is greater than surrender to God. You can see the Mater, you
can hear him, whereas God is a mere concept to all those who have not
experienced God.
Vivekananda referred to Ramakrishna as God in one of his discussions with fellow

disciples of Ramakrishna. Another disciple objected, ‘Surely that is extreme. I agree
that the Master is enlightened, but God? How can that be?’
Vivekananda asked his fellow disciple, ‘What do you know of God?’ The fellow
disciple said, ‘Oh, God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent’. Vivekananda
asked, ‘What do you mean by saying that God is omnipresent?’ The disciple said,
‘God is everywhere’. Asked Vivekananda, ‘Surely then you must be able to see him
now in that case’. The disciple was confused and did not know what to say further.
Vivekananda told him, ‘To you God is a concept that you can not see, a notion that
you do not even know and understand. Here is the Master in front of you who is n
reality God. You are too blind to see that’.
Our Master says, ‘I am not here to prove that I am God. I am here to prove that you
are God’.
Surrender to the Master is essential for spiritual progress. Surrender has three
levels. Initial surrender is that of the intellect, leading to understanding and
acceptance of what the Master stands for and says. This is not too difficult for most
seekers, who become the Master’s disciples. At the next level is devotion,
surrender of emotions; the Master moves you in many ways; for instance you can
not bear to be without him; focusing on his form becomes essential. At this level
surrender to the form needs to be given up in favor of surrender to the formless.
This is the block most devotees face. At the highest level is surrender of one’s
senses to the Master.
A small story…
Krishna once tells Arjuna, as they walk, ‘Arjuna, look, there is a green crow near
that tree! Says Arjuna, ‘Yes, Krishna, I see that green crow’. A little later Krishna
says, ‘Arjuna, look, look at that black crow’! Responds Arjuna, ‘Yes, Krishna, I see
the black crow’. Krishna exclaims, ‘Arjuna, you are an idiot, how can there be a
green crow? Why did you say you saw a green crow?’ Says Arjuna without
hesitation, ‘Krishna, when you told me to look at that green crow, all I saw was that
the crow was green!’
130
This is surrender of senses, the most difficult to do. Your eyes see, your ears hear,
your senses feel what the Master says, not what they experience. Truth is the
Master, not the maya that one’s senses see externally. When one reaches this level
of surrender of senses to the Master, enlightenment follows naturally.
As you move beyond Ajna the form becomes formless. It is to that formless form of
the master and existence that we need to surrender ourselves.
guru charanambuja nirbara bhaktaha

