DANCE YOUR WAY TO GOD🔗

I welcome you all with my love and respect. Today's subject is: Dance your way to God.

By this I mean three things, first thing, the path towards the Divine, the path towards God, the path towards self-realization is not as difficult as you always think. This is the first declaration. The next, this path is so beautiful, so ecstatic, that you don't have to run in this path, you can simply dance and reach, because, not only the goal, but the path also is so wonderful.

If you are goal oriented you have to run, or drive, but in this path you don't need to be goal oriented. It is not that God is there at the end, that God is there in the form of a goal, no! The very path is divine, the very path is God, the very path itself is such a wonderful thing. We always think, only when the Divine is reached it is joyful. No, the very prayer itself is beautiful. The very attitude of praying itself is wonderful.

There is a beautiful statement in Bhagavata (literally, that which comes from Bhagvan or God, here reference to the 'Song of God' or the Bhagavadgita, as propounded by the Hindu God Krishna), 'O lord, when you will give me darshan or when you will bless me, I don't bother about that, but you have given me the idea of praying, you have given me the idea of chanting your name, that itself is more than enough for me, that itself is so enchanting, so beautiful. So are your leelas (term from Hinduism, meaning divine play of the remembrance of your form, the memory of your leelas.'

When the Divine descends on earth and whatever is done or whatever happens we call it leela. This word leela needs to be understood in a deeper way.

In our life is called history, we are born, we are brought up, we grow and we die. If somebody writes our life it is a history, but in the case of the Divine it is a drama. He writes the script, comes down, enacts it and qoes back. For Him it's a drama, leela; for us its history. For him it's a drama script: He makes the script, comes down, plays the whole drama, and goes back. There is a story which says, Valmiki (author of the Hindu epic Ramayana written in Sanskrit) wrote the Ramayana (Hindu epic telling of the banishment of Rama from his kingdom and the abduction of his wife by a demon and Rama's restoration to the throne) much earlier than Rama's (Hindu incarnation of God, said to be one of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, a form of the ultimate human power) birth, then Rama came down, and enacted exactly as per what Valmiki wrote and then went back.

Your leela, the very memory of your dramas, the Divine leelas, that is more than enough, that itself gives so much of fulfillment, so, there is no need to be goal-oriented, as the very path itself is so joyful and ecstatic.

The third thing is very important; the literal meaning of the term dance. The very dance itself is one of the techniques. By this statement, I mean three things, first thing, your path to the Divine, your path to self- realization, your path to God is not difficult as you think. And you don't have to be too goal oriented, the very path itself is joyful. There is no need to reduce the traveling time, the very path itself is ecstatic. The third thing, the very important thing, the very dance, that itself is one of the techniques.

Let us go statement by statement; you'll be able to understand how you can dance your way to God.

First we will take up the statement, the very dance itself is a technique. Vaishnavism (One of the principal divisions of Hinduism, its adherents worship Vishnu as the supreme God) is one of the well known religions which has recognized dance as an important meditation technique. By recognizing it, it has made a huge contribution to the growth of human beings.

If you look a little deeply into religions, you will find they all have three parts: one is the philosophy, next the rituals, and third the techniques to give the experience. Philosophy sets the ideal, rituals makes you slowly move towards it, and the techniques are the pure essence, which give you the experience. Almost all the religions will have, at least the major religions, will have these three classifications: philosophy, rituals, and techniques are the essence of religion which can give you the experience of Divinity. God or the self within your self. All the religions will have these three parts, and in all the religions the technique part is always associated with dance.

There is a religion in Bengal called Bagules means mad people. The very name of the religion is mad people. Only the name is like that but if you hear their songs, if you see their lifestyle, you can't find a better spiritual expression. Their songs and their way of life are so wonderful, according to me it is one of the best spiritual expressions. In the south, Vaishnavism is another religion, where they sing and dance, where they continue the kirtans (practice of singing and repeating the name of God) and the nama sankitana (singing with perfection in a group the names of God )for hours together. It is one of the popular and powerful techniques.

