Drop Your Conditioning🔗

A small story:

On the last day of the school term students brought gifts to their teacher. The first student presented the teacher with a nicely wrapped gift. The student's father owned the local bakery. The teacher looked at the package, shook it and asked, 'Is this a box of pastries?' The child said, 'Yes.'

Next, a student, whose father was the owner of a clothing store, presented a beautifully decorated gift and again the teacher shook it close to her ears. She then asked, 'Is it a dress?' The child said, 'Yes.'

Another girl came up with a nicely wrapped box. Her father owned a liquor store. The teacher shook the box. She noticed that the package was leaking. She dipped her finger in the leaking fluid and asked the girl curiously, 'Is this some kind of beer?' The child said, 'No.'

The teacher dipped her finger again in the fluid, tasted it carefully and asked, 'Ah, this tastes quite exotic. What is it? Is it some kind of wine?' The child again said, 'No.'

Then the teacher said, 'Alright, I give up. Please tell me, what is it?'

The child said in a worried tone, 'It is a puppy.'

The moral of this story is simple: please don't put anything in your mouth unless you know what it is. At least, do not make major decisions based on your past experiences. Our past experiences are stored in our unconscious as engraved memories or engrams. They will only mislead you. In Sanskrit, these engraved memories are called saṃskāras.

We make faulty decisions when we make major decisions through engraved memories or saṃskāras. The teacher thought that the gift was a bottle of beer or wine since the student's father sold alcohol. In the same way, time and again, we make decisions driven by our engraved memories. The first two decisions of the teacher were correct. The first girl's father was in the business of selling sweets and the teacher guessed that the gift was a box of sweets. Then the second child's father owned a clothing store and the teacher guessed that the gift was a dress. Since the third child's father owned a liquor store, the teacher assumed that the gift was a bottle of alcohol!

Before we put anything into our mouth, be sure to know what it is, else it can lead to a lot of trouble.

This whole chapter of Bhagavad Gita is about engraved memories in our mind.

Engraved memories or engrams are the memories stored in our unconscious that drive almost all our actions. Even though we act upon them, we rarely know or understand where these decisions that force us into action come from since these memories are deeply embedded in our unconscious mind.

We tend to think that our actions are based on a logical sequence of thoughts. However, almost all our decisions have neither logic nor awareness. I will show you later the dynamics of how our mind works.

Modern psychology tells us that almost 90% of our mind is unconscious. This means that we typically use 10% of our conscious mind. In other words, our conscious mind drives only 10% of our thoughts, words and actions. The rest is driven by the unconscious.

We have no control over how our unconscious mind functions since we are unaware of what happens there. Many unconscious memories are based on fear and pain. They rise up in moments of trauma or difficult situations. They influence decisions with no awareness on our part.

Scientists say that only a small fraction of what we perceive through our senses gets consciously recorded. Science says that we are only aware of 5%, perhaps less, of what we see or hear.

A real incident:

Our Bidadi āshram is located about an hour's drive from Bangalore. In the early days of this āshram, I traveled almost everyday from Bidadi to Bangalore. One day I told the driver to take me to a particular place along the way. I explained to him that it was near a mosque, a Muslim house of prayer.

The driver was confused. He insisted that there was no mosque on the route that we normally took everyday. I tried to explain but it was of no avail. Finally, I mentioned another landmark, a Hindu Hanuman temple. He immediately understood and his face lit up with joy and understanding.

'Master, why didn't you tell me that first?' he exclaimed, 'Of course I know where you want to go now!'

This Hindu temple was a small structure compared to the mosque. We traveled past both buildings everyday. Yet, this person was aware of only the Hanuman temple because of his personal preferences and he had no memory of the mosque.

All that we perceive is not true; all that we do not perceive is not unreal. It is a simple truth that what sinks in is only a fraction of what our five senses perceive. The rest goes directly into the unconscious. Yet this does not mean that these perceptions and the memories of these perceptions are forgotten.

Many memories of experiences are recorded even though we are unconscious of them. These memories strongly drive our actions. Surgeons have recently understood that patients on the operating table under anesthesia actually record whatever happens around them. This is not fiction. Famous doctors have written books about this. They caution others to be careful about what they say or do in an operating theatre since the patient may not be unconscious after all.

