Part 3: Unclutched🔗

But he said, 'No, no, no, Master, you don't know how much I suffered; you are a Swami, you don't know all these things'.

I said, 'Please do not attack me directly, just tell me a few incidents then we'll come to some understanding'.

To this he asked, 'Which ones you want me to tell, and which ones you want me to leave out? From day one she has been torturing me. You do not know how much'.

In Hindu villages, when weddings take place, after the ceremony, the newly married couple plays games. For one of the games, a ring is placed inside a pot with water inside and the husband and wife will compete to pick it. Whoever grabs it first wins. These small games were created mainly to zero down the distance between the couple, because in arranged marriages, it is only during the marriage that the couple first meets. They have these kinds of small, small games to zero down the distance between them because they are new to each other.

This man mentioned that during such games after their wedding, 'she scratched my hand, Master. With her nails, she scratched my hand Master*'*. And he started a big story about everything that she supposedly had done to him since that day. He practically had a file like a police report from day one of his marriage.

After two or three incidents were narrated, I just said, 'Please stop, if this is the case, she will be happier than you to part ways, because it is very difficult to live with someone who keeps such big files in their head'.

For anything she does he will be constantly looking through the file. For example, he told me the immediate reason for the divorce was that she spilled a little bit of coffee on his clothes! That was the immediate reason. He said, 'Yesterday we had a fight. She spilled coffee on my clothes, Master'.

When I said, 'Spilling coffee on the clothes could not be a reason for a divorce. You cannot give me such small reasons for divorcing your wife'.

He replied, 'No, no Master, you don't know, today she poured coffee, tomorrow she will pour acid'.

He really said this! I did not understand the connection. I asked him how he could connect coffee and acid. Again he said, 'No, no Master you don't know'.

Then I told him, look at the incidents as independent incidents. She brought the coffee and she spilled a little bit on your clothes by mistake. And in any case she is the one who will wash your clothes; you are not even going to wash them yourself. It was just an independent incident.

But when you have a huge file, when you have a huge case history, before passing judgment about a small incident, you just verify the whole file. In two or three seconds you verify the whole file, and then you start shouting. Then you start creating words in your mind - today she poured coffee, and tomorrow she will pour acid. You start creating big, big statements in your mind.

Please understand when I mentioned that he said today she'll pour coffee, tomorrow she'll pour acid, you all laughed. But you all are also doing the same thing with yourselves. Constantly you are creating a connection, which is illogical. You forget to see incidents as independent. You forget to see thoughts as independent. By your very nature you have only independent thoughts.

All your thoughts are completely independent. There is no linear connection between a thought and a thought. Just try a simple experiment. Sit with yourself and pen down, write down whatever comes to your mind. Do not edit, do not suppress. This is only for you to read. You are not going to show it to anybody. After writing for five minutes try to read what you have written. You will understand that your thoughts are completely illogical and completely independent. They are in no way connected. By your very nature you are unattached.

Do not try to renounce your depression; because by your very nature, it will be flowing, it will be going away. By your very nature just as joy disappears from your mind, depression also disappears from your mind. The moment you try to kill the depression, you will extend it, and you will create more and more complications.

The moment you create an idea by connecting your thoughts in a linear way, you create within you the thought shaft that I have pain, I have suffering, I have this, I have that, I am this type of person, I am that type of being. If you are blissful or joyful you will try to extend this idea; you will try to stay in the same mood for little more time. And if the idea is painful, you will try to break it.

Neither breaking nor extending is possible. After a discourse one of the devotees came up to me and said, 'Master, it is such a blissful experience for me, I am so clear about everything; I am afraid I may lose this. Please tell me, how can I retain this?'

Understand, please do not try to retain the feeling. You felt the bliss because you understood that nothing can be retained. You felt the deep joy because you are choiceless. You felt the deep joy because you are completely disconnected. You felt such a big relief because by your very nature you are un-clutched. But the moment you try to retain the un-clutched experience you clutch yourself. The clutching starts. The moment you clutched yourself, you have created a shaft. Now you will be fighting to extend the shaft or destroy the shaft.

The moment you start trying to extend the shaft you will start suffering because you are not able to extend it. The moment you try to break the shaft you will suffer that you are not able to break the shaft. Both the ways you will be a failure; utter failure. Understand only one thing, there is no shaft.

Thoughts are purely independent just like water bubbles coming from the bottom of the fish tank. Just as independent water bubbles come up in a fish tank, independent thoughts come up in you. You try to connect them at a superficial level, in a linear way and create all possible sufferings for yourself, all possible disturbances for yourself. Now all you need to understand is, not to create a linear connection.

But the moment I utter the words that there is no linear connection between thoughts, people are completely shaken, frightened. The first fear is if that is the case, if I start living like that, I may lose all my wealth, I may not remember where I kept all my money; I may not live in the society successfully. The next fear is that my mental structure may completely collapse, I may start living without any basic discipline, and then I start fulfilling whatever thoughts come from my mind.

Please be very clear that all these things are just simply fears. First anybody who wants to exploit you has to instill a thought in you that you cannot live without them. Even your employee can exploit you, cheat you if he can manage to install a thought in you that without him your mission cannot happen; without him your business cannot run.

If he installs that thought in you, he can easily exploit you, he can cheat you. Same way your mind, your ego has created a churning thought, fear in you that you cannot live without it. It tells you that you cannot survive in a balanced way without it. The moment you accept that fear, it is over; your mind will completely exploit you. Your ego will completely cheat you.

Let me repeat the story of the blind man.

A blind man goes to a doctor and asks, 'Doctor please do something and get my sight back'.

Doctor says, 'Don't worry. I'll perform a surgery; you will get your sight back and you will be able to walk without the help of the stick'.