In Sufism (a system of esoteric philosophy associated with Islam), the basic technique is dancing and whirling. They say that the whole of Existence is expressing, according to them the whole life is dancing. This is true! Even the physicists are proving today that every atom is dancing, is vibrant and alive. The first group of physicists declared that there are two thinqs in an atom, proton and electron, that is the static part and the moving part; the next batch declared that the same particle at one time is static, at the other time is moving; the third group, are now declaring that even the time gap is not there, at the same time it is static and is moving. Not only that, the close view of the movement of the atoms is being photographed too. I myself read a research report from NASA. The picture taken exactly, exactly means exactly, resembles the form of Nataraja (literally means the king of dance; reference here is to the dancing posture of the Hindu God, Siva). I was surprised to see such a beautiful picture of Nataraja created by the scientists.

When I read their whole report, I learnt that it was not created by them, it was a photograph created at the time of their research. When they were working on this idea of quantum physics, when they were discovering, they came up with the minutest possible photographs. Even that declared that the whole cosmos is dancing, the whole cosmos is enjoying, the whole cosmos is moving. The whole cosmos is alive, vibrant! The whole Existence is celebrating, except man. Except man, it seems everybody is in tune with Existence, except man everybody is in tune with the Divine. Only somehow man has missed the connection with reality.

In Saivism (a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the supreme God), Nataraja the God, the Lord himself is a great dancer. Always when the highest form of spirituality expresses, it expresses only in the form of joy and ecstasy. Look into the course of all the great Mystics and Masters. We can make a big list of the Masters who expressed their energy through dance. Krishna (an incarnation of the Hindu God, Vishnu) , Meera (a female mystical poet-saint who was a devotee of Lord Krishna), Chaitanya (an ascetic Hindu monk, social reformer and a great proponent of loving devotion for God). In South Bharat, it was Ramakrishna (an awakened saint of the last century from southern Bharat), Gnana Sambandar (a renowned Tamil poet) and so many others. So many saints- like Tukaram (a great saint from western Bharat), Tulasidas (one of the great saints, poets of medieval Bharat who composed a number of devotional songs). Ramadas, A big group of saints who always used to sing and dance and who always lived in that great ecstasy of spreading bliss and jov.

Chaitanya says, 'its one of the ultimate techniques to reach the Divine, its one of the ultimate meditation techniques to reach the Divine.' Ramakrishna says 'it is one of the ultimate techniques to drop all your eqo.' He says 'if you cannot sing and dance in the name of the divine, never think you can progress even an inch in your spirituality. As long as your ego, your conditioning, ego and conditioning, you can never even put one step.' He goes on to say, 'as long as you think I am something great, I am somebody great, you can never come down, you can never relate with others, you can never open yourself, you will always be sitting on the top of the roof like a monkey.'

Dance is one of the wonderful ways to let go all your conditionings, to feel connected again to the innocence and simplicity which is our true nature. Nataraja, is called not just a dancer, he is called kootan, a Tamil word which means, a man who dances without rules. Dance means something formal, you learn so many steps. According to me if you learn any dance you will lose the joy of the dance. If you are a professional bharatanatyam (a south Hindu classical dance form) dancer, you will lose the whole joy of bharatanatyam, the moment you learn the steps. The moment you become professional you lose the whole joy. I have never seen any professional enjoving their dance. The moment you become professional, you can only make money, not happiness. That is why Nataraja is called kootan, a man who dances with no rules, who just expresses joy; Nataraja is never called a dancer, he is called a kootan, he expresses himself, in that ecstasy. Meera was called a mad woman. When she was always called a mad woman, because she had neither rules nor requlations, the ecstacy would go to such a peak, she would start expressing it as dance.

Once a great devotee of the Lord was asked as to why he danced so much, like a mad person. He answered, 'If an elephant enters into a small hut, what will happen to that hut, how it shakes, how it will be totally uprooted. The same thing happens to me when I remember the Lords name, so much of energy enters me, so much of joy enters into me, so much ecstasy enters me, naturally the body starts moving and expressing itself.'

