ENLIGHTENMENT - IT'S POSSIBLE!🔗

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

Enlightenment – It's possible

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM

A small story... In a school, all the scout boys were supposed to tell their teacher the good deeds that they did for that day. Every day they did some good deeds and came and reported to their teacher. One day three friends, all boys, stood up and said, 'Sir, today we helped an old lady cross the road.' The teacher was not able to understand. He was not able to understand, why three students were needed to help an old lady cross the street.

He asked, 'Why? Why did you need three people to help an old lady cross the road? It won't take three people.'

They said, 'Sir, it took all the three of us because she did not want to cross the road!'

Many times we extend help without thinking about the situation. When we try to help somebody without them seeking help, we create only more and more trouble for them. All our services done out of ego, end only in creating trouble for others. Here I request all of you, unless you ask me, I won't be able to help. By you being here, I assume that you are interested or you are asking the help for the ultimate experience of your enlightenment. Unless you ask, whatever help I give will only be a problem or trouble for you.

The whole Ashtavakra Gita, this great book is delivered to Janaka, because Janaka asked. If you have come here just to check out what THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM has got to say, you are welcome. No problem, you are welcome, but please be here completely. Usually our mind is such, when we get up early in the morning and start brushing our teeth, it is already in the office, thinking about the office, worrying about the office. When we are in the office, our mind is already in the evening program, some cinema or theatre or temple, or some other evening program. When we are sitting in the theater or temple, our mind has already come back to the house. We are thinking about the house. One thing is sure: if we are here, our mind is not here. Our mind doesn't stay in the place where our body stays. Our mind doesn't rest inside our boundary.

We all live like ghosts for most of the time; body in one place, mind somewhere else. We don't stay inside our boundary. If you really want this three day program to be a big help, if you really feel it should help you, if you really want to have some benefit from this three day program, I request you all to stay inside your boundaries for the entire three days. Please stay inside your boundary, inside your body. This whole program will do miracles in your being.

Today's subject is 'Enlightenment - It is possible'. Before entering into the subject, let me introduce the book, the Ashtavakra Gita.

Man has created so many spiritual scriptures. But nothing can be compared to Ashtavakra Gita. This book is pure spiritual science. It is a technology created by the enlightened master Ashtavakra, to reproduce the same experience, which happened in him. Understand: A scientist is a person who creates a formula to reproduce things of the outer world, anything happening in the outer world.

Newton saw something in the outer world and he started contemplating on that experience. For example, he saw an apple falling from the tree - he started contemplating on that experience and he created a formula. He created a theory, through which people will be able to understand about gravity.

Scientist is a person who creates formulas or theories to make outwardly things clear, for people to understand outwardly things. Scientist is a person, who creates formulas to reproduce the understandings of the outer world.

Spiritual master is a person, who creates a formula to reproduce the experience of the inner world. Ashtavakra is a spiritual scientist. He created a beautiful technology, through which he is able to reproduce the same experience that happened in him. All you need is just a little bit of sincerity. Just be inside your boundary. You will see Ashtavakra's Sutra, his collection of aphorisms work miracles on you. The scripture created by him, the technology created by him, can reproduce the same experience, which happened in him. All you need to do is, be inside your boundary. Be inside your being.

The whole story of Ashtavakra is beautiful. We don't know much about Ashtavakra, but there are few incidents, very significant incidents in his life.

The story starts before his birth. It is supposed to be a puranic story, an epic story from Hindu mythology; it's very difficult to believe this as a fact. The story starts when Ashtavakra's mother was carrying him, when he was in the womb. Ashtavakra's father used to recite Vedic mantras, chants from the Hindu scriptures. He used to chant all the mantras. When the father was chanting, the son used to listen to all the mantras.

Suddenly one day the son started questioning the father from inside the womb. 'What you are chanting are pure words. It has no juice; it has no experience. You are just an intellectual pundit (learned person). Where is the truth?'

The father was shocked. I think that from Ashtavakra's time, the problem of generation gap started. Ashtavakra was the first person who created, who started the generation gap problem. Ashtavakra is asking, 'What happened to the knowledge? What happened to the wisdom? You are reciting only words. They are just pure words. There is no juice, there is no wisdom in them.' Of course, the father as usual was simply hurt.

A Pundit's ego is always very strong, because their whole personality is built on words. Actually we can easily hurt a person, who just lives with mere words. A Pundit can be easily hurt than anybody else, because his whole mind, his whole life is centered on words. He gets easily cheated.

We can easily cheat a Pundit. Just give him two or three compliments. Just verbally tell him that he is a great person, over. We can easily hurt him by telling him few words. His whole life is centered on words and words. So he is deeply hurt.

The moment the father was deeply hurt, he cursed the son. 'What, before taking birth itself you dare to question me? Who knows what else you will do after taking birth?' So he just cursed him. Because of the curse, Ashtavakra took birth with eight problems or difficulties in his body. At eight spots, his body was crooked. There were eight curves in his body.

I don't know whether the story is a fact or if it happened and all those things. But the story has got significance. It has got truth in it. Let us understand the truth behind the story. Usually the great masters who take birth in the planet earth, take conscious births. Consciously they enter into the mother's womb and they enter into the body and start radiating their enlightenment.

The meaning of the story is that Ashtavakra was conscious even before birth. That is the truth. That is the meaning of the story. We cannot prove for sure whether he really spoke, whether he was really cursed and all those things. We do not know. But the truth, which our masters are trying to explain through the story is that Ashtavakra was conscious of his being. He was conscious about his birth.