Usually the blind people walk with the help of a stick for guiding them and supporting. Blind man says, 'Doctor I understand that you will do the surgery; I understand that I will get my sight back. But I cannot understand how I will walk without the stick?'

By and by he had started thinking that the stick was part of his walking. Initially he started using the stick to feel his way. Over time, the moment he started walking he started reaching out for the stick. In his mind he started associating having a stick with walking. Both were directly connected in his mind. Now he thought he would not be able to walk without the stick, even if he got his sight back.

The doctor said, 'I cannot convince you intellectually. Please get your sight and then you will understand'.

Only when the man opens his eyes, only when he gets his sight back will he understand that he can walk without the stick. Same way only when you relax and understand that by your very nature you are unattached, suddenly you will realize you can live without a mind.

The walking stick is just an extra add-on for a blind man. Same way, the mind is an extra add-on for you, because by your very nature you don't need the mind to live. Because you have gone to such an extreme extent of relying on your mind that you cannot understand that you can live without the mind. You are afraid that you might go to other extreme of being a mindless person.

But let me tell you, a person who has understood that by his very nature he is unattached, can never follow rule based morality. It is only in his life that there will be a strong, deep sense of morality based on awareness and it is only in his life you will see an extraordinary self discipline.

It will be a discipline, which can never be shaken and morality, which can never be taken away. It will be morality, which does not come out of fear or greed. Only in him, morality happens out of understanding. In all other beings it happens out of fear or greed.

Morality based on fear or greed cannot take you beyond the body; it will constantly bind you in the body. Only when you understand that by your very nature you are unattached, a new beautiful morality, morality of consciousness starts happening in you and you start tasting your being and you start experiencing your being.

There are so many fears constantly happening in you. You might wonder if you start living with this one thought, and have no linear connection between thought and thought how you can live your life. Do not ask all these hypothetical questions. Just drop the mind and start living; you will see you are able to.

There was a Master who was once crossing a river with his disciple. Suddenly the disciple slipped and fell into the water and started shouting to his Master for help. He thought he was drowning.

The Master just looked at him and said 'Ātma dīpo bhava, save yourself, guide yourself'.

The disciple cried out, 'Master, do not talk philosophy now. I am dying. Please help me'.

The Master just said, 'stand up', ignored him and walked on.

This was too much for the disciple to handle. He shouted out, 'Please help me, I said I am drowning!'

The Master simply turned around and shouted, 'fool, I said to stand up!'

The disciple was completely shaken by the very voice of his master and he just stood up. To his surprise, he found that the water came only up to his knee level.

You are always asking for help because you think that you are getting drowned.

Just stand up, water is only up to knee level.

In this sutra Ashtavakra says virtue and vice, pleasure and pain are of the mind, not of you. They belong just to this shaft that does not really exist. They are not your being.

Only an enlightened master can boldly declare 'you are ever free'. Only he can say that there is no virtue and vice, there is no pleasure and pain. It is only people who want to keep you under their control can never declare the truth to you.

In almost all the fields, a person who wants to keep you a slave constantly tells you that you are weak in some way. People, who want to keep you under their control socially, constantly browbeat you with the idea that you are weak.

Even in the film industry where so much importance is given to looks, a person who wants to keep you under their wing will give you an impression that you are ugly. They project the cine stars in an extraordinarily beautiful way, to make you feel that you are not beautiful enough.

You would also find that it is normally the cosmetic industries that conduct these beauty contests to constantly promote the idea of beauty, which makes you believe that you are not enough unto yourself. Unless you feel you are not enough, you will not opt for cosmetics.

There is no need to constantly compare your body with some other body. God is not an engineer, he is an artist. If he were an engineer, then he would have made a mold and ordered 'make 1 million Miss Universe models and 1 million Mr. Universe models and send them to planet earth'. But He is an artist who paints each one of us and carves each one of us.

That is why each one of us is unique. The very moment the thought enters your head that someone is more beautiful or more handsome than you, that very moment you create a gap between you and your body.

You can see in your very life that constantly you are craving to look like somebody else and the more you try the more you feel that you are not. The moment you crave to look like someone else, a gap is created between you and your body. Then you start using cosmetic products and start trying all artificial methods to project yourself.

Unless you are given the idea that you are not enough unto yourself, you will not buy these artificial things; you will not help them sell their products. So people, who want to exploit you and sell their products, give you the idea that you are not enough unto yourself.

People, who want to enslave us socially, give us the idea that we are weak and that they are necessary to protect us. A person who wants to sell his products to you teaches you that you are not enough unto you by putting these ideas in your mind.

We forget that the Divine creates us. Instead we start chiseling our selves to enhance the divine creative work and give it a final touch. We are trying to give a final touch to what he has done. But we cannot improve it any further.

Even in the spiritual field, leaders who want to keep us under their hold also constantly instill the idea in us that we are not enough and that we need to perform various meditations, mantras, puja etc., etc. so that you will go back to them again and again. In all the three fields, social, physical and spiritual, people try to exploit you by putting the idea in you that you are not enough unto yourself.

Only an enlightened master such as Ashtavakra can liberate us from all these three bondages. He has no vested interest, which is the reason why he straight away gives us the truth with such honesty. Honestly I have never found straight truths as in Ashtavakra Gita in any other scripture.

In my opinion, even when Krishna gives his teachings in the Gita, it is because of an ulterior motive of trying to convince Arjuna to fight. Actually, the entire gist of the Gita is narrated in just two starting verses in the second chapter when Krishna begins to talk. But the entire Gita consists of 700 verses as dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna in order to explain the supreme truth.