Most of Ramakrishna's photographs were taken when he was dancing, you can see the joy and the ecstasy in his face. The record says, the reminiscences say, that when he dances one could see the whole area vibrating, when he danced one could touch and feel God in the air! There was so much of energy, so much of life, so much of joy that he used to create just by the dance.

The great saint Gnanasambandar says if we sing and dance the name of the Divine, all our karmas (meaning action, effect, destiny, a term that comprises the entire cycle of cause and effect, and is central to Hinduism) disappear. Ramakrishna says in a parable, 'when you sing and dance in the name of the Lord, just as, if you stand under a tree and clap, all the birds on the tree will fly away, in the same way, if you sing and dance in the name of the karmas which are sitting in your heart will fly away, you will be liberated from the karmas.'

Dance is one of the wonderful meditation techniques which can directly put you, into that ecstasy. which can directly make you relate with the higher energy. You may ask, how it can be, because we don't believe anything simple, we believe only complicated things. If you are asked to go around a temple 108 times, vou believe something good will happen: if you are asked to sit in a room and chant 10000 times a mantra you will believe something will happen. Anything complicated, your heart feels contented, satisfied. If you are asked to climb up, walk up and down the Balaji (Venkateshwara or Balaji is a much worshipped form of Lord Vishnu and is the presiding deity at the Tirupati temple located on a hill-top in southern Bharat) hill you feel you have done something, why? Whenever vou do something hard, when your eao is fulfilled, you feel satisfied, but many things when they are simply told, you tend to resist. If I tell you to close your eyes for a few minutes and meditate you feel that is very difficult. We are ready to walk to any extent, climb any hill, but we are not ready to sit and close our eyes for a few minutes.

Complicated things support your ego, anything supporting your ego, you can do easily but simple things never support the eqo. Instead it helps you to come down from the eqo. Giving up eqo is a very difficult thing. I have always seen in our meditation camps. when the kirtan goes on. some people who are too conditioned, by their prestige and social status, they think, oh, small boys are dancing. I am such a prestigious quy, how can I come down, but, they do not know what the word prestige denotes. It's nothing but the conditioning, all the labels put on ourselves, or given to us by society is our so called status, its nothing but the labels given to you by society. Society says you are this, you are that. Understand clearly, all the labels which you get from society, is what we call status. As long as you are identifying vourself with the labels, you can never realize the stuff which is inside you. The stuff which is inside you is the simple spiritual energy; it's an innocent spiritual energy!

If you watch kids you can see how they naturally whirl and dance. It is one of the great techniques to center your energy. In Sufism they call it dervish whirling, just spinning around like the kids. It is one of the highest forms of meditation techniques. Actually it is one of the last meditation techniques they teach. Just spin and dance like kids and the effect will be wonderful, your energy will be centered totally in your being.

That is what kids do, but when kids do that, what do we do? We say keep quiet, sit, shut up, we make them sit silently, till they are made as dull as we are. We never feel satisfied otherwise. It is difficult for us to handle them unless they are made dull, it is difficult to handle their vibrant alive energy. If any of you know yoga, you can understand, kids who are below seven can do all the seven asanas (any of various bodily positions assumed in youic exercise) effortlessly.

All the twleve asanas, the main asanas, kids do by themselves, you don't need to teach them, their own body intelligence teaches them. They do the techniques properly. Just as the twelve major asanas comes to them naturally, in the same way the technique of balancing their energy. Whirling is one of the techniques of balancing their energy, they know it. You can see kids jumping and dancing, it's an expression of their energy, and it's an expression of their overflowing energy. For them there is no identification, there is no ego, there is no status, and there is no prestige. They don't have to prove themselves as somebody, but for you, you have a big prestige, you have a big status. Continuously you are needed to prove yourself as somebody, which is the reason why you can't come down. That is why you can't take up this simple technique of dancing.