Now, the next story is another beautiful story: Ashtavakra goes to the palace of Janaka, a great king. The moment Ashtavakra enters Janaka's palace, the whole palace started laughing, because Ashtavakra looked ugly with the eight curves in his body. All the ministers and all the people including Janaka, started laughing. But Ashtavakra did not get hurt.

If we are hurt, we are defeated. At any point if we are hurt, we are defeated. If we become angry, we are defeated. Ashtavakra was not hurt, he was not disturbed. He was just completely relaxed. He says to Janaka, 'Oh Janaka, I thought you were a great ṛṣi (sage). I thought you were a great-enlightened person; you were a great yogi (accomplished spiritual person). But you are neither a yogi, nor do you have any vogis around you. You have only cobblers in your court. You have only shoemakers in your court.'

Ashtavakra boldly says, 'You have only shoemakers in your court.' You need to understand this statement; it is a beautiful statement. Straight away very boldly, a twelve-year-old boy, a twelve-year-old handicapped boy, is talking like this to the king of the country.

(There's a loud banging sound - like hammering going on outside the lecture hall. Master pauses for a while and refers to that below.)

This is good actually. It creates a homely atmosphere. Otherwise we feel like we are in a professional office place. One or two mistakes really create intimacy. I tell you, if you want to create real intimacy with any of your friends, make two or three mistakes. Let them enter into your space. See, we never want to do mistakes because we want to protect our ego. Constantly we protect ourselves. And whenever we make two or three mistakes our ego is offended because we give space for the other person to enter. Having the courage to make a few mistakes, completely opens us up. We open ourselves to others and give space for others to enter and advice us.

So making one or two small, small mistakes really creates friendship or bondage. We are allowing the other person to enter our space by letting him advice us. One more thing, if we let people advice us, they will really feel intimate with us. That's one of the important techniques to get close to a person. Just allow them to advice you.

Many times I see this when people come to me for counseling. For many of their problems they come to me for counseling. When they come they start talking, 'Master, please tell us some method on how to get enlightened. Please give us some techniques on how to realize God.' Usually I never answer all these questions straightaway.

One person came to me a few months ago and he started asking, 'Please Master, teach me how to achieve God, how to achieve enlightenment.'I started asking him, 'How are you? where are you from? what do you do? what business do you have? how many kids you have?' etc.

The man started answering all these questions; he started the general talk. After this, he was with me for three hours and he did not even raise the question again. Three hours he was with me, and he did not even bother to ask the main question with which he came. From this you can understand, how important the question was for him. He asked just because he had to ask something. And throughout the three hours, he was the one actually talking to me. I hardly spoke anything.

And the fun part is not just that. After going out he told my secretary. 'Master spoke of so many things, so many great things. He told me so many good things.' When I came out the secretary asked me, 'Master, what did you speak to him, he was so happy?'

I said, 'I just let him speak. I allowed him to speak, that's all.' When you allow somebody to talk, to advice you, they feel really good. So making one or two mistakes is really good. It opens us up and the atmosphere will not be that tense. It will not be a professional atmosphere. So once in a while all these things are okay.

A handicapped twelve-year-old boy, Ashtavakra is entering into the court and the whole court is laughing. If we were in Ashtavakra's place, we would have immediately become angry. First, our ego would have been hurt; it would have been full of anger.

Next, either we would have shouted at the people who laughed, or we would have left the place, that's all. But here is a person who nobody can disrespect. Nobody can disrespect a person who lives in spontaneity, nobody can. He has got respect for himself. Nobody can give us suffering unless we give our silent permission. Unless we allow, unless we give our silent permission, nobody can disrespect us; nobody can hurt us.

Ashtavakra is such an integrated being, such a beautiful being, he is not allowing others to hurt him or depress him. Straight away he talks with spontaneity: 'You have only shoemakers.' Be very clear, if we become angry, we cannot use the right words. But Ashtavakra is using the right words: cobblers, shoemakers, etc. Janaka was shocked.

Ashtavakra explains, 'These people are seeing only my skin, not the being. Cobblers see only the skin, not the reality. When the cobbler sees an animal, he will think only about the skin, not the being.'

When a tailor sees you, he will see only your dress. He will measure your being, only based on the dress you are wearing. When a jeweler sees you, he will first see only the jewelry you are wearing. He will judge you based on the jewelry that you are wearing. He weighs you based on the gold that you are wearing. People look at things only from their angles. They have their own ideas; they have their own imaginations.

Ashtavakra says, 'You have only cobblers around you - people who only see the skin, not the being. My body has got eight curves, no doubt. But my being is pure; my being is straight.'

You can't upset a man who lives in spontaneity. You can't stop him; you can't disrespect him.

There's a beautiful Zen story:

There was a well-known Zen master; he was giving a beautiful discourse. One Buddhist monk, a learned person who had not experienced anything but well read, came to this discourse. The moment he entered the hall, he started shouting. 'What Zen do you know, what spirituality do you know? What are you talking about?'

The Zen master was a young person. The learned man kept on shouting, 'What are you talking about, what Zen do you know? You can make only these fools listen to what you say, you can't make me listen. Can you make me listen to what you say?'

The Master was very polite; he just said, 'Sir can you please come closer? I am not able to hear you properly.'

The monk comes with all his arrogance. Then the master says, 'Can you please come this side?' He comes to this side.

Then the master turns his face, 'I'm still not able to hear you properly. Can you move a little closer to the other side please?' Then he moved a little closer to the other side.

Then the master says, 'You seem to be a nice person. Already you've listened to what I said three times. Now please sit down and listen to the rest of the discourse.' The Zen master was spontaneous here. A person who lives in spontaneity can never be disrespected. We can never catch him.

Ashtavakra is a person who lives in spontaneity. He lives completely in the present moment. He can neither be disrespected nor be deluded by the ego. He is not disturbed, he is just clear about his being. And he says clearly, "Janaka, you have only cobblers around you.' These words really touched Janaka. Janaka understood these words.

Janaka is an intelligent person, an intelligent king, a rare politician and a rare being. Being a king and having intelligence is really something unique. Janaka is a king and an intelligent being. He understood the meaning of the words uttered by Ashtavakra.

He immediately comes down from the throne, touches the feet of Ashtavakra and says, 'Please forgive me, I understand what you say.' And not only that, not only did he ask Ashtavakra to forgive him, but further he puts forth one more statement, 'Master, oh lord' - he calls Ashtavakra as Master, 'Oh lord, just from your very words, I understood what you spoke was from your experience.'

Please understand, if you want to find out whether somebody is an experienced person, an enlightened person or just an intellectual pundit, see when he is hurt, see when he is disrespected. See how he behaves when he is disrespected. That will clearly show whether he has experienced, whether he is an experienced person or an intellectual pundit.

We can have our titles or position or status; we can keep everything as long as our ego is not hurt. The moment our ego is hurt, the septic matter, the pus that is inside the infected wound will come out. If we have ego, simply the pus will come out. We will radiate the anger, violence and vengeance. How someone behaves, how he responds when he is hurt, when he is disrespected, will give you clarity as to whether he is really enlightened or whether he is just an intellectual pundit.

Here, Ashtavakra is completely disrespected. See, if you say a word and then laugh about somebody that will not hurt so much. But just by looking, if you laugh at somebody, the very being is rejected. When you enter somebody's house, if you start to speak and if people start laughing and talking, then you can understand that they are not ready to hear what you have to say. Here the people are not accepting only your speech. However, if they start laughing the moment you enter, your very being is not being accepted. Sometimes, if we don't open our mouth people may think we are fools. If we open it, it may be confirmed. We may confirm it. So at the most they may reject our words; but just by entering if they start laughing our very being is rejected.

Here the very being of Ashtavakra is rejected and disrespected by the ministers of the court. But he was not offended; he was not disturbed. When you address the Masters you can't use the word 'Was'; we can only use the word 'Is'. We can't use the past tense 'Was' for them. We can't say He was, we can only say He is. When we mention the incidents of the past, although grammatically we have to use the word was, when we mention about the masters they 'Are'. They are always available; they are in the present. We can't use the words of past tense.

You see, dead masters are not absent as you think they are. Moreover, the living masters are not present as you think they are. It is their energy, sheer presence that gives them the authority.

Ashtavakra is not hurt and he is so clear about his being and he is clearly expressing the reality. Janaka says, 'Just by your very words, your few words, I can understand you are an enlightened being. Your words are from your very being. Please teach me; please give me the wisdom that you have.'

King Janaka requested him. Because Janaka asked, whatever Ashtavakra taught become a big help to him. It helped King Janaka to transform his life, to awaken his being, to achieve enlightenment.

Here I request you that unless you ask, this help cannot be given. If I give you without you asking, it will be just like the scout boys helping the old lady to cross the road. Three boys had to help one lady because she did not want to cross the road. So please be very clear, I do not want to force the help on you. By you being here, I assume you are requesting this help. So I'm entering into the sutra, the aphorism. I'm entering into the Ashtavakra Gita, assuming you need the help, you need the wisdom and you need the knowledge of Ashtavakra.

Let me give the sloka (verses) in English itself and then I will give the explanations.

Janaka asked:

How can knowledge be acquired? And how can liberation be attained? And how is renunciation possible? Tell me this, oh lord.

It's a beautiful question. Janaka, by his very being is a seeker. By mistake he might have laughed, but by his very being he is a seeker, seeker of the truth, seeker of the reality. So he is asking:

How can knowledge be acquired? How is liberation attained? How is renunciation possible? Tell me this oh lord.

We need to understand the word liberation. Liberation means, not being disturbed, polluted or touched by the inner or outer world goals. If we are not touched, polluted or corrupted by the outer world or inner world goals, we are liberated. The moment we understand the purposelessness of the whole existence, we are liberated. Please understand, I am using a big word, purposelessness. Whatever we think as purpose, binds our lives. Bondage is thinking that there is a purpose in our lives.

Immediately you may ask the next question, 'What do you mean Master? You think there is no purpose in our lives?' Your life has got meaning, but it has no purpose. Be very clear, purpose means that we are constantly worried about the goal. We are constantly worried about the achievement. We are constantly bothered about what has to be achieved.

Be very clear, goal is not the result of the life. Life itself is the result of the life. For example, in one month if we earn 20,000 rupees (about 400 dollars), we measure our thirty days time as 20,000 rupees. Mentally by and by we start calculating our one-month as equal to 20,000 rupees. Whenever we go to a store, we measure in our mind, 'Oh, to buy this dress, I have to work 15 days. To buy this jewelry, I have to work two months.'