In one of the chapters, Arjuna declares that he is more confused at the end than he was before asking Krishna to talk. Krishna talks continuously in 17 chapters until Arjuna becomes completely tired and frustrated and surrenders to Krishna.

Some times when you torture people with your talk they feel really good or they go out and praise you to others, so that others can also experience the torture and suffering. Let me tell you an experience that happened to me.

When I went to San Jose, the devotees there were trying to get me to sit in a roller coaster. Even though I refused, somehow the devotees finally convinced me to try it. Actually, devotees convincing the master happen more easily than the other way around. Especially the women devotees just stand and won't let go till they convince you.

Anyway then I said that I would go and watch the people getting off the ride. If they seemed to be coming out with joyful expressions on their faces then I would try the roller coaster. When I watched, I could see that the moment the roller coaster stopped, these guys getting off were screaming, shouting, and were full of joy. That convinced me and I agreed to go on the next ride.

The first thing that happened on the ride was my turban went flying. The ride was a complete churning process from side to side and up and down. It was a complete churning process.

Now I tell people the roller coaster ride is just like marriage. Anyone sitting inside wants to jump out and the ones standing outside are tempted to try it at least once. They had secured me to the seat with a belt and I had no means of escape until the ride was over, just like the belt around one's neck in a marriage.( In many parts of Bharat, instead of a wedding ring, a necklace is given to the bride as a token of marriage). In both cases, the belt is secure and one can't even jump out.

After a minute or two the roller coaster stopped and I saw clearly that I was also screaming and shouting. It was then that I understood that the people getting off were screaming and shouting not out of excitement about the ride but because of the relief that the ride had stopped and it was over. When I came out, the other devotees standing by asked me 'how was the ride Master?'

I said 'it is really good; go, go, don't miss the ride'.

I thought 'why should I alone suffer, let these guys also go and have the same experience'.

Same way, sometimes when you are tortured in a discourse, you go out and say 'You can't see another Swami like this. He is so intelligent. Please come tomorrow and listen to his lectures'. You try to bring somebody else to go through the same torture.

Here, similarly Arjuna is completely tortured. If somebody recites seven hundred slokas continuously in front of you, what will happen, tell me? But Krishna goes on reciting one after the other, what to do? Finally Arjuna says, I do not know anything, I have given up. Please you do whatever you want.

Then finally Krishna recites the verse about Surrender:

Surrender to me fully without being concerned about rights and wrongs. Do not grieve; I shall liberate you from all bondages.

Now what else can Arjuna do? Naturally he has to surrender. It is actually a technique. It is a method of making the other person surrender.

But here Ashtavakra has no other ulterior motive. He has only one motive that Janaka has to experience the truth that he has experienced. He has no other reason to speak. All he wanted to do was to transmit the experience, just to share that experience which happened in him.

He is creating the technology through which Janaka can experience the same thing that happened in him. That is why I say Ashtavakra is pure, honest truth. There is nothing in Ashtavakra Gita, which can be taken out, which can be edited. He is pure energy and pure truth. That is the reason he is so courageous to declare truthfully you are ever free. He is not playing with the words such as your atman is free, you have to do this or that, etc. he says Verily you are ever free.

You are the one seer of all and really ever free. Verily this alone is your bondage, that you see the seer as other than such.

When the seer (one who is looking) is affected by the scene, the bondage starts. Please understand when the seer is affected by the scene, the bondage, the problem starts. Your very being is pure, but the moment you start associating yourself as other than the seer, the problem starts. This is the only bondage, which you have; there is no other bondage. There is nothing else.

I told you in the last discourse, Enlightenment: Guaranteed, how the parrot is afraid. It tries to hold on to the stick, thinking if it lets go of the stick, he may drop and die. It does not realize that if it lets go he will only fly. In the same way, let me tell you, if you leave you will only fly; you will never drop and die.

In Vedanta they say drishti shrishti and shrishti drishti. It means that it is not that we see the world because it is there; because we see we think the world is there. You need to understand that.

But the next question that you will immediately ask will be 'How can you say that Master? I am not the only one who sees it, but the person next to me also will say the same thing. But how can you say that the world exists only because of our seeing?'

Be very clear, the world exists only because you are seeing. Even the modern day psychologists say that you see what you want to see. Your mind records only 2% of what has happened, only 2% of what is happening around you. You do not see what is happening, you only see in the way that you wanted to see. You choose the 2% and see the way in which you wanted to see.

They say drishti shrishti. You project in the way that you want to, you connect in the way that you want to, you understand in the way you want to. You neither see as it happens, nor realize, nor hear things as they are said.

People many times ask me questions starting with, 'Master you said this' and misquote me. I tell them, never say 'you said*'* always say 'I heard'. Please be very clear that in the gap, by the time the word travels from one place to the other, the meaning has become totally different.

A small story:

After the 12th class in a Christian high school all the kids were leaving after a farewell party. The chief nun was enquiring each kid as to what they wanted to become in the future.

She called the first girl and asked. 'What do you want to become?'

She said, 'I want to become a nun and serve the God's mission'.

The nun said, 'Oh, that's nice, beautiful, you can do it.

She called the next girl and asked her, 'what do you want to become'?

'I want to become a doctor and serve in our mission hospital, mother'.

The mother superior was very happy. She said*,* 'yes that is great'.

She called the third girl and asked, 'What do you want to become?'

The girl said, 'I want to become an engineer and serve the mission*'*.

Mother superior was happy.

She called the next girl and asked, 'What do you want to become?

She said 'I'll become a prostitute'.

The Mother fainted and fell and after regaining consciousness she questioned the girl again. 'What, what, what did you say? What do you want to be?'

