Find your faith to face the world

 

Faith is at the core of human existence. It plays a big role in shaping one’s life. It sustains life and leads one through difficult times. At the same time, it brings out hidden courage and potential in more ways than one. 

Even those who say, “I don’t believe in anything,” have to believe in their words. The issue is where you place your faith. For an atheist, his faith in objects is obvious; his faith in people is fluid and his faith in the unseen power of creation is ambiguous. 

However, for a believer, his faith in the unseen power is supreme; his faith in people is inconsequential and objects do not matter in any way. The role is even more visible in the materialistic world. It saves one from suicidal tendencies and helps one see beyond the obvious. When life is based on belief, one follows philosophy rather than getting caught up in revenge and hatred. If there is faith that everything will be fine, then things do work out.

There are three types of faith: in oneself, in the world and in the divine. And the three are connected. One must have all three to be strong. To have faith is to realise that God is protecting you. This is a necessary and a sufficient condition to move ahead in life. When the knowledge that “I am blessed” is established firmly in one’s life, it is called faith. This feeling can help one overcome any obstacle. Once you realise that you are blessed, complaints disappear, as do grumblings and insecurities. Not everything in this world is hunky-dory. However, if you are grounded in faith, then you will progress and maintain your equanimity in this world.

The essence of prayer

Faith leads to prayer and prayer is a vital tool to improve your life. Prayer nurtures values such as integrity and honesty. You don’t need any special qualifications or abilities to pray. It is something that comes from within. Prayer doesn’t mean just sitting and chanting. It’s about being in a serene, calm, meditative state. That is why, in the Vedic tradition, before prayer comes dhyana (meditation) and there is dhyana even after prayer. 

When the mind is focused, the prayer becomes far more powerful, it is the cry of a soul. To whom you pray is not important. Religion puts words to the prayer and adds symbols and rituals to it, the prayer itself transcends them. It happens at subtle levels and the feelings transcend words and religion. The act of praying itself has the power to bring about transformation.

Now, prayer happens in two situations or in a combination of situations - you pray when you feel grateful or when you feel utterly helpless. In either case, your prayers will be heard and answered. A true prayer can’t happen without devotion and faith. Having faith is to realise that God is there to protect you. Devotion is an inner flowering. Be sincere in your prayers. Do not try to outsmart the divine. Be honest with your prayer time and you will definitely be rewarded.

Root your love, faith and belief deeply. The world is a celebration. Stay happy at all times. Learn to take ups and downs in your stride. When faced with difficult times, invoke the valour in you and tackle the situation with confidence. You emerge stronger after hard times. Never forget the strengths in you — prayer and power of your sankalpa (positive intention). Don’t panic and keep your mind centred.

Expand the mind

When we panic, our immunity level goes down. Practices such as pranayam, yoga and meditation help. Remember there are others who may be going through harder times than the ones you are facing. When you realise this, your problems will appear small. Serve people who are in bigger trouble. Realise that you are not alone in these difficult times. There is always an unseen hand working for you. Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. Prayer is not a ritual as is usually perceived; it is the feeling of helplessness and asking for God’s help. It makes you very strong and powerful, because the divine belongs to the weak. This is why He is called deenabandhu — the friend, relative and redeemer of the weak, meek, powerless and helpless. Try to include this in your prayer “There is no way that I can get rid of this stress. I need help” and notice changes happen immediately.

Trust the Divine

During the harvest season, the farmer separates husk from grain with a broad sieve. He stands on an elevated platform, holds the sieve and puts all his grains into it. He then proceeds to shake the sieve. If the particle that falls through the sieve is mere husk, it flies away and is lost. Meanwhile, the grains fall to the ground and stay put. Similarly, if your faith is shaken very quickly and too often, or if you lack faith in difficult times, then you are akin to the flying husk. One whose faith shakes when faced by catastrophes cannot smile through them. If you lack faith and events frighten you, then you fly away like the husk. You become lost and anchorless. On the other hand, if you have faith that everything will be all right, you will find stability and everything will settle down.

Bad times will come and go. When you are faced with a problem, don’t generalise and internalise it by thinking about it all the time. Become a part of the solution, not the problem. The best thing is to surrender to the divine. There are two ways of looking at life. One is thinking “I’ll be happy after achieving a certain objective.” The second is saying that “I am happy come what may!” Which one do you want to live? Events come and go, they perish like flowers. Make the decision today that “whatever happens, I will remain grounded and peaceful, and have faith that God’s protection is here on me. I will never go down. God will always hold my hand.” Faith is realising that you always get what you need. Faith is giving the divine a chance to act.

