3. Meditation🔗

Let us start. First, we will take a few moments and become aware of all these five activities, so that we can work on them. Working on this pranamaya kosha is more like a bridge to connect yourself to the manomaya kosha – mental layer which is the next layer.

First thing: for the next half hour, do not be civilized. Don"t bother about social conditioning. It means, you may have the cleaning process happening here. So, if you feel shy, just sit at a distance from everyone! See, you have been civilized all these years, and what you have lost because of that, you don"t know. Now for the next half hour, don"t hold on to your civilization. See … when the pancha prana, the five prana processes happen with awareness, consciously, your whole body will get cleaned, automatically. Not only your nose, even your fingertips will start breathing. Your whole body will become alive. It will start cleaning itself. I have seen a yogi who can breathe through his eyes. He would tie a thread in front of the eyes and blow it through his eyes. He could clean the eyes just with the prana. If you can clean your eyes through the prana, they will look sharp and shiny!

First, understand at least how the natural ways of prana can be cleaned and healed. Your pranic layer can be healed and cleaned. Now you are going to inhale, hold and exhale with deep awareness. You will be doing all the five processes with deep awareness. You don"t have to put any pressure or force. Don"t change the breathing pattern by force. Let it happen as it is happening. Only bring your awareness to it acutely. I"ll guide you step by step.

First, be aware, only during the inhaling part. Even if you miss other parts, it is alright. But don"t miss the inhaling part. Just be aware of what is going on. What is happening? When the process happens, what is happening inside your system? Next, we will shift the awareness to the gap between inhaling and exhaling. If you are unaware of inhaling and exhaling, it is alright. But don"t miss the gap. Just see what is happening in the gap completely, to what distance you are able to feel the flow of prana inside your body at that time. Next, bring your awareness to the exhaling... After that, bring your awareness to the cleaning process. Observe what is happening inside your stomach; what is happening when the prana comes in and goes out. Just watch and feel the whole thing.

In this fashion, bring your awareness to every step. The last meditation technique was very wild and strong. This one is a very mild and subtle technique. You need strong awareness to work with this method. First thing, catch the right place for you. Be completely relaxed. Don"t be tensed, but you can"t sleep either. You can"t lie down! If you wish, you may sit on a chair, otherwise, you can sit on the ground.

Please close your eyes and tie the eye bands.

Sit in a very relaxed way. Release all tension. There should be no tension around the navel area. Let your navel region be completely relaxed. Do not change the pattern of the breathing by force or by will. Just bring in awareness, that"s all. By being aware, if it changes by itself, it is alright, but don"t change it by will or by force.

• 1. Bring your awareness to the inhaling. Do not lie down. Just sit. Bring your awareness to the inhaling. Don"t change the breathing pattern by force or by will. Just be aware of

what is happening. By being aware, if the breathing changes by itself, then it is ok. You just be aware. (A few minutes pass)

• 2. Next, be aware of the gap between the inhaling and the exhaling. Don"t sleep, sit straight. (A few minutes pass)
• 3. Now, bring your awareness to the exhaling. (A few minutes pass)
• 4. Now, slowly, bring your awareness to the space between inhaling and exhaling and feel the spreading of prana all over your body. Bring awareness to the part where the spreading of prana occurs. Prana spreads all over your body and makes you alive. (A few minutes pass)
• 5. Now, bring your awareness to all the four processes: inhaling, staying, spreading all over the body and exhaling. Don"t sleep. Sit comfortably and bring your awareness to all the four states.
• 6. Now bring your awareness to the navel center. (A few minutes pass)
• 7. Bring your awareness to all the five movements: inhaling, staying, spreading, exhaling and cleaning. (A few minutes pass)

'Om Nithyanandam'.

Slowly, very slowly, you can open your eyes...

Just go with this very feeling that you are connected to this entire space. Wherever prana exists, you are there. In reality, you are connected. That is why air pollution affects you, or pure air gives you the fresh feeling. So, just feel connected to the air, to the prana.

You can have a small break, and get back within half an hour for the next session. Feel connected to the prana throughout the next half an hour. Just remember and carry this one feeling - that you are connected; that your whole being is only prana.