The girl clearly said 'prostitute'. Again mother asked, 'What did you say?' Again she said, 'prostitute'.

Again mother superior fainted. After few minutes when she regained consciousness and asked the girl, 'Tell me clearly what did you say?'

The girl said loudly and clearly 'Prostitute'.

The Mother then heaves a sigh of relief and said, 'Oh god, I thought you said protestant'.

Understand that you listen to only what you want to listen to and not to what is said. In the same way you only see what you want to see; you do not see what is.

When the seer is affected by the scene, the scene can never be the reality. When the seer is affected by the scene, the reality can never be seen. When the seer is affected by the scene, he can never see the reality. That is what here Ashtavakra emphasizes that when you start seeing yourself other than the seer you are affected.

Next sutra:

Do you who have been bitten by the great black serpent of egoism, I am the doer, drink the nectar of the faith, I am not the doer and be happy.

I think Janaka missed. Janaka missed what Ashtavakra is saying. That is why now Ashtavakra has to compromise. In this sutra Ashtavakra also gives a technique.

Be very clear, techniques are given only to fools who simply miss the truth. An intelligent man does not need techniques. When the truth is uttered, the intelligent man immediately captures it and understands it. It is only the person who misses will ask, Master, what you said is really a beautiful truth, but how to practice it. The moment you bring in the question 'how to practice', you miss the truth.

When you understand that the fire can burn you, do you ask, 'Master, I understand that fire will burn, but teach me how not to put my hand again and again in the fire so that I do not get burnt, teach me?'

No, you don't ask this question. The very intelligence that the fire burns is enough for you to take your hands away and you will not put your hand near the fire again. The very intelligence is enough. If you think that this is the truth but I should know how to practice it, be very clear you have not understood the truth.

To tell you honestly, the whole gist of Bhagavad Gita is in the first two statements of Krishna. The moment he starts speaking and that too in the second chapter itself he says:

How has the dejection that is unfit for a noble man come to you at this juncture, O Arjuna? It is disgraceful and it does not lead one to heaven. Do not become a coward because it does not befit you. Shake off this trivial weakness of your heart and get up for the battle, O Arjuna.

Just two verses and the whole gist of Gita is available but Arjuna simply missed. Because Arjuna missed Krishna has to continuously confuse him. Krishna has to completely tire Arjuna. Now unless Arjuna is tired he cannot be helped, nothing can be done. So the first thing that needed to be done was to get Arjuna tired. Arjuna was an intellectual person; he has lived with Krishna for more than thirty years.

Be very clear if have you lived around a Master for a long time and do not become enlightened you become a dangerous intellectual. Arjuna lived around Krishna for a long time and he had not become enlightened.

It's a big problem; when you are an insider, without being an 'in-sider' you will create trouble. Arjuna was an insider; he knows the behind the curtain scenes; but he had not realized the consciousness of Krishna. So naturally he will become a cunning and dangerous intellectual.

People who stay around Masters for a long time and do not become enlightened become dangerous intellectuals. Dangerous intellectuals miss the truth. Always from time immemorial there are these dangerous intellectuals. With Jesus, Judas missed the truth. I think he had become a dangerous intellectual. With Ramakrishna a guy called Hridhay and with Ramana Maharishi there was another such person. Always few people who live around the masters miss the truth. When they miss the truth they become dangerous intellectuals.

Here Janaka missed, which was the first blow. That is the reason that now Ashtavakra has to give a technique. He comes down to giving a technique.

Do you who has been bitten by the great black serpent of the egoism, I am the doer, drink the nectar of the faith I am not the doer and be happy.

Ashtavakra gives the technique. He tells Janaka, 'you think you are the doer, now start thinking, I am not the doer'. Please understand, thinking that I am not the doer or having faith that I am not the doer will not liberate you directly; but it will create such a pressure on you that you will become completely frustrated and drop everything.

People always come and tell me, 'Master I tried to start meditating; but I am not able to. Please advice me what to do'.

Meditation techniques are given to you just to make you understand that you cannot meditate. Let me be very clear, this is the case with any meditation technique. In last two and a half years, many people have taken my meditation techniques. But I am boldly declaring that all meditation techniques are given to you just to make you understand that you cannot do any meditation technique.

I am making another bold statement and if you are offended I apologize, but it is the truth. No intelligent man can practice any technique for more than 21 days with inspiration. He can practice it with perspiration but never with inspiration.

I say that because by your very nature, you are intelligent and by your very nature you understand the truth. Techniques are just to make you tired, just to give a blow to the mind which jumps I am not catching the truth, I do not know.

Here Ashtavakra is telling Janaka 'constantly remember that I am not the doer'. Be very clear, this will not liberate you. This will just make you tired. You will understand that you are not able to remember that constantly. The moment you understand that you are not able to remember constantly that I am not the doer you will be completely frustrated and will just drop.

The moment you drop then the truth that you are not the doer will simply become reality. It will simply become reality.

On the first day of the Ashtavakra series, someone asked me to talk about my enlightenment. I asked him, do you want an honest answer or a social answer? He said honest answer. I said then please wait till the third day of the discourse. This is because, unless you get the glimpse of the truth, you will not be able to understand that I have achieved the truth, that I have achieved realization.

Unless you experience the technology created by me, you can never understand that I discovered the truth.

Another person asked me, 'Master in those days there was only one incarnation during each age, but now these days how come there are so many incarnations, so many gurus, and so many enlightened masters?'

Modern man has become so complicated. Working with modern man has become so difficult. We need millions of masters. It is because we never listen when the truth is being said. Never think you are listening to me. As long as I utter the words, which relate with your logic or go with your vested interests you listen.