Freedom from bondage is independence

The body is dependent on the whole creation. In society, somebody has to make clothes, produce electricity, drill for oil. The body cannot be independent of the world. For the body, dependency is absolute. Most people are not aware of their limitations and dependency. When the spirit identifies with the body, then it gets pinched and the desire for independence arises. Mind, intellect, ego — they all look for independence.

In looking for independence often you get stuck in the ego and become more miserable. Independence cannot be achieved unless you start moving from within. When you move within, you discover that you are interdependent. Individual self/soul/jeeva is interdependence and in fact every wise person knows that everything is interdependent and that there is nothing like independence.

On one level dependency is a harsh reality. On another level, it is an illusion because there is nothing else but the Self. It’s only when you don’t feel oneness, belongingness that you want independence. The Self being non-dual, there is no question of dependence or independence. One who asks for independence is a beggar. One who knows that it is an illusion is a King.

When the sense of belongingness is not well founded, then there is a volatile state in the life of a seeker. Then the ego finds some excuse to revert to smallness. It is not yet totally soaked in the totality of knowledge. As it is not used to it, the mind finds every little excuse to revert back to the ego and to be aloof and independent and separate and it would find any small fault and blow it out of proportion. Be aware of these tendencies and come what may, be strong in the commitment to Satsang, to the Path.

Freedom from bondage is independence. We should understand bondage. There are two types. One is a ‘raksha’ bandhan - a bondage of love. The other kind is that which makes us feel suffocated. That which suffocates, and stops growth, is bondage. India became free from foreign rule, and people thought we’re independent now. But slavery hasn’t ended now. Until we respect ourselves, our culture, our capabilities, we cannot consider ourselves independent. We must be financially, socially, intellectually independent. On top of all this, there is an inner independence.

The degree to which we feel happy and content within ourselves, to that extent we can call ourselves free. Only one with inner strength can call oneself free. Have we attained freedom from our negative emotions and thoughts like jealousy, hatred? We must ask ourselves this question: Are we free from our small mindedness? We get disturbed by such small things. Are we free from the small mindedness that doesn’t have compassion or love?

As India celebrated 75th Independence Day some time back, let us strive for inner freedom. We should endeavour to make our minds independent of cravings and aversions. Disliking someone is not independence. We are all interdependent. At one point we all wanted independence. Today we all must realise that we are dependent on each other. Now we have to fight for a different kind of freedom. Freedom from ignorance, from impurity, both inside and outside. We have to get rid of them.

Ignorance can be uprooted only with spiritual knowledge and literacy. Ignorance is a feeling of lack. To do away with lack, we need confidence. With confidence we can create wealth and improve productivity. Everyone should get active and do something creative. When we get rid of lack, ignorance and impurity, then we’re truly independent. Let us bring a wave of happiness in the country. Only then we can reap the benefits of independence.

Glimpse of the soul

Life is full of interruptions. We need to keep moving. We park ourselves somewhere and then we move again. Now if you park in a wrong place, you need to move sooner, and if you park in the right place, you have freedom to move when you want to. Similarly, you have to park your mind in a safe place. If you have parked your mind in your own garage, nobody can tell you when you should move it. But if you park your mind in somebody else’s garage, they will be after you.

Don’t place your life’s authority in somebody else’s hand. If you do, you will have no freedom. And when you lose freedom, the next thing you lose is love and compassion, because someone who is stifled cannot express their compassion or love. So, take care of the car called mind which drives you. You should drive the mind rather than the mind driving you. Wisdom empowers you to drive the mind. Otherwise the mind is driving; it is an automated car which goes on its own. 

You are sitting, observing that while you want to go left, the car is going right, and you feel helpless. Most of our life is like this. We don’t know what we are doing, we don’t know what we want, and we don’t know where we are going. So we need to take a look at, ‘From sitting behind, how I can jump into the driving seat. How can I make that leap?’, and that is what spirituality is. The essence of the Bhagvad Gita, is “your soul is imperishable; repose in the self”.

Lord Buddha said, “Life has sorrow and sadness, but there is a way to come out of sadness.” Discontinuation of sadness and attainment of happiness both will happen through meditation. The body, the mind, and the intellect have changed, but there is something within us that has not changed. That is a glimpse of the soul.

Be happy now!

Once there was a congregation of fish, who got together to discuss who among them had seen the ocean. None of them could say they had actually seen the ocean. Then one fish said, ‘‘I think my great grandfather had seen the ocean!’’ A second fish said, ‘‘Yes, yes, I have also heard about this.’’ A third fish said, ‘‘Yes, certainly, his great grandfather had seen the ocean.’’

So, they built a huge temple and made a statue of the great grandfather of that particular fish, saying, “He had seen the ocean. He had been connected with the ocean.’’ In life, our search for happiness is like that. 

