London, 3rd July, World Tour 2010
Brahmanandam Paramasukadam
Kevalam Jnanamurtim
Dvandvaateetam Gaganasadrisham
Tattvamasyadi Lakshiyam
Ekam Nityam Vimalam Achalam
Sarvadhi Sakshi Bhutam
Bhava Teetam Triguna Rahitam
Satgurum Tvam Namami
Prostrations with deep love and reverence at the Lotus Feet of Beloved Master Shivabalayogi. I greet you all this beautiful evening with my love and blessings.
It all starts with the mind and ends with the mind. Two terminologies which people keep wondering and asking, “What is its meaning?” – Well as a child we asked ourselves also, “What is its meaning and why were these things given to us?” These two terminologies are ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’. Very many people, particularly the educated class or intellectual class, are very adverse to the word religion. In fact My Guru also never wanted to be called a religious teacher. It did not mean that He disliked religion, or dishonored or any such thing. What He felt was that religion was a misunderstood word, misinterpreted, maybe very often misused also, for a person’s power and dominating things, all such things.
The meaning
of the word
‘religion’
Recently, when I tried to discover the word’s actual meaning, from where this ‘religion’ has come, the original Latin word, among several meanings that have been given in that website,were a couple of things I felt very much relevant to my experiences. One is the ‘re-ligion’, meaning reconnecting to the Truth, regaining that Truth, and another is ‘fulfilling of obligations’. These two I felt nearest and authentic among so many others. Normally what happens is a group of people having a faith or a belief of a supernatural existence called God who would protect everyone and who would fulfill the wishes, all this type of thing. But these two – fulfilling the obligations and reuniting yourself with the Truth – to me give the real meaning of religion. That’s what we thought as a child, “What is its use in our day-to-day life? What can it give us?”
As I told in the beginning it all starts with the mind and ends with the mind. This mind is the thing which gives you an experience of all the happiness and unhappiness, of fear and stress in the world. This is the main cause of the trouble for every human being. It is through the mind that you experience a good or a bad, an agony or a happiness, a satisfaction or a dissatisfaction, so these are the things. The mind imagines. When it imagines, based on that imagination, the mind experiences the things when it has expectations. So based on these things people keep asking the question also of the willpower and destiny: “What is the willpower, what is the destiny? Do we have to undergo whatever somebody else has written for us, or what is it?” I have always felt by my observations during the Tapas, watching the symptoms of the mind, that it is through your own mind that you exercise either a willpower or you simply victimize yourself to a destiny, that is all.
You have a wish, so to fulfill that wish you have to put in an effort. When you exercise the courage of willpower, “I need this and I am going to do this one!” that is the willpower. Like today evening you would have exercised your will on learning that a certain Saint is going to talk about meditation and is going to teach the meditation – “Let me go there”. So that is the willpower. If you are unable to exercise this then you simply are casual. Eventually then you accept whatever has to happen. So that is how it is not happening, that is why many times people do not put in effort and just come and tell us, “This is not getting sorted out, my unhappiness is not getting sorted out, whatever I have wanted is not happening”. They don’t put in efforts. Like meditation itself: “For 40 years we are trying to meditate but nothing is happening”. So an effort in the right direction with proper technology is a very important thing. If you visualize through your mind more positively, the things start appearing positively for you. Like putting in an effort – you want to overcome the stress of your mind, unhappiness of your mind, dissatisfaction. These are some of the basic things which give stress and unhappiness of the mind. So when you want to overcome it you need to ponder over what the Truth is, what you can achieve. That is how the trouble starts from the mind itself. But the mind itself really does not exist. What exists is the Pure Supreme Consciousness and the Pure Supreme Energy. Simply it has become mind when you are visualizing a thought, when the imaginations are there. Like, you see, the mind is a bundle of thoughts. The day you are able to overcome all the thoughts, what remains is the Pure Consciousness of your own existence. At that time you even do not think of yourself, but you really exist. That is what can give the Supreme Happiness, Supreme Peace.
Like in the beginning sloka I said, this is one of the most popular of the Guru Gita scripture slokas which appealed to us since childhood. That was how I wondered, “What is it that this sloka speaks of that a Guru has achieved, a Saint, a Yogi has achieved? What is it that we can achieve through these things?”. Brahmanandam – He would be enjoying such a peace which is beyond anybody’s imagination. You cannot imagine and visualize. Everything that you would have enjoyed even if you had been an emperor or the richest person or any such thing, having a Bentley, Rolls Royce, everything, you would have imagined yourself, “This is this highest happiness I have enjoyed”. Still it does not suffice. That Peace and Happiness that a Yogi is enjoying, that Quietness, that Serenity, that Total Contentment, that is beyond.
