Preface
As human beings, we are constantly searching for more and more words. We ask questions just to satisfy our need for words. Instead of understanding what is said, we ask questions just to get more words. This is why we go from Master to Master, from book to book. We go on collecting big books from different Masters. As soon as we get bored with one Master's teachings, we drop him and the book and go to another Master.
What we do not understand is that all these Masters are one and the same. They are all saying the same thing. They are just using different words because of the 'copyright' problem! Shiva, Krishna, and Buddha – all talk about the same thing but in different space and time with different expressions, that's all.
Through their different expressions, they are all trying to show us the Truth, to take us to the wordless state where words don't matter but the essence does. But the intellect works in such a way that we catch the words and miss the Truth. Instead of jumping into our inner space, we gather more and more words. The goal is neither to keep collecting words nor dropping them altogether. It is to go beyond words itself.
With these words of wordlessness comes a chance to go beyond words, into the ultimate consciousness, Nithya Ananda, Eternal Bliss."
- THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
aramahamsa: Bhaktananda! Have you finished with the accounts that we were discussing yesterday?
Bhaktananda: I will finish it tonight.
Paramahamsa: What happened to the editing of the book that you received last week?
Bhaktananda: I am halfway through it.
Paramahamsa: I want the book to be at least 400 pages. Write down... I want you to put 4 to 5 people on the job and get 10 books ready. Come up with titles like Bliss Breeze, Stand up! and so on...
Bhaktananda: When should they be ready?
Paramahamsa: Yesterday!
aramahamsa at a discourse: The only way to inner bliss is meditation.
Aditya, an ardent meditator listens with great interest.
Paramahamsa at the ashram: Why are you wasting your time in meditation? Do my work! That is enough. You will experience.
Aditya (now very confused): Why is it that you make contradicting statements all the time?
Paramahamsa: To manage idiots like you!
Wordless in Words
devotee saw that Paramahamsa would do the same mundane things as himself everyday. He would eat, drink, take a bath and so on, just like him.
With his own assumptions he asked,
"Master, is the difference between you and me?"
Paramahamsa replied,
"Nothing... Nothing is the difference between you and me. You are something; I am Nothing.
You are something because you have something called ego. But I have nothing. That is the difference."
aramahamsa at an informal discourse: Enlightenment is the ultimate...
Nithya Gnana: What happens in enlightenment?
Paramahamsa: Man dies.
Nithya Gnana (shocked): But you are alive!
Paramahamsa: In enlightenment, man dies and God is born.
Vignesh, after hearing Paramahamsa's Bhagavad Gita discourses:
Vignesh: Are you here to prove that you are God?
Paramahamsa: No, I am not.
Vignesh: Then what is the purpose of your mission?
Paramahamsa: To prove that you are God.
**Nithya Roop sees only males doing puja in the first few days of her stay in the ashram.
Nithya Roop: Master, may I also do puja?
Paramahamsa: Of course! Why not?
Nithya Roop: But I have only seen males do puja here.
Paramahamsa: Ladies also do. If the life force in a male body can do puja, why not the same life force in a female body?
Wordless in Words
Rudy: Teach me how to know the Self. I asked many different people this, but I still don't think I have got a convincing reply.
Paramahamsa: If you know that you don't know, at least you know that you don't know.
If you don't know that you don't know, you don't even know that you don't know!
Now, you know that you don't know, that is enough! You will come to know.
Idiots! You are trying to manipulate me with your mind. Understand: I manipulate the mind itself!
Vishal (a teenager): How does one completely satisfy a girl, Swami?
Paramahamsa: If I knew the answer, why would I become a sannyasi?!
Vishal, laughing: Tell me please...!
Paramahamsa: Satisfying the partner fully is not possible because the mind as such cannot be satisfied fully.
aramahamsa at the end of a satsang: Satsangs will be held every month. It would do you good to attend them.
Nirmalananda: Why do we hold satsangs?
Paramahamsa: To answer your questions and question your answers, until questions dissolve and only humble doubts remain!
A lady asked,"What is meditation?"
Paramahamsa replied, "Meditation is nothing but doing nothing and Being comfortable!"
Shiv: Who am I?
Paramahamsa: You are neither the body nor the mind...
Shiv: Then am I the spirit?
Paramahamsa: No, not even the spirit.
Shiv: Then?
Paramahamsa: You are the witness that witnesses the three. The awareness!
Wordless in words
James: I have been to many ashrams, but yours has the least number of sannyasis. Why?
Paramahamsa: Because I am not for the masses.
James: Then what is your mission for?
Paramahamsa: For intense individual seekers.
Rudrananda: How will we know when we are enlightened?
Paramahamsa: When this doubt is no more, you are enlightened.
Rudrananda: But how will we know?
Paramahamsa: Enlightenment is so clear... there will be no doubt!
Press reporter: What is your message for humanity?
Paramahamsa: Either meditation or global suicide.
Press reporter: Global suicide?