samsarat achirat Bhava muktaha
sendriya manasa niyamat evam
drikshyasi nija hridayatvam devam
When the disciple surrenders at his master’s lotus feet, his senses in firm control.
Freed from wordly bonds, he sees God in his own heart
(Acharyas) Discuss
Pituitary Gland
The highest crown chakra is said to be the chakra of consciousness, the master
chakra that controls all the others. Its role would be very similar to that of the
pituitary gland, which secretes hormones to control the rest of the endocrine
system, and also connects to the central nervous system via the hypothalamus.
The thalamus is thought to have a key role in the physical basis of consciousness.
Sahasrara Dhyana: Based on Sufi Tradition
This meditation technique is all about gratitude to Existence. Thanking God does
not mean visualizing empty space and thanking it in a jiffy! People, plants and
animals are all a part of God. You need to start from thanking the people who built
the hospital in which you were delivered from your mother’s womb!
Give each participant flowers to hold in their hands. Spread a white cloth in front
of the participants, but not in front of Swami’s picture. Participants to wear eye
band and close eyes.
Concentrate on sahasrara chakra. Forget all other parts of your body. Concentrate
only on crown centre and relax there. With your whole Being, give your gratitude to
your mother for giving you this body. Remember and give your gratitude to her
with your full Being. Give your gratitude to your father for giving you this life. Give
your gratitude to all the doctors and nurses who received you when you came to
planet earth. Give your gratitude to all the people who took care of you when you
were an infant. Give your gratitude to all the those who worked for your food,
clothes and accommodation when you were young. Give your gratitude to all the
teachers who gave you primary education. Give your gratitude to all your young
age friends who made your life happy and blissful. Give your gratitude to your
131
brothers and sisters as well as other relatives for the nurturing and learning they
provided you. Seek their forgiveness for any hurt that you may have caused them
intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously. Give your gratitude
to all the people who gave you professional education, who helped you to stand in
your profession. Give your gratitude to all the people who helped you
economically, whenever you needed it. Give your gratitude to all the doctors who
took care of your health who gave you medical assistance whenever you needed it.
Give your gratitude to your wife or husband for giving you love and security in your
life. Give your gratitude to all the people who encouraged you and gave you
inspiration for your spiritual life. Give your gratitude to all those who have served
you in one way or another all through your life: the milk man who delivers milk, the
grocer, the laundry man, the garbage collector, your servants, your driver, all
these people who you take for granted. Seek every one’s forgiveness for any hurt
that you may have caused intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or
unconsciously. Give your gratitude to your enemies and those who have hurt you
for they helped you learn. Seek their forgiveness for any hurt that you may have
caused them.
Give your gratitude to all the Masters and spiritual persons who inspired you to live
this spiritual life. Give your gratitude to all those helped you physically, mentally,
socially, economically and spiritually. Remember each one of them and give
gratitude taking your own time. Last but not least give your gratitude to the Divine,
to the Whole, to God for making all these things possible in your life. Give your
gratitude to the Master who is the embodiment of Energy, the Divine. Before that I
offer my gratitude to all of you for coming here and sharing this Bliss with me.
(Allow participants to add their own expressions by giving them time and asking
them to include others you would have missed out)
Total time 21 minutes. Keep talk time to about 4 minutes and let participants
visualize.
After this gratitude meditation, participants offer flowers on the white cloth, and
Acharya prostrates to the participants and participants open their eyes while the
Acharya is still prostrating to them. Play ‘Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu’ tape
continuously at this time, till all participants offer flowers and prostrate to the
Existence (not Swami’s picture).
132
Other Important Things to Remember

Each Session: Is two hours (Review of previous session and feedback, except for
introduction 15 minutes, discourse 45 minutes, Q & A 15 minutes, meditation
instructions 10 minutes and mediation 21 to 31 minutes.
Breaks: 30 minutes and lunch one hour.
Sequence: Anahata, Manipunaka, Muladhara, Swadishthana, Vishuddhi, Ajna,

Sahasrara
Manipuraka must follow anahata. Sahasrara must follow ajna. Swadishthana,

muladhara and visuddhi can be in any order.
Important to Volunteers: During all meditation sessions avoid touching

participants or telling them to do the meditation ‘correctly’. Let them do what they
have understood. Therefore be clear when you first explain each meditation
technique. The techniques are cast in stone and can only be modified with
Nithyananda’s permission, while you may use your creativity in modifying the
discourse. At best you can hum louder or shout louder to motivate them. Please
desist from going any further. During vishuddhi or dukhaharana or manipuraka
meditation, do not physically interfere even if they bump into each other.
Segregate men and women to start with, and stand between potential bumpers
with arms spread out if you deem it necessary. Intervene only if they fall down or
seem to require urgent personal attention.
Very Important:
- When participants open their eyes after each meditation do not stand in front
of their vision, which is not good for Acharyas. Stay on one side and come in
centre stage after a few minutes after they have settled down.
- Do not use healing picture of Swami. Place Swami’s cut out that will be given to
Organizers/Acharyas behind Acharya seat.
133
- Acharyas must sit cross legged as far as possible on a sofa like seat, and not
make unnecessary physical distracting movements. Women should be
particularly be careful with body language.
- As far as possible segregate men and women in audience (not required in most
Western countries).
This paragraph has been repeated deliberately in view of its importance.
Tip: In every one of the eight sessions build in interactive sessions other than
Q&A and discussions. You can ask them to write down their certification needs in
anahata, worries in manipuraka, fears in swadishthana, fantasies in muladhara,
jealousy/desires in vishuddhi, ego factors in ajna and discontent factors in
sahasrara. After the meditation ask them about their current feeling with regard to
these list of emotions. Where possible you can pair people to share these. You can
start the second day with a review of these emotions after they have slept through
the night.
More Tips: While narrating jokes and stories, present images to the audience so
that they can visualize what you can see in the joke and story; each important
detail must be explained in appropriate words; for jokes the punch line formation is
critical.
Q&A: While you must fully respect the audience and answer all questions
seriously, if you find that some one is engaging you in an argument for purely ego
reasons and not for knowledge, move on politely but firmly.
Last Session: Gratitude and surrender should be followed by celebration.

