There have been repeated protests against Vedanta’s planned mine.
© Satyabady Naik

Metals giant Vedanta Resources’ Indian subsidiary has launched an unprecedented attack on Survival International, apparently to drive its researchers out of an area where the company is planning to mine.

The mining company has falsely accused Survival of ‘forcedly interacting’ with the Dongria Kondh tribe who live around the area earmarked for mining, and of causing ‘unrest.’ Vedanta has prompted a police investigation into Survival, with officers making a late night visit to a hotel where they believed Survival researchers were staying.

Survival researchers were in the Niyamgiri area of Orissa, east India, to talk with members of the Dongria Kondh community whose future is threatened by a proposed Vedanta mine on their sacred mountain.

Pavan Kaushik, Vedanta Group’s head of corporate communications, wrote to journalists alleging that ‘foreign NGOs including Survival International… are provoking innocent tribal’s to defame the government and the company’. In the letter, he attacked ‘foreigners’ for ‘freely moving in the region’ and alleged that they were circulating ‘false information’. The letter also invites journalists to contact the regional Superintendent of Police, who is named as available for interview.

In September the British government ruled that Vedanta had repeatedly failed to respect the human rights of the Dongria Kondh, demanding a change in the company’s behaviour. The government asked Survival to report back on what steps Vedanta had taken to implement these ‘essential’ changes before the end of the year.

Gordon Bennett, a London barrister who represented the Kalahari Bushmen in their historic win over the Botswana government, has been acting on behalf of the Dongria Kondh in their complaint over Vedanta’s behaviour, and accompanied the Survival researchers.

He said today, ‘We have not circulated any false information about Vedanta’s mining activities. All the information we have given the Dongria has been culled from Vedanta’s own mining plan, which it has never troubled to discuss with the Dongria itself. We have not ‘forcedly interacted’ with the Dongrias: on the contrary we have been warmly welcomed by all those we have been able to meet.

‘We have not provoked ‘innocent tribals’ to defame either the government or Vedanta. It is true to say however that feelings run high in Niyamgiri and that many Dongria regard Vedanta with suspicion and distrust. They believe that their way of life is under serious threat.

‘We have done nothing to create ‘misunderstanding’. It is Vedanta which has done this, both by its refusal to meet with us, and more importantly by its repeated failure either to consult the Dongria about its plans for their sacred hills, or to pay any regard to their views.’

He added, ‘If Vedanta has nothing to hide, it is difficult to understand why it has gone out of its way to obstruct our inquiries. Their press release is entirely without foundation.’

Survival researcher Dr. Jo Woodman is available for interview in India on +91 9953 409 060. For other media enquiries please contact Miriam Ross on +(44) (0)20 7687 8734 or mr

This is the most consice summary of my favourite Spiritual Text-Yog-Vashistha

I am posting it for the convinience of all my visitors.Keep checking my blog for more similar articles.

This is the story of  How Lord Rama attained enlightenment by listening to the Great realized soul-Mahirishi Vashistha.

This following text is the summary of the entire discourse by Mahirshi Raman-another great master & realized soul.

Yoga Vasishta Sara  by Sri Ramana Maharshi

 Chapter One

Dispassion

1. Salutations to that calm effulgence which is endless and unlimited by space, time etc., the pure consciousness which can be known by experience only.

2. Neither one who is totally ignorant nor one who knows it (i.e. Truth) is eligible to study this book. Only he who thinks ‘I am bound; I must become free’ is entitled to study it.

3. Until one is definitely blessed by the Supreme Lord he will not find either a proper Guru or the right scripture.

4. Just as a steady boat, O Rama, is obtained from a boatman, so also the method of crossing the ocean of samsara is learnt by associating with great souls.

5. The great remedy for the long-lasting disease of samsara is the enquiry, ‘Who am I?, to whom does this samsara belong?,’ which entirely cures it.

6. Not a day should be spent in a place which does not possess the tree of a wise knower of Truth with its good fruit and cool shade.

7. The sages are to be approached even if they do not teach. Even their talks in a light vein contain wisdom.

8. The company of sages converts emptiness into fullness, death into immortality and adversity into prosperity.

9. If sages were concerned solely with their own happiness with whom could those tormented by the sorrows of samsara seek refuge?

10. That which is imparted, O good soul, to a worthy disciple who has become dispassionate, is the real wisdom; it is the real purport of the sacred texts and is also the comprehensive wisdom.

11. Following the customary method of teaching is only for preserving the tradition. Pure awareness results solely from the clarity of the disciple’s understanding.

12. The Lord cannot be seen with the help of the sacred texts or the Guru. The self is seen by the Self alone with the pure intellect.

13. All the arts acquired by men are lost by lack of practice, but this art of wisdom grows steadily once it rises.

14. Just as an ornament worn round the neck is considered lost through forgetfulness and is gained when the mistake is realized, so also the Self is attained (when the delusion is removed) by the words of the Guru.

15. He is indeed an unfortunate person who, not knowing his own Self, takes pleasure in sense-objects, like one who realizes too late that the food eaten by him was poisonous.

16. That perverted man who, even after knowing that worldly objects are deceptive, still thinks of them, is an ass not a man.

17. Even the slightest thought immerses a man in sorrow; when devoid of all thoughts he enjoys imperishable bliss.

18. Just as we experience the delusion of hundreds of years in a dream lasting an hour, so also we experience the sport of maya in our waking state.

19. He is a happy man whose mind is inwardly cool and free from attachment and hatred and who looks upon this (world) like a mere spectator.

20. He who has understood well how to abandon all ideas of acceptance and rejection and who has realized the consciousness which is within the innermost heart -his life is illustrious.

21. On the dissolution of the body, the ether (consciousness) limited by the heart (hridayam) alone ceases to exist. People lament needlessly that the Self is extinct.

22. When pots, etc. are broken the space within them becomes unlimited. So also when bodies cease to exist the Self remains eternal and unattached.

23. Nothing whatever is born or dies anywhere at any time. It is Brahman alone appearing illusorily in the form of the world.

24. The Self is more extensive than space; it is pure, subtle, undecaying and auspicious. As such how could it be born and how can it die?

25. All this is the tranquil, One without beginning, middle or end, which cannot be said to be existent or non-existent. Know this and be happy.

26. O Rama, it is indeed nobler to wander begging about the streets of the outcasts (chandalas), an earthen bowl in hand, than to live a life steeped in ignorance.

27. Neither disease nor poison nor adversity nor any other thing in the world causes more suffering to men than such stupidity engendered in their bodies.

Chapter Two

Unreality of the World

1. Just as the great ocean of milk became still when the Mandara Mountain (with which it was churned by the Devas and the Asuras) became still, even so the illusion of samsara comes to an end when the mind is stilled.

2. Samsara rises when the mind becomes active and ceases when it is still. Still the mind, therefore, by controlling the breath and the latent desires (vasanas).

3. This worthless (lit. burnt out) samsara is born of one’s imagination and vanishes in the absence of imagination. It is certain that it is absolutely unsubstantial.

4. The idea of a (live) snake in a picture of a snake ceases to be entertained when the truth is known. Similarly samsara ceases to exist (when the Truth is realized), even if it continues to appear.

5. This long-living ghost of a samsara which is the creation of the deluded mind of man and the cause of his sufferings disappears when one ponders over it.

6. O Rama, maya is such that it brings delight through its own destruction; its nature is inscrutable; it ceases to exist even while it is being observed.

7. Dear boy, wonderful indeed is this maya which deludes the entire world. It is on account of it that the Self is not perceived even though it pervades all the limbs of the body.

8. Whatever is seen does not truly exist. It is like the mythical city of Gandharvas (fata morgana) or a mirage.

9. That which is not seen, though within us, is called the eternal and indestructible Self.

10. Just as the trees on the bank of a lake are reflected in the water, so also all these varied objects are reflected in the vast mirror of our consciousness.

11. This creation, which is a mere play of consciousness, rises up, like the delusion of a snake in a rope (when there is ignorance) and comes to an end when there is right knowledge.

12. Even though bondage does not really exist, it becomes strong through desire for worldly enjoyments; when this desire subsides bondage becomes weak.

13. Like waves rising up from the ocean the unstable mind rises out of the vast and stable expanse of the Supreme Self.

14. It is because of that which always, of its own accord, imagines (everything) quickly and freely that this magical show (of the world) is projected in the waking state.

15. This world, though unreal, appears to exist and is the cause of life-long suffering to an ignorant person, just as a (non-existent) ghost (is the cause of fear) to a boy.

16. One who has no idea of gold sees only the bracelet. He does not at all have the idea that it is merely gold.

17. Similarly towns, houses, mountains, serpents, etc. are all in the eyes of the ignorant man, separate objects. From the absolute point of view; this objective (world) is the subject (the Self) itself; it is not separate (from the Self).

18. The world is full of misery to an ignorant man and full of bliss to a wise man. The world is dark to a blind man and bright to one who has eyes.

19. The bliss of a man of discrimination, who has rejected samsara and discarded all mental concepts, constantly increases.

20. Like clouds which suddenly appear in a clear sky and as suddenly dissolve, the entire universe (appears) in the Self and (dissolves in it).

21. He who reckons the rays as non-different from the sun and realizes that they are the sun itself is stated to be nirvikalpa (the undifferentiating man).

22. Just as the cloth, when investigated, is seen to be nothing but thread, so also this world, when enquired into, is (seen to be) merely the Self.

23. This fascinating world rises like a wave in the ambrosial ocean of consciousness and dissolves in it. How then can it be different from it (i.e. consciousness) in the middle (i.e. when it appears)?

24. Just as the foam, the waves, the dew and the bubbles are not different from water, even so this world which has come out of the Self is not different from the Self.

25. Just as a tree consisting of fruits, leaves, creepers, flowers, branches, twigs and roots, exists in the seed of the tree, even so this manifest world exists in Brahman.

26. Just as the pot (ultimately) goes back to mud, waves into water and ornaments into gold, so also this world which has come out of the Self (ultimately) goes back to the Self.

27. The snake appears when one does not recognise the rope; it disappears when one recognises the rope. Even so this world appears when the Self is not recognised; it disappears when the Self is recognised.

28. It is only our forgetfulness of the invisible Self which causes the world to appear just as (the ignorance of the) rope (causes the) snake to appear.

29. Just as the dream becomes unreal in the waking state and the waking state in the dream, so also death becomes unreal in birth and birth in death.

30. All these are thus neither real nor unreal. They are the effect of delusion, mere impressions arising out of some past experiences.

 
 
Chapter Three

The Marks of a Liberated Person (Jivanmukta)

1. The knowledge of the Self is the fire that burns up the dry grass of desire. This indeed is what is called samadhi, not mere abstention from speech.

2. He who realizes that the whole universe is really nothing but consciousness and remains quite calm is protected by the armour of Brahman; he is happy.

3. The yogi who has attained the state which is beyond everything and remains always cool as the full moon is truly the Supreme Lord.

4. He who reflects in his innermost heart upon the purport of the Upanishads dealing with Brahman and is not moved by joy and sorrow, is not tormented by samsara.

5. Just as birds and beasts do not take shelter on a mountain on fire, so also evil (thoughts) never occur to a knower of Brahman.

6. Wise men also, like foolish men, (occasionally) make others angry, (but they do so only) in order to test their ability to control their innate feelings (that is to say to see how far the anger of other persons will affect them).

7. Just as the trembling (of the body) caused by the (imaginary) snake persists (for some time) even after realising that there is no snake, so also the effect of delusion persists (for some time) even after getting rid of all delusions.

8. Just as a crystal is not stained by what is reflected in it, so also a knower of truth is not really affected by the result of his acts.

9. Even while he is intent on outward actions (the knower of Truth) always remains introverted and extremely calm like one asleep.

10. Firmly convinced of non-duality and enjoying perfect mental peace, yogis go about their work seeing the world as if it were a dream.

11. Let death come to him (the knower of truth) today or at the end of aeons; he remains untarnished like gold buried in mire.

12. He may cast off his body at Kashi or in the house of an outcaste (lit. one who cooks dog’s flesh). He, the desireless one, is liberated at the very moment he attains knowledge (of Brahman).

13. To one who is desireless, the earth, O Rama, is (as insignificant as) the hoof-print of a cow, Mount Meru, a mound, space as much as contained in a casket and the three worlds a blade of grass.

14. Like an empty vessel in space (the knower of Truth) is empty both within and without, while at the same time he is full within and without like a vessel immersed in the ocean.

15. He who neither likes nor dislikes the objects seen by him and who acts (in the world) like one asleep, is said to be a liberated person.

16. He who is free from the knots (of desires) and whose doubts have been set at rest is liberated even when he is in the body (jivan mukta). Although he may seem to be bound, he is free. He remains like a lamp in a picture.

17. He who has easily (lit. as if in sport) cast off all his egoistic tendencies and has abandoned even the object of meditation, is said to be liberated even when he is in the body.

18. He who does not, like one blind, recognise (lit. leaves far behind) his relatives, who dreads attachment as he would a serpent, who looks upon sense-enjoyments and diseases alike, who disregards the company of women as he would a blade of grass and who finds no distinction between a friend and a foe, experiences happiness in this world and the next.

19. He who casts away from his mind all objects of perception and, attaining perfect quiescence, remains still as space, unaffected by sorrow, is a liberated man; he is the Supreme Lord.

20. The noble-hearted man whose desires of the heart have come to an end is a liberated man; it does not matter whether he does or does not practise meditation or perform action.

21. The idea of Self in the non-Self is bondage. Abandonment of it is liberation. There is neither bondage nor liberation for the ever-free Self.

22. If, by perceiving that the objects of perception do not really exist, the mind is completely freed (from those objects) there ensues the supreme bliss of liberation.

23. Abandonment of all latent tendencies is said to be the best (i.e. real) liberation by the wise; that is also the faultless method (of attaining liberation).

24. Liberation is not on the other side of the sky, nor is it in the nether world, nor on the earth; the extinction of the mind resulting from the eradication of all desires is regarded as liberation.

25. O Rama, there is no intellect, no nescience, no mind and no individual soul (jiva). They are all imagined in Brahman.

26. To one who is established in what is infinite, pure consciousness, bliss and unqualified non-duality, where is the question of bondage or liberation, seeing that there is no second entity?

27. O Rama, the mind has, by its own activity, bound itself; when it is calm it is free.

Chapter Four

Dissolution of the Mind

1. Consciousness which is undivided imagines to itself desirable objects and runs after them. It is then known as the mind.

2. From this omnipresent and omnipotent Supreme Lord arose, like ripples in water, the power of imagining separate objects.

3. Just as fire born out of wind (fanned into a flame) is extinguished by the same wind, so also that which is born of imagination is destroyed by imagination itself.

4. The mind has come into existence through this (imagination) on account of forgetfulness. Like the experience of one’s own death in a dream it ceases to exist when scrutinised.

5. The idea of Self in what is not the Self is due to incorrect understanding. The idea of reality in what is unreal, O Rama, know that to be the mind (chittam).

6. ‘This is he’, ‘I am this’, ‘That is mine’, such (ideas) constitute the mind; it disappears when one ponders over these false ideas.

7. It is the nature of the mind to accept certain things and to reject others; this is bondage, nothing else.

8. The mind is the creator of the world, the mind is the individual (purusha); only that which is done by the mind is regarded as done, not that which is done by the body. The arm with which one embraces the wife is the very arm with which one embraces the daughter.

9. The mind is the cause of (i.e. produces) the objects of perception. The three worlds depend upon it. When it is dissolved the world is also dissolved. It is to be cured (i.e. purified) with effort.

10. The mind is bound by the latent impressions (vasanas). When there are no impressions it is free. Therefore, O Rama, bring about quickly, through discrimination, the state in which there are no impressions.

11. Just as a streak of cloud stains (i.e. appears to stain) the moon or a blotch of ink a lime-plastered wall, so also the evil spirit of desire stains the inner man.

12. O Rama, he who, with in-turned mind, offers all the three worlds, like dried-grass, as an oblation in the fire of knowledge, becomes free from the illusions of the mind.

13. When one knows the real truth about acceptance and rejection and does not think of anything but abides in himself, abandoning everything, (his) mind does not come into existence.

14. The mind is terrible (ghoram) in the waking state, gentle (santam) in the dream state, dull (mudham) in deep sleep and dead when not in any of these three states.

15. Just as the powder of the kataka seed, after precipitating the dirt in water, becomes merged in the water, so also the mind (after removing all impressions) itself becomes merged (in the Self ).

16. The mind is samsara; the mind is also said to be bondage; the body is activated by the mind just as a tree is shaken by the wind.

17. Conquer your mind first, by pressing the palm with the palm, grinding the teeth with the teeth and twisting the limbs with the limbs.

18. Does not the fool feel ashamed to move about in the world as he pleases and talk about meditation when he is not able to conquer even the mind?

19. The only god to be conquered is the mind. Its conquest leads to the attainment of everything. Without its conquest all other efforts are fruitless.

20. To be unperturbed is the foundation of blessedness (Sri). One attains liberation by it. To human beings even the conquest of the three worlds, without the conquest of the mind, is as insignificant as a blade of grass.

21. Association with the wise, abandonment of latent impressions, self-enquiry, control of breathing -these are the means of conquering the mind.

22. To one who is shod with leather the earth is as good as covered with leather. Even so to the mind which is full (i.e. undivided) the world overflows with nectar.

23. The mind becomes bound by thinking ‘I am not Brahman’; it becomes completely released by thinking ‘I am Brahman’.

24. When the mind is abandoned (i.e. dissolves), everything that is dual or single is dissolved. What remains after that is the Supreme Brahman, peaceful, eternal and free from misery.

25. There is nothing to equal the supreme joy felt by a person of pure mind who has attained the state of pure consciousness and overcome death.

Chapter Five

The Destruction of Latent Impressions

1. O Rama, this enquiry into the Self of the nature or ‘Who am I?’ is the fire which burns up the seeds of the evil tree which is the mind.

2. Just as the wind does not affect the creepers in a picture, so also afflictions do not affect one whose understanding is fortified by firmness and (always) reflected in the mirror of enquiry.

3. The knowers of truth declare that enquiry into the truth of the Self is knowledge. What is to be known is contained in it like sweetness in milk.

4. To one who has realized the Self by enquiry Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are objects of compassion.

5. To one who is fond of enquiring (constantly), ‘What is this vast universe?’ and ‘Who am I?’ this world becomes quite unreal.

6. Just as in a mirage the idea of water does not occur to one who knows (that it is a mirage), even so latent impressions do not rise in one whose ignorance has been destroyed by realizing that everything is Brahman.

7. By the abandonment of latent impressions or by the control of breathing, mind ceases to be the mind. Practise whichever you like.

8. O pure soul, cherish the association of sages and the true scriptures; you will attain the state of Supreme Consciousness not in the course of months but days.

9. Latent impressions cease to be active when one associates with sages, discards all thoughts of samsara and remembers that the body has to die.

10. O Raghava, even ignorant persons convert, by the firmness of their conviction, poison into nectar and nectar into poison.

11. When this body is taken to be real it serves the purpose of a body, but when it is seen to be unreal it becomes like space (i.e. unsubstantial).

12. O Rama, while lying on a soft bed you wander about in all directions with a dream body; but now (in this waking state) where is that body?

13. Just as a respectable man avoids contact with an outcast woman carrying dog’s flesh, so also one should discard the thought ‘I-am-the-body’, even if everything were to be lost.

14. When the aspirant (sadhu) thinks only of Brahman and remains calm and free from sorrows his egoity dies of itself.

 15. If one realizes the unity of things everywhere, one always remains tranquil, inwardly cool and pure like space without the sense of ‘I’.

16. If inwardly one is cool the whole world will be cool, but if inwardly one is hot (i.e. agitated) the whole world will be a burning mass.

Chapter Six

Meditation on the Self

1. I, the pure, stainless and infinite Consciousness beyond maya, look upon this body in action like the body of another.

2. The mind, the intellect, the senses, etc. are all the play of Consciousness. They are unreal and seem to exist only due to lack of insight.

3. Unmoved by adversity, a friend of all the world in prosperity, without ideas of existence and nonexistence, I live free from misery.

4. Inactive am I, desireless, clear as the sky, free from hankering, tranquil, formless, everlasting and unmoving.

5. I have now clearly understood that the five elements, the three worlds and I myself are pure Consciousness.

6. I am above everything; I am present everywhere; I am like space; I am that which (really) exists; I am unable to say anything beyond this.

7. Let imaginary waves of universe rise or fall in me who am the ocean of infinite Consciousness; there is no increase or decrease in me.

8. How wonderful that in me, the infinite ocean of consciousness, waves of jivas (individual souls) rise, sport for a while and disappear according to their nature.

9. The world which has come into existence on account of my ignorance has dissolved likewise in me. I now directly experience the world as supreme bliss of consciousness.

10. I prostrate to myself who am within all beings, the ever-free Self abiding as inner Consciousness.

Chapter Seven

Method of Purification

1. O Raghava, be outwardly active but inwardly inactive, outwardly a doer but inwardly a non-doer, and thus play your part in the world.

2. O Raghava, abandon all desires inwardly, be free from attachments and latent impressions, do everything outwardly and thus play your part in the world.

3. O Raghava, adopt a comprehensive view, characterised by the abandonment of all objects of contemplation, live in your innate Self, liberated even while alive (jivan-mukta), and thus play your part in the world.

4. Burn the forest of duality with the fire of the conviction, ‘I am the one pure Consciousness’ and remain happy.

5. You are bound firmly on all sides by the idea, I am the body’. Cut that bond by the sword of knowledge ‘I am Consciousness’ and be happy.

6. Discarding the attachment to non-Self, regarding the world as a partless (whole), concentrated and with attention turned inward, remain as pure Consciousness.

7. Remain always as pure Consciousness which is your constant (i.e. true) nature beyond the states of waking, dream and deep sleep.

8. O mighty-armed, be always free from mental concepts like the heart of a rock though not insentient like it.

9. Do not be that which is understood, nor the one who understands. Abandon all concepts and remain what you are.

10. Eliminate one concept by another and the mind by the mind and abide in the Self. Is this so difficult, O holy man?

11. Sever the mind, which has on account of its cares become red hot, with the mind which is like iron sharpened by the study of scriptures.