Thank you.

Questions and Answers

(Questions to do with the pranamaya kosha meditation have been grouped together for convenience.)

There are some questions here. Let us go through them now.

Q: I don't think a whole lot of things happened to me in the pranamaya kosha meditation process, except that I am still in the meditation state and I don't wish to talk to anyone.

A: How else do you want it to be? You are expecting great things to happen in just half an hour! You are still in the meditation state and you don"t want to talk to anyone. Compared to the state you came in, don"t you think this is good progress? Is that not growth?

Q: What is it that is supposed to happen when we go through the pranamaya kosha meditation?

A: If you have any idea about what is supposed to happen, then you are in trouble. Whatever is happening, just be with it. If you have a goal, you are in trouble.

Q: Should we inhale through our mouth or through our nose?

A: Only the nose is created for inhaling and exhaling for breathing.

Q: My breath was so slow and shallow, that I felt that I was not breathing at all. I had trouble focusing.

A: See, I told you clearly that you are not supposed to change the breathing pattern. Your breath has become shallow because you don"t need too much of air inside. If the separation or the download of the pranic energy happens completely, you don"t need too much of air. Just a little air is enough, and you will get enough prana shakti, life energy.

Q: You spoke of cleansing, but you were not too specific as to what is being purged. Can you please elaborate on it?

A: Don't bother about all that. That is my job. I am doing it.

Q: During the gap, there is a gentle shower of delicate light. It is very blissful.

A: That is what I am saying. You become aware of the prana flowing throughout your body. That is the flow of the gentle and delicate light that you are talking about. That is what is so beautiful.

Q: After a few moments of the meditation, there was a feeling that the light inside the body is the same as the light outside. Is this imagination or the truth?

A: It is neither imagination nor the truth. Just go with the experience, that"s all. There is no need to dissect it with logic.

Q: Why am I afraid of God?

A: Because you are afraid of yourself! Because you are afraid of yourself, you have to be afraid of everything else.

Q: If we have worked with a few enlightened Masters, and each of them has given a specific technique, are we to use them all? Are there any guidelines for working with enlightened

Masters who have different styles?

A: You can go around and learn from many of them. It is a nice thing to do. But I feel that when it comes to working, you should do only with one person, because otherwise, you will end up with a lot of confusion. You see: going around and learning is not wrong. Adding more flowers to yourself, or adding more understanding to you, is beautiful. But when you want to seriously work, it is better to choose one Master and work with him, because after a certain extent, it will be a very intense journey. I don"t think you will be able to travel in two boats when you enter that zone.

On the initial level, going around and seeing many Masters, and learning from them is alright. Even after you choose to travel with one Master, going around and learning is alright. There is no problem. But when it comes to working, I think it is better to do it with one Master. See: what we are doing now is an alchemy process. What I am doing to you now is just tiring you; just making your logic tired. That is why, from morning till now, I am just making you sit and sit. Actually, I can entertain you in a much better way! In the first level programs like the ASP or NSP, there is a lot of entertainment. But for this program, I have decided, I will attract only seekers who are really sincere about the process, who don"t just come for entertainment.

Q: How do I get rid of fear?

A: Why do you want to get rid of fear? As long as you are alive, you will have fear. Fear is a part of life. You feel insecure; you feel the fear of losing something because you have it! So, the very quality of life is fear. So, you should be thankful that you have something to lose. The fear shows that you have something to lose! Otherwise, why will you be afraid? The very fear shows that you have something that you can lose, which can be lost. So you should be grateful that you have something to lose!

Fear can"t be lost. You see: fearlessness does not mean absence of fear. Fear, and the courage to live with it, is what I call fearlessness. Absence of fear will happen only in the graveyard. Fear cannot be completely absent in you.

Q: How do I live connected to you in everything that I do?

A: Constantly living in the Ananda Gandha - that is living in an un-clutched way, is the first step. If you are not able to be un-clutched, then listen to the words of the Master through audio or video; or read his books. If you are not even able to do that, then listen to the Master"s music – his name. These are the three steps that I can give you for this. So, stay in the pure sat – that is with the Self, un-clutched, with pure awareness. If you can"t, then, listen to the words where the Master is constantly telling you to be un-clutched. If this is also not possible, then by listening to his music, at least remind yourself of the responsibility to be un-clutched. These three methods can help you to be connected to the Master always.

