Go To Heaven🔗

9.20 Those who practice the vedic rituals and drink the soma juice worship Me indirectly seeking the heavenly pleasures.

They go to heaven and enjoy sensual delights.

9.21 Once they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasures, they are reborn on this planet again.

By practicing vedic rituals as result-oriented actions, they are bound by the cycle of birth and death.

9.22 When you reside in My consciousness, whatever you lack I give

And whatever you have, I preserve

9.23 Even those who worship other deities, they too worship Me,

O son of Kunti, but without true understanding.

9.24 I am the only enjoyer and the only object of sacrifice.

Those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature are born again and again.

Krishna says that people who read scriptures, the Vedas, and who perform pious ritualistic activities based on scriptural injunctions with the aim of acquiring merits, enjoy heavenly pleasures; however they fall back into the cycle of life and death after they finish enjoying these pleasures.

You see, many people do lots of rituals. They rea d scriptures. Krishna says this surely helps elevate them to a higher plane of consciousness; however they are still

Secret of Secrets caught in the cycle of saṁsāra, birth and death. He says we should go beyond momentary pleasures that we get by reading and practicing vedic injunctions.

Understand these verses. By reading scriptures and performing different rituals, we will enjoy the pleasures of Indra loka, the heavenly pleasures; yet when the rituals are performed with that objective, we will again enter the vicious circle of birth and death.

Krishna speaks about the attitude with which we read Vedas and Upaniṣads or how we perform rituals. Scriptures have immense knowledge. Rituals have immense power. They are meditations; however they are useless if done with fear and greed.

So many people do all this in fear. They fear that if they do not perform certain rituals, they will go to hell. If they do not perform certain rites, they will not be given a place in heaven. In Bharat, after a person dies, certain rituals are performed. People perform these rituals fearing that without these rituals the dead person will not gain a place in heaven and the living will not live in peace.

Another class of people operates with greed. They donate large sums of money thinking that the gates of heaven will be eternally open for them. Their names get carved on temple walls. They donate electric bulbs to light up temples; however half the bulb will have their name written on it. What is the use?

Please understand that when we do pious activities with fear or greed, though we see improvement, though we see some transformation, we will go back to where we started. That is what Krishna means by Indra loka, the momentary transformation or elevation of our state.

When we perform certain rituals, when we do pūjā or prayer or we read scriptures, it should become a meditation. Our ego, our fear and our greed should not come in the way. It is like this: When we perform rituals, think that this is the last time we will perform them. Do them with intensity.

The next verse is the main core that reveals the secret. Krishna tells Arjuna and all of us:

ananyāścintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yogakṣemaṁ vahāmyaham

'Those who always worship Me, those who always reside in Me, those who have ananyāścinta – means non-dual mood, means people who have become Me, people who have experienced eternal consciousness, ananyāścintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate, people who have become Me, people who reside in eternal consciousness – to them, I carry what they lack and I preserve what they have. I personally take care of them.'

Please be very clear, no other incarnation has revealed this truth so clearly. He says, 'If you reside in eternal consciousness, divine energy, bliss consciousness, I take care of you in all ways.'

Yoga and kṣema: I give them whatever they want spiritually and materially and I take care that it stays with them. I take care that nobody takes it away from them. This is a beautiful statement and assurance.

Please understand it is not only an assurance; it is a promise. Assurance is different; promise is different. This is a promise. Krishna gives a promise, 'If you reside in My consciousness, if you reside in eternal consciousness, whatever you lack will be given and whatever you have will be preserved.'

The strange thing is that He says we will have everything and nothing will be lost. It is difficult to believe! At least for people trained in so-called present day education, it is difficult to believe! 'How can I have what I want by meditating?' This will be the immediate question.

Please be very clear, now in the modern day, especially after the breakthrough with the principles of quantum physics, science clearly proves our thoughts create the universe. Our thoughts create the whole universe.

If we reside in eternal consciousness, we create our own universe. Not only that, the universe responds to our thoughts.

A small but important experiment that I read in a magazine:

A professor did an experiment using three rose bushes. They were the same height, same kind. He kept them in three different rooms.

He entered the first room and used beautiful words, 'You are beautiful. You are nice. You are great. Don't worry, I'll protect you. Why do you need thorns?' He gave assuring and caring words. He created a loving mood.

Next he went to the room that had the second plant. He did not do much; he looked and came back: neither negative nor positive.

To the third plant, he cursed, 'What nonsense are you doing? You are ugly.' He created negative energy with his words.

He continued this experiment for twenty-one days. He studied how plants respond to thoughts as a research.

The report, the end result, is shocking. The first plant that received positive words doubled in size and had no thorns! I saw photographs of that plant. There were no thorns on that rose plant just because he gave the assurance, 'I'll protect you. Why should you protect yourself? Don't bother. There is no need for thorns.' Can you imagine a rose plant without thorns!

The second was a normal rose plant. It experienced normal growth, that's all. The plant to which he spoke neither positive nor negative words grew just as a rose plant normally would.

The third plant, to which he spoke negative words, died. Not once, but several times he repeated the same experiment in different places and in different ways. The third plant, that received negative thoughts, died all the times. He says, all the times, the plant died.

Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose, a Hindu Nobel Laureate, proved that plants are alive with 'feelings'. They are capable of responding to our thougts and emotions. This experiment proves that Existence, the outer world, responds to our thoughts.

Not only that, one more research was done. They invented a machine, like our ECG, electrocardiogram, to read the vibrations of trees, to read the vibrations of plants.

They hooked that machine up to twenty trees and observed the vibrations or pulse created by the trees. For experimental purposes, a woodcutter came inside that garden with the thought of cutting down a particular tree.

You will be surprised, he did not even go near that particular tree, yet the moment he entered the garden, that tree's graph started oscillating, started jumping. The tree panicked. The tree started suffering. The tree felt fear.

The next day, the woodcutter came into the garden with the thought of cutting down a different tree. Exactly, according to his thought, if he intended to cut tree 'x', the graph of 'x' was jumping. If he came into the garden intending to cut tree 'y', the graph of 'y' jumped.

Please be very clear: Existence responds to our thoughts.

Each of us is not an island. We are not isolated. Don't think we can think whatever we want in our inner space and that our outer life will be different. Our outer life and inner life are deeply connected.

If we live a spiritual life, we automatically attract only spiritual friends. Our outer world also becomes spiritual. All other relationships drop by themselves. We do not even feel like relating.

Many devotees tell me, 'Swamiji, nowadays I am unable to go to a party. Even if I go, I have nothing to talk about. I am unable to talk about anything. What is there to talk about at a party? Same stock market or who ran away with whom, who is going with whom, who is staying with whom. Same thing. Nothing useful. Same information.'

And everybody feels that they know some secrets. They call somebody and say, 'Don't tell anybody. This is only for you. Do you know, a week ago, this is what happened…?'

Not only that, just telling her will not do; we must extract a promise, 'This is a secret, it should not be told to anybody, it is only for you.' Then after ten minutes, even the dog on the street will bark with the news!

In America of course, people don't meet each other often; they are almost isolated and immersed in their work. In Bharat, they cannot relax if they have information, private information about someone else. Unless it is delivered to a few hundred people, they cannot relax!

Anyhow, understand, Existence responds to our thoughts. It does not need this network. People who enter spiritual life can't indulge in the same old talk about who is with whom, and what happened, and who ran away with whom. For all those things, they will not have time; they will not have the mood.

Only based on our thoughts, we create relationships, friends, society, our circle and naturally, our whole world.

Again and again, Vedānta says, dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi, we create what we see. We create the universe from the angle of our vision. When our dṛṣṭi (vision) changes, the sṛṣṭi (world around us) changes too. By changing our vision, we change the world around us. They say, we project our world and see. It is the truth.

See, whatever we place in front of a projector, whatever slide we position there, that will appear on the screen. If we place the slide of God, the picture of God appears on screen. If we place an actress, that actress appears on the screen. Whatever we use as a slide appears on the screen. The screen represents the physical planet earth. Whatever we keep in front of our consciousness, we project that in our life, our world and our experience.

The slide determines the scene on the screen. Our mentality decides the way we perceive the world, the way we experience the world. A small change in the slide changes the scene. A small change in our mind changes our whole world. The screen remains the same; the backdrop screen is same; however the scene changes.

Similarly, if the thoughts in our inner space change, the whole universe changes. The whole universe responds, the whole of Existence responds to our inner space.

Don't think that each of us is a separate island. We are part of this whole Existence. We are not alone here. If we think we are alone, we will continuously fight with Existence, with the whole universe. We will see the rest of the universe as an enemy. The part can never see the whole as enemy. We are a part. This is the Whole. If we see this as an enemy, we can never rest. Only a person who understands that the Whole is his own being, that he is part of the Whole, realizes tremendous relaxation and bliss.

Krishna says:

'When you reside in My consciousness, whatever you lack, I give and whatever you have, I preserve.'

You may think, 'Yes Swamiji, we understand when you say the universe responds to our thoughts. However, how can we get what we want?'

Please understand that the moment we change our thoughts, the moment our inner space changes, automatically we attract good things. Please be very clear, if we tune our television to BBC, we see the BBC channel. If we tune it to ABC, we see the ABC channel. If we tune it to CNN, we see the CNN channel. Similarly, if we tune our consciousness to bliss, continuously even material wealth will shower on us.

We may think, 'How can this be possible? How can this happen? What kind of words is Swamiji giving?' But I tell you, it may look difficult now. We may feel it is difficult to understand. But start experimenting. I honestly tell you, I declare from my own authority, this verse is the solid truth.

I can say this with authority because I experienced this truth for nine years. I tell you, this is a promise by the Divine. Nine years I lived in utter insecurity. I know Krishna still proves His words. His words are guaranteed. yogakṣemaṁ vahāṁyahaṁ, He does!

I can quote thousands of incidents from devotees' lives, thousands of incidents! From so many devotees' lives, Tukaram, Tulsidas and so many masters' lives I can quote to support these words. I can quote numerous incidents from my own life, from the life of people I have met.

Let me tell you a small incident that happened in my own life during my days of spiritual wandering before the incident of enlightenment.

I was staying in Hardwar at a place called Kankhal. I was doing spiritual practice. Every day morning, I went for alms to places where they feed monks. In so many ashrams, they give alms to monks. I used to get my food, eat two or three rotis (Hindu bread) and then start meditating.

Suddenly, one day, I fell sick. I had a high temperature and diarrhea. I could not walk. I was unable to walk. I thought, 'What can be done? Alright! Let it be.'

Suddenly, a young sanyāsi came from nowhere and gave me food. Not only for one day but continuously for three to four days, he came; he brought food for me. Not only food, he brought medicine also. I asked him, 'Who are you? Where have you come from?' He said, 'Oh, my name is Shankar. They call me Shankar Maharaj. I stay at an ashram called Sadhana Sadan. This ashram is nearby.' He pointed towards a distant place and said that is where he stayed.

Everyday he brought me food and medicine till I recovered. He came for at least four days. Because he came everyday, I talked with him. We became acquainted.

I saw that he wore a beautiful pen with a diamond in it. It was a beautiful pen! I was surprised at how a monk got a diamond pen. I asked, 'What is this, Swami?'

He said, 'This is a diamond pen. Some devotee gave it to me. It looks nice, so I wear it.' Anyhow, I did not bother about it.

After several days, when I returned to normal, he stopped coming. By then, I was okay. Then I thought, 'I must go and see him. Now I can walk and move, so I should go and see him.' I felt a little connected to him because he served me. I felt I must thank him. After a week, when I became completely alright, I started walking.

I went to this ashram and asked an elderly person sitting there, 'Swamiji, I want to see Shankar Maharaj.' The swami said, 'Shankar? Who are you talking about?' I said, 'I want to see Shankar, a young swami. I met him two to three days ago. He came everyday and brought me food. Is this Sadhana Sadan?'

This swami replied, 'Yes, this is Sadhana Sadan. In our ashram, there is only one Shankar. Go to the temple and see. He is the only Shankar Maharaj we have!' He pointed towards their temple.

I tell you, what I am telling is the truth. When I entered the temple, I saw a Shiva deity as a white marble statue with a cloth draped on His upper body, and wearing the same diamond pen on Him!

Of course, tears rolled down from my eyes. So much gratitude overflowed. Later, I asked the temple priest, 'How did this pen come to Shiva? Who put a pen on Shiva's statue?' He said, 'One week ago, a devotee came and offered the pen. It looked nice and he said it was a diamond pen. We just wanted to decorate Shiva with diamond jewelry. So we put the pen on Him.' It was the same pen! The very same diamond pen!

I asked, 'Who gave a pen to Shiva?' Other jewelry, we can understand, but a pen?

He replied, 'I don't know. A devotee came and offered this pen. I asked, Why should a sany¢si have a diamond pen? I will give it to God instead. So I put it on Shiva. I just inserted it into Shiva's clothes.'

He then continued, 'For the last few days all the food offering, pras¢d that we place in front of Him, disappears. I suspect that rats have been eating the food. So now I am careful. I sit for a while after placing the food for Shankar Maharaj.'

I did not want to tell him that I was the rat who ate Shankar Maharaj's food!

During the 2006 Himalayan trip I searched for this ashram and Shankar Maharaj's temple with my devotees. After many years, it was still the same, the same temple and the same Shankar Maharaj; but no diamond pen now!

Of course, I do not ask you to believe the whole thing because of this one incident. But you can experiment in your life. You may say, 'This is your experience. How can this be truth for us, Swamiji?' An ordinary mind doubts.

Let me tell you that your consciousness, your inner space has the quality to create miracles in your lives. Miracles can happen in your life. What you need, you will receive. Continuously, miracles are happening.

Let me try to show you how miracles might have happened in your lives. You might have noticed, when the telephone rings, you suddenly remember a friend's name. When you pick up the phone, that same friend is on the line. Or at times, somebody knocks on the door. You remember some person and open the door and that very same person stands there. This is what I call the power of coincidence! These are miracles in their own way.

In each one of us, the power of coincidence, the power to create, exists. In each one of us, the power to create miracles exists. All we need to do is open that. Understand that we have the power to create the coincidence.

Trust that your consciousness is connected to the universe. Continuously, the universe cares for you. The Divine waits for you. It responds to your thoughts.

We create what we want. Just as we create the whole world in our dream, we have the power to create the world when we are conscious, when we are in the waking state. When we can create a world in the dream state, can't we create that in the waking state? We can do it.

Even now, we create our world. Next question, 'If we are creating our world, why do we create so many miseries, Swamiji?'

The answer is simple. We do so because we have vested interests in our sufferings.

Please be very clear. We have vested interests in our sufferings. Somewhere we feel comfortable when we suffer. So we create the whole thing.

When our inner consciousness changes, when we reside in eternal consciousness, we automatically attract the power of coincidence. We attract the power of coincidence.

The moment we understand, that the whole universe is pervaded by the Existential energy of Vishnu, we attract Lakshmi, Vishnu's Consort who represents wealth! When we understand that the whole universe is divine, when we experience Vishnu, meaning when we experience eternal bliss, we attract Lakshmi, wealth!

There is a beautiful mantra in Tantra shaastras*: '¢nanda k¢mapr¢naha'* that means 'bliss attracts fortune'. When we create a blissful inner space, automatically we attract external wealth.

Tell me, what creates wealth? We need three things: clear thinking, a creative mind and the ability to make spontaneous decisions. The ability to respond spontaneously is responsibility. The ability to respond spontaneously to any situation is responsibility. If we are able to respond spontaneously to any situation, we take that responsibility. We need clarity of thinking, creativity and the power to take responsibility. Only these three create wealth and preserve wealth.

If we enter the bliss space, if we keep our inner space blissful, if we enter into bliss consciousness, all three automatically happen to us. Automatically, these three happen to us. Then wealth will be created around us and it will stay with us.

It is not that we should be showered only by a lottery. Wealth can come simply by creating a blissful inner space and such wealth stays with us.

Please be very clear, whomsoever wins through a lottery never preserves it! I have not seen a single person who sustains the lottery money. Without knowing the value of it, they simply blow it away.

Be very clear, it is not that wealth should come only by lottery. It comes by intelligence. When it comes by intelligence, it stays with you. When we take care of our inner space, automatically, the outer space showers on us. We becoming a blessing for planet Earth and it showers on us.