12. O Raghava, what have you to do with this inert and dumb body? Why do you feel helpless and miserable by joys and sorrows on account of it?

13. What a vast difference between the flesh, blood, etc. (composing the body) and you, the embodiment of consciousness! Even after knowing this why do you not abandon the idea of Self in this body?

14. The mere knowledge that this body is like a piece of wood or a clod of earth enables one to realize the Supreme Self.

15. How strange that, while the real Brahman is forgotten by men, the unreal called avidya (nescience) appears very real to them (lit. struts about before them).

16. It is again strange that while the Supreme Brahman is forgotten by men, the idea ‘this is mine’ called avidya is firmly held by them (lit. strongly confronts them).

17. When you do your work do it without attachment even as a crystal which reflects the objects before it (but is not affected by them).

18. The conviction that everything is Brahman leads one to Liberation. Therefore reject entirely the idea of duality which is ignorance. Reject it entirely.

Chapter Eight

Worship of the Self

1. If you separate yourself from the body and abide at ease in Consciousness you will become one (the sole Reality), everything else appearing (insignificant) like grass.

2. After knowing that by which you know this (world) turn the mind inward and then you will see clearly (i.e. realize) the effulgence of the Self.

3. O Raghava, that by which you recognise sound, taste, form and smell, know that as your Self, the Supreme Brahman, the Lord of lords.

4. O Raghava, that in which beings vibrate, that which creates them, know that Self to be your real Self.

5. After rejecting, through reasoning, all that can be known as ‘non-truth’ what remains as pure Consciousness – regard that as your real Self.

6. Knowledge is not separate from you and that which is known is not separate from knowledge. Hence there is nothing other than the Self, nothing separate (from it).

7. ‘All that Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra and others always do is done by me, the embodiment of Consciousness’ – think in this manner.

8. ‘I am the whole universe. I am the undecaying Supreme Self. There is neither past nor future apart from me’ – reflect in this manner.

9. ‘Everything is the One Brahman, pure Consciousness, the Self of all, indivisible and immutable’ reflect in this manner.

 10. ‘There is neither I nor any other thing. Only Brahman exists always full of bliss everywhere.’ – meditate on this calmly.

11. The sense of perceiver and perceived is common to all embodied beings, but the Yogi worships the One Self.

CHAPTER NINE

EXPOSITION OF THE SELF

1. When this assemblage of body, senses, etc. acts of its own accord there arises an idea ‘I am this.’ This is the jiva (ego) stained by the dirt of ignorance.

2. When the conviction that everything is the space-like (i.e. all pervasive) Consciousness becomes firm the jiva comes to an end like a lamp without oil.

3. Like a misguided Brahmin, who abandons his own nobility, and adopts the life of a Sudra, the Lord assumes the role of the jiva.

4. Just as a child sees an apparition (created by its own fancy), so also the stupid jiva creates, on account of delusion, this unreal body and sees it (as separate from him).

5. A child superimposes a (real) elephant on a clay elephant and plays with it; even so, an ignorant man superimposes the body, etc., on the Self and carries on his activities.

6. The picture of a snake does not cause fear of a snake when it is realised to be only a picture. Similarly when the jiva-snake is clearly understood there is neither misery nor the cause of misery.

7. The snake superimposed on a garland merges in it; so also the sense of separateness rising from the Self merges in the Self.

8. Although bracelets, etc. appear to be many, as gold they are one. Similarly although the adjuncts are many, the Self is really one.

9. Like the organs of the body and modifications of clay (i.e. vessels of clay) non-duality appears as duality (i.e. multiplicity) in the form of the moving and unmoving objects.

10. Just as a single face is reflected as many in a crystal, in water, or in ghee or in a mirror; so also the (one) Self is reflected in the (many) intellects (or minds).

11. Just as the sky is (i.e. appears to be) stained by dust, smoke and clouds, so also the pure Self in contact with the qualities of maya is (i.e. appears to be) soiled by them.

12. Just as metal in contact with fire acquires the quality of fire (namely heat), so also the senses, etc. in contact with the Self acquire the quality of the Self.

13. Just as the invisible Rahu becomes visible when it is seized by the moon (i.e., comes in contact with the moon), even so the Self is known by experiencing objects of perception.

14. When water and fire come together they acquire the qualities of each other. Even so when the Self and the inert body come together the Self looks like the non-Self and the non-Self looks like the Self.

15. Just as fire thrown into a large sheet of water loses its quality, so also Consciousness in contact with the unreal and the inert seems to lose its real nature and becomes inert.

16. The Self is realised in the body only with effort, like sugar from the sugarcane, oil from sesame seeds, fire from wood, butter from a cow and iron from stones (i.e. ore).

17. Like the sky seen in an unbroken crystal, the Supreme Lord of the nature of consciousness is seen (i.e. exists) in all objects.

18. Just as a big lamp kept inside a vessel made of precious stones illumines by its light both outside and inside, so also the one Self illumines (everything).

19. Just as the sun’s reflection in a mirror illumines (other things), so also the reflection of the Self in pure intellects illumines (other things).

20. That in which this wonderful universe appears like a snake in a rope is the eternal luminous Self.

21. The Self is without beginning or end. It is immutable Existence and Consciousness. It manifests space, it is the source of the jiva and higher than the highest.

22. The Self is pure Consciousness, eternal, omnipresent, immutable and self-effulgent like the light of the sun.

23. The omnipresent Self, the substratum of all, is non-different from the effulgent Consciousness like heat from fire. It can only be experienced (not known).

24. Pure Consciousness without intellect, the Supreme Self, the illuminator of all, the indivisible, pervading (everything) within and without, is the firm support (of all).

25. The Self is absolute Consciousness. It is pure awareness, undecaying, free from all ideas of acceptance or rejection and not limited by space, time or genus.

26. Just as the air in the universe pervades everything, so also the Self, the Lord, abides bodiless (in everything).

27. The Consciousness which exists in the expanse of earth, in the ornaments, in the sky and in the sun, exists also inside the worms lying in their shells under the earth.

28. There is neither bondage nor liberation, neither duality nor non-duality. There is only Brahman always shining as Consciousness.

29. Awareness is Brahman; the world is Brahman; the various elements are Brahman; I am Brahman; my enemy is Brahman; my friends and relatives are Brahman.

30. The idea of a consciousness and an object of consciousness is bondage; freedom from it is liberation. Consciousness, the object of consciousness and everything else is the Self; this is the gist of all systems of philosophy.

31. There is only consciousness here; this universe is nothing but consciousness; you are consciousness; I am consciousness; the worlds are consciousness – that is the conclusion.

32. That which exists and that which shines (i.e. is known to exist) are all the Self; anything else which seems to shine does not (really) exist. Consciousness alone shines by itself. Ideas of knower and known are idle postulates.

CHAPTER TEN

NIRVANA

1. Supreme Bliss cannot be experienced through contact of the senses with their objects. The supreme state is that in which the mind is annihilated through one-pointed enquiry.

2. The bliss arising from the contact of the senses with their objects is inferior. Contact with the senseobjects is bondage; freedom from it is liberation.

3. Attain the pure state between existence and nonexistence and hold on to it; do not accept or reject the inner or the outer world.

4. Depend always on that true reality between the sentient and the inert which is the infinite space-like heart.

5. The belief in a knower and the known is called bondage. The knower is bound by the known; he is liberated when there is nothing to know.

6. Abandoning the ideas of seer, seen and sight along with latent desires (vasanas) of the past, we meditate on that Self which is the primal light that is the basis of sight.

7. We meditate on the eternal Self, the light of lights which lies between the two ideas of existence and non-existence.

8. We meditate on that Self of consciousness, the bestower of the fruits of all our thoughts, the illuminator of all radiant objects and the farthest limit of all accepted objects.

9. We meditate on that immutable Self, our reality, the bliss of which arises in the mind on account of the close contact between the seer and the seen.

10. If one meditates on that state which comes at the end of the waking state and the beginning of sleep, he will directly experience undecaying bliss.

11. The rock-like state in which all thoughts are still and which is different from the waking and dream states, is one’s supreme state.

12. Like mud in a mud pot the Supreme Lord who is existence and space-like consciousness and bliss exists everywhere non-separate (from things).

13. The Self shines by itself as the one boundless ocean of consciousness agitated by waves of thought.

14. Just as the ocean is nothing but water the entire world of things is nothing but consciousness filling all the quarters like the infinite space.

15. Brahman and space are alike as to their invisibility, all-pervasiveness and indestructibility, but Brahman is also consciousness.

16. There is only the one waveless and profound ocean of pure nectar, sweet through and through (i.e. blissful) everywhere.

17. All this is truly Brahman; all this is Atman. Do not cut up Brahman into ‘I am one thing’ and ‘this is another.’

18. As soon as it is realised that Brahman is allpervasive and indivisible this vast samsara is found to be the Supreme Lord.

19. One who realises that everything is Brahman truly becomes Brahman; who would not become immortal if he were to drink nectar?

20. If you are wise you would become this (Brahman) by such conviction; if not, even if you are repeatedly told it would be (useless like offerings) thrown on ashes.

21. Even if you have known the real truth you have to practise always. Water will not become clear by merely uttering the word kataka fruit.

22. If one has the firm conviction ‘I am the Supreme Self called the undecaying Vasudeva’ he is liberated; otherwise he remains bound.

23. After eliminating everything as ‘not this’, ‘not this’, the Supreme Being (lit. state) which cannot be eliminated remains. Think ‘I am That’ and be happy.

24. Know always that the Self is Brahman, one and whole. How can that which is indivisible be divided into ‘I am the meditator’ and ‘the other is the object of meditation’?

25. When one thinks ‘I am pure consciousness’ it is called meditation and when even the idea of meditation is forgotten it is samadhi.

26. The constant flow of mental concepts relating to Brahman without the sense of ‘I’ achieved through intense practice of Self Enquiry (jnana) is what is called samprajnata samadhi (meditation with concepts).

27. Let violent winds which characterise the end of aeons (kalpas) blow; let all the oceans unite, let the twelve suns burn (simultaneously), still no harm befalls one whose mind is extinct.

28. That consciousness which is the witness of the rise and fall of all beings, know that to be the immortal state of supreme bliss.

29. Every moving or unmoving thing whatsoever is only an object visualised by the mind. When the mind is annihilated duality (i.e. multiplicity) is not perceived.

30. That which is immutable, auspicious and tranquil, that in which this world exists, that which manifests itself as the mutable and immutable objects -that is the sole consciousness.

31. Before discarding the slough the snake regards it as itself, but when once it has discarded it in its hole it does not look upon it as itself any longer.

32. He who has transcended both good and evil does not, like a child, refrain from prohibited acts from a sense of sin, nor does he do what is prescribed from a sense of merit.

33. Just as a statue is contained in a pillar (i.e. block) even if it is not actually carved out, so also the world exists in Brahman. Therefore the Supreme State is not a void.

34. Just as a pillar is said to be devoid of the statue when it has not actually been carved out, so also Brahman is said to be void when it is devoid of the impression of the world.

35. Just as still water may be said to contain or not contain ripples, so also Brahman may be said to contain or not contain the world. It is neither void nor existence.

Sathya Sai Baba

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! It is often said and felt that none escapes maya or illusion. Everyone falls a victim to the influence of maya. So, man is prone to delusion. Then Swami, a person who has known what maya is and has been out of maya, how is it that he gets into the trap again?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Think of this situation. When it is dark what happens to light? Where does it go? Similarly, when there is light, where does the darkness that was present till the light came, go? Absence of light is darkness. Darkness does not flow or run away. Because of the light, it is not noticed. Once the light is put off, it will be dark as before. Here light is wisdom, darkness is ignorance or maya or delusion or avidya. To dispel the darkness the only thing to do is light a candle.

Your question is, how the darkness of ignorance comes back again having been dispelled once already by the light of wisdom. A simple example. Many travel by bus. As the bus speeds forward along the rugged roads, we find the dust rising behind the bus so long as it is on a continuous run. But, the moment the bus stops the whole lot of dust collects inside. All of it just blows into the bus. Similarly, human life is a bus. So long as it is on the move of sadhana, the dust of illusion stays behind. But, if the bus of life stops or halts sadhana, the dust of delusion will get into life. So, it is sadhana that keeps you unaffected by delusion. If you stop sadhana you will again become a victim of maya. Therefore, you can never take it for granted that you are rid of maya in your lifetime. It is your constant sadhana that helps you.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! Illusion is a nonatmic feeling or worldly approach. To identify myself with that which I am not is illusion. Truly speaking, the “I” we often speak of is in reality only atma. Nothing else. How is one to know this truth, to recognise and experience this truth? Kindly tell us about this Swami!

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Actually, ‘I’ is only atma or brahman. A sincere attempt to know this truth is called ‘enquiry’. Self-enquiry is most essential in the spiritual path. Puja, namasmarana , dhyana, tapas, yajna, yaga, and such rituals are not truly spiritual. They are good activities to attain purity of heart. True spirituality indeed is self-enquiry. I do not mean that you should give up all rituals and sacred actions. Self-enquiry is the most important in my view. Since you do not have people properly experienced in this field of knowledge to teach you, you find it tough and difficult to move in the right direction.

If this question, “Who are you?” is put to a group of people you get different answers. One says in reply, “I am an Indian”. This is not correct, because you may shift to America and then you become an American. If you go to Russia, you are a Russian and so on. India is the country where you are born. But you are not the country. So to say, “I am an Indian” is wrong. To the same question “Who or you”? Another would say, “I am an engineer”. This is not correct, because you are an engineer by virtue of your profession. You are not the profession you are in. Some answer in a different way, saying, “I am so and so …I am Ram, I am Syam.” It is a name given to you by your parents. You are not born with that name nor did you come to this world with a signboard on your forehead. You are not the name as you may change it according to your taste at any time.

One may prefer to answer the question “Who are you?” in another way saying, “I am a young man”, “I am an aged person”, “I am a boy” and so on. This is also wrong. Why? Boyhood, youth, and old age are the different stages that you pass through in your life. But you remain one and the same person all along. At one time, you were a boy. Then, a man. Later a father and finally a grandfather. But you have been the same person throughout. Then, how can you identify yourself with your age which does not remain the same? Another person may feel like saying, “I am a tall person”, “I am a handsome man”, “I am a lean man”. These are again the replies related to the nature of the body. This is not correct, you are not the body, which is merely an instrument, because while you are in deep sleep your body is passive and static, and you are not aware of its existence. You are not the mind also.

If you think you are the mind you lead the life of ego and pride. Even the mind does not exist in susupti, deep sleep. You are not the intellect either. You may be intelligent but you are not the intellect. Intellect is God’s gift for you to discriminate, judge, decide and thus to be discreet. But, when it turns selfish, it is called “individual discrimination”. But, what is expected is “fundamental discrimination”, which is universal, and is good to everybody. You will also know that buddhi, intellect, does not exist in deep sleep. So, definitely you are not the intellect which is only an instrument like the body and the mind.

So, what is the correct answer to this question, “Who are you”? It is “I am atma”. This atma is the eternal witness and is the experiencer of all. This exists in all the three states of consciousness, jagrata waking state, svapna, dreaming state, and susupti, deep sleep. You may be named in any way, you may belong to any country, you may be of any age group or profession, etc., but as a matter of fact, you are the ‘Eternal Atma’ only. This is the correct answer you get in the path of self-enquiry. This is true spirituality.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! What is Vedanta?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: The Veda is dualism. Vedanta is nondualism. There is nothing beyond Vedanta. Milk on curdling becomes curds. You get butter when you churn curds. When you heat butter, you get ghee. Ghee is the final stage of milk. Even if you heat further it remains the same. So, milk after passing through changes becomes ghee. Milk represents dualism and ghee represents nondualism.

Question) Swami, do you view that the three schools of Vedanta philosophy like dualism, dvaita, qualified nondualism visistadvaita and nondualism advaita as contradictory to one another? Does one school advocate just the opposite of what the other says?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: This is how it is usually understood and practiced by many. But, truly speaking it is not so. In fact; these three are integrated. You find one as being the continuation of the other. You will notice that one leads to the other.

Take for example, sugarcane. You find juice in the sugarcane. Here, there is pulp and juice. This is the state of dualism. Now, you can extract juice separating the pulp from the sugarcane. The juice, though very important and the very essence drawn out of the sugarcane, does not stay long or cannot be preserved for long. This state of obtaining the juice, separating the pulp from the sugarcane is the state of qualified nondualism. This juice is purified, refined and processed into sugar and sugar remains the same forever. This is the state of nondualism. You can make use of sugar in anyway you like.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! One cannot escape from the effects of fate or destiny. Things are preordained, and accordingly events happen in our life. This being inevitable, we suffer and face difficulties. Would you please tell us the way out of this?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Everything in life is nothing but a reflection of your own thought and deed of your earlier life or lives. You pretend happily to think that none can notice you. But God within you knows full well all your thoughts, feelings and deeds. God is everywhere. You cannot hide anything from Him. One day or other you must face the consequences of your actions. This is the supreme truth.

You think and blame someone else, holding him responsible for your troubles. You are thoroughly mistaken here. Your actions are responsible for both the good and the bad you experience in this life. God is an eternal witness of all human activities. He created this world and gave it to man for his enjoyment, but on one condition that he must face the consequences of his own actions. God is like a postman. He is least bothered about the contents of the letters that he hands over to people. It is all a matter of relationship that exists between you and the one who writes you a letter. God is not concerned in any other way about the matter. Well, you receive a wedding card, you don’t pay complements to the postman, do you? If you receive a threatening letter from someone, you don’t blame the postman either. The postman is merely an instrument in the process of delivering letters. But prayer does help you to withstand tensions and problems with courage. Intense prayer, deep devotion, strong faith, sincere repentance, constant yearning and supreme love for God can alter the sequence of events in life. They can make even God reverse His own will. Take for example, the life of Markandeya. Fate granted him only sixteen years of life. But his devotion to Lord Siva was so intense that He made him immortal. God had to review and revise His own master plan in response to the prayers of Markandeya.

Take another example. There is a prisoner punished according to the laws of the penal code. During the period of imprisonment, if the character and conduct of the prisoner are found to be good and if he follows all the rules, regulations, and code of discipline imposed by the jail authorities, there is scope for the reduction of his jail term. There is another point you should note. Suppose the appeal of a person in a criminal case is lost in all the courts from the district level to the High Court even the Supreme Court, and when punishment like death sentence or life imprisonment becomes imminent and inevitable, the President of India can still order his release from jail on grounds of mercy and for special reasons. Similarly, though you are bound to suffer and destined to face difficulties as a result of your past actions, God in response to your sincere prayer and repentance will change the course of your life and save you from your suffering. God confers special grace on you being pleased with your single-minded devotion to Him.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! Bhagavadgita wants us to give up the fruits of our actions, karmaphalaparityaga, both good and bad. Since we do good rarely, there is very little or none to offer you as the fruits of our good actions. We feel that it is not proper to offer evil or bad to you. What is to be done?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: You have to surrender both good and bad to God. Never get yourself attached to the results of your actions, be they good or bad. God is beyond these two opposites as He is nondual. Any water, pure or impure when mixed with Ganga, you will notice, does not affect the sanctity of Ganga. The sanctity never diminishes. Similarly, whatever you put into the fire gets burnt. The fire is in no way affected or polluted by those things that are put into it. Hence, if you offer both good and bad to God, ultimately you will be benefited.

A small example. Suppose you have a five hundred rupee currency note in your pocket, and you need to go out on some business and return later. You will be very careful to see that you do not lose it. You keep your hand on the pocket if you go to a cafeteria for a cup of coffee so that no one will pick your pocket. Even in a theatre, you will be vigilant. But on the other hand, if you deposit that money in the bank, it will be credited to your account and it will be safe. Then, you don’t need to bother about it further. So also, if you surrender all the good you have done to God without attaching any value to the results, what happens is that you will be humble and simple. Here you do not take the credit. You thank God. You are full of thankfulness and gratitude to God. But if you own and claim the results of all your good and meritorious deeds, you will feel that you are the doer, so much so you will become proud and egoistic. Hence, you should surrender the reward of your good actions to God.

Then how about the evil or bad to be offered to God? You may feel that it is not proper to do so. Yet, you will notice that it will help you finally. A small example for you in this matter. Suppose you have with you a spoiled, dirty and halftorn five hundred rupee note. You don’t throw it away as it is a valuable currency note. But you have not been able to use it. No one will accept that note. You are not in a position to buy anything. So, you can neither throw it away nor use it. But, if you deposit the very same currency note in the Reserve Bank, they accept it and give you a brand new note. One thing is very necessary. The number on the currency note should be very clear for them to accept and give you a good note. Similarly, the currency note of your deeds and consequences of your bad action, if offered to God, He will see the ‘number’ of ‘devotion’ on the note and give you in turn the good note or transform you. God is the Reserve Bank. Only God can receive your evil tendencies and misdeeds and transform them into good ones and give them back to you. Hence, both good and bad must be offered to God for your own ultimate benefit.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! All the experiences, which are dual, are obtained due to our mind. Swami says ‘Mind is a mad monkey.’ Pleasure and pain are both due to our mind. How are we to kill the mind (manonasanam), annihilate it?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: The mind never makes you suffer; it all depends upon the way you use it. It is everywhere. It takes the form of that into which it gets. It is deathless. So, it is said that the mind is the world, manomulamidam jagat. Therefore, annihilation of the mind, manonasanam is not correct. What you should desire is the merger of the mind with the divine, manolaya .

Just as the river merges in the mighty ocean, the mind should also merge in the Self. The mind surrendered to God becomes Ramadas, servant of Rama. But the mind full of desires is a slave to the organs, kamadas.

The mind should not be allowed to be lured by what we call in Telugu balimi, strength, kalimi, wealth and celimi, friendship. It should be filled with divine thoughts so that it may become one with God.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! Are there any who attained tadatmya with God? We hear that total identification with God is the highest step in spirituality.