Motivate participants to dance to kirtans (bomma bomma etc) as long as possible.
At least 45 minutes. Dancing to kirtans is meditation. If any energy darshan is
planned it will be at this stage.
After the dance session have an experience sharing period as feedback. Tape this
session if possible, transcribe and send to Dhyanapeetam.
134
References:
Chakra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/ See also chakram, a
disc-like weapon wielded by the Hindu god Vishnu.
In Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well
as in some segments of the New Age movement, a chakra is thought to be an energy
node in the human body.
The word comes from the Sanskrit cakra चक meaning "wheel, circle", and sometimes also
referring to the "wheel of life". The pronunciation of this word can be approximated in
English by chuhkruh, with ch as in chart and both instances of a as in yoga (the commonly
found pronunciation shockrah is incorrect).
135
The seven main chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the
base of the spine to the top of the head. Each chakra is associated with a certain color,
multiple specific functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other
distinguishing characteristics.
The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with
interactions of both a physical and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy,
or prana, which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis.
Traditional Chinese medicine also relies on a similar model of the human body as an
energy system.
The New Age movement has led to an increased interest in the West regarding chakras.
Many in this movement point to a correspondence between the position and role of the
Chakras, and those of the glands in the endocrine system. Some people in New Age also
claim that other chakras, besides the above, exist — for instance, ear chakras.
The Danish author and musician Peter Kjaerulff in his book, The Ringbearers Diary,
describes the chakras in great detail, including the reasons for their appearance and their
exact functions. Shortly put, the seven chakras are said to reflect how the unified
consciousness of man (the immortal human being or the soul), is divided to manage
different aspects of earthly life (body/instinct/vital energy/deeper
emotions/communication/having an overview of life/contact to God). The chakras are
placed on an intermediate layer which lies between the spirit and the earthly body.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Scientific basis
• 2 The 7 basic chakras
• 3 Origins and Development
• 4 Chakras and the endocrine system
• 5 Various models
o 5.1 The Tantric Chakras
o 5.2 Hesychastic centres of prayer
• 6 Reference Material and Books
• 7 See also
• 8 External links
[edit]
Scientific basis
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please view the article's talk page.
The Western scientific, medical and self-governing communities employ a system of