You can experience happiness at three levels. One is the happiness in society, in the environment. How can you bring about happy situations? How would you feel in a place where everybody around you thinks only about himself or herself ? Would you like to be in such a group where there is no sharing, no sense of belongingness, and no happiness?

The second level is the happiness of one’s mind. When one accepts things and moves in knowledge then the happiness dawns in the mind. Sometimes everybody around you is happy and you are serving others also but you are not happy in your mind; there is no fulfilment. Dedication brings the second level of happiness.

The third level is the happiness of the soul. This level of happiness happens when the soul is united with the Divine. When there is no duality, no two, when you are in deep meditation, then you experience this innermost joy.

All the three levels of happiness are interlinked. When you are totally united with the Divine you cannot but be fulfilled on the second level and on the third level and you cannot but serve because everybody is part of you. When you start serving and stop thinking about yourself all the time, mental satisfaction will come. The mind will also feel happy and relaxed and it creates such an environment.

A wise one is happy even in bad times. And the foolish one is unhappy even in good times. Spirituality is nothing out of the world. There is no division between what is spiritual, and what is material. Attaining a spiritual level is simply recognising that there is life everywhere, that there is spirit everywhere. When you go beyond happiness, what happens? The mind expands, at the same time it is not unconscious or unaware. Usually when you are happy, you become spaced out and you lose focus. When you are unhappy you are very focused. But a beautiful combination — of being happy and alert and focused at the same time — can be experienced in spiritual life.

Message on the commencement of Navratri

There are some things you can do, you do them. And some things you cannot do - and the things that you cannot do, by thinking about it, it doesn't make them happen, you only make yourself miserable.

We get miserable looking at others behaviours - you cannot correct everybody and everything on the planet. Whatever you can do, you do and let go, in letting go you experience samadhi. Offering all the good qualities and bad qualities you have to the Mother Divine, you get into deep meditation. So, this is the time to take that deep inner spiritual rest.

Our mind is tired with desires and cravings, with do’s and don'ts, rights and wrongs. All these things are getting into our head and we get into a mess. This is the time to just drop everything. And when we can drop everything and repose in ourselves, then samadhi, deep meditation happens. And that is the basis of all success in life.

During Navratri, we pray to the Mother Divine and say ‘whatever is right it is your job to maintain it and whatever is wrong it is your job to correct it. I'm neither here to correct anything or desire anything, you know what is best for me’.

With this feeling of offering the past, the present and the future at the feet, to the infinite power, we repose in ourselves - that is Navratri.

We give deep rest to our mind, our soul - because our soul is longing for rest - it’s tired with
all these cravings, all the rights and wrongs and concepts that we are struggling with in our life.

So, enjoy Navratri.

The soul is already present and yet, in a sense unattained. How can this impression be erased?

When the mind is outwardly focused, it cannot recognize the soul. It is not aware of its own existence. For instance, when we are looking around at others, we lose awareness of our own body. We are not aware that we are breathing when we are looking outside. Like when you sit in the cinema theatre, all you can see is what is happening on the screen. You have no idea where you are, whether you are tired or your body is healthy. In sleep we forget all our pains and sorrows. 

Similarly when the mind is outwardly directed, it forgets itself and loses awareness (remembrance) of itself. We tend to get absorbed in the scenery and forget about the Self.

Now when we sit down with our eyes closed, unable to see what is happening outside, and bring our attention to our self, our breath, then we become aware of the body. Do you know why the body hurts? Your body wants to draw your attention towards itself. When the head hurts, the most beautiful scenery is not appealing. The mind is drawn to the pain in the head or the leg. So pain has the ability to involuntarily pull the attention of the mind to the body. When we consciously bring our attention to the body, it is yoga nidra or meditation.

Similarly, when the mind is entangled in the body, then there is no awareness of the soul. You have all experienced in meditation, awareness shifts from the body to thoughts, and finally when it is more inwardly drawn, there is awareness only of ‘I Am’, not 'where' or 'who' I am.

From this I Am-ness to ‘Everything Is’ – is God. A step deeper in meditation lies this awareness that everything ‘Is’ – these trees, mountains, river, this body, are no different from one another. I am not anything special - just the awareness of existence. So it is outward focus that leads to forgetfulness. It is not as though the head did not exist before the headache, it did.

Similarly, to experience the soul one has to empty the mind of all impressions. This awareness is lost in the tendencies of the mind. That is why it is recommended in the Vedas to repeatedly practice meditation or erasure of all mental impressions. Just as we alternate between waking and sleeping, repeatedly erasing mental impressions through meditation establishes us in our Self. Those who sleep soundly are alert when awake. In a similar fashion, meditation helps maintain alertness in the waking state.

We feel inspired to work only when we find that something is not right; this is not right or that has not been done correctly. When we are involved in activity, we should feel that which is not okay and needs to be corrected. But when we are in meditation, we should feel that everything is fine.

A fool does the reverse. When he sits with his eyes closed, he focuses on all that is not right. In activity, he accepts and overlooks everything, the corruption, the inefficiency. Such a person is useful neither to the world nor to himself. That is why Lord Krishna has said in the Bhagwad Gita that knowing when to act and when not to act is the sign of satvikta.

So in meditation relax with the thought that all is well. Anyway, for how long can you fix this world, sixty, seventy years? This world has been in existence since ages and will continue to exist. What will you do if a demon is born a couple of hundred years from now? Know that God is taking care of this world. With this thought one should sit in meditation, then samadhi will happen, and bliss will arise. Once bliss is awakened, you cannot continue sitting in samadhi like a stone. Since you have taken this human birth you have to engage in activity. When in activity, recognizing all that is not right awakens enthusiasm within us.

This entire world is God. Serving this divine world is itself pooja. That is why it is said that this entire world is made up of rhythmic vibrations and from these vibrations amrit (ambrosia) is produced. And what do we do in Sudarshan Kriya? Through the rhythmic breath we become aware of the rhythm of the soul (self). It is only through these vibrations that bliss can be awakened. If you speak to modern scientists, they will admit that this world is nothing but vibrations.

During sadhana, do we connect with the soul or with God?

Are they separate or one? Are waves and the ocean separate or one? The wave is soul and the ocean is God. When there is ‘I’consciousness, it is the soul, and when the ‘I’ness is at rest, it is God. So no one has ever gone or can go outside of God.

Now look, can you live without oxygen? But sometimes, when it is extremely hot, you feel suffocated even though air is there. When you sit under the fan you can feel the air.

Similarly, satsang and meditation are like the fan. If you sit with the fan, you will feel the breeze. This is known as being in the ‘presence’ (sanidhya). It is not that the ‘presence’ is not there, it is there but we begin to experience it, as we feel the breeze when we sit near the fan. Similarly in sadhana, we begin to experience what is God. We experience Love.

What does a seeker do when he sees no meaning in sadhana or seva?

When you feel at a stage there is no point in doing any seva, mind is not even interested in doing sadhana and a sense of dryness has come in life, that’s when you pray, ‘Please take me out of this dryness.’ You know, pray to the divine, ‘Please, I want my life to be juicy, not so dry, depressing and boring. I surrender; I drop my whole being to you.’ This inner cry, an intense cry to the divine will make all the difference.

Everybody wants some juicy thing in their life. Just imagine when you have a beloved, how you act. There is so much enthusiasm; there is a feeling of belovedness. That love is what is missing when you feel so dry and completely uninterested; life is uninteresting. At this time have faith and with courage just move on. It is just a passing phase.

Usually you call it, ‘The dark night of the soul’. The soul goes through such a turbulent time sometimes. Not necessary that everybody needs to. At such times continue doing what you are doing.

How should one address the Guru?

Sadguru is one who takes us towards truth. Now you can have a guru for veena or violin. You can have a guru for football also. One who teaches you karate can also be called a guru. One who teaches music what will you call them? Guru.

In this manner you have many gurus. One who takes you into spiritual knowledge is known as ‘Sadguru.’ These words are not necessary, whether you say ‘Gurudev’, ‘Guru’, ‘Guruji’, ‘Sadguru’, whatever you say it is the feeling behind it that is important.
I go one step further to say, ‘let love be love, do not give it a name.’


Relationships have limits, but what is one’s relationship to one self? The relationship with the soul is absolute. If you feel so then let it remain so; isn’t that a good idea? Don’t accuse it of being a relationship. Let love be love, don’t give it a name.

However, it is said in our country, in our scriptures, that a mother’s love is ten times more than a father, and a Guru’s love is a hundred times more than a mother's. All these measurements are there, but I would say consider it beyond all this. If something was felt in the heart, a spark arose, let it remain as such, why name it?

What happens to the soul when we die

The impressions of the intellect and the cravings and aversions of the mind go with the subtle body. So when you die what happens is for sometime the soul is in confusion, it does not know. It has just come out of the body but it does not know what to do. It doesn’t want to get into the body because the body appears like very gray matter, very dark and completely unbearable. So it doesn’t want to get into it, it feels very bad and averse to its’ own body most of the time. Sometimes they go in. 

So the soul is out there and very peaceful, the soul is totally at peace. They see people crying, wailing. It tries to tell them, ‘Hey I am okay, don’t worry’, but they cannot communicate. There is a tradition to keep the light burning at the bedside of the body. It’s in Christian tradition as well, right? It’s in the Hindu tradition as well. 

Why do you keep a light burning near the head? So that when the soul suddenly looks at that light and knows that it is light. Let it be reminded that it is light, if it is still craving for something. Just to remind the soul that the nature of the soul or spirit is light, a lamp is kept or a candle is kept burning near the body. It’s not for us, it’s for the soul because the soul can still see, and smell. It has lost the sense of touch but smell and light are still there; smell, sight and sound all three will be there. 

So the ancient tradition is just before cremation the son or daughter; son usually, takes the head of the person into his lap and in the ear he says, ‘You are light, you are soul, you are not the body. Drop all your attachment to this body’, he tells them. And then the body is given a bath and then taken to cremation. These words are all in Sanskrit, and people simply repeat it in Sanskrit without knowing it because the priests tell them to say these things. To tell the departed in his ear that, ‘The five elements will go back to five elements. You are not just these five elements you are light, you are soul, you are spirit, you’re free and you move on now.’ This is what you say in the ear of the corpse, in case the soul is still hanging around and it does. 

The soul does hang around because it doesn’t know what to do. So it takes nearly ten days for the soul to get used to this other plane where it has gone. And once it reaches that plane of ancestors, one day there is one year for us. Our one year is just one day and one night for them in that realm. So there are three levels or lokas there also; one is Vasuloka, second is Rudra, and then Aditya. Three lokas are there and so they remain in this for some time. 

And there are three different Devas, they take them to those places. Someone who is a pious and died in a very good life they are taken direct to these lokas and three angels called Pururava, Ardrahva, and Vishvadeva. Three different Devas come and take the soul according to the level. It’s interesting! So in a yearly ceremony that is done, the day you remember the ancestors. First you invite these angels to bring them to you, for you want to honor them. These angels, they are the custodians. So you tell them ‘Vishvadeva you bring my father, my mother or my grandfather or grandmother for this ceremony. Bring them for I would like to honor them.’ Ancient people knew all these so well, they had access to those realms. Even today people do this, they do the ceremonies and they do all this.

We have not one but several bodies

The physical body is in the waking state. In the sleeping state physical body is at rest, the subtle body is active, in the dreaming state and that is why you get dreams. In deep sleep both of these go to sleep but the causal body is still there awake, aware. The causal body becomes cleansed in deep meditation. And, in enlightenment the causal body is completely free, yes.

So when one dies what happens, physical body separates, the subtle body remains with all its impressions. The subtle body and causal body they both go like a balloon and remain and look for a right opportunity, a right womb to get into. So when the soul finds that the couple is having union and depends on the energy level and harmony between the couple and the energy level of the soul, at that moment it comes into that, so that type of parents. 

Sometimes the soul brings two people together. A soul chooses I want this lady and this man as my father and mother. So they bring those two people together and they will have terrible attraction, unbearable attraction. So the moment the child is born, you’ll find suddenly the attraction between those two people is gone totally, completely gone. This happens, and after the first child many people divorce. When this happens, that intense feeling of separation comes and then you should know that the soul made this thing happen. 

It is so amazing; all these things are so interesting. On one hand it is amazing; on another if you are not so much in the present moment you’ll go crazy, seeing how many subtle worlds we live in simultaneously. Simultaneously how many things are happening in the universe, it’s very interesting.

So you come into the physical body to cleanse the subtle body. There is no way you can cleanse the subtle body hanging in space. So you come to human body so that you get rid of all those impressions. Once you have gotten rid of the subtle impressions in the subtle body, then the causal body with the divine grace also becomes free, that is called Nirvana. 

No more craving or aversions, nothing, totally hollow and empty. Wanting nothing and totally satisfied. Anytime you feel that I am total, I am complete, death can come this moment I welcome it. If you say that, if you feel that rather than saying it, then that completion is Nirvana. That has touched the causal body; the causal body gets relieved not by your effort but by just the Divine will and Divine grace. The universe decides whether the causal body should be there or should be removed, should be dissolved. It’s amazing, you can work on the physical, and you can work on the subtle, that’s all you can do. The rest you can only wait, but this itself is a great job, this itself is good enough.

Why do souls take bodies?

One is you come to cleanse yourself. Another is you come to cleanse others. Two options; one is you’re a prisoner and you experience your sentence, whatever 6 months, 8 months, 2 years, 3 years or 20 years life imprisonment. Another is you are a jailer and take care of them and bring them out. These are the two options that I know of. And how you choose your parents depends on the energy field that you are.

When someone leaves the body the last thought matters. If the last thought is about chicken you will find yourself in the poultry farm. So there are many stories in India about what your last thought should be. It should be of something wonderful, of service, of love, of compassion or something bigger. Think about God; think about some generous act or good people. And also first thing in the morning, there is a word in India which is very commonly used, ‘Pratha smarana’.


