Is there any karma-free action?

You know you cannot be but do some action, some karma. It’s part of our nature. We have to keep acting. And if you consciously take a decision and act it is different than unconsciously doing something. 

So you consciously take a decision to go on the treadmill, this is an action. Otherwise you sit and you feel so restless, you keep shaking your hands and your legs the whole day sitting in your office at your table. This only shows restlessness. You are moving you leg so many times. You are compelled to do so because your body wants that circulation. You never gave that circulation time for the body so you feel restless. This is not happening as an exercise, it is not benefitting you but it is an action which you cannot stop. 

So some actions you consciously choose to do, that also cuts karma.

Life is much more than what you think it is

You know sometimes it is very difficult to talk to someone who is very sad or upset. You tell them anything it just doesn’t get into their head; it just goes above their head. They just cannot digest. They’ll hear from this side and then it will just fly away. It is useless talking to people who are sad and upset. And it is equally useless to talk to people who are ecstatic, so full of joy. You know if someone comes into the satsang for the first time they’ll wonder, Guruji simply said, ‘Hmmm’, and then everybody started laughing. He hasn’t cracked a joke, he hasn’t said anything still everyone is laughing, everybody is happy. What is this? Looks very crazy!

People who are in deep ecstasy and knowledge or deep love and fulfilled, for them also, it is difficult to talk to them because they are not in a listening mode; they are in an enjoying mode. So what I am saying is there is no dearth of grace, we have plenty of grace. Blessings are there in abundance. We simply have to keep doing our work, keep doing what we have to be doing. You should continue doing your karma, your work, that’s important, yes! There is no dearth; there is no lack of anything at all, isn’t it? Yes! There is abundance.

So like how everyone has some difficulty, my difficulty is how to really convey to everyone that there is something so beautiful, something so inexpressible that can manifest in peoples’ lives and transform our planet into heaven. It is very difficult to convey this, isn’t it! So difficult to convey this truth, this knowledge when people are just in their head, they don’t understand; don’t understand that there is something more than what they have just thought or understood in their little mind.

See our consciousness is so magnificent and so inexpressible. Its beauty, meditation and the joy of it, only one who experiences knows; so it is difficult to convey. Someone asked me to please make their family member also come into it. I know that is the wish of many other people that others also join. Let others also enjoy these blessings, this grace that I am enjoying, isn’t it! And I said that is my difficulty also, how to convey the inexpressible glory of the Divinity to the mundane world where people are just bothered about mundane things. Just eating, sleeping, gossiping; just the routine thing you know, isn’t it. So immersed in the routine, and that world is so dull and so boring. For me it appears to be so dull and so boring, I don’t know how it is interesting for someone else.

Without this knowledge, without this experience, life does not gain that depth and that’s what is needed now, that depth you know. Conveying that depth to the world, that life is much more than what you think it is. There are so many things that are unseen; honor it, accept it, adore it and that is what is called shraddha.

Why was Vibhishana discredited in spite of having supported Lord Rama?

Vibhishana is a unique example of someone who was caught in a dilemma whether to support righteousness (dharma) or his people. He chose to renounce his brother in favour of dharma.

See, from all these stories, take only that which you need. What is the point of arguing for or against? If there is something in the lives of Vibhishana, Rama or Ravana that inspires you, take it, and if it does not fit in, or appeal to you, then you have learnt something from that as well.

Some people have asked me, why did Sri Rama send Sita to the forest based on a washer man’s opinion? Isn’t that injustice? I say, ‘Absolutely, he did not do the Art of Living course, otherwise I would have told him not to be a football of other people’s opinions!’ 

‘Kuchh to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna’ (People are bound to say something, that is what they do). Some might support Rama’s decision that he did it to uphold honour.
You can find some flaw or the other in every incarnation (avatar). At least I see faults in them, particularly in Parashuram. If one considers Parashuram God, then there is no one left you cannot call God. I find every human being better than him.

‘Don’t try to find fault with anyone,’ even Lord Krishna has said. If you start looking for flaws in Krishna, you will find so many that you might think you are better than him.
Lord Krishna told Arjun, ‘you are anasuya, (meaning one who does not look for faults in others) and that is why I am giving you knowledge.’ Although knowledge is given to everyone, the deepest mysteries are revealed only to those who are deserving and worthy. 

When discussing Vibhishana look at what qualities he has. People have the tendency to denounce others. Jains have condemned Lord Krishna to hell. According to them, Krishna will have to come back in the next period as the first Tirthankara. These are just concepts, don’t get into them. What you need to observe, understand and learn, and what is useful to your life, is what you need to extract.

There is a beautiful story in Bhagavatam. From the dirt in Lord Vishnu’s ear appeared two demons Madhu and Kaitabha. Lord Vishnu kept battling with them for a thousand years and he could not defeat them. He became exhausted and finally took refuge in Devi (Mother Divine). The Devi took the demons into the water and conquered them.

Now you see, this story is so pregnant with meaning. Madhu means craving and Kaitabha means aversion; now where do these arise? In our ears when we do not listen attentively. Just as there is flaw in our sight, there is a fault in our listening. Someone may be paying you compliments but you will think that they are irritating you, playing with your emotions. Someone incurred losses in the share market, and an acquaintance remarks, ‘Oh you look good!’, and this person thinks, ‘What a hypocrite, he is telling me I look good when I am miserable.’ And anger and enmity begins because we did not hear properly.