Paramahamsa: Yes, meditation causes individual revolution, which alone can help humanity. In the last 5000 years, 3000 mass revolutions have happened, but have been of no use.
A man asked, "How do we know that we have dropped our ego?"
Paramahamsa replied, "If you have this question, be sure that you have not dropped."
Sally (frustrated): Teach me how to be free from this cycle of birth and death.
Paramahamsa: Where did you hear this idea?
Sally: Everywhere... books, other ashrams.
Paramahamsa: Well, I say freedom from the idea of freedom is real freedom.
**Nithya Meda watches while Master scolds a few ashramites.
Nithya Meda: Master, what is anger?
Paramahamsa: Anger is an energy.
Nithya Meda: But many people say it is negative.
Paramahamsa: Only if you don't know how to handle it.
Paramahamsa: Bliss...
Ananda Raga: That is the goal, but what is the path?
Paramahamsa: Bliss is both - the goal and the path.
aramahamsa: Meditation is a complement to medication.
Gopal: I find it difficult to relate a scientist with a rishi. They seem like opposites. Please explain.
Paramahamsa: A man who creates a formula to reproduce what happens in the outer world is a scientist. A man who creates a formula to reproduce what happens in the inner world is a rishi.
**At a discourse, a man asked, "What is Ego?"
Paramahamsa: The inability to play the right masks with the right people at the right times in an appropriate way, is ego.
Ananda Sree: How do we go about destroying our ego?
Paramahamsa: First, understand clearly that you have ego in some form or the other. It may be active ego or passive ego.
Ananda Sree: What is the difference between them?
Paramahamsa: Active ego is very obvious and gets hit by society at some time or the other.
Passive ego is very subtle, difficult to perceive and difficult to destroy as well.
> Knowing this is the first step to destroying our ego.
Paramahamsa: Responding spontaneously to any situation is responsibility.
Dhruv: What is meditation?
Paramahamsa: The journey from 'i' to 'I'; the journey from Individual Consciousness to Universal Consciousness.
Paramahamsa: Because all your right decisions are the wrong decisions in the wrong places."
Paramahamsa: How can I abuse them like that?
Balaji: Abuse?
Paramahamsa: Description of someone is actually abusing them, limiting them.
aramahamsa: This wonder-filled Universe...
Atmananda: How is it wonder-filled?
Paramahamsa: If you are told to leave the Universe this very day, you will experience it as wonder-filled. Until then, you take it for granted and find it boring.
aramahamsa asked everyone in the meditation hall to introduce themselves.
One man stood up and said, "I am Dr. Vivek Anand."
Paramahamsa asked, "Oh! You were born a doctor?"
The man replied, "I am a doctor by profession Swami."
Paramahamsa (laughingly), "Be very clear: as long as you are caught in names and forms and titles, you can never realize the core of your being. You will remain at the periphery."
Wordless in words
During the ASP, Asha, a talkative young lady was repeatedly told to be silent.
Asha in the Ananda Darshan: Why am I so ready to talk?
Paramahamsa: You are afraid to be with yourself, so you talk to others.
man came running to Master after hearing his discourse and said, "After hearing your discourse, I realized what kind of a life I am leading. I am a burglar by profession. Now I am feeling very guilty."
Paramahamsa answered, "Why do you feel guilty about your mistakes?
When you made them, you had only that much intelligence. Now you have updated intelligence.
Don't view your past actions with updated intelligence. The time has come to fly in bliss, not to fall in guilt."
A medical student asked, "What are all the diseases that can be cured by meditation?"
Paramahamsa replied, "Meditation can cure all the diseases which you can name and which you can't name!"
Dr. Andrews: Can I heal my patients through energy healing?
Paramahamsa: Of course, meditation is a complement to medication.
Dr. Andrews: There are no side effects?
Paramahamsa: How can there be? Meditation is the ultimate medication. The only side effect is bliss!
Wordless in words
A workingman asked, "Why am I not always comfortable?"
Paramahamsa replied, "Because you schedule appointments for everyone....except yourself."
A businessman: I want to meditate, Swami.
Paramahamsa: Then meditate!
Businessman: But where is the time?
Paramahamsa: Just say that you are not interested in doing meditation. Don't say that you can't find time.
Businessman: But my clients...
- Paramahamsa: Can't you find 30 minutes in 24 hours? If I follow you around for 24 hours, I can cumulate and show you how many hours you waste in 24 hours.
Paramahamsa replied, "Beyond both."
An atheist asked, "Should we always wear the mala around our neck?"
Paramahamsa said, "If you wear the mala, you will become spiritual. If you put it on the coat stand, the coat stand will become spiritual. You decide."
Kumar: Should we remove the sacred mala when we go to the bathroom?
Paramahamsa: Why would you do that?
Kumar: Isn't it disrespectful to wear it in the bathroom?
Paramahamsa: Do you remove God from your heart when you go to the bathroom?
A lady asked, "Can we do puja during periods time?"