There was a lady who came to me and asked, 'Master, please, teach me some method to bring peace in my house. I want peace and joy in my house. Please show me a way.' I said, let the whole family sit together, eat, laugh and dance, automatically you will see understanding will come. She said, 'No, no, no, Master, please teach me some Laskshmi pooja (prayer for invoking the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi) or something, I am already doing Sowbhagya Lakshmi pooja (prayer for invoking the blessings of the Hindy Goddess Lakshmi responsible for prosperity), should I do some other pooja (prayer). '

See what these guys generally do, in the pooja room, it is pooja to Lakshmi, when they come out it is archana (offering of various items to God, like flowers, incense, fruits etc amidst chanting, here the term is used in jest) to husband. (Loud laughter from audience) How do you think peace will prevail? You see lakshmi is the expression of joy. When you start expressing that joy, naturally you will see lakshmi will be there. There is nothing wrong with worshipping Lakshmi, yes that is one of the techniques, to bring joy into your home, into your house, but we stop just by worshipping. We have forgotten the technique to bring soumya (gentle, soft, mild), or the bliss or the soundarya (beauty), in our lives. You just do Lakshmi pooja and when you come out you start doing archana to your husband! How do you expect peace to prevail in your house? Only when vou express the joy and the ecstasy, it is qoing to create and radiate peace and bliss, and then naturally the peace will prevail in your space.

Ramakrishna says 'wherever you sing and dance, the name of the Divine, you will see the Divine presence happens in that place.' He goes one step ahead and says, 'that place will be filled with the Divine, that place will be filled with the Divine energy, that whole place will be energized.'

So many Masters time and again, speak about meditation. The ultimate form of meditation, is dance! It is one of the wonderful techniques to relate with the Divine energy. The whirling or the spinning directly puts your energy into your centre and not only that, you come out of all your so called status and inhibitions. Dropping your conditioning is not spirituality, reclaiming the same innocence, what you had when you were a child is what true spirituality is. There is a beautiful Zen saying, 'Enlightenment is nothing but getting the innocence, which you have lost after the age of seven.' After the age of seven, you are taught, you are conditioned, by society. Enlightenment is nothing but coming out of the conditionings, experiencing the same innocence, again in your life. Experiencing the innocence, and experiencing the joy is the ultimate goal of meditation and dance is one of the wonderful ways to it.

When you dance you let go the whole being, you let go all your thinking. If you think you can't dance, if you dance you can't think. If you are thinking and dancing you are doing traditional dance, it means you are not enjoying. When you dance, you come to present moment, you forget the past, you forget the future, your whole energy becomes centered.

I've read the stories of many great dancers who experienced the Divine or the ecstasy in them, like Chaitanya. There was one disciple of Chaitanya, called THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM, who was also a great dancer. Chaitanya says 'the moment I hear the word of the moment I hear the Lords name, immediately something happens to my Being, and it starts expressing itself.'

A Zen story: one disciple goes to a Master and asks 'Master, if somebody becomes enlightened. will he keep quiet?' Master says: 'no, no, if he keeps quiet be very clear he doesn't know and he hasn't become enlightened.' 'Then will he go round and spread the truth?' Master says: 'no, no, speakers never know what enlightenment is, and he will never go round and do that.' 'Then what does he do? Tell me! You say he neither goes round nor speaks nor keeps quiet. Then does he do?' Master says: 'the moment somebody becomes enlightened he starts dancing! His whole life becomes a great dance. His every movement is a dance!'

You cannot possess enlightenment will start possessing you. The energy will start possessing you; the energy will start expressing through you. And he says, 'when the energy possesses you every word that comes from vour mouth will be a mantra (a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a maqic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities); every action of your body will be a Divine dance; a special grace will enter into your being; a special energy will be radiated by your presence. You become a leaf which is slowly swinging in the air; you become just an instrument which radiates the Divine; you become a hollow bamboo in the hands of the Divine.'

