Drop Fear and Greed
Krishna beautifully emphasizes this point in the Bhagavad Gita. When Arjuna is hesitant to fight against his cousins and relatives, Krishna tells him, 'You are a warrior; you are fighting a battle. Do your job and don't worry about the fruits of your actions.'
There is need to worry about fear and greed; no need to fear about punishment and reward. If we are only living our lives based on fear and greed, be sure that we are not mature. We have aged, but not grown up. All these theories about karma are good to start with, but not to end at.
Someone asked Vivekananda, 'What is the need to believe in the Bible? Should I actually believe in heaven and hell?' Vivekananda replied, 'It is good to be born in the church, but not to die there.'
It is good to start with a little bit of force and fear. To start with, when fear is used to make children understand, it is okay. They may need it for understanding certain concepts. But adults have no need for it. We should be mature enough to understand.
Vivekananda said, 'Flood your spirituality and religion with logic and reasoning. Whatever withstands these, let it stay; let the others be washed away. The sooner it is washed away, the better it is for mankind.' We have had enough of living with Manusmruti (ancient Hindu religious text for moral living). Of course, Manu had done a great service to mankind by laying down guidelines for social interaction, but we have to go beyond S*mruti, the laws that were laid down to reach Sruti,* the divine truths.
There are two types of scriptures in Eastern mysticism - one is Smruti: day-to-day laws such as social laws laid down as religious truths and regulations, and the other is Sruti: inner spiritual qualities to improve one's consciousness that the great sages internalized as they contemplated infinite cosmic power. The Upanishads constitute S*ruti, while the Puranas*, including Manusmruti, constitute the Smrutis.
Hindu religion was originally called Sanatana Dharma, the eternal way of righteous living*. Sanatana Dharma* is the only religious philosophy which has the courage to say that Smrutis, religious laws can be changed. It declares that its scriptures can be updated. It says that its students have the right to do so. Rishis (sages) say that when the S*mrutis* are changed, the entire society can be changed. Sruti is the technique to consciousness.
The desires and thoughts which we have in this birth if fulfilled can lead to either of two things: deep satisfaction and fulfillment or unfulfillment and hopelessness. If we have led a complete life and satisfied all our desires, there is no need to come back. But if we have not lived our desires, we will come back again to fulfill the unfulfilled desires. To fulfill these desires, we will choose our parents, birth-place and friends. We will carry with us the same mental setup and tendency to do the same kind of things.
For example, if we cheat somebody in this life, in the next life we may not be cheated by that same person but we will carry the same attitude of cheating with us and whatever we gain by cheating, we will never enjoy. We will not have the sensitivity to enjoy it. We will be in deep dissatisfaction. This is like having an expensive bed to sleep on but lacking the ability to sleep!
By carrying the same mental setup, we will hurt others as well as ourselves.
Someone once asked me what the difference was between awareness and consciousness. Awareness is the starting point and consciousness is the end, the state of enlightenment. The process starts with awareness, and ends with consciousness. Awareness is like 18 carat gold, while consciousness is like 24 carat gold!
A beautiful real-life story from the life of Viktor Frankl, author of the inspiring book, 'Man's Search for Meaning'.
Frankl was a Jew, a practicing psychiatrist who lived in the days of Nazi Germany. He along with his entire family, were sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis. His family, except for his sister, perished in the Holocaust. Frankl suffered a lot of indignity and torture and lived life by the moment, never knowing what the next moment had in store for him - whether it was the gas chamber for himself, or whether he would have to shovel out the bodies of his fellow inmates. One day, when he was alone in his room, he suddenly became aware of what he calls, 'the last of the human freedoms'. He realized that his captors could control the entire external environment, but one thing they could never control, was his actual self, his choice of how to handle himself and his reactions to what happened in his life. He realized at that instant, that even though things happened in his external world out of his control, his response to it was still in his hands; it was ultimately his choice. It was up to him to choose whether he got frustrated and depressed or whether he could look at the events as an unaffected observer, aware of his true identity. This gave him tremendous strength which radiated to the others as well who were facing this unimaginable torture and helped them find meaning and dignity in their existence.
This is what led him to declare ultimately: man should not ask what the meaning of his life was, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. Each man is questioned by life and he can only answer to his own life; to life, he can only respond by being responsible.
Consciousness is pure energy and intelligence. We attribute many things to it. No attribute can actually describe it completely because no attribute exists in it. It is devoid of any attributes. It is our innermost self. Sankara talks beautifully about consciousness. He says in a Sanskrit sloka, 'Even if we do abisheka (offering) and rituals for one yuga (tens of thousands of years), it is not going to help unless we understand consciousness.'
Devotion helps but devotional activities which are the outwardly activities like pouring milk or water on the deity, done without awareness are not going to help. If we feel that God is residing in us and we can relate to Him deeply, it is going to definitely help. Physical activities are not going to help. Working in the line of awareness and working for improving one's consciousness through meditation is the only solution.
I speak the truth bluntly; this does hurt some people. They run away from me. When I ask people to drop something, they drop me! The master is like a rotating diamond; he cuts through and exposes the diamond in us. The truth will transform all the lies in our life that we are carrying. But just like how a diamond cuts, this uncovering of the truth cuts and this hurts our ego.
Your seeing me is a dream. The scriptures say: the moment we see an enlightened master, we become enlightened.
Seeing me is not the same as looking at me, which is what you do. Looking is with the eyes, seeing is with the being. The closer you come to the master, the more your understanding of him changes. Your maturity allows you to see me differently.
When I speak the truth, you are not ready to listen, since you are caught up in their outer world. You feel cozy and comfortable in it. After all, truths are hard to digest. You want to escape them. You fool yourselves by thinking that the life you are leading is fine. Little do you realize that at the time of leaving the body, you are going to undergo unimaginable pain. At that time, you will feel that you missed out on me. You will have an intense guilt for not listening to me. This experience of pain and guilt will make you decide not to miss me in your next birth. Unfortunately, at the time of delivery, you go into voluntary coma because of the intense pain. You lose the past memory. The past is wiped out from memory. Again, in this life, we may meet an updated version of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM but we miss Him once again.
Only at the time of departing from the body, we realize our mistake; we get our consciousness back. Our memory comes back. Then, we take a rebirth. Some people, after missing this consciousness two or three times during their life-time, decide not to miss it again at any cost. Many of them decide to go to the extent of coming back with some disease. They feel that at least the disease will be a constant reminder that will ensure they do not miss Him. Some of my inner circle devotees who have come to me had cancer and other major diseases; they have been cured. They decided to stay on with me.