Paramahamsa says,"Of course you can. If there is a God which doesn't allow you to do puja at that time, simply throw that God out of the window. In my ashrams worldwide, women will be allowed at all times."
After a cremation done by Master, a lot of questions were raised on the topic of death.
One of them was, "Why is it that they only put the date of birth and the date of passing away on the tombstone?"
Paramahamsa , "Because they did nothing else worth mentioning in between!" replied
Atmananda: What is leadership?
Paramahamsa: Real leadership is a state, not a status.
Atmananda: What do you mean by state?
Paramahamsa: When you are integrated, when you are one with the Knowledge, you become a leader.
Michael: What is your opinion about marriage?
Paramahamsa: Marriage is like a roller coaster ride.
Michael: In what way?
Paramahamsa: Who all are in it want to jump out, And who all are outside want to jump in!
Anandi: I get distracted very easily when I do my lessons. How can I overcome it?
Paramahamsa: Distractions are distractive as long as you feel that they are distractions. When you fall in tune with the distractions, they are no longer distractive.
A lady from the first batch of healers asked, "Why do animals and plants get healed comparatively quicker than humans?"
Paramahamsa replies, "Because they don't resist."
She counters, "But we also don't resist!"
Paramahamsa says, "You resist not knowing that you resist. That is the play of your mind. They don't have a mind to stop my energy."
A man told Master, "I once read a quote that said: you cannot step into the same river twice."
Paramahamsa replies, "Wrong. According to me, you cannot even step into the same river once. By the time you step in and your feet touches the river bed, the water has already flowed, the river has already changed!"
A man asked Master to pass a comment on Vivekananda's statement: Give me 100 intelligent, brave youngsters. I will change the world and show you.
Paramahamsa said, "During that time, Vivekananda wanted 100 youngsters. I tell you now: if I get just 10 intelligent and courageous youngsters, I can change the whole world!"
```markdown college student said, "I am not able to let go of my worries. I don't know what to do."
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told her, "If you stop worrying about your worries, your worries will no longer worry you!"
n the Nithyanandam program, Master was keeping the participants waiting for a long time. I
When he came back, he saw the look on the people's faces and said,
"Wait until you are ready to wait. Then you don't have to wait anymore!"
antosh was spending time with Master. S
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: Santosh!
Santosh: ...
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: Santosh!
Santosh: ...y-yes, Swamiji?
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: You can use your brain and response system simultaneously... no problem. This is what I mean when I say 'be aware'.
seeker was complaining to Master, "I am not able to progress Aspiritually. Please instruct me on what to do."
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM told him, "The basic condition for spiritual progress is to know very clearly that you don't know."
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM replied, "Happiness is relative but bliss is absolute. There is no duality in bliss."
nand Roop, a philosopher: Can you prove the existence of AExistence?
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: The only thing beyond logic and proof is Existence.
Anand Roop: So you can't prove it!
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: If you can prove Existence with logic, it means that logic is greater than Existence, and that can never be!
ooja: Are thoughts a part of the mind or are they an expression Pof the mind?
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: Neither.
Pooja: Then what are they?
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM: Your thoughts and your mind are one and the same. Mind is Thought and Thought is Mind.
meditator asked, "How can I experience inner silence? Do I Aneed to decrease my thoughts?"
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM said, "The thought that you have to stop thinking is just another thought which is keeping you from that silence!"
She wanted to solidify her old ideology before leaving and asked in the question/answer session, "Are you really enlightened, or are you an extraordinary businessman?"
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM replied, "Yes! I am an extraordinary businessman. I give bliss, which no other businessman can give. The price which I ask from you is your dhukka, your worries which no other businessman will and can take."
man asked, "Buddha says, live in the middle. Why?" A
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM replied, "Because, that will tune the music in your life."
The man asked, "Please explain, I can't understand."
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM continued, "If you tighten the strings of a guitar too much, it will snap. You can't create music. If the strings are too loose also you cannot create music. Only if the strings are tuned just in the middle, it can create music.
Likewise, until you tune yourself to the middle state, no music, no joy, no celebration can happen."
brahmacharini was in a deep struggle with the ashram Astructure.
patiently looked at her and said, "Ma...there are only two types of mental setup. THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
One... whatever happens around you, you find a negative side and fall into depression.
Two... whatever happens around you, you find a positive side and be blissful always.
The choice is yours.
Choose one and enjoy it!"
At this, one of the brahmacharis laughed indifferently.
told him, "Fool! Why do you laugh? I am a Paramahamsa (blissful no matter what), you are a Parama Himsa (sorrowful no matter what)!" THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
Now this brahmachari asks, "What do you mean by this, Master?"
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM replied, "Even with you I am blissful. Even with me you are depressed! Change your mental setup. Then you can laugh."
ne lady was complaining to Master about her dishonest Ohusband.
told her, "You never believe that others speak the truth because you never speak the truth." THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
man was telling Master about how his relationships were Agetting better after attending some of the meditation camps.
told him, "If I ask you who your good friend is, you will remember many names, But you won't remember your own." THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM