Nithyopanishad🔗

(Answering questions the way you want)

Before he began the series of discourses on the guru-disciple relationship, I was summoned by the master and told, 'Please collect whatever questions the group may have. Ask them to write down their questions clearly, verify them and give them to me to answer.'

Over time, the questions came in trickles, in bits and pieces of paper, gradually improving in clarity of thought as well as writing. Most were written in English, a few in Tamil. The master took the trouble of reading through each question and answering in detail.

'I do not answer the questions,' The master always said, 'I answer the questioner.' It was unerringly true. Many had written down a fraction of the doubts they had. In many cases the questions were personal and they were not comfortable asking about such issues publicly. They were mystified when the master went beyond the matter on paper and answered the issues that they had vaguely asked about, without uncovering their identity, and yet satisfactorily answering their doubts.

Question and answer sessions with the master are like a dynamite session. The sheer spontaneity of his responses, the vastness of the space that he covers, the power behind his answers all together offer astounding clarity and energy.

That is the essence of Nithyopanishad - sitting at the feet of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: clearing of our doubts, stopping of our minds and energizing of our spirit, as we sat.

The master said:

'We will now come to all the questions on the master-disciple relationship.

(The master then started reading out the questions given to him and answered them one after the other.)

Q: How can we distinguish between master's words, his thinking and his body language?

A: First of all, why do you want to distinguish? You cannot distinguish because these three things do not exist; all three have merged for him. There is no separate thinking or body language or words. When I say 'mother', I simply become that! As long as these three are separate, you are not a master; you are just a mister. Only when all these things have not disappeared, there is distinction. When all three disappear, you become a master.

This question has so many angles. Firstly, why do you want to distinguish? When anyone says something, you straightaway don't want to follow. You want to analyze him and you want to argue with him; you want to attack him. I don't have to follow what I am preaching because I am not the same kind of person to whom I am preaching. There is no need for my actions to follow my words. If at all I follow my own words, it is only out of love and compassion. I follow so that it is easy for you to watch me and follow! You won't get lost.

It is like following signboards to Gangotri and Yamunotri when you travel here in the Himalayas. Signboards are not goals; they are not places to be reached; they are not the destination; they are telltale signs that tell you that you are on the right path.

I practice a few things out of compassion so that you can catch a glimpse of 'I' - the Master. Here, so many minds get irritated when I say 'I'. This is because you are so strong about your 'I'. When I say 'I', you use your dictionary to interpret it. So for these 15 days, we will throw the guru Gita (the metaphorical way of judging the master) out. When I use the word 'I', I mean the universal energy, not this 6-feet THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM. People are not so mature to understand that when I say 'I', I don't mean what you mean by 'I'. When I say 'God', you know nothing about God, you just have some vague idea, so you don't resist. But when I say 'I', that 'I' is a solid experience for you, so you resist it. In the Master's case, it is just the opposite. When I say 'I', it is a vague idea for me, but when I say 'God', it is a solid experience. But when I say 'I', you interpret it with your dictionary. Be clear: when I say 'I', I mean God.

When people come to me with problems, I say to them, 'I will take care', meaning that the problem will be taken care of by Existence; it means it will be done. When I say I will take care, if he is mature enough to receive it, the energy will start working. But man is so egoistic. He thinks, 'The master is talking as if he were God. He is after all a Master, maybe a little more spiritual than me. How will he take care of my problem?'

People tell me, 'Master, please pray for me.' I laugh and say, 'Yes yes, I will pray for you.' What to do. We have to talk in their language. So, I don't want to put myself on the pedestal of a guru or God. You will think I am promoting my business. Every word of mine, you will compare and feel that I am promoting my business. So when I say guru for these 15 days, I mean the ultimate guru.

In San Jose, a lady wrote a question on a slip of paper which said, 'Are you truly enlightened or are you an incredible salesman?'

I said, 'What a courageous question! All of you have this question in your minds but only she has got courage to spell it out. It is sincerity.' I asked her to stand up and she stood up with great pride feeling that she was a great person. I made the whole group clap and told her that I respected her courage. I said, 'I am an incredible salesman, for there is nobody else who sells bliss. I am the only one who sells bliss in return for suffering. So I am an incredible salesman. There is no salesman who does this dealing of taking all your worries and giving bliss in return!'