As an example, doctors discovered the source of an accident victim's problem, years after the incident. The man had crashed his car into a tree and became unconscious. Some witnesses called paramedics to rescue him from the damaged car and he was transported by ambulance to the hospital. As they lifted him out of a car, the paramedics talked about their day-to-day problems. One guy said that he had just left his girlfriend because she was trying to push him into a committed relationship. The words he used were, 'Life is too short to waste it this way.'

The accident victim heard this remark while he was unconscious and it deeply embedded itself in his memory. This caused him serious trouble in his relationships for

years. He typically broke away from commitments without knowing why. This problem caused him serious trouble in his career as well. Finally, he sought treatment and was cured when the memory of this experience surfaced. The source of his troubles was a conversation that entered his memory space though he was technically unconscious.

In fact, many powerful memories do not remain at the conscious level. They go directly into the unconscious. We do not recall that memory. Yet, it powerfully impacts us and influences our decisions and actions. The influence is based on the emotional perception at the time of the experience. What we term perception is not the experience we perceive through the senses; perception is how we respond emotionally to the experience. This response is a conditioned response.

In this chapter, Krishna explains how we respond to perceptions. In this chapter, called Guṇatraya Vibhāga Yoga, Krishna explains the three different guṇas (attributes) to Arjuna. How we act, actually I can't say we 'act': how we 'react' to every situation is based on these three guṇas. This is how we create more and more karmabandha (bondages arising from our actions), which results in more and more trouble for ourselves.

Q: Master, I am not clear how the conscious and unconscious minds work. Can you please explain how THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM helps in creating awareness?

There are two things in you: hardware and software. Your mind is the software and your brain is the hardware. Within the mind, within your software, there are two parts: conscious zone and unconscious zone. Conscious zone is what you normally call the waking state though 90% of the time your thoughts and actions in this state are activated by your unconscious! We shall look at these in detail later.

The conscious zone is the software; the unconscious zone is the virus! The conscious zone can be cleansed by teachings. The unconscious zone can be cleansed by meditation. Now, the hardware, the brain, needs to be then tuned to hold the changes in the software, the new experience that is created through the changed software. This can happen by the blessings of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, by dīkṣā (initiation) from him.

When you clean the conscious and unconscious and create an effect, the hardware may not be able to hold and sustain that effect from day one. If THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's initiation happens, the hardware also changes to hold that effect. In the absence of a living THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, constant meditation and teaching can change the hardware. Hardware is like grooves created out of saṃskāra (stored memories) in the brain. Once the new software happens, the hardware slowly changes. However if you wish to immediately change the hardware, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's presence is the right thing. Straightaway it changes the hardware.

Sometimes, without even changing the software, the hardware can be changed and the person will immediately radiate the correct software's quality! This happens when a disciple is completely open to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM or if he is in love with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for no reason. Sometimes a disciple falls in love with THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM for no reason. He may not be attracted to his teachings or meditation techniques; he simply falls in love. In that case, without delay, the hardware can be changed. Those kinds of disciples radiate the quality of the teachings and meditation without going through all of them. They do not have to go through all these things, yet straightaway the result will be seen.

As of now, your hardware and software are outgoing towards the outer world. If you do the chakra meditation camp, the Life Bliss Program or Ananda Spurana Program, the software suddenly becomes ingoing. It will go in towards spirituality, towards a cleansing process. The cleansing of the conscious portion happens through the teachings and the meditation cleanses the unconscious portion.

However, even if the software turns inside, the hardware will not be able to handle it. Then the hardware tries its best to retain its grooves. If the software is strong and stays in the same tune, the hardware slowly changes. However, if the dīkṣā, the energy blessing from THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, is immediately given after the teaching and meditation, the hardware changes and holds the new software. It gets prepared to hold onto the new experience. This concept must be understood so that you bring in enough awareness to allow the transformation to happen in you.

Why Krishna Repeats

14.1 Krishna says, 'I will declare to you again the supreme wisdom,

The knowledge of which has helped all sages attain supreme perfection.'

14.2 By becoming fixed in this knowledge, one can attain the transcendental nature, like My own,

And establish in his eternal Consciousness, that one is not born at the time of creation, or disturbed at the time of dissolution.

14.3 The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth,

It is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of Bhārata.

14.4 Arjuna, Understand that all species of life are made possible by birth in this material nature, and

I am the seed-giving father.

By repeating the truth again and again, Krishna tries to create an engraved memory of truth in Arjuna's mind.

Please try to understand why Krishna repeats Himself. He literally uses the same words again and again. Why? Why should Krishna speak the same thing again and again?