Pratha smarana means one who is worth remembering first thing in the morning. You don’t remember your enemies in the morning, but remember the wise people. So you should aim at becoming pratha smarana. Everyone should become the one that could be remembered first thing in the morning so that everyone feels fresh and energetic the whole day. That’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?!


That word is so beautifully called; people whom you can remember in the morning. And whomsoever you remember in the morning, the same person you’ll remember last in the night also. So whatever is your last thought in the night will be the first thought in the morning. I think this is in all traditions.

Just before going to bed, mums tell kids to pray, isn’t it? Pray before going to bed. It’s an ancient tradition all over the world I suppose. Just pray, think about nice things when you go to bed. And when you wake up first thing look at your hands and what do you say? ‘Oh let me do good things with my hands this morning’. You look at it, feel let my luck be good, let my lines be favorable and let me do good things. Let there be knowledge, let there be good work happening, let there be good wealth coming to my hands; this is the morning prayer.

The ancient Vedic prayer is. ‘God of the wealth is in the beginning of my palm, residing in my palm. God of wisdom is residing in my palm. God’s valor is residing in my own palm. So let the good things happen through me’. This is how we are supposed to wake up and look at our hands.

How does one recognise one's soulmate

First you should recognize your soul and then your soul mate. 

You don’t know anything about yourself, you don’t know who you are. You don’t know your mind. Your own mind drives you crazy. One minute it wants something and the next minute it wants something else. That is why it is said, "Your own mind is responsible for your bondage and for your liberation, nothing else".

A relationship can either take the form of strength or weakness depending on the mind. If the mind is strong then a relationship can be like a gift, but if the mind is weak and not in control, then a relationship can feel like bondage.

Don’t be too fussy, and keep waiting for some perfect life partner. If you get a perfect person, they will also be looking for a perfect life partner. Are you that perfect person? Look for a good person and get married. Even if you get somebody who is not up to your mark, I tell you, you have the ability to change them! Believe in this and move on.

When you are centered, when you are choiceless, then everything happens in your way.

5 types of restlessness

There are five types of restlessness.

The first type of restlessness is due to the place you are in. When you move away from that place, the street or the house, you immediately feel better. Chanting, singing, children playing and laughing can change this atmospheric restlessness. If you chant and sing, the vibration in the place changes. 

The second type of restlessness is in the body. Eating the wrong food or vata aggravating food, eating at odd times, not exercising, and overworking can all cause a physical restlessness. The remedy for this is exercise, moderation in work habits and going on a vegetable or juice diet for one or two days. 

The third type of restlessness is mental restlessness. It is caused by ambition, strong thoughts, likes or dislikes. Knowledge alone can cure this restlessness. Seeing life from a broader perspective, knowledge about the Self and the impermanence of everything. If you achieve everything, so what? 

After your achievement, you will die. Knowledge of your death or life, confidence in the Self, in the Divine, can all calm down the mental restlessness. 

Then there is emotional restlessness. Any amount of knowledge does not help here. Only Kriya helps! All that emotional restlessness vanishes. Also the presence of the Guru, a wise person, or a saint will help to calm your emotional restlessness. 

The fifth type of restlessness is rare; it is the restlessness of the soul. When everything feels empty and meaningless, know you are very fortunate. That longing and restlessness is the restlessness of the soul. 

Do not try to get rid of it. Embrace it! Welcome it! Usually to get rid of it people do all sorts of things - they change places, jobs or partners, do this, do that. It seems to help for some time, but it does not last. 

This restlessness of the soul alone can bring authentic prayer in you. It brings perfection, siddhis and miracles in life. It is so precious to get that innermost longing for the Divine. Satsang, the presence of the enlightened one, soothes the restlessness of the soul.

Meaning of Sankhya Yoga

Sankhya Yoga is to wake up and see that all this does not exist.

There is only One, and everything works through that. See that even thoughts are nothing, everything is just vibrations.


Sankhya Yoga means the soul is eternal. Knowing that there is an element in me, which does not perish, diminish, or age.

Relax knowing that I am not the body. Just knowing this, and relaxing within the Self is called Sankhya Yoga.

Purifying the heart, soul and body

All actions that are evolutionary and all that supports life. Selfless dedicated service. 

Not that I do some service and think what do I get in return? No, that is not called service. Seva is an act done without wishing for something in return. This act is very important. Seva purifies our karma. 

There is a proverb in India, ’a spoonful of ghee (clarified butter) on the rice purifies the rice.’ You know why? This is because if you eat rice just like that it digests very fast and becomes sugar very quickly. Many people who eat rice like that, they become diabetic. 