Q: Since you are neutral in your motivation and goals, what makes you help people? Once we connect to you, and make a commitment, is it that all the experiences that we go through can be interpreted as coming from you. Will peace of mind and heart be felt all the time we go through the experiences?

A: First thing: this statement: Once we connect to you, and make a commitment, is it that all the experiences that we go through be interpreted as coming from you...

No! When you connect to me, you are connecting to the emptiness. So, you take on the responsibility of all the experiences and happenings in your life. Your connecting to me is like you connecting to the higher Self – your own higher Self. So, you don"t have to use such big words like commitment etc. Will peace of mind and heart be felt all the time we go through the experiences? Yes. When you go through the experience, there will be peace and harmony. But you don"t have to think that committing to me is like marriage. It is more like a commitment to your higher Self.

Q: Can we remove our rudraksh mala when taking a bath?

A: Yes, you can! But traditionally, we believe that when water, especially warm water touches the rudraksh and then touches your body, it has got an ayurvedic effect on your body; it heals. It heals the skin. So, maybe you can wear it while bathing.

Q: Can you explain the different lokas like manushya loka, gandharva loka etc.?

A: When you are in a blissful mood, you are in heaven – higher lokas. When you are in your home, you know where you are…! You are in manushya loka.

Q: In Hindu art forms, they have always portrayed nine rasas or moods that are: shanta (peace), veera (courage), krodha (anger), adbhuta (wonder), vibhasta, karuna (compassion), hasya (joy), bhaya (fear), shringara (love). Do you feel any of these moods other than peace when you are in the nirvanic state?

A: Understand: I don"t feel even the shanta. No mood is felt in the enlightenment state. But, I play with all the nine moods as I wish to! If I want to show somebody some mood, I show that particular mood; but there is no mood in the personality itself, in the being itself.

Q: How many hours of sleep are required for an unenlightened person?

Q: According to me, whether you are enlightened or unenlightened, four hours of sleep is enough. Anything more than that, is laziness. You may justify your arguments with some doctor"s survey or research… I have no problem.

Q: You say that there is energy in everything… even in the stones…even in the dead body. Is Life Force different from the energy that you are talking about? What is the difference between the Supreme Consciousness and the Life Force?

A: You say that there is energy in everything… even in the stones…even in the dead body... Stones do have energy, but the level of energy in them is totally different. Dead bodies also have energy. There is no doubt in that. That is why, it can go through some changes. You should all know an important fact: even after you are dead, for three months, your nails will grow. Is Life Force different from the energy you are talking about? No. It is one and the same. What is the difference between the Supreme Consciousness and the Life Force? It is one and the same.

Q: How do we remove our engrams?

A: That is what we are doing now!

Q: Is it alright to give the Nithya Dhyaan meditation CD to someone who has not met you or who has not done any of our meditation programs? How often should one do Nithya Dhyaan?

A: The Nithya Dhyaan meditation should be done everyday. You can give the CD to people who have not met me or who have not done our Life Bliss programs, but it is good to have it taught by a teacher first. In the ashram, we have Nithya Dhyaan classes going on everyday. They can attend it. It is just a three hour session. They can learn and then do it. That is the best way.

Q: What is the definition for a spiritual person?

A: One who lives blissfully and keeps others also blissful…that"s all!

Q: If I leave my job and spend all my time in meditation and spiritual activities, will I attain liberation faster?

A: Surely, you will. I recommend that you leave your job and put your whole energy in working towards enlightenment. Somebody asked me, "If I leave my family and spend all my time for enlightenment, will I be liberated quicker?" I told him, "Surely! Before you, your family will be liberated!" Anyhow, jokes apart, I sincerely recommend you to leave everything and do meditation. Spend all your energy and time for enlightenment. You will surely achieve it faster.

Q: Is bhakti yoga – the path of devotion better, or is meditation yoga better? Which is it that leads to all the yogas?

