Awareness is the way to go inward
A discourse delivered by THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM in Tamil
Awareness is the way to go inward. In our life, be it problems with our body, problems with the mind, or problems with our feelings or problems that are spiritual, it is because of our tremendous insensitivity. We lead our life even without knowing what is going on. We do not even have the basic clarity to see what is happening within us and around us. It is because we live our life superficially. We never understand the changes that happen within us or the changes that happen outside us.
A small story:
A man after drinking heavily came home. He had drunk to a point where he could not drink anymore. As he was coming home his worries started. The first question his wife will ask: Why are you coming home so late? Secondly he knows she will ask: What were you doing all this while? A big enquiry will take place. So he was afraid.
He entered the house through the back door. As he climbed the stairs he slipped and fell down. He was hurt all over his face. Without making any noise, since he wanted to save himself from his wife's anger, he went to the bathroom and put on bandages on his face. Somehow he managed the situation without knowing what he was doing in the drunken state. He went to sleep without his waking his wife up.
The next day morning as soon as she woke up she started yelling: Last night where did you go?
He said: I had overtime work.
She asked: What were you doing?
He replied calmly: I told you I had overtime work in the office.
She said: You are lying. You have been drinking!
He denied it and said: Surely I have not been drinking. How can you be so sure that I have been drinking?
She said: No, go and look in the bathroom, you have put bandages all over the mirror!
In his drunken state he looked at his wounds in the mirror and applied the bandages on the mirror!
We also do the same thing in our lives. Where ever there is a problem instead of applying medication where the problem is we apply it somewhere else. Besides becoming an object of ridicule for others, the pain of problems follows us everywhere.
The man in this story ignores his face that is hurt and applies the bandages to the unhurt mirror. He applies a bandage to his face reflected in the mirror! He tries to set the reflection right! In the same way this world and our life are reflections of our self. If we are in bliss we will have the feeling that everyone is in bliss. If we are in sorrow we will have the feeling that everyone is in sorrow. If we are the kind of person who believes everybody we will have the feeling that everyone believes us. If we don't believe others, we feel no one believes us. The world is just a reflection of who we are.
We instead of putting the bandage within ourselves we put the bandage on the mirror. We apply bandage on the world and we try to change the world. Some of us only put a bandage, while some others begin to operate! When we begin to operate on the mirror, at the most the mirror will break. That is all. We are not going to gain anything or see any change.
Truly what has to be done is to create awareness within us and develop clarity as to where we are making a mistake. Why we are committing that mistake? How to correct it? Only when we turn back and look into ourselves we can bring change. We will begin to create bliss within ourselves. Within each of us blissful energy is blossoming all the time.
In this world thousands of Jñānīs (enlightened persons) are created. Jñānīs never agree on anything. If we ask one of them about food one will say: It is enough if we have one meal a day. If we ask another Jñānī he will say: No. It is okay to have two meals. Another Jñānī will say: Nothing wrong we can eat as much as we want. If we ask Mahavira he will say: Don't eat. It is wrong to eat. If we ask him about marriage he will say: Don't get married. That is the only solution for a peaceful life. If we ask another Jñānī he will say: Nothing wrong in getting married once. If we ask another Jñānī he will say: Nothing wrong one can get married four times. Each Jñānī will give a different opinion.
I always say: If we get married once in our life, attaining Jñāna (enlightenment) is an option. Even if we don't have Jñāna we can live. But if we get married twice, attaining Jñāna is a compulsion. We cannot live without attaining Jñāna. It is difficult. Only if we have Jñāna we can solve all the problems we face.
It is said in the Vedas that this is because each one's experience is different. Each Jñānī expresses his experience in a unique way. The way in which one Jñānī expresses another will not express in the same way. That is why each Jñānī has a different opinion, different method, and different goal.
But all the Jñānīs throughout the world accept one thing. On this one issue alone no one differs from the other. That means this idea must be a very basic fundamental idea. This idea is that man by his very nature is a blissful free being. On just this one idea all the Jñānīs, all the yogis, all the rishis, all the siddhas and all the sages have agreed. All the great saints have accepted this one idea. All the Jñānīs say that life is of blissful nature. Our mind is blissful by nature. By nature we are blissful beings.
However, in our daily lives that is not our experience. In reality, our life is otherwise. In our real life experience, life is full of sorrow. It is not very blissful in nature. Then where does the problem occur? Are the Jñānīs telling a lie or are we making a mistake somewhere in our lives? Now we have to do research only on these two things. Are the Jñānīs lying or are we living our lives in the wrong way? Surely there is no need for Jñānīs to tell a lie, because they do not need anything from this world. So there is no need for them to lie.
Ramana Maharishi has beautifully said the following words. It is explained in one of his disciples' books: A manual worker may earn around a thousand dollars as wages. A teacher may earn a few thousand dollars. Business people may earn many thousand dollars even millions. However, the Jñānīs who work at a deeper level of the being need two meals and three yards of cloth. That is all. They do not need anything more.
More salary is given to the people who talk than is given to the people who do physical labor. More salary is given to those who use their mind than those who do the talking. But the world does not give the Jñānīs who work at a deeper level than that of the mind anything. It is because they do not need anything. So there is no necessity for the Jñānīs to tell a lie. They have no vested interests. They have nothing to achieve by telling a lie.
That means only we are making a mistake somewhere in our lives. Where are we making a mistake? How to correct this? This is what we are going to understand deeply in this discourse.
I want to make a small request before entering into the discourse. In a step-by-step manner I am going to try to explain to you the setup of your mind. Generally only in our mediation camps or workshops I share this idea. The reason being the people who come for these mediation camps come with a deep desire to meditate. They do not come to do window-shopping. When we walk on the street we just go into a well-lit shop to satisfy our curiosity to see what is in there because the display window is beautiful. The people who come for these meditation camps are not mere window shoppers. They will be sincere seekers of Jnana (knowledge). So I generally share these deep ideas only at these meditation camps. But today with the thought that all of you have come here sincerely I will try to explain this idea.
One thing you have to do from your side. Listen with deep awareness to what I say and absorb the ideas. With deep Sraddha (conscious, sincere and dedicated mental attitude) try to absorb all that I say. It is because this truth has the power to bring about the change in you just by listening to it deeply.
Some people come to me and ask: Master, I know it is wrong to smoke but I am not able to stop smoking. What should I do? I asked him: Sir, we know our hands will get burnt when we touch the fire but do we still put our hands in the fire? No, we don't. We know it is wrong to smoke. We know smoking is harmful for our health. Then how can we say we are not able to quit smoking? It means that we do not understand fully that smoking is injurious to our health.