The moment I say something that goes against your interests then you close yourselves. If you are courageous enough you stand up and question me; if you are not so courageous and want to be socially polite, you do not allow the words to enter into your being.

Either you stop and question or do not allow the words inside your mind. Be very clear you are not listening; that is why I told the person who asked about my enlightenment that I would talk about it on the last day.

Let me tell you a few things: I left the house when I was very young, when I was seventeen. I started going to various monasteries, ashrams and was wandering from village to village. I tried so many techniques, so many methods; of course the ego and determination that comes at that young age that I can do, helped me do all those things.

To tell you honestly, now if I talk about those things people call it tapas and all those things but actually it was not tapas, I was just enjoying it all. They ask me, 'Master how did you do such great things, you are great, you are mahatma, a great soul!'.

I tell them actually I think you are the mahatma to be living in the same house, with the same car, same routine, same wife! I cannot imagine living in the same house for more than few months. I was enjoying the freedom, everyday a new place; it was not tapas for me; it was just freedom, I was experimenting with all these truths, I was playing with all these techniques.

I even stayed inside the Taj Mahal for seven days. I somehow related well with the security people there and lived in their quarters itself. I felt a strong Shiva energy there. Can you imagine this kind of freedom in your life?

After a few years of all this, the effortless withering away of the will was just happening in me. I had tried all possible techniques and methods. Suddenly after 5 or 6years one day I was overcome by a deep depression. I started looking at my life from day one. I just thought 'what is happening, I have given my whole life and everything is lost'.

The cream of life is youth. I had gambled with my youth; I had gambled my whole life on this enlightenment idea. It is very easy to go to lectures and listen to all these big, big ideas and go back to the same house, to the same wife and live the same life. There is no need to take any risk. But I had gambled with my life.

Meditators are the ultimate gamblers. Ordinary people gamble with little bit of money, little bit of wealth. But meditators gamble with their whole life. I had sacrificed my whole life; the cream of my life had been sacrificed in this journey. Neither had I achieved the truth nor did I feel I was going close to it. I was not able to convince myself that I was doing well. I was in a deep depression. You know what type of thoughts come when one gets in depression.

I started thinking that the very idea of enlightenment itself was foolishness; that it was just a conspiracy against humanity. I felt that a few egoistic people, who wanted to claim that they were in some way higher because they could not claim their superiority in any other field, had just started creating some concepts and had created this idea about enlightenment.

Honestly, that is what I thought. I thought these people were the ones who were not able to create wealth and show they were superior nor were they handsome and could show their superiority in some way nor had they achieved something in the political field to show their worth or success in the society. I thought these were the people who could not achieve success in these types of fields and so they created their own field, selling imagination and created a new market.

I had a beautiful photo of Ramakrishna that I always carried with me because my whole life was inspired by him. I used to offer puja to this photo every morning. I used to constantly repeat mantras twenty-four hours a day. I had mastered the technique of rolling the japa-mala (a rosary) even in my sleep. Actually, it is not a big deal. Just try to sit and do j*apa,* automatically you'll learn the technique!

Japa is the best technique for sleeplessness. If you are suffering from insomnia, start repeating some mantra, that's enough; straight away you'll have peaceful sleep. Or take huge books like Brahma sutra, Sankara bashya or any of the big titles that you can't read or understand; either big books or japa mala, either one will work.

That is why in Bharat there are no insomnia problems. All other countries suffer from insomnia problems; 66% of the population in America suffers from sleeplessness. Why do you think such huge volumes of these books have been written? So that after reading few pages, you can put them under your head and sleep. It serves a two-in-one purpose, one to infuse sleep and the other to help with the sleep.

I had two malas with 108 beads on each. I would hold one in each hand and if I finished chanting the mantra 108 times on one mala, I would move one bead on the second mala. By the time the 108 beads were completed on the second mala, I would have chanted the mantra more than 10,000 times. This is the way I practiced constantly.

Once the frustration happened it was so deep that I just picked up the photograph and threw it with such a force that it shattered. I took both the malas that I was using for the repetition of the mantra and threw them in the Narmada River. Not only the mala, I said to myself, along with these malas I am throwing the mantra also. Let it leave me. I just threw the mantra out*.*

Let me tell you this, although it will be difficult for you to believe; but this is honestly the truth that happened. From that day I forgot the mantra that I had been using for so many years. I simply forgot the mantra. It just left my mind. I decided that now I'm neither going to do any spiritual practice nor am I going to lead a sanyas life.

I decided to live as I wanted. First thing I wanted to rest. Then I thought I'd get married or live a life as I wanted or live life as it comes. But no more spiritual practice; I was convinced that the whole thing was a conspiracy against humanity. So threw the whole thing away and rested.

The seventh day after that I too joined the same group that I thought was conspiring against the humanity. Something had happened. Because of the deep relaxation, suddenly something broke inside and the unclutching has happened and never again the shaft was clutched.

Now I know the view from both the sides; the view from that side and the view from this side. I know the struggles of that side; I know the other shore also. That's why I tell you very clearly that no technique that I have practiced has led me to the truth. It only did one thing to me; I just became tired and completely frustrated.

If some of you are frustrated, be very clear, blessed are those who are frustrated by meditating. You have achieved the results of meditation. If you are frustrated by meditating, you've achieved the result; it's time to drop, so drop.

People ask me, 'Master, you became enlightened because of your long tapas. How can I achieve enlightenment? How can that happen in us?' People ask me this again and again.

Let me tell you very clearly, I did so much of tapas just because I was a simple fool. Be very clear, there is no need for any of these technique or tapas. It is because I lived in the way in which there was no need to live that I have a right to tell you in what way you should live. Because I lived the life that was not necessary, I can tell you what is necessary for you.