Only based on the money we measure our month. Be very clear, if somebody says, they will give us 100 years' salary in lump sum in one stroke, and asked us to die, would we accept it? No, but our mind has been conditioned so much, we measure our whole life based on the money which we make each month.

The value of our life is calculated by our mind based on the money that we make. We need to understand one important thing: Our life is not equal to the money or wealth, which we are creating. Money or wealth is beautiful as long as we use it. Be very clear, when we start measuring our whole life, when we start calculating our whole life just based on the money, when our whole life is centered only on money, we are seriously missing something in life. Something is seriously wrong with our thinking system.

When we start measuring our life based on the money that we make, we are living in a miserable condition. If we measure our whole life just based on the money we are making, we will be happy only on the first and the second day of the month when we receive our paycheck, when we receive our salary. The next twenty-eight days of the month we will be waiting just for those two paydays.

We will be selling our twenty-eight days just to be happy on those two days. Please do not sell your life. Do not sell your life for some goals.

Two things: If we sell our life for some goal, first thing - we may not achieve anything at all and feel frustrated. Second thing, we may achieve our goal, but still feel depressed. Be very clear, there is an important phrase that needs to be understood: 'depression of success'.

Depression, which happens after failure is not real depression. Because there is always somebody who can give you hope that you will be successful the next time. There are hundreds of self-help books, 'how to books'. If you want to become mad read the 'how to books' - it's a straight way to hell, direct way to hell. What these how to books, these self-help books actually do is this: If you are normally living with your problems, you may have ten worries. But if you read these self-help books, they constantly tell you don't worry, don't worry, don't worry. Now you have one more worry - how to stop your worrying.

What the self-help books do is, create one more worry for you. Let me tell you about a true incident: 'How to stop worrying, start living' - it's a great book, written by Dale Carnegie. Dale Carnegie is the author and he wrote two books: 'How to stop worrying and start living' and another book, 'How to win friends and influence people'. Both are international bestsellers. One more piece of information that you should know: These books are the second best selling books after the Bible. Next to Bible means, it's practically second to Christ. Next to Bible, these books are printed and sold all over the world.

In the first book he says, how to stop worrying and start living, how to stop suicidal thoughts. In the next book he says, how to have a good relationship with your wife. These are the two main ideas. Have any of you read his books? Have any of you read his biography? He committed suicide. He committed suicide, because he was not able to live with his wife happily. Really I tell you, this is the truth. Please understand, I'm not making a joke or anything, it's the truth.

He committed suicide just because he was not able to live with his wife happily. And I'll tell you the secret of how to write these 'how to books'. There's an important secret: Whatever you can't practice, just write and publish it. It will become a bestseller!

Three simple steps to become a philosopher: First thing, whatever you can't practice, write it and publish it. Second thing, it should not be told in a simple language. Third thing, complicate things as much as possible. That's all.

If you can complicate a simple thing as much as possible, you will become a great philosopher. And one more small tip: Try to criticize all other systems as much as possible. These are all few simple tips on how to become the best philosopher or how to write these 'how to books'. These self-help books will neither give you peace nor guide you. Here, when you start working with these books, if you have ten worries, now you have the eleventh worry of how to stop worrying and how to start living.

Even if we face the depression out of failure, it's OK. We always have some hope that somebody can inspire us to run again. But if we face the depression after success, nothing can be done. If you are an intelligent person, around the age of forty to forty-five, you have to face the depression of success. This is the scale to find out whether you are intelligent or not. If you are forty to forty-five and still you have not faced the depression of success, be very clear something is seriously wrong. Something is missing in your life.

Around the age of forty to forty-five, you have to face the depression of success, because around that age you would have achieved whatever you wanted to achieve. But suddenly you realize, 'I achieved whatever I wanted to achieve, but I have not achieved what for I wanted to achieve.' Achieving what I want is different. Achieving what for I wanted is different. You always wanted the house, car, relationships, and bank balance for the sake of a happy life. But by the time you achieve all these things you are conditioned to suffer. Liberation, the concept of liberation means understanding the purposelessness of life.

In the young age when you are happy, blissful by nature, when you are bubbling and overflowing with energy, you postpone your joy. You always have some purpose, some goal in front of you. You always tell your mind, 'No, no, no after graduating from college, I think I will relax and then I will be happy.' After the college you think, 'Once I get a job and settle, then I'll be peaceful.' Once you get the job, 'I think after my marriage I'll be happy and blissful.' After the marriage we know; now we know how the life really is. After that again you think, 'Once kids are born, I'll be happy.' And after the kids you think 'Once they all grow up and finish their education. I think I'll be happy.' By the time they are settled in their life, you are conditioned to suffer.

The stress of suffering or worrying becomes part of your being. You are completely conditioned to suffer. After that, if the worry or stress is taken away from you, you feel lonely. You feel you are missing something. You feel you are not as you were earlier in life. That is the reason old people cannot sit with themselves. They get hold of somebody and start talking to them - 'In 1962... when I was in the army... ' they'll start telling their stories.

See, it's not accidental; all around the world, all grandparents tell stories to their grand kids. Not only in Hindu culture but all around the world in all the cultures this is the tradition. This tradition started not for the sake of the kids but for the sake of the grandparents because they feel lonely. We can see that in our lives. Elderly people - they would have been married, their kids would have been married, and sometimes even their grandkids would have been married. But they will be sitting and reading matrimonial column in the newspaper with big glasses! They cannot sit with themselves They cannot relax with themselves. Relaxing within ourselves is what I call liberation.