A cardiologist told me, anytime you take cereals; you should have a little bit of fat with it. A spoon of ghee on top of it slows down the digestion. It becomes complex carbohydrates and helps to balance the sugar level in the body and that helps a healthy heart function.

That is why the ancient people had said this, ‘a spoon of ghee purifies the rice.’

Knowledge purifies the intellect. How many of you experienced that knowledge purifies the intellect? All the anger, cravings, aversions about other people, everything disappears.

Music purifies the emotions.

Charity purifies money that you earn. At least three to four percent of what you earn should be given away in charity. If all that we earn we spend on ourselves, it is not considered pure money or good money. Charity purifies the money and then you can enjoy the rest of the money. Otherwise the rest of the money just goes in hospitals and other things. 

Prayer purifies the heart. Meditation purifies the soul.

Ayurveda, triphala purifies the body and cleanses the bowels. We keep stuffing food into our system all the time, but once in a while we need to purge the system. Four or five tablets taken at night before going to bed, in the morning your stomach is all clean.

So Ayurveda, yoga, pranayama and exercise purifies the body. Pranayama purifies the whole system, the body mind complex. That is why after Sudarshan Kriya you feel so clean. It cleanses you of all the karma, it brings that clarity.

What is Swadharma?

Swadharma is that action which is in accordance with your nature. It is acting in accordance with your skills and talents, your own nature (svabhava), and that which you are responsible for karma.

Any action that does not make you feel afraid or restless is swadharma. That action which you feel compelled to do, without which you feel restless is swadharma. Now do not misunderstand this and say, ‘I feel restless if I do not drink alcohol’. No! Not at all.

Every time you feel restless, it not always because of Swadharma. But at the same time not following your swadharma always makes you feel restless. 

That is why it is said in the Bhagvad Gita, ‘Swadharme nidhanam shreyah paradharmo bhayaavahah’ (3.35). 

When we do something without authenticity, just to show off to another person, that is when we feel fear because such action is not genuine, it does not come from the heart. But when we do something that is authentic and from the heart, then there is no fear. 
When someone speaks lies, they definitely feel scared somewhere inside. But someone who speaks the truth does not feel scared at all. In fact speaking the truth and abiding by it brings so much strength to you, isn’t it? This is what swadharma is. 

When we follow that which comes naturally to us in our life, then it brings abundance and prosperity to us. When we flow in accordance with our nature, we grow from within. Any action that uplifts us is our swadharma.

Dharma is that which holds the mind, intellect, memory and our inner soul together in harmony. Growth comes when we follow our swadharma.

If you have these Three, you are very fortunate

After 8.4 million bodies, you get a human body. 

Just imagine, from bacteria, birds, animals, etc., 8.4 million lives later a human life comes. In this human life, few get to know the real spiritual path. And among those, very few walk on the path and they are the lucky ones.

Adi Shankara has also said, that the human birth is very difficult to get. 

After having gotten human birth, the desire of wanting to walk on the spiritual path, is also very difficult to get. Few people get this. And even after getting this desire to walk on the spiritual path, only few get the opportunity to do it; they get the right path.

So many people, who want to walk on the spiritual path get caught up in all these wrong notions that one day the world is going to collapse, or doom’s day is going to come. And so these people pray out of fear. They get into paths where they are indented with fear and guilt. Fear and guilt are two things that will never allow you to go deep into yourself. And this is what some of the so called (religious) paths do.

Some of the religious paths create this fear of hell and heaven that puts people into such a turmoil of guilt and fear that the mind can never calm down. Meditation can never happen. This is very unfortunate. So even though these people are aspirants, they are not getting the path. 

These people don’t get access to the knowledge: ‘Come on, the mind is like a river, what are you holding on to? Don’t hold on to it. All the events are gone, drop it and move on. Live in the present moment‘. 

This knowledge is not available to many people (who aspire to walk the spiritual path). They go on repenting about the past, feeling guilty, and the mind becomes a mess.

Of course they do pray. Their prayers do help, and they get some blessings. Blessings come to everyone, no doubt, but the knowledge, the right path and liberation remains a distant dream for them. Peace does not happen in their life. They sit with the hope that one day they will go to heaven. And so these souls get trapped with desires and fear. 

They get a human life to be free from all this. So they will have to come back again to work out all these things. Again they will get into meditation.

So, a human birth, desire for a path, and the path being available to them (Maha Purusha Sannidho: getting a Spiritual Master), these three things are rare and difficult to get. If you have all three, you are lucky.

Difference between the mind and the soul

Mind is just a projection of soul. Soul is your whole consciousness, the life force in you. The part of it which is listening to me right now, which is asking the question, which is perceiving – we call it the mind. So if your mind is elsewhere, though I’m speaking and the words are falling into your ear drums, still you don’t get it because the mind is elsewhere. So it’s through the mind that we see, smell, taste, hear, and experience the sense of touch. That is what the mind is.