A: Don"t be bothered about all such words. Just take up any one meditation and do it, that"s all. Do something; that is more important.

**Q. When we offer naivedyam - food to God - we say the names of all these five pranic energies that are prana, vyana, udana, samana, apana. What is the significance and meaning of this?**

A: Yes. You say this while offering food, because from any food, you receive these five pranic energies. When we offer food to God, we don"t offer physical food. The energy part of it is what you offer, so we say it.

Q. After the death of the body, who or what is it, that is choosing the next life?

A: Your consciousness. There is something in you which cannot die. That chooses.

A small story:

In a high school campus, a teacher was walking down the corridor. All the students were wishing her: good morning. The teacher was replying, 'same to you'. Her friend who was walking with her asked her, 'Why are you not saying good morning, and instead saying 'same to you?' The teacher replied, 'I was also once a high school student. Only I know what they are thinking in the mind when they wish me!'

Q. What is the time duration between a soul leaving a body and taking another body?

A: This is a wonderful question. The time taken is three kshanas. Understand: not three seconds but three kshanas. In the Vedic system, time is not calculated chronologically. It is calculated psychologically. Three kshanas is the time gap between one death and the following birth. Kshana refers to the gap between one thought and the next thought. For example, if you are living with 1000 TPS (thoughts per second), your one kshana will be one microsecond! If you are living with 0 TPS, your one kshana could even be hundreds of years. So, if your TPS is less when you are alive, after death, you will have enough time to choose the next birth. You can wait for the right time, the right parent, the right place, the right situation, and take birth slowly. But if throughout your life, you lived with a high TPS, intense restlessness, then, within microseconds, you will have to move into the next body! Understand the whole concept.

What is the meaning of restlessness and high TPS? It means that you can"t live without your body and mind. That is why you have so many thoughts, so much possessiveness over your body and mind. You are caught so much with the body and mind. That is why you harbor so many thoughts. So naturally, you will experience great suffering without a body after death. You will miss your body and mind a lot. So you choose anything that is available first. You say, "OK, let me just take a jump. Whatever is available is OK." That is why you choose the body immediately.

Understand this concept of kshana. In the Vedic tradition, we don"t calculate the time chronologically, it is psychological. For example, if you are sitting with somebody with whom you love, even if you are there for five to six hours, you will not know how the time passed by. Suddenly you will see the watch and say, "O my God! So much time has passed." Whereas, when you are sitting with someone whose company you do not enjoy, you will feel that time is not passing at all. Every minute will seem like an hour. This is because, when you are with a person whom you love, your TPS drops, your restlessness reduces. Because of this, your kshana increases. So even if you are there for four hours, it will seem like only a few kshanas have passed by. Whereas, with the person whom you don"t like, you become highly restless, and your TPS increases. Your kshana becomes very less and you feel a lot of kshanas are passing by, whereas you would have been there only for a few minutes! So, time is psychological, not chronological in the Vedic system.

Q. So Swamiji, the time is subject to the individual?

A. Yes. Your kshana is not the same as another person"s kshana. So the time duration between one birth and the next birth is subject to the individual. We sometimes stay without taking the body for even three hundred to four hundred years. And it is possible to even prepare the body properly before taking birth, like Bhakta Prahlad from Hindu mythology. He was taught, when he was in his mother"s womb itself! But we said that we take the next body in three kshanas. Then how come, Bhakta Prahlad remained like that for so long? For nine months he was in his mother"s womb, learning from Sage Narada. It means that his kshana was so long! That is why even now in Vedic tradition, we believe that our one year is one day for the devatas (heavenly beings), because they stay in such low TPS! They stay with 20 to 30 TPS. So our one year is one day for them! The aging process does not happen when your TPS is low. This is the best technique to be graceful and beautiful always. The aging process will not be fast if your TPS is low. That is why our one year is one day for the devatas.

Even today there is a temple which belongs to the devatas. It is in South Bharat. It is called Chidambaram temple. It does not belong to human beings. It belongs to the devatas! So, in a year, the puja (offering) is done only six times! In all other temples, every day, the puja is done six times! But here, in the Chidambaram temple, the puja is offered according to the devatas' calendar, not according to human beings" calendar, and hence the long gap in the offering. The TPS is different. When the TPS changes, your kshana changes. We are trying to replicate the Chidambaram temple in Seattle, USA. The first golden temple in the USA will be in Seattle!