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Yes. There are many who experienced that state of total identification with God. In fact, a devotee should aim at it. There was a Westerner by name, Hen, who was very intelligent. The famous scientist, Darwin, was his guru. He started seeing his guru by contemplating on him continuously. Darwin concentrated his vision on a star and experienced certain vibrations. His student also reached that state.

You also must have heard of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. At one time, while worshipping Lord Sri Rama, he considered himself Hanuman. It is reported that he developed a short tail during that time.

You also find another illustration in the great epic Ramayana. Bharata wanted Rama to come back to Ayodhya and rule the kingdom. He pleaded with him repeatedly. But, Rama refused to return, since he had decided and vowed to follow the command of his father and follow dharma in toto. Bharata left the place, after Rama promised that he would return immediately after the period of exile. The period was almost over and Bharata was expecting Rama to return at the appointed hour. Unable to bear the anguish at seeing no sign of Rama’s arrival, Bharata got ready a funeral pyre and was prepared to jump into it ready for self-immolation. In the meantime, Rama had sent Hanuman in advance with a message to Bharata in order to avert this situation and to inform Bharata of his arrival as he had promised before. Hanuman immediately dashed off to Nandigrama where Bharata was staying. As Hanuman was just landing, he noticed the scene there. Bharata was circumambulating the pyre into which he was about to jump and burn himself. Hanuman thought, “How is it that Rama is here? Why is Rama circumambulating the pyre?” Evidently, it means that Bharata looked exactly like Rama due to his constant meditation on him. This left even Hanuman confused. This is the meaning of what the Veda says, “Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati”: Constant awareness of Brahman makes you Brahman.

Towards the end of the Ramayana, after he had killed Ravana, Rama was returning to Ayodhya along with his consort Sita and Lakshmana in a chariot. Bharata himself was driving the chariot. As the chariot was approaching the outskirts of Ayodhya, the inhabitants were eager to receive Rama, Sita and Lakshmana with garlands. Here again, the people were confused since Bharata, holding the reins of the chariot, looked exactly like Rama. When the people were about to garland Bharata mistaking him for Lord Rama, Bharata had to silently and softly point out to Rama with his folded hands as to who should be garlanded. This is again an instance of total identification, tadatmya .

Here is another example. You must have heard of Swami Samartha Ramadas, the preceptor of emperor Sivaji. Like Bharata, Swami Samartha Ramadas also looked for some time exactly like Lord Rama in his form as well as in his manner of walking with the bow and arrow on his shoulders. People, watching this, were amazed, and one of them asked him, “If you are really Lord Rama, can you shoot the bird sitting over there on a branch located on the top of that distant tree?” Ramadas killed the bird with an arrow. It fell on the ground. Someone said then, “You have killed the bird for no reason. It did no harm to you. Rama, known for compassion, never kills anyone without a valid reason. Can you revive it now?” Then, the Swami collected the dead bird with both his hands and lifted it. He prayed for its life. Lo and behold! The wings started to flutter. The bird moved slowly and finally flew away. All present there joined in a chorus shouting in praise of the Swami, “Jai! Samartha Ramadas Ki Jai,” Our praises to Swami Samartha Ramadas! This is an instance of total identification with God.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! You are referring to anubhavajnanam, practical knowledge. We think we know many things. Is this not wisdom?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Certainly not! The pity is that you do not realise that you do not know. You know very little and what you know is at best negligible. But you think you know everything. What you study is very little and it is a big mistake if you think that you know everything. It is foolish too. There is a lot to be known. What you know is but a fragment, and it is not total knowledge.

Now, look! What is this? This, as you see, is a handkerchief. (At this point, Swami, kept the handkerchief in his grip and held it in such a way that only a bit could be seen outside his fist.) Now, what is this? This is only a piece of cloth. It is not the whole kerchief. (Then Swami spread the kerchief and held it in His hands). Now, what is this? You will say, “It is a kerchief”. Seeing only a bit, you cannot call it a handkerchief. So also, acquiring a little knowledge, you can hardly claim to have attained total knowledge. This is a mistake the educated commit in this modern age. They know a little and claim to know everything. Complete or total knowledge is awareness, and not knowledge of a bit or a fragment. This you should remember. Go in for the whole. Be aware!

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! When does a devotee get total experience?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Bhakti finds its fulfilment in mukti. Till then, we can’t say that a devotee has got total experience. Total experience is purnan ubhavam, advaitanandam, a state of nondual bliss, brahmanandam, Supreme bliss, and nityanandam, eternal bliss. A simple example, A river flows incessantly. There may be a number of obstacles in its way. Yet, the river flows on taking different turns. It overcomes the obstacles and proceeds forward. How long and how far? It must reach the ocean and merge in it. The ocean does not permit the merger so easily. It drives away the river or pushes it out. Still the river does not give up its attempt. Finally, as the ocean tides rise the river merges. When layam, sayujyam, merger of the two takes place, there the river finds visranti and prasanti, rest and peace.

Similar is the relationship between a devotee and God. The flow of devotion leading to merging in God is sadhana. The river merging in the ocean is the merger of the individual jiva with brahman, which is known as jiva brahmaikyata; a state of perfect merging or unison of jivatma and paramatma or jiva and brahman.

Upanishad means the “inner” or “mystic teaching”. The term Upanishad is derived from “upa” (near), “ni” (down) and “shad” (to sit), i.e., sitting down near. Groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him/her the secret doctrine. In the quietude of the forest hermitages the Upanishadic thinkers pondered on the problems of deepest concerns and communicated their knowledge to fit pupils near them. The most well known Upanishads are: Aitareya, Brihadaranyaka, Taittiriya, Chandogya, Kena, Isa, Svetasvatara, Katha, Mundaka, Mandukya, Prasna, Kausitaki, Maitrayani, Muktika and Shakta. The Satyopanishad is the Upanishad of Truth (Sathya) but more specifically the Truth as revealed by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Anil Kumar questions the illustrious Guru and provides us with Sathya Sai Baba’s answers to ponder, ruminate and derive ananda.

Asana practice – part one

Most of the yoga classes that we see nowadays are solely about asana practice. Though it is not the main practice in Yoga, it does play an important role in the aim of achieving positive qualities in order to help us on the path towards self realization.

If we practice yoga asana correctly and regularly with right effort and right intention we will have a strong and flexible body for us to be able to sit for meditation comfortably (although the highest meditation is every moment in life while we are walking, sitting, lying, eating and etc, but sitting meditation is the most important meditation pose that will lead us into the state of Samadhi – complete silence state without name and form). We also will have stronger endurance to perform selfless service and other tasks in daily life. The overall quality of life will be improved. It can also train our will power to become stronger and to go beyond the mind and the body so that we can have firm determination to overcome the negative and impure thoughts that arise in the mind and have self control over our speech and actions.

Asana practice can help us to develop patience, courage, positive thinking, cheerfulness, openness, confidence, perseverance, awareness, detachment, equanimity, will power, self control, calmness, concentration, acceptance, correct understanding, selflessness, humility, compassion, wisdom and being at the present moment. All these qualities are to help us to overcome all the impurities like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, depression, egoistic and all types of ignorance that contribute to the unhappiness in us.

It is not the people or the happenings out there that cause us unhappiness. It is the ignorance in us that make us think that it is the surrounding that upset us but actually it is our egoistic, anger, hatred, greed, jealousy, depression, arrogance and etc that is making us so unhappy about everything.

If we have correct understanding and wisdom we will not have unhappiness. It is only when we don’t have correct understanding and wisdom that we will have unhappiness, frustration, disappointment and depression.

If we need something to make us happy or feel good about ourselves, we will be very disappointed and unhappy. We are happy and don’t need anything to feel good about ourselves is because we are full and content. We are what we are and are being true. We are not this, we are not that. We are not this fragile body. We are not these emotional feelings. We are not this discontented mind. We are not this selfish ego. We are not this limited intellect.

By training the physical body, we are training the mind as well. If we learn to withstand discomfort and difficulty in physical training, we can develop stronger mental endurance to withstand discomfort situations and overcome difficult moments in life.

We will become more patience, forgiving, accepting, loving, tolerance and open minded. We learn to respect other people who have different thinking, different cultures, different beliefs and different views from us.

We also learn to stop judging, comparing, competing and criticizing. We learn to let go expectations and rewards – the fruit of action or the benefits from the asana practice. We learn to detach from our body and the mind and not identifying with them. We learn to observe the thoughts and feelings without associating with them. We learn how to thin out our ego and minimize our cravings and aversions.

We learn to become humble but full of confidence. We learn not to be driven by praise and compliment. We also learn not to be disturbed by criticism and censure.

Above all, we learn how to overcome fear and negativity in us.

Ultimately we are preparing ourselves to go beyond the mind and the body, and beyond all the dualities and names and forms.

Yoga practice is about controlling the mind, to have self control over our thoughts, speech and actions, and to go beyond the body and the mind. Asana practice is just one of the tools to help us to conquer the body and the mind. It helps us to develop many divine qualities and to achieve a calm mind which will lead us to self-healing, purification, concentration and followed by clearer understanding. Eventually our well-trained and well-controlled body and mind will lead us to self realization.

Yoga asana is like pranayama – control of the breath, is a purification process for the energy fields in our body. It purifies and energizes the Nadis – energy channels, and it will unlock and release accumulated tensions – physically, mentally and emotionally. It also stimulates the chakras – energy centres in our body. All these energy centres are related to the body systems – the brain and the nervous system, the digestive system, the elimination system, the reproductive system, the glands and hormone system, the circulatory system and also related to the higher consciousness. It generates fresh energy and channels it for highest purpose – eventually it will help us in controlling the sexual energy and turn it into a divine energy. The greatest obstacle for many people in the path towards self realization is the uncontrolled passionate sexual desire.

Asana practice also helps us to conserve energy in our body instead of exhaust the energy. Although we need to use some energy for us to perform the poses in asana practice but it is only a little amount of energy being consumed when we come to a stage where the poses are being performed almost effortlessly. And by having enough rest in between each asana pose, as well as the long relaxation at the end is actually bringing back lots of fresh energy into the system. All the poses are actually generating energy into the system more than exhausting energy from the system. This doesn’t mean that the energy will become too much and overflows. Our body will know how to balance up the energy and store the excess energy in the “battery” – the solar plexus for later use, and it will channel the energy for a beneficial purpose for self evolution.

Many people find that they are always feeling tired and exhausted even though they have enough sleep and rest, enough food intakes, and doing some exercises for health and fitness reason. It’s because all these activities actually exhaust more energy from their system than to generate energy into the system. They don’t have enough Prana through out the system even though they have been eating a lot of food (the system need to use up lots of energy to digest all these food especially if the food is not pure – meat products, processed food, full of preservatives, colourings, and other chemical stuffs. The energy level being low is also because of the energy centres and energy channels in the body do not function properly – they are blocked and inactive.

No doubt that the physical body is a very important instrument for us to walk the path towards self realization, but the strength and flexibility of the physical body is not the essential mean for self realization. Instead the inner strength (courage, confidence, cheerfulness, perseverance and will power) and inner flexibility (acceptance, adjustment, accommodation, tolerance and forgive) are the means for us to attain self realization.

Even a person without the ability to move, to sit up, to speak, or without hands and feet still can achieve self realization without the need of any asana practice. Self realization is not limited by physical limitation – such as difficulty in sight, hearing, speech or mobility. It is all in the mind. Ignorance exists in the mind, and also dissolves in the mind.

Where is the mind? It is everywhere, inside us and outside us. When we are looking at something, the mind is out there on that object and we are not aware of what is happening inside us. When we are hearing some music, the mind is on that music. When we are observing the breath, the mind is within us on the breath. It is always very busy with the functions of the senses and the objects of the senses. Even when we are asleep, the mind is still busy constructing the dreams. Unless we went into deep sleep, then the mind is resting.

But the subconscious mind is always working. It is receiving input all the time even while we are in deep sleep or being unconscious – like being in coma, or when we are not aware of what is happening within our body and in the surrounding. The whole autonomous body system in our body functions even without us being aware of it. They are receiving inputs and sending outputs all the time without us controlling it or realizing it. The energy field in our body is constantly being affected by the energy from the surrounding every moment. All the energies are having some sorts of exchange or resistance against each other all the time without us knowing about it.

By doing proper asana and pranayama practice will help us to have some control over the energy and redirect these energy into good use.

The teachings of Bhagavad Gita and the Karma Yoga (selfless service) is based on this verse of action and non-action (actionless).

When our mind is pure without impurities, there will be no more differences between action and non-action. Because action and non-action is also a name and form. When the mind is pure and goes beyond all names and forms, action and non-action have become one.

Even though our body is not moving at all, it doesn’t mean that we are non-action. Because the mind is always moving even though we don’t move, don’t act and don’t speak.

When a person is doing a lots of actions of helping others, or performing spiritual practice, or performing his duty towards his job, family, friends, society and his life, but if he is selfless and not identify with the ego, whatever he does, he does them as selfless service towards all including his own self. And he sees God in everything and everyone, and there is no separation between him and God, between him and everyone else. And then all his actions will be no differences from being non-action. And he is free from the binding of all karma (both good and bad).

This is the teaching of “I” am not the doer of all the actions. “I” am not this body. “I” am not this mind. “I” am just a channel or instrument to serve all. “I” am not the doer nor the giver nor the receiver. “I” am just a witness to all these actions. All “my actions” are pure untainted by the ego without the intention of good or bad and free from the notion of “I am the doer of all these actions”. All “my actions” are free from the binding of karma. “I” eat, drink, play, work, give and take, but I am not the one who “eat”, “drink”, “play”, “work”, “give” or “take”. When the heart beats, when the lungs breathe, When the blood circulate in the body, when the food is digesting, when the mind is experiencing comfort and discomfort, good and bad feelings, it is not “I” who command it. When the body is weakening and decaying, and all the nerves is not functioning efficiently, and I can’t remember, can’t see, can’t hear, can’t smell, can’t taste, can’t feel, can’t think and can’t move, it is not “I” that command it nor do “I” wish for it. And so, who is the one who is doing all the thinking, talking and acting? Nothing is “I”. Nothing belongs to “I”. But if there is any good or bad intention behind all my actions, then it is from “I”.

When a person is not doing anything or is doing a lots of actions but with the intention of good or bad, and is identify as the doer, the giver or the receiver, and then this person is still being conditioned by karma.

If I think I am doing something, I am helping someone, I am giving something, I am receiving something, I am good, I am bad, I am happy, I am sad, or I think I am not doing anything, I am not helping anyone, I am not giving or receiving anything, or I am not responsible for all my actions of good and bad, then I am still being conditioned by the ego, I am still not beyond all the names and forms, I am still being bind by karma, I am still having the intention of good and bad. And thus whether I am doing something or not doing anything, but there is still action, it is still creating cause and effect. When we are not doing anything, it is still an action, action of “doing nothing”.

When there is no more “I”, “others”, “giver” and “receiver”, “action” and “non-action”, and then all the actions or non-action is nameless and formless, and untouched by karma.

If I harm somebody with either the intention of good or evil, and act and speak as what my ego wants to act and speak, then “I” am the one who is doing all the actions of good and evil. I am identify with my ego, my actions and my speech, and thus I am creating cause and effect for myself, and I am being bound by the good and bad karma that I have created.

Never try to be smart, misuse this teaching and do all the evil acts and speech, and trying to escape the bad karma. Because it doesn’t work this way not until we are truly pure and selfless. When we are pure and selfless, all our thoughts, actions and speech will be pure without either good or evil. Then this is the stage where no good nor bad karma is being generated, even though we are doing some actions. When we are pure, we won’t be doing any evil actions to hurt others or thinking of doing good actions to gain good karma.

If we are lazy and not want to do anything, it doesn’t mean that we are not generating any bad or good karma, because our thoughts is always generating good and bad intention even though we don’t move or speak.

If we are sitting for meditation but the mind is still creating lots of good and bad thoughts and we are attached to them and got lost in all the thoughts and not by just observing all the thoughts and not attached to any of them, and cannot be at the present moment now, and then this is still action in non-action.

If we are very busy in life whether worldly or spiritually, and are doing lots of actions, but if our mind is fixed onto the present moment, and all our actions are intention-less and pure, and then this is non-action in actions.

Even though some people didn’t mix into the world, and seem like they are not doing anything, but in their heart, in every moment, they are sending good wishes and good thoughts to all in the whole universe, these are one of the greatest actions. And if we didn’t do any good actions but refrain ourselves from doing any bad actions, and then this is one of the greatest actions as well.

It is not about doing something or not doing anything. It is whether we are pure or not pure.

An Interview with James Swartz

Conducted by Paula Marvelly

James Swartz

James Swartz was born in Butte, Montana in 1941. He grew up in Lewiston, Idaho; at 17, he left for a military prep school in Minnesota. He spent two years in a liberal arts college in Wisconscin, and then attended University of California at Berkeley in ‘63. Six months short of graduation he ran off to Hawaii to start a successful business. But something was terribly wrong; at 26 he had ‘become an alcoholic, was a chain smoking gluttonous adulterer and life in every respect was not worth living’. One day in the Post Office in Waikiki he had a life changing epiphany that put him on the path to freedom.

Q. In your talk at the Science and Nonduality Conference, you said that the words ‘Advaita’ and ‘Vedanta’ don’t really go together. So could you define precisely what they mean?

Advaita means nondual. It’s an adjective that describes consciousness. It is not the name of a particular school of Vedanta because if Vedanta is properly understood, it is not a philosophy that can be broken up into different schools. In fact Vedanta is a dualistic method that removes ignorance. The only thing that is nondual is consciousness.

Vedanta means the knowledge that ends the search for knowledge. This knowledge is enshrined at the end of each of the four Vedas. Once you have this knowledge you don’t need to know anything else ever again. It refers to knowledge of yourself as awareness. It does not mean that you know every fact in existence.

Vedanta is a pranana – a means of knowledge. Because knowledge doesn’t happen on its own, it requires a means. The Self is not going to be known by the ordinary means that we have – by our senses, mind and intellect – because they need objects. But the Self is not available for objectification.

So, the means at our disposal is unsuitable and therefore Vedanta has evolved. It removes ignorance about the nature of the Self. It destroys the beliefs and opinions and ideas that you have about yourself that stand in the way of appreciating who you truly are.

Q. Ramana Maharshi likens knowledge to a stick that stirs the funeral pyre and once the Self is understood, you throw the stick in as well.

Yes, that’s right. Vedanta is a throw-away. Once the self is known for what it is, you do not need to know it again. You cannot forget it because the Self is always present. It is not an object to be remembered, like an experience. You can forget something that is not present, but once you know the Self you cannot forget it because it is you. Try to forget you. It is impossible.

Q. So the apparent self embarks upon a spiritual journey, uses the knowledge to reach a point of understanding and then it’s over.

That’s right. The mantra that people are chanting everyday is, I am small, I am inadequate, I am incomplete, I am separate. It is a steady drone in the back of their minds all the time. This is how they think and this is the point of view from which they are thinking.

Those thoughts need to be neutralised because they are not in harmony with the nature of reality. This method of teaching is called pratipaksha bhavana which means applying the opposite thought. It’s called enquiry but you are not asking a question like who am I? You are seeing what kind of thought is in your mind…the thought behind your thoughts and neutralizing it with the truth. The same thought is always in the mind – there’s something wrong with me, I am missing something, something is lacking, I need something. It is not true. You don’t need anything. Nothing is missing.

Shankara calls it the jnanabyasa, which means the application or the practice of knowledge, and it requires a certain degree of faith. It is why faith and devotion are qualifications for enlightenment. Even though I don’t feel that I am whole and complete, I have to fake it till I make it! I have to pretend that I am what I am. It sounds ridiculous, but it works.

Q. Assume a virtue if I have it not …

Yes. I have to assume that this is true; then I have to operate from that assumption and see if reality does or doesn’t confirm the truth. Because when I start thinking like this, when I start seeing myself in this way, I suddenly see a transformation in my life, things start to turn around, and I get this confirmation over and over again from my experiences, from the people around me.

Q. Why is it there this inherent paradox that only a few embark upon the path to Self knowledge? It’s ludicrous!

Yes, it is ludicrous from the point of view of the intellect, but it’s not really a legitimate question because the one who is asking it is a product of self ignorance. It’s like flashlight bulb saying, ‘I’d like to know what electricity is, why am I shining, and where is my light coming from?’ It can’t know because it is a gross transformation of a subtler energy and a gross thing cannot understand something subtler.

‘How’ ignorance works, we can say – that is a legitimate question. But there’s no actual ‘why’ to this because the one who wants the answer is incapable of understanding that he or she is awareness.

When you see that you are awareness, the idea of asking ‘why’ doesn’t come up. ‘How’ is relevant because it is a process we can describe and indicate. It is subject to analysis and investigation.

But there’s no ‘why’. It is just the nature of the Absolute.

Q. There’s diversity in the unity. That’s the paradox.

Yeah, in maya, everything is a paradox – it’s a zero-sum game. It’s all set up to frustrate you completely.

Q. In a way, it’s like very advanced mathematics – the paradox is an exquisite arrangement.

Absolutely. It’s totally conscious, it’s total purposeful, it’s aesthetic and it’s humorous. How can something that doesn’t have a problem, imagine that it has a problem, create a whole universe in order to solve its own problem and get out of it again… Ha!

Q. But it’s the jivas (individuals) that have the problems because of their self-ignorance?

There are no jivas apart from awareness, so awareness under the spell of apparent ignorance imagines that it has a problem. The ignorance is apparent and the knowledge is also apparent. The knowledge of Vedanta is an apparent knowledge because it operates only in maya and it’s only useful until it’s solved its problem. And then we throw in the stick, we throw the knowledge away. I don’t need the knowledge because it has already neutralised the ignorance.

You are giving the jiva some kind of independent existence.

Q. But to say that awareness has a problem to me is like saying Brahman has a problem. But Brahman doesn’t have a problem because Brahman just is.

Yes, but if there is a problem, then only Brahman could have that problem because there is only Brahman and so what kind of a problem is it? It’s not a real problem, it’s only an apparent problem.

In other words, the problem is all mithya (apparent), it is not satya (real).