Paramasukadam also – Parama is the Supreme; above that there is no other happiness. Kevalam Jnana Murtim – He is the knowledge personified. He has become One with the Self, that which is the real knowledge that everybody is looking for. If everybody is looking for happiness, that is the Happiness – THAT. He has achieved THAT. He has become One with THAT, He has become aware of THAT. That is why He is THAT – this is what ‘knowledge personified’ means.
Dvandvateetam – He’s above the dualities of this world. See in this world, one is important because of the other. If there is a happiness in this world, unhappiness also follows. And that unhappiness also is a temporary phase, happiness also follows. Life becomes a mixture. But very often we do not notice. We notice the unhappiness only too much and forget the happiness that we keep getting in this world. What goes more noticed is the unhappiness and the tension, when there is agony and pain.
Gaganasadrisham – He is Pure like the sky. Tattvam Asyadi Laksham – His attention is always on the Self. This attention is the meditation that one can learn. Through the meditation one adopts the technology and achieves. Tattva – in ancient times when the sages realized the Self they called it THAT, before hundreds and billions of names came into existence. So that is what they called it – Tattva – meaning THAT. His attention is always on that one.
Ekam nityam…. – He is totally settled in Himself, in Itself, that’s what it is. And composed, at peace, totally contented. Vimalam Achalam – unmoved. Through experience He’s unmoved, He never gets confused. Even if the whole world stands against Him and tries to criticize Him and talk nonsense that what He has achieved is nothing much, there is much more to it. Some people might tell, “This person talks of this technique, there is much more to it”. He never gets disturbed by all these types of criticism or fun or any such things because He has experienced the Truth. He will simply smile at them. Just like, you have met Babaji today. If you go out and talk to your friend that you met Babaji, if that person makes fun of you, you will be amused and you will not get confused because you have experienced. That is the effect of experience. My Guru always used to tell, “Whether you listen to a lecture, a talk, whether you read scriptures, that is all good to motivate yourself, to inspire yourself. But a little bit of your own experience can make a lot of difference”. That’s what we always visualized – “We must experience that Truth, what it is”.
Mind becomes a victim of its own imaginations
Bhava Teetam Triguna Rahitam – He would have transcended all emotions. Triguna is the sattvic, rajasic, tamasic for all those who would have read in scriptures. Normally I try to tell in simpler terminology that these are the ‘good, bad and ugly’, that type of thing. What does this mean, the good, bad and ugly? What has been explained – it is the mind which goes into these shapes. See, mind has the quality to imagine. When it imagines it is to be considered as a good quality, because using this mind in creativity we can live in this world. Without imagination it is not possible to achieve anything in this world. The entire universe, the whole creation is run because of imagination, and the creation itself has happened because of imagination. Like when you have imagination you have all the images of thoughts and visions, everything in your mind; a separate world sits. That itself may not be a wrong thing. Now when it becomes bad is when this mind gets scattered, when you lose control over your own mind. Like for example, sometimes when in the morning you would have got up feeling very fresh, quiet and serenity is there. Suddenly unknown to you your mind tries to imagine. When it begins, it imagines always the pleasant things. Nobody wants to have unpleasantness in the mind. But always it doesn’t seem to be in their hands. It gets scattered as the day passes by; the mind jumps into happiness and unhappiness, pleasant and unpleasant memories and visualizations. Thus that mind becomes a victim of its own imaginations. These are the scattered effects of the mind that becomes bad. It’s really a bad situation, right? When this mind goes totally out of control and gets scattered like that and forgets about your Self, you forget about your Self. You have become so preoccupied mentally wandering in this world with your own egos and imaginations all the time, you don’t know who you are, you don’t know what you are, you don’t know whether you have happiness or unhappiness, whether you exist or not, whether you are permanent or impermanent.
There’s so many imaginations, that’s what gives another conflict also. That is what is the tamasic bhava of the mind. You see precisely, if you think just now, if you ponder over, when you forget about your Self you create an ugly situation for you. In the dark if you are going walking it’s quite dangerous. You can be stumbling upon any such sharp weapon and you can be harming yourself. When you come out of your home, that is no problem, you can go for a walk, but you need to remember that you have to go back home. You cannot afford to forget about it. You should not be wandering so much that you don’t have time for your home and you totally forget about your home and one day when you want to return, when you are tired, you don’t know where to go. You are confused. That is the tamasic bhava. Sattvic, rajasic, tamasic. A Guru, a real Yogi, an Enlightened Soul who would have done sadhana, would have transcended these triguna, that’s what it is. ‘To such a Satguru I prostrate’.
So this was the sloka which created such an impact on us and we tried to understand what it is they achieved. Why was this meditation prescribed? Why was this religious sadhana prescribed? So this is how as we went into spirituality, we understood what religion actually means. Like in Indian philosophical words, the nearest word for religion is the dharma. Dharma also means ‘obligations’, ‘fulfilling obligations’. So if we try to understand, what is this fulfilling of obligations? You have a physical body, you have a mind, and you have this world, fellow beings and fellow creatures, fellow things and this earth, so many things, responsibilities.
Having been born as a human being
you have triple responsibilities
That’s how my Guru said, “Having been born as a human being you have triple responsibilities,” He used to say. You need to take care of your physical body, then only this body can give happiness. If you lose the health of it, it can be harming your happiness. However we all understand that the body has its own limitations. In spite of our best efforts it may lose its health when the aging process happens. We need to take care of it with proper exercises, that is why the yoga postures are taught, exercises are taught, walking is taught, so many things. Medically everybody keeps advising, “You have to keep your body fit like this; you have to be taking this type of food”. The lifestyle, everything matters for the physical health. And using this physical body only you will be able to take care of your mind. That is the purpose of the exercises prescribed in religion: prayers, meditation, any other exercise, a hundred and one could be, or a thousand and one, anything could be, everything. The basic idea is to bring the mind under your control. When the mind is under your control it is healthier. This means, you can keep it quiet and enjoy the peace. You can relax. You can think when you want to think, and when you think, you will have the ability to think in a mature way. You shall not have that ego and arrogance. My Guru said, “When perfection is achieved, the more and more perfection comes, when the knowledge is complete with wisdom, there is humility. There shall never be any ego and arrogance”. That is what our Gurus taught us. When we think we will always think of a larger cause, we will be able to respect others, we will be able to consider about others. We all need to live for each other. That’s how we would be able to be considerate. Give respect and take respect. What do we have to give and take? – love and honor. That is what is needed in this world.
So like this the mind becomes healthier. If the mind is healthier it thinks in a healthier way. If it is not healthy, it is egoistic, selfish, narrow-minded and arrogant. I would like to call such a person really mentally disabled. So that’s what we need to understand and consider. So when we practice such exercises, we should be able to uphold the health of the physical body, the mind and the moral values. That is the religion, why it was given.
That’s what we need to achieve in our day-to-day life. When we achieve this, you will be able to live a happy life, peaceful life in this world. You could be inspiring others, you could be able to give peace to others, you could be able to give a friendship to others, consideration to others. You would never like to give enmity to others. You shall never be insecure. Like with my Guru, He was never insecure, He was a Yogi. He was not in a rush that, “Everybody should accept me only as the Guru and should not be going anywhere else. I will control you, where you go or where you don’t go”. He never prescribed any such things. When He initiated, He said, “As a friend I am giving you this technology. You practice if it is worthwhile and you achieve”, that’s it. It’s your choice. If you want my help, my guidance, I am happy to do that one. That’s my duty then. Then it becomes my duty because that’s why I’m here in this world, that’s my Mission. If you want to go anywhere and experience, you are most welcome. There is no such imposition that you should not be going there and you should be going here, you should be accepting only me as Guru. You are welcome to accept any number of Gurus and experience anywhere, in anyway. It’s your choice. If you want to do this one, it is your choice. So that was the greatness of the Yogi. He used to tell, “As a friend – in the mitra bhava – He used to initiate. It’s a very unique way of initiation. He never claimed Himself as Guru or God or any such thing. Simply He was there to teach such things: this is the meditation, this is the technology.
What is this mind?