There is a beautiful verse sung by Ramana to Arunachala, the revered mountain, which says, 'I gave me to you and got you to me in return! Who is intelligent? Who is the real businessman? Who is the one who has achieved? The sareera (body) is rohamaya (embodiment of sickness), the mind is dukkamaya (embodiment of sorrow) and the atma (self) is sohamaya (embodiment of sadness). I gave all these three to you. The sareera (body) has become sukamaya (embodiment of happiness), the mind has become yogamaya (embodiment of union with divinity) and the atma became anandamaya (embodiment of bliss). I gave you the small 'i' and got You in return. Who is more intelligent? Me or you?'

This verse is sung in total adoration by Ramana to Arunachala. So understand: there is no other salesman who does what I am doing.

I said that your question has got two parts. The question, 'Are you truly enlightened', is something everybody has got the authority to ask. All seekers are authorized to ask and I am legally bound to answer. But the second part 'incredible salesman' shows that you have vengeance in you and you are prejudiced. If you are a seeker, you would have stopped with the first part. The second part shows that you have no right to ask the question.

If you had asked only the first part, you have come with openness. But before getting the answer for the first half, you have asked the second part which means you have preconceived notions, vengeance, violence in you and you don't have the right to ask this question. But I answered out of compassion.'

I challenged her. I told her, 'I showed my courage by reading your question and answering it. Now you show your courage by following me.' She simply disappeared from the hall! She said she was a seeker. So I told her that I proved I am the Master by facing the question. She wrote it on a slip of paper. I could have easily skipped it. But by reading it and answering it, I proved my courage, that I am a master. I told her, 'Now come and show that you are a seeker by following me!'

The problem is, we want only the guru to be perfect; we don't care if we are perfect disciples or not!

We continuously use a touchstone to rub on the heads of gurus to see if they are original or not. But you never think of rubbing the hand that is holding it to see if you are an original disciple or not. For these few days, point it towards you. When you point your finger at somebody, there are three fingers that point towards you. Now it is time; point your fingers towards yourself. Let us see what is really needed to be done from your side.

Anyone who takes suffering from society is a master. Only the universal consciousness can take the suffering from people.

Let me answer the question of how you can distinguish between the master's words, thinking and body language. Come out, why do you want to distinguish? I can't follow my words with my actions. I might teach meditation, but it doesn't mean that I should meditate. Understand: I am a spiritual being. I actually have to do anti-meditation to stay in my body. I have to do something to bring myself down. If you read Ramakrishna's books, it is said that when he comes out of samadhi, he asks for jelebi (an Hindu sweet dipped in syrup). He says, 'By these small desires, I bring myself down'. Unless you have some desire, you can't come back again to the body. Unless you have some work in the plains, will you go back to the plains now? No! In the same way, you will come down to the body only if you have some work.

The master has to do de-meditation again and again. I have to do something to keep myself in the body. So I can't practice what I preach; I am not the same as the person to whom I am preaching; He is so different; he is an ordinary human being! How can I follow that? Be very clear: you can't distinguish between the master's thinking, words and body language. All three are one and the same for him. Don't give your own reasons for his body language. The moment you start that, you take him for granted and you think you know him.

If your wife shouts at you, you know the reason. You give your reason for her actions and body language because you know her. You can never do that with me because you don't know me; you can never know me. The more reasons you give for my words and body language, the more you will be suffering; you will be in deep misery; miserably miserable!

A master can never be a hypocrite because he does not have all these three as separate things. People ask me, 'If you don't go through a thinking process, how are you speaking?'

Let me explain to you: in your mind, when you speak, these three things happen: creation of words, editing them and then delivery. In my case, creating, editing and delivery all happen together, not separately. It rises and comes out; creation IS delivery, without any editing. You can be in that state only when you are confident of yourself. You edit because you are afraid that you will speak the Truth! When you declare that you are a great person, you expect that the person listening will tell you the same thing; it will be like a massage to yourself! You speak for some purpose or motive. What you speak is not the truth. In fact, you are afraid that you will speak the Truth. It comes to the throat and you suppress, filter and edit it.

A university professor asked me, 'master, you are continuously speaking for hours together to the public. For me to give a 15-minute lecture, it takes one hour to prepare. How are you speaking continuously? You can't prepare because you have no time.'

I told him, 'You need to prepare because you are not talking from living experience.' Prepared lectures are nothing but scented boxes. The stuff in you needs preparation before you can send it out. You are not ready to open yourself as you are.