empirical generalizations by which they explain the general functioning of human beings.
This system does not include chakras or any similar concepts, since there is so far no
scientifically acceptable evidence of their existence.
136
Supporters of the notion of chakras explain the lack of confirmation of their existence in
Western medical science by noting that current technology is not capable of measuring life
energy or chakras. Some point out that arguments offered so far against the possibility of
the existence of chakras are arguments from ignorance. Skeptics rejoin that if chakras
exist then there ought to be evidence of their existence that would be acceptable to the
scientific community, i.e., they argue that they find no reason to accept claims about them
since there is no empirical evidence to support their existence, which is exactly what the
supporters of the notion of chakras have also affirmed.
There is, however, a marked similarity between the positions and roles described for
chakras, and the positions and roles of the glands in the endocrine system, opening the
possibility that two vastly different systems of conceptualization have been brought to
bear to systemize insights about the same phenomenon. By some, chakras are thought of
as having their physical manifestation in the body as these glands, and their subjective
manifestation as the associated psychological and spiritual experiences. Different systems
of conceptualization, Indian and Western scientific, make only a partial convergence in this
case since Western science deals only with phenomena that are judged intersubjective.
Indeed, the various hormones secreted by these glands do have a dramatic effect on
human psychology, and an imbalance in one can cause a psychological or physical
imbalance in a person. Whether these changes in body state have a bearing on spiritual
matters is a subject of dissent even among the Indian thought community.
Perhaps the most psychologically dramatic and potent secretion of these glands is the
psychedelic drug DMT (which is synthesized by the pineal gland), corresponding to the
brow chakra. At least in the West, some individuals have sought spiritual breakthroughs
through the use of such chemical aids. (See for example: Aldous Huxley, The Doors of
Perception, a classic of new-age spirituality.)
[edit]
The 7 basic chakras
The following table sets forth some of the concepts associated with each chakra:
Ch Co P As
ak lor ri so
ra m cia
ar te
y d
Fu El
nc e
tio m
ns en
t
Ro re i ea
ot d nst rth
mū inc
lād t,
hā sur
137
ra, viv
मूल al
ााध
ाार
Sa or em wa
cru an oti ter
m ge on,
(H se
ar xu
a) al
sv en
ād er
hiṣ gy,
ṭh sel
ān f-
a, ac
सवाध ce
pt
िाष an
ाान ce
S y me fire
ola ell nt
r ow al
ple fun
xu cti
s oni
ma ng,
ṇip po
ūr we
a, r,
मण co
ntr
िापू ol,
र fre
ed
om
to
be
on
es
elf,
car
ee
r
He em de air
art er vot
/Lu ald ion
138
ng gr ,
an ee lov
āh n e,
ataor co
, pin mp
अन k as
sio
ााह n,
त he
ali
ng
T b sp et
hrolue ee he
at ch, r
viś sel
ud f-
dh ex
a, pr
िव es
sio
शुद n
T i i ti
hir ndi nt me
d go uiti
ey on,
e Ext
ājñ ra-
ā, se
आ ns
ory
जा pe
rce
pti
on
Cr v co sp
ow iol nn ac
n et; ect e
(ju ma ion
st y to
ab as th
ov su e
e me div
th col ine
e or
he of
ad do
) mi
sa na
ha nt
139
srā ch
ra, akr
सह a
सार
For a discussion on chakra petals see Petal (chakra)
[edit]
Origins and Development
The earliest known mention of chakras is found in the later Upanishads, including
specifically the Brahma Upanishad and the Yogatattva Upanishad. These vedic models
were adapted in Tibetan Buddhism as Vajrayana theory, and in the Tantric Shakta theory of
chakras.
It is the shakta theory of 7 main chakras that most people in the West adhere to, either
knowingly or unknowingly, largely thanks to a translation of two indian texts, the Sat-
Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, by Sir John Woodroffe, alias Arthur Avalon, in a
book entitled The Serpent Power.
This book is extremely detailed and complex, and later the ideas were developed into
what is predominant western view of the Chakras by the Theosophists, and largely the
controversial (in theosophical circles) C. W. Leadbeater in his book The Chakras, which are
in large part his own meditations and insights on the matter.
That said, many present-day Indian gurus that incorporate chakras within their systems of
philosophy do not seem to radically disagree with the western view of chakras, at least on
the key points, and both these eastern and western views have developed from the Shakta
Tantra school.
There are various other models of chakras in other traditions, notably in Chinese medicine,
and also in Tibetan Buddhism. Even in Jewish kabbalah, the different Sephiroth are
sometimes associated with parts of the body. In Islamic Sufism , Lataif-e-Sitta ( Six
Subtleties ) are considered as psychospiritual "organs" or faculties of sensory and
suprasensory perception , activation of which makes a man complete . Attempts are made
to try and reconcile the systems with each other, and notably there are some successes,
even between such diverged traditions as Shakta Tantra , Sufism and Kabbalism, where
chakras , lataif and Sephiroth can seemingly represent the same archetypal spiritual
concepts. In Surat Shabda Yoga, initiation by an Outer Living Satguru (Sat - true, Guru -
teacher) is required and involves reconnecting soul to the Shabda and stationing the Inner
Shabda Master (the Radiant Form of the Master) at the third eye chakra.
Twelve Major Chakras of the human energy system, Dan teins, Kundalini energy and
pranayama Twelve Major Chakras
[edit]
Chakras and the endocrine system
140
Parallels have often been drawn, by supporters of the existence of chakras, between the
positions and functions of the chakras, and of the various organs of the endocrine system.
The highest crown chakra is said to be the chakra of consciousness, the master chakra
that controls all the others. Its role would be very similar to that of the pituitary gland,
which secretes hormones to control the rest of the endocrine system, and also connects to
the central nervous system via the hypothalamus. The thalamus is thought to have a key
role in the physical basis of consciousness.
The Ajna Chakra, or third eye, is linked to the pineal gland. Ajna is the chakra of time and
awareness and of light. The pineal gland is a light sensitive gland, that produces the
hormone melatonin, which regulates the instincts of going to sleep and awakening. It also
produces trace amounts of the psychedelic chemical dimethyltryptamine.
(Note: some argue that the pineal and pituitary glands should be exchanged in their
relationship to the Crown and Brow chakras, based on the description in Arthur Avalon's
book on kundalini called Serpent Power)
The throat chakra, Vishuddha, is said to be related to communication and growth, growth
being a form of expression. This chakra is paralleled to the thyroid, a gland that is also in
the throat, and which produces thyroid hormone, responsible for growth and maturation.
The heart chakra, Anahata, is related to love, equilibrium, and well-being. It is related to
the thymus, located in the chest. This organ is part of the immune system, as well as
being part of the endocrine system. It produces T cells responsible for fighting off disease,
and is adversely affected by stress.
The solar plexus chakra, Manipura, is related to energy, assimilation and digestion, and is
said to correspond to the roles played by the pancreas and the outer adrenal glands, the
adrenal cortex. These play a valuable role in digestion, the conversion of food matter into
energy for the body.
The sacral chakra, Swadhisthanna, is located in the groin, and is related to sexuality and
emotion. This chakra is said to correspond to the testes or the ovaries, that produce the
various sex hormones involved in the reproductive cycle, which can cause dramatic mood
swings.
The base chakra, Muludhara, is related to survival, excretion, and also to basic human
potentiality. It is said the kundalini lies coiled here, ready to uncoil and bring man to his
highest spiritual potential in the crown chakra. This centre is located in the region between
the genitals and the anus. Although no endocrine organ is placed here, it is said to relate
to the inner adrenal glands, the adrenal medulla, responsible for the fight and flight
response when survival is under threat. In this region is located a muscle that controls
ejaculation in the sexual act. A parallel is drawn between the sperm cell and the ovum,
where the genetic code lies coiled, and the legendary kundalini, ready to express itself as
a fully developed human being.
[edit]
Various models
141
Chakrology is a neologism sometimes employed by Alternative Medicine practitioners or