Krishna is a Master who is result-oriented. He persists with what He wants. He is unwilling to compromise. He is not easily satisfied with the attitude, 'I said whatever I had to say; whether he wants to listen or not is up to him.'

No! Again and again, He repeats himself because He wants to create a memory of His teachings in Arjuna's mind. He does this so that even if Arjuna misses a teaching the first time, perhaps he will get it the next time. By creating an engraved memory in Arjuna's mind He wants Arjuna to follow it. That is why He repeats the truth again.

He says, 'Again, I shall declare once more, I speak about the truth to you, through the knowledge of which all the sages have attained supreme perfection.

Whether we believe it or not, man by his nature is a machine. He is a mechanism. Not only at the body level, he is a mechanism even at the level of the mind. At most, we can call it a bio-mechanism, yet he is still a mechanism. He works based on engraved memories or what we call saṃskāras in Sanskrit. He is continuously caught in the web of engraved memories with his mind and his being because he works based on engraved memories that have been stored in his unconscious zone.

I repeat certain words and sentences, not because I have nothing else to do. These words and sentences have the power to go deep within you. If you allow them, they will help you transform. All you need to do is to be open and allow these words to sink into you. Even as you read this book, let the words penetrate you. These words carry energy to uplift you; to transform you.

Many religious rituals are designed to build good saṃskāras in us. Going to a temple, a church, prayer groups or satsang (spiritual gathering) reinforces our desire to move forward spiritually. They create the environment, the mood for the right decision to happen. These events cannot liberate or enlighten us. However, they can condition us and program our unconscious mind to work in a particular way. They can rewire us.

People who have read a little about other religions and faiths feel intellectually superior and question the practices of their own culture. They call this rationalism. Rationalism in their dictionary means that all religious practices, especially Hindu rituals, are foolish and superstitious. They make no

effort to understand the underlying truth of these practices. Because of their intellectual understanding and superficial knowledge about what others say, they decide that what they cannot understand is foolish. This is especially true when other scholars, who have an equally limited awareness of their own culture, criticize Vedic culture.

Bharat has been full of such scholars. Many of these scholars had Western education, whose main tenet is to deride anything that is not 'scientific'. They have very little background of the Vedic culture. Like their role models, the foreign scholars before them, these Hindu scholars learn Sanskrit just to read the Vedic scriptures. Their purpose is not to create any inner awareness, which is what these scriptures are meant for. They simply want to analyze them logically and find fault where logic does not fit the scriptural truth.

Science is about facts that can be recorded. Spirituality is about truth that needs to be experienced. That is why our scriptures never bothered about historical accuracy and factual details. They dealt with issues that affected our consciousness. To understand our scriptures, we cannot use logic. We need to use meditation. Truth has nothing to do with our head. It has everything to do with our being.

People ask me, 'Can you prove the existence of God?'

Before his enlightenment, Vivekananda, upon meeting Ramakrishna, asked whether Ramakrishna could show him God. Vivekananda asked this question not to embarrass Ramakrishna but because he felt deeply attracted to this Master and wanted help in finding out the truth that had eluded him.

A young man who had read about Vivekananda came to one of my discourses in Bharat. I asked him, 'So you read about Vivekananda?' Unlike Vivekananda, this young man had no intention of finding the truth. He wanted to show how smart he was.

He proudly said, 'Yes, and I ask you the same question.' Perhaps he thought I would be as humble as Ramakrishna was.

I caught this fellow by his shirt collar and told him, 'Vivekananda was prepared to follow Ramakrishna. Now, you too prepare yourself to come with me and I will show you God!'

He struggled free from my grip and ran away. He was so scared he didn't even look back!

God can only be experienced when we drop our mind. He is beyond our mind. How can we prove His existence through the logic of our mind? How can we comprehend the one who is beyond our mind through the powers of our mind? If we can comprehend Him through our mind, our logic, how can He be in anyway superior to us? How can He then be God?

When we talk of Divinity or God, we struggle with a concept, a theory with our limited mind power. We are doing nothing more than that. Because it is only a concept, we can prove or disprove that concept. So we become a devotee or an atheist.

It requires more courage to be an atheist than a believer. Believers accept God and ignore Him. They frame him in a picture and hang him in a corner. They hung Jesus from the cross and we hang Krishna from a nail. No difference at all! At least to hang Jesus, they needed to hate him and fear him. To hang Krishna all we need to do is to pretend to believe in Him and then ignore Him.