We are afraid of our being; we are not completely truthful. We think, 'What should I say first, what should I say second, how should I conclude' and so on. You finally miss something and mess it as well! There was a lecturer who came home one day after his lecture and was asked by his wife, 'So how was the lecture?' The man asked, 'Which lecture?' The wife was surprised and said, 'But you prepared so much and gave a lecture today. That's the one I am talking about.' The lecturer replied, 'Well, I prepared for one thing, delivered another and repented that I didn't deliver in a third way. As of now there are three lectures in my head, so I am confused as to which one you are referring to!'

When a person thinks, edits and presents, both he and the audience feel tired because the transaction is not based on truth and spontaneity, but on logic, intellect and chopping wood. When the lecturer is in tension, the student is also in tension. The lecturer will be throwing out words to show that he is a great person and the students have to run and catch up with him.

They say, 'If you don't open your mouth, people will think you are a fool, and if you do, you will confirm it!' By preparing and delivering, they confirm that they are fools.

For instance, if someone asks your name, do you need to think? Even if the name is long like Siva Ramakrishna Vallabhaneni, like the names in Andhra Pradesh, you don't have to remember them because it has become a part of you. When anything has become a part of your being; you don't have to prepare.

I told this professor that I am speaking because what I am speaking has become my blood. I am continuously opening up myself to you. I just sit, relax and open myself. I make myself available to the group by relaxing. That is why the person and I both feel rejuvenated. After every session, they feel so alive, not tired. When you go to lectures, it is like a lathi charge (attack with sticks). Lock the auditorium and attack! That is how it is.

I don't speak from memory because I don't have these three things in me: creating, editing and delivering; there is only a spontaneous response to the scene and the people. People who speak from memory will speak beautifully, but when asked questions, they will lose it. You can find out their intelligence by asking questions. Any fool can give a lecture. One who knows nothing about physics can read a book and give a lecture on it, but in the Question & Answer session, he will be caught!

Albert Einstein had a driver who worked with him for 10 years. At one time, he had just propounded the Theory of Relativity, so he was delivering lectures day in and day out. The driver knew the lecture by heart. One day, as they were driving, Einstein said that he was tired of delivering the same lecture over and over again. The driver said that he knew the lecture well and that anyway these people had not seen Einstein much and therefore he could deliver the lecture instead of him. Einstein agreed and the driver delivered the lecture wonderfully. At the end of it, a man stood up and asked a question. The driver was at a loss. He quickly said, 'To this question, even my driver will give the answer!' and Einstein came in and answered the question.

You can act as a master as long as you need only to give discourses, but when it comes to the Q&A session, people will discover the truth. You need spontaneity. What you are speaking should become your blood, your being. To give a lecture, just memorizing is enough. If you see, a person who shines in Q&A is a spontaneous person. A master's responses to questions will be so sharp that it will touch you straightaway. Unless thinking, editing and delivering have disappeared into one, you can't be spontaneous.

At Microsoft, Seattle, after listening to my lecture on Intuitive Management, one man asked me, 'Where did you learn oratory?' I said, 'I only teach; I never learnt!' It is the pure confidence and spontaneity that takes the whole role. The ability to be spontaneous is what responsibility is.

Creating words through which you can create the same visualization that is in your head, in the heads of others is what is orating or communication.

Reproducing the same experience which is in your being, in the beings of others by your presence is what is mastery or communion.

You need to think and speak only if you are cunning and want to hide something, or if you want to pamper someone to get something done. If you can be truthful, there is no need for the censor board.

Just be mature. The very thinking system should be altered, not the speaking system.

So coming back to the question, 'How can I distinguish between these three in the master?' First, you can't distinguish because there are no three things in him. Just listen to his words; whatever effect they create in you according to your Oxford dictionary is enough. Don't create anything more than that. Just allow the process to happen. I will be disciplining some people for no reason. I am inserting some memories into them with which they can work with me. Take this river for instance: to make it flow in a particular way I will lead it in the other direction so that it flows the way I want. So as early as possible, get out of the trouble of interpreting my actions.

Q: My mind is always racing like a roller coaster.

A: Good! Co-operate with the roller coaster; you will then automatically relax. Don't resist it. You can't go in it for long! You will get down or get thrown out! Just enjoy it. If you watch the river, you will see that it brings with it lots of stones that rub against each other continuously. After some time, by grinding, the stones become rounded like S*ivalingas* (one of the forms in which Lord Shiva is worshipped) and get thrown out of the banks. People collect them and worship them as Shiva. Life will grind you, you will become polished, and be thrown out and you will become enlightened; people will start worshipping you! Until the grinding is completely done, you will not be thrown out. Allow life to work on you, to penetrate you, to mould you.'