When you drop all your conditionings, when you drop your ego, you really become a hollow bamboo. If the bamboo is thick and hard, egoistic, it can be used only to carry the dead bodies, not for anything else. When it becomes hollow, empty, it becomes a venu (flute), in the hands of Krishna (Lord Krishna is often depicted with a flute in His hands of the Divine. In the same way if you are solid, egoistic, arrogant and full of conditionings, you will be carrying this dead body, nothing else. The moment you drop all your conditionings, the moment you drop your ego, the moment you become a relaxed being, an innocent being, the moment you are out of your ego, or your ego is out of you, you become a flute in the hands of the Divine. You start expressing your joy through dance; your very being on this planet earth will be a great blessing to the planet earth. Your very existence will be radiating joy; your very existence will be spreading bliss; your very existence will be creating a different energy around the people and in their hearts.

Now let us go back to where we started and understand the first statement: the path to God is not so hard or difficult as you all think. We always think the path to God is always difficult because the path in life is difficult. You know if you have to achieve something outside you have to work so much. You need to do so many things, you need to earn, you need to do this, you need to do that, so many things have to be done. If you want to achieve anything in the outer world so many things have to be done, but when you really want to achieve something in the inner world, nothing complicated needs to be done. Ramana Maharshi (an Enlightened Master of this century from southern Bharat) says beautifully, 'if you want to achieve something in the outer world so much needs to be done, if you want to achieve something in the inner world, just keep quiet and you will achieve.'

Relax, you will fall into the Divine, you will slip beautifully into the relaxation has become such a complicated thing, being simple has become such a complicated thing. We always feel going towards the Divine, the path to Divine is a very complicated thing. It is not as complicated as we think. The path to the Divine, the path to God is as simple as your own being. One of the disciples of Ramakrishna says, 'it is the enlightenment, or the saakshaatkaara (direct realization or experience of Absoluteness) which is much simpler, than your graduation.' He is actually a graduate and enlightened. He says 'according to me you don't need to work even that much for enlightenment.' According to me it is simpler than the simple act of removing your coat and putting it in the coat stand. How much time it takes to remove the coat and put it in the coat stand that much time only it will take, to take out the conditioning and put it on the outside. Only thing, you should know where your conditioning is and how deep your conditioning is. The moment you realize your conditioning and keep it aside, you are enlightened. Nothing more is necessary; nothing more needs to be done.

Let us take the next statement: you don't need to hurry in your path. So many people come and tell me 'Master, I am not able to silence my mind. I continuously meditate, but my mind never becomes silent. I try many times but I am not able to feel the peace.' Once somebody asked Ramana Maharishi, 'Bhagwan (another word for God), I want peace.' Ramana Maharishi said, 'just drop the I and the want, what remains is peace.' (Laughter from audience). Nothing else! The very greed, the very push, that you should silence your mind, creates turbulence in you. The very push creates turbulence in you. See, it's like this, you see a motion in the lake, small waves rising. You want to silence the lake, and you take a big boat and go to the center of the waves and try to silence the waves. The very boat will create a thousand times bigger waves than the original waves. Your very idea that: I should make my mind silent, I should realize, will postpone the process. Your very greed will make you dull. You don't need to bother about the goal, if you are in the right path, just dance your way, you will see you will reach the goal.

In Zen they say, not the goal, but the path. Don't sacrifice the path for the sake of goal. Not the goal, but the path. The very path is itself such an ecstatic path. If you are walking on the path, if you are walking on the path to God be very clear there is some serious mistake. It means you have not recognized the beauty of the path. If you are driving on the path means you are too greedy, understand again you are missing the path. If you are dancing on the path, understand, vou are traveling in the right path, in the right wav. You can be sure you are traveling on the right path and in the right way. It means your very path towards the Divine is ecstasy. The very meditation is joy, the very prayer is joy. The very life itself is joy.