When Brahman (consciousness) associates with maya (Ignorance) it seems to become a jiva, an individual. Pancadashi and other texts are very clear about this. The jiva, the individual, is Brahman or consciousness with a gross, subtle and causal body, i.e., ignorance. And that’s what makes Brahman seem to be an individual, when in fact it is not an individual.

This is a linguistic problem, two different words referring to the same thing. You can’t have a problem if there is only Brahman. If there is a jiva, it would have to be Brahman. Jiva would have to be another word for Brahman. But if jiva is different from Brahman you have a problem. It contradicts non-duality.

So Vedanta says it is an apparent problem that belongs to Ignorance and can be removed by enquiry. If it’s a real problem, then we’ve got a situation where Brahman who is limitless and jiva who is limited have the same degree of reality. How would we determine which is real? When Ignorance enters the picture one thing seems to be two different things.

Q. This brings me to Neo Advaita… As I understand it, Neo Advaita says I don’t exist, all is One, there is no separate self. This is opposed to traditional Advaita Vedanta teachings that say there is an apparent self, all is apparent diversity, there is an apparent separate self. Neo Advaita seems to miss that paradoxical subtlety. So I just wonder how it is that Neo Advaita is flourishing so much?

Well, it’s not exactly opposed because the traditional texts also say that there is no separate self. But what this means is not understood properly by this raft of so-called enlightened people who teach Neo-Advaita. People want an easy path and this seems to be a very easy way to solve the problem. But it does not solve the problem. Neo Advaita doesn’t have a way out of the apparent reality apart from its mindless denials. It has no guru, no teaching, no teacher – even though these guys are functioning as teachers, who are disseminating ignorance. There’s no way you can get from where you are to Brahman. There’s no path for them.

Vedanta is a complete path and provisionally accepts you as an individual and then it gradually, slowly, works you out of the problem of limitation, showing you as you go along what the Self is, what ignorance is.

Enlightenment in Vedanta is called atma-anatma viveka and it means discrimination between the Self and the apparent self.

So, I need to get that very clear – what the ‘not self’ is and what I can do in this relative apparent reality to get the kind of mind that’s capable of appreciating the fact that I am non-dual awareness.

There’s no way the Neos can get their minds prepared for enlightenment, so they just have to believe that they don’t exist on the basis of faith.

Q. So Neo Advaita is a faith?

Yes, it’s pure religion. These guys are the latest religious snake oil salesmen. And these people want to believe and belief is easy, until you start thinking. Once you start thinking, it screws up your beliefs.

The bloom is off the Neo-Advaita rose. I am getting a lot of people who realize how hollow it is and are coming back to the traditional teachings.

Q. So the understanding that there is only Brahman only comes when the mind is ripe to understand it. What Neo Advaita teachers are doing is taking people straight off the street and giving them the final teaching in a MacDonald’s happy meal, when in fact they’re not prepared.

Absolutely, instant enlightenment, yes! ‘I’m not really here, I’m just playing in the maya, nothing is really real, that’s why I am robbing you and cheating you and telling you all sorts of stories!’

In Vedanta, we have a concept called adhikara which means qualification. The way that these qualifications were arrived at was by looking at enlightened people, because all enlightened people basically have the same kind of nature and qualities in their minds – discrimination, dispassion, clarity of mind, devotion, forbearance, and so forth and so on. If you do not have these qualities, enligtenment will not be within your reach. Once you have developed them, then you are ready to be taught.

In Vedanta, you don’t get the teaching until you are qualified. For the people who are not qualified, who can’t get it, we teach them karma yoga and bhakti yoga, the three guna yoga, etc., which are subsets of Vedanta, and we also teach them how to use their minds properly and how to meditate until their minds become clear.

If you look at the Bhagavad Gita for example, the chapters up until chapter six are basically about karma yoga, although in the second chapter the Self is also presented.

Arjuna doesn’t get the Self teaching because he’s not qualified; he’s rajasic, an extrovert. So he needs karma yoga. Once he has understood karma yoga, he is ready for more, for meditation and self knowledge.

You cannot just walk in off the street and ‘get it’ as they advertise. They call it satsanga (keeping the company of truth) but it’s all about the sanga and not about the sat, although they talk a lot about it. It’s talk about it, it’s not the Self talking. It’s all a feel good thing. They get high on the group energy and perhaps some herbs. It produces a a lovely kind of intoxicating feeling, which they imagine is spiritual. It’s a nice social event, you get your long attenuated hugs with the other people who are there, perhaps you get the phone number of a cute girl or guy and well, it’s so cool…

Q. You said earlier in your talk today at the SAND Conference that Vedanta is the one and only system that provides everything you need for knowledge. What about the mystical paths, for example Sufism, Gnosticism, the Kabalah – are they just as profound?

I don’t think I said, ‘only.’ Vedanta is not profound and it’s not mystical. It’s purely common sense, logic and reason, direct experience and investigation. The thing about Vedanta is that it has a complete cosmology, a psychology, there’s a complete description of the Self, plus there are methods that you can use to transform your mind to make it meditation-worthy, to make it qualified for knowledge.

I don’t see that in other traditions. I see they only have bits and pieces of it

Q. So you’re saying Vedanta is the complete toolbox for Self-knowledge.

Yes. It’s called Brahma Vidya, which has several meanings, but one of them is the science of Brahman.

Q. So it is something that you can trust.

Absolutely. And it’s been confirmed over and over again and it’s never changed. These teachings have never changed and these methods have never changed. They remain true to the tradition forever because it is the truth and it works.

Q. Some people, I find, who are interested in non-duality, even in traditional teachings themselves, will say that any kind of teaching regarding the order of the creation, the nature of the mind, is somehow unimportant; in light of the fact that the apparent knowledge must be sublated or dissolved or let go in order to understand that everything is Brahman, what is the point ultimately in devoting so much time to such knowledge?

It’s true from the Self’s point of view, from awareness’s point of view, that there is no creation. It’s called ajatawada, non-creationism. Everything is the Self and the unborn. Therefore there is no creation.

But who understands it that way? Who actually gets that?

But if people who find themselves here in the creation, as jivas, as individuals with lives, bodies, minds and problems and want to grow toward that understanding, they first need to understand their milieu, the environment in which they find themselves and see how they relate to it.

And Ishvara or God is a name for the rules and laws and forces that are operating in the field and the one who operates these laws. The field of existence and the knower of the field is consciousness.

Q. The jnani knows that Brahman is samsara and samsara is Brahman, satyam is mithya and mithya is satyam.

Right. But this highlights the problem with Neo Advaita. They intellectually understand that all is Brahman and yet they dismiss the field of existence before they even know in what sense it is Brahman. So they continue to behave exactly like the fools they were before they they got the knowledge of Brahman. So you’ve got to ask, what kind of knowledge of Brahman is it?

You know, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It’s how you live, it doesn’t matter what you say. You know whether a desire or a fear is motivating you. If you know it’s all Brahman, and that you’re Brahman, you’re not motivated by desires and fears – you stand apart from them.

The only way you can really tell with those people is not what they say, but how they live.

The tradition teaches what mithya is, and the tradition teaches what satya is. You don’t need to do anything about it, you just need to know what they are. Once you are clear about mithya and satya, then you won’t confuse them. Freedom is knowing which is which. Things will continue as they always have. The world is not going to suddenly merge in consciousness never to be seen again. Nor are you going to end up floating around in some blissful transcendental sky, free of everything.

Q. What comes to mind is Shankara’s three statements…

Brahma satyam. Jagan mithya. Jiva brahmaivah naparah.

Brahman alone is real. The world is an apparent reality. The individual and awareness are one. Or, the individual is limitless awareness.

Brahma is the truth, awareness is what’s real, what is true, what is always here and always present. Jagat, the world, is apparent. It looks real – it’s a very convincing dream and Ishvara has created a really cool dream that easily fools you. You can easily mistake it for reality, but it is only an apparent reality. You need to investigate and contemplate the meaning of these words, and then you can see though it.

Q. And what do you come to, arrive at? What is the answer to the ultimate question, who am I?

You arrive at the understanding that nothing is missing in you. That you are not lacking in any way, you see?

All this seeking is based upon the idea that something is missing.

Q. That ache that never seems to go away?

Exactly. And what you discover is that ache, that longing, that searching is not valid. You see that nothing is missing.

As Swami Dayananda says, you are whole and complete – purna is the word in the Vedas.

And therefore, my getting and keeping are no longer relevant to me. I am not hanging onto anything, and I’m not trying to obtain anything. However it is, is fine with me.

I feel adequate to deal with whatever is happening because I am awareness and awareness can handle anything. Nothing can affect me and I know this for certain. Not because I am a person who knows that I am awareness, but because I am awareness.

If it’s a person who knows that they are awareness, that’s a little different situation. You could call that self realization, or something. But there is still someone there who has a conviction that they are awareness.

But at a certain point, that conviction dissolves into the hard and fast understanding that I am awareness and then there’s no more discussion about it at all. And then it’s just I AM.

Q. I know Ramana Maharshi talks about two very distinct points – there’s an initial point where there is ‘self realization’ but the vasanas are still active; then there’s another point where the vasanas have burnt out and there is only I AM.

Absolutely. And you no longer assume the point of view of a jiva or an individual. The tension has gone.

One of the great gods in India is called Sri Ram and he appears as a deity with his bow, the bow is always unstrung; the bow being a symbol of the jiva, the ego.

And why doesn’t it have a string on it? Because there’s no tension in it! He’s totally free of tension and that’s the meaning of that symbol. The tension is borne of the belief that I am limited and incomplete and I’m in relationship to this world and I’ve got to negotiate my way through, avoiding this and gaining that, which basically wears you out and doesn’t provide you with any real peace.

How to Attain Enlightenment: The Vision of Nonduality
by James Swartz
(Sentient Publications, 2010)
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Visit James’ website, shiningworld.com, for more information about his work.

This interview originally appeared on
http://www.advaita.org.uk/SAND/JamesSwartzSAND.htm

Sakshi Bhava means stand as a witness towards all the phenomena that is happening which we perceive with the mind through the senses and not identifying ourselves with the thoughts, feelings and sensations, not associate with them and stop generating craving and aversion towards whatever we perceive through the senses. Not being affected, influenced or disturbed by all the phenomena that is happening in our body and out side our body in our life and in the world.

It doesn’t mean that we don’t care or ignore what is happening. It is being aware of what is happening but not identify with it. We do not attached to the body and the mind. We know that the body is going through old age, weakening, decaying, sickness, pain and death, but we know that we are not the body and our true Self is unlimited, unconditioned, without qualities, beginningless and endless, no birth and no death. We know that the mind is perceiving everything through the senses, and the intellect and the ego play their parts in analyzing and generating reactions towards all the phenomena in the body and in the world but we do not identify or associate with them.

We know that we are not the mind, the thoughts, the feelings and the sensations. All these thoughts, feelings and sensations come and go as they like. They don’t belong to us and they don’t need our permission to stay or to leave. We know that the world only exists in our mind. Without the mind, there is no world. All our thoughts, feelings and emotions are happening in our mind, not in somebody’s mind. And the mind is just a projector without the intention to be good or bad, positive or negative, happy or suffer.

Another person’s world can be completely different from our world. We all have different mind perception about the world. Everyone sees the world differently from other people. Everyone has their own karma to be in the world and experiencing different encountering in life. No one can change or interfere with each other karma or take away others karma. But we can have control over our own karma by controlling our own thoughts, actions and speech. Karma derives from these three things. No one can create or give us good or bad karma. Only ourselves. We create the karma for ourselves through our thoughts, actions and speech. And we can detach from karma by stop generating reactions, by renouncing from the fruit of actions, and by not identify with the body and the mind. When we are selfless, we will know what is the meaning of all these.

And all the bodies and minds in each individual are the same. They are impermanent, non-self, ever-changing, limited, conditioned, dissatisfied, dependent and with qualities of good and bad, comfort and discomfort, likes and dislikes, craving and aversion, happiness and suffering, birth and death.

By being a witness to the world, it’s like watching a movie but we do not involve in the movie at all. We didn’t make the movie, nor can we change the scenes in the movie. Maybe we are the director, the actors and actresses in the movie and watching our creation and our acts in the movie. We might get excited, upset, saddened, shocked, frightened and thrilled by the movie, but we know that it is just a movie and we are not really the characters in the movie and remain unaffected and undisturbed by the movie.

Sakshi Bhava is indeed the wisdom that will free us from the discontented, limited and conditioned world of impermanence and miseries. Sakshi Bhava is the same as being selfless. They are together not separated. It is also non-action in all the actions.

Not knowing what is selflessness, we won’t know what is Sakshi Bhava. Because if we don’t know how to stay detached from the ego, the body and the mind, we will be involving in all the thoughts, feelings and sensations thinking that we are the thoughts, feelings and sensations, and we are either happy or suffer following what we are experiencing in the mind and the body through our senses. The ego is the chief and director of likes and dislikes, good and evil, happiness and suffering. If we are still being controlled or influenced by the ego, then we don’t know what is selfless and we don’t know how to be a witness towards all the phenomena. We will think that we are the one who is going through pain, old age, sickness, irritation, frustration, disappointment, discontentment, low self-esteem, depression, happiness, unhappiness, gain and loss, success and failure, praise and censure, birth and death. And we will be having comparison, competition, anger, hatred, jealousy, pride and arrogance, greed and desires endlessly. We will be generating reactions and creating karma for ourselves unceasingly. And we will have to go through rounds and rounds of births and deaths of happiness and suffering continuously to reap off all our karma.

The ancient scriptures, gurus and all the saints and sages told us that we can stop all these by being selfless and just stand as a witness.

New Delhi, 15 Dec: (Courtesy: SNS & PTI)

Vedanta Group has asked Orissa government to restrict entry of foreign NGOs in the area where it proposes to mine bauxite, as part of its USD 8-billion project in the state, saying they were instigating locals.
“These NGOs comprising Survival International and Action Aid are instigating locals to go to the hill top, where we have proposed to mine bauxite, and set up houses.
Orissa government has already said there is no tribal population in the proposed mining site. Such efforts by these NGOs are aimed at harming the project and investments in the state at large, their movement has to be regulated,” Vedanta Aluminium Ltd COO Mr Mukesh Kumar told PTI.
Vedanta Aluminium, subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, has already written to the state’s Home Ministry seeking restrictions on movement of such foreign nationals, besides investigation into their source of funding, he said.
When contacted Survival International’s spokesperson said: “Survival International does not oppose industrial development. But where, as in this case, industrial projects take place on the land of indigenous people, they have a right to be consulted at the very least. Vedanta has not bothered to do this.” On the contrary, the NGO said, the metal company has “launched an unprecedented attack on Survival International, apparently to drive its researchers out of an area where the company is planning to mine.”
However, COO Mr Kumar added: “They (foreign NGOs) are enemy of industrial development in the state. If such NGOs and foreign nationals have come on tourist visas, why are they camping in jungles of Kalahandi, Rayagada. They should go to places like Puri. If they do not abide by rules, they should be sent back”.
Mr Kumar said the influx of foreigners has gained momentum after environment minister Mr Jairam Ramesh instituted a probe into the allegations of illegal bauxite mining by the firm in joint venture with Orissa Mining Corporation at Niyamgiri.
When contacted, Action Aid Orissa Head Mr Dhandari Jaina said: “We are working for the cause of the most marginalised population. Everyone knows what we do and what we are doing.”
Vedanta has got an “in-principle” approval from the state government to start mining at the proposed site. It is awaiting clearance from the Union Environment Ministry.
Orissa steel and mines minister Mr Raghunath Mohanty had said that “not a single family of Dangaria Kandha tribe lived at the proposed mining area, located between Rayagada and Kalahandi districts” and there would be no displacement. But, the proposed mining project has reportedly been facing protest from locals and foreign NGOs over allegation of tribal displacement contrary to Mr Mohanty’s assertion.
The green bench of the Supreme Court had last year given its approval to the project. Vedanta Resources has planned an investment of USD 8 billion (around Rs 37,000 crore) in the state across its projects in the power and aluminium sector.
It is reliably learnt that the company authorities drew attention of Kalahandi district superintendent of police Mr M Das to the movement of some foreign nationals in the proposed mining area. The police cross checked and found that some people had come to Lanjigarh for a few hours and returned to Muniguda the same day.
They were foreign nationals on a tourist visa and there is no bar on their movement, but they did not stay there for long, said police sources. We also found out that they are associated with a NGO, said these sources adding that no other foreigner had visited the area since last week.
In fact there is no bar on any such visit or movement and we have only asked the local police to keep a watch, added these sources.
It is apparent that there are apprehensions in certain quarters that NGOs including high profile international agencies may try to mobilise local tribals to protest against the project during the central team’s proposed visit, added informed sources here. They also pointed out at protests in London against the proposed mining project.
The Orissa government has constituted a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in the name of Lanjigarh Project Area Development Foundation (LDADF), with contribution of State Government as 25 peer cent, Orissa Mining Corporation ~ 26 per cent and Sterlite Industries Ltd 49 per cent.

           A characteristic is a fact which tells us something about the nature of things. If a fact is sometimes connected with a things and sometimes not, then it is not a characteristic and will not help us very much to understand the nature of that thing.

          Heat, for example, is a fact. Heat is not characteristic of water, as water is not always hot. the heat of water depends upon other factors like sun or an electric stove. But heat is a characteristic of fire because fire is always hot and heat of fire does not depend on any other factors.Heat is always connected with fire and tells us something about the nature of fire.

          There are three characteristics of facts of existence. They are generally found in all that exists and so they can tell us something about the nature of existence. This exists in Vedanta and is also taught by Buddha.

          The three characteristics of existence are impermanence, suffering and impersonality.

IMPERMANENCE

          Upanishads and Vedanta always emphasize on the impermanence of life. Buddha also emphasizes this in his teachings. It is taught that all existence is impermanent because there is nothing internal or external whatsoever which is permanent, stable, lasting,not subject to decay and destruction, and forever the same. Everything changes continuously. Existence is like the flowing water of a river or the burning flame of a candle, which is never the same in two consecutive moments.

          Our body,for instance, is made up of material elements such as flesh, bones and blood, which are impermanent. From the moment of our birth, the body constantly undergoes change. The human mind, too, is dependent on many factors. It is in constant change. It is like a monkeys forever jumping about, never still for even a moment. The neither the body nor the mind is permanent and unchanging.

          Science teaches that apparently permanent objects like the oceans, continents,mountain ranges and even the earth, the sun and the solar system are constantly changing and will some day become extinct. When all these are also subject to change and destruction, one cannot doubt the impermanence of life. Life can end at any moment. No one can avoid death and the destruction of the body.

          Understanding the characteristic of impermanence benefits people in two important ways. Firstly, it can improve human relationships and activities. Secondly, it can encourage people to take up the gnana marga as per Hinduism or follow the Noble Eightfold Path laid down by Buddha.

          Often people find that they make mistakes in their relationships with other because they fail to take into account the changes that constantly occur in themselves and others. Often friendships die because one or both parties fail to realize that their friend’s personality, interests and attitudes have changed.

          When one realizes that people and situation are impermanent and constantly changing, one will approach each moment of a relationship with an open mind. One will be able to react to each new situation without clinging to outdated ideas about people. Relationships can then develop fruitfully. Success in life depends on one’s ability to adapt to change in situations and to make the most of new opportunities arising.

          The very cognizance of the fact that everything around us including our body are impermanent should make us ask one question when we run after material comforts should make us ask one question : “Is this a real joy??? Or is this joy real or permanent??”.For example a mouth watering dish may want lure /tempt us into eating it. Eating such a tasty dish would give us pleasure , but once we start eating it there would a place where your digestive system would ask us to stop eating , if we eat more it would  become pain .So what was pleasure a while ago is pain now,so neither pleasure nor pain are permanent they are all subject to change.  Having understood that youth , health , material well-being and even life itself are impermanent, people should then make the most of those favorable circumstances while they last. This means that they need to look for ways and means through which they can achieve happiness and Enlightenment. Krishna offers Jnana ,karma and bhakti margas to achieve this happiness Buddha offers the  Noble Eight fold path to reach this level .  The Buddha’s last words were :

“Subject to change are all things,
Strive on with diligence.”

SUFFERING

          Suffering is something considered ubiquitous by the Hindu Mythology, many of the discourses in puranas start with the question about the solutions to the  everyday suffering which is endured by the people.   The Truth of suffering is the first of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha as well .Suffering is a fact of life which people can see for themselves. It is one of the three characteristics of existence.

          Whatever is impermanent is also suffering. Everything which arises will last only for a time, then it decay and finally dies. Repeated birth and death is hard to endure, It disturbs one’s peace and mind and is a cause of suffering.

          Thus old age, sickness and death which are evidence of the impermanence of life are forms of suffering. Since people tend to cling to youth, heath,relationship and material achievements, the realization that these are impermanent, cause anxiety and fears.

          Understanding that suffering is universal and inevitable enables one to face the realities of life with calmness of mind. One will be able to cope with old age, sickness and death without becoming disheartened or desperate.It also encourages people to look for solution to the problem of suffering just as Prince Siddhartha did.

IMPERSONALITY

          People often think that there must be a personality or self that is real and permanent, otherwise they would not exist or experience things in life.However, the Buddha taught that there is no real, permanent and independent personality or self at all. This is the third characteristic of existence.

          If a permanent and independent self really existed, one should be able to identify it. Some people may say that the body is the self, or that mind is the self. However, both ideas are wrong. Both body and mind are impermanent, ever changing and subject to destruction. they depend on many factors for their existence. Neither body nor mind can possibly be the permanent and independent self.

          If the body were the self, it would be able to will itself to be strong or fair.However the body grows tired, hungry and falls sick against its will, so the body cannot be the personality or self.

          Similarly,if the mind were the self, it would do whatever it wished. But the mind often runs away from what it knows to be right, and run after what is wrong. It becomes disturbed, distracted and excited against its will. Therefore the mind is also not the self.

          When people say, for instance, “I am going to work”, they are just using a convenient name I for a collection of physical and mental factors. In reality, there is no I or self.

          So long as people think that the self is permanent and independent, they are bound to be self centered and egoistic. Not only will feel constantly threatened by people and situations, but they will also feel compelled to protect themselves, their possessions, and even their opinions, at any cost.

          But once people realize that the self is just a convenient name for a collection of constantly changing physical and mental factors, they will no longer cling to it in fear and insecurity. They will find it easier to grow,learn, develop, and to be generous, kind and compassionate because they will no longer need to be constantly on the defensive.

          Understanding the fact of impersonality can help people deal more effectively with everyday situation. It encourages the cultivation of Good Conduct and helps one to progress towards happiness, peace and Enlightenment.

          Impermanence, Suffering and impersonality are the three characteristic of existence.Whatever is impermanent is suffering, and whatever is impermanent and suffering is also without an independent self. Those who realize the truth of these three facts of existence will be able to overcome suffering because their minds are freed from delusions of permanence, pleasure and the self.

sources : Religious texts and Discourses on  Hinduism, mails fom Sri D.SaiPrasad on Buddha’s teachings.

I took off  the ground and rush along with great speed in the absolute dark, organically turning into a light, which is now becoming more and in front I felt the light itself as a destination of my flight…

Я оторвался от земли и понесся с огромной скоростью в полном мраке, органически превращавшемся в свет, которого теперь становилось все больше, и впереди ощущался сам свет, как конечный пункт моего полета…

 also ‘SCENARIO’>

Vedernikov.us

____

*SAT

Sathya Sai Baba

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! Now it is clear that cittasuddhi is lacking in us due to our bad thoughts and bad deeds. We have certain weaknesses, lapses, bad qualities and thoughts. As you have said unless we get over them, cittasuddhi cannot be attained. The mind gets polluted very often. How is one to control bad qualities?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: It all depends upon your determination and your understanding of the intensity and the gravity of the problem. It needs an honest and sincere attempt on your part.

A small example. You are moving freely without any hesitation and fear in this room. There lies a rope in one corner. But, if you come to know that it is not a rope as you have been thinking it to be, but a snake, would you move freely in that room any longer? You know that it is dangerous to be anywhere near a poisonous snake. You know that you will die if that snake bites you and so you keep off from that place. Similarly, when you are aware of the danger or harm you will be put to, you will definitely stop your misdeeds.

You keep on holding the rope until you come to know that it is not a rope but a snake. You drop it down immediately because of the fear of death. So long as you think that these bad thoughts and evil deeds make you happy, you continue to be in the same frame of mind. But, when you know that they are dangerous, you will not hanker after them. Therefore, first of all, you must identify your own bad qualities and then give them up gradually one after another until you are perfect.

It is also strange to notice that some seekers undergo rigorous discipline for a set period of time during which they lead a perfect life without any trace of a bad quality. But after that avowed period of discipline they resume their previous bad habits with redoubled vigour. This is a big mistake. That which holds you for some time is artificial. Here withdrawal from bad habits is not due to the realisation of the evil effects.

Here is an example. You see the ceiling fan rotating there. Now, if you switch it off it will not stop rotating immediately. It stops slowly. The three blades slowly stop moving. The fan does not stop rotating immediately. Therefore, in full knowledge of the possible harm and the evil effects, you should give up your bad habits slowly.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! Pranayama, breath control, some say, is important on the spiritual path. Would you please tell us about it?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Pranayama, breath control, has to be undertaken in an exact and perfect way under the care and guidance of a Guru. It leads to danger if it is done imperfectly and irregularly.

There are chiefly three steps in pranayama or breathing exercise. The first one is purakam, inhalation. The second is holding the breath or the air breathed in. This is called kumbhakam, retention. The third stage is exhalation or recakam. The important, point here is that, the time taken during all these three stages must be equal. It means that the time taken for purakam must be the same as for kumbhakam. Similarly, the time taken for kumbhakam must be the same as for recakam.

In the human body there are shadcakras, six life sustaining points on the vertebral column. The lowest is called muladhara cakra, fundamental, primordial life sustaining point at the bottom. In pranayama, during the second step, kumbhakam, holding the breath, kundalini starts moving upward being restless due to the lack of supply of air across the sadcakras. On the top lies sahasrara cakra, head region. There exists a jyoti, divine light surrounded by dalas, petals. The sahasrara cakra is like a thousand petalled lotus flower. The petals touch the central jyoti when one has asura sampatti, demonic qualities. If one has daivi sampatti, divine qualities the jyoti starts touching the petals. Thus, kundalini affects the human body during this course of sadhana. A living being taking many breaths per day is short lived. A dog takes many breaths. So, its life span is short. Snakes and mongooses take a few breaths per day. They live long. The breathing exercise has an influence on the life span.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! It is said that we carry with us certain traits, vasanas of the past life. Is that true and how does it happen?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Certainly so! Just as in accounts the balance is brought forward from the previous page to the next page, the traits of the previous life are brought forward to the present.

When you light an incense stick or an agarbatti or camphor, don’t you get the fragrance all over this room? When you have a fragrant flower, does it not spread its fragrance? Similarly, bad odour or foul smell also spreads. So also, the characteristics of the past lives are brought forward to subsequent lives.

Question) Bhagawan! How is it that we have vasanas, traits of the past life? We are born, we grow and die. The body is bound to weaken, wither, die and decay. How then are our features brought forward to the next life?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: It is certain that the features of the past life are carried to the next life. You can call them vasanas or samskaras or the qualities of the past life. People with good samskaras will spend their time in a sacred way by participating in satsang, good company, bhajan, singing His glory, entertaining sadalocana, good thoughts, and satkarma, good deeds, and good discussion. On the other hand, people with bad samskaras make their lifetime unholy by indulging in duskarma, misdeeds, entertaining durbhavana, bad thoughts and asatya, speaking falsehood. As you have said, it is true that the body weakens, withers, dies and decays, but the samskaras don’t die. They follow you to the next life.

A simple illustration will make this subject clearer to you. Suppose your hand was injured. You got it treated, and for some time you put a bandage also over and around the injured part. The hand was healed completely after some time. But in that part of your hand where the injury took place, a scar or a mark is left, and it remains till now as well. Similarly, the body may die. But the vasanas remain as a spot in the next life.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! Three gunas or attributes such as rajas, tamas and sattva are said to bind man. Does a sattvika quality also bind man? Is that also a bondage?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: These three attributes only bind man. Your life is conditioned by them. All your deeds and expressions are governed by them. They monitor your conduct and behaviour. Even sattvika qualities also chain you.

For example, you are confined with an iron chain. Is that not bondage? You may be confined with a silver chain. It is also bondage. It may be now a gold chain this time that binds you. Is it not bondage? After all, the three chains differ only in the composition of the metal. After all, each is a chain and nothing more though its value may differ from that of the other. Thus, the attributes bind or limit you.

Here the iron chain is compared to that of ‘tamas’, dullness or inertia. The silver chain is like the ‘rajasika’ quality, active, energetic, passionate, and the gold chain is like the ’sattvika’ nature, pure, steady; good. But divinity is beyond these three ‘gunas’. It is, in fact, attributeless.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We have many qualities tamasika, rajasika and sattvika Do they change at any time? How are we to ennoble ourselves? Sometimes these attributes may be responsible for conflicts with our colleagues in the office. What is to be done under these circumstances? Kindly give us a solution to this problem that we encounter everyday?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: The whole world revolves round these three attributes tamasika, rajasika and sattvika. Every individual has these three attributes working like the three blades of a fan. But in a person, the quality which dominates the other two decides his nature, his total personality, nay, his very destiny as a whole.

He is a pious man whose sattvika quality dominates his rajasika and tamasika qualities. He is an emotional, passionate, active man if his rajasika quality dominates his sattvika and tamasika qualities. He is a dull, inactive and passive man if he is dominated by the tamasika nature. Thus, everyone has these three attributes.

For instance, in an eyeball don’t you see all the three colours, white, red, and black. They symbolise these trigunas or traits. Watch the sunrise. You will notice three colours red, white and black indicating trigunas or the three attributes. However, you should note one important point. Gunas have no independent existence. Divinity makes them functional. But the gunas are not to be found in the divine as God is gunatita, beyond attributes.

Gunas are transformable. For instance, you can get over tamasika quality by karma, action. Karma transforms tamasika quality into rajasika activity. Rajasika nature is dual. It may give you success or failure, profit or loss, praise or blame, etc. Man has to perform karma. In fact there is no one who does not take any action. You may lie on a bed sleeping, yet your heart beats, blood circulates and the nervous system and pulmonary system work. Don’t they? Does it not amount to action?

By doing selfless actions, offering all the fruits of action to God, serving God in everyone and by realising indwelling divinity, one can develop anubhavajnana, practical wisdom or experience based wisdom. At that stage, a rajasika person becomes a sattvika person. Therefore, karma is important karmanubandhini manus yaloke , human society is bound by action. Your very life is gifted to do karma. Thus, janma, birth and karma, actions are interrelated. In fact, one should salute respectfully the action he does. Tasmai namah karman e, my salutations to the action given or assigned to me. Therefore, a tamasika nature can be converted into rajasika by volitional action, which can be further transformed into sattvika by bhakti, and jnana, devotion and awareness. This is sadhana or spiritual practice.

By atmavicara, self enquiry you can improve and change your nature. When any lower or animal qualities like wavering of the mind, excessive sleep, gluttony, crop up immediately say to yourself at least ten times. “I am a man, I am not an animal.” Then, you will be able to get over them. Do your duty sincerely. Don’t be pompous. Don’t show off nor do any stunt. Always be sure that God notices everything that you do, though others may not. Do your duty with love.

Duty with love is Desirable.
Duty without love is Deplorable,
Love without duty is Divine.

If you offer all your work and the fruits thereof to God, your work will be transformed into worship.

You may not agree with your colleagues in your office. Your temperament may be incompatible with theirs, sometimes leading to controversies and in­fights and you may, as a result, lose your peace of mind. So, don’t have too close a relationship with too many people. Say “hello, hello” to everyone, ‘how are you’ to all those you meet and end with ‘goodbye’. That’s all and nothing more.

Today, there is no real social service. Everything is either slow service or show service. You should have a feeling that what you do is not for anybody but for your own satisfaction and happiness. Whatever you do, do it for the satisfaction of your conscience. You shouldn’t do anything for praise or appreciation by others. Your conscience is God. Know that character is most important and you should never compromise on this score. What is always necessary for success in life is cooperation. But nowadays, we find only operation.

By joining good company satsang, listening to the teachings of great masters and seers and above all with God’s grace, you can change your attitudes and mentality. By Buddha’s teaching the cruel Angulimala and by Narada’s instructions Ratnakara (who became sage Valmiki later) were transformed. Visvamitra who was a Rajarshi, a sage among kings became a Brahmarshi, a sage ever immersed in Brahman by the direction of Vasishtha. Visvamitra thus became the mitra, friend of the visva, universe.

Arjuna, on one occasion dropped his bow and arrows in the battlefield. He became tamasika (dull, passive, weak) and even reluctant to engage in a war for which he stood in the battlefield. He forgot all the vows he had taken and the atrocities the Kauravas committed. It was at that time that Krishna induced rajasika quality into Arjuna’s mind preparing him for the war of Kurukshetra with renewed zeal.

Emperor Janaka who became a rajarshi due to the teachings of Sage Yajnavalkya renounced everything and became a perfect jnani, one known for spiritual wisdom.

Therefore, by intense sadhana, tamas can be converted into rajas, and rajas into sattva. In so doing an aspirant, becomes a recipient of God’s grace and ultimately a seeker of nirvana (liberation).

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We hear of purusarthas, the four goals of life. How are we to achieve them?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: I tell my students quite often about the four ‘F’s’. The first ‘F’ is ‘Follow the master’. Dharma, righteousness, is your master. Follow dharma at all times. All your actions must be approved by dharma, the ideal norms of life. If you hold on to dharma throughout, the very same dharma will protect you, dharmo raks ati raks itah. Manava, being human, should follow the dharma of a human being, manavadharma, and never that of a demon danavadharma.

The second ‘F’ is ‘Face the devil’. What is the devil here? While dharma is the master, artha, wealth or money, is the devil. Most people struggle a lot for money. They resort to all sorts of tactics, do unrighteous unjustified, and wrong deeds only for money. You think that the world goes by money, dhanamulamidam jagat. No, the world relies on dharma, dharmamulamidam jagat. One should earn money righteously and not unrighteously.

The third ‘F’ is ‘Fight to the end’. What is the enemy you should fight till the end? It is kama, desire. Until the last desire too vanishes, you should continue to fight.

Once Sage Dakshinamurthy happened to walk along the shore of a sea. He noticed the rising waves pushing a small blade of grass, towards the shore. He felt bad. After all, it was a tiny grass blade and the mighty sea sent forth its mounting waves to push it away on to the shore. “How arrogant is the sea not to tolerate even a grass blade!” thought the sage within himself. Then the Sea God, Samudra, appeared before the sage with folded hands and said very humbly, “Oh! Great sage! I am not at fault: Do not blame me and call me arrogant. I am not arrogant. I cannot afford to have a single, simple blemish. I do not want a blemish, not even a blade of grass in me. So my waves pushed it away to the shore and not out of any hatred or enmity”. This is what ‘fight to the end’ means.

Then the fourth ‘F’ is ‘Finish the game’. What is the game? It is the game of life. When does the game of life finish? It finishes with the attainment of moksha. So moksha is the final goal of the four objectives of life.

Here you should remember one important point. Of the four purusarthas, dharma is ‘Follow the master’, artha is ‘Face the devil’, kama is ‘Fight to the end’ and moksha is ‘Finish the game’. The first one is dharma and the fourth is moksha, with the second artha and the third kama in between. It implies that artha should be earned with dharma: Then kama should be used only to attain the fourth goal of life moksha.. So, the four ‘F’s’ stand for these purusarthas of life. But now, I tell you there is another purusartha, the fifth one which is the supreme goal of life. That is ‘Love’.

Love is God,
God is Love, hence,
Live in Love.

There is nothing that you cannot achieve without love.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! What is it that we should have in order to deserve your prapti?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Your interest is the most important thing. With this you can achieve anything in life. When you have trust in a particular matter or a subject or a person, you are said to have interest in that matter or that subject or that person. Since you have immense interest in Swami, you run fast and occupy the front rows close to my feet. Isn’t it so? During the morning time, in silence you wait anxiously for Swami, and that is why even the slightest sounds such as the sound of closing the door of Swami’s car makes you think and alerts you that Swami is coming towards you. Whosoever comes to the scene at that time is expected to convey some message of Swami’s arrival. What is the reason? This is all due to your interest in Swami. If you have no interest in Swami, you don’t notice His presence even if He stands in front of you.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! What is illusion, maya? Kindly explain.

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: There is no illusion whatsoever. What exists is only brahman, the cosmic soul. The so-called illusion or maya is only your imagination. There is only Brahman. Nothing more! The body attachment is illusion, maya or bhrama.

A simple example. Here is a huge tree under which you see its shadow, don’t you? The branches and the leaves are the cause of the shade. As the sunlight falls on the tree you see the shade beneath the tree. Here you have to know one important point. There is nothing like shade above the tree or on the top of the tree. It means there is no shade in sunlight. Why is it so? The branches and the leaves of the tree are responsible for the shade below. Sunlight is brahman, tree is life and the branches and leaves are attachments and desires. They are responsible for the shade of maya or illusion. Shade is out of question when there are no leaves and branches. So, there is no illusion or maya as such. It is the fallacy of your imagination.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! How are we to get over maya or illusion?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: There is no maya. It is your own creation. How is it then you want to get rid of that which does not exist at all?

In the night time, seeing a rope, you mistake it for a serpent and you are very much fearstricken. Later on, enquiry reveals that it is only a rope and not a serpent. What you should know here are two points. Neither the snake disappears nor does the rope come especially to give you relief. All along, it has been a rope only. You are the only one who is mistaken by taking a rope for a serpent. So also, the reality is brahman or atma and the rest is bhrama, or illusion or imagination.

Upanishad means the “inner” or “mystic teaching”. The term Upanishad is derived from “upa” (near), “ni” (down) and “shad” (to sit), i.e., sitting down near. Groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him/her the secret doctrine. In the quietude of the forest hermitages the Upanishadic thinkers pondered on the problems of deepest concerns and communicated their knowledge to fit pupils near them. The most well known Upanishads are: Aitareya, Brihadaranyaka, Taittiriya, Chandogya, Kena, Isa, Svetasvatara, Katha, Mundaka, Mandukya, Prasna, Kausitaki, Maitrayani, Muktika and Shakta. The Satyopanishad is the Upanishad of Truth (Sathya) but more specifically the Truth as revealed by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Anil Kumar questions the illustrious Guru and provides us with Sathya Sai Baba’s answers to ponder, ruminate and derive ananda.

Sathya Sai Baba

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! In this Age of Kali, devotion, faith and steadfastness are on the decline. Not only this, we often find people making fun of devotees and leading a life opposed to religious norms. This is a very sad state of affairs. What do you want us to do in these circumstances?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: First of all, correct yourself. Rectify your own defects and mistakes. When you are not flawless and idealistic you have no right to blame anybody and point out the mistakes of others. So, see that your own faith is strong, deep and unflinching.

In Andhradesa there lived three Rajus, kings in their own field of activity: the king of poetry, Goparaju, the king of devotion, Tyagaraju, the king of sublime lyrical music, Potaraju. Potaraju refused to dedicate his rendering of the great work, the Bhagavatam to the king who promised him immense wealth as a token of his appreciation of the work. But Potaraju or Potana dedicated his work only to Lord Ramachandra.

Goparaju or Ramadasu (also called Gopanna) spent all the money he had in the treasury for the renovation of the temple of Rama, for which he was severely punished. Tyagaraju considered ramuni sannidhi, proximity to God, more precious than nidhi, money. All these three Rajus followed their chosen paths out of their deep conviction about the supremacy of God. They worked and suffered for their own self­satisfaction and for the satisfaction of their own conscience. They did not bother about the views and opinions of others. They did not yield to temptations of any sort.

Dogs may bark watching an elephant passing by, but the elephant loses nothing. You know the vastness of a sea. Have you not heard the puranas proclaiming that amrta, nectar, and halahala, poison, are produced by the same ocean? Amrta makes you happy while poison is dangerous. Isn’t it so?

Similarly, society is like a vast ocean where you have nectar-like good people and poison-like bad people. Bad people make fun of good people. It doesn’t mean that you should give up your nobility and goodness.

A crane may make fun of a swan. The singing of a cuckoo bird is horrible to the ears of a crow. A koel eats the tender leaves of a mango tree while a crow eats the bitter leaves of a neem tree. Similarly, some in society struggle for worldly, fleeting and sensual pleasures while others make all sincere efforts for God’s grace to enjoy divine bliss. A donkey that carries a bundle of sandalwood on its back doesn’t know the fragrance of the sandalwood. A buffalo doesn’t know the taste of beaten rice. Similarly, divinity is not relished by all and sundry.

If you deny God, it means you are denying yourself. You are not different from God. You are God. Your praise and blame don’t affect God. The good and bad of your own actions come back to you as reaction. The axe cuts the sandalwood tree that has not done any harm to the axe. Because of this evil deed, the axe loses its sharpness for which it is kept in fire and hammered. The sandalwood tree does not subject the axe to any punishment. So it is the action of the axe that comes back as reaction.

Consider another example in this context. When gold is burnt in fire it shines brilliantly. But, as a reaction the goldsmith has to suffer because ash falls into his eyes in the process of burning the gold and his own clothes become dirty due to smoke. Here, the gold burnt and hammered does not punish the goldsmith. His own action punishes him. Similarly, if you accuse or blame or deny God, it will not do anything to Him. But, your action will come back to you as reaction. You punish yourself.

Suppose you throw some dust at the Sun, what happens? It falls in your eyes only. If you switch on an electric fan, you will enjoy the cool breeze. If you don’t switch on the fan, it will not lose anything. It suffers no loss. If you switch on the bulb you’ll get light. But, if you don’t switch on the bulb, the bulb suffers no loss. Therefore, good and bad depend only on you. Just as you can buy any material object in this world with money, similarly with the money of God’s name, you can be blissful. Under a streetlight, you will be able to see all around including the bulb that illumines. Similarly, divinity makes you happy and everybody around you too. So, deepen your faith in God. Experience divine bliss. That’s what you should do.

Fruits can’t protect themselves. It is the tree that protects the fruits it bears. The tree is protected and kept green by its roots. If you supply water and manure to the roots, they protect the tree, which in its turn protects the fruits. Isn’t it so? God is the root of this world. If you surrender to God, everything will be taken care of.

People with worldly thoughts can’t relish divine feelings. A person from the fish market can’t imagine who a jeweller is. A sea has most precious gems at its bottom but the seawater is full of salt. Isn’t it? Similarly, we have people of different temperaments in this world. God is never against anyone. There are none close to or distant from Him. All are alike to Him. You may hold a jasmine flower by either your right hand or left hand. But it smells equally well in either hand. God is that one who is in all.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! In spite of a long period of desiring to be devoted to God, devotion somehow does not grow as intense as it should. What is essential to develop devotion of the magnitude and intensity expected of a true devotee?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Here it is not time that matters. An iron ball in a pond, however long it might stay there, will never change. It will remain as it is without any change in it. You should know that it is transformation that is important. It is the goal you set for yourself that matters most. Until then, you should pursue your goal not mindful of the time involved.

You know a lamp has a container, a wick, and oil. With a wick kept for long in water, you can never light a lamp even if you use any number of matchsticks. Impossible! What you should do is, take the wick out of water, keep it in sunshine for some time and dry it. Then you will be able to light the wick easily. Here the process of drying the wick in sunlight is renunciation. The procedure of lighting it with a matchstick is sadhana and the light you get thereby is devotion or intense Love for God. The lamp is the human body. The same process is applicable to those who are not devoted, as you have said. The more they are drenched and drowned in worldly life, the farther they are from God, the source of all light; they can never light the lamp of their life. Dry it in the sunshine of detachment so as to be benefited by the light of devotion. Some people in spite of a prolonged period of stay and association are not devoted as much as they should be, for the simple reason: They lack detachment from worldly things. Therefore, intense devotion is not given to everybody.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We beg you to suggest to us a spiritual path that can be followed in the present circumstances. The situation around us seems to be dispiriting. Kindly give us the direction?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: It is said that man is the most precious among all the living creatures. Therefore, it is imperative on your part to lead your lives in full realisation of the value of life. For example, in the kitchen you make dal to eat for lunch. If salt is added in excess by mistake, the dal loses its taste. It is unfit for consumption any more. After all, the foodstuff, which is digested in three hours or so, is kept aside if it is not tasty. Then how about a long life? Should it not be tasty?