A person who can sit with himself, without expecting anything from the outer world is liberated. He is Jeevan Muktha or liberated soul. Don't think of big, big meaning for the word Jeevan Muktha. If you have big, big ideology about Jeevan Muktha, you will never think it is possible.

Today's subject is 'Enlightenment - It is possible.' You will never understand it is possible, if you associate it with all big ideologies. Understand, it is very simple and this is the actual definition. Jeevan Muktha means: A person who can sit with himself, one who doesn't need anything from the outer world to entertain him, excite him and make him peaceful or happy. He can sit with himself.

Liberation means understanding the purposelessness of life. Understanding clearly that, our lives cannot be measured by the money that we make. It is something, which is more than the money we make. It is not the twenty-five thousand rupees per month, which we make. If we think that twenty-five thousand is our life, we will live in hell for twenty- eight days; we will be in heaven only for two days. We will be selling out twenty-eight days of our lives each month for these two days.

A person who keeps the money as his goal or a person who keeps something as his goal will be happy and blissful only for a few moments when he achieves his goal. Just those few moments, he will be thinking that he is happy. When we understand that whatever goals we have achieved - nothing has got a purpose, it has no purpose at all, when we understand the purposelessness of life - that life itself has no separate purpose, we will start living moment to moment.

We will respect every moment. We will start respecting the life itself. We will start living in the present. When we drop the goal from our mind, our very work will become beautiful. Our very work will become joyful. We will not be running for something. The very running will be beautiful. If we are running thinking of a goal, we will never see the beautiful garden that is around us.

If we are just running for the pleasure, we will enjoy the garden and we will reach the goal. Both will happen. Infuse little bit of peace and bliss in your life and you will understand the purposelessness of life. If we think life has got purpose, we will never understand the meaning of life. The moment we understand that life has no purpose, that moment we will be liberated. That moment we will understand the meaning of life. Meaning of life is living in this moment.

This is what Krishna says:

'Karmanye vaadhigarasthe maa baleyshu kadhaachana.'

You have the right only to do your duty. You have no right for results. It means, do not live a goal-oriented life and do not think life has a purpose.

Understand that our whole life is just a small wave in the ocean of the cosmic energy. In this big cosmic energy, in this cosmos, in this Brahmanda - the universal energy, we are just a small wave. We are just a small wave. Suddenly the wave thinks, 'Oh, I should protect myself,' and starts asking the neighboring waves, 'Please be my wife, be my husband or you be my son. Let's all protect ourselves, let's all live together and let's all live a happy life.' Then the wave collects a few grains of sand from the beach and says, 'This is my treasure.'

The wave starts thinking, this is the purpose of life and it is thinking that now it is protected. And it locks two or three sand pieces and two, three pebbles with one wave, and gives it to another wave and says, 'See, I'm lending all this money to you. You have to give it back when I ask.' And the wave thinks it is completely secure and protected. But it doesn't understand that the next moment it is going to disappear into the same ocean.

In the same way, we are all like the waves. It's all a few minutes drama. Next moment we are going to disappear into the same ocean. Just like the way the wave thinks it is separate from the ocean and wants to protect itself and starts collecting few pebbles from the beach and thinks it is rich or it is protected or it is secure, it has got life insurance, we do the same thing.

Now, life insurance is another big drama. You cannot use the word 'life insurance' at all. It should actually be 'death insurance'. See, after you die your family or friends or relatives get that money that they have been waiting for. So you cannot call it life insurance; you can only call it death insurance.

So be very clear, just like how the wave thinks that it is secure by collecting few pebbles, same way we are also thinking that we are safe by having a few diamonds in our safe deposit box. Both those pebbles and our diamonds are one and the same. Because few people want to possess these diamonds, it has got market value, that's all. Only because of the foolish desire of the few people who want to possess that stone, it has got market value. Otherwise in reality, that and this are one and the same. Whether that stone or this stone, they are one and the same. Because few people are competing to possess the same stone, it has market value.

No stone can protect us. Just as the wave thinks by collecting few pebbles it is protected, it's life is insured, it is secure, same way we think that possessing few things is what makes us secure. Life is pure purposelessness. Even though it is slightly difficult to understand this truth because of our social conditioning, the moment we understand it, we will be liberated. A person who understands that life is purposeless will start working ten times more intensely than others. He will be working ten times more intensely. Do not think you will become lazy when you realize that life is purposeless.

People always ask me, 'Master, you say life is purposeless. When we start thinking all these things, we don't want to work, what to do now?' Understand this: Because we have created too many negative thoughts about our work, because we are conditioned to think work is punishment, work is hell, working is wrong, working creates stress, because we are again and again taught all these ideas, again and again we are conditioned with these ideas, the moment we understand that life is purposeless, we want to escape from work. It is just because of our conditioning, not because of our understanding.

Now if we really understand that life is purposeless, the stress to achieve success, the pressure to achieve success, the peer pressure will be removed from us. The moment the peer pressure is removed from our being, we will be liberated. And I tell you, a liberated person will be creative. A Liberated person will be energetic. Liberated person, by his own understanding will start working. Understanding life's purposelessness will not lead us to laziness. If it is leading us to laziness, be very clear, we have a negative attitude towards our work. We have already built up the negative attitude towards our work. That's the reason we try to escape the moment we get this understanding.

But sincerely if we understand the beauty of purposelessness, if we understand that life is purposeless, we will be continuously working without stress, without the pressure of the goal, without constantly thinking about the goal. We always think that life has to have a utility.