I had 10,000 keys in front of me and one lock. The opening itself took only one second. Finding out the right key to open the lock, took nine years. The time I spent on playing with the keys is what you call as tapas. I was playing and playing and playing with 10,000 keys; the opening itself took only one second. Why should you play with 10,000 keys? Here I am giving you one key straight away, open it.

But you'll say, 'When you played with 10,000 keys, why not us too?'

Then go ahead and play, what can be done? Have the whole bunch and play. If you are really interested in finding the truth there is no need to play with all the 10,000 keys.

But if you are interested in postponing the experience like these professional seekers who claim to be seeking and studying for the last 30 years then you are free to do so. These are the kind of people who come up to compliment me after my discourse saying that I spoke very well in order to gain some attention.

They will not be listening when I speak, because they are busy creating words inside about how to come and compliment me after the discourse. Somehow they want to get attention and this is one way for them to do so, that is all. There is no need to compliment me. Just digest the truth that is expressed. If it can go into your being, then I'll be happy that whatever was to happen has happened because a Master also grows with the disciple.

To tell you the truth, along with the disciple master also grows. That is why, in the Vedic system we say:

Om Sahana Vavatu Sahanau Bhunaktu Sahaveeryam Karavavahai Tejas Vinavati Tamastuma vidhwishavahai Om Shanti.

The Vedic prayer does not start as 'let you be liberated', but it says 'let both of us grow'. Understand this one simple thing. Woman is a woman until she gives birth to a child. It is only after giving birth that she becomes a mother. When she gives birth, not only is the child given birth; the mother is also given birth. Only after that, she can be called as a mother; till then she is just a woman. It is only at the time of birth, that both baby and mother are delivered; not just the baby, mother also is given birth.

Same way, when a disciple opens up, master also happens. The disciple teaches the Master and the Master learns from the disciple; Master also grows with the disciple. If he can't grow or update himself he can never be a Master.

Be very clear, Enlightenment is not the end. It is ultimate but not final. You need to understand these two words, they are different.

For example let me tell you this; after the first day discourse in this series, one person came to me and said, 'you've said everything, why do we need one more class?'

Yesterday another person said, 'Master, on the first day I thought you cannot take us much deeper, it's over; and today suddenly I felt you cannot take us much deeper than this. Everyday I feel that you cannot take us much deeper than this, but we are going deeper'.

Ultimate means living every moment totally, completely. Ultimate is not final. Any enlightened Master who cannot update himself can never be called as an enlightened Master. Only Vedic masters are courageous to declare that you can update.

Krishna is the only person who is courageous and bold to declare: Sambhavami yuge yuge - again and again I will come down.

He is the only person courageous to create space for the next generation of masters. He is not bothered just about his business. Krishna understands humanity needs spiritual masters. Any one can stand up, and boldly express the wisdom of Krishna. Anyone who expresses the wisdom of Krishna is Krishna. He creates space for other Masters to come.

That is the greatness of Krishna; that is the greatness of the Vedic Rishis. They know what is happening; they are not interested only in their own business. They are not egoistic that only their photos or only their influence should be there. They are ready to allow the next generation. Growth is possible only when you update.

Vivekananda says beautifully, freedom is the basic condition for any growth. I am questioned again and again in the west, as to why we have so many gods. It is because in our cultural system we had spiritual freedom, but not social freedom. That is why we went to the heights and depths of spirituality. Whereas, the West has social freedom because of which they can change everything in their lives such as car, house and wife as frequently as possible. Constantly they can change because of the social freedom. But they lack the spiritual freedom.

Vedic system is the one and only culture that has no baptism. Something called baptism does not exist in the Vedic culture. At the age of 7 the child is given the Gayatri mantra, which says let me meditate on the light that creates intelligence in me; let that intelligence help me meditate on that intelligence, that's all.

We pray to that supreme intelligence of the cosmos to waken the intelligence within us to lead us to the ultimate Truth.

Only the torch is given; you have to start your journey with that.

Let me give you an example. Somebody comes to you and asks the way to cross the forest? And you say, 'Oh, when I crossed, I walked seven miles straight till I reached the place where there was a big snake. I walked four miles again till I saw a lion. I took a left turn there and walked seven more miles till I reached a river and crossed it. Walked four miles further and I reached the other side of the forest.' Can that person cross the forest with these instructions?

The snake would have left the place long ago and the lion will have moved by now. Instead of giving directions like this give him the torch and he will cross by himself!

Vedic culture had tremendous spiritual freedom, which is why there were 330 million deities. I think the population of the earth must have been 330 million at that time. Each one could have a customized God and they had the spiritual freedom to seek fulfillment in their own way. That is the growth of the Vedic culture. For any growth, freedom is the basic condition. Here all techniques are created and given to you to make you understand that techniques cannot help; instead you need to go straight to the understanding.

If you are already tired of techniques, now is the time to drop and look into yourselves. Just understand this one truth, that by your very nature you are unclutched. Again and again because of your social conditioning, fears and worries, you are trying to clutch yourself and see the shaft.

Neither the shaft exists, nor does the continuity. You are just unclutched; by your very nature you are unclutched. The person who understands this does not need any technique. If you cannot understand, then you are free to torture yourselves with this technique of constantly trying to remember 'I am not the doer'.

Next sutra:

Burn down the wilderness of ignorance with the fire of the knowledge I am the one and pure intelligence and be free from grief and be happy.

Again, Ashtavakra comes up with one more technique. I think, when Ashtavakra spoke to Janaka saying 'you are unattached by your nature', he did not see the light in Janaka's eyes. When you understand the truth suddenly your eyes will light up and expand and you will relax. This inner healing has not happened in Janaka and that is why he has to compromise and create more techniques.

