Ānandamaya Kosha🔗

Ānandamaya; the deepest layer. Once at a college, a professor asked the master, "You prescribe lot of meditations to the world and all the meditations are effective. I myself personally have tested so many meditations. They are good." The master agreed. "But I want to know the secret of which mediation makes you so alive and so intelligent and radiating this vibrancy. Can I know the secret? What is the meditation you practice?" The master laughed and said, "Actually it is the opposite for me. You need meditational effect but I need de-meditational effect. You have to move up but for me, I have to come down." Meditation will lift you to the higher energies; it will take you to the higher energies, but since he is in the highest energy layer; the deepest energy layer; he has to come down from the ānandamaya. He has to come down to the annomaya to relate with us. He has to come down. Because we are the guys who are caught in the annomaya, we have to raise our energy. We need mediation. But the masters, the avatars never need mediation. They need the opposite. That is why he tells us to do what the master says but not what he does. If you do what he does, it will have the opposite effect because he is de-meditating but you need meditation.

We have two kinds of effects inside our system: one is the upward pull and the other is the downward pull. One is the divine pull and the other is the worldly pull. Up to the manomaya kosha, you have to put in effort. How much you are doing, whatever the meditations you do, whatever the books you read, your effort is needed until you cross the manomaya. Until you touch the manomaya, you need to put in your own effort. Until then, it will be a downward pull; there is every possibility for you to be pulled down. Today, if you move from annomaya to prānamaya there is no assurance that tomorrow you will stay there in prānamaya. There is every possibility for you to be pulled down. Your very lifestyle, your very mental set-up, your body nature and your health are responsible for pulling you down back again to the same level. But once you cross the manomaya, the upward pull starts and the divine takes care. That is the upward pull. You can't come back down after that point. Either you go up or stay there. You can't come down. Up to a particular level your effort is needed and that after that your effort is not needed. Only surrender is needed then. Only pure surrender is needed; that is less effort. From that level onwards the divine pull starts. It will just pull you into its core.

That is why the master used to say that you need both bhakthi and gnāna to attain the ānanda, the bliss. Attaining the bliss is the ultimate thing. Attaining the bliss he explains beautifully. Gnāna means the wisdom; the revelation.

The great cosmic intelligence is gnāna; gnāna means the capacity of your expressive nature about your experience. Bhakti is staying in that experience. Actually in the world people have understood this vice-versa. In the opposite way they understood. People think bhakti means great spiritual experience and gnāna means knowledgeable. Actually it is the opposite. If you have had a spiritual experience, if you have tasted the divine energy, if you have tasted super-consciousness, you will have your own way to express it. That is what bhakti is; expressing the experience is bhakti. When you experience what is called ānanda, that comes exactly from the ānandamaya; the very experience comes from the anandamaya and then you experience it. When you are to able express this experience, bhakti has flowered inside you. But gnāna is what is ultimately required.

Gnāna means staying in that experience of making bliss become eternal bliss, making the ānanda as mukti annnada making ourselves stay in that very blissful state. That is gnāna. Whoever travels on this path, whoever moves towards enlightenment, needs both bhakti and gnāna - both devotion and intelligence or intuition. Both are needed for each and every person. The master used to say that the guys who have dedication have no devotion and the guys who have devotion have no dedication.

This is where the whole problem exists. A spiritual person will not be a lazy person but he will not be a busy person either. He will be neither lazy nor will he be busy; he will be utterly relaxed. Utter relaxation and laziness are not comparable. They are two extremes. Relaxation needs a healthy mind, then healthy energy and a healthy feeling. If these three layers are not clear, if these three layers are not pure, you cannot be relaxed. If you have a small tumor in your body or a small thorn in your body, it is enough. We cannot be relaxed. But even with that, you can be lazy. Sitting very lazily is possible but you cannot be relaxed. To be relaxed you need a healthy body, healthy mind and healthy spirit. Without this, relaxation is simply not at all possible. A person who is identified as a spiritual person cannot be lazy and cannot be busy - that is 'neurotic'. He cannot be just a corporate guy spending his whole life and health for work, work, work. The corporate mind dies by working. Actually, a workaholic by nature is simply selling his life to get something which he will not be using in his life. By working, there will be too much productivity, too many sales, too much name; all these things are not going to help him directly.