See, two kinds of societies have been created. One kind, believes that man can be made to work only if he is run by fear and greed. He can be enslaved only if he is constantly taught that he is not enough. The other group, believes that man will express his energy totally if he is already fulfilled.

The eastern rishis believe, that man will express his energy to the maximum, if he believes he is already full. That is the first truth you are taught in the eastern mysticism, by the eastern mystics: You are full. When the whole is removed from the whole, the whole remains as the whole. You are asked to express yourself just out of your fullness. You are not made to run based on fear and greed. Whereas, the other social systems are made to believe that man will work only out of fear and greed. That is why you are taught in your colleges, in your universities, that you are not full, that life has got some utility. Understand that life has no utility. If you believe that life has some utility value, you will constantly be hypnotized into thinking that you are not enough unto yourself. Constantly you are taught, that you are not enough. But with the eastern rishis, you are constantly taught that you are enough. You are enough unto yourself. With this very idea, you can enjoy the life. Life is to be lived joyfully.

If we understand that we are full and express our fullness, it will be purely out of compassion. We will attract more and more joyful things and experiences in our life. If we believe strongly that we are not enough unto ourselves and start running based on fear and greed, we will only create and attract incidents and people of the same nature.

By our very nature, we will reproduce what we believe. If anything has to survive, it should reproduce itself. If we believe our life is running only on fear and greed, we will reproduce that same thing in everybody. We will reproduce that same fear and greed in everybody.

If we have lost our self-respect, we would think we can run only based on fear and greed. We have forgotten that we can run gracefully, that we can live gracefully. See, if we are children and we are told, 'Hey do this and I will give you candy, if you don't do this I will punish you' - if a child is managed based on fear and greed, it's OK. But after we are 80, if we should still be handled with the fear and greed, it means we are mentally retarded; we have not grown.

A child can be handled with fear and greed, but we don't need fear and greed. When you ask the question, what is utility, you are asking based on fear and greed. If you compare the social systems for crime rate, etc. between the society based on the attitude 'enough' and the society based on 'more and more' or 'what next, what next', you will see the big difference in the depression rate and you will understand what fear and greed can do to you.

In the Hindu society, the civilization is the outcome of ten thousand years of research and development, done by at least a million inner scientists who were working in human consciousness using at least a million inner science laboratories. When I say inner science laboratories, I mean temples and ashrams. In Bharat there are one million temples and ashrams in which everyday congregation happens. Everyday people gathered in at least one million inner science laboratories, temples and ashrams.

The societal systems that are developed based on the modern science and intellect, which are hardly five hundred years old is based on the idea that we know everything and we can solve everything. But people have started questioning that kind of civilization because, that does not have answers for their basic problems.

The problem of the intellect is, it again and again divides. The quality of emotion is, it again and again unites. The society based on the idea that we know everything or we can solve everything, holds the theory that our intellect is the last, the ultimate. Those societies have started facing a big failure, terrible failure. These societies based on intellect are already facing 66 % of depression. Two out of three people take psychiatric drugs in these countries. This very fact shows that something is wrong in the roots. People are not wrong, but the inspirers of the social system are wrong. In Bharat the depression rate is only 0.6%. Considering the population of one billion people living in such a small land, even the crime rate in Bharat is negligible.

Constantly running after something puts tremendous pressure on a person. If we understand that life is purposeless, we will realize the futility of constantly running after some goal. And the pressure of running after the goal and the stress that comes out of it will simply drop. As of now we have a split personality. Half of our being is thinking about the goal, half of our being is thinking about the path. The moment we understand that goal is useless, we will be integrated and we will be on the path. The very path, the very life, becomes liberation. Working out of liberation is what I call working as an enlightened being, an enlightened CEO. If you are working out of liberated consciousness, you live in leader consciousness. You achieve the state of the leader.

Two things: Status of the leader is different; state of the leader is different. Status of the leader is related to our society, our position, our bank balances and all these things. State of the leader is related to our understanding of the life. If we have this deep understanding, we will achieve the state of the leader, the leader consciousness. Man will be liberated, if he lives in the leader consciousness.

Janaka asks:

How to achieve liberation?

How is renunciation possible? Tell me this oh lord.

Renunciation is a beautiful word. People always come and ask me, 'Master, should I renounce everything to achieve enlightenment? Should I renounce everything to realize divine?'

I tell them, 'No, just renounce what you don't have, that's enough. You don't have to renounce what you have, just renounce what you don't have.'

Fear, anxiety, unnecessary worries, unnecessary fantasies, too much of imaginations - all these things are not there in your real life. However, mentally you are living with all these things. 99% of your worries never come true. Whatever one percent comes true is always good for you. Fear itself is nothing but negative fantasy. You are living with so many things that you don't have. Just live with whatever you have and renounce what you don't have, that's enough. All these things exist only in the mind, not in reality.

Now, let us give our prayers and requests to Ashtavakra, the great-enlightened master, to help us understand the technology created by him, the formula created by him, to achieve the same state of Ashtavakra, the same state of enlightenment. Please close your eyes and pray to that ultimate energy, that gave this science through Ashtavakra to all of us. Pray to him intensely. Let him give us a deep understanding about this science, let him make us understand this science, let this become our experience and let this become part of our being. Let us digest the teachings and the technology of Ashtavakra.

Ashtavakra starts the beautiful answer:

If you aspire after liberation my child, Shun the objects of the senses as poison And seek forgiveness, sincerity, kindness, contentment, and truth as nectar.