If we understand the truth, it will change our life. The truth has the power to transform our life. Nothing else has the power to transform our life other than the truth. If the truth that it is harmful for our health to smoke, is clearly explained to a man he will not be able to smoke again. If we are smoking again and again the truth has not been explained to us clearly. Is there anyone who will say that: I know that if I touch fire it will hurt me, but I am unable to keep my hands off it? Do we ask: Teach me a mediation technique to keep away from fire? Do we ask: How not to touch fire please advice me, Master? No, we do not ask such questions. The moment we know it burns we take our hands off. There is a saying in Tamil: The pot was hot and lo! The hand let go! If the pot is hot automatically the hand lets go. If the hand does not let go then it means that the clarity that the pot is hot has not taken birth in us.
The truth has the tremendous power to liberate us immediately without postponing. The truth has the power to take us to spiritual freedom in a moment. All we have to do is to deeply and calmly absorb the ideas spoken today. We have to give permission for these truths to work on us.
At least for the next few hours do not ask all these foolish questions, contradictory questions. There are two types of contradictory questions. One is to know the answer. It is asked because you want to understand more deeply. I always welcome these types of questions.
Sometimes people ask because they think they know better or they ask based on the ideas that they already have or to prove a point supporting their mental setup. They oppose what is being said. These people ask questions out of an arguing mentality just to prove their point. Such questions asked out of an arguing mentality will only lead to stubbornness. Stubbornness is worse than paralysis. At least paralysis will only prevent one side of our body from functioning. With stubbornness, our mind itself will stop functioning. People who are stubborn do not move forward in life. They do not think of moving forward either. They do not have the clarity of thinking to move forward in life. People who hold on to the past or future are the stubborn people. They do not come to the reality of the present. They do not have the clarity to come to the present.
Now all those questions that arise again and again are because of our stubbornness. Life means we will have our own imagination of how it ought to be and we will be living it. If someone comes along and says the final truth, that truth proves that our whole life is a lie. It proves that the objects after which we run are like mirages in the dessert.
Even if we understand and accept that it is the truth, for the sake of the ego we protect our earlier understanding of life. Even if the person in front of us is telling the truth we question him. When we function with this attitude the truth does not work on us. We do not permit the truth to work on us.
Ramakrishna has beautifully said: When a wind called malayamaarutham blows all the trees in its way will become sandalwood trees except the banana tree. The banana tree will not allow the wind to change it. In the same way this breeze of Jnana that blows when we open the doors of our heart will transform all those in its way into Jnanis. We cannot do anything to those people who are struggling without being able to open the doors of their heart whatever may be the wind that blows past them. Not just the wind of Jnana, even if a storm of Jnana cannot do anything to them.
All the thoughts we already have about life, the mental set up we already have about life is dharma; the thoughts about our security such as wealth is artha and thoughts about what we think as comforts in our life is kama.
All our thoughts about these three, all our thoughts about our life, the rules that our social setup have given us and our opinion about these rules, constitute dharma. One should not kill another. Reason being it is a dharma. If it is okay for one to kill another, the world will not have any people. Eye for an eye attitude will make the whole world blind. This revengeful attitude will not show us the final truth about. These agreements we make between us are called dharma. We say to another: I will not torture you and you will not torture me. Both will co-exist happily. We have come together and made these rules amongst ourselves. These have become the rules of society and rules of the country. These ideas or rules constitute dharma.
Artha means wealth. Whatever we think will give us security till the end of our lives would constitute artha. Wealth and life insurance will constitute artha. Truly if you see it is not life insurance. It is death insurance. After a person dies the money goes to the relatives of the dead. The relatives are waiting for this. After death if it goes to someone then that someone is waiting for this. It is death insurance.
A small story:
A small boy was playing on the seashore.
His mother said: Son, do not go to the water. Do not play in the waves. Recently we had the tsunami. Don't enter the waves. Keep away from the water. Play in the sand.
The boy asked his mother: How come when father goes and plays you never tell him not to. If father goes you let him go but you stop me from going?
The mother said: Oh! Your father has life insurance. Even if he dies it is okay.
Life insurance is truly death insurance. Whatever we think of as security in our life is artha.
Thirdly we will see about kama. Kama is all the things we think of as comforts in our life.
All the wrong ideas we have about dharma, artha and kama make our lives sorrowful. If we attain freedom from these wrong ideas about dharma, artha and kama, we achieve moksha, liberation. Our elders say dharma, artha, kama and moksha. If we understand clearly that the ideas we have about dharma, kama, artha are wrong and correct it that will bring us moksha. Only these wrong ideas about artha, kama and dharma give us mental stress which leads to physical disease. They create mental and physical disease that puts us in sorrow.
Truly if we deeply see our mental set-up we will see that there is nothing called the mind. Please understand deeply, time and again jnanis have said that something called mind does not exist. But we think that such a thing such as mind exists in our life.
In truth if we create awareness within us and see, we will find that each of our thoughts is separate and free and cannot be connected. But because of our past experiences that we have created and that we remember the imprint of our thoughts, we begin to connect all our thoughts and imagine that the mind exists. Thoughts are not at all connected in any way within us as they arise. Each thought is independent and unconnected. Please understand that if we understand this one thought clearly this very second we can attain jnana. This very second we can realize the freedom within ourselves.
You can do this small exercise. After you go home sit quietly for ten minutes. Take a piece of paper and write down all the thoughts that come to you. Do not try to control or change any of the thoughts that arise. Write these thoughts in a casual and spontaneous manner. You are doing this for yourself. You are not going to show it to anybody. So be honest and sincere and write all the thoughts that come to you. After writing for ten minutes just read what you wrote once. After reading that you will understand what a big mental asylum you are running in your mind.
Without any reason unconnected thoughts come up again and again. Suddenly you will have the thought to go to Madurai. Then you have the thought: At least once I must go to America and visit my son. Then the next thought will be: Would it not be nice to ask my wife to bake cakes to eat? Then another thought: Someone said THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM is giving a discourse. I should go there. Then another thought: Some one said they are conducting mediation classes. I could go there. Then a counter thought: Why should I? I am well. Why mediation for me? Let's leave that. After a while another thought: It's been a while since I went to the doctor. Maybe I should go and visit him.
The thoughts that arise in the mind will be unconnected and separate. There will not be any connected thinking. Just for ten minutes if we sit down and put our thoughts on paper as they arise we will know that the mind by it's very nature has unconnected thoughts, thoughts that cannot be connected with a reason, thoughts that are unbounded, thoughts that are free.
Each thought that arises in our mind is independent, free. Every second we are renouncing a thought. A small example: If we want to get up from here we have renounced the thought we want to sit here. The moment we decide to walk we have renounced the thought that we want to sit. The moment we decide to sit up we have renounced the thought that we want to recline and sit.
Because we are renouncing our older thoughts again and again, newer thoughts are coming to our mind. Some times some people will try to hold onto one thought and stay deeply rooted in that thought. Only when we deeply root ourselves to one thought we achieve whatever we have thought of. Even for achieving, after we achieve we will not be rooted in that thought. That is why Ramana Maharishi says: The illusory mind perceives a small mustard seed as a mountain before attaining it and sees a mountain as a small mustard seed after attaining it.
Before attaining we feel we cannot live without that. After attaining we feel that whatever has been achieved is dull and uninteresting. It is a foolish mental setup. Before attaining the mind shows even a mustard seed to be a mountain. It shows us that life cannot be lived without a certain object. It tells us: It is a basic need for my life. Somehow can't I attain it? How will my life go on without this? The mind will use all these big words to cheat us. After we attain what we want it will show even a mountain as a mustard seed. The foolish mind will show even a small mustard seed as a mountain before attaining and show a mountain as a mustard seed after attaining it.
To quote a small example: We go shopping to buy something. On the way we see a new shoe on display. It is a beautiful pair of shoes. As soon as we see it, we feel like buying it and wearing it. We do not have money to buy it. So we just brush aside that thought and go away. The next day, while going the same way we see the same pair of shoes. A thought crosses our mind: Somehow we will save enough money to buy those shoes. The third day the mind will say: Surely if I buy those shoes it will be good for me. The fourth day the mind will start living with those shoes. After a week the mind will say: If we buy those shoes we can wear it and go jogging in the morning. Our health will be better. It will be a great help for our life. What a big help these shoes are? The mind will say the next day: My life will change for the better if I buy those shoes.
Slowly the mind will make all kinds of reasons to show that our life will not run without those shoes. It will show as if it is a basic necessity in our life. Immediately we will somehow try and save money or borrow money from somebody and buy those shoes. For one week even while sleeping we will sleep with those shoes on. For one week those shoes will be on our feet. After one week we will start wearing it only when we go out. After a month we will wear it only for some special occasions. After three months you won't even polish those shoes. They will be lying in a corner of a room below the stairs.
This is our way of life. Before achieving even a small mustard seed will show up as a mountain and after achieving even a mountain will show up as a mustard seed in the illusory mind. Not only objects, we treat our relationships much the same way. Before living with somebody he will appear like an angel to us. Whether it is husband or wife, before marriage the other person will appear like an angel. He will appear like a hero and she will appear like a heroine. They will appear just like the image we have in our dreams. The moment we come and live closer together slowly we begin to realize that the other person is not up to our expectations. After a few days we begin to think that we made a mistake by marrying that person. After a few more days we begin to think that we did not make a mistake, but the other person has cheated us and not lived up to our expectations.
First our mind says: Ah! Just looks like the girl in our dreams. Then it says: No, she is not as I expected but I will adjust and live with her. Later it says: Maybe I did make a mistake. Finally it says: I did not make a mistake but she has cheated me. Step by step the mind thinks this way.
Whenever we take something for granted, whenever we decide something is ours, that very instant we stop living with that object or person. One more thing, the mind by its very nature has a tendency to show the mustard seed as a mountain before attaining it. It shows even a mountain as a mustard seed after attaining it. Only if we understand this we will begin to go with our feelings rather than live by what our mind says.
The mind is a place where separate, unconnected and free thoughts arise. But we try to connect those thoughts in a superficial way. The stress we had yesterday and the mental turmoil we have today are separate free incidents. There is no need to connect the two. But our mind connects the mental turmoil we had yesterday, the stress we had one week back, the turmoil we had one month back with the turmoil we have today and comes to the conclusion: I am in a mental turmoil. I am in depression. My stress has become more. This is our first sin. It is called the original sin.
Without knowing anything about us firmly or clearly we just pick out some incidents in our life and connect it and come to a conclusion about ourselves. This is the first mistake we make. The mental turmoil we had ten years ago; the mental turmoil we had two years ago; the mental turmoil we had a week back; the mental turmoil we have today are all separate incidents. There is no need to connect these incidents. We cannot connect these incidents.
Our mind creates new thoughts every second. Because of habit when we connect all these incidents we imagine some incidents as pleasurable and some incidents as sorrowful. If someone listens to what we say we imagine that to be pleasure. That is why we have put a stamp of pleasure on the incidents when people listened to us. Whenever people listen to us we put the stamp of pleasure and tell ourselves: Oh! We are experiencing pleasure. Then the mind says: Initially I was happy. Now also I am in pleasure. Immediately the next question arises, how to be happy tomorrow? The mind thinks: So tomorrow if I have to be happy then someone has to listen to me. I have to be in a position so that others will listen to me. I have to bring the same mental setup with me. Around me I should keep people who listen to me. What should I do to make this happen?
If we think that a certain incident is pleasure then we will make all efforts to elongate this period of pleasure. If we decide that something gives us pain then we will take all efforts to break that pain.
Understand deeply: Our mind is an unclutched gear. It is a gear shaft that has not been engaged. It is a free gear shaft. It is composed of independent thoughts revolving on their own. But because of our habit we try to connect these thoughts and think they form a clutched shaft. Because of our nature we try to engage a free unclutched gear shaft thinking that it is clutched and create a thought continuum. Only when we decide our mind is a continuous object, problems begin. When we think it is a continuous object that exists we create a net of pleasure incidents and a net of pain incidents.
By connecting all the incidents that we think give pleasure we try to do whatever has to be done to make such incidents happen again in our life. We act in order to create that same mental state of pleasure in us. This is one act. Secondly we pick out some incidents in our lives and label it as pain. Again because we do not want all that happened and the pain that we went through to happen again we do whatever we need to do to avoid that. But we have forgotten one basic thing. By trying to make incidents that we think as pleasure happen again and again it may happen that no pleasure arises out of it. We forget that when we keep eating more and more of a sweet that we think tastes good, instead of feeling good we may feel we have had enough. We may feel sick.