esoteric philosophers for the study of chakras. There are many different chakrologies,
some of them based on ancient Indian Hindu Tantric esoteric traditions, New Age
interpretations, or Western occult analyses, as well as ancient Greek and Christian
references. Croatian esoteric philosopher and physicist Arvan Harvat notes that it would
be very difficult to develop a unified coherent chakra science that would integrate all the
elements of the various present chakrologies.
[edit]
The Tantric Chakras
Tantra (Shakta or Shaktism) describes eight primary inner chakras:
1. Sahasrara (Sanskrit: सहसार)

2. Ajna (Sanskrit: आजा)
3. Vishuddha (Sanskrit: िवशुद)
4. Anahata (Sanskrit: अनाहत)
5. Manipura (Sanskrit: मिणपूर)
6. Swadhisthana (Sanskrit:
सवािधषान)
7. Muladhara (Sanskrit: मूलाधार)
8. Bindu (Sanskrit: ििनद ु)
[edit]
Hesychastic centres of prayer
Hesychasm specifies four centres:
1. Cerebrofrontal centre:
Positioned between the
eyebrows (compare with Ajna).
2. Buccolaryngeal centre.
3. Pectoral centre: Positioned in
the upper and median region of
the chest.
4. Cardiac centre: Positioned
near the upper part of the
heart (compare with Anahata).
This compares notably with Tibetan Buddhism, in which the sequence of centres is very
similar, beginning with the eyebrows and going down to the heart, which symbolizes the
highest consciousness.
It is alleged by modern mystics that in Hesychasm, the centres of prayer were points of
concentration or meditation on the body to be used during the hesychastic prayer. This
142
terminology, however, is not used in Orthodox Christianity and is not and has not been
part of hesychastic prayer as practiced within the Orthodox Churches.
[edit]
Reference Material and Books
• Morgen, Robert (2005)