You are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor ether.

In order to attain liberation realize yourself as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.

Beautiful two sloka, beautiful two sutra. In the first sutra, he speaks about few things, few qualities - the basic qualities like shun the objects of the senses, seek forgiveness, be sincere, be kind, be content and live with the truth. And in the second sutra he says - please understand, in the second sutra he expresses the technology. He says you are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air or ether.

In order to attain liberation, realize yourself as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.

It's a beautiful sloka.

In the first part he gives few disciplines, few moral lessons. And in the second part he gives the technology to achieve the state. I think this is the way they presented in those days. First little bit of discipline, then enlightenment. But I tell you, for modern men unless the experience itself happens, we can't even ask him to be disciplined. If you tell him, 'Please shun the objects of the senses,' he will ask, 'What for? Why? What's the need? We are very happy. Why should we do all these things?'

Unless we can give the direct experience, we cannot tell the modern man anything, we cannot give all this advice. Advice is one thing that everybody gives and nobody takes. For modern man we cannot say 'First enter into all this, then you can experience.' No, that's the reason why our spirituality is outdated. In the modern day, we'll have to put the second sutra first sutra second.

After our experience, extraordinary discipline will follow in our lives. We cannot force discipline on anyone. We can't force discipline on ourselves. We can only work towards the alchemy, the transformation of our being. We can only work towards enlightenment. Once that experience starts happening, automatically the morality will happen to us. The discipline will happen in us.

So I am explaining the second sutra first. Let us enter into the second sutra first. Then first sutra will start happening in our lives.

We are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air or ether

In order to attain liberation, realize yourself as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.

Constantly you think about your life, either in a positive or in a negative way. You think of your life as a chains of beautiful incidents or you think of your life as a chain of many sufferings. Usually you think it's only a chain of suffering. Whether you think of it as a chain of sufferings, or as a chain of beautiful incidents, both are ignorance. Both are just expressing our ignorance.

Be very clear, your life is not a chain as you think it is. Every moment is individual; every moment is a separate, independent moment. We are just unclutched beings. Because usually you are clutched, you think it is a single shaft. Because you never un-clutched, you think you are a shaft. Be very clear, any moment you can just un-clutch yourself; any moment you can liberate yourself.

Here Ashtavakra says:

We are neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air, nor ether.

Please be very clear, he is not requesting us to believe all these things, no. Whether he requests or not, I don't know; but I'm not requesting you to believe all these things. Let me be very clear, I'm not asking you to believe all these things. I'm just stating the fact, I'm just stating the truth, I'm just expressing the truth. If you are intelligent enough, it'll resonate in your being, you will feel connected to what I am saying. You will deeply feel the truth of my words. If it happens in you, come tomorrow. Otherwise relax, its OK, do not bother about it.

All these things cannot be achieved by believing. All I request you to do is, just be completely present here and try to listen to whatever is being uttered and try it in your life. If you are a seeker or if you are going to be helped by these scriptures or by me, simply these words will start creating a new healing effect inside your being. You will experience a deep inner healing. You will experience a deeply connected feeling.

A feeling of connection will happen. You will start feeling that you are connected. If that feeling happens be very clear, you are ready for the experience. You are ready to experience. We cannot prove all these statements logically. These statements are not to be proved logically. They are not for logical analysis.

A beautiful incident: Vivekananda asks Ramakrishna, 'Master, why don't you prove God logically?'

Ramakrishna laughs: 'If I prove God logically, logic will become God. Logic will be raised to a level higher than God himself. God is at a higher level; God is great because, he can't even be proved by logic.'

Then Ramakrishna gives the same Ashtavakra book to Vivekananda and asks him to read it. But Vivekananda was completely confused and depressed at that time. He says 'Why should I read all these things? I don't want to. '

But Ramakrishna says, 'I'm not asking you to read it for yourself, but please read it for my sake, just read. I'm old, I can't read. You are young, your eyes are fresh. Just read it for my sake so that I can listen. Just read few lines.'

And the story says that Vivekananda was able to read only a few sutra. The very sutra started shaking him. He started shivering. He started trembling and the tears started flowing. He just dropped the book and started begging Ramakrishna, 'I don't know why, but I can't read this book anymore. My whole being is shaken.'

Be very clear, if you intensely listen your whole being will be shaken. If you are shaken, this book is for you, I am for you. If it doesn't happen, do not bother, relax in the house tomorrow. There are so many other beautiful programs. Use your time in a much better way. When you work with the truth you don't need to believe it. The very power of the truth will shake you. The very power of the truth will start working in you. You will not be able to forget the very power of the truth.

People ask me, 'Master, how to remember all your teachings and follow them in our lives?'

I tell them, 'Never do that mistake. Never try to remember my teachings. If my teachings are the truth, you don't have to remember them. They will remember you. Just listen and understand. Whenever it is necessary they will automatically come up and they will make you do things according to the truth.'

If you have to force yourself, think and remember and then practice, then it is not truth. Truth needs no belief.

Here Ashtavakra is declaring:

You are neither earth, nor water, nor air, nor fire nor ether.

In order to attain liberation, realize your self as the knower of all these and consciousness itself.

He says you are neither body, nor mind nor any of these five elements. Your body and mind are created out of these five elements. You are filled with earth, water, fire, air and ether - ether is your thoughts. You are filled with all these things, but you are not these. You are beyond all these five elements. Understand yourself as pure consciousness. Realize yourself as a knower of all these and that you are consciousness itself.