So how are these things achieved? Spirituality is the other term, right? Spirituality is a directly used term that you study yourself as the spirit form. It means spirit is the infinite form actually. Infinite means, you see your own mind, what do you call it? You cannot show it to anybody. Is it round? Is it rectangular? Is it square? Is it blue or yellow or red? Can you show it to anybody? – Impossible, nobody has seen it, you cannot show it. Simply based on the thoughts only you recognize it. But what is this? Have you ever pondered, have you ever tried to think it over? What is this mind which is making you sometimes happy and miserable, making you to dance to its tunes? It always keeps you on your toes, it keeps you insecure. It gives you so much of fear, so much of tension, so much of stress, so much of uneasiness, so much of ego it can be giving to anybody.
What is this mind? It is you, your Self actually, the Pure Consciousness. When it is thinking, it becomes mind; when it is not thinking, it is You. If that is possible, that is precisely what you would be trying to achieve when you practice, try to meditate in fact. This is what needs to be achieved when you become aware of it, and that’s it. Meaning, you can think when you want to think and you are not going to be victimized by your own imaginations. You are fully aware whatever you are thinking is simply your own imagination. A friend might appear as a foe, a foe might appear as a friend depending on your mental attitude, and your mind becomes a casualty of its own imagination. That’s why people become egoistic of their own insecurity. When they are unaware of themselves, people become insecure in this world and they act upon abruptly, very much. This is the human world we watch, that is why there is a conflict. That’s why we always thought at the age of ten, these thoughts used to come to me: “Why is it that humanity is against each other? Why can’t they live for each other?” So character and culture are also so important for a Guru when He teaches these things, because My Guru said, “Don’t be in a rush to become a Guru, try to become a worthy disciple first. It is so important. Don’t claim what you are, you behave in that way then let people call you that”.
Years ago, once we were visiting the holy river of Ganga with my Master. He saw that holy thread on my body. It is the symbol of a particular community who try to do such types of spiritual exercises. Now of course there is a lot of broad-mindedness there in the society, but still in some sections there could be a narrow-mindedness of, “This particular mantra, this particular knowledge belongs to only us and we can only do”, these types of things might prevail. So He was unhappy, He was furious that He thought, “Your mind might go into an ego that you belong to this high caste community. You should not be thinking this. All are same, all the soul is one, all human beings are all the same. Take it out and throw it in the Ganga.” So I took it out and dropped it in the Holy Ganga. Then He patted me on my head, sprinkled some water and said, “From now onwards you are a monk” (meaning you are a sannaysi), “But don’t claim this, try to live that life so that people themselves may call you so”. So that is what He taught – your life should be a message. That’s why we try to teach that character and culture are so important. That’s what we will have to take care of all the time. He used to say, “Apart from listening to you, people’s eyes will be watching you also, what you are going to do, what you are trying to live, in which way you are living”. So that’s also very important He tried to teach us.
You have a right to put in efforts
but you don’t have a right to the results
So these are the responsibilities. But if we really do sadhana,this is my experience, that when you practice meditation, if you’re adopting the technology, if your mind is becoming purified – it must become purified if you are really meditating – you become more and more humble, the mind recedes and goes introverted, you become aware of your Self, and you become so secure and so contented all the time. This would be possible when you reach that height. But a practice is very important. Efforts are very much important, that is the willpower. The destiny happens afterwards. You have a right to put in efforts but you don’t have a right to the results. That means, learn to accept the reality; acceptance is important. We put in an effort, no problem. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen there is no need for us to bang our head and break ourselves unnecessarily. Why should we worry? “It didn’t happen, no problem, that’s the destiny. We’ll try again, we are not going to give up.” When people ask the question, “What motivated You to go like that, the determination? How did You learn this determination to overcome the tests that came in Tapas?” This is what we were taught always: ’til the last breath of your life it is worthwhile to put in an effort. That’s all. Death only can stop you.