Q: Is that why we do puja for elders who have passed away, once a year?

A: No. That has nothing to do with this. You offer once a year because of your own laziness. You can"t be sure whether the elders had a low TPS or not. Devatas are at low TPS. We can be sure of that. It is not sure that the elders had a low TPS, because it depends on the way in which they lived. Understand the basic thread: if you live without possessing your body and mind too much, your TPS will be low. So after leaving the body also, you will not suffer, because you are already trained not to possess your mind and body too much. If you are possessing your body and mind too much, it means that you can"t be without them. So, the TPS is more, the need is more, and the urgency to get into another body and mind is also more. This is the essence of the whole of Spirituality.

Anything which reduces your TPS is spiritual practice. Anything which increases your TPS is material life. Sometimes, when two persons are in tune, even a beautiful relationship between them can bring their TPS down. In Tantra, two persons who are completely in tune with each other, without any fantasies about each other, accepting the other as they are, are equal to Shiva and Parvati – the Divine couple. They will help each other enter into samadhi.

With deep sincerity, even an ordinary relationship can lead to low TPS. Without understanding or sincerity, even the puja that you offer to God can lead you to restlessness and a high TPS. I have seen so many people getting restless and finishing the puja quickly. They will run out from the puja room and not even think about the puja room until the next morning! Even the next morning, they will get into the puja room just out of fear that if they don"t offer puja, things might go wrong that day. Even the so called lowest activity can lead to low TPS if done with sincerity. Anything leading to low TPS is spiritual practice, and anything leading to high TPS is materialistic practice.

Q: In one of the discourses, you said that after the soul enters the body, it takes 13 days for it to gain consciousness.

A: No. I said: 13 days is the time taken to completely ascertain that all parts belong to him, that all parts are his body parts. Do you understand what I am saying? Understand this one example: sometimes in early morning, you will neither be completely sleeping, nor be completely able to take control of your body. You will be awake, but you will feel that you are not able to move your body completely. Suddenly, you will see that you are trying your best to possess your body! It is that same moment that will be extended to 13 days in the context of what I am saying. You are neither out of shushupti - deep sleep state - nor are you fully awake jagrat. So, it takes a little time to possess your body. It takes normally 13 days for any being to possess the whole body. During those 13 days, you need to keep that person in a healing and loving space. It will be almost as if somebody is sitting on your chest. You will be just waiting to enter into your body with all your power. In the same way you will be struggling for 13 days. But if the right enlightened being creates a beautiful space for you, the struggle will not be there. It is because of this that we have the 13 day ritual, after death or after birth. The ritual is done because whether the person has left the body, or the person is born, their baggage needs to be handled, and they need an open place and a conducive ambience for it.

Q: Swamiji, is this TPS significant at the time of death, or when you are alive?

A: When you are alive, a low TPS will keep you more in the present moment and blissful. The lowest TPS that you have experienced during your entire life will automatically pop up at the time of death. The lowest TPS you experience will be the strongest experience in your entire life. When death approaches, when you start feeling the suffocation that you are no more going to be alive, automatically the lowest TPS experienced in your life will open up. That is why, at least once in your life, you should experience 0 TPS. Then you can be sure that you can leave your body with high consciousness. There is a beautiful verse by Krishna which says: whatever you remember at the moment of your death, that will decide your next birth.

Q: Swamiji, will I be conscious when I die?

A: If you have experienced 0 TPS at least once in your life, you will be conscious when you die, otherwise, you will not be; you will be only unconscious; you will just fall into coma and leave your body. That is the worst thing that can happen to a human being. Your whole life is a waste if that happens. If you die in coma, it means that the entire time that you have lived has been wasted. That is why I emphasize: do not miss meditation in your life. The half hour, which you spend everyday in the initial level, may appear to be a waste, but in the end, only that will be the useful moments for you. Only those moments will pop up and save you. So don"t miss.