We forget that when we brand some incidents as painful and try to avoid those incidents, these very incidents have the ability to run and chase us and catch hold of us. Be it death or a separation from a friend or relative, we create a wall of pain around these incidents. We do all that needs to be done to avoid that separation. After all some day the separation has to happen. We refuse to accept this truth. When we refuse to accept this truth nature forcibly with deep swiftness and full force creates this separation for us. When incidents that we think of as pain happen beyond our control, we struggle without being able to accept them.
Maya or illusion is nothing but the effort we make to break the incidents that cause us pain and to elongate the incidents that cause us pleasure. Truly we cannot break pain or extend pleasure. In truth there is no pain or pleasure there. In our life each incident that happens is a separate free incident. Only we try to connect all these incidents and stamp them as painful incidents and incidents that give us pleasure. After stamping these incidents we try to either prevent such incidents from happening or try to make them happen again. Labeling these incidents as pleasurable or painful is a wrong act. Trying to break the pain or lengthen the pleasure will only result in failure.
In our life, right from when we were ten years old, we try to connect all the incidents that gave us pain. We then decide that life itself is painful. After deciding which incidents give us pain we try and make an effort to prevent such incidents from happening. But we do not understand that the very conclusion that life is painful is wrong. Life is not painful. Only some incidents that have happened in our life have been painful. That is all. But when we connect incidents that happen in our life and come to a conclusion that life itself is painful, even without our knowledge we create hatred towards our entire life.
In a fish tank there is small air pump that generates bubbles. There will be a continuous stream of bubbles that comes up from this pump. Each bubble is separate and free from the other. It will come up from the bottom. Same way in our mind each thought is a separate bubble. It is not connected with the other. It cannot be connected. But we have stored our thought bubble ten years back and the thought bubble that just happened. We connect the two and decide that from then till now I am in sorrow. We decide that from then till now I have stress. The moment we make this decision we have created an enemy that does not exist. Then we begin to fight with this enemy.
In the fields, to chase away the crows they make a scarecrow. They make this out of hay. For the head they use an upturned pot and paint a face on that pot with charcoal. If the crow wants to fight with that scarecrow, will the crow win? No, the crow will not win, because actually there is no enemy there. The crow has to know that it is only a dead doll. We do not have to fight with it nor make friends with it. Truly there is no one there. No person is there. Even within us as we think there is no sad or happy mind. Only because we are habituated to connect independent, separate thoughts that arise in the mind we imagine the mind exists, we also fight with the imaginary enemy, and we get tired mentally within ourselves. We feel that the misery we have is not enough so we bring in one more misery of how not to be miserable and sink our selves in unrecoverable misery. If misery is on one side, on the other there is the thought as to how not be in sorrow. The thought of how not to worry becomes another worry. The thought of how to be without fear becomes another fear.
Sigmund Freud is the father of Western psychology. He saw mentally sick people again and again and heard their problems repeatedly. He has done research for about 35 years and has formed some ideas about man. After 35 years of research he writes a letter to his friend and student. He writes: Son, I have discovered many things in these 35 years of research. If I have to tell you the truth the only path for man is sorrow and sadness.
He says that whatever you do you cannot bring humans out of this state. After 35 years of research he says this. Is thirty-five years of research necessary for this? There is no need. Why he came to this conclusion is because all the specimens that came to him were mentally sick patients. He conducted these experiments on people who were already mentally ill. He did not get a single jnani who has gone beyond the mind. If he had an opportunity to live with a jnani he would not have come up with the idea that man cannot come out of sorrow. All the specimens he got were mentally ill. He got only hopeless and mentally retarded specimens. After looking at those specimens at hand, based on the conclusions he drew about these specimens, he generalized it for all humans.
Western psychologists continuously conduct experiments on rats. After doing research on rats they conclude that it is the same for humans. Anatomically, rat and human may be the same in many ways. There is nothing wrong in this. But even for mental health issues they are continuing to draw conclusions based on experiments conducted on rats. For how many days can you conduct experiments on rats and compare that to humans?
That is why there is much to Western psychology or psychotherapy. We just have to lie down on a bed and keep talking about our problems. The poor doctor will sit there and listen to us forever. That is all. In the villages there are old ladies, grandfathers, neighbors to share our problems. If not there are some swamis or Gurus. We can go to them and share our problems. In the West there is no one to sit and listen. Everyone is busy.
The person who listens is the psychiatric doctor. We just pay him to sit and listen to us. What will he do? We will talk and he will listen. How many days to talk about the same problems? The doctor will get bored. The patient gets tired of talking and talking about the problem and gets a feeling that the problem is straightened out.
So if we want to become a psychiatric doctor, we don't need to do anything. Just pretend to listen. Then learn ten words of consolation. We don't need to do anything more.
Not only that, Sigmund Freud created a beautiful idea. He made the patient lie down on the bed and put a screen between him and the patient. The doctor will sit on this side and the patient will lie down on the other side. The patient has to talk about the problem and the doctor will listen. You know why they put this screen? Because some of the times even if you record Hmm, continue and words like that and leave it where the doctor sits, the patient would not know. If you record all this and leave it the patient will not know what is happening. He will just continue to talk.
This is a true story. It truly happened. A doctor had five to six patients. So he made cabins. In all the five or six cabins he would put a bed, as soon as the patient comes in he will put the screen the recorded voice will be there saying: Okay then what happened? And the tape will continue to play. The patient thinks that the doctor is listening and will continue to talk.
After half an hour the doctor will come and see the patient and say: That is enough. We will keep the rest for tomorrow. And he will send the patients away. This is how the sessions take place.
One day what happened, the patient who was lying down had a doubt. He thought: What is this? The doctor is repeating the same word. He moved the screen and looked behind. He found the tape recorder on the other side! The next day the patient also put a tape recorder at his end! When the doctor can keep a tape recorder why not the patient? He also sat at home and spoke at length and recorded it, brought it to the clinic switched it on and left. When the doctor came he could hear the patient talk on the other side. The doctor was under the impression that there was somebody on the other side. Both the tape recorders were talking to each other. Western psychology is nothing but this.
It is the same with Philosophy. It is very simple to be a philosopher. If one wishes to become a philosopher it is enough to understand three or four ideas. One can become a philosopher. All the things we are not able to follow in our life we can write a book about it and publish it. That is the first thing. Secondly what has to be said, we should not say it in a simple manner. We should complicate it to the maximum extent possible. Thirdly, we should criticize everyone who comes within our sight. All the persons who come within our eyesight and all that comes within our eyesight we must criticize. Fourthly we must not offer a solution to anyone. If we give a solution then they will not come back to us. They will become independent. So we must not give a solution.
First we have to write all the impractical ideas that we could not follow in our lives. Secondly we must complicate it and not write it directly so it will not be understood. Thirdly we must criticize all the people around. Fourthly we must not give a solid solution. If we do this we can become an instant philosopher in a day.
People with all these qualities become very good philosophers. Practically they cannot achieve anything. They cannot follow in their own life what they teach in their books. Because they cannot make it an experience in their own life they cannot live happily. This is the fate of all the people who play with words without the experience. Such a philosopher may write: Stop worrying, stop worrying. How to stop worrying? He does not address that. As soon as we read this book what will happen to us? We will think: Oh God! I am not able to stop worrying! And this will become another added worry.
We can't worry. We can't stop worrying. Only if we know this we are liberated. We can't start worrying when we want to. Know this well. Twenty-four hours we can't be worrying. Even without our knowledge we will get tired and fall sleep. Even without our knowledge after a couple of hours our mind will relax.
For some one who says: No, my whole life is worry please try this. For the next five days you take an oath that you will not do anything else except to worry. Stand firm and deep on this oath. You cannot do it. I challenge you. You cannot worry. The reason being, worry and comforting thoughts alternately flow within us without any reason. When worry comes we cannot stop it. When we are happy we cannot extend it and keep same frame of mind. When the clarity happens that both these are not possible we can say: Let whatever happens, happen. Let happiness or worry come. We will refrain from making the mistake of connecting these thoughts. Only when we understand this we are liberated. Once we stop connecting yesterday's worry and the stress that came a month ago with today's worry, we will not have any mental or physical problems.
By our very nature we have the power to renounce thoughts. Even if we don't do anything else, even if we don't meditate, don't do any yoga, don't do any japa, don't pray, by our very nature we have the power to renounce thoughts.
Please understand well: I always stress on meditation. But now I am going beyond even this and revealing a truth with great clarity to you. Even if you don't meditate, your mind by its very nature has the ability to renounce sorrow, and has the clarity to stay in happiness.
A devotee asked me: Then why are you again and again asking us to meditate? Only if we sit two or three times we will realize that meditation is not possible. Only when we understand that meditation is not possible we will understand the ways of our mind and begin to surrender. We give the technique only to bring about this clarity that it is not possible for us.
If you look at the people who do japa or recite stotras or do puja, you will find that they are looking here and there. If you watch someone reading the sahasranama (thousand names of the Lord), within two minutes you will find them turning the pages to see the number of the mantra, just to see how many they have finished. Thoughts such as these will arise in the mind: How far have we read? For how much longer we have to read? I wonder how long it will take to finish it?
With great sorrow they will look at the page number. If you look at the people who perform daily puja as a ritual you will see that after finishing the puja quickly in the morning they will never come into the puja room again the whole day. They will never go that way. The reason is that when we do something regularly in a mechanical manner we create bondages.
You know why we ask you do meditation regularly? It is to make you understand that you can't. Man has to reach a stage when he says: Master, I tried a lot but I am not able to it regularly. Then there is nothing more to do beyond this. Now all we have to understand is that just as we are not able to regularly meditate, understand that we cannot create sorrow all the time. To understand that to be in sorrow all the time is not possible for us is the final stage of meditation. Being happy is also something that can't be done continuously. Being in sorrow is also something that can't be done continuously. When we understand that both these are not possible the liberation that happens within us is THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.
The effort we take again and again to destroy sorrow or to lengthen happiness is responsible for the stress we face. The stress that came ten days ago and the stress that came four days ago and the stress that we have today are independent events. Please do not connect these.
A wise man lived in the West. A situation arose in his life when he had to be on a special diet. He would eat the same variety of spinach and the same variety of rice everyday. The disciple who used to cook for him got bored of cooking the same food for ten years and told him: Master, I am myself bored of cooking the same type of food. I cannot understand how you are eating the same type of food everyday? The jnani looked up and said: Same food? How can I eat the same food everyday? I am eating new food. Everyday I eat new food. Truly if we see how can we eat the same food the next day? It won't be in an edible state. At least it will not be in a state where man can consume it. The food can be had only on that one day. The second day it is new food. It is not the same food. It is the same type of food.
In the same way the sorrow that came the previous day and the sorrow that came after ten days and the sorrow that came after a year are all similar feelings, not the same feeling. Only when we think it the same feeling the urge to get out of the feeling arises in us. That urge naturally prods us to do something. That urge prods us to take efforts to control or contain or forget the sorrow. That effort naturally cannot be successful. Because something called worry is not firmly established in our being.
If we take a wooden log that is lit and swirl it in the air we will be able to see a circle of fire. If we try to break this circle made by this fire, is it possible? No, it will not happen. Because that circle itself is not there. Only separate balls of fire exist. This second it is here, the next second it is there. Because the swirling, the ball of fire appears like a circle. If we think there is a circle of fire and try to break that, we will meet with failure. Same way we think of the many sorrowful incidents that have happened within us as a circle of sorrow and if we make efforts to break it, we will only meet with failure.
When I went to America, I had been to Disneyland. There they do film shooting. That is where Tom and Jerry cartoon drawings are done. For one second of movie time they join 16 frames of drawings. For one second Jerry the cat's hand goes up, next second it goes further up, next frame it goes all the way up. So when we see it continuously we feel he has lifted his hand. When they join frames to form a movie and show it continuously it appears like a continuous movie. When we see the movie, we feel that the cat's hands and head are in action. But in truth they are all separate frames of pictures. There is nobody there acting as a cat or rat. It is the sequence of separate pictures that appears like an event to us.
In the same way it is the sequence of several thoughts when we see on a superficial level appears like the mind to us. The mind appears to exist. The moment we feel the mind exists we take efforts to lengthen or shorten these experiences. If we think these experiences are pleasurable we try to lengthen it. It is not possible to lengthen it. If we think it is sorrowful then we try to reduce it. That is also not possible. If we try to lengthen it we can clearly see when we try to eat four sweets the sweet taste on the tongue will last only that long. When we put the fifth sweet on the tongue it will say: Enough! When we put the sixth sweet on our tongue it will say: Don't want! If someone forces us with the seventh sweet we will try and run away from there. If the sweet was really tasty the pleasure you get from eating it must increase when you eat more sweets! But it doesn't happen that way. So the sweet is not tasty. The taste is elsewhere. It is not within our direct control. The pleasure from this tasty feeling and the sorrow from sad feelings are thoughts. These thoughts are not within our direct control. So we cannot lengthen pleasure or shorten sorrow.