Q: After reaching THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, if a new thought enters…?

A: Whenever there is a new thought in my presence and you have the energy to execute it, it is a boon from me. With pure instinct, there will be no thought or energy. You will be like animals that live purely out of instinct. With intelligence, there will be thought but no energy as we experience in confusion. With intuition there will be both thought and energy. Here, it is straight from the Ananda Gandha, the space where you harness the Existential energy to guide you; it is straight from the master.'

(Then the master tried to read a question but was unable to decipher the writing.)

He said, ''Please write in the language that I can read!

A small story:

One man said to another, 'You have to seriously improve your writing for people to be able to decipher it.' The man replied, 'Oh no! My sister used my letter as a leave request form first, then modified it a little and used it as a pass to a magic show and now plays it as a song on her piano!'

Q: You mentioned the different types of master-disciple relationships. Is it important that we decide which type of relationship we should follow?

A: When you decide on the relationship, it makes the whole process easy. Your mind is so conditioned to relate with some definite patterns. Over time, the ideas of the guru-disciple have disappeared. Modern man does not know about the guru-disciple relationship. As of now, all of you know that there are these five types of relationships. So start with some mode, though you will not end in the same mode. In the end, it will be the five plus something more.

When you start, you will start with the master-servant relationship like Rama and Hanuman; or as friends like Arjuna and Krishna or as mother and son like Ramakrishna and Kali or as beloved like Radha and Krishna. In the end, it will be all these five plus something more. Thvameva maatha, pitha thavameva, thvameva bandhu, sakha thvameva….** mama deva deva* (you are the mother, you are the father, you are everything*) …*It will end in that attitude.

When this happens, there is no separate guru and disciple; there is only one. The disciple and guru become one. The relationship will be so deep. But you need to start with something. The easiest thing to start with will be dasabhava, the master-servant relationship (Rama and Hanuman relationship) unless you are told that a specific bhava will work out well for you.

Q: Master, all the gurus come to our countries (questioner is from USA) and create followers. After some time, we are not even able to see them or talk with them. In that case, how do we grow?

A: Relationship does not need talking. What you are saying will happen in my mission also. Naturally, when the following gathers momentum, you will not be able to talk to me in future as freely as now. That is why I give you the Ananda Gandha! Anandha Gandha is the space where energy and matter meet; where you can straightaway relate with me. With a master, you don't have to relate verbally. Just the idea of a relationship with him is more than enough; it will lead you to success in spiritual life. For instance, if your husband is in the USA, do you have to verify by talking to him on and off? The deep feeling of connection is enough, is it not? You don't need to talk or be physically around him. If you don't have the deep feeling of connectivity, it won't help him or you.

Feeling deeply connected is what is important in the guru-disciple relationship. To make you feel connected in the initial level, physical presence and communication is necessary, but the real thing is feeling connected beyond this. The more time you get to sit and talk with him, the more nonsense you will speak. The main message will be lost.

Purposely I make myself unavailable so that when you see me, you can say only what is useful and not anything else. Sometimes people come to me and say, 'Master, my neighbor's husband's niece's friend is sick, can you heal him.' A few minutes with me they will waste like this. I give them vibuthi, sacred ash*,* but they say, 'No, no! You heal him master'. They waste valuable time around me in this fashion. So it is better that they have less time around me. It is for their good.

Sarada Devi, wife of Paramahamsa Ramakrishna (a great enlightened master from Bharat) says, 'If you have more time with the master, you will take him for granted because you see him performing his day-to-day activities and start thinking that he is an ordinary human being.'

Krishna is great because you don't know that he went to the toilet and ate and slept like you. In mythology, only the divine miracles of yester-year masters are recorded but not the day-to-day mundane incidents. When you read edited biographies and compare mine with them, you are in trouble. Mine is complete; theirs is edited. Of course, my edited biography will be out soon. When you read my edited biography and compare with another master's life again you are in trouble. Edited biographies are only inspirational sources not reference notes!

Q: Master, are there any meditations prescribed by you?