So if you understand the need and essence of it, this is another important point. Many times I have been talking that if you understand that there is a time bomb below your seat, you won’t be sitting quietly and wasting your time, you won’t be thinking, “I don’t have time to get up and get away from that” –nobody thinks that. But when it comes to meditation and spiritual sadhanas, it is a different story, because we do not understand its essence, that we are the ones who need it. When you meditate it is for yourself. When we meditated and did Tapas, we were correcting ourselves, we were rectifying all our faults since time immemorial that the mind had visualized unnecessarily in a stupid way. We were cleansing ourselves, we were becoming better and better. There is always a scope to update ourselves, every time, every way. The more that we try to update and become perfect, we become more humble, because there is nothing to gain and nothing to lose. Nobody will go away and nobody will come. If they understand that what you are teaching is right and is relevant to them, if they feel interested they will all come automatically. You don’t have to hook them up unnecessarily and keep holding onto that with a name or fame or such things. That’s what my Guru taught us. But when you understand the need, just like you understand the need of the food for you, you will go out of your way. Time is not available for you in any shopping complex, you have to take it out and practice, then you will have it. So this is the essence of the meditation and what you can achieve for yourself. A peace – you are looking for that happiness, for a stress-free life, you are looking for that one, every moment you are looking for a happiness and peace. A secure existence – you are looking for that also, that’s why you want to be protected, that is why you are interested in God, otherwise nobody will be bothering about God. Everybody wants, that is the truth. You yourself are that Truth. You yourself are the greatest wonder of existence and your efforts can bring in such beautiful miracles. You don’t have to bother about any other things. Your own mind, taking care of your mind, that’s all.
So when you practice meditation, when you close the eyes, it is your willpower just to keep quiet. This practice, that is the meditation. When you steadily watch, observe. If your mind understands this point, that there is a difference between observing, watching and thinking. Watching and observing are the same, thinking is totally different. Like I will ask you to watch this microphone, you just watch this microphone but do not think, ‘What is this?’ Whether it is black, a microphone, it is not your job. When you keep quiet and watch, that is what is meditation – paying attention, quietly. So the meditation technique, this is what it is basically: you need analyzing and judgments in this life. That is no problem, you will always be able to analyze and make judgments properly in a much better way without any confusion in your life when you practice meditation. But during meditation, when you close the eyes you should not analyze, simply observe quietly.
In a short while I’ll be inviting you all for the vibhuti blessings, and then a couple of breathing exercises, then I’ll tell you the technique of meditation. That is all there is to it. That technique can take you to the end if you simply observe that one. Everything is there. No need to be wondering if there is much more beyond or any such thing is there. That is all that is there. Simply that is what has to happen. That is the important thing. So when you are trying to meditate it means you are trying to quieten the mind. This is one of the highest techniques practiced in ancient India which was given to my Guru, Shivabalayogi, at the age of fourteen, about sixty-one years ago in 1949, by the manifestation of the Divine, Lord Shiva, as a Jangama Sage who came out of a fruit after a Shivalingham appeared. People have asked me, intellectual people, whether nobody else saw. There were twelve or thirteen friends of His there, they did not see any such vision, nothing happened to them, they were busy eating their fruits, they were obsessed with their fruits. But this boy was sitting into meditation with lotus posture. But what the world saw was His twelve years vigorous Tapas and His determination and the amazing transformation of a young weaver boy who had dropped out of school in the village, who didn’t have any spiritual background, no inclination, no scriptural reading, no knowledge, no talking, nothing. But such amazing knowledge and wisdom came out of Him. He became a world renowned Yogi. He dropped His physical body in 1994, but He continues to inspire people who are with devotion and dedication, who practice this meditation.
The power is in your faith;
the power is in your own mind,
if you practice this meditation
He emphasized repeatedly sadhana. Sadhana means ‘your efforts to achieve’. That is the thing. You have to put in efforts. Simply do not expect spoon feeding. He used to tell, “If anybody tells I can give you Enlightenment, don’t believe it. You will be cheating yourself. Nobody can give this.” A Guru’s job is to be a torchbearer, to motivate you all, inspire you all, show the path, give the technique. So when you become receptive, the Guru’s Grace automatically descends. The power is in your faith; the power is in your own mind, if you practice this meditation. So if you’re trying to meditate you must try to watch and avoid analyzations and judgments. This meditation is a purifying process, cleansing effects happen. The mind has absorbed imprints since time immemorial, that’s what sits in the subconscious state and troubles every human being. So when you close the eyes, hundreds and thousands of thoughts and visions are likely to come. They might be good, they might be bad, they might be right or wrong, pleasurable, unpleasurable. You just watch. You just have to watch without trying to analyze, then they will all go away, evaporate. Then the mind becomes purified, then what remains is the Pure Consciousness. If you go on doing that one, one day it is your Self, you will realize That. It is nothing different.
So the mind is an imagined thing with thoughts, all such things. When it is cleared, it is the Pure Consciousness. This is what you have to remember in meditation.