When we stop doing the work of connecting these thoughts or breaking these thoughts then liberation happens to us. If we stop doing that one mistake of connecting these thoughts that very second liberation happens within us.
Now if you understand deeply the ideas that I have put forth this very second from all these three dharma, artha, and kama, you will be liberated. There is no need to wait till tomorrow. It will happen this very second. This very second if we drop this one mistake of connecting, liberation can happen to us.
One more thing, we don't do this mistake of connecting thoughts continuously also. We think we connect these thoughts all the time. That is another problem. It is not all the time that we connect all these thoughts and create problems. Sometimes even without our knowledge we forget it and relax. The moment it comes to our memory what do we do? We think: Oh! My God all the time I am connecting these thoughts and suffering. My mind is not listening to whatever I say. We create this additional problem of not being able to unclutch and try to find a solution for this. Again and again if we stop doing the mistake of connecting these thoughts our life will blossom to the fullest. Only when we make the mistake of connecting we try to lengthen pleasure or break pain.
By creating an issue that does not exist and fighting with it is what we call maya or illusion. In Sanskrit they say: Ya ma iti maya. Whatever does not exist is maya. By thinking of something that does not exist and fighting with it is maya. We think of the non-existing mind as present we think there is pleasure within it. We try to lengthen that pleasure. We think that sorrow exists within it and try to destroy that sorrow. By trying to do this again and again, we suffer and establish ourselves in hell. We must understand that we cannot lengthen pleasure or shorten sorrow.
Each thought that arises within us is a bubble. Each bubble is an unconnected and independent thought. We cannot connect them or try to connect them. The bubbles we see in a fish tank, when they come up to the surface they create some waves. By creating these waves we get the impression that one bubble is connected to the other. When one wave touches another wave it appears to our mind as if one bubble is connected to the other bubble. When we get the clarity that these bubbles are separate and independent and cannot be connected we will come to a clear conclusion about dharma, artha and kama.
If we let all these thoughts enter our mind, the ideas about dharma, artha and kama that we had before of our life will be shaken from the roots. The very base or root of our ego will begin to shake. The ideas that we already have in our mind about dharma, artha and kama is our ego. All these thoughts put together is our ego. This very root will begin to shake. If the very root begins to shake, some intelligent people will say: Let it happen. This is what I need. Some people will say: Ah! Is all this possible? All this is wrong. And they will refuse to accept these ideas.
Some other people besides refusing to accept these ideas, they will begin to question the person who puts forth these ideas. When we cannot accept these ideas, we question the authority of the person who gives us these ideas. We question his state. Sincerely with the view of understanding the truth if we let these ideas work on us this very second we can realize a deep peace within us. We begin to understand that we ran after the objects of the outer world and created all the misery and made our life hell. We will understand the very basis of misery. Only because of this one mistake of connecting thoughts we did the actions of trying to lengthen pleasure and destroy sorrow. All these actions again and again took us to hell. They only led to failure and mental fatigue. The clarity about the game we were playing till now, will happen this very second. If that clarity happens that is liberation.
Some people come and ask me: Master, I am able to understand this truth clearly now. How to keep this truth tomorrow? What should I do to remember this truth tomorrow? Tomorrow it will not be there. The moment we think: How to keep it till tomorrow or this truth will not be there tomorrow, we have done the act of connecting the thoughts and seeing our mental frame of mind tomorrow.
Some time back we may have heard some spiritual discourse and our mind would have found some peace and bliss. In two days time we would have forgotten about it and our mind would have gone back to its old ways. We take that experience and connect it with this one. By looking at what happened then how our mind found peace and then felt sorrow, we come to a conclusion that now also we feel it will do the same. If you have already come to that conclusion not just me, no God can save you.
Now we ask the question: Without worrying, how to keep this happiness and bliss till tomorrow? Understand that we connect the joys with joys or sorrows with sorrows or past events with all the present happenings or all the thoughts in the past with the present thoughts and we create an idea about our life. We create an imagination. There is no other mistake we make. This one mistake is the original sin. It is the first sin. It is the first wrongdoing. Because of that one sin all the other sins follow us continuously.
If the pillar that holds the building together is crooked by half a foot what will happen? The whole building will stand crookedly. Same way the very basic ideas about life, the basic understanding of our mind even if we make a small mistake in this all the actions that we do after that will be the building that is built on this wrong mental setup. Even if it a small mistake how many ever stories we build on top of this building it will still be crooked.
A basic thing that we must know is that by our very nature our thoughts are separate, independent, unconnected, unattached and free feelings. Our mind by its very nature renounces thoughts. Now if we have a thought such as 'let us get up'. We have renounced the thought of sitting down. That is why the thought that we should get up comes. If the thought of walking comes then we have renounced the thought of sitting down. That is why this thought comes. Continuously we renounce thoughts. So even if we don't wish it, we will renounce the sorrow by our own nature. For five minutes the mind will be in a low mood when a problem arises. If we say let it be and keep quiet and if we stop fighting with that mental agitation, by our nature, we will renounce that sorrow.
We give life to that mental agitation when we make an effort to renounce that agitation. We make that mental agitation a bigger problem. When we create a problem that does not exist, however much we try to liberate ourselves from it, we cannot get rid of it. If we try to liberate ourselves from a problem that exists, it is possible. If we try to liberate ourselves from a problem that does not exist, will we be liberated?
Someone came and asked me: If everyone becomes a sanyasi like you how will the world go on? I told him: Not everyone is intelligent to that extent. First understand this. Then I asked him another question. I asked: If everyone in this world dies how will the world go on? He said: How is that possible? How will everyone die? I told him: You say everyone can't die. Same way everyone becoming a sanyasi is not possible. These are hypothetical questions.
We create an imagination and ask questions based on that imagination. We let go the problems of the real world, we imagine some problems and ask questions based on that imagination. We cannot find solutions to imaginary problems. For real problems we can find a solution. Because it exists, we can find a solution. But for imaginary problems we cannot find a solution. Our mind itself is a problem imagined by us. Mind is a myth. The mind is something that cannot exist. It does not have an existence. It is a problem created by our imagination because of connecting thoughts.