Burn down the wilderness of ignorance with the fire of the knowledge I am the one and pure intelligence and be free from grief and be happy.

'I am the one and pure intelligence'; be very clear the moment you start saying this, these words will start creating more and more words in you. It's one of the beautiful techniques to completely tire you. This is a good technique to make your mind understand that you are not able to do this.

Instead straightaway if you can understand and penetrate with intelligence and see the truth that by your very nature you are unclutched, then your physical and mental problems can also be addressed by this single idea that you are unclutched. The moment you understand that by your very nature you are unclutched, that very moment, simply your depression will disappear. The very idea of depression is created by your constant linking of all your moods.

People ask me, 'Master, it is clear to me that the moment I understand that we are unclutched by our very nature, depression will disappear; but how can physical healing happen?'

Our body is straightaway guided by our mind. There is a book called 'Biology of belief' written by Dr. Bruce Lipton. After 30 years of research in the field of biology, he came up with a powerful research report in which he proves clearly that our body is not guided by DNA or genes as we think but is guided by our faith and positive and negative emotions. He says even our body structure can be altered by our mind. More than three universities have accepted his research and made his book as a required reading text.

Step by step he proves very clearly that all our genetic problems and all our other physical and mental problems are created by our faith alone. He conducted several researches in some of which he would separate a child from the biological parents from day one and the child would grow up thinking that the foster parents were the real parents. In these cases the child would express all the symptoms of the foster parents including the diseases thought to be hereditary. He has done several research projects similar to this. He has come up with a clear report that the body is directly guided by our faith, our beliefs as well as our positive and negative emotions.

The moment you allow the inner healing to happen simply the outer healing will start happening. The moment you understand that you are an unclutched being, that moment the depression will disappear. I promise that you will then completely create a new body; you will not carry your diseases.

Biology says again and again that once in every 6 months we completely create new body parts. Once a year not even a single cell of our liver is the same; the liver is completely replaced and once in twenty-one days our intestine is completely replaced. The body is completely replaced. There is specific number of days for each of the body parts.

It is because of your faith that you are connected and that you are a continuous flow and you carry the same disease. When you create the new part you carry the same disease in the new part also. Just understand that you are completely unclutched. You are disconnected and you are completely independent, every moment.

Let me tell you very clearly, based on my experience of having worked with at least 100,000 patients in the last two and a half years, who have come to me for healing or meditation, the moment you understand that you are an unclutched being you create a new body; you simply heal yourself. You come out of even physical diseases; not only mental problems, even physical problems.

I have only one message from Ashtavakra. You are unclutched being. By your very nature you are unattached. All you need is the courage to let go.

To make you understand better for the benefit of those who were not there yesterday, I'll mention the parrot story. In some parts of Bharat, hunters use a simple method to catch birds like parrots. They tie a string between two trees. In the middle of this string, a small wooden stick or a rod is secured. Now when a parrot sits on one side of the rod, the rod will naturally tilt fully and becomes topsy-turvy. Now the parrot ends up hanging in an upside down position. The parrot thinks if it lets go it'll fall and die and so tightly clings on to the piece of wood. The hunter slowly comes, picks up the parrot and puts it in his bag and goes.

The parrot doesn't realize that if he lets go of the stick, he can just fly and liberate himself.

We too are like these parrots that are afraid to let go of our mind and ego, which are nothing but non-existent shafts. We cling to things that don't exist. We are bound by the mind which itself is a myth. The parrot, which is trying to hold on to the stick thinks that if he leaves he may drop and die. If we leave we will only fly, we will never drop and die.

Similarly the hunters catch monkeys by using a small box. They place some sweets inside the box. The monkey puts the hand in and grabs the sweet. As long as the monkey is holding onto the sweet it will not be able to take the hand out. If the monkey would let the sweet go, that moment it could remove or slide its hand out. But the monkey is not intelligent enough to realize that. It holds on to the sweet and just because he is holding it, he is not able to take the hand out. If it just lets go of the sweet, he can take the hand away.

In the same way, the parrot holds on to the stick because of its fear that it may fall and die. But even by hanging on to the stick he is not going to live long. He just waits for the hunter to come and grab him. If he just lets go he can simply fly.

In the same way we are also clutching to the ego and waiting for the Lord of Death - Yama. Let us understand this one truth. Just understand this one simple truth and let go; liberate yourself.

You have it already.

May you radiate the eternal bliss, THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM.

Q: I'm not clutching, I'm enjoying.

A: Enjoy, nothing wrong, just don't clutch. When you unclutch, this joy will stay permanently. If you try to possess it, if you try to hold on, it will create a shaft and you will miss it. And if you just constantly unclutch and don't bother about it. It will tend to stay permanently. It won't leave you.

As ego you are getting doomed; as self you are getting liberated. Both are happening at the same time.

Q: I am still a little bit afraid of losing my identity.

A: The fear of losing identity is such that even if you try to hold on you can't hold on. Understand, if it can stay no problem in having it. But it won't stay even if you try to hold on; after sometime maybe at the time of death. One more thing when I say death, I don't even mean the final death; even if your money is lost you will lose your identity. Even if the money is taken away from you, you will lose that identity of being that millionaire. If some of your near and dear ones die, a part of your being will die. That is why whenever you feel something is taken away from you, you feel so much of suffering. You see you may not even live with your father or mother. They may be living in some other country. But the moment you hear the news, they've died, or they are no more, you feel such emptiness in you.

Physically you are not missing them because already they are living somewhere, but the moment you hear they are no more you feel something is missing in you. That is because your identity is taken away. Be very clear whenever something is lost, your identity will be lost because your identity is built on these pillars. Relax from the fear of losing the identity and you will see you will have the identity that will never be lost.