A: There are already prescribed instructions. If you are already a healer, in the morning do Ananda Gandha (AG) and in the night Shakti Dharana meditation. Try to be all the time in AG, then there will be no thoughts and you will be in the non-dualistic or advaitic state. You will not be judgmental about anything. You will not harbour the opposite emotions like pain and pleasure, peace and war, anger and compassion. AG is straightaway the way to be in advaitic experience. When you are in AG, you neither have body nor mind, you are just there. Your presence and my presence become one and the same because you are in the present in AG. Usually you are always absent, never present! Just be present in AG, and you will be in the advaitic state. The path and goal are one and the same in AG.

Q: Does the guru-disciple relationship have to be a manaseega smaranam (silent, from the heart)? Or can it be discussing various aspects that come to the mind and answered?

A: See, it is like reading the menu card, ordering and eating. First read the menu card, then order the food and eat. While eating, is it useful discuss the menu card again? No! First read the menu card; that is what we are doing now. This is the time you decide whether to go in for it or not. Once you have decided order and eat, that's all!

Q: Is the master capable of knowing the disciples' feelings and thoughts unless expressed?

A: Please understand: the master knows the feelings and thoughts which you can't even express, forget about what you can express! He knows you much deeper than you know yourself. Never think that you know yourself. You know only one part of yourself. The master knows you much deeper than what you know about yourself. That is why I tell you, I answer the questioner not the question. If the same question is asked by someone else, I will answer in another way because I answer the questioner not the question! I answer the samskara, the deeply hidden memory, from which the question arises. I answer the origin, not the words.

When people come for healing, they say that they have a headache but when I touch them, I know it is stomach pain. By continuously lying to others, you start lying to yourself. You start believing the lies. What you know as you is not you. You are like a small bunch of grass floating in the air. The master catches it and tears it into pieces. He directly knows the part of the being that you can't express.

Q: What should be the mode of communication with the master?

A: Ananda Gandha (AG) meditation is the only way to understand the master's blessings. When you meditate, you digest. It is like this: when you eat and take a Digene tablet (antacid tablet) it digests. I have blessed you enough. The radio waves are there already; my blessings are already showered on you; you should start receiving them and digesting them. You are holding an umbrella; drop it and you will receive my shower! You can do your duty beautifully only if you are in AG; otherwise, you will be doing things in a hurried way like how you are doing now! Some people ask me, 'Master, is it enough if we surrender?' First, there is no such thing as just surrendering. It is like asking, 'Just becoming enlightened is enough?' Surrendering is enlightenment! Complete surrender means allowing Existence to flow through you and your very body like it does in my case! Once you have surrendered, there is no need for words or meditation or anything.

Q: Should we ask the master questions or simply accept him?

A: Most of your doubts are not worth answering. Just be with him, that's enough. Keep your questions for some time and they will disappear on their own! A man came and asked me so many questions about Vedanta, liberation and God. I diverted him a little and started enquiring about his family, work etc. He spent almost 3 hours talking to me but never once did he go back to the questions he asked first. This is because his questions were not a quest for him; they were just a casual way to pass time. Asking for the sake of asking is not questioning. People ask questions and when I answer them, they forget that it is for their questions!

Just accept there is a master and the questions will disappear. I am answering these questions so that they will create more questions and you will understand that questions can never be solved and that only the questioner can be dissolved! It is a process towards dissolving the questioner. The question and the questioner are different. Because you have collected so many words, so many questions come to you. There is one question whch is your own question, The moment you ask the question that is YOURS, you become enlightened! This concept may be difficult to follow but it is the truth. Now you ask questions that are not yours because the question and the questioner are two different things. All your questions are lies. They are all borrowed or formed through a collection of words. The moment you ask what YOU need to ask, you become enlightened, liberated.'

Q: How do we know what type of relationship you have with us? Sometimes you are a father, sometimes a master and so on.

A: Sometimes a father does the job of the mother, but you know he is the father. In the same way any relationship can take on other forms also. No relationship is a water tight compartment. All relationships will have the flavor of the other four relationships. You don't have to think that if I take on the attitude of a mother, I will be only a mother; sometimes I will take on the other relationships also.

But the majority of the time, one relationship will be dominant. When Hanuman says to Rama, 'You are my Lord', Rama says, 'I am your friend!' and hugs him. He elevates him to the level of a friend. Arjuna says to Krishna, 'You are my friend' and Krishna says, 'I am your Lord'. Arjuna then cries, 'I have called you hey Krishna! hey Raghava, hey Sakethi! Please forgive me'. As and when the situation calls for it, the different relationships will come into play automatically. To have a little added taste, you will have all the relationships!