There is a beautiful prayer, a hymn, by one of the Alwars (one of the twelve great poet saints of south Bharat), 'O Krishna, you are the food which I eat, you are the betel leaf which I eat, you are the water which I drink. I feel every moment of my life is filled with you, penetrated by you, 'When you are dancing on the path the very movement, your every inhaling and exhaling becomes a dance in your being, becomes a joy in your being and becomes an ecstasy in your being. This happens when you understand the right spiritual path. People come and ask me, 'Master should I take up some nithya pooja (daily prayer) everyday. I tell them if you take up nithya pooja, you will be the last person to enter into the pooja room. I have observed many people who do nithya pooja. Few days it will go on really wonderfully and on the fifth day, they will be waiting to go out of the pooja room. And after a few days, after the pooja, they will never go near that room. Why? It becomes a duty. Never take up anything as a duty. When you are in bliss, joy, express your gratitude to the Lord. Express your joy to him; express your bliss to him. But never do anything as a duty. Our religion is always based on greed and fear and that is why if it is based on fear you walk on the path, if it is based on greed you drive on the path, if it is based on love you will dance on the path.

If you are based on greed you will drive your way to God. if you are based on fear you will walk your way to God, if you are based on bliss only then you will dance your way to God.

Almost all our religions, all our spirituality is fear based or greed based.

Here is a small story: three quys were starting a new business. They feared whether it will be successful or not. So they decided to have Balaji as their partner. They decided that whatever profit comes, out of that one share they will give to Balaji. And the way it works. I tell you, atleast I have seen with Balaii it works. He's the (laughs) living energy, somehow He works. Getting back to the story, it worked and they made a four crore profit. Now they are supposed to give one crore to Balaji, and here starts the problem. If they made just 5000, or 10,000 and put it into the hundi (box kept in temples to collect money and other offerings from devotees), they wouldn't mind, but when it is too much they start thinking. One quy says, 'after all God has no children (laughter from audience) why does He need so much money, we have so many children, we have to give them education, we have to take care.' Second guy says, 'yes, after all we are also children of God.' The third guy gave an idea. 'we'll make a hundi, convert all the money into gold, and throw everything up. Whatever falls inside the hundi, we'll put it in the hundi and give it to the temple; whatever falls outside we will take it as a prasad (a material substance that is first offered to a deity and then consumed with that the deity's blessing resides within it) from Balaii. The second quy said, 'no, whatever falls inside we will take it, whatever falls outside, we'll qive it to Balaji.' The third guy, a very intelligent guy, said, 'no, we'll throw everything up, whatever God wants let him take, (loud laughter from audience) whatever falls down , it is our prasad. After all God is above, (laughing) so let him pick up what he wants'.

Fear based religions, greed based religions are not religions. Only when it is bliss based, your love, your devotion, is really spirituality. Only then you are traveling towards the Divine, only then you are going towards God.

All our faith you can see will rise when we have some trouble, never during other times.

One quy was traveling with his assistants in a ship; suddenly the ship was caught in a cyclone. The ship started rocking dangerously. One guy shouted, 'O God, please save us! If you save us we will all stop smoking.' Nothing happened; the ship violently. The second guy prayed, 'Please save us, if you save us we will all stop drinking,' Again nothing happened, the ship continued to rock up and down. The third guy said, 'O God save us, somehow save us, we'll stop womanizing!' Then one quy from the crowd shouted, 'Aye don't go to that extent, don't go that far, there is a small island seen. We are able to see a small island.'

Whenever your religion is greed based or fear based, you are never religious, you only try to exploit or cheat, which you can never do to the Divine. Only when it is bliss based you dance your way to God.

Let it be love based, not fear based. I read in some book, fear is the first step towards the wisdom or something like that. I felt, no, it can never be. Bliss is the first step towards wisdom, towards the Divine. Love is the first step towards the Lord. It is bhakti (devotion) and love which makes your whole life a dance. When you fall in love with the Divine, with some form of God, your whole life turns into joy and ecstacy. So may you feel and experience and dance your way to God, feel the eternal bliss, nithyananda (eternal bliss), thank you.

We can have a few minutes for your questions; you are welcome to ask any questions.

Questions & Answers

• 1. 'You have taught us, now we would like to have some practice. We would like to see what actually you mean by dancing your way to God.'