Actually he is selling a very worthy life and purchasing unworthy and unneeded worldly things. This is what is happening with the corporate man. But the spiritual person will need to be corporate also; the corporate state, a corporate mind is the peak of dedication. You need that much efficiency. Inefficiency is a sin.Everybody possesses the same intelligence. From that aspect, efficiency is a conscious choice. He continuously misses the life and he wants to live in the same old way - in the same old lazy way. Then people continue living without any great change. The people who want to change are caught inside this dedication, the workaholic syndrome - being always productive. This is the first category of people who work and die.

Then second kind of people are not workaholic. They are totally emotional and if we are emotional with God, that is called devotion. The emotional people of course have the juice of life; they have the experience; but since dedication is missing, since the productive capacity is missing, since the very basic holding capacity is missing, they are not ready to stay in that experience - what they express. So these emotional guys simply get torched. When they enjoy they enjoy but the rest of the time, since the gnāna is missing, since the intelligence is missing, since the dedication is missing, they are not able to keep themselves in the same experience. They are not able to stay in that experience. That is the problem of the guys who have devotion. Those who are just devotional - that also not going to work. If they are just dedicated, that also is not going to work. You need both. If you look at both, being devotional is the best and easiest way. If you are devotional, getting dedication is very easy. Your very devotion will lead you to dedication. However, if you are too much dedicated, there is no way to make it go and touch the devotion. You need to became devotional. You need both. You need to be dedicated; you need the left brain activation. All the workaholic people are left-brain activated people. To be devotional, you need right-brain activation. All emotional people are so creative, so joyful, so juicy and they are so spontaneous. All these people have their right-brain activities in place, but you need both sides of the brain to be activated. If just one side of the brain is activated, you will feel you are not living the rest of the life here also. There are the devotional guys and there are the dedicated guys. The dedicated guys feel continuously they are missing something; the devotional guys are feeling they are also missing something because these are like two legs for you to walk on ānanda. If one leg is missing, you have to jump; you can't walk. When you jump you can't be relaxed; you cannot be balanced. You need both.

When you touch these two; when you touch this dedication and devotion, it will be no more a downward pull; it will be an upward pull. You will be pulled towards the ānandamaya. If you are too dedicated, if you are a high corporate mind, the maximum you can reach is the manomaya kosha. Very easily you can reach the manomaya kosha. All the corporate guys have too much clarity about everything. Whatever they see, they see ten steps ahead; what will happen to those ten steps. Without spending any time or energy, they can come to a conclusion with their clarity because they have touched the manomaya kosha. They can do it very easily.

But being devotional, you enter into the vignānamaya kosha. When you are devotional you enter into the vignānamaya kosha. If you are just devotional only, of course you will be experiencing the juices of life; you will be able to enjoy the rose but you will be able to enjoy the rose only when the rose is there. When the rose is not there, the thorns will torture you because the very basic understanding is missing; the understanding about life and understanding about yourself, understanding about the course and nature of life incidents. Since all this is missing, that guy will be missing a lot.

So the moment you touch the devotional, please be clear you have entered into the zone of the upward pull. Until you are in the in the zone of dedication, still you are under the control of the downward pull. There is every possibility for you to slide back into the same level where you started, so adding devotion inside your system will lead you to ānanda very easily. Nowadays, more than 90% of the crowd is actually dedicated. They have come very close to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. In starting ānanda seva, and when they become organizers, āchāraya or part of some other crowd, the survey says the majority of the crowd have too much dedication. Dedication is there, but just dedication alone will not work. You need devotion. Only devotion can help. He says we will finish. If you have only a glimpse of devotion, if you have a small quantity of devotion, then only the problem will exist. That guy can be tortured by life. With devotion, that guy will be the happiest guy in the world, without anything. He can be happy. From happiness, moving towards bliss will happen spontaneously. That he will do as a spontaneous action, just as when you close your eyes and try to slip into Ānanda Gandha, you slip easily.