Cravings and aversions happen through listening and this cannot be eliminated by us. So inner-strength (the Devi shakti) is awakened, and these negative emotions are destroyed through love; water signifies love. This is the secret of this story.

In all these stories there is a spiritual aspect that we need to recognize. It is not written anywhere but meditate on it, ponder over it, and you will realize, ‘Oh, so this is it!’

How can science and beauty co-exist?

This world is of opposites, like night exists and day exists, dawn and dusk too exist and they exist in different places at different times. Why do they have to be at the same place?

So there is science when your left brain is active then you enjoy that, and then when your right brain becomes active then you enjoy the music, you enjoy art. You don’t need to choose and you don’t need to have the same things together. You don’t need to have soup and pudding together; you don't mix them together and drink. You have soup and little later have pudding too.

So they have different flavours and they both are essential in life, otherwise life is incomplete.

Good people get spoilt after ascending to the seat of power. Is this the fault of the position or the individual?

Blame neither the position nor the individual. If you identify the fault, try to remove it. And removing those faults is what we are doing here through meditation and practices.

If people do these practices before getting into power, it is good. And if they do them after assuming power that also is good, so that they remain balanced. 

Balance the mind, since all negativity arises in the mind and spreads from there. There is no sense in blaming the seat. Through awareness every position of authority can be managed properly.

What is the science of yagna?

See, while the yagna was happening I did not say a word, I kept silence. So you don’t need to understand everything. If something is happening, they are putting something in fire and people are going round and doing something, you may wonder, ‘Oh what’s happening?’ But you know somewhere, deep inside you could feel those vibrations.

See, all of you have felt the vibrations and that was important. You just feel the vibrations; that’s why I did not go to explain why they do what they do. It was not necessary at that moment. Yes, later some other time like now we can sit and see why they put so many things in fire and what was the impact of it?’ All this we can sit and discuss. We can go on doing research into that. Right? So sometimes we need to just enjoy and be with what is, and sometimes we need to analyze and understand. They both have different flavours and life is complete with both of them.

Another thing I would say is you know when yagya was happening, to have what is called shraddha or faith. Shraddha is to love something which we do not know. Something, some activity is happening, it is for good. This much we believe and we simply love it and that is what is called shraddha. Love something which you have not fully comprehended but you know there is something good coming out of it. And what happened? With that you get a lot of benefit and gradually you start understanding what it is all about as well.

"How can I experience life with the joy of an innocent child if a basic necessity like food, shelter, safety, relationship is missing from my life?"

Oh! You are talking too many things, saying so many things. Everything is lacking, food, shelter, job, husband, my God! Just look at your own mind.

When you were a baby you were fed, somebody took care of you. Or you provided everything for yourself? When did you start providing for yourself? When you were a teenager or when you passed the teenage? Till then somebody took care of you when you were a baby, an infant, somebody nurtured you. And when you become very old somebody will take care of you. 

Nature has designed it such a way that you are taken care of all the time. Even now, even now to ask this question you are alive. Nature is taking care of you; you should have that trust. I’m not taking care of myself, but the nature is taking care of me. There is something which is providing me. 

If you have that feeling I will get what I need and I have been loved and I have been taken care of, you will see everything will fall in place. If you go on this trip of lack, I lack this and I lack this and I lack that, it is growing because you are putting that seed in the consciousness, in the mind, ‘Oh I lack, I lack, I lack’. 

Get out of this circle and take responsibility. Everything ends, everything has to end. Things come your way and then the other way. Food comes and then you have to finish the food. At some point you cannot say I want to keep eating, no.

All the five sense pleasures have limitations, your senses have limitations. So you must understand. Craving for a relationship can also be like bulimia. Do you see bulimia? Your stomach is full still you want to eat. In the same way it’s just in the head about relationships. Relationships can also be painful. Many people who are in relationships say, ‘I want this to end.’ Many people are no longer interested in a relationship even when it is there. They are not interested in physical intimacy even after having achieved all that because you cannot go on craving for it forever. They all have limitations. 

You have confidence that if I need I’ll get it and go for it when you want it, that’s it! Then don’t go on thinking about it 24 hours, craving for it. You must be aware, you’re craving is that which stops it from coming to you.


You know a beggar is never invited for dinner. Food is thrown at a beggar. He will never be invited. Have you seen anywhere a beggar being invited with some card? Tonight there is dinner at my house, come for it, five star hotel? No! Those who are full, who don’t want to eat will be invited for dinner. 

The same way when you are satisfied in yourself, when you are stable, when you are centered all the things will come your way. This is what is in Gita, the second chapter last words are ‘vihaya kaman yah sarvan’. Like how all the rivers flow towards the ocean which is already full. So like all the rivers flow, all the desires find fulfillment in a person who is like an ocean, big.


‘Vihaya kaman yah sarvan pumams carati nihsprhah’. One who drops all desires, a man, a human who walks without worry, ‘nirmamo nirahankarah sa santim adhigacchati’. One who does not say, ‘me, me, me,’ that ego-less, hollow and empty person! The one who is light in their life, gains eternal peace and to him comes everything.

Realisation of One-consciousness during Navratri

There are angels, 64 archangels, called yoginis and their existence helps people meditate, or do yoga. Yoginis are very important to bring experience to people. And so it’s part of Navartri that we invoke those names of the Yoginis.

See ‘yagna’ means what? Five elements, with this what do you do? That which is so subtle, through chanting you bring it to the air element, then fire element, then to the water element and then to the earth element. So, how has the creation happened? From space, first there was gas, from gas came fire, from fire it cooled down and became water and then earth. So in the yagna the same process is used.

Have you seen the water crystal formation? How many of you have seen this? You know a gentleman in Japan photographed water when it forms crystals. So when you keep chanting the different songs to water, and the type of formations it does is so interesting. The most perfect crystal formed was when ‘Om Namah Shivya’ was chanted. 

They also photographed the water with Sanskrit chants of ‘Om Namah Shivya’, and I tell you it’s amazing. You should watch it; it’s the most perfect one. The crystal has totally formed very well from center to the circumference.

Same way when you say to the water, ‘thank you, thank you very much, thank you very much’, it’s a very good formation. When you tell the water some bad words the crystal formation is so different. So this is very true that when you chant and put the focus on the water in a pot, that is absorbed and the molecules changes. This is interesting and ancient people from ten thousand years ago, twenty thousand years ago knew these things.

You know they have different herbs to attract different things and different energies. See, the universe is made up of bio-energy, bio-rhythms. Each animal brings down a certain rhythm on planet Earth. Human beings bring a particular type of energy on the planet Earth. So the whole thing is play of consciousness and the layers and layers and layers of consciousness and that’s what this is. 

Navratri is the time you realize the whole universe is made up of one consciousness. It’s like, suppose you have ten television sets in your room and you are watching all different channels and you find some horror channel and you throw stones at the television, it’s not going to work. You simply have to switch the channel, correct!

If there is a sad story and a pleasant story in different channels an engineer would not even look at it. He would only look at it all as television tubes and its one electricity which is playing through all the televisions, and it is bringing up hundreds different channels, thousand different channels today, right! Our mind, our consciousness is the same.

How can one control ones emotions?

You can’t control emotions by thought; you can invoke emotions by thought. Only by being more aware, emotions settle down. Thoughts, emotions, and awareness; the more subtle and more basic level of consciousness. 

That happens and there is no 'how' to it; it just happens. Pranayama, meditation, listening to knowledge, all of this indirectly helps.

Usually the example would be, when you want to get the mango from the tree which is so high you hit the branch, you don’t hit the mango directly. Then you will not get the mango, you will only get juice on your head. You throw the stone in such a way the stone doesn’t land up on your head or on the mango but the mango lands in your hands. So you throw the stone at the branch and the mango falls. In the same way, all the techniques, everything we do is an indirect way to invoke consciousness. Got it?!

Why do I get too many thoughts during meditation?

Reasons for too many thoughts could be several. One is lack of enough circulation in the system. Do some vigorous exercise, run, go to gym, do any exercise. Then there is that little exhaustion, not too much. Less than half of your energy is spent on exercise then mind becomes calm. 

Second, when your pitta is very high then also there are too many thoughts. So to lower the pitta, take triphala. Or many others drink the amla (gooseberry) drink and all this. Talk to an Ayurvedic physician and consult them to reduce pitta, that is the second thing.

Third, lack of prana, so pranayama will help.


Fourth thing is if your bowel movements are not okay then also too many thoughts will come in the head. So for bowel movements to be good take some triphala, some purgatives. It’s good to cleanse your system, your intestines. Then also your mind becomes much clearer, okay?


So these many ways are there. And even then if it happens, then put on a meditation CD and sit. If you feel it is easier to meditate with a CD on, then do that, it calms the mind. And then from time-to-time participate in advance courses. Silence course will definitely help.

What is the best prayer

There is nothing called best, better prayer or best prayer. Prayer itself is best. You can’t choose, "I will choose a better prayer". No. Prayer is like a cry. It’s like asking, "How can I cry better? How can I laugh better?" There is no way. 

Prayer is deeper than your emotions. It is just an expression of your innate need or innate gratitude. Yes! We are so used to choosing things and we try to choose even prayers, no. Prayer is an expression of the deepest anguish and or the deepest gratitude. Let it happen, let it flow.

How do we know whether we should marry or stay single?

It depends on your type, what you want to do. You choose, choice is yours and blessings are mine. 

There are challenges both ways, being single is also a challenge and being married is an even bigger challenge, that’s what I have heard :). But one thing I want to tell you whether you remain single or married I don’t mind but what I really mind is you be happy either way. You’re married be happy, if you’re single be happy. Don’t think only by getting married you will be happy, that is a blunder and if you think if you were single you would have been happy after having been married that again is another blunder. You got it? So just be happy whatever you are doing, okay?

If you want to be single fine, be single, very good. But sometimes if you feel that it’s too much for you to be single and you want to be married, I give you blessings. We’ll make some arrangements here in the ashram so that anyone who wants to get married you can come here. We have a nice hall, we have a very good dining hall, and we have everything. We will have a permanent priest here who can explain to you about the ceremony. Some people are here who want to become priests we will get them training. Come for two months or three months to India and we will train you the Vedic way of marriage also, with meaning and with everything. We will do that and we will hold classes to train someone to conduct good weddings, okay. 

The ancient type of wedding is very nice, the vows and it’s very beautiful. You marry with, not human beings as witness but as the five elements as witness. You keep water in a pot and the water, fire, the space, the sun and the moon is witness for your marriage. So it is not just marriage between two people, two persons but it is also connecting with the universe that two are getting married while feeling their connectedness to the entire universe. It’s very nice, very beautiful. 

Of course you can have other type of marriages also. We can do all that, what do you think? Good idea? Only single people are clapping :). Now idea is idea, you can tell other people, your friends. We will do something like that here, some nice birthday celebrations and all that and people can come.

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.

Relationship between free will and doer-ship

Doer-ship and free will is connected. Doer-ship is when that ‘I’ is very strong, ‘I want to do it’ or ‘I do it’. The ego is very strong.

So when you are asserting your free will, attach yourself to the achievements you have done, then you will find that your will is there. I won’t call it free will, it’s a will attached with too much of doership. It might fructify but with a lot of effort and in the end it does not give you so much happiness. 

You have achieved something but find that it was not worth all that effort that you put into it. But free will without the doer-ship is not called free will, it is Divine will.

Is there really any role left to play in life when everything already seems so predetermined?

Life is a mixture of accepting what is and wanting to make, what you feel like having. It’s a mixture of both. You have an intention in your mind and that’s how you move on. See, you had an intention to come here and you came. But if you look into the past you say it is all determined, it is all destiny. That’s why I say a simple formula just listen to it. 

Look at the past as destiny, so you will not keep regretting the past and see the future as free will, so that you don’t procrastinate or become lethargic and say whatever, ‘God willing it will happen’. So you don’t become lethargic and do nothing if you consider the future as destiny. You should not say let’s leave it to destiny, no!

The future is freewill, past is destiny and live in the present. This is wise way of living. Not so wise way is seeing the past as freewill and keep regretting about it, ‘Oh I shouldn’t have done that’. Even after you became a medical graduate you say, ‘Oh I should have taken engineering, I made a big blunder’. So you keep blaming yourself and keep regretting the past when you think the past was freewill. And you think future is all destiny, you want to leave everything to destiny and you just do nothing about it and you’ll be miserable in the present moment. This is the unwise way of living, got it?

What is yogamaya

Yogamaya is intuition clubbed with delusion. 

From inside, as you proceed in the path of yoga, the more meditations you do, sometimes you get these visions and these visions would be 90% correct. Then you start believing in your own visions and then they all go wrong, this is called yogamaya.

So you should not be too attached to the visions that you get, the psychic ability. In the psychic ability there could be some delusions that mix up and come, that is called yogamaya. And you are a yogi and suddenly some siddhis come to you and you gallop on using those powers or siddhis. Then suddenly you will go down, everything will vanish and that is again yogamaya.

You know the illusion and the ego that comes with yogis, then they become fallen yogis. So that is what is called yogamaya.

When we meditate, we pay off a debt to our ancestors

Like your DNA, your body is connected to your parents or to your very close friends. Haven’t you experienced this? Someone very close to you has some problem and you start feeling it in your body. How many have experienced this? So, on the physical level you are connected and more subtle than that is your subtle body. You’re connected to ancestor’s, to your parents.


How many of you keep getting dreams of people who have already passed, who have crossed over to other side? So, your mind and your consciousness are linked. So there is a constant energy exchange. Every time you meditate you are generating energy and that energy goes that way also. 

When you have cleared all these debts, that’s when you’re called a monk, a sanyasi. A real term monk means all debts are cleared, everything is settled, feeling "I am totally free". But that is one state, everybody doesn’t have to get there, you can continue.

But sometime if you are getting very old, in the Vedic terminology after 75, you are suppose to have that at least. When you turn 75 then you are cleared of every debt of everybody and you are totally free. You have no cravings, no aversions, no wants, no desires; totally satisfied. That’s the last stage of life. That’s good to have, at some point of time, ‘oh says I am free, I have done everything’.

Do you see what I am saying? Like when you have taken a loan, later you cleared the debts. If you have taken loans for your education what do you do? You keep clearing your debt for your education. In the same way when you meditate for some time, that debt is getting cleared from those who have given you the body, mind all of that. It’s only for a short time.

How does one know that one's consciousness is expanding?

It’s a natural phenomenon. Whenever you are happy, when you’re relaxed and aware, your consciousness expands.

When you’re relaxed and gone to sleep, of course, inertia dominates. But if you are aware and relaxed, consciousness is expanding. And whenever you feel hollow and empty, consciousness is expanding.

The answer is obvious. It’s like asking how do I know I have pain. If you have pain you know it. Got it?

How to experience deep mediation

Just relax! Meditating should be like lying on a massage table. So when you are taking a massage what do you, you just lie on the table and that’s it, and the masseur takes care of everything.

In the same way when you are here you just sit and know that your meditation will be done for you. You wanting to do something in the meditation is the biggest problem. 
There is a teacher, there is a guide, there is the Guru, and the Guru does the work for you. And you should have this right in the head first, okay?

The Guru is going to do meditation not me and relax, and see how it happens. Got it? Otherwise its like you lie in the massage table and you keep jittering, throwing your hands and legs, doing tantrums there on the massage table. Then what will a masseur say? He’ll say, ‘Hey! Keep quiet, don’t move!’


Suppose you are taking acupuncture treatment and you are not still what will happen? You are moving all over the place, getting up and running and again lying down. So, just relax.

Is there a plane in the universe that is hell?

Its right here! See, its right in your mind!


See, when you’re dreaming what is happening? Where do all those things in dream come from, somewhere else? Right here when your eyes are closed you are dreaming.

You are in the train and the train is suddenly in a boat and the boat has turned into a horse, all those things happen, isn’t it. You are sitting on a horse suddenly you find it is a donkey and you think it’s a donkey, suddenly you find it’s a dog. So you find all these things happening right here.

In the same way hell happens in your own mind. The negativity, tensions, stress, all those impressions causes hell right here. Don’t worry there is no place where you will be fried like potato chips, no! These days they don’t use deep fried even in heaven, they are more health conscious! So they are worried about cholesterol in heaven also and in hell also, so they don’t used deep fried human beings. That too dirty human beings, why would they?!

On Kundalini Shakti

Kundalini simply means the energy in your body. Unless it is awakened there is no life. And in the very first Sudarshan Kriya you do it is already awakened. It doesn’t have to be dramatic.


There are three types of kundalini shakti. One is sattvic. The most harmonious, gentle awakening of the kundalini shakti. And you don’t even know that it’s awakened, automatically you start being very happy, generous, large hearted, big minded, compassionate, intuitive. All these things keep happening spontaneously.


Second is the rajasic type where you find this jerk and all this drama happens. A lot of dramatic intense experiences come, this is the rajasic way. 

There is no tamasic way of developing kundalini. If at all some people consider tamasic, the people who use some powers and black magic and this and that sort of thing. But I don’t consider it as tamasic kundalini at all but it is some spirit powers you know. You appease some lower spirits and get some powers from them. And then you dance for some days and then you collapse, that’s what people do. So don’t run after some of this so called magic and miracles, many of them are from these lower spirits. They appear to be doing something to you and then you feel miserable later. 

So sattvic are the most harmonious, best type of kundalini and it is what happens already in Sudarshan Kriya. Doesn’t it happen? Tingling and every cell of the body wakes up. Does it happen or not?

Remember the very first Sudarshan Kriya you did, everything awakened?! That’s it! Did you have peaceful meditation? Did you start feeling I am not the body but I am the spirit? Did you get that experience? That’s already happening.


If you have no experience in kriya, you have so much dullness all the time, then you have to watch your food. You must be stuffing yourself with too much food, number one. Or you must have indulged in too much sex that there is no energy in your body to experience anything else. Then also it doesn’t happen. 

I tell you, someone has been very very busy day and night and didn’t have good sleep, enough rest then there is no way that they can experience any kundalini shakti. So these are some of the criterion, got it? When your energy is conserved then you find that elevation. And if good meditation is happening, you should know it is already functioning. If when meditating, inside you feel the expansion, a calmness, a serenity, it is all sign of kundalini shakti.

"Gurudev, all masters of holy tradition wear orange, why do you wear white?

Not all. One who does not wear clothes is also there! So, yes white has all the colors in it.

Usually the tradition is if you put on saffron you’re not supposed to go out of India, cross the ocean. But today many don’t follow that. It’s only a few people who follow that particular tradition. You can’t cross the ocean. Today they’re all doing it and that is good in a way.

These rules were made once upon a time when there were only ships. And they had to go by ship and they could not take bath every day. They cannot do their meditation in a ship. There were small boats, not even ships. And the boat would sail and take so many days. Anyone who would go on the boat when they come back they had to do some cleansing and all that. In the scriptures that is what was written. So they said no, you shouldn’t go on the boat.

Today that is not the thing. It is a home, it is a city inside the ship. So, those are irrelevant for today. This is what you have to see you know. Certain rules which are written, you should not just literally follow it.

Same in Judaism, it is said the day of silence is Saturday, Sabbath, means don’t do anything, rest. Six days you work, one day you don’t do anything. You just relax; with rest, prayer, meditation; because deeper the rest you take, better qualified you become. The quality of life improves; quality of your mind and consciousness improves. So for all this reason they said you should rest well one day. God rested for a day so you are also made in the image of god so you also should rest one day. That is Sabbath. But that is not what is happening.

You should not work means, you should not press the button in the lift! Suppose you are staying in the 20th floor of a hotel on Sabbath day. You cannot press the button you simply go on the elevator and it stops on every floor and it goes up to your 20th floor. I was in Jerusalem one Sabbath day. Nobody presses any button in the lift and it stops like a passenger local train at every floor. I asked you cannot sign also? On Sabbath you cannot sign also, you cannot touch a pen. These are all obsolete rules!

But you are still so busy and engaged. You are talking, and talking and talking and arguing and fighting also on Sabbath day but you cannot sign or press a button. It’s absurd!

This is where wisdom is needed. You need to look into these rules with common sense. We must induce common sense in all religious practices as well, it is important. Many times in the name of religion you shut off your common sense! It’s unfortunate; we need to changes these things. It will happen; people are more understanding.

How to increase will power?

Will power? Just relax! You know it’s lethargy that makes you feel I don’t have will power, isn’t it? You everyday decide, yes I’m going to wake up at 6am and do my pranayama and in the morning you say, ‘Oh it’s so cold, I’ll do it from tomorrow or tonight.’

It’s just because your system is tired, your mind is tired, body is tired and you eat the wrong things. Now I give you some idea, even to do that you will be so lethargic, why I should give an idea? At some time you get fed up and you jump out of your own bed and start doing exercise. So I feel that is better than giving you any advice, you be as lazy as much as you can afford. One day you’re sure to get fed up about being lazy. It can’t go on forever, got it?

Anything else said will be another burden and you will feel guiltier. You are lazy and someone says ‘Hey there is a fire’, and then how the fear of fire can take away all the laziness. Urgency takes away laziness. Or some knot in your heart gets opened, love comes welling up inside of you, then also laziness disappears. You are passionate about somebody or something, how you have no laziness then, you are suddenly awakened.

So either through love or fear or through greed you can overcome laziness. I don’t know a fourth thing, if you have any idea you tell me.

So if you are in deep love with something, laziness doesn’t come to you. In lack of these three things, you will procrastinate, that’s how it is. So if you procrastinate, fear will come sometime. Then out of fear you will start functioning. Or greed can come but I prefer being in love more than these two things.


So that’s why there is a tradition of promising someone who you love very much. You promise them something and you will see you follow it through. Say, you have promised your brother that you will pick him up or your niece that you’re going to meet her at the airport. Even though you feel so lazy in the morning to get up, you will just get up and run and go and greet them in the airport, even if it is in the middle of the night.

These days I have found a plane to go to India that reaches there in the morning at 9:30 you know. Bombay I don’t go at all; in Delhi when I go in the middle of the night the flight lands at midnight. By the time I come out it is 1:30am and there’s a huge crowd waiting at 2am at the middle of the night; elderly people, nursing mothers with babies. I just said ‘My God! Why did you come?!’

In just 2 minutes they’ll see me getting in the car, that’s it. And in the airport it causes so much of a ruckus, so many people at the airport. Now I found a flight that reaches there 9:30am so I don’t feel so uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable because they’re all standing there. An elderly couple, who are in their 80’s are standing there every time I go. If one night is disturbed like that, they must have such several nights where their sleep cycle is broken.

Like this there are so many people, three to four thousand people. I have stopped going to Mumbai because one day it took me two and a half hours to get out of the airport, giving darshan to everyone in line there saying come, come, come. And the security personnel were paranoid; the police had a headache, and those granite benches and tables at the new airport were all broken. Our organization had to pay some 30,000 bucks for damaging the airport with our own crowd. Yes, they broke the outside, chairs were broken, granite slabs were broken, and doors were broken. So I have said I will not land in Mumbai. This was in the middle of the night at 2 o’clock. Why I’m saying this? When there is love there is no lethargy.

Three types of knowledge

There are three type of knowledge or information we get. One is through the five senses. You see and you get some knowledge, you listen and you get knowledge, you smell and you get information, through taste you get information, and through touch. The five senses bring you some knowledge, isn’t it? Most of our knowledge is gained by these five senses. Now this is one type of knowledge.

The second is through the intellect. The knowledge gained through intellect is superior to knowledge gained through the senses. Science is knowledge gained through intellect. See, what all you see from your eyes is the sun is setting, but what you learn through science is sun doesn’t set. It is the earth which revolves. You have not seen earth revolving through any of the five senses, but through intellect you understand that the earth is revolving and that it is revolving around the sun. This is the intellectual knowledge through intellect which is superior to the senses. Like in a beaker of water you keep a pen, what do you see? The pen is bent. That is the perception, but the intellect says no it is not bent it is an optical illusion. This is the knowledge through intellect.

Now these two levels of knowledge is much inferior to a third level of knowledge. That is intuitive knowledge. That is knowledge from the spirit, that comes from silence. It cannot be verified by the senses or the intellect. Knowledge which comes beyond these two is another level of knowledge. So life begins when we tap into that level of knowledge. Till that time it is existence.

Now how would you tap into this level of knowledge? The level of knowledge which is not through the senses, nor through the intellect. For that you have to let go of the knowledge of the senses and the intellect and relax. The moment you let go then what you gain through senses, the cravings and aversions they stop. All of our cravings and aversions are about the five sensory perceptions. It cannot be anything beyond that. Are you with me?

For some time you say, ‘Now I don’t want to see anything, I don’t want to hear anything, I don’t want to smell anything, I don’t want to taste anything, I don’t want to touch or know anything; I’m just going to be.’ Then intellectual concepts, judgments, decisions, to all that you say, ‘I don’t even need to know anything, I don’t care for anything.’

Letting go of concepts is the second step. How this should be? How that should not be? Things should be like this and things should be like that and blah blah blah and blah blah blah… all these intellectual perceptions.

Or am I doing the right thing? Am I on the right path? Am I on the right track? Should I go on and blah, blah, blah…All these things you drop and then silence begins and when silence begins then the knowledge from the third level dawns and that knowledge is called Ritambhara knowledge; the true knowledge that comes from beyond the intellect and that is the intuitive knowledge.

Everyone has got this ability and you have experienced in your life this gut feeling, knowledge from somewhere, which you cannot really make out what it is. Somewhere you feel this is the right thing to do and something happens in your tummy. And that knowledge comes up at that time but then we don’t honor it. Many times we stick onto the intellect or sensory perceptions.

Sometimes your intellect says this is wrong what I am doing, but you don’t listen to the intellect you keep doing the wrong things. How many of you have this experience? What you do? You stick on to the sensory and ignore the intellectual knowledge. And then what happens? You sometimes go beyond your intellect. Your intellect is saying something but your inner gut feeling is saying something else. And you’re feeling says no, there is something different, something more. And we ignore that and we stick onto the intellect. That’s how many times your judgements have been found to be a failure.

How many of you feel your judgements have been wrong? But sometimes, beyond your judgements you have seen and you have taken a step and have been happy about it. In spite of your intellect saying ‘No’, something says ‘Yes’. Something else triggers and that is what happens when there is faith and that’s when the faith comes up you know.

Sometimes your mind says no I want to quit doing all this spiritual practices, I don’t care for that, I don’t care for hopes. Many people do this, try to quit but something deep inside, the impressions, samskaras, some good karma, they just make you keep going and then you are back on track. And then you are happy. You feel, ‘Good thing I didn’t do it, I didn’t walk on my impulse.’ Those are the moments when something beyond your intellect has taken over and worked.

When we started Art of Living, in the very beginning I could see that there are millions of people going to come on this. I was just 22 or 23, something like that; just out of my teens. I said, ‘No I don’t want to start’. My intellect would say ‘No, so what? Someone else will come and do all this and take care of everybody’. I had no ambition, no desire to start any movement at all. I was happy, I’m happy now also, but I thought why would I take some headache, I don’t want to. I was a little shy also but my intellect was always saying ‘Oh no!’ 

But then everything kept happening because when the TM movement was there and they very much wanted me to be there. And they were all very friendly with me. So it was difficult for me to say no to my friends, and then all the elders there, and everybody, so I was sort of attached. I said no, I don’t want to start the Art of Living; fought and fought.

I had everything, I didn’t need anything. I had no lack and I have everything. I was flying around in helicopters in those days also. I had seen all the wealth I could see those days. And if I have to start something from the scratch, the intellect was saying ‘no’. But something beyond that was saying ‘yes’.

So I was in the railway station, it was in Hubli somewhere. There were two trains going, one to south and one to north. If I take the train to south that means I will not start this. In the same way, I was in the platform and on one side was this train and on another side the other train. I had tickets for both. (Laughter) I had committed for a program in north. If I go there north then it’s for sure that I’ll continue in the Art of Living. Start this whole thing. That was the most confusing time, conflicting time for me to get on to this train or that train. Then I jumped into the train which went to the north and let go of everything of the past; for no apparent gain. It’s not that I never thought what I will gain from this, no. In fact I thought, you are not gaining anything you are collecting more problems, trouble. There you could just be like a prince, very comfortable, somebody does everything for you.

Why I’m saying this? This is the levels of knowledge, the intuitive knowledge which is beyond intellect. Everyone who knew me those days thought I am gone mad, crazy. Here I’m going to be put as a successor or heir to a huge organization, empire. Everything was there, and I am just washing it all off and getting on to something which has no form, no idea. Not even an organization was there, nothing was there. Only I had 200 kids to take care of and a school which would go with me. I had no money; nothing, no resource, I had never worked and I had no skills. And people say these days it is difficult to take care of two children in a house. Those days India was undergoing a lot of crisis too. Many types of crisis and here I land up with 200 kids or 250 kids to feed and to educate; all these responsibilities. Intellectually it was completely insane even to think about it for anyone who has some sense. But there was another knowledge, which I totally honored and depended upon and I took the step. Do you see what I’m saying? Otherwise there was no way we would have a Montreal ashram or I wouldn't be sitting with you and talking to you.

This possibility is not there at all. So this is the third level of knowledge, that gut feeling, or intuitive knowledge. Now, many times, with your emotions, with your own cravings and aversion you can think, ‘Oh this is my gut feeling, this is my knowledge.’ No! This is called maya, you maya, don’t get into that. When can you honor the knowledge of the spirit or the soul? It is when you are absolutely still. Got it?

So in the beginning it works for others, it doesn’t work for you because with you always there are some cravings, some aversions. Some cravings, some aversions and so you may get confused. So these hollow and empty meditations you do are all are very, very useful in getting to that level of knowledge, which is beyond the senses and beyond the intellect. Now how can you explain this to anybody? That’s big trouble, very difficult to tell somebody, ‘Oh there is one level that’s beyond your logic’. If you say that they will think you are crazy or denying intellect but it’s neither. Neither are you crazy nor do you deny the intellect. You go simply one step beyond and recognize something beautiful. This is the area where the entire cosmos works. All the knowledge in the cosmos is present there. Every invention has happened from this area.

The initial intuitive invention comes from that. Then intellect plays on it and develops it further. All great music or poetry has come from that area; every one of them! So one practical benefit from this is you now understand your intellect is judgmental and you don’t depend on it too much. Got it?

One of the steps is you see, ‘Oh yes my mind, it goes on saying something or the other and I don’t care, I don’t mind that’. You don’t get swept into these mind games. You become a witness to them all. Have you noticed it’s already happening with you? At home when there is some argument, or among the friends there is some argument, something happens. Sometimes you take one step back and say, ‘Oh come on, I have seen many of this. It’s not going to let this affect me.’ How many of you have started noticing this happening to you? There is a gradual progression for that. It’s happening in everyone’s life. Just this awareness, it will happen even faster. It will happen faster, just awareness about it.

Difficulty in relaxing

You are having difficulty in relaxing? Then be tense more and more and more. How long can you be tense? Some point you have to give up. That’s relaxation. 

So if you have difficulty in relaxing take a deep breath and don’t breathe out, hold on! You will know when to let go. And when you let go and breathe out, relaxation happens.

How to deal with a negative environment

There is a beautiful story. There was a small hill in a garden and it was situated in one of the very well known famous cities of those days. So it was a beautiful garden with fruit trees, lots of fruits and flowers. And there was a gardener in that garden and the gardener would go on top of that mound and he would invite everybody to come. From there he could see the people walking in the streets.

This was in a town called Ujjain and he would invite everyone, ‘Hey come, we have so many fruits, all of you come. Why don’t you enjoy the beautiful flowers and fruits? Please come and take. I just want to give them away, come.’ And the people would come and he got down that hill his mind would change and he would chase them away and say, ‘how dare you come to me, this is trespassing’, and he would chase them away. 

The people would get shocked and they would go and he goes back to the mound and again he begs, ‘Oh please come, please come’, and he would apologize, whatever it is. But again same story, he would chase them away after going down the hill. So people in the town who knew him they termed that he’s a crazy guy. He’s not sane because his behavior didn’t sound like he was sane. 

But then the wise people in those days what they use to do is whenever someone is insane or would do something wrong, they would get together and find out in what space is he in? So then one wise man said, dig the mound and let us see what is inside. So he got the order from the king to dig up that mound. So when they dug the mound they found a big throne, a golden throne that belonged to a king called Vikramaditya!

This king was such a generous king. Even today, an era in India is in his name, Vikram Samvat. So it is the 2068th year now, about 50 years ahead of the Christian era. It is 50 years ahead of AD, means he was 50 years before Christ. So today in India it is not 2011, it is 2068 or something like that.

So this Vikramaditya was such a pious, such a generous king of such good character that he was sitting in that throne for as long as 50 to 60 years. He ruled the country sitting on that throne and so the vibrations still existed. And so whenever the man went on top he became so generous. He got into the generous space. And when he came down he became nasty. So the space you are in matters.

You may have noticed in your own life, some places you get jittery and angry. How many have experienced this? What has happened? In that space there are people who have been angry or agitated. So you move into that space and it affects your whole behavior. And when you’re in good company what happens? You feel so much lighter, uplifted inside, totally at ease and at peace. Hasn’t this happened to you?

So the company matters, really matters. That doesn’t mean you should avoid people because they are not good company. You also should be strong and instead of running away from negative influence you must positively impact any negative environment. And sitting and doing your meditation, hollow and empty, these long meditations will help you be very strong and stable in that space. So wherever you go you carry your space and you make an influence rather than you get affected. Not be a ping pong ball but be the bat so you can influence the space around you.

This you must strongly know, so that you don’t run away from a situation unless or until it is so bad that it is swallowing you. Then you gently move away, don’t run away. Are you getting what I am saying?

Three types of space

Today I want to tell you about three type of space. One is the external space, in which all the five elements are there. Then there is the second type of space that is inner space, where thoughts come and emotions come. That’s inner space. When you close your eyes, what do you feel? That is inner space. And then there is the third space. That is the space of energy where there is no thought, no emotion but you just feel energy. In deep meditation you experience that, isn’t it? Or after kriya you experience that space, there are no thoughts, nothing but space.

The three types of space exist. One is called the bhut akash the outer space, second is chit akash the space where thoughts and emotions all these come and third, chid akash, space of consciousness. Consciousness itself is another space deep within us. These are the three type of space.

So we seldom understand; pay attention to these three different spaces. Whenever you are frustrated what do you say? ‘Give me some space.’ That is it, ‘I want my space. I want to be by myself.’ It’s very important. All inventions come from these three types of space. In the chid akash, in the consciousness it’s already there.

All knowledge there comes to chit akash through thoughts and emotions. Songs come as emotions, science comes as thoughts and ideas and then they get manifest in the outer. Meditation is recognizing these three spaces. So that’s why sometimes you sit and watch the vast space, put your attention there so the mind also becomes blank.

For how many of you it has happened? On a nice day cloudless sky, when there are no clouds, just bright stars are there. Just lie down and just keep gazing at the sky. When you gaze at the sky what happens? That space gets created inside too. A sort of emptiness and you get into a meditative state. So, all the thoughts, ideas, everything we do remains in this space. Maybe in the future sometime someone will come with the device to try to tap the akashic record. You can find out what happened in 2010, 2011. What knowledge came, where and who was thinking what all that can be recorded sometime in the future because time has inscription of all ideas.

See, in a cell phone you send a message, how does it go and reach another cell phone? So far away and exactly the same words and the same fonts get printed there. From the time you press the button here to send, it reaching there, how did it travel? In space! So the space in which all your telephonic conversations travel, all the messages travel, was recognized some thousands of years ago.

So the nature of space is knowledge and sound. ‘Shabda gunaka mahakaasha’, a Sanskrit saying; nature of light is sight, sight is connected with light; sound is connected with space, taste is connected with water and touch is connected with air. You know when you have to feel the touch, air has to be present. Inside water you do not feel the touch, have you noticed it? It’s different. Inside water you can’t feel it soft or hard, you can’t feel it. Rather whatever is the temperature of the water you can feel. Touch is related to the air element, and sound is related to space. So in the space everything is there. Like objects you’re thinking is there in the space. Sometimes you go to a place and you get thoughts and you wonder, ‘oh why did I get these types of thoughts’, do you see what I am saying?