By our very nature we only have independent and separate thoughts. For every kshana separate thoughts are arising within you. By the word kshana I do not mean second. In the Vedic tradition we do not calculate time in a chronological manner. We calculate time in a psychological manner. The measure of time is not a chronological one. It is a psychological one. Kshana does not mean second. Kshana is the gap between two thoughts. My kshana can be ten seconds and your kshana could even be half a second. If I am able to leave a long gap between thoughts then my kshana could be one hour or half an hour.
If you have mental agitation, sorrow, and mental turmoil your kshana could be half a second. Please understand deeply kshana is psychological not mental. That is why if we sit with a sweet person we will not know how quickly time passes. Yesterday many devotees came and told me: Master you have spoken for 2 hours and 15 minutes. But I thought you spoke for only twenty minutes and I remained seated. I did not realize the time pass. When we in a relaxed mood we don't feel rushed. The frequency of our thoughts is low. Our kshana is longer; so we do not realize the time pass by.
If we are with a friend who talks non-stop, even without our knowledge we will glance at our watch every five minutes. We will wonder whether the watch functions. We will wonder why the time is not passing quickly. Again and again we will glance at our watch. The reason is that when we are bored the mind gets restless. Since our thoughts become more the number of kshanas also become more. Kshana is according to psychological law not chronological law. Kshana is the gap between one thought and the next thought. Every kshana we renounce our old thoughts. Only when we renounce older thoughts newer ones come to the mind. But when we think our old thought and our new thought have a connection we believe that the mind exists we create the same problem again and again.
For the brahmacharis in our ashram the only advice I give them is not make the same mistake again. If they make new mistakes it is okay. I say, please do not make the same mistake again. But the big problem is we are not intelligent enough to make new mistakes. The same mistake we commit at a different time, different scale, different place but we do not have the creativity to make new mistakes. We will do it at a different place, different time, to a different person, in a different situation. That is all. Even to do a new mistake it does not occur to us. Because we imagine that this is the same mind we pursue the same mental setup. When we pursue the same mental set up we create the same problem and the same diseases again and again.
That is why when we get up in the morning we get the thought that we must smoke. That urge comes up and we smoke. After two hours we will wallow in the guilt: Oh! I am not able to quit this habit. One hour later, again that urge to smoke arises and we begin to smoke again. Then again guilt appears. We will be living in the same mental setup.
One person came and asked: Master, how do I liberate myself from this? I told him: Sir, either you quit smoking or you quit the guilt feeling. If you quit one, you will be liberated from the other. He said: Master, how can I quit the guilt feeling. If I quit that then I will begin to smoke more. How will I come out of it? So I told him: Don't think about all that. Try to quit either and see what happens.
After a week he came and said: Master, the moment the guilt feeling was gone that very instance the inclination to smoke also went away. Then I just remembered why I started smoking. One day my friend and I were standing in the corner of a street and we were talking. My friend was smoking. From a distance my father who was watching us saw the smoke and thought that I was the one who was smoking. After I went home he began to scold me. He beat me a couple of times. In that anger and haste I thought that since I have been already been punished for something I did not do what is the harm if I do wrong now? So I decided to smoke. That was how this became a habit. Only now when I quit the guilt the clarity about why I started smoking came to me and the habit went away by itself.
Truly if we see the guilty feeling and this habit, it is a vicious circle. We get caught in that circle helplessly. That is why we are not able to create a new mental setup. One basic deep truth we need to understand is that again and again our body rejuvenates itself.
(Glancing at his watch THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM continues to talk)
When I looked at my watch I am reminded of a small story:
A speaker for a long time was waiting for an opportunity to talk. He did not find one. Somehow he got an opportunity. Without letting go of the mike he went on talking non-stop. Slowly the crowd began to disperse. Ten people left. Hundred people left. Almost everyone was gone except for one person. After finishing his talk tired of talking he said to this person: Sir, thank you for waiting and listening to me. At least you stayed back to listen to me.
That person said: Sir, I did not stay back to listen to your talk I am the owner of this mike set. The speaker said: Sir, Is that so. If you had kept a watch here I would have known what the time was. Since I did not have a watch I did not know what the time was so I continued to talk. Sorry about that. The mike set owner said: Sir, It is true I did not keep a watch. I hung a calendar. At least you could have seen that and known the time. At least you could have seen that and finished your talk.
I did not want that to happen that is why I took this watch and kept it with me.
Kshana is something that we must deeply understand. It is enough if we understand this one idea. We will now be clear about our ideas about artha, kama and dharma. But sometimes a fear will take over our mind. It will think: If all these thoughts are unconnected how to live my life?
One more thing we need to understand: Whether we believe it or not, our body becomes new everyday. Every second thousands of cells die and thousands of new cells are created. Every twenty-one days the liver renews itself. Once in every thirty-two days our intestine renews itself. Our kidney becomes new too. Every few days each organ in our body renews itself.
Between each and every thought if there is no connection and if we have the clarity that we are a new person each time the body renews itself, the body will make a new body. But if we have the belief that it is the same mind we will create the same problem and the same diseases within our self. Suppose we have liver disease. If we are liberated from this old elongated mind a new liver will be created by our new mind. It is our mind that creates the body.
Yesterday, I was mentioning to you about the book Biology of Belief. The author, Dr. Bruce Lipton explains very clearly that our body is not controlled by DNA or cells. Even the cells and the DNA are driven and controlled by our beliefs, thoughts and counter thoughts. When we realize that we are free and that each thought is independent not only we create new body parts, but we also get liberated from our old mental setup and old diseases. Our mental setup and our diseases have a very close connection.
If any person who has a liver problem clearly understands this, he can let go the habit of connecting thoughts and can truly create a new liver without any disease. I speak from the experience of seeing several hundred thousand people over three years who have been touched directly by me for mediation. At least devotees have been cured of diseases. They have written letters of gratitude and have medical proof of being cured of the disease. I speak from my experience of running an institution and of creating and training more than 2000 healers through whom more than people are healed in a day. Please understand this deeply. If we liberate ourselves from our mind we can liberate our self from diseases also. There is no such disease that cannot be cured.
By understanding that every second we generate separate, free and independent thoughts and keeping away from creating this mind that connects these thoughts, we can keep away from bringing the same diseases that this mental setup brings. If we see deeply we will understand this idea. In the morning at 9.30am if we make a habit of feeling the office tension then even on Saturday or Sunday when it is 9.30 our mind will feel the haste. We may wonder why the mind is restless though today there is no work. Even if we tell ourselves that there is no office work and request the mind to be calm, our mind even without our knowledge will create haste in us. Reason is that just as we make our body a slave so also we make our mind a slave of our old mental setup. Just like how drinking coffee becomes a habit, worrying also becomes a habit. We must understand that we are free every second and that we are the form of separate thoughts. Once we stop connecting thoughts, instantly our body will stop creating the new body on the old body and will begin to create a new body based on our new mental setup.