The next question, the immediate question will come, 'How to understand that Master?' Today we will do a simple meditation technique from this sutra, to realize that you are consciousness itself. The meditation technique derived out of this sutra will give you the deeper level experience or understanding about what I am speaking. You do not have to think that you are the body, to be alive. Be very clear, you do not have to think you are the mind, to think.

Somebody goes to Ramana Maharshi and says, 'Bhagavan, to live in Tiruvannamalai (where Ramana's ashram was located), six rupees, a few cents is more than enough. To live here one month, six rupees is more than enough.' In those days, cost of living was very low.

Bhagavan says 'To live, even body and mind are not necessary. Why do you need six rupees?'

Understand, to live even our body and mind are not necessary. If we understand we are beyond our body, our body becomes graceful. When we understand that we are beyond our mind becomes intelligent. We start radiating grace and intelligence when we understand that we are beyond body and mind.

There's a beautiful sutra in Ayurveda, where the healing and spirituality are explained beautifully. In Bharat, everything - art, culture, painting, festival, medicines, clothes - everything is connected to spirituality. Spirituality is the backbone of Bharat. The ayurvedic science says, we get stomach problems like constipation, etc. if we are constantly holding on to our body. If we can just relax and witness, if we start understanding that we are not the body, we will never have stomach problems.

If anyone of you have a stomach problem try this. I tell you, it really works. In the last two and a half years, I've met more than a million people. And one million people have taken the meditation techniques and technologies created by me and experienced the truth or bliss in their lives. I tell you from my experience, that if you have stomach problems, just for two to three days constantly think that you are not the body. I assure you: You will be liberated from the stomach problem. Simply your stomach will be healed.

One more thing: I am not giving you false hopes. I am not giving any false statement. After the experience of two and half years and after working with one million people, I am giving this statement. After thousands of case studies, I am making this statement. After long research I am telling you that if you have stomach problems like ulcer, constipation, any problem related to stomach, just for two or three days constantly think, 'I am not the body, I am not the body.' Just relax and allow the body to function. I tell you, within two or three days you will be healed. Because, the moment we start thinking that we are the body, we begin suffocating the body, we start forcing the body, we start abusing the body. We start disrespecting the body. When we think we are the body, we start disrespecting it and we start abusing it.

You can see it in your lives - for the sake of your enjoyments, you destroy the body. Till twelve o'clock at night, you sit and watch the cricket game on T.V. Your eyes are burning. Your eyes are begging you, 'Please give me little rest.' In between during commercial breaks your eyes close automatically. But you tell yourself, 'No, no, no. this is not the time for me to sleep.' And you start watching the T.V again.

You are abusing your eyes for the sake of your pleasure. For the sake of your intellectual joy or ego joy, if somebody wins you associate yourself with them. You associate yourself with some country, whether it is Bharat or Pakistan or Sri Lanka and when they win you feel joyful. By their winning you feel the joy. It's a joy that comes out of ego and association. I want all of you to understand that watching cricket is surely not patriotism. Somehow in Bharat the idea has been spread that associating with a team and watching the cricket game shows patriotism.

One young guy came to me and told me, 'Master, we have to be patriotic, that is why I watch the cricket game.'

I said to him, 'What are you talking? If at all Bharat can be represented, it can be only be represented by enlightened masters and the rishis, not by one or two players or teams.'

Be very clear, the backbone of Bharat is totally different. I am not against a particular player, a particular game or a particular group. I am just against the very concept. All of you be very clear, if at all Bharat can be represented, if at all you want to associate with something, then associate yourself with a group of masters, group of enlightened beings, not with a sport or the team associated with it.

We start enjoying by associating ourselves with the group and for our ego satisfaction, we abuse our body, we disrespect our body. The moment we start realizing that we are not the body, we allow the body to function as it is. We allow the body to function naturally. By its very nature, it heals itself. Body has got its own intelligence. Never think because of us our body is healthy. In spite of us it is healthy. Not because of us, but in spite of us it is healthy.

Constantly you abuse your body. Constantly you torture your body. The moment you start thinking, 'I am the body,' you start abusing the body. If you can relax from the idea that you are the body, you will start respecting the body. You will allow the body to live as it wants. You will allow the body intelligence to function. You will allow the body to live naturally. You will not interfere with your body. You will be alive, bubbling and overflowing with energy. You will radiate grace.

The moment you start understanding that you are not the mind, you will have the sharp intelligence and spontaneity. You can see that in your own life. If two people are playing chess and if you are watching the game, you will know better moves than those two. And if you are playing, those moves might not be so obvious to you. If you are just watching you will tell them, 'Hey, why don't you do this? Why don't you do that?' But if you yourself are playing, you will not be able to do that.

Just the pressure to win makes you dull. When you are witnessing, when you are away, you don't have the pressure to win. When the pressure to win is not there you become so intelligent, so spontaneous and so alive. Your mind starts radiating intelligence.

When Ashtavakra says:

You are not the body, you are not the mind

You are not the earth, You are not the water, you are not the fire, you are not the air, you are not the ether he says that you are not the five elements. We always think we are the five elements - body and mind made out of five elements. First thing, understand that you are not this body and mind. When you understand that you are not this body and mind, you will start respecting the body and mind. You will start living with your body and mind blissfully. You will not abuse your body. You will not disrespect your body intelligence. You will let your body live naturally. You will let your body live blissfully.