Master: (laughing) Do it in your house, go back to your house, play some kirtans. First understand the technique. Allow the kirtan to penetrate you, allow the kirtan to work on you, allow the music to enter into you. Neither bother that somebody is seeing, nor worry that somebody is not seeing. Feel the kirtan is going in, feel the energy, the experience of that ecstacy, and express it as it comes. Neither bother about your steps, nor bother about your movements, express it, that's all. Of course, in our camps we do have dance, but this place is too small, we will not be able to organize it, the place is too small for the crowd.

Master: If you understand everything, or don't understand everything, you will not have any questions. People think if I ask some question I may look like a fool. If you ask you may look like a fool, if you don't you will be a fool. (laughter from audience) At least when you ask, you will have an answer. When we ask, only we may look like, if you don't ask you will be. That way you will live in the same foolishness!

2. I have the Sri charkas (sacred wheel) which I saw in your book, I have one, which I keep in my room and I wondered, what rituals, or poojas should I do?

There is no need for any ritual, if you just gaze at that drawing that is enough. Let me explain the reason or the purpose of the yantram (instrument or machine).

Now there is a new therapy developing called: art therapy. Have you heard of that? Art therapy, in this the mentally unstable are asked to paint continuously for 21 days. They are given the canvas and the paint, and they are asked to paint freely, as long as they want. You can understand fully what they will be doing. They will pour the paint on the cloth and roll on the cloth and do all sorts of things, but, continuously they are supplied with material. Everyday they have to paint. You will be surprised, shocked to see the results.

Doctors are claiming that in 21 days more than 80% of the mentally ill get cured. They come out of the illness. And one more strange thing, is that all those who have become mentally ill because of money, or greed, they all paint in the same way. All the people who have become mentally ill because of women they all paint in the same way. All people who have become mentally ill because of the name and fame problem, or the pressure to maintain their status, they all paint in the same way. And the third most important thing, the doctor who was analyzing and doing research on all these drawings, he became mentally unstable! (Laughter from audience)

So, three important things you need to understand by this experiment. The first thing: you express what you have experienced; second thing: it carries the quality of your consciousness; if you meditate on it, if you keep your awareness on it, you reach the same quality of consciousness. These yantras are the expression or the drawings, done by the Mystics to express their enlightenment. Yantras are the mystical drawings, expressed or done by Enlightened Masters, to express their enlightenment. Sri Chakra is the expression of enlightenment, the ultimate Cosmic Energy. You can see, it is so complicated but yet so simple. It is totally complicated, but utterly simple. If you look closely it is nine triangles that is all, nine triangles placed on the other, that's all. If you don't see it like that, it is such a complicated mechanism you can never translate it. Nothing needs to be done, just gaze at that yantra, automatically you will see your mind will become calm. When your mind becomes calm, nothing else needs to be done, there is no other ritual, nothing more is necessary.

There are many rituals, which you can do if you wish to, that is different, but just the penetrating or the gazing will take you to the same state. The Masters have expressed their enlightenment in the form, if you meditate on it you will experience the same thing. Whatever they have expressed, if you sincerely meditate on it, you will experience the same thing.

Even the songs composed by Masters are mantras, they are expressions of their enlightenment. If you contemplate on them, meditate on them, you will reach the same ecstasy, the same experience. When the veda mantras (holy chants from ancient Indo-Aryan religious literature that are associated with the Vedic civilization) are chanted there is no need to understand the meaning, just, chant, that's enough, why? It is because the very mantra, the very sound itself is an expression of enlightenment. When you create the same sound, you reach the same state, you experience the same state.

So when a person becomes enlightened when he expresses in the verbal language it becomes a mantra, if he expresses in the visual language it becomes a vantra, if he expresses in the body language it becomes a dance, it becomes a tantra (one of several esoteric traditions rooted in the religions of Bharat: here tantra refers to technique. So there so many methods of expression, just catch one of the expressions, you will have the same experience. That is the reason the vantras are worshipped or meditated upon.