From my experience of three years of healing hundreds of thousands of people of various diseases through meditation, I say truly that people who wish to realize mind and body health should accept this truth and begin to apply it in their life. This truth not only has the ability to take away our mental problems of mental stress and mental turmoil, it also has the ability to cure diseases related to the physical body. We should clearly decide that thoughts cannot be connected and that thoughts that occur in our mind are not connected by reason. The moment this clarity comes to us, in that moment, we get instant liberation from all the problems we had thought of at the mental level. There is no need to search for a solution because the problem does not exist. Only when a problem exists there can be a solution. There is no problem there.
Another thing, for five minutes if we sit down and write on a piece of paper all our thoughts we will see that there is no reason for the thoughts to come one by one. A small example, we see a dog going on the road. When we see that dog we are reminded of a scene from our childhood when we were afraid of dogs. Then the memory of where we lived in our childhood comes to us. In our childhood we will remember the teacher who taught us. The locality where our teacher lived will come to our memory. If we look with awareness there is no connection between the dog we saw on the road and the teacher from our childhood days. Both of them barked at us when they saw us. Other than this similarity there is no logical connection. But without any reason our mind somehow has traveled somewhere. Our nature is to have free separate thoughts. When we understand this, our imagination about the existent mind will disappear. When this disappears we will be liberated from all the thousands of problems that we have created within us.
Then we may ask: How will I continue my business? How will I be able to connect yesterdays' account and today's account? How will I live a life with continuity? This fear will come first. Secondly how will I keep my security, my investments and my comforts? This is the next fear. All these fears come because of ignorance. The reason why this fear happens is because our mind and our ego will see for how long it can keep us in fear. Only for that long it will be able to rule our life.
One small example: In our office if some worker managed to make us believe that work will not go on without him, he will use this to cheat us all the time. Our mind is much the same way. The mind has managed to create an illusion that business cannot go on without it. It will cheat us with this idea. It will take revenge on us with this. It will be able to satisfy our life. That is why the mind keeps us in deep fear always.
A man who was blind by birth went to a doctor. He said: Sir, please treat me and bring back my vision. The doctor said: Son, I will perform an operation and you will get your vision. Then you can walk without this cane. The doctor was referring to the cane blind people use to find their way.
The blind man told the doctor: I can understand that you will perform the operation. I will get back my vision. Even if I get my vision back how can I walk without my cane? For a long time he got used to walking with that cane, he comes to the conclusion that he cannot walk without the cane. Now can we convince this blind man that he can walk without the cane? No, we cannot. Once he gets his eyesight he will understand of his own accord.
The same way we think if we understand this truth and let go of our mind the fear as to how we will lead our lives, the awareness will happen in us. How the blind man does not need a cane to walk after he gets his vision back, in the same way if we understand this one truth we do not need the mind to live our life. We can live without the mind. A man whose vision has returned does not need a cane. A man whose third eye or wisdom is opened does not need the mind to live. You can live without the mind. But the fear within us does not leave you.
In our life we will be able to see that if a man shows us that he is an important person in our life he will cheat us continuously with this. If we want to cheat anyone in their life this is a beautiful way. Just make him believe that his life cannot be run without you. Till the end you can keep him as your slave.
Same way our mind or ego has managed to convince us that we cannot live without it. It has made us believe that we cannot save our selves without it. It has given us the idea that we cannot be in this world without it. That is why we feel that if we do not get angry others will cheat us. That is why we feel that if we are not strict, others will cheat us. We live with some worry. Understand this truth just as how the blind man does not need his cane after he gets his vision back, man does not need his mind to live his life.
If that man convinces us that we will not be able to live without him, he will take revenge and use us. In the same way if our mind has convinced us that we cannot live without it, it will swallow our whole life. It's nature is to swallow and take away our life from us. Only if we come out of that fear this truth will change into an experience for us.
One small example of how this fear attacks us. In the forests hunters will catch birds in the forest using a trap. To catch the birds they will tie a stick with a thread to the tree. The stick will hang from the branches. The bird will come and sit at one end of the stick. That instant the stick will turn upside down. As soon as the stick turns upside down the bird will hang up side down. The parrot will hang up side down. The parrot will think that if it lets go of the stick it will fall down and die. So it will hold on to the stick.
The bird does not realize that if it lets go of the stick it can easily fly away. It does not realize that it can be free and fly away. It will hold on to the stick. But if the bird wants it can remove its feet from the stick and fly away free. But the bird thinks logically, just like us. It thinks that, 'Oh if I let go what will happen? I will fall down and die'. So, it will hang on to the stick with this fear. The hunter after waiting patiently for two or three hours will come and catch this bird and put it in his bag.
Just the way the bird thinks that if it lets go of the stick it will fall down and die we also hold on to our mind. If we let go we are afraid of losing this and that. Just like the bird that clings on to the stick we also cling on to our mind because of our ignorance, our fear. This moment if we let go of the mind we will fly as a Paramahamsa. The people who have let go of the cane and the people who have realized their freedom and have flown with courage are called Paramahamsa. The people who do not have the courage and are still holding on to the stick are waiting for Yama, God of death. Yama take them from the stick by force into death. If the bird had let go by itself the bird would have its freedom. It would not have been caught in the hands of the hunter. Just like how the parrot is holding on to the stick and waiting for the hunter's return, we also wait losing our freedom.
Same way if we cling on to our minds, our interests, our attachments and worldly things Yama will come and take us away from the things we are holding onto. Our freedom will also be lost. Just the way the bird clings onto the stick blindly with fear, thinking that it will die, same way we fear that if we let go of our mind, our dharma may be lost or our wealth or artha may be lost or our comforts or kama may be lost and so we cling on to our egoistic mind, till Yama comes and takes us away forcefully. This is the mental setup of our mind.
This very second after understanding this and by realizing clearly that if the parrot lets go of the stick it will not fall it but will fly, if we let go of our mind without losing our artha dharma or kama we too will be liberated and attain moksha (liberation).
I bless that you all let go of your egoistic mind and fly like a bird in the cosmos and be Paramahamsas. Be Blissful!