Q: Swamiji, does the soul enter the body during conception?

A: No. The normal soul enters just before birth, because normal souls don"t wait for more than three kshanas as I told you earlier. One kshana will be usually less than a second. Only highly conscious souls have enough gap - like Bhakta Prahlad.

Q: So the learning in the womb happens for only highly conscious souls?

A: Yes. It happens only for the highly enlightened souls, not for the ordinary souls. Enlightened beings choose the right parents, the right place and the right date to take birth.

Q: What do you say about coming back from coma?

A: It is like a part of life. There is nothing right or wrong about it. There is neither something positive nor negative about it. Coma is like falling between the fourth and the fifth layers and coming out of it, that"s all.

Q: In a television show, a guy named John Edwards talks to the souls of the audiences' near and dear ones. He says, they are wandering and trying to connect with us.

A: No. No soul is wandering or trying to connect and talk to you. They have all already taken a body. Some souls who die prematurely in an accident may be in this state. You can contact souls if you wish to. For example, you would have been somebody"s father in the past birth. Now, they can contact your unconscious memory and dig out information. But it will create suffering in you. So, never try to contact your near and dear dead ones. It will disturb your flow of life, as well as their flow of life. Suddenly, you will see that you are drained; you feel tired. These kinds of things can happen, when you try to contact your dead near and dear ones. This is like forcibly entering into others" archives. Don"t do it.

Q: You said we should try to bring down our TPS. Then what is the purpose of thought?

A: I think you missed the morning session in which I gave a detailed description on TPS. You see, when your TPS is too high, your desires will be too physical. You will only experience the joy from the tip of the five senses - tip of the eye, tip of the nose, tip of the tip of the ear, tips of the sense organs. Your desires or pleasures will be too gross, and you will be rested in the annamaya kosha or physical layer. When your TPS drops a little, your desires will be a little more subtle. You will enjoy fantasies but you may not ask for much of physical pleasure. If the TPS is further lowered, your desires may be even a little more subtle, like they might have to do with name and fame, recognition etc. - the mental layer desires. As the TPS comes down further, again, your desires also get more and more subtle. At the lowest TPS, everything disappears… Pure energy, without desire, is enlightenment. A pure and intense excitement without desire is enlightenment. That happens at zero TPS.

Q: I feel more body aches, especially today.

A: I think it is because you are sitting on the floor. Sit on the chair.

Q: How come we are asking the same questions?

A: Because you are the same. You have not transformed. Humanity is the same. That is why you ask the same questions.

Q: Do animals have five koshas?

A: No. They don"t have fully developed koshas. They may have the annamaya kosha and pranamaya kosha. Actually, they don"t have even the full pranamaya kosha. All the five pranic movements do not happen in all the animals.

Q: Where are the samskaras stored?

A: In all five layers, the samskaras are stored; not just in the manomaya kosha.

Q: Is it possible for a person who has led a life of meditation, to go into the state of coma before dying?

A: Leading a life of meditation and prayer are not the right words to use in this context. If he has experienced 0 TPS even once, he will not fall into coma. That is the way to say it. There are thousands of people who claim to be leading a life of meditation and prayer, but who have never achieved a state of zero TPS even once. And there are many people who have not led a life of meditation and prayer but who have achieved zero TPS, at least once!

The 0 TPS experience depends on your courage and decision to experience yourself. It is not even dependent on your regular puja, prayer, or meditation. I have seen these fools: morning until night they will be sitting and ringing bells in front of their Gods, or reading some Sahasranama. Understand: with a deep feeling of connection or devotion, if you recite the Lord"s name even once, it is more than enough. Without that feeling of connection, these people, the moment they start reading the Sahasranama, the first thing they do is, check the line number!

Anything that you make as a daily ritual will become an unconscious act. I am not debunking tradition. I am a big supporter of tradition. But your mind is such, that it will just take it for granted. I know the basic trend. After five minutes, automatically, you will look into the line number. That is the problem. The moment you do that, the whole thing is wasted. Just the regular meditation or regular prayer does not mean you had the zero TPS experience. Zero TPS experience has something to do with a conscious decision and strength to experience it. It has nothing to do with the outwardly experiences and meditations which you are doing.