Actually it is not that you are consciously walking and jumping and sitting in the Ānanda Gandha. The slipping is a happening. We are just slipping into the Ānanda Gandha. We do not know the technique to enter into the Ānanda Gandha. So the very slipping which is happening will become a conscious experience when you touch this zone; when you touch this dedication. Then you have entered into the safest zone. When you touch devotion, you are in the safest zone. Today or tomorrow, this minute or next minute, this second or next second, this kshana or next kshana, you will enter into the bliss. We will enter into eternal bliss very easily. It is happening. Up to the vignānamaya only, you can do something. The second you cross the manomaya, there itself the upward pull will start. But still you have to move. You have to do something. At the moment you touch devotion, there is no need for you to move ahead; you will be taken inside. That is why the master used to say, 'Until a visitor really becomes a disciple, really becomes a disciple, he will be running towards me. He will be chasing me. Where am I? In which city am I? In which healing center am I? He will run. Until a visitor calls himself my disciple, he will be chasing me. He will be running hard to see me. He will be seeking my attention. But the moment the guy has really flowered into devotion, the moment the guy really becomes my disciple, he will see that I will start chasing him. I will chase him. I will run behind him. I will not leave him.'

Until we become devotional, we have to run around him. The moment we become a disciple, he will run around us. Until you touch emotional attachment with God, you will have to pray to God. The moment you touch emotional attachment with God, he will start playing with you. The maximum you can do is pray to him. But if you touch the emotional attachment with God, at the peak of devotion, he will not respond to that prayer. He will simply come and play with you. You will become a gopika. Until then you cannot be a gopika. The maximum you can be is a devotee of Krishna.

A devotee of Krishna can fast. He can sing bhajans. He can do meditation. He can meditate on the master's form. He can chant Krishna's name: Om Krishnaya namaha Om Krishnaya namaha Om... You can chant, but you can't play. You can't even understand the dimension. Even if you see that, you can't get the opportunity. The opportunity will be given only to the guys who touch the emotional attachment with God. As of now, we have an emotional attachment with everything except God. Except God, we have an emotional attachment with everything else.

Once a person came to Ramakrishna and the moment he saw Ramakrishna, he cried. That guy asked Ramakrishna, "What is happening to me? I am not sad. Nothing bad happened to me. But I started crying when I saw you. What happened? I am crying. Why did that happen?" Ramakrishna replied beautifully, "If you see a master or when you see a God or when you see a Deity, in that very moment without your involvement, if a tear is comes from your eye, be clear that janma (life) is your last janma. That birth is the last birth. You will have no more birth." You have touched it. That means the upward pull has started. When the upward pull starts, only the divine takes care of you. Until then, the janma is in our control. After that, the janma is not in our control. The divine takes care. It will take care of you.

So creating the emotional attachment with God is actually the ultimate technique. It is actually the ultimate juice of life. And after this happened, somebody asked Ramakrishna, "Ramakrishna, what is this? We are your very long-time devotees and you have shared a lot of things with us. You have spoken a lot of truth with us. But when that guy came you changed a lot. Actually you were giving too much importance to him. Why? Why are you giving so much importance to him? What is secret behind it? Why has that guy become so important?' Ramakrishna said, "Who will cry for God in the world? People are there to cry for their wives, to cry for their children or even to cry about their business and money and fame. People are ready to cry for everything. For a small insult they are ready to cry. For a small wound they are ready to cry. For small relationship damage they are ready to cry. But point out someone who is ready to cry for God." Nobody was able to answer.