Q: How do you surrender to the guru completely without doubts?

A: If you have really surrendered, doubts will not come!

Q: How do you resolve guilt of following another guru?

A: This is an important subject: guru conflict! It is nothing but a conflict inside yourself. There is no real conflict between the real masters. If Rama and Krishna meet, they will hug each other, but Rama's monkeys and Krishna's cows will fight!

The energy of all the great masters is one and the same; all masters are the embodiment of the same energy; there is no need for any conflict. I always tell people: go around, pluck flowers from as many gardens as you wish to and make a nice garland! But they don't pluck from any garden; instead they bring only thorns – trouble! If you are doing window shopping, you are not learning from any guru. If you really know the knack of plucking flowers, you will become adept at plucking flowers from gardens.

When you go from guru to guru, you will become more intense, but if you don't learn from any guru, it is better that you stay with only one guru. After all, what are you going to learn from so many gurus that you can't learn from one? Going to the first guru itself is wrong if you are doing just window shopping. Don't torture him and torture yourself; liberate the guru with whom you are living by following him in the right fashion!

If you feel the guru is only a teacher and not the path, simply leave him. The rule of thumb is, when you meet the real guru, your heart will simply fall, you won't even think of anyone else!

Q: Will a guru accept anyone as his student?

A: Yes, a guru will accept anybody. That is why all of you are here.

Q: Master, the craving to meet more and more gurus has gone after meeting you.

A: Yes, your destination has arrived, that's all! You don't need anything else.

Q: For how long do you need a master?

A: As long as you have the idea of a master-disciple relationship, you need it. When it dissolves, you don't need it.

Q: Can a disciple relate to the master remotely?

A: Yes, he can relate. The master does not have to be physically present for his grace to work on the disciple.

Q: Does a master have an exclusive individual relationship with everyone?

A: Yes, he does. Don't confuse your relationship with him as the same which he has with others. With some disciples, I have a mother relationship, with some father, some son etc. People think that others are more fortunate than themselves when they see the master interacting differently with others. Understand: he makes each one grow in his or her own way and only he knows how each one will grow.

When disciples compare notes with one another, there is a great danger that one person looks for the same treatment to him as was given by the master to someone else. Here one needs to understand that the master's treatment of each disciple is based on the disciple's need for growth.

Q: What is the relationship between man and God?

A: If you don't have a guru, man, guru and God are separate. When you have a guru, all 3 - man, guru and God become one. The relationship between the three is this: the guru is the bridge between the man and God. The moment the guru happens in your life, you become God.

Man plus guru is God. God minus guru is man.

Q: Who is the guru and who is God?

A: God is your imagination about the Ultimate Energy, the ultimate consciousness, the Parashakti. The guru is your reality about it! There is a verse that says: when guru and God appear at the same time, I will bow down to the guru because he can show me God any time!

Your concept of God is not God. Vivekananda says, 'Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is God himself.' An onlooker asks, 'You can say that Ramakrishna is enlightened but how can you say he is God?' Vivekananda asks him, 'What do you know about God?'. The man says, 'He is omniscient, omnipresent.' Vivekananda asks, 'What is omniscient?' The man replies, 'It means the full sky.' Vivekananda asks, 'And beyond the sky?' The man has no answer. Vivekananda then asks, 'Define 'omni'. The man says, 'I don't know'. Vivekananda explains, 'The very idea of 'omni' etc. is your imagination. You don't know God; you only know about him and that too in your own way. Whatever idea you have about God, Ramakrishna is that and something more than that.

Vivekananda was the first courageous person to declare that enlightened masters are more than God.

Q: But God created gurus.

A: What is creation?

Questioner says: manifest from the unmanifest. I don't know….

Master: Masters are something much more than what you know about God. God to you is a mere concept. Master is reality. If you say God created the universe, it is again a concept to you. The universe created itself; it has forever been in Existence. It has no beginning or end. Therefore there is no creation, as you understand it.

Q: Is God separate from you?

A: No. One person files a defamation case against another saying that the man called him a dinosaur 15 years before.. People asked him why he was filing a case 15 years later. The man said, 'I saw a dinosaur only yesterday. I was so insulted - that is why I did it.'