Q: My job requires competition, when I unclutch I feel numb, if I unclutch at work, I can not compete and lose my job. What should I do?

A: If you are unclutched you will do much more than what is required. I assure. Just be unclutched, you will not lose the job, otherwise I will pay you the money. No really, I have seen, I can't change my word; I have seen people becoming so creative, so energetic. Ask the people who have done the Nithyanandam program. Ask them to share what is happening with them in this fortnight and how they feel. What their mind set is and all those things.

You will do 3 times more business with less time. You will become so clear about yourself your life, your attitude and everything. I tell you surely you will never lose your job. You will never lose the spirit of creating. You may not hurt others you will stop backbiting, but you will not stop the creation. You will be an important productive member.

You see in the first day or second day after you hear this truth you tend to relax from all that irritation you would have had as irritation inside with competition. The pendulum feels like going the other side because you feel it will go to the other side, but it won't, it will stand straight. And it will balance itself. It is just your fear that the pendulum is going to the other side. It is nothing.

Q: I realize with everybody and everything I interact with I have this shaft.

A: Everything you have this shaft, with everything you have this shaft, only with the shaft you move. When you start relaxing from the shaft, first thing you will feel is that you are handicapped, and you can't do anything. Suddenly you will see, without even shaft you will be able to move. You don't have to think; you are just living. You are moving, things are happening, but there is no shaft. Only that space I call enlightenment. But that can happen only suddenly. Until then I have to make you sit, sit, sit and drive this truth inside.

Q: But the pleasure I am not able to feel that much, it is more the pain and the guilt.

A: See, pain, guilt and all these negative things only create strong shafts. When it comes to pleasure you don't create any shaft. Usually the pleasure is an experience, no shaft is created. Only after the pleasure, the idea about pleasure creates a shaft. When the idea itself is happening, there is no shaft created. But after that your memory about the pleasure will create a shaft.

Be very clear, the moment you think of punishing somebody, the moment you think of punishing somebody or of the revenge, only you will be getting punished. See, the moment you decide to punish somebody you reduce yourself as a human being. That is the biggest punishment that can be given to anybody. First you punish yourself, only then you punish others. See, the moment you decide you should punish a or b or c, you reduce yourself into a human form, which is not the truth. That is a big punishment you are giving to yourself. So according to me, punishment and all these things are just social games; life games.

Let me be honest, according to the world, might is right, that is the only law, with which everything works. Here, fighting is no way going to help. Alright you punish somebody, what is going to happen? He will come back with one more problem and nobody is going to keep quiet. Nobody is going to keep quiet. Then there will be more problems for you. What will you do then? Then you will also try to create some more problems.

This goes on and on. Till death it can go on and on and on. I tell you one important thing, if you apply the principle of an eye for an eye, the whole world will become blind. That is the only thing that will happen.

Q: It just transforms and you are able to forgive everybody for everything.

A: That is the right thing. That is the right attitude; that is the key to life. Even if you think of punishing others, it is just a waste of time. One more thing, the moment somebody does something wrong to you, that itself is enough punishment to him. Why is someone doing wrong? Only because he suffers. He is already in hell. That is why he is creating some disturbance for others. So that itself is a big punishment. There is no need to punish him separately.

See, when somebody does something to you there is no need to give him separate punishment. The other day, one person came to me, actually somebody came to our ashram for healing. Then he went outside and said some wrong things, like he did not get help or something like that. Others came and complained to me, Swamiji , this is what he is saying. I told them that he was speaking like that because he was in irritation, he was in hell. Why do you want to punish him more or curse him? He already is suffering, there is no other punishment required.

So, the moment he does something, already he is suffering, what more do you want to do? If at all you can do something please heal him that's all. Let you heal him. Nothing else can be done. There are so many people, so many issues are brought to me like this, Swamiji, please see that you do something to him. Means what? What do you want me to do, curse him or what? That can't be done. There are so many cases that are related to our ashram and they bring it to my notice. I can't curse.

One more thing, an enlightened being can never curse anybody. People come and ask me, Swamiji somebody cursed me; I tell you one thing only an enlightened person's curse will work. Nobody else has the power to curse. Enlightened person will never curse. If he curses he is not enlightened. So as far as curse goes, you don't have to bother at all. Nobody's curse can disturb you and nobody's curse can harm you because only an enlightened person's curse has power. Only his curse has got power and an enlightened person will never curse. Then why worry? These are all just simple things.

Q: Some people are doing harm to us without us doing anything and it is so difficult to accept that fact.

A: See, one thing ma, these are going to be facts of life, these are going to be part of life. The very existence means you take birth, mentally being prepared for all these fights that you will have here. Being on the planet earth means you have to go through all these things.

Not only for you, you think I don't have problem? Sit in this chair and understand. All these people who come and sit in front of me and smile, what do you think they do behind my back? I know. It is truth, people who fall at my feet in front of me, behind me they'll say many nasty things. They think I don't know and when they come in front of me the next time they keep a different face.

I also do the same drama. I say, oh nobody like you, you are so great and all these things. What more can be done? These are all the usual drama; this is life, so forget about it. At least if you are unclutched, you are free. Otherwise you will also have the same tension.

This moment you can be unclutched. When you don't believe you are unclutched, then you think you are bound.

Actually the important thing is that you have to use some name in the society. You are with the body and need a name. Instead of using some name like John, James etc. if you use your spiritual name you will be constantly reminded that you are unclutched. Again and again you will be reminded that you are unclutched and it will be a big technique for enlightenment, that's all. But you can remember without this support also, it's not a big thing.