Suppose you are waiting at the bus stand to board the bus that takes you to your office and the bus is delayed. You lose your patience. Then, imagine how you start feeling about this delay. “What! Drivers don’t have a sense of responsibility in this country. Conductors too don’t discharge their duties properly. The Road Transport Corporation is not efficient; the Government seems to be lenient towards them”. A bus is lifeless; it is a vehicle and a means of transport. Man, on the other hand, is the embodiment of awareness: He is active and intelligent. If such a man forgets his human value, and leads life unbecoming of a human being, don’t you know that society will blame him?

Man has 85% of divinity while an animal has only 15% latent in it. It is only a human being who has a chance to realise and experience his divinity. Just as a stone dropped from above falls to the ground due to the unseen gravitational force, the unseen values and virtues should guide man. For this, however, determination is required.

Another example. Here you find a machine. If it is not put to use, it gets rusted. Don’t you think that similar is the case with the human body if it is not used properly? It is because of dust that the machine gets rusted. Is it not? Due to this it loses its power and rusts. Then you keep the machine in a workshop and give it rest. There you repair, test and make it fit for use. Isn’t it so? Now, what should you do? See that the dust of bad thoughts does not get into you. Why? Your faith otherwise begins to shake and becomes unsteady. Take your mind to the workshop of surrender to God for rest. Then, you are the best.

Hence, you should always preserve and maintain human values. In fact, no spiritual path can be practiced with a sense of ego. Since all the methods adopted by you are done with your mind, ego, or ‘I­ness’, you couldn’t progress spiritually till now.

Some begin sadhana, identifying themselves with the body, aham dehosmi. This will never take you to the true spiritual goal. Ravana, Kamsa, Bhasmasura, and others belong to this category. Some expect progress by changing even their faith and religion. It is not matamu, religion, which is to be changed. It is mati, the mind that has got to be changed. You are the embodiment of love. Don’t merely be a lover and narrow down the vistas of love. To feel and experience the same divinity in all living beings is true love.

One day Krishna decided to lead his cows to a nearby forest for grazing. He asked Yasoda to permit him to do so. Then, she said, “My dear son! All along the way to the forest, you find rocks, thorny bushes and stones. Better, you go tomorrow. I will get your footwear ready for you”. Smiling, Krishna said, “Mother! Do I need footwear? Why and what for? Cows don’t have any footwear. Then why footwear for me alone?” Yasoda said, “Look! They are animals. We are human beings. We need chappals.” Krishna responded with a fitting reply, “Mother! You mean to say cows are ordinary simple animals. Do we have as much gratitude as they have? They eat grass and yield milk. The moment they hear any voice they stop grazing and run towards me. Calves even stop sucking milk and come to me. Their skin is useful after their death to make chappals”. Cows are symbols of sacrifice and forbearance. Such noble qualities are very essential for spiritual seekers.

In agriculture, the land is ploughed well, watered and manured, weeds removed, and seeds sown. The human heart is a field. This has to be tilled and watered with love. You have to take the plough of self-enquiry to plough the field of the human heart. You have to raise the fence of discipline. Bad qualities are the weeds that have to be removed totally. Then you can cultivate the crop of bliss. It is enough if you have a small area of fertile land. Why have many acres of barren land?

A small example, you see an orange fruit. It is covered with a green bitter rind or skin. This is ego or pomp. You find hard seeds inside. They are the wicked thoughts and bad actions. Then you find the fibrous soft pulp.This is attachment. In order to have the sweet juice you need to remove the outer bitter skin, the hard seeds and squeeze the soft fibrous pulp. The sweet juice is love that you need. This is the essence, raso vai sah.

You need both the positive and the negative wires for the electric current to flow. The negative may be very powerful. It is powerless without joining the positive. The fan and bulb may be very good and of high voltage. But without power supply they are useless. This current is positive. Divinity is positive. The bulb and the fan are merely negative. All that pertains to the name and form is negative. Your journey on the spiritual path will be successful if only there is love. You have to reform yourself first. This transformation is not taking place today.

You can carve a statue out of a boulder. By removing the husk, you can have the grain. With the vegetables you bring from the market, you can cook well and make good delicious items of food. Difficulties, pain, blame, loss, etc., will help to refine you, improve you, nurture faith and take you to spiritual heights.

You have to face and resolve all problems of life and proceed in your sadhana. Follow your own experience and develop visvasa, faith thereby. Can you breathe svasa, on behalf of anybody? You see with your own eyes, don’t you? The eyes of the other man may be bright and beautiful. You cannot see through his eyes. Can you close your eyes and see through the eyes of somebody else? You have to stand on your own legs and not on anybody else’s.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! At times it appears that others may influence and lead us to a total change in our life style, making us ask ourselves the question, ‘Why should not we be like others? For what should we adopt this special type of living?’ I am afraid we may change! What is to be done now?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: This is not proper and can’t be justified either. In fact, it is your innate weakness that brings about change. If your faith is strong and your value deep-rooted, none can do anything to you. You will not change at any time. But your faith is not strong, and the values you speak about are only superficial.

At any point of time, under any circumstances you should not change your moral and spiritual way of life. If anyone comes to you and says, “There is no God,” what should you say then? Then you reply, “You may deny your God, but what right do you have to deny my God? How can you negate my faith and devotion?” You should never change your convictions.

A boy saw a scorpion that fell into a tank struggling to come out. He went and picked it up. The scorpion stung him. Immediately he dropped it back into the tank. On seeing it struggle there, he picked it up to save it. But it stung him again. The process went on and on. An elderly person watching the whole scene asked him, “Oh boy! Why do you want to save the scorpion when it is stinging you?” He replied, “Sir! The scorpion is teaching me a good lesson. When it is not giving up its own nature of stinging, why should I give up my nature of protecting one struggling for life?” So you should not change your nature.

Maitreyi who felt very sad on hearing the difficulties that the Pandavas were passing through in the forest Kamyavana, started thinking like this: “It is true that noble people suffer! What a lesson does a parrot in a cage teach us! A crow flies freely, but it doesn’t mean that we are prepared to lead the life of a crow rather than that of a parrot in a cage. Will a parrot ever become a crow?” Similarly, we should not change our path

In the army, we have thousands of soldiers. But, the Army Chief is the only one who commands. Captains are always a few while their followers are many. It is they, the few, who train the many. This is possible if you don’t leave your path.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! You have complete faith in us. But, our faith in you is wavering: It is not consistently steady and deep. Why is this so?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: “Eko vasi sarvabh utantar atma” God is in everyone moving about with different names and forms. “Deho devalayah prokto ji vo devas sanatanah” the body is the temple. The individual jiva is none other than Deva, the ancient and eternal, sanatana. It is only one God who has manifested Himself as many. I am present in all of you. Since I know this truth, I have faith in you. But you consider yourself separate from me and so your faith is not strong, deep, and unwavering. In fact, I can change you all by Myself. But I don’t. I want to bring about your transformation through and by you.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We are dissatisfied and unhappy when our desires are not fulfilled. Why should it happen to devotees?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: First, put a question to yourself. Can you call yourself a devotee if your sense of happiness and gratification depends on your fleeting desires? In fact, ask yourself, if you have followed the command of God, if you have made Him happy with your faith and devotion. When Swami is happy with you, the whole world will be happy with you. When you displease Swami by your conduct, everyone else will be displeased with you. Act according to Swami’s teachings. Everything will then happen in your favour conferring peace and joy on you.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We often hear the word srti. Does this word have any bearing upon the life of the ordinary man? This srti, is it only for scholars? For us, the common people, does it have any relevance?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Srti is divine. Mati, mind, is human, worldly, and conditions your progress. Srti guides buddhi, intellect, and furnishes it with fundamental discrimination. Mati functions at the level of the separate individual. In man, three nitis or principles operate: manavaniti , the human code, rajaniti , the political code, and daivaniti, the divine code. Man’s estate and fortune depend on the code he follows. For instance, Bhishmacharya taught rajaniti, principles of kingship, to Dharmaja. On another occasion, following daivaniti, he passed on to Dharmaja the celebrated Visnusahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu. But, when he led the war as the Commander-in-chief on the side of the Kauravas, he forgot the divine srti, and lost his fundamental discrimination. He followed his mati, mind, which is his own individually. Because of this, he had to lie down on the bed of arrows for so many days.

In contrast, note the role of young Abhimanyu. For that day’s fighting in the Mahabharata war, Drona had designed the military manouvre called Padmavyuha, the lotus maze. The forces of the enemy were spurring Abhimanyu on to take up the challenge. Noticing that the heroic Abhimanyu was getting ready to fight, his mother said, “My son! Your father is not at home now. Your uncle Krishna too is not here. You know your wife is pregnant. It is in these circumstances that you are planning to enter the battlefield. Please desist from this!” Abhimanyu’s response reflects his adherence to rajaniti: “How come, mother, that you din into my ears words of cowardice? When the enemy challenges you to fight, is it consistent with rajaniti to say, ‘no’? Does it accord with the dharma of a Kshatriya warrior? What an insult it would be to my father, the greatest of heroes, Arjuna! Won’t he hang his head down in shame? O Mother! Bless me to return victorious, routing the enemies like the young lion leaping on to the elephant in must!” This indeed, is rajaniti. In this manner, manavaniti takes the cue from the mati, mind, of an individual even as srti , being divine, stimulates the intellect into fundamental discrimination. Thus, Abhimanyu, who behaved the way he did, died heroically. Similarly, in life the good meets with only the good. Evil necessarily encounters only evil. This law never failed.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We hear about pancakosas as the five sheaths, pancapran as, the five vital airs, and pancendriyas, the five organs. Do they cover our spirit, atma? Are they obstacles to atmic bliss? What exactly is their position and role in our body?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: The whole world is made of five elements: Earth, fire, water, air and space are the five elements. Man is the product of these five elements, besides his temperament. Raga attachment, dvesa, hatred, and bhaya, fear, originate in akas’a, space. Our breathing process, movements like walking or other body movements are due to vayu, wind. Hunger, thirst, sleep are the effects of agni, fire. Phlegm, blood, bile, urine, etc., are the outcome of jala, water. Skin, muscles, bones, nails, hairs, nerves are of prthvi, matter. Therefore, all the five elements are equally distributed in everyone. Then you don’t find any differences among people. No one can be considered superior to any other.

The human body has five sheaths, ‘Pancakosas’. The first one is annamaya kosa, the sheath of food, the second is pranamaya kosa, the sheath of life, and the third is manomaya kosa, the sheath of mind. The fourth is vijnanamaya kosa, the sheath of knowledge and finally anandamaya kosa, the sheath of bliss. One sheath encloses the other. You know rice grains. They are enclosed within husks. Therefore, a rice grain is within the sheath of husk. For the tamarind seed tamarind pulp is the sheath. An embryo is within the sheath of its mother’s womb. Annamaya kosa is a sheath which covers pran amaya kosa . This encloses manomaya kosa sheath of the mind. This covers vijnanamaya kosa , sheath of wisdom, which encloses anandamaya kosa, the sheath of bliss.

Annamaya kosa is the product of food. The body is annamaya kosa. You have all the behavioural tendencies that result from the food you eat. Then, you have pran amaya kosa composed of the five organs of action, the karmendriyas and five life breaths panca pranas (prana, apana, vyana, udana, samana).

Then comes mano maya kosa , mental sheath consisting of five organs of perception, jnanendriyas, and the mind full of thoughts and counterthoughts sankalpa vikalpa. The fourth is vijnanamaya kos’a, the sheath of knowledge, of sound, touch, form, taste and smell (sabda, rupa, sparsa, rasa and gandha) which constitutes the buddhi, intellect.

The innermost sheath is anandamaya kosa. In order to enable yourself to experience this state of bliss, you will have to practice all that you theoretically know and do what you are supposed to. Likewise, you should understand the principle of samatva, equality, and ekatva, unity, and daivatva, experience divinity. This leads you to a state when you will not hate anyone ‘advesta sarva bh utanam’.

Everyone has an equal right to know and experience the atma, self. To attain such an awareness, self-enquiry atmavicara is very necessary. However, an intense and deep desire is essential to know and experience atma. Just like a seed within a fruit, as a copper wire within a plastic covering, butter in milk, sugar in the sugarcane and oil within til, sesame seeds and fire in wood, atma is encased within pancakosas, pancendriyas and pancapranas.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! We come across words like manas, mind, buddhi, intellect, citta, consciousness, and ahamkara, egoism. How are we to understand and correlate them? How do they differ from one another? It is our good fortune that Swami explains in simple terms ever so complex.

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: Here is an illustration. Consider a Brahmin. When he conducts ceremonies like weddings, you call him purohit, priest; when he reads out from the almanac at your home the tithi, lunar phase, the varam day of the week, naksatra, star, etc; you call him the pancanga Brahmin; when he prepares food in your home, you call him the brahmin cook.

Another illustration. Your wife addresses you in Telugu as emandi, “Oh, you! Please, Sir!” because, addressing the husband by name is not considered proper. Your child calls you Father and your student addresses you as Sir: But, you are, after all, only one individual, aren’t you! One and the same faculty has different names: manas or mind when engaged in thinking, citta or awareness in a state of equanimity devoid of plans or decisions; buddhi or intellect while exercising discrimination; and ahamkara or egoism when introducing oneself or referring to oneself as ‘I’. All these are one, but named differently according to their function.

What is to be controlled is the mind. When you have that nigraham, control, you obtain God’s anugraham, grace. Once you consider something as evil, do not allow it to enter the mind. The behaviour of trees and animals is regulated by prakrti, Nature. Only man is disobeying the commands of God and has become depraved. There is only one solution.

Another little illustration. Tie up kamadhenu, the wish fulfilling cow, of your body with the pasa, rope of prema, love, to the post called amna, chanting the name of the Lord. That is enough. You gain control over the mind. Then, on the citta, awareness, devoid of the turmoil of thoughts, is imprinted the form of God. Buddhi undertakes fundamental discrimination; the ‘I’ which has been egoistic cognises its own true nature as atma and realises the innermost Self in all beings. This is adhyatmika , spirituality.

Question) Anil Kumar: Swami! You stress cittasuddhi, purification of our heart, but how is one to accomplish it?

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba: You are mistaken here. Citta, heart is always pure. So, where is the need for its suddhi, purification? You only pollute it.

Take for example this kerchief. This is white in colour. It becomes dirty as I use it. I give it to a washerman to wash it and bring it back. When he brings it, it looks white and bright as before. It was so before and it is so after a wash, but it was dirty in between due to use. The washerman did not paint the kerchief white. He only removed the dirt. So too like a kerchief, your mind is also pure which becomes impure due to your desires and thoughts. Once you remove the impurities from the mind, it will become pure. So cittasuddhi means exercising control over desires.

Upanishad means the “inner” or “mystic teaching”. The term Upanishad is derived from “upa” (near), “ni” (down) and “shad” (to sit), i.e., sitting down near. Groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him/her the secret doctrine. In the quietude of the forest hermitages the Upanishadic thinkers pondered on the problems of deepest concerns and communicated their knowledge to fit pupils near them. The most well known Upanishads are: Aitareya, Brihadaranyaka, Taittiriya, Chandogya, Kena, Isa, Svetasvatara, Katha, Mundaka, Mandukya, Prasna, Kausitaki, Maitrayani, Kausitaki, Muktika and Shakta. The Satyopanishad is the Upanishad of Truth (Sathya) but more specifically the Truth as revealed by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Anil Kumar questions the illustrious Guru and provides us with Sathya Sai Baba’s answers to ponder, ruminate and derive ananda.

There are many types of attachments. It doesn’t matter if it is positive or negative attachment, it is still attachment and will bring dissatisfaction and suffering.

All attachments spring from the basic attachment towards the body and the mind, the ego and the intellect. Without the attachment towards all these things, we won’t be having any attachments towards anything at all. When we are not attached to any of the perceptions in the mind with the functions of the senses, all the dualities in the world can not disturb or influence us. We will be unaffected by the likes and dislikes of the ego and undisturbed by the differentiation of negativity and positivity that were created by the analytical intellect.

When we are not attached to our body, We will have no fears and worries at all. When we are not attached to the selfish ego (the lower self with impurities and ignorance), We will not have anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, low self-esteem, depression, lust, or craving and aversion.

When we still attached to the ego, we will be craving for success, acknowledgment, recognition, acceptance, appreciation, agreement, praise, compliment, encouragement, good feedback, good comments, pleasurable sensations and always looking for an opportunity to express what we know and how we feel. We will be full of ambitions that we wanted to achieve. We will be very sensitive about what others think of us and whether other people will like us or not. We will be full of unhappiness, frustration, irritation and depression whenever we receive some bad comments and bad criticisms. We will want to justify ourselves and want to prove to the world that we are good and want to gain respect, love and attention from everybody in the world.

When we attached to the ego, the ego takes control of us and expresses good feelings or bad feelings about ourselves when we encounter with something so called good or bad experiences in life. Our self-confidence is being affected very much by the things that we can do and can not do, whether we are being loved by other people or not, whether we are successful or not, whether we are important to somebody or not, whether we are being recognized or not, or whether all the things in life happen according to our wishes or not.

Usually our self-confidence are depending on the values that are being conditioned by the conception and perception of the mind and the ego. True confidence derived from independence and non-attachment towards the mind and the ego. There is no trace of low self-esteem or “I am good”, “I am bad” or “I am not good enough”. It is confidence without arrogance and selfishness.

When we attached to the mind, We will be changing from happy to unhappy and from unhappy to happy, from depressed to elevated, from elevated to depressed, whenever the mind perceives something which “makes” us happy or unhappy. Our mood is going up and down constantly. And If we attached to these moods of us and react according to all our good and bad feelings, and thus generating instability in our mind, which prevent us from experiencing peacefulness in the heart, and thus preventing wisdom to arise.

We thought that it was the things happening out there that are giving us happiness and unhappiness. But in fact it was because we are attached to the mind and whatever it perceives through the senses, for what we see, hear, smell, taste, feel and think.

Once we let go of this attachment, our heart will always be at peace, not being affected or disturbed by what is happening outside the body, and inside the body. It is like when our lives is encountering hardships and difficulties, we will still remain untouched and remain calm and peaceful. When our body is experiencing pain and discomforts or sickness, we will still remain equanomous and be at peace.

Attachment towards material and sensual enjoyments is definitely bringing lots of dissatisfaction and greed into our heart. Attachment towards praise and censures is making our confidence going up and down, and always being affected by low self-esteem and pride. When we have true confidence, there is no low self-esteem and pride.

Attachment towards achievements in spiritual practice also will bring lots of obstacles in the path towards self-realization.

It doesn’t matter what types of attachment it is, it will only bring disturbance to our heart and have no peace. We will be full of fears and worries, likes and dislikes, wants and don’t wants.

May we all be free from all attachments and be really free.

Asana practice – part 2

Merely performing a headstand or balancing on one foot without the correct understanding will not help us to remove ignorance or to attain self realization. It is just an acrobatic movement only. Maybe we can perform some unusual acrobatic movements but we will still have unhappiness, depression, frustration, discontentment, anger, hatred, jealousy and greed if we don’t have correct understanding. And all these impurities are derived from ignorance.

Practicing yoga asana without the correct understanding is nothing wrong or bad. It will still give us some benefits such as giving us a stronger and more flexible body just like doing any other physical training. It also gives us a boost of courage, confidence and some sorts of good feeling. It will also help us to have a stronger immune system and can help to prevent many physical ailments.

But most important is that if we practice yoga asana with correct understanding, it can help us to remove ignorance as well which is the main reason why we want to practice yoga in search for enlightenment in order to attain true and lasting happiness.

Mental tension and physical tension are inter-related. If we can work on releasing physical tensions by doing the stretches in asana poses will help to release mental and emotional tension too. As the same, if we have mental and emotional tension, we will be having physical tension – the body is stiffened and all the systems in our body also get tensed up. We will be having blood pressure problem, digestion problem, breathing difficulty, irregular heartbeat, constipation or diarrhea, genital related problem, skin problem and so on.

That’s why even though some people have good nutrition intakes, enough exercise and enough rest, they still have so many health related problems or feel tired and have low energy all the time, it’s because they are having so much mental and emotional tensions. All these tensions have been accumulated for so long and continue being generated and never been released. Due to these mental and emotional tensions the physical body also tenses up (especially in the joints, shoulders, neck and facial muscles).

Merely by doing some physical stretching without working on the mental and emotional level will not help much in achieving a healthy body and a happy mind. That’s why yoga practice emphasizes on dealing with the mind to help solve all the other problems.

When we practice yoga asana in a relaxed manner, we are actually relaxing the body and the mind while performing some physical movements. After each session of asana practice, it will leave us feeling fresh, calm, relax and full of energy.

Actually the real relaxation and calming effect are not just coming from the last 10 to 20 minutes of final relaxation, but come from the whole complete session of initial relaxation, initial prayers and chanting of Om (purifying the impurities and vibrating the energy centres), breathing exercise or Pranayama before or/and after the asanas, performing a group of asanas with complete balance of warming up exercises, inverted pose, forward bending pose, backward bending pose, twisting, balancing pose, side bending pose and most important having enough rest in between each asana, and a non-rushing final relaxation and a short sitting contemplation at the end with a closing prayer that being chanted with great gratitude and humility. Prayers are to remind us about the divine qualities such as compassion and wisdom, and to pay respect and gratitude to all our teachers who had passed down this beautiful teaching from ancient time.

Everything (easy or difficult) that we do from the beginning of the session until the end of the session contribute more or less for the calming and relaxing effect of asana practice. They all are equally important for a complete and well-balanced asana practice session.