I always tell people: even Nithya Dhyaan, the everyday meditation that I prescribe for everyone, you could make as a ritual. You can sit and do it without even being aware about what you are doing, and at the end of the meditation, nothing would have happened.

Q: But most prayers require some degree of repetition.

A: No. Prayers don"t need any degree of repetition. Prayers are supposed to be giving you the experience of feeling connected with the Divine. That is why I have designed Nithya Dhyaan in such a way that you will not be just sitting all the time. Every six to seven minutes, I will change your position and activity… just to awaken you. Of course not just that… the chaotic breathing and humming in the Nithya Dhyaan meditation, will simply shake the annamaya and pranamaya koshas to awaken a higher-level consciousness. Earlier, there have been meditations which were constant for 30 minutes, and I have always found people falling asleep.

A small story:

This really happened in my life. When I was wandering before enlightenment, I reached a place called Omkareshwar. It is the place where the great Shankaracharya became enlightened. It is a beautiful place. I was staying there in the monastery. Early morning, all the monks are supposed to sit and meditate from 5:30 to 7:30. At 7:30, the sun will rise, and then there will be a gong from their bell. All the monks will roll up their mats and go for the next activity.

One day, a young bramhachari (aspirant on the path of sannyas) who was sitting in front of the gong, slept and fell on the gong. All the other monks got up, rolled up their mats and went away! Everybody thought that they might have gone to sleep, and hence lost track of time! All the monks were so confident

of this, while getting up to leave. Not a single one suspected that something had gone wrong, and that the bell had rung much earlier than the usual time!

The same thing started happening with the Maha Mantra meditation. That is why I decided, no more silent techniques. The problem why you fall asleep is, unless the catharsis happens, you can"t just sit. Everything has to leave you, only then the silence can happen in you. The insanity has to come out, only then the sanity will happen in you.

Q: Swamiji, anything given by an enlightened Master is supposed to help others get enlightened. Then why is Sahasranama not helping.

A: Understand, the Sahasranama was given for Bhishmas, for the people of those days. At that time, people were simple and innocent. They were not so complicated. They didn"t have all these cerebral layers. They didn"t have the television, and did not stress out looking at computers. Your entire constitution is different today. Not only the constitution of the country, the constitution of the whole system is different. That is why Patanjali"s techniques cannot directly help now.

Enlightened Masters have visited planet Earth from time to time and updated the techniques, as and when man came out, in an updated fashion. That is why there are so many techniques that are not directly useful today. It is not that I have not learned from Patanjali. At the age of three, I started learning from Patanjali"s teachings. I had a master by the name of Raghupati Yogi. If you read his biography, you will know: he was a direct disciple of Maha Avtar Babaji. He lived with him. He was in Tibet and he was in Gaurikund where Baba gives darshan to people. He lived there, and learned all these things. But straightaway, they are not going to help you now. Your system needs to be prepared, even to go through the Yoga system. Your system is not so pure and innocent. See, Patanjali says: just sit and remember the Om, Pranava – the primordial sound - and your mind will enter into samadhi. Now you tell me what will happen. If you just sit and remember pranava, where will you enter? You know which samadhi you will enter! You will be fast asleep in no time! Your mind and your whole setup are totally different. Too many things have been put inside your being, and that is the reason why you are still struggling.

Q: I gather that the subconscious mind is initially created consciously. I also gather that things done with consciousness cannot go wrong. How does the subconscious get programmed or wired incorrectly.

A: Some part of you, you don"t want to remember again and again. Let me give you this example: Let us say you are sitting near a swimming pool and sipping a cup of coffee. Suddenly, some memory or person whom you don"t want to remember or think about will come into the mind. Immediately, you turn your face and attention away from it. Sometimes, you even say it verbally, "Why am I thinking about this guy?" Now, when you don"t want to remember a thing or a person, you push it into the subconscious. These things get settled and become like a frozen rock. That is the subconscious.

Q: How do we set goals without letting the past dictate the future?