The mind has another function which we call intellect. As I’m speaking, something in you is saying, “Yes, I agree”, or, “No, I don’t agree with this”. There is something in you which is accepting and rejecting, judging and accommodating — that is the intellect.

There are seven layers to our existence: Body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the soul. See, we keep breathing but many of us don’t even know that we are breathing unless we have an asthma attack or some problem. We don’t realize how important it is for us to breathe deeply.

Body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and the soul or self. The self is that total consciousness. There is something in you that doesn’t change, which is the reference point for all changes. Your thoughts are changing, your emotions are changing, your body has undergone so much change. If you look at a 25 years old picture of you, you can’t say it’s the same body. It’s much different than what you are now, but still you are the same person. So there’s something in you that is not changing in spite of all the changes. That non-changing aspect in you, or the reference by which you recognize the changes so to say ‘this is changing’, there should be something that doesn’t change, and that is what is the soul.

When we go deep into this, it’s amazing, amazing, and amazing! An arena opens in front of you. And the way to go deeper into this is meditation.

5 Ways to Experience Meditation

Getting back to that serenity which is our original nature is meditation. Absolute joy and happiness is meditation. A pleasure minus excitement is meditation. A thrill without anxiety is meditation. A love without hatred or any of the opposite values is meditation! Meditation is food for the soul, and every soul yearns for meditation.


There are five ways through which one can experience meditation.

#1 Through physical manipulation

By stretching and contracting the body, the mind experiences a state of awareness that you can call meditation. Exercise can bring a certain amount of calmness in the mind. Not totally, but a certain degree of meditativeness can come through exercise and physical manipulation. Yoga and Tai-Chi are examples of ways to experience a meditative state of mind through physical manipulation.

#2 Through breathing exercises and pranayama

Through the breath, the mind becomes quiet and can easily slip into meditation. This we all know through our experience of Sudarshan Kriya. After pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya, when you sit for meditation, you slip into meditation effortlessly. So a breathing technique is another way to get into meditation.

#3 Through any of the five senses

Through any of the five senses and sensory objects, one can experience a state of no-mindedness – no thoughts, calmness, serenity, and inner beauty.

If you observe a child eating a lollypop, you can see how the child is totally engrossed in enjoying that piece of candy. At that time, if you ask the child what their name is, they won’t answer! They are fully into enjoying the lollypop. Being 100% engrossed in a particular sensory object brings you to a state of meditation.

You turn on some music and you get totally engrossed into the music, then a moment comes when you move even beyond the music. You no longer hear music, but you know you are and yet you have no boundaries. In the language of Yoga, this is called Laya Yoga, which means dissolving in it. This leads you to meditation.

Any wonderment or astonishment also leads you to a state of meditation. Whenever a “wow” arises in you, there is no mind, there are no thoughts – but you just are.

The senses of touch, smell, taste, sight, and sound can all lead you into meditation, provided you do it in the right way. It needs a certain skill to experience that.

#4 Through emotions

Emotions can also lead you to a state of meditation – both positive and negative emotions. A state of shock can also take you into meditation. Again, it is a little risky.

You know, when you feel utterly hopeless, you say, “I give up!”It means – this is it, I can’t take it anymore. During those moments, if you don’t slip into frustration, depression, or violence, you will find that there is a moment where it snaps and there is no-mindedness. So, whether it is positive emotions or negative emotions, like fear, the mind stands still, it stops. It can lead you into that spot.

#5 Through intellectual stimulation

Intellectual stimulation, knowledge, or awareness can lead you to meditation too. This is called Jnana Yoga. If you visit a space museum, you will be in a different state of consciousness when you come out of the museum. You will experience a shift inside you because you have seen yourself in the context of the universe. Who are you? What are you? Where are you? What are you in reference to the unfathomable, infinite universe?

If you have studied Quantum Physics, you start to see that everything is just atoms, or just energy. If you delve into Quantum Physics and then you study Vedanta or the Art of Meditation or Yoga, you will find striking similarities. You will find that the same language is being spoken.

Adi Shankaracharya said, “All that you see doesn’t exist”. One of the top scientists of our times, Dr. Hans-Peter Durr said, “I studied matter for the last 35 years, only to find that it doesn’t exist! I have been studying something that doesn’t exist.”
So, through knowledge also you can experience a state of meditation.


On a free day, just lie down somewhere outdoor and keep looking at the sky. A moment will come when the mind becomes still, there are no thoughts and you don’t know where you are, but you know you are. An experience of the centre everywhere and circumference nowhere.

Limitless awareness can happen through just watching an empty space, because our mind is also space, and consciousness is also space.