Existence responds to our inner bliss and blesses us. Never think that Existence is not alive. Never think that the universe is mere matter. It is live intelligence.

People ask me, 'Swamiji, I am searching for a guru. I feel inspired to do spiritual practice. But I need a guru.'

I tell them, 'Please be very clear, if your search is intense, God sends you the guru. He never misses His responsibility. If you do not have the right guru, if you do not have the right master, it means, please be very clear, something is seriously wrong with your seeking.'

If our seeking is proper, straightaway the master happens in our life. He never delays. He has a much faster system than UPS or any other overnight delivery service. He can deliver in seconds. He never delays. The Divine never delays. Jesus never fails.

Please be very clear, all we need to do is change our inner space. The first thing is to understand this secret. Whether we believe it or not, it is the truth: a basic secret. Once we enter spiritual life, once we decide we want to lead a spiritual life, all our worldly things are taken care of by the Divine.

It responds to whatever we need and it takes care of whatever we have. We may ask funny questions, 'Swamiji, from today onwards if I stop working, will I have everything?'

Be very clear, if we enter the spiritual mood, if we enter spiritual life, meditative life, we will never think of dropping our work. Why would we think of dropping our work? We will only drop our worries about work. Then we will work in a much better way. Automatically we will work in a better way. We will have tremendous confidence, 'The whole of Existence protects me. The whole of Existence is my friend. I am not an enemy of this Whole. I am a friend of this Whole.'

Be very clear, when we understand that we are a friend of the whole of Existence, even after death we will not disappear because we know we will be there in the universe in some form; that there is nothing to worry about.

Plato, a disciple of Socrates, recorded the conversations of Socrates. All of you must read the conversations between Plato and Socrates. They asked Socrates, 'Are you not afraid of death?'

Socrates says, 'Only two things can happen. The first thing: I will be alive after I leave the body in some form, in some way, somewhere. In that case, why should I be afraid? I will be alive anyway. The second thing: I may not exist. I may completely disappear. Then there will anyway be no one left to feel fear! Either I will exist or I will not exist. If I exist, why should I fear? I am going to exist after all, exist in some other form, in some other name, somewhere. If I am not going to exist, then who is there to suffer? Either way there is no need for fear.'

Of course, this answer is logical. But I tell you this from experience: It is practical. From experience I tell you, we never perish. We continue to exist, in some form, somewhere. Even if we become enlightened, we become a pure conscious energy. We will be there, everywhere. We never die when we understand that Existence is intelligence.

Q: Swamiji, why are there so many rituals? Why do people do rituals in the first place? Are they in any way related to spirituality?

Let me tell you something. Do not think people who do rituals are not following a spiritual path. Please be very clear, people who read vedic scriptures or who do rituals are also on the spiritual path. However, they must be very clear about what they are doing. They should know what that particular ritual is, why that ritual? They should clearly understand them.

In ancient times, masters used meditation techniques to feel the connection with the Divine within. In the course of time, the meaning of these meditation techniques was lost. When the meditation method, the physical action, without the idea or philosophy behind the meditation technique was transmitted, those meditation techniques became rituals. When a ritual is conducted with full understanding and consciousness, that ritual becomes a meditation technique. There is no difference between a meditation technique and a ritual when done with full understanding and consciousness. Both techniques directly put you in tune with the ultimate energy.

We are made of five elements – ether, air, fire, water and earth. Sages created different meditation techniques that help us connect to these five elements. When we pray to an idol with full awareness, we are supposed to connect to the earth element. All solid things that we see are the earth element. We connect to the earth element through idol worship. When we bathe in the holy rivers, we connect with the water element. When we do fire rituals*,* we connect with the fire element. When we chant sacred verses, we connect to the air element, and when we meditate, we connect to ether element.

But what has happened today? They have become mere rituals. They were supposed to be meditation techniques for the Self to connect with Existence. Now they are done blindly. The intellectual mind sees them as religious. People call them superstitious.

People ask me, 'Why do you worship idols? Why do you conduct so many fire rituals?' We question this way because we do not have a clear understanding of these meditation techniques. That is why we call them rituals.