A: This is a good question. When you bring down your TPS, suddenly a new intelligence will happen in you, which causes you to perform without setting goals. That is what I call Intuitive Management - managing through intuition. It needs patience and practice. That is why people are not able to trust, that something like Intuitive Management is possible. People who live around me can see it happening. I am running an organization with centers in thirty countries, and we are continuously expanding as well. Just three days ago we started an ashram in Malaysia. So much is happening, but we never plan like the corporate world. Spontaneous decisions are just made. Intuitive Management works continuously. Living around the Master can give you the courage to see that it is possible. For you to run your day to day life, to pay your bills, to pursue your profession successfully, and to create wealth, your mind is not needed. It may be a little shocking to hear this, but just try it out. You will see that it works.

Q. When I watch the television and lose myself in it, I feel drained of energy.

A. This is a dangerous thing that has happened to humanity. Somebody asked me, "Swamiji, when did the age of kali (the fourth quarter of time, believed to be the degradation era) start?" Kaliyuga is supposed to be the Dark Age. I tell them: the day the television entered your home, the Dark Age started.

See, let me explain. Your eyes can tolerate only 16 frames per second while watching anything. Understand: if you are driving at 60 miles per hour, may be 10 to 12 frames per second will change in front of you. If you are driving at 100 miles, then may be 20 to 30 frames will change every second. Through the television, computer or cinema, you experience at least 35 frames per second. It means, there is twice the regular stress.

When so much of stress is put on your eyes …

You have a certain intelligence, a certain logic, which analyzes whether what you are seeing is right, or it is just an illusion. There is an intelligence in you that does this. We call it chakshu, which is the energy which sees through the eyes. You are not seeing just by the physical eyes, you are seeing through the eyes. That indriya, that chakshu which sees through the eyes, usually calculates whether what it is seeing is real, or it is just an illusion, a hallucination. It enables you to differentiate between the castle in the air, and the real castle. It gives you the clarity of whether it is reality, or an illusion. This chakshu is put to sleep when the frames per second is 30 or more. So, whatever happens during that high rate of frames per second, your logic swallows, without analyzing whether it is the truth or not. That is why, any advertisement which is put inside your head through the television, will cause you to unconsciously go to the shop, and ask for the same product that was in that advertisement!

When the frames per second is high, you will be unable to differentiate between reality and illusion. That is why you can see that even your BP (blood pressure) changes along with the program. Am I right? You cry, you laugh, you do everything along with what you see on the screen. You know very clearly that the actor who is dead in the screen is actually alive otherwise. But when the television is on, you don"t remember all this. Your logic does not come into play at all, and you even start shedding tears. It means, beyond your logic, your whole intelligence is put to sleep, and you respond to what you see directly. That is the worst thing that can happen to you. That is the most dangerous thing that can happen to a human being*. Beware of the television*. That is why you are drained of energy, and sometimes fall asleep watching. You are raised to a high TPS. There is so much of restlessness when you are watching the television.

Q: But we also watch your discourse DVDs.

A: Watching my DVD discourses cannot be compared with watching the television. When you are watching me, an enlightened form is getting into your inner space. That makes all the difference. It can never damage your consciousness. In fact, it will nurture your consciousness.

Q: When I am in your presence, or when I am doing mission work, I feel more energetic.

A: Yes, because the whole thing is to do with super conscious energy. That is why you feel more energetic.

Q: Is not my TPS low when I am watching television? Then why am I feeling tired?

A: No. Your TPS is not low when you are watching television. It shoots up. When you connect with an enlightened Master, your TPS drops.

Q: I felt that the time taken for the various stages, that is for inhalation, holding, spreading and exhalation, were very short. I consciously had to slow down breathing.

A: You felt that the time was short means that your TPS was low. If you feel that the time is more, it means that the TPS is high.

Q: Can the rudraksh bead be worn by everybody? From a young age, it was taught that it is very sacred and it is not to be taken playfully.

A: Even if it is sacred, you can wear it; there is nothing wrong in that. In fact, because it is sacred you should wear it! If the rudraksh is sacred, you are also sacred. You are also divine. Why do you think that you are not divine? So, the divine can be on the divine. You are not shava, you are Shiva. So wear the rudraksh.