Actually that is the ultimate thing. We still suffer because we are disconnected from God and we are not able to get the connection back again. We are not able to get the connection back again. And this devotion is the reconnection with God; the missing link. The missing link is what makes us man and reduces us to a depressed person or neglected person or unworthy person - whatever feeling you have. Whatever negative feeling we have is happening to us because of the missing link.

The missing link is devotion. When you have devotion, the missing link is re-connected. It is like an island and the mainland. The island needs so many things from the mainland; it needs fuel, food, cloth - it needs everything. The people who are living on the island need everything but it has to come from the mainland. In between the mainland and island, if there is no bridge, what will happen to the island? The island cannot survive for long. Either a bridge or a boat or at least a helicopter - some mechanism is needed. Like this, the connecting link is missing between us and God.

To reconnect the missing link, there are many intense techniques. Of those intense techniques, this is the easiest technique. Devotion is the easiest technique and it is not even really a technique. It is a one more enjoyment. It is one more enjoyment. It is a very great entertainment. Who in the world will hate romance? Who will hate romance? Who will hate love? Who will hate fun? Nobody. Nobody in the world will hate fun, will hate love, will hate romance. But we are having this fun, love and romance with the rest of the guys in the world, but not with God. Except with God we are experiencing all these things. With God, we have respect. We respect God a lot. Respect means keeping a decent distance, a very decent distance. So as long as you respect God, you are the guy who has caught hold inside dedication. Mind you, respect is also needed. Without that, we cannot discuss with God. Respect is the first stone; the first stepping stone. From that we still have to go inside. We have to go inside. So whatever we call devotion is still a very great respect. Respect from the being.

But God loves you to play with him. You can't have fun from the being, or have romance from the being, until you unclutch yourself from the worldly things and clutch with the divine. And the divine will take care. If you unclutch, that is enough. He will put you in Ananda Gandha. So lets move from annomaya and touch the anandamaya. Whoever are the guys who are not yet dedicated, let all of them become dedicated and express their devotion. Dedication plus devotion is the solution given to all devotees by the master. He neither wants the dedication alone nor the devotion alone. He wants both. He doesn't want just the enlightened guys. And he doesn't just want corporate guys. He wants enlightened corporate guys. He wants enlightened CEOs. CEOs alone can't save the world. Just enlightened masters alone can't save the world. The energy will be there, and that is good but it has to be expressed in a productive way; that means a corporate approach.

So his vision is to create corporate CEOs. All the healers have the eligibility to become enlightened CEO's. Each and every one of the healers who are hearing or reading these words - you are the person who has 100% eligibility to become that guy. Don't think, "I am not born and brought up in that way. I am just an ordinary spiritual person," or "I am just an ordinary businessman." Don't think like that. Even the CEOs get intuition from the inside only. From the anandamaya only the intuition is coming. You have intution, intelligence and bliss. What more do you want? All the amazing things which exist in the world actually exist inside you. The ananda is the ultimate intelligence. Whatever you need, that intelligence will deliver it to you. It is the ultimate energy which will produce everything. From the non-material energy, even material things can be produced. So each and every one of the healers has the 100% eligibility to become an enlightened CEO, and the world needs thousands of enlightened CEOs. So his vision is to create enlightened CEO's. Now the mission is creating healers and producing enlightened CEOs.

So let each and every one of us not target our energy towards ordinary bliss or a little more vocational bliss. If it is a vocational bliss, then it is an ordinary vocation - vocation by hard work. We need a continuously contented, blissful, energy-filled and wonder-filled life. And it is possible when you fulfill this requirement. So first believe that whatever state you are in, you have the capacity to attain it. And you are the candidates for it. Don't think some other people will be selected as candidates. You, the healers, are the candidates to fulfill his very vision. We are the pillars which will be converted to handle this future mission. Only these kinds of people will catch the spirit and make it their experience. You are the people who are going to stand up. I invite all of you to make a clear and strong oath that, 'I will understand and will experience and I will live in it. I will understand and will experience and I will stay in it.'

Anandamaya Meditation