Even though sometimes we do not have enough time for a full session of practice and just doing a few poses or even just one pose, but if we do it with the right effort and attitude, we will still get the benefit of being calmed, relaxed, refreshed and re-energized.

It is the concentration of “being at the present moment” which frees us from fears and worries, unlock and release the tensions in our body and in our mind, and let us experience peacefulness and lightness after performing a certain asana, it doesn’t matter if it is forward bending or backward bending pose. No doubt that different body position will have different effect on the body and the mind, such like forward bending is soothing and calming while backward bending is energizing and stimulating, but they both render us a beneficial effect of relaxing and refreshing to the body and the mind. And so we can’t say “do more of this” and “do less of that”. All asanas are beneficial to us in different ways as long as we know how to arrange different types of poses into our regular practice so that we will get a well-balanced asana practice. We want to be calmed, fresh and energetic after asana practice, and not being dulled or being overly agitated or feeling exhausted and tired.

In all the asana poses, there is no differentiation of easy or difficult, or being indicated as beginner or advance level. The poses themselves have no standard of easy or difficult. It is our body capable of doing certain poses and incapable of doing certain poses that make us feel and think that the poses are easy or difficult. Even as a so called “beginner” comes for an asana class, or a so called “long-time practitioner” comes into the same class, they will be doing the same asanas and it depends very much on their individual’s strength, flexibility, stamina and mentality that determine how well can the person do the poses or which poses is easier or more difficult than the others. Some people are very flexible in forward bends but inflexible on backward bends while some others are the other way round (imbalanced flexibility). Some people are not flexible in both forward bends and backward bends but are very good at twisting or side bending.

And thus, we cannot have any judgment and comparison at all with anybody.

The new practitioners and the old practitioners are actually practicing the same poses (all poses should not be labeled as beginner’s poses or advance’s poses). And it is not that the one who had been practicing for a longer time will be the more advanced student and should be learning certain poses being indicated as “advanced poses” while the newly practice student is being labeled as a beginner or less advanced student and should be learning only those so called “beginner’s poses”. It is not that those who can do headstand and other complicated poses are more advanced while those who cannot do headstand and other complicated poses are less advanced. Some people can hold all the poses for a very long time but that doesn’t determine that he or she is an advance practitioner also.

It is not that people have been doing asana for a very long time, or can perform many complicated movements that require super flexibility and strength will be labeled as advance practitioner. It is their level of understanding of the philosophy, detachment and concentration that define them as advance practitioner doesn’t matter if they can or cannot perform any so called highly difficult poses.

It depends a lot on individual level of health, stamina, strength, flexibility, physical limitations, personality, and understanding of the philosophy, level of detachment and concentration for what they are able to do and whether they can do it comfortably or not. And all these are not permanent. They are changing all the time. Sometimes the pose that we used to be able to do it easily might be difficult for us now. Sometimes the pose that was difficult for us might be very easy for us now. And this will change on the next moment.

It is not the poses themselves are being easy or difficult. It is the condition of our mind and the body that is feeling easy or difficult to perform the poses at that present moment.

Like some people who have been practicing asana for a long time but due to their physical health problem they cannot perform inverted poses or find it very uncomfortable in certain poses. But this doesn’t mean that those poses are not good and are dangerous.

It is the same that the difficulty level has got nothing to do with our age, our past experiences or our fears. Some older people are more flexible and stronger than some younger people. Some people with physical injuries before still can perform some poses that even healthy and fit people can’t do. Some people can’t do or not want to do certain poses due to great fear of falling down or injuring themselves. But in fact those poses are not difficult or dangerous at all.

Asana practice – part 3

All the poses need to be practice regularly and in a non competitive way, and then our physical limitations will start to become less restricting because the mind starts to relax due to no more judgment, competition, comparison, criticism and expectation. The body will become more flexible and strong. We will feel easier and more comfortable in each pose. Everything will become easy for us. Our confidence will become stronger and fear has become less. Those seemed like “dangerous” poses are not “dangerous” for us now. In fact they have become something “fun” and “enjoyable” thing to do.

It doesn’t matter what poses that we do, we are doing it with full awareness and concentration, being at the present moment without judgment, criticism, comparison, competition and expectation. And we accept ourselves as we are at that present moment of what we can do and cannot do, whether we have improved or declined, and whether we feel good or not good, and not categorize the poses as easy or difficult, comfortable or not comfortable, and not generate like and dislike, craving and aversion.

We learn to stay detached from the body and the mind, not identify with them, and observe all the body sensations, thoughts and feelings that arise when we are doing the asana poses without identifying with them, let them come and let them disappear eventually. And we try to stay focus on what we are doing and on the breath as much as possible. Once we aware that the mind has wondered somewhere else on the thoughts, without feeling frustration we bring the mind focus back onto the present moment on the breathing. And keep doing this until it becomes a natural habit which doesn’t require much effort for us to stay focus at the present moment and it won’t irritates us whenever the mind wonders away again and again.

Yoga asana should be done with great humility and gratitude in a non-rushing manner. Usually a traditional complete asana session will last between one and a half hours to two and a half hours even though time or duration is not an important issue here.

It is not about doing as many asanas as possible within a class, or training the body to perform such and such poses to challenge the ability of the body for competition with others, or to show off to our friends that we can do such and such poses, or to perform on stage for some audiences to watch (showing the students how to move into a pose during teaching a class is something completely different from performing some poses on stage for entertaining purposes or to amuse other people).

It is about doing each asanas with self-awareness at the present moment, accepting ourselves as we are at the present moment of what we can do and cannot do, of whether we feel good or not good. The condition of our body and the mind is changing all the time and from moment to moment, we are not the same body and not the same mind. We cannot compare ourselves in the present moment with our past performance and experience, or relate our performance now with our future performance because our body is not in the same condition all the times.

We cannot really pre-judge or having pre-conception about ourselves of what we can do and cannot do from our past experiences or performances, even if we are being limited by some physical injuries but still it doesn’t indicate that forever we can’t do this or do that. Be very open minded and put down all our previous learning, knowledge, experience, familiarization and performance, and letting go of any expectations for the benefits from what we are doing.

The benefits will come even without us thinking about it. Just like when we try to do something, the result will come even without us having any expectations. In fact the bigger the expectation, the bigger the disappointment it will be. Tensions built up due to having great expectation.

We cannot compare ourselves with anybody as well because everyone has different type of physical body, flexibility, strength, stamina, ability, personality and understanding. Since there won’t be any comparison among ourselves and with other people, there won’t be any competition as well.

We also cannot have any judgments towards the object and the subject because of the law of nature – impermanence. Everything change from good to bad, from bad to good, from easy to difficult, from difficult to easy. Since we cannot have any judgment, there can’t be any expectation as well.

Letting go any judgment towards the poses whether they are easy or difficult for us, comfortable or discomfort for us, as well as judgment towards ourselves of whether we are good at doing the pose or not, or if we feel any good or bad feeling while doing the poses. Most of the time, lots of emotional tensions are being released when we do asana practice. We might feel bad, angry, sad and depress due to these emotional tensions come out to the surface. It is good to release these tensions and not to suppress them back into the system. What we can do is, observe these feelings, not to identify or associate with them and not to react. After some times, they will disappear into thin air. It is a good purification process.

We also learn not to be disturbed by the outside environment and the objects of our senses.

– The view of the surrounding – usually we keep the eyes closed during the asana practice. The mind is very curious trying to see what is happening outside;

– The sound of the surrounding – not to be distracted by any sound whether it is something nice or very irritating;

– The smell of the surrounding – not to be irritated by some body odour of other people or fragrances that people use, or nice smell or bad smell in the air;

– The taste – the sweat that might come into our mouth or the saliva changes due to the practice. We might feel dryness or wetness in the mouth and throat area;

– The touch – the skin in contact with the floor or our hands or feet touch some other people next to us. As well as the temperature of the surrounding – whether it is too hot or too cold;

– The thoughts and feelings that arise in the mind from time to time which is a normal character of the mind – it doesn’t like to stay focus at one object for a long time. The mind doesn’t like repetition of the same thing. It always wants something new and stimulating.

We learn to stay focus at the present moment on what we are doing and on the breathing while doing the asana practice which will make it into a habit for us to be able to stay focus on what we are doing in life. As we always said, yoga practice is not just within an asana class but it is in our life every moment in our heart.

A good asana practice will balance our energy field; generate more energy; channel the energy for a better quality of life; purify the energy; conserve the energy; strengthen our body and the immune system; increase the suppleness of the body; calming the mind; slower breathing rate and heart rate – the heart and lungs don’t need to work so hard as before. The mind is becoming clearer and sharper. Our self control over the thoughts, speech and actions is becoming stronger. The more we go deeper into the practice and manage to perform complicated asana poses, the more humble we are becoming and not being proud and arrogant of what we are capable of doing. And this will thin out the ego.

In a group class with people in different levels, is a very good place for everyone to learn to share, to be patient, to be open minded, to respect others, to adjust, to accommodate, and to tolerate and becoming selfless, compassionate and wise.

As yoga teachers, we need to have regular practice ourselves beside teaching classes. We should teach what we practice regularly and share our direct experience with the students. This is the lineage of yoga practice.

There is no meaning in teaching the students of what we read and saw from books and videos, or what we learnt from our teachers about this pose and that pose, or it is in the trend on the market now that everybody is doing such pose and such “style” of yoga but we didn’t practice them at all and have no direct experience about it.

It is like we can’t be teaching the student how to do headstand if we didn’t practice headstand at all or don’t know how to do headstand or have no confidence in headstand. If the teacher is afraid to do headstand, thinking that it is a dangerous pose and he or she might get broken neck or blood vessels might explode under great pressure or the eyes might become blind from doing headstand, then how can he or she teach headstand to the students? Certainly there are people with certain circumstances are not suitable to practice headstand, but that doesn’t determine that headstand is dangerous. What a huge ignorance.

It is like some people are allergic to fruit and vegetables and get sick after eating them, but that doesn’t determine that fruit and vegetables are bad and poisonous.

Imagine that there are some yoga teachers telling the students that they shouldn’t practice headstand because they might get broken neck; blood vessels will explode and become blind if they do headstand. What a confused “yoga industry” in the world nowadays. What “yoga” are they teaching?

If we don’t know how to do headstand and cannot teach or don’t want to teach headstand, it is absolutely nothing wrong but we shouldn’t condemn headstand is a dangerous pose or plant negativity and fear into the students’ mind about headstand is not a good idea because we are embarrassed that we ourselves don’t know how to do it or how to teach it, or fear that the students might get injury in our class and ruin our reputation.

We also should not have the idea that as a teacher we should be better than the students, or we should know all the poses, or the students should be like us or perform all the poses perfectly.

Yoga should start with our own self, and then we can share with others.

Asana practice – part 4

Traditionally, except for the surya namaskar, all asana poses are being held over a period of time with deep focusing inwardly in a relaxed manner without challenging the highest ability of our physical body. And if we continue to practice for some times, the overall level of stamina, strength and flexibility of the physical body is improving from moment to moment as we keep training the body regularly. This will allow us to be able to perform some asanas that we couldn’t do at the beginning. And we will feel easier and more comfortable in each asana and can hold the asanas longer than before. The physical limitations also become less.

We will also be able to perform some other more complicated asanas without the notion of being in competition with somebody or challenging our physical ability or to show off – “look, this is what I can do”. And there is no frustration or disappointment about what we cannot do yet. There is no “failure” in yoga practice. It is just that we cannot do it at the present moment or the body and mind is not prepared enough to do certain poses. We should keep trying and keep practicing until we master the technique for performing the asanas.

The sequence of the Surya Namaskar (the sun salutation) are a continuous flow of 12 movements for the purpose of warming up the body to perform asanas after that; to improve blood circulation; to improve the cardiovascular system (stamina); to improve the suppleness of the muscles, tendons, joints and ligaments (flexibility); to maintain and improve muscles tone (strength); for detoxification; to improve concentration and to have a healthy body and mind.

That’s why sun salutation is a very good foundation practice for any new or old practitioner who wants to improve overall fitness and it allows us to be able to do all the other asana poses easily and effortlessly, which is the main goal in our asana practice – to be able to hold any asana for a long period of time comfortably and effortlessly.

In hot and humid weather, we will be sweating a little or a lot depending on individual’s body system when we practice asana especially doing the sequence of sun salutation. But whether we will be sweating or not sweating is not an issue at all in asana practice. Sweat is just a by product during the activity of the physical body or the mind – sometimes we will be sweating even when we are in stillness but the mind is very busy with fears and anxieties. Sweat glands are being stimulated when we are in fear or nervousness and there is chemical exchange in the body system, and thus sweat is produce as a waste product to bring out the toxin. Toxins in the body need to be flushed out from the body through the kidneys in the pee, through the liver in the shit, and through the skin in the sweat.

Even when we don’t feel or see the sweat on our skin in a dryer climate, sweat is still being produced during physical activities but it evaporated very fast into the air that we didn’t notice it. Anyway even if we don’t sweat much, toxins will still be flushed out from pee and shit.

That’s why it is advisable to drink plenty of water after asana practice to replenish the dehydration after physical activities and to help flush out the toxins that had been released from the practice.

Since yoga asana is a gentle form of activity, and there should be sufficient time for the body to be cooled down and return to a normal state during the final relaxation, and so there is no harm to drink water immediately after the session but not advisable to drink too hot or too cold temperature drinks. This might crash with the body system even when we didn’t do any activities.

Anyhow, it is not advisable to practice asana under hot sun and in a stuffy room or in a room that is too high temperature (such like enclosed room in a hot climate place) or too low temperature (such like air-conditioning enclosed room). The place should be airy and accessible to fresh air but not expose to strong wind and sand storm. All these conditions will be very uncomfortable for our body and our mind. It will be better if the place is secluded from noisy street and human traffic for easier concentration and relaxation. Especially while people are attending an asana class to learn how to practice yoga asana, the students need to be able to hear and see the teacher’s instructions and explanations clearly.

But at the end, in our own private practice, we are learning not to be disturbed by the surrounding of noises and activities. Of course at the beginning of our practice, we need to find a suitable and comfortable place for us to start our practice. Later on, there should be no problem for us to practice in a very disturbing environment also if we can’t find a suitable place for our own practice.

Empty stomach will be good for asana practice. Drinking water during the practice is not advisable also because it will be very uncomfortable for the body when we do inverted poses or certain poses that are compressing the stomach.

Wearing lose comfortable natural fibre clothing will be fine. We shouldn’t be looking for any particular design or branded fashion as long as we can stretch and move our limbs and the body easily.

A piece of cloth or a towel to cushion our body and to keep away from dirt on the floor is good enough for a session of asana practice. A clean and even floor will be good even though it is not a big problem with uneven floor. Like practice on the sandy beach or on a hill slope or on a grassy field. A floor full of insects crawling all over the place and on our body is not very comfortable too. Or if there is sand covering all over our face and we are breathing in lots of dust is very uncomfortable as well.

Always start with an initial relaxation for the body and the mind. Bring the awareness to the present moment focusing on the breathing. Be aware of the inhalation and the exhalation, and the movement of the abdomen when we breathe in and out. Forget the past and the future. Forget our name, status, culture, belief, responsibility and what we like and don’t like. Forget how we felt earlier, what we did, saw, talk and heard earlier. Slow down the breathing to calm down the body and the mind.

Once we are calm and relax, we can concentrate better, learn better, remember what we have learnt and the body can absorb the benefits of the exercise much better.

Gently and slowly move into each pose and hold it for a period of time as long as possible comfortably according to our own ability. Observe the breathing through out the whole session. Let go any judgment, comparison, criticism, competition and expectation.

Take a rest for at least 30 to 60 seconds in between each pose. Allow the body to restore and re-stabilize the prana before moving into another pose. Allow the body to adjust to different body positions which affect the blood pressure differently. Especially after the inverted pose, never lift the head up or stand up immediately or suddenly. This might cause dizziness. People who have low blood pressure will easily get dizziness if changing the body position too quickly like stand up suddenly from standing forward bend or holding the standing poses like warrior pose 1 and 2 for too long. They need to move the leg muscles or lying down for helping the blood to flow back to the upper body and the head effectively.

Never rush into poses or try to do as many of poses as possible in a rushing manner and without having enough rest in between each asana.

Remember to breathe evenly through the nose in all the poses. Many people tend to hold their breath (it’s a normal reaction) while in the pose and this will create discomfort, headache and dizziness. Some people also tend to exhale through the mouth, and this will cause losing lots of Prana from the mouth.

In all the poses, besides focusing on the breath, it is very important to relax all the other muscles except the muscles that are supporting the pose. Especially the facial muscles, the jaw, the teeth are not clench tight together, the mouth, the eyes, the eyebrows, the space in between the eyebrows and the forehead. This will help to relax the mind and make the whole practice so much easier and relaxing.

Observe any sensations that we feel during the practice without identifying with them, let them come, change and disappear. We don’t need to give any value to any of these sensations (whether comfortable or uncomfortable sensation), not to label them as good or bad, not to categorize them as comfortable or uncomfortable, not to generate like and dislike, and not to react to these sensations. They are very temporary and don’t last long.

During the practice, especially at the beginning stage, we will feel discomfort here and there through out the body while doing the poses, but after the practice finished, those uncomfortable sensations will be gone. What left is a feeling of lightness in the body and calmness in the mind.

Asana practice – part 5

A good asana practice is not about aiming at learning complicated poses challenging the body or to perform the poses for somebody to admire, but mainly to be able to relax into each pose, stay relax while in the pose and come out from the pose relaxingly. It is the state of mind that’s matter most in our asana practice, not the ability of the physical body to perform any poses.

Finish the practice with a long relaxation pose for a minimum of 10 to 20 minutes and sit for a few moments before we get up and go back into our life. Enjoy and appreciate the silence and peacefulness that we attained during the asana practice. Be thankful and grateful that we are being given this body and mind to experience such a wonderful thing. Thank ourselves and our teacher to share this knowledge and practice with all.

Even though when the practice session had finished, we still can continue that peaceful feeling with us into our life.

Be patient and forgiving with ourselves and other people. Accept ourselves and other people as we are at this present moment.

Know that yoga asana practice is not just a physical exercise for the body, challenging our strength and flexibility, but what beyond that is the deep understanding of the philosophy of yoga, ability for us to go beyond the body and the mind, and to develop concentration.

A good asana practice session is an alternative type of meditation. It is very meditative if it is being practice with full concentration and selflessly.

Choose a set of asana poses to be practice regularly. Only by regular practice our strength, flexibility and skill will be improved. And by mastering the basic poses (doesn’t mean that they are easy for everyone – many people find that the basic poses are quite challenging physically and mentally), we will developed the basic stamina, strength and flexibility, and we can perform any other poses easily even we haven’t done it before.

The basic poses consist of -

1) Headstand – Sirshasan

2) Shoulderstand – Sarvangasan

3) Plough and bridge– Halasan and Setubandhasan

4) Fish – Matsyasan

5) Sitting forward bend – Paschimottanasan

6) Cobra – Bhujangasan

7) locust/grasshopper – Salabhasan

Bow – Dhanurasan

9) Half spinal twist – Matsyendrasan

10) Peacock or crow – Mayoorasan or Kakasan

11) Standing forward bend – Padahastasan

12) Triangle – Trikonasan

(There are many variations originate from these basic asanas that can be practice along side with these 12 basic poses)

Many people have a misconception about headstand is an advance pose, is difficult and is dangerous. They think that they need to practice some other poses for a long time then only they can start learning headstand. Or they need to practice against the wall. In fact, it is not like that at all. Some people can do the headstand against the wall for many years but couldn’t do it on an empty space for once. It’s because they haven’t conquer the fear of falling. And that is not the final goal for us to practice asana. We need to deal with the mind, mental fears and tensions. Except for those people who have osteoporosis, then they should avoid falling down in any cases.

To learn headstand, we should learn how to do tumbling – forward roll beforehand. This will help us to let go the fear of falling backward. Without the fear of falling, we can learn how to fall down relaxingly without any tension in the neck and back area. Then we will be fine doesn’t matter how many times we fall down from headstand. Instead the more we fall, the stronger our back will become. Until one day we are so firmed and balanced in the headstand and we won’t fall down anymore because we already knew how to control the muscles that are supporting the headstand.

It doesn’t matter if it will take many months or many years for us to master a pose. Time is not the issue. Being able to perform a certain pose is not an issue either. But the patience, perseverance, humility, confidence, courage, and will power are the real practice. It is because of these positive qualities that allow us to be happy in life, less anger, less frustration and disappointment.

Being a yoga teacher, we need to have love and patience to help the students to come into any pose. There was a student afraid of falling down due to lower back problem and hip fracture for many years. And I supported her to come up into half headstand for more than 3 months (in an empty space without leaning against a wall) making sure that she didn’t fall back. And slowly she was developing familiarization for being standing on her head and she learnt how to stay balance in the full headstand. Slowly she had developed confidence and after some times she doesn’t need me anymore. And now she can hold the headstand comfortably without any support or needing a wall. Her lower back problem also got relieved after practicing asana for years now. And there was no injury even when she falls backward occasionally.

That’s the greatness of asana practice. It doesn’t only change our physical body, but also change our state of mind. Our life and perspective changed if we practice yoga asana with correct understanding.

Anybody from 7 years old onwards without physical ailments like serious abnormal blood pressure problem (extreme low or high blood pressure), heart problem and have had heart surgery before, eye diseases like detached retina, glaucoma and internal eye bleeding, have had very recent eyes surgery, having ears and nose infection, have had recent cervical neck injuries, pregnant women who have never done yoga asana before, the last stage of pregnancy where the baby turns upside down, and being advised by the physician that he or she cannot perform inverted poses due to medical reason or injuries, then there shall be no problem at all for anyone who wish to learn how to perform a headstand. By doing headstand alone can give us many benefits physically, mentally and spiritually.