To be an atheist, we need courage. An atheist probably thinks about God more often than the believer who believes and ignores. When we actively disbelieve we need to be aware. An atheist is more aware of God than a believer.

God can only be experienced. He cannot be proved or disproved. He cannot be believed or disbelieved. If you wish to experience God, come to me and be open. If you have courage, drop your mind and I will show you God. You will experience Him in you.

Krishna wants to take Arjuna there. In fact, He already took him there when He revealed His Cosmic form to Arjuna. Now, Krishna wants to take the rest of humanity to the same level. So again and again He repeats the techniques to realize our divinity. In His deep compassion He gives us a chance to catch the lifeline He is throwing us so that we can be saved.

For the first time, Krishna says that we will reach His state. So far He said, 'Worship Me. Surrender unto Me.' Now He says, 'You will achieve the same state in which I am. One can attain the transcendental nature like My own.'

We can achieve the state in which He is. Krishna was the first Master courageous and bold enough to declare that enlightenment is available to everybody. Anybody can achieve it. Enlightenment is not an accident. It is an incident that we can create.

Until the time of Sri Krishna, the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and other scriptures spoke as if enlightenment was an accident. Some people became enlightened; however, nobody knew why. Nor did they know why others could not get it or how exactly to get it. Nobody knew. They merely knew that some people were blessed, almost as if God was sitting up there and reviewing applications, and to some, He said, 'Alright, yes, granted' and immediately that person became enlightened!

Krishna was the first Master who showed how to write the application or present the resume for enlightenment! He showed how to achieve enlightenment, which is not an accident but an incident. We can experience it through our conscious decision. He says that by being fixed in this knowledge, 'One can attain.' He doesn't say, 'You can attain it,' indicating only Arjuna. He says one can attain it, meaning that anybody can attain it.

After the Vishwarupa Darshan or vision of the Cosmic form of Krishna, whatever Krishna shares with Arjuna is meant for the whole world. Arjuna already achieved what he had to achieve. After that, there was nothing else to say. Arjuna had the vision of Krishna's Cosmic form. In the eleventh chapter, he experienced Vishwarupa Darshan

and from the twelfth chapter onwards, the teachings were recorded for the benefit of the whole world.

A scientist creates a formula to reproduce things in the outer world. A spiritual Master creates a formula to reproduce the experience of the inner world. Krishna says, 'By establishing yourself in this knowledge, you can achieve the experience, or you can establish yourself in the same state in which I am, like My own' or 'mama', which means 'My own'. Krishna declares, 'This truth will directly lead you to the state in which I am established.'

Krishna talks about the truth that one is eternal, and not limited by birth and death. The state of being eternal transcends creation and dissolution. It transcends the past and future. Eternal is to be here and now. Eternal is the present moment.

Brahma is the Lord of creation. Creation is of the past. To exist in the physical plane, we need to have been created. To maintain is the job of Vishnu. Maintenance is about future. It is about how we wish to be, what we wish to have, our desires, our expectations and everything related to the future. Shiva is the Lord of the present. He is the destroyer of the future making it flow into the past, by way of the present. He is the Master of here and now.

Shiva is the rejuvenator, not just the destroyer. The present always rejuvenates. In Sanskrit, Shiva means 'causeless auspiciousness'. The present is the most auspicious; whatever happens in the present is auspicious. We should develop the attitude of accepting what happens in the present as auspicious.

There are two kinds of people. The first type looks at everything suspiciously. They find everything unsatisfactory. These people say, 'All is very well, but…' They cannot say anything without 'butting'. Such people can never be happy. They live with idea of what life should be, rather than accepting it as it is. They are purely materialistic.

The second type finds everything to be auspicious: whatever happens is what it should be. They accept life as it is. These people are spiritual. These are the people whom Krishna says transcend creation and dissolution, past and future. They live in the present moment and in Krishna Consciousness.

Krishna is trying to answer philosophical questions that can never really be answered: how is the whole universe created? If everything is God, how is the whole universe created? How are we born? Whoever tried to answer these questions just created another philosophy.

Out of frustration, someone once asked me such questions, 'Why are we born? Why should we take birth at all? Why is this whole drama of taking birth, meditating, then achieving enlightenment? Why? For who's sake is this drama? If we must end up working out our karma, why do we create karma in the first place? What is the reason for this? Why does this cycle go on and on?'