"Personal Mastery: Develop
Your True Inner Power by
Awakening Your Kundalini"
ISBN:1411635884 1st Edition
Windhaven Press
[edit]
See also
• Wheel
• Acupuncture
• Aura
• Kirlian photography
• Kundalini
• Qi
• Qigong
• Chi
• Tree of life (Kabbalah)
[edit]
External links
• Aligning Your Chakras Chakra

resources at About Holistic
Healing
• Chakracises Actions you can
take to help get your chakras
functioning optimally
• Kundalini Awakening with
Robert Morgen
• Introduction to Chakras
• The Brofman Foundation for
the Advancement of Healing -
Uses the chakras as a map for
consciousness and physical
illnesses
• The difficulty of a unified
chakra science
• Early chakrologies
• Boost your Chakras
143
• The Hesychastic centres of

prayer
• Human Subtle System
• Update on research on
Apparatus for Meridian
Identification at California
Institute for Human Science
• [1]
• Simple method to open, clear
and heal the chakras
• Tantric Chakras
• Newly emerging chakras
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra"
144

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Life Bliss Program - Level 1 (Acharya Manual) For internal and restricted use only

Version update 11 April 2005

This manual is a living document that will be continuously updated

Guidelines for use:

2. Paramahamsa Nithyananda’s instruction is that we deliver two hours of

3. Interactive discussion is crucial. We do not have Nithyananda’s powers

4. The downside as well as the plus point of discussions and question

5. It is true that Nithyananda will guide us and it is true that we need to

6. The way this manual is structured is without structure; it is

Module 1: Energy and Meditation

Give participants about 3 to 5 minutes. Let them relax.

Open your eyes. What did you think of?

Participants say, ‘No, not likely’.

Bliss is unchanging, everlasting happiness. It is our nature to experience

Ask the participants: If they understand? What in their view is happiness? Is it

What we are about to embark on is a journey of personal transformation. The

List audience response in these 5 categories.

What we are about to embark upon is a process of personal transformation. In life

A small Zen story….

There was a professor at Harvard, a very learned professor of philosophy. He was

Nithyananda’s tip: Visualize each step of this story.

Learning in this program happens at three levels.

Humans alone of all creatures possess consciousness; consciousness is awareness

The invocation verse of the Brihadaranya runs famously thus:

purnamadah purnamidam purnad purnamudachyade

Discussion on how to of meditation; avoid going into details of other meditation

1. All meditation techniques are designed by Nithyananda and are to be

6. As far as possible, separate relatives and friends in the audience.

7. Acharyas should not participate in dancing, which should be referred to as

8. Do not allow participants to prostrate to Acharyas.

9. Do not enter into unrelated discussions, gossip or comparison with other

10. Do remember that Nithyananda speaks from the tongues of ordained

11. Muladhara is one chakra that should never be focused on.

12.Advise to participants post LBP Level 1;

- Since meditation is awareness of the here and now, complete involvement is

Physically, mentally and emotionally, I will put my complete effort to

In Bhaja Govindam Sankara says;

nicchhalitatve jeevan muktihi

This is your first step.

1. I am always in Bliss. What more can this course give me?

2. How is your meditation program different from others?

3. You talk about Bliss. I take Bliss by taking drugs (alcohol,

activity. Bliss through internal meditation is not dependent on external

5. Why should I leave my shoes outside?

For hygienic reasons. Not to bring dust from outside.

6. I am looking for enlightenment.

Enlightenment is not a force process; it happens when the chase is

Additional Reading Material to internalize

‘Meditation, What It Is Not’ (From Nithyananda’s Discourses)

Dhyana or Meditation is a non verbal technique that is subtle and is focused on

From Swami’s Conscious talk in Seattle radio talk;

Interviewer: I think especially in our culture, we feel that separation. We are

Interviewer: Our existence here - is it fate or is it our choice?

Dhyana is the path to shed maya, and to enlightenment.

It is said in Tao, ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’.

Take that step now!

From Nithyananda’s Discourses:

Scientist is one who creates a formula to reproduce spontaneously and repetitively

When addressing groups such as Corporate or Clubs etc …

Maybe useful to stress on material success such as in career, interpersonal

Seven Steps to Success:

1. Enhance Performance and Productivity: Increased energy levels and

2. Improving Interpersonal Relationships: As a child human beings give