Practicing headstand, especially the learning process will help us to conquer our fears. When practice for some times and we can hold the pose comfortably for 5 to 15 minutes (young children below 7 years old should not hold headstand for too long due to physical structure and growing period), it can help us to adjust the abnormal spinal alignment. Many back problems are solved. It brings fresh blood and oxygen to the brains and facial area, increases our creativity, alertness, sharpness, calmness and memory. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue and throat area get a revitalizing effect. All the internal organs get a resting moment especially the heart. It reverses the pulling down effect of the gravity and re-energizes all the internal organs and the supportive tissues. It helps a lot in the problem of dropped stomach and dropped womb in women. It is an overhaul effect for the entire body system. It regulates the blood circulation effectively. It helps to relieve blood stagnant in the lower limbs and relieve varicose veins. It helps us to develop many divine qualities like patience, courage, confidence, stability, and clear mind. It stimulates the Sahasrara chakra on top of the head and the Ajna chakra in between the eyebrows which will connect us with the higher consciousness and to develop wisdom.

Headstand can be a very effective warming up for the body to do other poses easily if we hold it for minimum 5 to 10 minutes.

If we have been practicing headstand regularly but during the time when we suffer serious discomfort headache, stomachache or nose blocked, are having asthmatic attack or women having very heavy menstrual flow and backache during menstruation, we should skip the practice of headstand on that day. Other than that there shall be no problem at all to practice headstand everyday even for women during pregnancy (if they have been practicing headstand) and also during menstruation if their body condition allows them to perform a headstand without getting any discomfort feelings.

Many of our female students who suffered menstruation problems like menstrual cramps, menstrual irregularity, early or delay menstruation, prolong days of menstruation and excess heavy flow, have found that yoga asana practice have helped them a lot in dealing with this problem. They continue practice asana during menstruation and even performing the inverted poses without getting any discomfort feeling to the body. And after months of practice they feedback to us saying that their problem has been eased and cured.

In my own asana practice, teaching body works for 20 years, training for sports aerobics competition and teaching yoga for the past 5 years, I have been doing jumping, hopping, running, kicking, free fall, tumbling, strength training, stretching, cart wheeling, handstand and headstand almost everyday in my life. Especially during the year when I was training for the world sports aerobics competition, I was teaching 2 to 4 hours of aerobics classes everyday and was training for 3 hours a day for the 2 minutes competition routine with lots of strength and flexibility trainings for 6 days a week. There was no rest day for me even during my menstruation period. And I have no problem with menstruation at all. Until today my menstruation is always regular and comes on time. My body maintains the same energy level during menstruation. I never felt that menstruation can stop me from doing anything.

But that doesn’t mean that I am torturing my body. When my body needs to rest, I will take rest. When my body needs to work, I will work. We just need to know when to rest and when to work. Self discipline and self management are very important qualities for advancing in yoga practice and self evolution.

All the female students who learn body work or asana practice with me also had been practicing inverted poses or doing intensive training even during menstruation, and they didn’t encounter any problems. Instead they become stronger and healthier physically, mentally and emotionally. Many of them also had been through pregnancies and gave birth to healthy babies without any complications. Some of the children also came for the yoga classes together with their mother.

That’s why there shouldn’t be any problem for any women to continue practice during menstruation of what they have been practicing. Except for those who have physical ailments or special medical problems, then they need to practice under special guidance and instructions, and they might need to avoid doing certain poses that will contradict with their health problems or physical limitations.

Most important is that we learn how to listen to our body. We are the only person who knows well about our own body. Even doctors can’t feel how we feel. They don’t know where we feel pain unless we tell them where the pain is. We are our own best healer, best teacher and best friend. We learn to make progression slowly and patiently. We learn to know where is our limitation, and when and how can we go beyond that limitation and without injuring our body.

Since I was a little girl as I can remember, I always liked to stretch my body in different positions. Whenever I felt tired or whenever some parts of my body was in soreness, I would stretch my body until the discomforts went away. I didn’t know that those stretches were related to yoga poses then. I wasn’t exposed to any yoga teachings or yoga poses until I took up the aerobics instructor course at the yoga and aerobics dance academy when I was sixteen years old. But the yoga classes there was only exercise classes using yoga poses and didn’t talk about yoga philosophy at all. I also didn’t know what was Buddhism then.

It all started when my life was encountering disappointment and frustration. I started to look for a way out from unhappiness and in searched for the meaning of life. I guess most of the people are the same. We all will think about how to transcend suffering only when we suffer painful sorrow and disappointment. Everyone is looking for happiness and don’t want unhappiness. And we tend to get lost and confused while trying to live a good life or better life but always ended up getting frustration, disappointment, angry, upset, depression and dissatisfaction.

My family was liked most Chinese people who prayed to some ancient Chinese gods and having an altar at home for offering incense, light, flowers, water and food to the gods and our ancestors. Most of us would pray to a “god” called Goddess Of Mercy. We had no idea that this “god” was actually the great compassionate Bodhisattva Guan Yin Pu Xa, who was an enlightened being according to Buddhism. We didn’t know what was Buddhism, its philosophy and its practices. We prayed to gods only asking for protection and blessing from them. We didn’t know what was Karma and the path of self-transformation.

I only remember that every time whenever I saw an image of god, I would bow to it and pay respect to the god. I was taught by my parents to do so. They said that god will protect us from harm and bless us with good fortune. I wasn’t greed for those things because I didn’t have strong craving for material things in life. But I remember I felt very strong connection with gods and I believed in gods that they were good beings and they were my friends and protectors. And I would put my palms together and bow to them to say thank you to them for looking after me and my family.

When I was little, every time when someone ask what was my religion, I would say its Buddhism, because I am Chinese! All Chinese are Buddhist, all Indians are Hindu and all Malays are Muslim. Someone must had told me that I was a Buddhist because I am a Chinese. That was my understanding before I knew what was Buddhism and what was religion.

I heard about the word “cultivation”  which my family and I didn’t understand what it meant, when my mother mentioned it to me after she accompanied my sister and brother in law went to see a medium asking for help. Their lives had came to a critical point where they were going through really bad karma. That was a year just before my brother in law died of a work accident. The medium said that he couldn’t read my brother in law’s palms to read his destiny and said that his palms and face were covered with dark energy that he would encounter death very soon. The medium told them that they had to “cultivate” good actions in order to change their luck and to save my brother in law’s live. At the end, my brother in law didn’t make any efforts to “cultivate” and couldn’t changed his destiny. He fell down from 130 feet high during work. His entire bone structures were smashed into tiny pieces. No one knew what happened. He was only working for two months contract with that company and it was his last few days of work.

My brother in law was a man who liked to hunt and drinks a lots.  He even fed his children with beer when they were just a few months old. He always fought with other men and never had a job would last longer than three months because he would fought with the boss and threatened to kill the boss with his hunting knife. He would cane his daughter when she was just a few months old because she was crying. One time he slapped her face because she was crying in the car and caused one side of her ear went deaf and her jaw was deformed causing her mouth tilted to one side whenever she talks. My sister and him always argued over financial problem and he would threw things in the house and damaged lots of things.

They always came to my parents asking for money to help out their living. And due to my parents wanted to help them to get some money to start a business, my mother had started a villagers financial scheme which was very popular among Chinese society where some of the villagers would contribute a fixed amount of money every month for one or two years term and whoever in need of money would bid for it every once in a month. This was actually illegal but it could help out some people who are in need of money and they should pay back every month little by little, provided if nothing went wrong and everybody would pay back what they had took. Somehow, many of the people who had already bid for the money didn’t want to pay back the money. And so, my mother had to take out money from my parents income every month to cover the missing money. My parents were honest and kind people. First, they couldn’t report to the police to take action because it was illegal. Secondly, all these people were my parents old friends and neighbours who claimed that they had no money to pay back after taking other people’s contribution.  And last, my parents were very responsible people and they sympathized those other people who had contributed money every month but still had not yet bid for collecting the money. And so, my family had fall into a financial difficult situation where all the income from my father’s monthly salary (about 1,400 ringgit a month) had went to cover up the missing money. It was a lot of money for us at that time, and this situation was continued for two years. My sister was in financial problem. My elder brother was working in a moulding engineering company and had a very low salary which he gave to my parents to help out our daily expenses. My second elder brother and I were still in school. The two of us felt so upset, angry and rebellious because we thought that we were being victimized and were caught up in a situation that caused by some other greedy and ignorant people. My parents were very compassionate and forgiving. They didn’t save hatred towards those people who “took” our money and “let” us into financial crisis. Especially my mother, she passed away in the end of the year 2006 in peacefulness. She looked like she was smiling and looked so peaceful. She always told me that it was okay for other people to be in debt with us but we ourselves never want to be in debt with other people.

It was also during our family financial crisis I went into depression and didn’t want to talk to my family and seclude myself away from friends and people. I was full of anger and hatred. But at the same time I didn’t do anything stupid to ruin my life. During this period of time, Madonna and Buddhism had came into my life, when I needed them most. One was there to encourage me to have hopes and dreams and not giving up. The biggest influence from Madonna was watching her video of Virgin Tour. And the other one was there to teach me how to change the conditions of my life and have control on my own fate.

During that emotional disturbed period of time, I started to decline in my school studies. I started teaching aerobics then and I decided to leave school before I finished the final year. As I had mentioned in the previous chapter that I never regretted about that decision. I am happy and contented with what I have experienced and learnt in life so far and I am glad with what I am doing now.

While I was teaching aerobics in my own studio when I was eighteen years old, I knew this wonderful lady who came to my aerobics classes. She was a sincere Buddhist and years later had started a Buddhist library in her house somewhere near our flat in Taman Sri Sentosa. She had helped many people who had came to her for help in many ways especially when she had the Buddhist library. She told me that the Buddhist library will be finished one day soon and it didn’t matter that there were thousands of people came to her for help or at the end there will be nobody at the Buddhist library anymore. During that time, she had helped my whole family and my parents, my elder brother and his wife and myself had volunteered ourselves to help out in the Buddhist library. Twice a month on the new moon day and the full moon day, we would help her to prepare vegetarian meal for the people who came to the library and I also helped her by being the emcee as well as the cassette player controller for the chanting session after the vegetarian meal.

That was how I started to become a “part time” vegetarian (a few days of eating vegetarian in a month). And during some other days, my mother and my brother would be sending her to different places to help the people who were in painful suffering or to get the things for the library. I was helping to wrap and arrange the dhamma books in the book shelves. I read many dhamma books from there and I came across some dhamma books by Ajahn Chah (who was a great teacher to me in my heart just liked Buddha and all the saints and sages in the past, even though I had not the chance to meet them in person in this life time, but it really doesn’t matter because I didn’t feel separated from them. They were always with me). I also helped to record chanting session into cassette tapes to distribute among the people who joined us for the chanting session, so that they can have chanting session at home everyday. As well as duplicating dhamma and chanting cassettes for free distributions to many people. I remember a few cassette players were ruined due to mass production of duplications.

Somehow during the time my family was helping in the Buddhist library, I was also helping her to translate some Chinese dhamma into English for the people who are not Chinese educated. I remember that the first translation is about the six fold path of the Bodhisattva. Since then I had started writing about dhamma in Chinese which arose from my heart everyday for almost a year. I had no intention to write anything but it just came naturally. She found out what I had been doing and asked me to give dhamma talks on what I had been writing after the chanting session. These experiences in the Buddhist library was another great learning and transformation for me.

For a few years we organized visiting trips to different old folks homes and orphanages. Seeing the people in the old folks home and orphanage was another touching experience for me to cultivate compassion. Anyone who always complain a lots about life, feel meaningless and being unhappy, they should go and visit as many old folks homes and orphanages as possible and be a volunteer in these places. It will change their point of views and how they feel.

After a few years the library had been operating, her prediction came true. The library was closed down due to karmic reason. Everybody deserted her and condemned about her. I continue to respect her because I knew she did nothing wrong and all her works were dhamma work and she knew what she was doing and she forgave everyone with her great compassionate heart. After the library stopped operating, many people came to me trying to speak bad about her, I just gave them a smile and not involved in any of the gossips and censures. So sad was, all these people were being helped by her before. She gave dhamma, money, food and shelter for these people. She gave comfort and dhamma to many people when they were in emotional crisis. She encountered with evil spirits in her meditation while trying to help people who were being disturbed by evil spirits and caused herself painful illness and suffering onto her own body. I knew all these because I was really closed to her and understood what was happening. After that, she retreats at home continue her works in another way and moves on in the great compassionate path of Bodhisattva. I haven’t seen her for years since I moved away from Taman Sri Sentosa after my husband came to Malaysia to be with me. Maybe she still alive, maybe not. But that’s not important at all for a person liked her that there is no more differences between birth and death towards this physical body.

I continued my journey of Yoga and Buddhism after the library finished. Somewhere in the middle of  the year 2004, my employer from a dance studio where I taught aerobics classes for many years had called me in the afternoon asking me that if it was possible for me to teach a an hour yoga class for her due to her yoga teacher couldn’t make it for that evening yoga class. I was free that evening. And so I took the offer thinking that I could earn more money (I still had to support my parents after I came back from the world sports aerobics championship in France). I was not greedy for money but I really needed to make a living at that time. In the past I did taught some yoga exercise classes before but not for long. I didn’t have the interest in teaching yoga then. I was more into music and dancing. That’s why I enjoyed aerobics very much. And at the same time, most of the yoga poses were contradicted with the rules and regulations in teaching fitness exercise class. Most of the poses were being recognized as dangerous and high risk of injury. I didn’t even think of I will be teaching yoga classes one day. There was a funny situation in Malaysia at about 10 to 20 years ago, where the yoga teachers were condemning the aerobics exercises were harmful to the body and the aerobics teachers were condemning the yoga poses were promoting injuries to the body. There were so many women came to me asking me why did the yoga people said that aerobics dance could caused their uterus to drop. While at the same time, the fitness industry was having some saying that doing yoga could cause serious neck injuries, back problems, blindness, stroke and some other side-effects. It was like in a war, one was attacking another and vice versa.

I told the students honestly about I was not a trained or certified yoga teacher but I knew some yoga poses that I could guide them as an exercise class. I have no idea what yoga really was and I didn’t know that it was not different from the teachings of Buddhism. I thought that yoga was just some exercises from India for promoting good health and beauty (which was not wrong but not so accurate as well).  Because that was what I understood from the yoga classes in the first yoga and aerobics dance academy that I was working with about eighteen years ago. And after teaching that class, the response was very good. Majority of the yoga students requested me to teach once a week of yoga class at that studio. And again I was very honest with them and told them that I was only a qualified aerobics instructor and not a yoga teacher. But they didn’t mind. And so, I started teaching once a week of yoga class and getting higher pay than from teaching aerobics classes. Initially my intention to teach that yoga class was to earn more money. But very soon that idea was gone.

I found out that there were huge differences between the aerobics students and the yoga students. The energy of the people was different. The atmosphere of the class was very different. It was calm and peaceful in yoga class and everyone seemed happy and kind. And even though I had not connected with the yoga philosophy yet at that time, I could feel the difference every time after I taught the yoga class. I felt calmer and relaxed and not exhausted at all as after teaching an aerobics class. I felt meaningful and touched.

One day, one of the students had doubted my qualification and asked me what type of yoga I was teaching and what were the Sanskrit names for those poses. I was very honest and told her that I was teaching yoga for health and beauty, and I didn’t know what was Sanskrit. I wasn’t felt bad being questioned about my qualification because initially I knew I wasn’t a yoga teacher. But that had ignited a fire in me to in search for a yoga school and to learn what was yoga. I wanted to be responsible for teaching yoga classes and I wanted to learn about yoga for myself. Beside teaching one yoga class at that studio, I also conducted a few yoga classes at my own studio, where the response was very good as well. This had encouraged me more to pursue my wish to learn about yoga.

It was September 2004. My sports aerobics mentor cum partner helped me to search through internet for Sivananda ashram in India which was recommended by a yoga teacher in Singapore while I was updating my aerobics in one of the famous aerobics fitness club in Singapore. Almost every year I would go there to update myself in aerobics classes. I joined a few yoga classes there which I never did before. I had never thought of teaching yoga one day. And this particular yoga teacher gave me the best yoga class at that place. And so I asked her to advice me where should I go to learn yoga. She just gave me a name Sivananda, not even a website address. But that was helpful enough.

I was completely not a high tech person. I knew nothing about internet. I even didn’t have an email account then. My mentor said that he could help me and search through internet for Sivananda. He found the website for Sivananda ashram and even printed out the registration form for me. Immediately I filled up the form and sent it with the deposit of 300 USD (which was my entire savings then) to the ashram hoping to get a place for the teacher training course in January 2005. I didn’t worry about how should I get the rest of the money. For the entire course fee, air ticket and my monthly expenses for supporting my parents and paying my car installment, I need about 15,000 ringgit to be able to go to India for the teacher training course. My mother was ill then. Every month I gave 1,800 ringgit to my parents, which was being kept as a secret from my sister knowing that she might borrowed off all the money that I gave to my parents. Only my uncle knew about this because sometimes I passed the money to him to bring it to my parents who were then living with my sister in another town an hour drive away from where I was living.

My mentor was not just making my dreams came true but also he had helped me in the connection with yoga. The first few emails between the ashram and I were going through his email address where he would inform me whenever the ashram sent me an email. For all that he had did for me without asking anything in return, I am always grateful to him. He also looked after me when I was in financial difficult situation where my income from teaching aerobics classes was not enough due to the big expenses to support my family and sometimes my brothers would borrow money from me to help them to have food. During the worst days, I gave all my tiny savings to my brother who had no money for food and I was using the coins (about 200 hundreds ringgit in total) that I had saved up to get my own food. That 200 ringgit was the only money I had for the month and it was enough for my food for one whole month.

I decided to stopped the aerobics studio as well. I called my cousin in Singapore and asked him if he could lend me a few thousands ringgit if I didn’t have enough money when January came. He said he would help me out. but turned out that I didn’t have to borrow any money at all.

Not long after I made the phone call to my cousin, there were some people started to recommend me to teach yoga and aerobics classes in different studios. From my usual income about 3,000 ringgit a month increased to in between 6,000 to 7,500 ringgit for the next 3 months, I had earned the biggest amount of money that I had ever earned before. And so, I had saved enough money to go to India. It was there in the same course that I met my husband now. But nothing special happened between us then.

A few weeks after I sent in my registration form, the people in the  ashram wrote to me through my mentor’s email address told me that I was being confirmed a place and I was asked to prepare myself by reading Bhagavad Gita. I had no idea what it was and I didn’t know where to get it. Not long after that, an Indian woman came for my aerobics classes. I told her my wish to study yoga in India and asked her if she knew anything about Bhagavad Gita. And she told me that her husband was a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda and he studied the Bhagavad Gita everyday and he should be happy enough to lend me the book. It was two months before the course. I got that book of Bhagavad Gita commented by Swami Sivananda (published in 1989) which I finished reading it within a few days. It was like a bell rang into my heart. I could easily understand the teachings in the Bhagavad Gita and I realized that the philosophy of yoga was not any different from the teachings of Buddhism. What more strange was, after I finished reading the book, I found a Chinese version of Bhagavad Gita on my book shelf which was given to me about 15 years ago as a present from an ex-aerobics student and I never  had any interest at all to pick up that book to read but somehow I still kept it on my book shelf. Then only I realized that Bhagavad Gita (yoga) was always with me but I had no idea at all.

I read many of Swami Sivananda books, and they all were strongly connected with my heart. It was like a direct teaching from Swami Sivananda. Again, even though I never met him in person, but I always feel that he is with me all the time. I was really confident in yoga and the faith was so strong and never been less. A few people might criticized that my classes and myself were very hardcore because I deal with the ego directly and talk about non-attachment towards the body and the mind, and likes and dislikes. And it really doesn’t matter how other people wanted to judge me or criticize my classes because there had been many others benefited from it and I am still learning as well. It didn’t make a difference if someone told me that I was good or no good. There are many paths in yoga to suit many people with different temperaments. But at the end, all are going back to one same origin. If some people wanted easy yoga, there’s nothing wrong with that. Enjoy and be happy.

And I came back after the course, finishing my savings and very soon I started teaching classes again free-lancing. I continued to teach aerobics classes and yoga classes but with much better understanding. The next year February 2006 I went back for the advance teacher training course which was more for our own Sadhana than to teach classes, which was good. I had developed more understanding in Vedanta and gain so much faith and believe in yoga this time. Again somehow I managed to save enough money to go to India for four months this time. Coincidentally, I met my husband again in the same course and this time, something connected between us which made him came to Malaysia to be with me in 2007 and we got married in 2008.

After I came back from the advance teacher training course, I retired from teaching aerobics classes and concentrated on teaching yoga. I have found that aerobics is very good for the fitness but it didn’t help people to come out from miseries. And yoga was completely amazing to be able to give spiritual development and self-transformation, as well as physical health and fitness benefits to so many people. I never emphasized on physical ability to perform the asana although myself was quite physically fit. I emphasized on the Vedanta teachings in all the classes. And most of the students continued to practice yoga regularly compared to the irregularity of students in aerobics classes. And the students lives were changing and they became happier in life and more selfless, open, positive, tolerant, forgiving, accepting, loving and patient. They were developing detachment and letting go. But for the aerobics students, they were many people still being unhappy in life even though they have been doing aerobics for ten to twenty years with me and have good physics and good health due to the effect of the aerobics exercises.

Teaching yoga is definitely not a job. It is sharing and learning at the same time. It is life. It is love. It is wisdom. It is namelessness and formlessness in a name and form for us to follow the teachings and to transform ourselves. And we are just an instrument for transmitting the teachings of yoga.

Before my own self-transformation, I saw the world was a suffering place and I was very angry and disappointed, feeling meaningless in life most of the time. But after the transformation, I didn’t see that there is anything so bad or so good about this world. It is just what it is and being what it is. Unhappiness is here, happiness is here too. Hell is here, heaven is here too. They are not out there in the world. They are here in our heart, in our mind.

This was the story about how I had changed from teaching aerobics to sharing yoga with all. Everything was already on the path for me. It was just the question of the right time only. And all these are already the past. Whether it was good or bad experiences, we can’t retain the good experiences or change the bad experiences. It was just a learning process to become selfless.

I will share with you about my other stories in the next chapter.