3. Yantra means the navagraha (the place where the nine satellites are aligned. typically refers to a part of the prayer hall in Hindu temples) Is that what you are talking about?

Master: No, no, when I say yantra I am referring to the srichakras.

Question from audience: When we meditate we experience the bliss, how do we maintain that throughout our daily life?

Master: That's a wonderful question. The greed to possess the bliss! Look deep into how the bliss happens, then you will understand. The moment you become choice less, the bliss happens to you. Choicelessness is bliss. When you start choosing the bliss as a choice you kill it. Love is lost by marriage. (laughter from audience) When you possess, when you try to make something solid, when you try to catch it, you destroy and mess up the whole thing. If you place your palms inside the river, if they are open, the river will be there in your palm; the moment you try to hold the river you will have only empty palms.

There is a small story which says. God sent cvclones and hurricanes to the planet earth, man made the safe chambers; God sent fire to the planet earth, man made fire enqines; God sent love to the planet earth and man made marriages. (Loud laughter from the audience).

When you try to posses something, when you try to catch something, you destroy the whole joy of it. The bliss also is like a breeze, choicelessness is a breeze, choicelessness is bliss. When you try choosing the bliss, you try to possess, naturally you destroy it. Never try to be in greed, you see, whenever you are in bliss immediately the next thought will come, oh, it may disappear, it may leave me and so on.

Questioner interrupts: I don't. What I want to know is. how do we maintain that?

Master: That is what ma, that is what I am telling ma. Listen, the moment you feel the bliss, the ecstasy, within a few minutes of that you will start thinking, it may come down, it may reduce, it may be lost. I may lose touch with the bliss. All these thoughts will come. Just relax don't have the fear that it may be lost and just say to your mind, if it is lost, I don't bother. If it has to be with me, let it be with me, if it will be lost. I don't bother. Don't try to possess it! You will see continuously it will start coming up in your being.

You see if you empty the well, continuously water will come, so when the bliss happens to you start sharing with everyone, start giving to everyone, don't possess the bliss, don't even think it should be there continuously with you, don't even bother that the bliss should not leave you. Don't bother about that, don't think, if it leaves alright let it is there. It it be there. Don't make the bliss a choice for your life; don't even have the greed to be blissful, to maintain the bliss for 24 hours. Stop the idea of maintaining the bliss for 24 hours; you will see that bliss maintains you.

When you stop the idea of maintaining it, it starts maintaining you. As long as you want to maintain, you will destroy it, when you relax from the idea of maintaining, you will see that it gets maintained. It simply starts happening, there is no need to be greedy, there is no need to possess, then it is bound to reduce. Remember one important thing, whenever your bliss it is bound to increase. Whomsoever you see, whosoever is around you, share your bliss with them, share your joy with them, in the form of love, in the form of kind words, in the form of ecstasy, share it. Continuously share! You can even share your experience of bliss with them: it will then become a solid experience. By sharing it you make it eternal bliss, a solid experience. Bliss when it is shared, it becomes eternal bliss- nithyananda,

4. Can one have two qurus?

That's a wonderful question. Not two, two hundred. (Loud laughter from audience). Bhagavata says, there was a avadoota (one who has renounced everything) who had so many gurus, actually countless number of gurus. Ramakrishna says, 'wherever you see a beautiful thing learn from it.' I always tell in my books, wherever you find a beautiful flower, pluck it and make a beautiful bouquet for yourself. Not only can you have two or three gurus, according to me you must have so many expressions of spirituality. Go round, and where ever you get the best flowers. bluck them all, and make a beautiful bouquet. See, our ego is such, even if thousands of Masters teach us, we will not learn (laughs) and even with thousands of roses it is difficult to transform ourselves. You think just by one mans hard work you can be transformed? You can never be; so wherever you get a chance, never miss the chance of plucking some beautiful flower, from some beautiful garden. Go round, pluck flowers from all the beautiful gardens and make a bouquet for yourself. It is the ultimate thing which you can do to yourself.

It is time to end now. May you all experience the eternal bliss,.

THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM,

Thank vou.