Krishna tries to answer these questions. However, this answer is not the ultimate truth. He says, 'Please wait until the teachings are over.' Normally when we don't receive an answer for our philosophical question, we will be stuck with that question and not be able to enter into meditation. Again and again we will think of the question. We will come back to that question. Here, Arjuna also comes back to the same question again and again and gets stuck.

For the sake of meditation or just for the sake of giving him an understanding, Krishna gives an answer.

The other day I was sharing the same example using a mathematical formula. Let's say there is a formula 'X + 2 = 4'. In the beginning, the teacher will make an assumption by saying, 'Let us assume that X = 2', then she replaces X with 2 and goes on to show that 2 + 2 = 4. The problem is solved. Then the teacher says, 'Because the problem is solved, we know that our hypothesis that X = 2 is correct.' But until we come to that conclusion through a process, we must assume that X = 2.

If we argue at the hypothesis when she makes the assumption that X = 2, saying, 'Why should X be equal to 2, why not 3, why don't we assume X = 4?' we will not be able to solve the problem. Once we solve the problem, we know that X is 2. We understand it logically. But before solving, when we start, we must assume that X = 2. Some assumption must be made so that we can proceed to solve the problem.

Krishna also makes a small assumption and proceeds to solve the problem. Once He solves the problem, we will understand that what was assumed is the truth. What the teacher assumed was not a wrong assumption, but it was still an assumption. Similarly, Krishna gives an idea that it is not the ultimate truth but a comparative reality. It is a comparative truth. He says, 'I am the father, the pitha, I am the root cause for everything.'

However, Krishna's words can be fully understood only when we experience the Consciousness of Krishna. Until we experience the Consciousness of Krishna, it is an assumption.

Even if it is an assumption, it is okay. Proceed with this assumption into the next chapters, into the next verse. Suddenly, when we see the result, we understand that whatever we have assumed is the truth. Once the problem is solved, all the assumptions that we have made will be understood as the truth. Krishna makes this assumption so that we can understand the truth.

Q: Master, you mentioned that meditation is the way to Being and Krishna Consciousness. Meditation appears complex and difficult. How can we become successful in meditation?

Yes, meditation is the key to self-awareness. There is no other way that you can reach Krishna or Shiva Consciousness, and the state of Causeless Auspiciousness. Meditation is, being in the present. It is not complex or difficult.

Meditation is a simple process. It is dropping the mind: moving away from the mind, seeing the mind as separate from you, watching it, witnessing it, and remembering, 'I am not the mind.' It is not suppressing the mind or senses or thoughts. This is what I call 'unclutching.'

It is breaking the connection between thoughts. Thoughts by themselves are unconnected. They are irrational, illogical and unconnected. We connect them and by connecting them we create shafts of pain and pleasure. Either way we suffer.

By disconnecting thoughts, by un-clutching, we drop the mind and keep remembering that we are not the mind. Slowly the remembrance becomes stronger. The distance between you and the mind becomes bigger. One day you absolutely know that the mind is a mechanism with which you had become identified. You had become clutched and now it is time to wake up from that sleep, that illusion.

To become awakened means to know 'I am not the mind; I am the Master.' Then you can have control over the mind, and you are not used by the mind anymore. When you are free from the bondage of the mind, you are liberated, free and in bliss.

Any skill is acquired with practice. And it is the same with meditation. You spend years acquiring useless skills and information. You attend courses and pay through the nose for bits of information that you never use again. Meditation is a lifesaver. It helps you understand yourself. Unfortunately, it is not diversion of the mind; it is centering the mind. It is about giving up the mind. Naturally the mind does not care to lose itself. It does not like losing control.

The purpose of meditation is to bring you out of the clutches of your mind and out of the bondage of your thoughts. While it is not as easy as being a couch potato and watching the television, it is not difficult either. All you need is discipline to sit for a few days looking inwards. Once you discover the joy of being in control of your mind, you never want to lose control again. This control leads to liberation.

Once in a while someone tells me, 'Master, I am fine as long as someone is not talking within my hearing range. I can meditate well. But I get disturbed by sound.'

Meditation does not make you deaf. You can hear when you meditate. In fact, awareness increases and you hear better than normal. The point is to witness what is going on outside without becoming involved. You cannot shut off your senses. Even when you close your eyes, you have an inner TV playing inside.

Watch your thoughts as if they are clouds floating in the sky. Do not become part of the cloud. With practice you can meditate sitting in a noisy mall. You can meditate with eyes open. All this comes with practice and sincerity. The only difficulty is the assumption that it is difficult.