If you say I am God, it is defaming me because whatever you know about God, you will start thinking that about me and I am not that. I will sue you for defamation! What you understand about God is not solid. It is very difficult for you to understand because you don't know God. How can you ask if I am God? Let us say you don't know what a cloth is. Can you ask me, 'Are you wearing a cloth?' You cannot! So relax, that's all!'

Q: Can we have a definition for God?

A: No, God can't be defined. If I give you a definition, more definitions will arise, that's all.

Understand that when we live on a baseless concept, we will fall into the base automatically. Start with some concept, but don't end with it. Order with the menu card but drop the card once you are served. Drop the Vedanta concepts and start living without judging anybody or anything. If you say, 'I am in utterly terrible and total confusion', you are in the first step! Be Blissful!

When you view the sky through your window, you will see the sky as a square. In the same way, with your concepts, God is only a square but the guru is the sky!

Q: Is it wrong to do puja (act of honoring God)?

A: Nothing wrong unless you do it as a mere ritual without understanding its significance. People read the sahasranama - the thousand sacred names of God - by constantly checking how many more pages there are to go. They do it as a ritual. When you start looking at the page numbers, it is like abusing God. Gratitude is the ultimate puja, the ultimate prayer.

Puja is the stepping stone in your spiritual growth. But do not get stuck there. Don't start thinking that the form to which you offer puja is the ultimate thing. Go beyond the form, or else the form itself will hinder growth.

God is omnipresent. The moment you realize this, you will not stop with puja but will go beyond it. You will experience the universal consciousness and realize that you are one with it. When you start living in the attitude of gratitude all the time, you surrender your ego completely to the master and you will have complete trust in Existence.

Q: Why don't you directly transmit bliss to us?

A: (Master laughs and replies) How will you bear it? If I do it, you will be shattered. First, you need the maturity; otherwise it will be like giving you the status without having reached the state. A cat that burns its tongue by drinking hot milk does not go near the milk again. It is like when an egg is broken prematurely, premature chicks come out.

Q: During the Ananda Darshan (darshan literally means that which is seen, and usually refers to the sight of a Divine entity), we are in that state but only for some time master. Why don't we continue to be in that same exalted state?

A: Anything that you try to cling on to moves away from you. Only when you are not mature, you try to cling onto something. Not trying to possess anything is what is called maturity. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM can never be possessed – both – THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM with small letter 'n' and capital letter 'N'. If you put your hands in the river and try to hold the water, it will escape. Not possessing is the first step towards maturity. This will automatically lead to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

When a disciple starts to become mature, the guru appears. Once he is mature enough to drop the master's form, the master is not needed to be in physical form.

Q: Is reminding ourselves to be blissful wrong?

A: It is the only thing that is right!

Now go and digest what I said and make it energy! Also, go eat for your stomach and digest.

Q: Master, can you tell us about the sacred thread that you gave us to wear?

A: It is an energized thread. It will hold the energy when you go to high energy places and it will radiate the energy when you are in a low energy state. It is like an energized battery!

Q: You said that we will remove it when we reach Rishikesh at the end of the tour. Is it going to be de-energized at that time then?

A: No. We are only ending the vow in Rishikesh. You can wear it or throw it in the Ganga. It will not be de-energized. Only the vows will end so that those of you who may not wish to follow them in the world outside, you may do so..

Q: Master, what about our regular sacred thread poonal?

A: See: the people who give the sacred thread to you are not masters. They just chant the gayatri mantra (a chant meant to kindle the inner intelligence) and energize thread and give it to you. How much you chant, that much it will be energized. Ladies can also wear it. If you see the statues of feminine deities in temple carvings, you will see that they wear it. Because of male chauvinism, it has been discontinued. This thread is worn across the chest and serves to constantly remind one about one's connection with Existence.

Q: Master, why is the sacred thread removed from the dead?

A: If the thread is energized, it should not be removed. When the thread is there, negative energies won't enter the dead. If the thread is not energized, it will absorb negative energy, which is why they probably remove it.

Have the courage to go behind the Truth. Doubt is the torch to enlightenment. masters can give enlightenment to individuals.

Q: You are always barefoot but your feet are so smooth and flawless.

A: It is because I don't have any enmity with the earth. When you relate with the earth, you will not get hurt. You are conditioned to think that it hurts; that is why it hurts. Except at college, I have never used footwear. Treat nature as your friend. Don't think of it as your enemy. Then you will not have a problem.